1 Jun 2007 12:49
[Review] Galactic Expanse Starship Battles
I was exceptionally eager to get Galactic Expanse: Starship Battles (Lost Battalion Games, 2006 – Jeff Billings), mostly because any game that simulates spaceship combat is one that draws me in. In fact, my geekiness came out during the game, as I was explaining the rules to another player. I mentioned that "these rules make sense when you compare them to real life", and then we all burst into laughter at my version of "real life." Still, I had no problem getting this game to the table with science fiction fans. Galactic Expanse has one gigantic negative problem – the rules are almost incomprehensible. Fortunately, after struggling through them and using an example of combat on the web, we found a pretty nifty tactical space combat game. The game sticks with its theme of starships attacking one another – doing an extraordinary job of it. There are four races of aliens, and each feels fairly different, while well balanced. If you can make it through the muddle of rules and enjoy combat games with a bit of luck, Galactic Expanse is going to delight your inner child. Each player controls a deck of sixteen spaceships, each a different species (Nizk, Gar, Brean, and Sarn). Spaceships have three offensive weapons (strike craft, hyper speed torpedoes, and beam weapons), a defensive weapon (railgun), shields, troop capacity, and thrust. Each weapon shows one to three dice (white six-sided, green eight-sided, and blue ten-sided), although it's possible that a ship does not have one or more of the weapons. Shields also have one or more dice and may also have a "veil", a "-2" modifier. Each player shuffles their cards, drawing six of them and placing them face up in two "lines" in front of themselves. Another deck of action cards is shuffled, with each player drawing six of them to form their hands. Each player is(Continue reading)
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