FallCon - A Cornucopia of Gaming

Designer: Tory Niemann
# of Players: 2-4
Playtime: 60 minutes
MSRP: $59.99 CDN
Link to Rules
Synopsis: Alien Frontiers is an Area-Control game with a dice-based worker placement mechanic.  The theme is well implemented in its retro sci-fi theme and the production quality is incredible.

This game plays really well with 2-4 players and can be taught in 10 minutes to a wide range of players.  You receive points for the colonies that you place on the planet and a bonus if you have the most colonies in a region.  Whoever has the most points when one person runs out of colonies, wins!

The dice mechanic is not as luck-based as others of its ilk, as it isn’t important that you roll high numbers.  The various ‘stations’ require different combinations of dice (for example a pair of dice is needed to build a ship at the shipyard, or in the Solar Convertor, you get different amounts of fuel depending on what value you place there).

Alien Frontiers stormed onto the market in late 2010, spurred on by a number of podcasters who fell in love with the elegant mechanics and superior graphic design.  It was also one of the first games to use a consumer funding system called Kickstarter. 

The mechanics of Alien Frontiers aren’t new – you will see the legacy of a number of classic games in its offering.  For example you can credit El Grande for Area Control, Settlers of Catan for scoring, Kingsburg for its dice mechanic.  What Alien Frontiers does, is mix these concepts together with a great theme and brilliant graphics to make an excellent game.

Newer players can jump right in by rolling some dice and play them as they see fit, and the game will move along nicely.  More experienced players will begin to see how the interaction of the various stations and the order in which they are played, can really bring this game up to another level!