Portal Games 331603 Imperial Settlers, Multicoloured

Product Information

The Expedition Board is there for a reason: resources feel much tighter in Empires of the North than in the base game. If you haven’t entered the world of engine builder or Portal’s previous efforts, then this is definitely the game for you. Portal have a great history of supporting their games with expansions, and it already looks like this will be well supported! Even if you have played the previous games there is enough here to tempt you away and reward you for straying! On top of that, each of the four factions has its own distinctive play style and starting perks. This makes for a very fun, albeit often frustrating and mean experience where you’ll need to determine how to best manage the available resources and abilities to maximise your pool of Victory Points, ultimately determining the winner. As far as Roll & Writes go, Portal Games have my vote on this being my favourite so far. So, why does Imperial Settlers get my high approval?

Empires of the North is good, and with a decent number of Clan options in the box, there’s plenty of game here. The rhythm of play and my feel for the language in this series made entry quite easy. Also, the solo in Empires of the North is a big upgrade over the average solo of the base game. Empires of the North is a card game in which players lead one of six clans from three different factions. The game plays out over a series of rounds, during which players explore new lands, construct buildings, trade resources, and sail to new lands with the aim of either conquering, or pillaging to gain more goods! Each action draws the clans closer to becoming the greatest empire! The game ends in the same round that any player reaches the 25 victory points mark. In the Clean Up Phase players will retrieve any spent clan action pawns, retrieve spent workers from their clan tile, unexhaust all their cards, discard any remaining island cards and replace with fresh ones and pass the first player token. Game End A card game with card drafting and hand management at its core, that will have you take a command of one of the four nations – Romans, Barbarians, Egyptians and Japanese – and compete for the available resources to build the most powerful empire. How does it play?Roll & Write is a game for 1-4 players. In the game you can choose to play as a solo adventurer, working your way through 48 different village sheets, or competitively against 2-4 other players. Having 48 different village sheets means that this is a solo game with plenty of replay-ability.

Empires of the North is a one to four-player engine building game designed by Ignacy Trzewiczek and Joanna Kijanka. It's published by Portal Games. The game is set in the Imperial Settlers universe and will feel familiar to players of the original game. However, there are enough changes to gameplay mechanisms and new additions to ensure that this game stands apart from its predecessor. Rounds four and five can often take as long as the previous rounds put together, but at the same time the game does not outstay its welcome. It can be easily played in under one hour for the experienced players and under two hours for the beginners, and the slow beginning to the game ensures that it is accessible to the latter right off the bat. The art also serves a functional role. The roads leading to our settlements, for example, serve as a clever hint as to the type of place they are depicting – so that the settlements in the bottom row will have roads only go up, roads on the top row only go down, and if you see a card with roads going in both directions you’ll know that it needs to go in the middle row.

Raid an Opponent - A player can discard a raze token to exhaust an opponents location card. This location is not available for the rest of the round, unless a player can refresh that card.

During the game, you’ve still got a Lookout phase (where players draw cards to determine which ones to keep) and an Action phase, with Action cards that can be tapped, Buildings that can be Razed, and Fields that can be Harvested. Use an Action – A player can exhaust a location card in their tableau to perform the action on that card. Actions typically require players to spend resources to gain victory points, more resources or additional actions. Settlers from three Nordic empires have decided to start their voyages and set sail for new lands in hopes of finding more resources, and increasing their opportunities to expand. Building new structures, taking advantage of upcoming events, and outsmarting opponents is their path to greatness. You don’t know who your opponent might be; it might even be a different clan from your nation. Even so, you will do what is necessary. Your current lands are meager, and the resources scarce, so you’ll need to work hard to acquire the food and resources necessary to thrive!Use Clan Action Pawn - A player can place one of their clan action pawns to perform the displayed action. Actions include explore, harvest, populate, sail and construct. When performing this action any cards that a player has in their hand that has a "explore/harvest/populate/sail/construct to build" can play their location card first before performing the clan action. Players can also spend a vegetable to move their clan pawn one space around the wheel giving them the option to perform another action. This then exhausts that clan marker.

Imperial Settlers: Empires of the North is a stand alone game set in the Imperial Settlers universe. It’s not compatible with the original Imperial Settlers game. Created by Ignacy Trzewiczek it does share some mechanisms with its predecessor, and is still very much a tableau / engine building game. But what’s it like? And is it any good? You’ll soon find out. What is Imperial Settlers: Empires of the North like?This time around, players will gather a sizable amount of their resources not from production bonuses and “Deal” cards, but from sending boats to a board that allows players to gather resources and/or conquer islands. Depending on which of the six new factions you select to play Empires of the North, the Expedition board might be the most exciting—or most ignored—action in any of the Imperial Settlers games. No matter your view, eventually you have to send out ships to gather resources to fuel your engine. Expeditions are another fun addition to the game and the choice between pillaging for one off resource bonus or conquering for the action is interesting. The distant islands are more powerful but require more resources to reach. Build a location - Players can build a location from their hand paying the displayed resources. Certain buildings will have a specific action requirement to be able to build. These actions are performed on the clan action wheel, see below. As well as location action cards, there are also feature cards that give you on going bonuses, new fields, field upgrades and instant effect cards. It is worth adding that Imperial Settlers scales very well, with all player counts being equally enjoyable. Naturally, the four-player game will take longer than a two-player one, but owing to the fact that players take each action in turns, it keeps them engaged and the downtime is minimal. Imperial Settlers was a great game. I really enjoyed it. Empires of the North takes it to another level. There is enough new additions and tweaks to the previous game that really makes this one shine. If you liked Imperial Settlers then I am pretty sure you will like this one even more.