Master of Orion is coming back

Master of Orion is coming back! I am so excited. I know it’s a computer game not a board game, as this blog is intended to review. But I want to talk about it so I will.

I started in to the Master of Orion series in junior high. A friend handed me some bootleg disks and told me to give it a try. I know, bootleg is wrong and I did buy all of the versions later on. But MOO1 was my introduction to 4x gaming and I’ve loved it ever since. Oh yeah, we called it MOO. Acronyms are cool, and calling a space game MOO is freaking funny.

The series was a big part of my teen years. Nostalgia has me excited for this next installment.

I’m excited because some of the original development team is back including the original lead designer, composer, and art director. This promises that the heart and soul of the series remains intact. Moreover the company that took over the title has announced that this will not be a free to play style game like their World of Tanks game. The microtransaction model would never fit this style of game, it would just kill it. So happy news that we have a proper retail game.

I am a little wary of the game though. Can this fill my expectations?

Psylons are my default race.

I was originally glad when I heard the team would be completely ignoring MOO3. The third installment in the series had a user interface that even the most masochistic of accountants would hate. The AI was terrible and the game was just riddled with bugs. In short MOO3 was not a good game. But by ignoring this installment I think the designers of the new Master of Orion game are throwing the baby out with the bathwater. There is something that MOO3 did so amazingly right: Character development. The alien races are beautifully designed and detailed. They had rich back stories. More importantly they weren’t childishly cartoonish. I’m a little tired of simplistic racial designs of animal-person hybrid aliens. The bird-man Alkari, the Cat-Alien Mrrshans and so on are too simplistic. I want a rich back story. The original two games came up with bland racist alien archetypes. Russians/Bulrathi, Gnolam/Jews, humans/Caucasians. MOO3 actually moved away from “all people of a certain race are this way because sci-fi racism.” Instead each race acted a certain way because of histories of wars, slavery, genetic engineering, or even religion. The AI had storied reasons for hating each other not just "birds and cats don't get along eh!" This is creativity the genre desperately needs.

Arrr space pirates!

Another thing I liked from MOO 3: terraforming. It was looked at differently. Each race had different biological needs so therefore each race had a specific ideal environment. Planets with little value to you could be a perfect place for your neighbour for a farm colony. Another race could sweep in to take a planet of strategic significance and begin terraforming it into their ideal but your inhospitable wasteland. The first and second installments ignored this about alien life. Ground combat modifiers could apply to each races environmental needs. It added to the costs of taking over alien worlds. It's thematic and a factor I felt brought more to the game.

Are those star lanes? NOOOOO!!!

The other thing I worry about is star lanes. For those who don’t play 4x games star lanes are essentially highways in space. The game either forces you to travel along star lanes or as in MOO3, travel outside of star lanes is obscenely slow. It’s just not how space works. It doesn’t make sense in the medium of a space game. The sole reason star lanes exist is they essentially make programming a game’s AI easier. I hate them. The only way I could see star lanes as being something thematic is if they were some kind of tech players could research and build, something reminiscent of the trade lanes in the old Freelancer game. A series of gates players could build to make travel between two systems faster. Essentially this could eliminate FTL (faster than light) engine requirements within your empire space. Great for defensive ships and for freighters (freeing up internal space) but then you would need a separate class of attack ships for moving outside of your space. This could be an early tech that would later be replaced by wormhole technology or efficient FTL drives. It could have an upkeep cost, and could create bonuses in trade if you constructed them to another race’s planets. What I’m getting at is I don’t want star lanes unless they are made more thematic.

In other news: local nerd writes blog post!

I am happy so see random events will be coming back with the Galactic News network. It was always fun to see a space creature moving to attack another player, or having to reevaluate a plan of moving ships when a creature begins eating ships in hyperspace. I found this factor highly thematic and the challenges they presented made the game more interesting for me. It was also satisfying to have GNN announce that you had colonized a number of star systems far outreaching anyone other empire. It was a fun and quirky way of delivering some random challenges to the game.

I like the look of this cleaner tech tree design

The best part of the MOO series was the optional nature of play. A player could chose from several races or customize one of their own. A player could customize their ships, and could chose which technologies to research. The player had a myriad of options on how they wanted to play the game. Trade, alliances, treaties, diplomacy and a galactic council all added flavour to the game in such fun and diverse ways. This created a highly replayable game you could battle in time and again against either your friends or the computer.

