Battleship Galaxies: The Saturn Offensive is a new offering from the creators of Heroscape that takes the mechanics of MB’s old game, Battleship, and updates it for a new generation of gamers.
A gorgeous 48 graphic novel is included, which highlights the on-going war between the human Intergalactic Space Navy and the alien Wretcheridians. While not essential to the rules, it nevertheless sets an atmospheric scene for the tense space battles you’ll be taking part in.
Battleship Galaxies is set on a large space field, and divided into three main phases: Energy Phase, Deploy Phase and Action Phase. The energy phase gives you an additional ten energy points for the round, and adds a card to your hand. The deploy phase lets you launch ships and play codes (providing you can pay the energy cost), while the action phase is when you send your ships into battle (again, providing you’ve paid the required energy cost).
Hits are determined by rolling a numbered and lettered die and reading out the grid co-ordinates they show (a clever homage to the original game), which is then checked against a gridded card to determine whether your ship has been hit. If it has, you take away the required number of shield pegs. Play continues until the required scenario (of which there are five) is completed.
Fast-paced, well-balanced and with some truly gorgeous miniatures and card interaction, Battleship Galaxies is a solid strategy game that is only really let down by its meagre collection of ships – just 20 are included – and the occasional frustrating randomness of the attack system. Battleship Galaxies: The Saturn Offensive is available from all good hobby and online shops and costs £49.99.
