Further Develop Outer Space, Gather Light from a Dying Universe, Conquer Planets with Your Aliens, and Warp Back in Time

Further Develop Outer Space, Gather Light from a Dying Universe, Conquer Planets with Your Aliens, and Warp Back in Time
Board Game: Dune
Last weekend I partially watched the movie Dune since I'm planning to play the board game for the first time soon, and I wanted to familiarize myself the story. I say "partially" watched because it was late after a long and exhausting day, and I shamefully ended up falling asleep midway through. I saw enough that piqued my interest, so I ended up ordering a copy of the book the very next day. While I've been enjoying reading Dune (the book), it leaves me thinking about not only playing the classic Dune, but also checking out some upcoming sci-fi and space-themed releases.

• One such forthcoming title is GMT Games' SpaceCorp: Ventures, the first expansion for John H. Butterfield's 2018 space exploration hit, SpaceCorp.

In SpaceCorp: 2025-2300 AD, 1-4 players explore and develop outer space over three eras, with each era being played on a different board. Each player controls an Earth-based enterprise seeking profit by driving the expansion of humanity into the Solar System and beyond. Here's how the Ventures expansion further elevates SpaceCorp, as described by the publisher:
Quote:
SpaceCorp: Ventures introduces unique enterprises via fourteen HQ mats, each putting a player in control of a different corporation, agency, or institution with its own capabilities and missions. Each HQ assigns specific start cards, Infra, advantages, and limitations for all three eras. These advantages and limitations evolve in Planeteers and Starfarers, and each HQ has a special, alternate final profit option at game end.

In addition, at the start of each era, one player selects an eighth contract to be fulfilled, adding an additional way to gain profit and complete the era.

Board Game: SpaceCorp: Ventures
Non-final front cover

Ten of the fourteen HQ mats can be flipped over to play Solitaire SpaceCorp: Ventures with an enhanced HQ against the competition AI, but the competition will have advanced attributes, tuned to each player HQ. Updates to the AI include some general enhancements making the AI more difficult to beat. These general updates can also be applied to solitaire play in the base game.
The Ventures expansion "Made the Cut" for GMT's P500 pre-order, but unfortunately there's no target shipping date to report at this time. On the brighter side, developer Jason Carr posted four sneak-peek articles delving into details of the SpaceCorp: Ventures expansion, so we can at least learn more about it while we wait for shipping and availability updates.

From gallery of modmouse
• Just a few days before Gen Con Online 2020, Grey Fox Games shared a teaser video for Last Light, a fast-paced 4X game for 1-4 players, with 3-D planets, a rotating board, and simultaneous actions, designed by The Dice Tower's very own Roy Cannaday.

Last Light plays in 60-90 minutes and is targeted to launch on Kickstarter in Q1 2021. Here's the gist of how it works:
Quote:
Last Light is a fast-paced 4x game with 3D planets and a rotating board in which players playing asymmetrical alien races simultaneously gather light right before the heat death of the universe.

Each turn players select an action card and all players take their action simultaneously, exploring planets, mining for resources, gaining new technologies, and commanding fleets all while racing to the center of a rotating board to the last known white dwarf star to gather light for their civilization to survive. The first player to gather 20 light has overcome their rivals, claimed the last light of a dying universe, and won the game!

 
Teaser promotional image
I have little to no experience with 4X games, so I'm particularly curious about Last Light. I love the asymmetrical alien factions and simultaneous gameplay elements of Sidereal Confluence, so I suspect I'll dig those features in Last Light. I'm also wondering whether I should play Eclipse or Twilight Imperium before I play Last Light so that I can truly appreciate the speedy gameplay. Any excuse to play more games, right?

Board Game Publisher: Mindclash Games
• Eric mentioned the first major Anachrony expansion, Fractures of Time, from Mindclash Games in a March 2019 post. While I'm excited to receive my Kickstarter copy of Fractures of Time, I'm also looking forward to checking out the new Future Imperfect modular expansion, designed by Dávid Turczi.

Anachrony is a heavy, unique, time-travel worker-placement game in which 1-4 players can power up time rifts and reach back to earlier turns to supply their past "self" with resources. Here's an overview of what the Future Imperfect expansion adds:
Quote:
Future Imperfect is a modular expansion for Anachrony, with three new modules expanding the possibilities beyond new horizons. These modules are playable on their own, but they are also compatible with each other and most past and future Anachrony modules and expansions.

The Hypersync module allows you to perform a Capital action without actually placing an Exosuit, then in the future use the new Hypersync Action to make your placement affect the past. This puts serious strain on the space-time continuum, increasing the risk of Paradoxes, but often the risk is worth the reward and the flexibility. This module is for 1-4 players (with the Fractures of Time expansion required for solo play).

Board Game: Anachrony: Future Imperfect

With the Quantum Loops module, you are no longer limited to warping from your own timeline: the module opens up parallel universes where resources are more plentiful, the locals are eager to join your cause, or their technology allows you to shortcut your own travels through time. The possibilities multiply through a new Warp tile that grants access to the powerful Quantum Effect cards, but to close a loop to a parallel universe, you will need a real breakthrough... This module is also for 1-4 players (again with the Fractures of Time expansion required for solo play).

The Intrigues of the Council module simulates the World Council's political machinations, bringing two new aspects to the game: another layer of player interaction and customizable endgame scoring objectives, influenced by the players. By sending Exosuits to the right place at the right time, players can receive bonus resources and compete to build a tableau of Agenda tiles, which replaces the base game's endgame condition scoring. This module is recommended for 3 or 4 players.
Space Plague is an upcoming 2021 self-published release from Iván Botero and Juan Álvarez in which 1-4 players command their alien troops to invade planets in the vast universe.

In more detail:
Quote:
Space Plague is a modern board game in which each player strategically moves their creature tokens to conquer a planet. Each game you must conquer a different planet that will provide a unique gaming experience and will have different ways to defend against these alien invaders. Neighboring aliens (i.e., your opponents) will place many obstacles in the path to your victory. The objective of the game is achieved by the number of critters that reach the core of the planet; at the end of twenty rounds, the player with the most creatures in the core wins.

 

To strategically move your alien creatures, you should bear in mind that they will automatically move forward once at the end of all turns, so it is essential to plan how you will use your cards that provide movement actions, creature transformation, evolution, and even the spawning of new alien tokens. A card market is available, and achieving different evolutions and improvements can continue to help your strategy — although you will also be affected by the aggressive or passive actions of the different players and by the defense mechanisms that each planet has in particular.
I'm looking forward to hearing more about Space Plague as the gameplay sounds unique with plenty of replay value considering you have to conquer a different planet each game, not to mention the adorable alien artwork.

Board Game: Space Plague
Example game set-up

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