On Saturday 24th February, players met at Wrexham Lager Club to take part in Wrexhammer Games Day. Gavin, Alex, Kev, and Rich, played an eight hour game of Twilight Imperium.
Twilight Imperium, is infamous for its epic scope and complex gameplay. Set in a distant future where factions vie for dominance in a galactic empire, players take on the roles of different alien races, each with unique abilities and agendas.
The game typically involves diplomacy, warfare, trade, and politics as players expand their empires, negotiate alliances, and engage in battles to control key planets and resources.
Games of Twilight Imperium can take many hours to complete, with sessions often lasting an entire day due to the game's depth and complexity. The Races We Played... Rich - The Emirates of Hacan
The Hacan excel in trade and commerce, possessing abilities that enhance their economic capabilities.
They often benefit from favourable trade deals with other players and have abilities that allow them to generate substantial amounts of resources and influence.
Gav - The L1z1x Mindnet
The L1z1x Mindnet are a race of sentient machines who prioritize military might and conquest. They possess powerful warships and advanced technologies, making them a formidable force on the battlefield.
Kev - The Federation of Sol
The Federation of Sol possesses a balanced mix of economic, diplomatic, and military strengths.
Their features include bonuses to their ground forces, advantages in combat situations, and abilities that facilitate expansion and colonization of new territories.
Alex - The Nekro Virus
The Nekro Virus are a mechanical race that seeks to assimilate other civilizations' technology to improve themselves.
Their primary ability is the "Viral Agent" which allows them to copy technologies from other players whenever they engage in combat and destroy an enemy unit.
The Early to Mid Game
The first two primary objectives revealed, were to spend 8 resources, and 8 influence. This was an interesting, although arguably clunky start to the game, as to score either victory point meant that you were effectively taking a turn off from setting up in the early game. The Federation of Sol, started the game with five infantry and an Advanced Carrier, with a capacity of six. Kev, took advantage of the Sol's ability to spread out quickly and explore planets in his nearby systems.
As the Emirates of Hacan, Rich, traded with other players frequently, using his Guild Ships and Masters of Trade abilities. This meant that he could trade with us, even though we did not occupy neighbouring systems and he did not have to use a Command Token to resolve the Secondary Ability of the Trade Strategy.
Gav, and I sat back somewhat, building up our fleets. I ventured a Cruiser towards Kev's units, hoping to pick off a Fighter, which would enable the Nekro Virus to instantly research a technology from his race. Unfortunately for the Nekro Virus, this combat did not go to plan and the Sol were able to retreat without casualties.
The L1z1x Mindnet and the Nekro Virus, built up sizeable fleets on the outskirts of the central system, Mecatol Rex, which had been taken by Kev's Sol. A primary objective was revealed, which would score a Race a victory point, if they occupied two systems adjacent to Mecatol Rex. This was quickly scored by the Nekro Virus, whose fleet was blocking the L1z1x from moving in. The L1z1x Mindnet, threatened to invade the Nekro's system with their Dreadnoughts, but the Virus responded by building their Flagship, the Alastor, as a deterrent. This action led the L1z1x to pursue points through other means, namely their secret objectives.
A truce was called on the outskirts of Mecatol, on the proviso that the Nekro relinquish control of a planet in one of their own systems.
The resolution of this truce, saw the Nekro Virus and the L1z1x, exchange their "Support for the Throne" promissory notes, which meant they could not activate each other's systems, without losing a victory point.
As a result, Gav, was able to score a secret secondary objective, of controlling four Cultural Planets, or alternatively controlling a system adjacent to an opponent's Home System. The Late to End Game... While all of this was going on, we somewhat lost sight of the fact that Kev, was scoring victory points every turn, from holding Mecatol Rex. As we moved on to the second phase of objectives, Kev, had accumulated eight of the ten victory points he needed to win the game, with the new objectives scoring two points each. Rich, Gav, and Alex, immediately switched to an "everyone versus Kev" strategy, to try and prevent him from winning the game in the next turn. All focus was on taking Kev off Mecatol Rex and attempting to remove control of his home system, which would remove his ability to score points. The Nekro Virus, descended upon Mecatol, wiping out the Sol's defence and taking their PDS cannons for their own. The L1z1x and Hacan, piled on towards the Sol's home system, negotiating strategies with each other and freely trading action cards, in an attempt to sabotage Kev's responses.
Ultimately, the aggressors fell short and could not make the final push towards the Sol's home system, meaning that Kev, was able to score his final points for the win!
The final scores were, Kev, with 10 victory points, Gav, and Alex on 6 points, and Rich, with 5.
We thoroughly enjoyed the game and it certainly didn't feel like it lasted eight hours!
We are already planning our next game, which races we might play and wondering what the game will be like with even more players.
You can find out more about Twilight Imperium, here.