In this article you will find the Review of the board game Eclipse: Second Dawn of the Galaxy, where we explain the mechanics, show photos of its components and we give you our opinion about it.
INTRODUCTION
In Eclipse you control a Terran faction or an alien species. You start in an initial sector already controlled by you. From this starting sector you have to explore to add more sectors (hexagonal tiles) to the playing area. This is how new resources and places appear to control to expand your empire. Resources (materials, money, and science) allow you to build space-ships, develop technologies, and keep your civilization alive. Explore the galaxy, invent technologies, upgrade your ships by adding more powerful parts than the standard ones, build new ships to increase your fleet and move them through the explored territory and control the sectors that you discover. But above all, watch your opponents, especially the most hostile. You may need to shed some blood to dominate the galaxy.
OBJETIVE
To get the highest possible number of victory points.
GAMEPLAY
A game of Eclipse lasts eight rounds. The starting player in the first round is the youngest, who receives the starting player tile. From there you proceed in a clockwise direction. Each round is divided into four phases: Action Phase, Combat Phase, Maintenance Phase, and Cleanup Phase.
During the action phase you will be able to move your spaceships to explore the galaxy, discover new technologies and obtain resources.
Although diplomacy is possible in Eclipse, on many occasions the encounters will be resolved in a more hostile way during the combat phase.
The maintenance and management of resources is very important in Eclipse, having to pay close attention to the areas you control and what resources you exploit with your population.
DATA SHEET
- Name: Eclipse: Second Dawn of the Galaxy
- Date of birth: 2020
- Place of birth: Lautapelit.fi
- Son of: Touko Tahkokallio (Designer), Noah Adelman, Jere Kasanen, Jukka Rajaniemi, Sampo Sikiö (Artists)
- Genre: Board Game
- Age: 14+
- Players: 2+
- Time: 60-200 min
Eclipse in our bag for big games
ANALYSIS AND RATING
FREAKISM (Originality, Theme):
I’m not a fan of science fiction, but I like the style of the game. Explore adding sectors to the terrain already discovered, attack neutrals and rivals, customize your ships with the ship pieces you want … It is a game of hostilities, which you can avoid if you are a player more likely to go to your ball and pass from others. It also has its touch of management when it comes to keeping your civilization afloat by managing your gold, material and science resources. I personally like to be hostile when I think it really is necessary to be, not for fun.
Freakism Rating:
HYPE (Excitement, Replayability):
Eclipse is a game that in a game gives you the feeling of making little progress. In eight rounds there is not time for much, especially considering that the first two or three are mainly dedicated to exploring to find new sources of resources. But it is that despite having these sources under control, the resources do not give to develop many technologies or carry out excessive combats. If you want to attack a sector, there must be a compelling reason to do so. It gives the feeling that you always lack something to do more: improve your ships, develop technologies … leaving you wanting to try different options in the next game.
Hype Rating:
SANITY (Difficulty, Rules):
The manual is thirty pages long. It has a lot of handwriting and it is small. Despite so many instructions, the game is not complicated at all. Perhaps what I saw most difficult to understand were the fighting, which when put into practice is not that bad. It’s a big game, with a lot of rules to get into your head, but not difficult. It is a matter of having a lot of patience when reading it and especially when playing the first game.
The manual has many examples to facilitate understanding of the concepts. I really appreciated the one about the fighting.
Sanity Rating:
DELUXE (Components, Design):
Eclipse is beautiful visually. The game box comes completely full. Not at all! You will freak out when you open it. Everything fits to the millimeter and there is no excess air.
Deluxe Rating:
Eclipse on our playmat
CONCLUSIONS
Eclipse is one of those games that you really enjoy being a lot of players. It is true that when I played two I did not dislike it, but the more participants there are, the more disputes there will be. Of course, keep in mind that playing with many players the games can take a long time.
The part I like to play the most is the management part. But it is a game with many rules and large duration, so I only can play with hard gamers or experienced players.
Our BGG final rating:
The Doctor Frikistein® reviews are made without any sponsorship and with games purchased for our property.
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