A review after one playI normally would not review any game without playing it at least a few times. However, since this forum thread format allows me to update my review, I’ll post my initial review and update it later as I play the game some more.
Overview of playGalaxy Trucker is a two to four player game that’s dripping with theme. In it, you play a pilot hired to construct a ship using various parts stored in a warehouse and then fly it to the galactic periphery. The parts making up the ship themselves are what you are to deliver – whatever you pick up along the way is a bonus – which is why at the end of each flight you turn the whole ship over and get paid. And then do it over again.
The game consists of three rounds and each round consists of a shipbuilding phase, a journey phase, and a payout phase.
In the shipbuilding phase, you and rival pilots have individual ship boards with a grid and starting pilot cabin component. In the center is a pile of face down component tiles. All players, in real time, grab tiles and choose to attach them to their ship or put them back in the pile face up. The components are: cabins (which house two crewmembers each), alien life support (which, when attached to cabins, allow you to have alien crewmembers), engines (which determine your ship’s speed), cannons (which determine your ship’s combat strength), shields (which block certain hazards), batteries (which power shields, double engines, and double cannons), cargo holds (which can store goods cubes), and structural parts (nothing special). There is a time limit and construction rules to follow, so it can get rather hectic. Also, you can stop building and take time to look at the adventure cards which will be used in the forthcoming journey phase, which can give you a better idea of what components to concentrate on. As players finish building, they grab number markers to indicate the order in which they finish and place their ship markers on the flight track in that order.
In the journey phase, a series of shuffled adventure cards are turned up one by one and resolved. Some adventure cards are beneficial, such as open space (the ships move forward on the flight track according to engine strength) and planets (players can choose to land and pick up goods that they can sell during the last phase). Others are nasty, such as meteor swarms (which pummel your ship from various angles) and baddies (pirates or slavers, who attack your ship). The ship in front resolves encounters first, so the frontrunner has first dibs on planet goods but also has to fight baddies first. Gaining rewards also means you have to move back a number of spaces on the flight track.
Once all adventure cards are resolved, ships reach their destinations and players receive cosmic credits for arriving as fast as they can and for goods picked up along the way. But they also lose credits for ship components lost. It’s also possible for a ship not to finish the journey – losing all your crew or engines will do that.
These three phases are done three times, with each phase having larger ships, more and tougher adventure cards, and higher payouts. Whoever ends up with the most cosmic credits wins!
My takeI played it for the first time at the November 2008 OGM. It was a four-player game and we were all new; I owned the game and taught it. I missed out on some rules but since it was a learning game it wasn’t a big deal. The players were Adrian (the other one), Brel, maskmanjoe, and me. For maskmanjoe’s session report, click on this link:
http://www.tabletopwars.com/bb/index.php/topic,3923.msg9888/topicseen.html#newSimply put, it was quite fun, as expected. Most of the game is in the shipbuilding. It’s really hard building a good balanced ship. The biggest limitation for me was the component connectors. It’s very easy to place components in a way that prevents you from expanding that section further. Plus, with three other players grabbing tiles, you’ll likely not end up with good tiles as time goes on, though I do like the rule where you discard tiles face up as this reduces the luck of the draw as the shipbuilding progresses.
I also was so engrossed on building that I neglected to peek at the adventure cards; I decided to go for a balanced ship for all phases. I also finished first or second for all phases and this may have contributed to my second place finish.
There’s some minor decision making in the journey phase, mostly a choice to gain a benefit and move back in the flight track in return. The third phase is just administrative.
I enjoyed our first play a lot; we laughed out loud when Adrian got all his cannons blown off and when Brel lost a component which caused a whole section of his ship to fall off. The randomness and chaos is substantial but I don’t think they dominate. As I told Adrian after the game, my concern is how long the novelty will wear off. Replayability is a big deal to me.
My suspicion (and hope) is that, as the players become more experienced in the game, the novelty will wear off but the subtleties and skill will emerge. Adrian demonstrated this when, in the last phase, he knew he was going to finish building last, he took all the time he had left to build as good a ship as possible – lots of engines, cannons, and batteries. The result: he started the flight last but eventually powered forward (thanks to many open space cards) and picked up quite a few goods to sell. I also wonder if the game is better with three players, as the chaos will be lessened as the same number of component tiles are used no matter how many players there are. Conversely, I don’t think it’ll be as interesting with just two players.
For now, I consider Galaxy Trucker to be a fun light-to-mediumweight game. I give it a 7.
Pros: High quality components (especially the astronaut crew figures); excellent art and graphic design; humorous rulebook; great theme; high fun factor
Cons: Faulty sand timer kept stopping; battery tokens are easy to lose; questionable replayability
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