Outer Rim: Be the scourge or the savior, you decide

When Star Wars Outer Rim was released, that was my first question; is this game just a reskin of Firefly except in the “Star Wars” Universe, or is there something more? I was curious to find out.  

I can say, after playing both, that Outer Rim has more to offer and may be worth your consideration. For “Star Wars” fans and gamers, it was an easy decision, but for you more skeptical gamers, I hope this review can enlighten you a bit if you are on the fence before you pull the trigger.

Yes, it is a pick-up and deliver, and yes it has some other aspects that are similar to Firefly, but Fantasy Flight is known for being one of the best in narrative story-telling board games, think Eldritch Horror or more recently, Fallout.  This is where the comparisons end and the originality begins. 

 This game is rich in story and theme, for “Star Wars” fans, it’s even more exciting.  Want to try your hand at Sabaac against Lando Calrissian? You can, or how about help Grand Admiral Thrawn in a plan to end the rebellion on Lothal? You can do that too.  In Outer Rim, you are free to be a really bad guy or just your typical Mos Eisley Scum and villain. From being a bounty hunter, smuggler, or an honest trader, the world is yours to discover in this game.

There is quite a bit of set up for this one, so I will summarize briefly.  The board is modular and can be set up in many combinations, but the rules suggest one for your first game, so we will go with that. 

The board consists of planets and Nav points (dots) connected by lines (space lanes). One special Nav point is through the maelstrom by Kessel. More on that when we discuss movement. 

 After you have built the board, take the contact tokens, turning them face down with the dots (pips) side up.  At each planet, there are 2 spots for contacts and are designated by color and pips. Place any contact that matches the pips on the spaces until all have been placed face down.  Next at the edge of the boards where the patrol tokens go, place the stack of patrols for each faction at their corresponding space stacked from lowest to highest pips. Take the #1 pip for each faction and place it on the first nav point on the board.

Now the board is ready; next, come the card decks. There are several decks of cards used in a game, and one just for solo play. Each sector has 2 planets, and there is an encounter deck for each sector, and one specifically for Nav point encounters. Next is the library which is numbered and should NEVER be shuffled, but kept in numerical order. In addition, there are 6 decks of market cards. These are for jobs, bounties, cargo, gear, luxury cargo, and ships. One of my favorite parts of Outer Rim is the ability to buy better ships than your standard starting ship. Separate and shuffle these decks, take the top card of these six decks and flip it face up. 

This is what it looks like set up.

Now it’s time to select a character.  You have 8 to choose from, but if Fantasy Flight follows in its known pattern, we can expect expansion or 2 and I am sure hoping one will have Spectre Squad and the Ghost from Star Wars Rebels. Take your character card, and starting ship, 2 beginning models to choose from, a player board and matching standee. On your board, place a peg in the fame track at zero and take a faction marker for each of the 4 factions, and set it at neutral.  There are 3 settings for each faction, positive, neutral or negative reputation and there are benefits and consequences for each one. Both your character and ship have a number of stats. Characters have combat and health while ships have speed, combat, and hull. These stats are used during combat and encounters.

Finally, set the damage, credit and achievement tokens into 3 separate piles, gather the dice, and you are ready to begin. 

Each character has a specific card from the library that they choose. This gives them their first bounty, job or cargo, and their starting planet.

Once turn order is determined, give the first player 4,000 credits, player-2, 6,000, player-3, 8,000 and so on. There are 3 steps to a player’s turn; Planning, Action, and Encounter.  In the Planning step, players have a choice of 3 actions; move, collect 2,000 credits, or recover all damage on your character and ship. You can move up to your ship’s speed, however, there are 2 special rules concerning movement. If you encounter a patrol, your movement ends. If you have a negative reputation with that faction, you must fight that patrol in your encounter step.  The other time you must stop, is when you want to enter the maelstrom. You must have a maelstrom encounter in that step of your turn. 

