Imperial FAQ
161 questions players ask · Updated Nov 11, 2026 · Full rulebook
Gameboard
Game Materials
Set-Up
- Who receives the Investor card at the start of the game?
- Where do the nations place their two starting factories?
- Can a nation start the game with no controlling player?
- Can a player start the game without controlling any nation?
- In the experienced-players start, can one player buy more than one bond in the same nation?
- Are the starting bonds paid for out of each player's starting cash?
- How much cash does each player have left after buying the starting bonds?
- In the basic setup, if a player is dealt two nation flags, do they pay for both sets of bonds?
Game Play
- Can two nations occupy the same space on the rondel?
- If one player controls several nations, or none, who takes the action on a turn?
- In what order do the nations take turns, and does a change of control alter the order?
- What happens on a nation's turn if nobody holds any of its bonds?
- How far can a nation move on the rondel in one turn, and who pays for the extra spaces?
- Does the bond's large number or the money paid decide who controls a nation?
- Does a tie in money invested change who controls a nation?
- What happens to your bonds when another player takes control of the nation?
- Can you sell a bond back to the nation, or trade several bonds in one nation for one larger bond?
- Must bonds be bought in numerical order?
- Can players keep their personal cash hidden from the other players?
- Must a player show their bonds to the other players?
- If a nation lands on or passes the Investor space, does the Investor card move to the next player?
- Does the player who takes over a nation's last government have to pay 1 million to the player who lost it?
- How far can a fleet convoy an army in a single turn?
- Can a fleet move and then carry an army in the same Maneuver?
- Can a friendly nation's fleets convoy your army?
- Does a convoy use up the army's move, and can an army move and then convoy in one turn?
- Can a convoyed army move and attack an enemy in the same Maneuver?
- Can an enemy fleet at sea attack ships still in port?
- Where can an imported fleet be placed?
- When may a nation fight with its units in another nation's region?
- Must hostile armies in the same region fight each other?
- In a battle, are both sides' units removed?
- When several nations' units share a region and want to fight, who decides the order of the battles?
- When a foreign army enters a home province that already holds another nation's army, must the newcomer fight?
- Do fleets, or armies in a neutral country, need a friendly or hostile stance?
- Can armies or fleets be disbanded or removed voluntarily?
- Can all of a nation's factories be occupied or destroyed?
- Can three armies destroy a foreign factory in a province that still holds a defender?
- Can a fleet cross Turkey's sea border from the Black Sea into the Eastern Mediterranean without permission?
- Can an army use railroads outside its own nation's home provinces?
- Does a hostile army in one home province block railroad movement through the rest of its country?
- Can an army use the railroad through an occupied province, or rail into one and attack?
- Does railroad movement use up an army's move?
- Does a region's flag stay put when rival units move in, fight, or leave?
- When does a region's flag change to another nation?
- Can two players agree to transfer flag control of a region without combat?
- Where can a nation place a flag on the board?
- If no player controls a nation, can another nation's army still enter its home provinces?
Object of the Game / End of the Game
- How are end-game victory points calculated?
- Does the power-track multiplier change a bond's interest during play?
- What ends the game?
- If the move that takes a nation to 25 power points passes over the Investor space, does the investor step still happen?
- How is a tie for the most victory points broken at game end?
- How is the tiebreak decided when two nations are tied for second place in power points?
- Do power points keep being added when the tax marker does not rise, or after a nation reaches 15 or more?
- Does money left in a nation's treasury count toward the final score?
- At game end, do you score the bonds you hold in nations you do not control?
Treasuries / Start of the Game
- Who receives the Investor card at the start of the game?
- What happens to a nation that has no bond sold at the start of the game?
- Can a player own more than one bond in the same nation?
- Can a player buy more than one bond in a single turn or investor step?
- Can several bonds of one nation be combined into one bigger bond?
- Can a player sell a bond, or give it back to the nation for cash?
- Can a player buy any bond from a nation's pile, not just the top one?
- Does control of a nation depend on the bonds' purchase price or on their interest?
- Who takes control of a nation when players tie on their total bonds in it?
- Can a player other than the controlling player put personal cash into a nation's treasury?
- Can players lend, give or trade money or bonds with one another?
- Who pays for building a factory or importing military units?
- Must units be disbanded when the treasury cannot pay their upkeep?
Spaces on the Rondel
- Can a nation land on the Investor space when its treasury and controller cannot pay every other bondholder in full?
- Can the controlling player give up his own interest when the treasury cannot cover every payout?
- When the treasury cannot pay every investor, who covers the gap and in what order are investors paid?
- When a nation lands on the Investor space, whose interest is paid?
- If a nation only passes over the Investor space, which Investor steps are carried out?
- When a nation lands on the Investor space, which investor steps run?
- Does the Investor card activate when a nation lands on the Investor space, or only when a nation passes through it?
- If a nation starts its move on the Investor space and then moves on, does it trigger the Investor steps again?
- When a nation passes over the Investor space, is the action of the space it lands on completed before the investor steps, and when does control change?
- What is a Swiss Bank, and who gets one?
- Can a Swiss Bank owner force a nation to stop on the Investor space instead of passing it?
- Who may invest during the Investor phase, and in which nations?
- Can a player with the Investor card and no nation invest twice in one turn?
