Game: Galaxy: the Dark Ages

Thread: Re: This vs. Colossal Arena

BruceGee — 2008-01-24T15:18:03+00:00

Teach your friends to play TTA or Colossal Arena. If they like it a lot and are starting to get tired of it, then move them up to Galaxy. It's a lot of fun, but I wouldn't try it with people who weren't already familiar with the fantasy version: as others have said, there's just too much to grasp.

Thread: Re: This vs. Colossal Arena

jttm — 2007-09-12T00:26:16+00:00

Galaxy has a lot more fiddly rules IMO.
I agree that newbies tend to hate it, which is why I'd stick to Titan: Arena or Colossal Arena (they're about the same - C:A has 4 new characters).

I find TtA more elegant and has a better ratio of rules-to-learn vs. enjoyment-of-gameplay.

Thread: Re: This vs. Colossal Arena

sos1 — 2007-09-12T00:15:27+00:00

Sorry to be brief, had to do something - back now.

First, I haven't seen Colossal Arena, so I'm not sure how it's changed from Titan the Arena.

As far as Galaxy vs Titan the Arena goes, for the most part I prefer Galaxy. But oddly enough, I won't play it with people who haven't first played TtA. There's just too much going on to grasp, and newbies tend to hate it. The fact that every ship has a special ability as well as every power is too much for many people.

The only thing I dislike about Galaxy is the limited discard rule. There's a little too much luck involved because of it. So we alter it in some way.

They're both good games - I'll happily play either. My group likes Galaxy a bit better because we like games with combat and don't mind dice. Others prefer TtA. Then again, I have one friend who prefers the original Grand National Derby which doesn't even have powers ... tastes differ.

Thread: Re: This vs. Colossal Arena

sos1 — 2007-09-11T23:21:01+00:00

Main differences:

http://www.panix.com/~sos/bc/galaxy.html

Thread: This vs. Colossal Arena

BrenoK — 2007-09-11T23:03:46+00:00

What are the main differences? Which one is more complex, more fun, etc etc...

I'm quite interested in getting Colossal Arena, but this made me curious. Maybe I should get this one instead...

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ScottH — 2007-06-17T18:49:43+00:00

What comes in the box

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ZiggyZambo — 2007-05-19T23:07:43+00:00

Thread: Re: Review of Galaxy: The Dark Ages

AllenDoum — 2007-03-31T02:13:29+00:00

Vince Londini wrote:
Greenwood’s skills shine in the unambiguous rulebook.

I assume sarcasm here. These rules were, from what I understand, reworked by Andy Lewis from GMT. One only has to compare them with the original Titan:The Arean rules to see the difference.

Or the Colossal Arena rules, for that matter.

Thread: Review of Galaxy: The Dark Ages

Vince Londini — 2007-03-31T00:30:53+00:00

In GMT’s Galaxy: The Dark Ages, Reiner Knizia and Don Greenwood conspire to present a design that is true Knizia with a rulebook that is true Greenwood resulting in true fun.

Design Thoughts
Knizia’s design has players building and manipulating a simple spreadsheet, cleverly disguised (by Greenwood) as a space conquest game. Play begins with the 8 home-worlds represented as a row of cards on the table. Beneath that row, players play ship cards that carry values from 0-10. When all of the spaces (cells) in the current row are filled, the round is over and the race (column) containing the lowest value ship in the current row is eliminated (removed) from play. Each round, the spreadsheet adds a row and loses a column.

While the row-building affects which columns are removed, the game is actually won by the position of the chips played between the rows. Really, these are the true cells for scoring purposes.

A chip (representing a starbase) can be played above the current row and subsequently promoted up the column or demoted down the column (always resting between rows of cards, never higher than above the home row or lower than below the current row). Players move chips by card play or attacks on the bases, permissible whenever there are no ships in the column's current cell. Chips are essentially “bets” that a column will survive. After making these investments, players work to ensure column survival, and to promote their bases higher in the column.

Thus, Knizia’s genius: a simple mechanic where players build a spreadsheet and manipulate chips between the lines, player with the highest value of remaining chips (chips higher in the column score more points) wins. This mechanic has already seen life in a pre-Hasbro Avalon Hill game titled Titan: the Arena and before that as a horse-track game. I would like to see this mechanic recycled as a stock-market game.

Greenwood’s skills shine in the unambiguous rulebook. After working through the rules once, the game made sense in that "of course!" kind of way. The rules are also so painstakingly thorough that the game looks harder than it is (also trademark Greenwood). But then, that gives us "rules-explainers" a job

For a fuller review of the game play, see Greg Schlosser’s review. For a detailed comparison of G:TDA with its predecessor, Titan: The Arena, see BGGAdmin’s review.

Bottom Line
Gamers who like a space-themed game and who are not easily scared off by complex-looking rules will find G:TDA presents an hour of tense fun. Game theorists MUST try this title (or one of its siblings) for its unique mechanic.

Thread: Re: Something feels wrong....

Vince Londini — 2007-03-30T23:46:14+00:00

An improbable occurrence, and a motivator to play another game - since the game you describe was undoubtedly short

I've very much enjoyed 4 games of this (so far) with 2-players.

Thread: Re: Something feels wrong....

JoDiamonds — 2006-08-24T04:20:52+00:00

As others have said, you played correctly.

Galaxy isn't well suited for only two players, and probably needs some adjustment for such circumstances. I believe it is best with 4-5 players, though passable with three.

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sikeospi — 2006-06-01T08:56:24+00:00

Galaxy: the Dark Ages played the day after KublaCon 2006

Thread: Re: Something feels wrong....

GaryP — 2006-03-13T17:57:38+00:00

To answer your question, no, you were not doing anything wrong. With only two players, a strong starting hand for the Myrmidon is absolutely devastating. For that matter, they can be just as crippling during later rounds if they're still around.

As I recall, what we did for two players was to change their power to:
May randomly draw one card from another player's hand, look at it, and place it in that player's reserve.

Basically, every card played to the Myrmidon column by its Governor acts like a Probe(1). This has the effect of reducing the opponent's hand size by one whether they pick up their reserve or draw a new card. A very unlikely draw of many Myrmidon and Ally cards, such as you had, would still be tough to beat, but it might not be quite so hopeless. The ability to look at what gets put in the opponent's reserve restores a bit of value to the power in the more likely case of a weaker Myrmidon hand.

I think this game really shines with three and is nearly as good with four. I have only played 2P games a few times, mostly to get a new player up to speed. The need to balance who you attack is completely lost with 2P. The Felowi also seem rather overpowered with 2P. They are almost impossible to kill off once they get several ships in their column. The Governor need only keep playing to that column to keep getting more Felowi cards. I think we limited the Felowi Governor to only being able to reclaim ships from the previous row to help mitigate this.

You said you already had some ideas of your own, so do let us know what you try. Mostly, though, I suggest you try it with 3 or 4 players to really see how great this game is. Then, if a certain Governor power is getting to be too much of a nuisance, it can be eliminated. Happy blasting!