One thing that I'm eagerly awaiting is news of the Guardian of Orion. Will it still be there? What will it look like? How powerful will it be? Will there still be a derelict ship to claim? Oh and will there be Antarans? I liked the random attacks, and the techs to be gained from boarding their vessels. I would love for them to return but I don't want beating them to be a win condition. Make it a hard to claim/hard to return from planet. When your ships come back they appear randomly on the map, and anyone with the right tech can attack it from anywhere they have the gate. 

For those who want a taste of the original Master of Orion it is available for free play on archive.org. Also for those who wish to follow along with the release of the new game the official website is here.

Until next time you know I’m just going to get more excited as that release date just keeps MOOving closer.

Edmonton Expo 2015

Another Edmonton Expo came and went. Of course the wife and I had to go. We love nerding it up.

One day I will have a Lego room.

This year we drove friends of ours who had a table in artist alley. These were the folks at Perfectly Chaotic. We got to use their parking pass so that was a big plus. The downside was having to walk all the way around the outside of the building to be let in. I guess I could use the exercise so it's all good.

I find the Edmonton Expo center is well designed for a comic expo. Multiple halls with multiple access points allow for more routes of traffic. My only problem with moving around was in the hallway between halls C and E, it smelled like a sewer backup all weekend.

As usual I was disappointed in the timing of guest announcements. Tickets went on sale before we knew who was coming. Meanwhile Calgary expo had a guest announcement in the program for this years Edmonton Expo. (Lucy Lawless… now I have to go to Calgary) It feels like the organizers don't put forth the effort they should. I hope they work on that for next year.

The food was all located in the central corridor or outside in food trucks. I wondered why the food trucks were left outside when I’ve been to other events at that center with the trucks indoors. There were tables set up in hall B which would have been a perfect location for the trucks. It was a little of a pain to try to exit through the entryway just to get to the food trucks. Because of that we just avoided them.

As for the show itself my wife was excited to meet Cary Elwes. She’s got the hots for him. I like Princess Bride, Men in Tights and his Saw appearances so we went to the panel and got a photo with him. He’s hilarious. His panel was mostly about Princess bride but there was a smattering of questions about his other roles. For some reason everyone kept saying Prince of Thieves by mistake when it came to talking about Men in Tights. It got to the point where even he started saying it in error. At the photo op he took the time to shake our hands, ask our names and how the show was going. Much to the photographers chagrin. I really like it when the guests don’t follow along with rushing people through like the con tries to enforce; being nice to fans while sticking it to the man makes me smile.

Billy Boyd was great at his panel although he seemed a little fixated on peeing. He was hilarious and it was nice to hear he took part in the local culture by going to the art museum. I’m regretting missing out on the Beecake concert now. At the very end of the show we came over to the signing area and noticed he was just getting ready to leave. We raced over for a signature. While the money was changing hands with his crew he started a drawing game with us. He made a scribble on the signing table and we were supposed to finish the drawing. My wife made an Ogopogo and I made a poorly drawn Audrey II from Little Shop of Horrors. I decided since it was the end of the show I could be a little audacious and ask for a photo. He said he really shouldn’t but what the hell. He grabbed my phone and proceeded to take several selfies with us. It was great.

Since I’m a fan of the Walking Dead I had to meet Michael Rooker. We went to the Guardians of the Galaxy panel featuring him and Sean Gunn. The two of them really riffed with comedy together. My wife loved it since she is big into Gilmore Girls and Guardians. Michael Rooker is like a big goofy kid in real life. He kept laughing and really engaged with the fans; Pretty much the complete opposite of his Merle character. I would totally hang out with that guy. Which we were told we could at the ATB booth. Well, suckers we were because ATB just pushed another run through thing. The funny thing was he brought Sean Gunn along so my wife went all Gilmore Girls girly fangirl. She ran to Sean Gunn when Michael Rooker tried to meet and greet us. When I told him why we lost her he just bellowed “Hey Gilmore Girl Turn AROUND!” Sean Gunn beamed at having a fan and pulled her in for a photo.

We also went to the Buffy panel with Amber Benson, Eliza Dushku and James Marsters. Marsters seemed the most comfortable on stage while Eliza Dushku seemed a little unsure of how to do the con thing. She was still fantastic and I enjoyed the panel. It was a little weird when Spike sang country music: Especially since I hate country.

The only other panel we went to was with Jenna Coleman. I am glad we hit that one up since it was her first time speaking in public about the departure from Doctor Who. She’s just as cute and bubbly in person as she is on the show. Everyone around me got a little irritated with the moderator who didn’t understand his role. He treated it more as a personal interview than a Q&A panel. I personally felt he should have reigned in with his attempt at Diane Sawyer questions and let the fans have their experience. When the panel ended there were a good 40 fans still lined up at the mics. When Jenna finally got the opportunity to answer questions she was amazing and she gave some fantastic insight into her character portrayal.

