Imperial Rulebook

8/17/2019 Imperial Rulebook

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DESCRIPTIONEurope in the age of imperialism. International investors try to achieve the greatestinuence in Europe. With their bonds, they control the politics of the six imperialnations: Austria-Hungary, Italy, France, Great Britain, the German Empire, andRussia. The nations erect factories, build eets, and deploy armies. The investorswatch as their nations expand, wage wars, levy taxes, and collect the proceeds. Sincethe European nations are under the shifting inuence of dierent investors, new

strategic alliances and conicts arise between them again and again!Each player represents an international investor. Only he who succeeds in increasinghis capital and gaining inuence in the most powerful European nations will winthe imperial competition.Imperial is a varied strategy game without the luck of dice or cards. Two to six

players, from about twelve years and up, take on the role of imperial investors.The duration of the game is about two to three hours.

INHALTGAMEBOARD ...............................................................................................................3

GAME MATERIALS .......................................................................................................4

SET-UP ..........................................................................................................................4

GAME PLAY ................................................................................................................6

OBJECT OF THE GAME / END OF THE GAME ..........................................................6

TREASURIES / START OF THE GAME .......................................................................7

SPACES ON THE RONDEL ........................................................................................7

FACTORY ..............................................................................................................7

PRODUCTION .......................................................................................................7

IMPORT .................................................................................................................8

MANEUvER ...........................................................................................................8

INvESTOR ........................................................................................................... 11TAxATION ............................................................................................................12

TIPS ON STRATEGY ..................................................................................................13

ABOUT THE DEvELOPMENT OF IMPERIAL ............................................................13

FREqUENTLY ASkED qUESTIONS (FAq) ...............................................................14

vARIANT wITHOUT INvESTOR CARD .....................................................................15

NEw EDITION RULE CHANGES ...............................................................................15

Version 2010, 3. Edition


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GAMEBOARDThere are si Great Poers on the gameboard:

Austria-Hungary, Italy, France, Great Britain, the German Empire and Russia. In the rules folloing,they are called ”nations“. Each Great Poer has e home proinces. Land areas outside the GreatPoers are called ”land regions“.

Land region “Norway“

The 15 bron landregions are locatedoutside the si nations.Only armies are alloedto enter them.

Province “Moscow“

Each nation consists of 5 homeproinces ith one city each. Onefactory can be built in these proinces,either as a shipyard (blue city) or as anarmament facility (bron city).

Rondel

The si nationschoose theactions thatmae up theirturns here.

Treasury of Italy

Repository for Italianmoney and bonds.

Scoring Track

Shos the current poer points for thesi nations (0-25). Aboe the currentpoer points is the Poer Factor.

Tax Chart

The tareenue ofthe nationsis maredhere.Sea region

“Western Mediterranean Sea“

Only eets are alloed to enterthe blue sea regions.

Switzerland

The only region that may not be enteredsince the inestors reside here.


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1. General set-up (see illustration belo)

Nation Marers: The high nation marer for eachnation is placed into the middle of the rondel. Thelo nation marers are placed on the rst spaceof the scoring trac (“0”) and on the loest spaceof the ta chart (“2-5”).

Factories: Each nation starts ith to factoriesthat are placed onto the suare cities on thegameboard: a bron armaments facility on the

bron suares and a light blue shipyard on thelight blue suares. The 18 factories that hae notyet been built are placed net to the gameboard.

Bonds: The 54 bonds are sorted accordingto their nations in si piles in ascending order

(loest alue on top). Each pile is placed net tothe appropriate nation’s treasury.

Ban: The money is sorted and placed net tothe gameboard as the ban.

SETUP

GAME MATERIALSPrinted tiles

• 1 gameboard

• 54 bond cards of the si nations, called”bonds“ belo (in denominations of 2, 4, 6, 9,

12, 16, 20, 25, 30 million)• 90 ags in 6 colors (15 per nation)

• 6 nation ag cards

• 1 inestor card

• 130 Ban notes (35 1 mil., 55 2 mil.,25 5 mil., 15 10 mil.)

