The re-released Age of Empires III also received a new name and a considerable component upgrade, but since I never reviewed the original I thought I would do so using this new edition.

Designer: Glenn Drover

Overview

Final Score:  (4.5 out 5 Stars)

When Age of Empires III was first released in 2007 it was presumed that it would be a game that attempted to mimic the PC game as its namesake would suggest.  Contrary to that, Age of Empires III, now Empires: Age of Discovery is actually a far closer match to the classic Sid Meiers PC game, Colonization.

In Empires players take on the roles of nations from the age of exploration on a mission to explore the new world.  This is of course done in a competitive and sometimes combative manner but Empires is not a war game, but rather a worker placement game with area control.  A combination that today is a lot more common than it was back in 2007 when Age of Empires III was a lot more unique.

Components

Score:  (3 out 5 Stars)
Tilt: 

Pros: High Quality Components, Fantastic Art, Over-sized for easy handling.

Cons:  Very expensive for mostly unnecessary upgrades.

While the components of the previous version Age of Empires III where very good, in this deluxe version of the game the components get a significant upgrade.

The gameboard is quite large, with fantastic art and plenty of room for the components which is good as the game becomes quite busy during play so the large  size is really appreciated.  The plastic worker units are larger and weightier than you would expect for game pieces and there is a brick ton of them, far more then you need in your average game.  The molds are good quality and easy to identify and the rest of the components like cards and tokens are all of great quality with appealing and thematically correct art to get you in the mood for exploration of the Americas.

This is a visually impressive edition of the game, with great quality components, there is no doubt about it but the question is whether or not this new deluxe edition is worth the 100 dollar price tag.

While I’m always happy to shell out extra dough for a deluxe edition of a game, my assumption is that deluxe means, above and beyond what you would expect from your normal version of a board game and while certainly there are visible upgrades from the original edition they hardly qualify for the term deluxe .  The qualify of the game board, pieces and tokens are really not a whole lot better than what you get in say Tide of Irons, Twilight Imperium or Cry Havoc.  I get that there probably is justification to raise this game to the upper levels of heavy miniature game release cost, after all Twilight Imperium also costs 100 bucks but I just felt a bit meh on the whole calling it a deluxe edition and passing it off as something more than normal quality level components.  This is a more expensive edition with better components than the previous edition but it does not meet the requirements to be called a deluxe version nor does it exceed the norm.

I’m not sure that should affect the games score any, but if you ask me if you already own Age of Empires III there is no reason to upgrade, even if you are a fan.  If you want to get into this game and find an opportunity to buy the original version, you should definitely do that instead.  There is nothing in the old edition that was poorly done, the quality of Age of Empires III was excellent and while this is an upgrade its well over double the price of the original,  which personally I don’t think was worth it.  Especially since this upgraded version takes up the box space on your shelf of two other normal sized board games.

I’m not disappointed with this edition and I’m certainly going to get over the cost I shelled out but given the opportunity to do it again, I would seek out Age of Empires III on the secondary market and save myself some money and shelf space.

Theme

Score:  (4 out 5 Stars)
Tilt: 

Pros: Very good connection between mechanics and theme, great art goes a long way to bring atmosphere.

Cons:  Age of Discovery theme is not for everyone.

I’m a bit biased and simultaneously prejudice when it comes to certain themes like Age of Discovery, I think it’s largely because I have an image in my head about what a game with this theme should be.  Very much the same with X4 space games and Civilization based games.  There is a PC game image I have in my head that I believe board game with these themes should try to capture.  For example with X4 it should be Master of Orion, with Civilization games it should be the obvious Sid Meiers Civilization and when it comes to games about the age of discovery, to me it means the game should emulate another Sid Meier game, Colonization.

Is it fair?  Perhaps not and I will say that I’m willing to overlook a failure to meet that thematic essence if the alternative is equally good but thankfully with Empires: Age of Discovery that was actually not necessary.  Thematically, it encapsulates the theme of Colonization with near perfection, in fact it does so not just thematically but also mechanically in a lot of ways creating an even deeper connection to that premise.

The Theme here is exploration, control of the new world and the butting opposition and competition of Europe’s other nations.  While a worker placement game, the mechanic is considerably more interactive thanks to direct conflict mechanics which fit the theme perfectly.  For example as you explore the new world and send colonist to control it, fights can break out, hence sending soldiers and building up a military present becomes part of the age of discovery here which sits just right into the game.  It’s of course not a war game and it shouldn’t be, exploration, resource management and development are are at the forefront of the theme but worker placement games without some conflict have a tendency to get quite boring even when thematically correct.  It isn’t a problem here.

