Mass Effect: The Board Game – Priorities: Hagalaz was a high wall for me to clear. I was born in November 1987. So it’s the perfect age to experience the Mass Effect trilogy, in the years that transition from teenage to early adulthood.
While I absolutely loved each of the original three games, I was so invested in Shepard and the choices she made that I couldn’t bring myself to replay any of them. Because replaying it felt like somehow betraying the truth. About our journey together.
I also love a good board game, but I’m pretty picky about what works for me. Thankfully, Mass Effect: The Board Game – Priority: Hagalaz completely hit my barrier, and then some.
Mass Effect: The Board Game – Priority Hagalaz is a bite…
Mass Effect: The Board Game takes place during the events of Mass Effect 3 – Priority: Hagalaz takes Shepard and three companions through a dungeon through a Cerberus research ship that has crashed on the planet (you guessed it) Hagalaz I will. Although Hagalaz’s entire story unfolds over just three mission maps, the game utilizes a number of clever ways to increase replayability.
At its core is a branching campaign system with the option to run up to two companion-specific loyalty missions per run. These missions all feature story changes depending on the side objectives achieved, whether the Rebel or Paragon resolution is achieved, and whether Shepard is “killed” in the specified scenario I am.
All of these stacking designs go a long way toward giving Mass Effect: The Board Game – Priority: Hagalaz the level of role-playing agency and action game unpredictability you’ve come to expect from a Mass Effect adaptation.
Shepard and each of her companions (Garrus, Liara, Grunt, and Tali) all play very differently and can be further customized and significantly synergized as the campaign progresses. As tragic as GamesHub’s resident miniatures are, we’re happy with the fact that each also comes with a beautiful 25mm resin miniature (and both FemShep and DudeShep also come with separate unique minis). Masu).
Enemies are represented by tokens, but you also have the option to replace them with minis if you wish. However, given that the enemy tokens are double-sided, each with unique stats and abilities printed on them, I can’t help but feel like doing so makes actually playing the game a bit of a chore. No.
Image: Jam Walker
…but the gameplay is smooth as butter
To be honest, when I first unboxed Mass Effect: The Board Game – Priority: Hagalaz, I was intimidated. Includes 3 books, 2 decks of cards, 6 miniatures, a stack of custom dice, a blind bag, and tons of cardboard tokens. But in reality, everything comes together with impressive elegance.
Each mission requires you to take Shepard and three companions, regardless of the number of players. The map is laid out as a hexagonal grid, showing predetermined placement spots for your team and various objectives and obstacles.
Whatever specific combination of Cerberus or Reaper enemy tokens your scenario requires, they are drawn from the blind bag and placed at the marked spawn location, then one card from the matching “hazard” deck is placed in each It is placed face down next to the team. Shepard’s 4 character sheets.
Each of the four hero characters is controlled individually on a rotating turn basis, with Shepard always acting first at the start of a mission. Shepard begins by rolling all 12 of her white command dice, then placing three into slots on her character sheet to perform a specific action that matches the symbol rolled and the symbol on the available space.
Once all three actions are taken, the hazard card is turned over. This details which enemy combinations will react, and in some cases even allows you to summon more enemies from your blind bag. The turn then moves to the next character, who can only roll 9 dice, and so on until all 12 dice have been rolled. Dice cannot be saved. The round then ends and the character next to Shepard in the sheet lineup acts first and rolls all 12s.
The dice slot system is very similar to the one featured in the Warhammer Quest games, and I really like it. The unpredictability of the hazard card system and the often brutal lethality of combat on both sides makes time in the field fascinatingly stressful, but the fact that characters other than Shepard can be revived once down means that brave and noble commanders can be revived from time to time. It is best to leave it slightly wrapped in cotton wool.
However, Shepard’s “death” doesn’t end the campaign in the least, it just puts him in an overall worse position as he moves on to the next mission in the series.
The rules themselves are spread over about 90% of the entire rulebook and 10% of the entire character sheet and campaign book. Frankly, I wish the Mass Effect: Board Game rulebook itself was a little thicker and had a detailed index at the end of the book for easy reference to everything. It’s not bad, but could be a little more neat.
Image: Jam Walker
Like the digital version, I prefer the solo
I liked Mass Effect 3’s multiplayer a lot more than I expected, but I didn’t like Mass Effect: The Board Game – Priority: Hagalaz’s multiplayer as much. The brilliance of this board game is that it perfectly captures the feel of Mass Effect’s substory arc, a side quest for the crew of the Normandy as they accomplish their goal of saving the galaxy.
In a solo experience where you control an entire team, everything is just singing, and you’ll feel like you’re back in your early twenties, sitting on a futon in an old shared house in Northcote in front of an Xbox 360. I felt like it. As a collaborative experience with friends, I couldn’t help but get a different vibe, but it didn’t really resonate with me.
Mass Effect: The Board Game – Priority: Hagalaz is a crowning achievement in adapting the license to the tabletop. It’s a great blend of depth, replayability and refreshing play, and the fact that it accomplishes all these feats for less than AU$100 is even more impressive.
So please make an expansion featuring Jack.
please.
4 and a half stars: ★★★★1/2
Mass Effect: The Board Game – Priority: Hagalaz
Designer: Calvin Wong Tze Loon and Eric M. Lang
Publisher: Modiphius Entertainment
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GamesHub reviews were previously rated out of 5. Rated out of 10 as of July 29, 2024.
