Imperial Orion (2014)

Imperial-Orion is a print and play derivative of Imperial 2030 by Mac Gerdts. It takes the basic premise of Imperial, that the players are amoral financiers and twists it so that players are shadowy 'powers' in a grand space opera. The game takes its name from the Orion Nebula which is used as the backdrop to the central (neutral) region of human (known) space. At some time in the future humans have expanded among the stars. In the more densely populated areas colonies are connected by wormhole networks whilst vast fleets span the trackless expanses of the void. Contact has been made with a number of alien races around the periphery of human space but for the most part this has been peaceful and limited to scientific missions and the exchange of ambassadors. As a generalisation humanity is content, inward looking and exploited - by you, the players of the game. This game is played on a board composed of 7 hexagonal tiles, comprising 6 regional powers and a central neutral zone that may have different configurations depending on the episode of galactic 'history' the players choose to replay. Additional part-tiles are arranged around the edge of the board to make the playing area into a regular hexagon. These part-tiles are of 2 different types and can have a significant effect on the topology of the game board. In Imperial-Orion the players do not take turns, the six regional powers do, in an order that is determined randomly at the start of each game. The players are shadowy organisations who exercise power through unspecified means to further their own ends. By gaining control of the population of the regional powers, the players influence the politics. The player with more control over a region's population gains control of that power's government and decides what the it will do. As control of a government can change with each new surge of controlled population, players may be able to manipulate several governments at the same time. As investors, players should not get too attached to a particular regional power, but rather focus on where their 'investments' have the best rates of return. Essentially the game is about power, in all its form: economic, cultural, military, biological…