Our local game shop hosts a weekly board game night.My group goes up there and usually does our own thing, but one week they were featuring this game.I kept watching the people play Ecliipse as we played ours.It looked massive, intimidating, and epically fun.I read some reviews and the rule book and called our group together this past Saturday to play.It took us about 2 hours to set up the board and go over the rules.Then for 4 of us, it took 4 hours to play our first game.But that time went by so quickly.It never felt like I was just sitting there waiting for my next turn.There is plenty to discuss, interact, and think about while you wait to take an action.Combat is absolutely thrilling.Who knew dice rolling could increase the heart rate so?There's just so many strategies to employ.To be honest, I never really tracked my victory points through the nine rounds.I just kind of did my thing and it all came out in the wash, so to speak.We got a group back together Sunday night to play, this time with six.We were right at 45 min per player for our second game.
The rules really aren't that complicated.Every player has a player mat with a human or alien.There is one master game mat where supplies are kept too.Space is a series of hexes that are drawn at random, another feature that makes the game different every time.The sectors are connected via wormholes for travel, and there may be ancient technology or an ancient cruiser to fight when you discover it!Each round consists of four phases.You have an action phase where each player chooses one of six actions, each of which costs you a little money.The more actions you take, the more it costs you.You have to balance your income vs your spending.Bankruptcy will lose you the game.So will you explore a new sector of space, colonize a sector of space, build ships or structures, research new technology, upgrade your ships, or move them into offensive or defensive positions?So many choices.Everyone keeps going around making these choices until you decide you can't stretch yourself any more or can't afford further actions.Along the way, you're populating planets to get the resources of money, science, or materials.These are what you use to maintain your empire, research new technologies, and build things, respectively.
Once everyone has passed, you enter combat phase.This is so elegant.Earlier, you could upgrade ships with missiles, cannons, hulls, shields, targeting computers, drives, etc.But you can't exceed your ship's energy source (which you can upgrade, of course.)A 6 is an automatic hit; a 1 an automatic miss.Anything in between can be modified with targeting computers and shields.If the math adds up to 6, you hit.Who gets to roll first is determined by the initiative of the ships, which fluctuates depending on your upgrades.You fight until one side is eliminated, then each side is rewarded for glorious battle by drawing random victory points.These are really the only secret part of your total at endgame.
After all combat, players perform upkeep of their civilization.You adjust your money based on your income and expenses, as well as collect science and material resources.Finally, players enter into cleanup phase, where new technologies to be researched are drawn and all actions are reset.Nine rounds (of action, combat, upkeep, cleanup) later, whoever has the most VPs wins!
Sure it is a long game, but it is engaging and fun the entire time.We'll--and you'll--get better at preparing for your turn each round which is the largest time sync.As new players, expect that to take longer as you weigh all your options.
You will need a LARGE table to play this game.The pieces themselves are durable.The ships didn't have to be popped out of plastic treys, thankfully.We all wished there was a better player mat, though. Something with a little structure to it to more securely hold the discs and cubes.It is nice that details on the player mats give a clue as to what each action entails by just a simple picture, so that we didn't have to keep going back to the rulebook to remember.(E.g. the move action has 3 arrows, which signify you get 3 movements.)I also wish there was a trey to hold all the ship upgrades in the box.That takes 10-15 min alone to sort out and get on the game supply board.The rulebook is thorough and we were able to address pretty much all issues that arose during gameplay.(You know how some crazy situations can come up that some rules don't address; not the case for Eclipse.)Expect to miss a few details in your first play through, but then read the rules again after you know what everything looks like in a real game.Then the details will start popping out, some rules you may have missed will now make sense, and you can fine tune your gameplay.The things we missed were minor and wouldn't have affected the outcome much.
If you consider yourself a hardcore board gamer, are a participant of a game group, or just love epic adventures, Eclipse will absolutely not let you down.Speaking for myself and my group, this shot up on our favorites list very quickly.
This game is very good, a lot of re-playability with just enough randomness not to break the game.
The random affect two parts of the game, the first one is the exploration, you can have a really bad start compared to others but the game still allows you to make up for it and win the game and that is a very good feature.
Second part is dice rolling, yes you can have bad luck but not as much as with Risk for example.
Because you can always adapt your space ship to the enemy you are facing.Yes you can still roll a bunch of ones and loose but you can tilt the odds in your favor very easily.
Overall the game is awesome, VERY easy to learn.
The rules are very logical and we did not find a situation that the rules did not cover.
The resume at the back of the instruction manual is a very nice feature.
The game offers a lot of possibility and strategy, even if you think you're behind you can still rake up a lot of points with a few good moves.