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wourme — 2006-03-13T04:20:27+00:00

World Cards

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wourme — 2006-03-13T04:18:51+00:00

Ally Ships

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wourme — 2006-03-13T04:17:17+00:00

Technology Cards

Thread: Re: Something feels wrong....

dturnerfish — 2006-03-11T20:39:26+00:00

My thought too in a 3+ player game, but with two if the starting player has the right hand there will be little the other player can do.

Thread: Re: Something feels wrong....

Phlegm — 2006-03-11T18:31:40+00:00

The answer is simple really ... as the other player "Kill the Myrmidon!"

Thread: Something feels wrong....

dturnerfish — 2006-03-11T18:01:32+00:00

Played this game for the first time (2-player), but on our second game ran into some issues. My starting hand contained 2 Myrmidon and 2 Ally cards. I also drew another 2 Myrmidon cards in the first round.

The Myrmidon Power: May randomly draw half (rounded up) of the hand of another player and place them in that players reserve. To retrieve reserve cards you lose your draw for the turn.

Using these cards and the Myrmidon power I was able to reduce my opponents hand to two cards (instead of drawing he retrieved his reserve).

At least in two-player this power seems very powerful compared to the others. I can see were there does not need to be absolute balance between the powers, but something seems very wrong here.

Am I doing something wrong?

I am usually very tolerant of game balance issues, but this one almost makes me not want to play. I have thought of several ways of toning down this power, but before making any changes I wanted to make sure I was not misinterpreting something.

Otherwise this is a very fine game.

Thank you…

Thread: Re: Galaxy vs. Titan/Colossal

kenjohns — 2005-08-04T14:19:38+00:00

It is quite possible to play Titan with Galaxy. You need to nominate each 'World' as a 'Creature' e.g. Cylor = Dragon and use three of the Technology Cards as the Referrees - I have marked one as "Head" and two others.

Because of the extra Technology cards it is not possible To play Galaxy with Titan. If you changed some of the extra Creature cards it could possibly work with Colossal but to my mind it's not worth it.

I much prefer Titan or even the original Grand Nation Derby. Although I know it has it's fans, to my mind Galaxy is a development too far. Game play has been sacrificed for multiplicity of rules.

Thread: Re: Tao of Gaming Review

AllenDoum — 2005-08-02T22:09:40+00:00

It helps that the rules of the new edition are in English.

Thread: Tao of Gaming Review

Bankler — 2005-07-30T03:14:15+00:00

[This review originally written in 2000 -- Brian]

I like Titan: The Arena, one of my favorite 'shorter' games (~45 minutes). So when GMT announced a sequel, I pre-ordered. It took about 8 months, but I finally got my copy.

If you've played Titan: The Arena, you know the basic idea. If not, go read the reviews. To sum up: there are 8 races, and you bet on which 3 races will survive. You play cards in columns, and when each race has a card (and one race has a card lower than all of the other races) then the weakest is eliminated.

There are quite a few differences in between Galaxy and Titan. In Galaxy, you only draw one card a turn, and don't get to automatically replace useless cards. (You can skip playing a card to discard a useless card instead). The powers of the races are different. Allies (wild cards) don't stop you from using the races power if you are the backer (called Governor in Galaxy). But the biggest rule change revolves around combat.

If you play a 6-10 card, you may get one or more chances for combat. The exact number depends on the race, the number of other active cards you match, and whether you cover a card or not. Each combat attempt can be used to shoot at a ship (a card) that has been played in this round or at an undefended base (a bet chip that doesn't have a ship yet). The attacker rolls two dice, if you are attacking a base and the dice roll is less than or equal to the ship card, the base is weakened. This moves it down a column, so that the bet is worth one less. If you are fighting a ship, both ships roll two dice and add the value. If the attacker wins, the defender is destroyed. If the defender wins, the defender can counter-attack, reversing the process.

Combat has a number of side effects. The rules let you play a card, then bet (or bet/play a card). So you can play a card, and weaken someone else's bet via combat. That lets you drop a bet into the (now open) space and possibly take the governorship! Or you can play a card to end the round, then use combat to destroy a mediocre ship and uncover a different card, changing the outcome of the round!

The 0-5 cards aren't left out. Each card has a special ability. The zeroes can't be destroyed in combat, the 1's and 5's both let you hurt the governor(!) of the race, the 3's and 4's let you move a base up or down, and the 2's let you look at your drawn card and either accept it or reject it.

There are more chrome rules, of course. A few special cards (called technology cards) give the player a bonus for a round, such as extra cards, or a combat bonus. At the end of each round, not only is the worst race eliminated, but the best race provides a bonus to it's governor!

Finally, one of the powers (and the 1s) let you pick a card (or cards) from another players hand and put them into that player's reserves. A player can look at, but not play cards from, their own reserve. A player can pick up their reserves by forgoing their card draw at the end of their turn.

Overall, the game feels similar to Titan, with more decisions available. This is interesting considering that Knizia's game ascribe to the 'less is more' philosophy, with simple rules leading to tough decisions. Now I've seen this basic idea go through three games, and in this case it appears that 'more is more'.

Titan isn't a simple or trivial game, but Galaxy contains more opportunity for decisions. In Titan, you choose if you want to bet, then play one of 8 cards. Some of these cards (the wilds) can be played anywhere, but if you have no wilds you have the following choices:

* Bet,
* Make one of 8 plays,
* Invoke a power (maybe).

Galaxy complicates this because you can reverse the order. Some of your 8 plays may give you a combat shot, which leads to other choices. You can always invoke a ship's power, and maybe the governor's power. And the 'draw one card a turn' rule has implications.

In my first game I found myself in the middle of the game looking at a hand with 4 useless cards, and one of my races in a grim spot. With only 4 playable cards, I would have had a fairly easy (of not particularly promising) choice. But I also had the option of effectively passing my turn, chucking a dead card for a replacement. This can be very important, as playing a card can hasten the end of a round. Hand size (and effective hand size) is very important in Galaxy, much more so than Titan.

To put it simply, the decisions were tough. Constantly. I am very encouraged by this game. This is not to say I recommend it to everyone. If haven't played Titan, you should play it first. I would probably teach new players Titan and let them get used to that. This game is longer, too. It's the slower decision making, but combat extends the length of each round.

I'm also worried because the Wild Cards violate one of my pet peeves -- They are just better than regular cards. (In Titan, the wild cards prevented you from using the governor's power if you played them on your race). But honestly, that wasn't as big of an issue as I had feared (on reading the rules). My initial feelings are that if you liked Titan, Galaxy is a must have.

Updated Aug 2002.

As usual, new games have surpassed old. I've played Galaxy a few more times, and it's still an OK game, but the combat system means that it will be longer (say, an extra 20 minutes) than Titan. Still a good game if you like Titan, but not necessarily superior.

Updated 2005

After further play, I'm going to reverse my original review. I never wind up playing this game, because it's longer (and tougher to explain) than Titan: the Arena (or Colossal Arena).

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BGG1KJM — 2005-06-23T12:04:49+00:00

GMT - Galaxy:The Dark Ages - closeup cards image on box back

Thread: Session Report

j-berman — 2005-03-12T12:20:31+00:00

As part of the initial split up, Justin, Phil Swim and Geoff decided to play Galaxy: The Dark Ages (which will be referred to as G:TDA in the rest of this summary).

