Alright folks I am back after a break! And to kick it off, its game night here at the Curious Desi Mind. Today we are going to be looking at a 2-5 player, dice chucking game Space Base, published by AEG and designed by John D. Clair with artwork by Chris Walton. Before proceeding I want to be clear that I received a copy of Space Base from the game publisher for the purposes of this review. Here is a short how to play video to get acquainted with the rules of the game.

Quick Info about Space Base

Players: 2-5

Time: 60 - 75 minutes

Age: 14+

1. Theme

In Space Base, players assume the roles of Commodores of a small fleet of ships. Ships begin docked at their stations and are then deployed to sectors as new ships are commissioned under your command. Use cargo vessels to engage in trade and commerce; mining vessels to build reoccurring base income; and carriers to spread your influence. Establish new colonies for a new Commodore in a sector to gain even more influence. Gain enough influence and you can be promoted to Admiral! That's the theme of Space Base. However, I might say that the theme for the most part is inconsequential here. You do purchase upgrades for your space ship by spending some money (resources) which you gain by rolling dice. This could well have been any other theme over it. But for the most part the game feels like it requires a strong theme thanks to its amazing mechanisms.

2. Aesthetics

As I have always said, AEG is one company that always knows how to impress in terms of aesthetics and Space Base is no exception to this. Once again the components are of the highest quality and the artwork is something that really matches well with the theme.

The cards are long and though I thought they were weirdly sized they all fits well on the player board. The player board itself is nicely designed, with hard and high quality cardboard.

The cards are well designed with clear distinction in their cost and the die roll. The different colors for different times in the game when the actions can be played are really well distinguished. (For example in the example above blue actions can be invoked on your turn, red on other people's turn and yellow is a one time ability). The cards fit well in the slot when they are rotated to give you resources on other's turn which is the central mechanism of the game.

The market formed in the center of the playing area is easy to figure out and the cards are easy to understand. Other components in the game include colored cubes to track your resources and clear cubes to charge your cards. The dice which will be the most used component in the game are clear dice but they roll well and do their job well.

The rule book (or field manual as it is referred in the game) is clear with nice examples. However, I felt the rule book is too long for such a simple game which I think might not go well with new gamers when the game is so welcoming and designed to be introduced to new players. The starting player token/card is nothing special yet has a good graphic design but overall its an overkill. Once again like most recent AEG games Space Base gets a big thumbs up from me for the aesthetics.

3. Replay ability

The game comes with 48 level 1 upgrade cards, 48 level 2 upgrade cards and 36 level 3 upgrade cards of which you use hardly 18-20 each game and based on the odds of the numbers that pop up on the dice on that particular day you would use some of those cards more than others which means there is tremendous amount of replay ability packed right in the base box itself. The game has a few expansions available now which will add even more replay ability to the game.

4. Gameplay

Space Base is a quick-to-learn, quick-to-play dice game using the core "I roll, everyone gets stuff" mechanism seen in other games (like Machi Koro). It's also a strategic engine builder using a player board (your space base) and tableaus of ship cards you can buy and add to your board. The cards you buy and the order you buy them in have interesting implications on your engine beyond just the ability on the card you buy, making for a different type of engine construction than seen in similar games. Players can take their engine in a number of directions: long odds and explosive gains, low luck and steady income, big end-game combos to launch from last to first, or a mix-and-match approach. Ultimately, Space Base is a game you can just start playing and teach everyone how to play in the first round or two and has a satisfying blend of dice-chucking luck and challenging strategic choices.

The things I liked the most about the game play are:

  1. Rolling dice is fun and who doesn't like that? Its a cool way to get some resources and more importantly players play attention on other players turn since they might be getting some benefits too. I love games that do that. This means there is very little downtime in the game.
  2. The whole mechanic of purchasing upgrades and turning your current card upside down to gain more resources/benefits on your opponents turn.

5. Ease of play & Economics

As I mentioned in the gameplay part the game is quick to learn, easy to teach and quick to play. The best part about the game is that you can play a couple of rounds right off the bat and introduce the more complex rules (such as charging cubes concept) to new players as you discover those cards. I have used this strategy to explain games to most of the new people I have played this with and this has never failed on me. The game should engage new gamers and experience gamers alike. Similarly I think this might be a good family game but with kids above 12 and their parents. The game is available on amazon website for $31.59 which is a great price for this game.

6. Tactics: Luck vs Strategy

Space Base is a game about rolling dice and based on the results of the dice you make progress. So this is definitely a "lucky" game. You can strategize all you want but some day the dice just wont favor you. However, in most of the games I have played, on the given day a few numbers are rolled more often than the others. You just need to invest a bit on those numbers and hope that the dice behaves the same for the rest of the game. There are still a lot of strategies you can play with but at the end it boils down to if you are able to roll those numbers. At the same time the game gives a lot of moments where you exactly roll something someone else is looking for and they go all "yaayyyy" and you go all "naaaay". There could be moments where you are looking for some particular number but it will benefit someone else more and you are in a fix. The game will give you ample such moments which are very good for the overall game.

Summary

Artwork – 9

Gameplay – 9

Family Friendly – 8

Total Rating – 8.5

Overall, I think Space Base is a brilliant game. It is definitely my favorite game ever since I started the hobby. When I first started, I absolutely hated games which were dependent a lot on luck and numbers that would come up on the dice that controlled how you did. For this reason, I did not like Catan for a lot of time in my gaming life. However, come Space Base this has completely changed. I turn to this game whenever I am looking for a light game, I turn to this game when I am looking for a slightly more gamer(y) game (compared to Machi Koro) and I turn to Space Base when I am looking to introduce a game to someone new to the hobby too. I think the game speaks for itself when you consider it as a beginner and an advanced game. And for this reason and many more mentioned above this is currently my favorite game of all time.

I hope you find this review useful and helps you make an educated choice on adding more and more games to your collection. As always thanks for reading and until my next blog post, stay safe, stay healthy and play even more boardgames.

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