Imperial 2030
Imperial 2030 is a German-style board game designed by Mac Gerdts and published by Imperial in 2009.
Whereas Imperial was set in the nineteenth century, Imperial 2030 takes place in the 21st century, with the BRIC countries - Brazil, Russia, India and China accompanying the United States and Europe (i.e.the European Union) as the world powers.
The map covers the whole world. The game provides two canals to allow movement between sea territories. However if a nation controls Colombia, they may deny the use of the Panama Canal to other nations. Likewise, if a nation controls North Africa, they may deny the use of the Suez Canal to other nations.
The game features Gerdts' hallmark, the Rondel alongside a number of other game mechanisms:
- Area Control / Area Influence
- Area movement
- Commodity Speculation
- Stock Holding
As with Imperial, players do not take on the role of different countries, but rather invest in countries, with the strongest investor managing the government of each nation-state in turn. Switzerland however remains a neutral territory, and a player who does not control a great power can make investments through the Swiss Bank. Each great power has four provinces on which factories can be built, with the United States having three shipyards, China having three armaments facilities, and the other great powers having two of each. As the Great Powers develop more factories and plant their flag on the independent countries or the oceans, their Power factor can be increased by landing on the Taxation segment of the rondel. The end of the game is triggered by one Great Power taking its power factor up to 25. The winner is determined by each player multiplying the sum of the interest accruing to the bonds of each nation by its power factor for each nation in turn. These are then added together with the cash in hand also being included in the final figure.