Following an amazingly successful 4 player game a week ago in which I introduced and converted 2 newbies (who weren't even sure they liked board games) to Twilight Imperium, I've now got my first 6 player game lined up!

This 6 player game will consist of myself and my girlfriend who now have 5 games under our belts, my friends geoff and lyndsay who were the converts from my 4 player game, and two more friends called Tom and Henry who really like board games in general and whilst they've never of Twilight Imperium they really like the sound of it and can't wait to try it.

I will be using the same rule variants as I for the last game:

1) Alternate Strategy Cards with Bureaucracy and Objectives.

2)Territorial Distant Suns (yup, it slows down the game but it adds a lot of flavour and we plan so that time isn't an issue).

3)Age of Empire with the Red Tape variant so Bureaucracy works.

4)Preset Map

The game will be set up on a Friday evening (sadly a friday evening 3 weeks away!) with play starting at about 10/1030am on the Saturday morning. The house we'll be playing in will be quite large and we're all going in with the frame of mind that if it finishes late, we'll all night over so we don't need to rush in order to get home in time for anything. Thankfully the two players who will be brand new are already familiar with games like axis and allies and want to actually read the rulebook before game night.

So my question is what can I expect from a 6 player game? I've heard from various sources that this is the ideal size, more so than 7 or 8 players but the largest I've played was the 4 player game last week so I'm not really sure (coincidentally I could make this game a 7 player game by adding in another experienced player but I've heard this is slightly unbalanced in the same way a 5 player one is). So what's the game like with 6 players? I'm thinking of taking out the Sardakk N'orr as from what I've seen they'll be quite a hard race to play if any of the new (or newer) player gets them simply because they kinda become a target from game on.

If you've got any tips, they'd be much appreciated!

Cheers,

El

What is a 6-player game of Twilight Imperium going to be like? Awesome. It's going to be awesome. That's what it's going to be like.

You seem to be on top of things, so my only advice is to have fun while taking over the galaxy!

I arranged a 6-player game this Christmas and it is really truly awesome. We were 4 people who had played it several times before, 1 who had played it a couple times before and 1 who had only tried it with 3 players before. Previously, I had played it with 3, 4 and 5 players, so this was my first 6-player game. I don't know about 7 or 8 player games, but 6 is definately better than anything less. Have fun!

I think more is generally merrier with this game, although 7-8 can really rack up the playtime. 6 is probably the ideal balance between length of game and social atmosphere.

It may be a bit late for this post, but given the mayhem of a 6 player game (mayhem in the best sense of the word ) plan for a long game, especially with new players. And as far as strategy, I recommend setting up some red border hexes to block easy access to your homeworld. Don't use them directly next to your homeworld, but 2 hexes away, and preferably in the outer rings, if possible. Keep your fleets centralized and flexible in their ability to respond. When you make a move with them, try to have an ally across the board to apply pressure to the player on the front you are leaving vulnerable.

Hey guys,

Not long to go now, game time is one week this saturday!

We have the whole day to play so time won't be an issue but it's definitely going to be quite long. It sounds like it's not worth trying a 7 or 8 player game unless all the players were quite experienced!

I'm going to start looking into printing off some more player handouts to take into account the extra players and get them laminated. I'm really looking forward to seeing all the deals that are going to be made and broken across the table!