Review of the board game "Struggle for the Galaxy. Review of the board game "Struggle for the Galaxy Master of the galaxy board game

Game process"Struggle for the Galaxy" (part 1 of 2)

Gameplay "Struggle for the Galaxy" (part 2 of 2)

Review of the game "Fight for the Galaxy"

Description

Humanity has long established colonies on the near and distant planets of our and neighboring star systems, but even this progress was a very small step in the development of the universe. Today, you have a working prototype of the hyperdrive and technology of the ancient alien races in your hands, so now you can take up space exploration seriously! You have to deal with the development of your space power in various areas and lead it to power, greatness and prosperity!

About the game

"Struggle for the Galaxy" is card game for 2-4 players, the action of which, as you already understood, takes place in a distant, distant space. Each player will have to build a galactic civilization, improving its technological and social aspects.

One of the interesting features of the game is the dynamic phase change - the players themselves openly choose which phases will be in this round. You need to raise science - just select the "Research" phase. You feel that it's time to populate new worlds - select the "Mastering" phase. You have seven different actions to choose from, and the selected phase will be relevant for all players, but the one who chose it will receive additional bonuses-privileges.

The task of the players is to manage the cards as efficiently as possible, correctly assess the situation and adapt to the game environment, choose important phases and privileges in time - all in order to build the strongest space empire.

Game process

Each round, all players face up to choose and then reveal one action card at a time. The round will only have the phases that were chosen by the players, but the players will receive privileges in the phase they chose. Also, each player has a hand with game cards, which represent worlds to settle, game currency and goods for sale or consumption. Some cards laid out in the player's sector can give him new abilities during the phases of the turn.

All phases always take place in a specific order:

• Research - allows players to draw cards, take two and leave one of them. A choice of two options for the privilege, either take two cards out of three, or take one of five
• Development - allows you to play development, for which you will need to pay for it by dropping from 1 to 6 game cards. The privilege allows you to discard one less card. Among other things, developments earn players victory points at the end of the game.
• Mastering - Allows players to master new world, for which it will need to be paid by dropping from 1 to 6 game cards. The privilege allows you to take one card after mastering the world. Worlds also give players victory points at the end of the game, but they also provide one of four types of goods: alien technology, genetic materials, rare items, luxury goods. Some worlds can only be captured, in this case you do not need to discard cards, but your fleet strength must be greater than or equal to the defense indicator of this world
• Consumption - Allows players to discard goods or cards to gain victory point tokens or draw cards. The players themselves choose the "rate" at which they will make the exchange. There are two privileges to choose from, Sale will allow you to exchange one goods card for game cards, and POx2 will allow you to double the victory points gained during this phase
• Production - every world with production that does not have a commodity receives a commodity. As a privilege for choosing a phase, the player can choose one non-producing world with accumulations, and replenish its stocks with a commodity card.

Players must now discard all excess cards from their hand to the ten-card limit.

Searching, Mastering, Improving, Trading, Consuming, or Manufacturing? What is more necessary for you? Which of the former colonies of the Earth will more firmly settle in the vastness of the galaxy now that the jump engine has appeared? Who will reveal the secrets of the mysteriously disappeared Alien Lords? Who will be the first to lead his empire to the heights of power and prosperity?

Description

In the game "Struggle for the Galaxy" rivals build galactic civilizations from maps that depict worlds and technical or social improvements. Each round of the game consists of one or more phases. In a round, the players simultaneously and in secret from each other choose one of their seven action cards and then reveal the chosen cards. In this round, there will be only those phases whose cards are among those revealed. During these phases, all players perform a phase action, and each player who chooses a card from that phase receives an additional bonus. For example, if at least one player chooses an Upgrade card, there will be an Upgrade phase in the round, otherwise the phase will be skipped. In the phase, each player (simultaneously with his opponents) can choose one improvement card on his hand for implementation. Having revealed the selected improvements, the players place them in their sectors on the table and discard from their hands a number of cards equal to the number of investments in implementation (the cost of the selected improvements). Players who choose an Upgrade at the beginning of the round discard one less card due to the bonus (the implementation of their upgrades requires less investment). Search allows the player to draw cards and take the best ones into his hand. By Mastering, the player introduces new worlds into his sector. In the Production phase, goods appear in the worlds - hole cards laid out on top of the world map. When consumed, goods are exchanged for victory points or sold for new cards in the player's hand. With these cards, the player will add new planets to his empire and will be able to implement new improvements, gaining victory points and card opportunities that give players advantages in certain phases of the game. A player who can skillfully choose cards, phases and bonuses to create the strongest space empire will win. in this battle for the galaxy. To win, the player must score the most victory points.

