It might seem weird to talk about an expansion from 2008 that’s been woefully out of print for longer than I’ve even been into board games, and has a revamped and updated second edition currently available for sale. But I don’t have that second edition, I have the first edition, and I want an excuse to talk about Galaxy Trucker some more
For those uninitiated, Galaxy Trucker, designed by Vlaada Chvatil and published by Czech Games Edition in 2007 is a game in which players are tasked with building a ship in real time. Frantically flipping tiles from the centre of the board and choosing to weld them into a cohesive spaceship, then running that ramshackle boat through a gauntlet of peril, illicits so much joy in my heart. I’ve covered the base game in depth here, and it currently sits as my second favourite game of all time.
The Big Expansion is one of the few expansions that I would call necessary for anyone who’s played a fair amount of Galaxy Trucker. A lot of its additions make the game a bit more punishing, which, after you’ve played the base game half a dozen or more times, feels necessary.
Not to brag, but I have 19 plays of Galaxy Trucker under my belt, making me a veritable veteran. I’ve also played the campaign mode in the app a few times through, meaning my grasp of ship building is not to be underestimated.
Yeah, 19 plays is NOT a brag…
My challenge, when playing with new players, is that I have a pretty good idea how to build a ship without any major deficiencies. While I haven’t memorized every tile and card in the game and know exactly how many guns a level 2 ship should have, I’m pretty good at not placing redundant components on my ship. My size lasers are two spaces apart to cover 6 squares, my shields don’t cover the same sides, I don’t have two of the same life support modules on my ship. I can intuit what parts I need for my ship fairly well, and that experience puts me two large steps ahead of my friends, who only have half a dozen plays under their belt.
And, here’s the major problem. When you play it well, Galaxy Trucker is kind of boring. If you make it through all 3 runs unscathed, well… that’s just not very exciting. I suspect the Vlaada Chvatil had similar feelings, because everything in this expansion adds complexity and difficulty. It’s like a saw-blade. In the hands of an experienced person, an excellent tool. In the hands of a child? Well, someone’s going to be upset my this metaphor…
What Does This Expansion Add?
Galaxy Trucker: The Big Expansion adds several modules.
- Pieces to allow for a 5th player
- New ship blueprints for the first and second adventures
- A Rough Roads module, which introduces a new rule for all players
- Promo adventure cards, changing up the adventures
- Evil Machinations, all players get to insert a potentially devastating card into the adventure deck
- New ship classes
- Cyan Aliens, who offer unique benefits depending on the specialist you’ve chosen
- 10 new ship components, all of which add-in some major benefits, but can also have devastating drawbacks.
The new ships are brilliant for those who are experienced with the base game. The level 1 ship can be rotated in any direction, but engines still must fire backwards. These ships can also be hit on every dice roll, no longer can you rely on rolling an 11 and having that large asteroid narrowly miss your crew quarters.
The level 2 ship is actually 2 smaller ships that you need to fly in tandem. They offer many challenges, such as needing to staff and power the two halves of your ship separately, and your flight speed is set to the lower of the two ships. They have a few benefits however, like adding the firepower from both ships together, and more outside edge pieces to place guns.
Neither of these two new ships are ‘insurable’, meaning if you choose to partake in these new designs, you’re putting your wallet at stake. There is no limit to the amount of losses you need to play should your ship crumble under the weight of the galaxy. Luckily for me, playing Galaxy Trucker is never about the money.
Returning to my sentiment about surviving unscathed and how boring it is, the Rough Roads module seeks to ruin your day. A number of the Rough Roads cards are revealed before building your ship, so you can, hopefully, plan around these new rules. They can include things like, explosive batteries, if you lose a battery component, the 8 surrounding components are also lost, or, space junk, in which every piece that falls off a ship becomes a large meteor for every player behind them.
The Rough Roads’ module turns up the difficulty and chaos to its maximum value. I’ve found these cards combined with the new ships are a great way to handicap experienced players. Not all players need to adhere to these new rules, but you can decide as a group. Generally, Bigfoot and I take on the massive challenges, while Otter opts for the safe and easy routes. Again, for me, score doesn’t matter, I don’t care about balance in Galaxy Trucker. I’m here to chew bubble gum and watch ships get blow’d up. And I’m all out of bubble gum.
Who is this Expansion For?
I can definitively say that this expansion is for those who absolutely love the chaos of Galaxy Trucker, and just want more. They want harder missions, tougher ships, and unforgiving twists around every space bend. The Big Expansion (and by extension, the Keep on Trucking expansion for the second edition) breathes life and flavour into a fun and fantastic system.
That said, it also adds complexity. It turns Galaxy Trucker from a game that I can teach to anyone quickly, into a game with well over a dozen different components. The back of the expansion rule book includes a summary of all the new pieces, which I always make a point of putting near the new players, so they can quickly reference what these pieces actually do. Inevitably, they just ignore the new pieces, casting them aside because they’re too complex. It’s a lot of computations their brain can’t handle during the stress of a real time phase.
The tiles are a pain to separate out, meaning this expansion will probably live forever folded into your base game. It’s great for experienced truckers, but fresh meat need not apply.
I love the modularity of the difficulty. I enjoy the trade-offs a lot of the new pieces introduce. The new ships are wild and frenetic, and I absolutely adore everything The Big Expansion adds to Galaxy Trucker. I recognize that the base game was incredibly divisive, people either love it or hate it. If you hate Galaxy Trucker because it’s random, too chaotic, has a ‘pummel the loser’ problem, and feel dispirited when your ship falls apart, this expansion does absolutely nothing to ease those qualms. But if you’re on the ‘love it’ side of that dichotomy, The Big Expansion just gives you more to love. It’s a must-have for Galaxy Trucker fans, and I’m so glad they brought it back for Galaxy Trucker’s second edition.
