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I've just now set to work setting up an appropriate mix cd for Twilight Imperium games and so forth at my house, hey, what better place to find armchair conquerors and sci-fi geeks who know plenty about music?

So what I'm looking for are appropriate evil, grand, orchestral and action-y themes that would be appropriate for grand conquest and politicking. My list below sort of approximates the kind of thing I'm looking for. I already have a few things compiled, but I'd like to hear from you people about what works.

What I've found so far, and I haven't even gone through most of these albums yet so if there are any others here that would work then great:

Star Wars (obviously): Main Title, the Imperial March (super-obviously), Battle of the Heroes, Duel of the Fates
Battlestar Galactica: Fight Night, Prelude to War, Storming New Caprica, Battle on the Asteroid
Transformers: Decepticons
Queen: Princes of the Universe
Rome Soundtrack: Triumph

I know there must be some good stuff on the LoTR and Gladiator soundtracks that I could use, but I haven't bought those yet. Any suggestions would be appreciated.

The Flight of the Valkeries

Toccata & Fugue in D Minor, perhaps?

Hell March and/or Hell March II are very conquerish (and to a lesser extent, commanding).

I would also recommend the Leviathan and/or Rage mixes of the Imperial March. They can be downloaded for free from some forsaken pit of Lucas Arts' site, I think.

No no, it needs to be less planned. You need to have a bunch of standard silliness, but let your player branch off into random-town. It's like, musical role-play, and owning everyone with nukes because a Garbage song came on is very satisfying.

In that case, Stark, pwning everyone with uberweapons due to the Chicken Dance or Yakety Sax coming up is an especially FRAPSable Youtubeable breed of hilarity.

As always, the rule is, listen and don't watch the lame videos people have made, hah.

Perhaps my favourite classical song of all; Montagues and Capulets by Prokofiev.

Grand Finale and Postludium by Therion is one of their best songs in my opinion, so if you just ignore the video and give it a listen.

Try and find The Prophet by Emperor, it's very orchestral and has one of the meanest riffs ever, also, it's from their later albums so it shouldn't hurt your ears.

Eradication instincts defined by Dimmu is orchestrally awesometastic.

It may be cliched, but I recommend Holst's The Planets, especially Mars, The Bringer of War. Get the Leonard Bernstein-conducted version (with the New York Philharmonic) if you can; the drums sound especially ominous.

Also, Mozart's Requiem (especially Dies Irae) is good.

Half of the Gunbuster Tracks are very good for 'ohmygod fleet battle'. The ones that aren't 80s J-Pop, I mean the ones that are instruments, drums and strings screaming at you that you're about to die. Or about heroic success.

BSG's 'Duel' music between Cain and Adama also counts. Throw in there a few random tracks from that series, and some Freespace 2 Ambience and you win.

Poledouris' Klendathu Drop. I have blasted many a fleet to atoms with that in the background. Works really well for desperate battles.

Brian Tyler's Summon The Worms works too, after you get through the intro.

For epic, there's always Dies Irae, part of Mozart's Requiem, being the song to end a world with.

Heck, the full Requiem is good.

Beethoven's Symphony #9 is ever popular.

Requiem For a Dream I strongly recommend also. I'll dig out the LotR soundtrack I've got round here somewhere, that's got a few good ones.

I rather like launching mass assaults to wonderfully inappropriate pieces of music. Current favourites, for no valid reason, are Son of a Preacher Man or the Blues Brothers soundtrack.

No Mercy-Frank Klepacki

Zor

"It's the end of the world as we know it"

Just change the lyrics to "as YOU know it"

Wow...best GM with whom I ever played, mixed 'battle-tracks' tapes for background during games...nice to see he wasn't alone with that...

