- BGG rating
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Space 1889 Adversaries
- 2–6 players
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Rules assistance for Cloudships & Gunboats
Plain-language explanations of turns, card effects and disputed situations, with official source references and saved question history.
- 2 players
- 12+
- Complexity 1.5/5
Rules assistant for Cloudships & Gunboats
What would you like to know?
Answers come from the official rulebook, with the page to check.
Cloudships & Gunboats is an expansion for Sky Galleons of Mars released in 1989 for 2 players and ages 12 and up. It was designed by Frank Chadwick and its main mechanics are Player Elimination, Dice Rolling, and Hexagon Grid.
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About the game
Boarding actions in the skies of space 1889's Mars with mini-scale deckplans, cardstock minis, rules, and ship diagrams. This expansion was intended to bridge the gap between the boardgame Sky Galleons of Mars and the role-playing game Space 1889. Ship to ship battles can be fought and won; but if there is an opportunity for a Boarding Actions, which were abstracted in Sky Galleons, they are now fleshed out to man-to-man, or man-to-Martian action. This allows for players to add characters from the RPG, but role-playing is not required and as a boardgame Cloudships & Gunboats can stand alone. Weapons are added, and clarified from Sky Galleons. Rules for designing your own aerial vessels are included.
Mechanics
Designers
Publishers
- Game Designers' Workshop (GDW Games)
- Heliograph Incorporated
Questions and answers
Cloudships & Gunboats supports 2 players according to the catalogue. This is the publisher’s listed player count, so the game is designed for exactly that number of participants. Variants for other group sizes, if any, are described in the rulebook of your edition, so check it before setting up a different configuration.
The catalogue lists Cloudships & Gunboats for ages 12 and up. This is the publisher’s recommendation and reflects reading demands, rule complexity and small components rather than theme alone. Younger players can often join with help from an adult, so check the age guidance on your edition and consider your group’s experience with board games.
Cloudships & Gunboats has a complexity rating of 1.5 out of 5 from BoardGameGeek players, which makes it a light game. The rating reflects how much rules knowledge, planning and decision-making a typical game demands. Expect a longer first teach for heavier games, and use a preparation guide before game night.
Cloudships & Gunboats belongs to these categories: Miniatures, Science Fiction, and Expansion for Base-game. Its main mechanics are Player Elimination, Dice Rolling, and Hexagon Grid. Categories describe the theme and setting of a game, while mechanics describe what players actually do on their turns. Each mechanic links to a catalogue hub with similar games, which helps when you want something comparable.
The credited designers of Cloudships & Gunboats are: Frank Chadwick. These credits come from the published game data and name the people responsible for the game’s design, not its illustrators or publishers. Designer pages on MeepleRules collect other titles by the same designers, which helps when you enjoy a game and want to find similar ones.
The catalogue lists Cloudships & Gunboats as an expansion for Sky Galleons of Mars. Expansions add new content, rules or scenarios to the base game and usually cannot be played on their own, so you need Sky Galleons of Mars to use it. Check that your edition of Sky Galleons of Mars is compatible, as some expansions were revised between editions.