What To Know About the Mass Effect Board Game

First off, it’s an Eric Lang design. Eric Lang is known for such hit games as Blood Rage, Rising Sun, and Ankh. But that’s not it that he’s done. He’s worked on story and scenario focused games like Cthulhu: Death May Die as well and other games like the Bloodborne Board Game, Marvel United, and well, the list goes on and on. There is probably an Eric Lang game out there that you like.

The other big name is Calvin Wong Tze Loon. The big credit for him is not a board game. But instead that he has written on some big projects outside of board games. Crazy Rich Asians for one. The board game space is not a new space for him, though. One game that I enjoy a lot, Lands of Galzyr, he helped write for.

But what we know is the pedigree working on the game. And I think that is important to note. Because, right now we know that the Mass Effect Board Game is going to be a cooperative story driven game. That describes a lot of the big games that I pay attention to. So what is this one doing differently to intrigue me?

My Concerns

But I want to call out that this isn’t all roses. And when you look at comments or conversations and discord there are some immediate concerns brought up. For that reason, though, I thought it important to highlight the people working on it.

Modiphius has a hit and miss track record in the board game space. Let’s look at the Skyrim game that came out. It was met with middling praise. I need to play my copy still, but generally people thought fun, not great, from what I can tell. They create games, but none of them are that high.

Eric Lang and Calvin Wong Tze Loon, though, give me hope for the project. No offense to the previous designers, but Eric Lang is pedigree when it comes to the board game space. I believe that he is going to make a good game when I see his name attached to a game. It might not be a game for me, but I believe he’ll make a good one.

That said, there is still concern, will Modiphius let their talent really make a great game? Or is Modiphius a game company who is fine putting out mediocre games? I like the theory I’ve heard, you want games that some people love and some people hate because if someone loves your game, they will tell other people about it. Basically, you can’t please everyone. And Modiphius, I’m not accusing them of trying to make a game for everyone, but it feels like a concern.

What I’m Hoping For?

Well, first I want good game play. And I want a system that feels like a space adventure game. Right now, I know of three space big box games that I really like. One isn’t even that big a box. But Rogue Angels, ISS Vanguard, and Stars of Akarios. So it needs to go up against those, and it needs to do something different.

Rogue Angels is probably the closest to the plot feel. Emil Larson even describes the story as somewhat Mass Effect like. But that is a game with easy to follow rules. It has an interesting and well written story. And Rogue Angels lets the player decide on a lot of things, it is linear but linear with choices.

So I want to make choices that matter in a Mass Effect Board Game. I want the story to remember what I’ve already done. And the game play, I want that to be easy to pick-up with a good rule book. Basically, I want a quick to the table game with good story, good choices, and something that feels big. And finally, the story should not feel generic, it should feel like Mass Effect.

Final Thoughts on Mass Effect

When a game that is story driven and cooperative comes out, I’m generally interested. I like a good cooperative board game. And the Mass Effect Board Game is no different when it comes to that. I hear story drive and cooperative, I am there.

But, as you see, I am not without my concerns about the game. Mainly, can Modiphius make a game that stands out. Mass Effect is not a game that should just be middling. A lot of companies want that intellectual property. I guarantee it. So Modiphius needs to hit a homerun.

I think of other games, Nemesis for example, it’s the best Alien/Aliens game out there. It isn’t a licensed game. But people consider it the best one out there. I know that I love Rogue Angels. I got to play the prototype, and I want to play the completed game still. That sounds weird, I love the game. So, Modiphius needs to pay attention. Make a great Mass Effect game, otherwise, your game might be overshadowed by other space games.

It’d be funny, not for them, if they brought people into the hobby. People love Mass Effect, it’ll bring them in. But then, other games became the Mass Effect game for people to play. And just with the track record, it is a concern that I have.

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Sleeping Gods Direction

So, this is a topic I suspected I’d talk about at some point in time. The direction that Sleeping Gods was going to lead me in as a player, what is it? Sleeping Gods promises an open world game where you can explore whatever you want, go wherever you want, and try and awaken the sleeping gods however you can, but how you do that, something to do with getting totems most likely.

So, is that a flaw of the game? That I don’t know where to go next, or is that part of the experience? Should everywhere I go give me a new lead to track down something else?

