Review: Farlight

 

Game Name:	Farlight	Published Year:	2017
Game Publisher:	Gamesalute	Player Scale:	2 - 5
Game Designer:	Nick Sibicky	Run Time:	45 mins

In the not too distant future, you’ll be able to pop off on your jollies to visit the Sea of Tranquility instead of Lanzarote if what Mr Branson is selling comes about, in the meantime, you can conquer that pesky atmosphere and go boldly into that void with Farlight. Much like Branson, Musk and Bezos, you’ll be running your high tech aerospace company in a tight, and faced paced race, attempting to outmanoeuvre, outwit and outclass your competitors.

 

[gallery ids="2430,2429" type="rectangular"]

 

Farlight is an auction and tile placement game in which each round players will bid on parts for their ship, to then connect those parts before attempting one of the all-important missions. This is as simple as it sounds, in turn, each player will place two of their 5 bidding tokens - ranked from zero to four - on any ship upgrade or facility at Farlight Station, with the option of adding one of their scarce and valuable crew to the bid to increase it by one. Once all bids are placed, the winner of each is revealed, losers who bid more than zero gain one additional crew for their trouble and then parts are added to the ship.

 

[caption id="attachment_2432" align="alignnone" width="3963"] My super-cool spaceship with big meaty engines![/caption]

 

 

This is a victory point game, with only one real way to gain points (there are also bonus points and as the name suggests, the bonuses are just that, they’ll make the difference between finishing second or third, they won’t win you the game). At the top of the board, there will be a selection of Mission Cards, arranged into three columns, and missions ranked from lowest value to highest and then the game ending Climatic Mission.

 

[caption id="attachment_2417" align="alignnone" width="3233"] Bonus Tiles - three of which are used each game[/caption]

 

These missions form the focus of each game, and there is a nice assortment of them, as missions can vary with their requirements as a mixture of, or a sole requisite of Science, BioTech and/or engines. And it is here that we encounter the most interesting, and most frustrating aspect of this game: getting the right parts at the right time. At the beginning of the game the board is filled with parts, and then at the end of each round, anything that was 'sold' is replaced.  However, since there is no seeding of the deck, nor a separate deck for each part "type", the draft is very random.  So, important, game-necessary cards, like, I don't know, engines, for example, don't appear quite as frequently as one would hope

 

[caption id="attachment_2421" align="alignnone" width="2539"] Engine dice - these dictate how powerful your engine is.[/caption]

Now kids, remember getting into space is really difficult because you have to break away from the Earth’s gravitational pull. Which is really, really hard. In order to do that you need really powerful engines. So when only one appears in Farlight Station, it becomes very highly sought after. Even Two engines mean that most players are going to be bidding on both of them, and probably bidding high, this essentially creates a bottleneck of bids, since only empty slots are replaced, you can end up with only two or three cards being drafted. So the “issue” is not only exacerbated but is self-serving.

 

 

[caption id="attachment_2427" align="alignnone" width="4032"] Not every Mision requires engines, these few are easy pickings for Science & Biotech ships[/caption]

 

 

Is it really a problem? For me, it’s not a deal breaker, it is frustrating, and I think there are some easy ways around it, or even a little House Ruling to make it flow a little better. But, for others, this could be too much. It does create an individual economy per game, in the same way that a scarcity of one resource in say, Splendor does alter how everyone plays, but unlike Splendor, there is no way to get around not having an engine on your spaceship (although you can get around Science and BioTech, which is odd). And if you ever hope to achieve one of the Climatic Missions then you need engines. At least two, but more likely three.

 



So let’s do the maths. In a five player game, each player is going to really want/need three engines, so that will be fifteen engines in all. Of a possible sixteen, and to me that seems pretty tight, and in the games I've played, it has been.

 

[caption id="attachment_2428" align="alignnone" width="4032"] Missions aplenty for your would be tech companies to attempt[/caption]

 

The Climatic Missions themselves also present their own quirk, and that is a linear narrative. These missions almost force the game to move in a specified direction - which really does feel like your choices are being stricken off as you advance through the game.  Normal missions are stacked in front of these, so the Climatic Missions can’t be attempted until the stack is clear, meaning that as soon as two of the normal missions are resolved, all players now focus on that column, making the others more or less redundant, since winning a climatic mission will pretty much bag that player the win.

 

[caption id="attachment_2433" align="alignnone" width="3026"] Winning the game comes with a little winner card - which is nice[/caption]

 

Since these missions are so high scoring that in some cases it can be the only mission a player accomplishes and they still end up winning.  Obviously, this does sour the milk a little for everyone else playing.  That being said, you can stop a player running away with the lead,  you can outbid them as rarely will an opponent just need one part.  It is within every player's power to stop and hinder that winning bid, but again, by doing so, this limits your choices.

 

[caption id="attachment_2424" align="alignnone" width="4032"] He really wants that piece...or are all of those low bids, it could be 4, or 11[/caption]

 

You could argue that the game is broken, or that it isn’t balanced, etc. and I could argue with you, but I wouldn’t argue particularly hard or for very long. However, and it’s a big HOWEVER, the game is really good fun. I’ve really enjoyed playing it, each and every time. Unlike Steampunk Rally (which has a similar feel, and tile placement mechanic), where all the players are building at the same time, in Farlight you have time to take stock and see what everyone else is doing. You can bluff and inflate the cost of a valuable piece for your opponents that you know they really, really want while you pick up that other thing. And there is a great sense of satisfaction when you win a tile on a low bid because you’ve misdirected everyone. Or when you bid here, and then there, to do that, so that next turn you can do the other thing. It’s a game that wants you to plan and more importantly to it wants you to scheme. It creates a wonderful market conflict and for a game with only indirect player interaction, there is usually a lot of trash talk too.

