Robotech Force of Arms: Review

Robotech Force of Arms: Review

Information:

Mechanics: Area Control, Grid Movement, Hand Management, Competitive, Take That
Player Age: 8+
Player Count: 2 Players
Time to Play: 20 - 40 Minutes
Game Designer: Dave Killingsworth
Game Artists: Andora Cidonia, Andrew Cramer, Joel Lopez
Publisher: SolarFlare Games
Release Date: 2018
BGG Complexity: 2 / 5
Disclaimer: A review copy for the game was provided by the publisher.

The Game:

In this game you will be using your fighters to defend your ships or attack the enemies during the scoring phase. Whoever gains the most victory points and best defended their own fleet through strategic fighting techniques will be the ultimate victor.

Token and Card Anatomy:

Tokens:
There are four types of tokens you will use; defence and attack, ship lock, protoculture, and spy. 

Attack and Defence:
These are placed during the token phase to give ships of your choice one more defence or one more attack.

Ship Lock:
These can be used during the tactical phase or the tokens phase to determine that the ship this token is on. Is locked into place and cannot be moved.

Protoculture:
Is used in the token phase to add two defence or attack to a ship of your choosing.

Spy:
This token can be used in two ways during any phase. It can cancel any token other than the protoculture and spy token, or it can be used during the tactical phase to look at one opposing face-down fighter.

Cards:

There are three types of cards; fighters, commands and heroes, and ships.

Fighters:
These cards have both attack (left side of below image) and defence (right side of below image) points. These points will range from 1-6 and will be combined with an additional cards points to help determine the fate of the targeted ships (more on this later). Fighter cards can be played during the tactical phase in a facedown position, however they can be played face up to activate an ability the card may have (usually to gain tokens for later use).

Commands and Heros:
These cards are played during the hero/command phase and can be used to change the location of ships as well as add more tokens to ships.

Ships:
These are where the victory points lay for the scoring phase. The victory points are at the bottom right of the card where the ships base defence will appear in the bottom left. Each player will have four ships in their colour and these will be what they aim to defend using their defensive fighters.

Setup:

- The ships are set up in a three by three grid with the empty space card placed in the middle (see image below).
- Each player chooses a faction colour which has a corresponding base deck.
- Each player then gains two spy tokens.
- Each player will gain a side and a top or bottom of the grid where they can play their fighters.

How to Play:

There are four phases to this space fire-fight: tactical, token, hero/command and scoring phase.

Tactical Phase:

This phase consists of three elements.
- First, swapping any ship or empty space with another card in the grid.
- Second, the player puts down two fighter cards. This can be either faceup to gain tokens (if the fighter card allows it) or face down in one or two places outside the grid on the side, top or bottom of a ship that player controls (see image below). However, the playable spaces can only hold two fighters.
- Lastly, any spy or ship lock tokens the player owns can now be played.

It is now the next players turn and it will continue on in this way until all 12 fighters of each player are played.

Token Phase:

Now you have an opportunity to safeguard your ships or launch a stronger attack on the opposing ships by playing in turn one token on any ship. Remember, the spy token can interrupt this play by cancelling any token that isn't a spy or protoculture token. This reinforcement will continue until all tokens that each player controls are placed. This occurs by each player playing one of their tokens until all tokens are played.

Hero/Command Phase:

This phase works like the second element of the tactical phase where the players take turns playing either a hero or command card for last minute rearranges or reinforcements. However, only one hero and two command cards are playable by each player. This is where the factions differ from one another as the hero cards and one command card are specific to one faction.

Scoring Phase:

Flip over every set of fighter cards, now is the time for the epic space onslaught!
This part of the game is very maths based but don’t worry, after scoring a couple of ships it will become quite easy and fast to calculate. There are two amounts that need calculation; the attack and the defence.

Attack:
- Any attack tokens on the ship
- Any protoculture token used for attack
- Any fighter aligned with this ship by row or column with a attack icon of the opposing faction.

Defence:
- The ships base defence (on the left hand side of the ship)
- Any defence tokens on the ship
- Any protoculture token used for defence
- Any fighter aligned with this ship by row or column with a defence icon of the same faction.

If the attack is found to be larger than the defence the ship will be destroyed and given to the opposing faction as victory points (displayed on the bottom right of the ship card). If the defence is a stronger value then the ship has been saved and will be given to the controlling player. However, if there is a tie the ship will remain in space limbo.

Final Thoughts:

Pros:
- once you know the game, it is fast and tactical
- commands are mostly symmetrical but the heros are asymmetrical for more replayabilty
- fans of robotech will enjoy the theme

Cons:
- there is a lot of randomness although it can be mitigated with further familiarity with the game
- rulebook has some confusing wording

At first glance ‘Robotech Force of Arms’ is confusing and appears to have a large amount of randomisation, however, the more you play, the less random it becomes. Through the use of tokens, careful placement of fighters, and commands and heroes players can effectively and purposefully manipulate the grid in their favour. This two player game does require repetition in order for players to learn how to properly outmanoeuvre each other, but once understood, can be enjoyed time and again. Don’t worry though, you don’t need to pass the kobayashi maru to captain your fleet to universal victory.

Click...feed the addiction:

SolarFlare Games

Robotech Force of Arms on BGG
Expand Your Game Facebook page
Expand Your Game Instagram