In G:TDA, players play cards similar to the way you do in Titan: The Arena, the predecessor to G:TDA. However, G:TDA is more complex and attempts to enhance player options so that the balance of power can shift, even if a player is substantially behind. Some notable enhancements of G:TDA over Titan: The Arena include:

1. Playing cards 0-5 result in the use of special card (ship) powers. These powers range from temporarily discarding a player card into their "reserve" to moving a chip (base) up one level.
2. Playing cards 6-10 allow a player to attack another card in the row. The number of attacks is equal to the number of other visible number cards in that row matching the played card. A bonus of +1 attack is also given to the player who controls the Imperial world (governor) and another +1 attack is given when a player covers an existing card. The player may attack any card in the row OR base, provided the base has no card defending it (cards placed in the row). Success results in the destruction of a card or the shifting of a base one level below its current position. Failure results in retaliation: counterattack.
3. This brings the third change: Players bases CAN be moved up and down score point levels. This is accomplished through attacks, ship powers or spoils of victory.
4. Spoils of Victory are issued prior to the destruction of a world. Spoils go to governors which have the greatest number played at that row (including ties). They may increase their base by +1 scoring level.
5. Players can not ONLY either place a card or discard a card from a destroyed governor.
6. Technology cards are more powerful, more plentiful and can last an entire round until a world is destroyed! They may also be placed in additional to the regularly card placement phase thereby allowing players to place/get rid of a card AND place a technology card.
7. Allies (wild cards) do no negate the effect of the governor power like they did in Titan: The Arena

From this little amount of information, you can sense how different a game like G:TDA is from its predecessor.

The game started with Justin winning the first bid by playing a 10. Geoff was the first to attack by a well-placed 7-ship strike against Phil Swim's Kha'farjimmn. Both strikes failed. By the end of round 1, all players had placed secret bets and the Erithizonians governor was eliminated. By the end of the second round and subsequent destruction of the Kha'farjimmn governor, Phil Swim lost two bases permanently. Justin launched an attack against Geoff and by the end of round three, the Divergence governor was destroyed and Justin was in the lead. The Felowi was the fourth group eliminated. Near the end of the fifth round, Phil Swim managed to take the 0-Cylor card from Justin's hand. Playing that card the next turn forced the end of the round and the destruction of Cylor. Both Geoff and Justin had secret bases on Cylor...therefore, unknown to Phil Swim that simple move not only ended the game, but gave him the victory!

Thread: Re:

orangeblood — 2005-01-18T13:43:02+00:00

AllenDoum (#78232),

Thanks, Allen. I've got Galaxy coming in the mail any day now... looking forward to it!

Rex

Thread: Re:

AllenDoum — 2005-01-18T04:45:25+00:00

orangeblood (#78225),

You could play a simplified version of Galaxy, which would be similar to T:tA by ignoring the ship powers and the attacks. Use the Governor's powers, as they are similar to the T:tA backer's powers.

It will not be identical, as the powers are different in the two games.

I have always felt the Galaxy was better, since in Titan, and Grand National Derby before it, That the different High value cards were all the same; what mattered was who held the low value cards. The ship powers changed that. But I will admit, that most people prefer the simpler game.

Thread: Galaxy vs. Titan/Colossal

orangeblood — 2005-01-18T04:10:29+00:00

I see this game is rated lower than Titan: The Arena, and the comments indicate that most prefer Titan's streamlined version.

My question: Will I be able to play Titan with the Galaxy cards... or are the two versions different enough to make this impossible?

Thanks,

Rex

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Gialmere — 2004-11-16T13:48:25+00:00

Thread: Session Report

kgm3219 — 2004-08-23T15:33:52+00:00

I, Carl-Henrik and Jon got together for a game of Galaxy -- or rather, we summoned Jon at 20:00 for a game to salvage an othervise boring evening. It was Jon's first time with Galaxy, but he seemed to pick up on the rules quite fast.

Unfortunately (for the others) I managed to take control over both the Myrmidon and Equip Contract, as well as some not-quite-so-interesting civilization. In a three player game, this led to me being able to force the others to repeatedly return cards from the reserve to their hand (Myrmidon power) instead of drawing, as well as trading them unusable cards (Equip Contract). This led to severe card disadvantage for them and a they resigned the game at the beginning of the third round. I tried not to gloat to much, as we determined that the combo was somewhat degenerate in a three-player game. I had fun, though

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Verkisto — 2004-06-02T23:03:57+00:00

Thread: Re:Rule book error?

GaryP — 2004-01-21T03:36:33+00:00

Oh sure, Ken, answer while I'm looking it up.

Yes, that looks most definitely illegal to me for the reasons Ken already stated. They don't indicate how the attack opportunity was gained, but the Imperial power seems most likely what they were thinking about. However, since Yellow is not the Imperial governor in this example, they don't get to use that power.

(Also, although it doesn't matter in the first round example given, when Ken says "matching another fleet ship already in play", he specifically means a matching ship showing in the current row.)

I really do love this game, but the rulebook could have definitely used some editing. "9. Place One Unplayed Base (Actions B and A3)" Well, which is it? (Yes, I know, but if it's two actions, give them separate headings.) I've modified my players' aids to makethe choices of actions easier to follow.

Thread: Re:Rule book error?

Cromaa — 2004-01-21T02:32:23+00:00

If it's just you, then it's just me too. Or I'm missing the same thing you are. As attack opportunities only come from either covering another fleet ship, matching another fleet ship already in play, or being the Governor of the Imperials (none of which apply to the example), I would have to say it was definately an illegal attack. Fortunately both the attack and the counter-attack failed so it didn't really change anything.

--
Ken Rumsey
http://www.boardgameplayer.com

Thread: Rule book error?

dead jawa — 2004-01-20T02:27:10+00:00

Is it just me, or in the example turns is the Imperial 6 attack illegal?

Thread: Shorter/Intro Game

Maik — 2003-06-25T19:05:22+00:00

Galaxy, while being a very enjoyable after two or three games, tends to be very confusing for new players. And since the first round (when secret bases are being placed) is quite decisive, it won't help a lot when they grasp the basic strategies in round three or four.

For an easier intro into the game, I thought it might help to leave out one or two Worlds (plus all their ships) and, accordingly, only play for four or three rounds. We've tried this once and it went quite well - has anyone else attempted this and/or has some tips on what Worlds to leave out?

Cheerio,
Maik

Thread: Quick Comments

qrux — 2002-07-22T22:27:53+00:00

There are quite a few die hards that do not like the additional 'chrome' that GMT added (i.e. the 1-4 power cards, the moving bases). We have found that the game is not diminished by ignoring the powers (on the cards) and the ability to attack ships (other cards) or bases (betting chips). I have played both styles and either is good.

Note: we ran into the same problem with Battle Line vrs. Schotten Totten. In this case I agreed with the die hards that the tactics cards altered the game in a way I did not care for. Most of the time when we play we do not use the tactics cards.

