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Battlestar Galactica game
Aug. 19th, 2012 08:49 amYesterday was the 21st Century Party. It was fun. The highlight for me was a game of Battlestar Galactica, which taught me two things, one about the game, and one about myself.
About the game: If you have exactly 4 or 6 players, it's actually crucial for the human players to get at least one of their own resources down into the red zone before the Sleeper Agent phase happens. If the don't do that, then the Cylon Sympathizer who turns up during that phase actually *joins* the Cyclons, making a full 50% of the players on that side. Humans are pretty well doomed if that happens. This is actually a lovely bit of game design, because it gives any actual early Cylon players great cover for doing things that would otherwise give them away.
About me: Despite my penchant for hamminess, I *am* capable of keeping a poker face. I was a Cylon from the start of the game, and successfully stayed hidden until after the Sleeper Agent phase. I mostly played exactly the way a human player would, which certainly helped my cover, but I did manage to successfully sabotage one Crisis Check with no one suspecting. There was a very tense sequence, where![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
rickthefightguy had the opportunity to look at one player's Loyalty Card, and it was down to me or learnedax. learnedax was playing Boomer, who is sort of inherently suspicious, but Rick was more inclined to look at mine, because, as Chief Tyrol, I was the more important character right now (there were no Cyclon ships around us, but the Galactica had some damage to repair). I managed to keep a slightly amused, but not actually *invested* expression on my face, while sweating bullets inside. herooftheage, bless him, swayed Rick by pointing out that I had actually helped out in the Crisis Check that was just now leading to this reveal, and learnedax hadn't (admittedly, due to not having any cards of the useful colors). And I *had* helped, just enough to maintain plausibility, though deliberately much less than I could have. Rick passed me over, and I managed no to let out a huge sigh of relief.
A few turns later, the Sleeper Agent phase happened, andherooftheage joined the Cylons (see above). Judging that subterfuge was no longer necessary, I revealed myself, and the two of us began to hammer the hapless humans. Boomer became Admiral, but, being Boomer, was in the Brig. We Cylons managed to thwart efforts to remove her for several complete rounds. Meanwhile (at herooftheage's suggestion), the Cylons managed to solidify a monopoly of every Repair card in the game. After that, it was only a matter of time, and not very much of that, before Galactica took enough damage to explode, yielding my first win of this game. Yay!
About the game: If you have exactly 4 or 6 players, it's actually crucial for the human players to get at least one of their own resources down into the red zone before the Sleeper Agent phase happens. If the don't do that, then the Cylon Sympathizer who turns up during that phase actually *joins* the Cyclons, making a full 50% of the players on that side. Humans are pretty well doomed if that happens. This is actually a lovely bit of game design, because it gives any actual early Cylon players great cover for doing things that would otherwise give them away.
About me: Despite my penchant for hamminess, I *am* capable of keeping a poker face. I was a Cylon from the start of the game, and successfully stayed hidden until after the Sleeper Agent phase. I mostly played exactly the way a human player would, which certainly helped my cover, but I did manage to successfully sabotage one Crisis Check with no one suspecting. There was a very tense sequence, where
rickthefightguy had the opportunity to look at one player's Loyalty Card, and it was down to me or learnedax. learnedax was playing Boomer, who is sort of inherently suspicious, but Rick was more inclined to look at mine, because, as Chief Tyrol, I was the more important character right now (there were no Cyclon ships around us, but the Galactica had some damage to repair). I managed to keep a slightly amused, but not actually *invested* expression on my face, while sweating bullets inside. herooftheage, bless him, swayed Rick by pointing out that I had actually helped out in the Crisis Check that was just now leading to this reveal, and learnedax hadn't (admittedly, due to not having any cards of the useful colors). And I *had* helped, just enough to maintain plausibility, though deliberately much less than I could have. Rick passed me over, and I managed no to let out a huge sigh of relief. A few turns later, the Sleeper Agent phase happened, and
herooftheage joined the Cylons (see above). Judging that subterfuge was no longer necessary, I revealed myself, and the two of us began to hammer the hapless humans. Boomer became Admiral, but, being Boomer, was in the Brig. We Cylons managed to thwart efforts to remove her for several complete rounds. Meanwhile (at herooftheage's suggestion), the Cylons managed to solidify a monopoly of every Repair card in the game. After that, it was only a matter of time, and not very much of that, before Galactica took enough damage to explode, yielding my first win of this game. Yay!