Space Station Assault is a non-collectable card game that allows two
players to wage war against each other using intergalactic armadas of scouts,
fighters, corvettes, gunships, frigates, destroyers, cruisers, battleships,
dreadnaughts, behemoths, and space stations.
One of the most appealing aspects of this game is how quick and easy
to is to learn and play. Full rules for the game fit on a single sheet of
paper, and can be learned in just minutes--allowing players to spend time
using them, not trying to figure them out. Once the mechanics of the game
are mastered, a single game can be played in about 15 minutes. |
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Game components include two 55-card decks, one with black borders and
the other with red, and a sheet of rules. Each deck includes four blanks,
which can be used to replace damaged cards or to create new sorts of ships.
Players will also need some sort of tokens to track damage to their ships
(e.g., coins, dice). |
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Art for the game, by artists Lon Chaney and Steve Wilson, is impressive--and,
frankly, would be twice as impressive if it were different for each side.
Game development is expensive, however, and twice as much original art might
have ultimately made this game a lot less affordable. And the use of identical
art for each side is justified in the game's brief backstory, which explains
that the conflict presented in the game takes place between the two factions
of a divided fleet.
Mechanics for the game are simple and elegant. Each card represents one
of a dozen different sorts of vessel, each of which has four characteristics:
Speed, how fast it can move; Firepower, how much damage it can deal; Shields,
how much damage it can withstand; and Victory, how many points it is worth
to an opponent who destroys it. This latter characteristic ranges from 1
(scout and corvette) to 60 (space station). Object of the game is destroy
60 points worth of enemy ships.
Players place their space station on the table at the beginning of the
game and then draw 10 cards each turn, playing them all in "waves"
as determined by their speeds, fastest to slowest, and placing them adjacent
to ones already on the table. Individual strategies revolve around whether
to achieve victory by trying destroy many enemy ships or just the space
station, and to what extent to concentrate on attacking the opposing force's
and defending one's own. |
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| All in all, Space Station Assault is a very solid game, a
lot of fun to play, and a good value for the money. Highly recommended,
especially for experienced gamers who periodically want to play games with
less seasoned friends, relatives, or children. |
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