Good day everyone,

I am very new to the Twilight imperium board game.( We have played around 6 games so far.).

We are using the shattered empire set:

Here is the situation:

The number 8 strategy card allows the player to pick the top 2 cards on the public objective deck, put one into play, and then place the other one on top of the deck.

we had one stage 1  public objective left, and the first stage 2 objective was the "Game ends" card. 

Does the game end immediately when the player with the 8 strategy looks at the top two cards or does it only take effect if it is played?

Do you have to play all stage 1 public objectives prior to a stage 2 objective being played?

Another example:

2 stage 1 objectives still remain.  The 8 strategy hasn't been picked in 3 turns, giving it 3 bonus tokens.  Next turn a player chooses it. He now has to flip 3 public objective cards into play.   How does the flip 2 , choose one and place the other on the top, work in this situation?

Any help would be greatly appreciated as we spent an hour looking for the answers during the game.

Thanks again and sorry for not knowing the proper terms.

coleman2k said:

To answer your first question. It ends as soon as Imp. Rex is drawn, as per the rules on page 16 of the Shattered Empire rulebook. Second, there is no restriction on whether you must play Stage 1 objectives before Stage 2, thus you may choose, as per the card's rules.

Next, the rule is seperate. You reveal an Objective card for each bonus counter, THEN proceed to the Objective card selection process.

It would be interesting if in a game no one took the Bureaucracy Strategy card untill turn 10 or 11, instant game over that round!

Thanks for the help…even though the ruling was not in my favour :). 

For the first part, the active player looks at both objectives and chooses to reveal one, it is their choice which card to reveal, so they could reveal the Stage 1 card to keep Imperium Rex out of play for another turn, or if they're in the lead, they can reveal it and win.

Page 16, SE Rules:

Note: If the “Imperium Rex” Public Objective card is

revealed, the game ends immediately after the

Imperium Rex card is drawn, before the active player

fulfills an Objective.

Revealed here means Playing the card face up on the table., not just drawing the card. This is a very powerful thing, you don't want to let the VP leader get Bureaucracy if Stage 2 is online, other players can keep burying Imp. Rex, hoping to get in the lead themselves.

For the other example, the 3 objectives from the Bonus Counters go into play after Bureaucracy is revealed, before the next player, if any, chooses their Strategy Card.

Page 16, SE Rules:

Important: If the Bureaucracy Strategy has any

Bonus Counters on it when it is chosen, a number of

Objective Cards are immediately revealed equal to the

number of counters on the Bureaucracy Strategy Card.

Then, when the active player uses the Strategy Action for Bureaucracy, they look at the Top 2 and choose 1 to reveal.

-Nehkrimah

My group played a similar game, we excluded all objectives, and used Industry from the campaign. It was a totally different game, only being able to win my wipeing out your opponents. Having that end game card in there might have made the game end sooner than it would have if the other players had not given up. My oppoents were playing Norr and L1Z1X, and I was playing the Mentak. I'm not quite sure why the other players did so poorly, probably mostly to do with their low level of expansion, I had around double the planets that they had. But there was much complaining about lack of balance and the Mentak's over powered nature, I would have thought that the Norr would have faired much better in such an environment. But the game was anything but boreing!

In galactic battles, the tide goes to the player who plays his race the best. 

L1Z1X, Norr and Mentak are powerful military races with unique advantages.

The player who plays his race to maximumize those unique advantages has the edge.

Of those 3 races….

L1Z1x should have an edge because L1Z1x is very adaptable to the map and his neighbors.  His tech lead allows him to pick the tech he needs to counter his opponents.

Mentak has the edge to push back any small fleets that want to expand in his direction.

Norr is the hardest to play right, but that +1 to hit is very nasty to deal with for the long term game.

But generally, an aggressive Mentak player with lots of planets is foe to contend with….