Publisher: Rather Dashing Games
Release Date: August 2016
Price: $29.99
Game Designer(s): Mike Richie, artist Grant Wilson
Format: Board Game
Number of players: 2-6
Game Length: 15-30 minutes
Age Rating: 8+ and up
ISBN #: 978-1-4728-1728-0
ICv2 Rating: 4 stars out of five
If you want a serious game about alien invasions and flying saucer combat, this isn't it. Instead, it's a goofy little game, extremely simple to learn, with visually attractive and well-made components that all have nice thematic graphics. Even the little discs representing damaged cities have excellent artwork.
Each player takes the role of an intelligent alien species, and the slugfest begins, as each player's planet is attacked, in order, and defended, all with straightforward die roll mechanics. Damage is meted out, repairs are done, and at the end of three complete turns, the game is over. The least-damaged player wins.
The other down side is that the game can hinge entirely on the luck of the die rolls on Turn 3. That is because the number of attacking dice goes up each turn, and the effects of the defending dice increase each turn. Thus, Turn 3 has the combined impact of Turn 1 and Turn 2 combined. The way ties result is that anyone who gets a lucky set of rolls on Turn 3 may be able to repair ALL of the damage done to their world up to that point. If two or more people get lucky, it's a tie at a score of zero damage. Anyone who gets unlucky on Turn 3 is toast, no matter what they’ve done up to that point, because there’s no chance to recover.
So, gamers who are easily frustrated by swings of luck will enjoy this less, but if you can get past that, it's a light, easy game with great graphics and fun interaction between the players. You could even mitigate the luck factor by playing a series of games. You could play, say, three complete games in about an hour and add up the combined scores, for a more "serious" game session.
--Nick Smith: Library Technician, Community Services, for the Pasadena Public Library in California.
