Two fully compatible but stand-alone deck-building games, Imperium:  Classics and Imperium:  Legends, will be released by Osprey Games next May.

Imperium is an asymmetrical deck-building game that pits historical and legendary empires against each other as they seek to expand and improve their territory, technology, and stability.  Each player chooses a civilization, represented by a unique deck of cards.  Cards are used to conquer territory, pursue scientific and cultural advancements, and oversee the growing empire.  But, care must be taken to manage the level of unrest within a civilization, and a culture can collapse if it pushes too fast.

Each of the two games comes with eight different civilization decks, each with its own advantages and disadvantages.  Imperium:  Classics features the great civilizations of the Middle East and European world, including the Carthaginians, Celts, Greeks, Macedonians, Persians, Romans, Scythians, and Vikings.  Imperium:  Legends in turn offers empires from other parts of the world as well as legendary civilizations, including Arthurian Britain, Atlantians, Egyptians, Mauryans, Minoans, Olmecs, the Qin, and the Utopians.  Each set can be used on its own or civilizations can be mixed and matched between them for greater variability of play.

Imperium was created by Nigel Buckle (Omega Centauri) and David Turczi (Anachrony, Tekhenu).  It features artwork by Mihajlo “The Mico” Dimitrievksi (Architects of the West Kingdom, Raiders of the North Sea).  The two sets will be sold separately.  MSRP has not been announced.

Earlier this summer, Osprey announced The King Is Dead 2E (see “Osprey Announces ‘The King Is Dead 2E’”) and Merv (see “Osprey Announces ‘Merv:  The Heart of the Silk Road’”).