# Board Game Review: Battlestar Galactica by Fantasy Flight Games



## lordjakir (May 4, 2013)

BSG takes place in the distant past


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## Nytmare (May 4, 2013)

lordjakir said:


> BSG takes place in the distant past




ZOMG Spoilers!!!


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## JamesonCourage (May 4, 2013)

I've played this game a few times with friends. I love the whole "who's the traitor" aspect to it.

As a side note, the good guys have yet to win a game. Good times.


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## Morrus (May 4, 2013)

I've never played it, but it's #1 on my list. I really want to play this game!


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## Nytmare (May 5, 2013)

JamesonCourage said:


> I've played this game a few times with friends. I love the whole "who's the traitor" aspect to it.




Although the mafia/traitor mechanic is  actually my favorite (FAVORITE) type of game, BSG is not my favorite  take on it.  If you haven't played The Resistance yet, go give it a spin.


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## JamesonCourage (May 5, 2013)

Nytmare said:


> Although the mafia/traitor mechanic is  actually my favorite (FAVORITE) type of game, BSG is not my favorite  take on it.  If you haven't played The Resistance yet, go give it a spin.



I haven't. I've only played BSG because a friend bought it. He's not even that into board games, he just liked the show. Personally, I like board games, but I've never really invested in any. If I get a chance, though, I'll try it out. Thanks


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## Jhaelen (May 6, 2013)

Definitely one of my favorite board games. Typically, the accusations start flying from the very beginning. The mounting sense of paranoia causes every player's decision to be discussed vigorously. I suppose it also helps that I love the TV show 
What should possibly be mentioned is that the game can sometimes be hard to win for the humans even if the cylon players don't take any detrimental actions. It takes a couple of games to play it well but it's still always fun as long as you don't mind losing. As the article correctly points out, not everyone os going to enjoy it, e.g. some of my friends are too cooperatively minded. 
I never thought to compare it to Diplomacy, but that's a game I also enjoy a lot, so maybe there's something to it


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## Bagpuss (May 6, 2013)

I've played it on several occasions (as I own it), not once have I ended up being a cylon, I'm very disappointed in that respect.


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## Crothian (May 6, 2013)

This is one of those games I like to play but don't want to own.  It's complex and I like not being the person at the table who is the expert for this game.


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## Stormonu (May 6, 2013)

I have this and we've played it once - the humans managed to win, though it was by the skin of our teeth.  It's a great game, but like most other FFG games, there's a lot to keep track of in the game, making it so easy to play the game wrong the first few times (we did a couple things wrong, the most glaring not mixing the played skill cards, so the Cylon player had a hard time effectively screwing with skill checks).

I'm curious how and what the Pegasus expansion brings to the game, has anyone here played it both ways?


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## Nytmare (May 7, 2013)

Stormonu said:


> It's a great game, but like most other FFG games, there's a lot to keep track of in the game, making it so easy to play the game wrong the first few times
> 
> ...
> 
> I'm curious how and what the Pegasus expansion brings to the game, has anyone here played it both ways?




Yeah, the first time we played it, we missed the part where you start the game with a Basestar and handful of raiders in front of the Galactica.  Things are a lot easier if you play the game without seeing any Cylons.

I've played with Pegasus, and though I have Exodus, I haven't played with it.  Pegasus adds both a Pegasus and Caprica game board, a handful of new characters (plus the chance to play as an exposed Cylon leader from the get go), a new assortment of crisis, quorum, destination, objective, and skill cards, new mechanics that allow for "sympathetic cylons" and (last but not least) everybody's favorite Cylon raider pilot Scar.  In addition, the set comes with pretty plastic Basestars so that you can throw away those damn cardboard jobbies.


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## nerfherder (May 7, 2013)

Morrus said:


> I've never played it, but it's #1 on my list. I really want to play this game!




I played it at Gencon 2012 for the first time.  I loved it so much, that I managed to get in another couple of games (including the usual "Hey, it's late on Sunday night - I can sleep on the plane home")


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## Jhaelen (May 7, 2013)

Nytmare said:


> I've played with Pegasus, and though I have Exodus, I haven't played with it.



Ditto. Our current preference is actually to use only part of the Pegasus expansion, i.e. we don't use the Cylon leaders, the Caprica board and the associated alternative ending.

Exodus offers three different additions/changes to the game: A cylon fleet board, alliances (muddying the lines between cylon and human factions further), and allies (basically npcs that you can interact with by visiting the locations where they hang around). 
I'd love to use the fleet board, since I think it offers a better balance than the rather random cylon attacks of the base game, but so far my friends have been reluctant to add more material to the game. I'd be interested to eventually try the alliances, but the allies mechanism seemed a bit too fiddly to me.


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## Wednesday Boy (May 11, 2013)

I loooooove this game.  I've only played about 5 times and I have yet to be a cylon and the humans have yet to win.  But each game was down to the wire, which made it exciting despite losing.  As Stormonu and Nytmare pointed out, it is easy to miss some rules.  And it's worth checking the errata for it.  In one of our games the humans might have won if we were following the errata.


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## vonhist (May 13, 2013)

I bought all 3 boxes after watching some guys play at a local con. Cant wait to play it myself, which may 
have to wait until Pax Australia.


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