Not to mention the fact that negotiation is a crucial facet of the gameplay in Twilight Imperium, with last year’s Prophecy of Kings expansion filling out the game in such a way that it’s almost a must-have for those who fall in love with this space classic. The expansion includes a beefy new exploration mechanic and new factions that turn an already intense experience into a multi-day carnival of the animals Travel between various sectors/hexes in this games requires warp portals between two hexes be aligned. If the symbols for warp portals do not line up, you need to find an alternate way to get to your destination. All ships have blueprints indicating their specific abilities, for example, shields and weapons. Structures

It’s a bit like throwing money down the drain, but it’s also vital because this phase allows you to Produce Materials and Science Resources after you’ve paid. The Warp Portals are made of three Sectors, one Rare Tech, one Discovery Tile, and one Warp Portal Tile. They are optional modules that make it possible to move, form Diplomatic Relations, and Influence across the game board. With 2-5 players, draw Guardian sectors from the purple bag and place them on the empty starting locations. Alternately, you can shrink the galaxy with the big warp overlay tiles from the blue bag above the supply board! This is recommended for 5 player games. Whichever player decides to pass first receives two money and the Start Player Tile for the next round of the game. Sometimes this can be a robust tactical decision, so I’d recommend assessing all your options before deciding what to do.

Star Wars Legion is a tabletop miniature board game that focuses on the Galactic Civil War. You will become the commander of a powerful army, including iconic characters like Luke Skywalker. to steam user Zee Germans, for all the great scans of Second Dawn tiles and the extra Worlds Afar components. Eclipse is a truly massive game but manages to still be moderately accessible. Once you understand what each action does, the game flows fairly smoothly, with only the most extreme sufferers of analysis paralysis prolonging the game’s three-to-four-hour playtime. However, after multiple plays of the game, some of the shine begins to wear off.

There is a constant battle in resource management in this game, making it so you always need to be sure to have enough gold to maintain your population scattered across various planets. While you do generally need to spread your influence throughout the Galaxy to obtain the all-so-precious Victory Points needed to win the game, having a large galactic presence means you need to pay more to maintain your power. What this means in gameplay is that if you somehow manage to go broke, you are out of the game! Though it should be mentioned there are ways to eliminate your debt by relinquishing systems you control, it is nevertheless very easy to bite off more than you can chew (yes, it has happened to us on more than one occasion!).

Star Wars Legion

I love Star Trek and Catan, so you can imagine my excitement when I discovered that a crossover board game exists! Star Trek Catan shares many similarities with Eclipse: Second Dawn for the Galaxy, except it contains fewer components and is way easier to learn. So here in combat, ironically, I think we see the strongest Euro-gaming influence. It’s a system that can be mapped out and calculated more than the premise initially implies. Dice rolls still matter, of course, and outcomes aren’t predictable when sides are more or less evenly matched, but decisions can definitely lean toward the analytical side instead of gut reactions to board state and player dynamics. Will, thanks for this thoughtful review, and briefly comparing Eclipse 2nd Dawn with its more established cousin, Twilight Imperium. I’d like to share a few comments regarding whether players feel having both games is redundant.

There’s been plenty of poetic waxing about setup and teardown in the hobby. It’s clearly a topic on the minds of players, with companies such as Folded Space and LaserOx providing consumers with a rich swathe of custom storage that promises easier playability. That matters for these epic sprawling experiences because being able to play the game is the first battle.Two, there’s no diplomacy phase like in TI once Mecatol Rex is taken. This eliminates some negotiation and opportunities for table talk, but also eliminates a phase that, in my experience, isn’t always dramatic. Some diplomatic decisions are game-changing in TI, but I’ve had entire games of it without a single exciting vote. This is one of the most complex games I’ve ever played. From exploring star systems to researching new technologies and waging wars with other species, you have the power to shape the galaxy and control its ultimate destiny.

At first glance, the seven different factions seem to promise plenty of variety in playstyles. And to some extent, that promise is met! Eridani start with a ton of money and can put together five or six action turns early while people are scraping along with only two actions, Draco is the only faction that can co-exist with the NPCs on the board, and the Mechanema leverage their industrious specialization to pump out cheaper ships in higher quantities. There are actual, practical differences between these civilizations as they are designed – which is why it’s disappointing that actually playing them feels so homogenized. In my wife’s own words, I can tell if a game is good if she keeps on coming downstairs to the game from her at-home job to take turns all day long. Eclipse provided such an experience for her, despite her initial misgivings. Color me surprised.

Expanding Your Horizons

Research new Techs by paying their Science costs and placing the researched Tech Tiles on your Species Board