Imperium - Tutorial & Playthrough

[@dave0754]

I love your approach of teaching the game while playing it. Your videos are longer to watch but I always understand the game very well when I am done. Definitely worth the time investment.

[@dimitrismanolas]

What a great guide and great video. Thank you so much for making this lovely game approachable and easy to understand

[@tobiasjohannesson2563]

I'm impressed by how well you explained this game which was very difficult for me to understand from the rulebook. I have now decided to buy this game when it is released in Sweden, it looks absolutely stunning and I'm missing a deck builder in my collection :) Awesome video Jon!

[@PMMagro]

Samma här, kan man spela Kartago då är det alltid ett stort plus!

[@benanderson46]

Yeah. This explanation is better than just about any rulebook I've read.

[@FrenchToastAndMeeples]

Agree! One the worst rulebooks I've ever read...

[@edwinkleiss]

Same feeling for me. Now i'm finally going to play Imperium Classics soon.

[@maxducoudray]

Well organized and super helpful. Thanks for not turning on your camera and ad-libbing!

[@pradeepns6793]

Wow! This is amazing. Thanks for explaining it with coherence and structure. It really helped me understand the game better🙌

[@rollingwithrob6579]

I've watched many videos to learn how to play this game - Yours is by far the best. Thank you for introducing us to this fantastic game!

[@skarz1no1more]

This was a fantastic play through! I loved it! I did realize a mistake that I made with my first solo play through, but you have highlighted that, so I can fix it now! Thanks for all the hard work!

[@gorkygorky]

You are a very good teacher (says a teacher)!

[@FamilyMcManus]

Very smooth presentation. I like how you zoom in and describe your thoughts as you play.

[@FamilyMcManus]

Your content is just too good not to support. Happy to be added as a patron.

[@JonGetsGames]

Are you Ryan? If so (or if not I suppose :P) thank you so much!

[@FamilyMcManus]

@@JonGetsGames You're welcome Jon. Yes, I'm Ryan. I just happen to be signing in using my family's KZbin account.

[@babyrne78]

Jon thanks for your time and effort in making this walkthrough. It's been invaluable as I get back into playing imperium classics again.

[@BecauseOfDragons]

This helped a lot. I read the rulebook and it melted my brain. So much symbology and all those keywords. It's got a bit of a Race For The Galaxy thing going on in that regard. Now very much looking forward to playing the game!

[@Mrshawnl13]

Floored by how good this explanation is. I don't normally watch playthroughs but this game would have been impossible for me to teach without this haha. Subbed!

[@JonGetsGames]

This is really nice to hear, thanks!

[@edifanobbonafide]

Thanks a lot Jon! I discovered the game recently and watched some reviews which gave in fact not enough information to decide to buy it. But now after watching your video I'm convinced to buy it when it will be available in Germany.

[@iainstewart5492]

Thanks Jon! I appreciate the playthrough. The art got me interested in the game, your playthrough got me to buy it...when it is released.

[@stevemcevoy3310]

I'm looking forward to getting into the game, and I'm sure this video will help. Having found your channel, though, I have to say I absolutely love the index markers in the comments and on screen. I hate having to watch content I already know, or don't need to know, to get to what I do need, so the shortcuts I think will be extremely useful. Will definitely be using you as a resource in the future.

[@JonGetsGames]

I'm glad you found those useful :) I've been doing that since the beginning and rarely get feedback about them. They fortunately don't take much time, so i've stuck with it.

[@timberry4709]

Just learned about the game today. Finished watching this video and ordered it!

[@alexanderolferuk8496]

Got curious about the game after the SU&SD vid, and now here it is! Thanks! :)

[@Humphreysfox]

Absolutely excellent tutorial. Demystified the game.

[@pierrewhite2062]

I've had my write on this one for a while but was scared of the difficulty. Thanks for making look easy.

[@hidden-assets]

This looks GREAT. Thanks for the playthrough, Jon!

