Today we are going to take a trip together into space and what better way to do that than with the team over at Galactic Cruise! So grab your family and friends and let’s take a trup to the Preston Space Station where we can get in a lot of extra rest and relaxation time together out in the vast reaches of space.
Excursions: A Galactic Cruise Game is a new board game coming to Kickstarter from our friends at Kinson Key Games. it is designed by Ben Rosset with art from Ian O’Toole. It plays 1-6 players in approximately 60-90 mins. You can find the Kickstarter campaign here:
Kickstarter Link for Excursions
So let’s explore this game while I introduce you to some of the gameplay of Excursions and what really excites me to get this one on the table. We’ve had a chance to play the prototype provided by Kinson Key Games, so some of the components are not final, and some are part of the deluxe edition as well. Please check out the campaign for more information on what will be included in the final production of the game!
Gameplay:
In Excursions, players take simultaneous turns with the active player taking an action and all other players taking the same action that turn. That active player gets a bonus as well. The Space Station board rotates, players gain victory points (VP) as the game progresses and after final scoring the player with the most VPs is the winner!
The game is set up in a way that gives each player a player board that is gilled with upgrade tiles, cards, cubes and a few cards. The main board with the Space Station is placed in the middle of the play space. Cruise cards are laid out to form a display, guests added to the guest bag and game cards and private goal cards given to each player.
To begin players will build a single development, unlock one upgrade and take a guest from the bag. These are done in reverse turn order in a starting draft.
Gameplay goes clockwise in turn order with the active player dictating the turn. The 6 steps are:
- Advance Ships (if able)
- Chose Action
- Take an Action
- Gain Bonus
- Accomplish Company Goal
- Rotate the Space Station
Steps 2, 4 and 6 are for the active player only but all players will do the others.
1. Advance Ships: Here players will advance the ships if a pilot icon is showing. All players will do this that are on a Cruise. You can take a day in space, go on an excursion or return home. The first two will score bonuses or VP, return home will also score VP and reset your ship back home.
2. Choose Action: The active player picks an action on the main board and selects that for the turn. You may get a bonus here as well as the active player.
3. Take an Action: All players will take the action selected. Non-active players could use a development and pick an adjacent action as well. Non-active players can take a resource, ad, money or cruise card instead as well. These actions are the main source of activity in the game, here players can gain money, resources, guests, build developments to connect to spaces on the station or gain ongoing benefits through the game, play Cruise cards, upgrade your board and launch a ship.
4. Gain Bonus: The active player will gain the bonus attached to their action selected. Developments will allow you to pick an adjacent bonus as well. These are gained based on the position of the space station and will give you money, VP, Ads, resources, or Cruise cards.
5. Accomplish Company Goal: Any player that has a company goal accomplished can place their cube next to it and get two funding bonuses. Finish it first and also gain 2 VPs.
6. Rotate Space Station: The active player rotates the Space Station one step clockwise and moves the turn order one step clockwise as well to the next player.
The game continues like this with players rotating and taking simultaneous turns. The game end is triggered when one or more players reach the 50 VP threshold. After all players take one more turn. In final scoring advance all ships one final time and score the stop you reach. All remaining resources, money and cards are added up and divided by 5 for 1 VP each. Unlocked upgrades, development area, and company goals are added up to score VP as well based on the level you reached. Company goal and secret goal cards are added in VP if completed. The player with the most points wins!
Impressions:
After playing Excursions at a few different player counts I can tell you that this is a game I really enjoyed. I am a big fan of Galactic Cruise and was very excited to try out this new version in the same universe. One of the things I like about Galactic Cruise is that it is a medium/heavy game but plays in a way that is completely accessible for most board gamers. It gives you lots of in-game critical thinking challenges and decision-making, but keeps it in a way that makes absolute sense and is not overly complicated just to be complicated.
I would say that I found the seem to be true when playing this new game from the same team. Excursions never felt complicated just to be so, it felt like you could make decisions that had meaning when taking your actions toward your end goals. I really enjoyed that as did a lot of the other people that played the game. Just like any good board game, there were plenty of decisions to make on your turn, but you never felt stuck or lost in the process of what you could do to progress your game.
Another thing that really stands out for this game is the ability to take an action on every turn. So there’s never really any downtime during the game you constantly need to be paying attention as to what was going on during gameplay as you would be taking an action on every players turn. That is a under-utilized and I think necessary component in a game that plays up to six to help keep people focused on their turns with their decision-making. I think this gives players more interaction and awareness as you constantly see what the game state is going on when you’re taking a turn on another players action.
While not final, the components and artwork in this game are right in line with Galactic Cruise and I absolutely love that. I’m a big fan of Ian O’Toole artwork and design, and this game shines once again from his talented and creative art style and ability to lay the game out in a way that makes sense with the iconography.
Overall, this is a game I have been really looking forward to and one I cannot wait to get into my personal collection in the future. The gameplay is super smooth and solid, the style is beautiful, and it gives you everything you want in action selection game where all players are taking turns at the same time allowing the game to move at a really comfortable pace.
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