Designers: Max Salamonowicz, Pawel “Bloski” Suski

Artists: Max Salamonowicz, Pawel “Bloski” Suski

Publisher: Three Headed Monster

Genre/Mechanisms: action points, app integration, city building, cooperative game, deck/bag/pool building, economic, miniatures, modular board, simultaneous action selection, tile placement, variable player powers, voting, worker placement

Funding Status: At the time of this posting, Beyond Humanity: Colonies is already fully-funded.  In fact, pledges currently total almost 6x the initial funding goal with 5 days left to go on the campaign.

Player Count: 1-5

Solo Mode: yes

Complexity: heavy

Risk: high

What It’s About: A heavy Euro and space exploration game, combining “realistic hard sci-fi, transhumanism, and cyberpunk,” that also contains smart cards, electronic miniatures, and app integration. A Note of Warning: Although this game comes with a 2-year warranty because of the electronics and how gameplay is completely reliant on automated calculations, there is also a much higher risk associated with this campaign and this product, a very high price tag for even the base pledge, and it’s produced by first-timer designers, first-time artists, and a first-time publishing company. On top of all that, backers will have 8 weeks during the pledge manager to complete their surveys, and if they fail to do so, fulfillment of their pledge is at the publisher’s discretion. If you decide to back, just don’t flake during the Pledge Manager and you should be fine.

How It Works: Beyond Humanity: Colonies is basically a city-builder, or as its designated here, a colony-builder, but there are many other mechanics at play. The game is played over 36 rounds or less, with each round made up of the following phases: Select “New Round” on the game’s app, Upkeep, Assistant Actions, First Actions, Second Actions, Construction of successfully voted modules, and Political Decrees.

Selecting “New Round” on the game’s app is self-explanatory. During Upkeep, players pay for items such as hired assistants and voted modules that didn’t collect enough votes. During Assistant Actions, players remove all tokens from action sockets, and then players who have an assistant and paid the upkeep may take an action, beginning with the Governor and proceeding clockwise. During First Actions, players remove all tokens from action sockets and then take one action, beginning with the Governor and proceeding clockwise. During Second Actions, players remove all tokens from action sockets and then take one action, beginning with the player to the right of the Governor and proceeding counter-clockwise. During the construction phase, players with new modules that have collected enough votes are connected to the network of the Colony and the module officially enters the game, with each module constructed earning 2 VP for the player who built it. And finally, in the Political Decrees phase, each player may choose one Political Decree from their hand and introduce it into the game.

The types of Actions available to players during the First Action and Second Action phases include: expanding a Colony via module building vote; using action sockets of modules being built or already built via corresponding tile; and hiring an assistant. As part of the expansion of the Colony, players may also be able to propose new module construction or add 1 vote to an ongoing module construction.

The game can end positively as a result of any of the following: the last month (round) expires and the colony has lived long enough to become the rightful capital of the new planet; 15 connectors have been used and 15 modules have been built; or there are at least 15,000 citizens in the Colony. It can also end negatively as a result of any of the following: a riot enters its 3rd month, the Colony collapses, and all players lose; the third Terran Dependence loan activates and all players lose; rare occurrences like the entire Colony depopulating; or one of several hidden endings triggers.

At the end of the game, the app awards players points based on the following: the player elected President at the end, 20 VP; each module built by a player, 2 VP; each positively voted Green decree, 1 VP; points according to the order of command, 1-9 VP. Players will also add their own scores “from the table”: 30 VP for a fulfilled Private Goal; 10-20 VP for each completed Hidden Goal objective; and 0-10 VP for each found Artifact with completed research. The player with the most combined total VPs wins.

Comparisons: Richard Ham aka Rahdo issued quite a sound bite when he declared “This is by far the most ambitious board game design in the market’s history.” Sure there have been games using integrated apps before. Mansions of Madness and Descent: Journeys in the Dark are two retail games that both use app integration with their latest editions. And there have been a slew of Kickstarter games lately, mainly storytelling and exploration campaign games, that also feature app integration. But all of these games rely on the players to input their actions into the app; the app itself has no connectivity with the state of the game board. Beyond Humanity: Colonies, on the other hand, is the first game to use electronic equipment networked together on the game board, communicating and performing calculations behind an electronic curtain. So while players may still scan smart cards into the app during gameplay, there’s a certain amount of calculating, usually performed by players, done automatically and without the players’ involvement. This results in a style of game where it’s often unknown which player is “in the lead,” or by how much. Players do not truly know the minutiae of all of the player actions, their scoring, or overall point totals until the end of the game, leaving them to pursue their own agendas and strategies with less distraction… or with a growing sense of anxiety as they remain in the dark throughout gameplay.

What Should I Pledge?:
$225 Colonist: the Core Box, all unlocked stretch goals, and the opportunity to be named in-game.

Add-Ons:
$30 More Decree Cards: an additional 48 Smart Cards
$30 Frosty Arctic Game Mat
$30 Sandy Dunes Game Mat
$30 Red Rocky Game Mat
$40 Game Art Premium Poster

KS Exclusives:
None listed– but it’s highly unlikely this game ever sees retail.

All-In Total: In the continental U.S. you’re looking at $225 for the Colonist Pledge, $30 for More Decree Cards, and $31 in shipping, for a total of $286.

Beyond Humanity: Colonies completes its Kickstarter on Friday, November 8th and tentatively ships in September 2020.