Pandemic Legacy - First Game

So, we finally bought Pandemic Legacy, after a few years of waiting. We realized that the best team we would have for this game would be the two of us, so we bought it.  And last night, we cracked it open and played the first month. It was pretty much the same as the original Pandemic game and we won quite easily, but things are already getting set up for the future months in ways that are going to make it very interesting.

So, first impressions: We shuffled the cards too well. We always shuffle the cards too well. In a two player game, if one color doesn't start aggregating, there aren't a lot of options.

There are a few new things that came into play. First, you have the legacy cards. These have specific triggers for the game. The first card was our objective, which for the first game is to cure all 4 diseases. If you win the game before the second Epidemic card, then you would draw the second legacy card (we did not win this way, as our first draw was a Epidemic. Over 50% of the time, our first draw is a Epidemic card). This second legacy card changed the game dramatically (no spoilers so I won't say what it was, but yep, two Epidemics in and our game plan was out).

Second, you have levels of panic for each city. Each time a city outbreaks, its panic increases, these are permanent and stay for all 12 months. The first outbreak doesn't affect the game play for that city, but each subsequent outbreak does.

Third, if a character is in a city that outbreaks, that character gets a scar. These are permanent. Scars vary, but none are great.

Fourth, you now only get event cards equal to your "funding" level. Your funding starts at 4, so only 4 cards, instead of 6 like in the original.

So those are the major changes for the game, at least for the first month. After you win or lose, you get to upgrade. You can choose from two types of upgrades: characters, disease(if any were eradicated), another starting research station, and unfunded events (which add to a city card, so that the city card is either a city card or an event).

We eradicated two diseases, so we chose a disease upgrade and upgraded the medic. Then, since we won, our funding went down by two...great.

Overall, pretty fun, but the cards were not in our favor.