Author Topic: Space Themed Board Games  (Read 5725 times)

Offline Norm38

  • Full Member
  • ****
  • Posts: 1696
  • Liked: 1272
  • Likes Given: 2317
Space Themed Board Games
« on: 11/19/2017 12:07 am »
We were going through the board game shelf and my son asked me to pull out Solarquest. I haven't played that in decades. Has anyone else ever played it?  It was made in '86 in Racine, WI. I don't know if it made it out of the Midwest.

It's like Monopoly, but there's gravity and fuel. I remember it being really hard and challenging.  One can easily get knocked out of the game by being stranded on a planet/moon without fuel. There's actually a clause in the rules that if a player is on an owned property, low on fuel and there is no refueling station built, that the player can take the property as the owner was negligent in not providing necessary infrastructure!

Looking forward to playing it again. Once my 4 year old regains interest. He ran off with the rocket ships.

Anyone have any other space board games?
« Last Edit: 11/19/2017 12:37 am by Norm38 »

Offline Lar

  • Fan boy at large
  • Global Moderator
  • Senior Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 13463
  • Saw Gemini live on TV
  • A large LEGO storage facility ... in Michigan
  • Liked: 11864
  • Likes Given: 11086
Re: Space Themed Board Games
« Reply #1 on: 11/19/2017 12:41 am »
I've played solarquest. It's an interesting game, "space monopoly" is an apt 2 word description. But it suffers form the monopoly problem... being a zombie most of the way through and then losing inevitably is no fun. I prefer German games that have "everyone in to the end" mechanics.  But if you see it at a garage sale it's a good pickup.

A somewhat similar but much better game is Avalon Hill's Merchant of Venus... those that played Trade Wars online may see the similarity.
 
Lately I've been playing Tiny Epic Galaxies. Fun and fast.

Other space themed games... Star Fleet Battles (Miniature combat, space navy style, inthe Star Trek universe), and Twilight Imperium.

I always loved Master of Orion on the PC...
"I think it would be great to be born on Earth and to die on Mars. Just hopefully not at the point of impact." -Elon Musk
"We're a little bit like the dog who caught the bus" - Musk after CRS-8 S1 successfully landed on ASDS OCISLY

Offline mike robel

  • Extreme Veteran
  • Senior Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 2304
  • Merritt Island, FL
  • Liked: 369
  • Likes Given: 260
Re: Space Themed Board Games
« Reply #2 on: 11/19/2017 11:34 pm »
I have the computer game Buzz Aldrin's Space Program Manager, the Task Force Game board game Liftoff! (about the moon program), Moonshot (I think that's the name) and Terra Forming Mars which is really excellent.

A couple of others.

Offline Lar

  • Fan boy at large
  • Global Moderator
  • Senior Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 13463
  • Saw Gemini live on TV
  • A large LEGO storage facility ... in Michigan
  • Liked: 11864
  • Likes Given: 11086
Re: Space Themed Board Games
« Reply #3 on: 11/20/2017 01:40 am »
I think Terraforming Mars is #1 on  BoardGameGeek.... or was.. it's still rated very highly. It's on my want list but I have too many shelfware games as it is...
"I think it would be great to be born on Earth and to die on Mars. Just hopefully not at the point of impact." -Elon Musk
"We're a little bit like the dog who caught the bus" - Musk after CRS-8 S1 successfully landed on ASDS OCISLY

Online rakaydos

  • Senior Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 2825
  • Liked: 1869
  • Likes Given: 69
Re: Space Themed Board Games
« Reply #4 on: 11/21/2017 04:52 am »
Leaving earth.

https://boardgamegeek.com/forums/thing/173064/leaving-earth

Overall a good "kerbal the board game" view of the early space race. Mission planning and risk management are core parts of the game, and more complex missions may require a notepad to keep straight. All components (including rockets) have mass, all rockets (besides Ion thrusters) are expended when used for their thrust, and the difficulty of a maneuver times the mass is the thrust needed to complete it, leading naturally to the rocket equation and staging.

Love the outer planets expansion, but the Stations expansion has some balance issues with the "Shuttle" tech.