Next, comes the action step; You may perform any or all of the actions you choose once during this step.  You may deliver any and all cargo if you are at the destination planet. The same for completing jobs. Jobs usually have a set of skills required, and when attempting it, you will have to perform a skill test.  

To attempt a skill test, roll 2 dice.  If you have none of the skills needed for the job you are considered unskilled and must roll a critical hit to pass.  If you have one of the required skills, you are skilled and rolling a hit or a critical hit are considered a success. If between you and your crew, you have 2 or more of the required skill, you are considered highly-skilled, and a rolling a critical hit, hit, or an eye will pass the test.  Very much like misbehave cards from Firefly, some jobs require multiple tests and a varied skill set is beneficial in completion.

You may also buy the top card from the market, or you may choose one deck and cycle the top card, placing it on the bottom of the deck, and revealing the next card.  You may take only ONE market action per turn. You can use the special action on your character or crew.  

Some Market cards require you to move one of the patrols.  Patrols always take the shortest route towards YOU, regardless of your reputation.  Some market cards have a cost that must be paid to acquire it. Bounties and jobs are free and are limited by the slots on your ship or character board.  Gear is upgraded to your ship or your character that improves their base stats and is also limited by the slots on your character or ship.  

After you have performed all the actions you choose to do, you have an encounter.  Encounters are based on your location; whether you are at a planet, a Nav point, a patrol or the maelstrom.  If on a planet, you can choose to encounter a contact or a planet card. To encounter a contact, turn the contact token face up, find and read the corresponding library card. If you are a bounty hunter, and this token matches your bounty, you may fight it.  If you win, you can collect the token and choose whether you wish to eliminate or deliver him/her. You do not retrieve the matching card from the library when collecting this token as a bounty. 

If you choose to have a planet encounter, you draw the top card of the matching sector deck and resolve it.  If you are at a Nav Point, you select the top card from the Nav point deck and resolve it. If there is a patrol in your space, you may choose to encounter and fight it or ignore it, unless you have a negative reputation with that faction, in which case you must fight it. An encounter with the maelstrom requires a skill test. If you pass, you usually get to take an extra turn immediately.

Combat is resolved with the customized dice.  There are two types of combat; ship and personal.  You resolve the type based on the combat encounter symbol. To resolve combat, take the number of dice according to your combat level and any upgrades.  Roll the dice and each hit counts as one point, and critical hits count as 2. The player to the left then rolls for your opponent, add up the damage and take the number of damage points on your ship or character.  Whoever has the most hits, determines the winner. If you ever take more damage than your health (character) or hull (ship) you are defeated. You lose 3,000 credits, all the secrets you have collected from encounters, and lay your character down. You must choose the recover action during your next planning step.

The object of Outer Rim is to be the first player to gain 10 fame and become the most famous person in the Outer Rim.  Fame is earned by completing jobs, collecting bounties, smuggling cargo or encountering patrols. If you fight a patrol and win the battle, you gain the reward on the token, and the next highest patrol then is placed in it’s starting position.  Each patrol becomes more difficult, until the fourth patrol, which you automatically lose. No combat is rolled, and your ship is defeated.  

As I said earlier, It is the narrative that is weaved in this game that makes it shine and become more than a re-skinned version of Firefly.  I have had so much enjoyment with this game, both solo and multiplayer, that I look forward to every time I get the opportunity to get it to the table.  In one game, my opponent another bounty hunter took out the Ghost and defeated Hera Syndulla herself, who he immediately killed! I sided with Admiral Thrawn and became hunted by the rebellion patrols. Like Rebellion, each game creates its own story that players can recall and enjoy.  

Some strategy tips, each sector deck, states on the front, the most common type of encounter you will have there, so it can be beneficial if you are desperate for a particular skill to complete a job.  Also, each bounty has a matching number of pips on its contact token, allowing you to find your prey easier when having a contact encounter. Think of it as a tracking fob.  

For a more detailed look at the game, Crabbok, one of the best reviewers for all games “Star Wars,” has a great overview of the game. 

 

Written by Ed Carter