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2002-01-01T17:26:33+00:00

Thread: Session Report

wavemotion — 2001-06-21T02:26:47+00:00

GALAXY: TDA - The successor to Titan: The Arena and although I really enjoy T:TA and the general Grand National Derby (the predecessor to T:TA) system, G:TDA seems to take it a step too far in my opinion. This was my third playing and while I had fun it was simply too long for the enjoyment derived. Galactorial combatants were myself, Jenn, Brian, David F and Max. I'll tell you one thing, for a 10 year old, Maximus was a heck of a gamer (of course his main goal at 10 is to play lots of games where you can battle another player and so G:TDA combat was probably to his liking!). Brian and I had aligned ourselves on several worlds - which we both tried to protect for a while until one was eventually eliminated which caused some grief. I tried to spread out, but maybe it was a bit too thin - and in the end my secret base (bet) was eliminated on the final round and I could manage no better than 4th in a 5 player game. David was the big winner - he mostly stayed out of combat and concentrated on keeping his high valued bets alive on just a couple of worlds. A good game but just a touch too fidly and long (a solid 90 minutes for this game) for what I get from the gameplay. I'll stick to T:TA (generally about 45 minutes) in the future.

Thread: User Review

gschloesser — 2001-01-31T00:01:29+00:00

Galaxy: The Dark Ages is the much anticipated sequel to Titan: The Arena, that immensely popular game designed by Reiner Knizia and released by Avalon Hill. Sadly, the game is no longer available and is much sought after on various internet forums.

Before Avalon Hill was devoured by Hasbro, they were in the process of developing a sequel to the T:TA, to be known as Galaxy: The Arena. Fortunately, GMT managed to gain the rights to this title and enlisted the aid of the game's developer, Don Greenwood, as well as Reiner Knizia himself, to see the game to completion.

After a long wait, the game has finally been released. The components and quality of the rulebook does not disappoint. T:TA has been nearly universally bashed for the incredibly poor rule book, which required a PhD … or mind-bending perseverance … to comprehend. Fortunately, GMT has done a far superior job with the rulebook. Sure, there are some ambiguities, but no where near the omissions, contradictions and confusing explanations offered in the original T:TA rules.

G: DA plays VERY similarly to it's predecessor. In fact, it is essentially the same game with a few 'bells and whistles' thrown in. The main differences in this new version are the addition of special powers for the lower valued cards (1 - 4) which can be invoked when played, and the ability to combat opposing cards if you meet certain conditions when you play a card. Other than that, the two games are essentially identical.

For those unfamiliar with T:TA, I'll give a brief explanation. In Galaxy, there are eight worlds up for control. Players struggle for control of these worlds by playing various spaceships (cards) onto these worlds. Cards come in values of 1 - 10, one set for each world, as well as some 'rogue' ally ships (wild cards) which can be played upon any world. I do like the addition of these 'ally' cards, as it does add some much-needed flexibility and options to the game system.

In addition to playing cards, players can also play one of their five 'bases' (poker chips) to the worlds, thereby exerting influence on that world. These bases can only be played on the current row which is under contention, however, and only onto a world where a base has not yet been played that round. The earlier a base is played, the more influence it exerts. For instance, if someone plays a base on a world in the first round, it is worth four points. If another base is played on that world in the next round, it is only worth three points. Thus, the temptation is to get your bases down early, but by waiting till later rounds, you will have a better idea of which worlds will survive. Bases on worlds which are eliminated are worthless.

A player who has the most influence on a world is named the Governor. That player gets to exercise that world's special power each time he plays a card to that world. These powers are similar to those in T:TA and can be quite useful. Some of the powers include:

· Felowi - May reclaim one visible card from the Felowi column for your hand.
· Myrmidon - May randomly draw half the hand of one player and place them in the victim's reserve pile.
· Imperial - Gain one automatic combat opportunity when you play a fleet ship.
· Divergence - May play a second ship in this turn after the first ship's power is used or forfeited.

A player may also place a 'hidden' base. This is done in lieu of playing a ship to a world by playing a card face-down and placing a base on it. If this world survives to the end of the game, this base is worth five points. A player has the option of revealing his secret base during the course of the game and retrieving the card back into his hand. The base is then placed at the top rung of the appropriate world and will be worth five points at game's end.

Finally, there are several 'Technology' cards which, when played, give the player a special power which usually remains in effect for the remainder of that round. These powers include such abilities as being able to retrieve a previously laid card, adding modifiers to a combat roll, drawing three extra cards, etc. Of course, since there are so few of these cards, it is quite possible one player could get lucky and be the beneficiary of several of these powers. There is one Technology card which allows a player to immediately draw three cards into his hand, thereby vastly increasing his hand size. This power is WAY too powerful as it gives that one player SO many more play options on his turn. As the game winds to a conclusion, this added hand capacity is of overwhelming benefit to that player. I am not fond of this card at all.

A round consists of players playing cards to the various worlds and placing bases. Previously laid cards in the current round can be covered by another card. Thus, the strength value of a ship played to a world can change during the course of a round as a new card is laid atop it.

A round ends when all worlds have a card played to it. Players examine the values of the ships played to the worlds and the world which has the lowest valued ship that round is eliminated. That entire column is removed, including any bases played to that world. A new round then begins, with cards being played one row lower than the previous round.

This entire process continues until there are only three worlds remaining, at which time the game ends. Players then tally the value of their bases played to the surviving worlds, as well as their secret base, if it has survived. The player with the greatest total of influence (bases) is victorious.

Yes, this system is identical to T:TA. As mentioned, however, Galaxy adds a number of twists:

1) Ships (cards) valued at 1 - 5 have special powers. When a player plays one of these cards to a world, he may, if he desires, invoke this power. Powers include:

· Moving a base in that column up or down a row (either yours or an opponent's base), thereby increasing or decreasing its value;

· Stealing a card from an opponent, forcing a player to set aside half of his hand, etc. These set-aside cards can only be retrieved if a player foregoes the drawing of a card at the end of his turn. Thus, he will be forced to play 'short-handed' for the remainder of the game. This is particularly nasty

As mentioned, these special powers are only conveyed to the lower valued ship cards. This gives these low valued cards an increased value in this game.

2) Combat. If a player plays a fleet card (valued at 6 - 10) to a world and meets certain conditions, he may attempt to combat another ship in that row. These are the conditions, any one of which allows a combat opportunity:

a) Play a card which matches the value of another card or cards played in that round. For each card matched, the player has a combat opportunity.

b) Play a card over a previously laid card on a world.

c) Play a card to the Imperial world IF you are the Governor of that world.

Combat is a simple matter. The player targets another ship in that same row. Each player (the world's Governor rolls for the defending ship) rolls two dice and adds the value of the ship. If the attacker has a higher total, the defending ship is eliminated and removed from the game. If the defender ties or rolls higher, he MAY counter-attack, in which case he becomes the attacker and the process is repeated. If he fails in the counter-attack, no cards are removed and the combat procedure ceases. Thus, a counter attack poses no risk whatsoever to the player executing the counter attack.

