OUR REVIEW
Frontiers rich in points
Core Worlds
To boldly go there with ships!
I wonder if Donald X. Vaccarino had an idea what other, partially really ingenious games, his idea of a deck building game would initiate? Many times since Dominion his idea has been picked up by other designers, has been varied, adapted and transformed into new games. One of those games is Core Worlds - a SciFi game for 2 to 5 players on the topic of conquering new worlds and of continuously improving and upgrading the units and space ships necessary for this endeavor. If you own the worlds (planets) richest in points and the biggest ships at the end of the game, you win the game.
At the start each player is given a table showing summary of the rounds, your possible moves in the action phase and tracks for the number of actions and energy available to you. Furthermore, those summaries also list all Core Worlds, which come into play in the last two rounds, with all their victory points and the necessary conquest cards.
Each player draws one of five home worlds and takes the corresponding deck of cards. All decks are identical with the exception of one unique and individual hero. The game comprises ten rounds; every two rounds new cards in relation to the number of players and from pre-prepared stacks are introduced to the game for possible acquisition by all players.
A round comprises several phases, which are implemented simultaneously by all players, with the exception of the action phase.
The first phase is the Draw Phase. Each player replenishes his hand of cards to six cards from his own personal deck (to seven cards in the last two rounds of the game). You are allowed to take one single card from a previous round into the next round, if you want to so. Should your personal draw pile be empty you reshuffle your personal discard pile. This is followed by the Energy Phase. Each player marks the amount of energy produced by all his worlds on the energy track. The home world alone produces three Energy units. Should you hold a so-called “Energy Surge” card at that point, you can discard it for two additional Energy units, but only if you are not in the lead in Energy production. You receive one unit of Energy if you are in the lead for Energy Production. From the numerous possibilities to produce energy you can see that energy is very, very important in the upcoming Action Phase. You could say no results without energy.
In the next phase, the Galactic Phase, the selection of cards placed at the center for all players is turned up from the stack corresponding to the current round; cards that might be leftover from the previous round, and are already marked with an energy token, are removed from play. All cards that are already displayed and are without energy token are now marked with an energy token. After an individual rule for drawing cards are turned up until the necessary relation between worlds to conquer and other cards (unit and tactic cards) is reached.
In the Action phase all actions mentioned below can be implemented in any order of your choice until all players pass their turn because they are either out of action points or out of energy. The number of possible actions is the same for all players and is pre-set at the start of the round according to the card of the round.
At the start four actions are possible, near the end of the game this raises to six actions. To take a card from the general display uses up exactly one action, but you need of course also the amount of energy stated on the card (that is, the so called draft costs). You cannot buy more than one card at a time, because the other players might want to buy something, too. You must wait until it is your turn again in this round and hope that the coveted card will still be available. The card you bought is placed onto your own personal discard pile. By the way, the starting player changes in each round, so that each player can choose from the complete range once. In order to conquer worlds in the display you need a certain amount of Fleet and Ground Poser on your unit cards in your so-called War Zone. To get cards from your hand into this War Zone you can lay out a card at the cost of one action point pro card and the amount of energy equal to the deploy cost that is noted on the card. Please note: At this point you can deploy more than one card at once; this is a point that often is overlooked. The more powerful the deployed units (space ships and ground troops) are the better worlds (as regards to energy or victory points) you can invade, which takes us to the next possibility for an action, which is to invade a world.
All worlds produce energy, many of them also yield victory points and they are the whole purpose of the game. You spend one Action Point and one unit of Energy and name a world that you want to invade. To do so you then put the corresponding number of units from your War zone on your personal discard pile in order to equal or top the Fleet Strength and the Ground Strength of the respective world. A number of Tactic cards, playable directly from your hand, allow you to raise the values of your own units to enable you to reach the necessary strength values. Each successfully invaded world is placed next to your home world and is available for energy production in the next Energy phase. Another action possibility there are several Tactic cards, which allow you - at the cost of one action point - to implement certain things cheaper, for instance to buy a card at an especially good price.
At the end of the round the Discard and End Phase are implemented. All players discard all their hand cards but one, if so desired, onto their personal discard pile. In case there are left over energy or action units you reduce them to zero, you cannot save them for the next round. The token for the starting player goes to the next player, the round marker is advanced by one and a new round can begin. After round Ten all victory points provided by all worlds, Core Worlds, prestige cards and units are added and the winner is the player with the highest total.
What were especially fascinating for me in this game are the really simple game mechanics and the dense, marvelous flair which intensifies from round to round. To upgrade your own units in your stack with new cards, to deploy your battle force in your War Zone in order to invade your targeted world as soon as possible, to play Tactic cards directly from your hand, all this is really coherent and fits the topic extremely well. The only thing that I did not like that much is the fact, that the majority of victory points is generated within the last two rounds, all that precedes those two rounds is nothing more than a prequel and nearly all players up to then have a nearly equal or at least comparable number of victory points from their worlds and units.
Should something interfere at that point and you need to deviate from your plan, for instance when your intended Core World is snatched up by another player from under one’s nose (which is quite probable in a game of four or five players) it can be really aggravating. Because a Core World usually earns you at least 8 victory points, sometimes more, and to switch quickly to another Core World more often than not is not possible due to the rather big amount of required Fleet and Ground Strength. And it is of no avail to buy up Prestige cards that come up in the last two rounds, because those are not cheap either, but only yield between 2 and 3 victory points. If someone should manage to invade two Core worlds out of the total of six that are available the win is his, rather surely, because to invade such a world you would need a huge force. And to get your force to that strength is rather difficult as you reduce it again and again in previous rounds to conquer other worlds because you need those for energy generation.
I cannot keep it hidden that the time to play Core Worlds is directly related to the number of players. A game with five players is - according to the rules - only recommended for very experienced players. The game plays best with three or four players, as this constellation results in enough cards for the central display. In case of two players it will take you a few games to get acquainted will cards in the game. An expansion for Core Worlds, Galactic Orders, has already been published, but I did not have an opportunity yet to play it, but I am sure that it will intensify the feeling of the game even more. As a resume I can state that this game can be wholeheartedly recommended to any fan of deck building games who wants to boldly play where no one has played before.
Gert Stöckl
Players: 2-5
Age: 10+
Time: 120+
Designer: Andrew Parks
Art: Maciej Rebisz und Team, Chechu Nieto, Xavier Carrascosa
Price: ca. 35 Euro
Publisher: Stronghold Games 2011
Genre: SciFi Deck building game
Users: With friends
Version: en
Rules: en
In-game text: yes
Comments:
Intense flair and atmosphere
Simple game flow
Results can fluctuate wildly within the last two rounds
Expansion “Galactic Order” is available
Compares to:
Dominion, Thunderstone and other deck building games
Other editions:
Currently none
My rating: 6
Gert Stöckl:
A deck building game in the best tradition of Dominion, full of intense atmosphere and - in case of four and five players - correspondingly long duration - but every minute is worth its while!#
Chance (pink): 1
Tactic (turquoise): 3
Strategy (blue): 1
Creativity (dark blue): 0
Knowledge (yellow): 0
Memory (orange): 1
Communication (red): 0
Interaction (brown): 2
Dexterity (green): 0
Action (dark green): 0