BSG

In case you were wondering, I was cylon from the start.

Oh, I knew. You were my top choice for Cylon, though I was flip-flopping between you and Baltar.

Phillip Island? I'm guessing at sunset, familyBT will be down by the beach watching this:

[link]

BSG

So after I got the lovely gift of Cylon-hood from omnis (which I was really happy about) I was going to reveal and then openly cause chaos with Hoshi.

However, the whole airlock suggestion came up and I ran with it. And then my strategy for the most part was to not play interrupts and play as neutral as possible. I spiked the Airlock checks hard, but that was pretty much it.

I was also silent a lot becuase I was working/learning a new position at work, and getting burnt out to the point I'd come home, check b.org and email from my phone and never even turn on my computer. Plus I only went with Helo because my top choices were taken and I just basically picked him at random. He had new powers - which I don't think I used.

BSG (Toasty Hoshi)

For the record, I *didn't* spike that first check. I suspect Laga did.

BSG (Cain)

For the record, I *didn't* spike that first check

Ha ha oh my God what. All of my suspicions were based on that first check. That's where it all started!

BSG

I know, right! I was back tracking, trying to guess cards based on initial draw, and all that. Too many variables. And I was all happy that I had a cohort out there. Paint me surprised when I was dealt the SECOND Cylon card!

BSG

For the record, I *didn't* spike that first check. I suspect Laga did.

That is correct, Leoben spiked the first check. He was in fact trying to fulfill his human motive, but that motive required that Population fall to 6 or less. Apparently he didn't trust it to fall on its own.

BSG (Leoben)

Yes, you all took a few rounds to realize that my GtFoG ability allowed me to know what Destiny was playing into the check. So I ran with that and pointed fingers all over the place.

My biggest mistake was helping Pop to fall.

My biggest mistake was helping Pop to fall.

Ok, back from PenguinLand, and here's my wrap-up. Congratulations Cylons, commiserations humans. Been saying that a lot lately, the last human victory was game 13. (Next game, surely.)

First up, let's talk about the new Daybreak elements in this game. Five in particular: the mutiny cards, the new Treachery deck, assault raptors, motives for Cylon leaders and the roster of new characters. What did everyone think about these? From my perspective, I give each one of them a thumbs up.

• The motives look like a huge improvement over the old, erratic agendas. Interesting too to have the possibility that a Cylon leader could conceivably choose either side. Leoben mostly played it pretty straight helping the humans, but there was that one check at the start, which apparently had some interesting consequences for the blame game.

• The old Treachery deck was pretty anaemic; most of the time, they just weren't that useful. They fell short of the promise of giving a revealed Cylon actual things to do. One caveat, by game end the destiny deck was something like half Treachery. Not sure yet if that's going to be a common state of affairs or not.

• I like the new characters too, they feel interesting without being overpowered. I noted that many characters made use of their abilities (less so their OPGs, after Baltar hoovered up the miracle tokens). One exception: Helo used his Raptor Pilot ability (to look at two cards with a single scouting action) only once. Just once. And on that one occasion, hand to God, he scouted and buried two consecutive Cylon attack cards. This was in the same cycle as Hoshi's Massive Assault. Helo gets the human MVP, as he probably kept the humans alive for another jump cycle with that one action.

• The mutiny cards provide another dimension and give players extra options, and for those reasons I quite like them. (One example, which sadly couldn't get played: late in the game, Cottle had a mutiny card that would repair every single damaged viper. Unfortunately, it required at least one undamaged viper already in space, so he was unable to play it.) I was concerned that they'd see half the crew in the Brig, but that didn't eventuate. (It happened to Cottle, and he got released the very same turn.) However, they most likely make the game harder for the humans, which brings us to:

• Assault raptors. They didn't get much use, which may have made a big difference this game. Raiders only hit them on a 7-8, making them more effective defenders. I think we can agree that the humans need all the help they can get.

Now, some noteworthy events in the game:

Turn 1.1: Leoben used his GetFoG and then spiked the check with an AAC-5. That was the card he'd got from GetFoG. If he hadn't done anything, Destiny would've spiked the check exactly the same.

Turn 4.3: When Hoshi revealed as a Cylon, he gave Helo his other loyalty card, which was the other Cylon card. Helo had been 100% human up till then. Which made it all the more hilarious that the very next action was Apollo stealing the Admiralty to become Pradmiral, in the process convincing everyone but the Cylons that he was the second Cylon. (It was a close-run thing, what with all the damage Hoshi and Helo managed, but nonetheless for his services to rampant paranoia at a time of space battles I am awarding the Cylon MVP to Apollo.)

Turn 4.5: Coming into this turn, the humans had 25 non-Treachery cards between them. The fleet was under attack by a basestar and 10 raiders. Then Helo, at Baltar's urging, executed Apollo. By turn end, the humans were down to 13 useful skill cards. A reminder of some of the cards that Apollo discarded:

Evasive Manoeuvre 1
Maximum Firepower 3
Combat Veteran 4
Maximum Firepower 4
Run Interference 5
Best of the Best 6

It was at this point that the space war was lost, (continued...)