Designer:  Max Robbins

Artist: not credited

Publisher:  Dragon Egg Games

Genre/Mechanisms: adventure, area movement, card drafting, civilization, economic, fighting, layering, map reduction, modular board, negotiation, pieces as map, resource to move, set collection, space exploration, trading

Funding Status: At the time of this posting, Nova Lux is already fully-funded. Pledges currently total more than 4x the initial funding goal with 3 days left to go on the campaign.

Player Count: 1-6

Solo Mode: yes

Complexity: medium-light

Risk: HIGH

What It’s About: “Take charge of a federation of orphaned alien species that have escaped dead star systems in the wake of a galactic apocalypse.”

How It Works: “Nova Lux combines resource management, engine-building, and off-turn action mechanics; it can be played in a solo, competitive, or semi-cooperative mode. You represent a federation of orphaned alien species that have escaped systems with collapsed stars aboard planetary Arks of Salvation. You must re-establish hope amidst the universal apocalypse. Provide for the basic needs of a civilization of orphaned beings adrift in a dying universe and establish your new synthetic self-contained ecosystem in a space colony that exists as a shell wrapped around one of the final remaining stars. You will harvest hydrogen from the collapsing stars around you to fuel your final journey through the cosmos to find a home amidst the chaos. Your federation will need to establish and balance a life-perpetuating biosphere engine with botanical oxygen sources, water, life forms, and artifacts. Once you establish your colony, you will need to satisfy the desires of the leading factions of your federation to avoid systemic civil war and to ensure that unity endures after the last of the stars has collapsed.”

Each turn, the active player takes the following 4 actions, in any order: Move, Harvest, Biosphere, and Top Row Action.

When Moving, the active player pays 2 Hydrogen to move off a tile in an orthogonal direction and into an alleyway between tiles, and 1 Hydrogen to move from an alleyway onto a tile. If a player cube finishes their Move on an alleyway or tile occupied by another player cube, they may opt to Attack that other player or Trade with them.

To Harvest, the active player decreases the total Hydrogen counter (by 1) of a tile occupied their player cube, and then performs the resource conversion as depicted on the tile. They may perform this conversion as many times as they wish, provided they have the resources to do so, moving the Hydrogen once for each conversion. Should the Hydrogen counter ever reach 0 during a player’s turn, the active player adds the tile to their personal Biosphere and reveals the tile beneath, either a Decaying Star Card underneath a Star Card, or a Collapsed Star Card under a Decaying Star Card. A player may have up to 3 Star Card tiles in their Biosphere.

When taking the Biosphere action, the player can trigger any/all Star Cards in their Biosphere as many times as they have the resources to do so. However, they pay (instead of receive) the Hydrogen listed on the card in the production side of the equation for each conversion.

When taking the Top Row Action, the active play chooses to activate one (and only one) of the top row actions on their personal faction cards.

“The goal of the game is to increase all resources to 7 or more, place your Colony, and then fulfilled the goals of the bottom row of each of their starter Faction cards. The first player to do so immediately wins the game.”

Comparisons: As noted on the Lunar Base Kickstart This! write-up, here’s a rather diverse group of some other science fiction-themed card games: The 7th Continent, 51st State: Master Set, Abyss, Aeon’s End, Among the Stars, Android: Netrunner, Baseball Highlights: 2045, Core Worlds, The Crew: The Quest for Planet Nine, Duelosaur Island, Eminent Domain, Gizmos, It’s a Wonderful World, Jump Drive, Legendary Encounters: An Alien Deck-Building Game, Legendary Encounters: A Predator Deck-Building Game, Not Alone, Race for the Galaxy, Smash Up, Space Hulk: Death Angel – The Card Game, Star Realms, Star Wars: The Card Game, and Star Wars: Destiny. The best comparisons are probably resource-conversion games like It’s a Wonderful World or some of the non-science fiction-themed Century games (Century: Spice Road/Golem Edition, Century: Eastern Wonders/Eastern Mountains.

What Should I Pledge?:
$27 Nova Lux: a copy of the game with all unlocked stretch goals.
$43 Nova Lux + Graphic Novel: a copy of the game with all unlocked stretch goals, plus the KS Exclusive graphic novel.
$67 Nova Lux + Apidaia: a copy of the game with all unlocked stretch goals, plus a copy of the game Apidaia (very limited quantities).

Add-Ons:
None.

KS Exclusives
Eight (8) of the game’s Faction Cards, the screen-printed Colony Discs, a digital poster, the Graphic Novel, and are all Kickstarter exclusives. As is the Federations expansion’s inclusion with the base game.

All-In Total: In the continental U.S. you’re looking at $27 for the Nova Lux pledge and $10 in shipping for a total of $37.

Nova Lux completes its Kickstarter on Thursday, September 3rd and tentatively ships in February 2021.