In the list of games that I forget I love, Imperial Settlers might be up at the top. Only problem is that I always seem to forget that. Everything about Portal Game’s 2014 hit appeals to me from the cartoony art to the subtle card drafting. Thus, when the first faction expansion was announced, I could not wait to dive back into an already great game.
Imperial Settlers is all about civilization building, but not in the dry, day long sessions of the ‘Civ’ genre. Instead Imperial Settlers achieves the glory of engine building and resource management in a relatively quick, yet still strategically deep way. The primary focus of each player’s strategy comes from their particular faction’s building deck. These faction decks give each faction radically different options and drive differing playstyles.
This expansion introduces a new faction to the original four: the fabled Atlanteans. The primary difference for this faction is in the way Atlantean’s score and how they utilize technology tokens. Rather thematically, at the end of the game all of the Atlanean faction buildings sink; awarding no victory points (as opposed to the normal two per building for the other factions). Thus the Atlanteans focus on generating points during the game to make up for the loss. Technology is also added into the game as a new resource. The Atlantean faction can leverage technology to get a wide array of bonuses from both their faction buildings and their common buildings.
If you want to learn more about the game and hear more thoughts, check out the video.
From Trading in the Mediterranean to FPS, I love games. While I grew up in a house without consoles, PC gaming and board gaming were a large part of my formative years, and continue to influence my life. In this golden age of board gaming, I have jumped in headfirst in to anything table top. As a ludilogical student, I love thinking about how games work, their mechanics, their elegance and most importantly, enjoying how fun they are.
Favorite Board Game (at the moment): Twilight Struggle
Favorite PC Game (base solely on play time): Tie between WoW and DII
Fell free to email me: comments, concerns, questions, feedback, rants, and/or suggestions.
Keeping up with the original four factions in Imperial Settlers, Atlanteans offers new and different ways to build up a civilization. Building on an already great system, this faction expansion adds more of a great thing. This radically different faction is a must for anyone who enjoyed playing the base game and is looking to add more variety. The only possible slight to this endeavor is the lack of material for the existing game and factions. Other than that, this is an excellent expansion.
PROS
- Different gameplay feel
- Strong engine building
- Divergent paths to victory
CONS
- Little change for original factions
- Atlantean focus
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