In other BSG news, my brother and two of his friends came over today to play Battlestar Galactica with the Pegasus expansion. We had one newbie who hadn't played the base game, but was a fan of the series, so she understood the background. We kept it simple(r) - no Cylon leader, no New Caprica.
Character selection:
Newbie friend: Starbuck (her favourite character)
Other friend: Helo
Wallybee: Dee
Me: President Ellen Tigh (be afraid)
Brendan: Admiral Cain (be very afraid)
So the new characters were a hit. It was a good, solid game. Suspicions were aroused after a check was spiked with 3 Tactics cards - had to be Cain, Helo or Dee. Soon Dee was brigged (my wife is a toaster!) and then revealed. (She did spike the check successfully, so not so bad.)
By the Sleeper Phase, we'd executed the Admiral (welcome back, Admiral Adama!), Dee was sitting on two super crisis cards and all our resources were hovering around the Red. Everyone was proving themselves human, helping to raise resources and playing strongly into skill checks - which left me fairly certain it had to be someone with another way to hurt us. I was President, so that left the Admiral. I played Mission Specialist on Helo, taking the jump choice away from Adama. ("Its not that I don't trust you Brendan, it's just that I don't trust you.") Next skill check, he shrugged and spiked hard. Soon he was brigged and revealed on his next turn
Team human had rooted out the Cylon threat ( i.e. anyone related to me), but we were still under heavy pressure. We'd only drawn two attack cards the whole game, but WallyDee thoughtfully added Lured Into a Trap (new Super Crisis attack card - anyone in FTL Control when the fleet next jumps is executed). We never had enough cards - We passed her Bomb on Colonial One, but that left us completely unable to pass Legendary Discovery (which brought Food down to 2).
In the end, though, some good luck with the rate of Jump Icons saw us make the final jump. Humans win! I enjoyed being President a lot - over the course of the game, I played two Arrest Orders, a Eulogy for Admiral Cain, a Mission Specialist, a Chief of Staff and Accepted Prophecy. Made all the difference at times, both for their effects and in allowing us to draw more ICs.
A success overall. I think we'll see them back for another session (this time with New Caprica).