I had to miss the first few minutes of the panel as my wife had bought me a photo op with Ivy Doomkitty. She knows I have a little crush on this cosplayer because well, smart, funny, curvy, and cosplay. Pretty much everything I’m attracted to. My wife got some Cary Elwes time so she got me Ivy Doomkitty time. Mrs. Doomkitty was supposed to be dressed as Velma, and I love that character so I'm a little disappointed timing made her unable to wear the planned costume. I’m sure there’s always next year. She was still all cuddles, happiness, and cuteness so I totally forgive. I didn’t get any talk time as I had to race to the Jenna Colman panel where my wife was saving a seat. Ivy, if you read this my favourite cosplay of yours is Dr. Doom... Someday I will cosplay him too and maybe get a photo together?

For show swag my wife and I got the show shirts, she got a scarf and I got the limited edition TMNT print. I even got Kevin Eastman to sign it which was really cool. My wife got a Tardis Toque, a Vader purse, a bookmark, and some lightsaber earrings. We also bought a print of Death Jr on Pale Horse. It’s cute and dark. I finally picked up a copy of ’68 as I’ve been meaning to read it forever. Luckily local artist Nat Jones was there to sell me a signed copy. But most importantly I finally got my functional bearded axe, which I’ve been walking around the house with since then. I have to chop something with it soon. The wife’s all “Not the furniture” and “Not the hardwood floors.” She didn't even let me drive around waving it out my driver side window. Seriously no fun at all.

And of course we spent quite a bit of time admiring cosplay. We still haven’t attempted it but I’ve got together everything for a Krieger outfit (I even have a piggly) and my wife is working on a Pam outfit so maybe next year. We went to the costume contest and it was great. My wife’s favourite was the Sanderson Sisters, mine was the Valkyrie costume. I love Thor comics so it was cool to see the character.

Can I pull off Krieger?

Thus ended another fun year of comics, entertainment and geekery. I hope to see you again next year.

Cowabunga this was COOL!

Firefly The Board Game Review

I’m a pretty big geek. I know that’s not that big of a surprise, I write a blog where I review board games. One of the things I geek out about is Firefly. I like introducing new people to the series by lending it to them and telling them to come back when they want season 2. When these people come back I laugh in their faces like a Fox executive so they can feel true geek pain. Then I lend them Serenity and the comics because I know the need for more. I’m not a total jerk.

Because of my love of Firefly and a desire for more I picked up Firefly the board game and gave it a go with some not so brown-coated people.

There are a lot of pros and cons to Firefly the board game. There are also some elements that really depend upon personal taste on whether you will love or hate it.

The game has limited player interaction. It gives the feel of a multiplayer solitaire game. Each player is running their own ship, getting jobs done, hiring crew and buying gear. There really isn’t much in the way of interacting with other players. This can be nice when you really want a game where you control your own fate but it also dulls the conversation and attention between players. So it’s a plus if you want a night without player fighting but it also sucks out the player back and forth.

I do have to say the limited interaction is good in that you can play the Firefly Board Game strictly solitaire and still have the same gaming experience. The game scales well from 1 to 4 players without taking away from the experience.

What the Firefly board game does very well is it allows a player to control their fate in the game. Players have so many options and are able to immerse themselves into the role of a ship captain that you really get the feel of being in the universe. A player can chose to be the heroic do-gooder running completely legal and legitimate careers, or they can run Robin Hood style crime jobs playing fast and loose with misbehaving, or they can play the bad guy doing immoral jobs to make money at the universe’s expense. For a board game the role play element is superbly designed. In fact even though this is a tie-in product for a TV show it is crafted in a way where you really don’t need to know the property in order to become immersed in the universe. Anyone who would enjoy being a spaceship captain will enjoy playing the Firefly board game.

I do have to warn players that, as with any game based on a licensed property, the rules could have had some fine tuning. The rule book should have been streamlined in order to find rules easier and the rules are sometimes needlessly complicated. You will need to play through a few times and keep going back to the rule book in order to remember all the special circumstance rules. I would advise playing the single player goal a few times to fully understand the rules before trying to run a game with friends.

The pieces are interesting and there are a lot of them. This game takes up significant real estate on the table so make sure you have plenty of playable space. While I do love having huge complicated games I actually found that for the style of the game there were too many pieces and the set up is a tad complicated. I did have two issues with pieces in that one ship stand was deformed a little and the alliance cruiser looks smooshed from being in the box… it looks like a sad alliance cruiser. Both pieces are completely usable but they end up looking a bit off.

