The Extended Example of Play for Imperial Struggle is up! You can read it here. The example consists of the first Peace Turn and the War of the Spanish Succession; when it ends, the players would move on to the final turn of the Succession Era.

Writing the Example of Play is always a challenge. One doesn’t want to showcase terrible play, but the best examples of play provide a plausible platform for illustrating edge cases in the rules. Sometimes that requires the players to contort themselves a bit. Also, a good extended example doesn’t substitute for copious examples in the rules. As a designer, one hates to scare players off with a long rulebook, but Jason and I think a solid procedural approach and a willingness to write a lot of examples will do players better service in the long run. That’s why, in addition to the Extended Example, Imperial Struggle’s Playbook features some other self-contained examples of complex turns and plays, and the rulebook itself also tries to illustrate as much as it can.

When you read the Extended Example, take note of the different tradeoffs the players face at different points in the turn, and the constant tension between short-term gain and long-term investment. The uncertainty of military outcomes can tempt a player to hope that some luck will generate a big theater win, or prevent what seemed like an inevitable disaster. Much like its predecessor Twilight Struggle, Imperial Struggle is, at its heart, a game about opportunities and threats. Can you force your opponent to spend precious time and resources responding to a threat you efficiently mounted, and thus create space to widen your advantages or erase your weaknesses elsewhere?

Kudos to Charlie Kibler for his endless patience with my repeated edits to the examples (I have gone over them so many times that I see them in my sleep), and his great graphical illustrations; and to Ralan Hill, our developer, for his close attention in the finaling process.

Author: Ananda Gupta