• 1 instruction boolet

• 1 uic intro

• 1 boolet ”Historical Data on the Si Poers“

Wooden components

• 48 armies in the si nation colors(10 yello; 6 red; all others 8 each)

• 48 eets in the si nation colors

(6 yello; 10 red; all others 8 each)• 30 factories (15 bron armament facilities

and 15 light blue shipyards)

• 6 octagonal high marers in the si nationcolors (for the rondel)

• 12 octagonal lo marers in the si nationcolors (one for the scoring trac and one forthe ta chart)

• 1 turn maer (ooden pan)


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SETUP2. Distributing the bonds

The starting money and goernment(s) handedout to the players depend on the number ofplayers.

4 to 6 players:

Each player receies 13 million (1 5 million, 4 2 million) from the ban.The 6 nation ag cards are shufed face donand dealt to the players in turn; each player getsone nation ag card.

3 players:

Each player receies 24 million (2 5 million,7 2 million) from the ban.The nation ag cards of Austria-Hungary, Italy,

and France are shufed face don and dealt tothe players in turn; each player gets one nationag card. After that, each player gets one morenation ag card:

Great Britain to Austria-HungaryRussia to ItalyGermany to France

2 players:

Each player receies starting money amountingto 35 mil. (3 5 mil., 10 2 mil.) from the ban.

The nation ag cards of Austria-Hungary and Italyare shufed face don and dealt to the players inturn; each player gets one nation ag card. Afterthat, each player gets to more nation ag cards:

France and Germany to Austria-HungaryRussia and Great Britain to Italy

The initial distribution of the bonds is shon on thebacs of the nation ag cards. Each player taesthe bonds shon on the bac(s) of their card(s)

from the bond pile and pays the correspondingprice into the treasury of that nation. when allinitial bonds are distributed among the players,each player ill hae 2 million remaining – therest ill be in the nations’ treasuries.

Each player eeps the nation ag card(s) thathe has been dealt. This indicates that he hasgien the highest contribution to the nation andtherefore forms that goernment.

with four or e players, not all nation ag cardsare distributed initially. The remaining card(s)is/are gien in each case to the player(s) hoon(s) the “2 million” bond of this nation (sincethey hae the highest credit sum). If none of a

nation’s bonds hae been distributed, its nationag card remains in the ban for the moment.

Variant for experienced players

This ariant for bond distribution increasesthe strategic possibilities and is thereforerecommended for eperienced players.

Each player gets the folloing starting money

from the ban:• with si players, 15 mil.• with e players, 18 mil.• with four players, 22 mil.• with three players, 28 mil.• with to players, 40 mil.

Determined by lot, one of the players is the rstho is alloed to grant a bond of his choice to Austria-Hungary. If he decides to do that, hechooses one Austro-Hungarian bond from the

bond pile and pays its amount into the Austro-Hungarian treasury that is on the gameboard. After him, all other players are alloed to grantone Austro-Hungarian bond in clocise rotation,and in that case pay its amount into the Austro-Hungarian treasury on the game board.

After Austria-Hungary, bonds are gien to Italy.The player ho is sitting to the left of the startingplayer is the rst one alloed to choose an Italianbond. After that, all other players in clocisefashion are alloed to grant any aailable Italian

bond (one per player).Then bonds are gien in turn to France, GreatBritain, Germany, and Russia in the same ay.The price of the bond chosen must be paid intothe respectie treasury. Finally each player hodoes not form a nation’s goernment receies aSiss Ban instead.

After eery player had the opportunity to grantbonds to eery nation, the game can start.


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GAME PLAY

OBJECT OF THE GAME / END OF THE GAME

The si imperial Great Poers (nations) operateon the gameboard. The players are inestorsho grant bonds to these nations. The playerho has granted the highest credit amount toa nation controls the goernment of that nation

and decides the actions on the gameboard. Thisplayer is referred to as, in short, ”the goernmentof the nation“.

Regardless of the number of players, all si GreatPoers (nations) tae part in eery game.

Selecting a space on the rondel

The moe of a nation consists of choosing aspace on the rondel. In a nation‘s rst turn, thegame piece is placed on any space of the rondel.

All folloing turns are chosen on the rondel bymoing the game piece clocise; remaining inplace is not alloed. The playing piece may bemoed to one of the three spaces ahead at nocost; each additional space costs the player holeads the goernment of that nation 2 million, paidto the ban. The maimum moe on the rondelis si spaces.

Example:

Italy is standing on the ”Investor“ space on the

rondel. In order to choose ”Taxation“ on the

next turn, Italy must move forward four spaces;

the Italian government (player with the ag)

must pay 2 million to the bank accordingly. In

order to move from ”Investor“ to ”Factory“, the

government would have to pay 4 million to the

bank, etc.

