Terraforming Mars has become a hit since its release in 2016 so much so that the designer Jacob Fryxelius and the games lead publishers FryxGames and Stronghold Games have released five incredible expansions, along with additional corporation cards, various promo cards and all sorts of other game-related propaganda.
Terraforming Mars: Big Box will act as both a storage option for all the Terraforming Mars material released to date with some extras to add to your existing game and expansions.
This includes five expansions the first-player rover and a set of 3D terrain tiles to dress up the game. Included in the box are:
- 24 city tiles (four each of six designs)
- 40 forest tiles (eight each of five designs)
- 9 ocean tiles
- 14 special tiles (the original eleven, plus three new ones)
Terraforming Mars: Big Box also includes three new cards that relate to the three new special tiles, card dividers, and five plastic markers for the global parameters
It’s a great addition for those looking for a more elegant storage solution with some added extras for the die-hard fan.
About Terraforming Mars
Boardgamegeek Description
In Terraforming Mars, you play one of those corporations and work together in the terraforming process, but compete for getting victory points that are awarded not only for your contribution to the terraforming, but also for advancing human infrastructure throughout the solar system, and doing other commendable things.
The players acquire unique project cards (from over two hundred different ones) by buying them to their hand. The projects (cards) can represent anything from introducing plant life or animals, hurling asteroids at the surface, building cities, to mining the moons of Jupiter and establishing greenhouse gas industries to heat up the atmosphere.
The cards can give you immediate bonuses, as well as increasing your production of different resources. Many cards also have requirements and they become playable when the temperature, oxygen, or ocean coverage increases enough.
Buying cards is costly, so there is a balance between buying cards (3 mega credits per card) and actually playing them (which can cost anything between 0 to 41 mega credits, depending on the project). Standard Projects are always available to complement your cards.
Your basic income, as well as your basic score, is based on your Terraform Rating (starting at 20), which increases every time you raise one of the three global parameters. However, your income is complemented with your production, and you also get VPs from many other sources.
Each player keeps track of their production and resources on their player boards, and the game uses six types of resources: MegaCredits, Steel, Titanium, Plants, Energy, and Heat.
On the game board, you compete for the best places for your city tiles, ocean tiles, and greenery tiles. You also compete for different Milestones and Awards worth many VPs. Each round is called a generation (guess why) and consists of the following phases:
1) Player order shifts clockwise.
2) Research phase: All players buy cards from four privately drawn.
3) Action phase: Players take turns doing 1-2 actions from these options: Playing a card, claiming a Milestone, funding an Award, using a Standard project, converting plant into greenery tiles (and raising oxygen), converting heat into a temperature raise, and using the action of a card in play. The turn continues around the table (sometimes several laps) until all players have passed.
4) Production phase: Players get resources according to their terraform rating and production parameters.
When the three global parameters (temperature, oxygen, ocean) have all reached their goal, the terraforming is complete, and the game ends after that generation.
Count your Terraform Rating and other VPs to determine the winning corporation!
Release Date
FryxGames and Stronghold Games have announced a mid-June 2020 launch date for a Kickstarter for Terraforming Mars: Big Box.
The new Terraforming Mars: Big Box will include three new cards that relate to the three new special tiles, card dividers, and five plastic markers for the global parameters.
The Terraforming Mars: Big Box expansion will launch on Kickstarter on June 9th.