The Sound of Cylons

I like board games. I liked Battlestar Galactica. How is it that I'd never played Battlestar Galactica: The Board Game? I don't know that I can answer that question... but I have erased the question by now having actually played it.

Battlestar Galactica: The Board Game is a game of hidden roles and traitors. The humans are trying to find a path to Earth. The Cylons are trying to run them out of a precious resource before that happens -- exhausting their fuel, food, or water... or crushing their morale.

It's a pretty simple game in premise, but it's pretty complex in particulars. More so, perhaps, than it needs to be. But the game is faithful to its source material to a fault, and if that does add some complexity in the rules, it certainly adds resonance for anyone who watched the show. There are mechanics for hopping in a Viper to go shoot Cylon raiders outside the ship. There are a dozen characters players can portray, each with very particular details that evoke plot lines from the show. There are dozens of nods to specific moments in specific episodes.

There's also a fun (and fitting) mechanic that changes the way these traitor games are usually played. You shuffle twice as many role cards as there are players, and hand one out both at the start of the game and halfway through play. You may start out thinking you're a human, only to be awakened as a Cylon "sleeper agent" mid-game, with your victory condition suddenly upended. You may start out as a lone Cylon with no help, only to pick up an ally later on.

Just as interestingly, there's a lot more game here than you usually get in a traitor game. There's more to do here than just conceal your role; you must actually employ strategy to reach your goal. There's a game board with action spaces you make use of; you and the other players must divide and conquer to keep problems in check... assuming you can trust the other players. Even once you're outed as a traitor, the game isn't over; exposed Cylons gain access to new actions they can use against the other players to secure victory. Lying and backstabbing is only part of the equation.

On the one hand, these mechanics do indeed make the game more strategic than the average game in this genre. It might even come close to having value as a "team vs. team" game even if all the roles were somehow face up and known to everyone for most of the playthrough. On the other hand, there is a cost for this: the game takes a lot longer to play. This is not a traitor game where you play a few rounds to give everyone a shot at playing both sides, then move onto something else after an hour or so. One game of this will take you two to three hours. Probably a little too long, I think... yet not so long that I wouldn't want to play again.

I'd say Battlestar Galactica: The Board Game lands at about a B for me. It's okay that it's not an instant favorite in the genre, because it offers something different enough to carve out its own space.