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Soon after the competition started, the Empires box arrived by mail. Oh goodie, a present! Well, that was a bit how it felt! ![]() We immediately planned our first Empires session on a Wednesday evening. To write a report of our first impressions was the goal. We agreed to review the following topics:
The ManualThe manual has a clear layout. Enough space has been left open to add your own remarks to the manual, making it a personal and complete reference. The quick reference on the backside of the manual refers to the page numbers in the manual. We think this will be quite helpful when you need to re-read a certain part of the rules. Unfortunately, there is no index in the manual. The manual looks very vulnerable: It has a thin, paper cover with 2 staples. The MapThe map show different kind of terrain (grass, woods, mountains, etc.). The cardboard is thick and looks quite sturdy. It is smaller than we'd expected it to be. This is not negative at all. On the contrary, the game probably won't take much time to play. The map can be extended with additional maps. You can buy them or download them from Hobby Products' website. Game PiecesThe cardboard used for the treasury and the units is very thin. The units are represented by cardboard pieces. Instead of the standard pieces of so many other wargames, Hobby Products has produced octagonal pieces with photos of painted miniatures. They really liven things up. The capitols have the same base. The only difference is the roof. And of course your paint scheme - but that part is up to you. PresentationThe box shows a huge orc that is about to give a final blow to a human lying on the ground. The main colors of the box are black and red. We feel that this will especially appeal to wargamers. A thin manual and a small map: looks like a fast-to-learn and fast-to-play game. GeneralThe game can be played by 2-to-6 players. The box we received contains everything you need to play with 2 players. Should you like to play with more people, you will need to buy additional armies. Hobby Products offers a service for people who discover missing items when they open the game for the first time. That's very nice, isn't it. We tested their service by sending an e-mail with 2 questions. Their reply was very fast (within 2 hours) and complete. Trial GameShortly after we received our copy of Empires, we played a game to try things out. Our expectations that the game was fast-to-learn and fast-to-play came true. In only 2 hours, we had played a great part of a battle. With this in our mind, we planned our first review battle... On To Painting the Capitals |