April 24, 1888

The pilot, the explorer, and I have landed – not on Mars, but on the small, dark moon of Phobos. It thrills me to be among the first of mankind to set foot here, and even better, we have found deposits of Celerium, enough to fuel thousands of steam engines. Tomorrow we will land in the Valles Marineris zone of Mars. Aeons ago, that valley was a deep sea, filled with swimming alien life. If some of that sea remains in the form of ice, we three could become the richest people in the solar system.

Fantasy Flight Games is proud to announce a new edition of Mission: Red Planet, the steampunk-themed board game of planetary exploration designed by Bruno Faidutti and Bruno Cathala.

In Mission: Red Planet, two to six players compete to control as much of Mars and its priceless natural resources as they possibly can. This edition maintains the core mechanics of this fast-paced game while incorporating updates by the original designers. Astronauts can land in a new zone, the moon Phobos, and the Soldier can convey astronauts from Phobos to anywhere on Mars. Missions and Discoveries have been fine-tuned, and new Action Cards join the Event deck. The game can now handle six players, with rules for a two-player variant also included. What's more, the Victorian steampunk aesthetic has been refreshed with all-new graphic design for a more contemporary look.

Launch an Expedition to Mars

With technology rapidly developing and the human population growing, Victorian-era Earth is in dire need of fuel, land, and other natural resources. Fortunately, automated probes sent to Mars have discovered celerium, an ore that can be combusted to produce ten thousand times more power than a steam engine, and sylvanite, the densest substance ever found. More incredibly, the probes found ice that could be used in terraforming the planet, bringing the idea of colonizing Mars even closer to becoming a reality.

As the head of a mining corporation, these minerals and ice found on Mars could make you unfathomably wealthy – if you can reach them before your competitors. You have ten rounds to send your astronauts into space, occupy the planet’s most resource-rich zones, and harvest as much celerium, sylvanite, and ice as possible. At your command is a team of nine professionals. Each has a unique skill set, from helping your astronauts traverse the Red Planet to blowing up spaceships before they launch.

Discover the Red Planet’s Secrets

Until astronauts arrive on Mars, you and your opponents won’t know exactly where the largest deposits of sylvanite, celerium, and ice are. Over the course of the game, you’ll have three chances to earn points from mining the ore and ice you find. At those moments, whichever corporation has the most astronauts in a zone gets to mine the ore. Scientists can also make unique discoveries about the Red Planet, such as an inexhaustible deposit of ore, or mysterious lichens – the first life found beyond Earth. These discoveries could offer you incredible wealth, or make a zone uninhabitable, or even deadly. Discovery cards remain facedown until the end of the game, and only Scientists can peer at them. No corporation can possibly learn all of the Red Planet’s secrets.

You also begin the game with a secret mission to accomplish. It might entail harvesting more sylvanite than anyone else or distributing your astronauts across Mars to gather intelligence about what other corporations are up to. You could also gain another mission in the midst of your excavations. Fulfilling your secret mission isn’t necessary to win, but it does grant you points in addition to the resources that you mine.

Undermine Your Competitors

In this intense race for the Red Planet’s riches, you have to keep an eye on your competition. You may even want to use a few dirty tricks to undermine them. Some characters, such as Saboteurs, Secret Agents, and Femmes Fatales, help you prevent your opponents’ astronauts from reaching the Red Planet at all. If necessary, you might even use your Soldier to eliminate astronauts who stand in the way of your success.

Your Scientist’s findings might also enable you to take actions after all your astronauts have arrived on Mars. That action could be a surprise move between zones, or you could gain the ability to bring back your dead astronauts as space zombies , and use your newborn zombie horde to take control of a profitable zone.

The Red Planet Awaits!

A mission to Mars offers a chance to explore an unknown world and amass incredible wealth in the process. There are numerous risks involved, and mining corporations will stop at nothing to win the race for the Red Planet and its natural riches. You’ll need cunning plans and devious tricks to finish ahead of the pack.

Ships begin leaving for Mars in the third quarter of 2015. You can find more information to help you prepare for your expedition on the Mission: Red Planet minisite.