“Mission Red Planet” (2nd Edition)
designed by Bruno Cathala & Bruno Faidutti, published by Fantasy Flight Games
Send your steampunk astronauts to Mars to control areas and collect valuable resources. Pack your astronauts into a ship, blast a ship off, land on some section of Mars, move some of your Martian men, or even sabotage spaceships journeying to Mars. Score points for area majorities on different sections of the red planet. Simultaneous card selection to perform these actions: do you pick a high number to go first, but get a weak action, or do you wait to perform a more powerful action? Or do you watch your opponent blow up your rocket with three of your astronauts in round 2 of the game and watch all hope of victory escape your grasp? I would say the last one. Definitely that one.
A good introduction to action selection and strategic play. Light enough to learn, with just enough strategy to make things interesting.
One Line Verdict: sign up for this particular mission to Mars.