Tabletop_Gaming__April_2019

70 April 2019

PLAYED

it’s dicult to nd the rules that specify

what order civilians should act in if there’s

more than one, as well as how many

health points each Purge unit or civilian

has. Minor complications like these don’t

derail the experience too much, however,

as once you get started you nd the game

sequence to be fairly intuitive.

On that note, the gameplay has a

nicely balanced level of risk and reward

that helps create a sense of urgency.

You often need to try and complete

secondary objectives and gain valuable

items to upgrade your crew or trade for

cash. is is vital in a campaign, since

as well as outtting your characters

to deal with greater challenges, you’ll

also have to keep your ship maintained

and have enough funds to deal with

unexpected developments. However,

the Purge are an omnipresent threat

whose numbers increase as the game

progresses, and things can go south

very quickly if you’re not careful.

JAMES WINSPEAR

TRY THIS IF

YOU LIKED...

STAR SAGA

Sharing the same

developer as Core

Space, Star Saga

is a more linear,

streamlined game

that tones down

Root: The RPG

in favour of a

greater emphasis

on combat.

Rogue traders

Core Space

PLAY IT? PROBABLY

If you’re prepared to invest the

time required to properly get into

the meat of Core Space, you’ll find

an entertaining romp w ith mostly

intuitive mechanics whose gameplay

clips along at a solid pace.

1-2h 1-2 14+ £80

WHAT’S IN

THE BOX?

◗ Eight trader miniatures

◗ Nine purge miniatures

◗ Three civilian miniatures

◗ 11 character boards

◗ Eight class boards

◗ Purge board

◗ Two ship boards

◗ Eight plastic

crew dashboards

◗ Plastic hostility tracker

◗ Seven dice

◗ 20 event cards

◗ 42 counters

◗ 189 plastic pegs

◗ Token pouch

◗ 100+

equipment tokens

◗ 2ft/60cm square

gaming mat

◗ 90+ 3D cardboard

terrain pieces

C

ore Space is a game best described

as a hybrid of a miniatures

skirmish game and dungeon-

crawling RPG. Players control a crew of

traders as they attempt to gather loot,

complete various objectives and avoid

the deadly Purge, either in a standalone

scenario or as part of a larger campaign.

e action takes place on a decent

quality playmat divided by modular 3D

scenery, with each mission having its own

unique layout. e game certainly looks

impressive when it’s all set up, though

the game’s generic sci- setting feels

like a missed opportunity in terms of art

direction. Whilst the board is gridded,

traders and NPCs – the civilians and Purge

miniatures – all move by ruler in inches

and shoot using line of sight, making the

moment-to-moment gameplay more akin

to something you’d nd in a skirmish-

level wargame than a traditional board

game. e grids are instead primarily

used for as a reference point for laying

out the scenery for each mission, though

in practice they’re also quite useful for

quickly eyeballing distance as well.

e need to clip together walls and

ll crates with items means that setting

up will denitely take a good 20 minutes

to half an hour or so, particularly for the

rst few games. Your attitude to this fact

will probably be indicative of whether

you’ll like Core Space or not. e game

is really best played as a running

campaign, and it’s the sort of title that’s

meant to be played over the course of a

few evenings with the same group. (e

core box has enough for two players,

with expansions allowing for more.)

In essence, the action is divided

between exploring and combat on the one

hand, and resource and crew management

on the other. e progression system has a

very strong RPG element; each member of

your crew not only comes with an innate

skill, but a choice of dierent skill trees

containing half a dozen or so dierent

abilities apiece. On top of this, each

ability often has a number of upgradable

levels that have a dierent eect on your

crewmember. Some items also confer

their own abilities. It’s certainly an in-

depth system, but its sheer size means it

can often be a little overwhelming, and

there’ll almost denitely be times you

forget that one of your characters had a

specic ability at their disposal. All the

dierent variables also means that the

box comes with a lot of tokens and such,

which can be a bit nicky at times.

e only other major bugbear comes

down to a few hiccups in the rulebook.

Some of this is just a matter of slightly

unintuitive layout, though there are a few

outright omissions as well. For example,