AD ASTRA

Hey there! Welcome to Ad Astra, a game where you’ll get to explore new planets, build colonies, and experience the thrill of space colonization. I’m here to tell you all about it, so let’s get started!

SETUP

When we play this game, we get to pick our own color. I usually go for blue because it’s my favorite color. Then we all gather our cards and meeples in our chosen color – it’s like our own special set. There are different meeples with different jobs – starships, colonies, factories, and terraformers. I also get a scoring token and a rule sheet that explains how to play.

Once we’re all set up, we put nine stars on the table. Most of them are yellow or red, but one of the stars is special – it’s white. That’s where we start the game.

Before we start exploring the universe, we need to have some planets to visit. We put some face-down planets on the table, so we don’t know what’s on them yet. We make sure there’s enough for everyone playing. Then we start with the first system. Each of us picks a planet, and we put a factory on it. If someone gets an alien planet, we replace it with another one. We put all the planets around the other suns – there are loads of suns in this universe!

Alright, let’s get started with the game setup. First, gather all the resource cards and separate them into different types. Place each type of card in its own deck, keeping them face down to the side of the gaming area. Now, it’s time to create the alien artifact card deck. Shuffle all of the artifact cards and place the deck face down next to the resource card decks. Each player should take one resource card.

Next, we need to prepare the playing area. Take the planning board and position it in the middle of the playing area. Each player should place their meeple on the victory point track on the planning board. And that’s it! We’re all set up and ready to begin the game.

Let the Game Begin!

So here’s how the game works: we play it in rounds, with a planning phase and an action phase. To decide who goes first, we just pick someone at random. But if you’re the one who last played a scoring card, you get to be the first player this time around. Then we take turns clockwise, each of us playing an action card from our hand. We put the card face down on one of the empty spaces on the planning board. Simple enough, right?

We keep playing action cards until all the spaces on the planning board are filled. If we happen to have four or five players, then we each play three cards during the planning phase. But if there are only three of us, we play four cards each. Don’t worry about where you put your cards – as long as there’s an empty space, you’re good to go. Let’s get this game rolling!

Once all the spaces are filled, we flip the cards to reveal the actions. Starting with the first space, we reveal and complete the action on the card before moving on to the next one.

Every player must do the actions on the cards, starting with the player who picked the card and going around the group clockwise.

When we finish resolving the last card, no player can have more than ten cards in their hand. If anyone has more than ten, they have to get rid of some cards until they only have ten left. Then, we collect our action cards and start the next round. We keep playing like this until someone reaches 50 points.

If a scoring card is flipped, the player who picked it gets to choose which element on the card will be used for scoring. Then we all add up our points.

Game Over

So, here’s the deal: the game is gonna wrap up once somebody scores 50 points or we uncover the last planet. Oh yeah, and there’s a winner, too! If someone hits that magic 50-point mark first, they’re the champ. But if the game ends because we’ve revealed the last planet, the player with the highest score takes the crown.

So, when the game ends, it’s either because someone scored 50 points or we found the last planet. In the first case, the player with 50 points wins. And in the second case, the winner is the one with the most points.