geek
Bazaar
Misc
Help
QuickBar
SEARCH
Page: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
[+] [+]
[+] [+]
[+] [+]
[+] [+]
[+] [+]
Rules | Subscriptions | Bookmarks | Search | Account | Moderators
Recommend
37
15 Posts
Battlestar Galactica » Forums » Reviews
New Thread | Printer Friendly | Subscribe  | Bookmark
Your Tags: Add tags
Popular Tags: [View All]
Zachary Wilson
flag
Battlestar Galactica » Forums » Reviews
BSG - Why I love it.
To begin I should admit I’m a fan of the new Battlestar Galactica show. Keep my potential bias in mind as you read the review.

I’ve played the game twice now. The first play was a five player game with four fans of the show. (including me) The second game was a six player game where I was the only one that had ever seen the show. So far this game has been universally loved.

I was happy to get a game in with people who were not familiar with the show. I was worried that the table time for BSG would be limited by people who didn’t like the theme. I’m pleased to say the folks that didn’t follow the series liked the game just as much as the people who did.

Here are some characteristics of games that I love on how BSG stacked up:


Limited downtime. starstarstarhalfstar

The one thing that can quickly kill a game for me is long stretches of downtime. I’m happy to report that BSG does not suffer from this problem. Even when it’s not your turn there is plenty to do. If someone steps away for a few minutes the odds are that you will need to wait for them to come back before proceeding…even if it’s not their turn.

I subtracted half a star because while you do participate in everyone’s turn there can be a big lag between your turns with a six players. Fortunately that time is usually spent observing other people trying to figure out which side they are on.


Tough, Interesting Decisions starstarstarnostar

I subtracted a star only because in our second game the Cylon victory appeared unavoidable a few player turns before it was officially over. Galactica was badly damaged, surrounded, and unable to protect civilian ships. Two of us had landed in the brig and we were relatively powerless to stop the Cylon master plan as it came together in a crushing human defeat.

As a rule the decisions are really great. Each turn you collectively decide if you will try to pass a challenge or just take it on the chin to conserve cards. Even if you decide to try the challenge you still have to contemplate how much power you should throw in to the challenge. It’s great!


Player Interaction starstarstarhalfstar

This is really the strength of a game like this. The metagame of who is a Cylon is fantastic. We regularly threw around accusations and on our first game we were stunned when one of the players revealed.

I did subtract half a star for a couple reasons. While I’ve not been the sympathizer I’m told it feels a little third class when you can’t do all of the cool things regular Cylons can do. I can also attest that it can be slightly less fun once you have revealed yourself as a Cylon as a lot of the player interaction goes out the window.


Variable Powers starstarstarstar

I’m a sucker for variable powers. Battlestar Galactica takes variable powers a small step further in that each character has three powers, two positive and one negative. One of the positive abilities is typically a once/game ability and they can really swing a game. The combination of abilities really forces you to strategize together to maximize your effectiveness. Of course this opens up endless opportunities for the sleeper agents to manipulate other people.

Some of them seem to be a handy more frequently but everyone seems balanced. In our games we have not had any one character that anyone felt like was too powerful or not good enough to pick. That’s not to say we didn’t have our favorites, only that we felt like the game was balanced.


Theme starstarstarstar

In fairness I love games with a great theme. I’m a sucker for several different themes. (Superhero games and dungeon crawls come to mind) While it’s not enough to make me look past the gameplay it’s hard for me to really love games with a pasted on theme.
Battlestar Galactica’s gameplay appears to have been heavily influenced by the show. The components are great and I don’t see how fans of the show can’t enjoy it even more then people who have not seen the show.


Overall I love the game. I don't feel like I'm blind to it's flaws. There is certainly a step down in the excitement once you have revealed yourself as a Cylon. The actions of a Cylon is fine but the interaction during other peoples' turn goes down and thus downtime goes up. (For the revealed Cylon anyways) It's also a little rough on your first play to realize how precious every resource (including skill cards) can be so they end up having a slight learning curve. It's typically solved in the first few turns though.

Our six player game (with five new people) only took about two and a half hours though it ended a bit early as the Cylons ran us out of resources. I would expect a six player human victory to take at least a few hours, even with experienced players.

In summary, I highly recommend it and I can’t wait to play it again. I’m really excited that it was published by FFG as I’m really hoping for an expansion.
Last edited on 2009-01-06 14:08:20 CST (Total Number of Edits: 2)
Ryan Newell
flag
Nice review.

