Welcome to the fourth week of Twilight Imperium 3: Shattered Empire preview articles! There is so much more to discuss about this expansion that I had trouble deciding what to feature in our final preview. Ultimately, It came down to Strategy Cards.

The Strategy Card system is one of the core mechanics of TI3. In Shattered Empire, players will find an alternate set of Strategy Cards that may be used instead of the original eight. These cards not only offer more options and abilities, but also have some dramatic effects on game play.

Leadership: The new Leadership card is very reminiscent of the Logistics strategy. The major difference is that Leadership is initiative number 1 and therefore allows its owner to be first in order of play. In addition, it provides between 3 and 6 Command Counters to the active player based upon how much influence he is willing to pay.

Long time fans will immediately notice that the new number 1 Strategy card is not used to acquire the speaker token. See below for how acquiring the speaker token has changed.

Assembly: The Assembly Strategy card serves many of the same functions as the Political Strategy card in TI3. There are many important differences to be noted that make Assembly extremely powerful and sought after.

First off, Assembly allows the owner to decide who will gain the speaker token. The predictability of the Speaker token’s progress is drastically changed with the Assembly Card.

Second, Assembly allows a player to play a Political card from his hand. Players now control the political card being voted on instead of randomly drawing one from the top of the deck. Fans of politics will now enjoy additional control over voting as well as 32 new powerful political cards.

Trade II: The first thing to notice about the new Trade Strategy card, is the number 2 after in its title. This signifies that this card is not only used with the alternate set of Strategy cards, but can also be used as a replacement card when using the original set of Strategy cards.

The second thing to notice is that there is NO secondary ability for the new Trade Strategy card. When activated, every player benefits from their trade agreements (but receives 1 fewer trade goods if not the active player).

The third thing to notice is that Trade II offers the choice of receiving 3 trade goods or canceling up to two trade agreements as soon as the card is resolved. The trading community will no longer be completely ruined by one upset player.

In addition to the alternate set of 8 strategy cards, players will also find a new Imperial II strategy. This card may optionally be used as a replacement for the original Imperial Strategy card and will be familiar to many players.

Thank you for tuning in to our four week preview of TI3: Shattered Empire expansion. There is so much more of this expansion to be explored, but alas we have run out of time. Although my previews are done, next week we will be posting something special for the community. Thank you for your support and always remember: “Pax Magnifica, Bellum Gloriosum!”