Alien Frontiers Game Rules

Hey there! Welcome to the thrilling world of Alien Frontiers. Today, I’m here to guide you through the game rules. So, buckle up and get ready for an adventure in space!

First things first, let’s talk about the objective of this game. The goal is to colonize the alien planet, Maxim Prime. But hey, it’s not going to be a walk in the park. You’ll need to strategize, make smart moves, and outmaneuver your opponents to claim victory.

To kick off your space adventure, you’ll start with a fleet of ships and a handful of colony tokens. These ships are your ticket to exploring the planet and establishing your presence. Each turn, you’ll place your ships on different action spaces, which allow you to perform various actions.

Now, the heart of the game lies in managing your resources. You’ll need fuel to power your ships, ore to build colonies, and alien technology to gain an edge. The planet is filled with these resources, and it’s up to you to collect and utilize them wisely.

To gain an advantage, you can also use the alien artifacts you discover. These artifacts grant special abilities that can turn the tide of the game in your favor. But be careful, my friend, as other players can steal them from you if they get the chance.

As you explore the planet and establish colonies, you’ll earn points. The more colonies you build, the more points you’ll rack up. Don’t forget to keep an eye on your opponents, though. They’ll be working hard to stop you from dominating Maxim Prime.

And here’s a little tip before we wrap up: keep an eye on the orbital facilities. These powerful structures can give you a significant advantage, allowing you to bend the rules in your favor. Utilize them wisely, and you might just secure victory.

So, my fellow space explorer, that’s the lowdown on Alien Frontiers. I hope you’re as excited as I am to dive into this thrilling game. Grab your ships, collect resources, and strategize your way to victory. Good luck, and may the stars be ever in your favor!

• There are 24 Ships in Four Colors
• There is 1 Relic Ship
• There are 20 Gray Ore Tokens
• There are 30 Orange Fuel Tokens
• There are 24 Alien Tech Cards
• There are 32 Colony Tokens in Four Colors
• There are 8 Territory Counters
• There are 20 Dock Covers
• There are 3 Field Generators
• There are 4 Scoring Rockets
• There is 1 Victory Point Scoreboard

The Goal

Your objective in the game is to gain more influence over the Alien Frontier, measured in Victory Points, than your opponents. You can achieve this by building colonies and controlling territories.

Getting Started

Let’s set up the game! First, unfold the game board and place it on the table where everyone can reach it. Next, find a good spot for the scoring track board and put a scoring rocket of each color on the starting line. We’ll need someone to keep track of the victory points as we play.

Now, let’s place the clear die in the square on the Burroughs Desert territory. This special spot is called the Relic Ship. Take the territory cards and place them face-up on the matching territories on the board.

Lastly, we need to gather our resources. Put the orange fuel tokens near the solar converter. This is where we’ll get our fuel. The gray ore tokens should be placed near the lunar mine. This is where we’ll find our ore.

So, here’s what we need to do. First, let’s shuffle the alien tech cards and lay out three of them face-up next to the Alien Artifact. These cards will make up our alien tech stock. Then, let’s give each player one alien tech card face-up. The rest of the cards will become our draw pile, and we’ll use them throughout the game. As we play, we’ll also create a discard pile, so keep that in mind.

Next, let’s place the three field generator counters on the table to the left of the board. These will come in handy later.

Now it’s time for each player to choose their color. Once you’ve picked your color, grab three ships (dice) of that color and put them on the Shipyard near the words “Maintenance Bay”. The remaining three ships of each color should be placed on the table next to the Shipyard. That’s our ship stock right there.

Lastly, each player needs to grab six colony tokens that match their ship color. Anything extra can be returned to the game box for now. We won’t be needing those.

If you want to choose player one, roll for the highest number. From there, count clockwise to distribute resources to the rest of the players. Player two gets one fuel, player three gets one ore, and player four gets one fuel and one ore. This helps to balance out any advantages that may arise from turn order. Remember, this distribution only happens at the beginning of the game.

