“Amass spaceships for your fleet as you roll your way to domination.”
Link: https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/242302/space-base
Playing Time: 60 mins
Weight: Light
Genre: Tableau Builder & Dice Chucker
Designer: John D. Clair
Players: 2-5 players
The “Dice-Based Tableau Builder’ genre was probably invented by Machi Koro but it’s been experimented on by numerous other designers, and probably the best of the bunch is Space Base. Players serve as commodores, trying to assemble the best fleet which they use to acquire the most valuable substance in the galaxy: victory points.
In Space Base, everyone has a fleet of 12 ships, ranging from 1 to 12. When they roll dice, they can choose to score the dice seperately, or together (i.e. you can count your 6 and 4 seperately or instead activate the 10 spot). But what keeps things moving is that so does everyone else. Which is to say, you’re getting resources on your turn, but so am I, and hopefully by the time my turn comes, I’ve accrued enough that I can buy something big.
Because the other thing about Space Base is your spaces can be improved. If you buy a new ‘7’ ship, the old 7 ship is flipped over and put under your board, effectively increasing the income whenever someone else rolls a 7. The end result is a game where you’re engaged on every turn, and ramps nicely to some pretty impressive and broken special powers.
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