In the Age of Sail your Navigators have been tasked with the challenge of discovering new lands & trade routes beyond the known horizon.

Sail into the unknown… Find exotic new treasures that will be the envy of your adversaries.

Rumour has it that the sumptuous riches of The Indies can be found east or west, the choice my friend is yours… But can you build a global trade Empire to withstand the test of time?

Good luck!

Disclaimer: The publisher provided the prototype copy of Empire The Boardgame. The opinions expressed in the review are completely my own.

Review:

Overview:

EMPIRE the Boardgame is set in the glorious age of sail, and you have 2 ships to use, a NAVIGATOR (which is your starting ship) and an ADMIRAL (which can be purchased during the game). Your Navigator ship will travel around the world map discovering new lands and trade routes beyond the known horizon, finding new and exotic treasures that will make you the envy of your adversaries.

Basically, you will Explore, Build, Trade and Defend in the world of EMPIRE the Boardgame, battling other players and maybe Pirates, as you explore and make important discoveries.

The rules as they are currently written are well laid out with excellent examples where appropriate to show and guide you through the various actions you can do, and at 10 pages is compact so as not to put off players who might think this would be a rules heavy game.

Set up takes 5 to 10 minutes at first but once you get a few plays under your belt it will be second nature as to where the tokens are placed on the world map, and your player board is also easily sorted with only a few components being placed on it at the start of the game.

Once you have determined the order of play, the first player (and subsequently in clockwise order) will throw the 2D6 dice and these will be used for both your movement and/or to ‘SETTLE’.

For better clarification, there are movement spaces dotted across the map in ‘lanes’ where you and other players’ ships will travel to go from destination to destination, seeking out treasures. 

Each players turn sequence is the same order, and it is as follows,

1. Collect one money token from any one of the 5 markets in which they have a marker present, and one from any market in which they hold a ‘Monopoly’.
2. You can trade with other players, and make one purchase from each of the purchase options table shown at the top of the map board. Any money tokens spent are placed back into its relevant market area.
3. You can use any Exploration Tokens you have picked up along your travels, moving either forward or backwards on the EMPIRE track, and then taking any bonus actions for spaces you land on. You cannot however move forwards then backwards or vice versa in the same turn, even if you have tokens to do so. You can also use these to move an opponent’s marker backwards on the track.
4. Roll both dice and begin the ship actions sequence (once complete the next player starts this sequence for themselves, and so on)

Once you have rolled both dice you have a few choices to make, you use both of them in turn (each dice is considered separate, and are never added together) to move one of your ships twice, or if your ADMIRAL ship is also on the board you can choose to move both using one die each.

If after you move you have used up both of the die results (you move one space for each ‘pip’ on the die, i.e. if you roll a 3 then your ship can move up to 3 spaces), then that is it for the movement part of your turn, but you can also use one die to move and one die to take the SETTLE action, or you can do the SETTLE action first if you ended your last turn unable to do that, and then use the second die to move. When you finish your move on an undiscovered tile, you can look at it and then return it face down if you wish, deciding whether to settle it or not.

The SETTLE action is taken by using a die to flip over the settlement tiles and place it face up back on its space. You then place a marker of your colour on the corresponding symbol in the appropriate market at the top of the board, and instantly take one money marker from the market (if there are any left). If also available, you place one of your markers on an open point on the triangle under the token to show you have a port marker present. The SETTLE action is only possible by the NAVIGATOR, the ADMIRAL cannot do this.

If your ADMIRAL ship is on a settlement tile, you can purchase a STRONGHOLD token and this is then placed onto that tile. If there are any port markers for players of any colour these are returned to them.

As you place markers in each coloured market, you build up a presence and once you have 3 markers on different discoveries within the market, you gain the MONOPOLY token for that market, and keep it until some would better the amount of tokens you have on that particular market, at which point they would take it from you. 

When you take a MONOPOLY token, you also get to move up one space on the EMPIRE track.

The only other ways to move up (or down) on the EMPIRE track is to collect and use exploration tokens, which you can ‘spend’ to move your own token forward or back, or you can use it to move an opponent’s token backwards on the track if you wish, or you can pay on the PURCHASES table to do so.

COMBAT in the game is only possible using your ADMIRAL ship, and that is either against another ADMIRAL ship, or versus a STRONGHOLD.

Combat is done initially by drawing a card for the attacker, and the die value on the card is the initial attack strength, then do the same for the defender if it is a ship v ship battle, or 2 cards if the defender is a STRONGHOLD. The card totals are then compared to see who is ‘winning’ at this point. 

Now both players decide if they wish to play more cards from their hand into the battle, so one at a time each player declares their intention or not to carry on playing cards until one player either runs out of cards or chooses to not play further cards. The total is then recalculated, and the attacker wins if they are at least one point more than the defender, with draws in favour of the defender.

If a draw both pieces remain in play. If it is ship to ship then the losing ADMIRAL ship is returned to the relevant player, and can be re-purchased to sail again at some point. If a STRONGHOLD loses then it is removed and replaced with a STRONGHOLD of the winning player.

Battling PIRATES works as above but they only ever get the initial free card and no others. If you defeat the PIRATES you replace the tile with one of the spare resource tiles of your choosing, and gain the resource and market presence as outlined above.

STRONGHOLDS can initiate an attack on an enemy ADMIRAL ship if it stops or passes through the space the STRONGHOLD occupies.

At each edge of the board there are two routes that traverse the map, meaning you can exit on one side and reappear on the other side of the map.

Also, on the map there are spaces with a die value showing, and if you land on or wish to pass through this then the die value shows how many moves you still need to have left on either your current die, or your second one, to be able to continue moving along that particular route. Alternatively, you can pay the relevant fee shown in the rules to continue your journey without the need for those die values.

The artwork and components in EMPIRE The Boardgame are very nice, with the board being extremely colourful and very appealing on the tabletop.

As I mentioned, the copy I had to do this review is a prototype, and there are improvements and changes planned to make these even better, including some goals if reached that will add some very nice touches into the box.

For me, even after playing only a fraction of a game, the flavour of the period of exploration and discovery really did come across, and I’m sure with more players this game will produce many moments of hilarity, especially the odd pirate voice ☠.

I’m looking forward to getting a multi-player game of this sorted out very soon with the designer, to get the full flavour of the game.

If you like this period of history, and the type of game where you are exploring areas to gain bonuses then EMPIRE The Boardgame is just the sort of game for you.

It plays quickly, there aren’t loads of complicated rules to work out, and I think this can be taught just the same to both seasoned gamers as well as newbies.

Personally, I love this period of sea travel, exploration and battles, as it has far more colour than modern day ship battle games. So, if you too love those old Errol Flynn movies, or newer ones like Master & Commander then this game is going to be right up your fore-mast.

This coupled with the entry price point will I’m sure make EMPIRE The Boardgame the latest acquisition for lots of gamers, and once it’s in your collection I’m sure it won’t end up in a ‘sail’.

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