Middle Empire

From BoardGameGeek:

Middle Empire summed up in one sentence - "Think Settlers of Catan combined with Risk, played in 30 minutes." Middle Empire is an easy to learn, quick playing strategy board game where players compete to obtain the winning number of empires through construction, defense, and attack cards. Acquire strongholds by either constructing your own on empty spaces or attacking your opponents to capture theirs, then upgrade them into empires and defend them from your opponents' attacks. Dice rolling and random chance are not involved - you decide which types of cards to pick and when in order to best secure your chances of winning. The first player to construct the required number of empires (depending on the number of players) and defend them for one full game round wins the game. Middle Empire can be learned in 15 minutes and a full game can be played in 30 minutes. It provides engaging and dynamic game play in every game, fun for 2-4 players.