I think the answer is maybe both. Yes, it is a flaw of the game, because the game is open world, though. I can do anything I want in the game, so I don’t need it to lead me around. However, now that we’re getting nearer the end of the game, and I don’t feel like I know what to do, it is a bit more of a flaw.

The answer is probably get more totems, and find more totems. But I think exploring the game for the first time, I’d like to it hand hold that for you a tiny bit more. The tutorial to start at the beginning is great. It does give you some of the story of the world, but having an optional read when you reset the deck of events for the second time, I wouldn’t mind if they told me what my final push should be towards. And just for the first game.

Once I know a general idea, I can go for whatever I want. In future games I’ll have a better idea of what it all means, but right now, I feel like my direction is lacking. That isn’t to say that the story doesn’t compel me, it does. That isn’t to say that I don’t want to explore more, because I do. But, it means right now, and for the first time, I need to find another totem without that little bit of direction I’ve had before.

The Drink

So last nights drink is a take on a Negroni. Instead of using Campari, a grapefruit liquor, I used Aperol. Aperol is a bitter apertiff so it works. But it is not as bitter as Campari. Nor is Aperol as alcoholic. The upside is that it means you can drink more. But for me, it also means that it is missing on that harder bitter note.

I think that, though, about it is that it does still have that bitter note. Aperol is going to be rhubarb as part of the flavor profile. So it isn’t too sweet, but with gentian and cinchona. It works well mixed with gin. And I could see just mixing it with some club soda on a really warm day as well.

Upcoming Streaming

So, I think it’ll be one week left of Sleeping Gods and we’ll see how we do. At most it will be two weeks. After that I am going to stream a game play of Spire’s End by Greg Favro. And after that, we’ll see what we want to play. I think it might be some more one-off solo games, I know I have Under Falling Skies and Ratcatcher that I want to get played. Plus some Final Girl as well.

Let me know if there are any solo games that you want to see me play. Should, after a few weeks off of a campaign, I jump into something bigger like Solomon Kane or Folklore: The Affliction? Let me know what you think I should play down in the comments below. Or, better idea, pick one from the poll below.

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124-101

100 – 76

75 – 51

Unplayed Board Games 50 – 26

50: Arboretum

This is an abstract game about planting trees. What interests me so much in this one is that you play out cards to build up your arboretum, and you score points for having trees go in ascending order. But in order to score a type of tree, you need it in your h and at the end of the game. So do you risk it that you might not get a tree of the type you need in order to complete a longer route and score more?

49: Call To Adventure: The Stormlight Archive

Call To Adventure comes in a few different flavors. There is the base game which is generic fantasy. That has an expansion for Patrick Rothfeuss Kingkiller Chronicles. And while I do like that series, I knew there was a Stormlight Archives version coming out, so I waited for it. I love the setting of the game, and I think a game where you are building up your characters story is cool.

48: 7 Wonders Duel

I got this one a while ago using store credit after a trade. And the game I think is going to be fun and probably better for me than 7 Wonders which I think is just okay. This does a lot of the same things, drafting, fighting, and science, but all in a two player package. And you can win by doing more than just getting points. Though, points are one way to win. Get one of each science card, you automatically win. Push the combat all the way to your side, automatically win. I like that a lot.

47: The Dragon Prince: Battlecharged

And now we’re back to another IP (intellectual property) that I really like. The Dragon Prince is a great show. And this is a two player battling game. You put together games of characters to face off against each other in battle. Looks some like Super Fantasy Brawl with card play determine a lot of what you do.

46: Paper Dungeons: A Dungeon Scrawler Game

It’s one of a couple roll and writes on this part of the list. Paper Dungeons as it says is a Dungeon Scrawler. So it is going to give you a bit of that dungeon crawling feeling all while being in a roll and write package. I hope that between it, Doodle Dungeons, Deadly Doodles (which I know I like) and Drawn to Adventure, I’ll have some fun adventure focused roll and writes.

45: Yggrasil Chronicles

This is a bigger box game, some of that though, is because it comes with a tree. One that you put together, and then it’s a cooperative game where you are trying to protect Yggdrasil, possibly, my knowledge of this one is limited. But the game looks like a lot of fun, and I know that the original is really challenging. Plus a giant 3d tree that rotates is cool.

