Post by Gilvan Blight on Jan 11, 2010 12:55:56 GMT -5
Note: this is a review of the first expansion for Race for the Galaxy. For a review of the game itself see:
wgamingresource.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=bgreviews&action=display&thread=6155
Quickly: some nice stuff but not nearly enough to justify the price.
Summary:
This is the first expansion for Race For the Galaxy, the card based galactic empire building card game.
This expansion includes quite a few new things. There are new starter worlds. There is a complete new set of 'job cards' and victory point tokens that let you play the game 5 players. There is a new system of goals that can be added to the game. There are rules for playing solo. Lastly there are a bunch of blank cards.
The new starter worlds add a lot of variety to the initial start up of the game. They include some interesting new card interactions and have some neat abilities. For example one starter world isn't that great but it acts as a colony ship and lets you swap it for a larger planet later in the game. The expanded cards for 5 players was actually the main draw of this expansion for me.
The new system of goals is one of the most significant changes to the game. There are two types of goals, most and first goals. The Most goals play like "The Longest Road" in Settlers of Catan and give a player 5 victory points for having the most of something (e.x. the most Military Strength with a minimum of 6). The First cards give a player 3 victory points for being the first player to accomplish something (e.x. the first player to get 5 victory point tokens). To make things interesting you don't use all of the First and Most cards each game, they are randomized.
The solo rules I will admit I didn't try. They look interesting, but personally if I want to play something solo I boot up my PC or my Xbox and I play a video game. Video games are made for solo play, board games are not. Perhaps someone who has tried the solo game can write up something about it, personally it doesn't interest me at all.
Lastly there are a bunch, and by bunch I mean a lot of blank cards included in the expansion. These are there to design your own cards. Somewhat nicer then other games that have included such, these cards have all the 'background art' on them. Which is kind of nice. The company also had a contest where they were going to take two player designed cards from this set and include them in the next expansion. This did go through and the next set does have these cards. A bit late for any of us that just got the expansion though.
In addition to all this the rules do include on significant rule varient. This is a draft system where the players go through the standard deck and pick out cards forming their own decks. Then when the players play they each have their own draw deck. This was a nice addition.
The Good:
I love the fact I can now play with 5 players. Not that I have but I find we often have groups of 5 at WGR events and large gatherings of friends. I'm even happier to learn that the next expansion will allow 6, the next 7 etc. The new homeworlds are a welcome addition, I like more variety especially at the start game. The rest of the new cards were actually rather nice, and did change the game and mess with some of the original strategies. I found that a military strategy is a lot more valid with this expansion, as is a Terraforming strategy. More uplift and alien cards were also welcome additions as the cards in the base set seemed somewhat useless without this support. The new 'First and Most' system is interesting. I did find that it did modify how I played and gave me some goals for when my cards didn't really suggest any other way to go.
The Bad:
They symbols! The new First and Most cards are nothing but symbols. The new cards add new symbols. Most of the rules are just interpretations of the symbols. I still wish this game had more text on the cards instead of using an icon based system. Sure after a game or two you figure them out, but I would prefer if my victory card said "first player to get 3 alien planets" instead of having Alien written 3 times in some messed up font. I also don't really care for solo games, and the solo game is actually the bulk of this expansion. There are chits, cards, dice and 95% of the rulebook dedicated to solo play. If you want solo play this expansion is perfect for you, if you wanted new game cards you will be disappointed (see The Ugly).
The Ugly:
There's really not much here and some is a complete waste. You literally get almost as many blank cards as you get new cards. Why?!? Who actually uses these 'make your own cards'? Even if you do use them did you need 40 or so of them? Once you sort out all the Make your Own cards and the new deck for a 5th player you are left with a pitiful amount of new 'game cards' to toss into your draw deck. A seriously pitiful amount. All three people at the table when I broke out this new 'deck' thought the same thing "That's it?!?" You expect an expansion to a card game to have a bunch of new cards, not a handful. Sure the expansion also comes with Solo rules, new goals and the ability to play 5 players, but I really expected more cards for the game itself.
Overall:
This one is a big disappointment to me. When I buy an expansion for a card game I expect a bunch of new cards. What I got with this is a complex solo game I don't care about, a huge stack of blank cards I will never use and a few new cards for my game. Thankfully the expansion includes the ability to play with 5 players or I would have considered it a bust. The new cards that are added are nice, especially new start worlds, but they don't really make up for the ammount of 'waste' in this one. So I strongly caution anyone thinking of picking this up. If you want solo rules, buy it, if you like making your own cards buy it, if you absolutely need 5 players buy it, otherwise you may want to skip it. Personally I'm glad it was an Xmas gift and I didn't spend my gaming budget on it.
wgamingresource.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=bgreviews&action=display&thread=6155
Quickly: some nice stuff but not nearly enough to justify the price.
