The Game


Babylon 5 was an incredible science fiction TV series that first aired in the late 90s. It had 5 successful seasons, several TV movies and a spin off series, Crusade. The series centered around the ambassadors of 4 major galactic powers, the "space UN" headquarters (space station: Babylon 5), and the men and women who ran this diverse city in space.

The CCG allows 3-7 players to recreate and retell their own possible Babylon 5 saga by allowing each person to either take on the role of one of the major political powers (either via their ambassador to B5 or their home faction) and attempt to dominate the other factions using diplomacy, intrigue, military, or access to fearful and deadly ancient powers. With several expansions, the CCG really is one of the best (if not the best) war/intrigue games ever made.

Tuesday, April 26, 2016

NaFar says No... again




   We started a new lunch game, this one with custom built decks.  Na'Far Diplomacy and Destiny (myself), Centauri Imperialism War Deck with Londo, Minbari Warrior Caste, Psi Corps (shudders), Minbari Vorlon Diplomacy were the players.  The two Minbari players are old hands (and need faster decks, IMO) and Psi Corps player a veteran card game player and already the guy to watch, and the Londo deck ran by two on the new players as a team (I helped build this deck, in all humility, its good and doesn't need anything other than raw Centauri power to win).


    We used a rather standard fare house rule for us: game goes to 30 power instead of 20.  Decks must be 60 cards, cannot exceed 100.  Everyone insisted they were ready for a full on deck of mine and so I let my deck run.  This is a game I should win, but since we have 5 players we agree that the game will go on and play for second place too, the winning player dropping out, but with States and Global effects still in play.  

  So, giddy up, NaFar shuts down everyone's tensions, dropping most to 1 by end game, quickly has 20+ power and uses destiny mark upgrades from aftermaths and to give NaFar stats in the teens in Diplomacy and Intrigue, 8 point damage reduction, and 8 points of automatic opposition to all conflicts.  By himself he will end most conflicts before they start, denying influence gains probably half the time they are drid

  With media cards and strong/cheap defensive fleets, there's not much that scares me and I soon drop out at 30 power.  However the fight for second was quite interesting.  The Centauri deck starts burning through cards, drawing four free cards a turn, and building a military that would have crushed the Narn, had we not already won and withdrawn.  Neron powers up slow and runs second fiddle to the Humans and Religious caste.  Psi Corp runs well, but too conservative, and the Minbari deck, right at 100 cards, is too cumbersome when the wrong cards keep coming up and just fizzles.  In the end, they agree to play until someone runs out of cards and then call it.  Victory Centauri, but I should point out that if they played RAW, the Psi Corps player, with more cards and a recycling conflict would have eventually won, and the Vorlon deck could have got second with an agenda that counts Vorlon-Shadow influence as power (so in this game an additional 20 some... though not until NaFar had already exitted stage right).

  All in all a good game.  The newer players got to see their decks run, and the Centauri players decided to build their own decks as the Psi Corps player is working on a Non-aligned deck on the side.  Should be interesting next game.  Na'Far will take a break.  Maybe I'll bring out my (crusade free) G'Kar Defense in Depth deck.  Its not ran around unchained for awhile.  

Tuesday, February 16, 2016

Back in the Saddle... or Meddling with Others


On a side note: shouldn't either "with" and "others" be capitalized, or neither?  There's not a proper noun "Others" involved here... okay, sorry, moving on.  I've tried to manipulate, cajole, and guide our little club into a new Babylon 5 CCG direction, and (with two of the return players chomping at the bit to go) we've finally assembled a new lunch crew.  I strongly encourage you, if starting a new persistent game, to find a place where the game can be left alone, declare who's playing what at the onset, and then go from there.

We started this first game playing just starter decks (I looked them up and built them as sold).  I think we're far enough in that we'll just stop the game (no one wins) and let everyone break out their custom built decks.  It looks like our new group with be me and another student running Narn, our 2 Minbari players from last year (yay!), a returning player now taking up the Earth/PsiCorps mantle, a non-aligned new player (I think he'll be quite good, already deck building in his free time), and another new Centauri player (Chaotic Neutral, but that works well with either Refa or Londo, so all good).



Here's our table at the start, but many of us are in the teens (yes I know we're using the wrong Refa and Neroon) and the mechanics are well taught.  I'm really thinking about going out and buying some plywood to make a bigger table this year... just so we can have 6 of us going with room to play.

If I have any concern, its the lack of aggression.  Yes, so a Narn player would always say, but its more than just throwing fleets out there.  They need to be willing to hurt each other a bit, work with each other a bit, get the game going.  Right now all the players are kinda just building on their own.  We need fleets striking, intrigue developing, diplomacy negotiating, etc.  Hopefully those with the lower influence this game decide to get things going in a big way next game.