44: Forgotten Waters

Forgotten Waters is a campaign game that I wish I played already. It’s gotten bumped down the list a little just because I’m playing more in person. But it was a good one that could be played via Zoom. In this game you are pirates on a crew working together through an adventure. There is voice acting for the story, and overall just seem like a fun time. And it uses the Crossroad card system from Dead of Winter that I love.

43: Mythic Battles: Pantheon

Definitely a big game here. I don’t have the whole Kickstarter, just the base game and Pandora’s box and that is a lot. It’s another one of those head to head battling games, like The Dragon Prince or Super Fantasy Brawl. This one is pitting Greek gods against each other. And what really intrigues me about this one is how you can pick up trees, as a god, and use them as a weapon. So the terrain is very much in play.

42: Catacombs & Castles

We go from an epic minis game to a one versus all dungeon battling game where you flick discs. And that is what intrigues me. I like dexterity games, and Catacombs & Castles seems like a lot of fun. It also seems a bit more complex, otherwise might be higher on the list. But I think if I learn the game it’ll be pretty easy and fast to teach.

41: Adventure Land

While I’ve gotten a lot of games based off of Sam Healey’s reviews on the Dice Tower, I have less based on Tom Vasel’s but Adventure Land is one. In this game you are taking out adventurers trying to get treasure. And they move across the board right and down. That means if a treasure shows up to the left or higher on the board, you might not be able to get it. So how to balance that out getting the best treasure, but still hanging back?

40: Space Base

This falls into that category of Foodies, Machi Koro, and My Farm Shop. A game where you roll dice and no matter what you get something. I like those games, and this is supposed to be the most gamer version of that. It gives you a lot to think about and you can build up some powerful combos while you try and get points. And you have more tracks to control and keep track of.

39: Chronicles of Crime

This is a deduction based game that I’m confident I’ll love. Chronicles of Crime, from Lucky Duck Games, uses an app that you can scan cards with to interrogate them and so you can actually look around the crime scene. The concept is cool and while the cases sound a bit less in depth than Detective: A Modern Crime Board Game, it might work better for some people because of that.

38: Fleet: The Dice Game

Roll and write game and actually dropped further down the list than I’d have guessed. Fleet is a game about building up your fishing fleet and scoring as many points as you can. I’ve heard that it’s great for combos, which I love in roll and write games. And it’s also more complex. I think that it is going I’m going to play solo pretty often.

37: Raiders of the North Sea

Possibly the highest true euro game on the list, Raiders of the North Sea has you building up your crew and taking them out to plunder lands. What intrigues me so much about this one is that your turn you put a meeple on, and take a meeple off. You can’t do the same one twice in a row, so it gives some interesting strategy to the game. And as you push out further and plunder, you lock some meeples to those locations, but get stronger ones back.

36: Horizon Zero Dawn

Based off of the Playstation video game, Horizon Zero Down doesn’t take you through the story of the game, but it puts you out on hunts against monsters. I’m excited to see how this game works, I really like the video game, but need to play it more. And I like the idea of just going out on a hunt, and it being a scenario and then done. It’s a bigger minis game, but not a campaign.

35: Reichbusters: Projekt Vril

Now we’re onto a campaign and Reichbusters is one that I picked up because it looked like so much fun when GloryHoundd YouTube Channel played it. And I think it’s going to be amazing. I need to get the errata cards taken care of, but sneaking into bases in WWII and finding all sorts of crazy experiments going on, it’s very Hellboy. And that theme is just fun, plus it’s not just kick down the door and shoot the board game.

34: Bloodborne

Another video game board game with Bloodborne. Another one that it is a bigger game but doesn’t play over a massively long campaign. I believe this one comes together over three different plays. Or it might just be that’s how the chapters, that are in the box, come out. Still, fantasy, fighting monsters and bad guys. Story going on, and from CMON, I suspect I’m going to enjoy this one.

33: Time of Legends: Joan of Arc

And another big box game. Time of Legends: Joan of Arc is almost a miniatures game more in the lines of a Warhammer where you takes two armies up against each other. But it does away with all that measuring. And it comes down to scenarios, there are characters, NPC’s, that you can interact with. And it’s time of legends because it takes the legends from the Joan of Arc time period and historical records, so it can add in dragons and things like that.

