Z. Johnson - 09:54pm Dec 26, 2000 PST (#1953 of 1965)

[This being the fantasy/sci-fi group, I feel justified in providing a
full-length review of the recent AH release Star Wars Episode I]

As I had a very positive experience with the latest AH release (Battle
Cry, strongly recommended) I decided to pick up the Star Wars Episode I
themed game released just a few days ago. It had the rather intriguing
premise of having the players fight four battles simultaneously with a
card-driven system.

Theme: OK, I guess. I wasn't terribly keen on Episode I, it's all about
The Empire Strikes Back as far as I'm concerned.

Components: Excellent, of course. They're using a new, soft plastic, so
no cutting figures off plastic frames. The units are large and bend
rather than break, but they do have that burnt styrofoam smell all
former Boy Scouts know well. The cards are not meant to be shuffled (I
bent one trying, sigh).

Rules: Clear, with a nice long example of play. That's a good thing,
because each of the four battles has its own rules. The rules for each
are fairly straightforward, but still, this will be a bit of a tough
game for beginners. One missing item: they didn't mention what to do
when you run out of cards (reshuffle the discard pile, I'd assume).

The Cards: Both players get the same number of cards, and play cards one
at a time to alter one battle or another. Success in a battle is
partially, but not entirely, a function of the amount of attention you
give it. The cards are quite balanced; I didn't find one type or another
piling up in my hand, nor did I find one side's or the other's to be
more powerful.

Anakin in Outer Space: Just like the movie, this battle is all about
luck (OK, the Force, whatever you'd like to call it). Oddly enough, this
is the game-winning battle: when Anakin blows up the ship, it's all over
for the bad guys. It takes a fairly considerable amount of dice-rolling
for that to happen, however, so barring very unusual luck it's a matter
of time. Consequently, the other battles are about buying time (for the
good guys) or cutting it short (for the bad guys).

Darth Maul vs the Jedis: This one is also very much luck, although it's
over much more quickly. The winner of this battle (the good guys have a
slight advantage) is likely to win the next . . .

The Palace: This battle definitely has the most room for skillful play.
The good guys need to move quick into the Throne Room and then hold out
until Anakin does his thing; the bad guys need to slow them down until
they can move in droid reinforcements. The Jedi (or Darth Maul, whoever
survives) give their side a huge advantage here.

The Battlefield: The droid barges generate endless waves of robots, so
for the Gungans it's just a matter of holding out as long as possible.
The bad guys can move troops from the battlefield over to the Palace,
though not quickly.

Overall: At first, this looked like a one-battle game to me: if the good
guys roll lucky with Anakin, it's all over. However, in practice this
isn't likely to happen, so the other battles do have some relevance. The
card management, as well as the tactics, do give this game some room for
good play. The game I played was tense and tightly fought (expect lots
of casualties). One minor down side is that if the bad guys are set to
win it, it does take some time for them to lock down their victory, not
real fun. Overall, I enjoyed it and will look forward to playing it
again.

Side Note: This reminds me of that old Return of the Jedi game where you
fought for the barges, anyone remember the name of that one?

Brady Severns <bradyseverns@earthlink.net> wrote in message 
<3A3D77CD.2608A85C@earthlink.net>...
UncleanOne wrote:
 
> Has anyone given this a few tries and could give a review and some insight to
> game play?  Thanks.

Hmm. A few tries? No, just one. But I'll hazard a review of the experience just
the same.

I did a mechanical walk-through the system on Friday evening and played a
full-blown game this afternoon. I've also posted a brief comment on the quality
of the components (fine quality and remarkably tough) in the Coolest Components
thread. At this point, and based on my limited experience with the game, I'm
pleased to say that I had an enjoyable time playing Queen's Gambit. And I lost,
narrowly, as the Trade Federation.

Queen's Gambit feels like a cross between Fortress America and Battle Cry. It's
like Fortress America in that you are attempting to attack and defend against
your opponent on several different fronts. It's like Battle Cry in that the
sequencing and placement of your attacks are driven by a hand of cards. I
consider the game a close and welcome cousin to the Game Master Series of games.

If you don't know, Queen's Gambit is a two player game (which can accommodate
four) replaying the events of the set-piece battles in the last reel of Star
Wars: Episode One: The Phantom Menace. The set-pieces are the Battle between the
Trade Federation and the Gungans on the plains of Naboo; the recovery of Theed
Palace by the Queen and her bodyguards; the saber duel featuring Darth Maul and
the tag-team of Obi-wan and Qui-Gon; and Anakin's attack on the Trade Federation
Droid Control Ship. That's a lot of ground for a 90-minute game to cover.

To move the game along, each player draws an initial hand of ten cards from
their own deck of action cards. They will choose four of these cards to play
during their turn and arrange them in the order they wished them to be played in
the form of a smaller deck in front of them. On their turn, each player will
alternate playing the top card from this smaller deck, choosing at that time to
execute one of the two options provided on the card. These options will either
allow a player to initiate movement/combat on one of the boards. Some cards even
allow for the deployment of additional Federation forces or their transfer from
the Battlefield to Theed Palace.

In addition, players can receive bonus cards playable in their next turn based
on the number of complete units they can eliminate on the Battlefield. Like
Battle Cry, eliminating the last figure in a unit destroys it. Like Fortress
America, acquiring bonus cards is the key to tipping the scale of battle in your
favor because they represent additional actions and reinforcements you can play
on your turn.

