ABSOLUTE ASCENDANCY

Commencing operation . . .

Overview

With the recent developments of the Coronavirus causing lock-downs and social distancing across the globe, I figured now would be an excellent opportunity to talk about an ironically fitting board game known as Pandemic. It was the very first board game to find a home on my shelf, and I recently had a conversation with one of my friends, jokingly saying that we should bust it out to play once things settle down.

Pandemic

An international award-winning co-operative based game for two to four players, the objective is to develop cures for four deadly viruses that have infected the world. Pandemic is a great game for families to play as the rules are quite straightforward, and if anyone is struggling to make their moves others can advise as it is a co-op game. 

During each of your turns, you are granted four actions that you can use to move to cities, build research stations, treat diseases, share knowledge, and discover cures. However, each turn the viruses also spread, so you need to balance your actions between slowing the infections down and working toward the cures.

Either the players collectively win or lose against the game mechanics. There are various ways to lose in Pandemic, so it is vital to be aware of all of the potentialities as you take your actions.

There are seven different roles you can play, which I have ranked below.

1. Medic: Has superior action efficiency when it comes to treating diseases
2. Scientist: Discards one less card when creating cures
3. Researcher: Has no restrictions when giving or receiving cards from other players
4. Contingency Planner: Can reuse event cards once each
5. Dispatcher: Can move other players during his turn and fly people to each other
6. Quarantine Specialist: Prevents diseases from spreading anywhere on or adjacent to him
7. Operations Expert: Builds research stations without discarding a card

1. Medic

The Medic is pretty much an auto-pick, on Heroic mode especially. Throughout the game, he saves the team so many actions by keeping the viruses in check. I do not think I have ever won Heroic difficulty without the Medic being on the squad.

2. Scientist

The Scientist is powerful as well. Only needing four cards of a colour instead of five to discover a cure can often be the difference-maker. Pairing the Scientist with the Researcher, or any of the roles which promote movement, really helps the entire team make full use of the Scientist.

3. Researcher

The Researcher takes third place, as the ability to give cards away without restriction can significantly speed up the process of discovering cures. Just like with the Scientist, it helps to pair the Researcher with any of the movement promoting roles, so that the entire team can benefit from the Researcher.

4. Contingency Planner

My favourite, the Contingency Planner, is considered a jack of all trades role. The various event cards allow the Contingency Planner to basically fulfil the positions of the Dispatcher and Operations Expert, not to mention slow down the spread of the viruses. The Contingency Planner is highly versatile but also luck dependent as he can only reuse event cards that have already been drawn from the deck and played.

5. Dispatcher

The Dispatcher is the best of the rest, in my opinion. Like the Medic, the Dispatcher can save the team many actions throughout the game. I rank him lower than the Contingency Planner because the Dispatcher is not as versatile, and sometimes his turns end up accomplishing very little.

6. Quarantine Specialist

The inferior Medic, for the most part. If you randomly assign roles, then you hope to get the Medic. If not, then the Quarantine Specialist. Getting neither of these roles in your team composition can make for an incredibly tough game on Heroic difficulty. With skilful play, the Quarantine Specialist can outright prevent infections from spreading, granting the team more breathing room as they search to discover the four cures. The Quarantine Specialist can be useful, but is more situational, whereas the Medic is always reliable.

7. Operations Expert

The bottom of the barrel, the Operations Expert, is not terrible perse, it is more that he is outclassed by the Dispatcher for movement and by the Contingency Planner on versatility. Most games three Research Stations are sufficient, which is highly achievable without the Operations Expert. I feel that this role is overkill and mostly unneeded.

Conclusion

If it is your first game, I recommend playing with the top four roles so that you can get used to the game-play. Standard difficulty should suffice, I don’t think you need to drop down to Introduction level. As you become more advanced, you can randomise the roles and increase the difficulty to Heroic, which includes all six epidemic cards.

Pandemic is a bunch of fun, although nowadays, my friends and I tend to prefer competitive board games. Still, though, I think once the Coronavirus blows over, I’ll give it some more table time.

Mission complete – Overlord Drakow signing out.