Galactica

Battlestar Galactica
$49.95

Fantasy Flight Games's Battlestar Galactica is the board game representation of the cult hit television series. And when I say, "representation", I mean it. This game is the perfect marriage of theme with board game. Those who are aspiring board game designer who need inspiration for who to make their games more thematic: look no further than BSG.

Battlestar Galactica was designed by some of the usual suspects at FFG: Corey Konieczka, Eric M. Lang, Jeff Tidball and Mark O'Connor. The game accomodates between three to five players and takes about 2 to 3.5 hours to play.

The goal of BSG is different depending upon which side you are on: human or cylon. The humans must make one faster-than-light (FTL) jump after they have travelled 8 parsecs; the cylons must prevent this from happening by either destroying the Galactica or eroding the Galactica's resources.

At game set-up, players secretly receive a loyalty card.

There are two types of loyalty cards: human and cylon. These cards remain secret throughout the game. Players may never willingly reveal secret information. After the Galactica has jumped a sum of 4 or more parsecs, a second (and last) set of loyalty cards are dealt out. If you have a cylon card, you are a cylon. Thus, players who start the game as humans could quite likely end the game as a cylon!

The humans need to negotiate crises after each turn. Failure to negotiate a crisis usually costs the Galactica some resources. Should a resource fall to 0, the game is over and all cylons are winners.

The resource dial is turned to show the new value when a crisis is failed.

In order to negotiate a crisis, all players will secretly skill play cards from their hands. All crisis cards and all skill cards are color coded. If the skill cards match the crisis' color, the skill card aids in the negotiation of that crisis; if the color, however, does not match, the skill card makes the crisis that much more difficult.

Two random cards are also added to the crisis resolution so that no one knows for sure if the crisis was sabotaged by the cylons!

Players assume the role of one of the main characters on board the Galactica.

Each character has a skill set appropriate to their character. This is the amount of skill cards they will draw during their turns. The characters also have some special abilities and a special weakness that really rounds out who the character is.

Players will move around the board during their turns in order to obtain more skill cards or to "put out fires". Parts of Galactica may have been damaged which requires a player to repair. Cylon raiders or basestars may be in the vicinity requiring the Galactica to make a military response.

Colonial One gives the President some quorum cards which are quite powerful.

The game continues until the Galactica has made jumped after reaching the 8 parsec marker, when the Galactica is destroyed or when any resource reachs zero.

Battlestar Galactica is a gamer's game. It's rich in theme. The game is one of bluffing, intuitition and some deduction. There are ample opportunities for resource management. This is a competitive AND cooperative game. The game is enjoyable to those who are not familiar with the television--although if you like the show, you will almost certainly love this game!

The quality of the components is high. The box is high quality cardboard with linen. The bits are thick cardboard or durable plastic. The cards are high gloss with full color pictures on them. The only complaint I have with the nuts and bolts of the game is the storage compartments: there are none! You will have to find some creative way of storing your BSG game if you want your bits to be organized.

I recommend this game to anyone who likes RPG's and is reluctant to try board games. I recommend it to anyone who likes the TV show and likes board games in general. Also, if you like mind games, BSG is a game you ought to try!

Battlestar Galactica: The Complete Series
$279.98
I can hardly recall why I started watching this show, but what a great decision that was. It is the most intriguing, smart, rewarding series that I have ever seen. I rented each disc of each season before purchasing. It is a rare show which pays off so handsomely in the finale. It is a journey to the end, but it is worth it. Like Seinfeld, the show decided to end--it was not forced to do so. As such, it ends deliberately and with satisfying closure (though the rumor is that there is more to follow).

Much has been made of the box in which the discs are contained. Truly, it leaves much to be desired. There is a good amount of seemingly wasted volume at the center of the box, which serves only to add bulk. The discs are protected with nothing more than thin cardboard. However, with 20 discs to be enjoyed, I was never going to leave the discs in this box to begin with. A cheap, vacant cd holder works just fine. What's more, one of the purported benefits of blu-ray is the scratch-resistant coating. The decision not to utilize the native sleeves had more to do with convenience than fear of damage. As attractive as the overall package may be from the outside (that is, before noticing the scant protection), I did not purchase the Battlestar Galactica series for the box. I purchased it for the content. You should, too.

My recommendation to you is to make a decision to experience the series. If the unfortunate packaging keeps the cost low, this is a good thing. Indeed, Universal appears to be planning a season-by-season blu-ray release. The cost of purchasing all seasons individually would multiply the cost of the collection. Also, watch the price. I purchased for less than $180, and there was no indication that this was part of any sale (and this was not through a third party seller). In other words, keep it in your wish list and when the price drops, buy it.

Battlestar Galactica - Season 4.0
$49.98
The beginning of the end of the best television series I've ever seen. Season 4 picks up immediately after Season 3's awesome finale without skipping a beat and proceeds to blow us away more and more. One of the coolest things about Battlestar Galactica is that unlike many other TV series, whereby the third or fourth season, we just watch it out of habit or to see what happens, Battlestar keeps giving us more and more of a reason to watch. The action and drama don't stop and we are drawn in even more than before as new revelations come about. Another thing I particularly enjoy about Battlestar is that the mysteries are cool and pretty clever, unlike some shows like LOST, where they seem to be tacked-on and have no backbone. The character development continues on as well, seeing our favorites take unexpected turns, twists and even drops. I had better stop here and just say that this a very worthwhile purchase. While it is unfortunate that the box sets for Seasons 2 and 4 were split into two, making us pay more to get them, the show is so good it makes up for it... at least for me. Enjoy.

Battlestar Galactica: The Complete Series [Blu-ray]
$349.98
I can hardly recall why I started watching this show, but what a great decision that was. It is the most intriguing, smart, rewarding series that I have ever seen. I rented each disc of each season before purchasing. It is a rare show which pays off so handsomely in the finale. It is a journey to the end, but it is worth it. Like Seinfeld, the show decided to end--it was not forced to do so. As such, it ends deliberately and with satisfying closure (though the rumor is that there is more to follow).

Much has been made of the box in which the discs are contained. Truly, it leaves much to be desired. There is a good amount of seemingly wasted volume at the center of the box, which serves only to add bulk. The discs are protected with nothing more than thin cardboard. However, with 20 discs to be enjoyed, I was never going to leave the discs in this box to begin with. A cheap, vacant cd holder works just fine. What's more, one of the purported benefits of blu-ray is the scratch-resistant coating. The decision not to utilize the native sleeves had more to do with convenience than fear of damage. As attractive as the overall package may be from the outside (that is, before noticing the scant protection), I did not purchase the Battlestar Galactica series for the box. I purchased it for the content. You should, too.

My recommendation to you is to make a decision to experience the series. If the unfortunate packaging keeps the cost low, this is a good thing. Indeed, Universal appears to be planning a season-by-season blu-ray release. The cost of purchasing all seasons individually would multiply the cost of the collection. Also, watch the price. I purchased for less than $180, and there was no indication that this was part of any sale (and this was not through a third party seller). In other words, keep it in your wish list and when the price drops, buy it.