Eclipse Second Dawn For The Galaxy – Your Insanely Epic Science Fiction Wargame

Eclipse: Second Dawn for the Galaxy

Eclipse Second Dawn For The Galaxy places you in control of a vast interstellar civilization, competing for success with its rivals. You explore new star systems, research technologies, and build spaceships with which to wage war. There are many potential paths to victory, so you need to plan your strategy according to the strengths and weaknesses of your species while paying attention to the other civilizations’ endeavors.

Eclipse: Second Dawn for the Galaxy is a revised and upgraded version of the Eclipse base game that debuted in 2011 that features:

• New graphic design, while maintaining the acclaimed symbology of the first edition.
• A full line of Ship Pack 1 miniatures.
• New miniatures for ancients, GCDS, orbitals, and more Custom plastic inlays.
• Custom combat dice.
• Fine-tuned gameplay.

Details

Let’s Break it Down

Eclipse: Second Dawn for the Galaxy is a four X game (Explore, Expand, Exploit, Exterminate) for 2 to 6 players. A game lasts for 8 rounds as players try to get as many victory points as possible.

Artwork

• Amazing
• Beautiful
• Good
• Decent
• Bad
• My 3-year-old could do better

The artwork is good, but nothing to write home about. Symbology is easy to understand. Using the Eclipse: Second Dawn for the Galaxy playmat enhances gameplay, however, they do not include this.

Components – Eclipse Second Dawn for the Galaxy

• Incredibly high quality
• Excellent and unique
• Same old, same old
• Poor quality
• Very disappointing
• Paper would be an improvement

The miniatures are great – especially the GCDS (Galactic Center Defense System). One thing to note, however, is that the game does not come with the plastic stands that you see in the pictures! Strangely, there are holes at the bottom of the ships for plastic stands. For a game this expensive, I would have at least expected that.

The game does come with a custom plastic insert that makes setting up and tearing down a breeze. The lid for the ship container also doubles up as a tracker. See the image below:

There are other inserts that you will also use during gameplay. It’s all very well thought out. The only downside to this is that the game uses a lot of real estate! Just the size of the playmat is 90cm x 90cm. We used all 2.1m x 1.0m of our table.

Gameplay – Eclipse Second Dawn for the Galaxy

• Excellent
• Very Good
• Good
• It’s alright
• Meh
• Play Tic-Tac-Toe instead

The game is tense – especially when you get into each others’ space. I had to stand for almost the entire game. So far, this is the only game that has done that. Another game that has come close though is Battlelore: Second Edition.

We played the below games with the Human Characters. You’re also able to play as an alien race, which offers asynchronous gameplay.

Below are some gameplay reports:

Captains Report – 1st Playthrough – Eclipse second dawn for the galaxy

It was a glorious morning – We had little, but it was a start – The Galaxies were ripe for the taking. Our exploring reaped significant benefits, ranging from raw materials, gold, and even an ancient ship.

I then received word from my Communications Officer that he had detected an enemy presence two galaxies away with a trajectory to our sector. I immediately gave the order to produce more ships. We could only afford one Cruiser. It would have to do. It didn’t. We lost the sector. A resource-rich sector, too. I watched in horror as Red lay down their population, mining what was once our resources. Red had crippled us, but I saw an opening. An unguarded sector just two galaxies away. We mobilized while watching Red strengthen their position.

We got to the unguarded sector and used our Neutron Bomb to wipe out their population…easy pickings. We mined the resources immediately. It was then when I received the distressing news from my Communications Officer. Red was making their way into our home sector! “Who is that?”, I shout. “Your wife, Sir”, someone replies quietly. I immediately instructed the Human Resource Officer to draft the divorce papers. I use advanced sensors to look over at Green to see if they’re fairing any better. They’re not. I let out a giggle.

Defend our Home Base

My cruisers put in a valiant effort to defend our home sector, but sadly, we lost it to Red. The situation was now dire. We made one last push to take over Red’s unguarded home sector. Three cruisers to one – A small, but necessary victory. We will rebuild! Red then set their sights on Green. I put the popcorn in the microwave…

Captains Report – 2nd Playthrough – Eclipse second dawn for the galaxy

It started like any other evening – A somewhat healthy bowel movement and a bed-time story for the three-year-old.

I walked onto the bridge of our newly built Dreadnaught, took in a deep breath, puffed out my chest while brushing some fluff off my Command Yellow shirt, and sat down in my chair. “Where shall we explore tonight?”, I ask my team. I am given a few suggestions. But before exploring anywhere, I instruct the Development Team to research a Neutron Bomb – You never know when those could come in handy.

