Archive for the 'Theseus' Category

Theseus is a really interesting, tactical game – you can read my review here.  Bots is an expansion that adds a new faction to pick from.  Apart from that, I haven’t seen any other details about it at the moment.  However, I like the main game Theseus so I’m interested in an expansion for it.

Portal Games have a pre-order page for Spiel on their site which can be reached using this shortlink: bga.me/portal14

For more Spiel 2014 previews, check out my Spiel 2014 Previews page which lists the games on my radar with links to their previews too.

James.

Theseus is a sci-fi game set on a space station where the different factions (soldiers, scientists, aliens and greys) are trying to take control.  The setting and photos may give the impression it’s a complicated game, but it’s actually a eurogame that is relatively quick and contains some good tactical play.

THE GAME
Players take turns moving their units around different locations (sectors) on the space station.  Each sector is a separate board piece and these are arranged in a circle: one sector for each player’s faction, plus one each for the Corridors, Control Room and Tech Bay.  Each sector has 4 rooms (in the circular area) as well as several spaces for action cards (the oblong areas) which players will place during the game.  Each player has their own unique deck of action cards.  These first enter the game by being placed next to sectors (called ‘pending’ cards) which may get to be placed (‘installed’) on a sector later.

On their turn, a player must move one of their 3 units a number of sectors clockwise equal to the number of units currently on the unit’s starting sector, i.e. if there are 2 units on a sector, then a unit moved from there moves 2 sectors clockwise.  A moved unit is placed in one of the 4 rooms (arranged in a 2 x 2 grid) on the sector they move to.  Some rooms have walls between them which block combat.  If all 4 rooms are full, the arriving player ejects one of the units there into space and takes their position.  If a unit’s move means all the rooms in the sector are now full, all units belonging to the player whose turn it is attack other units in that sector.  (Only soldiers start with combat ability; whereas, other factions’ units need upgrading first.) Read the rest of this entry »

Theseus is a sci-fi game set on a space station where the different factions (soldiers, scientists, aliens and greys) are trying to take control.  They do this by either reducing a faction to zero life points, and the scientists and grey can win by collecting 20 data points.

Players take turns moving their units around different locations (sectors) on the space station and playing cards.  Each sector is a separate board piece which are arranged in a circle: one sector for each player’s faction, plus one each for the corridors, control room and tech bay.  Each sector has spaces for cards (that players will be placed during the game) as well as 4 rooms.

On their turn, a player moves one of their units a number of sectors clockwise equal to the number of units currently on their unit’s starting sector (which reminds me of the movement system in Finca – and that’s a good thing).  After their move, a unit is placed in one of the new sector’s 4 rooms (arranged in a 2 x 2 grid).  Some rooms have walls between them which affects combat.  If all 4 rooms are full, the arriving player ejects a unit into space and takes their position.  (Already I can see some humourously nasty screwage of other players.)  If a unit’s move means all the rooms in a sector are now full, combat occurs in that sector and all units attack anyone they can based on who they can see and what combat ability they have.  (Only soldiers have combat ability to start; whereas, other factions’ units need upgrading first.) Read the rest of this entry »