I’m not sure Age of Discovery is a great theme in its own right that everyone will appreciate, but I personally love it as it reminds me of some classic PC games from the past like Colonization. Like it or not however,  Empires has captured that theme splendidly and to a degree respectfully unlike other Age of Discovery games I have played (looking at you Archipelago).

Now if you are a big fan of Age of Discovery games you might note that one element of Age of Discovery as a theme is naval combat and ship based elements which are included but only very abstractly here.   That part of the theme wouldn’t really fit into the global layout of Empires, but for those of you looking for something more down on the ground “sale ship” type stuff this is not the game for it. This fits the bill of a more “Civilization Building” & “Worker Placement” genre game in an Age of Discovery theme and in that regard Empires: Age of Discovery nailed it.

Gameplay

Score:  (5 out 5 Stars)
Tilt: 

Pros: Very tight and balanced worker placement, varied worker powers is a great concept that works well.

Cons: Its a pretty long game, some repetitive patterns can emerge.

Empires: Age of Discovery is first and foremost a deeply nested Euro game based on one of the most recognizable  Euro mechanics there is, worker placement. More than that though it is a Worker Placement game in the absolute most classic sense and stripped down sense. If Glenn Drover is nothing else he is what I like to call a clean designer, a guy who knows how to trim down a games mechanics to the absolute minimal possible and use reliable, well tested mechanics to base his games on,  without hurting the concept or goal of the game.

While Empires: Age of Discovery is not revolutionary from a game design perspective what it does is does amazingly well.

For starters the worker placement mechanic that drives the entire game is done in a fashion that ensures no matter how you approach the game its always super tight, exactly what you want out of a worker placement game.  Every decision you make, every worker you place can trigger analysis paralysis because while there are not a terrible amount of choices, every choice feels like a vital decision and there is very little wiggle room.  I especially like the fact that while placing workers during the main phase of one turn, your thinking about the placement of workers for the next turn.  This is because workers in Age of Empires are not all created equal and its in this core element of the game where all the deep strategy really happens.

There are normal workers known as Colonist but you also have specialty workers, experts in different fields that grant users advantageous when leveraged on a certain worker placement spot (or job).  For example you have missionaries who when sent to the new world expand the colony by two rather than by one (presumably by converting the locals).  You also have captains who are experts at exploring or builders like the name suggests are experts at building.  To get these workers you must convert colonist on one turn to make them available on the next and as such during the worker placement phase of the game you are put to the decision of doing something that will grant an advantage this round or invest in the next.

This is not the only tough decision that must be made, but because of this duality of worker placement and the fact only one expert of each kind is available each round to convert, it raises the competition for them dramatically.

There are other kind of races in the game that include taking trade goods to raise money which are absolutely vital to winning the game and of a very limited supply.  Gold is a key ingredient to expanding your developments which of course is another competitive space.  In each age, development tiles are available and you must not only get to them first to get the best advantageous (or advantageous that fit your strategy) but must have the gold to pay for them.  Suffice to say there is a lot to think about within that simple decision of placing a worker which creates both a very tight environment and very cerebral experience.

I think the real icing on the cake for Age of Exploration however is the commitment of the game to the theme of Imperialism.  These are European nations competing for control over new lands and in that conflict is inevitable.  One type of specialty worker is the solider and when he is sent to the new world he can be activated to make direct attacks against opposing colonist or even trigger wars across the entire new world.  This direct interaction takes this classic style of a worker placement game and gives players a way to actually assault each other.  Not everyone will be a fan of this mechanic but thematically its an absolute must have and without it the game would feel considerably less in line with the concept and theme of the game.  An important and well executed addition that does not devolve the game into a war game but it does create that additional tactical element that everyone must think about throughout the game as they send people to the new world.

There are two maps on which the game can be played, the classic North American map and the world map.  While the maps change, the rules don’t and with the exception of a couple of minor differences these two maps just offer some variety in playing fields.

This is a very tight, well thought out worker placement mechanic with more interaction than you normally get from games like this.  Its incredibly well balanced, creates lots of tough mini decisions and an enormous amount of tension from the very first round to the very last.  The included expansion called “builders” adds another worker type (the builder) but having played with it for the first couple of games I can’t imagine why you would not always auto include it, its a really great expansion that should almost be treated at this point as a standard part of the game.

