For anyone familiar with first edition, the biggest change might be something that’s not actually related to the game play. In these big games, the set up and put away time can take another hour on top of play time. No longer. With each faction’s pieces in a separate box and each box carefully set up to fit together, it can take only a few minutes to start play and not much longer to put away. Because the streamlined nature of the gameplay really made it addicting for us. It flows with grace through each of the 8 game rounds. And although the pacing starts the experience with little to no confrontation, by the time the end of the game comes, there is the potential for a gloriously climatic battle. Nevertheless, tension and discord are growing among the seven major species and in the Council itself. Old alliances are shattering, and hasty diplomatic treaties are made in secrecy. A confrontation of the superpowers seems inevitable—only the outcome of the galactic conflict remains to be seen. Which faction will emerge victorious and lead the galaxy under its rule? Dicebreaker is owned by Gamer Network Limited, a ReedPop company and subsidiary of Reed Exhibitions Limited. Build – Spend some of your build points to add to your fleet or build a space station to improve your infrastructure. Later in the game you can build a monolith (a la 2001: A Space Odyssey) which gives a boost to your victory points.

Eclipse: 2nd Dawn for the Galaxy | Board Games | Zatu Games UK

There are seven playable races to choose from. Each of them feel both unique and balanced. During the course of the game you will of course build up your empire to achieve galactic dominance, but the way in which Eclipse does this is perhaps the most unique I have seen. There is a constant battle in resource management in this game, making it so you always need to be sure to have enough gold to maintain your population scattered across various planets. While you do generally need to spread your influence throughout the Galaxy to obtain the all-so-precious Victory Points needed to win the game, having a large galactic presence means you need to pay more to maintain your power. What this means in gameplay is that if you somehow manage to go broke, you are out of the game! Though it should be mentioned there are ways to eliminate your debt by relinquishing systems you control, it is nevertheless very easy to bite off more than you can chew (yes, it has happened to us on more than one occasion!). Research – You can spend some of your science points to research one of around 40-50 different technologies. These range from upgrades to your spaceships to economy upgrades and new structures that can be built across your systems. Which brings us to…

Terms and conditions

In terms of basic gameplay, over a series of several rounds players take it in turn to spend their actions doing one of a number of things: The #1 Reddit source for news, information, and discussion about modern board games and board game culture. In my wife’s own words, I can tell if a game is good if she keeps on coming downstairs to the game from her at-home job to take turns all day long. Eclipse provided such an experience for her, despite her initial misgivings. Color me surprised. This new edition features new components and thoughtfully revised content, incorporating material from former expansions to create the best possible updated version of the game. Rules:

Eclipse: Second Dawn for the Galaxy - Kickstarter

Yes, the beginning of the game seemed very evocative of traditional Euros. But as a time when on, as we upgraded our ship blueprints with newly research technology as we ventured into space, I found that she was really getting into the experience. As was I.

Eclipse: Second Dawn for the Galaxy Box Cover

Not sure what game to buy next? Buy a premium mystery box for two to four great games to add to your collection! Buy Premium Box » Gamer Network Limited, Gateway House, 28 The Quadrant, Richmond, Surrey, TW9 1DN, United Kingdom, registered under company number 03882481. Upgrade – Once you’ve researched upgrades then you can use them to improve your ships. These might be improvements to weapons, engines, shields or a number of other aspects; all of which will improve your fleet’s chances when they get to grips with the enemy. Eclipse: Second Dawn for the Galaxy is a revised and upgraded version of the Eclipse base game that debuted in 2011 that features: First and foremost, the production quality of the game is top-notch. Every component is designed to have its own little niche inside of the game box, and there is virtually no spilling over of components when inside. It is perfect.

Eclipse: Second Dawn of the Galaxy vs Twilight Imperium 4E Eclipse: Second Dawn of the Galaxy vs Twilight Imperium 4E

Eclipse wants you to know the arc of the galaxy before you get in deep. Twilight Imperium takes you for a joyride. This brings us neatly to the combat. Unlike its heftier cousin, Eclipse: Second Dawn of the Galaxy isn’t actually that combat heavy. That’s down to a few reasons.

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The aim of the Second Dawn of the Galaxy is simple, build up victory points by means of expanding your empire, researching technology and winning battles against NPC ships and player factions. After X rounds, the player with the most victory points is the winner. As a game, Eclipse can be quite overwhelming to look at, but it’s really a series of very simple actions and the truly complex aspect is the strategy required to win. Twilight Imperium has a working but inelegant storage solution, a vast improvement over the options given by other Fantasy Flight titles like Arkham Horror. Even so, setup will still take you at least 45 minutes to an hour, as you pull out the customised cardboard chits for each of the base game's 17 factions and either set up the galaxy yourself or add another stage to the game - building the galaxy in a delightful cut-throat minigame, one that sets up the galaxy as a boon for you or a bane for your friends. Twilight Imperium wants you to be champing at the bit to play, which is very distinct from Eclipse’s approach. Combat, while it still uses dice to determine hits and outcomes as is traditional, nevertheless manages to offer up something new in allowing a good advantage to the Defender in battle situations. Moreover, it is especially nice that while it is more typical in other games to have players trade hits and damage at the exact same time, in Eclipse, if you manage to destroy an enemy ship first, they will never even get a chance to fire at you!