Colonization... on the Moon?

We played Skymines this weekend! It is somewhat hard to get to the table, because of the time needed to set it up, but it is such a brilliant game! You might also know it as Mombasa. I know, the history-nerds among you will hate me now 😅, but I find this space themed version much more attractive than the dry theme of the original: you play as private investors mining the Moon, support different companies and help them grow their influence on the surface, trying to get the most money by the end of the game.

The game has multiple pillars that make it so great:

🌑 You plan your round using cards, and that involves a lot of strategy: you’ll discard the cards into different piles, and can only get back one pile each round.
🌑 Planning your round is one thing, but the sequence in which you play out your turns is also essential and makes the game really engaging.
🌑 The area control on the map is very interesting because you don’t have your “own” faction. You just influence 4 common companies and get shares in them and try to make the most of it, while watching what others are aiming for.

According to the rulebook, in a 2 player game Luna the automa can be added for some added competition.Well we did play with Luna for the first time and I have to say it was also the last. 😂

Luna works pretty straightforward and her turns aren’t long, but the time does add up. (Also the automa rulebook was a bit of a struggle to read…) It is the type of automa that really “cheats” a lot and you can’t help but feel it is unfair. 🙁 Luna just goes up the company tracks like a rocket and makes you think your own turns are worthless. She is powered by a deck of cards that gets stronger as the game goes on - we felt like the random decisions she made could really screw with a player, which introduces a volatile randomness in an otherwise quite strategic game. We had some bad luck and the same player got randomly “blocked“ multiple times.

I don’t want to deter people from trying to solo against it though but I do think a pure 2p game is better, plus faster.

Anyways, Skymines is awesome. 😍 Many unique and clever mechanics are crossed here into an outstanding game!