Windsurfing Master of Orion

For example, I love MoO because of the resource tracks.

Ha!!!! I can already hear some hysterical laughter from people who have a doctorate in resource tracks, who have run resource track conferences in some obscure German town, who have a Geek List of the Top Fifty New Resource Track Games of last month. MoO will not figure on their list, not by a long way. Am I right? If you already have fifty games with resource tracks, MoO won't stand out. The whole concept of resource tracks will have gotten too diluted for you.

I'm glad it hasn't for me. Master of Orion's triple resource track is, for me, purer than Terraforming Mars' resource board, with all its cubes and diversity. Now that's sayin' somethin', since I hold TM in the HE (sorry, I hold 'Terraforming Mars' in the 'Highest Esteem'). But IMO (agggh! - 'in my opinion'), MoO is a cleaner, more closed system, resource track calling to cards in tight synchronization. The symbols ping each other, like calling birds that, er ... make pinging noises.

- Sorry, excuse the lame simile, but, seriously, how else could I explain the intrigue of MoO's resource tracks to the average person? Unless I'm lucky and s/he's a windsurfer of course ...

"Well, it's ... it's such smooth fun sliding up and down those tracks, the way they complement each other."

"Smooth fun? You mean like windsurfing the waves?"

"Er, probably, yeh, a bit like ... er, windsurfing."

The same goes for building the card tableau. How do you explain the cool interaction of card resource symbols with the tracks? It's so smooth, so alive, there's the hum of prosperity and growth in those card columns as they activate more resources. You can even interchange resources, food for fleet for production ...

A bit like windsurfing, I'm sure, the way you can change tack, adapt to the wave curl, feel the adrenaline surging under your neoprene wetsuit...

You won't be necessarily wearing a neoprene wetsuit of course playing MoO, but there is a certain, er, warmth in playing, like for example in the attack mode. Attacking is abstractly cozy, not something that will cause much aggravation with your opponents, just a slight knock on their prestige. So you won't feel any sting or backlash from being attacked. Besides, you can set up cards to counteract attacks or even benefit from them.

Yes, the cards have interesting powers linking them up with other cards in their columns or even across columns, so you need to manage your columns carefully to make sure the cards you want activated can remain activated, i.e. on the top of the columns ...

But I'm sensing your boredom as soon as I stop talking about windsurfing and talk about columns and activation. Well, come on, be fair, windsurfing doesn't have much to do with that stuff, does it, unless of course you want to describe the thrill of wind gust activating wave curl, of elements lining up to maximise your board thrust.

Is there lining up, in MoO? Absolutely! When things line up in MoO, there is such a solid sense of satisfaction. My card columns actually feel powerful, all neatly lined up and pointing towards my imminent mastery of Orion.

Yeh, but if you're my opponent, just don't mess with my columns, or I'll mess with yours. I'll sabotage your fleet assault, I'll block your cards from being activated, I'll crash your prestige, I'll swap your card order, I'll ... I'll ...

Hey, don't suppose windsurfers get that stuff going on between them, do they. "Just don't mess with my waves ... Leave that gust of wind to me, or I'll knock you off your board ...·"

Fortunately, in MoO such things are low key, just enough to get you out of your own little world and eying what your opponents are up to, which is as cool as the water spray in a windsurfer's face.

So is there anything negative to say about MoO?

You mean, apart from the supposedly 'flimsy' boards?

Nope. Nothing.

I even love the different alien powers - should have said before ... each player takes the role of a different alien, with distinctive powers of cards or cubes or so on. And during the game, you can recruit alien allies to enhance your options. Nice variety there.

So I've given my opinion of MoO. Question is, is my opinion valid?

Probably not. I just don't want MoO to be superceded. Not yet. I have a vested interest in it staying as it is, at least for a while more. I feel an intense loyalty towards it, as if I made the game myself.

Cos it's one of the neatest, smoothest and most unpretentious games in my collection.

So, have I convinced you?

No, didn't think so

Okay, I'll rephrase the question:

Want to go, er ... windsurfing around the galaxy?

Master of Orion is one of the most underrated games in my collection. And my main frustration is that, despite writing this review, it will continue to be one of the most underrated games in my collection.

So why bother to write? If you're reading this, it's probably because you're a fan of MoO already, and if you're not, you likely won't be swayed by what I say about MoO. (Oh, by the way, MoO is an acronym for Master of Orion, not a cow reference. Cows don't put a capital at the end of their orions.)

So as reviewing MoO is pointless, I may as well write about something else.

Like windsurfing.

Yes, as I know nothing about windsurfing, I won't get frustrated when I fail to convince you how great it is.

Well, believe me, I'm not much more qualified to write about boardgames than I am about windsurfing. Since I only own about 30 games, what I say might not carry much weight.

Read this review in BoardGameGeek.