 

[caption id="attachment_2423" align="alignnone" width="3320"] Enter a caption[/caption]

 

Farlight makes for a very enjoyable experience, perhaps a little too random and linear for some gamers, but I've found it to be just the right amount of fun to counterbalance those failings.

The Good

A thought-provoking economics game

Really good fun to play

With the right crowd, it will have some great player interaction

The Bad:

Doesn’t feel very balanced,

Can suffer from a runaway leader

Has a linear and predictable conclusion

This game was purchased/ backed on Kickstarter so some of the contents may vary from retail editions of the game

Pre-Preview: Defection

Pre-Pre-Preview: Defection

Game:	Defection	Release Date:	2018/19
Designer & Artist:	James Tomblin	Player Count:	2 - 4
Publisher	Thunder Vaults LTD	Play Time:	90 - 150 mins

 Defection “should” hopefully be coming to Kickstarter in the first quarter of 2018, this review and the opinions expressed within are based on two full demos and a long conversation with the designer at EGX in September of 2017. Needless to say (but I’ll say it anyway) the version I played was still in development - albeit late development, so between writing this and the final article, the game and art will change somewhat. Now, disclaimer over with, this is Defection:

War has ravaged the galaxy, with factions vying for dominance where the only guaranteed losers are the innocents trapped in the middle. Enter the Defectors, the “heroic” captains who will try and save as many of these innocent souls as they can - and yes, maybe they’ll transport some cargo and earn a few credits in the process. And yes, maybe they’ll pick up some contracts too. OK, yeah, they may just transport goods around to the highest bidder, or maybe even just become a Space Pirate (let’s face it Pirates are cool - fictional ones at least). This is the world of Defection, an almost-4X sandbox-esque game where you really can choose your game.

Mission Briefing:

The principal mechanic in Defection is that of Pick-Up and Deliver - which is the easiest way to accumulate victory points is by transporting civilians from the central planet Keleressa to one of the other inhabitable planets on the edge of the system. Doing so will put your Faction in governance of that planet, which you’ll ideally want to equip with all the cool tech and equipment too. But that means another trip.

We have the technology. We have the capability

Upgrading your ship and crew is a super important consideration, but also increasingly costly. Tailoring your ship, your crew to fit the way and manner of your individual play style and the tone of your gaming group. Buying a brand new ship is another option, one with a different specification altogether. Between crew, weapons, armour, and cargo capacity there are plenty of possible ship configurations to choose from to best suit each game.



3 - 3.5 X

Defection isn’t quite a 4X game, it comes pretty darn close, but it’s not trying to be one either, some of those elements of the well known and much loved Eclipse and Twilight Imperium are there, hinted at even, but this is a very different game. Exterminating being the main aspect which isn’t there, though that isn’t to say you can’t or shouldn’t go on a warpath. You’ll be exploring space each time you move around, flipping the large array hex tiles and thus having to deal with whatever you reveal - only to have that tile replaced by a new one, so each time you make the trip, the journey is different. There are but a few resources in the game for you to exploit/manage, but how you control the ebb and flow of these few directly impact your options - especially when you begin stealing cargo from an opponent’s planet for one of your own.

Make it so

So, what does Defection have which, I think makes it different and unique? Scope. Lots and lots of scope. With a side of scope and sweetened mini-scope for dessert. As the captain of your ship, you will literally decide how you to play this game - of course, there are rules, and there is a suggestion that delivering the most civilians will win you the game - but it is only a suggestion. You don’t have to do that at all. There is no card drawn to tell you your motives for the game, not secret winning conditions etc. The first half of the game you could play as a humanitarian, and then at the drop of a hat become more of a Privateer - collecting contracts and shipping goods to the farthest reaches of the system. How you interact with the other players is also completely in your remit, attack them, don’t attack them, you could even buddy - one as a caravan and one as a guard. The choice really is yours.



Oh, and then there’s the War, acting as both a narrative backdrop to your game, but will also impact it, creating keynotes of your individual “story”. This is masterfully and simply orchestrated via a deck of news cards, drawn at various times throughout the game.

And I mustn’t forget to tell you about the aliens. All of those aliens you will certainly encountered in the deepest, darkest parts of space (all of it) that are just there because aliens just love to f*ck everything up. True story, watch any movie with aliens in. You’ll see!

Ah, I nearly forgot the really simple, really quick combat system with custom dice!



There is more, so much more to this game, but for me to tell you, I first need more of it - and that is something I simply can’t wait to do. I played this on the Friday of EGX, on the train home I was strategizing for my next game. On the dog walk of Saturday morning, I had it all worked out. I tried it out on Saturday, again at EGX, and lost horribly. Now I, like you, have to wait for the Kickstarter to end, for the game to be produced and shipped for my next fix - and that can’t come soon enough!

Keep up to date with this game by following along on all the social media places: Instagram, Facebook and Twitter.

James has also been keeping a development diary on Board Game Geek which is well worth a read.