Review: Nexus Ops

The first board game I tried to design was intended to be an RTS turned board game.  It was fairly enjoyable and strategic, but the end game was miserable and has since required a complete redesign of the game.  Nexus Ops has so much in common with that game, that it makes me glad my version failed so miserably because I would not want to compete with Nexus Ops.  Their solution to the end game problem I had is to institute a point system, so enough mission/battle victories will win the player the game.

If you have played any real-time strategy games, you will understand the general premise of the game.  You can build an army of multiple different types of units.  There is only a single resource (Rubium Ore) to worry about in creating said units, so the complexity is found in the various types of terrain that make up the map.  Lava, crystal forests, moss swamps, rock plains, and the ever important Monolith found in the center of the map.  Players explore the map revealing more refineries to control to gain more Rubium to build larger armies.  A refinery is controlled when you and no one else has units on the spot.

Combat works in waves.  Players roll dice for each unit they have of a particular type in the battle (starting with the most expensive types).  A successful roll is a hit and the player who got hit chooses one unit to remove from the battle.  After all units have attacked, the battle is over for that turn.  If there are no defenders left, then the losing player gets an Energize card (set of cards to give potential bonuses during battle or various other situations) and the winning player gets a victory point.  Holding on to the Monolith in the center of the board will also get more Energize cards.

In a two player game, typically borders will be drawn in the middle of the map and fortified and whoever can control the Monolith will win.  In a three or four player game, with intelligent players, there will be a lot of give and take between all players because there is really no advantage to teaming up against and knocking out a player.  Unless you really hate your friends, I guess...

A game will take roughly 1.5-2 hours (longer for the first game, of course) and is jam packed with lots of strategy.  There is potential for the flaw of Risk where bad dice rolling can cause a super clever strategy to fail miserably.  However, there are a lot of ways to try to even the odds to your favor.  So all in all, this is a quality strategy experience in an interesting sci-fi setting if you can get 1-3 (the more the merrier) friends to join.