32: The 7th Continent

The 7th Continent has been on my shelf for a while. And I need to get it played before The 7th Citadel comes in, because I suspect I’m going to like that one better. In The 7th Continent, you wake up on a continent cursed, and need to explore and find a way to break your curse. I’ve heard that the first one is tough and takes a lot of time to play. Mainly so you learn the continent, but as you do the other ones, you have more of an idea of where to go.

31: Dinosaur Island: Rawr ‘n Write

The final roll and write for this list, and might be the final one overall. Dinosaur Island is a big game about building out a dinosaur park with a lot of euro mechanics. The Rawr ‘n Write is similar in that you’re building out a park. And you are trying to breed dinosaurs, it just does it in a roll and write version. So I’m very excited to give it a go. Supposed to be a heavier roll and write as well.

30: The Crew: Mission Deep Sea

The Crew is a cooperative trick taking game where you have limited communication. And while there is a space version, the Mission Deep Sea is supposed to help improve a few things. Mainly because you have missions, Mission Deep Sea makes them variable. The space one they are set. I like trick taking, and I need to play more of them.

29: Land vs Sea

Land vs Sea is a tile laying game where you are trying to complete areas of land or sea. But I care about completing land areas where as you care about sea. And the tiles are four sided, so having two in your hand gives you a lot of options. I wonder if this might replace Carcassonne when I play it. A tile laying game, but one that seems like it could be simpler.

28: Heroes of Land, Air & Sea

Now we’re back to a big game with Heroes of Land, Air, and Sea. This is a massive 4x game where you’re taking over lands, exploring new locations, fighting your opponents and building up your power. Twilight Imperium 4th Edition is a massive 4x game as well that I’d love to play set in space, but Heroes of Land, Air, & Sea just spoke to me as a 4x game I wanted to own.

27: Champions of Hara

Champions of Hara is a pretty big game, and one that seems like it will be quite unique. It seems unique because all the characters seem unique, and I like that about it. It has a fantasy feel to it, but it isn’t fantasy in the normal way. And I believe that you play the game in two parts. The first part is competitive. Then the second part, really second game, is cooperative where you work together to complete the winner of the first games story.

26: Floriferous

Final one for this part of the list is Floriferous. A set collection flower game, this one looks amazing. The artwork is great, and I like the mechanics, or how they sound. You basically draft cards from the columns. But as you draft, you place your pawn next to the spot. So the higher in the column, the next round, is going to go, then the next. Plus you are drafting scoring cards, great ways to get more points, but you’ll go last in the next round.

Final Thoughts

One more list of this, and then you’ll know about all the games i need to play. I actually had a game night this past weekend and I didn’t play any new to me games. I did have a few pulled out. But with the group, and player count, not all of them would have worked.

This part of the list also had a lot of big games in it. And while some of them might be harder to get to the table, even something that is more campaign like Reichbusters, you can play on off scenarios. So I should be able to get a number of them to the table. And some of the roll and writes, probably all of them, can be played solo.

Which one should I play first from this chunk of the list?

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The Games

Bloodborne

Bloodborne is a game that I’d glanced at on Kickstarter. However, like many CMON Kickstarters, there is a ton of stuff in it, and it’s kind of a risk backing it. Not that CMON won’t make a good game or that they won’t deliver, I’m confident on both them them. Instead, the concern is how expensive it gets and what expansions are needed. I held off on backing that Kickstarter, especially since it’s an IP (intellectual property) that I don’t know that well. Instead, I just grabbed the base game.

The base game comes with at least four different scenarios, I believe each in three parts. So that’s a good amount of content, especially since the game, while it has campaign aspects, isn’t a massive campaign. I can see playing it more than the twelve times to get through everything with different people and different characters. Add in things like different characters, and I’m assuming variety in how you progress a character, it’ll keep me busy for a long time.

Solomon Kane

Probably what everyone came for. Solomon Kane is a game that is just fulfilling it’s Kickstarter right now. So there are unboxing videos popping up all over the place. I decided to do my own because I am really excited for this game. The concept of this big adventure is interesting to me. Like Bloodborne, it gives you scenarios or stories to go through, but the stories don’t form one giant campaign. Instead, you can go through each story separately. While I love my campaign games, I have a lot coming in, games like Midarra and Oathsworn, plus ones I already have like Folklore: The Affliction, Reichbusters, Lord of the RIngs: Journeys in Middle Earth, and more. So I want some epic games that won’t be a year long campaign.

