This post contains spoilers for Pandemic Legacy. You should not read on if you do not want to be spoiled.
For my February gameplay, click here.
For my January gameplay, click here.
March introduced 2 new objectives, on top of the requirement to cure 3 diseases. I needed to either eradicate a disease or build a Military Base (a new structure) in each of the 6 major areas of the game (e.g. Asia, North America, South America, etc). It also introduced a new character, Operation Expert, who could build Military Bases for free, without discarding a card.
After evaluating, I figured the military base objective was way too troublesome, so I went with the same character setup (Op Expert would only be useful if I was doing the military base objective) of Researcher, Dispatcher, and Contingency Expert.
This game was quite underwhelming, but largely due to a very lucky card draw. My 1st and 2nd Epidemics were VERY far separated, and by then I was almost winning. I ended the game with zero outbreaks, and only 2 Epidemics drawn. I sieved through the Player Deck and realised the 3rd and 4th Epidemic were back to back (it's better right? Assuming you draw both in a single player turn, you avoid double-drawing a City card)
I find the Researcher is just too powerful, coupled with the Co-worker 'share anywhere' mechanic, I just use the Researcher as a card dumper, QS to control any potential outbreak with remote Quarantines (and also control the uncurable disease), and Dispatcher to maximise moves. This combo seems unstoppable, as shown by my easy win this game, without any funding to boot.
I'm not sure why it was so easy... could also be because I recognised the snowball potential of Disease Mutations (upgrades) so I focused on them from January, and I already have 4 upgrades which makes Curing a lot easier.
Three for three so far, looking forward to April!
Wednesday 8 August 2018
Tuesday 7 August 2018
Pandemic Legacy Season One - February - Game One
This post contains spoilers for Pandemic Legacy. You should not read on if you do not want to be spoiled.
After a fairly easy but interesting January game, I approached February with high hopes... which were immediately met with another cool twist when I opened the Legacy deck which has my Mission briefing.
I thought the mutation of one virus such that it needed an extra action to treat was bad enough... now the game tells me this virus has mutated further to become IMMUNE and I can’t even treat or cure it?! Wow. (Since Jan, the win condition changed to curing just 3 of the viruses)
Before I could rip apart the rest of the game in frustration, it introduced a new role and Mechanic, Quarantine+ Quarantine specialist! Quarantine is a new action any character can perform if they are in that city - you place a quarantine token on it, which basically means the next time you need to place a disease cube on it, you remove the token instead of placing the cube. So it’s like a shield!
The Specialist basically lets you quarantine any city without being there physically (and retains the token if your Specialist is in the city which just got a disease cube)
I figured the optimal strategy was to use this new character, and basically perma-Quarantine the immune virus. I dropped Medic, and ran with Quarantine Specialist, Dispatcher, and Researcher.
I added Co-worker and Family Member as my relationships.
The game went fairly smoothly at the start, but got very tense towards the end as I was left with one disease to cure but I wasn’t even drawing any of that colour, and a few cities were in danger of outbreak, even the untreatable disease. Thankfully, I emerged fairly unscathed with just one outbreak, and won with one eradication too.
Looking forward to what twists March brings... and how I will fair with ZERO funding! (Your level of funding basically indicates how many event cards you put in the deck. Each time you win, you reduce your funding by 2)
After a fairly easy but interesting January game, I approached February with high hopes... which were immediately met with another cool twist when I opened the Legacy deck which has my Mission briefing.
I thought the mutation of one virus such that it needed an extra action to treat was bad enough... now the game tells me this virus has mutated further to become IMMUNE and I can’t even treat or cure it?! Wow. (Since Jan, the win condition changed to curing just 3 of the viruses)
Before I could rip apart the rest of the game in frustration, it introduced a new role and Mechanic, Quarantine+ Quarantine specialist! Quarantine is a new action any character can perform if they are in that city - you place a quarantine token on it, which basically means the next time you need to place a disease cube on it, you remove the token instead of placing the cube. So it’s like a shield!
The Specialist basically lets you quarantine any city without being there physically (and retains the token if your Specialist is in the city which just got a disease cube)
I figured the optimal strategy was to use this new character, and basically perma-Quarantine the immune virus. I dropped Medic, and ran with Quarantine Specialist, Dispatcher, and Researcher.
I added Co-worker and Family Member as my relationships.
The game went fairly smoothly at the start, but got very tense towards the end as I was left with one disease to cure but I wasn’t even drawing any of that colour, and a few cities were in danger of outbreak, even the untreatable disease. Thankfully, I emerged fairly unscathed with just one outbreak, and won with one eradication too.
Looking forward to what twists March brings... and how I will fair with ZERO funding! (Your level of funding basically indicates how many event cards you put in the deck. Each time you win, you reduce your funding by 2)
Pandemic Legacy Season One - January First Gameplay (Spoiler Free)
After a long time of deliberating whether to invest in this game, I finally took the leap! I decided to go solo, as it would be quite troublesome to assemble and keep a regular group going for 12 weeks (minimally) to complete the game. I've heard nothing but good reviews for this game, so... why not?
