New Game Round-up: Night Falls Again, Lions Become Robots & Building Spaceships, Building Space Stations

London, 1873 – The Royal Academy of Space Exploration has announced its intention to launch a mission to Mars by year's end. In its quest to claim, fully explore, and map the great red planet, the Academy is holding recruitment competitions for various positions on the crew. A position central to the crew's mission, the Astronautical Engineer must be resourceful and efficient in his construction of various mechanisms and ship maintenance.

In Mars Needs Mechanics, players represent engineers and tinkerers from all over the Empire who have come to compete for this prodigious opportunity. Starting the game with only 30 cogs (currency), players will utilize unique game mechanisms that emphasize timing to collect sets of components and build steampunk mechanisms aimed at earning even more cogs. At the end of the competition, the engineer with the most cogs will earn his place as Astronautical Engineer on the crew of the H.M.S. Victoria VII.

After a devastating war, peace is declared among all the major races of the galaxy and an Alliance is created. One of the first decisions of the Alliance is to build space stations all along the galaxy in order to promote trade among the races, strengthen diplomatic relations, and help keep the newly established peace.

In Among the Stars, each player takes the role of one of those races, trying to build the best space station. Through a drafting mechanism, the players select location cards and place them on their station, scoring victory points based on where they place them. The construction lasts four years, and whoever has the most points in the end wins.