The Gameplay in Empires is smooth, with a simple flow that is easy to remember and works in a logic way that becomes second nature to everyone at the table after the first round.  There are no gotcha mechanics and while there is definitely something to be learned from game to game, this is one of those easy to learn impossible to master games.  I wouldn’t call it a good introductory game, there is sufficient complexity here to disqualify it, plus I think its a bit too long to work as such.  Still for a gaming group who enjoys Euro mechanics this is an incredibly clean game that gets right to the point and bury’s you in tough decisions.  For a worker placement game is has an incredible amount of tension that goes well beyond the typical “you took my spot” arrangement.

If the game has any drawbacks mechanically its that its not 100% clear where you actually stand point wise at any point in the game.  Points are only scored three times during the game, at the end of each age and its really difficult to predict where anyone will end up.  Scoring kind of feels like trying to guess who will come out on top after the apocalypse.  Everyone is doing everything they can to stop, block and damage everyone else and its not that hard to be successful, so its really just a question of how much you can hang on to during these scoring periods.  This is in particularly true at the end of the game when battles and wars can really decimated opponents chances of winning.  This actually creates a good amount of tension but it is very unpredictable and results during the scoring rounds can swing quite widely.

I personally think this is ok for the game, it really doesn’t hurt it but if your the type of player that wants to be able to calculate and control how many points you will earn you might find it frustrating to see other players always throw their two cents into blocking your efforts and screwing up your scoring.  In fact I found that blocking other people is a much better strategy then trying to score yourself in many cases, so this is a tactic you can expect to develop in every game.

Replay-ability and Longevity

Score:  (4 out 5 Stars)
Tilt: 

Pros: Dynamic gameplay allows for a wide range of strategies to explore.

Cons: Its best with 4+ players, anything less and a lot of the tightness evaporates.

When it comes to Longevity and Re-playability of a game, there are certain types of mechanics that are almost always successful and worker placement is definitely one of them.  Its just by design made to create dynamic situation.  Every placement of every worker in every round will completely alter how that round and ultimately that game will result and the effect is very dramatic in terms of results.  This I believe attributes to the fact that so many of the top games are in fact worker placement games.

In the case of Empires this is equally true, thanks to the worker placement mechanic this game is truly dynamic and will play differently pretty much every time you play.  Now that said there is a kind of sequence to certain events and certain spots will always be sought after first which kind of creates some default opening moves but this is typically attributed to a type of strategy a person is going for.  For example if you are going to go for a builder strategy your first move will always be to grab the builder as this is of course a key to your strategy.  This can make the game feel a little bit predictable at times but I think you would need to play it a lot to really start to see that pattern emerge.

I do believe this games longevity while a direct result of the worker placement mechanic is not all that it hinges on.  This is a very beautiful game that looks amazing on the table, its easy to teach and offers a wealth of strategic gameplay.  This is going to draw people in and you are going to get requests to “play it again”, in particular from Euro game fans despite its Ameri-Trash appearance.

Conclusion

Empires: Age of Discovery is a smash hit in my humble opinion, a game that has earned a place in my personal collection which is become tougher and tougher to qualify for.  Considering its a reprint of an older game I’m actually surprised.  In fact it has kicked out Kingsburg and Dominion to make room on the shelf which was a pretty tough culling for me as far as my collection goes.  But I do believe this game is that good.

I highly recommend this game though I would caution that I’m not sure that the Deluxe edition was really worth the rather high price tag, I would say if you have an opportunity to buy the Age of Empires III version of the game you should probably do that.  There was nothing in this Deluxe version that really stood out as an absolute must have over he regular version of this game.  That said, I have no regrets, its an amazing game that belongs in the collection of any serious gamer.

I have had an opportunity to try a number of games in the last few weeks and I think it’s time for some quick reviews.

Jamaica by Asmodee 2007
Score: (2.9) 

I have played this one a couple of times now, my first exposure was years ago but It recently found its way to the table at board game night at my gaming club and I think I’m ready to put a score to it.
Jamaica is essentially a racing game with some fun & quirky card mechanics and resource management to make things go. It’s a simple game, but there is a cleverness to how the race is manipulate, a kind of combination of some dice and card play decisions. It’s a very streamlined, easy to teach, easy to learn mechanic that makes Jamaica a very relaxed game to get to the table. I think the one really memorable take away from this game is its visual appeal, it’s a very colorful, very pretty game with sturdy components and very firm stylized art. While there is strong theme here from the art work, for how simple the mechanic is, it has a very good connection to that theme for Caribbean pirate racing mechanically as well. Jamaica falls into the “light-casual” category of board games mechanically, though I found that there was enough interesting decisions and strategy in the game to sufficiently entertain a veteran gamer for a quick run through.

