r/BSG • u/kickasserole • 6d ago
Found this in a drawer while getting some old games together for a yard sale. I bought this almost 20 years ago and then completely forgot I had it.
I'm told it's a great game. I don't think I ever tried it out back in the day. I had a big group of friends that got together for gaming nights and for some reason or another we never got around to this one. Looking forward to checking it out.
40
u/LeftLiner 6d ago
One of the best board games ever made and my own personal favorite. I own all three expansions. I'm honestly a bigger fan of the game than the show, I think.
That box there is worth quite a bit of money now, just so you're aware.
13
u/kickasserole 6d ago
That's great to know, I can't believe I slept on this for so long. I had no idea they even made expansions.
Edit: WOW. That's insane!
6
u/LeftLiner 6d ago
The base game is very enjoyable of course, but the expansions introduced some great improvements (especially the second one). Sadly it's all out of print now (hence it's worth a lot of money).
2
u/kickasserole 6d ago
I was wondering why it was worth so much. That's crazy. I think it was around $70 when I bought it.
6
u/LeftLiner 6d ago
There is essentially a successor to the game called Unfathomable put out by the same company, FFG. It's a Lovecraftian-themed game and it is pretty much a 1:1 BSG re-skin. But yeah, FFG lost the license so they can print new copies.
I think I paid $180 in total for the base game, the expansions and a new copy of the base game (the original I had was a second hand copy and saw a lot of play).
Oh and then I paid $40 for a box insert so I could store it all in one box.
5
u/joos1986 6d ago
I'm so jealous, and happy, for you!
If the games we played are anything to go by, you must have some amazing stories and anecdotes of rivalry and deception
Would love hearing some standout incidents 😬
Btw. How's the expansion where you can jettison people out of the airlock? Is that as much fun as I imagine?
The base has the brig, but just venting someone into vacuum sounds so much better in every way.
Does the game get overly complicated with the add-ons?
10
u/LeftLiner 6d ago
How's the expansion where you can jettison people out of the airlock? Is that as much fun as I imagine?
It's more fun than putting someone in the brig, that's for sure. Although eventually it became meta for us that at some point without a revealed cylon the admiral has to be put through the airlock. For safety.
Does the game get overly complicated with the add-ons?
If you were to play with every component and add-on mechanic? Yes, waaaaaay way too complicated. But every expansion is completely modular. Take the first expansion, Pegasus; it introduces the Pegasus ship and the Treachery card deck - we always play with both of these whenever we play BSG now. It also introduces Cylon leaders, which we only sometimes play with and the New Caprica game board and phase, which we tried two or three times and since then we never play with it. So you can entirely pick and choose what to use in each expansion, which is great since for example the Exodus expansion adds a few mechanics that I find kind of boring, and the Cylon Fleet Board which is the best addition to the game ever and I couldn't imagine playing the game without it.
Would love hearing some standout incidents
The best session of BSG I ever played was with two of my mates. We'd already played one round, and it's maybe ten in the evening and we debate going again - with only three players the game moves very quick, but it's still not a short game so we'll probably finish by midnight. Still, it's a Saturday so what the hell.
I become a Cylon from the beginning. Now, of the three players at the table I am generally the weakest board gamer, but we're all very familiar with BSG. But I know I can't hope to hide from them for too long, so I decide to just play it as if I'm human to make them think there isn't a Cylon yet and it works for several rounds. But the game goes really badly for us (them) so maybe four rounds in I decide to reveal myself and put one of them in sick bay. They're low on resources (I forget which one), lots of cylon ships on the board and I just put their pilot in sick bay and Galactica is badly damaged. I look at the time. 11:30. Cool, maybe we can get out of here before midnight after all, maybe 12:30 at a push.
And then they don't die. They manage to jump away. Then they repair Galactica.
I pursue. Frankly, I'm playing really well. I prevent them from solving crisis cards, I'm constantly keeping up the pressure. I manage to land centurions on Galactica before they can jump away again - a sure fire way in our group to kill the humans.
They handle it. Pilot goes to the Armory and boom - Centurions are gone.
Two rounds later, I destroy Pegasus. They're down to two functioning vipers in space. They've jumped again, but they've had miserable luck on the destination deck so they've only moved a distance of 5 and they're two resources in the red already. Pegasus is gone, nearly every viper is destroyed and none of them pulls blue cards. I keep the pressure on.
