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Country's treasuries gain money from taxation, which increases based on how much territory the country controls, and from players buying bonds from that country. Players gain money by earning success bonuses from countries they control, earning 2,000,000 when the investor card they hold is activated, and most importantly from dividends of bonds they've previously purchased. Thus, gaining player money can be a two-step process – one must first buy a country's bonds, then get that money out of the country and into their own pocket by forcing the country to constantly pay interest/dividends on the loaned money. A country only spends money on two other things – importing military units (1M apiece) and building factories (5M apiece), so most money put into a treasury becomes available to pay back to investors. Money left in a country's treasury at the end of the game does not count toward helping any player win.
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country bought out from under them in the first turn, and end up sidelined from the action before he has even had a chance to act. This is somewhat offset by the rule that states that any player bought off the rondel receives $ 1,000,000 from the buying player and then has the immediate opportunity to buy any available bond. Each time the investor space is passed, the player-without-country again has the chance to buy any available bond. This remains the case until the player-without-country has a majority share of any country. The advanced rules call for a series of opportunities for each player in rotating order to purchase one bond of any available value from each country at the start of the game; a player can still end up in a situation where they control no countries, but is less likely and presumably involves an error in the initial bidding.
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units needed for a counterattack. To get back to full industrial capacity, the opponent must expend turns and armies destroying the occupying armies. Another disadvantage of destroying factories is that the three invading armies are lost, and therefore are unavailable to be recalled to defend the home country. An offer to withdraw occupying armies can be used as a bargaining chip to get a country to take a certain action. But when a factory has been destroyed, the invader has no way to undo the damage, and therefore has nothing to offer in bargaining (and is also three armies shorter).
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230:. The principal bondholder of a nation gains control of its government and can order importation or production of armaments and ships; maneuvering of military units; construction of factories; and taxation. During play, an investor card is passed around which allows the purchase of additional bonds. A
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The game has a standard and advanced set of rules for beginning the game. Under the standard rules, each player starts out with control of a given country and also acquires two bonds in other countries. The game is generally regarded as "broken" under this set of rules because a player can have their
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promulgated by the designer allows a player who controls no countries to collect 1M from the bank if he chooses not to invest when the investor card is activated. This may be particularly useful in 7-player games. It may also be a way to prevent less experienced players from getting "stuck" when they
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are wealthy banking families who surreptitiously control and exploit
European governments from behind the scenes. Control of the majority of a country's debt allows the player to control the country's actions. A key element of the game is separating the player's money from each country's treasury.
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The Swiss Bank variant, designed to benefit players who lose their last government, makes it possible to force a nation in which the owner of the Swiss bank holds bonds to stop on the investor field on the rondel. The blank cardboard tile included with the game indicates ownership of the Swiss bank.
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Armies traveling through other empires can be either passive or hostile. A hostile army is placed upright and a passive army is placed on its side. Hostile armies shut down the occupied province's factories and railroads and prevent imports and factory construction in that province. The rules do not
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In the taxation phase, a country's treasury receives 2M for each unoccupied factory, plus 1M for each tax chip, minus 1M for each military unit. The country's octagonal game piece is moved to the appropriate number on the power chart, and if the country has moved up on the tax chart, a success bonus
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network within its borders by which its armies can rapidly deploy to the battlefield. For example, in one turn, Germany can move a fleet into the North Sea, and then move an army from Munich to Norway by (1) traveling from Munich to
Hamburg by railroad, and then (2) traveling from Hamburg to Norway
782:). It includes a number of subtle rules changes as well, notably including the Swiss Bank variant as a general part of the rules, increasing the price on high-power countries to skip ahead on the rondel, and changing the rules on bonuses for a taxation action to the controlling player of a power.
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Three armies can destroy a factory (and themselves at the same time), but this is rarely done. A reason is that a player with three armies at his disposal has the alternative of shutting down three factories, which can immediately severely hamper an opponent's ability to raise funds and military
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are tallied up to determine the winner. The formula is 1 victory point for each million in cash in hand plus the interest (the smaller number at the bottom of the bond certificate) for each bond held multiplied by the credit factor shown for that country on the counting chart. There are
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The amount of military units available to the empires vary. Germany, Russia, Italy, and France get eight armies and eight fleets each. Austria-Hungary, however, gets ten armies and six fleets while Great
Britain, on the other hand, gets ten fleets and six armies.
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by convoy. In
Germany's next turn, that army can make the return trip by the same means. Chains of fleets in contiguous ocean territories can transport armies over long distances in one turn, but each fleet can only carry one army per turn.
234: – a wheel-shaped game mechanism with eight different options – is used to determine the options available to a country. The game box states that it is for 2–6 players, but a developer-supported variant allows play with seven.
