With a rating of Dwellings of Eldervale ranks 8.1 on BGG One of the games that continues to inspire. The mix of worker placement with different workers, area control, and engine building was so well received that the concept was revised and relaunched in Andromeda's Edge. The game was published by Cardboard Alchemy, known for, among other things, FlamecraftFrosted Games is distributing the game in Germany. Find out how good Andromeda's Edge is in the following review.
In times of crisis, desperate factions attempt to build a future-proof civilization on Andromeda's Edge. Equipped with a space station, a few spaceships, and a handful of resources, they send their ships to expand and conquer distant planets. The goal is to achieve the greatest advancement in science, industry, economy, culture, and military.
A simple framework
Andromeda's Edge is a worker placement game with area control and engine building elements, where players collect resources and improve their space station. With each new improvement or battle victory, players advance on one of five progress tracks, which provide the majority of victory points during and at the end of the game. Players take turns playing a series of turns until one player reaches a certain minimum number of victory points. After that, everyone takes one final turn, at the end of which bonus points are awarded and the winner is determined.
Despite the high complexity, the basic process remains simple: In each move we choose either one Ship launch train , or Recall train. At the Ship launch train we place one of our spaceships on the game board. This allows us to collect resources (via moons), activate actions, or trigger encounters (battles). Recall train We retrieve all of our deployed spaceships and use them to activate the modules on our space station to receive bonuses and resources.
The ship launch train
At the Ship launch train Depending on the type of spaceship we want to send on our journey, different possibilities open up: While we can place the first spaceship freely in classic worker placement style, range and position must be taken into account for subsequent launches. For example, if a spaceship has a range of 1, it may only reach adjacent spaces of our own existing ships. There are four spaceship types in total, which differ in their range and special abilities. These abilities can be improved or modified over the course of the game and allow, for example, entering difficult or previously inaccessible areas.
The location where we place our spaceship plays a key role. We collect moons, which provide resources and/or can be used for later activation in modules on our own game board or space station. We activate actions at other locations. However, caution is advised: If we place our ship within range of a so-called threat, this triggers an attack. The threat moves onto our space, and a battle ensues. Other players can also participate in this battle.
A resulting battle is decided by the number of your own spaceships, built megalopolises, played combat cards, and a dice roll. Threats have their own combat strengths. The winner receives a progression on the military progress track.
Important climb in the progress bars
In Andromeda's Edge, progress on the five progress tracks plays a central role, as they largely determine how many victory points we receive during and at the end of the game. There are five areas: science, industry, economy, culture, and military.
You can climb these tracks mainly through two types of actions: buying modules (not military) and building large complexes. Modules expand our space station and offer Recall train useful abilities or direct resource gains. Large-scale complexes, on the other hand, are particularly important because they not only provide permanent victory points, but also offer unique, powerful effects that can significantly advance your game. They also improve your combat strength on adjacent spaces, making you more resilient in battles.
The further we progress along a track, the greater the reward: Victory points increase with each new space we reach. It makes strategic sense not to focus solely on one track, but to react flexibly to game situations and make progress in multiple areas.
The event track plays another important role in conjunction with the progress tracks. Whenever the event marker reaches the end of its track, an event is triggered. Events bring additional threats and rewards or challenges into play. They also trigger a victory point scoring for a specific progress track.
The gameplay loop & the recall moves
The core gameplay in Andromeda's Edge ultimately revolves around collecting and strategically deploying resources, cleverly placing spaceships, and forward-thinking planning of recall moves. Resources are primarily obtained by occupying spaces on the game board, collecting moons, and activating modules on your space station. Moons serve as direct resource providers, but can also be bound to modules so that you always receive the specified resources when the module is activated.
A crucial moment in every game is the decision when to Recall train When recalled, all of your spaceships return to your personal space station. Before doing so, however, you must activate available modules on your space station by placing one spaceship per module. The order of activations is freely selectable and allows for interesting combos: Some modules provide resources that can be used directly to activate additional modules or perform additional actions. This creates a kind of engine that grows stronger round after round.
However, waiting for the perfect moment for a recall move also carries risks. Spaceships on the board can be attacked and destroyed at any time. If you lose a ship before you can recall it, you lack spaceships to activate the modules, thus losing important actions or resources. Therefore, good timing is crucial: If you wait too long to recall, you expose yourself to attacks from other players or threats; if you recall too early, you may waste valuable actions on the board and on the modules.
Ideally, you'll manage to use your spaceships as efficiently as possible: gathering resources, activating modules, climbing the progress bars, and always waiting for the perfect moment to recall. This constant cycle of risk, reward, and timing is at the heart of Andromeda's Edge and ensures an exciting, dynamic gaming experience.
Information about Andromeda's Edge
| Number of players: 2 – 4 Age: from 12 years Playing time: 90 - 180 minutes Difficulty: Advanced Connoisseur Game, Expert Game Classification: Worker Placement, Area Control, Engine Building Author: Luke Laurie, Maximus Laurie Illustrations: Sergio Chaves Publisher: Frosted Games, Cardboard Alchemy Official Website: Link Year of publication: 2024 Language: German Cost: 74,95 € |
Conclusion
I've never played its predecessor, Dwellings of Eldervale, but Andromeda's Edge captivated me from the very first playthrough. I definitely consider it one of the best games I've ever played. Despite its complex structure, it's surprisingly simple at its core: It's basically just about placing or recalling spaceships. The true complexity arises from the enormous variety of possibilities that arise from this.
You constantly have to decide which spaceships to send where, which modules to buy and activate, where to build new large-scale complexes, whether to actively participate in battles, which progress bar to climb, when the best time to recall is, and much more. This constant variety of options constantly challenges you without being overwhelming.
However, the game's depth also brings with it a certain sluggishness. Especially with larger player counts, Andromeda's Edge can sometimes feel very slow. Downtime increases noticeably when multiple players spend a long time considering their next move. Furthermore, there's certainly potential for frustration, for example, when your own plans are thwarted by attacks or simply by enemy spaceships blocking a location. These setbacks can feel quite bitter, especially in critical moments, but they are also the essence of such a strategy game.
Personally, I find Andromeda's Edge's space theme rather dull. While the game certainly creates variety with its multitude of different factions, making each game feel different, the generic space setting remains relatively bland and uninspiring for me.
Nevertheless, every game remains highly exciting because the feel of the game is constantly changing. With every move, the situation on the board can completely shift. You have to stay alert, constantly adapt your tactics, and react flexibly to new threats and opportunities – that's exactly what makes Andromeda's Edge so appealing to me.
The replay value is also enormous: no two games are alike, whether due to the different factions, the random location layouts, or simply the dynamic development of the game board. Andromeda's Edge remains a true highlight for me and will surely end up on my table many more times.
| Preview | Product | Rating | Price | |
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Dwellings of Eldervale 2nd Edition* | 136,93 EUR |
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