3) Players may only discard one card per turn of worlds which have been previously eliminated. I'm not quite sure I understand the logic behind this rule, as it makes it much more difficult for a player to get rid of 'dead' cards and refill his hand. It also results in players having a handful of 'dead' cards in their possession in the later stages of the game. Blech!

That's it. Those who weren't able to get their hands on a copy of T:TA should be thrilled that the game (or a reasonable facsimile thereof) is now available once again. Those who already own T:TA may not be as thrilled. The two games are so similar it is really difficult to justify purchasing both and keeping both on the gaming shelf. I really didn't get any greater sense of satisfaction out of Galaxy than I get out of T:TA. In fact, the game really adds several mechanisms and features that, in the end, really aren't necessary. Joey Konyha, one of my fellow Westbank Gamers who is a HUGE fan of T:TA, summed it up best: " It's Titan: The Arena with some extra stuff thrown in ... and that extra stuff isn't necessary." After repeated playings, I must agree with his assessment. One problem with the new version is that this 'extra stuff' does make it more difficult for 'newbies' to understand the game and get a grip on its various strategies. T:TA was difficult enough for 'newbies' to grasp. All of the extra features crammed into Galaxy just makes that task much tougher.

The combat system, although not without its merits and strategic possibilities, can … and often does … add considerable length to the game. Several of my games have approached two hours in length, which is simply WAY too long for a game of this magnitude. What happens is that ships (cards) are continuously attacked and eliminated, thereby requiring more cards to be played before a round will end. So, rounds are prolonged, adding unneeded (and undesired) length to the game.

Perhaps my main objection is that all of these 'bells and whistles' which have been added does result in a significant loss of control for the players. Let's examine some of these:

· In T:TA, once a base was placed, it remained in that position for the remainder of the game … or until that creature was eliminated. Not so in GA. Bases can be attacked via combat, or moved up or down via the use of ship cards or via the Spoils of Victory, which is awarded to the Governor with the highest visible ship card at the conclusion of a round.

· In T:TA, cards played could not be eliminated, only covered by an opponent's play. Not so in GA. Cards can still be covered, but can also be attacked and eliminated. The opportunities for attack are very frequent, so cards played are rarely secure.

· In T:TA, one's hand of cards was relatively safe from 'attacks' by opponents. Only one creature (the Cyclops) had the ability to assault an opponent's hand and only the controller of that creature could exercise that power … and ONLY when he played a card to that creature. Further, the loss of cards was temporary. In GA, in addition to the Myrmidon power which is similar (but more harmful) to that of the Cyclops in T:TA, numerous ship cards allow the invasion of a player's hands, either stealing cards or forcing the player to set aside cards into a reserve pile. One or two such attacks on a player can truly devastate him, severely restricting his play options as the game progresses.

With discussions with one of the game's developers, I've come to understand just why these changes were made. GMT has a tradition as a "war game" company. The bulk of their customers are traditional war gamers. In order to make the game more appealing to their main customer base, it was felt that more combat and 'attack' features were needed. Perhaps this is a wise business decision, but, in my eyes, the game just doesn't measure up to Titan: The Arena. Although I'm happy to see the game given new life, even in this altered format, like most motion pictures, I still much prefer the original to the sequel.

Thread: Session Report

BoardGameGeek — 2001-01-01T06:00:00+00:00

As part of the initial split up, Justin, Phil Swim and Geoff decided to play Galaxy: The Dark Ages (which will be referred to as G:TDA in the rest of this summary.

In G:TDA, players play cards similar to the way you do in Titan: The Arena, the predecessor to G:TDA. However, G:TDA is more complex and attempts to enhance player options so that the balance of power can shift, even if a player is substantially behind. Some notable enhancements of G:TDA over Titan: The Arena include:

1. Playing cards 0-5 result in the use of special card (ship) powers. These powers range from temporarily discarding a player card into their "reserve" to moving a chip (base) up one level.

2. Playing cards 6-10 allow a player to attack another card in the row. The number of attacks is equal to the number of other visible number cards in that row matching the played card. A bonus of +1 attack is also given to the player who controls the Imperial world (governor) and another +1 attack is given when a player covers an existing card. The player may attack any card in the row OR base, provided the base has no card defending it (cards placed in the row). Success results in the destruction of a card or the shifting of a base one level below its current position. Failure results in retaliation: counterattack.

3. This brings the third change: Players bases CAN be moved up and down score point levels. This is accomplished through attacks, ship powers or spoils of victory.

4. Spoils of Victory are issued prior to the destruction of a world. Spoils go to governors which have the greatest number played at that row (including ties). They may increase their base by +1 scoring level.

5. Players can not ONLY either place a card or discard a card from a destroyed governor.

6. Technology cards are more powerful, more plentiful and can last an entire round until a world is destroyed! They may also be placed in additional to the regularly card placement phase thereby allowing players to place/get rid of a card AND place a technology card.

7. Allies (wild cards) do no negate the effect of the governor power like they did in Titan: The Arena

From this little amount of information, you can sense how different a game like G:TDA is from its predecessor. For a more detailed review, please visit Mike Knight's review on our site.

The game started with Justin winning the first bid by playing a 10. Geoff was the first to attack by a well-placed 7-ship strike against Phil Swim's Kha'farjimmn. Both strikes failed. By the end of round 1, all players had placed secret bets and the Erithizonians governor was eliminated. By the end of the second round and subsequent destruction of the Kha'farjimmn governor, Phil Swim lost two bases permanently. Justin launched an attack against Geoff and by the end of round three, the Divergence governor was destroyed and Justin was in the lead. The Felowi was the fourth group eliminated. Near the end of the fifth round, Phil Swim managed to take the 0-Cylor card from Justin's hand. Playing that card the next turn forced the end of the round and the destruction of Cylor. Both Geoff and Justin had secret bases on Cylor...therefore, unknown to Phil Swim that simple move not only ended the game, but gave him the victory!

Scores: Phil Swim 12, Justin 10, Geoff 2

Ratings: Justin 8, Phil Swim 7.5, Geoff 7

Thread: Session Report

gschloesser — 2001-01-01T06:00:00+00:00

This is the sequel to Titan: The Arena, that immensely popular game designed by Reiner Knizia and released by Avalon Hill. Sadly, the game is no longer available and is much sought after on various internet forums.

Before Avalon Hill was devoured by Hasbro, they were in the process of developing a sequel to the T:TA, to be known as Galaxy: The Arena. Fortunately, GMT managed to gain the rights to this title and enlisted the aid of the game's developer, Don Greenwood, to see the game to completion.

After a long wait, the game has finally been released and arrived on my doorstep just a few days before our session. So, I thoroughly read the rules (which are MUCH better written that the original T:TA rules, by the way) in preparation for bringing the game to the table. I enlisted Jerry, Steven, Darren and Joey to join me in this initial playing.

The games plays VERY similarly to it's predecessor. In fact, it is essentially the same game with a few 'bells and whistles' thrown in. The main differences in this new version are the addition of special powers for the lower valued cards (1 - 4) which can be invoked when played, and the ability to combat opposing cards if you meet certain conditions when you play a card. Other than that, the two games are essentially identical.

