Roll dice, place your ships, and colonize a new planet in this clever retro sci-fi strategy game. My full review of Alien Frontiers is here.
Players: 2-4 | Time: 60-90 minutes | Age: 14+ | My Rating: 4 out of 5 cupcakes
What Is Alien Frontiers?
Alien Frontiers is a resource management and strategy game set in a retro 1960s sci-fi world. You’re a space colonist racing to plant colonies on a newly discovered planet before everyone else gets there first. The art style is charming, with territories named after sci-fi legends like Asimov Crater and Bradbury Plateau.
It plays 2-4 players and usually runs 60 to 90 minutes. This is definitely a meatier game than something like King of Tokyo, but it earns that extra time.
What Makes It Unique: Your Dice Are Your Workers
Alien Frontiers is a worker placement game, but with a clever twist. Instead of standard worker tokens, you use dice as your ships. You roll your dice at the start of your turn, and then you assign them to different orbital facilities on the board based on their values.
Want to gather fuel? You need specific dice values for that spot. Want to build a colony? Different requirement. The fact that your dice results shape what you can do each turn creates a really interesting puzzle. Some rounds you’ll have great options. Others, you’ll scramble to make something work.
Building Your Colony
The goal is to place colony tokens on the planet’s territories. Each territory you control gives you bonus abilities and points. The player with the most colony influence across the board when someone runs out of colonies wins.
You can also collect Alien Tech cards that let you bend the rules in clever ways. They’re powerful, but usually a one-time use, so timing matters.
Player Interaction Can Get Spicy
One of the orbital facilities lets you steal resources from other players if you roll the right combination. You can also use your ships to block others out of spots they need. So while this isn’t a wargame, there’s real competitive tension happening between players.
Is It Hard to Learn?
There’s a moderate learning curve here. The first game you play will probably feel a bit slow as everyone figures out what the orbital facilities do. After that first game though, it clicks fast. I’d rate the difficulty around a 3 out of 5 in terms of complexity.
Do I Recommend It?
Yes, especially if you’re looking for something with more strategy than a quick party game. Alien Frontiers rewards smart play and adapting to your dice rolls in creative ways. The theme is fun, the player interaction keeps things engaging, and the game always tells a story.
My Rating: 4 out of 5 Cupcakes
A thoughtful and well-crafted strategy game with a great sci-fi theme. Perfect for gamers who want something with a little more depth.