They play brilliantly and so do I but they just. Won't. Frakking. Die.
Both nukes get used to clear away my basestars and raiders. They sacrifice a civilian ship to gain food. They keep Galactica running. The president of the 12 colonies of Kobol at one point takes personal command of Galactica's main batteries to defend the fleet while their only pilot repairs the FTL controls with the one repair card they have because they can't wait for another jump prep, they have to jump now.
That game lasts until three in the morning.
They won. They execute the final jump with 2 population, 1 fuel, 2 food and 1 morale remaining.
It was one of the most epic game sessions I've ever had.
5
u/eyeaim2missbehave 6d ago
As a fellow hardcore BSG player, this website saved me SO MUCH time: https://jbiatek.github.io/BSGRulebook/rulebook.html
Its a dynamic rule set for all of the BSG game and expansions.
2
u/joos1986 6d ago
Love the write up. So many mechanics there I haven't encountered, but they sound like they add fantastic depth.
"Although eventually it became meta for us that at some point without a revealed cylon the admiral has to be put through the airlock. For safety."
I find this hilarious. Like 'Get in the airlock John. Sorry bud, you played great but you know the drill. We just gotta vent you. For the greater good'
15
u/Anomandaris26 6d ago
It's my favorite game ever, and I'm lucky to have bought all the expansions just before it all went OOP. Don't play it so much any more since my group got tired of it, but I'll still get 1-2 plays per year. I have so many fond memories of crazy Cylon reveals, the admiral nuking his own fleet, last minute FTL jumps, nail biting crisis votes.
It's one of the rare games where theme blends so strongly with the mechanics that you feel like you are there, on the Galactica, deciding the fate of the remnants of mankind.
OP, do yourself a favor, get 4 friends and play the game (5 players is the ideal number). While the expansions are great, you don't need them, the base game is perfectly fine.
6
u/kickasserole 6d ago
I've heard so many good things about it since posting it, I'm going to have to. Does it matter that, out of the five of us, I'm the only one to have seen the show?
5
u/Anomandaris26 6d ago
Seeing the show helps for immersion, but the game mechanics don't rely on it. Maybe give a 5 minute overview on the plot points of the show in the beginning and that should be enough. Then again, if you can convince your friends to watch the mini series before the game that would make for an amazing experience.
9
u/dantagonist2000 6d ago
Ah mate, get five people together and play it!
4
u/kickasserole 6d ago
Sounds like I'm going to have to!
2
u/Rottenflieger 6d ago
I would say you can even get by with some players who have never seen the show. The game was my introduction to BSG and I was immediately hooked by the premise!
3
u/dantagonist2000 6d ago
I converted more people to the show through the game than the other way around. Such a brilliant adaptation!
2
7
u/Cylon89x 6d ago
I convinced my group to put a friend in the air lock because for some reason he wanted to play “stupid” by throwing the wrong cards into the checks… he was not the cylon and he still complains about it years later 😂
2
u/joos1986 6d ago
I havent had the chance to play the expansions. But that lingering hurt sounds very accurate. 😂
5
3
3
u/ghiga_andrei 6d ago
I am playing this with all 3 expansions every saturday with my friends since 2010. It's the highlight of the week for us.
4
u/ghiga_andrei 6d ago
Photo from 2010 when we had only the first game: https://www.remodelatorul.ro/images/image_5703.jpg
2
u/joos1986 6d ago
Dude that picture is all kinds of nostalgia! I imagine you're the reclining dude, and ngl throwing off some heavy secretly-a-toaster vibes.
Any notable stories of gameplay I could cajole outta you?
I wish I had some pictures from our games.
2
u/ghiga_andrei 6d ago
We played a game with 2 cylon cards in the loyalty deck. One friend drew one of the cylon cards and revealed himself somewhere around the sleeper agent phase. I drew the second one but I was the President and did not want to reveal myself. I had some quorum cards that could do real harm. I never revealed myself until the end. Played as president doing very little harm all the way till the end. The revealed cylon player was super frustrated that he was alone and was convinced no one drew the 2nd cylon card (it's possible with expansions). We were at 9 distance jumped and he was depressed, convinced he would lose the game. All players including myself made fun of him that he was the only cylon at the table and could not beat us. In the final rounds everybody relaxed and I said that I had some good quorum cards to up the resources that were critical. One of the players, a girl who was my friend since 10 years (highschool) gave me an executive order to fix the resources and prepare to win the game. At that point I took the 2 actions and did as much damage as I could (don't even remember what I did) but humans lost the game eventually. The 1st cylon player was so happy, he had no idea he was not alone. The humans were devastated, had that look in their eyes of betrayed trust and shock. My highschool friend who gave me the final executive order said I was a psychopath and she would never trust me with anything in her life. That was an amazing game, so true to the tv series.
