That made the flow of the game a bit easier to understand, but still, learning Gaia Project from scratch is a big undertaking. When reading the rulebook, the gameplay instantly reminded me of Clans of Caledonia (which is no surprise, since Clans was inspired a lot by Terra Mystica’s ideas). The rulebook is quite thick and there’s another one for automa. So I played a few games against the automa and re-read the rules a couple of times. You know, you can’t open the rulebook for the first time when the whole group is looking at you – you’ve got to know what you’re doing before to ease the process for everyone else.
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I knew the game had quite complex rules and I wanted to know how to play it before I teach it to somebody else. Gaia Project both is and isn’t a very complicated game. Learning Gaia Project – Steep learning curve Their insert is excellent and helps with setting up and storing the game immensely. I was lucky enough that guys over at Folded Space helped me out.
The setup is otherwise tedious and awkward. ( Jaws of the Lion proves it’s possible to make good stock plastic inserts).Īs is the case, you’ll need some sort of storage solution anyway – either buy from a third party or make it on your own. But I’m sure players would be willing to pay some extra money if there would be at least something included. Ok, it shaves a few pounds off the price. I find it hard to understand how publishers think that having hundreds of components packed in plastic bags is a good idea. The storage solution is a bit of a problem. (Ignore the paper wipes.) Storage is a letdown
While I have been a strong advocate of wooden pieces, I’ve got to admit Gaia Project has convinced me that quality plastic pieces are possible too. There are many small plastic playing pieces: player tokens, power tokens, resource markers, buildings, and various others. While you’ll be referencing the rulebook for the first couple of times to understand what exactly the end-game goal (among other things) is this time, you’ll eventually understand the icons as natural and logical. The iconography is consistent throughout the whole game.
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The planets are colorful and easily distinguishable the player boards are easy to read and offer all the necessary information (costs, income, upgrade trees, special abilities, terraforming costs), which makes the gameplay smooth. But that doesn’t make Gaia’s artwork dull. Unsurprisingly, the prevailing color in space is black. Although the basic principles remain, each adds its own twist to the rules and has special abilities that will thoroughly change the play style. On the other hand, the gameplay asymmetry of the factions is superb. Keep in mind this is a space-themed eurogame, not a thematic or 4x space game. The game offers no background on why they look like they do (“Oh, my guys look like birds!”)¨, where they come from, and why they want to colonize so badly. Thematically speaking, the factions themselves are a bit of a letdown. The main routes of points-amassing are round goals, end-game goals, and your scientific progress. Victory is therefore decided solely on victory points. Surprisingly, the factions thrive if there are others in the neighborhood (this gives bonuses at upgrading and charging power), so the expansion is a balance between looking for open space and still staying close to others. There’s just the competition for planets. There are no space battles, spying, trading, or other direct player interaction. The whole process of colonizing is a peaceful affair. On top of that, there are Gaia planets that can be used by everyone and transdimensional planets, which must first be transformed into Gaia planets by undertaking a large project – Gaia Project.
The other planets must be terraformed to your liking. They are set to colonize the universe, comprised of seven basic planet types, but only one kind is habitable for your faction. In Gaia Project, you play as one of 14 factions. Although it was a German edition, the gameplay is completely language-independent. Playing time: 1-3 hours, depending on player countĬomplexity: heavy The game was kindly provided to us by Feuerland Spiele. Factsĭesigners: Jens Drögemüller, Helge Ostertag I think this gives this review extra value, especially for players that have not been in the hobby that long. Therefore I can review and judge Gaia Project as a game on its own, without any prejudice. I have the “privilege” of learning the games in the “wrong order”. So a direct comparison is in order.īut not my review. Most of the Gaia Project reviews I’ve read start by using Terra Mystica as the cue. Is Gaia Project rightfully among the all-time best board games? Introduction to Gaia Project Board Game Review It’s the second edition of an excellent game, boarding perfection. In this Gaia Project Board Game Review, read about one of the more complex strategy games on the market.
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