For those unfamiliar with T:TA, I'll give a brief explanation. In Galaxy, there are eight worlds up for control. Players struggle for control of these worlds by playing various spaceships (cards) onto these worlds. Cards come in values of 1 - 10, one set for each world, as well as some 'rogue' ally ships (wild cards) which can be played upon any world.

In addition to playing cards, players can also play one of their five 'bases' (poker chips) to the worlds, thereby exerting influence on that world. These bases can only be played on the current row which is under contention, however, and only onto a world where a base has not yet been played that round. The earlier a base is played, the more influence it exerts. For instance, if someone plays a base on a world in the first round, it is worth four points. If another base is played on that world in the next round, it is only worth three points. Thus, the temptation is to get your bases down early, but by waiting till later rounds, you will have a better idea of which worlds will survive. Bases on worlds which are eliminated are worthless.

A player who has the most influence on a world is named the Governor. That player gets to exercise that world's special power each time he plays a card to that world. These powers are similar to those in T:TA and can be quite useful.

A player may also place a 'hidden' base. This is done by playing a card face-down and placing a base on it. If this world survives to the end of the game, this base is worth five points.

Finally, there are several 'Technology' cards which, when played, give the player a special power which usually remains in effect for the remainder of that round. These powers include such abilities as being able to retrieve a previously laid card, adding modifiers to a combat roll, drawing three extra cards, etc. Of course, since there are so few of these cards, it is quite possible one player could get lucky and be the beneficiary of several of these powers.

A round consists of players playing cards to the various worlds and placing bases. Previously laid cards in the current round can be covered by another card. Thus, the strength value of a ship played to a world can change during the course of a round as a new card is laid atop it.

A round ends when all worlds have a card played to it. Players examine the values of the ships played to the worlds and the world which has the lowest valued ship that round is eliminated. That entire column is removed, including any bases played to that world. A new round then begins, with cards being played one row lower than the previous round.

This entire process continues until there are only three worlds remaining, at which time the game ends. Players then tally the value of their bases played to the surviving worlds, as well as their secret base, if it has survived. The player with the greatest total of influence (bases) is victorious.

Yes, this system is identical to T:TA. As mentioned, Galaxy adds a few twists:

1) Ships (cards) valued at 1 - 5 have special powers. When a player plays one of these cards to a world, he may, if he desires, invoke this power. Powers include moving a base in that column up or down a row (either yours or an opponent's base), stealing a card from an opponents, forcing a player to set aside half of his hand, etc. Thus, low valued cards have an increased value in this game.

2) Combat. If a player plays a card to a world and meets certain conditions, he may attempt to combat another ship in that row. These are the conditions, any one of which allows a combat opportunity:

a) Play a card which matches the value of another card or cards played in that round. For each card matched, the player has a combat opportunity.

b) Play a card over a previously laid card on a world.

c) Play a card to the Imperial world IF you are the Governor of that world.

Combat is a simple matter. The player targets another ship in that same row. Each player (the world's Governor rolls for the defending ship) rolls two dice and adds the value of the ship. If the attacker has a higher total, the defending ship is eliminated and removed from the game. If the defender ties or rolls higher, he MAY counter-attack, in which case he becomes the attacker and the process is repeated. If he fails in the counter-attack, no cards are removed and the combat procedure ceases.

3) Players may only discard one card per turn of worlds which have been previously eliminated. I'm not quite sure I understand the logic behind this rule, as it makes it much more difficult for a player to get rid of 'dead' cards and refill his hand.

That's it. Those who weren't able to get their hands on a copy of T:TA should be thrilled that the game (or a reasonable facsimile thereof) is now available once again. Those who already own T:TA may not be as thrilled. The two games are so similar it is really difficult to justify purchasing both and keeping both on the gaming shelf. I really didn't get any greater sense of satisfaction out of Galaxy than I get out of T:TA. In fact, the game really adds several mechanisms and features that, in the end, really aren't necessary. Joey Konyha summed it up best: "It's Titan: The Arena with some extra stuff thrown in ... and that extra stuff isn't necessary." It's hard to make a definitive statement after just one playing, but at the moment I'm tending to agree with him.

One problem with the new version is that this 'extra stuff' does make it a bit more difficult for 'newbies' to understand the game and get a gripon its various strategies. Joey caught on quickly, but he is a veteran T:TA player. Jerry, one of our most intelligent gamers, never did understand what was happening or what he should be doing. He made several plays which left Joey and I shaking our heads in disbelief. This confusion and lack of understanding undoubtedly affected Jerry's opinion of the game, which wasn't very favorable.

Darren had played T:TA several times before and, in spite of some confusion, did extremely well. He managed to keep the two worlds he was most heavily invested in alive. One of these was the Felowi world, whose power to reclaim a previously played, visible card from that world seemed a bit too strong. Darren was able to reclaim high-valued cards and play them again in future rounds, insuring that the world would survive. It was difficult to stop him ... and we didn't.

Darren 18, Steven 12, Joey 9, Greg 5, Jerry 3

Ratings: Darren 8, Greg 6.5, Joey 6, Steven 5.5, Jerry 2

Thread: Session Report

wavemotion — 2001-01-01T06:00:00+00:00

After the filler games finished, Jonathan arrived and I convinced 5 of us to play Galaxy: The Dark Ages for the first time. I've played T:TA many times and really like it and was looking forward to this. I won't say much except that I found some things better and some not so good. The Sci-Fi theme holds up well and I like the ability for bases to move up and down. I also liked the individual ship card powers - but am not overly-enthusastic about it. I liked the Governor powers - and the cards you get to identify yourself as the governor (in T:TA you need to count the chips which is easy but mildly annoying). I did not at all care for the dice-driven combat. The game has enough randomness - this just adds more chaos IMO. I got into 5 or 6 battles - sometimes as a heavy favorite and lost every time. I think overall I prefer T:TA by a fair margin, but I need another play of G:TDA to be sure...

Gold - Jonathan (won tie-breaker)
Silver - Dan
Bronze - Joe
Did Not Medal: David, Dave

Thread: Session Report

gschloesser — 2001-01-01T06:00:00+00:00

The final game of our weekend was new to everyone except myself. Everyone did have experience with the game's predecessor, Titan: The Arena. I took great care in explaining the differences and how combat could effect one's strategies.

John began my bemoaning how terrible he is in T:TA. This should have sent red flags flying as whenever John states how poorly his is doing in a game, that usually means: "Watch Out! He's winning!". I used a tactic wherein I tried to place bases on several of the same worlds John had placed bases. This worked through most of the game, until my other worlds were eventually exterminated.

Lenny, meanwhile, seemed to be set upon by everyone. After three rounds of play, he had lost three bases and was clearly out of contention. I don't think there was a concerted effort to smash him, it just seemed like he had his bases on worlds which weren't populated by other players. Thus, we had no incentive to keep those worlds alive.

When the game concluded, it appeared likely that a tie would result between Jason and John. However, Jason's secret base was on a world which had been eliminated, whereas John's secret base was on a surviving world. This earned John the victory.