It’s nothing I would rush out to add to my collection and I definitely felt that it’s a bit overhyped for what it is. Much like Small World, it takes the light-casual element a bit too far and wanders into that “for kids” category which is typically a type of game I don’t mind playing but it’s nothing I want to own, nor would I suggest it even as an entry level game for someone. This is at its heart a family game with young children in mind sufficiently entertaining for adults to not get bored on family game night but for a gaming group I found the game too simple to make the table. If you have kids between the ages of 6-12 I think this might be a good pick, but for gamers I think there are considerably better racing games with more umpf than Jamaica offers to fill a game night with.

Le Havre by Lookout Games 2008
Score (3.25)

I used to own this game and ended up giving it away to some friends, but now that it was back in print I snatched it up. Le Havre is an economic simulation game where players take on the roles of business men working in the city of Le Havre, trading, manufacturing and selling goods. It sounds complicated but the true beauty of Le Havre is precisely the fact that the game is super simple. You can effectively write the core rules on a napkin and while it has the appearance of a complex, busy Euro with lots of moving parts, it plays more like a casual game, yet boasts a fairly advanced level of strategic options. You could say it’s one of those easy to learn impossible to master type of games, something that is often said about great Euro’s and this Euro is no different.

Now it is a Euro game and it does have a rather flat theme, though I personally love great economic games and I often give Euro’s considerably more room to breathe with the themes as they tend to make up for it in the area of gameplay and replay ability. If you’re looking for a game to wow you visually or with its theme this isn’t going to be that game. La Havre’s strength is in its gameplay and re-playability, exactly where you would expect it for a euro. It plays great with 2-3 players, which is a great niche unfilled in my personal collection I was happy to see plugged up. This is a classic, it’s not going to blow you out of your seat by modern game design standards, but I it’s held up considerably better than most old school Euros have. You will definitely appreciate a game you can pull out and just start playing without a lot of rules explanation while still getting a quality, thinky strategy game.

Roll Through The Ages: The Bronze Age
Score: (1.65)

Ok I’m a huge fan of Through The Ages, it ranks as one of my all-time favorites at this point so I thought, hey why not a short dice based version of this game. In fact I had considerably higher hopes for this one then one might presume about a dice game, it is after all a Matt Leacock designed game, a man I hold in the highest regard as a game designer.

Unfortunately Matt really missed the mark here. I should not judge this game too harshly it is after all a quickie dice chucker, but dice chucker or not there where some key decisions in this design that really broke it apart for me. It was quirky with odd and unnecessarily complex rules for resource management while simultaneously being too slow for a dice game. At the start the game it just feels like you don’t have enough dice to do anything and because of how the odds are shaped, getting more dice just makes the whole thing more swingy thanks to negative effects on the dice. It’s actually this precise effect (negative dice results) where the game kind of falls apart.

I think the negative effect on dice (the dreaded skull) was an unnecessary addition. Just a simple golden rule for designers out there; When making a dice chucker, don’t put negative effects on the dice, make negative impacting effects be part of player decision instead. Blanks are ok but a dice chucker should be about using your dice results (resources) and trying to find clever ways to extend the results(resources) as far as you can take them, it should not be a judge and jury result, aka, roll the dice and see what horrible things happen to you. This sort of negative dice mechanic takes a game already largely driven by luck and just overemphasizes that fact, making any decisions you make in response largely irrelevant compared to the smack down you get from just rolling badly.

I wasn’t fond of the components either, the whole wooden pegs thing was just very unthematic and unnecessarily fiddly, not to mention ugly. This was a 2008 released game so I suppose we should be a bit more lenient here but all and all Roll Through The Ages was a hard pass for me.

Ordinarily before I do a review of a game I want to play it dozens of times, have plenty of time to think about it and in general dive into it as deep as it can go. It’s kind of my process and the only way I feel comfortable and certain that my review will hold up as I’m writing it as well as 2 years later when I look at it again. I have realized over the last year however that while I play a wide variety of games and plenty of them, I actually typically only review a dozen or so games a year as result of this sort of system. More than that, I generally only review games I like because naturally, I don’t want to dive that deeply into games I don’t like.

The end result is that I don’t review a lot of games I play and I kind of don’t like that, I want this blog to be filled with played games and opinions. As such I have created a new article format I like to call Quick Plays & Reviews. For these shorter reviews I will effectively apply the same rating system, but will only post the final score and my overall comments about the game. There will be less nuts and bolts to the review, but it will allow me to get more game coverage. Some games on my quick reviews may get full reviews later on as well.

