Description

The Interregnum is a science fiction strategy board game set in a time of cold conflict between competing stellar kingdoms in a fallen Galactic Empire. The 2-to-6 players win by dominating the other kingdoms and earning the seat of Emperor, either by building a military hegemony or a powerful merchant empire. Both paths to success require careful planning, resource management and cunning strategy.

You will take the reins of one of the six Star Kingdoms that are part of the fallen Empire, ruled by the leaders that have the best claim to the throne after the late Emperor’s demise: The Duchess, The Princess, The Marquis, The Baron, The Caliph, and The Khan.

Your mission is to guide your people to the stars, secure vital resources to support your growth, make important decisions that will forge your Kingdom’s fate, and take back what’s rightfully yours – the title of Basileus, Emperor of Mankind.

The Interregnum is played on a modular map divided into hexagonal Sectors and Solar Systems. These are each further divided into 3 smaller tiles that allow for a better random distribution of Planets and Resources on the map and also keeping the scale Galactic yet detailed enough to be enjoyable.

The Interregnum gameplay is structured into Rounds that each represent a galactic standard year. Within one Round, all players have a Turn – meaning that a Round is further divided into 2 to 6 Turns.

Within a Turn, a player has 1 or 2 Actions (depending on their position on the ISC’s Turn/Dividend track). Actions are the following: Moving Fleets or Building. If a player has two actions he/she may move twice or move and build in the same turn.

During their Turn, a player may also do any of the following: trade once with the Galactic Market, repay their own debts, acquire loans, sell loans, buy a Technology card, use any number of cards, change their focus (but only when you are the Board Director). These are not considered Actions and can be done at any time during your turn after receiving your resource input.

While there is no actual combat in The Interregnum, players are required to use their Fleets in order to occupy Sectors and build structures inside them. Generally speaking, Fleets move on the between the Sectors – called Hyperlanes. They can also be “Parked” within a Sector (Deep space or Solar Orbit), but cannot move from Sector to Sector while Parked.

Building Fleets, Miner/Traders or Space Stations use up Resources (gained from Deep Space resource tiles or from inhabited planets) and Research points (gained from Citizen or Immigrant population)

The game ends when one of the players gathers 5 Reform Score (Mercantile or Hegemonic) through any means.

Once the end is triggered, your victory points are determined by your populations and assets. These are scored differently depending on which path you take when reforming your Star Kingdom into an Empire.

Hegemonic Empire path rewards military expansion while keeping the power in the hands of the few and alike. Citizen and Colonist Populations along with finished Space Stations add to your score, while Immigrants and Offworlders reduce your final score.
Merchant Empire path rewards population diversity and powerful Trader presence. Offworlders and Immigrants along with Trade Stations add to your score, and indeed Citizens and Colonists reduce your score.

-description from designer