Battlestar Galactica Board Game

Battlestar Galactica is a good addition to the genre of cooperative (mostly!) games.

Personally, I prefer Pandemic, which is purely cooperative, but if you want a cooperative game with the added spice of a backstabbing traitor or two in your midst, this is really a good choice.

Battlestar Galactica is very well designed, with lots of mechanisms which mesh very well to make a very good game. The physical components are also nice and support the play.

There are a lot of clever twists; the way that the traitorous (Cylon) players are assigned means that for much of the game, most players don't know how many players round the table are Cylons - even the Cylons themselves don't know this to start with. However, by the game end there are always the correct number of Cylons to make sure that the game is balanced.

Other than the determination of loyalty, the other major major part of the game play revolves around card play; many actions a player takes are determined by a secret, cooperative play of cards which help or hinder the active player. There are several types of card, and different characters have access to different types - so careful examination the cards after they have been revealed will give clues as to the identities of the traitors.

If this sort of game appeals to you, particularly if you're competitive, I'm sure you won't be disappointed with Battlestar Galactica. The only point to bear in mind is that inexperienced players can't openly ask for advice if they are the traitors!

Hint: If you are about to run your first game: Print off a summary of the Revealed Cylon player's actions for each player. If you are a Cylon player you need to plan what you are going to do, and leaning across the board to read the small type is a dead give away!

Other hint: print of the FAQ, as there is a card which says "any player" which is amened to "any non-revealed Cylon player".

Battlestar Galactica
Forget the dodgy bowler haircuts, tacky script and same three cylon ships blowing up every week, this is a game based on the latest series from the SCi-Fi channel. The human race has been devastated by a sneak attack on its 12 colonies. The survivors band together under the protection of the BattleStar Galactica and Viper fighters in a desperate search for Earth and the lost tribe of humanity. Well the game is only based on series one so they don’t get as far as Earth, only to the world of Kobol, which points the way. Unfortunately for the humans the Cylons are right on their trail with Basestars and Raiders hot on their heels. If that wasn’t enough, the Cylons can now take on human form. Any one of the crew may be a Cylon, waiting to sabotage the ship at a crucial moment.

At the start of the game each player takes a character card representing one of the key players on Galactica. They come in Four classes: Pilots-ace star fighters that protect Galatica from marauding Raiders, Support- try to keep everything else working, Military Leaders- Command the forces of Humanity and Political leaders-Try to keep the population happy. Each character also has a special skill, a once per game ability and a flaw that works against them in the game. The main thing the characters contribute is their skill sets. These are colour coded skills such as: Politics, Engineering, Leadership, Piloting and Tactics. The players draw skill cards from the piles that match their character sheet. These cards are used to perform actions and resolve the many crises that befall the Galactica and the hapless human survivors.

After choosing characters the roles of President and Admiral are then assigned according to a list of hierarchy. The Admiral gets two tasty Nuclear weapons to play with, these are great for vaporizing massed Raiders or Basestars. The President gets a hand of Quorum cards that can be played to give them game breaking effects and save humanity from the brink. Neither post is permanent though, new Presidents can be sworn in and Admirals can find themselves carted off to the brig.
Before the game begins loyalty cards are secretly given out to each player. These tell them whether they are loyal to the human race or a treacherous Cylon bent on their destruction. Some characters such as Giaus Baltar and Boomer get more than one card, increasing the suspicion and likelihood of them being frakking toasters.

Each round starts with a player drawing cards from their skill sets, they may then move and take one action using the locations aboard Galactica or Colonial One. These can range from: firing up the FTL drive, firing Galatica’s main guns, repairing the ship, throwing someone into the Brig or voting for a new President.
At the end of a player turn a Crisis Card is drawn and resolved. Crisis Cards represent the many trials and tribulations of getting a rag tag fugitive fleet across the galaxy. Crises can turn into explosive devices, loss of supplies, rioting or even a full blown Cylon battle fleet. Most Crisis cards are resolved with a skill check. The skill check has a difficulty number and a selection of colours that match the skills, that can be used to successfully resolve it. The trick is, that if cards are added that aren’t the correct colour then these are subtracted from the final tally. To give the check a bit of suspense, two cards are also added from a randomised pile of skill cards. This gives any hidden Cylons the ability to covertly sabotage the best efforts of the other players.
Failing Crisis checks usually cause the humans to loose one of their precious resources. At the top of the game board are four dials depicting the things humanity needs to survive: Population, Fuel, Morale and Food. If any one of these dials drops to zero the human players loose.
Along with Crisis cards the Cyclon fleet will periodically jump in and attempt to blow the Galactica and its Civilian ships into radioactive particles. To stop them the brave pilots of the colonial fleet use their lethal Viper attack craft. Pilot characters can also jump aboard Vipers at the hanger bay and launch to help defend the fleet.
At the bottom of each Crisis card there may be up to two icons. One Icon depicts Cylon ships to activate. If this is Cylon Raider then all Raiders on the board move towards the nearest civilian ships or try to destroy them. Colonial Vipers can be damaged or destroyed outright by raiders, any luckless player aboard such Viper, heads straight to sick bay. Civilian ships attacked by Raiders are destroyed, loosing valuable resources. Cylon heavy Raiders, once activated, head straight for the hanger bay, to deploy Cylon warriors into Galactica itself. These warriors slowly start to take over the ship and unless stopped by characters using the Armoury Location to gun them down, they will eventually vent the atmosphere into space, killing the crew and causing the Humans to loose the game. The final Cylon ship to be activated is the Basestar itself. This will cheerfully trade missiles with Galactica, reducing resources or knocking out vital areas of the ship. If five areas of the ship are totalled then Galactica is destroyed and it’s game over.
The other Icon that maybe present on the Crisis card is the Jump Prep Icon. This advances the Jump track towards the auto-jump, the ship can be jumped prematurely using the FTL location on Galactica but this could result in a loss of Population. Jumping the ship is the only way for the Humans to win the game. It also clears away all the Cylon ships, giving them a respite from attack. The Human objective is to get to Kobol, a distance of eight. When the ship jumps the Admiral draws two jump cards and chooses one to use. The distance at the bottom of the card is added to the running total. When the Jump total has reached four the sleeper phase is activated and each player is given another loyalty card, adding another layer to the mis-trust already abundant in the game.When the distance reaches eight then one more jump will give the Humans the win as they reach Kobol and get closer to finding Earth.
The game is pretty tense. Working out just who is a hidden Cylon is great fun. You’ll soon find yourself spouting lines from the TV series and really getting into the role of your character. The game requires a lot of cagy play. Trying to help the Humans may be a good idea, but if you find out that you are really a Cylon Sleeper agent halfway through the game, you’ll have a difficult time trying to undo all your good work.
This is definitely a game for fans of the TV series as the constant Crisis checks can feel a bit dry after a few plays. You’ve got to be in character and play with a good bunch of people to get the most from the game.
Overall the game is well produced, with good minis and captures from the TV show on most of the cards. The threat dials, asymmetrical play and the threat of a hidden enemy make this game stand out from the rest.

This game surpassed my expectations, which, as someone who has never watched the series this game is based on, may not have been to hard...

In any case, I would particularly recommend this fine boardgame to anyone who tends to play with a large group, as this certainly adds to the experience.

There is a significant element of player interaction, which although it is often tinged with paranoia is precisely what makes Battlestar Galactica such an enjoyable boardgame. The degree of tension that can arise later in the game when it becomes apparent that there is at least one Cylon concealing their presence among the crew members may surprise you!

The mechanics can appear to be a little convoluted at first, but as long as you're willing to spend the time to read through them, this shouldn't prove to be too much of a problem.