Another good night with the friendly Isleworth Gamers.
In a nutshell – Puerto Rico in space with fighting. Twilight Imperium was one of the worst gaming experiences of my life. Galactic Emperor uses the same theme and basic structure but strips out the ridiculous play time. At one point I worried it would run on too long, but it finished quite suddenly. There was plenty of table talk and everyone seemed to enjoy it.
7/10 but will probably rise.
I have been meaning to get hold of Money for years. The new version has top quality linen-finish cards and the artwork is good. The simple rules, simultaneous bidding and short duration all make this feel similar to For Sale.
8/10
Game 1:
Scott – 650
Iain – 460
Steph – 290
Maynard – 60
Game 2:
Maynard – 530
Scott – 520
Philip – 510
Iain – 440
Vicky – 140
How long did Galatic Emperor take to play? I have a copy that I haven’t yet had time to unpack, never mind read the rules
It took two hours with four players – which is probably the ideal number. It might take too long with more.
Have you got the free upgrade kit for the components? The first edition had paper-thin tiles.
Just read a post at the Finnish board game society forums, where somebody commented that a new Finnish prototype he tested beats Galactic Emperor hands down, despite being a fairly early prototype. I’m not the least interested in the genre, but funny enough the designer isn’t really, either – he just wanted to see how an epic 4x space game could be done well. If that game ever gets ready, it should be something interesting and something I’ll want to try.
Wish I could have the same amount of enthusiasm for it:
http://spotlightongames.com/military/mnights/g.html#galactic
@Mikko – I’d be interested to see it. Galactic Emperor is good, but I’m sure it could be improved.
@Rick – I read your review after I posted this session report. You’re right that it’s definitely not as good as Puerto Rico. For what it’s worth, I managed to use Puerto Rico tactics to snatch two technologies when my opponents could not afford them.
You’re right that it does nothing to solve the problems of multiplayer wargames – kingmaking etc, but isn’t that just a genre problem? Is there any way to fix this? I’d be interested to read your thoughts as you’ve played so many more of these games.
@Iain – that’s interesting you were able to do that. Maybe you found something I missed.
As to your other question, I’ll have to think about it. Probably too large a topic for here, a future column maybe.
Thanks for considering it Rick. It’s a common complaint of multiplayer wargames and I suppose there must be some good fixes – but they are rarely used.
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Free upgrade kit? Didn’t know about that. Must investigate. Thanks for the tip-off.
Turns out that they’re sold out href=”http://www.boardgamegeek.com/article/3060663” rel=”nofollow”>sold out href=”http://www.boardgamegeek.com/article/3060663” rel=”nofollow”>http://www.boardgamegeek.com/article/3060663. I hope you have the second edition.