Polski
English
Deutsch
Last week I wrote about the philosophy behind the new expansion for Imperial Settlers. Today let me go and dive into the details of each deck. What exactly did we do? What cards made it to the appropriate decks?
Romans
In a base game of Imperial Settlers Romans built a lot of buildings, their strong suit was a stone resource, and their most powerful feature was the feature cards! Administration and Headquarters, when built early in the game were changing Romans into a steamroller. How we approached this concept in the expansion?
Still a lot of stones, and yes, cool feature cards again.
The main engine card in the deck is a Tax Collector. It changes locations you Conquered(grabbed from the other player) into a feature card. That speeds up the Roman engine. We also added some defense cards like Crossbow maker which can turn a Common card into a barrier, into a shield that protects from Conquest action. Well, Romans never cared about Common cards anyway.
Along with this defensive Crossbow maker there comes Abrupt negotiations card which allows Romans to Conquest any enemy card regardless of its placement. And since Romans love Foundations, we gave them a gift called Wrecking ball. Each time they got Conquer, they got Foundation as a small reward.
Romans will Conquest locations to increase their Features pool, and then will use Crossbow maker to protect the Empire. That’s the idea behind the deck.
Barbarians
In a base game of Imperial Settlers, Barbarians are all about being a pain in the ass opponent, stupid, little, nasty bugs that steal stuff. With this expansion, we gave Barbarians a challenge. They always had many swords at their disposal to Raze. Here is a challenge – now it is either Raze or Conquest. You must choose. You won’t have enough Raze tokens to do both!
Core card in the deck is Bravest Ruffians – each time Barbarians Conquest, they get VP and a Worker. Mammoth squad allows them to Conquest enemy buildings without Raze tokens, just sending people and get the location to your side! These two combine nice and smooth, and if Barbarians have any Raze tokens left, they can use Nest card that allows them to Conquest enemy location and additionally get a Common card. Here is their choice – spend Workers for just a regular Conquest or spend valuable Raze token and get so much more. And finally last but not least – Shiny spoils – which is basically Barbarians at their best. With this building, they can Conquest enemy Production building, but instead of getting goods it Produces, they’ll destroy the stuff and turn into VP. Yep, Barbarians.
Japanese
Japanese weakness – the fact that enemy can Raze their faction locations – becomes now their strength. If other player Conquer them, then they quickly – in revenge – can Raze the stolen location.
In a base game of Imperial Settlers, they were all about deals and tomatoes. Ok, kidding. Apples. Here we wanted to offer a well-balanced mix of different abilities to gave them a lot of flexibility.
New decree is probably the most powerful card in the whole set. Japanese can spend 3 Raze tokens to Conquest one enemy building and additionally Raze the other. This is a hell of the invasion. It makes enemy cry. Make a few deals for swords and you are set.
Tradesman is a tricky card – it allows Japanese to change the position of the card in a chosen row and therefore change the cost of a Conquest action. We also added a small gift to the deck – Dragon chapel. It is a very cheap card with a nice Building bonus – 2 Raze tokens and 2 Samurais. The last card in the set is Close negotiations – it brings Japanese deal strategy back in action – they can now pay Raze token to activate one of their deals and get twice a good it provides.
Egipt
In a base game, it was always dark magic, mean and tricky faction that messed with other players. Here, Egyptian spirit shines again…
With Minions, Egyptians can spend Stone to steal Workers from other players. And, just to remind you – Egyptians have stuff. They can afford few stupid stones to mess with you.
Speaking of having stuff – Egyptians can take your locations without Raze tokens. They spend Gold and Conquest enemy building. Bribery is a powerful tool.
Egyptians can – in a Production phase – move any enemy location one space to the left, so it is cheaper to grab in the future. And the most important, the key for the whole deck – Advance guard card. It protects the entire row (either Production, Feature, or Action) so if you are afraid about your Pyramids or Sphinx, worry not. We have you covered. You can be mean to everybody at the table and be pretty much safe at the same time.
50 cards. New combos for each of the four basic factions and a bunch of cool Common cards. What’s not to like, huh?
Originally posted on BTTS Blog on BGG Forum. Click here to read there!
