Colonizing the Moon

Shackleton Base left a lasting impression on us when we played it at the UK Games Expo earlier this year 🥰 so we were thrilled when we received a copy from @sorrywearefrench ! Getting this game back to the table has been a real joy, especially since we got to explore the corporations we didn’t see at UKGE. It is an outstanding mid-heavy euro, full of decisions, player interaction and replayability - so let’s highlight these 3 features! 🕵️

Replayability is hugely boosted by the use of neutral corporations. 🧐 There are 7 in total but you only use 3 in a game. The corporations each have their unique resources, decks of cards with unique bonuses and ongoing effects. They each have some special action you can perform and public objectives to race for too! Depending on the combination of corporations, each game will have a different flavor. 👍

Player interaction is more pronounced than in most euros. At its core, Shackleton Base is a worker placement game, featuring familiar mechanics where acting later can cost you more money. ☝️ However, the game introduces a unique twist: workers are placed on the Moon board to gather resources by activating every space with buildings in the indicated row. Depending on their color, workers will gather different types of resources! If you don’t have a presence at a space but other players do, you’ll have to pay the owner of the largest building. But that’s not all—at the end of each round, workers placed this way are awarded to players who hold the majority of buildings in those rows, and these workers can then be used to activate building abilities. Strategic building placement is crucial and adds a deep layer of strategy to the game. 😉

Decision density is high. Starting by drafting a rocket tile each round that determines player order, resources and the types of workers you get. Then deciding which worker to deploy where, which buildings to place and where, which corporations to interact with and which cards to buy. It is safe to say that you will be engaged from set up to scoring. 🤩

A really great game, as you might anticipate with names like Fabio Lopiano and Nestore Mangone listed on the box. 🙌