Preface

Don't read too much into the subject of this review, I don't know what's the proper criteria for ameritrash and if Battlestar Galactica fulfills that criteria. In any case I'm clearly not in the target market segment for this game, my best ranked games feature open information and no random elements, but still I have enjoyed my two goes with Battlestar Galactica. It's not a game I expected to like, but I must have some sympathy for it. This occured to me when I realised that after last session I was criticizing how some elements are unthematic, instead of putting down the game for being a random, fiddly, long and plagued with downtime. Let's see if we can break this love/ hate relationship down.

Gamers game, if gamers took drama

Let's make one thing clear right now, just to save my europlaying face. I don't think Battlestar Galactica is a good boardgame. Others, even the fans who rate Battlestar Galactica highly, have confirmed this. Battlestar Galactica can be great fun with a right bunch. This doesn't make it a good game, it just makes the bunch good players. Battlestar Galactica is a game that sinks or swims solely on the players ability and willingness to lose themselves into the game and staying in character. If you only enjoy figuring the optimized chain of actions or calculating odds I won't be enjoying Battlestar Galactica with you. There are so many games that offer more interesting optimization opportunities, playing Battlestar Galactica just for the mechanics is an exercise in futility.

As stated, with a right bunch Battlestar Galactica can be a riot. Everyone is suspecting each other, accusations going all directions, every action of every player undergoes scrutiny, whether that move puts you in the human or cylon camp. Even better if the players are playing in character, not automatically choosing the best action, but choosing an action justifiable for his character. After all the players are characters inside game, not just some undefined forces pulling the strings from outside the game. For me such setup is refreshing and one of the factors I did enjoy the game. Making any comparisons to actual RPGs is silly, but for a boardgame Battlestar Galactica does an excellent job in setting up the stage to help players get inside the game.

New set of standards

It is clear that if I were to rate Battlestar Galactica by my usual standards it would not rate high. Two or three sounds about right. But I had to face the fact that playing was so fun that such a low rating would be unfair. So I forgave the game my usual dislikes, I had to come up with new standards to rate Battlestar Galactica. The theme is great and masterfully executed in the game, I actually got in the series because of the game, not the other way around. The components are nice and plentiful, I do love my wooden cubes so I'm usually indifferent towards components, but let's put it this way: The best thing about components is that they look good without putting form over function. The mechanics are simple, giving room for the detuction making and arguing. The game is long, but the first half of the game just flies by. If every ameritrash game was like this I might just fall to the dark side (disclaimer: I do not believe that ameritrash players or ameritrash games are evil or associated in any way with the dark side).

If that sounded like I should be rating Battlestar Galactica nine instead of six, next I'll tell you why I don't. In fine the game just falls apart when the cylons are discovered. That's it, no more fun, no more inspired trash talk busting with laughter, no more taking any interest in other players actions, instead the game transforms in a dull race. At this point downtime also becomes an issue, I'm no longer interested in how many cards you put down on the skill test. I know will your cards be positive or negative, just get it over with and pass the turn. And at this point also my original reasons to dislike the game resurface and I no longer can forgive those because the fun is lost. The race itself isn't gripping or the optimizing interesting because there just are not that many options. The poor mechanics now shine through instead of making room like before.

Maybe there still is hope

The thing is, Battlestar Galactica is still a game, not a drama class exercise, so you can't blame the cylon characters for revealing themselves even at the cost of the atmosphere. If you are playing to win and see an window of opportunity you have to take it. The fun ends here and so should the game. After the last cylon is detected there should just be one final fight to determine the winners. I don't care if that solution would be unthematic, but the race segment shouldn't last more than 20 minutes. Instead the game can drag on for an hour and half and neither cylon nor human players have very much to do in their turn. In this type of fast end variant the cylons would benefit more by doing little damage here and there going undetected, the amount of sabotage would add up in a low chance for the humans to succeed in the last push. Maybe even a variant rule that in the final showdown the undetected cylons would be more dangerous than the detcted ones. I can't write rules for such variant, but if the game end was as I envision it I would drop eurogames like a bad habit. Battlestar Galactica is close, but no cigar.

Second big thing that bothers me in Battlestar Galactica is the Symphatizer Card. I konow it's been discussed over and over, but I have to bring it up again. Normally such a mechanic might not bother me, I would just game it. Battlestar Galactica is so reliant on theme that gaming this mechanic becomes irritating. In our last game we guided an undefended helpless civilian ship next to cylons in order to put one resource in the red beofre the sleeper phase. Everyone agreed that it's a good move, we certainly didn't want more cylons on board. This mechanic is so stupid it alone might turn people off, before my next game I have to have some variant to fix this problem. After all, if I wanted to make unrational and unthematic, but mechanics wise optimal moves, I'd stick to my eurogames.

Afterword

So as a heavy eurogames fan can I recommend Battlestar Galactica to other heavy eurogames fans? I did enjoy the game, but the answer is still no. If you can't stand random, fiddly, long games plagued with downtime, you can't stand Battlestar Galactica. If you are fan of the series it might help, but you still need to find a group of players that are able to suit up for the game and you really need to be able and willing to let the game take you on a ride to enjoy it. I'm happy that I have such a group of players and I'm happy to have scratched the surface of the other side of boardgaming. I hope to put on the face of Gaius Baltar again one day, but in the meantime I think I'll continue to favour trains and wooden cubes.