Time Wars: Stellar Assault Preview

boardgamequest.com:

Note: This preview uses pre-release components and rules. What you see here may be different from the final, published game. This post was a paid preview; you can find out more information here.

As long as there is land left to conquer, humans will be there, armed and ready. Once we’re done with Earth, it’s on to the deep reaches of space. Who’s going to stop us? Spoiler alert: The Noveratu Starfleet is going to try its best. One thing is guaranteed in this two-player space combat game, destruction.

Time Wars: Stellar Assault is a strategic interstellar-combat board game designed by Bijhan Agha and will be published via crowdfunding. Players start with one cruiser each in one of their reinforcement spaces. Every turn, players can recruit new units based on how many systems their opponent controls. Then, they move a unit. If they choose, they may make an attack on an adjacent unit. Finally, they determine which systems they control uncontested and add a Conquest Token to those spaces.

Combat is resolved in three phases. Before resolving combat, players take turns playing command cards until both players pass. Then command stacks are revealed and totals for each symbol (Blast, Drone, Marine) are added and compared.

First, the blast phase is resolved. The attacker must win this phase or they will lose a unit and the combat will end immediately. Next, the Drone phase. If the attacker does not win this phase, the defender will draw a command card and the combat ends immediately. Finally, the Marine phase. If the attacker wins in this phase, the defender removes a unit from the board and the attacker adds a cruiser to their fleet.

The two unit types act differently in combat. Cruisers (after the first) add 1 symbol to each