Race For The Galaxy: Rebel Vs. Imperium
Here are a few features inside of this Race For The Galaxy: Rebel Vs. Imperium review.
- This is an expansion to Race for the Galaxy, it is not a standalone game
- Adds depth and complexity to Race for the Galaxy
- Includes rules for 6 players
- Can also be played solitaire-style
This second expansion for Race for the Galaxy delves into the growing conflict among the Rebel and Imperium forces.
This expansion increases player interaction by adding takeover rules that enable players to conquer military worlds in other players’ tableaus.
This expansion also includes, amongst the new cards added, two player-submitted cards. Requires Race for the Galaxy to play.
Race for the Galaxy: The Gathering Storm expansion is optional, but suggested and adds solo play.
With only Race for the Galaxy: Rebel vs Imperium, min players is 2 and max players is 5.
Both expansions are required for 6-player games
List Cost: $ 24.99
Price: $ 14.35
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Race For The Galaxy Card Game Review
In Race for the Galaxy, players build huge galactic civilizations using game cards that represent worlds or technical and social developments. Be the most powerful civilization by developing new technologies, exploring and settling new worlds, and producing and trading resources. Time is limited and it is a race to see which civilization achieves dominance the fastest!
Race for the Galaxy was designed by Thomas Lehmann and released in 2007. It is a card game with the theme of space exploration and conquest. Players take on the role of galactic civilizations trying to conquer and claim new worlds in the galactic fringe. The game has met with resounding critical acclaim, earning awards and “best card game” status from gaming magazines and review websites.
The core mechanic of the game is having a set of actions that players can choose each turn, allowing all players to take that action but giving the player who chose the action extra benefits. This mechanic is similar to other Eurogames but with a unique twist. In games such as Puerto Rico, once a player chooses an action, other players are not allowed to choose the same action again until the next turn. In Race for the Galaxy, all players can choose any action they want. They do it in secret and reveal the actions simultaneously at the start of each turn. This can lead to redundant actions and adds a gambling aspect to the action choice.
The actions you can take in Race for the Galaxy include exploration (drawing cards), researching developments, settling worlds, producing goods, trading goods for cards, and consuming goods for victory points. The developments and worlds that you play also grant victory points, and the goal of the game is to have the most victory points once any player obtains 12 developments and/or worlds.
Each of the cards that you can play – either developments or worlds – have abilities that can boost your civilization’s power. Example abilities include drawing extra cards while exploring, or letting you settle worlds at a discount. The challenge is therefore to decide which cards should be played first in order to support your overall strategy. As the cards are drawn from a deck, there is a high amount of luck and randomness involved as well.
Playing developments and settling civilian worlds require paying their cost by discarding a number of cards from your hand. There will therefore be a lot of cards that you draw that will never get played and instead become discard fodder. There are also military worlds that come into play via a different method: military conquest. You don’t have to discard cards to play them, but are required to have enough military power on the cards that you already have in play.
The key skill in playing Race for the Galaxy is knowing which actions to play each turn. Should you settle that new world now or trade in resources for more cards first? Performing the most efficient actions in the right order will mean getting your engine churning out victory points the fastest. You will also have to read your opponents, since an action chosen by a player also allows other players to perform it. If you need to settle and produce during a turn, but you know your opponent is most likely to produce, then you can safely choose the settle action and end up being able to perform both actions.
The game sometimes feels like it has little player interaction, since each player is busy focusing on creating their own victory point engine. The designers have remedied this by introducing new interactive concepts in the expansions. The Gathering Storm expansion adds both speed and long term goals to strive for, and the Rebel Vs Imperium expansion adds the ability for players to directly attack each other and steal each other’s cards.
Race for the Galaxy is a fast-paced card game, with games seldom lasting over an hour. It is also fairly easy to teach to new players, though its use of icons and symbols rather than text to explain card effects can be daunting (but that’s why they have reference cards). Its replay value is very high as well, since the amount of cards drawn and discarded means no two games will be the same. In all, a great game if you have a spare hour to take part in galactic conquest.
Complexity: 3.0/5.0
Playing Time: ~ 1 hour
Number of Players: 2 to 4 players (up to 6 with expansions)
You can read more about Race for the Galaxy at http://boardgames.gamepudding.com/r/race-for-the-galaxy.html
Steven maintains the board game review website at http://boardgames.gamepudding.com/ – a website devoted to the best and latest board and card games. Read reviews, game descriptions, related information and more.
