Empire 1

Heavy-duty strategic SF wargame; doesn't have a lot of components (it can fit inside a large Ziploc style bag), but is still extremely involved. Four empires -- Antares, Crate Armada, Chroma Raphael, and Star Concord -- engage in a major interstellar war. Game rules cover space and ground combat, exploration of new systems, economic development, ship and planetary-shield construction, troop recruiting, the whole nine yards. Four different winning conditions are suggested: (1) the last surviving player; (2) the first player to control more than 50% of the star systems on the map; (3) the strongest player after a set number of turns; or (4) the strongest player after a set time limit (they recommend five hours). The rulebook states that the game was "formally" (believed to be a typo for formerly) "referred to as The Fourth Galactic War."