Welcome to my second blog post for a playtest, in these sections I will be playtesting a non-production copy of a game I have been sent by the publisher to provide feedback. In this section I will talk about the game and what I like, dislike, and anything else that comes to my mind! In this blog post I will be talking about the strategy/fun card game UFO Wave by Paradigm Games that is already on Kickstarter and already funded so go check it out: UFO Wave: The Tactical Card Game Of Alien Supremacy by Paradigm Games — Kickstarter
Let us of course talk about the basics;
Players: 1 - 6
Age: 8+
Time: 20 - 45 minutes
Setting up the game
The game is really easy to set up and the rulebook provides a clear and precise image on how to set up the game. We were able to set up the game quickly with no issues and we found ourselves playing the game in minutes!
How to play?
We did find the rulebook easy to read and understand but the game does take a few play throughs to get to grips with how it works. This is not a fault on the game more a fault on us for not double checking the rules and thinking we knew the ins and outs of this game. We did not haha. The people behind the game are friendly and chatty which I liked. This is a fun card game with a strategy element as you need to plan which cards to take that will really benefit you or hinder another players ET score, the main goal is at the end of the game to have the higher ET score. In the game you will pick a starting alien race (you can pick this or make it more random and select a random race!) and then you will pick and play cards to try and help you become the master alien race, it sounds simple and the game is but there is a lot more to this game! There are 3 types of cards and in these card groups there are different card types (I say 3 there is really 4 as I like to think the event cards are their own type);
Event cards - You will use only 2 of these in the deck which is picked at random
Scan cards - These are the ones that create the scan area (talk about this later)
Plan cards - These are the ones you draw and make up your hand
Species cards - The ones you use to pick your starting alien race
These are the card types that you will use in the game, now let us look a bit more in depth at these;
Event cards:
There are 10 event cards and only 2 are used in the game (selected at random) this is added to the scan cards, when the event is drawn all players must action the event if they are able to do so.
Scan cards:
To create a scan area you first set up the scan deck, you take all the scan cards (minus the 8 unused event cards) and shuffle them, place them at the top of the play area with space for a discard pile.
You then take 7 cards and lay them under the deck in a line and this creates the scan area! This is where you will take 1 card (sometimes more depending on the card) and fill it back up, the game ends if the scan deck and area is empty or no humans or activity cards are left. The scan cards are how you will gain ET points or loose them depending on the cards!
Plan cards:
The plan cards are all shuffled and placed near the top with the scan cards and with space for a discard pile also. Each player is dealt 5 plan cards when the game starts. These cards are used to protect yourself, help you gain more ET points or hinder other players. They also contain craft cards which can help you discard human cards you have on you or boost your power cards! Which can be very handy! You can also play has many of these as you wish on your turn before you take a scan card!
Species cards:
These are the species you will play, each one does have a unique bonus and you will want to make sure you are using this!
The turn order goes;
Draw Phase - Draw a card from the Plan deck.
Preparation Phase - Play as many cards from your hand as you wish.
Action Phase – Check the visible Scan cards then either perform an Activity by picking it up and adding it to your score pile face down, or lead a Human on the Scan to an opponent or yourself by picking it up and placing it in front of the relevant player face up. Draw new Scan cards to fill in any gaps.
Discard Phase -If you have more cards in your hand than your maximum hand size, initially six, discard down to that amount. Simple enough... right? it is, trust me!
Here is a link to the rulebook if you want to have a read! CLICK ME please note that this is not the final rulebook!
How did it play?
The first play test left us confused but we had read some of the rules wrong and assumed how some of them worked.... Not a good start from us! Then we played the game again and it played a lot better but that is because we were playing it correctly! I found myself always thinking about what cards I should take to maximise my ET score and make sure I was hindering the other players. There are so many little rules to this game that make it great!
For example, there was a abduction card I really wanted however it hand a human card (men in black one (baddddd)) and a negative power card next to it, now I could take the card as it was worth 5 points +2 for my species bonus but I would possibly loose 5 points due to the cards next to it that I would have to take.... This was a hard choice to make and I ended up doing something completely different.
The plan cards at first seemed a bit strange until I got to grips with how to use them to my advantage and soon I was really hindering everyone else and making sure I was protected! That really made my day and annoyed everyone else which I liked! It plays really well and you can tell from playing this game that they have spent some time play testing the game, tweaking it, sending it out for people to play test and so much more so I am pleased to see that it was funded within the first 3 days! Lets just do a quick likes and dislike list;
Likes;
The strategy element. How easy it is to play once you know the rules. The concept behind the game, you can see research went into the game. The art work on the cards.
The simple nature of the game and how easy you can teach this to other people. Dislike; Myself for not reading the rules correctly the first time. There is a lot to this game when you get down to all the rules and how the game works but not so much you feel confused by them. There is a great balance with this game and I liked that about it.
Should you back the game?
Yes, if you love fun card games with a strategy element, if you like games with a unique style or if you like aliens. It is worth backing and I myself have backed it!
Yes I have covered my real name and replaced it with my Instagram account name this is not fake haha I have really backed this game!
Final thoughts
At first we were a little confused by the game and how it played but that is because we read the rules wrong and missed out elements. Once we played again and correctly we found the game played really well with a great balance.
You really need to think about what power cards you will use and what scan cards you will take because this can really help you win the game. If you go into this game just taking cards without thinking about it you will soon find other players taking the lead. The game is easy to play and fun, the art work really stands out and you can see a lot of effort was put into this game.
The more you play this game the more you start to realise that there is quite a bit to this game. I found that by my 5th and 6th game I was just starting to really get a good concept of how to play the game.
Like I said I think this game is really worth backing and I have backed it myself so please if you can spare any money then go and back this game.
I would like to point out I was not paid for this, they asked me to be honest and this is my genuine feedback!
8/10 - BACK IT! Now because it is live on kickstarter!