According to their economic poer (factories)and their military strength (occupied sea and landregions), the nations collect poer points in thecourse of the game. The points are added on the

scoring trac. As soon as a nation has reached25 poer points, the game ends.

A player’s nal score is the interest of theirbonds multiplied by nations’ Poer Factors onthe scoring trac, plus cash on hand.

Example:

France has 17 power points; the counting bar

reads factor “3”. The French bond on 12 mil.

generates an interest of 5 mil., resulting in the

following value:

5 mil. x 3 = 15 mil.

The players add up the alues of all their bondsand, after that, add all their cash. Each millioneuals one ictory point. The player ith the mostictory points ins the game.

In case of a tie, the player ho has the highercredit sum in the nation ith the most poerpoints ins. If there is still a tie, the credit sumsin the nation ith the second most poer pointsare compared, and so on.


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The function of the spaces on the rondel iseplained in the folloing passages.

F ACTORY The nation is alloed to build one ne factory. Armaments facilities may be built only in broncities hereas shipyards may be built only in lightblue cities. A factory may be built only in oneof the nation’s on cities if there are no hostilearmies (standing upright) in its home proince.Only one factory may be built in each city.

The nation pays 5 mil. into the ban and thechosen factory is placed on the gameboard inthe appropriate city.

Example:

Germany has factories in Berlin and Hamburg.

There is a French army in Cologne. Therefore,

a factory can be built only in Munich or Danzig.

That means that on the rondel ”Factory“ space,

Germany may build either a shipyard in Danzig

(light blue) or an armaments facility in Munich

(brown). To do that, 5 million must be paid from

the treasury to the bank

PRODUCTIONEach armaments facility and shipyard of a nation

may produce one army or one eet respectielyfor free. Factories in a home proince in hichhostile armies (standing upright) are presentcannot produce. Nor can the occupying forceitself produce in an occupied foreign factory.The ne armies and eets are placed on thegameboard in the home proince of their factory.In this contet, it is unimportant ho many militaryunits are already present in that region.

Example:

Germany ownsfactories in Berlin,

Hamburg and

Munich. There is

a hostile Russian

army (standing

upright) in Berlin,

and a friendly

French army

(lying) in Munich.

When on the

rondel ”Production“ space, Germany can place

a eet in Hamburg and an army in Munich.

Separate capital

The treasury of the si imperial nations and theindiidual cash of the players hae to be eptstrictly separate. The players hold the treasuries

they control in trust. They are not alloed todispose of the treasuries personally nor lend orgie aay money from the treasury. Hoeer,they are alloed to gie personal cash tothe treasury at any time in order to support itnancially.

Each player may chec the contents of alltreasuries anytime for control purposes, but hemay eep his on, personal cash secret fromthe other players.

Players are not alloed to lend or gie moneyaay to one other. They are also not alloed totrade bonds among each other or to relinuishthem in any other ay.

Start of play

Austria-Hungary begins the game; after that,the nations moe clocise according to theorder of their national deposits on the edge ofthe gameboard (1. Austria-Hungary, 2. Italy,3. France, 4. Great Britain, 5. the GermanEmpire and 6. Russia). The turn marer is usedin each case to identify hich nation‘s turn it is.

In case a nation has not been granted a bond, ithas no goernment yet. In this case, the moeof this nation is sipped.

At the start of the game, the inestor card goesto the player seated to the left of the player hocontrols Austria-Hungary. If there is none, theinestor card goes to the player to the left of the

player ho controls Italy.

TREASURIES / START OF THE GAME

SPACES ON THE RONDEL


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IMPORTThe nation may buy military units for 1 millioneach from the ban. The number of military units,hoeer, is limited to three in total. The military

units may be placed in all home proinces thatdo not hae hostile armies (standing upright);eets, hoeer, may be placed only in light blueseaports. Deploying seeral military units in thesame home proince at the same time is alloed.

Example:

Austria-Hungary imports two eets and one

army, paying 3 million from its treasury into the

bank. All three military units are established

in Triest. It would also have been possible to

deploy the army in one of the other four Austro-Hungarian home provinces.

M ANEUVER This turn is conducted in three steps. First the eetsare moed, then the armies, and nally ags areplaced in nely occupied regions.