- If a player gains or loses his last nation during the Investor phase, can he invest again that turn?
- In what order do players buy bonds during the Investor phase?
- What does the Investor card holder receive, and what may he buy?
- Can a player with no nation earn cash, and how?
- Must the new owner pay 1 million to a player who loses his last nation at zero power points?
- What does it cost to move a nation more than three spaces on the rondel?
- How many power points does a taxation move add?
- How much money does a taxation move put into the nation's treasury after soldiers' pay?
- How much is the controller's success bonus for each step up the tax chart, and where does it come from?
- Does the controller earn the success bonus again after the tax level drops and later rises?
- Is the success bonus paid on a nation's first taxation?
- When tax revenue falls, does the tax marker drop too, and does the controller get anything?
- On a taxation turn, do other nations' power markers move too?
- If taxation does not raise the tax level, does the nation still gain its power points?
- If a nation passes the Investor space on its way to Taxation, does its investor part still happen?
- Do the Imperial 2030 taxation rules apply when playing classic Imperial?
- Must every factory produce when a nation takes the Production action?
- Can a factory produce while a hostile army occupies its home province, and can the occupier produce in it?
- Can you produce in a home province occupied by a friendly army, and can units fight straight from production?
- Can units be imported into a home province that contains a hostile army?
- Where may imported fleets be placed?
- Can a nation stop on the Factory or Import space without the money for that action?
- Which rondel actions are compulsory when a nation's marker stops on them?
- Can a fleet move and then carry armies by convoy in the same turn?
- How many armies can one fleet carry in a maneuver turn?
- Is army movement simultaneous, or does each army's move and any battle resolve before the next army moves?
- Can armies use the railroad through a home province after a hostile army there is destroyed in the same turn?
- Can a friendly fleet later convoy hostile armies, and does the fleet turn hostile when it does?
- Can a nation withdraw a friendly agreement it made for a sea region earlier in the same fleet movement step?
- Can peacefully coexisting fleets in a sea region carry armies, and must the mover declare that?
- If a fleet enters a sea region holding a peaceful fleet, can the first fleet be attacked later when another fleet arrives?
- Can a non-active nation change its friendly fleets to hostile and attack an ally's fleets in a sea region?
- Can fleets that did not move in the active nation's maneuver still battle foreign fleets in the same sea region?
- When a fleet or army enters a region with other nations' units, who declares first and in what order are the others asked whether to fight?
- When an invading unit enters a region holding several foreign units, which one does it fight?
- Can an army attack a fleet that is still in its harbour?
- Can an army attack a friendly (non-hostile) army in a foreign home province?
- Can an army be convoyed by a fleet into a foreign home province?
- Can an army or convoy move diagonally between two regions that touch only at a corner?
- Can a unit move into a foreign nation's home province that is occupied by an enemy army, in order to fight it?
- Can another nation's armies use your nation's railroad?
- Can an army that lands in its home country from a neutral area continue by railroad inside the country?
- Can a unit that returns from a neutral area to its home country and then uses the railroad attack an enemy-held province of that nation in the same move?
- When can an army change between friendly and hostile?
- After an army changes from friendly to hostile without moving, can other armies in its province call a battle against it?
- Does being at war with another nation make all of its armies hostile everywhere?
- Does declaring an army hostile force a battle with an enemy army already in the province?
- When an army enters another nation's home province where a foreign army already sits, when is its hostile or friendly status declared, and who decides on a battle?
- Can an army entering another nation's home province with a defending army declare hostile and stay there without attacking?
- If a hostile army blocks a foreign home province and another nation's friendly army moves in and coexists, is the province still blocked?
- Does a friendly army turn hostile when it asks for a battle?
- Can the owner of a home province, or a friendly army already in it, ask for a battle against a foreign army that has just moved in?
- Can a nation that did not move force a battle with units that stayed put, or can two foreign armies that did not move fight each other?
- Do hostile or friendly declarations apply when an army enters a neutral land or sea area with enemy units present?
- Can flags be placed in a home province, either the nation's own or another nation's?
- When does a flag change hands after a maneuver?
- Does a tax flag change owner when a sea region is occupied by fleets of several nations?
- Do friendly, lying-down units in a region stop a tax flag from being placed there?
- If a nation holds a region alone but has no free tax flag, when may it place one once one is freed?
- Can more than one nation's marker occupy the same rondel space?
- Does a hostile army in one home province stop taxation or imports for the whole nation?
- Can hostile armies occupy every factory of a nation, or destroy its last unoccupied factory?
- Can an army occupy a factory in a home region where a friendly foreign unit is present?
Variant Without Investor Card
- In the no-Investor-Card variant, when do players invest in a nation?
- Without the Investor card, can a player who owns no nation invest in any nation, or only the one that just moved?
- Can a player without a government invest in a nation at any time, even before that nation's turn?
- Without the Investor card, how many bonds can a player buy each time a nation finishes its turn?
- Does playing without the Investor card also give the bigger starting cash and the initial bond auction?
- In the no-Investor-Card variant, when can players invest in a nation that has no bonds yet?
- Without the Investor card, is there a 2 million payment or a special event when a nation passes the Investor space?
- Without the Investor card, can a player who declined a bond change his mind after another player buys?
- Does the Swiss Bank rule still apply when playing without the Investor card?