Last Sunday we had our first game of Twilight Imperium. The game itself was fun and the various elements kept you focused throughout and I especially liked the way that you chose which area you wanted to focus on that round and that this also determined turn order.
The strengths of the game involved the production and technology phases, when you could build your fleets out of the cool plastic miniatures and conquer planets and improve the production and combat facilities of your alien nation. The trade part of the game initially was quickly sorted and trade agreements tended to last the game.
The one area that I feel we didn't really do justice to was the Assembly - the ability to write laws that govern the conduct of all the races - for during the whole game we only passed one law and that then reverted the game to a might is right type of play. I can see the potential for this to control the way the game plays out and it seemed to be a piece of the game that was under used. Maybe because we couldn't negotiate with each other easily or that one of the player's races had the power to veto any motion put forward and draw a random (usually meaningless compared to the player selected) political card. However, as this was the chief power of his race it seemed a shame not to use it. Or maybe it was just a reluctance of us to curb our own power by passing rules when we hadn't seen a game all the way through!
The action cards were used to great effect and often allowed the manipulation of the game in a positive way. The random pattern of placing the tiles allowed an interesting map to be built up and with the experience of the first play, I believe we can be far more effective in getting the most enjoyment out of this game - definitely worth a second play.
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