[@Fighterfan69]

Thanks for this. I thought this was going to be very complicated with the different piles and whatnot. This looks absolutely fantastic. Seems like a heavier Deck builder/Tableau builder. Even though you didn't do an actual transition to an Empire state, I'm impressed with how different each of these civs can play.

[@booner8856]

Fantastic job on this. Thanks for all of the detail. I've pre-ordered the game and am looking forward to playing solo against the bot. One great thing about this game is the potential expansions. Osprey could simply release a single foil pack of cards for each new civilization. The next Classic pack could be Spartans or Native Americans, and Legends pack could be Dwarves or Xenomorphs. Such a variety could make this game a long term favorite.

[@jdaddyaz]

Not a bad idea about foil packs, think that would be a cool idea. Keep in mind that there are over 500 different Native American tribes, so choosing one or two might be a bit daunting (Apache, Comanche, and Cherokee all get my vote). As for your recommendation of dwarves and xenomorphs, the Legend title won't work. I think what you're looking for is Imperium Fantasy. I do hope they revisit some other classic civs, such as a clan or two from the Feudal Japan Era, Mongolians, and maybe the Moors. Mali could offer an interesting economic powerhouse angle too.

[@athiranair5809]

Thanks Jon, this was amazing and very helpful. Excited for our first game now.

[@joesolo1836]

this game looks awesome. I had been on the fence, but after watching this video, its near the top of games to buy next!!!

[@martinpaulsen7211]

Great video. And again a new game which I want to have in my collection. Waiting for the release....

[@plaidflannelgeek]

Like many I saw the preview at SU&SD and was vey happy to see a more full playthrough/tutorial here. Wish it looked easier to get in Europe. I'll track down a copy here eventually.

[@OspreygamesUk]

Never fear! Imperium will be available in Europe. Check with your LGS.

[@AhJong0]

Big fan of JGG and after the great impression from SU&SD was really pleased to see this tutorial play through. Pre-ordered! Gorgeous art, neat mechanics, asymmetry and very affordable price? Osprey Games strikes again!

[@Filip_eF]

Wow... You have a talent men. Clear explenation

[@michaelhill6453]

Many thanks, I was struggling to get my head around the rules - this tutorial fixed that.

[@CB-yh3db]

Great tutorial. I love that Mico art and I tend to love Civ games.

[@CharacterFormationCoaching]

Excellently done as usual!

[@darrenbillups1322]

Great explanation Jon. Thanks for posting

[@melblack7412]

I really appreciate your videos - thanks!

[@somethingventured3]

Fantastic job, Jon!

[@cherimcheradedo]

Great video, as always, Jon!

[@brazillb2]

You had me at deckbuilding. And the art is absolutely stunning

[@Skrotetor]

I'd have honestly loved to see 7 Wonders Duel artstyle here... but the art is pretty, yeah

[@InFlamesrockz]

perfect job, thank you!

[@beegica]

Can't wait to get my hands on this! I wish I had a print and play while Im waiting for my preorder to arrive next month!

[@dries2579]

Cheers, crystal clear explanation!

[@danwilliams6519]

Very well done.

[@WorldAquariumSingapore]

super cheers thks for the playthrou

[@mbrochh82]

Amazing playthrough. Bought the game :)

[@DanielBRLima]

Hello Joe! Great video as always! Let me ask you something .. At 1:00:16 you make use of an exhaust token without having any action token .... Why is it allowed!? Thank you so much!

[@JonGetsGames]

Unfortunately, it's been too long since I played this game to remember the rules enough to answer your question. Sorry about that! I am glad you enjoyed the video though.

[@DanielBRLima]

@@JonGetsGames no problem my dear friend! :-)

[@Castorshells]

​@@DanielBRLimaExhaustion tokens are separate from action tokens. You get 3 actions and 5 exhaust abilities every turn.

[@KBrandes]

Great video Jon!

