Robotech: Reconstruction Review

boardgamequest.com:

We review Robotech: Reconstruction, a board game published by Strange Machine Games. Set in the Reconstruction Era of Robotech, you are competing against three other factions to be the first to achieve your unique objective.

It isn’t a secret that I like checking out licensed games. Back before they were popular (and were honestly pretty terrible), I always liked giving them a look. Even after losing the time from my life that I can never get back from playing the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Heroes in a Halfshell Card Game, I am still not dissuaded. Though I might be a little more choosey… so I was a little hesitant about trying a game based on Robotech.

The 80s and 90s were a great time for introducing now-popular franchises. It gave us Transformers, G.I. Joe, M.A.S.K., Jurassic Park, Dino Riders, and more, many of which have since had some good board game adaptations. Robotech: Reconstruction is an attempt to add Robotech to that list of successes. It is a game for 3-4 players and plays in 1-2 hours. The best experience is with 4 players.

The gameplay here is reasonably straightforward. There are four rounds, and each faction gets a turn in each round. A game that plays to its maximum length leads to a total of 16 turns. Each of the four factions has a unique victory condition that you will be working towards throughout those four turns. The first round is begun by the Robotech Defense Force (RDF), but future rounds rotate so that each faction potentially will start a round.

Each player has a hand of Event cards, which are the primary drivers of the action on your turn. Each turn you choose one to play. They are each keyed to a specific faction, and the actions that occur when playing that event often have an impact