How to Play

Alien Frontiers

2-4 players 90-90 min 7.3 Board Game Geek Rating

Players command spaceship fleets (represented by dice) to colonize an alien planet through resource management and strategic placement. Roll dice and assign ships to orbital stations to gather resources, research alien technology, and establish colonies on territorial zones. Control territories to gain special advantages and influence over facilities. Victory comes from strategically building colonies while blocking opponents' expansion efforts.

Published 2010

Get Ready

Setup the game with these step-by-step instructions before diving into your turn.

Select player components

Each player picks a color and takes 3 dice (ships)

Prepare score tracking

Place the score tablet by the board with scoring rockets on the 0 line

Place the Relic Ship

Put the Relic Ship die on the Burroughs Desert territory

Position territory tiles

Place each territory tile on its corresponding territory on the board

Create fuel supply

Place the orange fuel tokens near the Solar Converter

Create ore supply

Place the gray ore tokens near the Lunar Mine

Prepare Alien Tech deck

Shuffle Alien Tech cards and deal 1 to each player

Set up card display

Place 3 Alien Tech cards face-up near the Alien Artifact, rest in a face-down stack nearby

Place Field Generators

Use Field Generator counters or miniatures and place by the board

Adjust for 2 players

Each player takes 8 colony tokens; docking ports marked with specific symbols cannot be used

Adjust for 3 players

Each player takes 7 colony tokens; docking ports marked with specific symbols cannot be used

Adjust for 4 players

Each player takes 6 colony tokens of their color

Determine starting resources

Player 2 gets 1 fuel, Player 3 gets 1 ore, Player 4 gets 1 fuel + 1 ore

Begin play

Pick start player and proceed clockwise

On Your Turn

What you can do during your turn.

Gather and roll dice

Collect all your dice (ships) from the board and roll them

Assign all ships

Place all ships to Orbital Facilities if possible, otherwise to Maintenance Bay

Use Alien Tech cards

Play cards any time during your turn (once each per turn); pay fuel or discard the card to use

Score colony placement

Immediately gain +1 VP when placing a colony, and +1 VP if you gain majority in a territory (take the bonus tile)

Lose majority penalty

If you lose majority or tie, return the bonus tile and subtract 1 VP

Manage resources

After all dice are placed, if you have more than 8 resource tokens, discard down to 8

Alien Artifact

Each die allows you to discard displayed Alien Tech cards and deal 3 new ones face-up, and/or place dice totaling 8+ pips to claim one card

Colonist Hub

Place dice to advance a colony along the track; when it reaches the 7th spot, pay fuel + ore to place the colony in a territory

Colony Constructor

Place 3 dice of equal value and pay ore to place a colony on a territory; two sets of triples can dock simultaneously

Lunar Mine

Each die placed must be greater than or equal to the highest die already there; gain 1 ore per die placed

Maintenance Bay

Place ships here that cannot be used on other spaces, newly built ships, or removed ships; these cannot be moved with Alien Tech cards

Orbital Market

Place 2 dice of equal value and pay fuel equal to one die's value to receive 1 ore; repeat as desired

Raiders' Outpost

Place 3 sequentially valued dice to steal 4 resources from any combination of players, or 1 Alien Tech card; may bump existing dice with higher values

Shipyard

Place 2 dice of equal value and pay fuel and ore (based on current ship count) to place a new ship in Maintenance Bay

Solar Converter

Place dice of any value and take fuel per the chart printed on the board

Terraforming Station

Place 1 die showing 6 and pay fuel + ore to immediately place a colony; die stays until your next turn; cannot use if it would leave you with fewer than 3 ships