Harrowed Halls

Mike got me the Battlestar Galactica board game for my birthday this year, so I spent some time reading the 32-page rule book. (Clever of Mike to give me the game, so I would have to read the rules.) Actually the rules aren’t that complicated, so reading them went pretty fast…especially when you skip the examples. The game description says that “Battlestar Galactica is an exciting game of mistrust, intrigue, and the struggle for survival.” Sounds like the right game for our group. We’re already filled with mistrust, intrigue, and the struggle for survival.

At its core this game is a cooperative game where we are all just trying to get the humans to a safe planet called Kobol. What we don’t know is that one of us could be a Cylon. Even worse, by the second half of the game, we know that one of us is the Cylon. But whom? During the game the players move around various areas of the ships performing actions to hopefully help the humans reach their goal. All the while fighting off Cylon war ships, Cylon boarding parties, and various crisis that arise on every player’s turn.

As our game began, Mike took on the role of Admiral and Owen was our president. This gave them some extra special abilities. Ben was a fighter pilot and I was another military leader. From the start I suspected Mike of being a Cylon. And when I say “from the start”, I mean from the moment he gave me the game. Although his actions seemed benevolent enough, I was suspicious…even when he nuked the Cylon basestar. In the first half of the game both Owen and Ben seemed obviously human. Ben boarded a viper and went out to take on the Cylons up-close and personal. Owen was very helpful as the president. During the second half of the game, when we knew we had a Cylon among us, their actions changed. Both Owen and Ben seemed to be holding out when help was needed.

Eventually Ben revealed himself as the Cylon. He did his best to derail the human path to victory, nearly succeeding. But in the end the humans made it to Kobol…only to discover the Borg were already there. We were all assimilated. (Ok, so I made up that last part.)

We decided that the first half of the game may have been a little slow because none of us was a Cylon at the time. But once one of us became a Cylon, things livened up significantly. I’m pretty sure we’re going to get the expansion. In it, I can push Mike out of an airlock. How fun is that!?

Chaos Steve