As we explored, we came across galaxies that were resource rich. We immediately set up our population and got them to work. A Guardian Ship was protecting a galaxy we were interested in. I smirked. This was a great time to take the Ion Cannons for a test run. We warped into its sector. A little scuttle ensued, but we dispatched the enemy with only minor damage. With our economy growing stronger by the day, we set our sights on another target a few galaxies away. We started our journey, laying down more population on our way. We built more ships and completed more research. Life is good.

Wait! She did what?

We looked at our long-range scanners and noticed that Red was getting closer, but posed no threat. We were not in the mood for a fight. All we wanted was to destroy the enemy NPC ship and lay down our population and mine the resources. We burst into the enemy’s sector with three ships of our own, leaving one in the sector behind us. This should have been a guaranteed win for us.

Just then, we heard a frantic voice crackle over our radios. It was coming from the ship we left in the previous galaxy. “Red! It’s Red! They’re here with two Dreadnaughts! Help!” I rested my head in my hand and sighed. My wife. Again. “Why is she attacking us now?”, I asked. The reply was cryptic, “It’s apparently about something you said…six years ago.” I blasphemed in Klingon. Not today. Not today…

I immediately instructed our Dreadnaught and Cruiser to move back into the sector to pin her ships. We frazzled her, and she started looking at her options. I looked at our resources and smiled. We built another Dreadnaught and brought it into the fray. Red saw that she completely underestimated us and started turning about. “Oh, no you don’t! Fire everything we have”, I shouted.

Red gets a beating – Yellow got cocky

The first few Ion Cannons missed. I couldn’t believe it. Our other ships fired their weapons, finding their target. I watched as the two Red Dreadnaughts broke apart. Success. Unfortunately, we lost the ships left behind in the other sector to the enemy and we couldn’t lay down our population. My thoughts went out to Bob and the team.

We looked at the long-range scanners. Red had plenty of resources, none of which were guarded, bar one. A small interceptor. Revenge is a dish best served cold. The plan now was to obliterate Red from the Universe…once and for all. We moved into an unguarded sector and prepped the Neutron Bomb. This was going to hurt.

Just then, two Red Dreadnaughts appeared out of nowhere! I’m dumbfounded. How did that happen? Before I could blink again, another Red Cruiser and Star Base appeared! The Sanitation Officer picked my jaw off the floor. I sat down, my legs shaking. We’ve taken them before. We could do it again, I told myself. “Red is upgrading their hull, Sir! We need 7 hits to destroy one Dreadnaught now!”, my Weapons Officer exclaimed. “Jiminy Christmas”.

We’re hit, we’re hit!

The darkness of space lit up like the 4th of July with missiles and Ion Cannons. We put up a brave fight, but ultimately, all ships and crew were lost to the vacuum of space. As any excellent Captain does, I got into the only Escape Pod and survived. I mourned the loss of my colleagues for half a turn.

My population pushed hard, and we rebuilt our ships quickly – Two Dreadnaughts and a Cruiser. We outfitted the Dreadnaughts with far more powerful weapons and remained idle one galaxy away from Red, each waiting for the other to make a move. We noticed White for the first time in ages. He had built an impressive fleet, but posed no immediate threat to us. We bid him well.

It was the last push, and we took on Red again. Entering the fray would be two of our Dreadnaughts and one Cruiser. Long-range scanners picked up two Red Dreadnaughts and two Cruisers. Red outnumbered us, but our firepower was impressive. I gave the order…

The last push

We blasted into Red’s sector and immediately saw eight…That’s right – EIGHT missiles coming our way. As all eight missiles flew past the bridge, my right eye twitched. I sipped my tea, looked over at my Weapons Officer, and gave him a subtle nod. The nuclear reactor hummed loudly as our weapons charged. I pressed the big red button.

We sliced through Red’s fleet like a hot knife on butter. They returned fire, this time their weapons hit their target – We lost a Dreadnaught. We fired back, causing substantial damage. We prepared for retaliation, but there was nothing but silence and darkness. Long-range scanners picked up no signs of life. We had won! We immediately claimed the sector and lay down population and had severely weakened Red again.

