This month, we’re taking a look at the new deluxe edition of Gale Force Nine’s mammoth Firefly: The Game – 10th Anniversary box (RRP £230) which is just about the biggest, prettiest, geekiest thing you could ever hope for (well… at least until they release the deluxe Star Trek Ascendancy). And, to celebrate this, we’ve teamed up with our lovely chums GeekEtched, purveyors of superior geek merch, to help you have a drink to the shiniest game in the ‘verse, with your choice of Firefly drinking vessel as a prize.

TAKE MY LOVE, TAKE MY LAND

Ah, the delicious anticipation of a giant box slowly creaking open! A big box game is a wonderful thing, and there’s nothing more Shiny than Firefly: 10th Anniversary Edition. This whopping great box, styled as Janye Cobb’s trunk complete with printed stickers (and a set for you too) has absolutely everything from Gale Force Nine’s epic space game, and more besides. So let’s start with the physical product:

WE DIDN’T FLY 86 MILLION MILES TO TRACK DOWN A BOX OF BAND-AIDS

On top of every expansion, it comes complete with extra organiser trays, so you can keep multiple sets of (clear and varied) tokens around the table (all vac-formed into the plastic), a set of beautifully painted starships – and I say that as a dedicated, enthusiastic, and vaguely capable painter – plus additional holo-foil versions of the main cast’s cards and the other Leaders so you can keep your deluxe ones super-shiny. It also has the full, stitched, deluxe Whole Damn ‘Verse playmat, and large-scale, high gsm banknotes – so the overall presence is staggering. Each card set is individually packed and clearly sorted by set so you can stagger your experience or simply shuffle and dive right in. Again, the trays have the location logo vac-formed into the plastic, so it’s immediately clear where things go. Oh, and it comes with a chonky metal stegosaurus first-player token, for maximum Wash-ness.

SOMEONE EVER TRIES TO KILL YOU, YOU TRY TO KILL ‘EM RIGHT BACK

The game is actually incredibly simple: Build a Crew. Find a job. Keep flyin’. But within what seems to be a straightforward pick up and deliver you have the chance to gamble, negotiate, smuggle, trade, and save lives – all the while, totally immersed in the world of the show. That doesn’t mean its inaccessible to non-fans: its combination of Western and Sci-fi tropes mean you don’t need an exhaustive knowledge of Whedon’s world to enjoy it – merely that it adds to the texture. You can get gussied up in your fancy duds and attend a shindig, or dodge the mysterious Blue Hands and save psykers – it’s all open to you. Of course, spend too long in open space, and you run the risk of drawing the attention of the Alliance – or worse. Reavers are a real and terrifying threat in the game, and if you run into them, you’re LUCKY if you just die.

I SWEAR BY MY PRETTY FLORAL BONNET, I WILL END YOU

It’s interesting to compare it to a game like Outer Rim which has many similar mechanics but is perhaps a bit more interactive – if I have a criticism of the Firefly game, it’s that sometimes it can feel a little bit like everyone doing their own individual thing. However, it’s at once less overtly treacherous (whether it be other players or of your own crew) and more tactical, as you are often trying to lure obstacles into your opponents’ paths, so THEY are the ones having the run-ins with the authorities or worse. You’ll often find yourself competing for the best jobs at higher player counts also, and it’s a game that really rewards a large group of players willing to dedicate a few hours to fun without necessarily being as heavyweight as some others (Twilight Imperium, I’m looking at you). That being said, GF9 definitely acknowledge this with the range of scenario cards. There’s a huge set of scalable scenarios included for versus, co-op or solo play, and not only scalable by DIFFICULTY but by TIME – yes, you might want to play an epic 5 hour, 8 player game, but you might just want to blast through skies with your crew for an hour or so before real life intrudes. The fact that the game now has proper co-op and solo options is a massive selling-point in my book.

CURSE YOUR SUDDEN BUT INEVITABLE BETRAYAL!

What are the negatives? Well as I’ve said, it has some of the restrictions you might expect from any pick-up and deliver. Sometimes, completing a job through Aimin’ to Misbehave can feel very challenging, and balancing the risk-reward is a huge gamble. On a related note, finding the right balance of crew can feel a bit random sometimes, or require you to trek from one side of the ‘verse to the other, which is very thematic but can be a little frustrating. However, expansions from the core game help offset this without causing power creep, and the 10th anniversary cards add further balance to all the decks. Similarly, the range of ships available – not just Firefly class like the Serenity, but everything from Bulk Haulers to aggressive Mercenaries (which, of course, adds further interactivity to the game as they can hunt down your crew) – and greater customisation of engines and loadout for all ships means the game has a great range of variety from the outset. Also, the additional cards place more emphasis on building a dedicated playstyle, particularly Moral vs Immoral crew building, rewarding you either way.

THERE’S NO PLACE I CAN BE, SINCE I FOUND SERENITY

So. Get tight with various planetary officials, decide whether you’re going to take the moral high ground, be a mean old man, or play down and dirty, get ready to break atmo and soar like a leaf on the wind… and, as always, Stay Shiny!

GIVEAWAY TIME

Now, you’ve got a chance to get your hands on some fine merch this month, from our excellent chums at GeekEtched – the winner gets their choice of Firefly glassware below (or a “Mudder’s Milk” glass):

As ever, fly over to @big_geekingout to enter, but you can also blag 5 extra entries RIGHT HERE – just tell us in the comments section below your favourite character from the show!

And we’ll announce the winner this time next month, when we continue our adventures with a trip to Harrow County… (h)aint no use complainin’…

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The Writer of this piece was: Sam Graven
Article Archive: Geeking Out
You can follow Sam on Instagram at @big_geekingout

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