Show us your ... astro-themed board game

[Zermelo]

What is it?
When did you get it?
How is it played?
Why did you like it?

 

I recently came across this in the loft: "4000 A.D." by Waddingtons.

When I was around 10 or 11, a family friend bought us this game for Christmas, knowing that my brother and I were "interested in space". I don't remember any other astronomy-related board games around at the time. For some reason, they managed to get hold of the English/French version that was produced for the Canadian market.

It's very much a game of strategy. There isn't even a die, so no random element. It's played on a board that attempts to model a section of the galaxy (the "third dimension" here is that the red stars in each square are meant to be on a "lower level" than the yellow ones, effectively one square distant from them).

 

 

Each player starts off with a "home base" star and a small fleet of spaceships, and they can use warp vessels in hyperspace (the sections on the edge of the board) to move some of them to other stars, and then use the resources so gained to build more ships. As you expand your empire, you eventually encounter the forces of your opponents, which you can engage and hope to wipe out. A sort of cross between Risk and Elite.

I loved it. The combination of strategic thinking, a spatial arena, and no requirement for sharp reflexes, all with an astronomical theme was nirvana. The aspect I liked most was that when you put ships into hyperspace, their location became indeterminate: they could be anywhere on a conceptual sphere, centred on their departure point. The radius of the sphere expanded with each incremental step in hyperspace, and their actual destination became clear only when their owning player pulled them back into normal space and moved them back onto the main playing area. The other players could see the ships in hyperspace, and had to try to guess their intentions and take countermeasures. To make it more complicated, if three or four players were playing, they could form alliances against each other.

 

 

Unfortunately, I was the only one that did like it. That Christmas, I press-ganged other members of the family into playing, but their initial confusion turned quickly into indifference and finally derision. My dad even won one game and then claimed afterwards that he had never actually understood the rules, and that his masterful winning manoeuvre had been a complete fluke.

The game was mothballed and was never played again in anger, but I saved it from the skip when my parents downsized, and still live in hope of convincing someone to give it a go.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/4000_A.D.

https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/1435/4000-d

[Knighty2112]

I remember getting an equally confusing board game once (not astro themed), that got played once and never again. Think it was called Colditz. Anyway, up in the loft it eventually went, never to be seen again. 

[Zermelo]

1 minute ago, Knighty2112 said:

I remember getting an equally confusing board game once (not astro themed), that got played once and never again. Think it was called Colditz. Anyway, up in the loft it eventually went, never to be seen again. 

I remember that - came out after the TV series I think - didn't own it, but played once at a friend's house and liked it.

[Sunshine]

[Andy ES]

3 hours ago, Zermelo said:

initial confusion turned quickly into indifference and finally derision.

This would have been fuelled by much Christmas alcohol in my house 😂

[Andy ES]

3 hours ago, Knighty2112 said:

Think it was called Colditz.

Played this one for hours and hours, it was a bit confusing as I remember.

[Gfamily]

Anyone play Blast Off? 

You had to do a Lunar Orbit Rendezvous and then visit the planets.

Used to take forever, not sure we ever finished a game

[tomato]

1 hour ago, Andy ES said:

Played this one for hours and hours, it was a bit confusing as I remember.

Yes, I remember Colditz, it made a minuscule improvement to my German vocabulary, but  I didn’t find it an enthralling board game. 
This is all off topic, but last Christmas I got the Jaws board game, I’ve never come across such a convoluted set of rules or mind numbing game play.

[Andy ES]

28 minutes ago, Gfamily said:

Anyone play Blast Off? 

You had to do a Lunar Orbit Rendezvous and then visit the planets.

Wow this looks fantastic, what year was it??

[Andy ES]

5 minutes ago, tomato said:

Jaws board game

I must be in a parallel universe now!😂

[Sunshine]

5 minutes ago, tomato said:

Yes, I remember Colditz, it made a minuscule improvement to my German vocabulary, but  I didn’t find it an enthralling board game. 
This is all off topic, but last Christmas I got the Jaws board game, I’ve never come across such a convoluted set of rules or mind numbing game play.

Notice it’s the same company who makes my Alien game? Now you see why mine hasn’t been played yet. Reading the rules gave me a sensation as though I was leaning back in a chair which was almost about to tip but didn’t. 

[Gfamily]

4 minutes ago, Andy ES said:

Wow this looks fantastic, what year was it??

 1969 - it had to be really, didn't it. 😄

[Andy ES]

1 minute ago, Gfamily said:

1969 - it had to be really, didn't it. 😄

Thanks, if only we had continued to the planets😁