The Expanse Board Game Thoughts

So yesterday while visiting with our friend Emily, we broke out the game she bought us off our registry - the Expanse Board Game. Emily and I are both very fond of the Expanse, having both read through the books and watched at least some of the TV show. Dani has also watched the TV show with me, so suffice it to say we were excited to give the game a spin. So, here are some general thoughts in no particular order!

I'm mad that I didn't design this game, because it perfectly follows my overarching philosophy of game design. The baseline mechanics are simple, almost childishly so. The game packs its complexity into its cards (which spell out what they do), and in inter-player interactions.

This game is very much in the vein of Scythe where it allows for players to fight,but honestly most of the time there just isn't a very strong incentive to do so. Why fight when you can just ignore the enemy fleet and throw your influence on the base instead? In this regard it manages to be a game where fighting is a strong theme (and indeed, Dani as the UNE threw her weight around and obliterated multiple OPA fleets), without making the game all about that. The real meat and potatoes of the game is in smart card plays, and carefully choosing which card from the available ones to use.

UNE just seems to have really strong abilities on the whole (although their base one is maybe a little lackluster). Diplomats seems quite strong, Hegemony even more so. There are just a lot of ties in this game considering the low cap on influence.

Mars's abilities have very consistent theming, everything pushing them towards being able to control whatever orbital they so desire. However, this focus doesn't seem super worthwhile just due to the overall inefficiency of AP spent on warring and the small number of points gained from Orbital Control. I'm going to adopt a wait and see attitude on this though and want to play the MCR again when we have all four players and there is more fighting over things.

The OPA base ability seems extremely strong, as does Open Rebellion. Scrapships significantly less so. They also benefit from having a clear place they want to focus: Jupiter and Saturn. Every base there produces their bonus resources. You want to basically ignore the Belt and just double-down on controlling these bases. Unfortunately, those Orbitals and in particular that Saturn orbital are likely to attract the attention of the MCR.

Protogen did not make an appearance in our game (and I'm honestly still a little peeved about their promotion to main cast in this game), however, their tech abilities seem extremely good. In particular the nuclear bomb that is the proto-molecule. Their bonus resources make them want to focus on the Belt and Inner planets though, which is inefficient from a fleet allocation perspective. They don't really benefit at all from trying to control the bases of the outer planets. In the four player game, the competition over bonus resources is set up as follows:

Mars competes with the OPA and Protogen
The OPA competes with Mars and Earth
Earth competes with OPA and Protogen
Protogen competes with Mars and Earth

I do like this from a meta-gaming perspective, as the factions in the same band don't have strong incentive to work against each other. Their aims are compatible. Although, based on a story angle I find it strange that Earth and Mars don't necessarily work to cross purposes.

Finally, I'm going to conclude with the best Orbital to seek to control for each faction:

Mars: Saturn (Double Water)
Earth: Jupiter (Double Food)
OPA: Jupiter and Saturn (OMG, 3 Food and 3 Water)
Protogen: Mars (Minerals/Tech).

I look forward to our next game!