1. Fleets

All eets of a nation are alloed to moe to an

adjacent sea region (to cross a blue sea border). After their production or their import, eets liein the harbor; conseuently, their rst moe isalays to the sea region that is adjacent to theharbor (this region is additionally mared by ananchor). Once eets are at sea, they cannotreturn to land.

Example:

The eet from the English Channel can either

move into the North Atlantic, the Bay of Biscay,

or into the North Sea. The eet lying in the

harbor of London can only move into the English

Channel (anchor) and the eet lying in the harbor

of Dublin can only move into the North Atlantic.

As an alternative, any eet may stay where it is.

If a eet moes to a sea region in hich eetsof other nations are present, it turns into abattle if at least one side ants it. In a battle theeets are matched 1:1 and remoed from thegameboard. The goernment of the inading eetmay choose, if need be, hich of the eets in theregion it ants to match. If eets already in thesea region ant a battle, it has to be declareddirectly after the other eets hae moed in. Ifnone of the parties ants a conict, they eeppeacefully lying net to each other in the samesea region. Fleets of the actie nation that do notmoe can also battle eets of other nations thatare in the same sea region.

Example of a eet battle:

If the purple eet moves to the left Sea, Purple

can decide whether the eet should ght. If it

does so, Purple can also decide whether the

purple eet ghts against the green or the yellow

eet. If Purple does not want to do battle, the

purple eet moves to the left Sea and Purple

asks the other governments if they want to

ght. The order in which the other governments

are asked is decided upon by the purple eet.

If no one wants to ght, all three eets remain

peacefully side by side in the Ionian Sea.

IMPORT MANEUVER


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2. Armies

All armies of a nation are alloed to moe toan adjacent land region (ecept for Sitzerland).

Alternatiely, they can also be transportedoerseas ia their on eets (conoy). In doingso, they may cross one or more adjacent searegions proided the nation already has a eetin that region. Each eet may transport only onearmy per turn.

A sea transport is only possible if an army is ina land region that is adjacent to a sea region,or reaches this region by railroad (see netparagraph). After doing the conoy, the army isin a land region again.

Example of sea transport (see picture above):

There are two yellow armies In Triest. Via

ship, one of the armies can land in Algeria. In

this case, however, the second army cannot

be transported any more over the western

Mediterranean Sea since the ship in the western

Mediterranean Sea has already been used by

the rst army. But the second army can land in

Tunis, for example, since there is another ship in

the Ionian Sea that has not yet transported any

army; and Tunis is also adjacent to the Ionian

Sea.

Railroad transport: Each nation has a railroadnetor that eists beteen the home proincesand ends at its on national borders. If hostile

armies (standing upright) are present in a homeproince, the railroad netor in this homeproince is suspended. Before or after theymoe, armies may be transported by railroadithin the country at ill.

Example of a railroad transport:

The Dutch army (see illustration to the right)

cannot get to Denmark, Sweden or Norway. A

direct sea transport is not possible since there

is no German eet in the adjacent sea regions.

The army can move to Hamburg; then it canget to each other German home

province. But its ”Maneuver“

turn is done, and it can neither

leave Germany over a land

border nor move to another land

region by means of the eet in

the Baltic Sea.

The German army in Cologne

can get to Hamburg by railroad

and then take its ”Maneuver“

turn, either directly to Denmark

or by means of the eet in the

Baltic Sea to Denmark, Sweden

or Norway.

MANEUVER


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Battles: The battle beteenarmies is conducted in thesame ay as the battlebeteen eets, i.e., theactie nation may match

armies in land regions1:1. Armies of foreignnations can call for a battleif their land region hasbeen inaded. Fleets andarmies can battle againsteach other only if the eetis still in the harbor. In thiscase, an inading army canattac the eet or the eetcan call for a battle.

Entering provinces of other Great Powers:

If an army moes into the home proince ofanother Great Poer, the goernment of thatarmy has to decide if the intentions are hostileor friendly. A hostile army, placed standingupright in the proince, blocs the proince (noproduction, no import, no building of factories, notaation). A friendly army, hoeer, is laid on itsside; it leads to no constraints. During the netmaneuer turn of the nation, the status of the

armies can be changed, een ithout moingthem into another proince. Also in the case ofsuch a status change, armies of other nations inthe proince can call for a match.

If a nation has only one factory left that is notoccupied by hostile armies (standing upright), theproince of this factory may not be entered byhostile armies. Armies of other nations that enterthis proince are laid on their sides.

