Empire of the Stars

Empire of the Stars is a civilisation-expanding game, where players face off over the vast galactic distances on the board and try to further their own ends by developing technologies, claiming territory… and blasting each other to bits.

Each player has their own board where they keep track of the game’s three resources, whilst the grand space opera itself plays out on the large board. How things play out is down to the action-selection mechanic on the big board, where on your turn you choose one of the seven different ‘roles’ to activate: Explorer, Merchant, Engineer, Scientist, Steward, Warlord and Regent. In brief, each one allows you to perform actions such as moving your ships, developing tech, generating cash, starting a punch-up or – in Regent – scoring points.

But your turn isn’t just your turn: although you get a more powerful version of the role than anyone else does, everyplayer gets to take the action of this role, meaning that timing can be critical. As with games like Eclipse, Xia, or Twilight Imperium, this an epic – but a comparatively brief one, usually coming in at around 2 hours if everyone knows the game. What marks Empire of the Stars out as distinct though, is the addition of some highly-asymmetric player powers. There’s a deck of 75 and each one has significant impact on both the game and your decisions within it. We won’t go through each action exhaustively here, but suffice to say you expand across the board with Explorer, trade with the Merchant, build ships with the Engineer, develop tech with the Scientist, and kick butt with the Warlord: triggering a combat system where players can aid each other in fights, and a instant-reveal of combat values that can throw up double-bluffs and funny surprises.

The Regent stands slightly apart, as you take this action in order to score, and timing is most critical of all here as scoring – as with all the roles – applies to everybody. But when you take the Regent you also get to change the game’s Edict: which in turn gives the scoring a criteria to meet. As there are several different edicts to invoke, this is where the game gets particularly interesting.

Add in the crazy player-powers and the Empire of the Stars can get more chaotic than elegant and more swingy than incremental. And it’s this aspect that makes the game somewhat distinct from its predecessors: making it a lovable space opera rogue, or a too-chaotic bunfight, depending on your tastes.

Sam says

The punch-up in space is a crowded market: as well as the games mentioned in the overview here I can think of a dozen others. The player powers make Empire of the Stars stand out, but they come with a caveat in that they significantly shake up the basic dynamic, and can mean you do a notable amount of rules-referencing to figure out how to proceed through particular circumstances that crop up. For the gamers who fancy playing once or twice a year that makes Empire a staccato experience. For a group that plays once a month – or more frequently – you’ll probably move past that and enjoy the craziness it throws up. Alternatively however, you can play without them entirely – and we’d recommend you do so on your first visit. The game still stands up, and the combat system, while slightly protracted, is interesting and fun for a group who love to throw the kitchen sink in.

Take That!

Yes, of course!
Fidget Factor!

Although the game can be a bit thinky at times, all players are involved on all turns.
Brain Burn!

The roles are mostly straightforward, but the Regent can take a bit of getting used-to and the combat system is, while mostly intuitive, not exactly breezy.
Again Again!

It’s the kind of game that not only rewards, but almost needs repeat visits; its sheen only beginning to glitter with some familiarity.