Mega Empires
2022
Designed by Gerart de Haan, Flo de Haan, John Rodriguez
Published by Colossus Games, Ares Games
Mega Empires is a modular empire-building strategy board game that covers the development of empires through history. It consists of the games Mega Empires: The West (2019), Mega Empires: The East (2021), The Far East - North (2027), and The Far East - South (2027) that can be played on a standalone basis or in combinations. In this colossal game, players lead their historic empire as they gain victory points by expanding their population, building cities, trading and developing their knowledge and culture. Notwithstanding its large scope, the game's core mechanics are straightforward and easy to learn. A key element in the game is player interaction as they position themselves on the map board and search for valuable commodities during interactive trading sessions. Scope Mega Empires consists of two pairs of standalone games: The West and The East are games for 3-9 players each, which can be combined as a game for up to 18 players. The West concentrates on the Mediterranean Sea, which requires movement by ship, The East covers Northeast Africa, the Arabian Peninsula and Southwest Asia, and has a stronger focus on movement by land. Both games were designed as balanced counterparts, albeit with unique characteristics. The Far East - North and The Far East - South are games for 3-5 players each, which can be combined as a game for up to 10 players. North has a strong focus on the land masses of East Asia, whereas South combines the continent, islands and abundant waters in South East Asia, which stimulates movement by ship. Both games were designed as balanced counterparts, albeit with unique characteristics. The game was designed to be the biggest board game in the world that can be played in a single day in one room. Despite its ambitions about size and duration, Mega Empires can be scaled down to as few as 3 players includes a scenario for playing a shorter game through an accelerated start. Gameplay Each player starts their empire with a single population token on the board. As the game progresses population will expand, spread over the board, sometimes engage in conflict, and build cities. Cities bring resources and wealth, expressed in trade cards. The more cities players manage to build on the board, the more trade cards they receive. Trade cards are mainly valuable commodities, but sometimes turn out to be disastrous calamities. Trade Trading is the heart of the game, a social experience where all players interact with each other to optimize the value of their sets of commodities. In addition to the desired commodities, calamities are secretly traded as well, adding an additional layer to the trading dynamics. Once the trading phase has ended, players that end up with a calamity in their hand will suffer its effects. Develop Civilization Advances When the smoke of trading and resolving calamities has settled, players can decide how to spend the wealth gathered through trading. The game includes a set of different advances that can be developed, each of which provides benefits in the game to its holder. The Civilization advances are divided into the categories Arts, Crafts, Science, Civics and Religion, each of which has specific powers. Each advance acquired by a player provides discounts to other advances that can be purchased later in the game, thereby creating a path of strategic decisions. Winning the Game The players who have best developed their position on the board whilst avoiding making enemies and defended their empire against natural or civic calamities and stand the test of time, will eventually gather the most victory points and compete for wining the game. Expansions Mega Empires: The West/The East - The Special Buildings (2024) is an expansion set that provides additional flavor to the game through 18 miniatures of ancient buildings historically associated with each of the empires in the game. These buildings can be built on the map board and provide additional benefits in play and
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Game data sourced from BoardGameGeek, used under their API terms.
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