Battlestar Galactica

[chas]

So the missing one is a second " Lose 2 Population." Thanks.

[chas]

"If I was a Cylon, would this be a good time to reveal myself? I think it would!"
--Chas, as Admiral Adama

Played (and taught) my first game of Battlestar Galactica and had a great time. I was Admiral Adama and a Cylon from the get go, but only revealed myself at the end, just before several people started muttering about putting me in the Brig! For the big finale, the sky was full of Cylon ships, and we were almost out of fuel, but the humans lost because of a boarding party, after they had completed all eight jump units but before their final jump. It doesn't get any closer than that.

BSG is a GREAT design; the best of the cooperative games I've played, and also the best of the 'traitor in their midst' games! The tactical spaceship battles give a bit of fighting for us wargamer types to enjoy too. So you could say that 'this one's got it all.' And we all enjoyed it, both veterans and newcomers, and would have played another if we didn't have a different second game scheduled (a long eight player Call of Cthulhu). I'll be playing Battlestar again next Saturday here at my place with different players.

Thanks to Onacara for lending me the game, and Taeblewalker for hosting. See Land Based AE's player comments also on the session, above.

Note: this avoe part of this post is from the "What Game Did You Play Last Night" thread, as are AE's comments. I wanted to go into more detail here. After teaching for a half hour, the game went for four hours, with half of us being BSG rookies.

The game started out with lots of Cylon ship attacks, but no boarding parties. As the gung ho Admiral, I got to nuke a Base Star! After we finally defeated them and jumped for the first time, there was a period of quiet with no space combat, where we were busy passing skill checks, getting out of Sick Bay, and roaming around the board locations.

A brand new player had immediatly drawn the Sympathizer card at game start, but we ducked it back into the deck to give him a chance to play as a human and learn the game, rather than have to play a totally different way as a revealed Cylon. Unfortunately, I then made a mistake with the cards, and put too many Cylons in it for the Sleeper Phase. So half the players ended up being Cylons at the game midpoint! (This is the max normally available, except that the Sympathizer if turned into one early, is Revealed). The two who got Cylon cards at midpoint remained unrevealed and caused plenty of trouble. I had drawn a second Cylon cards myself during the midpoint Sleeper Agent Phase, (there being too many in the deck now) which confused things for me, as I thought therefore at the midpoint I must be "definitely" the only Cylon. In fact, at the end I was getting ready to pass on my second card, therefore forcing a second player to be one (now both Admiral and President himself). Luckily I didn't have time, since there were already two other unrevealed Cylons out there. After I revealed myself, one of them had been giving me subtle 'signals' but I'd been ignoring them, since I thought there couldn't be another Cylon out there. Which nicely simulated the confusion of the TV show for sure! Yikes!

I didn't buy the game originally because I thought I wouldn't be able to put together large enough player groups, but almost everyone I know wants to try it out, and its more a matter of whether they can make a particular date before I have to return the game to its owner. Has anybody played with either of the two expansions? I'd be interested in how they play.

And hey, if you live near New York City and read this in the coming week, I'll be playing again next Saturday at noon (May 14, 2011). So PM me if you want to get into the game--we've got two open spots!

[LilMoochie]

I think the sympathizer card is only supposed to be dealt at the midpoint. It's a way of evening out the game if one side is ahead of the other.

[Jim]

Originally Posted by LilMoochie

I think the sympathizer card is only supposed to be dealt at the midpoint. It's a way of evening out the game if one side is ahead of the other.

Right. The sympathizer card isn't even added to the deck until the midpoint.

[chas]

You are right. Its about the card mistake I made as Game Master --had it not been my first game, I would have realized what was going on!

[Jim]

Originally Posted by chas

had it not been my first game, I would have realized what was going on!

Sounds like something a Cylon would say...

[chas]

All The World Loves Battlestar (Tales From Real Life)

I was just talking to my dental hygenist (of all people), and our conversation covered that she was born in Brooklyn but now lived in the Bronx. So I mentioned that I'd just been up there and played BSG for the first time, and she said "Yeah, that's a great game!" Huh.

[Taeblewalker]

Originally Posted by chas

All The World Loves Battlestar (Tales From Real Life)

I was just talking to my dental hygenist (of all people), and our conversation covered that she was born in Brooklyn but now lived in the Bronx. So I mentioned that I'd just been up there and played BSG for the first time, and she said "Yeah, that's a great game!" Huh.

Get her number.

[chas]

Thanks to Onacara's borrowed copy, I played/hosted/taught my second game of BSG with all new people in a 5 player, in which the humans only made 5 of the 8 jump spaces before the end. (In the first game last week they had done all 8 and were awaiting their final jump).

This time there was one Cylon from the beginning (kolakoski)and a second from the middle. All were older and very subtle players. In my first game I picked Admiral Adama (as a Cylon), this time I chose President Rosyln (not a Cylon). After the teaching session of about 20 min. before we started people felt a bit lost, but my prediction of a fast learning curve proved out, and everyone was soon having fun and loving the game.

Toward the end, after I mentioned someone I suspected, another person put him in the brig. The guy who brigged him turned out to be a the unrevealed Cylon--continuing to "sleep," after the first had revealed himself and was enjoying making our lives miserable from the Revealed board area. I finally had it figured out but the Unrevealed guy went just before me around the table, and finished us off with his Super Crisis Card (we were down to 1 Morale) just before I could go next, having the Quorum Card that would have allowed me to brig him automatically!

My suggested character mix for five players was followed: one political leader, one military, two pilots and one support. Both our pilots turned out to be Cylons, but as President R. I managed to duck most of the Cylon fleet attack crisis cards, and once blasted away the only Heavy Raider to appear in the game, so the enemy ships were not much of a problem with (most) everyone cooperating at Fire Control and with vipers. We only lost two civilian ships, and one was the one which causes no further loss.

The postgame debriefing is a large part of the fun, as people reveal key decisions they made along the way. And now I have a pool of 12 or so players who either have played and like it or haven't make a play date yet and want to try it out. Hooray!

[Hackmaster +12]

Originally Posted by chas

I finally had it figured out but the Unrevealed guy went just before me around the table, and finished us off with his Super Crisis Card (we were down to 1 Morale) just before I could go next, having the Quorum Card that would have allowed me to brig him automatically!

Please tell me that someone Executive Ordered him so that he revealed, then as his second action used his Super Crisis card (which he would have received upon revealing), because otherwise that just doesn't make any sense.

Originally Posted by chas

My suggested character mix for five players was followed: one political leader, one military, and two pilots.

That makes four...

[chas]

Hackmaster+12: Ah, and one Support character.

[CheddarLimbo]

Originally Posted by Hackmaster +12

Please tell me that someone Executive Ordered him so that he revealed, then as his second action used his Super Crisis card (which he would have received upon revealing), because otherwise that just doesn't make any sense.

Sorry, not a legal move. when you reveal as a cylon, you do several things, including getting your Super Crisis, and then your turn ends. Even if you had another action coming from a E.O., it is skipped.