Jessica's Imperium Solo Review

Hey everyone, I'm Jessica and today I want to talk about another solo game that I really enjoy and that is grab this giant box. Imperium. This is the Horizon's box, but this also includes classics and legends. So, what is this all about? This is a really neat civilization style building game done with cards and resources, but it really compacts it down into this great experience in a fairly small number of cards.

And you have all these different asymmetric civilizations that you get to play as which have their own abilities and different play styles. And there's so much to explore with it. I'll also note that for solo, there is a bot that you can use that kind of has this whole sequence that creates a challenge, but there's also an optional practice mode instead, which basically is just you playing a civilization within 12 rounds or 12 turns.

Same thing, [laughter] but it gives you an idea of how each one plays. Although I will say I play the practice solo mode and that is my preferred way to play just because it is a full experience. It's called practice but it's not something that's kind of like stripped out of it doesn't strip down the experience.

It's just it's everything and you get to see how these civilizations play out. So I recall I haven't played in a little bit but one of the ones that I played for a while was the Romans which is one of the easier ones. The nice part, I should note, with the rule book is that in the back it has all of the civilizations listed out and kind of talks about their play style, but you'll also see that there are stars which indicate how difficult each one is to play.

I've also played this multiplayer where I've explored some of the other ones, but solo I just slowly work my way up and there are tons that I still have yet to check out. And the nice part here too is even when you're playing with that same civilization. So if I play with the Romans over and over, this is just their deck.

There's also the commons. So there are these shared cards sort of that come out there that can come out each play, but you typically don't pick up all of these. and even seeing them at, you know, over and over again. They offer different opportunities with the way that they sort of interact with each civilization.

And the cards themselves are simple in terms of understanding them. like there the text is pretty pretty easy to follow, but then you have this great illustration that sort of is just neat in terms of seeing how it ties into that civilization and it's great artwork, but it's simple to play. And what I mean by that is you're not I don't find myself looking up the rules that much to get into this.

It does take a little bit to understand the sequence of play and what the different icons mean and some of the limitations based on the state of your civilization. But for the most part, I just play now and focus on my strategy, which doesn't always work out, but I don't have to pause to understand what is going on.

One of the things that I've mentioned recently, I think, or at least I know it's been on my mind, is how each game sort of has its own language that you're learning as you're playing. And that's part of that is the rules, part of that is the strategy, part of that is the visual aspect or at least understanding what these different icons mean and what the game is trying to convey to you in its unique form.

So, what do I mean by that? Like for instance, this is a card. This is one prosperity. Um, you know, all players may draw a card, choose gain one material per I think that is food or gain one population per what is that lands I think you have in play. I I haven't looked at this in a bit, but just immediately I know what that's saying.

I know how that would play out and I can speak that language pretty well after playing several times. It does take a little bit to get into it, but it really just throws you in and you get to make all these decisions. There are unrest cards that will build up if you're not taking care of those, which kind of can mean that your civilization is going to come to a an end very soon when you have too much unrest.

But it feels like it simulates a very large scale civilization at a with a small number of cards and components, which is really nice. And the other nice thing that I like about it is that it encourages me at least to look up some of the history behind this. So, I'll see a card or I'll see a civilization that I don't know that much about and then I go in search of some information just to learn more about what I'm playing and how that sort of plays into it because not all the cards it has a card name and it has an illustration, but I might not necessarily know how that ties in, but it's interesting and it it kind of piques my interest and I want to go figure out more about what I'm playing and learn more about the history behind it.

Not all of these are based on history. I believe there are in Horizons. We have some that are not historical civilizations. I think we have like the Martians. Um I should remember what some of these are, but they're not all based in history. A lot of them are obviously, but not all of them. I'm just looking up what else.

Yeah, there are the Martians, so I am correct. And I don't know if there's a lot of other ones that are not based on history, but you know what? Just saying that makes me realize I need to look up some more of this and learn more about these different civilizations. It's just a really I don't know if elegant sounds like the right word.

I never feel like that's the right way to describe a game, but it's it plays pretty smoothly once you get into it and once you understand it. And especially for solo. I should just I think it's I know I saw it recently in the rule book just to show you what that the practice solo mode. Let's take it over here.

Say large. This is almost a little unruly this rule book. But where are we here? Over here. This is all you need. This is it. That's the practice solo mode. Just that one box and that's it. So it's very simple compared to the other solo mode. So, that's like a nice way to start to play, but it's also a full experience.

And I also have seen there are some neat campaign modes that are out there. And there's a lot in this system. And even just one of them, if you have classics or legends or horizons, they're all very similar. It's just different civilizations. The only note is to make sure that you have the most up-to-date rule book as I picked this up early on.

and the solo unrest cards in the original rules. It was missing a rule. So, it did not make sense to play. It was extremely difficult. I didn't understand how this was, but there was literally one line was missing about how to handle unrest cards in solo. Now that that's in there, it makes a lot more sense and it's very enjoyable.

But I will note if you are playing solo and find that the unrest cards are uh just don't seem to be making sense, just be sure that you are using the most up-to-date rule book. It will change things immensely. [laughter] So that again is Imperium Horizons and Classics and Legends, the whole system. Awesome game.

Thanks so much for watching and I hope you get some great solo games to your table soon. Thanks again and take care. Bye.