[@brigbrizz]

As always, this was an amazing video Jon! Thank you! Is there any way to request another video like this, with this again or maybe Imperium Legends, but covering the solo rules+walkthrough?

[@JonGetsGames]

Unfortunately, I just about never make 2 videos about the same game due to the large amount of time it takes to make these. I'm glad you enjoyed this one though :)

[@brigbrizz]

@@JonGetsGames it’s almost as if there are thousands of games, but just one Jon! Thanks anyway!

[@MaSa-vo9dk]

Hi Jon. Did you try the solo mode and if yes, hier would you evaluate it?

[@JonGetsGames]

I haven't tired the solo mode, I haven't even read the rules to it yet. I very rarely play games solo so I do think it's unlikely to happen.

[@KrisSwettKP]

Well done!

[@jahniedez6834]

Great video Jon! I have a question though: what happens when a recall (or any other action that forces a card draw) has you exceeding your hand limit? Do you keep excess cards or do you simply not draw them? Ex.: Some fight cards force players to take Unrest cards into their hands... but what if they are already at hand limit?

[@JonGetsGames]

Unfortunately, it's been too long since I played this game to remember the rules enough to answer your question. Sorry about that!

[@jahniedez6834]

@@JonGetsGames perfectly understandable. Thanks for replying

[@diannevanderpoel4861]

You can keep any cards over your hand limit - you just won;t draw any extra ones.

[@nigelgraves174]

Great quality video as always! How did you find learning the game? The rulebook alone seems a little opaque without the benefit of the card text: just reading the rules on BGG, the overall flow of the game struggled to come through. Your video has clarified a lot of things, so thank you for sharing!

[@JonGetsGames]

This one is much easier to grasp once setting up and reading cards. I agree that just reading the non-glossary part of the rulebook can leave you feeling perplexed. Once I looked at some cards and read through most of the glossary it all seemed to click for me.

[@durstunit]

Yeah thanks for explaining this :)

[@danacoleman4007]

Can someone tell me what the card quality is like in this game? By the way, Jon, great video as always!

[@diannevanderpoel4861]

Card quality is not great. One of the few games I have sleeved because they were starting to look worn around the edges after a couple of plays.

[@lukekennedy1001]

This game is interesting but I find it difficult to establish the themes or context of some of the cards. What does it mean in historic or ancient terms to garrison an unrest card in a jungle? The same goes for woodland. What does the market represent in this, is it like the unfolding of historical opportunities? Why does dido the queen of carthage provide a landscape as well as one population to your civilisation? Why does woodland allow you to regain a card from your discard pile, as opposed to the forest which doesn't? Does anyone have a clear cut idea about how the mechanics interact with the theme, cause I'm struggling.

[@nigelbuckle3759]

Garrison represents moving something to the edge of your empire, or an idea that is being developed in that area (i.e. it's temporarily out of your deck but can come back, or become more important). For unrest (for me) it means temporarily dealing with your internal problems by either expanding your territory or pushing the troubling elements there where they cause you less of a headache. Queen Dido gives you a territory because according to legend she formed carthage - by getting the Berber king to agree to give her the amount of land she could encompass with an oxhide. Which is why there is an ox on her card art - she cut the hide into fine strips and encircled a large hill, and then the local Berbers joined her new settlement, hence the boost in population too. Some of the card mechanisms are for gameplay over theme of course, but the named cards in each deck have a link to the civilisation's history.

[@nigelbuckle3759]

The market is the range of possibilities open to the civilisations - without a shared market the game would run on rails and you could come up with an optimal strategy for a civilisation. It represents a number of 'what ifs'. Does Egypt become more expansionist and take more territory than it did historically, for example. Also with a limit of 23 cards or so for each civilisation not all the technology could be squeezed in, so some of the innovations are in the market. Also some ideas were developed by different civilisations independently, so they might feature in the market too.

