Gale Force Nine Firefly: The Game

My husband and I had been wanting a good two-player game, so we were excited to find Firefly: The Game, as we both enjoyed the show. So far we have really enjoyed the game! It seems to work well with just two players, but is also fun with more.The pros:-Nice quality board, cool money, sturdy cardboard tokens (the ships themselves are only so-so quality, but adequate). You can tell just by the weight and quality of the box that it's a nice game.-Each game is different. The scenario cards change things up (the base game comes with six scenario cards, incl. solo-play card), though ultimately you are doing the same things in each of them-- taking shipping, crime, smuggling, or transport jobs; making money; buying cargo, selling cargo; buying gear; upgrading your ship. Admittedly, after playing through most of these we were getting a little tired of the game and started to feel like we had it figured out, but then we downloaded the "Niska's Holiday" scenario card from the game website and found that more challenging and fun. I believe we spent four hours on that game!-The game has lots of features. Even though the basic gameplay, once you've mastered the rather thick rule book, is somewhat repetitive, different features add exciting twists to the game, such as getting caught by the Reaver or the Alliance cruiser, which sometimes results in dead crew or lost cargo. There are also expansions, which add even more features.-Good variety. The cards present a nice variety of jobs, crew, gear, etc. and again upgrades will add even greater variety, as well as different classes of ships (basic game comes with four firefly class ships).-Fun! Its many features combine to make for a lot of exciting gameplay and fans of Firefly will find many of the quotes and gear amusing.The Cons:-The solo play. Naturally, playing games with other people is more fun, but it's neat that this game can be played alone. I just felt that the rules were a little buggy and not completely clear. Without going into a LOT of detail I can't really explain my qualms here, I just think the solo game really doesn't flow well, and leaves a lot to be assumed. Plus, it's really easy to rig the game to win because in addition to picking a captain as you do in the multi-player game, you may also choose up to four crew members... all you have to do is choose Simon and River because River gets a HUGE bonus if you have Simon as well, which makes it pretty much possible to cheat. At least in the regular game play, you have to work a lot harder to hire the brother-sister duo. Plus, you don't have to pay River for jobs. In the end you make out like a bandit and the solo run looses most of its challenge. At least, that was the feeling I got after a couple solo plays.-The game requires a LOT of space. This is not a con per se, but something people should be aware of. I think it's great that there is so much to the game that you need a big table just to play it, but setting up can be quite a challenge, plus finding space for your personal ship and crew cards, money, upgrades, etc.!Update:After owning Firefly: The Game for about a year we still play it on a weekly basis and have even gotten many family members into it! We have added nearly all available boosters and expansions which changes the game up and makes it much more challenging-- which is a good thing for us. It seems to work best with 2-4 players, but we have played with as many as 8! That game took 11 hours... Next time we had a lot of players we broke it up into multiple games, tournament style, and that worked much better. A standard game between me and my husband lasts an hour or less. The bottom line is: I'm still not sick of this game! It has lots of "replayability". Also, you don't have to be a Firefly fan to play it, many of my family members who have never seen the show still enjoy playing. If you think you would like this game and don't mind a game lasting more than thirty minutes, then you will probably love it and you should buy it right now! You won't regret it. Burn the land, boil the sea, this is still the game for me.

Since there were so many reviews for the main game, I have put off making a review for it and instead opted to review most of the expansions. I think it's about time that I wrote one, so here goes:This game is amazing. I have played it probably about a dozen or so times with varying amounts of players and tried many of the story lines. I'll try to stick with writing about the core game, although (as I will probably mention more than one more time) the game works best with the expansions, IMO.Let me take you through what is included. The board consists of the core (Alliance) space and the border space (technically also Alliance since the unification war was decided in The Alliance's favor). Movement around the board is fairly straightforward and extremely open. There is no set path you must take and your decisions are your own on even how you want to move. You may mosey and move one spot for free and without any drama or you can try to full burn and move as far as your ship will allow on using up a fuel token but be aware, you will have to draw from the Nav Deck every sector (space) you move. You will receive 2 Nav decks (one for moving through core space and one for border space). Some cards will say keep flying, others might have you encounter a derelict ship to scavenge from or maybe you'll end up gathering the attention of an Alliance Cruiser or worse (Reavers!!).There are 5 main supply planets where you can try to pick up gear, ship upgrades, crew, or even a new drive core for your ship. There are also 5 different contacts who you can meet up with to get paying jobs from. Some are on supply planets (like Persephone where you can also deal with Badger), some are on otherwise empty planets (like stopping off for a chat with Patience on Athens), or you can even board the Alliance Cruiser and deal with Harken for some legal and simpler jobs. Find a crew, Find a job, Keep Flyin...The ultimate objective of the game though depends on which story you choose to play. I believe the core game only comes with the "Standard" Setup. [Let me, again, say how this game truly grows dramatically with the expansions. Most (if not all) expansions come with not only story cards, but also new ways of playing them via the set up cards. One story might seem pretty straight forward but when suddenly you play the Browncoat way, or "The Rim is the Thing", it can really spice things up.] Most stories will take about 2 hours as you learn the game, but be prepared for your first match to take about double that as you learn the nuances of the rules. Looking for a friend, but everyone is working/on vacation/etc.? Well you're in luck, because there is single player mode in which you are racing against the clock. I'd still recommend you play with at least one other person. As you grab more friends in the mix, the game will be longer especially if you are introducing new people to the game. There are 4 ships to choose from in the core game but you can have up to 9 ships via expansions. I couldn't imagine what that would be like, but I have played a 5 person match and it was awesome as we constantly were competing for upgrades and crew while racing for the story goals.I don't want to give too much away here, but I can honestly recommend this game to anyone, even if you haven't seen the show or movie. I would have to say it makes a lot more sense to you if you have, but just all the more reason to catch up on the show too! Also the expansions, although not complete must haves, are very highly recommended IMO. My girlfriend and I love this game so much we actually bought a second copy when we vacationed at a family members condo in Florida. We found it funny how small the board seemed after having played with the other expansions, but it was still a lot of fun without them. We left it there with the thought that maybe we'll add something to it every time we go.Tl;Dr: It's fun and worth the purchase.