The sci-fiepic returns in a sleeker form for its 20th anniversary, but has it come back to our universe to find its galactic throne usurped?

Designer: Dane Beltrami, Corey Konieczka, Christian T. Petersen | Artist: Various

WHAT’S IN THE BOX?

►17 faction sheets

►Six command sheets

►51 system tiles

►354 plastic units

►Eight strategy cards

►Eight ten-sided dice

►Victory point track

►59 planet cards

►40 objective cards

►80 action cards

►50 agenda cards

►41 promissory note cards

►Speaker token

► 122 technology cards

►62 unit upgrade cards

►Two Creuss alpha/ beta wormhole tokens

► Naalu ‘0’ token

►Custodians token

►Two Nekro X/Y assimilator tokens

►272 command tokens

► 289 control tokens

►48 trade good and commodity tokens

►49 infantry tokens

►49 fighter tokens

There are few games where the release of a new edition is an event in itself. In 2005, the release of Twilight Imperium’s third iteration was a momentous occasion, radically overhauling Christian T. Petersen’s already well-regarded space opera and transforming it into a true modern classic, respected and feared in equal measure for its scale and complexity. The release of Twilight Imperium’s fourth edition this year, then, was not something to be taken lightly.

Fourth Edition isn’t quite as drastic a transformation as its predecessor. If third Edition souped up the engine under the bonnet of Twilight Imperium, Fourth Edition replaces the panels around the outside, cleaving off awkward angles and unnecessary weight to ensure every ounce of thrust produced by the heated core of strategic galactic conquest is used to full effect.