After delaying the post for too long, I’ve now decided that I should write few words about Battlestar Galactica The Board Game published by the Fantasy Flight Games. The game altogether was a pleasant surprise, it catches the mood of the series and I believe that you’ll enjoy the board game even if you haven’t seen a single episode. Here is the Battlestar Galactica The Board Game Review:
“You can’t trust me and I will not definitely trust you and yes, we are all honest here… are we not?” That is Battlestar Galactica in a nutshell. Almost at least. Battlestar Galactica is a cooperative game where all the players are doing their best to reach Earth while Cylon fleets are harassing them whenever they get the opportunity to do so. In games such as Arkham Horror etc. players pull the same rope. In Battlestar Galactica however one or more players do not. They’re Cylons and have no intention of reaching Earth. The problem is that players don’t know who the Cylons are until their actions prove otherwise.
In Battlestar Galactica The Board Game, a player chooses a character from the series and every one of them has different skills and special abilities. Others can fly Vipers while others are specialized in politics or tactics. You get cards based on your skills, five colors in all, but according you character you’ll most likely be using about two of them. When every turn draws to an end a crisis emerges and something bad happens. If you play your cards right, you can usually avoid the disaster, but there are people aboard who doesn’t wish that to happen.
This is exactly where the game gets it kicks. People around the table accuse each other of every mishap what happens. And if you are a skillful player, it is almost impossible to notice that you’re a cylon. If you are noticed, players do whatever they can to restrict your actions and that is usually the time to actually reveal that you in fact are a Cylon and start acting accordingly. Cylons win through various ways, but humans only if they reach their destination.
I’m not going to go more on the details of the game, I believe by now you have the idea. As a board game it is successful indeed, one of the gold nuggets of board games. The mind bending action to find out who is a cylon is act of FUN indeed and I can recommend the game to everyone. 4/5
PROS:
- Intense
- Great components
- Paranoia and accusations made fun
- Strategic thinking
CONS
- After the Cylons are revealed, the biggest tick disappears and every player head towards their goals.
"I believe that you’ll enjoy the board game even if you haven’t seen a single episode."
This is true, when I sat down at the game table, I hadn't seen a single episode and I had loads of fun. The board game, in fact, fired me up enough so that I started watching them!