Reviewed by Herb Levy
MOONRAKERS (IV Games, 1 to 5 players, ages 14 and up, 60-120 minutes; $65)
In the future, space will be populated by mercenaries competing for dominance by improving their ships, bolstering their crews and, above all, shrewdly negotiating with the opposition in the quest to become the new leader of this group known as the Moonrakers. 
This future world of Moonrakers is designed by Austin Harrison, Max Anderson and Zac Dixon and in their trip into space, each player begins with a command board with slots for Ship parts (to be added). Everyone starts with 2 “credits” (the game’s currency) and an identical set of 10 Action cards (their Action deck) consisting of 2 Damage cards (orange), 3 Reactor cards (blue), 2 Shields (green), 2 Thrusters (yellow) and 1 Miss (gray). This deck is shuffled and a starting hand of 5 cards drawn.
An Armory board is where Crew cards and Ship parts are stored. These decks are shuffled and three Crew cards as well as 6 Ship parts are put on display. The Dispatch board, placed across from the Armory, holds Contracts and Objective cards as well as a scoring track. Eight Contracts are randomly drawn and displayed in two rows of 4; three Objective cards are dealt to each player with everyone choosing two and discarding the other. All player ships (used to keep score) begin on the zero space of the scoring track. The first player to reach 10 Prestige on that track will win!
On a turn, the active player (the “mission leader”) chooses one of the face up Contracts to complete. Each contract indicates how many and of what type of cards must be played to complete the contract and the mission leader may invite one or more other players to join to help. On the plus side, contracts offer prestige (shown in a diamond), money (shown in a circle) and possibly bonus cards. On the negative side, they also indicate how many Hazard dice must be rolled (up to 4). A “hit” on a Hazard die, reduces prestige on the scoring track by one! Multiple hits can result in multiple subtractions! When negotiating with your erstwhile allies, potential spoils (and potential hazards) can be divvied up any way you like. Once agreement is met, any Hazard dice are rolled and damage, if any, applied (It’s possible that you may not roll any damage; it’s also possible that a Shield card will be played before the turn is over to block one damage). Now that contract needs to be fulfilled.
All players are allowed ONE action. However, card play can change things. Playing a Reactor gives you TWO additional actions, a Thruster allows you to draw 2 more cards from your deck, a Shield protects against one Hazard, Damage cards have no effect except to meet a contract’s demand that requires them. A Miss card just clogs up your hand and is worthless. If contract demands are met, rewards are distributed as negotiated; if the attempt fails, no rewards are earned. In any case, everyone involved discards their hand of cards and draws back up to 5. Should the mission leader not find a contract to his/her liking, the leader may opt to “stay at base”, drawing two Objective cards (keeping one), collecting 1 credit (for “protecting the base”), replacing one contract with one drawn from the contract deck (if so desired) and discarding his/her hand and drawing a new hand of 5 cards. Whether or not a contract is attempted, the mission leader then proceeds to the Buying Phase.
It is in the Buying Phase that a player can build his/her deck by purchasing Crew cards or Ship parts. (Multiple purchases are allowed provided you have the credits for it. Don’t see anything you like? Then you can spend 1 credit to discard any one card from the Armory and replace it with the top card from the respective deck.) Ship cards are immediately added to a player’s board and all have a “brand” (which may help in meeting objectives) and special abilities which go into effect immediately. They also add cards to your deck (which go into your discard pile to be recycled as you go through your deck). There is a limit of 4 Ship parts so if you decide to buy a fifth, one of the already bought parts must be discarded. Any ability of that part is lost but cards added to your deck because of that part remain in your deck. Crew cards operate in similar fashion with crew purchased added to that player’s discard pile. Crew cards are played like any Action card (and costs an action to play) and have special abilities that can be used when played. Once the buying is finished, the player draws back to 5 cards and the player in clockwise order becomes the “mission leader” for the next round.
Play continues until someone has amassed 10 Prestige Points. The game ends IMMEDIATELY and that player is the new head of the Moonrakers. If two or more players reach 10 at the same time, the tie is broken in favor of the player with the most net worth (calculated by adding the values of Ship parts, crew and credits).
If you had to summarize Moonrakers in five words, it would be “Dominion meets Settlers in Space!”. The game combines the best aspects of Dominion (Winter 2009 Gamers Alliance Report) with its ground-breaking deck-building mechanism with the race to 10 Prestige (Victory) Points and intense deal-making that is the essence of The Settlers of Catan (Fall 1996 GA Report). In some respects, it does things a bit better!
The cards in Moonrakers are of good quality, easy to understand and the colors used easily differentiated. The rulebook is nicely organized with plenty of examples that make for a smooth learning curve – and those metal credit pieces give a sense of “reality” to the game’s currency and are a tactile treat! The game opts for a minimalist approach to artwork which is a plus as the cards and what they do are not obscured by attractive but often superfluous artwork. The same can be said for the graphic quality of the boards. The metal coins provided in all editions are a very nice touch (as is the comic book included detailing the origins of the game’s universe).
While building your deck is critical, success in the game (as with Settlers) requires shrewd negotiation. While some contracts can be completed on your own, the more lucrative ones demand an alliance between one or more of your opponents. You have to be adept at creating a “team of rivals” if you are going to reach the 10 Prestige Point mark. (More “easier to complete” contracts might have been nice to have but that would go against the nature of the game’s reliance on negotiation and temporary alliances.)
Because deal-making is so essential to play, the game works better with 4 or 5 players. On the other hand, the danger here is that negotiation can drag on too long and slow the pace of a game which is essentially fast-moving. Rules for two player and solo play are provided by setting up a “Mercenary deck” comprised of basic cards and some random crew cards which are revealed, 5 cards at a time, and may be “purchased” using Prestige and/or credits for use in fulfilling a contract. This is an interesting attempt to simulate the negotiation aspect of play with fewer players that does the job but shifts the cooperative/competitive dynamic of the basic game into an emphasis on resource management, a shift in the character of the game.
Moonrakers is a well designed and nicely produced game of deck-building and negotiation. If these two game play mechanisms are in your wheelhouse, then you will want to take in and rake in the outer space experience that is Moonrakers. – – – – – – – Herb Levy
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