This 4 player game we played, nearly a whole 2 weeks ago on September 30th. Been Real Busy, imgur is stupid, the works.

We’ve got

• Speaker - Brandon - Federation of Sol - Blue (U)
• Me - Steven - Mahact-Gene Sorcerers - Black (B)
• Cameron - Clan of Saar - Orange (O)
• Ian - Emirates of Hacan - Yellow (Y)

Game Start/Round 1

Objectives:

• 3 Systems without planets
• 3 planets with tech specialties

Pretty rough starting Objectives for sure Round 1 is pretty lame for everyone but Saar, they end up scoring 3 tech specialties and last person to pass in a round secret objective.

Round 2

Scores

• 0 - U, B, Y
• 2 - O

Objectives:

• 3 Systems without planets
• 3 planets with tech specialties (O)
• Control 2 planets with attachments

Round 2 is very active, Clan of Saar beat me to Mecatol Rex, I was focused on scoring public objectives. I swallowed up all the resources in my slice and stretched myself pretty thin and low on command tokens.

Everyone except Clan of Saar ended up scoring on Controlling 3 empty spaces. Clan of Saar got two planet attachements.

I ended up getting focused on Preventing Clan of Saar of scoring more points off a directive and miss an opportunity to score a point, I was probably overly cautious about getting out voted, but I was speaker, so I had to spend my votes first.

We also arranged for an extra stage 2 objectives.

Round 3

Scores

• 1 - B
• 2 - U, Y
• 4 - O

Objectives:

Stage 1

• 3 Systems without planets (B, U, Y)
• 3 planets with tech specialties (O)
• Control 2 planets with attachments (O)
• Spend 3 influence, 3 resources, 3 trade goods

Stage 2

• Have Units in 5 systems that do not contain planets

Finally Wage war on Everyone, except Hacan, they’re so far away.

I take Mecatol from Saar and I take 2 worlds from Federation of Sol. I move to make a deal with Saar, allowing them to take a needed empty space from me as I focus on other Objectives.

I score Unveil Flagship secret objective when i took Mecatol Rex and have 2 planets with attachments. I also secure a Support swap with Clan of Saar, as I both have the betrayal secret objective, and I’m certain that I can prevent him from scoring the available 2 pointers he’s need by being in the way.

Hacan takes the extra stage 2 objective and a secret for 12 ground forces on a planet without a spacedock. Saar scores their last secret objective and 3 empty spaces.

Federation of Sol gets yet another free victory point from directives.

Round 4

Scores

• 4 - B, U
• 5 - Y
• 7 - O

Objectives:

Stage 1

• 3 Systems without planets (B, U, Y, O)
• 3 planets with tech specialties (O)
• Control 2 planets with attachments (O, B)
• Spend 3 influence, 3 resources, 3 trade goods
• have units in 3 systems at the edge of the game board

Stage 2

• Have Units in 5 systems that do not contain planets (Y)

Everyone begins to bemoan how much we don’t want to fight for pointless spaces on the board. which is fair, tbh.

I continue to expand my influence across the galaxy though war, I control nearly a third of the game board by the end of this round and set myself up to take Imperial next round for hopefully a big point swing.

I use my hero to destroy a large fleet of Saar’s and take some empty space from them, on my march to scoring the 5 empty systems objective. I also score the betrayal objective on a combat not involving my hero.

Sol ends up using Imperial to score two phase 1 objectives this round. Saar and Hacan score one phase 1 objective. Hacan also used Imperial Rider and Confounding Legal Text to give themselves one additional point.

Round 5

Scores

• 5 - U
• 6 - B
• 7 - Y
• 8 - O

Objectives:

Stage 1

• 3 Systems without planets (B, U, Y, O)
• 3 planets with tech specialties (O)
• Control 2 planets with attachments (O, B, U)
• Spend 3 influence, 3 resources, 3 trade goods (U)
• have units in 3 systems at the edge of the game board (O, Y)

Stage 2

• Have Units in 5 systems that do not contain planets (Y, B)
• Have a Flagship or Warsun on another players Home System or Mecatol

The way my asshole puckered when that stage 2 was revealed, that was the objective that put me in this game as real contender for winning. I had aligned myself to get Imperial and it was going to be glorious, I could easily score 4 points by then end of the round.

What happened however was a nightmare, Hacan had invested in getting their Quantum Datahub Node technology and purchased Imperial from me for a low low price of 3 fucking trade goods. Let me tell you, when trade and leadership is taken every round, Hacan is richer than the catholic church and paying that techs costs is absolutely trivial for them to do.

I spend most of the round being salty and fortify my position and pass early, I don’t see a point in wasting command tokens when I don’t see a clear path for anyone on the board to victory.

Saar also positions themselves for the next round and passed.

Federation of Sol wins a secret objective in a space battle in a anomaly leaving their homeworld open.

Emirates of Hacan saw an opportunity and with a flank speed action card took the federation of Sols homeworlds airspace with their Flagship and popped imperial using Fleet Logistics and won the game.

It was at this point we learned Federation missed their window to earn their secret objective point and we gave it to them, the Hacan player also (in what I assume to be spite) ended up retconning their turn a little bit to give them a Support for the Throne, allowing them to outscore me at the end of the game.

Personally I’m saying we tied for last at 6 points.

Finals Results

Scores

• 6 - Mahact-Gene Sorcerers
• 7 - Federation of Sol
• 8 - Clan of Saar
• 10 - Emirates of Hacan

Objectives:

Stage 1

• 3 Systems without planets (B, U, Y, O)
• 3 planets with tech specialties (O)
• Control 2 planets with attachments (O, B, U)
• Spend 3 influence, 3 resources, 3 trade goods (U)
• have units in 3 systems at the edge of the game board (O, Y)

Stage 2

• Have Units in 5 systems that do not contain planets (Y, B)
• Have a Flagship or Warsun on another players Home System or Mecatol (Y)

Notes

Our Next game will be sometime in November and I’ll finally play my last faction (Winnu) There are a couple factions I’ve only played in Third Edition or pre PoK Fourth Edition, but my next goal will be to play all the factions in Fourth that I haven’t played as yet. And I may finally pick my main, or I’ll start an insane quest to win with every faction. We’ll see.