Board Game Analysis: Battlestar Galactica
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Introduction As an assignment for our advanced game design course we students were divided into groups of 6-7 people to play a board game of our choosing and analyze it as group and later write an individual analysis of that game. My group chose Battlestar Galactica: The Board Game for our analysis.
Battlestar Galactica is a semi-cooperate game for up to 3-6 players. The game is set in an ongoing space battle were you as a human player has the goal of saving the ship Galactica and thus saving humanity. Unfortunately not all of the crew members carry the same intention by being an infiltrating human-looking robot called Cylon. The Cylons are the bad guys of the game and their single intention is to sabotage Galactica’s progress and destroy mankind. Game system Character Cards
At the beginning of the game each players gets to choose their character out of the several character cards available. Players choose from a wild array of engineers, pilots, military leaders, political leaders to crew Galactica. Each character card comes with a description of its positive and negative traits as well as a description of which set of skill cards the character will be using. In other words, the characters you and your crew chose will significantly impact the way you play. Loyalty Cards
To establish a player’s allegiance to either the human race or the Cylons a personal loyalty card is dealt to each player at the beginning of the game after choosing your character. In the duration of the game the Cylon players will secretly work against the human players’ efforts until the point comes where they decide to reveal themselves and create chaos in other, less secret ways. Skill Cards
The skill cards are the most frequently used cards during the course of the game. The player gets to pick up a certain amount of skill cards at the beginning of their turn that is descripted on the player’s character card. There are 5 types of skill cards available each with different color markings: Politics (yellow), Leadership (green), Tactics (purple), Piloting (red) and Engineering (blue). These cards are mostly used in skill checks but can also be used as action cards to perform actions on Galactica or before and after skill checks. Most of the time players only get to pick skill cards of the same set of colors. There are a few instances where players get to pick other cards out of their color set, which is great if you play as a Cylon and want to sabotage skill checks less obviously. Skill checks The majority of the game will take place via this simple skill check mechanic using skill cards. Skill checks are mostly used after a crisis card has been drawn, but they can be used at a few other instances as well. For example, getting a character out of prison or electing another character for president. All skill checks have a targeted number that needs to be reached for it to count as a pass. In order for players to hit that number, skill cards need to be played face down from their hand into a pile. Only certain colors of skill cards can help in a skill check. Players need to add cards of the skill check’s corresponding colors for them to count as positive. Any other color and they will count as negative value and retract points. Before a skill check 2 random cards from the destiny deck are drawn into the pile. The destiny deck consist of 2 cards from each of the different colored skill cards that later have been shuffled together. This makes it so it’s not so obvious to know which player has played the bad cards, and thus is an enemy Cylon. Crisis cards
After a player’s turn is finished a crisis will occur. Basically all crisis cards are bad for humans; the only question is just how bad it is. The crisis cards mostly present a pass or fail condition for the players. In order to solve a crisis a skill check has to be played. The crisis card has a number written on the top left corner which informs the total sum that the skill cards need to add up to in a skill check. Below that number are the different colors that let the players know which skill cards will count as positive. Some crisis cards have symbols on them as well that when drawn activate, for example, Galactica’s jump preparation or the enemies’ ships. A typical round
The Good Immersion What Battlestar Galactica does really well is that the game is extremely immersive even if you have not watched a single episode of the TV series. It keeps you on your toes from the get go by the players starting in an ongoing battle between humans and Cylons. The thing that contributes to the immersion is the social aspect of the game. You have to talk with your fellow crew members and come up with strategies to ensure the ship’s survival and how to best tackle crises as you see the chaos unfold on the board in front of you. Replayability Because the game contains so many different scenarios and play styles based on the loyalty cards drawn, the characters in play, the players’ choices in game and the crisis cards drawn the replayability seems almost endless. Every play session is different from the next. This ensures that even avid players of Battlestar Galactica will not get bored so easily with the game and keep new players interested enough to keep them playing as they learn the game’s all different possibilities and outcomes. Skill checks Skill checks is a genius mechanic that is so well thought of and balanced. This allows Cylon players to really sabotage secretly while the other human players get more suspicious of one another and get more paranoid. Skill checks are so brilliant because none of the players could be Cylons but the destiny cards could still add suspicion which leads to players