I don't even bother with the sympathizer card. I just add in another "You are not a Cylon" card. FFG has official variant rules for playing without a sympathizer. Here's a link to this and other variants:
http://new.fantasyflightgames.com/ffg_content/Battlestar_Gal...
Johnson!
flag
This game is a blast! If you are even debating if you should get this game, do so! This is some of the most fun our group has had in a long time. Baltar sure gets picked on early due to the mandatory 2 loyalty cards dealt to him right off the bat.
Bill Jennings
flag
Avatar
0809
Never having watched the show, I'm not a fan. However, I too, love BSG the Boardgame. It is loaded with drama (between the players, on the game board as the battles take place, and in the cards as each crisis emerges). While it does not have the mathematical precision of some other games, it really emphasizes the social aspects of gaming - and I appreciate that.

In my first game, I was playing with a group of strangers at a FLGS that I had never played at before. But by the end of that very tight game, I felt that we had shared a pretty grand gaming experience with lots of laughs. Moreover, we had an opportunity to enjoy and appreciate each other's company. Not surprisingly, this game has made repeat appearances with new people trying it out and finding the same energy levels that I experienced.

If a game can facilitate this level of interaction and fun among strangers, it has to be a pretty good thing.
Brad Johnson
flag
Avatar
0405060708
wilsonza wrote:

Limited downtime. starstarstarhalfstar


I've played once so far, and admittedly it was with 6 players, including 4 kids with somewhat limited attention spans, but I thought the downtime, and in fact the duration of the game as a whole, was an absolute killer for me. My first impression of the game is that it was slow and repetitive, much to my disappointment, because it sounded great on paper.

I suggested the game to another (adult) friend who had played once before with another group, and he also had problems with the duration and pace of the game, limiting his interest, so I know I'm not alone.

I do intend to give it another try -- do you think I stand a better chance of success with fewer players and fewer kids?
Alexander Gretsinger
flag
Avatar
0809
tempus42 wrote:
wilsonza wrote:

Limited downtime. starstarstarhalfstar


I've played once so far, and admittedly it was with 6 players, including 4 kids with somewhat limited attention spans, but I thought the downtime, and in fact the duration of the game as a whole, was an absolute killer for me. My first impression of the game is that it was slow and repetitive, much to my disappointment, because it sounded great on paper.

I suggested the game to another (adult) friend who had played once before with another group, and he also had problems with the duration and pace of the game, limiting his interest, so I know I'm not alone.

I do intend to give it another try -- do you think I stand a better chance of success with fewer players and fewer kids?

I think the problem is that you aren't talking enough. In games I play, strategy discussions, suspicions, accusations, and so forth are happening constantly. Participating in these is a big part of the game.

I'm going to take a wild guess and say that both of the games you mentioned were won by the Cylons.
Brad Johnson
flag
Avatar
0405060708
Urza47 wrote:

I think the problem is that you aren't talking enough. In games I play, strategy discussions, suspicions, accusations, and so forth are happening constantly. Participating in these is a big part of the game.

I'm going to take a wild guess and say that both of the games you mentioned were won by the Cylons.


You may be right about not talking enough, or at least maybe not *everyone* talking enough. I actually thought there was plenty of table talk, plenty of speculation and accusation about who's a cylon, etc, but it did get kind of stale and died down after a while. With kids (ages 10, 12, 14, and 16) playing, sometimes it seemed like the 2 dads were the only ones thinking "logically" most of the time. That's why I say, maybe it would be a better experience with no kids, with adults who could be a little more subtle, but I'm not certain of that.

My game wasn't really finished - We packed it in after about 2.5 hrs of play. The irritating thing is we were only half done (5 out of 8 distance). It seemed to take forever to get to the point where we could make a jump. (We made 3 jumps, 1 for 2 distance, 2 for 1, plus we got 1 distance from succeeding on a challenge card.) We kept wishing there was some kind of action you could to speed up the jump preparation, not because we were getting hammered, more just because it was getting boring waiting for the "clock" to tick. The humans seemed to have it reasonably well in hand, although it's kind of hard to tell - all resources were "in the black", and we knew both the Cylons - one was revealed, and the second was in the brig. Assuming things proceeded more or less at the same pace, I believe it was pretty much just a matter of finishing the game out, but no one wanted to spend another 2+ hrs to do it. (Well, the 16 year old did, but the other dad and I vetoed.) So I don't *think* that was going to be a Cylon victory.