Offline tea monster

  • Full Member
  • ****
  • Posts: 635
  • Across the Universe
    • My ArtStation Portfolio
  • Liked: 861
  • Likes Given: 182
Re: Space Themed Board Games
« Reply #5 on: 11/21/2017 06:59 am »
I've played 'Terraforming Mars' at a board gaming convention ( https://www.spiritgames.co.uk/articles.php?menu=11 ). It has a bewildering array of stuff to keep track of during the game, but was a lot of fun to play. I'm looking forward to getting another crack at it. I can heartily recommend it.

'Leaving Earth' sounds like it would be right up my street. I usually play with a group of board-game geeks. Now I have to find someone who is similarly geeky about early spaceflight who I can play with. 

Offline tea monster

  • Full Member
  • ****
  • Posts: 635
  • Across the Universe
    • My ArtStation Portfolio
  • Liked: 861
  • Likes Given: 182
Re: Space Themed Board Games
« Reply #6 on: 11/24/2017 04:42 pm »
I was asking about 'Leaving Earth' at Spirit Games and although they didn't have a copy, I found something called 'First Martians: Adventures on the Red Planet'. It looks like a very different type of game to 'Terraforming Mars', but just as interesting.

Board Game Geek page:
https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/192455/first-martians-adventures-red-planet

Offline deruch

  • Senior Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 2422
  • California
  • Liked: 2006
  • Likes Given: 5634
Re: Space Themed Board Games
« Reply #7 on: 11/29/2017 10:50 am »
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/2063846379/space-race-interkosmos?ref=346498&token=31226467

Space Race  --  Interkosmos

Space Race is a tableau building card game for 1-4 players based on finding synergies and constructing powerful combinations out of different abilities. You become directors of newly established space agencies during the first seven decades of space exploration. Your goal is to build the most developed agency by recruiting leaders, launching space projects, developing technologies, funding your laboratory, and achieving breakthroughs.

The Interkosmos expansion spices up the gameplay with:

    * Scenarios, a brand new module to fill the gameplay with even more historical context
    * Achievements, a new card type expanding your strategic options
    * Chinese Space Program adding a 5th player into the game
    * More than 90 new cards (including Stretch Goals) with unique illustrations and a number of new mechanics designed to satisfy your strategic and tactical needs
Shouldn't reality posts be in "Advanced concepts"?  --Nomadd

Offline Norm38

  • Full Member
  • ****
  • Posts: 1696
  • Liked: 1272
  • Likes Given: 2317
Re: Space Themed Board Games
« Reply #8 on: 01/21/2020 05:38 pm »
Solarquest:

My son is now 6 and enjoys playing this. We still haven't made it far enough through the game for anyone to win, but it is fun.  The game we played this weekend finally had laser battles!  (If players are on the same space or adjacent, roll doubles for damage).
We had the Laser Battle Beyond Pluto, where both of us had full fuel tanks in deep space (the blue dots), so we could fire lasers and still get away.  No damage though.  Then two turns later we were both on the same moon and had another battle.  Shields held though, my son escaped.  He loved it though.
Thought it was cool we finally got to experience that aspect of the game.
« Last Edit: 01/21/2020 05:38 pm by Norm38 »

Offline IanO

  • Full Member
  • *
  • Posts: 165
  • Portland, OR
    • Portland State Aerospace Society
  • Liked: 60
  • Likes Given: 278
Re: Space Themed Board Games
« Reply #9 on: 06/28/2023 01:01 am »
As long as we're resurrecting this thread, I should mention the game "High Frontier" by Phil Eklund published by Sierra Madre Games in 2010.  I'm guessing they saw one of those solar system delta-V maps and said "I can make a board game out of that!"  Extraordinarily well researched, fully half of the rulebook is footnotes!
psas.pdx.edu

Offline Zed_Noir

  • Senior Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 5490
  • Canada
  • Liked: 1809
  • Likes Given: 1302
Re: Space Themed Board Games
« Reply #10 on: 06/28/2023 07:31 am »
I enjoyed the Battlefleet Mars boardgame from Simulation Publications aka SPI (defunct) that come out in 1977. It is an abstract strategic ship action game set in the inner Solar system with political and economic rules along with optional tactical ship combat. The game setting is a Martian uprising against the Earth government with skirmishes from Mercury to Jupiter.

https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/3662/battlefleet-mars-space-combat-21st-century

Tags:
 

Advertisement NovaTech
Advertisement Northrop Grumman
Advertisement
Advertisement Margaritaville Beach Resort South Padre Island
Advertisement Brady Kenniston
Advertisement NextSpaceflight
Advertisement Nathan Barker Photography
1