I'm not sure if the basis of the new series was to be "grittier" as much as it was to focus on real paranoia and trust issues post-invasion while on the run.

I could never stand the first series at all. Too campy and too unreal for a show about people running away from androids who destroyed their home colonies. I can handle campy shows, but 1970's style BSG was absolutely a low-budget, horribly written attempt.

I agree to each their own. I was just responding to your negative output on the new series (which I'm not really 100% behind after season 3 anyway) with my feelings on the old series.

Although the game is tied in thematically with the new series, you don't have to be a fan of the new series to enjoy it. I have two players who haven't even watched the series that love the game for what it is - a co-op game that involved trying to survive with hidden traitors in your midst. It's almost entirely psychological.

McClaud, it is fairly eassy to speak with you.
Thank you for being open to other folks' ideas.
I really do appreciate it.

As to trying the game, well, my gaming queue is fairly full, and I have not seen it at the one LGS.
We will have to see what the future holds.

Session Report or "Why Do Humans Always Pick the Wrong Guy?"

The Set-Up

We decided to play a 5 person game. Since I've played this before, I'm drafted into playing Baltar. Problem with playing Baltar? Every sleeper phase, Baltar has to draw two loyalty cards. Which means twice as many chances to end up as a Cylon. Which means twice as many accusations that you are a "frakkin' toaster" every 2 minutes.

Mission Roster:
Gauis Baltar - me
William Adama - John
President Rosalin - Gail
Kyra "Starbuck" Thrace - Dave
Chief Engineer Tyrol - Chuck

Commander Adama starts out with the Admiral position, and Rosalin is the President.

First Sleeper Phase

Everyone draws their loyalty cards. Of course, I draw 2. We take the house rule of staring at our loyalty cards for 15 seconds. This allows Cylons to read their cards without looking suspicious. Strangely enough, I'm looking at two of the same card. It's a picture of me, with my arms stretched wide -



Apparently, Baltar is saying, "I love humanity THIIIISSS much." Which is a shocker, since I had twice the chance of being a skinjob (Cylon).

The Journey Begins

Starbuck races out into the black, shooting up Cylon Raiders. Tyrol leaps into action, manning the Galactica guns, shooting at the Basestar. *pew pew* two hits! Adama moves some Vipers to intercept pesky heavy raiders. Rosalin choses a morale crisis so our jump track moves up. I'm sitting back, wondering if we have a Cylon and who it might be.

Our first jump is only a miserable 1. I give Adama the evil eye, but he says that the other one was worse. For the moment, we give him the benefit of the doubt. Rosalin plays a few quorum cards, and flips over a crisis card that requires a check or lose both morale and food (I think). Now everyone is giving her the evil eye, but the check is successful. Only one negative card, which we can only say is the destiny draw (2 cards are randomly played in each check from a seperate deck so no one knows if a traitor played them or what). Again, Adama pushes a jump of 2 for 2 fuel, which seems rather wasteful. He says the other was a 1 distance, and we can't argue.

Now, the next crisis card summons a basestar. Then the next is a gamble to retrieve some fuel. The skill check goes out ... and there are three bad cards in there (we lose the check, and no fuel). CYLON! Of course, instantly all eyes are on me. "Brig him!" is the chant from Starbuck, and Rosalin gets on Kyra's butt for making such a quick accusation. The joys of paranoia. Tyrol moves to the Admiral's Quarters, and a vote is held. It passes, and poor Baltar the human is sent to the Brig! I plead my case, no one listens.

I decide then and there to use my Cylon detector before a crisis card puts it out of action. I mean, what do I have to lose? I check Starbuck. Not a Cylon. I say so. "Sure, trust the Cylon," Tyrol says. All eyes go to him and he quickly falls silent. Another crisis comes and goes, and Starbuck kills a slew of raiders on an Executive Order. Presently, morale is reaching 4, and the others are still okay (well, fuel's getting close to red). We jump another measily 1, but it's halfway point, so ...

The Second Sleeper Phase - And Then There Were Two

Deal out the loyalty cards. All I see is:



Someone come give Baltar a hug, he's lonely in the Brig.

Can I Have Just a Little Peril?

Two crisis cards come screaming at us. Rosalin says they are the better of two evils, but we're pretty certain that she's a toaster. I let Tyrol make the accusation. Rosalin agrees to help free me if I promise to help stop the accusations. Somehow, I'm free and Tyrol is in the Brig. We jump again, this time right into the Cylon fleet (but 3 closer to Kobol, our salvation). Out Starbuck goes, blowing up more raiders.

