Shackleton Base Demo Impressions

Shackleton Base from Sorry We Are French was one of our most anticipated games to check out at UKGE so we were glad to get into a demo on Friday. Fabio Lopiano explained the game to us, then we played 2 full rounds, which is 2/3rds of a game. The more of the rules explanation we heard, the more excited we got! 🤩

In the game you play as competing space agencies, building a base on the Moon. 🌕 Each game there are also 3 out of 7 neutral corporations that are the sponsors of this, and they play a huge role: 🧐 All have their unique components, cards, mechanics and ways to score.

👉 In our demo there was a corporation who:
- Sends tourists to the moon that you can draft and place for bonus points
- Wants you to mine Helium3 and rare metals to send back to Earth
- Has you collecting 3 types of crystals to fulfil contracts.

In each round play begins by drafting a rocket tile with 6 astronauts. 👨‍🚀 These are the workers you will use throughout the round. They come in 3 colors, each having their special uses.

Another main aspect are the spaces on the board to place buildings. 🏗 On each grid space there are slots for a 1-, a 2- and a 3-size building, and each player can be present only once. ☝️ Building sizes and their positions are important for end of round majorities to claim astronauts, and they influence the way you collect resources.

Buildings you place down have special abilities, which only work if you can assign astronauts to them. These instant, ongoing or end game scoring effects turn your player board into a fun puzzle. 🙃

Workers can be placed in several ways. Most notable is around the board grid, to activate rows or columns to gather resources - but only where buildings are present, and the worker types collect different things.

Otherwise you have worker spots to build, buy corporation cards or activate special actions, and these spots give an additional bonus if you use the correct worker type.

Over the rounds the board fills up with buildings, players will gather cards and claim objectives in a race to have the most points. I'm convinced of Shackleton Base's greatness now and can't wait for its release at Essen this year! ☺️