Space Station Assault (Boardgame) by Dr. Matt J. Carlson July 25, 2005 Defend your station from the assault of your opponentﾒs spaceships in this two player card game.

Players start with 10 cards from their draw pile and then alternate placing their cards onto the playing field until both have placed all their ships of speed one. When cards are placed on the field, they may do their attack value worth of damage to one adjacent enemy ship or space station. Unfortuantly, players must provide their own markers for ship damage if a ship isn't outright eliminated. This is easily solved using coins, tokens, or pips on dice, but don't forget to bring them along if you plan on taking the game on a trip. Once all the ships in the hands of the players of a given speed have been placed, ships of the next highest speed are placed. This continues until both players have placed all their ships. Space Stations have a speed of six, so are the last ships to fire in a round. The next round begins with new hands of 10 cards and whoever played second in the previous round goes first in the new round. Ships who survive previous rounds may be used to attack during the appropriate phase for their speed. As ships can only be used once per round, players must place all their ships facing the same way in one round, and then with the opposite orientation the second round. In this way, it is easy to keep track of which ships have not yet moved in a given round. As ships are eliminated, they are awarded to the opponent, who scores their point value in victory points. The first to 60 points wins the game, but Space Stations are worth 60 points, making them a guaranteed win.

Newcomers to the game will often overlook the high point value of their space station and leave it under defended. A few quick losses through defeat of a space station, and players will pick up some techniques to try to minimize losses. At first glance, the game is quite simple: try to maximize the effect of each card and destroy the opponent's ships on the playing field before they have a chance to be reused. However, deeper strategies can be found with experience. Each speed class of ship has two types, typically a type of ship that does more damage, and a type that has slightly more defense. Careful planning and use of each ship's capabilities is important to win in a protracted battle. Any extra damage done to an enemy ship in excess of its defense is wasted and isn't carried over to any adjacent ships. A subtle strategy to note: as ships only fire once per round, a clever player can sometimes block his or her opponent using their own ships. It is this depth like this, slowly uncovered over several plays of the game that makes Space Station Assault an excellent two player game.