Race for the Galaxy: The Brink of War Card Game Review
The Imperium and the Rebels have been battling each other for control over the galaxy, but things are about to get even more messy in Race for the Galaxy: The Brink of War. In addition, the Alien departure point has been found, and the Uplift Overseers are starting to get restless. In these troubled times when war is just a hair’s breadth away, galactic prestige and influence become all the more important as you try to gain control of the galaxy.
Race for the Galaxy: The Brink of War is the 3rd expansion for the hit card game, following the first two expansions The Gathering Storm and Rebel vs Imperium. It requires the base game as well as both previous expansions in order to play. This review is focused on the new concepts introduced in the Brink of War expansion. If you want to know more about how the base game is played, please read our Race for the Galaxy review.
This expansion follows on from the previous Rebel vs Imperium expansion, where military might was starting to get mobilized and the galactic Imperium was being harassed by the rebels in small skirmishes. Tensions are getting high now though, and the galaxy is on the Brink of War. In troubled times like these, the galaxy looks up to those that hold galactic prestige: the worlds and corporations that have the greatest influence. It’s these prestige leaders who will decide whether the galaxy will prosper or be thrown into war.
The main new mechanic introduced in Brink of War is the prestige system, a new method to achieve victory. Every turn, the player with the most prestige gain an additional victory point. And if this prestige leader gained prestige that turn, they also get to draw a card. Letting a player keep the prestige lead uncontested will basically mean handing them a whole chunk of victory points and free cards. Existing game plans will therefore have to change to accommodate this. If you can’t be the prestige leader, you’ll have to either make sure others can’t maintain that lead, or earn a lot of additional victory points to overcome the prestige leader’s victory point bonus.
So how do you earn prestige? A large number of the cards introduced in this set have the prestige symbol located next to their cost value. These cards (both worlds and developments) will earn you a prestige token when you play them. There are also new abilities that produce prestige tokens. Examples include an explore ability that lets you discard a card to gain a prestige token, and a consume ability that lets you consume an alien good for a prestige token instead of victory points.
There is also another major new mechanic introduced in Brink of War: the Prestige/Search card. This card provides every player with a powerful boost that can only be used once per game. Players can choose the Prestige portion of the card by paying one prestige token when you reveal your role card. That role card then becomes “super-charged” with the relevant ability on the Prestige/Search card. For example, you can consume goods for an additional victory point, or you can settle a world for 3 cards less or with 2 extra military power.
The Search part of the card is equally powerful. Once a game, you can use the card to search the deck for a particular type of card. You choose one of 9 categories (such as a 1- or 2-cost world, or an alien world, or a 6-cost development) and you get to reveal cards from the deck until you reach a card that satisfies the conditions of the category you chose. You then get to put that card into your hand. This is a good way to hopefully find a 6-cost development that will give you the victory points to win the game. More importantly, this card also helps if your initial hand is really bad, allowing you to search for cards that will help you get your engine going. In effect, it is like a “mulligan” that compensates for a bad draw and keeps you in the race.
There are also plenty of cards with new abilities, as well as new Alien and Uplift cards. Overall, Race for the Galaxy: The Brink of War is a great expansion set that introduces interesting new concepts and mechanics to keep the game fresh and exciting. Existing strategies are shaken up as players adjust their game plans to accommodate the new prestige system. Do note that the base set and both previous expansions are required to play Brink of War.
Complexity: 4.0/5.0
Playing Time: ~ 1 hour
Number of Players: 1 to 6 players
You can read more about Race for the Galaxy: The Brink of War at http://boardgames.gamepudding.com/r/rftg-brink-of-war.html
Steven maintains the board game review website at http://boardgames.gamepudding.com/ – a website devoted to the best and latest board and card games. Read reviews, game descriptions, related information and more.
Original Article Source: ArticleBase.com
Race For The Galaxy: The Brink Of War
Here are a few features inside of this Race For The Galaxy: The Brink Of War review.
- This is an expansion to Race for the Galaxy
- Takes about 60 minutes to play
- Includes rules for 6 players
- Can also be played solitaire-style
- Adds depth and complexity
As conflicts spread, galactic prestige becomes all-important, both to extract concessions and to fend off attackers. Meanwhile, the Alien departure point is located and the Uplift Overseers arise. Can you build the most prosperous and powerful space empire in a galaxy on the brink of total war? This expansion adds new start worlds, goals, game cards, and rules for galactic prestige to Race for the Galaxy and its first two expansions, The Gathering Storm and Rebel vs. Imperium. New solitaire game counters and drafting rules for six players are also provided.
List Price: $ 24.99
Price: $ 15.00