To sum up I’d have to say I do recommend this game for some players. Any player who wants to be a ship captain with a universe of options for running their own crew and picking their own jobs should definitely get this game. This becomes truer if you want a game where everyone just gets to play their best game with limited interference from opponents. But if your players aren’t willing to invest time in learning a complicated rule system or are looking for some heavy competitive action this probably isn’t the game for you. Personally I will enjoy playing this game in the future and look forward to getting some Browncoats in on the action.

Until next time… I’ll be in my bunk. Playing this game of course.

Twilight Imperium Strategy tips

With every passing day I become increasingly obsessed with Twilight Imperium. I've been reading strategy guides and every tip I come across. I need to play it more. I figured I would write a strategy guide for the game as well. No I'm not going to tell you how to play each race, others have done an amazing job of it so I won't rehash that. I'm going to cover more of a broad overarching strategy guide to apply to how to think about your strategy. And yes I like using quotes from literary, military, and other geniuses to highlight what I have to say.

First off is remember it's only a game. At the end of the session "your" plastic units and cardboard planets will be put back in a box and left on a shelf. There is no continuing glory or ownership, it all ends when the game ends. Above all else the goal of the session is to create fun memories with the other players.

When you do start the game remember that all of the players are in it to win it. Nobody sits down all excited about a chance to lose. Every other player will be working towards their own goals and agendas. These goals will inevitably run up against yours and conflict will happen. This isn't personal it's how the game is played. This is a game of both politics and cards so expect friendships to hold little sway during the session.
Of course what this really means is you should never expect other players to help you simply out of friendship. You need to find a way for them to see the benefits of aiding you, be it taking the small end of a trade deal or pointing out how you gaining hurts those who will oppose them, or some other trick up your sleeve.
Getting other players to help you is your problem not theirs.

Prepare for the game. Always have a long term plan. Read the rules which are available for free online. Read the FAQ, read every strategy guide out there. Have some sort of idea of how you are going to progress through the game. Evaluate the entire map and how you can exploit every aspect of it. Those who fail to plan plan to fail. It is a truism that you cannot escape.

Now that you have a plan prepare to throw it out the window. Other players have made plans and plots. They will be doing things which will make parts of your plan difficult or impossible to execute. Constantly review the plan: revise it, edit it, or junk it. It is just a plan, YOU DO NOT MARRY A PLAN. It it just an idea, one that can be made stupid through no fault of your own.

The art of war is a must read.

Always remember that Twilight Imperium is a game of limited resources. You cannot do everything in this game. You cannot research all technologies, you cannot build every ship, you cannot own every planet. Be brutal with your economics, everything is a cost benefit analysis, every expansion of your borders, every research, every battle must be weighed  and analyzed precisely.

Analyze every weakness and every strength in the game. Especially your own. Every weakness can be closed or exploited. Oh yes I do advocate exploiting your weakness. Especially a weakness you create. Like a prey species who feigns injury to draw a predator away from the flock. Use your weakness to draw your enemies to wherever is most advantageous to you. An example from my first game: I took over Mecatol Rex with a small vulnerable seeming fleet. This drew in an opponent. I was able to use direct hit action card because he believed he could soak the damage on his dreadnought in the first volley. I completely wiped out a stronger (expensive) fleet with a few fighter losses.

Twilight Imperium tends to be played by groups of players. Remember that every person at the table is competition. Don't get caught up in focusing just on your neighbours. Players across the table can be a bigger threat if ignored. Their politics, their diplomacy, their trades, technology, or even access to wormholes can allow them to disrupt your plans. Everyone must factor into your strategy.

Twilight Imperium is NOT A WARGAME. It is easy to look at all those cool spaceships, fighters and troops and become trapped in a war mentality. Always remember that you do not win by waging war, you win by completing victory objectives. War is a tool in your toolbox. Use the right tool for the right job. Sometimes other tools may be more precise, diplomacy, trade agreements, or bringing a new law into play can cost you less and gain you more than a battle would.
You can win a game of Twilight Imperium without engaging in a single battle. Of course where is the fun in that.

Diplomacy is a very integral part of the Twilight Imperium experience. You are building space empires, and one thing that every empire in history has done is talk. Talk about war, talk about peace, talk about trade, talk about who has what right to claim which system. Talk, talk, talk, then talk some more. But more importantly LISTEN. What is being said? What is not being said? What deals are happening between other players? How will this effect me? Pay attention to every word, every meaningful look. Diplomacy rules Twilight Imperium.

