Just act casual

2018 was the year of the skirmish game for us. We spent a lot of time playing 7TV, Doctor Who: Exterminate, and Mythic Battles: Pantheon, and even more time painting miniatures and building terrain for them. On the surface, Firefly Adventures: Brigands and Browncoats looks like another boxed skirmish game, but it really isn't -- at least, not entirely.

Like Firefly: the Game and Doctor Who: Time of the Daleks, Firefly Adventures shows that Gale Force 9 are masters at building engaging games around licensed properties, rather than simply slapping a licensed theme on an otherwise generic game design, and that they have a deep understanding and respect for the material the game is based on.

It's a cooperative game where every player plays a character from the Serenity crew, which should immediately appeal to fans of the television show. The game controls the bad guys using a simple but elegant AI that dictates what they do based on criteria such as where the closest player character is, or in some cases a pre-determined patrol route. This is interesting, but it is the game's two core concepts that really set it apart from other games of this type, and also makes playing it feel like an episode of the show.

The first of these is the idea that player characters switch back and forth between acting casual or acting heroic at various points in the game, sometimes by choice and sometimes not. A casual character can move freely about the board without attracting the attention of the bad guys, making it easier to sneak into buildings and even talk to the non-player characters. However, many actions such as attacking or breaking down doors require characters to act heroic, which attracts the attention of the bad guys, causing them to move and attack any heroic characters they can see. Each state is represented by a separate miniature, one in a casual pose and the other in a more action-packed one.

The other game mechanic that makes this game more interesting and thematic is the turn structure. Rather than just moving in turn, characters' movements are dictated by a time-based system, with different actions taking up specific amounts of time (called "moments" in the game). Each character has a counter that is moved along a track based on what actions they take, and the character at the back always takes the next turn. This is where the strategy and decision making gets really interesting, as you have to weigh the actions you want to take against how far along the time track you will move, and what characters will act before you get another turn.

The game also has a card and dice-based system to govern both breaking into buildings and talking to non-player characters. You draw a card on each attempt that gives you two choices of possible actions to take, some of which might be easier but force you to act heroic and attract the attention of the bad guys.

Game play is scenario driven, with different board setups and win conditions, which really makes it feel more like a role playing game with no game master than a tactical skirmish game. Tactics usually involve sneaking around trying to avoid a fight rather than all-out combat, and the goal is usually to escape the board with an objective instead of just defeating all opponents. There's even a campaign mode where you try to collect as much money and equipment as possible over several games.

One other thing I have to mention is the game's ingenious terrain, a series of small pre-built boxes designed to look like the converted shipping crates that make up so much of the background of the television show. The game box bottom itself is printed to look like a larger building. It's a clever way to introduce 3-D terrain, and also important for a game where staying out of the bad guys' line of sight is often the best strategy.

The only real complaint I have is that the rule book is poorly organized, making looking up rules somewhat difficult during play. As skirmish games go it's fairly simple, but there are always going to be times when you need to refer to the rules.

Rating: 4 (out of 5) A fun, innovative game that feels much more cinematic than most "move and shoot" games, only marred by a poorly organized rule book.

• Firefly Adventures: Brigands and Browncoats official website
• Firefly Adventures: Brigands and Browncoats on BoardGameGeek

You can't win them all, part 2

I like cooperative games, I love adventure games, and I'm a huge fan of the Planet of the Apes, movies, so this game should have been a shoe-in for me. Unfortunately, despite some really nice production value and a very well-considered application of theme, this game just isn't very interesting to play.

The game plays like a combination of Reiner Knizia's Lord of the Rings board game with some Yahtzee thrown in. Players are confronted with of a row of cards based on the prominent events of the film, each requiring a particular combination of dice rolls in order to pass. A player's turn involves rolling dice in the hopes of getting the right combination, with a bit of card play to change dice facings. Success moves the marker representing Charlton Heston's Taylor along a path which serves as a timer, with an ape marker moving along the same path. If the ape makes it to the end before Taylor does, the players lose.

It's a simple enough game, but it relies on a lot of luck to get the dice rolls and the have the cards you need to progress, so it can be frustrating when you lose on what amounts to a bad roll or draw. In the end, this game is really just about rolling dice, with very little in the way of meaningful or interesting decisions to make.

The Planet of the Apes theme is nicely applied, with the cards calling back to iconic scenes from the film, and the idea of having players take on different aspects of Taylor's psyche rather than separate characters is an interesting solution to the problem of the story really only having one main character.

It's really too bad the game isn't better.

Rating: 2 (out of 5) The great use of theme actually makes this otherwise dull game all the more frustrating.

What we'll play instead: Lord of the Rings: the Board Game and Elder Sign are both similar and a lot more fun. Doctor Who: Time of the Daleks is another very similar game that uses its theme well and offers more interesting and immersive game play.

• Planet of the Apes official website
• Planet of the Apes on BoardGameGeek

You can't win them all

It's surprisingly rare that we buy a game that turns out to be a dud. We're usually pretty good at spotting games that will and won't appeal to us, and I generally read reviews and where possible try games out before purchasing. We've also gotten fairly lucky with impulse buys that turned out to be great games, but that isn't always the case.

I really like 7 Wonders but I've always held off on adding a copy to our collection because of the relatively large player count required to make the game interesting. 7 Wonders: Duel seemed like a perfect solution: a two-player version of the game, and in fairness, it does do a good job of approximating the full game's aesthetic and core mechanics.

The problem is, the whole point of 7 Wonders is that it is a card drafting game, where you start with a hand of cards, keep one, and pass the rest along. There are two basic approaches to drafting: either take the cards you need, or take the cards you don't want your opponents to have. 7 Wonders: Duels approximates the draft using a tableau of cards with rows that overlap one another. Players draft cards from the tableau, with the catch being that you can't draft a card if there's another card on top of it.

This leads to a lot of "take that" style play where you uncover a card you need only to have your opponent draft it, and unlike in the full multiplayer 7 Wonders, you know who is taking your cards. It makes the game just a little bit too frustrating and adversarial, which is too bad because the engine-building part of the game is interesting, and the illustration and graphic design are top-notch.

Rating: 2 (out of 5) Although I do like the game design, I think the game play is just a little bit too adversarial for a two player game that doesn't actually focus on combat.

What we'll play instead: Race for the Galaxy is a similar tableau-building card game that works great for two players and doesn't seem quite as confrontational.

• 7 Wonders: Duel official website
• 7 Wonders: Duel on BoardGameGeek