The only "drawback" for this game is the large quantity of parts.Make sure you don't have a cat that likes to jump on the table because he's gonna ruin the game.There are lots of pieces every where.They are very easy to manage though and you are never lost in the quantity but it does take some time to set up the game and clean after it.A nice feature is that the game includes a lot of plastic bags, more then you really need so you can arrange everything for faster setup.
Secondly the game does take a lot of table space especially if someone is exploring the 3rd sector straight away from the galactic center.With 6 players you definitely need a big table because the player boards to they some space too and you can't simply put them on a chair by your side because other players need to see it to see how much resources you get, you victory points so far and upgrades are on your ship.
You don't start a game of this if you have 15min to kill.They suggest 30min per player but that is with very well experienced player.For us it is more around 45min per player and it make take longer toward the last turns.
But you don't have the feeling of all this time.Like for example in World of Warcraft the board game a turn can take 15 minutes or more if the players starts to check at the item pile to make a combo with their skill or if they have more then one combat.In Eclipse a turn is a combination of a lot of small actions and every one is taking small actions one after the other so this make the game run smoothly with very small amount of down time.Normally by the time you plan your next action it is your turn again to play.
Overall one of the best game I've played if not THE best.
Not the fastest but the best overall.
And most importantly it fills my love for 4X space games.
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So we have a small gamer group here and we've gone through quite a few games, and though there is a lot of excitement every time we get a new game to play, this one has us buzzing like schoolboys.
We have played only twice, but can see a great future ahead. I don't usually take time to write reviews, so pardon the erratic nature, however, I felt I needed to at least mention how fun this game is.
Basic game is one of;
Exploration (of expanding the board by turning over tiles);
Battle with a great ship mechanic (your ships are what you make of them based on ...)
Research (your race starts to focus on Military/Exploring/Tech)
Adaption -So much can change in one turn that you have to be on your toes.
Be prepared to spend a few hours in the beginning just getting set up and learning the game. After that The recommended time of 30 min/player seems a little light, but not too inaccurate.
Not going to get bored of this one any time soon.
Enjoy!!
PS: There are not many games that make 2-6 players so fluid and fun for all.
Read Best Reviews of Eclipse Board Game Here
For a little more than a year I have been hosting a weekly game night at my apartment. To that end, we are always looking for games with new themes, fun play, and a balance between strategy and ease of play. Prior to Eclipse, the game we would have to turn to for space warfare was Twilight Imperium. The problem with Twilight is that it takes forever to play. If you can't devote 6-8 hours, forget it. Plus, its got a million things to keep track of. Needless to say, its not easy to get a game going.
Enter Eclipse. It offers much of the same strategy, but with a better economic system, and one that self tracks much better than I have seen in a 4x game. There are fewer ships, but you have the ability to customize them. You want fast ships that hit hard, you can make them, or heavy armored behemoths.
If you want to play without being a warrior, totally possible. In fact, unlike in Twilight Imperium, losing your fleet does not consign you to death in this game. I had all of my forces wiped out, and still came in third in total VP in a 6 player game.
It's possible to focus on tech, or exploration, or combat, and do well, and the winner will likely combine some of them.
The game advertises 30 minutes per player, and this is fairly accurate. It took us about 3.5 hours with two completely new players, and only the second or third time for everyone else. This was for a six player game.
One recommendation, once you separate the parts by player, keep them that way. Store the chips and tokens of each race with their ships and cubes. This will help with initial setup tremendously.
I love this game, and will likely be getting rid of my copy of TI in favor of this lighter, better balanced 4x game.
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This game is a ridiculous amount of fun. It is very solidly constructed, all of the "cards" are printed on durable cardstock so it will last and last. Obviously a lot of work went into this game. It looks very daunting and complex, so much so that more casual gamers would be tempted to throw in the towel.
But wait! Once the iconography is explained, and the action-point system, and what the pieces do, everything starts to come together. And once gameplay begins, it is on like Alderaan. Gameplay flies by, with shootouts in space, gigantic battleships obliterating tiny interceptors, and mighty empires expanding into space, conquering everyone in their way. Researching and upgrading ships can turn a tiny empire into a space-faring terror swarm.
Two-player games can turn into grudge-matches, especially if someone gets an edge in technology. However, there are ways built into the game to deal with that. Like most euro games, there are mechanisms in place to help balance the game so even a weaker player doesn't get completely boned.
I only have one gripe about the gameplay. At the beginning of the game, one player is designated as Player One. At the start of each turn, they always get first shot at the new research. This gives them an incredible advantage throughout the game, one it is very, VERY difficult to balance. My friends and I are thinking about ways to house-rule that. Other than that, it is a rock-solid game.
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