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allow opponents to occupy (or destroy) all of a country's factories, though. If a country is down to its last operating factory, then other countries' armies entering that province must be placed on their side as passive armies.
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As of 2012, a third version of the game has been released that is somewhat different from the original. There is a 30 mil bond and the notion of a "Swiss Bank" for players not governing a nation.
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that cannot be occupied. Along the right side of the board is the power chart. Along the bottom is the counting chart. Once any country reaches 25 points on the counting chart, the game ends.
304:. Armies can be transported over bodies of water by convoys. Fleets and armies destroy each other in a one-to-one ratio. Fleets are always moved first; then armies. Each imperial power has a
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One variant, mentioned in the rule book, removes the investor card. The rule book notes that this creates a somewhat less exciting but more strategic game. It tends to prevent
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Each great power has five home provinces where factories can be built. There are fifteen other land regions and nine ocean regions. The regions that can be occupied are:
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In the original version, each country has eight bonds. In the third and latest version of the game, a ninth bond was added. The current bond values are as follows:
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in which the object is to accumulate wealth in the form of bond holdings in successful countries and cash. Players take on the role of international
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is paid to the player who holds that country's flag. When a country reaches 25 points on the counting chart, the game ends.
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Players' bond holdings in each country are public knowledge; current cash on hand is allowed to be kept secret.
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If the nation's treasury is not sufficient for all payouts, the nation cannot be forced to stop on
Investor.
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in
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845:"Rule against shutting down/destroying all of a country's factories | Imperial"
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758:. It replaces the map of Europe with a world map. The playable countries are
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in the event two players have the same number of victory points.
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is a follow-up game released in 2009 with similar mechanics.
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Military units move in a (somewhat) similar manner as in
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was nominated as a Spiel des Jahres recommended game.
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802:"First time SEVEN player session | Imperial"
985:"Imperial -lautapelin arvostelu ＞ Lautapeliopas"
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921:"Imperial forum answers by designer Mac Gerdts"
730:find themselves with no flag and little money.
909:Twenty Questions with Mac Gerdts | Fortress:AT
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863:"Who destroys factories? | Imperial"
71:Learn how and when to remove this message
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961:"Swiss Bank variant | Imperial"
1029:"Pyramid: Pyramid Review: Imperial"
943:"No money no flag? | Imperial"
36:may contain improper references to
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919:mrbass (3 February 2007).
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1084:Spiel des Jahres winners
991:(in Finnish). 2010-01-25
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251:was first published in
244:History and development
185:German-style board game
1094:Rio Grande Games games
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38:user-generated content
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53:used inappropriately
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711:Recognized variants
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830:2007-09-22 at the
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49:unreliable sources
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927:7 September
705:tiebreakers
684:30,000,000
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640:12,000,000
556:Switzerland
333:Provinces:
201:World War I
156:120 minutes
1073:Categories
995:2022-08-11
970:2022-12-30
872:2022-12-30
811:2022-12-30
786:References
727:house rule
629:9,000,000
618:6,000,000
607:4,000,000
596:2,000,000
545:Ionian Sea
539:, Western
521:Baltic Sea
325:Game board
193:financiers
189:Mac Gerdts
148:10 minutes
145:Setup time
119:Publishers
113:Mac Gerdts
45:improve it
549:Black Sea
525:North Sea
371:Marseille
347:Sheffield
343:Liverpool
339:Edinburgh
301:Diplomacy
172:12 and up
169:Age range
108:Designers
1048:Imperial
1021:Imperial
1013:Imperial
828:Archived
748:Imperial
510:Bulgaria
462:Portugal
443:Florence
427:Budapest
367:Bordeaux
306:railroad
280:Imperial
274:Imperial
266:Gameplay
257:Imperial
249:Imperial
180:Imperial
127:PD-Games
99:Imperial
85:Imperial
1034:Pyramid
694:Winning
506:Romania
496:, West
486:Denmark
482:Holland
478:Belgium
474:Tunisia
470:Algeria
466:Morocco
431:Trieste
419:Lemberg
387:Cologne
375:Hamburg
216:Germany
204:empires
137:Players
774:, the
772:Brazil
760:Russia
587:Payout
514:Turkey
512:, and
502:Greece
498:Balkan
494:Sweden
490:Norway
451:Naples
449:, and
439:Venice
423:Vienna
415:Prague
411:Odessa
403:Warsaw
399:Moscow
391:Munich
383:Danzig
379:Berlin
351:London
335:Dublin
232:rondel
228:Russia
226:, and
212:France
161:Chance
1015:Rules
768:India
764:China
577:Value
566:Bonds
558:is a
458:Spain
435:Genoa
363:Dijon
359:Paris
355:Brest
224:Italy
183:is a
929:2021
752:2009
582:Cost
447:Rome
407:Kiev
253:2006
164:None
97:The
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140:2–6
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