That brings me to my biggest point of contention about Firefly: The Board Game; strip away that lovely, beautiful license and what you’re left with is an enjoyable game, certainly, but not a great one. If you begin your next turn in the same sector with the Cruiser or Corvette, you may move normally, you are not stopped twice. While these jobs offer relatively low pay, because of the small crew less money needs to be handed out to pay the wages. A Story Card sets the mission for everyone - some involve quirky heists, others are more focused on getting rich by any means possible. Named after an in-show class of spaceship, this excellent series lasted only 14 episodes before it was cancelled by Fox.

You’re going to have fun, I feel very confident in that, but it’s the Firefly license and the desire to immerse yourself in the amazing universe Whedon created that really tips this game into the realms of being great. In theory you can play the game by solely taking on legal jobs, which pay less but allow you to pass through Alliance space in relative safety, but in practice I and my friends found this made the game nigh on impossible to play as other captains who dealt in both legal and illegal activities quickly gathered the materials needed to advance, opening up significant leads in the process. Even with all four players flying through the sky Firefly has surprisingly low player interaction built into its mechanics, and so it’s easy to feel like you’re actually playing entirely on your own, only occasionally bumping into another human being and doing very little when you do.Having recently played Star Wars: Outer Rim (Fantasy Flight Games, 2019) it is inevitable to make comparisons between these “space western” games. However, there are a couple of notable characters and items that are missing, such as the disconcerting Jubal Early.

The anniversary release also swaps out the original board game’s standard pieces for some deluxe components, most notably 15 hand-painted resin ship miniatures to represent the vessels flying around the system. Parts are mostly handy for combating breakdowns when flying through the ‘verse, but can be made somewhat obsolete by having some good mechanics onboard or keeping an eye out for the tuning upgrade, which allows you to ignore all breakdowns. At the beginning you are alone on your big ship, with a little starting capital and a tank filling, now a whole universe is waiting for you to be explored. We’ve played with up to four players, but almost all games have been played with just the two of us.Not only the playing field needs space, but also the amount of cards, your ships and equipment need space. Gamers who enjoy a pick-up and deliver mechanism will certainly find some things they love about this game, and anyone who enjoys a sci-fi theme should have a fun experience as well, so long as they understand there isn’t any direct conflict with the other players.

Having to flip over a card for every space you move, which could be up to six depending on the engine you have, becomes a grind the more you play, slowing down the pace of an already fairly slow game. They mention that the missions are interesting and provide a wider range of approaches to the missions. You can also put the pressure on them to move faster by starting the main objectives even before you might feel ready.Seeing this different strategies play out as I carefully plan and execute my own was rather satisfying.

However, if you want more player interaction then you’ll love the ‘Pirates and Bounty Hunters’ expansion where you can get bounties for your opponent’s crew, battling and boarding! If you happen to be both of those things…well, you can probably start arranging a marriage ceremony right now. Equipment, meanwhile, comes in many different forms and can provide fairly large boosts to the stats of your crew. Yet we still find ourselves trying new things from time to time, especially depending on the Story Card. Hiring Simon and River to be a part of my crew brought a smile to my face, as did outfitting Kaylee with fancy duds in the form of her pink dress.At the start of the game one of the available story cards is selected either at random or by deliberation, providing you with narrative context for the rest of the game. Those expansions will, in all likelihood, become future reviews covering what they add and how it improves or changes the gameplay.