Full disclosure: I have never played a game produced by the Game Crafter until now. For the uninitiated, the Game Crafter is a print-on-demand game publishing company i.e., they will produce whatever game designers send them, for a fee, without questioning game quality. Their components have a solid reputation, but as for the games themselves, well, there’s always a chance you find a gem, akin to Andy Weir’s self-published novel The Martian. Or you might be disappointed by a mess that clearly needed further playtesting.

In this review, I’ll be shining some light on the Game Crafter title Galactic Duel, a 2-player-only area control game designed by Drew Grant that plays in 10-20 minutes. It’s got a space theme and some cool-looking astronaut pieces. So can it rise to the excitement level of The Martian, or is it yet another example of a game that needed more development?

Gameplay Overview:

A game of Galactic Duel starts with 10 planets laid out, each with a specific power and point value. Each player takes 12 astronauts in their color.

On their turn, a player will

1. Place one of their astronauts on a planet
2. If able, activate a power on a single planet where they currently have majority presence

Once both players have placed all their astronauts, the game ends. Determine majority on each planet and award points accordingly. Highest score wins.

Mid-game state of Galactic Duel

Game Experience:

Galactic Duel is a fun little game. The math of ten planets being in play with each player only having access to 12 astronauts means that the majority is often achieved with a single astronaut holding down a planet all by their lonesome. It also means that placing a single astronaut in any one location can immediately wipe out your opponent’s majority. A two-astronaut differential on a planet can seem insurmountable. And then there are certain planet powers like “swap the positions of any 2 astronauts” or “swap the positions of all astronauts on two different planets” that have the ability to completely upend the majority status from one turn to the next. The game is a constant balance of trying to control the powers that you deem important, while also positioning yourself to have the majority at game-end in locations that will be worth larger point values; planets are generally worth anywhere from 1 to 10 points each.

The types of planet powers come in a couple of different flavors:

• Collect, trade, or steal public or private resources that could be worth points if you control the right planets
• Score big points
• Move, swap, or relocate yours and/or your opponent’s astronauts
• Place or remove meteors on a planet; if a 3^rd meteor accumulates, that planet and all astronauts on it are eliminated

This planet and all of its astronauts is in danger of being eliminated if one more meteor is added.

By design, some planets are worth more points than others, and the powers on some are better than others. You cannot control everything, so strategically timing when to go for the majority on which planet is key. It’s a short game that manages a nice gameplay arc.

Sounds pretty good so far, right? Similar to other two-player area control games like Lost Cities or Hanamikoji, Galactic Duel has simple rules, but many interesting decisions. A key difference is that Galactic Duel is a game of perfect information. This is generally a positive in my book, although it can endanger replay value without variable set-up. Galactic Duel does come with three unique sets of 10 planet powers, each of which really makes the game play quite differently. It almost feels like three games in one box. That being said, players will still eventually develop a meta for each set of planet powers, so replay value will eventually suffer.

There is a built-in solution to replay value, of course, which is to simply mix the planet powers across the three sets together. The rulebook does not provide guidance on this, but it’s obvious that certain cards need to stay together. For example, set C has one power which says “place 1 satellite on any planet” and another power that lets you score 1VP at game-end for each satellite in play. Other powers, like “copy the ability of another non-End Game planet power” are more generic. So, increasing replay value is easily doable, but it requires more planning than a simple shuffle. Notably, there is also one planet power (out of 30 total) for which I did not care. It involved rolling a D20 and auto-winning if you rolled a 19 or 20. In a game of otherwise perfect information, this just didn’t seem to fit.

Quality components including 3D-printed astronauts, metallic satellites, glossy planets, and more abound.

Another minor complaint is that while the astronauts, planets, and other components of Galactic Duel are perfectly pleasing in appearance, the theme is completely pasted on. One could say the same for Lost Cities and Hanamikoji, but if your theme is a mere artistic choice, I would try to differentiate from the other 1700+ space-themed games out there.

The greatest current weakness of the Galactic Duel, however, is the clear second-player advantage in at least two sets of planet powers. The thin margin of astronaut majority in the game means that getting to place the last astronaut, as well as potentially moving additional astronauts around on the last turn (due to a planet power), allows the last player to perfect their final positioning, and that’s pretty important in an area-control game. I played four games with each set of planet powers (12 games total, half being first-player). The second-player won in 11/12 games. The final point differential in these games varied between 0 (tie-breaker rules applied) to 10 points. There are two particular planet powers in set C that allowed the first player to prevail exactly once. Ultimately, the only fair way to address the second-player advantage at present is to require 2 consecutive plays of the same game setup, where each player gets a chance as second-player, and then sum the two scores. The game only takes about 10 minutes, so it’s not a terrible solution.

Final Thoughts:

Galactic Duel is a short area control game with perfect information, simple rules, and fun decisions throughout. Each player has barely enough astronauts to cover the ten planets, so every placement matters, and players must carefully balance when to focus on strong planet powers versus big points, with the control of the galaxy constantly shifting back and forth. The three unique sets of ten planet powers mean there are a lot of really good ideas in the box.

Nonetheless, a more randomized set-up is needed to help with replay value, and the rules need to be tweaked to mitigate the strong second-player advantage. More unique theming could also help it stand out from the crowd. With a couple of relatively straightforward modifications, this game has the potential to go from good to great.

Final Score: 3 stars – A good, short, elegant, 2-player design with fun decisions that is close to being a great game

Hits:
• Simple rules
• Interesting decisions
• Tense back-and-forth player interaction

Misses:
• Lacks replay value
• Strong second-player advantage
• Overdone, pasted-on theme