One of the most important facts of Twilight Imperium is that you cannot win a war on multiple fronts. Allied players can grind down another player easily. The best way to combat this is to ensure your enemies have enemies. Sow discord and discontent between all other players while building good will and trust for yourself. You need to build allies from enemies. It's hard work but every enemy conflict will create losses, meaning lost troops and resources that will not be directed against you. I used this concept to my advantage in my first game. The player to my right was used as a shield against an aggressive player. To my left was a large swath of empty space that my other neighbour had no way of crossing quickly. Instead of easily wiping out my weakened opponent to my right I left him in his desperate war and used the opening to expand quickly into uninhabited space, claiming Mecatol Rex in the process.

With that in mind, remember every player is trying to con you into wars. It is a favourite tactic of mine, and many other players. Rhetoric spewed about honour, glory, not being a loser, etc. It's meant to keep you occupied and consume your threat level.

Sometimes diplomacy is all that stands between you and total annihilation. Keep talking and bluffing long enough to get into a better position. Strong enemies can often be bought off, or with a little swagger and an air of confidence you can make others believe they are playing into a trap.
Put on whatever airs are necessary. A little diplomacy can cause an opponent to pause, become confused, or redirected. (remember the best weapon against an enemy is another enemy)

Diplomacy is an art. Be artful in it's use.

A big part of diplomacy is lying. In games involving diplomacy lies are common language. You need to be able to see through lies, learn your opponents tells, watch for actions that announce deception. But most of all work at stifling your own tells. Opponents seeing through your lies at the wrong moment can spell doom for your plans.

Since lies become an integral part of diplomacy and politics in Twilight Imperium, the truth can be more powerful than any lie. When players are used to looking for the hidden agenda the plain bold truth becomes a lie in their head. In a sea of deceit the person telling the truth either becomes an ally or an enigma. Bold truths and bold lies are hard to tell apart. I've saved many of my plans by laying out the complete truth to my opponents. The truth calms a wary foe.
"The devil always lies, except when a truth will hurt you more"

Now I've annoyed many people I know with this little Simpsons clip. But it changed my life.

The truth is open to manipulation. Peoples opinions and feelings about the truth make it completely open to interpretation.

It's all about presentation. The nuances of the language you use can make an ugly truth palatable or a silly truth a threat.

For example: park a fleet in an ion storm near a fighter dependant player in the hopes of drawing them into the tile. Simply overstate the truth on the fleet not being a threat... trust me. The opponent will think more about how the fleet is a threat and how to rid themselves of it instead of how to defend against the threat. Paranoia draws them into foolishly attacking.

The political element of the game allows for new laws to be ratified or voted down in a galactic senate. These laws can drastically influence the game. As such I believe the designers of Twilight Imperium were very apt with calling the political currency influence. I believe every player should carefully assess each law that gets brought forward. Laws that may have no effect on you can drastically impact other players. Voting for or against these laws can empower or weaken others. It can win allies or create enemies. Many laws change how the game board works throwing your opponents into chaos. If you aren't playing the politics game you can be costing yourself opportunities and missing out on a key part of the game experience.

Although it often happens that politics and diplomacy break down and war becomes inevitable.

Only start a war that is profitable to you. Always consider how valuable the battle will be. Small gains tend not to be worth the lost units. I tend to avoid battle unless it can directly gain me the ability to complete a victory objective or block an opponent from gaining a victory objective. It all boils down to the cost benefit analysis.

Every battle will cost you time, resources, and command counters. It can also cost you allies and influence. Nobody trusts a warmonger. Always make sure you can profit from a battle, that you won't lose to many resources, and that you can justify the battle to the other players.
Battles are major events in Twilight Imperium, they change the pace of the game and everyone pays attention. Everyone rides the tides of war.

If there is any opportunity to end a war I suggest you take it. I have watched players get drawn into grudge wars. Remember that it is just a game. You aren't losing "your" system, you are losing "a" system. Sometimes you have to "suck it up buttercup." In a game of galactic empires you are going to end up on the losing side of battles. Will it benefit you to fight over perceived slights or the loss of something that doesn't help you win the game? Or will you be able to use diplomacy to make you opponent out to be an aggressor and appear a bigger threat? A battle lost can help you strengthen your diplomatic position or on future galactic council votes. It all comes down to cost vs. benefit. And the cycle of revenge is a costly downward spiral.

If you do start a war end it quickly. Wage the war precisely and remember that war is hell so fight accordingly. Salvaging a relationship in the game after a war is nearly impossible so I suggest you forget about it in the savagery of battle. Wage the war to gain what you need as quickly and decisively as possible. After all you should have already exhausted every political and diplomatic means prior to the start of the war.

