Russ Wakelin

(reprinted from my Blog, RussRant.com)

I’ve been looking forward to a new board game from Hasbro for some time now. Growing up I played games with great components such as Chopper Strike and Carrier Strike. The idea of a new space combat game from the designer of Heroscape along with the pictures of the ships made Battleship Galaxies a must buy for me.

So picked it up on Saturday and drooled all over it, then posted a bunch of pictures on the D6G feed:

Pictures

Then my wife and I played Sunday night… what a fun game. Here are my quick thoughts…

Battleship Galaxies Pro’s
– Great Models

– All components well done

– Comic book is actually worth reading

– Easy to teach

– Energy system keeps game balance, reminiscent of Monsterpocalypse (m-poc) power dice

You get 10 energy per turn
It costs energy to bring ships onto the table (like M-poc)
It costs energy to activate a ship
It costs energy to use a tactics card (varies by card)
Some super weapons require additional energy to use

– A lot of fleet building options from different ship variants and weapon assignments.

– Slick missions including 3 and 4 player variants

– Tactics cards add great depth

Handle all kinds of complex situations: Boarding actions, sabotage, etc.
Allow attaching extra weapons/heroes/systems to ships
In addition to picking ships for a mission you also build your tactics deck, balance preserved because awesome abilities cost more energy
Nukes are insane… just say’n

– Terrain is more than terrain

two types of terrain: Obstacles and Discoveries
Obstacles are what you’d expect: Astroids, wreckage, etc. Can use as cover.

Discoveries start face down, and flip when a ship is on them.
Holding discovery locations give you in game bonuses: +2 energy per turn, increased range, etc. (Again, reminds me of M-poc)

Con’s
– No firing arcs
– Facing doesn’t matter
– Ship size is relative but scale is abstracted
– While comic fluff is great, the names of both forces are un-inspired.

But the chance for two traders, an 8th player, and adding variety of new knight makes this a great expansion for fans of the original.