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Expansion for Terraforming Mars: Ares Expedition
Terraforming Mars: Ares Expedition – Discovery · Foundations · Crisis
2023
Rules assistance for Terraforming Mars: Ares Expedition – Discovery · Foundations · Crisis
Plain-language explanations of turns, card effects and disputed situations, with official source references and saved question history.
- 60 min
- 14+
- Complexity 2.8/5
Rules assistant for Terraforming Mars: Ares Expedition – Discovery · Foundations · Crisis
What would you like to know?
Answers come from the official rulebook, with the page to check.
Terraforming Mars: Ares Expedition – Discovery · Foundations · Crisis is an expansion for Terraforming Mars: Ares Expedition released in 2023 for 1–6 players, 60 minutes per game, and ages 14 and up. It was designed by Sydney Engelstein, Nick Little (I), and Jacob Fryxelius and its main mechanics are Variable Player Powers, Hand Management, and Income.
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About the game
In, Terraforming Mars Ares Expedition: Crisis, players will play as corporations, just as in the original Ares Expedition. You choose phases and play project cards as normal. The difference is players are working together to keep Mars habitable after a natural disaster has landed the planet in crisis. Every round, a new Crisis card will be drawn that will require the players to achieve a certain goal to remove that crisis from play. Each turn that a Crisis card is not completely dealt with, it will lower one or more of the terraforming metrics that keep Mars habitable. Handle all the crises as they arise. Eventually, a Crisis card will be drawn that allows the players to win the game once they have completed re-terraforming Mars. Terraforming Mars Ares Expedition: Discovery adds four new mechanics to base Ares Expedition: awards, milestones, upgraded phase cards, and wild tags. Awards are end of game scoring that are granted to the player with the most of something. Three awards are drawn at the beginning of the game so that players know what they will be rewarded for at the end of the game. The player with the most of that item earns 5VP, second place earns 2VP. Milestones are VP that are awarded during the game. They are granted to the player to first achieve the milestone. Milestones are worth 3 VP at the end of the game. Some new project and corporation cards allow players to upgrade their phase cards. Each phase card has two different version that players choose from when they upgrade them. The upgrade gives the player a better bonus when they choose that phase. Some new project cards have a wild tag. Whenever a player reveals this card either from the deck (due to an effect) or from their hand because they are going to play it, that player chooses what tag they want it to be. Tokens are used to keep track of what tag was chosen for the rest of the game. Ares Expedition: Foundations contains additional player boards, cubes, and phase cards so that Ares Expedition can be played with up to six players. This expansion also includes two additional game boards. One is a larger score track. The other adds a fourth terraforming metric: infrastructure. Additionally, there are new project cards that involve the new terraforming metric and a new phase card.
Editions
- Terraforming Mars: Ares Expedition – Discovery · Foundations · CrisisenStronghold Games2023
Mechanics
Publishers
- Stronghold Games
- FryxGames
Questions and answers
Terraforming Mars: Ares Expedition – Discovery · Foundations · Crisis supports 1–6 players according to the catalogue. This range comes from the publisher’s listed player count, so the game can be set up for any group size within it. Some setups, rules and scoring details may still vary by player count, so check your edition’s rulebook for the exact configuration.
The listed playing time for Terraforming Mars: Ares Expedition – Discovery · Foundations · Crisis is 60 minutes. This is the publisher’s estimate for a full game. The actual duration depends on the group, the player count and familiarity with the rules: first sessions usually run longer, while experienced groups often finish faster. Setup and teaching time are not included in this estimate.
The catalogue lists Terraforming Mars: Ares Expedition – Discovery · Foundations · Crisis for ages 14 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.
Terraforming Mars: Ares Expedition – Discovery · Foundations · Crisis has a complexity rating of 2.8 out of 5 from BoardGameGeek players, which makes it a medium-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.
Terraforming Mars: Ares Expedition – Discovery · Foundations · Crisis belongs to these categories: Card Game, Science Fiction, and Expansion for Base-game. Its main mechanics are Variable Player Powers, Hand Management, and Income. 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 Terraforming Mars: Ares Expedition – Discovery · Foundations · Crisis are: Sydney Engelstein, Nick Little (I), and Jacob Fryxelius. 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 Terraforming Mars: Ares Expedition – Discovery · Foundations · Crisis as an expansion for Terraforming Mars: Ares Expedition. Expansions add new content, rules or scenarios to the base game and usually cannot be played on their own, so you need Terraforming Mars: Ares Expedition to use it. Check that your edition of Terraforming Mars: Ares Expedition is compatible, as some expansions were revised between editions.