Turtling is a big factor in games like Twilight Imperium. What this means is players carve out their sector of space and set to work building a protective shell. In doing so you provide other players the insight into what is important to you. How a player is building forces can be a signal of future plans which allow your enemies to plan a counter to them. Sometimes it is better to attack before opponents know what is happening or before they are able to solidify their plans. The more you allow your opponents to analyze your strategy and the more you allow them to prepare the more difficult, dangerous, and costly your plans become.

An analogy would be: if you are hungry beside a tree. You could climb the tree and spend time finding the perfect fruit (risking that you may fall) or you can shake the tree to see what falls out. Sometimes you need the perfect fruit, sometimes it's just easier to give it a whack and take what life gives you.

You are going to screw up in Twilight Imperium. Other players are working to deceive you, dice may not fall in your favour, or you make errors in your plan. Whatever the reason you will have blunders. Take them as a matter of course, revise your plans, and work past the errors. "Failure is not an option" is movie dialogue garbage. The real options are: overcome failures or lose the game.

Lastly is the advice of a space opera character. Perhaps the most vital bit of advice there is.

What? Don't you understand Chewbacca? That's because some advice is totally useless. Embrace only the advice that makes sense to you.
Some strategies, tips or bits of advice won't work for you. It all depends on how you play the game, or how the game is playing you. Feel free to ignore that which does not work for you.

Most of all remember this is a game and have fun.

Star Wars Edge of the Empire preliminary review

So much stuff

I’ve been talking RPGs with the brother in law for a while now. He finally decided we needed to get one going and arranged things in a surprisingly short period of time. We’ve started in on a game I’ve never played before: Star Wars Edge of the Empire. Today I thought I’d give my opening thoughts on the game.

Victor (the brother in law) bought the Beginner Game pack. It includes a thinned down rule book, an adventure book, 4 pre-generated characters, a double sided map, custom dice, and a stack of tokens. It’s a great way to introduce new players to the game as the rules and dice are different than I was used to. I think this is a fantastic pack for getting players directly into the play style because it’s hard to get new people into role playing while slogging through character creation. Fantasy Flight Games does well understanding this even adding some extra characters for free under character resources on their site. This is also a considerably cheaper option for trying out the game as it costs half of what the core book does. This is the best option if you really aren’t sure about role playing but are willing to give it a try.

I want to fly my own Millennium Falcon.

To really get into the game though I think you definitely need the core book. It goes deeper into rules and provides significant information. Players have more options for character design as well. It is a better resource for both players and game masters in an ongoing campaign. Personally I liked having both versions of the rule book at the table this weekend because we had several players creating characters together, anyone looking for in depth information grabbed the core rule book while those needing some simple information grabbed the beginners book.

Our group has yet to pick up the Game Master kit but I think that might happen soon. As we are all new to the game I think whoever ends up running the game could benefit from having more resources at hand.

I love that the game seems more character driven. Most of character creation is aimed towards the story element and players even figure out a story as to how their characters came together. Personally I prefer working at my role over rolling dice (but diceless role playing is blasphemy to me.) I've been burned in the past by genre games that were simple veneers of the source material over some clunky rules. I'm glad to say this is not the case with Edge of the Empire, you really do get a feel of the Star Wars universe while you play. It helped that we are all mega-geeks who played the theme music on our phones for scene changes.

Making role playing dice more obscure and nerdier. Yay!

I’m still unsure about the dice for this game. Interpreting them can be a bit of an oddity. You roll an assigned number of dice and sum up the results. The ability, proficiency, and boost dice give positive markers while the difficulty, challenge and setback dice have negative markers. Certain results cancel each other out: Success vs. failure, advantage vs. threat, and triumph vs. despair. This all leads to the need to create a rationale for the results. A player can roll a strong failure and a triumph together. Maybe they Jar Jar Binksed it up and tripped over a destroyed combat droid… accidentally causing it to shoot at the exact right thing. (Yes I hate myself for referencing Jar Jar Binks) Of course the opposite happens, strongly successful but with a lot of threat… you managed to leap the dangerous gap away from the storm troopers chasing you and landed in a room full of battle ready storm troopers. Whoops. Sometimes this caused some speed bumps in the flow of the evening but I found that once people got into the narrative of the story, ideas on how to resolve these results came from everyone and entertained the group

There are free dice apps in the google play store and whatever you apple people use so getting your own set is easy.

There were a couple of other problems; some of the rules needed more clarification in the book. Melee weapons should be brawn + weapon damage but it isn’t worded clearly in the book. It caused some friction between the gm and I but we worked it out. Issues were rather minor so the hurdles they created didn't derail the game.

