How to Play

High Frontier 4 All

1-5 players 30-240 min 8.4 Board Game Geek Rating

Players control spacefaring companies in 2020, developing technology and conducting trade throughout the solar system. Using a scientifically accurate delta-v map, players launch rockets, establish operations on planets and asteroids, and exploit resources. Victory comes through profitable space commerce and technological advancement in this realistic space exploration game.

Published 2020

High Frontier 4 All

Get Ready

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

1
Set player count
Configure the game for 1 player using yellow player tokens
2
Configure game length
Set game to 84 years (7 Sunspot Cycles)
3
Select difficulty level
Choose difficulty 1-4 which determines required score (60-120 points) and number of easy, medium, and hard base missions to complete
4
Draw base mission cards
Draw the number of base mission cards indicated by your difficulty level
5
Prepare patent decks
Shuffle each patent deck separately and remove three random cards from each without looking
6
Optional sail thruster removal
Remove Photon Kite Sail, Photon Heliogyro, and one random card from thruster patent deck
7
Create exploration and observation decks
Shuffle exploration cards and observation cards separately into face-down decks with cover cards on top
8
Fill discovery bag
Place 150 small glass beads (30 each of black, green, purple, red, and yellow) into the cloth bag
9
Collect starting Aqua
Begin with 9 Aqua (plus 6 additional if using Taxes, Secretary-General, or Felonious faction privileges)
10
Position starting Crew
Place Crew in LEO
11
Draw starting hand cards
Draw top card from each of generators, radiators, reactors, refineries, robonauts, and thrusters patent decks; may discard any for 1 Aqua each
12
Place Home Bernal
Draw random Bernal card and place Anchored Home Bernal in indicated Home Orbit
13
Perform starting exomigration
Place one Colonist into Home Bernal Stack (two if L1 Climate Control or SSO Diplomatic Bernal drawn)
14
Roll for starting Claim and Factory
Roll 1d6 black and 1d6 blue, place Claim and Factory on Site specified on FAC location map; re-roll if Site conflicts with base mission cards
15
Perform starting site rolls
Execute site hazard roll then site type roll for starting Factory's Site
16
Set up Research Lab playmat
Shuffle research project cards, place four random cards on project spots, place extra test die on blue cube spot
17
Set up Emergency Response/Infrastructure playmat
Shuffle station cards, place three random cards on station spots, place green, purple, and red big wooden cubes on matching spots
18
Set up Satellite Network/Drift Bernals playmat
Place seven white small wooden cubes on satellite spots
19
Place Kalpana Drift Bernal
Draw random Drift Bernal card for KALPANA spot, roll 1d6 black and 1d6 blue to place white Kalpana Bernal at Lagrange Point per BER location map

On Your Turn

What you can do during your turn.

