Space Empires 4X

Published2011

DesignerJim Krohn

PublisherGMT Games

CategoriesBluffing, Civilization, Exploration, Science Fiction, Space Exploration, Wargame, Auction / Bidding, Dice Rolling, Grid Movement, Hexagon Grid, Income, Movement Points, Paper-and-Pencil, Secret Unit Deployment, Simulation, Solo / Solitaire Game, Tech Trees / Tech Tracks, Variable Set-up

Space Empires 4X is a Science-Fiction Strategic level board-wargame in the finest tradition of 4X space games - eXplore, eXpand, eXploit, and eXterminate. Each player builds up a space empire and uses it to conquer the other players. Exploration on the mounted map is simple for players (and dangerous for their ships), revealing different space terrain that affects movement and combat.

Space Empires was developed to keep a rich theme without overcomplicated rules. The game includes carriers and fighters, mines, cloaking, a very large technology tree, fifteen ship classes, merchant shipping, colonization, mining, terraforming, bases, shipyards, black holes, warp points, and non-player aliens. Yet the rules are short and intuitive: The basic rules are 8 pages long and increase to 11 pages in length when the advanced rules are included.