Stronghold Games | Terraforming Mars: Prelude Expansion | Board Game | Ages 14+ | 1-5 Players | 90- 120 Minute Playing Time

You don't need this to play the game, and you do need the game to play this. It is the most used expansion for Terraforming Mars. Most people I have heard of playing TM used this expansion too. Not compulsory but pretty standard. Adds the pre-game cards to put a spin on starting settings, plus a few extra game cards. Like with all games, have fun!

Excellent strategy card game, has good complexity and high replayability. Simple to learn, you choose what phase you want to happen on a turn(5 to choose from), everyone plays theirs in secret, you reveal, you get bonuses for playing cards on your own phase. Play cards by spending resources, which are tracked by player boards and cubes, Bronze-Silver-Gold (1-5-10). It's actually amazing the sheer amount of complexity you can track and simply by using them. You build an engine (some kind of synergy of cards) together and try and make Mars inhabitable. The game ends when Mars is safe, you then win by gaining the most Victory Points (VP). Gained by playing cards and making Mars inhabitable. Strongly recommend, it's sufficiently complex that it really does satisfy, however not needlessly complicated in both gameplay and setup to make you tired at the mere prospect of playing it.

This is my favourite Terraforming Mars expansion. I almost regard it as necessary. It adds a few corporations And project cards, nothing fancy there. It also adds a preliminary phase to the game in which everyone lays down 2 prelude cards of 4 they could choose from. These cards are pretty nice, they’re worth about 20ish credits each, and they basically speed the otherwise a little slow turns 2-4 up by giving your engine a jumpstart. It basically accomplishes the opposite of a bloat.

My wife and I are keen board gamers (though perhaps more so me than my ever-patient wife) with a firm preference for two-player co-operative games of varying degrees of complexity. We even play competitive games (we don’t have many, but Carcassonne is an obvious example) non-aggressively as it is just nicer. This game looks complicated with loads of cards, piles of little plastic tokens and busy player boards, but it really isn’t complicated at all. The rulebook is well laid out and after the first faltering play-through we have not referred to it since. Played in rounds playing two of the five available phases you play cards (two phases), initiate actions, produce terraforming factors or draw cards. With a hand limit of ten cards there is very little of the dreaded analysis paralysis trying to decide which cards to play so rounds rattle along at a cracking pace, especially as players can execute phases simultaneously. It would be nice if the game board was a bit bigger and had indented areas like the player boards as it is easy to dislodge the little tokens on their tracks but it is a minor gripe. We chose this game over the more daunting and competitive original ‘Terraforming Mars’ game (complicated and games can go on for ages) as it was advertised as having a two-player co-op mode. As it happens, this mode is a bit feeble as it simply limits the number of rounds to fifteen in which time you have to have completely terraformed the planet. Without the right cards in hand, this is pretty much impossible. As is often the case, we have adopted our own house rules where, basically, the object is to complete the terraforming in the smallest number of rounds keeping track of how many times each of us has incremented a terraforming factor. A bit like reading a really good book, the speed of the rounds makes for quite addictive gameplay and a really pleasant way to while away a few idle winter afternoons. With the vast number of project cards (209) and a good selection of corporations to choose, no two games are the same. I have just ordered the ‘Ares Expedition Crisis’ as this offers a more fully developed co-op mode and introduces some interesting new game elements. Once it has arrived in a few weeks and we have played through a few times, I will pen an appropriate review when I have time. EDIT: If you are looking for a well-rounded & fulfilling bit of co-operative gameplay, then the ‘Crisis’ expansion is well worth considering. Needless to say, there is a detailed review: https://www.amazon.co.uk/review/R3VUHO9IOR2ULH/ref=cm_cr_srp_d_rdp_perm?ie=UTF8 Complexity: 4/10 Component quality: 8/10 Replayability: 10/10 Gameplay pace: 10/10

This is a great game and, in my opinion, it's better than the base game of its bigger brother Terraforming Mars. It's definitely quicker and I really like the artwork on the cards. If I had one complaint it would be that the main scoreboard track is way too small and if a few players are playing it can get a bit crowded. I like the way the player boards are double thickness allowing the sunken track to keep the tracking cubes still, so they can't be knocked, I just don't know why they didn't do this for the scoreboard! Even if it was bigger that would help, but the actual game is excellent.

Adds a new dynamic to the start of the game - gives boosts for your production so that Gen-1 isn't quite so short. The new corporations are great additions, the project cards give something a little bit new and interesting. By far the best thing is the new possibilities for solo play, with the new challenge. Increasing your TR to 63 rather than having to max everything out is a whole new way of looking at things. The projects that allow you to increase your TR are suddenly much more desirable.

I wouldn't call this an expansion of the game but a game in itself, the rules are slightly different and the game itself lasts shorter. I was not aware at the time of my purchase that the version I got was a collectors edition (no advertising of this was given) so I'm not aware of any differences in quality if there is another version, but the quality of materials is fantastic with internal storage inside the box already being figured out. There is only one flaw and it's one that's carried over from the main game and that's the lack of tracking of 1/3 of the resources on the player board. Otherwise it's a solid game.

If you have the base game, this is a must have/buy. Perfect addition. Games get fatser because of prelude cards

Added a couple of extra decisions to consider especially late game

An excellent expansion which speeds up the early few generations of the game, which otherwise can feel a bit slow and also allows for more strategic/synergistic picks of your starting corporation and starting cards.

Tenía mis dudas sobre el, porque no soy muy fan de la temática espacial y futurista en juegos de mesa, pero este si me gustó mucho y su versión solitaria funciona muy bien y es divertido. Me encantó.

Un jeu du tonnerre guère plus long à plusieurs que tout seul. On n'a qu'une envie, enchaîner les parties.

Love this game! Easy to play, clear and descriptive instructions, excellent quality of materials. A great game, playable by two people and which takes many of the same concepts from Terraforming Mars (full edition) and tweaks them a bit to make for an interesting, enjoyable - and shorter - game. Highly recommended. Suggest getting the expansion pack "Terraforming Mars Ares Expedition: Discovery", for even more interesting competition.