How to Play

New Frontiers

2-5 players 45-75 min 7.4 Board Game Geek Rating

Players construct galactic civilizations by choosing actions that benefit everyone, though only the selector receives bonus advantages. Strategic planning begins during setup when development cards are selected. During exploration, worlds are drawn from bags and require colonists plus payment or conquest to settle. Windfall worlds provide immediate goods while production worlds generate resources when triggered. Victory comes from accumulating the most points through worlds, developments, and consumed goods.

Published 2018

Get Ready

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

Set up human player

Follow the same instructions as a normal 2 player game

Prepare Automa mat

Use any player mat on any side for the Automa player

Give Automa starting credits

The Automa player begins with 2 credits (earned and spent on a 1-by-1 basis)

Assign Automa home planet

Give 1 random unexplored planet to the Automa player and put it on their mat

Place Automa colonist

Take 1 colonist from the supply and put it on the Automa's home planet

Add stockpile mat

Put one stockpile mat near the Automa player mat

Set up developments

Use your preferred method for setting development tiles, placing only one of each on the mats

Create development draw pile

Take remaining 1-sided developments (fixed ones), shuffle them and put them in a face-down pile

Prepare goals

Use optional goals and the advanced side of "retreat into isolation" tile with "Chart galactic goals" face up on top of the shuffled goals pile

Gather action tiles

Pick the remaining 6 action tiles to start

On Your Turn

What you can do during your turn.

Round structure

Each round consists of 4 turns: Player turn - Automa turn - Player turn - Automa turn

Human player first

Human player always takes the first turn each round

Select action tile

Pick any of the action tiles to perform both the action and bonus action on that tile

Second turn selection

In your second turn, choose from the yet unused tiles

Automa action selection

For Automa turns, pick up unused action tiles and select one at random

Gain credit

Receive 1 credit

Chart goals

Draw 3 goals and keep one of them (priority changes not used)

Bonus - Collect goal

Pick one Goal tile from the pile and put it on Automa's stockpile mat (worth 3 VPs at game end)

Action

No normal action

Draw planets

Draw 7 planets and pick 2 of them, then follow Automa rules

Action - Random planet

Pick one random planet from the bag and put it unexplored on Automa's mat

Bonus - Select best planet

Draw 3 random planets, pick the highest VP value, discard the rest, then place on mat following the same limit rules

Overflow planets

Planets returned due to exceeding 9 planet limit go to stockpile mat (worth 3 VPs each at game end)

Action - Build development

If Automa has at least 1 credit, remove 1 credit and draw the first development tile from the face-down pile to build (powers ignored, only VP value counts)

Bonus - Free development

Draw the first development tile from the pile and build it

Bonus - Gain colonist

Take one colonist from the supply and put it on Automa's home planet

Action - Explore planet

If Automa has at least 1 credit and at least 1 unexplored planet, flip the highest VP unexplored planet to explored and pay 1 credit

Check colonist supply

If fewer than 5 colonists remain in supply, the game ends this round

Action - Produce good

Put 1 good on Automa's stockpile mat (type not relevant)

Bonus - Produce and earn

Put 1 good on stockpile mat, then take 1 credit