TWILIGHT IMPERIUM 4TH EDITION

The Griffons Den Epic Boardgame Club is excited to offer regular “beginner friendly” games of Twilight Imperium: 4th Edition – the ultimate grand-daddy space opera board game that typically takes 8-12 hours for a game. That’s right, this is not a casual game, it is a hard-core all day EVENT!

The plan is to offer at least two games per month: one optimized for beginners that uses only the base game and a second that adds in some expansion options for more experienced players. All games will be open to beginners and classed as “Beginner Friendly.”

We will be playing in a private room at the Griffons Den, which means it is QUIET, there is plenty of table space and no rushing to finish before “closing time.” The Griffons Den is a private venue with no on-site food sales so you are welcome to bring your own food and drinks (including alcohol) with a fridge, microwave and kettle in each room. We will take food breaks, order DoorDash and replicate the sort of all-day gaming experiences you can normally only find at gaming conventions.

Cost is only $15/player to cover the room rental for all day (and possibly into the night). There is great bus service and plenty of FREE PARKING at the Den’s location (Hillside & Wark near Quadra) and a diverse variety of restaurants within a block, including the deli at Fairways.

FOR BEGINNERS
Our games are all “beginner friendly” but TI is a lot to absorb, so in order to reduce game length we ask beginners to watch this RTFM Learn to Play video before the day of the game (honestly, you should watch it at least 3 times!) If you can, also please become familiar with the PDF Learn to Play Guide. There will NOT be extensive rules explanations ahead of time, we expect each player to do their homework above before arrival. We are happy to help beginners through each step of the game, offering clarification and advice, but if you show up cold without knowing anything we can not stop the game to give a 1-2 hour rules explanation….

REGISTRATION
In order to cover room rental costs and reduce last minute no-shows, flaking or ghosting, all registration requires a $15 non-refundable fee that must be paid online in advance. Final player numbers are required to pre-build the map, and no-shows wastes time rebuilding the pre-built map for a different number of players, so please don’t no-show. If you need to cancel please let us know in advance!

FACTION SELECTION
Games have a maximum capacity of 8 players; you will see how many seats are remaining during your booking process, which will give you an idea of how many factions have already been selected by previous players. Each player, during registration, may select their top three faction choices from among the 17 factions of the base game. We will reserve your highest faction pick from among those that have not yet been chosen.

After registration you will receive an email confirming which faction you received. If all of your top three choices have been taken you will be sent a list of the factions still remaining from which to choose. All faction choices are resolved in the order of player registration, first-come-first-serve, so register quickly to get your preferred faction choice!

MAPS
The board map will be a pre-made layout from the Learn to Play guides, depending on the number of players, which means it is important we have a firm number of players at least an hour before the game starts. These maps will keep the overall game length down and are remarkably well balanced and fair for beginners. In the future we will introduce games for experienced players that follow the competitive pendulum draft map-building rules, but not just yet…

Pax Magnifica Bellum Gloriosum!