Take on the role of one of the great monarchs of the past and show your valor! You will arrive in a vast and rich territory, but the road to the prosperity is filled with challenges.
In Brazil: Imperial you need to construct buildings, manage resources, explore the land, create trade, acquire the support of the greatest personalities of the country and recruit a powerful army to protect your interest against the rival states.
If you make the right choices, you can complete missions to progress to a more advanced Era, receiving new interesting options of development and Victory Points.
In the end of the game, the best monarch receives the title of Brazilian Emperor and constructs a new Era of prosperity, enlightenment and peace!
Overview
Brazil: Imperial is a civilization game to 2 to 4 players. The core mechanics are area majority, variable player powers, worker placement and modular board. Developed by Mundus Studio, Brazil: imperial invites players to construct an Empire in Brazil between XVI and XIX centuries.
The game has a medium to hard complexity and combines elements of eurogames and 4x games in a very flexible style. This mix creates an unique experience to the participants during 120 to 150 minutes of gameplay.
Setup
In the beginning of the game each player chooses one of the available monarch to play. This choice directly influences gameplay: some monarchs are strong in combat; others are great explorers; and there are those who prioritize science. At the same time, the players need to pick up the individual game boards and components referring to your monarch.
After that, the map is placed in the center of the table and the every participant receive cards with tasks. If you complete this tasks, you can advance to another Era. The players starts in the First Era, and needs to advance to Second and Third Eras to receive more powerful constructions.
Last but no least, the players need to chose where in the map they will start the building of their empire. Of course, this beginning is really humble, but during the game it’s possible to create an amazing Empire.
Action Phase
Brazil: Imperial has two different phases during the player’s turns: action phase and movement phase. In every turn the players can participate in one or two phases.
In the action phase, the players have 7 different possible actions in the Action Arches. You can manage the actions in your individual game board. The 7 different actions are:
Summon – with this action you can summon 1 military unit to explore and defend your territory.
Frame – frame cards represents famous historic figures; buy this cards is a way to receive special powers and victory points.
Build – if you want to create a great empire, you need to build many constructions. Farms, mines and cities are some of the possibilities. This action is essential to generate resources.
Renovate – an old building can be renovate to produce new resources. A good way to create new options to your strategy.
Manufacture – basic resources – wood, sugar cane, cotton or coffee -, can be used to make more valuable products; this products generate victory points and improve your Action Arches.
Port – if your empire is poor, go to the port to receive a small amount of basic resources.
Market – you can sell your basic resources and receive gold and special cards to improve your empire.
Movement phase
Now it’s time to move your troops in the map!
The movement phase is important because in there it’s possible explore hidden places or attack the other players. It’s at this moment the combats are resolved: a simple check between the power of the troops involved in the conflict define the winner (cards can be used to increase or decrease this value and change the course of the battle).
The game continues until one player goals the Era III. After that, the points are counted and the player with more points is the winner and receives the title of Emperor of Brazil.
Developing process
Since the beginning, the develop team of Brazil: Imperial worked with the concept of EuroX. Euro X is a new style of game that combines eurogames (collect and management of resources) and 4x games (explore, expand, exploit and exterminate) in a very flexible game.
Because of that the equip needed to ensure the balance between the possible strategies in the game. A player can be focus in resource management or in combat or even build a midway style. Actually the develop team are very close to end this step.
Another part of the efforts are the production of content to ensure a great experience: new monarchs with unique powers; new maps; the solo mode and chapters to the historical mode. Lots of content to create a game with a long life and replayability.
Spiel.digital
The game designer of the project, Zé Mendes, announced “big news to Spiel.digital” a few days ago. What’s exactly he says? We don’t know, but probably is relative to release date or international publication.
The only certain is: we will hear a lot about Brazil: Imperial in the next year.
Race: Human. Alignment: Chaotic Good Classes: Historian 6, literary critic 4 and Nerd 10. Half french, half american and one hundred percent iluminist.
