by schmloof
This is a session report of TDaver's Revelations fan expansion.It was a 5-player game, going to Colony using the Pegasus, Cylon Fleet, and Cylon Civil War modules. The players were:
Once again, I was a Cylon from the start. I decided to do the standard Admiral slow-play and take them on a cruise and reveal when the time was right. I took particular note of Racetrack's once-per-game ability and her drawback, as my reveal would essentially have the effects of two reveal powers. I also wondered how to nullify her power OPG -- perhaps an execution would be in order, but then she'd lose her drawback as well.
I also noted how low the Politics and Leadership draws were -- one full round of draws would only net us 9 or 10 of those as a combined total. I used this to argue that I should draw Politics regularly, instead of drawing Leadership and therefore Executive Orders.
The first few rounds were relatively uneventful. We did have Legendary Discovery fairly early on and Racetrack was able to solo it. I refrained from spiking as I figured that over the course of the game, as a Cylon Admiral I could nullify the extra distance gained. We somewhat awkwardly didn't realize that reaching Distance 1 would bring in the Rebel Basestar and the start of the Cylon Civil War, so we just pretended that it came in at the next jump. I'm not going to comment on this module as it was not used at all except for a meatshield, rather like Pegasus some games.
At one point, we threw a nuke at a sector with 2 basestars, a heavy, and several raiders. I rolled a 1, which, even with a Strategic Planning, is pretty piss poor. We then proceeded to make an early jump and lost some population, even with my reroll. I was secretly very happy with these results. However, I didn't realize that these poor rolls were a sign of things to come...
At the first jump I took them to a Barren Planet (2 distance) over a Desolate Moon (3 distance), commenting that it was an easy choice (it really was!). It was still a cruise but I managed to pick up the 6-strength State of Emergency. I never played it, of course, as it was clear that all the others were human.
The beginning of the incompetence
At the end of the jump cycle, it was Racetrack's turn and she escorted all the civilians away, since she expected the FTL Operator Gaeta to jump the fleet. However, the Crisis was Declare Martial Law, and allowed me as the Admiral to take the Presidency. I gave some cockamamie excuse and while no one outright objected, I could hear the eyebrows raising over Skype.
So I draw my cards and see that I get a Critical Situation. I get super excited because Cylons love getting Critical Situation. You can do an Action and then reveal! WOOOOOOO
So I play it and waste the last nuke on an inconsequential sector as I remembered that nukes were great for humans at Colony. I then revealed, and immediately after, regretted it. I was President and Admiral. I had so much power and threw it away! What a waste! But all was not lost. My reveal power enabled me to scout the first three Super Crises, keep one, bury one, and leave the last on top. I kept the Farm for myself -- a nice way to nullify Racetrack's once-per-game, but they were strong in those colours -- and I left Fleet Mobilization on top for my future Cylon buddy. Racetrack gets sent to the Brig, which is nice, and Seelix can't launch with damaged vipers, leaving the humans with no pilot.
The humans immediately jump to an inconsequential 2-distance Destination that brings them to 5 total distance. I pick up the second Cylon loyalty and hand it to President Lampkin. I had taken away 40% of their Politics -- why not take the remaining 60%? The humans, though they didn't know it at the time, only drew 2 or 3 Leadership per round and ZERO politics.
Very soon after that, a crisis comes up which allows the President to toss someone in the Brig, and he chooses Admiral Dee. The cat's out of the bag at this point, and Seelix is dispatched to the Admiral's Quarters to toss Lampkin in the Brig in return. So Seelix is the only one left manning Galactica.
And then we reach a stalemate.
The next few rounds are all a blur. I am furiously pumping out Cylon ships and watching them get destroyed by Seelix sitting on Command. Seelix is like a contestant on The Price is Right, running around while the peanut gallery in the Brig yells instructions at her via XO. Romo, as the only remaining Politics drawer, is dicking around mining for Political Prowess, and playing cards like Assign Vice President on Dee in the Brig to draw more, and making some great Cylon choices on President Chooses Crises. The only Crises are drawn on Seelix's turn and none of them ever have a jump.