Plus, it has an interesting mechanic. All the players are controlling different virtues. Those virtues together control Solomon Kane. So it isn’t like one person gets to be the main character and everyone else is a supporting role. It reminds me a little bit of how that is one thing people didn’t love about Conan from Monolith, how the person playing Conan was just better. Thematically, it makes sense, game play wise, less fun. So this, I hope, keeps everything balanced in a cool way. And just the concept seems unique.

My only criticism is about how it was packed. The two boxes were packed vertically in the shipping box, on a side, and that makes sense because they are heavy. However, some of the minis shifted, and I had three that were off their bases and one that the staff was breaking. And apparently there is a sword issue as well for some people. That said, the minis look great, and I can glue the breaks and it’ll work just fine.

The Malt

So, Saturday was International Whiskey Day, so I wasn’t drinking a beer. Instead I poured myself some Talisker 10 year that I had picked up that day. From the Isle of Skye, the scotch had an amazing flavor. The peat was pretty strong in the flavor, but not as strong as some. Now, I like scotch that tastes like a campfire, but I don’t want that all the time. Sometimes I just want a better balance of some peat and picking up more whiskey flavor. This scotch gave me that.

Did you drink anything for International Whiskey Day? Which of those games sounds more interesting to you?

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Solomon Kane

So, as I talked about in that article, Solomon Kane is one of those games that I saw on Kickstarter but then didn’t back and have been regretting it since. The concept of the game is cool, it is based off of a book or graphic novel series about the title character Solomon Kane. What was unique about this game was how it’s a dungeon crawl or adventure type game, but no one plays the title hero Solomon Kane. They all play virtues that are influencing him, so jointly the group all controls Kane and gets him to do what is needed.

So, story time as to how I got the game. I talk about the GloryHoundd channel a lot, and that’s because they are great. They have a discord and a member over there, Fatal will be what we call them, has also been trying to track down Solomon Kane. As soon as it started shipping to backers, it of course hit Ebay as well. They picked it up for some unknown amount of money. Then a few days ago, I get a message on Discord. They have found it again on Ebay and while most pledges seem to be going at $300+ with shipping, this one was at auction for $100 and a buy now with free shipping for $200. So they thought of me and probably wished they had waited themselves, and sent it my way. I of course jumped on it and have it on it’s way now.

Bloodborne

Another big Kickstarter game, but this one I didn’t go onto Ebay or anything like that. In fact, I’m not buying all the Kickstarter bits and bobs, just the base game which has hit retail now. Based off of the video game, this is an adventuring game that will probably have you dying pretty often. But it’s not a massive campaign game, one that can probably be knocked out, at least a story can be over a few sessions or maybe even one long session. While I still love my big campaign games, I also want to play my non-campaign games as well. What I am trying to do is find some epic games, Bloodborne seems like one, where I can play it in a session or two and it’ll feel epic like a campaign game. I want that fun experience in as many games as I can. With 2020, though, most of those experiences were one off or farther between, so I add to my collection to hopefully increase games that can give that to me.

Deep Madness: Epic Monster

Yup, I swung past my friendly local game store, All Systems Go!, again. This time I traded in 12 seasons for South Park. I can find South Park online and I’m not sure when I’d watch it again. I like the s how quite well, but not one I’m going to checkout. So I picked up another epic monster. That gives me three of them now which basically just creates some scenarios where you can play with different monsters and have them behave differently. I’m sure this new one will kill me just as happily as the first ones will kill me.

Now, with that trade, I’m torn on what I’m going to pick up. I still have store credit from Dice Throne Season 1, Dice Throne Adventures, Sword & Sorcery (plus expansions) and those 12 seasons of South Park. There are two things I’m interested in. The first is more Deep Madness, there are two expansions and probably 2 epic monsters there that I haven’t picked up yet. So I could use the store credit for that. Or they have Pitch Car plus 4 expansions there. What tempts me about Pitch Car is that I think it’ll be a good one for the toddler to learn to play eventually. Something that we’ll all enjoy playing as a family, him with friends as he gets older, and even for game nights when we do those in person again.

Which of those two would you get? And which of the things I picked up seems the most interesting?

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