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Do you have what it takes to be a deep space colonist? An alien frontier awaits the brave and daring! This new planet will be harsh, but if you have the skills to manage your resources, build a fleet, research alien life, and settle colonies, the world can be yours.
Alien Frontiers is a game of resource management and planetary development for two to four players. During the game you will utilize orbital facilities and alien technology to build colony domes in strategic locations to control the newly discovered world.
The game board shows the planet, its moon, the stations in orbit around the planet, and the solar system’s star. The dice you are given at the start of the game represent the space ships in your fleet. You will assign these ships to the orbital facilities in order to earn resources, expand your fleet, and colonize the planet.
As the game progresses, you will place your colony tokens on the planet to represent the amount of control you have over each territory. Those territories exert influence over specific orbital facilities and, if you control a territory, you are able to utilize that sway to your advantage.
The planet was once the home of an alien race and they left behind a wondrous artifact in orbit. Using your fleet to explore the artifact, you will discover amazing alien technologies that you can use to advance your cause.
Winning the game will require careful consideration as you assign your fleet, integrate the alien technology and territory influences into your expansion plans, and block your opponents from building colonies of their own. Do you have what it takes to conquer an alien frontier?
Roll and place your dice to gain advantages over your opponent and block them out of useful areas of the board. Use Alien Tech cards to manipulate your dice rolls and territory bonuses to break the rules. Steal resources, overtake territories, and do whatever it takes to get your colonies on the map first! Don't dream it'll be easy, though, because the other players will be trying to do the same thing.
- Accessible space-themed design
- Engaging dice mechanics
- Can feel luck-dependent
- dice-driven resource management
- Space exploration and colonization
- accessible sci-fi
- Wingspan
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
- dice drafting — Roll dice to generate actions and resources; optimize usage.
- tile/space-resource management — Use resources to expand and upgrade your colony.
Video topics + discussion points
Quotes (from this video)
References (from this video)
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
- worker placement with dice — Requires specific dice combinations to use action spaces
Video topics + discussion points
Quotes (from this video)
- Dice are an extremely versatile tool for a designer
- Random effects can snowball creating statistically unlikely runs of bad or good luck
References (from this video)
- strong sci-fi theme for a worker-placement game
- solid base game with notable expansions (Factions)
- component quality noted as disappointing by the speaker
- can feel lengthy with certain strategies
- dice-driven worker-placement with modular board
- space frontier colonization
- curated sci-fi flavor
- Power Grid
- Gaia Project
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
- dice placement as workers — dice act as workers to occupy spaces on a modular board
- space-colony building — builds and upgrades to improve income and points
- space-colony development — build and expand your board to increase resource generation
Video topics + discussion points
Quotes (from this video)
- i haven't gone back and looked at all the video i watched about five seconds of it and then i was sick in my mouth because it was that bad
- if your top 10 worker placement game ain't on this list that's because a [__] or b probably ain't played it
- bollocks
- there is literally no luck in this game