Destruction: A foreign factory may be destroyed

by three armies if no armies (eets) of thedefender are (any longer) in the home proince.The foreign factories and the three armies areremoed from the gameboard. Eception: If anation has only one factory left that has not beenoccupied by hostile armies (standing upright), thisfactory cannot be destroyed.

Example of the destruction of a factory:There is one shipyard in Venice, and one eet

still lies in the harbor of Venice. First, a yellow

army may move from Vienna to Venice and

battle the eet. The armies from Budapest may

go to Vienna by railroad, then they may move to

Venice along with the army from Vienna. Now

three yellow armies are standing in Venice and

may destroy the factory. In this case, the three

armies and the light blue shipyard are removed

from the gameboard.

3. Flags

A nation‘s ag is placed in nely occupied landor sea regions that don’t contain foreign militaryunits. Home proinces of foreign nations cannotbe assigned ags.

A ag remains in a region until the region isoccupied eclusiely by another nation. As theresult of a battle, it may happen that an inactienation inds up occupying the region eclusiely;in this case the preious ag is remoed andreplaced by a ag of that nation.

MANEUVER


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3. Investing as Swiss BankEach player ho has a Siss Ban and does nothold the inestor card at the same time is alsoalloed to inest once. Inesting ith the SissBan is done in the same ay as if the playerholds an Inestor card, but ithout collecting tomillion from the ban.If seeral players hae a Siss Ban, inestingis done in the order of play (clocise), startingfrom the player currently ith the Inestor card. At the end of the Inestor turn, a chec is made tosee if there ill be any changes of goernment. Inthis contet, the sum of all bonds of a player in thepertinent nation ill determine the goernmentof that nation. If, due to the allocation of bonds,a ne player has achieed the highest creditsum (a tie is not sufcient), he taes oer thegoernment of that nation and is gien the nationag card. If seeral players achiee the samehighest credit sum, the player rst in seatingorder, counting from the player ith the inestorcard, taes oer the goernment.

If a player does not control any goernment,he gets a Siss Ban instead. Onership of aSiss Ban continues as long as the player doesnot control a nation.If he taes oer agoernment again, hehas to return the SissBan.The oner of a SissBan may force nationson the rondel not topass oer Inestor ifits goernment intends

to do so. Hoeer, this can only be done if thetreasury of that nation has sufcient money topay out all interest.

Finally, the Inestor card moes clocise to thenet player.

INVESTOR

+Swiss Bank

INVESTOR This turn is conducted in three steps. Steps twoand three are executed when the „Investor“

space on the rondel is not landed on but is

only passed through. In this case, the actiondetermined by the space landed on is completedrst.

1. Paying out interestEach player ho granted bonds to a nation getsits interest paid by the treasury. If the treasurydoes not hae enough money to pay all interestof its bonds, the player ho leads the goernmentmust turn don his on interest, completelyor partly, and, if necessary, must tae on the

payment of interest to others from his personalcash.

2. Activating the Investor The player ho is holding the Inestor card(Inestor) gets paid 2 million from the ban andthen may inest in any nation. He may only selectfrom the bonds that are aailable in the nation‘sbond repository, and may choose hether to taea new bond or increase an eisting bond of thesame nation.

An additional bond is paid in total to theappropriate treasury, and the player taes thebond card. This ay, he may on een seeralbonds of the same nation. If an eisting bond isincreased, the card of the bond is sorted into thepile of the nation‘s bond cards, the ne bondcard is taen from the repository, and only thedifference beteen the to bonds is paid intothe treasury.

Example:

A player takes the Italian 12-million bond and puts the Italian 4-million bond back into the pile.

He pays the difference of 8 million into the Italian

treasury.

Kingdomof Italy

4,000,000

2

, FourImperialMillion .

2,000,000 (50%)

Kingdomof Italy

12,000,000

5

,Twelve Imperial Million .

5,000,000 (42%)

⇔


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T AXATIONThis turn is conducted in three steps.

1. Tax revenue / Success bonus

The national taes are comprised of tocomponents:

• 2 mil. per unoccupied factory• 1 mil. per ag.

A factory is unoccupied henthere is no hostile army in thehome proince of the factory. Themaimum possible ta reenue is25 mil. (10 mil. from 5 factoriesplus 15. mil. from 15 ags).