Finals: John 13, Jason 8, Greg 8, Lenny 5

Ratings: Jason 7, Greg 7, Lenny 6, John 5

After two playings, I still prefer the original T:TA to Galaxy. Quite simply, one has more control in T:TA. The various combat methods add too much chaos to the game ... as well as length. Our game took nearly two hours to play to completion, which is too long for a game of this nature.

I'm not saying Galaxy is a bad game. It isn't. I still enjoy playing, but prefer T:TA.

Following the game, we called an end to the weekend and headed back to the Southshore. Many thanks to John for allowing us to once again invade his family home.

Thread: Session Report

dougadamsau — 2001-01-01T06:00:00+00:00

Billabong Report: 3/10/00

Present: Doug, Janet, Roger, Asher, Steve, Craig, Debbie, Alan, Andrew

After various mix-ups with GMT, we seemed to be flooded with copies of Galaxy this week. Having learnt the game on the weekend, I taught the others.

Galaxy is very, very similar to Titan: The Arena, with just a couple fo extra rules. The theme is now eight worlds fighting for survival, each turn one world will surrender, etc. The cards you play are ships, and the ships have abilities. Low value ships have an action that typically affects the governer of that world (ie. the backer) or bases (ie. bets) in that column. High value ships can attack, under strict conditions, other ships in the current row and remove them if successful. Bases (bets) can now change value based on card play and attacks.

We had a mix of gamers, some who'd played Titan the Arena before, and some who hadn't. Teaching the newbies Galaxy was a bit like jumping in the deep end of the pool for your first swimming lesson, but they coped well.

GAME 1

Janet, Doug, Andrew, Alan, Roger

This game was dominated by "Darth Roger", who spent 30 minutes after the game pleading innocence! Apparently Roger was dealt a hand of zero cards, and brutally crushed worlds influenced by Doug, Janet and Alan (the preceding players to Roger) over three turns. Andrew, sitting on Roger's left, cashed in and closed the round several times with himself in a dominant position. The scores are a good indication of the devastation!

Andrew: 13
Roger: 10
Alan: 8
Doug: 7
Janet: 3

GAME 2

Janet, Steve, Craig, Debbie, Doug

First off, never play this when El Caballero is being played on the adjacent table. All the talk about Governers and Ships can get very confusing!

Steve was the new player to the system, while Craig and Debbie were new to Galaxy. This seemed a much more intense game than the first, with several ship combats started to prolong the round. The combat rules are a nice addition, if that makes sense, as the round can be prolonged, weak cards can be removed, etc.

This was a close game, with Craig and Debbie doing well early. After the second round, Debbie's worlds began wilting away as the game progressed. As Debbie became less of a threat, the game seemed to be between Craig and Doug. Debbie's final world went on the last round, and it came down to surviving secret bases to determine the winner.

Scores, as taken by Debbie:

Doug: 15
Steve: 12
Janet: 11
Craig: 9
Debbie: 0! (Debbie, zero factorial is still zero)

Other stuff played: High Society, Medici, Tigris, Was Sticht, El Caballero

Thread: Session Report

davekohr — 2001-01-01T06:00:00+00:00

At the Sept. 27, 2000 SVB session 27 people attended. Besides being an excellent turnout, it seems strangely symmetric that these two numbers coincide.....

We were glad to welcome visitor Joe Huber from the Boston area to his first SVB session. Joe will be visting Silly Valley semi-regularly for work, and hopes to make it to SVB and/or Games Day while he's out here. Tonight, Joe brought some older, hard-to-find German games, and playtested a few prototypes he's working on.

Rick: "It was great to welcome Joe Huber from the East Coast to SVB -- no doubt many have enjoyed his baker's dozen of essays profiling game designers.

(See http://www.gamenight.com/html/Author%20Reviews/joseph_huber....)

On to the games. Winners are *starred*.

(Kim, *ChrisF*, RichI, 2 more):

Chris: "I think this new game is a lot of fun to play, but it feels like the amount of control you have may have fallen off significantly from Titan: the Arena. Between the attacks, the inability to discard dead cards, a few killer technologies, and the usual acceleration of the game as it goes on, it seems like your options can really diminish by the end of the game.

There is a lot to like and I think it's a good, fun, game, but it seems awfully random (and I won! ."

Thread: Session Report

davekohr — 2001-01-01T06:00:00+00:00

(Chris, *Kim*, *RichF*, MattC, MattL): (Kim and Rich were in a 12-point tie, and things were closing down so we forget to check the tie-breaker)

Chris: "I said a couple weeks ago that I thought Galaxy was much more random than Titan or GND. After two games this evening, I'll backtrack a little. It's pretty random, but there is still plenty of opportunity for good and bad play. And even if it were totally random, it's still an awful lot of fun to play."

Thread: Session Report

gamemark — 2001-01-01T06:00:00+00:00

As one of the foremost fans of TITAN: THE ARENA, I have looked forward to the release of GALAXY since before the demise of Avalon Hill. (Let's now have a moment of silence, as per rule 7.3.4.3.2 in the revised errata of the expansion to "Death of a Game Company".) On top of that, I'm becoming a *big* Dr. Knizia fan... anyone who can come up with MEDICI, IT'S MINE, LOST CITIES, TAJ MAHAL, etc., etc. is one pretty nifty guy. (I'll forgive him MODERN ART, esp. if TRAUMFABRIK works out as a decent game.)

So, this is really hard for me to say... but GALAXY is an excessively random exercise in futility. OK, my loss may be affecting my mood, but there wasn't *anything* I could have done to change the fact that I lost. Nothing, zero, nadda, zip, the big goose egg... these all quite adequately number the options I had to fix my precarious situation. Oh, I could play cards and hurt others, but I couldn't help myself.

Now, this happens sometimes in TITAN: THE ARENA... but the game there is short enough that you can play 3 hands and balance out odd card draws. No such luck with GALAXY... our single hand took an hour & a half and left me with zero desire to play again.

Granted, it's not a bad game... the mechanisms all work just fine and the added chrome (moving bases up & down, the extra powers) all seem to work pretty well. I'm not a big fan of the limited card draw (as it slows the game and limits options) but I understand in the context of the other mechanisms. It just is too random (and this from the guy who likes RIFFIFI and PAPUA) to be fun to play. [I would give it another shot with 2 or 3 players and see how it works... but no more 4-5 player games for me!]

I've blanked out most of the details of this game from my mind... suffice it to say that Craig, Greg & I spent the last two rounds blindly deciding whether Lenny or Ralph would win. Blech.

Lenny Leo 18
Ralph Anderson 14
Craig Berg 9
Mark Jackson 4
Greg Schloesser 1

Rating: 4 (and remember, I give TITAN: THE ARENA an 8)

Following this debacle, I headed off to bed, looking foward to more gaming in the morning!