Summary:
This is the first expansion for Race For the Galaxy, the card based galactic empire building card game.
This expansion includes quite a few new things. There are new starter worlds. There is a complete new set of 'job cards' and victory point tokens that let you play the game 5 players. There is a new system of goals that can be added to the game. There are rules for playing solo. Lastly there are a bunch of blank cards.
The new starter worlds add a lot of variety to the initial start up of the game. They include some interesting new card interactions and have some neat abilities. For example one starter world isn't that great but it acts as a colony ship and lets you swap it for a larger planet later in the game. The expanded cards for 5 players was actually the main draw of this expansion for me.
The new system of goals is one of the most significant changes to the game. There are two types of goals, most and first goals. The Most goals play like "The Longest Road" in Settlers of Catan and give a player 5 victory points for having the most of something (e.x. the most Military Strength with a minimum of 6). The First cards give a player 3 victory points for being the first player to accomplish something (e.x. the first player to get 5 victory point tokens). To make things interesting you don't use all of the First and Most cards each game, they are randomized.
The solo rules I will admit I didn't try. They look interesting, but personally if I want to play something solo I boot up my PC or my Xbox and I play a video game. Video games are made for solo play, board games are not. Perhaps someone who has tried the solo game can write up something about it, personally it doesn't interest me at all.
Lastly there are a bunch, and by bunch I mean a lot of blank cards included in the expansion. These are there to design your own cards. Somewhat nicer then other games that have included such, these cards have all the 'background art' on them. Which is kind of nice. The company also had a contest where they were going to take two player designed cards from this set and include them in the next expansion. This did go through and the next set does have these cards. A bit late for any of us that just got the expansion though.
In addition to all this the rules do include on significant rule varient. This is a draft system where the players go through the standard deck and pick out cards forming their own decks. Then when the players play they each have their own draw deck. This was a nice addition.
The Good:
I love the fact I can now play with 5 players. Not that I have but I find we often have groups of 5 at WGR events and large gatherings of friends. I'm even happier to learn that the next expansion will allow 6, the next 7 etc. The new homeworlds are a welcome addition, I like more variety especially at the start game. The rest of the new cards were actually rather nice, and did change the game and mess with some of the original strategies. I found that a military strategy is a lot more valid with this expansion, as is a Terraforming strategy. More uplift and alien cards were also welcome additions as the cards in the base set seemed somewhat useless without this support. The new 'First and Most' system is interesting. I did find that it did modify how I played and gave me some goals for when my cards didn't really suggest any other way to go.
The Bad:
They symbols! The new First and Most cards are nothing but symbols. The new cards add new symbols. Most of the rules are just interpretations of the symbols. I still wish this game had more text on the cards instead of using an icon based system. Sure after a game or two you figure them out, but I would prefer if my victory card said "first player to get 3 alien planets" instead of having Alien written 3 times in some messed up font. I also don't really care for solo games, and the solo game is actually the bulk of this expansion. There are chits, cards, dice and 95% of the rulebook dedicated to solo play. If you want solo play this expansion is perfect for you, if you wanted new game cards you will be disappointed (see The Ugly).
The Ugly:
There's really not much here and some is a complete waste. You literally get almost as many blank cards as you get new cards. Why?!? Who actually uses these 'make your own cards'? Even if you do use them did you need 40 or so of them? Once you sort out all the Make your Own cards and the new deck for a 5th player you are left with a pitiful amount of new 'game cards' to toss into your draw deck. A seriously pitiful amount. All three people at the table when I broke out this new 'deck' thought the same thing "That's it?!?" You expect an expansion to a card game to have a bunch of new cards, not a handful. Sure the expansion also comes with Solo rules, new goals and the ability to play 5 players, but I really expected more cards for the game itself.
Overall:
This one is a big disappointment to me. When I buy an expansion for a card game I expect a bunch of new cards. What I got with this is a complex solo game I don't care about, a huge stack of blank cards I will never use and a few new cards for my game. Thankfully the expansion includes the ability to play with 5 players or I would have considered it a bust. The new cards that are added are nice, especially new start worlds, but they don't really make up for the ammount of 'waste' in this one. So I strongly caution anyone thinking of picking this up. If you want solo rules, buy it, if you like making your own cards buy it, if you absolutely need 5 players buy it, otherwise you may want to skip it. Personally I'm glad it was an Xmas gift and I didn't spend my gaming budget on it.