The taation is completed, thenrecorded on the ta chart bymeans of the game piece. If thetaes are 5 mil. or less, the gamepiece is put on the loest spaceof the ta chart (“2-5”); if the tais 15 mil. or more, the game pieceis put on the highest space of theta chart (“15+”).

For any increase on the ta chart,compared to the preious leel,

the goernment (player) is paid asuccess bonus from the ban. Thebonus is 1 mil. for each additionalspace. If the taes are constant ordecreasing, no bonus is paid out;hoeer, the oner of the ag doesnot hae to pay anything.

2. Adding power points

According to its ta reenue, thenation gains additional poer

points as shon on the right sideof the taation chart. The nelyacuired poer points are added tothe preious point standing on thescoring trac at the bottom edge ofthe gameboard. As soon as a nation has reached atotal of 25 poer points, the game ends. If duringthe moe to the „Taation“ space the Inestorspace has been passed through, part 2 and 3 ofthe Inestor moe are not conducted any more.

3. Collecting money

when landing on the ”Taation“ space on therondel, the nation has to pay 1 mil. soldiers’ pay toeach of its armies and eets. One million for each

army and eet of the nation is subtracted from theta reenue. Only the remaining amount is paidfrom the ban into the treasury on the gameboard.If the amount is negatie, no payment is made.

Example:

The German game pieces stand at 6 (mil.) on

the tax chart and at 1 on the scoring track. Theillustration shows the German situation:

The German Empire selects the ”Taxation“ space

on the rondel.

1. The tax revenue is 7 mil. (2 factories and 3

ags). So the tax marker moves up from 6 (mil.)

to 7 (mil.). Since the tax marker has moved up

one space, the German government (the player

with the German nation ag card) gets 1 mil.

paid from the bank as a success bonus.

2. The tax chart shows ”+2“ points. Accordingly, 2

points are added on the scoring track, and theGerman marker is moved from ”1“ to ”3“.

3. The German Empire has two armies and one

eet. So 4 mil. (7 mil. tax revenue minus 3 mil.

soldiers‘ pay) is paid from the bank into the

German treasury.

TAXATION


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Don‘t forget the power points

Only hen a nation builds factories, places ags,and in the end plays ”taation“, can it adanceith its poer points. It may not be possible toaoid conicts ith other nations, but nations hoset up troops and age ar all the time, ill notbe successful in collecting many poer points.

Be careful when concentrating on one nation

It may be tempting to grant bonds eclusielyto the nation in hich the player has control, inorder to stabilize the goernment and to enablethe nation to build factories and pay interest.But this may be a dangerous strategy, if noother inestors inest there, and no one else is

interested in seeing the nation ourish. The nationill be attaced sooner than epected.

ake care of your money

Of course it is important to deelop the nation inhich the player has control. But nonethelessone should not forget the role of being an inestordesperately in need of money in order to in thegame. Entering the Inestor space on the rondelmay slo don the nation, but it usually is themost efcient ay to get money.

Use the Swiss Bank

The Siss Ban is ery useful to get hold of manysmaller bonds ith higher interest rates. And ifthe preconditions are fullled, it is mostly a goodthing to force a nation to stop on Inestor andpay out interest.

Te end of the game may come surprisingly fast

Nations ho are ell deeloped, oning manyfactories and ta regions, can progress on thescoring trac ery uicly. A nation needs only4 factories and 7 ta regions to gather 10 poerpoints. Therefore it can easily happen that anation that is behind, suddenly rushes ahead and

ends the game by reaching 25 points. How many turns does a game of “ Imperial“usually take?

A typical game of “Imperial“ taes about 120indiidual turns, i.e. 20 turns per nation. Thegame usually ends after the inning nation hasentered Taation four times. Hoeer, this doesnot necessarily mean that the player controllingthat nation ins the game.

TIPS ON STRATEGY

ABOUT THE DEVELOPMENT OF IMPERIALDating bac to the eighties, Imperial could beplayed only in priate circles, because only a fehandmade copies eisted.

The old ersion deeloped in terms of theplaytime, compleity and game o, in order tosuit the reuirements for publishing. This as achallenge hich could only be met by deotingconsiderable time and energy to many testrounds. All the time ne ideas that emerged hadto be discussed and tested intensely, and manyere often rejected. But the basic structure ofImperial remained unchanged:

The si imperial poers in Europe before wwIho compete ith their economies and armiesare controlled by the changing inuence ofdifferent players.

