Shackleton Base: A Journey to the Moon (2024)
(2024)Sorry We Are French, Pandasaurus Games, Giant Roc, Hachette Boardgames UK, Happy Baobab
A Eurogame strategy game where players lead space agencies to build a permanent base in the Shackleton crater at the Moon's South Pole. The game features a modular sandbox system with 7 unique corporations (3 chosen per game), worker placement mechanics, and drafting shuttles with astronauts and resources over 3 rounds.
The Verdict
based on 19 reviews
The reviewer enthusiastically praises 'Shackleton Base: A Journey to the Moon' as a highly engaging and rewarding Eurogame, highlighting its crunchy and variable gameplay driven by unique corporations and action combinations, despite a somewhat lengthy initial teach and potential for analysis paralysis.
The reviewer expressed strong enjoyment for 'Shackleton Base: A Journey to the Moon,' considering it a very good game that is an instant contender for game of the year, especially for enthusiasts of heavier Euro-style board games.
The reviewer highly recommends Shackleton Base: A Journey to the Moon, praising its sandbox nature, strategic depth, and high replayability, calling it an excellent game that is a permanent keeper in his collection and one he will play often.
Tom and Matt consider Shackleton Base: A Journey to the Moon to be an "all-timer" among recent excellent Eurogames, praising its strong theme, challenging puzzle, and high variability introduced by its corporations.
Shackleton Base: A Journey To The Moon has hit me sideways like a comet slamming into a planet. It’s a tremendous experience, and carries the banner of the Italian design ethos very well.
The reviewer enthusiastically praises Shackleton Base, calling it a great heavy euro game with high replayability due to its seven corporations and an engaging optimization puzzle, despite requiring some effort to fully grasp initially.
It’s a clever, interesting game that feels different to any other game I’ve played this year. A clean, easy-to-grasp Euro game, with plenty of room to experiment with your approach, and a ton of variability with the seven included corps and asymmetric leader tiles.
Overall, this is a fantastic production and one that makes playing the game so much more enjoyable. From setup to cleanup, everything is made to be user friendly first, but good looking as well.
Rahdo highly recommends "Shackleton Base: A Journey to the Moon," praising its thematic integration, engaging worker placement mechanics, and the constant meaningful decisions it presents, leading to a highly replayable and challenging experience.
Otherwise, Shackleton Base: A Journey to the Moon is an absolute must for fans of medium-weight worker placement games, particularly at the maximum player count. The playground on display here is ripe for expansion content in the form of additional Corporations and player powers, so I’m curious to see how well this sells in the hopes that we can achieve those dreams.
The reviewer highlights the game's excellent modularity as a core strength, contributing to a highly positive overall impression.
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