This last month I have played several games so let’s see if we can stick some scores on them.

Colt Express by Asmodee 2014

Final Score: 

The winner of the Spiel des Jahres, among countless other awards, this western themed card game includes some visual pizazz, robo-rally reminiscent pre-programming mechanics and just enough take that to be fun but not mean. It is a family game both visually and mechanically, it has the appeal typically associated with Spiel des Jahres winners.

I liked it well enough, it was simple and intuitive enough that rules explanations could be done as you play, yet had just enough depth to ensure that some strategy is required to win. This game sort of falls into that “I like it but have no desire to own it” line of games for me, which to be fair, is most games. I think in part this is due to one common issues with these sort of very light family games, over the course of many plays it just doesn’t hold up and it’s in particularly problematic when I can see that after playing it just once.

I definitely think this is a great game for kids, it’s just simple enough to teach to youngsters to more or less get it and thanks to great artwork and theme it’s an easy sell. Again, everything you expect from a Spiel des Jahres winner, it’s no surprise at all to me that this game won the award.

Conclusion: Clever combination of classic mechanics in a streamlined package based on an easily relatable theme. For me personally it’s a bit too simple for the collection, perhaps something I might put on the kids shelves. Great design, lack of re-playability will probably hurt it in the long run.

Terra Mystica by Feverland 2012

Final Score: 

When Terra Mystica hit gaming collections in 2012 it become an instant boardgamegeek sensation catapulting it into the top 10 where it sits comfortably in the no. 4 spot today. I had played this game a couple of times online shortly after it released, but after my most recent in person play I’m convinced that it firmly deserves a spot on my top 5 games popular games you can skip list.

I’m sorry but there is very little to love here and while I have my grudges with boardgamegeek.com, I can usually at least understand why a game like Twilight Struggle or Pandemic Legendary reaches the heights it does. I can see that these games have that objectively good design thing going even if it doesn’t speak to me personally. Terra Mystica on the other hand is just a very mediocre, poorly streamlined, cube pusher and it’s neither objectively a particularly great design nor is it innovative. There are at least a dozen boring cube pushers that are a lot more interesting than this one and far less pointlessly confusing. We get it, push cubes, score points, it’s a simple concept yet in Terra Mystica its made painfully slow and complex to the point where caring or even knowing if your winning requires someone to wake you up. Your going to spend a lot of your time calculating how many points you have and how many your opponents have to even know how well your doing, I really hate that about most Euros but in Terra Mystica this is particularly annoying. This is one of those games that even obscene amounts of alcohol can’t make entertaining.

What little substance that is here, is rather poorly executed resulting in an awkward un-intuitive game that can be at best described as an “interesting” design. There is some cleverness buried under all the gears and pistons that make this workhorse go, but there is little pay off in the end and it takes far too long time to get there. Games end very anti-climatically after being played in silence for far too long with virtually no interaction between players, some might say it’s a fun game but you better check that persons definition because about the most exciting thing that happens the entire game is when a player digs for terrain in a location you considered at some point you may want to dig for terrain in the future, maybe. The entire game just felt like I was waiting for a dentist appointment, I was neither enjoying my wait nor looking forward to my turn, I just wanted the whole mess to be behind me.

Conclusion: This is a huge pass and I believe even more now than before that this is without question one of the most over hyped games in existence.  Boring, slow and overly complicated for a cube pusher.

Tyrants of the Underdark by Wizards of the Coast 2016

Final Score: 

Where Terra Mystica is over hyped and overrated, Tyrants of the Underdark has the exact opposite problem. No one is talking about it and they really should be because it’s fantastic. The D&D themed game driven by a deck building mechanic, area control and dark elves hit with my group like strippers and beer. It’s a game practically tailored made for us as it taps the theme and the mechanics we love with just enough take that to create and settle some rivalries.

Personally I think this is going to be one that is likely going to become a regular at our gaming nights for a long time to come, it hits those joy centers, in fact its already hit the table top more times in just a short month then most games will see all year.

I think the trick to the game is the smoothness of play and the fact that each players turn causes you to have to adapt and adjust your strategy. You’re constantly in over watch mode, adjusting your plan until your turn comes up. There is also this element of time pressure, people are buying up cards, taking over cities, scoring points and it quickly starts to feel like a race but one where you can slap your opponents to get them back in line behind you. That is definitely right up my ally mechanically.

