Survive Space Attack!

Red Alert! Red Alert! Escape.

My crew quarters in the space station disintegrated. My board game is destroyed, noooooo.

Where am I? A floater (drifter) in space. Head to the light, you will be safe.

An escape pod flies past, piloted by the blue team. Ignored. Why was I hired by the red team?

A fighter shoots pass and traps a queen alien. Hooray.

What the…. another queen is in front of me, I am going to die.

Survive! Space Attack is a re-theming of Survive! Escape from Atlantis with a double-sided board, extra rules and variable tile set-up. Stronghold Games have published the very popular Terraforming Mars and CO2 Second Chance.

How Do I Win?

The aim of the game is to help your crew survive and gain the most points. Utilising escape pods and fighter ships can aid your escape. Guide drifters in space to the nearest stargate.

Be mean, remove the space station tiles your opponent’s pieces are on. Guide the aliens to annihilate the other players escapees.

Constructing Space Station Atlantis

The board has a predefined area to build the space station. Randomly place the tiles in this area. The reactor tiles gain a turret and can be pointed in any direction. A queen alien resides in the centre of the Atlantis. The other 4 wait patiently at the entrance to the corner stargates.

The other side of the board is an open space with 2 stargates. There are alternative designs for your space station or just create one. The queen aliens or even her minions can be placed anywhere.

We Are Under Attack

The aliens will slowly destroy the space station. Piece by piece starting with the cargo area (thinnest tiles). Each player has 10 crew tokens and 2 escape pods. The crew members are numbered 1 to 6, rescuing the higher numbered crew first may give you victory. In turn, place one of your crew on an empty tile. Don’t forget, turrets can capture aliens. The escape pods are positioned on the edge of the Atlantis.

I have An Alien In Captivity

At the start of your turn, you can place a captured alien on any empty space. A queen will destroy all. The spawn will kill any crew floating in space (drifters). Warriors will obliterate an escape pod or fighter. Plan wisely and choose a space near to your opponent’s crew. Delay them reaching the stargate or just destroy them.

The Crew Are On The move

Moving your crew up to 3 spaces, heading towards the spaceships. Be a fighter pilot and attack or use it for a quick way to get to the Stargate. Escape pods are easiest way to move many crew members. Drifters can only move 1 space per turn. Firing a laser from a turret and capture aliens. Any red tiles you own can be played as an extra action.

The Aliens Attack The Atlantis

Remove a space station tile starting with the thinnest. The area disintegrates and any crew members are left floating in space. Tiles hide a benefit or disaster. Green tiles are actioned immediately. From spaceships or aliens to reactor explosion (end game). Red tiles can be played to move crew or aliens or fires turrets. The blue tiles are for alien movement or evolution. Finally yellow are a defence from alien attack. Roll the die and move the relevant alien. Wait, you can play a blue tile before you attack your opponent. Hopefully they won’t have a defence yellow tile.

The Space Station Exploded

There has been core breach and the explosion has wiped out all the crew who haven’t reached the stargates. Total up the points on the bottom of all your crew members who survived. Extra point for each different stargate used. The player with the highest number of points wins.

Final Thoughts

The board is plain, but once the space station has been constructed it looks good. The aliens and space craft look great giving a very good production. The turn structure is straight forward. The icons on the tiles are easily recognisable and understandable. There is some planning and strategy involved.

The greatest pleasure is preventing other players from getting their crew home. I know it is mean, obliterating an escape pod or destroying drifters is what makes it fun.

Creating your own space station layout and less stargates extends the replayability. The challenges are good variants making slight changes to the game. This is a very enjoyable and great fun for all the family.