Designers: Evan Halbert, Ryan Mauk

Artist: Yaroslav Radeckyi (Citta-Stato, Reavers of Midgard, Rurik: Dawn of Kiev)

Publisher: Grey Fox Games (Champions of Midgard, Deception: Murder in Hong Kong, Mythos Tales)

Genre/Mechanisms: economic, fighting, miniatures, resource management, worker placement, tower defense

Funding Status: At the time of this posting, After the Empire is already fully-funded.  In fact, pledges currently total almost 3x the initial funding goal with 6 days left to go on the campaign.

Player Count: 1-4

Solo Mode: yes

Complexity: heavy

Risk: medium-low

What It’s About:  A tower defense game with large plastic castles played over several seasons, and utilizing resource management and worker placement mechanics.

How It Works: After the Empire is played over the course of 7 seasons. At the end of the game, players receive additional points for Building & Refugee cards, Gold Flags, Farms, and completed Secret Objectives.

A round is comprised of the following 4 Phases: Gaining Income (based on Turrets, Walls & Gates), Player Actions, Combat, and a Refresh Phase where players Harvest their Farms, Feed their Soldiers, and the player with the most gold who did not get sacked that round receives a Gold Flag. During this phase, players also discard all Invaders and Siege cards, return their workers to the Guild Hall, and advance the Season Tracker and Threat Tracker.

Player Actions available during the Action Phase include: Tax (gaining 1 Mercenary and 4 Gold, or 4 Food), Mercenary Camp (spending Gold to gain Soldiers), Traveling Merchant (spending Gold for various resources, or certain resources to gain Gold and different resources), Scout (taking a Move Token and Secret Objective Cards), Building (spending resources to build buildings that provide powerful abilities), Refugee (spending resources to acquire refugee cards that provide powerful abilities, and sometimes passive income), the Barracks (healing Soldiers), Granary (upgrade your Farms), and Stockpile (spending resources to build or repair Castle pieces).

Combat is divided into 2 larger sub-phases, one where the troops assemble, and one where they attack and engage in combat. Invader Cards place Swordsmen and Archers; Siege Cards will do either immediate or intermittent damage. Then Archery, Movement, and Melee Phases cycle until combat has concluded.

Comparisons:  After the Empire combines the strategy and resource management of a worker placement game with tower defense and combat. Throw in the KS-exclusive miniatures, and you’ve got a very well-produced edition aiming to carve out a somewhat original niche. Some other popular tower defense games include Stronghold (which is about to get a Kickstarter for a new second edition), the family-friendly Castle Panic, and recent Kickstarter hits Village Attacks and Cloudspire. But none of them combine the genre with worker placement.

What Should I Pledge?:
$85 The Noble: a copy of the KS Edition of After the Empire with all unlocked stretch goals.

Add-Ons:
$6 Captain of the Guard Mini
$35 Neoprene Mat Set (includes main board mat and 4 player board mats)

KS Exclusives:
All of the miniatures are KS exclusive, as are many of the components. At retail, the minis will be replaced by cubes, and many of the premiums resources will be replaced with cubes or non-descript action discs, making for a very different-looking game. The KS version looks like a miniatures-rich tower defense game; whereas the retail version, by comparison, almost looks like an abstract with all of the cubes and discs and none of the minis or premium resources.

All-In Total: In the continental U.S. you’re looking at $85 for The Noble Pledge, $6 for the Captain Mini, and $10 in shipping for a total of $101. If you want the Mat Set, it’s $35 plus an additional $2 in shipping, for a grand total of $138.

After the Empire completes its Kickstarter on Thursday, September 26th and tentatively ships in May 2020.