I'm taking his leadership advice to heart.

For my first character I rolled up a Wookie hired gun-mercenary. I was a little bummed I couldn’t afford my bowcaster but I’m just going to use that as something to work for in the game. I’m also looking at a vibro-axe but then I’m going to need to dump some exp into melee too… I went more for a heavy weapon, brawling, leader type in character creation. I wanted to play someone who was equally comfortable in a cantina brawl as he would be in thermal detonator diplomacy.

I’m psyched for the next session but I’m worried about when that would be. This long weekend is being spent with the wife, and then there is Gamealot, nieces’ birthdays and Edmonton Expo. September is booked solid. Although two nieces are only 1 and 2 so they don’t party too late.

I will update more on Star Wars Edge of the Empire after we put some serious time into the campaign

Twilight Imperium, you should include Distant Suns

I’m surprised how contentious of an issue the inclusion of “Distant Suns” is in the Twilight Imperium game. Some people think it’s an ultimate necessity and others hate it with the fury of a thousand (distant) suns.

Personally I love it. Maybe it’s my experience playing the Master of Orion series in my youth. That game really fuelled my love of the exploration part of a 4x game. Maybe I just love the randomness. But I know there’s more to it than that.

The naysayers talk about how it can really harm players in the early expansion phase of the game. I won’t argue against that, it does happen but believe me it isn’t that big of an issue. What these players forget is that this isn’t an empire expansion game. What you are really going for is victory points and achieving objectives. Sure a huge empire can help with that but it isn’t always necessary. Getting hammered early in the game with distant suns can actually work to a player’s benefit.

Seriously hear me out. During my first game the player to my right had some really terrible early expansion due to distant suns (his troops died in every landing.) This weakness did prompt the player to his right to leap on him like a jackal on a wounded gazelle (which sucked.) However the weakness also made him invaluable to me. He became my buffer to an aggressive player, he also became my trade buddy. He leveraged his weakness to gain from me, he wasn't a threat to me and the benefit he gained would fuel a war with an aggressive player. After that he became the underdog in a massive war, the rest of the table decided to rally to his support. Because of his status, political cards that helped him and hindered his aggressive neighbour were passed. Finally other players just jumped into the war to aide him. His apparent weakness also allowed him to achieve victory conditions without hindrance from other players because they ignored him as a threat.

The opposite is also true for the beneficial distant suns tokens. I managed to get the Lazax Survivors but never really used them to great effect. I used them to pass a law that favoured my weak neighbour, and knocked down one that would have really harmed my strategy (turns out I didn't need the extra votes though.) But other than that I failed to use them effectively. I have seen players who failed to use a technology boon effectively; Either from excitedly grabbing the wrong tech card, or being drawn into a costly war that prevented them from pursuing their tech tree. A boon of a spacedock is fantastic in a forward tactical position, but it can go to waste on a pitiful planet that was picked up just because it was there.

Distant Suns creates more political fodder for the game. Reminding players of successes or hurts from the early game can change their votes, influence who they are willing to trade with, and even swing their decisions on which sides of wars to fight on. You can find yourself the annoying rich kid of the game, the spunky underdog, the powerful ally, or the weak prey. It all depends on how the players interact. It builds on the narrative of the story you are creating that game session.

Distant Suns adds to the thematic element. I expect to have to explore the galaxy in a 4x game and it brings more action and suspense to the early game. I find that early turns are more mechanical repetition of expansion before finally trudging up to the player interaction part at about turn 4. This optional addition adds to the interest for everyone. Every player becomes tense waiting to see what each player's next exploration will reveal.

This changes the dynamic of the early expansion. Instead of a frantic planet grab, players carefully plan, they debate borders, and they make deliberate tactical or cost/benefit decisions. It makes the game more interesting.

Sure Distant Suns adds some time to the game. But honestly if you are already diving in to the epic experience that is Twilight Imperium, you should have the fortitude for such a minor time addition.

Distant Suns should be added to your Twilight Imperium to enhance the Space Opera your group plays out.

Legendary Encounters: Alien tips on selecting your Avatars

Legendary Encounters: Alien can be a difficult game to beat. Over the next few posts I figured I would go over some tips and strategies for the game that I have come up with. For this post I am reviewing Character Avatars because choosing the right roles to play can have a huge impact on how the game unfolds. I’m going to go over how I feel about each of the roles in the game:

(Feel free to debate/criticize bellow.)

I feel avatars are best rated on three factors: 1) Special cards due to how they work and which HQ cards to purchase 2) health due to how long they will last against the aliens and 3) Armour which isn't as important until traitors or Alien players pop up.

