Imperium (board game)

Imperium is a science fiction board wargame designed by Marc W. Miller and first published in 1977 by the Conflict Game Company in association with Game Designers' Workshop. Played by two players, it simulates a war between the human Terran Confederation and an ancient, technologically superior alien empire, with asymmetrical forces so that each side fights under its own distinct constraints and abilities rather than mirrored rules. The game ships with a folding galactic map, rulebooks, reference charts, 352 die-cut counters representing starships and military units, and a six-sided die used to resolve combat and movement. Imperium was influential in the early science fiction wargaming hobby and was reissued in a second edition in 1990 and a third edition from Avalanche Press in 2001, followed by a 2004 reprint from Far Future Enterprises, keeping the design in circulation across several publishers over more than two decades.