Imperial Miners was one of the surprise titles at Spiel 2023. Officially announced at Spiel, the lightweight engine builder in the universe of Imperial Settlers also appeared directly at the trade fair. With a clever card activation system and the resulting chains of actions, the game should be able to appeal to tough tacticians as well as newcomers to the game. You can find out how well Imperial Miners does in the following review.
After the countries were settled and empires were founded, things got a little boring on the surface. After all, we've seen and experienced just about everything... No wonder the people around us are starting to explore the underground. In doing so, they've made an exciting discovery. Caves full of treasures! We're getting a tingling feeling. It's time for us to embark on this adventure too.
building your own mine
The aim of Imperial Miners is to have the most interesting mine after 10 rounds. Whoever has the most victory points at the end wins. To do this we have to go into the depths of the mine, because that is where the most valuable treasures are. A round consists of two phases: the event phase and the mine phase.
In the event phase, we draw an event card from the corresponding stack. This either contains an effect that is activated immediately or at the end of the round, or that lasts for the entire round. These are positive bonuses that we receive when we have achieved something specific.
In the mine phase, we play a card from our hand into our mine and pay the corresponding cost. Each card is assigned to one of four levels of the mine. As is usual in a mine, we start at the very top of the first level and work our way down to the fourth level. This means that in the first round we can only play cards from level 1. In the following round we could then play cards from level 1 or level 2. The card played must always touch cards from the level above at least one of the two gold cart points.
Once you have played the mine card, you activate its effect. You then move to an adjacent card on the level above and activate its effect. This continues level by level until you reach the exit of the mine, which also has three effects waiting for us, one of which we can activate. This means that the deeper we build, the more effects we can activate in the current round.
There are valuable treasures in the depths
The lowest level we can reach is the fourth level. This level only provides us with victory points. Cards from this level cannot usually be obtained through normal draw effects on mine cards or at the entrance, but are usually available through the so-called development plans. In each game, three of the six development plans are active. Some card effects allow us to advance in the development plans. If we are allowed to advance for the first time, we can choose one of the three plans on display and advance here.
Each plan has 10 fields with different bonuses that we receive when we land on the respective field. If we reach the top field of a development plan, we receive the final bonus of the development plan and can choose a new one of the two remaining plans when we level up again.
There are six different peoples on the different level cards of the mine: Scots, Egyptians, Barbarians, Atlanteans, Japanese and Romans. Each of the six peoples has a different focus. For example, you get more money from the Scots or have to pay less for mine cards, while the Egyptians allow us to make more progress on the development plans. A good mix of different peoples in the mine can therefore be a great help for the ultimate victory. However, there shouldn't be too many different peoples in your own mine.
After the tenth round has been played, the existing victory points in the form of crystals and complete gold carts (which are created when new mine cards are placed) are added up. Whoever has the most points at the end wins.
Information about Imperial Miners
| Number of players: 1 – 5 Age: from 10 years Playing time: 20 - 60 minutes Difficulty: Higher family game Long-term motivation: medium Classification: Action Chains, Hand Management Author: Tim Armstrong Illustrations: Hanna Kuik Publisher: Pegasus Spiele, Portal Games Official Website: Link Year of publication: 2023 Language: German Cost: 34,99 Euro |
Conclusion
Imperial Miners is great fun in itself. A lot of this is due to the positive feeling of the game, which is strengthened by all the events, effects, actions and bonuses. In Imperial Miners there are simply no effects that can harm us, we can only make good or less good progress. But that's just it, we make progress and we can do so at any time. It just feels good throughout. The chaining of several actions also feels good throughout. If you have built well and can carry out a really strong chain of actions at the end that brings in a lot of victory points, you are a little proud of your own mine.
However, all of this also comes with a major negative point for me. There is no interaction in Imperial Miners, each person plays for themselves. In the end, the person who played best for themselves wins. On the other hand, a game is played quickly. Our test games lasted around 30 - 45 minutes, which makes the game perfect for a final game at the end of an evening. You don't have to think much, but enough. You also play the game calmly. The positive atmosphere means you leave the game satisfied at the end, regardless of whether you won or not.
In the end, Imperial Miners is not the best game, but it is one that I would play again and again. This feel-good principle really hits home and that is exactly what keeps me coming back to the game.
| Preview | Product | Rating | Price | |
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Pegasus Spiele 57519G Imperial Miners (Portal Games) * |
34,99 EUR |
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