I think about buying this game, because I like Descent alot and it's also semi-cooperative, but I'm somehow not the greatest Battlestar Galactica fan. So what do you think is it worth a try?

Alex,

While I've never played "Descent," I really can't be effusive enough in my praise of the BSG board game. To put the conversation in context, some of the other games my group regularly will play include "Dominion" (overrated, in my estimation), "Power Grid," "Pandemic", "Small World", "Arkham Horror", "Puerto Rico", "Carcassone" and "Settlers of Catan." However, there is general consensus among the group that of these, BSG is the best.

To me, it's not even close, and I'm not speaking out of nostalgia for the TV showseveral players in the group were unfamiliar with BSG prior to playing the game. This board game does such a fine job of combining the best elements of cooperative games like "Arkham Horror" and "Pandemic" with incomplete information games like "Werewolf," with appropriate strategic and thematic elements. I highly recommend it. Hope this helps!

Holy Outlaw said:

I have to agree with His Holiness here. The first time I played Battlestar Galactica I had never seen the show. But that had absolutely no affect on my enjoyment of the game. In fact, I probably enjoyed it more because of it. It allowed me to spend more time focusing on the game than noticing any inconsistencies between game and show. It was only after playing the game a few times that I borrowed Season 1 from a friend and watched it.

The game mechanics are wonderful. I'm a huge fan of semi-cooperative games such as BSG and Shadows Over Camelot. And I love that you never know if a player is a traitor or isn't. That has led to some games where the accusations were flying high and hard (in a friendly manner of course) and those were some of the most enjoyable game sessions we had.

FFG posts all their rulebooks online so my suggestion is to read through the rules and see if the game matches the type of games that your group likes to play. If so, it's definitely worth the pick-up.

My wife liked BSG well enough the first two seasons, then started to seriously dislike it during the third. And she loves playing BSG. The game is perhaps better when you know who the characters are and why things happen the way they do (based on teh show), but knowledge or interest in the show is irrelevant to the game itself. It is a solid game that is incredibly fun to play.

I enjoy Arkham horror a lot (because I can play solo) but my friends and brother LOVE BSG! One of my friends who played two games of BSG got so into it he wanted to see the show after. BSG is great if you have people who don't like pure co-op games. BSG is a quick setup (compared to Arkham).

It just depends what you're looking for I guess. If you want a striaght 3v1 game, fantasy style with monsters and treasure and stuff, play Descent. One of my friends described Descent in a very apporpriate way IMO as "It's Dungeons and Dragons but without all that pesky 'roleplaying'. " That's pretty much accureate. Personally, I guess I'd rather just play Dungeons and Dragons if I wanted that kind of game. But not everyone would agreed, Descent has the advantage that you can play a game in a couple of hours, as opposed to a long drawn out campaign. And as my friend suggested, it's probably better for those who arent much interested in story and just want to smash things.

As for the BSG game, the main thing is that its hidden teams, so there is an element of trying to figure out who is human and who is cylon. If you just want a combat game, Descent probably handles it better, but if you want something that's a bit more sublte, then BSG is a blast.

Another consideration is how many players you plan on having. 3 -4 players, play descent, 5 or more players, play BSG. -note, we often do 4 player games of bsg anyway, but I wish we had a 5th.

Having played both, I much prefer BSG over DESCENT.

The two games are only really comparable in that they both have co-operative elements. DESCENT is much more like MIDDLE EARTH QUEST and other Adventure-style games, wherein it pits a number of players against a single Enemy player. Other games do this, like the old HERO QUEST game and even the BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER game. I was unimpressed with DESCENT: no sense of narrative, just hack n slash... Effectively DIABLO the board game or, as a previous poster stated, D&D without the RPG.

BSG is a different kettle of fish and pits the players against attrition with one or more hidden traitors making things worse. This can be seen in other games such as SHADOWS OVER CAMELOT and WEREWOLF. BSG is the best version of a "traitor" game I've played.

Take from that what you will!