By Other Means

Ed Silverstone, Reading Megagames

The war has raged for decades, and devastated the galaxy. Now, the leaders of the warring nations have gathered to negotiate. Can they finally bring an end to the bloodshed? Or will the talks break down - and with them, what remains of galactic civilisation?

By Other Means is a space opera megagame with a heavy emphasis on diplomacy. Players spend most of their time in councils, discussing how the galaxy should be divided up - but in the background, they deploy their fleets to try to wring what strategic advantage they can out of the situation.

For a player's-eye view of a previous game, check out this write-up on BeckyBecky Blogs.

• 15-32 players

• All roles require a significant level of negotiation - there are also mechanical decisions to be made but these are contained to a planning phase and made jointly by each team, so there is room for players with little interest in mechanics.

• 3 facilitators, primarily resolving mechanics and responding to rules queries but with some free-form actions to evaluate.

• Game licence and materials available for $60

• 60 cards

• One large (6ftx5ft) map

• Around 500 foam board counters

• Around 1000 generic tokens (wooden cubes, etc)

• Total cost (including licence, before venue) approx £200-£300