Rogue Angels and Mass Effect games compared

The TWO Mass Effect style board games compared (v2)

Note: After posting here, I posted this on BoardGameGeek in the Mass Effect forum. If you have comments or wish to participate in this discussion, please do so there:
=> BoardGameGeek Mass Effect Forum article

Of the two Mass Effect style games, there are many similarities (as you’d expect) but some significant differences as well. The games (both like to have LONG game names, so I will continue using just the first two words in each name):

  • Mass Effect: The Board Game – Priority Hagalaz (Mass Effect)
  • Rogue Angels: Legacy of the Burning Suns (Rogue Angels)

Both games are similar in many ways:

  • Both are a cooperative series of tactical, strategic missions with a team of heroes through a campaign.
  • Both have a variety of grid maps that show where to place various tokens on the grid.
  • Both have a 40 some page rule book as well as a narration book along with setup instructions for each mission.
  • Both include miniatures for your heroes. You choose which heroes you wish to use in your campaign.
  • Both games have damage / hazard cards and a variety of enemies that cause you problems.
  • Both games have ways that a hero can level up or be upgraded (better or stronger for the next mission).
  • Both can have a hero get “knocked out” in battles. Other heroes can come to revive them.
  • They both have branching missions and include a large handful of shared custom D6 dice.
  • Both include an interactive “draw bag” as well as a dry erase marker.
  • Both have an easy and quick way to “save” your game so you can continue on another day.
  • Fans of Mass Effect should enjoy BOTH games.

But it is the differences that set the games apart. I have a prototype of Rogue Angels and have scrutinized the rule book and other materials for Mass Effect (as well as watched most of the videos), so I think I am in a fairly good position to compare and look at the differences: some minor, some major. Some you won’t care about and others will suit you fine either way. However, you might find one of the games a bit more to your liking based on differences that matter to YOU, so let’s take a look!

Variety? If you like variety (and replayability), Rogue Angels gets the nod without a doubt. It provides you with 16 heroes (both miniatures and standees) to choose from. Mass Effect has less than a third as many heroes (miniatures only). If you prefer playing with standees instead of miniatures, Rogue Angels is the only one that gives you that option.

Solo or Two Player? You can play missions with just two heroes in Rogue Angels but Mass Effect requires that you play and control four heroes. Having played many missions in Rogue Angels, I appreciate being able to have to control just two heroes. Keeping track of tactics for four at the same time would be a bit taxing (but if you want to play all four, Rogue Angels lets you).

Missions? Mass Effect has you choose which mission you want to play from 10 main missions (in three levels). You start with a choice of 3 missions, then your choice is between two of the next level missions. Rogue Angels gives you a starting mission and your missions often just flow one after another based on your performance and choices you make during the mission, but at times you will get a multiple choice list of a half dozen missions to choose from.

Campaign? Both are campaign games, but Mass Effect is a mini-campaign that you can easily play completely in just one day. You then restart from the beginning (losing all upgrades) and may choose a different set of heroes (but you will have played them all within two mini-campaigns) and choose a different missions path (which will start repeating on your fourth campaign). Rogue Angels is a more typical campaign that gives you dozens of new missions. The campaign is divided into six chapters, and if you prefer mini-campaigns, you could just play the first chapter and then restart it again (with different heroes and making different choices during the missions to see what other stories unfold).

Mission Info? Mass Effect has the mission info on the opposite side of the mission map so it is out on the table as you play. Rogue Angels puts the mission info in the Campaign Book.

Game Map? Both have a spiral bound book of maps, but Mass Effect maps are on one half of an opened Missions Book. Rogue Angels maps book is about 50% larger, but one map is still on a full page. The mission info is in the Campaign book and doesn’t take up table space so actually you need about a third less table space. 

Hero Special Abilities? Both have heroes with unique abilities. Mass Effect uses a large Character Sheet that you keep on the table to show all the special abilities, but you typically only have two when you start the mini-campaign. You need to achieve an upgrade to unlock another ability (usually once per mission, so if you play the optional loyalty missions, it would be possible to unlock four special abilities (but remember you lose them all when you restart the campaign). Rogue Angels gives each of the 16 heroes their own set of 5 unique action cards. Since the game is coop, you can show them to other players, lay them out on the table or just keep them stacked together until played to conserve table space. These cards include a variety of weapons that can be upgraded with up to four different “boosts”.

Restricting Special Abilities? This is where the two games greatly differ. Mass Effect limits the use of your abilities based on the dice available to you and in each round, each hero will have 3 fewer dice to choose from until the final hero only has the three dice that are left and often you cannot use an ability twice in one round. Rogue Angels utilizes a Cool Down Track system that I was very impressed with. You can play any action card in your hand on your turn as long as there is a spot for it on the Cool Down Track! At the end of your turn the cards on that track all slide one spot to the left and if there was a card on the first spot, it goes back into your hand. You get two actions per turn, so if you want to get a card back sooner, you can “rest” as one of your actions which also automatically slides the cards to the left. In addition, each action card typically has up to four “boosts” that you can enable. As you play, you gain the opportunity to enable more boosts on your cards (which are stickers placed on the cards … the stickers are removable and reusable but a second set will come with the game).