Adama fires a nuke and dusts one basestar. Tyrol decides to reveal himself as a Cylon, and Super Crisis hits our morale, dipping it to 3. All sorts of Hell is breaking loose, as Starbuck misses and ends up in the Infirmary. Rosalin tries to make an Inspiring Speech, but the roll fails and we sit there, fending off the bad guys. A heavy raider gets to our bay and unloads a Centurion raiding party. Oh shiz!

Kyra leaps back out into space, wiping out another bunch of ships under an Executive Order by me, and Adama's using the Galactica guns to blow holes in the remaining basestar. The FLT drive is spinning up, but too slow. Another crisis that impacts food fails because of 3 bad cards. So there is another Cylon! I vote Rosalin, Adama votes Kyra, Kyra votes Rosalin, and Rosalin votes Adama. I go to the Armory to blow away the Centurion raiding party. Adama goes to his quarters and starts a vote to send Rosalin to the Brig, stripping her title and handing it to me. It passes. The batty ol' cancer lady sits in the Brig, protesting and sulking. I look at the quorum cards and try to fix our situation. Kyra saves one civilian ship, but not the other, so we're down to morale 2.

Then the worst of the worst happens. A crisis to lose fuel shows up, and Rosalin refuses to donate a card to the check. Six cards in all and ... 3 of them are bad?!?! Adama points his finger at me, and Kyra points it at Adama. I play an arrest card, but on who? I sit and think, rubbing my eyes. I pick Kyra, and in the Brig she goes. Adama and I both vote Rosalin out, but Tyrol picks the next crisis and it's make or break.

The final skill check rolls out, and we dump all our cards into it. Only one from Starbuck. We can jump next round with only a -1 to our civiies if we survive the crisis. Count up the cards and ... and ...

5 bad cards? No way! Our morale gone, the humans lose hope and surrender to the Cylons. We all stare at the obvious Cylon (although now it's obvious) Adama, who laughs as he flips over his loyalty card.

He's been a skinjob toaster since the start!

My Overall Rating

It took 3 hours to play this, so it loses a point for length. However, everything else (save the 2-D basestars ... need a cardstock Basestar) works fine and the game is evil in that it's addictive. My only other complaint is that some characters are more equal than others.

8 out of 10

Great report. Now I'm definitely interested in it. Pity I have no where near enough players to give it try.

Keep us posted.

You are right that this forum should be more relaxed and that is why I "hang" out here. I also MOD a couple of other gaming forums but this is one of my favorite ones.

I'm serious -

Someone should make a cardstock miniature basestar model for the boardgame. The little flat basestars provided for the boardgame really pale in comparison to the plastic Vipers and raiders.

One thing to note:
I got one thing out of order, I think, and that was I said that I used an Executive Order on Starbuck prior to my being President. In actuality, that happened AFTER I became President.

So many threats to go to the Admiral's Quarters and throw people in the Brig. I'm surprised that there wasn't more than one of us in there at a time.

Just to throw my 2 cents in; This is a GREAT game! We picked it up at Gen Con and it has been in the gaming rotation pretty steady.

Let me clear something up early -

If you like Euro games where you can calculate your odds of winning at every step and make logical choices based on sure-fire mechanics

You will not like this game.


If you like co-op games where things are chaotic at best, with a chance of your strategy going poof in seconds when your buddy reveals he's a Cylon (causing you to do an Episode 3 Darth Vader "NooooOOooooOOOO!") -

You will like this game.

The people I see hating on BSG in the Boardgame Geek are people who prefer less player interaction to be a mechanic in the game, and want to know at every step whether they are going to win or lose. Most of them bemoan the possible RP aspect of the interaction, as well. "If I wanted to play a role-playing type game, I'd play D&D"* type responses.

* Note that I hate this flimsy excuse for not trying to at least role-play a little in boardgames that benefit from you acting like the character/faction/country leader/etc. that you are playing. My favorite games of Axis and Allies were the ones where the Nazi player would talk in outrageous Hogan's Heroes type accents, and the Russian would speak in short, curt sentences that were sometimes backwards, for example. If you want to play a boardgame without role-playing, then play something like Monopoly (since character interaction is lower).

Battlestar Galactica Tries to Reach Earth Part II: Electric Boogaloo

OR

Never Let the Chief Have the Frakkin' Map Cuz He's Most Likely a Toaster

The Who's Who of This Trip

Tom = Bill Adama
John = President Rosalyn
Chris = Gaius Baltar
Mike = Chief Tyrol
Me = Sharron "Boomer"

Who is the Pesky Cylon? (Initial Loyalty Draw)

We all pick up our cards and count to 3. Staring at mine for 10 seconds, I realize that one of my Loyalty cards is the treacherous Boomer holding a gun. Oops, I'm a Cylon! Calmly, we put down our cards and the first round starts.

