Struggle of Empires

About this board game

Struggle of Empires is an empire-building board game for 2–7 players, with games lasting about 240 minutes. Set in the eighteenth century, it casts players as major European powers competing to become the dominant force in Europe and the wider world.

Develop your empire by building armies and fleets, establishing colonies, improving your economy, and waging war to expand your influence. Alliances with minor powers and improvement tiles give you additional ways to shape your country and pursue your goals.

The defining feature of Struggle of Empires is its alliance system. In each war, players must form two opposing alliances. Once you are allied with another player, you cannot fight that player during the war, so the alliance remains dependable until the conflict ends.

This creates difficult strategic choices. You may prefer to ally with a natural enemy while going to war against a player who has little interest in fighting you. Choosing who to support—and who to oppose—can be just as important as building your military strength.

• Build armies and fleets to pursue expansion.
• Establish colonies and improve your economy.
• Form alliances with other players and minor powers.
• Purchase improvement tiles to shape your empire.
• Manage your spending carefully to avoid revolution.

Economic ambition carries a serious risk: a profligate country can be consumed by revolution. With simple rules despite its large empire-building scope, Struggle of Empires offers competition across Europe and the colonies for groups ranging from 2 to 7 players.