Beyond the Black: Tiny Epic Galaxies

Tiny Epic Galaxies: Beyond the Black is the brand-new expansion for the base Tiny Epic Galaxies (TEG) game.

If you have read my review of TEG you will have seen how much I liked it. The only downsides were that it can be fiddly and the fact that there is not a huge amount of player interaction. Does this new expansion solve that and what else does it add? Read on to find out my opinions..

Inside the Box

Tiny Epic Galaxies: Beyond the Black comes in the same size box as the original and is once again crammed full to the brim. New ships, tokens and cards are all present as well as a mini expansion called ‘drones’.

The box also comes with a sleeve that fits both the main game and expansion, keeping them together neatly.

Gameplay

One of the best things about the original game for me was the quick playtime, while giving you enough depth to keep you engaged. I was worried that this expansion would add too much and make the game drag on…. I was wrong

You set up the base game as normal but then:

1. Shuffle the Planet cards from the expansion into the Planet deck.
2. Shuffle the Secret mission cards from the expansion into the Secret mission card deck.
3. Shuffle the Pilot cards and create a row of five in the centre of the table.
4. Give each player a Hanger mat and the four matching coloured ships.
5. Place the Exploration mat in the play area and place the exploration cards onto the mat.
6. Place the scoring mat in the play area and place all players score tokens on the zero space.

You set up the base game as normal but then:

1. Shuffle the Planet cards from the expansion into the Planet deck.
2. Shuffle the Secret mission cards from the expansion into the Secret mission card deck.
3. Shuffle the Pilot cards and create a row of five in the centre of the table.
4. Give each player a Hanger mat and the four matching coloured ships.
5. Place the Exploration mat in the play area and place the exploration cards onto the mat.
6. Place the scoring mat in the play area and place all players score tokens on the zero space.

The gameplay for Tiny Epic Galaxies: Beyond the Black is the same as the base game, which can be seen below:

• Move a ship – This allows you to move a ship from your Galaxy (or a planet) on to a planet. Two choices are available when moving to a planet; you can either land and take an action straight away or you can attempt to colonize the planet by orbiting it and using a later action to take control of it. (see step 3)
• Acquire Resources – This allows you to obtain either energy or culture from any planet you re on or orbiting. This is vital for upgrading your Empire.
• Advance Colonization – Once you have taken the move ship action to have a ship orbiting a planet card, you use this action to move that ship one space forward on the colony track.
• Utilize a colony – This allows you to use a special skill from either your Galaxy card or a planet you have taken control of.

There are however some new additions for the Beyond the Black expansion:

• Hiring Pilots– Here, depending on what dice rolls you have made, you have the option of turning one of your available ships into an ‘Advanced ship’ that has its own special ability and scores your Victory points.
• Explore Unknown space- When using the move ship action, you can place a ship onto the new exploration mat. Once here you will draw cards that can help or hinder you.

That’s it, two new actions with a lot of depth hidden behind each one. For example, you may want to hire a pilot but using dice to do so are no longer used for any other action on that turn. The ‘explore’ action also contains a lot of hidden depth; do you carry on exploring and risk losing resources or do you take the discovery card you revealed?

• Hiring Pilots– Here, depending on what dice rolls you have made, you have the option of turning one of your available ships into an ‘Advanced ship’ that has its own special ability and scores your Victory points.
• Explore Unknown space- When using the move ship action, you can place a ship onto the new exploration mat. Once here you will draw cards that can help or hinder you.

That’s it, two new actions with a lot of depth hidden behind each one. For example, you may want to hire a pilot but using dice to do so are no longer used for any other action on that turn. The ‘explore’ action also contains a lot of hidden depth; do you carry on exploring and risk losing resources or do you take the discovery card you revealed?

Final thoughts on Tiny Epic Galaxies: Beyond the Black

I was apprehensive about this expansion as TEG was a game that played quickly, but had enough meat to its bones to make it worth playing. There is some luck but that could be mitigated and I was unsure if the expansion could keep that going.

Once Tiny Epic Galaxies: Beyond the Black is added in, it adds no more than a few minutes setup time and I honestly don’t know how much overall to the game. This is because with the expansion the game is great fun and every time I have played it I get immersed in the game…… EVEN MORE THAN THE ORIGINAL!!

The pilots add some great depth as you decide whether it’s worth using dice to hire pilots or use them for the base game actions. The main meat is the new exploration action though and not only does it give you a thematic feeling of exploring the unknown, it’s a great way to score points.

Overall, Tiny Epic Galaxies: Beyond the Black takes a great game and adds to the theme and enjoyment. The play time is only increased slightly but this does not matter as the actions are not only fun but also require tactical use. Player interaction is increased slightly due to the Exploration action (you can use follow action to explore too) and nothing in my opinion is made worse with any of the additions.

There is also a new solo mode included for those that like to game alone. I would love to see Gamelyn do an ‘Ultimate big box’ edition of this where you would get a board as I think this would get rid of the only downside – it’s still fiddly to set up and play but that’s fine considering how much fun it is.