Battle is akin to Fortress America, though more like Mutant Chronicles: Siege of
the Citadel. You get a number and kind of dice based on who or what kind of
figure you are. Palace Guards, Battle Droids, and Gungans get a single gray
(read: sucky) die. Folks like Darth Maul, Obi-wan, and Qui-Gon get three red
(read: hot) dice capable of inflicting multiple hits as well as some defensive
dice to deflect hits. The heaviest hitter in the game is the Trade Fed AAT; that
hover-tank that Jar-Jar clambered around on. It gets four red, two gray, and one
gold (defensive) die. Pretty cool. And fun. Especially if you're a fan of
die-rolling slugathons like Titan and Risk.

Most of the combat is generally ranged (except for the saber duels) and it's
always a simple question of hitting the baddies the firstest with the mostest.
Movement is based on what you are and where you are. Additional cards allow the
Jedi and Destroyer Droids those lightning fast moves you saw in the movie. You
can get bonus cards and effects by knocking off the principals, too. Player-aid
cards help out here and it's not too difficult to keep track off. Gungans,
Battle Droids, and Palace Guards can be taken out with a single hit, Destroyer
Droids, the tanks, principal characters, etc., have a range of damage points
they can sustain before succumbing to their wounds.

Victory in the game hinges on the capture of the two Trade Federation
representatives in Theed Palace: if the Naboo can squeeze one figure more into
Throne room than the Trade Federation can, then the Feds surrender, no matter
how well the fight is going anywhere else. The Feds spend much of their time
deploying new forces on the Battlefield, smashing the Gungan army, and deploying
spare troops to the Palace. The Naboo spend much of their time keeping Darth
Maul at bay and cutting a swath through intervening Battle Droids on their way
to the Throne room.

What seems tucked in the background, but key to shutting down all the droids
across all the boards, is Anakin's effort at getting through the fighter screen
and destroying the Droid Control ship. This is done by advancing Anakin's
fighter along a series of "grids" representing droid fighter screens that Anakin
must slip by to get to the ship. To get by a screen, Anakin must roll a number
on two six-sided dice that the screen has not "covered." Deploying fighter cards
will generally give additional coverage, making the "open" numbers more
difficult to roll.

In my first game, my strategy was to keep Anakin as far away from the Control
Ship as possible, so a couple early card plays involved deploying additional
fighter "grids" along Annakins route, making it more difficult for Anakin to get
by (you can't kill him) and hit the ship. This effort I think ultimately gave
the Feds added time for the deployment of droids later in the game. Also, it's
apparent that while Darth Maul is the toughest single piece on the board, he's
still no match for the combined weight of Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan. So my secondary
goal was to whittle one or both of these guys as early as possible so I could
make a break for the palace and help out the droids. This was a mistake, since I
should have concentrated more effort where I was strongest: the Battle on the
Plains. And that brings us to the topic of strategy...

If the Feds want to earn additional cards (and the opportunity for more
reinforcements in the Palace) he must dedicate a lot of effort to smashing the
Gungan army. It's not hard, and the bonuses will ultimately allow you to perform
additional actions in the Palace or continue the roll-up on the field. In the
meantime, a little effort in keeping Anakin at by deploying a few additional
fighter screens pays big dividends, too.

Conversely, if the Naboo wish to win, they'll want to apply their advantage in
the Palace and in the duel by taking out Maul and getting to the Throne Room
ASAP. As someone else mentioned in a previous post, with Maul out of the way,
the Jedi can dice up droids like a hot knife through butter. But the Naboo
player needs to apply pressure on the Feds by getting Anakin to the Control Ship
fast. The first few screens are easy to get through. The successive ones are
naturally tougher. If the Feds give any effort to fighter defense early, Anakin
has a tough row to hoe.

As for individual tactics...

On the Battlefield, the Feds need to knock out one of the shield-generating
"critters" early. You can do this by blowing an opening with the Battle Droids
and exploiting it with the Destroyer Droids. This will allow their tanks free
reign on the Battlefield and begin the steady stream of reinforcements and bonus
cards. The Naboo want to delay that moment as long as possible by keeping the
Battle Droids at the edge of the defense shield and thus out of range of their
weapons. Use catapults to smash any units that get near the generators.

In the Palace, the Feds should block the windows to the Second and Third Levels
and the Stairwells as quickly as possible. Keep Maul alive and look for an
opportunity to break out of the duel and into the Palace. Keep long, open lanes
for your Destroyer Droids to shoot through in the Palace. The Naboo player needs
to get to the top floor with as many Guardsmen and royalty as they can. Panaka
and the Queens are crack shots and difficult for even the Destroyer Droids to
kill, so don't be afraid use them if you can exploit a quick climb to the top
early on. You'll only see more droids later on.

As for the space battle...Naboo, blow on the dice and hope Anakin rolls hot.
Pushing him through the early grids before the Feds can deploy fighters is both
the main strategy and tactic. The Fed tactics here are to cover the numbers 6,
7, and 8 with whatever "blocking cubes" their fighter cards give them. This
board is the least satisfying to play in the game, but overall probably gets all
the attention it deserves from the system.

Our first game took about 3.5 hours to play, which included set-up, rules
reading and consultation. The box says 90 minutes. I expect my next one will be
much faster, now that I understand the rules and strategy.

Overall, I found Queen's Gambit to be a lot of fun to play and reflected the
tone and balance of the separate battles in the movie well. (In our game,
however, Obi-wan died first and was avenged by Qui-Gon. The two Queens also died
and the hands of those nasty Destroyer Droids before Anakin finally shut down
the Control Ship!) It packs a lot of gaming punch, considering that to play one
game you simultaneously play four smaller ones. It's relationship to MB's old
Game Master Series is palpably strong and a fine stable mate to those titles.

Brady