Twilight Imperium 3rd Edition

Although the entry level price seems high, this game box contains ten available races to use, with over 200 (!) miniatures! I would recommend this, but there is a fourth edition now that includes not only this third edition, but the two expansions to the third edition as well. Even so, Twilight Imperium 3rd is an absolute blast to play! At its heart, it is basically a 4X type game. (BTW: 4X is an abbreviation for "eXplore, eXpand, eXploit, and eXterminate".) Any player may use any of the four types of actions. This is one of the main selling points of this game. Any race can do anything, including nothing at all! The bad news about this game is that even if you are an experienced user of TI, it can take at least three hours to play, all the way up to at least four hours, or more! However, this is allows for a lot of interaction by the players in this "Space Opera" style game! Not to mention that you better have a very large table to spread it out on! The good news is that with only the included ten races, it might take quite a few games for even one player to have played all ten available races! Each race has its good points, and its bad points. Some are better at one of the four types of actions than others, and some are worse than others at those same actions. And all four of those actions are in the player's control. I should mention that there are two expansions to the 3rd Edition: "Shattered Empire", and "Shards of the Throne". which can allow users to have as many as six players at a time! For a game with a high Space Opera feel, and huge replayability, you can't beat it!