Twilight Imperium - History

By: Dozer

Twilight Imperium has a special place in my board gamer heart. Second Edition was my first board game that I played right after I joined the military. One of the guys on my basic had picked up the board game and we played after we met up a few weeks later.

It was my first mature boardgame that felt like Axis and Allies, Catan, and one of my favorite video games Masters of Orion. You vied for political power every turn, there were plastic ships that represented the Cruisers, Carriers, Dreadnoughts, and Fighters. There were alien systems to explore and epic battles to be won. Six races each with their unique abilities were ready to be played.

TI 2nd Edition in all of its glory.

It was awesome.

By the time I was wanting to pick it up something magical happened four short years later that changed my life as a board gamer.

Twilight Imperium Third Edition and it was truly epic.



Twilight Imperium Third Edition was pure madness in a huge box. It was two of the standard Fantasy Flight game boxes in length. Inside there was pounds of plastic and punch out cardboard tokens. I remember going to Costco to buy Ziplock bags in bulk to make sure I was able to organize each race, type of token, and game piece.

To play the game we would collect bowls and cups to load in the various fighter, infantry, supply tokens to they could be quickly passed around with easy. Each race was given a card stock playing board that recorded the resources and list quick references. The reverse side was the unique history of each race and how they fit into the current conflict.

We played it at least a few times a month in my old house when I lived with Wolf and a few other friends. There was a time we played it once a week even it it meant only with three players. Getting six players was hard and it was known that a six player game would be a long day at the table.

Two expansions were released: Twilight Imperium 3rd Edition – Shattered Empire, and
Twilight Imperium 3rd Edition – Shards of the Throne.

They increased the number of races and the number of players to eight. It included rules like diplomats, admirals, and generals. Alternate strategy cards, more action cards, more policy cards, alternate win conditions. New ships, more technology, and more planet. A plethora of alternate, additional, and advanced rules.

It also go so large I had problems keeping it sorted. We also grew up, got married, and some of have kids. The regular games become organized activities and social planned events. Twilight Imperium Third Edition was no longer a regular game it started to become a game we played every few months and over the last five years a game we played only once a year.

Then I met my wife Shonty and she learned that when the annual game of Twilight Imperium came around I would be gone for the day. We would all flock to someone's home, abandon our families and responsibilities to play in the great intergalactic conflict.

When the game became annual I had to change things. I need to get organized.

So I ventured to the Home Depot and Micheals Craft stores. I would bring a portion of the game with me and sit the isle fitting each of the pieces testing to see if it would all fit together. It was at Micheals that I found the first and most important solution. The coloured pieces - the ships, infantry, PDS, technology cards. Each race has a small selection of tokens but keeping the large number of coloured pieces organized was a large problem.

Double sided organizers labeled and showing the land and tech side (Blue), and space side (Green) 

The double sided organizers solved it all. One side I put each of the planetary units; fighters, infantry, space docks, and PDS along with the all of the coloured tech cards and promissory notes. The other side had enough room to hold each of the space craft (fighter need carriers so they don't count as space craft - you need the advance fighters technology). I spent time fitting each type of unit into each area and labeling the area so clean up after a game would be easy.

So now each player grabs a race tile and a coloured box and they are ready to start setting up to play. Now I needed to sort out the rest of the pieces that came with this monster game and two expansions. 

Races Case

At the Home Depot I found two bit cases made by Stanley. I mixed and matched the various sized bins. Once case would be each of the races and their specific various pieces. Starting planet cards, race technologies, characters, race tokens, and flagship cards. I labeled each box and each boxes location. Only the L1Z1X had a larger box simple because I could not solve the layout of the case.

It also included the exploration tokens, political card sets, and the Shattered Empire tokens for the Shattered Empire alternative game. I'm able to load everything up and keep it all in their place. 

All of toys in their boxes

The second case would hold all the other bits and pieces, dice, and sets of cards. It also included the home systems. Each box was placed in a particular spot and I labeled under each one. Now cups and bowls were no longer being stolen from our kitchens so we could pass around the many tokens. Each set came in their own little container. 

So everything was now ready all I needed was a table. When Shonty and I moved to our last home I built a 6'x4' table. It was designed for games of Warmachine, Hordes, Infinity, X-Wing, and Twilight Imperium. I also had backed a little kickstarter called Gripmats. It provided a non-stick playmat with all of my grids laid out and ready to play on. To christen this new table of awesome there was only one game that could have be played, Twilight Imperium. 

It was an epic game of six plus hours, me and seven mates, plenty of food, beer, soda, and fun. We had plenty of room and everything was nice and neat. We could focus on the chaos of the game instead of the chaos that was everything that made up the game.

New table, old friends, awesome game

Twilight Imperium has always been that game. That monster that takes up time like no other. It is the beast that dominates every table it is played on. Few can muster the time and space to play this game at a full six or even the legendary eight players. 

I picked it up on the second print run from a local game store Fandom 2. Fantasy Flight was already having issues keeping up with making enough games to sell. I had friends who wanted to pick up a copy and they waited months for the game to be restocked.

This game is the epic monster at the end of each dungeon. There is nothing like Twilight Imperium in scale, wonder, rules, and pure size. It is monstrous and worthy of all of this praise. 

You can't ignore the impact that Twilight Imperium has had on our hobby. It founded Fantasy Flight Games one of the world greatest developers of board games. It has been the source of many excited mornings as folks wake up knowing that in a few hours they will dedicate their whole day to an epic space opera that has only shadows to compare against it. 

Below is a bit of history, the first documentary from the gents at Shut Up and Sit Down.

You see in August a few folks got their hands on a new game that took the crown from Twilight Imperium. It would be the only game that could do so. At GENCON 50 this game would be revealed and sold in limited quantities before coming to store last week. 

It's called Twilight Imperium Fourth Edition. The king is dead, long live the king. 

Next week is the unboxing.

- Cheers