Stargate SG-1 Board Game

From: Fleet Games
Reviewed by: Ron McClung

Stargate SG-1 Board Game is a new Board Game from Fleet Games.

Recently, I have gone into a strong Stargate kick by Netflixing all the episodes I have missed, getting into the roleplaying game a little and buying the board game.  I was really excited to see a strategy board game based on Stargate, and once I ordered it, I could hardly wait for its delivery.  I enjoy these types of games greatly, and from looking at the web site, it really looked like a good game.

From the website: “ Stargate SG-1 Board Game – Winner of the ‘2004 Award of Excellence’ in the ‘Family Board Game’ Category! ”

The fact that it won an award gave me even more hopes and the build-up I was developing was reaching critical mass.  I should have known to not allow myself to work up such high expectations because I was bound to be disappointed.  Once I played my initial game, I was somewhat disappointed. However, with certain web published fixes and supplemental rules, the game is much better and more balanced.

Layout/Presentation:  This is where the makers blew me away.  Fantastically impressive playing pieces and layout.  The game comes with six sets of starships, six sets of stargates, and six sets of ground or combat units. Outstanding figures!  There are 3 factions, each with a ‘light side’ and a ‘dark side’ – the Goa’uld, the Asgard, and Earth.  So there is a dark Earth and a light Earth (just called Earth), and so on.  Each faction has pieces tailored for their faction, so Earth has USAF Death Gliders and SG soldiers; Asgard have the Gray-aliens and Thor’s Hammer starships, and so on.  The gates fit into little slots on each of the systems of the board.

The board is a simple representation of the universe with concentric circles divided up into sectors.  Each sector is represented by a stargate icon and each sector is divided up into 5,6 or 7 spaces, some of which are systems and others are open space.  Each board of a sector is color coded so you can tell the difference between them.  There are four wormhole openings that connect opposite ends of the universe.

My only problem with the layout of the board is that no immediate tactical challenges jumped out at me, except the wormholes which are a pretty simple challenge.  It just appeared to me like a game of brute force and speed of expansion.  However, I waited to make any judgments and wanted to give it a chance.  As it turns out, the map configuration presents certain challenges in movement and defensibility that is not outwardly obvious.

The game also comes with cards, called Stargate SG-1cards.  One thing I like about certain strategy games is that cards can really make the difference in a game.  They can bring in the variety and turn the game on a whim.  However, in the case of Stargate, this was one of my few disappointments with the game.  There are 50 cards but only 5 different cards in the set.  And each card type is color coded so all the opponent has to do is get a glimpse of the color and he knows what his opponents have in their hand. In this game, in certain cases, it’s important to keep the types of cards you have secret.  In my opinion, there needs to be more cards with more varied effects.  Also, the cards need to be more clear and understandable.  The first time we played, we spent a half-hour mid-game to debate over the wording of one card.

One outstanding bonus, but probably minor to many, is the pieces came in their own ziplock bags.  It may be but for that alone, I would give this game bonus points.

From website: “Stargate SG-1’s General O’Neill tells us to ‘Keep it Simple!’ ”

The Game: The system is just what the above quote says – simple.  Although refreshing to some degree, there are some problems that arose in our game play because of the maker’s attempts to keep it simple.  Also, it feels like it is almost too simple and not entirely fulfilling to a player looking for a meaty strategy game.

There are 3 basic turn events a player goes through – Build, Move and Attack.  Build is based on the number of planets and the number of sectors you own.  Move is fixed maximum number of spaces ships can move, and Attack is a ‘Risk’-like system of dice rolling based on the number of units you have engaged in the battle.  Attack is somewhat biased to the attacker, because the attacker can attack with up to three units, but the defender can not do a thing about it.  However, the defender does get to choose the casualties which can hurt in some situations.

Most cards are played during the movement phase and do some interesting things.  One card  is played in reaction to others as a defensive move.  The other four are ways to destroy units, ships or stargates, helping you in your endeavors to dominate the universe.

The first problem with the game we found was the initial set up and how it leaves certain players.  When we played, we had five players.  Initial setup gives each player a fixed number of ships and a stargate on each world of his chosen sector.  No ground units are placed initially.  The fifth player in order of placement is doomed to be forced in the sector bordered by 3 other players.  This puts him in a situation where the player could be wiped out completely before he gets his first turn.  I feel there needs to be a balancing factor to prevent this.  The web site provides that balancing factor in the form of the Quick Start Rules and the advanced gamer rules in the online supplement.

Another aspect of the game that troubles me is the difficulty to recover from a major attack. Once you start loosing systems and sectors, it is like a hemorrhage the player can not stop.  Because the number of his ships are directly tied to the number of sectors he controls and the number of ground units is controlled by the number of systems he controls, once the player looses a large portion of a sector, it is a slow decline to destruction with little hope of recovery.  There is a mechanic that allows the player to exchange five reserve ground units to get a ship, but because our game was so short, we were not able to build up reserve forces.  Reserve meaning units off-board that can not fit on the board because all the systems are max’ed out. We were not able to test the effectiveness of this mechanic.

Our first game lasted an hour and a half and for a group that is used to a 3 or 4 hour game of Risk 2210 or 6+ hour game of Twilight Imperium, this was fast. It seemed too easy to win. It was less a battle of conquest and exploration and more a battle to keep the other players from winning. However, with the web rules and modifications, I feel the game better balances out and shifts to what it is intended to be.

One important thing to note is that this is a game based on Fleet Games primary game – Fleet.  From what I can tell from the web site, both games are very similar and have only a few subtle differences.  

In conclusion, my group was not entirely satisfied after our first games of Stargate SG-1 board game, but we all felt it had potential.  We all agreed some house rules needed to be integrated to make the game balanced, and ironically as it turns out, the suggestions we came up with are the very changes they made on the web site.  Additionally we all thought the game has real potential but the there needs to be a wider variety of cards and some cards need clearer definitions. Overall, I think it is a great-looking game with lots of potential but with simplistic rules that need a lot of fixes to make it fair, balanced and challenging. Fortunately, the web site supplies a few fixes for the problems I saw.

For more details on Fleet Games and their new Board Game “Stargate SG-1 Board Game” check them out at their website http://http://www.fleetgames.com and at all of your local game stores.

Stargate SG-1 Board Game
From: Fleet Games
Type of Game: Board Game
Written by: Fleet Games Staff
Game Design by: Fleet Games
Developed by: Fleet Games
Number of Pages: 10 page rulebook
Game Components Included: 1 game board, 5 six-sided dice, 6 sets of starships, 6 sets of combat (ground) units, 6 sets of stargate base markers, 1 set of cards, 1 rulebook
Retail Price: $ 34.95 (US)
Number of Players: 2-6 players
Player Ages: 10+
Play Time: 1 to 3 hours
Email: info@stargatesg1.us
Website: http://www.fleetgames.com

Reviewed by: Ron McClung