As anyone who reads my reviews regularly may know, I'm a huge fan of small game companies. Sure, I can get behind a Days of Wonder or Avalon Hill game, but the coolest ideas always seem to come from the little guys.
Battlestations, from Gorilla Games, is an example of such a game. At first glance, it doesn't look like much – all cardboard components, figures you have to cut out and glue yourself, and a rulebook intimidating in its sheer size. But play the game a couple times, and you may find yourself replacing your Saturday afternoon D&D session, or your club meeting to play Euro games, with a hearty helping of Battlestations.
Tom Vasel has already written an excellent review of Battlestations, which you can find here. The review you're reading now does not discuss Battlestations (aside from saying that I love the game), but rather the most recent expansion, titled 'Pax Galacticum.'
Pax Galacticum has a brand-new back story. The Galactic Civil War is over, and the Republic won. Peace has allowed exploration into the Verdant Nebula – but the nebula is anything but safe. The players must now interact with fungaloids, a strange but amusing new alien race, and they must contend with such space hazards as space bees and unstable vortices. Most importantly, the heroes must manage all these hazards without harming anyone. There are no combat missions in Pax Galacticum – but that is not to say the marines in the crew will get bored. Plenty of asteroids need blasted, fires need extinguished, and incapacitated aliens need carried.
The greatest thing about Pax Galacticum is that it is so much more than just a collection of new scenarios. There are new rules, new character options, new ship modules, and a whole lot more. Perhaps the most fascinating thing about Pax Galacticum is the new campaign tracker. No longer are missions just random scenarios that catch the referee's eye. Now missions take place along one of four mission lines – exploration, ecology, diplomacy or innovation. At the beginning of every mission, the referee rolls twice, and offers the players a choice of two missions. They can pick one; the other automatically fails. The campaign becomes a race against time, with the nebula getting progressively more dangerous as more missions fall by the wayside.
The new modules make perfect sense in a non-combat expansion, but can also be a huge help in standard space battles. The sick bay allows for accelerated healing, and in some cases, might be the only way to save a character. The damage control module can keep a ship intact even after it has suffered damage that would cripple a lesser ship.
More than a dozen new special abilities are available for the heroes now, from ECM specialists that can destroy incoming missiles, to grease monkeys that are exceptionally good at fixing stuff. The assistant ability is great – a player can now shoot for a higher bonus, and thereby give the pilot an even better chance to dodge that incoming fighter. The list greatly expands the original Battlestations special abilities, and even includes several more bot upgrades.
New rules also give characters all new ways to get sick. Characters can be comatose, groggy, scared, or they can be fungaloids dying of a bizarre wasting disease. New quick-draw rules allow players to whip out a weapon or tool and use it in the same action – as long as they don't drop it on the floor. Possibly the best new rules are those for traveling in an atmosphere – now the heroes can drop out of orbit, land, take on refugees, and get out before the giant space vines crush their ship.
New equipment expands the original list, and will give heroes more ways to spend their after-mission requisitions. Bandages are available for slowing wounds in a hurry, and the gamma ray gun is available to cause them (or just neutralize radioactive materials). A grav sled can carry your wounded, and new kinds of grenades can help when your ship is overrun by hostile plant life. New ship equipment is available as well, including atmospherics, auto pilot and cargo arms.
The bulk of Pax Galacticum is made up of new missions. There are 36 new missions, ranging from delivering specially made cake or pollinating space bees to rescuing unlucky farmers or exploring black holes. The brilliant thing about the missions is that nearly every one will require action on the part of every single crew member. Marines will be blasting obstructions while science officers analyze anomalies, with the engineer either furiously pumping the engines or attempting to repair them, with the pilot pulling desperate maneuvers to keep stay ahead of the clock and avoid debris. Some missions are a little silly, and some are intense, but they are all, for the most part, entertaining.
The frosting on the cake is the new fungaloid race. With their oddly built starships and bizarre plant-based constitutions, the fungaloids are more than just a new token alien race. They present a completely different way to deal with problems, and they pose many new challenges (especially when they get sick).
All things considered, Pax Galacticum is a must-have for any avid Battlestations fan. With splendid new rules, an exciting and challenging campaign, a great new playable alien race, and a book brimming with great art, Pax Galacticum deliver a brand new experience, and does it well.
Substance: 5 – RPG books could take a lesson from the immense quantity of material in this book – and it's all good.
Style: 4 – Yeah, it still uses cardboard pieces, but they look good, and the book is chock-full of fun.
