Gaeman teim! Twilight Imperium 3rd.

Now Twilight Imperium, another FFG game, I like. It's appreciated like a strong alcohol, of which is bitter and unpleasant at first but becomes enjoyable upon future revisitations. And just like a good alcohol, it's subtle natures take allot to respect and enjoy.

(note: We house ruled the value of the Imperial strategy to be worth 1vp.)

One of it's subtle ques, that is frequently missed in our saber rattling between 2 friends, my brother, and I (University, Naalu, Xxcha, and Yssaril respectively), is that Twilight Imperium is not a war game per se. The objective is to accumulate victory points, of which the vast majority can be had without so much as firing a shot. The background fluff is about rebuilding a previously standing government after all.

This didn't stop someone from not just developing War Suns, but building 2 of them... in the same system... with nearly everything in his allotment of peices to escort. Nearly everything in his command pool was in logistics. His posturing did not go unnoticed to the Xxcha and Naalu players.

For nearly the entire game, the diplomacy strategy kept his juggernaut of "nipple guns" from spilling over into the Xxcha and Naalu domains.

(Pic: Naalu and Xxcha diplomats considering tactical options against the University)

As the Yssaril, I went about things with a little more subtlety. I kept to politics/imperial strategies and attempted to keep to the objectives (only 1 of which required conflict, my options then were against the mongolian juggernaught of the University or the Naalu- and neither were in swinging reach so to speak, so it was moot).
The only brazen military maneuver I did was a flank speed action card to get 2 fully loaded carriers to Mecatol Rex early. I fortified the position from then on out and used it to swing votes and saber rattle.
In retrospect however, the position was completely unsupportable in the face of hostilities.

The center of the board quickly turned into a quagmire as PDS limits were reached and everyone developed interstellar cannons. Cannons pinged each other from across the interstellar void for little effect among the biggest arms build up I've ever seen.
Mecatol Rex proved to be the only thing the University could not roll over without casualty and I did nothing to provoke him. The others, mere speed bumps by comparison militarily... kept diplomatically locking up any other avenue for attack.

Ironically, they attacked each other in a string of bloody border skirmishes.

Not content with that, I played in all of my objectives catapulting me from 4vp (a dead heat with the Naalu for the lead) to 9vp and an imperial strategy away from winning.

(pic: What it might have looked like.)

The Xxcha, still at 0vp, refused to let the game end being in dead last and pulled the imperial strategy hoping to tie for third.

The drawn objective card ended the game then and there with a win for myself.

The Yssaril won the game without firing a single shot the entire game.