After several rounds of this I am facepalming hard. None of the Cylon ships are doing any damage to Galactica. Nothing is boarding. Basestars only roll ones and twos. Raiders are destroyed by the dozen. Resources remain incredibly high.
Things aren't looking good on the human side, either. I've played The Farm and nullified all their once-per-game abilities. They can't jump. They can't get out of the Brig. Seelix is manning Command and Communications and building nukes and keeping the ship in shape.
At some point it is declared to be a stalemate of incompetence.
However, that was soon to end. Seelix eventually heads to the Press Room to pick up some Politics and manages to free Dee from the Brig. The jump prep advances one square by the time it reaches my turn and I figure I'll wait one more round. However, Dee's Crisis nets them 2 jump preps, which enables the humans to jump at blue -3 immediately before my turn! I am stewing here, because the Battle of Colony begins at distance 7 and the humans can obviously jump 2 distance.
And I continue my futile space assaults and Romo finally reveals and plays his Super Crisis I left him. Since we can't play, the humans play in all they've got and manage to fail by 2. And Racetrack Declares an Emergency. That's not too bad, as at least the basestars fire and they both miss by 1. Are you kidding me. And we continue on the incompetence-go-round until the jump preparation track is set to be at red 2 or blue -1 by the time it reaches my turn. I'm excited. I've been waiting for this moment for so long. And then, of course. Legendary Discovery 2.0.
The Tactics-strong crew manages to pass by the skin of their teeth and I am throwing my keyboard out the window. Leap of Faith has become a high spike and nothing else. We begin the Battle of Colony.
Colony is an end-game scenario similar to New Caprica, with its own Crisis cards in win conditions and so on. Humans are attempting to rescue Hera from Colony while the Cylons continue their assault in any way possible. There is a "Hand of Fate" marker that will make everyone lose if the game goes too long.
In the simulation of the battle, all extraneous ships are removed. It's just Galactica, Colony, and the Cylon locations. Pegasus, the Rebel Basestar, Colonial 1, civilian ships, and all Cylon basestars are gone. Space is fought only between raiders and vipers while the true battle for Hera is fought at the Breach, where humans and Cylons are engaged in a vicious tug of war for position.
The die rolls for both sides continue to fail. A Cylon roll that could potentially execute Dee or at least reduce population to 3 results in a natural 8 -- a 12.5% chance of no effect, and it happens. Humans can only destroy Hera's defenders after tossing away multiple Maximum Firepowers that allow them to reroll the dice. After an OK initial barrage that damages a couple of locations, a slowly built-up swarm of 20 raiders shoot twice at Galactica, resulting in an amazing ratio of 0/40 hits. Humans can't pass the Politics heavy Crises.
Still no shortage of incompetence.
A crisis comes up which could execute Dee, as morale was at 3 and Dee is executed at 2. It was decided to spike hard -- however, the only good spike I had left was my nemesis Leap of Faith. I tossed it in there, while the humans put in few cards and mumbled something about hoping Destiny was positive. And what shows up in the check?
Then, at the start of the consecutive Cylon turns, we notice there's a lone Centurion on the track. It's been neglected as none of the Colony Crisis cards have a heavy activation. So we try for a back door play while the main fight is happening elsewhere, since Armory is damaged and the President had no Quorum cards. We figure that if it reaches our turn again and the humans haven't dealt with the Centurion by then, we've won.
And the humans couldn't deal with the Centurion by then. And I decide to test our luck with the raiders once more (this agitated my partner very much, as I was giving up a guaranteed victory). Finally, with the twenty shots I managed and incredible 6 damage! That could have taken out Galactica in one go! Of course, it only happened when the game should have already been won. Go figure.
After 5 and half weary hours of stalled tracks and no jumps and rules reading, the game was over. A hard-fought battle to the end, but human or Cylon, we all learned something from this game.
We suck.