Right out of the box, there's intrigue - a set of dossiers labelled 'Top Secret', a rulebook, a big sticker sheet, and a set of instructions to immediately follow.
Ok I'm going to talk abit about my experience, and I'll keep it spoiler free in the sense that I won't reveal anything that is only revealed later in the game. Meaning I'll only mention things outright described in the rulebook at the start.
One of the key new mechanics is panic level - everytime an outbreak occurs, that city's panic level goes up by 1 permanently. There were some really shitty permanent effects if the panic level got too high, so I tried my best in my first game to control all outbreaks - unfortunately I still got one. Oh well.
The first game went fairly ok - I decided to go with 3 characters, Medic, Dispatcher, and Researcher, which I deem to be the most powerful. I read online that 2 was too easy, and 4 felt abit clunky due to the card passing required and I thought I would more easily lose track and mess up given I was playing solo.
I won without too much difficulty (was never close to losing), and even managed to eradicate two diseases, which net me some cool upgrades for the future (you get 2 upgrades after every game which makes things easier for you in your next game).
But I did find myself spending A LOT more time thinking about each move, as I felt that each decision was many times more important than before, since things that happen are permanent and have lasting effects on the rest of your 12-24 games. I think playing this with friends may be slightly easier, as you can bounce ideas off each other, and weigh the pros/cons of certain decisions. After this first win, I even ran to my wife (who wasn't playing, but played Pandemic before) to ask for her inputs for an upgrade decision I had to make.
One of the new mechanics is a 'Legacy deck', which you are supposed to draw cards that have instructions on them that may change how the game is played; there is a preset order to draw them, and you will know exactly when to stop and draw. The first Legacy deck effect was mindblowing - it fundamentally changed how the game was played and I was just reeling from it. I wonder how it will affect future games?!? And if this was only the first thing, how else could the game be modified? I can imagine by the time I hit November/December, the gameplay would be REALLY REALLY different from the base game. I can't wait!!
First impressions - really good. I love the creative angle of the 'Legacy' style gameplay, which adds weight to every decision. From the first 'twist' of the Legacy Deck, I'm already super stoked to see what further twists the game makers have for me. The whole feel of the game just feels amazing and fresh, the components are well made; would have loved some better compartments for the cubes instead of ziplock but I guess I'll get a Plano box to resolve that myself.
Looking forward to February!
Right out of the box, there's intrigue - a set of dossiers labelled 'Top Secret', a rulebook, a big sticker sheet, and a set of instructions to immediately follow.
 |
| One of the first instructions was to stick a sticker on Packet 8, which is a sealed, perforated box: 'Open only if you lose 4 games in a row'. Ooooh mystery. I aim to never open this!! |
 |
| Board looks similar to regular Pandemic, with some extra things. |
Ok I'm going to talk abit about my experience, and I'll keep it spoiler free in the sense that I won't reveal anything that is only revealed later in the game. Meaning I'll only mention things outright described in the rulebook at the start.
One of the key new mechanics is panic level - everytime an outbreak occurs, that city's panic level goes up by 1 permanently. There were some really shitty permanent effects if the panic level got too high, so I tried my best in my first game to control all outbreaks - unfortunately I still got one. Oh well.
The first game went fairly ok - I decided to go with 3 characters, Medic, Dispatcher, and Researcher, which I deem to be the most powerful. I read online that 2 was too easy, and 4 felt abit clunky due to the card passing required and I thought I would more easily lose track and mess up given I was playing solo.
I won without too much difficulty (was never close to losing), and even managed to eradicate two diseases, which net me some cool upgrades for the future (you get 2 upgrades after every game which makes things easier for you in your next game).
But I did find myself spending A LOT more time thinking about each move, as I felt that each decision was many times more important than before, since things that happen are permanent and have lasting effects on the rest of your 12-24 games. I think playing this with friends may be slightly easier, as you can bounce ideas off each other, and weigh the pros/cons of certain decisions. After this first win, I even ran to my wife (who wasn't playing, but played Pandemic before) to ask for her inputs for an upgrade decision I had to make.
One of the new mechanics is a 'Legacy deck', which you are supposed to draw cards that have instructions on them that may change how the game is played; there is a preset order to draw them, and you will know exactly when to stop and draw. The first Legacy deck effect was mindblowing - it fundamentally changed how the game was played and I was just reeling from it. I wonder how it will affect future games?!? And if this was only the first thing, how else could the game be modified? I can imagine by the time I hit November/December, the gameplay would be REALLY REALLY different from the base game. I can't wait!!
First impressions - really good. I love the creative angle of the 'Legacy' style gameplay, which adds weight to every decision. From the first 'twist' of the Legacy Deck, I'm already super stoked to see what further twists the game makers have for me. The whole feel of the game just feels amazing and fresh, the components are well made; would have loved some better compartments for the cubes instead of ziplock but I guess I'll get a Plano box to resolve that myself.
Looking forward to February!
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