Imperium: Legends

The pitch sold me, so I bought both boxes: Classics and Legends. The production is excellent, but after two games with Legends I am not going to pretend I fully understand what it is trying to be. My first game, Arthurian versus Minoan, had me choose a maximum-difficulty civilisation with an atypical flow despite having no prior experience. Poor decision. Imperium: Legends can punish you before you have worked out precisely what you did wrong.

You are each playing a civilisation, but not necessarily in remotely the same manner as the person across the table. The Legends are asymmetric, and a high-difficulty civilisation can ask for an approach quite unlike the game’s standard rhythm. That is the attraction, and also the point where a first play can feel like a lesson delivered without a teacher.

From what I have seen, player interaction depends heavily on the pairing of civilisations. My second game, Maurytan versus Egypt, was much more approachable; yet the choices can apparently produce either a proper contest or a dispiriting game of solitaire with witnesses. You want an opponent who knows what is happening too. Otherwise the asymmetry does not merely pull you in a different direction; it leaves you swimming alone.

For now, it leaves me with something of the same aftertaste as Space Corp: Ventures: intriguing asymmetry, with an enormous amount riding on which civilisations meet. I need several more plays before offering a final judgement. The production keeps it on the table, and the second game gave me a reason to continue, but Imperium: Legends has not earned my trust yet — only my curiosity.