- Publisher : Sorry We Are French
- Designer : Fabio Lopiano, Nestore Mangone
- Artist(s) : David Sitbon
- Players : 1–4
- Playing time : 60 - 120 Min
- Weight BGG : 3.65
What's this?
You lead one of the space agencies working together to expand their presence in the Shackleton Crater base. You will build structures in the base while funding projects.
How do you play?
A game is played in 3 rounds, each divided into 3 phases:
➡️ Shuttle Phase: Players select their shuttle in reverse order of the turn, collect astronauts and associated resources.
➡️ Action Phase: Each player performs main actions such as:
Exploit the crater: Players deploy their astronauts (engineers, technicians, scientists) around the crater to earn credits, resources or activate corporation abilities.
Build a structure: Construction of domes, workshops, laboratories or solar panels.
Visit the Lunar Portal: This allows you to place astronauts in the player’s base and activate abilities.
Fund a Project: These bring: Victory points, immediate or recurring abilities.
➡️ Maintenance Phase: Recover astronauts, manage income, pay maintenance costs, and reset game elements.
End of game: After the third round.
Is it good?
Shackleton Base is an excellent worker placement game that will make you think every turn, thanks to bonuses linked to the color of the workers and the corporations activated during the game.
Each action must be carefully weighed, because your choices will be limited. Be careful, however, with analysis paralysis because downtime can slow down the game.
The many possibilities for worker placement encourage diversified strategies. You will have to constantly adapt your approach according to the available colors and the objectives of the modules.
Interaction between players is also very present, with majority control mechanisms, increasing costs for certain locations and varied objectives that create palpable tension around the table.
Replayability is ensured thanks to the multitude of modules, offering a different experience with each game. However, the richness of the game requires a certain investment to master all its subtleties.
The material is of good quality, with beautiful illustrations. However, wooden bases would have reinforced the immersion.
In short, Shackleton Base is a game to check out if you like deep, strategic worker placement games. Its elegant design, extensive customization options, and space theme make it an appealing title. Be prepared to invest some time to master all of its nuances, though.
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Review Shackleton Base
Positives
- The mechanics of placing workers of different colors
- A nice strategic depth
- Interactive
- High replayability
- Modularity with different configurations
Negatives
- Beware of the Analysis paralysis
- A theme that goes into the background
- A game that requires investment with its different modules