[@lukekennedy1001]

@@nigelbuckle3759 Thanks for responding your ideas are informative and interesting. Finding more space for your citizens to remedy unrest is a very good explanation, that is basically the foundational habit of most ancient civilisations. I was a bit confused assuming the landscapes were some MTG style ambiguous energy deposits that you can tap into. Particularly, the idea that these spaces could provide the best minds of your people opportunities to innovate and to hasten the unfurling of history is also very intriguing. I'm startin to like this game more already.

[@cliffordpettersson3060]

made me buy it :)

[@OsamaBinLooney]

still a bit confused when you draw from the nation deck so just to clarify, during cleanup if you need to draw cards but can't and have to shuffle in your discard pile, then you take the top card of the nation deck and add it to your discard pile before shuffling, then you put an exhaust token on top of the nation deck, got that much, then it gets confusing does that exhaust token not come off your deck until the end of your NEXT turn? so at the soonest you'll only get one nation card every 2 turns? also once you flip over your barbarian card and change to the empire side do you ever go back to the barbarian side or do all your barbarian cards become useless at that point except to use as garrisons?

[@Castorshells]

Once you flip to Empire there is no going back. All exhaustion gets cleaned up at the end of your turn. The one on the nation deck gets cleaned up as well and it prevents you from going through the deck really fast. The developers mentioned adding that rule cause one of them was able to cycle the deck several times in one turn. Not all nations have the same deck size, some are very small.

[@EdwardPetersen]

I cannot find in the rule book where a Progress token can be exchanged for either 1 Population or 2 Materials. Was this removed in the production version? Or possibly, flip side, added in errata?

[@marksmith9351]

I'm teaching this to my group tomorrow, so just read the rules (but I don't have them in front of me). I can't tell you exactly where it was in the rules right now, but the rule says: when you are paying for something in Population or Materials, you may substitute Progress for population at a rate of 1:1, or you may substitute Progress for Materials at a rate of 1P: 2M. You don't get "change" if this results in an "overpayment". You may NOT exchange progress for Population or Material otherwise...it's just an alternative means of payment.

[@nigelbuckle3759]

It's under the 'PAY' keyword

[@ryanbrown9102]

So Jon, as honest as you are, Will you please share us if during playing (/learning that game) you received the vibes and/or mechanics of a civ game..?

[@JonGetsGames]

I wouldn't say that I got strong civ mechanics from it, but that's not surprising considering there is no map and all engine building / tech advancement comes from the deck building. It felt like an interesting deck builder with lots of asymmetry to me.

[@joshuadesjardins8294]

After reading the rules it makes it seem like you just do one action and then it’s the next players turn. Is that incorrect?

[@JonGetsGames]

I explain the turn structure at 4:14 in this video if you want to double check.

[@joshuadesjardins8294]

@@JonGetsGames right I saw that. But just reading the rules, it seems to say you do one action and then it’s the next players turn

[@Nattytom500]

You've probably found this out by now but I think you are confusing the fact you do one of activate, innovate or revolt with the fact that during an activate turn you can do multiple things. At the start of your turn you choose to either activate, innovate or revolt and you do one of those but an activate turn is doing as many actions and exhausts as you want/can.

[@amansparekh]

Is this on Kickstarter?

[@JonGetsGames]

Nope, I believe this is direct to release.

[@OspreygamesUk]

Nope! We're publishing directly. It'll be available on our Osprey Games store and at other games retailers next month.

[@MaSa-vo9dk]

@@OspreygamesUk Hi! Do you know if the game will be translate in french ? Hope so 😆

[@ryanbrown9102]

While this game looks quite beautiful and fun to play, I must admit that I haven't actually received the vibes (or even the mechanics) of a civ game, which is really unfotunate... Thanks for the explanation though! Great job.

[@MerlinsManor]

Is it just me or are the Celts extremely overpowered?

[@bushibayushi]

It seems like a very fiddly, rules-heavy deckbuilder. I'm not sure I would find any enjoyment in this game.

[@JonGetsGames]

I don't think it'll be for everyone. I have played it once and have to admit that it flowed better than I feared.