Thread: Session Report

davekohr — 2001-01-01T06:00:00+00:00

(RichI: 12, RicB: 6, CharlesP: 2, *DaveK*: 12) :

DaveK: "It seemed like a dramatic game while we were playing, especially for me since I was way in the lead after the first round, then got passed by Rich and Charles, yet came back in the end to win by virtue of having more points worth of cards in hand compared to Rich. The game-ending move by Rich was to play a 10 ship, killing one of Charles' races I believe--and that race had a 9 showing! I've never seen a 9 die in either Titan: Arena or this game. Seems like all the fiddling around you can do with combat and so forth leads to higher average low cards than in Titan. I got fairly lucky with the dice, I think all but 1 of my attacks worked, and I was able to knock Rich down far enough with the last card I played to bring us to a tie in points."

Thread: Session Report

davekohr — 2001-01-01T06:00:00+00:00

(ChrisF, two others)

ChrisF: "I did well early but suffered from a shortage of the "key" cards (no allies, 10's/0's, technology, etc.), and an extremely limited variety of cards (only 3 races, not all of which were alive, in the second half of the game) doomed me in the end I think. Not sure how much of this was frustration (there is a lot of luck in the game anyway), but it seemed to me the 3 player game wasn't as strong as I would have hoped; perhaps it was just my card distribution, but the smaller number of players didn't seem to mean more control.

Anyway, still a fun game.

Thread: Session Report

BoardGameGeek — 2001-01-01T06:00:00+00:00

After warming up with a game of Guillotine, we moved into a 5-player game of Galaxy. Three of us had already played Galaxy and the other two had played Titan: the arena the week before. Despite these experiences, we were unable to get the rules correct. In this particular game, we screwed up the rules for ship-to-base combat. We didn’t realize that ANY base could be attacked (and demoted) when no ship exists for the world’s column in the current row. In the past, I’ve often forgotten the “spoils of victory” rule and the bidding to play first rule.

As a matter of fact, I’ve now played this game 3 times and I’ve yet to play the game correctly. We get the basics right but always manage to screw up or forget a rule or two. I think this says something about the myriad of screwy little rules in this game. It makes me wonder whether this game would be better with a simplified set of rules. I’m going to try the game once more with some player aid sheets and see if we can finally get through a game correctly. I suspect, however, that I’ll soon be simplifying the rules for future playings.

Otherwise, this is actually a pretty good game. I just need to understand the rules well enough that I can start thinking about strategy rather than the rules. I like the way bases can be moved up and down the columns to alter scoring. I also like the way your hand size can vary and put you in a good or bad position.

As this game went, I was out of the game early when I lost my secret base on the first round. Rob soon lost a few of his bases and went into “kill the other players” mode. Thus, he was soon out of the running but having a good time inflicting pain on the other players. Fred and JC were still getting used to the rules (or at least trying) and this allowed Tim to take the victory.

Thread: User Review

BoardGameGeek — 2000-08-28T18:01:30+00:00

After over twelve hours of demos and GM'ing Galaxy: The Dark Ages games this past GenCon, I
feel I am qualified to give an assessment of this new GMT Games release.

For those of you who are not aware of Galaxy: The Dark Ages' history, it is a sequel to Avalon
Hill 1997 release Titan: The Arena. Titan: The Arena itself was derived from two wildly different
games. The basic mechanics came from a Reiner Knizia horse racing card game called Grand
National Derby. Avalon Hill in turn brought in Don Greenwood to further develop Grand
National Derby into Titan: the Arena. Don changed the theme from horse racing to gladiatorial
combat linking Titan: The Arena however tenuously with the classic Avalon Hill slug-a-thon,
Titan. Most importantly though, is Don gave each of the eight horses, now mythical beasts, special
powers. The special powers added new levels of strategy to Reiner Knizia's original release. Titan:
The Arena turned out to be a top seller for Avalon Hill, and plans were developed for a sequel
called Galaxy: The Dark Ages. However, when Hasbro bought out Avalon Hill the rumors
concerning Galaxy: The Dark Ages slowly trickled to a stop.

Several years have passed and GMT Games has recently acquired the rights to Galaxy: The Dark
Ages. Largely known for their top-notch war games, Galaxy: The Dark Ages marks GMT's entry
into the euro-game market. All indications are that GMT Games is serious about expanding their
product line into the euro-game market promising additional Knizia and Alan Moon releases in the
upcoming months. Based on Galaxy: The Dark Ages, GMT Games will be very successful in their
entry into the euro-game market.

In Galaxy: The Dark Ages, there are eight alien races who don't get along too well. The game
consists of five rounds. At the end of each round, the weakest alien race is eliminated from the game.
The strength of a particular race is determined by the strength of the ship (i.e. card) protecting their
system at the end of a round. Once every race has a ship protecting it, the race with the lowest valued
ship protecting it is eliminated (ties for lowest valued ship can prolong the round). Each alien race has
11 ships numbered 0 thru 10. Ships 0-5 have specific abilities while ships 6-10 are war ships that can
attack other ships or bases.

In addition to playing ships on the various races, players may build up to five bases over the course of
the game. Bases confer influence over the race in whose system the base is built. In addition, the
earlier in the game a base is built the more influence it conveys. A base built in round 1 has four
influence, while a base built in round 5 is worth zero influence. However, bases can be increased and
decreased in influence over the course of the game. Transports (ship card 3) can move bases up in
value one point. Attacking an unprotected base can decrease its value by one.

Alien races are differentiated from each other by their special powers. A player who has the most
influence over an alien race is its Governor. The Governor can activate the alien races special power
whenever he plays a card in that race's system. Some of the powers you'll recognize from Titan: the
Arena, others like ship cloaking are completely new.

Invariably Galaxy: The Dark Ages will be compared to Titan: The Arena. Galaxy: The Dark Ages
while derived from Titan: The Arena differs is several ways. Hand sizes in Galaxy: The Dark Ages
tend to decrease over the course of the game for a variety of reasons (see next paragraph). The cards
(i.e. ships) now have powers. Bases (bets in Titan: The Arena) can have their value changed in
numerous ways. Referees have been replaced with tech improvements (i.e. shields, lasers etc).
Additionally, tech improvements last the entire round. Finally, Allies (spectators in Titan: The Arena)
are treated exactly like normal ships (they can be used to activate Governor powers) .

The card drawing/discarding rules have also been tweaked in numerous ways. For instance, you can
either play a ship, OR discard ONE ship of an exterminated race. Card draws are limited to ONE
card. Cards removed from a players hand are not automatically returned at the end of a turn. Instead,
the removed cards are places in that player's reserve. To retrieve cards from the reserve, a player must
forfeit their normal draw to retrieve all of the cards in their reserve.

Finally, one last difference between Galaxy: The Dark Ages and Titan: The Arena is the long, but
very clear and example-laden rule set!

Galaxy: The Dark Ages is a tense tactical game with high player interaction. The card draw/discard
tweaks add unexpected levels of strategy to the game. Allowing bases to be improved/damaged adds
neat base building tricks, and allows players to get back into a game, or catch a run-away leader.
Finally, adding powers to the sips will improve the five-player game, and is a well executed means of
increasing player interaction. Overall, Galaxy: The Dark Ages is slightly better game than Titan: The
Arena. Considering how good a game Titan: the Arena is, that is a mighty big compliment.