Imperial is a game that I enjoy, but my first two attempts at the game had been with players who didn't quite understand - or really like - the game.

One of the nice things about this game was that Troy, who hadn't played it before, was familiar with Diplomacy. Sure, Imperial isn't actually Diplomacy, but it's got enough similarities for knowledge of one to be a good starting point for the latter.

Unfortunately, one of the not-so-nice things about this game was that Randy was playing. This isn't to impugn Randy's niceness (he's one of the best people I know) or tactics. No, it's just that he did really, really well in this game... so well, that I never felt I could quite catch up.

Looking back on it, I'm not quite sure why he did so well, either!

We were using the basic game, without recourse to the advanced set-up or no-investor card variants. No-one had Austria, so I, with Italy, went first. Randy started with the Investor card.

The troublemaker of the game was Austria-Hungary, which had only one investor at the start of the game (Rich) and only a small stake in it at that! So, it began invading the countries around it and making a nuisance of itself. Sure, it wasn't taxing well, but it did manage to distract Italy, Germany and Russia at inopportune times!

For the most part, the countries managed to get along. Sure, France and England squabbled over the price of fish and Russia and Italy were uncertain about what a Balkan Knot was, but profits were coming in.

I gained control of Russia. Randy took it back from me. I lost Italy.

There was a moment when Randy could have manuevered before taxing, and thus had Russia end the game. However, he didn't... and it was one point away from ending the game! Everyone else taxed, and so led to a very flat endgame position, but Randy had an advantage in funds and investments.

Final Scores:

Austria-Hungary (x1): Randy 3, Rich 4
Italy (x4): Randy (10) 40; Rich (11) 44; Troy (8) 32; Merric (4) 16
France (x4): Randy (6) 24; Troy (8) 32; Merric (13) 42
England (x4) Rich (1) 4; Troy (18) 72; Merric (2) 8
Germany (x4): Randy (14) 56; Rich (7) 28; Merric (7) 28
Russia (x5): Randy (12) 60; Rich (9) 45; Troy (5) 25; Merric (6) 30

funds: Randy $28m, Rich $15m, Troy $10m, Merric $21m

Total Assets: Randy $211m; Troy $161m; Merric $145m; Rich $140m

We were pretty close, until you looked at Randy's score!

The four player game that I played I managed to get control of France, Italy, and Austria by mid game. My Italian Navy waged war with the British in the English Channel. I didn't do well tax wise though, and I lost Austria by the end of the game. The player with Russia won.