Meeple on Board Rating
Be the first to review this product.Board Game Geek Reviews
Be the first to review “Space Freaks”
You must be logged in to post a review.
You must be logged in to post a review.
Description from the publisher:
Welcome to the hottest, most cruel show in the galaxy! It’s Friday night battle in the Arena of Annihilation! Stay tuned to see what new tricks our arena master has in store for today’s battle. Here comes the first team. Oh my, they seem to be even uglier than our usual competitors. Who thought it was a good idea to match chain tracks with a poison needle? That team will need a lot of help from their sponsor to have a chance. Look at their opponents, tentacles with anti-matter flail — that’s a classic. Seems like we are ready to start. It’s time to freak out!
In Space Freaks, you are team manager of one of the fighting teams sponsored by powerful megacorporations. Your task is to combine different body parts to design the perfect freak, then lead your team of freaks to victory. The arena is controlled by the arena master, who each turn changes the conditions in the arena. To succeed, you need to complete tasks given to you by the viewers — or just destroy the other freaks and their base. But don’t worry because in Space Freaks everyone wins, either by managing the winning team or by becoming a (body)part of the next winning team!
In more detail, during the game you build your own freaks, one body part at a time, in addition to building turrets, bunkers and droids to aid your team. Your team sponsor might also aid you in the form of items, special actions, or even alien marauders. You score points during play by fulfilling tasks given to your team by the viewers, killing competing freaks, destroying an opposing base, or controlling the center of the arena.
Ages | 14+ |
---|---|
Players | 2 Players, 3 Players, 4 Players |
Play Time | 60m – 90m |
Designer | Kare Jantunen, Max Wikström |
Mechanics | Area Movement, Variable Player Powers |
Theme | Miniatures, Science Fiction |
Publisher | Lautapelit.fi, Stronghold Games |
laexpls
By far the best game I've played at Essen 2017. Quick, fun and lots of possibilities. But it never hit the table again. So I'm willing to sell or trade it.
thediceyreview
Space Freaks is a fun, frantic romp with tons of tactical decisions. I will make the admission that I'm a Euro gamer at heart so the idea of a tactical skirmish combat game seemed a bit daunting to me at first. One of the things that I enjoyed so much about Space Freaks was that it wasn't so complicated that I couldn't grasp it or remember all the rules. It was approachable, easy to understand and provided plenty of decisions. The coolest part of the game is the ability to create your team of Freaks by combining different body parts. There is so much strategy in these decisions. The other thing that I like about this choice is that you can absolutely decide based on how you want to play. Your team could potentially be big bruisers that hit like a truck, or you can be precise sniper characters that only want to attack bases and then retreat. Quite a bit of fun to work through. The other thing that I like about the game is that even if you don't enjoy take that or head to head combat your characters always come back and there are ways for you to win without just targeting your opponents. You can complete missions, you can attack bases, you can try for area control in the middle, the choices are varied. Space Freaks is a fun game and a great choice if you're looking for a tactical combat game but don't want to have to prepare like an actual General. I'm rating it at 8/10 based on the BGG system "Very Good - Enjoy playing and would suggest it". If you're looking for this style of game it's one of the better ones in this genre I've played. Paul
djberg96
We've played a few times now and enjoyed it. It's fast and furious skirmish game that does not reward playing defensively, so there's going to be a lot of casualties. The offensive nature of the game plus the arena master cards and the sponsor cards will definitely create a feeling of total pandemonium, but I think that's the point. The mission cards at least give you a small amount of structure. As for downsides, there isn't quite enough variation for the freak construction (though the expansion adds more). There could be a little bit of downtime with 4 players, though really players should be on a strict timer. I recommend playing with the "single deck draft" variant so that everyone is guaranteed a unique freak to make things more interesting, otherwise certain abilities will always be chosen over others. This isn't a super deep skirmish game, so don't worry about making optimal moves and just have some fun. If you want something grittier, then you should pass.