Vene, Vidi, Vici

You may have read the previous post that was ruminating on what to purchase for myself for my own birthday.. Twilight Imperium III or Conquest of the Empire II? In true Republican style, I polled the audience, and the responded somewhat enthusiastically. I realize that this is somewhat tongue in cheek (duh, of course) but the process illustrates how I decide what game to buy. The important points-- playing time, a designer I like, are touched upon. The fact that TI was about ten bucks more expensive factored into things, too.

I have heard the evidence presented below (from my Consimworld BLOG)...

Eric Miller: Get 'em both

Ron Wuerth: I have neither game so in true CSW fashion, I think I am most qualified to speak here ... but I wont! Well, I guess I could tell you that from the descriptions of the two, I'd go for "Conquest of the Empire", but that is solely based upon my preferences, without casting judgement on either game.

Peter Card : I've played Twiglet Emporium Three a few times, and its not bad. The illegitimate step-child of Puerto Rico and a giant space battle game with plastic spaceships. The great Imperial Strategy debate still rages, but there are official and unofficial variants out there that fix it in various ways. That's all by the by though. The main thing is that if you work hard and eat right you get to build death stars and obliterate inhabited systems. What's not to like? Playing time is long, but you can get a 4-6 player game done in 6 hours, maybe a little less, maybe a lot more, depending on playing styles. The plastic bits twist off with minimum pain and effort, whichis nice. Once everything has been twisted or punched you can fit everying in an A4 size file box and use the giant box it came in for temporary accommodation.

Mike Reed : Buy "Twilight Imperium" first...Fantasy Flight has a better track record on these types than Eagle...not to mention the production quality looks a bit better... Purely subjective and unsubstantiated on my part, but you asked.

Alex McCusker: I've played Twilight Imperium twice. Very enjoyable with a lot of clever tricks. It takes a long time to play - 5 of us took 8 hours.

Todd Goff: I think CotE would be a good, light game. Play it the old way or with the new, Martin Wallace inspired rules. I'm not especially fond of space/sci-fi games anyway.

Peter Card: Ah well, the Martin Wallace element does make Conquest of the Empire more attractive. I may have to get it myself at Essen.

Pat Osika: Walt...Definitely get Conquest of the Empire. I got my copy last week and it is a winner. All the game bits are pre-bagged by color so no wasting time with sprues. The original game is pretty much intact except for using hit dice a la Battle Cry, so the age of super destructive catapults has finally ended. The COTE II rules look interesting involving card play and a time limit for the game but I haven't had a chance to try them yet. I admit to liking the original despite the quirks but the new version looks to be a nice improvement.

Jason Schmidt: The new rules (advanced rules) are supposed to be Struggle of Nations (Empires? I can't remember) in a new guise, and that seems to be a pretty well-recieved game both here and on BGG for what it's worth.

TS Wilde: CotE2 has had some positive noises in OOTW too. I'm definitely interested if the map really is more appealing in real life than in the rather garish online photos I've seen.

Pat Osika: Tom..The map is much better than it looks on the Eagle games site, one of those big 3' by 4' three section jobbies. I think you're gonna need a bigger table...

Peter Card: Snuggle of Empires is an excellent game, Martin's best I think, so you can't go far wrong with CotE(II) But, darn it, Twiglet Emporium is neat too.

and even though there were a few good arguments made for Twilight Imperium, my final decision was to purchase Conquest of the Empire.

I tend to like historicals over SF stuff, that's just my thing.. although I'm not solely a historical wargame type. That wasn't enough of an argument, though.. it was the long playing time associated with Twilight Imperium and the Martin Wallace factor that made up my mind.

So... a largish package is now heading my way on camelback.



I shall have a jolly birthday! I hope this gets here in time for International Games Week, as I want to bring my entire collection of plastic piece games.

For the Senate and People of Rome,

Mr. Nizz