Our plan to eliminate Red from the Universe was back on track! I looked at the round counter – Drat – That was the last round. We’ll have to wait until next time…

Difficulty – Eclipse second dawn for the galaxy

• Take those Omega 3 pills a week before
• Brain Burner
• Some Analysis Paralysis
• Easy to learn / hard to master
• Easy
• Just roll a die

I found this game surprisingly easy to learn. The symbology all made sense and things felt logical. You need to strategize, however, combat is all dice driven, so it involves some luck. One can mitigate the luck factor by upgrading your ship, so instead of hitting on a “6” only, depending on your upgrades, you could hit on a 3, 4, 5, or 6.

You definitely need to time your attacks as well. In another game, one player tried to take on one NPC ship with three of his Interceptors that had no upgrades. The NPC ship didn’t even get a scratch, whilst it destroyed all three Interceptors. This crippled the player for the rest of the game.

The other tricky part is upgrading your ship. You first need to research a particular upgrade. Once done, you need to equip your ship with said item, however, each upgrade consumes a certain amount of power from your ship’s reactor. If you don’t have enough power, you can’t upgrade. You first need to upgrade your reactor. That’s another research move and upgrade move. The ship upgrades can cause some Analysis Paralysis, but it definitely doesn’t bog down the game.

Theme – Eclipse second dawn for the galaxy

• Rich in theme and immersion
• Dominant theme that draws you in
• A little theme
• Nothing to get excited about
• Theme makes no sense
• A brick has more theme

Price

• Just take my money, I don’t care!
• Worth every cent
• If it’s on sale
• If you have some cash lying around
• Don’t buy
• Rather burn your money

This was a tough decision. Eclipse: Second Dawn for the Galaxy is absolutely worth every cent, but man, it’s a lot of cents!

If you’re looking for an epic space adventure, but can’t commit to the time that Twilight Imperium – 4th Edition demands, then this scratches the same itch, but requires less of your time.

For me, personally, I’m waiting for it to go on sale, or for someone to sell it secondhand, but whichever option you choose, you won’t regret it one bit!

9/10

FAQ

Can you play Eclipse: Second Dawn for the Galaxy solo?

No – and you wouldn’t want to, anyway. Even at 2 players, you may not clash with each other, which almost defeats the point. I would play with a minimum of 3 players, but preferably 4 – 6 players.

What expansions are there for Eclipse: Second Dawn for the Galaxy?

There are a few expansions available, namely:

Eclipse: Second Dawn for the Galaxy – Supernova

This is the recent version of the Supernova expansion for the new implementation of Eclipse (Second Dawn to the Galaxy).
They included it in the Galactic Counselor level pledge for the Eclipse: Second Dawn for the Galaxy Kickstarter campaign and came as a reward in the Dized Kickstarter campaign in December 2019.

Eclipse: Second Dawn for the Galaxy – Worlds Afar Collection

Stretch Goals associated with the Kickstarter for Eclipse: Second Dawn for the Galaxy. It includes:

• Optional Turn Order Variant
• Galactic Events (Including Nebula, Supernova, Black Hole, and Pulsar)
• Minor Species
• Rift Cannon
• Terran Ships
• Ship Stands
• 2 X Extra Dice (Translucent)
• 6 X Resource and Game Sheets
• 3 X Blueprint Tiles
• Scorepad
• New Rule Sheet for Worlds Afar Collection

Eclipse: Second Dawn for the Galaxy – Rift Cannon

Contents: Rules pamphlet, 4 dice, and 12 tiles comprising:

• 1 Rift Cannon Rare Tech
• 1 Rift Conductor Discovery
• 10 Rift Cannon Ship Part

It’s an expansion for the base game.

They included the Rift Cannon expansion in the Worlds Afar Collection – a Kickstarter bundle of several expansions and some exclusive content.

Eclipse: Second Dawn for the Galaxy – Minor Species

Contents: 9 Minor Species Ambassador tiles and rules pamphlet.

4 Minor Species Ambassador tiles are randomly selected and added to the base game. You can form diplomatic relations with Minor Species during an action.

They included the Minor Species expansion in the Worlds Afar Collection – a Kickstarter bundle of several expansions and some exclusive content.

Eclipse: Second Dawn for the Galaxy – Galactic Events

Contents: 8 sector hexes comprising Nebula, Supernova, Black Hole, and Pulsar. Also included is a rules pamphlet.

This expansion pack contains updated versions of four separate expansions for the original first edition of the game. Each of the sector hexes are optional and may be added individually or in combinations to the base game.

They included the Galactic Events expansion in the Worlds Afar Collection – a Kickstarter bundle of several expansions and some exclusive content.

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