not trusting each other and affecting how the game evolves. You can also never be too sure that your crew will pass a skill check because of the destiny cards, the chance of a Cylon sabotaging and not really knowing what the total sum adds up to until after all skill cards in the skill check are turned. Do you want to waste your skill cards that you might need for the next skill check that maybe has an even worse fail condition? Do you keep your cards and trust fully on your crew members to succeed in the skill check? Do you as a Cylon want to risk getting exposed by continuously sabotaging or do you bluff when the crew members ask if you to add a certain color to the skill check that you have plenty of? All of these questions and more are what goes through a player when a skill check comes around. It really adds to the dynamic of the game. The bad Overwhelming Battlestar Galactica is a massive game with all of its different components and seemingly endless possibilities and play styles that an amateur player might consider a little bit overwhelming. It is a problem because it is a steep learning curve and new players that are not fans of the series might be too scared to even try it out. Because of the game’s complexity the game fails in making the amateur players feel a sense of empowerment by their choices. The first few play sessions are mostly centered on grasping all the things you as a player can actually do. You don’t get to feel like you have clear strategy of play that avid players do other than trying to survive. It is also easy to forget the character’s special abilities that can be helpful at certain times because you are trying to remember all the other components of the game. All of the content and possibilities that keep the avid players still playing fails in encouraging new players to stay. Negative feedback loop One thing I noticed is the incredibly negative feedback loop that can give Mario Kart a run for its money. At times it just feels like you are no longer in control and you and your crew are just prolonging the time between now and your inevitable doom. There are no opportunities for a grand comeback when all the hope is gone of surviving. All you can do it wait and see as chaos and miserly unfolds in front of your eyes. When players do not feel empowered by their actions and there is really no positive feedback being given they run a chance of getting bored because they will ask themselves “What’s the point?”. We can analyze a game that is also well known for implementing an unforgiving negative feedback loop, for instance, Mario Kart.
Mario Kart’s negative feedback loop really shines through if you are either in first or second place. All you can do it try to defend your place with almost useless items and prepare yourself to be attacked on multiple occasions. The difference between Mario Kart and Battlestar Galactica is that in Mario Kart the negative feedback only comes through when things are going well. If you are in last place or you are not a really skilled player the game still provides opportunities for a grand comeback and gives you a chance to finish on top. This is where Battlestar Galactica fails short. The negative feedback loop is constant, no matter how bad things are going. This is where the game sometimes feels pointless. Anti-climatic Because of the game’s negative feedback loop it can get really anti-climactic towards the end. The game didn’t give the player a chance to celebrate any triumph because the next threat was just at their doorstep. The game lacked in giving the player a feeling of empowerment and it was mostly a game of survival. The game could have benefited of a limited supply of cards or special abilities that could only be used when all hope is lost as a last chance comeback. At least the players could leave the play session even after losing and instead of saying “Oh well” say “Well, at least we fought admirably”. Target audience The target audience of Battlestar Galactica: The board game is fans that watch the series and want to prolong the experience or just get a chance to board Galactica as one of the crew members. The target age on the box says 13+ but I believe it should be set to at least around 15+ because of the sheer complexity and political aspects of the game. I’m not saying that a thirteen year old would not get any enjoyment out of playing this game; it’s just that I don’t think he/she would fully grasp the political intrigues and the depth of the game which might in turn disrupt the immersion. The game mostly appeals to male and female fans of the Battlestar Galactica series which I believe is the target audience. Conclusions Oddly enough I enjoyed the game even though I have not watched a single episode of the TV series. I didn’t feel like I was the target audience because of me not being a fan and therefor was a little anxious to try it out in the beginning because I didn’t feel I would like it. At first glance I was also turned off by the many components needed for the game and its complicated rulebook. If my group hadn’t insisted on choosing this game for our analysis I would have chosen a much simpler game with fewer components. But instead I ended up getting pleasantly surprised, which is nice. The Battlestar Galactica brand is their biggest selling point, but id also the reason most people outside of the franchise are uncertain if they should try it out or not. I’m glad I had the opportunity to play this game since I really came to liked it because of how immersive it is. I would recommend it to other players, but only if an experienced player is there to help explain the rules of the game and give tips on what to do. If not, then chances are it might be too complicated and you might not end up liking it. |
