Stats:
No. of players: 1-4
Amount of time to play: 120-180 min
Age requirements: 13+
Set-up time: 10 min

Crime and Punishment is the latest small expansion for Firefly the game. It adds more Misbehave cards, Alliance Alert cards and some new Setup and Story cards.

Firefly Crime and Punishment Description:

Crime and Punishment ups the risk and rewards for doing jobs in Firefly the game. If you have not tried the base game out read my overview and review to get a feel for the gameplay. The rest of this post will cover the items added in Crime and Punishment.

Alliance Alert cards are thematic events that change some aspect of the game while in play. You are told to put them into play by the Setup or Story cards or by some Misbehave cards. For example one takes away all players’ Solid status with Harken. Or another does not allow you to buy from Osiris or Persephone if you have a warrant. All make the game a bit tougher but you may only have one in play at a time. An Alliance Alert Nav Card also forces you to draw a new Alliance Alert card.

The 40 new misbehave cards doubles the number you have. The new tasks are slightly harder too. Some instantly make your crew Wanted, force some crew back to the ship, spilt your crew up (with each smaller group needing to complete a task) or remove equipment from the game. There is also a new proceed condition. Some Misbehave cards let you proceed if you are Solid with a certain Contact.

Crime and Punishment comes with two new Setup cards. One of the Setup cards makes everything easier by allowing you to move further and removing Reaver and Alliance Alert tokens. The other starts the game with an Alliance Alert and removes Harken from the game.

Two new Story cards are included too. Smugglers Blues puts Contraband on planetary systems and gives you a bonus to the first player to sell three Contraband to a Contact. The game ends once all bonuses are claimed. There is one final turn and the player with the most credits win. Wanted Men makes you start with a warrant and makes illegal jobs more valuable the more Warrants you have and makes legal jobs less valuable. The first to $20,000 credits wins.

Quick Review of the Crime and Punishment Expansion:

Crime and Punishment adds some fun new elements to Firefly the game. Nothing is too hard to add to the game and you can even add things on a modular level. Want to add the new Misbehave cards but not use the Alliance Alert cards? No problem.

The components for this expansion are no par with the rest from the series. Everything looks good, is durable and the rules are easy to read and follow.

The Alliance Alerts are an easy way to tweak the game for those that don’t own any of the other expansions. And the new Misbehave cards can amp up the difficulty without adding too much complexity.

This is definitely an expansion you can buy even if you don’t own the others. It integrates easily with the base set. The new elements continue to remain true to the game’s theme too.

If you enjoy Firefly the game you should definitely pick up Crime and Punishment. It adds replay value and tweaks the mechanics just enough to make things interesting.

Score and synopsis: (Click here for an explanation of these review categories.)
Strategy 3 out of 6
Luck 5 out of 6
Player Interaction 4 out of 6
Replay Value 5 out of 6
Complexity 3 out of 6
Fun 4 out of 6
Overall 4 out of 6