Don’t misconstrue this. I’m not displaying character. Just temporary insanity.
Take a trip back into classic 80s sci-fi as we unbox Dark Moon!
Enjoying my teens to early twenties in the 80s as I did, and being a big fan of such classics as The Thing, The Abyss and Alien, I was immediately attracted by the graphic design of Dark Moon by Stronghold Games. The game was originally a print-and-play dice-based version of Battlestar Galactica, but has gone on to lead a life of its own.
And it’s a very fun game. Though initially a bit confusing, it soon all falls into place, and can result in some of the most entertaining confrontations you can find in a boardgame. You’ll soon be accusing your opponents of being infected and desperately fending off their accusations, while constantly trying to save the crew from being exposed to cosmic radiation, death by failed life support system, or the catastrophic results of an entire station shutdown. Unless you’re infected of course, in which case all of these outcomes are exactly what you’re working towards!
There’s a rules summary on the way, but in the meantime let’s unbox Dark Moon together.
I’m sorry. Dark moon is a terrible game. I was excited to try something that started as BSG(battlestar galatica) express….and when I tried it almost every thing that happened I said “oh… Bsg did this better”. This game is a perfect example of how “streamlining”is not always a good thing.
Wow, I’ve played two games (5 and 7 players) and both of them were fantastic fun. Wrong group of people maybe? Doesn’t work with a certain number of players? I’ve only played BSG once and would like to play it more, but it seemed to go on too long.
It is *very important* in this game to have an odd number of players. With even numbers it’s balanced too hard in favor of the humans.
I thought it was a fun game, that took the traitor essence of BSG, and made for a shorter but equally intense hunt-the-traitor session.
The styling of the board, and the characcters was in keeping wiht its homage to The Thing, with a touch of Outland.
The general criticisms of the rules book layout and clarity of content are valid, and I wish I had thought to check EoG for a decently written rules summary aforehand. Rectified, printed and laminated.
It should make the next game much smoother to play – and with a runtime of 60–90 minutes, much easier to bring out to the table than BSG.
Many thanks again, EoG!
My pleasure!
fantastic underated gem!
This is a great game, but the rulebook has at least one serious misstep: using the term “players” to refer specifically to “uninfected human” characters. No, dummy, the “players” are the real human beings sitting around the table playing your game! With a normal person’s interpretation of the word, infected aliens can Give Orders, which is game-breakingly unbalanced. (The clarification of the term is in one-location only, later in the rulebook.)
As I said in another comment, I’ve found that it’s crucial to have an odd number of players for this game. Three humans to one alien, or four against two, just doesn’t play well; it’s much too hard for the aliens. Still, I occasionally have a game where (by dumb luck) it’s a total cakewalk for the humans; but generally this game is great fun.
The way I’ve found to explain the rules to people is to treat it as a straight cooperative, and then add the traitor elements to it.
By some weird combination of bad luck, I still have never played the expansion! Bought it practically the day it came out, but somehow haven’t gotten it to the table yet.
Coincidentally I just played 2 more games of this after a long break – a 5 player and 7 player game. Both great fun. But I haven’t yet used the expansion either.