1
Purchase equipment
Spend 1 Aqua each to buy up to four equipment cards from the Pool into your Hand
2
Research auction
Take top card of a patent deck plus its bonus supports, paying Aqua equal to number of cards taken
3
Boost equipment
Pay Aqua equal to Mass to boost equipment cards marked LEO, HOME, or LAB to specified location
4
ET Production
Produce equipment cards marked ANY at a Factory of any Spectral Type
5
Promote equipment
Pay cost in Aqua at a Lab (or Anchored Bernal if BER specified) to upgrade equipment cards after unlocking related equipment upgrade
6
Explore Sites
Require Curiosity Rover/Exomars Rover on Site with site potential die ≥1
7
Observe from space
Require Hubble/Webb Telescope at location in space (or Flyeye Observatory station on Site)
8
Perform discovery rolls
Roll d4 discovery die, draw that many discoveries from bag, fill empty discovery spots
9
Survey Sites
Use Base Array/Infrared Array to re-roll dice equal to survey value after site type roll
10
Land on new Sites
Perform site hazard roll (1d6 determines 1-3 hazard dice) then site type roll (hazard, terrain, and site potential dice)
11
Perform shielding rolls
When landing, lifting off, or entering CME, roll test dice equal to highest shielding value vs hazard dice sum
12
Move along buggy roads
Once per year as free action, move Rover or buggy platform card between Sites carrying Cargo with Mass ≤2
13
Traverse wormholes
Roll 1 test die and 1 hazard die; success (sum ≠2) traverses wormhole with transit time equal to Heliocentric Zone borders crossed minus 1 year
14
Unlock equipment upgrades
Fill both discovery spots on Research Lab playmat to enable promoting related equipment cards
15
Complete research projects
Fill all four discovery spots and pay unlock cost to gain ongoing ability
16
Unlock extra test die
Fill white discovery spot below research project unlock costs for one-time use on any test dice roll
17
Generate Aqua from discoveries
Fill all four discovery spots in single row on Emergency Response/Infrastructure playmat to receive 8, 6, or 4 Aqua
18
Unlock stations
Fill both discovery spots above station card and pay unlock cost
19
Build stations
Decommission Station Module card at location with Colocated engineer or Crew as free action
20
Unlock outpost expansions
Fill both discovery spots and pay unlock cost to bring Space Outpost or Site Outpost playmat into play
21
Deploy satellites
Decommission Satellite card at Lagrange Point as free action, place leftmost white cube from playmat to map location
22
Unlock network abilities
Fill both discovery spots and pay unlock cost for ongoing abilities
23
Perform transmit operation
Require two contacts at different locations; at least one must be Crew/Human Colonist with Operational Radio Antenna
24
Track damaged cards
Place red damaged card on top of damaged cards; damaged cards are non-operational Cargo
25
Repair damaged cards
Require Human (not Space Tourists) or Repair Bot with Spare Parts; Decommission one Spare Parts to repair all Colocated damaged cards
26
Drill for samples
Require Operational Percussive Drill on Site; roll 1d6 per card instructions to collect Spectral Type sample card
27
Perform rescue
Require Rescue Pod on Site; roll 1d6 per card to flip to SUCCESS side
28
Conduct experiments
Require Bio Experiment at Operational Life Sciences Unit or Field Experiment on Site; roll 1d6 per card to flip to SUCCESS side
29
Engage tractor beam
Require Operational Tractor Beam Colocated or Adjacent to target Stack or Synodic Comet
30
Anchor Drift Bernals
Decommission specified Operational support card and required water FTs (12 minus Heliocentric Zone borders to LEO)
31
Identify isolated Crew/Colonists
Those not Colocated with another Human are isolated
32
Track lonely status
Place grey lonely card on lonely Crew/Human Colonist during loneliness events
33
Apply lonely limitations
Lonely units cannot build Colony, repair Glitch, perform operations (except transmit), use abilities/specialties, or complete missions
34
Cure loneliness
Colocate with another Human or successfully complete transmit operation as contact
35
Resolve loneliness events
Isolated Crew and Human Colonists become lonely (Season Blue rolls 4-5, all seasons roll 4)
36
Place wormholes
On roll of 6 during Season Blue, roll location dice and place entrance on map
37
Handle CMEs
On placement, roll location, size (3d6), and 2 hazard dice; CME requires shielding roll to enter
38
Handle black holes
On placement, roll location and size (3d6); Spacecraft entering black hole immediately Decommissioned
39
Remove red busted disks
Fill white discovery spot and pay unlock cost (2, 4, 6, or 8 Aqua) to remove one red busted disk as free action
40
Perform bonus operations
Every third year, perform one bonus explore, observe, or transmit operation

Winning

How to claim victory.

1
Meet required score
Player's score must equal or exceed difficulty level threshold (Level 1: 60, Level 2: 80, Level 3: 100, Level 4: 120)
2
Complete required base missions
Must complete the exact number of easy, medium, and hard missions specified by difficulty level
3
Calculate total score
Sum mission points from completed base missions and discovered missions, plus Futures VP and Contracts VP, minus penalties
4
Apply failure penalties
Subtract negative points from failed missions with failure penalty values and from unlocking certain Emergency Response spots
5
Handle failed base missions
If base mission with failure penalty isn't completed by specified year, suffer penalty at game end
6
Track discovered mission completion
Must complete mission requirements after card enters play; claim either mission points or alternate reward
7
Identify impossible missions
If base mission becomes impossible, draw replacement immediately and suffer original failure penalty
8
Verify win conditions
Game is won only if BOTH required score is met AND all required base missions are completed

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