Stats:
No. of players: 2
Amount of time to play: 30-60 min
Age requirements: 12+
Set-up time: 5-10 minutes

Assault on Galactus Prime Rules Description:

Assault on Galactus Prime is a sci-fi, deck-building game with die rolling. You and your opponent must recruit pilots and take on the Ion Supercannon. If you destroy it first, you win.

Assault on Galactus Prime uses the familiar deck-building mechanic from Dominion. You play an action, buy a card and then discard. Layered on top of that is a space assault. You may recruit pilots and once you have four you must launch your assault.

During your assault your opponent plays the Empire. It will cost them fuel to fire at your ships, but for each space you move they may fire at each individual ship. If they roll greater than the number of ships you have in your force you lose that ship.

After moving and surviving six spaces you launch a torpedo at the Ion Supercannon. If you roll under four on two dice you have destroyed the Ion Supercannon.

There are a couple things you can do to help your rebel cause. First if you buy a Secret Agent and play him with your Tactician you can increase the number you must roll under to hit the Ion Supercannon. Also you may during your buy phase you may purchase shields for your ships or ECMs to protect you during the assault.

There are five different kinds of pilots and each has unique abilities. Some can make the Empire re-roll hits, others subtract one from a die rolled to hit them and some will sacrifice themselves to let the other ships live.

When recruiting, you may get a pilot that does not qualify. These are simply discarded but you will have wasted a buy. Depending on the pilot’s special ability they will be easier or harder to recruit.

You may also buy the President’s Favor. This card does not go into your deck but allows you to draw four cards at the end of your turn instead of three.

There is a space that allows you to buy more fuel which is needed for defending the Ion Supercannon from your opponent.

Assault on Galactus Prime will require you to play your cards wisely and get lucky. If you do you can destroy the Ion Supercannon and win the game.

A Quick Review of Assault on Galactus Prime:

Assault on Galactus Prime is a mid-weight card and dice game for 2 players. It is interesting that the cards drive the economy to launch an assault. There is a good amount of luck but some strategy as well.

I must say this is the first time the components from Victory Point Games have bothered me a bit. If you don’t know, Victory Point Games puts out great games that they can print on demand and sell at an excellent price to you. Thus their games have cardboard chits and cardstock cards and maps. Usually this is not an issue, but the cards in Assault on Galactus Prime should probably be sleeved since they will be shuffled often.

Assault on Galactus Prime’s deck-building is not ground-breaking but it is very straight forward and really just sets up your space assault. That is not to say the deck-building is meaningless. You will have strategic decisions to make in that part of the game. It just feels a little dry compared to the space assault.

Once you launch an assault the dice start rolling and the game really pulls you in. Now is when what you did during the deck-building phase will matter. Did you raise your target number for hitting the Ion Supercannon? Were you able to get shields or ECMs? Does your opponent have enough fuel to threaten you?

If you are looking for a medium weight strategy game with some luck for two players then Assault on Galactus Prime is for you. You will probably want to invest in some sleeves too. The game can be bought at Victory Point Games’ website.

Score and synopsis: (Click here for an explanation of these review categories.)
Strategy 3 out of 6
Luck 4 out of 6
Player Interaction 4 out of 6
Replay Value 4 out of 6
Complexity 3 out of 6
Fun 4 out of 6
Overall 4 out of 6