Saturday, October 10, 2015

Systems Saturday - Tiny Epic Galaxies (2015)

I got a chance to revisit Tiny Epic Galaxies (2015) not long after the first time I played it.  We also played two games consecutively, which I do like to do if it is a game I enjoy.  This is definitely one such game.  We played with three people, one who had tried it during the playtesting phase and the other who was new to the game (both solid gamers who learn quickly and are strong strategists).


The description from Board Game Geek is as follows:
A thirty-minute game of galactic conquest, Tiny Epic Galaxies is driven by an exciting dice-rolling mechanism that rewards thoughtful programming of the results. Players control a home galaxy and a fleet of space ships. As players upgrade their galaxies, they gain access to more ships and more dice.
Each turn, a player rolls a set of dice; how many dice are rolled is determined by the level of that player's galaxy. Each side of the six-sided die represents a different type of action: Movement, Colony Action, Harvest from Culture Planets, Harvest from Energy Planets, Improve an Economic Influence, and Improve a Diplomatic Influence.
After the roll, the player sorts the results of the roll (one selective re-roll is allowed) and organizes the dice in a desired activation order. Each die, in order, is then resolved and the results are immediate, which allows the player to pull-off unseen combos and surprise other players. Other players have the option to copy other player's actions...at a cost!
As players expand their galaxy by colonizing other planets through economic and diplomatic influence, they gain victory points AND the special powers brought in by those planets! In addition to galaxy upgrades, effective resource management provides luck-mitigating options that can sway the game in a calculated player's favor.
Whoever achieves the most points from acquiring planets and upgrading their personal galaxy wins!

We didn't use the expansion for either game though it was available.  I'm glad of that because I had played the most of we three and still feel like the base game has plenty enough to offer.  If I play later with all experienced players or ever feel like the base game is becoming too familiar, I will definitely lobby to add the expansion into the mix.  As it is, there are still enough card combinations that the base game always has something new to offer during gameplay.  For example, out first game on this day yielded a planet selection and secret missions that prompted a lot of competitive play between while during the second game, the planets which started the game were often helpful to the landing player as well as others.  A decidedly different feel, despite still being a competitive game.  I look forward to paying this one a whole lot more.


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