Most test rounds too place in the cultural center”Riechof“ in Hamburg. Also the ”Hamburg

Meeting of Game Designers“, hich taes placeon a regular basis, as ery important for us. Eenin the United States and in Australia test roundsere conducted; therefore, ery special thans

go to Peter Haes and Ralph Anderson hocontributed holeheartedly to the deelopmentof the game and had many constructie ideas.

without Peter Eggert, ho as rapidly infectedith enthusiasm, ithout Peter Dörsam, hocontributed to the success ith his deep gameanalysis and his publication house PD-verlag ,ithout Matthias Catrein, ho shoed the bestof his graphic talents, and last but not least,ithout the many other players and helpers hoall cannot be mentioned here, the publication ofImperial ould not hae been possible. I thanmy ife kathia, ho as pregnant at the time, forher eerlasting patience and assistance.

May your imperial inestor‘s intrigues besuccessful!

Hamburg, September 2006 Mac Gerdts

Thans to Carlton Dempe for the translation ofthe boolet ”Historical Data on the Si Poers“into English.


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Can factories also be destroyed by fleets?

Fleets cannot destroy a factory since they arenot alloed to return from a sea region to a landregion.

When can nations use their military unitsto fight?

There are to possibilities:

1. Nations that hae chosen the rondel space„Maneuer“ are alloed to ght against foreignarmies and/or eets anytime.

2. Inactie nations are alloed to ght againstany foreign army or eet that has just moed intoa region in hich the inactie nation has militaryunits. This also applies if a „friendly“ army moes

into a home proince or if an army changes itsstatus from „friendly“ to „hostile“.

Can armies and fleets fight against eachother?

This is only possible if the eet still lies in theharbor and the home proince of the harbor isentered by an army or the army is already there.

Can armies also enter islands?

No. The islands on the gameboard (such asSicily, Sardinia, Corsica, Crete) are not namedand do not count as independent regions. Onlythe proince of „Dublin“ (Ireland) can be enteredby armies.

What straits can be crossed by armies?

Armies can moe from Bulgaria to Turey.Hoeer, it is not possible to moe armies fromSeden to Denmar nor from Spain to Morocco.To do so, armies need a eet conoy.

What does it mean if a railroad network is suspended?

If, for instance, a hostile Russian army stands inBerlin, then it is not possible to get from Hamburg,Cologne or Munich to Danzig by railroad.

Can bonds be given back?

The giing bac of bonds is alloed only if therespectie nation is gien a ne, higher bond atthe same time.

Are players allowed to borrow or receive a gift of money?

No. Players are not alloed to borro, lend orreceie a gift of money from one another or from

a treasury or the ban. They are only alloedto gie money to the treasuries, or during theInestor turn to grant bonds that hae beendened eactly.

Is making agreements allowed?

Yes, this is not prohibited. For instance, nationscan mae arrangements about inuence zones ornon-aggression pacts; hoeer, there is no gamerule that forces a player to stic to the agreement.But een if agreements are ept, the situation

can change suddenly by changes of goernment.

Can the investor invest twice if he does notlead any government?

No. It is not possible to use the inestor card andat the same time inest for a second time becausethe inestor player leads no goernment.

Can flags also be put in provinces of otherGreat Powers?

No. A hostile occupation of a foreign nation‘s

home proince preents the foreign nation fromdeploying military units there, leying taes fora factory that is located there, or building a nefactory.

When is a flag removed from the gameboard?

Only if the region is occupied by one other GreatPoer eclusiely. That means the ag remainsif there are military units of seeral nations thereor no military units in the region any more.

What happens when supplies of a nationare all used up?

In this case, no more armies or eets can bedeployed.

Is there a railroad connection from Great Britain to Ireland?

No. Armies cannot moe to the proince of„Dublin“ by railroad.

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS FAQ


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Imperial 2030: In 2030 the old poers USA, Europe,and Russia compete ith therising orld poers China,India, and Brazil. This is a neimperial challenge ith more

neutral regions to control andsome rules teas.

Antike: Ancient nations compete in deeloping theirciilizations. Enlarge youringdom, sail the seas, buildne temples and adanceyour technology in order togain the faor of ell nonancient personages.

Navegador: In the Golden Age of Eploration playerstae part to build the Portuguese Colonial Empire,stretching from Brazil to Nagasai. Eplore the seas,found colonies, and build shipyards, factories, andchurches to get the in.

