I have recently logged my 75th play of Thunderbirds.
After this many plays, I wanted to share a few thoughts for anyone interested.
1. The product quality, especially the cards, really holds up.
I do not sleeve cards. Nevertheless, they have held up amazingly well after so many plays.
I am not sure what card stock or finish was used on the cards, but they are much harder-wearing than most games in my experience.
2. This is not a Pandemic System game.
I have heard many times that Thunderbirds is a "Pandemic spin-off" or "the best game in the Pandemic family".
However, the similarities are really limited to: it is co-operative; it is designed by <PERSON> and; it has unique player powers.
The Pandemic System relies on two decks of cards: a Player deck that acts as both the game timer and as the Players' resources and; an “Infection” deck that controls the spread of something and, importantly, has its' discard pile shuffled and placed back on top to intensify the problem areas.
The decks in Thunderbirds do not work this way and the way that Disasters and Schemes are distributed across the board has a completely different feel.
It is true that running out of cards in the Disaster Deck will result in a game loss, but in 75 games I have never seen this happen (losses have always come from The Hood triggering an unresolved Scheme or a Disaster Card reaching the end of the Disaster Track).
For me, the satisfaction of efficiently planning the movement and usage of characters, machines and vehicles is far more satisfying than solving the Pandemic puzzle (full disclosure: Pandemic Legacy Season 1 is still just above Thunderbirds in my Top 10 because of the thematic journey that game takes).
3. To maintain replayability after many plays, the Tracy Island, Above & Beyond and Devious Schemes expansions are all necessary.
This is because:
- The Tracy Island Disaster Deck increases the variety in Disasters and removes a portion of the Disaster Cards from the game during setup. This prevents players from reliably gaming the Disaster Deck, knowing that they will see most of the deck during the game. Prior to using the Tracy Island expansion, we would often say something like "leave FAB1 in South America, Splashdown will be out soon". 403
With the Tracy Island, 20% of the Disaster cards are put back in the box unseen, so you don't even know if certain Disasters will appear.
- Tracy Island provides a much-needed transfer point.
- Additional variety in Player Abilities, F.A.B. Cards, Event Cards and Scheme Cards.
- The component upgrades add a lot of flavour to the game.
- Above & Beyond and Devious Schemes provide Epic difficulty and new types of Schemes (including some that require Thunderbirds machines).
- The Levelling Up module smooths the difficulty curve in line with the Schemes.
4. The best game mode.
In my opinion:
- Tracy Island fully integrated
- Devious Schemes fully integrated
- Above & Beyond F.A.B. Cards, Event Cards and Scheme Cards integrated
- Above & Beyond Levelling Up Module
- Epic difficulty
Playing this way, I am still not bored of the game after so many plays, as the challenge plays out differently every time.
My high score in this format (assuming that Epic difficulty has a base score of 600) is 723.
5. I have tried all of the modules in various combinations.
Other than those mentioned in point 4:
- The Disaster Vehicles module is okay, but rarely offers an interesting choice.
- Crisis Mode adds a separate level of pressure that feels unnecessary.
- Playing as The Hood is a fun alternative, but requires a lot of additional rules.
6. Re-roll tokens are the most important tokens in the game.
The <PERSON> needs to advance 7 spaces in order to reach the first Scheme.
There are only 8 'The Hood Advances' cards in the Disaster Deck and they are distributed 2/11 in 4 stacks of 11 cards each.
The reason that The <PERSON> becomes a threat is much more a result of the Players rolling <PERSON> faces during the Rescue Action.
For this reason, Players must focus on gathering re-roll tokens whenever they do not have them (especially at the beginning of the game) even if they are not required for the next Scheme.
Remember - you cannot lose the game purely due to drawing 'The Hood Advances' Cards until you have drawn at least 34 Disaster Cards. However, you can lose the game very quickly if you continue to attempt the Rescue Action without re-roll tokens to mitigate the risk of rolling <PERSON> faces.
Overall, a fantastic game that I cannot see ever leaving my Top 10. 403