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Board game review & gameplay of: Starship Captains

  • 8/10
  • 14+
  • 1-4 players
  • 40-60 minutes

Gameplay

Each player controls their own ship and fights pirates, loses shipdamage, upgrades their ship with new technology and complete missions in order to gain the most victory points in the end!

On a turn players select 1 of 2 actions. Either using the workers to solve a mission or moving a worker to 1 of the 4 rooms:

🔴: move 1 or 2 spaces on the board

🟡: fight a pirate and gain the benefit

🔵: upgrade your ship with special player powers, 1 time bonusses or end of game goals

🔘or any: remove 1 damage

when resolving a mission, each line should be filled by a worker, if the color matches, a bonus unlocks! Some of the bonuses will let players progress on 3 tracks, gaining bonuses and points.

After each round players gain some extras, a medal or new cadet grey worker and after the fourth round players calculate scores!

Thoughts

This game has a lot of ‘then I do this, then this activates, making this available…’. I really like these type of games. Usually, they lean more towards the heavy side, while this game is surprisingly light and forgiving.

👍 the artwork is really fun and gives strong Lower Decks vibes, which I now really want to watch ☺️

👍 the gameplay is elegant and simple, but provides an interesting puzzle. I also like that there are not a lot of wrong choices to make.

👍 at the end of the rulebook there's a long list of scores with a short sentence about how well you did.

👍➖ Perhaps some players expect a bit more from this game, since the table presence is enormous.

Solomode

The solomode consists of a simple deck of cards and is very easy to handle. It provides just enough tension to ensure a lovely puzzle. I personally love the depth and length of this sologame.

8/10

A copy of this game was provided to me by Czech Games Editions for the purpose of writing this review. My opinion however remains my own.

Boardgamegeek BGG

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