PD-Games has the following strategy games on offer (2010):

Hamburgum: Hamburg in the 17th century. Mightyalls protect the city against the deastations of the30 Years’ war. As a merchant you ill become rich,but ultimately you hae to gie donations to build the6 great churches of Hamburg.

Antverpia: An epansionto Hamburgum, played onhistorical maps of Hamburgand Anterp.

The Princes of Machu Picchu: Onlya small number of princes managedto ee from the Spaniards to themountains of Machu Picchu. Here theyneed all their priests and irgins to gainthe help of the Sun God Tayta Inti.

This ariation results in feer changes in theonership of goernments.

Remoe inestor card from game. Instead ofusing the inestor card, each player can inestin a nation immediately after that nation taesits turn.

For eample:

After Italy taes its turn, its oner can inest inItaly. Then all the other players can inest in Italy,starting ith the player to the left of the oner ofItaly and going clocise around the table. Afterthat France taes its turn.

VARIANT WITHOUT INVESTOR CARDIn addition to this procedure, players not oninggoernments can inest in any nation they ish,at any time.

On the rondel playing eld “Inestor,“ only theinterests are paid. Passing through that eld nolonger has any special conseuence.

If in the beginning no bond has been gien yetby a nation, bonds can be granted to this nationdirectly after the preious nation‘s turn. Thegoernment of the preious nation is the rst toinest.

Swiss Bank

This ne edition introduces the Siss Ban.Players ho do not control any goernment geta Siss Ban instead. In addition to additionalchances to inest (as before), this also gies theright to preent other nations from passing oerthe Inestor space on the rondel if the nation’streasury contains sufcient cash for all payouts.

Bonds

Each nation has an additional bond of 30 million(interest 9 million) aailable. No it taes longerfor all bonds of a nation to be sold out.

Flags

Ta regions are mared ith a ag (there are 15ags per nation instead of 10 chips).

Starting distribution of bonds

Each player starts ith to bonds of 9 and 2million, and 2 million cash as additional startingmoney. No it taes longer for a change ofgoernment to be possible. The special rule ofthe second edition (hich reuired paying anadditional 1 million hen taing oer the lastgoernment before it had taed) is no longerapplied. The ariant for eperienced playersremains unchanged.

NEW EDITION RULE CHANGES


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règles française,

REGOLE ITALIANO,

REGLAS ESPAñOL ...

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The markers representing the nations are moved clockwise around

the rondel. (Moving 1-3 elds costs nothing; for each additional

eld, the government [player] pays 2 million to the bank,

moving a maximum of 6 elds).

Factory Nation→ Bank

A factory may be built for 5 million.(brown city = armaments facility; light blue city = shipyard)

Production Each unoccupied factory produces an army or a eet, respectively.Placement: In the province of the factory (the eet in the harbor).

Import Nation→ Bank

The nation may buy a maximum of 3 new military units for 1 million

each. Placement: Anywhere within the home provinces.

Maneuver 1. Fleets are allowed to move to an adjacent sea region. Battles: 1:1

2. Armies may move to an adjacent land region or, via eets, toanother land region (1 army per eet); additionally, before or

after each such movement, armies can travel by railroad between

home provinces. 3 armies may destroyed a factory. Battles: 1:1

3. Flags are placed in newly occupied sea & land regions containing

no foreign military units (not in any home provinces).

Investor Nation→Player

Bank →Player

Player→ Nation

Parts 2 & 3 are also executed when passing through the investor feld.

1. The interest is paid out to the players holding the nation‘s bonds.

The government must ensure that all interest is paid.

2. The player with the Investor card gets 2 million from the bank

and may take out 1 bond or increase 1 existing bond (pay money

to the nation). After that, the Investor card moves clockwise to

the next player.

3. Other players who own a Swiss Bank may invest as well.

Taxation

Bank →Player

Bank → Nation

1. The tax (2 million per unoccupied factory & 1 million per ag) is

recorded on the tax chart; if the chart position has increased, the

government (player) gets the increase as a dividend from the bank.

2. Add the power points (on the right side of the tax chart) on thescoring track.

3. Collect the tax minus soldiers’ pay (1 million per army/eet).

End of game: As soon as a nation accumulates 25 power points.

Victory points: interest of bonds x factor of the nations (0-5) + individual cash.

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Imperial Rulebook

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