Ultimately this was one of the worst gaming experiences of my life – especially my argument with Michael above. I’ll never play TI3 again, but I accept that it’s good for games of this type.

First, the play time decreases with experience. The first 6 player game we played took about 8 hours. After 2 or 3 more we were down to about 6 1/2 hours. Now, after roughly 12-15 games , we can finish most games of 6 player in a little over 4 hours. New players (first or second game) add literally hours to the game, however.

Another factor is even more significant, however. TI is not, in the strictest sense, a war game at all. The goal is to collect victory points, and the majority of those do not require conflict.

A wise player avoids conflict as much as possible, fighting only in defense, and where absolutely necessary to gain victory points which are otherwise unavailable. Diplomacy is a far more effective tool to maneuver into a position to claim a VP. Revenge, a popular tool in war games, is just not wise in TI, as both players wind up on the losing end.

As a war game player, one’s tendency is to see all the colourful tiles and warships strewn across the board, and think that you can win by dominating the board, but you can’t. Since you are limited by the number of ship models you have, galactic domination is simply not possible. By claiming a reasonable sized territory (ie. not large enough to piss off your neighbours), you will have the resources necessary to meet a good portion of the objectives.

Likewise, if you expand carefully, there should be relatively few early game opportunities for imbalance.

One last note. You all know a board game player or two who likes to be a rules lawyer. DO NOT invite this player to a game of TI. There are too many rules, and a too poorly organized rule book to allow a place for this kind of player. If a rule comes up which is ambiguous, vote on a resolution and move on, or all of your games will be unpleasantly long.

In short, give the game another shot, and you won’t be disappointed. Keep in mind though, that it takes some getting used to.

You’re in a seven player game where one player left and four of you just allowed two neighbouring players to take advantage of the shift? Form alliances, block them.

The problem with longer, heavier and more complex games is that you typically need to play them a few times to get the hang of the options available to you. This is particularly true when the game is easily misinterpreted.