Empire Miners Board Game Review

The Settlers series can be found not only on gaming screens but also on desktop computers. This is because this brand has managed to break through in board games. Today, we have a review for you dedicated to its latest expansion. The following paragraphs will tell you how to play “Miners of the Empire” and whether it is worth paying attention to.

• Number of players: 1 – 5
• Play time: 45-60 minutes
• Price: 779 CZK (Tlama Games)
• Age: 10+

In Empire Miners you will go deep

In The Settlers, you mostly build. It’s the same here, except you don’t create magnificent cities, and the mine is four stories high, or rather, it can have four stories in total. You have ten rounds ahead of you, during which you will always expand your mine by ten rooms in Empire Miners. At the start, you have four cards of your choice, which you work with and try to connect them to the floors above as efficiently as possible.

It is necessary that there is always something above this card, because the diggers always need a cart with which they will pull gold and diamonds out of the depths of the mine. Therefore, you actively connect cards and create interesting combinations from them. At your disposal are objects that most of the time belong to at least one of the six factions. In Miners of the Empire you can meet the Romans, Egyptians, Scots, Japanese, cavemen and inhabitants of the mythical Atlantis.

Each group found in the mines brings its own special bonuses depending on the faction’s focus. The Scots love money, the Egyptians promote knowledge, and the Japanese the ability to work together. You can shape your mine as you play to have as much community as possible, or focus on having only one or two factions in the complex. The base assortment of cards is not constant. Of course, you can throw away unnecessary pieces over time and pick up new ones by activating the mine.

And it is this action that is one of the main reasons why the individual floors of the mine must be firmly connected to the previous ones. When you place a card, the activation phase immediately begins, when everyone simultaneously chooses a figure to activate. Then it launches the chosen card above itself, you take the bonus from it and continue in this way until you reach the surface, where you choose between getting two coins, three new cards or moving on the development field.

You won’t get to the bottom without progress.

Evolving your mining faction is tied to a number of positive elements in Miners of the Empire. Sometimes you get money in it, sometimes victory points in the form of diamonds. However, you will mostly be trying to get level 4 cards, because the only way to get them is to complete development. You always have three tabs at your disposal, which always offer an interesting bonus to whoever fills them, after which they can rush to work on the next development board.

As for the activation of the cards, it is often associated not only with the choice of cards, but also with some special ability. More than once you will encounter the fact that individual works have more than one possible solution, which is due to the peculiarities of this group. The Scots, for example, sell progress and diamonds. In addition, when you have enough of them in the mine, the price requirement quickly decreases with the appearance of each Scottish card. Sometimes you come across works that combine two nations into one, and this is just fun.

At the start of each round, the Empire Miners party is affected by various events that determine the shape of that turn. Sometimes this is a major factor that is obvious from the start. Other times, it lasts the entire round. This can reduce the cost of cards, gain diamonds for certain moves, or otherwise benefit from your actions. This element is implemented very well here. But once ten event cards are gone, the game is over. At this point, you count up all the diamonds and associated gold carts, and whoever has the highest value wins. Any ties are determined by the money won.

Miners of the Empire – an affordable mining cart.

The next addition to the Settlers series is an interesting card building game that uses the idea of ​​connecting buildings and different game factions very effectively. Personally, I liked Miners of the Empire immediately after the first game. If you are looking for an affordable piece to start “building” with, then this option may be a good choice.

We would like to thank Czech distributor Blackfire for providing us with a copy of Empire Miners.