This weekend we snuck in a game of Twilight Imperium IV. Al played The Universities of Jol-Nar, Paul the The Emirates of Hacan, and I chose The Xxcha Kingdom. By the end of the game, Fish and Cats were living together. Mass hysteria!
Al reached Mecatol Rex first and claimed its victory point after spending six influence. Paul attacked in waves over the next couple of turns, but couldn’t dislodge Al before Al earned two more points by taking the Imperial card.
My game began with a mistake: I overlooked my racial ability to take control of an adjacent system when choosing Diplomacy. I fell behind early. On the plus side, being firmly in third place resulted in me getting elected for agenda items that Paul didn’t want Al to have!
Paul finally ousted Al from Mecatol Rex. I immediately arrived with a large fleet to mop up. I owned the skies, but I was unsuccessful in my attempt to seize control of the planet. Paul was able to win a point through Imperial, although he couldn’t take advantage of claiming a public objective.
After the Status Phase, the score was Al: 9, Paul: 9, and Todd: 7. Paul was the speaker, and the first agenda was Shard of the Throne: The elected player gains this card and 1 victory point. Al threw all of his support behind me. The score was now 9-9-8. The next agenda was to elect a player to be the Minister of Peace: after a player activates a system that contains one or more of a different player’s units, the Minister of Peace can immediately end the active player’s turn. Simply put, since Paul had more remaining influence than Al and I combined, he could prevent one of us from completing an attack on Mecatol Rex.
I couldn’t let it stand. I used my racial ability to quash the agenda.
The next agenda was Seed of an Empire: if passed, it awarded a victory point to the player with the most points. A vote against awarded a point to the player with the fewest points. I threw everything I had against it. If it failed, then the score would be 9-9-9.
And then one of those amazing moments unfolded that require you to understand the intricacies of the game to fully appreciate it. We could read the situation like a book:
Paul as the Speaker would select Imperial with the first pick of strategy tiles. I owned the skies over Mecatol Rex, but I had no ground forces. Al had ground forces, but couldn’t defeat my fleet. Thus, Al needed to choose Diplomacy with the 2nd pick, and I would take Leadership. I would go first in the action phase and move my fleet away from Mecatol Rex. Al would go second and easily oust Paul, preventing Paul from scoring his tenth point with Imperial.
If no points were scored using secret objectives, then I would go first in the Status Phase because I held Leadership. I would score my tenth point and win.
Therefore Paul voted for Seed of an Empire. Both he and Al were simultaneously awarded a victory point, ending the game 10-10-8 and resulting in a tie. Fish and Cats were living together in perfect harmony, while the Turtles sadly finished in third place.