First Leg of the Trip: Are We THERE yet?

I climb into a Viper and zoom out to meet Raiders. This is the best strategy as a pilot that I can think of to keep you from getting embroiled in those pesky discussions about who is a toaster skinjob for not doing this or that. The Admiral takes some pot shots at the basestar and BOOOM! gets lucky. I accidentally dispatch a few of my own kind (I was hoping to miss). Tyrol repairs the Comm, then Rosalyn plays a few Quorum cards to help Baltar bounce around doing ... stuff.

I don't accuse anyone of being a Cylon, because finger-pointing seems to be a good way to get in trouble. Luckily, one skill check that I put a negative card into only turns up two negative cards, so we blame the Destiny deck. Rosalyn is yapping about Adama being the Cylon. She gets on the comm and asks Boomer, who isn't paying attention:

Rosalyn: Boomer, you are going to help me put Adama in the Brig for being a Cylon, right? I'm positive that I saw him licking batteries in the hallway.
Boomer: Hmmm, what? Oh, sorry, I was too busy dogfighting to save the Fleet. Uh, sure, I'll vote with you.

So President Adama goes to the Brig and suddenly, with a skillful card play, Chief is the Admiral. I was passed over for the job? An NCO flying the boat? Oh frak, there goes the universe.

Tyrol: WOO HOO! DO THE ADMIRAL DANCE! (shakes his booty)

One civilian ship gets blown to smithereens, causing us to lose morale and population. But we're still pretty good (only fuel is in the red) when we jump to the halfway point.

Who are the Pesky Cylons Now?

My two cards are NOT A CYLON, but there has to be another Cylon among us for sure. The Sympathizer card is revealed by Adama, but since a resource is in the red and he's already in the Brig, we mostly point and laugh ( "I KNEW IT," says Rosalyn.) So I'm certain that Adama isn't the Cylon ... I'm betting on Tyrol.

Second Leg of the Trip: Where the Frak are We? Did We Get Lost?

Accusations fly by the dozens. Someone's eating batteries when no one's looking. Adama uses logic to prove he isn't the Cylon and they bail him out (I vote no, but I'm overruled). Boomer apparently has no sort of pull although she literally outranks the people not in the Brig (damn that Tyrol - that's my job!). I'm also in the Brig, but I get out on a technicality that the Chief thinks that Baltar is the traitor (and needs my cards to save the universe).

We jump twice for 1, and now all eyes are on the Chief. Again, I pretend to be only marginally interested in accusing people of being Cylons, and I allow Rosalyn to arrest him and throw him in jail. Admiral goes back to Adama, but now Gaius wants to look at Tyrol's card. "Not A Cylon," he declares, so I decide that Baltar must be the other Cylon. No one believes Baltar the traitor, yet Tyrol stays in the Brig.

Baltar: Wow, that's not very sporting of us.
Rosalyn: You'd say that, Cylon.

An ambush pops out and I go out in a Viper to fight. Rosalyn plays an Executive Order on me (finally) so not only do I pop myself off right then and there, I also play my Crisis to shoot Adama and send him to sick bay (just like in the show!). I wake up and head to Caprica to try and wreck havoc on the puny humans.

Rosalyn springs Tyrol and convinces Adama to put Baltar in the Brig. After that, two checks fail with four negative cards popping up. Not looking good as Food enters the red. Adama declares Defcon 2 and Martial Law is enforced. The Fleet watches Bill become High Lord Chancellor of All Humanity. Baltar expresses his jealousy with an accusation of toasterization.

Baltar: No fair! When do I get to be President?
Adama: Be quiet, you tiring whiner!

At this point, I expected the jerk Baltar to off himself and join the Cylon Attack Buddies Squad, but instead, Rosalyn turns out to be the other Cylon! Cackling and sure that she can't do any more good goofing off with the humans, she joins me in pushing the Cylons to their fullest potential. Tyrol, Baltar and Adama fight to keep the Galactica in one piece. But with no ace pilot to protect the civies, they start dying.

With one jump to go and down to 2 Pop, 3 Food, 3 Morale and 1 Fuel, they decide to jump at -1. They can only afford to lose ONE civilian ship. Communications and Admiral's Quarters are on fire. Boomer and Rosalyn cross their fingers as they watch the human ships flash and disappear ...

... and never re-appear. Cylons win as the humans somehow go into -1 Pop during the jump.

THE CYLONS CELEBRATE BY DOING A METAL GRASPER BUMP WHILE GOING "OO OO OO!" FROM THEIR AUDITORY COMMUNICATION GRILLS. MANY BATTERIES ARE EATEN.

/END OF LINE

Superb write-up

This is next on my list of games to buy.