Preview #3: Divided Loyalty
by JR Godwin

In the few remaining weeks before the release of Battlestar Galactica: The Board Game, we will be presenting a series of articles that expand on concepts found in the rules. The complete rulebook can be downloaded free of charge on the Support section of this website.

Humanity's only hope lies in finding Earth's location while fighting off the unrelenting Cylons. But as resources run low, it is discovered that the enemy can now appear human and has infiltrated the fleet from the inside.

So far you've seen how to overcome the Crisis cards with skills and how the Cylons can take down the fleet. This week we find out where these Cylons get their powers and ways to hamper the Cylon activities.

At the start of the game the loyalty deck is assembled. Each deck will consist, depending on the number of players and which characters have been chosen, of between five and nine You Are Not A Cylon and between one and four You Are A Cylon cards. At the start of the game each player is dealt one or more (depending on special abilities) of these loyalty cards. Then the deception begins.

As a Cylon player, your goal is to disrupt the human plan without being overt. The occasional card thrown in to lower a score can work in your favor, as a Crisis check that only fails by one still fails. Be careful about throwing in multiple cards, as the destiny deck can only hide you if there are only two negative cards when revealed. If three show up, the humans will know a Cylon is on board. HINT: If a card allows someone to look at another player's loyalty cards, and the person looking is not you, try to make it fail. The potential to declare someone a liar is very small, while the potential for everyone to believe you are a Cylon is high.

As a human, remember that you might be a Sleeper Agent, not knowing that you are a Cylon until halfway through the game. Keep this in mind as you look at the crisis cards. Before the sleeper agent phase, you may want to have some things fail. Certain tests that aren't too damaging can be sabotaged without hurting your chances should you prove to be a loyal human.

This can also prove quite funny if people start accusing each other when you, a loyal human, were the one to throw in the negative skill. Once the sleeper agent phase happens, and you know if you are a human or a toaster, you can then begin to steer the ship towards the appropriate destination. If you end up being human, you can easily halt the advance of the dials as you are now throwing your full support behind the Battlestar. If you end up being a Cylon, you now don't have as high a hurdle to overcome.


Next week we look at the first part of a sample game, as played by our friends at the Rochester Gaming Club down in Rochester, MN.

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