| Game | In the Shadow of the Emperor | Complexity | Low |
| Company | Rio Grande Games | Time | 1-2 hrs |
| Setting | Holy Roman Empire | Players | 2-4 |
| Type | Political Maneuvering | Rating | 7.5 |
In the Shadow of the Emperor is a game of political intrigue in the Holy Roman Empire in the late middle ages. Players take the role of aristocratic families vying for influence.
The goal of the game is to amass political influence represented by victory points. Victory points are awarded for a variety of situations such as getting one of your aristocrats appointed as the Emperor, an Elector, marrying your daughter to another faction and even outright purchase (of indulgences from the Vatican).
The game is played in 5 turns, each turn (except for Turn 1, which starts at Phase 4) consisting of eight phases as follows:
We will now look at each phase in detail.
Money is important as it determines the amount of political maneuvering a player is able to do (See Phase IV - Perform Actions). A player gets a basic income of 6 Thalers (basic unit of money in the game). In addition, he gets 1 additional for each city of his color on the board as well as 1 for an opponent-controlled city in a province headed by an Elector he controls. (He does not get two for a city of his color which also lies in a province with an Elector controlled by him.) Lastly, the Elector of Saxony gets 2 Thalers.
Aristocrats can be at 15, 25, 35 or 45 years of age. During this phase, all aristocrats age 10 years. Aristocrats already at 45 years of age are removed (They die of old age).
Based on the number of each type of action cards left on his display from the previous round, players will either get a son or daughter. A son is represented as a free Baron (aged 15) placed on an electorate of the player's choice. A daughter can be married to a baron of an opponent (gaining the player a VP, and the opposing player an additional vote for the new couple), or she can be sent off to a convent, which gains the owning player an additional Thaler.
During this phase, players spend their Thalers to purchase action cards. Action cards enables the player to perform a specific action, such as placing cities, promoting a knight to a baron or even moving an aristocrat from one electorate to another. Most of these activities centre around getting the player more power in an electorate or additional votes. One major use of action is the "Doctor" card, which can cause reduce the age of an aristocrat of the controlling player, or to increase the age of an aristocrat owned by another player.
Players each tally up his influence in each electorate and the player with the greatest influence in the electorate can promote one of his aristocrats to become elector. There are three Archdioces that can be led only by unmarried Barons and four secular Electorates that can be led by both married Couples or unmarried Barons. Each Electorate yields the owning player 2VPs.
The Electors then proceed to elect an Emperor, if a player chose the Challenger card in Round IV. The current Emperor and the Challenger must vote for themselves. The other players can vote for either side, but their votes must be cast in a single block, and there can be no abstentions. Players who support the winning side in an Emperor election gains the gratitude of the Emperor (and 1VP). The Emperor gets nothing (in this phase - see Phase VII).
The Emperor performs his actions now. Depending on the current turn it is, he gets to gain 1-2 VPs, and 0-1 Thalers. In addition, he may also gets to place or move an imperial cities, which may influence the power distribution the next turn.
Lastly the turn marker is advanced by one and a new turn is started, or the game ends.
There are a few novel concepts that interact rather well in the game. Money gets you the ability to perform actions. Actions get you the ability to (1)get more money, (2)gain power in Electorates, and (3)influence Emperor elections. Power in electorates gain you the power to influence Emperor elections. In each of these steps, VPs can be had. You do not need to become Emperor to win this game. Theoretically, remaining on the sidelines and playing Kingmaker can also net you the game. I just got a hang of the basic mechanics, where each player tries to advance his own interests directly. I am curious to see how a game of intense negotiations will turn out.