Anybody play Dominant Species?

I just picked up the board game Dominant Species because it was getting such rave reviews on BGG.

Has anyone played it before? Apparently, the rules are simple, but the game itself can be difficult to play because it's very strategic and there are multiple ways to win.

Also, it's not real thematic, so my non-gamer wife might want to play once or twice (ok, maybe once).

Anyway, here's the Dice Tower Review and the game page on BGG.

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jp2K4hBWT9c"]Dice Tower Review[/ame]

Yeah, I've got it and really enjoy it - but don't play it that often because of (a) its length and (b) because I prefer playing it with 5-6 players, which can be hard to find because of (a).

I really like Chad Jensen's games. Urban Sprawl is also a lot of fun, and his Combat Commander series (for wargame fans) is pure genius.

Cheers!

MerricB said:

Yeah, I've got it and really enjoy it - but don't play it that often because of (a) its length and (b) because I prefer playing it with 5-6 players, which can be hard to find because of (a).

Click to expand...

I've only had a chance to do a couple of solo tries to learn the rules. I am going to take it to my FLGS tonight, as it's board game night and see if I can drum up some interest.

One thing I read over at BGG is that you can shorten the game by:

1. Taking out the three Domination cards that grant APs (Omnivore, Parasitism, Intelligence, and Immigrants)
2. Remove a 5th card at random.
3. Take 5 random cards face down, shuffle the Ice Age card into this group and place it at the bottom of the Domination deck.

This should cut the time down by about 45 min or so. Also, using a timer might help those with Analysis Paralysis during the AP stage (funny how that also shortens to AP.)

I found an AWESOME board game timer called The Cube. Amazing.

I really like Chad Jensen's games. Urban Sprawl is also a lot of fun, and his Combat Commander series (for wargame fans) is pure genius.

Click to expand...

I heard a lot of people try to compare Memoir '44 with Combat Commander, though the regular wargamers say there's no comparison, CC is so much better (not that M44 is bad game by any stretch). I haven't played it or seen it, though.

I haven't played Urban Sprawl either. How does it play?

I also recently bought Earth Reborn to give a try. That is supposed to be fun.

And now that Tannhauser has a totally new set of rules I am going to bust it out again. The old rules were AWFUL but the game was just gorgeous. We like to play Dust Tactics too, but I have this game and a lot of the expansion minis just sitting around gathering dust. Thank God FFG took full control and TOTALLY rewrote the rules to use all the same game materials, but with a completely revised ruleset. Actually, not even revised.... it's totally rewritten. I downloaded the new PDF and it is much, much better.

I very much enjoy Dominant Species and have played it a half-dozen or so time, always with 4 or 5. There aren't as many paths to victory as some reviews indicate, in my opinion, but the tactical level is a lot of fun and there are enough valid strategies to keep it from getting stale.

Good stuff, recommended.

On taking out those cards, it will indeed reduce playing time but it should be noted that those are the big, game-changing cards that bring on a lot of the fun. If your first play is without them and you're not super-thrilled I urge you to try it again with the full card complement.

Love it, one of my favorite games. Taking out those cards does shorten the game, and it still plays fine.

I played a game at my FLGS last night, 3-player, though we didn't run the 2-animal each optional rules. We did do the short-game variant described above and it was really fun. That game can change hands VERY quickly, and at endgame, when the final scoring occurred, the person in last place was behind by almost 50 points and rallied into 2nd place and only 6 points behind the winner.

Crazy....