Mission Success? In Mass Effect there are two types of success, Paragon (more difficult) or Renegade. You can begin a mission aiming for a Paragon victory but switch mid-mission to go for a Renegade victory. Success varies in Rogue Angels. Sometimes there are several objectives and you can aim to achieve one or the other. Sometimes there are two objectives and failing in one of them (or achieving them out of order) can give a failure that actually has partial success consequences.

Enemies? In Mass Effect all enemies are two sided tokens that specify their attack and shield values. There are three kinds of minor enemies (minions) that keep appearing throughout a mission (picked randomly from a draw bag) as well as an elite enemy that is specified in the Mission Info. Enemies typically just attack, and if not possible, then move 2 hexes towards the current hero (if it puts them into attack range) or otherwise toward the nearest hero. Enemies can have special abilities like Range (attack from a distance), Rush (move faster), React (if hit, moves towards you) and Pinned (lock you in place as you pass by). In Rogue Angels all enemies are standees (with a base that rotates to track hit points) that list their five values right at the bottom: Attack Range, Movement Amount, Damage inflicted, Shield amount, and health (hit points needed to take them down). Each enemy doesn’t always move the same amount (or even at all). There are enemy behavior cards (over 3 dozen) that specify how an enemy unit reacts on the enemies turn. They are quite easy to use but add great depth to how enemies behave adding significant variety through the missions. Plus there are far more types of enemies (several dozen).

Hazard or Damage Cards? In Mass Effect, immediately after each hero’s turn, a hazard card is revealed which typically places or activates enemies. Rogue Angels doesn’t have “event” cards. Instead, when an enemy attacks a hero, and gets through their shields a damage card is drawn. This typically causes some damage (such as loss of focus) and also likely will be placed into your cool down track (taking up one of the four available slots).

Knocked Down or Unconscious? When a hero is attacked, the attack is first blocked by their shields and once the shields are gone, the hero takes damage. In Mass Effect, once a hero has zero hit points, they are knocked down. Other heroes need to come adjacent to them to revive them (except if Shepard is knocked down the mission ends in failure). In Rogue Angels, if a hero’s shields are zero you draw a damage card. Only if you cannot place the damage card in their cool down track are they knocked unconscious. Other heroes can revive them (sometimes from a distance). Sometimes (but not always) when a mission ends, each unconscious hero gets a scar (track the number of scars on their character sheet). Each hero has a different level of allowed scars before dying (and being replaced by another of the 16 heroes).

Dice? Both games have custom D6 dice and all dice have the same icons. In Mass Effect you roll twelve dice at the start of a round and each player chooses 3 of them to use in choosing their actions, with each successive player in a round having fewer dice (and thus more limited action options). In Rogue Angels dice are rolled as specified on the action card played.

Loot? Both games have loot for you to pick up. In Mass Effect the loot is either grenades, medi-gel (revive) or intel (gather to gain an upgrade) and can only be used in the current mission (but by any hero). In Rogue Angels the loot will usually be new unique action cards to use in future missions.

Personality traits? If you like building up a hero’s personality, Mass Effect doesn’t really include this aspect in the game (other than the unique abilities). Rogue Angels has a four quadrant personality grid for each hero. As you play, you gradually build up a hero’s personality which then grants you added boost tokens to use. The four quadrants are Supportive, Cautious, Inspiring, Dominating.

Relationships? Mass Effect doesn’t include a way to improve (or ruin) relationships between characters in the game. Rogue Angels has an interesting system to track each hero’s relationships by adding marks that show each relationship improving or decreasing as a full page in each hero’s 12 page booklet.

NPC? It doesn’t seem like Mass Effect will include Non Player Characters during game play. In Rogue Angels there will be various NPCs who will be part of the game play (helping you achieve success) and have their own stories as well.

The Story? (narration) Both games have a story that unfolds, but Mass Effect has ten main story blocks that can become part of the campaign story which you read from its Narration book. Rogue Angels has a more flowing story with several story arcs (is that how to refer to them?). It comes with six campaign chapter books totaling about one thousand pages. This includes all the mission set up and info as well as choices to make (and vote on) and consequences to enjoy (or suffer). You skip around the book as the story progresses, so you won’t actually see everything in one campaign (or even in two campaigns!)

Videos? YES! Even one minute clips for Rogue Angels.

Review of the Reviews? One reviewer (Board Game Officer) actually compiled a review of the Rogue Angels reviews! He watched and summarized 47 different video reviews in one 30 minute video! Fantastic!
=> 47 Reviews Summarized

Final Thoughts? If you are a fan of Mass Effect (the video games), you will get heroes that you are familiar with in Mass Effect and you can play the entire campaign in one day. However, I have seen comments in reviews that this won’t be a very immersive aspect to the game and you will likely miss not having equipment and weapons loadouts, relationships and building your heroes personality. However, you DO get all that in Rogue Angels (but the heroes have different names). The maps are bigger (not as claustrophobic), the campaign is a real campaign (rather than a mini campaign) and you can choose between 16 different heroes. If playing solo (or two player) you are not required to include FOUR heroes in your game – you can play with just two heroes if you like (which is how I played the campaign both times I played it). 

Delivery estimates:

  • Mass Effect: November 7, 2024 in retail (October 11, 2024 preorders)
  • Rogue Angels: 1st quarter of 2025 delivery

Note: I pre-ordered two copies of Mass Effect and pledged for two copies of Rogue Angels (with my own money)

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