"Morlocks Attack" and "What If?" from The Time Machine
"Decompression" from Leviathan
"Helion Attack" from Chronicles of Riddick
"Burn it All" from Backdraft
"Open the Gates" from Star Trek V
"Bail Out" from Congo
"Cowboy and the Jackers" from Battle Beyond the Stars
"Battle on the Ramparts," "Destruction of the Black Fortress" and "Riding the Fire Mares" from Krull
"Sniper!" from The Four Feathers
"Surprise Attack" and "Explosive Reply" from Star Trek II
"Camel Race" from The Mummy
"Elk Hunt" and "The Fort Battle" from The Last of the Mohicans
"Rush Hour," "Choppers" and "The Dolly" from Speed
"The Battle" from Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World
"Battle" from Elizabeth: The Golden Age
"Bird of Prey Decloaks" from Star Trek III
"Mona Lisa Overdrive" from The Matrix: Reloaded
"Burns Attack," "Coro," "Crossfire" and "Password" from Appleseed
"Deacon's Speech" from Waterworld
"Panic Kontrol" (Psychosonic)
"Megalomaniacal" (KMFDM)
"Ripley's Rescue" and "Bishop's Countdown" from Aliens

That's enough, for now...

Faures requiem, Libera Mei. Very fun to watch during M2TW when your cavalry is crushing english long bowmen.

I think a couple of tracks on the Pirate of The Caribbean soundtrack would work. Maybe "The Black Pearl" and "He's A Pirate".

The main theme from "The Hunt for the Red October" comes to mind, as does the CCCP national anthem.

Bounty wrote:Poledouris' Klendathu Drop. I have blasted many a fleet to atoms with that in the background. Works really well for desperate battles.

I must second this. An excellent track for a heroic last stand type of battle.

"Rock House Jail" from The Rock is also excellent, as is "Barbossa is Hungry" from the first PotC soundtrack.

RogueIce wrote:

Bounty wrote:Poledouris' Klendathu Drop. I have blasted many a fleet to atoms with that in the background. Works really well for desperate battles.

I must second this. An excellent track for a heroic last stand type of battle.

"Rock House Jail" from The Rock is also excellent, as is "Barbossa is Hungry" from the first PotC soundtrack.

Are those a couple songs where it becomes obvious how much Hans Zimmer recycles his work? In those two films and Gladiator at least.

I'd definitely toss Stravinsky's Rite of Spring into the mix, simply for it's chaotic elements.

Brother-Captain Gaius wrote:Toccata & Fugue in D Minor, perhaps?

Probably referring to J.S. Bach's piece, BWV 565. </stickler for being specific.>

get everyone pumped, dude. By the immortal Drowning Pool "Bodies" is the way to go.

Faith No More's "Woodpecker From Mars" This song has epic battle written all over it.

I'm surprised that no one's mentioned Carl Orff's Carmina Burana, O Fortuna. You will never find better music for sword-fighting... and it works for space battles, too.

In the Hall of the Mountain King is great for escalation.

Utah Saints' Mortal Kombatkicks some serious ass.
If any of your troops are robotic in nature, I recommend Bonnie Tyler's Holding Out for a Hero.

As long as we're taking soundtracks, there is Waxing Elizabeth from the hard-to-find Young Sherlock Holmes soundtrack. Unfortunately, this is not a very good clip of it at all, as the actual "Waxing Elizabeth" scene with the full choral track doesn't occur until the end of the movie, but it was the best clip I could find on short notice.

Then there is Christopher Franke's Babylon 5 music, such as severed dreams and The Long Twilight Struggle. And the Rock Cried Out No Hiding Place can be a fun reference for any nerds you play against, right before you crush them.
And this was our favorite music for BFG, when you're really beating the stuffing out of someone.

And I've always loved this little Poledouris bit right here.

For the love of god, don't forget:

March of Cambreadth

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kq_XFrSX5HY



or

The man comes around

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6TuqA7I7LLk

Eric Johnson "The Cliffs of Dover"

If you're going to conquer a world, why not be happy and have fun while doing it?

Uh....

Where is "Immigrant Song" by Zeppelin, Led? That's got to be on your list o' fun.

"Main Title" from The Black Hole (available on iTunes) might be good.

"Dogs of War" from The Delicate Sound Of Thunder by Pink Floyd, maybe. It's questionable, but all I can think of at the moment. Do not use the original version from A Momentary Lapse Of Reason.