Designers: James DuMond, Gunter Eickert (Agents of Mayhem: Pride of Babylon, Bloody Crossroads – Gettysburg Day 1, Conflict of Heroes: Guadalcanal – The Pacific 1942), James Schoch (News@11, The Table is Lava)

Artist: Jarek Nocon (1775: Rebellion, 1812: The Invasion of Canada, 878 Vikings: Invasions of England, Agents of Mayhem: Pride of Babylon, Coup, Fief: France 1429, Freedom: The Underground Railroad, K2, Morels, The Resistance)

Publisher: Academy Games, Inc.  (1775: Rebellion, 1812: The Invasion of Canada, 878 Vikings: Invasions of England, Conflict of Heroes: Awakening the Bear! – Operation Barbarossa 1941 2nd Edition, Conflict of Heroes: Awakening the Bear! – Russia 1941-42, Conflict of Heroes: Storms of Steel! – Kursk 1942, Fief: France 1429, Freedom: The Underground Railroad, Mare Nostrum: Empires)

Genre/Mechanisms: modular board, miniatures, partnerships, set collection, worker placement

Funding Status: At the time of this posting, One Small Step is already fully-funded.  In fact, pledges currently total 4.3x the initial funding goal, with 4 days left to go on the campaign.

Player Count: 2-4

Solo Mode: no

Complexity: medium-heavy

Risk: medium-low

What It’s About:  A team-based game representing the space race between the U.S. and USSR, with asymmetrical roles between team members, and centered around worker placement.

How It Works: One Small Step can either be played with 2 people, on taking the role of the U.S.A and one taking the role of the USSR, or 4 people playing as 2 teams. The game is played over a series of rounds, made up of 7 phases each. Teams alternate taking turns during each phase. The 7 phases are: Countdown, Replenish, Draw Cards, Place & Retrieve Workers, Personnel, Play Cards, and Launch Missions. During the Countdown Phase, players move each of the Missions on their Control Board one space closer to the Launch stage. During the Replenish Phase (in all rounds after the first), players replenish the Event Cards and refresh their Personal Tokens. During the Draw Cards Phase, each team draws 2 cards in initiative order from the Satellite Mission Cards, Manned Mission Cards, and Event Cards. During the Place & Retrieve Workers Phase, teams take turns placing their workers out on the various Action Spaces to collect various assets and cards. Once all workers have been placed, the phase ends and the teams retrieve their workers. During the Personnel Phase, players place Personnel Tokens on unoccupied Personnel Card Actions to collect the rewards, then discard the Tokens used this round. During the Play Cards phase, players play up to 2 Event Cards from their hands and collect the rewards shown. During the Launch Missions Phase, teams evaluate each mission in the Launch stage to determine its level of success, pay for the Mission, and gain the reward. Achieve a Moon Landing to score a VP Bonus and end the game.

Comparisons:  This is James DuMond’s first published design, and Academy Games typically publishes a lot of historical war games. Because the game is played in teams, either 1 vs. 1, 1 vs. 2, or 2 vs. 2, it still plays a bit like a war game, albeit one that uses worker placement mechanics and has a historical context, but has more to do with card play and resource management over area control. Games like Twilight Struggle, Black Orchestra, and 1960: The Making of a President, while not worker placement games, are also set in a similar historical period.

What Should I Pledge?:
$65 Apollo 11: a copy of the game with all exclusive stretch goals.
$120 King Henry on the Moon!: the Apollo 11 pledge, plus a copy of Tudor – Henry VIII.
$120 Vikings on the Moon!: the Apollo 11 pledge, plus a copy of 878 Vikings – Invasions of England.
$120 Romans on the Moon!: the Apollo 11 pledge, plus a copy of Mare Nostrum – Empires.
$120 Freedom on the Moon!: the Apollo 11 pledge, plus a copy of Freedom – The Underground Railroad.
$175 Treasure on the Moon! the Apollo 11 pledge, plus any two games from the four games listed in the pledges above.

Add-Ons:
According to the campaign, the games listed as a part of the various pledge levels will also be available in the Pledge Manager for purchase as add-ons.

KS Exclusives:
All of the stretch goals are exclusive, and will not be available via regular retail channels (although they may be available through the publisher and at conventions). They include: 20 Luna 3 Satellite miniatures, 20 Apollo miniatures, 4 Engineer miniatures, 4 Administrator miniatures, 10 Mariner 8 Satellite miniatures, 10 Soyuz 7K-LOK Lunar miniatures, 10 Earth Action tiles, 6 New Earth Action tiles, 2 Advanced Earth Action tile, 2 New Event Cards, 2 Manned Mission cards, 2 Advancement cards, 4 Hidden Heroes cards, and 2 Director cards.

All-In Total: Assuming you don’t want to pledge for any of the additional games, in the continental U.S. you’re looking at $65 for the Apollo 11 pledge plus $10 in shipping for a total of $75.

One Small Step completes its Kickstarter on Tuesday, August 6th and tentatively ships in December 2019.