As advertised, I bought a new game!! And being a big long time fan of Battlestar Galactica it was kind of a 'had to'...and let me be clear, by long time fan, I can remember being a young guy watching my first episodes on a very small black and white television. And if you're curious, I am in fact a fan of Ron Moore's BSG reimagining as well...personally, I think having Richard Hatch on board was an excellent touch and nod to his talent and passion for Battlestar Galactica as a whole...
Anyhow, I saw the game advertised last year and was pretty excited to see how it would look...I checked out a couple of unboxings online and was pretty impressed. Thanks to one of my LGS I was able to order in a copy of the starter box (<cough...I did also just recently pick up a second...cough>).
The lad and I decided to give a quick go a few weekends back...while the box comes with a 2v2 combo, we elected to go a 1v1 game for speed and focus using the basic rules. Like many games these days, there are the basic 'get you in the fight' rules and the more advanced 'watch me do this' type rules.
The box itself is pretty high end quality...the ships come pre-painted and actually look really good! The game pieces are fairly solid using thick stock, the cards are nice as well, I'm curious to see how they will hold out in the longer run and am pondering copying them and having a 'grubby hands' set and a 'I like nice stuff' set. We'll see.
The game went well (pics and stuff below) and with the second box, I think I may give this a go as a game for CanGames in May...either as quick demos or scenario game...
Anywho, enjoy the pics...take care.
The general idea is to track your speed, heading, and 'altitude' -- for the basic rules, we just used speed and heading -- including inertial drift, etc. My son and I messed around with the manoeuvre cards to get familiar with them as well. On one side is the picture of the spacecraft (viper or cylon) and on the other is an image of the manoeuvre. On any given card you can have the manoeuvre with 1-4 variations depending on your speed. The idea is to line up the card with the base of your spacecraft and then move the vessel along the line finishing where the track of the manoeuvre finishes (I'll try to get a pic for next time to better demo).
This is kinda nifty and maybe gimmicky...ala Battlestar, the cards have no top or bottom corners and look a lot like a pyramid deck (for you Battlestar geeks...).
All of this to say...we messed around with the cards, got familiar with the basic mechanics...and then tried to close in and do some damage, ala picture above...
...picture below...a far-er out look at the scene...the Viper is closing in for first shots...
As you can see, each spacecraft is very nicely detailed and REALLY nicely painted!! A big bonus...I'm not sure I could have replicated either scheme and I know I would have angsted and OCD'ed over it..
First gun pass is over, the Cylon takes some damage...some good shooting on my part...the lad preferred the look of the Cylon raider over the Viper
as you can see in upper right...there are measuring sticks...they show the range constraints and modifiers...on the back side, they even account for slant range when you are using the advanced rules with 'altitude'...very cool...in this pic, we both moved as quickly as possible from each other and are setting up for another pass.
More setup...
The lad does some bold manoeuvring to line up a shot...and gets 0 damage for his piloting...good for me!
He sees me, he shoots me...I see him, I...well you know. For my efforts I get 4 more points of damage on his Raider.
For the folks in the nose-bleeds...overview...
We each push our vectors and pass out of each others arc of fire...it is fairly narrow, approx 30 degrees...so if you want to do damage, you gotta steer like you mean it.
a bunch of cards later and no pics to show for it...the lad lines up very nicely on me...takes his shot...I'm feeling pretty good about this because he hasn't tagged me yet and I have about 12-ish (1 or 2 points higher than the Cylon IIRC)...
2 more cards later and I can't shake the bugger, he gets 2 shots in a row...I take 14 points which kills my ship...I suppose in a campaign I would punch out at this time and wait for the CSAR Raptor...the damage markers indicate total damage which are drawn from bag...or in our case a Starbucks mug (subtle right?)...with the idea you are not picking the damage, it is still some bit of chance. As well, when you draw one, if there is a plus (+) on it, then you draw a second. In the advanced rules, if there is an icon (i.e. the pilot helmet above) then there is also some additional modifiers to be applied.
While my first shot really hurt him, 8 points, my second fell short, and I could not get a third...the boy pulls a victory in our first engagement.
Overall, a very enjoyable game, fairly easy to grasp...certainly the basic rules were quick to get down...and we both had a great time...the figures look outstanding and I can't wait to see what expansions are coming.
Take care.
