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Transmissions is a one to four player game designed by Adam West and published by CrossCut Games.
Transmissions brings to life the stunning illustrations of Matt Dixon. In Transmissions, players share robots acting as workers to move around a rondel board. The robots will collect engrams and electricity which in turn can be used to gather ideas to improve your robots, purchase items to score end game points and to build and connect flowing pipes. Players will also be collecting butterflies and birds on ideas and pipes for further end game scorng points.
Players have a deck of identical cards which will depict either a robot (or robots) or location(s). Players will use these cards, selecting from a hand of three cards to move a robot. The robots are shared between all players and each robot can move a specific number of spaces.
Depending on the location the robot lands, you may gain engrams, electricity, purchase ideas or items, collect forest cards or purchase pipes. The card used goes to the bottom of the player's deck and a new card is drawn. Ideas and items slot into the player's board with ideas providing additional bonus and abilities when you move that specific robot and items generating points at the end of the game. Ideas, items and pipes cost a combination of engrams and electricity.
Play continues this way with each player selecting a card to move a robot and performing an action until there are no ideas left, all the slots on all of one player's robots are complete or there are no pipes left. Points are awarded for robots that are filled with ideas and items, items and ideas themselves score, certain forest cards, pipes, longest flow of pipes and the number of butterflies multiplied by the number of birds. The player with the most points win.
Hopefully, the above explanation gives you a general idea of how the game plays.
Final Thoughts
There is no denying that Transmissions has a whimsical theme and looks the part. The robot miniatures are extremely cute and adorable and the components are top notch (especially in the deluxe Kickstarter copy). But what about the gameplay, how does the shared robot mechanism work in practice and why the butterflies and birds? Read on to find out what I think of Transmissions.
Share Nicely
The game is fairly straightforward to play. The action spaces are simple enough to get to grips with and the graphic design on the board is clear and easy to understand. As is the card play, simply select one of three cards, which displays either a robot or location and move the robot or the specific robot in the displayed location. Each robot moves a set number of spaces which is displayed on your player board, plus any ideas you may have collected. I really enjoy the simplicity of the rules. The shared robots mechanism is a neat idea. However, it is not easy to manipulate this mechanism to interact with your opponents. You never really know what cards your opponents have so moving certain robots to hinder your opponents is not really a factor. Either way, I still really enjoy the way the four robots are shared between all players.
Efficient Electricity
Resource management in Transmissions is an important factor. You only have a set amount of space to store your engrams so it is a constant cycle of collection and spending and being efficient with your actions. It is public information what engrams each player has so if you can deduce a specific item, idea or pipe that your opponent is going for you can sometimes grab it before them. This offers some interaction in the game but it is not huge. I enjoy the ebb and flow of collecting and using your engrams, it can be frustrating when you have just collected what you need for another player to snaffle away what you were saving for. But this is all part of the game and you can usually buy something just as good with what you have.
There is a decent amount of variability in the game. The ideas and improvements come in sets and you only use a limited number of these sets depending on player count. These result in different combinations of ideas and items each game, keeping the game fresh and interesting. I appreciate the variability a huge amount.
Go With The Flow
Players can build a network of flowing pipes and the more pipes you have in your longest flow scores you points at end game. This offers additional ways to score points which is always appreciated. You will still have to collect ideas and items but it is a good way to bolster your points and spend your unwanted engrams.
The game is fairly forgiving. For the most part you always have options. Engrams can be used for various things which will ultimately give you some level of points. It is certainly not a "tight" game, which is perfectly fine if that is what you want. But if you are looking for a game that is tight and every action counts and that feeling of "you must have that tile" then Transmissions is not that game. I enjoy tight and tense games but sometimes having something a bit lighter and easy going is a welcome change.
The Butterflies And The Birds
The theme is somewhat...odd. I can get onboard (to some degree) with the gathering of engrams and electricity and the purchasing of ideas and items. But the forest cards? The pipes? Both of these seem like a strange addition that pulls me out of the game a bit. Why are robots building pipes? This particular aspect just feels like it has been bolted on. Top this off with the butterflies and birds scoring mechanism and the theme just feels a bit strange in places. Admittedly, Euro games are often themeless but they often have a "setting" that ties the mechanisms together. I don't get this from Transmissions. Now, that does not make this a bad game. In fact, I still really enjoy it, but I felt it was worth mentioning as part of the review.
Overall, Transmissions is a fairly light, easy playing worker movement, rondel game. It offers simple resource management and set collection mechanisms all wrapped up in gorgeous artwork and some fantastic looking miniatures. The solo mode is challenging and offers a unique twist on the standard gameplay. If you can get past the somewhat wonky theme and don't mind a game that is less restrictive, then this is a very good playing game that you should check out.
