By Emil Larsen. Published by Sun Tzu Games.
When I was approached by one of the design team to try this out, I was really unsure. I've started to hate tabletop simulators more and more but I gave it a go as the more I read about Rogue Angels, the more I wanted to explore this new space themed game. So, was this a good idea or should I have put Apollo 11 on?
The blurb from the designers/publishers says:
Rogue Angels is a co-op sci-fi legacy game containing a strong narrative with multiple paths (story focus, which hopefully talks to you especially), tactical combat with fluent turns and action management with asymmetric abilities.
- In other words, imagine if Mass Effect had a board game baby.
Players: 1-4 | Age: 16+ | Play time: 90-120 min/mission
Being a huge fan of story driven games, both of the board and the console variety, I was hooked in and desperate to know more. There was a lot more to this game than originally met the eye and I loved my playthrough online with the designer Emil.
Let's dig into the gameplay first. Any story driven campaign game in this current era is bound to draw comparisons with Gloomhaven, which if you are here, you will most probably know is number 1 on the BoardGameGeek list of best games. From what I have seen so far Rogue Angel is as engaging as Gloomhaven but plays in a different way. I would say that this is the only similarity and of course is a huge compliment as Gloomhaven is well know for it's amazing gameplay. Rogue Angel is not quite as complex as Gloomhaven and also maybe not as long which I find to be a positive. Personally, I have played some Gloomhaven but got nowhere near the end.
Rodue Angel starts out like most campaign games; you choose a character and each character has various strengths and faces various campaigns/story arcs. In Rogue Angel characters have a focus and a shield rating where the focus tokens can be used to reroll dice and the shield, as expected, is to block damage. Dice rolls are used on cards that have the dice symbol and some cards can have multiple dice rolls on them. These dice rolls can add to cards (i.e. attack power or movement on the card) and can also add shields or individual movement (not adding on to the card powers) that can be used any time in the turn. Cards are also played down in order to move, and some cards have a 0 cooldown cost meaning that they go straight back in to your hand once played.
All of the story arcs and paths you take as a team throughout the game can have effects on relationships, future goals and mainly upon which stories you get to unlock. The first mission I played was very interesting and involved learning the ropes, seeing how the hacking works (which is very cool) and I learned that the characters have great variability. I was the tank/heavy damager and the developer Emil played as a competent hacker which gave us a lot of options. As each scenario plays out you get small snippets of the next part of the mission which makes the strategy really interesting with on the fly decisions being made at every turn.
The combat in the game is really interesting too. Each character has 4 slots in front of them to play a card into (as above) and they each have a cooldown effect. Some cards also add effects to your character as long as they are in your cooldown row. At the end of your turn you flip over your ready token and then move all of your cards one space down the cooldown track. This track really affects how many cards you can play in one turn, how often you can play the cards, and can also result in injury cards which can reduce how many actions a player may be able to take.
The visuals in Rogue Angel really fit the theme well and are excellent. Emil the designer told me that he was going for a Mass Effect style board game with really interesting story beats and interesting decisions to make. Character art is great and really well done. From a first time developer all the components and art are fantastic (as far as can be seen from Tabletop Simulator anyway). From discussing the campaign with Emil and his plans for the game, I really have confidence that he and his team will deliver on these high expectations.
There are many other aspects I would have liked to discuss but I don't want to spoil everything for the future backers - there are plenty of enemies in the game, more components & mechanics not mentioned that are very cool and work well, and a really amazing way of tracking relationships across the different species/groups in the game. If you want one though here is a cool extra that you can see for yourself if you play online; the spaceship you use as part of your gameboard is also used at the end of a scenario to store all your game pieces and therefore also save your current campaign. I can't wait to try this in real life with a gaming group as it has been made with so much love and affection plus a huge dose of excellent game design.
This game may not be for everyone as not all people enjoy space themed games. The campaign sounds like it will be about 40 hours long which again might not be for everyone and some people may struggle to get the right group together for this. I can't think of any other downsides....well apart from not being able to play much more of it right now! If you want to try it you can play the first 3 scenarios now on Tabletop Simulator.
Preview Score: 9/10
Overview: "A great experience that brings out cool stories and really interesting ways to play depending upon which characters you choose and how your group decides to continue your adventure. As someone who has not played much of the Mass Effect computer games I was not really sure I was going to enjoy Rogue Angel. I was wrong to be so pessimistic about playing Rogue Angel, this game is going to be awesome and kind of blew me away which I was not expecting at all. I can not wait to get my hands on a physical copy to see if the full game keeps up this amazing start to a very exciting looking project. Thanks for the invitation to play Emil, I loved it!"
Coming to Kickstarter in February 2022. Go check it out if it sounds like something you might be interested in and follow the campaign when it goes live. Trust me, you will want to!