In 1697 the Sun King, Louis XIV, emerged from a decade of war with his Continental ambitions still unsatisfied. Meanwhile, King William III of England sat easier on his new throne than he ever had before.
Imperial Struggle is a game about what historians call the “Second Hundred Years’ War.” It tries to capture the whole span of this global 18th-century rivalry between Britain and France. From the beginning of the game, the stakes couldn’t be higher: in the War of the Spanish Succession, France fights to become the world’s first global superpower by uniting its peerless army with Spain’s colonial wealth… all the way to the end, where the British struggle to maintain control over the vast North American territories.
Imperial Struggle is a low-complexity game that can be finished by experienced players in an evening. It is not a card-driven game in the sense that cards do not determine the entire scope of player actions each turn; rather, players must combine the Investment Tiles, accessible to each of them, with the Events, which are secretly held. Additionally, Imperial Struggle has no die rolling. The randomness in the game comes from three sources: the Investment Tile deal each peace turn, the initial military strength in each theater of war, and each player’s Event draws.
2-Players
120-240 Minutes
Ages 14+