Of course I think the theme helps a lot as well, my group, myself includes loves the D&D franchise, in particular forgotten realms and we are a twisted lot so getting to play the “evil” side of things is definitely a cherry on top.

Now I will say that I think the game is very open to expandability and in the past with games like Lord of Waterdeep Wizards of the Coasts created a great core game, but it was a interaction focused expansion that really nailed it home. I kind of see the same thing with Tyrants of the Underdark, it has a great core, but what it really needs is a hard hitting “complexity” raising expansion that makes the game just a wee bit nastier.

I think this one will eventually get a full review but my first impressions are quite solid, I’m surprised how little hype this one is getting.

Conclusion:  Strong gameplay and streamlined mechanics, tough decisions with a unique take on a nostalgic theme.  Great choice for both casual and veteran gamers.

Star Wars: Rebellion by Fantasy Flight Games 2016

Final Score: 

When FFG announced Star Wars: Rebellion the word “excited” barely describes it, this bad boy easily made my top 5 most anticipated games list and as I sat down to play it for the first time it suffices to say that being objective wasn’t going to be part of the experience. Star Wars Rebellion is a Star Wars nerds wet dream, taking on the role as either the Empire or Rebellion players have the opportunity to use the entire weight of the Star Wars universe from the Death Star to Luke Skywalker, from freezing people in carbonite to shooting open exhaust vents, it’s all here.

My first play of this went down exactly as one can imagine, grinning from ear to ear, I was simply overwhelmed by the spectacle of it over all and if you asked me what I thought about the game right then and there it would have gotten an 11 out of 10. Time however is the reviewer’s greatest weapon and I was wise enough to hold back my opinion about the game, taking a step back to get a more objective perspective on things.

Now Rebellion is often referred to as the Star Wars version of War of the Rings, a story driven game heavily tilting the theme over gameplay and I think that is without question the most accurate way to describe. This of course assumes you have played War of the Rings, if you haven’t it leaves you with little perspective to go on. I think perhaps a better way to describe is that Star Wars is a board game that leans so hard on bringing the story to the game that mechanics almost take a back seat, which is not to say the mechanics aren’t good, they are in fact great, but it does mean there are some sacrifices made that more critical reviewers might be quick to point out.

For one the game is a bit scripted and this is something that only comes to light after a long hard look at what is under the hood once the fanboy rainbow glasses are removed and you focus in on those mechanics. One problem that immediately jumps to mind is the fact that while the game hinges on finding the rebel base, it can and most likely will very anti-climatically be revealed by simply accidently stumbling across it. As such the Imperial players ability to win the game is often driven by his ability to get lucky and find the base. The quicker he does it the more likely he is to win because once the base is revealed; given sufficient amount of time (one or two turns) typically the Empire can overwhelm the base and win the game. More than that, once the base is revealed the games nuances and core mechanic, that cat and mouse game of finding the base dissipates and the game becomes a RISK like war game of simply conquering a single important territory, something that the rebels are not well equipped to do against the overwhelming forces of the Empire. Now this is a very simplistic view of things, there actually is a bit more to it than that but in a nutshell the game boils down to the Empire looking for the base, winning if they find it, losing if they don’t. All of the other mechanics are kind of a thematic show boat full of distractions, but matter little in the bottom line of things.

There are some reset buttons here, the Rebels can for example move their base to a new location which is a good solution to the problem for rebels if the opportunity is available. I’m not really here to complain about this element other than to say that a lot hinges on that random game of chance where an Imperial player can simply get lucky to put him in a position to easily win the game or get unlucky and never find the base. Play this game 6 or 7 time and I think you will start to see some repetitive patterns emerge on the static map of the Star Wars universe.

The objective review for this one is still very far away for me, I really need to get more plays as the game does have some subtle nuances I’m sure I missed but for now I can say that the thematically driven gameplay is strong enough to easily push this to the top of the list of a Star Wars fans play list. I don’t think you need to hesitate but keep in mind that while it has the look of Twilight Imperium, it doesn’t have the dynamics. This is a two play game and that epic feel might start to feel quite a bit less epic once you have played it a few times and start to see the formula for what it is. For what it’s worth, I think mechanically, Star Wars is not as good a game as War of the Rings but thematically it has the same strength which personally I think is more than enough to carry it.

Conclusion:  For Star Wars fans this is a must own/play game, for everyone else I strongly suggest you look over the mechanics and consider the fact that without the strength of the theme this one may be a bit linear.   Loving Star Wars is an absolute must.