Last week I was able to order a 2nd run copy of BattleStar Galactica the Board Game. I had heard some good buzz from a few who saw it at GenCon and I have been a fan of both the new and old show, so I figured give it a whirl…

I am very glad I did. Recently I have tried to avoid buying a game I have never played or that that has just been released having been “burned” buying a game I ended up not really enjoying. But I took a chance and it paid off.

At first glance, the game had the look and feel of Twilight Imperium meets Shadows over Camelot. Once we got into the rules and gameplay, those initial thoughts were supported by the blend of Cooperative Play, possible traitors, hand management, resource allocation, and combat. There are more aspects then just those, making the game pretty meaty in content and action, yet I felt very comfortable after 1 round with the way each turn flowed, and how one action impacted other actions.

My reviews do not include rules summary, etc… The rules are posted and I suggest you read them to get a good understanding of the game turns, etc… but I will highlight the aspects I liked and disliked. You may want to read over the general rules before you continue below.

Resources. The 4 resource counters worked very well, and as we made hard decisions about which resources to reduce and when, we felt the ever looming possibility of losing the game as we watched them move into the red. Having to decide to either give up fuel or people, or food, continued to not only add pressure on the players (in a good way) but opened the game to discussion and cooperation. At least for those of us that were not Cylons in disguise.

The event cards drawn each turn made the game a blast for me. There are enough of them to have real variety, each has distinct impact on planning your next move, and made the game have slow and then intense moments. Example, is we went several turns with no Cylons and took a deep cleansing breath… only to have 3 turns in a row of Cylon attacks. Suddenly the space around Galactica was full of Base Stars and Raiders, and we were in panick mode to jump the hell out of there.

The event cards also have the added intrigue of sometimes having good/bad effects depending if you can “pay” the matched resource cards to the m (See rules for a better example of what I am talking about) I liked this mostly because it forces you to manage your hand, make hard choices, and allows the Cylon player to feel more interactive in the outcome of events. He addition of 2 random resource cards (called Destiny) mean you never know for sure of who gave what cards, or if negative cards came from a Cylon or just Destiny. This was great for the Cylon player we had since he felt some security taking chances without being obvious.

OK… I have gone on and on about what I like… and there is actually more like lines of Succession (I got the an Admiral with Nukes when Adama turned out to be a Cylon which was cool) and the use of special cards, abilities, and negative character traits (Like Sal Tye being an Alcoholic) But there are a few things I was not as impressed with.

Combat in space was a bit dry and very simple. Good from a time perspective, but I was a pilot and tried to get out into the thick only to have combat be less then fulfilling and ending up in the hanger many times before I could get to the enemy due to jumping which is critical to the Humans success. Combat felt like Axis and Allies in space and I found combat on the ship (attacking boarding parties) equally less fulfilling.

The Skill cards collected got very repetitive since they do not have as much variety. After a few rounds we could easily anticipate what each skill card deck would give us… Again, this did help timing and flow since you did not have to track tons of unique skills, and ultimately it is the number value of the card you focus on when you have to perform skill checks, still, a little more variety would have added something more to those who enjoy using skills as part of their actions.

In the end the game played out in about 3 hours for us and we lost (The humans) with only 1 final jump to go. We are sitting on the last space of the jump track, ready to jump early and claim victory, when the last Event card moved a Cylon Boarding party up one space to take over Galactica. The Humans all screamed out, the Cylon player just laughed. All involved were excited that it was intense till the end.

Final notes: Board, mini, and card quality were excellent. Suspense was very good trying to figure out who were your allies and who were “Toaster” spies. And you do not have to be a fan of the show (only half of us watch it who played but all enjoyed it) to like the way the game plays out. Knowing the show only adds to the fun…

For fans of the show, we call it Shadows Over Caprica.

I think that I read somewhere that there are only 2 different cards for each skill but can not confirm this until I get the game. This is a plus for introducing new players and between the cards, location actions and character actions there are enough different things a player can do that I think it keeps it interesting.



Really it could have gone either way. Either the Cylons or the Humans would have won depending on what the next Crisis card said. As far as game balance, I do not think you could get it any closer.

Just a turn or two before the game was over I (the Cylon) really thought the humans were going to win because they just needed to move a couple of spaces on the jump track. Fortunately for me the boarding parties advanced and the humans where concentrating on completing the jump instead of dealing with the boarding parties.

I really did think that it was pretty funny at the time.

There are only 2 different card types for each skill.

It helps not to think of these as cards as special events, such as in War of the Ring or Android, but as basic abilities.

Leaders can make executive orders (give other players actions), and declare emergencies (lower the difficulty of skill checks).

Politicians can consolidate their power (gather more skill cards to call on a broad range of influence/abilities) or call for investigative committees (force all skill cards to be played in the open).

Tacticians can launch scouts (to see what trouble is ahead) or perform strategic planning (to add to the odds in situations based on chance).

Pilots can perform evasive manuevers (force rerolls on enemy attacks) or use maximum firepower (make multiple attacks with one action).

Engineers can repair things, or do scientific research (which allows other engineering skill cards help pass a skill check).

William is Adama is both a leader and a tactician. His abilities range from executive orders to launching scouts to declare emergencies and make strategic plans. But when uses his skill cards to pass skill checks, he's effectively concentrating his energy on that crisis, and he won't be able to use his other skills.

I understand why people sometimes feel like two skill card types aren't enough, but cards like "Executive Order" and "Repair" are so basic, and so essential to your role as either a Leader or an Engineer, that you wouldn't want there to be less than a 50% chance you were going to get one when you draw a skill card.

Don't forget that the 2 different cards from each set also have different numbers printed on each card as well. Repair may be repair, but the numerical value might more more or less than the others in your hand.

Got the game for Christmas, played it, and selling it.
I like the BSG-series, I like SoC, so I thought I'd like BSG the Boardgame. But I don't!!!

I'm like SF a lot more than Fantasy-themed games. But eveything BSG does SoC does a whole lot better. The only fun comes from searching for the traitors. The Mechanics are boring, the locations are also.

I hope people enjoy the game, but me and my friends didn't.
Bought Space Alert afterwards, thats Crisis Dealing!!!