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Back in the pilot’s seat
In 2023, Scorpion Masque released the brilliant two player co-op Sky Team, to incredible critical and commercial acclaim.
One of you would play as the Pilot, the other the Co-Pilot, as you worked together to help land a plane through a variety of obstacles and challenges, all done through the power of dice and silent communication.
In short order, Sky Team essentially became my wife and I’s favourite co-op game. The brilliant scaling of the game, whereby once you have completed one airport/scenario, you move onto the next, with each challenge proving harder than the last. It came with a huge host of scenarios and obstacles to overcome, but in no time at all we completed every flight, because it was just so damn addictive.
Every new wrinkle added always subtly enhanced the game, making each scenario feel different, and me and my partner became so in sync as pilot and co-pilot we felt sure we could get our pilots license in no time.
So, when it was announced an expansion was coming, which came as a surprise to no one, we immediately had it on pre-order. And it’s now finally landed in our household.
It’s going to be a bumpy ride
The first thing to state about Sky Team: Turbulence Expansion, is that the new rules and modules it added are unsurprisingly well thought out, challenging, and inventive.
What Scorpion Masque did so well with Sky Team, and again here in Turbulence, is somehow brilliantly encapsulate its theme of landing a plane, within the simplistic mechanic of dice rolls.
Adding 20 new scenarios, my wife and I have been loving the new challenges presented to us. The turbulence rule essentially throws out any kind of planning and strategy you were used to doing in the base game. Alarms have your systems breaking and yourselves panicking. Mix this in with established modules like kerosene leaks and interns, and it creates whole new trials for you to conquer. Oh, and there are penguins now. PENGUINS. What more could you want?
What Sky Team does so well and is added to even further with the Turbulence Expansion, is make you feel like you’re in this thing together, and somehow the game manages to do this in 15-to-20-minute sessions. If you win you celebrate your achievement together, tick off that scenario and get yourself into the brace position for the next. If you lose you dust yourself off, maybe switch whose doing what role, and simply try again. It’s a winning formula for all great co-op games, and one that works so well here, particularly with this expansion.
Carry On Playing
So Sky Team: Turbulence Expansion really adds more variety to an already excellent game. It could be argued however that potentially ‘expansion’ might not utterly be the correct word to describe it.
It potentially works more as a booster pack to Sky Team than a full-on expansion. It doesn’t add anything completely drastic, doesn’t somehow increase the player count, or make a
competitive version of it. It simply adds new pieces, modules to play with, and 20 new scenarios which vary in difficulty for you to complete.
For me, this isn’t a bad thing at all. Everything that Turbulence Expansion comes with can fit into your Sky Team box, so no taking up more space in your already full board game cupboard.
There’s no pointless or arbitrary additions or variations to a game that already works so well. If the plane isn’t broken, don’t fix it. Why would you when the original stuck the landing so well?
Instead, this expansion adds more to a game I already love, at an amazing price. Its more than a worthy addition to Sky Team, especially if like me you have already completed all the scenarios in the base game. #humblebrag
Final Thoughts
If you are like everybody else in the hobby and you loved Sky Team, then I say the Turbulence Expansion is a must buy.
Its inexpensive, fits into your base copy and adds an even greater level of depth to an excellent game, adding some fun and exciting new challenges, which I am currently loving crashing through.
I hope, and almost expect, that more and more does get added to this great game, without fundamentally changing what makes it so special. And if somehow, someway you’re reading this and haven’t already given Sky Team a try, do yourself a favour and buy a copy, play it at a board game café or find a friend who owns it, as I think it’s a must have for any collection, even if the thought of a dice game sends shivers down your spine!
So let’s finally bring this review down and land it onto the runway by saying, Sky Team: Turbulence Expansion is a fantastic addition to a bloody brilliant game.
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