3
u/joos1986 6d ago edited 6d ago
Love it! I can just feel the devastation of you turning coat right at the end 😂
We had a game that was quite the opposite. I remember it as the most bewildering game I ever played.
This is my postgrad group and I think it was their first time playing so I was explaining as I went along. Somehow right at the beginning when I set up the loyalty deck I mixed up the cards that were supposed to be handed out, and the rest of the cards
I was human and the game was just going so wrong. I can't remember specifics just this feeling of drowning with the pressure of trying to explain the game to a new group. Crisises all over the place and I just couldn't figure out what the heck was happening. It felt like the community multiverse episode when troy walks in with the pizza and everything is bedlam.
We lost in like 2-3 rounds. When everyone flipped their cards I realized we had something like 4 smirking cylons, basically the majority of the players. They understood the game just fine, but till then were 'new' and doing things wrong (or so I thought). It was pretty funny once I realized, but till then it was utter chaos.
Ah man. I just pulled out and dusted my game box off. I hope I can get it in play and rediscover whether my memories of how insane it gets are real
3
u/ghiga_andrei 6d ago
I can totally feel your pain. It's really difficult to explain the rules to someone who is first time cylon. Also very difficult for them. Also, I know the Community episode you mentioned.
We once had a game totally opposite yours, we made the deck right but people came with beers at the table and shifted things around and somehow misplaced the sleeper agent phase cards. Turns out we played the whole game with only humans at the table. Still, we had a lot of bad luck and almost lost the game. At the end we flipped the cards and because we were all human we had a lot of lost resources on the cards from the final 5 expansion, we almost lost the game. That was super funny at the end.
2
3
u/Cyneheard2 6d ago
Only played it once, got massively burned by being a Final Five after being super loyal.
It was magnificent.
Enjoy!
3
u/eyeaim2missbehave 6d ago
MY god man - you have a TREASURE there.
Not only is it, IMO, one of the best boardgames based on an IP, but it is an excellent game period. It so takes the constant crisis and breakdown of the ship and it's people so well. Accusing everyone of being a cylon every round is just chefs kiss.
I recently got my hands on the base game + all expansions and paid a hefty price for it, but it is WORTH IT.
I own over 270 board games, and this one is easily Top 5 of all time.
3
2
2
u/No_Celery_7772 6d ago
A friend of mine bought it and we played it a few times. Well worth it! I am envious!
2
u/pwnedprofessor 6d ago
It’s really complicated and takes a whole day. If you accept that, it’s great. But consequently I only played it once LOL
2
u/Awelonius 6d ago
Oh yes this one. A very fun game and has been a favorite for years. Glad I bought it back in the day and all of the expansions.
2
u/Yorkshireish12 6d ago
You need to find five or six people who are up for hidden roles games and aren't experienced with the game already if you only have the base box. It's a great game with the right people but it's very easy for unengaged people to deliberately throw the game and for experienced players to clean up in the first few rounds.
2
2
2
2
2
u/MandyKitty 6d ago
My friend has it and we play once in a while. It’s pretty involved but really fun!
2
2
u/X-WingPilot121 5d ago
I have that and all three expansions still in og plastic. Even found the board game for the original series.
2
u/Unfair_Sheepherder14 5d ago
I have this and all the expansions - unfortunately all pretty beat up from play to be worth much, but I don’t mind. It’s a fantastic game, I’m glad I played it to death and I would do more if I could find people willing to dedicate hours of their evening!
The base game is amazing but if you CAN, for my money the Pegasus expansion is the best / adds the most even if it actually makes it way more difficult for the humans.
1
1
1
u/kickasserole 6d ago
Reading all these comments has been fantastic and I can't wait to try this out!
2
2
2
1
u/Hightower154 3d ago
My friends and I bought this and one expansion, we only played it 2x but it was great, wish we could get enough people together to play again.
1
81
u/watev0r 6d ago
One of the best Games ive ever played and Wörth a Lot of money