I honestly didn't find out much of the details of my friend's game, but I believe he said it was similar - they got their Cylon(s) revealed, and then all the fun went away as it just became a mechanical exercise of playing out the challenges knowing what everyone would do. So I *think* he also indicated that game was a human victory, but I'm not sure I'm remembering that correctly. He did say that the table-talk was great fun up until the time the Cylons were revealed.
Greg White
flag
Avatar
0708
tempus42 wrote:
We kept wishing there was some kind of action you could to speed up the jump preparation, not because we were getting hammered, more just because it was getting boring waiting for the "clock" to tick.
humans should be doing all they can to speed up the jump process. the longer it takes you to reach the 8+ distance mark the more opportunity the cylons have to drain your resources. scouting the crisis cards for cards that advance the FTL jump meter should be a priority (via tactics cards, boomer and lauras character abilities).

if the admiral is a human they should select the higher distance destinations. if your resources are in the black you could risk an early jump, but i'd only recommend that if the cylons ships were an immediate threat.
Zachary Wilson
flag
I will agree that the excitement goes down a bit once the Cylons are revealed. There are some new things that come up due to the open team play aspects though and I felt like the game sped up. (Cylon turns typically go super fast... draw two cards, take an action, next player)
Brad Johnson
flag
Avatar
0405060708
NZRPGR wrote:
humans should be doing all they can to speed up the jump process. the longer it takes you to reach the 8+ distance mark the more opportunity the cylons have to drain your resources. scouting the crisis cards for cards that advance the FTL jump meter should be a priority (via tactics cards, boomer and lauras character abilities).

if the admiral is a human they should select the higher distance destinations. if your resources are in the black you could risk an early jump, but i'd only recommend that if the cylons ships were an immediate threat.


Ah - that's a good newbie tip. I threw away the scouting tactics card several times because the crisis cards all seemed to be about equally undesirable - I honestly didn't think of using it just to filter for the jump icon. Guess I'm dense....

We did suffer a bit because one of our Cylons was Admiral for a while, and he picked 2 of our 1-distance jumps. (That was one of the things that convinced us he was a Cylon, actually, although after we packed it in, he told us that he really was telling the truth when he said he was drawing nothing but 1s...)
Erling Rognli
flag
09
The threes are far between (there are two or three out of a 21 card deck - and they're costly to boot), and there aren't that many twos either, so drawing four ones in a row is no sure sign of a cylon admiral, I'd say.

I would actually think the main problem for your game was playing with kids. There is something about this game that doesn't lend itself to that kind of play, even with strategy-savvy gamerkids. I think most children under age 16 will have a hard time fully mastering and enjoying the social aspects of the game, which are part and parcel of the fun. I also suspect those problems will be compounded by playing with adults, and that the game might work reasonably well in an all-kid group. Further, playing with kids will often make the adults hold back slightly on the paranoid interaction, maybe even without really meaning to. There're just some differences in how you interact with kids and adults that can impact this game quite a lot, because those differences tie into some of the social dynamics that really makes this game shine.
Last edited on 2009-01-10 17:54:42 CST (Total Number of Edits: 1)
Sean McCarthy
flag
Avatar
060708
vulpus wrote:
The threes are far between (there are two or three out of a 21 card deck - and they're costly to boot), and there aren't that many twos either, so drawing four ones in a row is no sure sign of a cylon admiral, I'd say.


Cylon!

There are 7 1s, 11 2s, and 4 3s.

The likelihood of the first four cards being 1s is

(7/22) * (6/21) * (5/20) * (4/19) ~= 0.005

You can expect this to happen once every 200 games.
Last edited on 2009-01-10 18:14:28 CST (Total Number of Edits: 1)
Erling Rognli
flag
09
Curses! I reveal! Hand me my supercrisis then, and we'll see how much further you'll get, whatever the distances on those cards...:D

Anyway, I stand corrected. That's what I get for calling it from memory.:blush:
Last edited on 2009-01-10 18:35:57 CST (Total Number of Edits: 1)
Craig Rose
flag
vulpus wrote:


I would actually think the main problem for your game was playing with kids. There is something about this game that doesn't lend itself to that kind of play, even with strategy-savvy gamerkids. I think most children under age 16 will have a hard time fully mastering and enjoying the social aspects of the game, which are part and parcel of the fun. I also suspect those problems will be compounded by playing with adults, and that the game might work reasonably well in an all-kid group.


I have to agree. The first game I played included 3 adults and two game-savvy teens ages 13 and 15. It seemed like we were spending more time discussing the finer points of bluffing and blind accusations rather than actually playing the game. We actually only managed a few turns in this game before calling it quits...well not so much we, as the teens decided to play something else.

After that, the three adults started a new game and it was an absolute blast. It was a completely different experience. Near the end, it felt almost like a high-stakes poker game. It was tense, emotions were high, and mistrust ran deep. We spent nearly as much time talking about the game afterward as we had actually spent playing it.
Brett Payne
flag
I think downtime goes down after you have played a few games. There are only a few actions that can be taken to handle each individual problem and there are only two different cards for each type. Table talk about who is going to do what next is important (especially for cylons who want to drum up support for stupid strategies).
Front Page | Welcome | Contact | Privacy Policy | Advertise | Support BGG | Feeds RSS
BoardGameGeek and the BoardGameGeek logo are trademarks of BoardGameGeek, LLC.