For a 3 Player Variation

• Solar Convener
• Lunar Mine
• Orbital Market
• Shipyard

For a 2 Player Variation

• Solar Convener
• Lunar Mine
• Orbital Market
• Colony Constructor
• Shipyard

If You Want to Play a Longer Game

Once you become skilled at Alien Frontiers, you might be interested in playing longer games. In the 4-player and 3-player scenarios, each player starts with all eight of their colony tokens.

How to Play the Game

So, let me tell you how this game works. It’s pretty simple, and I’ll guide you through it step by step.

Step 1: Gather and Roll Your Fleet

Okay, first things first. It’s your turn, and you need to gather all of your ships from the board and give them a nice roll. Roll ’em like you mean it!

Step 2: Use Alien Tech Cards and Assign Your Fleet

Now comes the fun part. You have these cool alien tech cards that you can use to your advantage. You can decide to use all, some, or none of them. It’s up to you, but here’s the important part: you need to dock all of your ships at orbital facilities on your turn if you can. If, for some reason, you can’t dock one or more of your ships at any orbital facility, just put them in the Maintenance Bay. Simple as that!

If you want to use an orbital facility, you need to assign your ships to its docking ports. But there are a few conditions that need to be met. First, the facility must have unused docking ports. Second, you need to have ships with the required values. And finally, you have to be able to pay any costs that may be necessary. I’ll explain the requirements and costs for each facility in the section about orbital facilities.

Let me give you an example. The terraforming station requires a ship with a value of 6. It also costs one fuel and one ore. This means that you cannot use the terraforming station if you don’t have any ships with a value of 6. You also can’t use it if the docking port is already occupied. And finally, if you don’t have the required fuel and ore, you’re out of luck.

When you use an orbital facility, territory control, or alien tech, you get the benefits right away, unless stated otherwise.

Any costs associated with using orbital facilities or alien tech cards need to be paid to the stocks.

Hey there! Let me talk to you about these cool alien tech cards. They’re a bit mysterious, but I’ll break it down for you in simple terms.

So, here’s the deal: during your turn, you can use your alien tech cards whenever you want. They have two powers: one that you use by spending fuel, and one that requires you to discard the card. You can only use each alien tech card once per turn.

Now, here’s the tricky part. You can only use one discard power from your alien tech cards each turn. Remember that! It’s an important rule.

If you want to know more about the specific powers and costs of each card, you can find all the details in the rules section on alien tech cards. It’s good to know what you’re working with, right?

So, go ahead and unleash the power of these alien tech cards! Just remember the rules and have fun exploring their incredible abilities.

When you decide to place a colony, you earn a victory point right then and there. It’s important to remember that if your colony placement gives you more colonies on a territory than any other player, you officially “control” that territory. Not only do you get an extra victory point, but you also get to use the territory’s bonus. However, if you end up having fewer colonies on the territory than another player, you lose control. In this case, you have to return the territory card to the planet, lose a victory point, and say goodbye to the territory’s bonus. Make sure to check out the rules section on territory bonuses if you want more details.

Keep an eye out for special field generators too. They can either give you an extra victory point or restrict your ability to use territory bonuses and place colonies. For more information on field generators, consult the rules section.

Now, let’s talk about what happens at the end of the turn.

Once all my ships are carefully placed on the board and any of the alien tech cards I intended to use have been utilized, my turn is complete. There’s no need to readjust the positioning of my ships until my next turn.

However, if I happen to have more than eight resource tokens at the end of my turn, I am required to return the excess tokens back to the appropriate resource stocks. It’s important to maintain a balance and not hoard more resources than needed.

Game Over

Scoring in this game is not cumulative. It simply shows the current state of the board and your hand at any given moment. To keep track of who’s winning, use the scoreboard. Your score will go up and down as the game progresses and whenever things change, update the scoreboard accordingly.

Here’s how you earn victory points:

• I get 1 point for each of my colony tokens on a territory.
• I get 1 point for each territory I control.
• I get 1 point for having the Alien City card.
• I get 1 point for having the Alien Monument card.
• I get 1 point for controlling the territory with the Positron Field.

The game comes to an end when a player places their final colony on a territory. We then add up our victory points to see who’s leading on the scoreboard. The player with the most victory points is declared the winner.