Commander: This Avatar is good, his armour is low at 4 but his health is high at 11. He can soak up damage nicely. The Report For Duty card he starts with allows him to gain a 3 point card. This works well for building up a stack of cards and in most scenarios this player can build a deck aimed at helping the team. However this player must remember to purchase some higher level cards instead of just overloading their deck with mid-level cards. I find this character can have a fat deck which is a bad thing in a deck building game. Good cards tend to come less frequently and card combos become less likely.

Executive is another leadership oriented Avatar with slightly better armour of 5 but one of the lowest health scores in the list at 9. That small difference can cause early player death. I feel that the Welcome Aboard card is better than the Commander’s card in that it allows purchased cards to be placed on the top of the draw deck. It allows the player to guarantee that new cards can be used on the next turn. However this is only useful if it is backed up with some purchase power. I would still take the executive over the commander because of the rapid card deployment.

Medic If you are playing a 3+ player game without a medic you probably won’t win. This Avatars
Battlefield Medicine card’s ability to heal strikes will become vital in the later stages of the game when things start going sideways. This player will need to build a deck of Survival cards and focus on keeping the team alive. The armour of 5 is great but the health of 10 means players will have to focus on keeping the medic alive. Make sure you also buy attack based survival cards because you need to help kill Aliens too. Survival cards also seem to be the best cards in each scenario in my opinion. Again if you have 3 or more players someone should be playing this role.

Priest The absolute worst avatar in the game. While he does have decent armour at 5 his health is garbage at 9. The included Violence isn’t the answer card allows him to have huge purchase power to gain cards but he will likely focus on gaining Survival Cards that should be going to the medic. The player will also likely forget that violence is actually the answer and waste time purchasing too many cards without actually killing Aliens. This character is just part of the terrible concept that made the third movie bad. Don’t play with this character unless you want the game harder than necessary.

Gunner Thematically I love this avatar. The gunners are my favourite characters in the second film so I love this avatar for that. The armour sucks at 4 but with a health of 11 they can soak up the damage. The card Lets Rock! scales from being a lowly Strength based attack card to a decent attack card as you advance through the objectives but it lacks some of the impact I think it should have.

Mercenary The other Strength based character. As an avatar they have identical value to the Gunner with armour of 4 and health of 11. The special card Ready for Anything makes for a better character though. It allows the player to convert purchase power to attack. This may seem merely okay at first but in a five player game with all coordinating you can have a 14 attack hand with sergeants and base cards. This blows the Gunner away easily. However you must show some restraint and remember to also purchase more powerful cards as well because the coordinates and the special card won’t always be available.

Scout My favourite intel based character. His armour of 5 and health of 10 make him a well rounded character. The Reconnaissance special card allows a free scan of any room. This is fantastic for scouting rooms as it doesn’t eat up attack allowing the player to save attack points for surprise face huggers and the like.

Researcher Another Intel based character with armour 5 and health of 9. The included Thirst for knowledge card allows a player to draw cards equal to the objective number. This becomes a cool ability if the player can live to objective three, but that's difficult with that low health score. This ability could edge out the Scout in some scenarios but only if a small deck of great cards can be built with the starter cards purged. However for most scenarios this character usually doesn’t become great until late in the game whereas the scout is immediately useful and stays useful throughout the game.

Technician A decent character with armour 5 and health of 10. The role card Right Tool for the Job scales purchase power to the current objective. By objective three you should have already built a decent deck of cards so this is not as useful of an ability. It works a bit for the theme but overall it's a bit mediocre. The only real edge for the character is it is the only 100% tech character from the start but that's not much of an edge. The alternate tech, the Synthetic, is more of a jack of all trades character.

Synthetic An interesting character with low armour of 4 but huge health at 12 allowing this character to soak up damage. The Versatile programming special card doesn’t seem as useful as it only allows a player to draw a replacement card. But it does allow a player to trigger any card type special ability so this player could focus on building a varied deck to play back-up for everyone else or fill any role that wasn't selected by the other players. I think this is one of the more useful characters due to the high damage capacity and ability to trigger any card special.

My top characters are Medic, Mercenary, Scout, Executive, and Synthetic in that order.

In a five player game I would have the Scout lead as first player to scan rooms, followed by the mercenary to kill aliens, third medic to heal damage, fourth Executive to build the other players up for the next round, ending with the Synthetic to do random stuff. As you go down from 5 eliminate the Synthetic for a 4 player game. In a three player game eliminate any class other than medic that doesn't fit the players style. 2 player or less games tend to be easy so chose avatars based on your play style.

My next post will be tips how to play each film scenario so check back soon.