The Captain is Dead: Dangerous Planet review: "a Star Trek love-letter that'll reduce you to a mess of nerves" - mayesmaingenced1952

Our Verdict

Although in that location's a immerse acquisition curve, The Captain is Dead: Dangerous Planet is an engrossing and tactical challenge that'll make board game veterans very happy indeed.

Pros

Loads of depth
Juggling mechanics is a tense balancing work
Genuinely challenging
Fun art-style and theme

Cons

Steep encyclopedism curve
Not always user-friendly

GamesRadar+ Verdict

Although in that respect's a steep erudition curve, The Headwaiter is Dead: Dangerous Satellite is an riveting and tactical take exception that'll make board gage veterans very blessed indeed.

Pros

+
Loads of depth
+
Juggling mechanism is a tense balancing act
+
Reall challenging
+
Fun art-expressive style and theme

Cons

-
Precipitous learning curve
-
Non always easy

Everyone knows that Star Trek redshirts are doomed, but for The Headwaiter is Dead: Dangerous Planet… swell, you get the idea. Delineate Eastern Samoa "the last 10 transactions of your favorite sci-fi Television set show [where] things have done for seriously wrong", this board game is a accommodative Trek beloved-letter that'll reduce you to a pile of nervousness. It's also got a shot at breaking into our heel of the superfine board games.

Vital Info

Players: 2-7
Time to play: 60 - 90 mins
Hard-up time: 5 - 10 mins
Complexness: Hard
Avg. toll: $50 / £40

He's dead, Jim

The Captain is Dead: Dangerous Major planet is part three of a series, but it works perfectly cured as a standalone board game. This clip, you'rhenium an away-team tasked with gathering alien artifacts. Simple? Not really. Because the crew's luck sucks, their name and address happens to be infested with flesh-eating bugs - and combined of these swooped down to bite off the captain's head. Today you'll have to complete the charge solely and against the odds. It's a entertaining construct that makes the most of tropes you'll recognize from Adjacent Generation and beyond. Trek fans comparable me will get a kick out of its many references, and the modernist artwork-flair is more than a little conspicuous.

Its mechanics seem to have high-profile inspirations, too. If anything, IT's a cross between Epidemic and Betrayal at House on the Hill. To begin with, players make tiles in a random shaping. These represent tunnels. Like Betrayal, you'll alone find out what's inside (be it an effect, bugs, artifacts, or nothing at all) when you move a token onto them. That substance Dangerous Planet offers a diametrical experience every time, increasing the game's replayability. IT's slightly nerve-wracking A well; there's no way of telling what lurks in the semidark, and you'll feature to delve e'er deeper if you want to win.

The Captain is Dead: Dangerous Planet review — (Image credit: AEG)

Such look-alike General, things also father progressively worsened at the end of each turn. Firstly, bugs hatch from their nests and will advance toward you in a wave of snapping mandibles after every round. Should they reach you or the shuttle, you'll film damage. If the shuttle gets score 4 times, it's game over.

This adds metre-pres to your scavenger hunt; can you hold back those bugs polysyllabic decent to snap up the artifacts you ask? IT's an engaging balancing act, particularly because bugs move faster when you've got lots of artifacts under your whang. E.g., the closer you are to victory, the harder Dangerous Major planet becomes.

Then there are the 'alert' cards. Divided by color and austereness (icteric is immoral, Orange River is worse, and red-faced is a disaster waiting to happen), these are stochastic events played after your turn to keep up you from acquiring contented. Which is bad news for us, obviously - they do everything from spawning more than bugs to knocking out vital tools. And intrust me, that's the last thing you'll want. Your inaccurate-team's shuttle is fitted with enough technology to make Scotty swaggering, be it a teleporter for quick movement or the ability to attend what threats are coming. In unmindful, these ease up you a unpeaceful chance; they're the only fashio to gather skill cards for deploying weapons OR collecting artifacts, for instance. Lose them and you're in real trouble.

Paradoxically, that's the best bit about The Captain is Dead. You walk a knife-edge between victory and failure, and there's a constant quantity sense that you'ray on the back-foot. IT's a welcome challenge, and one oldtimer plank game players testament appreciate.

Violent alert

That means it's not for the faint of nub, though. This isn't a accidental, breezy sort of game; it's very of import. The whole affair is a balancing do where every move counts, making IT one of the go-to-meeting combined board games thanks to a need for goodish communication. Using its mechanics to your advantage is essential, and you'll need to effectively divide and conquer tasks to stand a luck. That in itself is a lot of fun - it's engaging and collaborative.

If you can overcome the learning kink, in any event. The Captain is Dead: Dangerous Planet is tough to get your head around because on that point's such to absorb. What's more, its operating instructions aren't ever easy to digest. You'll atomic number 4 fine once you've played a couple of turns, but getting to it point is a trifle of a struggle. It's not always logical, either - the organisation cards in particular are unclear thanks to hands-off personal effects that aren't labeled in and of itself.

However, it's worth the effort. This is a game with layers, and there are so numerous different routes to victory. It's got longevity as a result, especially with so more characters to try - you can choose from a crew of 21, each with unique abilities and advantages to learn. That includes a archetypal officer who maximizes productiveness and, amusingly, a janitor who's awesome at fixing everything (he ended raised being my favorite, funnily enough - the theme of facing down a bug legion with cleaning spray in hand really tickled me).

Not that these roles are the only if things that'll have you reverting for more. The addition of 'devices' helps to keep things fresh for those who've played all installation so far. Deployed with science cards and designed to keep bugs in crack (whether IT's through brute pull out or more subtle bonuses), they're a crucial means of buying yourself time. Subsequently, they tote up to the list of mechanism you'll remnant up juggle. Do you save acquirement cards and actions for artifacts Beaver State devices? This keeps the pressure along, merely IT's the seed of satisfaction as well - you can't fail with classic base-defense. It's a gratifying loop.

What's more, it's a good example of how deep Dangerous Major planet is. There's so some you can pay back to grips with, and loads of different approaches. This helps hugely when it comes to mileage, to say nothing of multiple difficulty settings and the supposedly 'impossible' Koyashi Baru cards you can add for a greater challenge.

I'm not sure you could ask over for to a greater extent.

Where to buy The Captain is Unprofitable: Dangerous Major planet

IT's difficult to get hold of anything right now for demonstrable reasons, so we've gone in the lead and linked to websites that still have The Captain is Bushed: Treacherous Planet in stock. You'll find them below.

Butt
Amazon UK
Wayland Games (UK)

The Captain is Murdered: Unsafe Major planet survey: "a Leading Trek have sex-letter that'll reduce you to a mess of nerves"

Although there's a abrupt learning cut, The Sea captain is Exsanguine: Dangerous Planet is an engrossing and tactical challenge that'll make board gage veterans very happy so.

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As the site's Tabletop &adenosine monophosphate; Merch Editor, you'll find my grubby paws connected everything from add-in game reviews to Lego purchasing guides. I've been writing virtually games in one shape or another for almost a decade (with bylines ranging from Metro.Colorado.uk to TechRadar) and joined the GamesRadar+ squad in 2018. I can commonly be institute cackling complete some evil plan I've cooked prepared for my group's next Dungeons & Dragons fight.