AEGThe Captain is Dead | Save Your Starship, Fight The Aliens | Cooperative Science Fiction Strategy Survival Board Game | 1-7 Players | Ages 10+

Here’s a “survive dire straits” scenario as the players are crew members on a damaged starship under attack by aliens and the captain has just been killed. Can a random assortment of lower level crew hold off the aliens and stem the damage long enough to repair the jump core and escape to safety?I wasn’t sure what to expect going into this curiously themed cooperative game, dripping with Star Trek homages and a combination of tongue in cheek humor and impending doom.If ever there was a game that exceeded my expectations, it’s The Captain is Dead. The odd premise is incredibly fun and engaging from the moment the game begins, as well as being ingeniously integrated into the gameplay and highly engrossing.There’s a real sense of entropy that the players need to get ahead of to succeed.The mechanics are solid and really conductive to the game’s feel of being able to respond just enough to the ever increasing pressure. Little touches like random starting damage to the ship and distinct, useful player abilities contribute to the immersion. The implementation of the starships various “systems” is a fantastic hook. In general powered up versions of basic actions are available until/unless that system goes down. It makes it important to repair things and gives the players important decisions while still allowing a minimum level of effectiveness and choice when things are damaged/destroyed.The group will need to react to the situation as needed, so there is the possibility of some players could have to to run a lot of “damage control” and end up doing the same things over and over. A willingness to adjust play style to what’s needed is key, so this admittedly might not necessarily appeal to players who prefer to be proactive and have total control over their role in the game.The replayability for this looks to be incredibly high. The random elements in terms of the order of increasingly severe obstacles and a simple but deep card based approach to skills and actions provide great variability from game to game on their own. On top of that though is a variety of player roles with unique powers that have a big effect on gameplay. Changing just one of the four characters we were paying with would have completely changed our strategy and made for a significantly different experience.With four players (three of us were new to the game) things seemed balanced at like the game would scale well to different player counts. With a bit of luck we survived by the skin of our teeth on “Veteran” difficulty (the exact middle of the seven possible levels), which seemed reasonable with a couple of seasoned gamers at the table. Success felt difficult but possible, which is exactly what a good co-op should strive for.Great co-op all around. Maybe not something I’d want to play constantly due to its specific nature, but definitely one I want to revisit at some point. Highly recommended for anyone who’s ok with reactive gameplay and the quirky sci-fi setting.

I describe this game as Star Trek meets Pandemic. You work together with your crewmates -- no factions, no traitors. The "Alert Deck" is your foe and the primary element of random chance in the game. There are no dice. Each player character has a unique set of skills that give them automatic discounts on tasks that they can perform throughout the ship. (The engineer has discounts that allow them to easily repair mechanical systems, for instance.) The strategy comes down to who will go where and do what with the limited number of actions they are provided each turn. By constantly having to draw a problematic event from the Alert Deck every turn, the game keeps players on their toes and forces them to develop short-term strategies while striving toward the constant long-term goal of repairing the jump core.This game has been universally praised by everyone I've played with. I introduced 6 fresh players to this game at a convention recently and so we played with a full crew. Everyone had a blast. If you're into classic sci-fi and co-op games, you want to check out this game.I bought this retail version to replace my copy of the Game Crafters edition, and it's an improvement in almost every way. The fonts are more legible, the player pieces are transparent (cool!) and the layout of the character cards is tidier. Unfortunately there is the icon misprint on the Counselor card that all known copies of this version have, but that has no effect on gameplay as long as you point it out to the player who selects that character.Game Crafter made two expansions to the original game. I really hope those get re-released in the style of this retail version.

...this is the game for you. It's a great cooperative game. I'm a huge Trekkie, and I just love how much the game screams "I'm NOT violating copyright, I promise!!!" Bonus cards named "Make It So," and "Grown the Beard," a cyborg that has an ocular implant above her left eye, a hologram that gets stuck in only one room, and a crewmember wearing a red shirt that automatically dies if someone in the room should get injured. Yeah... this is totally NOT Star Trek. :) And that's why I love it.The game play is decently simple, although there are many different systems with their own rules that you have to follow in order to get through the game. There is variety in game strategy, many characters with special abilities to choose from, and some cool system upgrades that you can "research" to make gameplay easier. Always try to win the game before you get to the final section of the cards, the red section, because one of them literally says you lose. So, win before you happen upon that card. :)

Probably one of my favourite board games

This is an awesome game. Play it alone or play it with friends... all you need to do is stay alive and fix the jump drive. If you don't... it won't just be the Captain that is Dead. This was a present for my wife on Christmas and she really, really, REALLY wanted it. I was happy with the price and shipping... the item came quick and was well in time for Christmas.Great game and seller.

It’s quick to learn, quick to play cooperative game. Great advantage is that it’s for min 2 players max 7. The game is tough to beat but very fun and progressively hectic. Strongly recommended!

Difficult, quite strategic gameplay

Lots of fun to play but be careful not to get the engineer locked in the engineering room whilst injured, with teleporting and shields down!!! ..... Kaboom!!! 🤣