Phases of the game

The game lasts several rounds (usually from 7 to 11). At the beginning of the round, all players simultaneously and secretly choose one Action card and place them face down in front of them. When all players have made their choice, the laid cards are revealed, then the players go through the selected phases in a specific order (I: Search; II: Improvement; III: Mastering; IV: Consumption; V: Production), skipping those phases for which no player did not choose an action card. Each phase is an action that is performed by all players. In addition, the players who choose the cards of this action receive a bonus. When all the selected phases of the round are completed, each player must discard cards so that he has no more than 10 playing cards in his hand, and then take the action card he played in that round. Subsequent rounds go on in the same way until the circumstances of the end of the struggle develop in the game. Game cards have three purposes: they can be placed in the player's sector as worlds or upgrades; thrown off the hand game card- this is one investment that pays for the development of the world or the implementation of an improvement; the game card lying face down on the world map is a commodity obtained by opening the world or through production.

It is not for nothing that the box bears the inscription “Iconic board game”. « Struggle for the Galaxy»/ Race for the Galaxy has won many awards since its release in 2007 and has gone through its second re-release in Russian, which came to us for review.

rules

"Struggle for the Galaxy" is a card game economic game for 2-4 players, in which they compete to build the greatest galactic civilization. Players use one deck for all, in which Worlds and Improvements are involved. At the same time, cards can be used in different ways: as part of your empire, as goods or as currency. In the process, each player tries to score as many victory points as possible: they are formed when goods are consumed, with the help of certain developments, they are brought by some cards of Worlds and Improvements simply by their presence in the empire. The Galactic Race ends when someone has 12 cards in front of them or the last Victory Point token off the table, and the winner is the one with the most Victory Points.

How do you get valuable victory points?

The Fight for the Galaxy board game has five phases: Study allows you to take from the deck additional cards, in time Development you can pay and implement a useful ability, in the phase Mastering you can add new worlds to your sector (by paying or attacking), in the phase Consumption goods can be exchanged for cards or victory points, and Production adds new goods to the corresponding worlds.

But the peculiarity of the game is that not all phases will necessarily be recouped. At the beginning of the round, each of the players secretly chooses one of the actions, then all are revealed and those phases for which at least one action was chosen are played in order. In this case, the phase is mandatory for everyone, but the players who choose it deliberately will receive a certain bonus.

After that, the players discard extra cards from their hand, and a new round begins.

Impressions

You can't take the game off the bat. The rules are a little hard to understand the first time around. Maps also do not make life easier, at least at the beginning: there is almost no text on them, only numbers, circles, colors, strange characters... It's scary for a beginner, frankly. Checked. But after a few games, on the contrary, it helps - a quick glance at the card is enough to understand its function and capabilities. And this is also verified.

Like so much in Fight for the Galaxy, the game's world is extremely abstract. As such, there is no plot: some empires, rebels, aliens without any explanations and artistic descriptions. Illustrations provide some food for the flight of imagination, since they occupy the main part of the maps. The work done by the artist Mirko Suzuki is very reminiscent of the covers of sci-fi books of the 70s, in places it looks ridiculous, but quite charming and allows you to fill the life / back of the game a little. Perhaps this is at the mercy of the players, after all, the game is focused on economic and strategic aspects.

Actually, the essence of the game lies in building the right strategy for collecting victory points: Worlds, Improvements and Development require serious resources, you will not be able to buy everything and you will have to clearly understand what is better to focus on in this moment... And this must also be taken into account: thanks to the element of randomness, the situation can change every round.

At the same time, there is almost no interaction between players in the game. Of course, they compete with each other on the speed of creating an empire, indirectly influence through phases (their presence or absence), but you cannot really influence the actions of other players, their resources or Worlds (by the way, as it was in "").

The board game includes 5 homeworld cards, 109 worlds and development cards, 36 action cards, 4 rulebooks (very useful) and 28 victory point tokens (of different sizes and in denominations of 1, 5, and 10 points). The cards are thin and can get worn out during the game, it might be worth considering projectors.

In the original, three add-ons were released to the game in due time, which added new maps, a solo mode, an increase in the party to six players, the ability to conquer alien worlds and new ways to win. But they did not come out in Russian, and at the moment it is not known whether they will appear, meanwhile basic set reprinted a second time. At the same time, the “backs” of Russian cards are made with a localized logo. As you understand, if you want to find and buy add-ons in English somewhere, combining them with the Russian base can be a problem.

Verdict

The game is not easy, in any case, mastery will not come from the first game, it requires a thoughtful approach. "Struggle for the Galaxy" is not a casual game, but a serious economic simulator in the shell of space science fiction, and that's why the game is good. Recommended for seasoned players and those who yearn for more.