The Expanse Board Game

A shorter, card-driven Twilight Struggle cousin set in The Expanse, with four factions fighting for the solar system.

Designer: Geoff Engelstein
Published by: Pendragon Game Studio
Editions by: WizKids (I)

If Twilight Struggle appeals to you but not its length, The Expanse Board Game aims at the same politics, conquest and intrigue in a shorter package, using the world of the Syfy series. It is a card-driven game: you spend action points and play events to move and place Fleets and Influence across the solar system. Four powers fight for the upper hand: Earth's UN forces, the military of Mars, the rebels of the O.P.A. and the shadowy corporation Protogen Inc. Each has special abilities that must be maneuvered wisely, and characters from the show appear on the cards. Two to four players, about an hour, and best with four.

Four factions with special abilitiesFleets and Influence on a solar-system mapCharacters and events from the TV series

Who it's for

You like card-driven games of influence and conflict, you know or like the series, and you want something shorter than the big classics.

Not for you if…

You dislike take-that or want a cooperative game. This is a tense contest in which you work against the others.

Vibe's take

Tense and political. Every card is both an event and an action, and you are constantly weighing what each one gives away.