Lautapelit.fi Eclipse: 2nd Dawn for the Galaxy

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Despite its flaws, Eclipse 2nd dawn is the more approachable format for players that fills that particular space epic itch without having your hair turn gray during a game. The production quality is outstanding, and the Game Trayz organizers are the Holy Grail for players who appreciate a functional and aesthetically pleasing insert- which is something that Twilight Imperium, over its various incarnations over 25 years, has yet to do for the convenience of its dedicated player base. So instead of gauging whether or not my opponent would be willing to commit extra resources/cards etc. to more solidly defend a territory, as I might in some 4X games, I’m instead simply crunching odds with something resembling on-the-spot napkin math. I love this part of Eclipse: Second Dawn for the Galaxy because it encourages people to team up (to an extent; ultimately, it’s still each player for themselves), making the game more interesting. Reputation Tiles There are ship-building mini-games, research tech trees, round-to-round upkeep costs that balance your action selection, throaty space battles with handfuls of dice, numerous alien species that offer novel permutations on starting abilities and weaknesses, and exploration of tiles that are unknown but invariably one of a handful of types found in the game. In the center is a big ‘ol space station on a hex that promises a bunch of victory points but can be difficult to defeat and then maintain.

To win Eclipse: Second Dawn for the Galaxy, you need to be the player with the most victory points at the end of eight rounds. Research new Techs by paying their Science costs and placing the researched Tech Tiles on your Species Board There are a lot of ideas to get your head around, so I’ll explain everything you need to know as simply as possible. Activations and ActionsEclipse also gets the nod with some of my friends because in many sessions of TI, someone is very clearly “out of it” by about the midway point. The latter half of the (very long) game is rarely great for them. There are ways to mitigate this, but we’re not power gamers, so it’s an occasional issue for us. Eclipse obscures enough of the victory point information that hope generally stays alive until near the end.

I do wish the game still came with a central game board, as it can hard visually aligning the hexes without a reference. Yes it can be done, but it can be a little sore on the eyes of things don’t initially seem symmetrical during the initial game layout. The final action, influencing, is used less frequently, but allows you to take control of empty sectors and gain more colony ships to settle new planets. Usually, sectors start off occupied by one player or another, but if and when a player moves away from a sector they occupied, they’re fair game for anyone who wants to go for them. Because for every action you take there’s a double cost of influence and money which means that every decision you make needs to be geared towards a very clear goal. Are you going for tech? Great! Better hope that no one invades! Are you building towards a military victory? Better get those ship upgrades right or you’ll be very embarrassed when your armada collapses in the face of the enemy defence fleet.

Combat is another animal altogether. Eclipse is clear with its stakes. Your ships are weak and you have to improve them. How you do it is up to you, but you need superior firepower, armor, accuracy - or all three. With the dice generally being more receptive to generating hits (with only one of the die’s six sides guaranteeing a miss), when you initiate a fight it’s because you know what’s coming. Purist fans of both games reel a bit at this comparison, and the majority of text below is spent parsing the differences between the two, and what gamer types might enjoy one more than the other. Unfortunately, you can’t take advantage of both rewards. You’ll have to choose between them (very difficult if you’re indecisive like I am). Unless I need the reward at that precise moment, I always opt for the points. Ambassador Tiles You won’t know the configuration of the map at the start of the game, but after a single play, you’ll know every type of tile that could appear. They generally fall into one of a few types. In my wife’s own words, I can tell if a game is good if she keeps on coming downstairs to the game from her at-home job to take turns all day long. Eclipse provided such an experience for her, despite her initial misgivings. Color me surprised.

Sci-fi as a genre is hugely popular, but in my experience, there aren’t many board games that capture the thrilling possibilities of space travel the same way a movie or TV show could. Influence - You can add an influence token to a system next to one of your own. You can also remove a token from one of your systems if you think you might have overreached yourself. It’s a bit like throwing money down the drain, but it’s also vital because this phase allows you to Produce Materials and Science Resources after you’ve paid.So here in combat, ironically, I think we see the strongest Euro-gaming influence. It’s a system that can be mapped out and calculated more than the premise initially implies. Dice rolls still matter, of course, and outcomes aren’t predictable when sides are more or less evenly matched, but decisions can definitely lean toward the analytical side instead of gut reactions to board state and player dynamics. Players select and resolve Actions during each round until all players pass. Actions are made up of different Activations, varying depending on your Species and Techs. Resources For anyone familiar with first edition, the biggest change might be something that’s not actually related to the game play. In these big games, the set up and put away time can take another hour on top of play time. No longer. With each faction’s pieces in a separate box and each box carefully set up to fit together, it can take only a few minutes to start play and not much longer to put away. Whichever player decides to pass first receives two money and the Start Player Tile for the next round of the game. Sometimes this can be a robust tactical decision, so I’d recommend assessing all your options before deciding what to do. I’m also a TI player, so my aim here is twofold. One, cover Eclipse as it is. Two, compare it directly to TI. As much as I’m able, I’ll keep the two sections separate. But for many gamers like myself, both sections will hopefully have some usefulness.