Welcome to Shackleton Base: Your Lunar Journey Begins!

Greetings, future lunar pioneers! Get ready to embark on an epic journey to the Moon's south pole in Shackleton Base: A Journey to the Moon. As an expert SEO content writer for BoardGameBot, I'm thrilled to guide you through the ins and outs of this captivating board game. You'll be leading your own space agency, collaborating with corporations, and expanding humanity's presence on the Moon. So, grab your meeples, and let's dive in!

Objective of the Game

In Shackleton Base, your ultimate goal is to become the most influential space agency on the Moon. You'll achieve this by strategically building structures, funding corporate projects, and cleverly deploying your astronauts. The game is a race for Victory Points (VP), which you'll accumulate throughout the game and during a final scoring phase. The player with the most VP at the end of three rounds will claim victory and etch their name in lunar history!

Preparation (Setup)

Setting up Shackleton Base is a breeze, especially with our step-by-step guide. Let's get your lunar base ready for action!

General Setup

1. Place the main board at the center of your table.
2. If you're playing a 2 or 3-player game, cover the Command Action area with the appropriate side of the Command Action overlay board.
3. Distribute the 18 Solar Panels on their designated spaces around the crater.
4. Place the Energy marker on space 4 (for 2 players), 5 (for 3 players), or 6 (for 4 players) of the Energy track.
5. Create a general supply next to the play area with the Astronauts (Engineers, Technicians, Scientists), Titanium, Rare Earth, and Credits. These components are unlimited.
6. Sort the Shuttle tiles by the number on their back, as this indicates the round they'll be used in.

Corporation Setup

Corporations bring unique twists to each game, so let's get them ready:

1. Randomly select three Corporations by shuffling their Corporation sheets. (For your first game, we recommend Artemis Tours, Moon Mining, and Selenium Research!)
2. For each selected Corporation:
   • Place its Corporation board next to the main board.
   • Take the Corporation tokens. Place 4 on the matching slots of the Corporation board and 1 on an available slot around the central hex of the main board. (Special rule for Selenium Research: take 6 tokens, place one around the central hex, return an identical one to the box, then place the 4 remaining on the Selenium Research board, alternating their type.)
   • Shuffle the project cards and form a face-up deck next to their board. Then, move the top card next to it, so there are 2 face-up cards per corporation visible to all players.
   • Follow any specific setup instructions on each Corporation's sheet.
   • Important for 2-player games: Place two Domes from a non-played color on the main board, and place a Solar Panel in these sectors.

Player Setup

Now, let's get your agency ready for launch!

1. Each player chooses a color and takes their matching components, including their player board (your "base").
2. Each player places:
   • Their structures (Domes, Workshops, Laboratories, Headquarters) on the matching spaces of their base.
   • Their 3 Goal markers at the bottom of their base.
   • Their VP marker on space "0" of the VP track.
   • Their Reputation marker on space "0" of the Reputation track.
3. The player who last traveled into space is the 1st player for the 1st round. If no one has, determine the 1st player randomly. Then, in clockwise order, each player places their turn order marker on the available space of the lowest value on the turn order track.
4. Place Agency leader tiles (random side A or B) equal to the number of players near the main board. Then, in turn order, each player:
   • Chooses an Agency leader tile.
   • Places the leftmost Dome from their base on one of the 6 central sectors on the main board.
   • Places a Solar Panel in this sector, starting with the panel at the top of the crater and proceeding clockwise.
   • Activates a Corporation token from this sector.

The Turn of Play

Shackleton Base is played over three exciting rounds, each divided into three phases: the Shuttle phase, the Action phase, and the Maintenance phase. Let's break down how each round unfolds.

1. Shuttle Phase

This phase determines your resources and turn order for the round:

1. Reveal a number of Shuttle tiles from the current round equal to the number of players +1.
2. In reverse turn order, each player chooses an available Shuttle tile, places it next to their base, and takes the astronauts and resources indicated on it from the supply.
3. Once all players have selected their Shuttle tile, adjust the turn order: the player who selected the Shuttle with the lowest number goes first, placing their turn order marker on the leftmost space of the turn order track. Other players follow in ascending Shuttle number order.
4. The unselected Shuttle tile determines which astronauts are placed in the Lunar Gateway area of the main board. Remember, there's a limit of 4 astronauts of each type in the Lunar Gateway, checked only during this step.

2. Action Phase

This is the core of the game where you'll be deploying astronauts and making big decisions! Each player takes 6 main actions per round, for a total of 18 actions throughout the game. In turn order, players choose an astronaut from their Shuttle tile and deploy it on the main board to perform one of three main action types:

Exploit the Crater

Want resources? Send your astronauts to the crater!

• Choose an Astronaut from your Shuttle tile and place it on an available slot around the crater.
• You must activate all sectors with at least one structure in the whole row the slot is pointing at. The central hex is not a sector.
• If you have a structure in an activated sector, you get its benefits for free.
• For each sector where you don't have a structure, you must pay Credits to the player with the biggest structure in that sector. The cost (1-3 Credits) is indicated on the slot where your astronaut was placed. (In a 2-player game, if a neutral Dome is the biggest, pay to the bank.)
• Important: You must pay all costs for all sectors before activating any. If you can't pay, you can't place your astronaut on that slot or perform this action.
• Astronaut Types and Benefits:
  • ENGINEERS: Mine the resource depicted on each activated sector (Titanium or Rare Earth).
  • TECHNICIANS: Gain 3 Credits from each activated sector.
  • SCIENTISTS: Activate one Corporation token placed around the activated sectors. Each token can only be activated once per action. If a sector where you have no structure has no Corporation token, you still pay Credits to the player with the biggest structure there. These tokens provide resources or other benefits depending on the Corporations in play.

Perform one of the 3 Command Actions

These powerful actions are located at the bottom right of the main board. The earlier you play a Command action, the cheaper it is, as an additional Credit cost is indicated on the astronaut slot. Any astronaut can perform these actions, but if the astronaut type matches the action, you'll gain a bonus!

Build a Structure

Expand your lunar presence!

• Deploy any astronaut on the leftmost available slot, paying any indicated Credit cost.
• There are four types of structures: Domes, Workshops, Laboratories, and Headquarters. Their costs (resources and sometimes Energy) are on your player board.
• After paying, take the structure from your base and place it in a powered sector of the main board. A powered sector has a Solar Panel. If there isn't one, you must power it by taking an available panel from the central hex or by building one yourself.
• You cannot place a structure of the same size or from the same player/color in a sector that already has one.
• Important: Immediately after building, you can move any astronauts in your base to the newly built structure. Otherwise, you can't move astronauts there until the next Maintenance Phase.
• Optional: Build a Solar Panel: Once per turn, while performing a Command action, you can spend 1 Rare Earth to build a Solar Panel. Take the next Solar Panel in clockwise order and place it on the central hex of the main board (these can be used by any player). Then, produce the Energy indicated next to the space you took the panel from (1 or 2 Energy) and gain Reputation for each Reputation symbol the Energy marker passes through or stops at.
• Structure Details:
  • Domes (size 1): Built left to right, provide immediate bonuses when built, and income during the Maintenance phase (Engineers: 1 Titanium, Technicians: 3 Credits, Scientists: 2 VP).
  • Workshops (size 2): Unlock ongoing abilities (Engineers: 3 Credits discount during Maintenance, Technicians: 1 Credit discount and -1 Energy for Funding Projects, Scientists: 1 Credit discount to deploy an Astronaut for a Command action).
  • Laboratories (size 3): When built, trigger its immediate ability and the ability of all other Laboratories you previously built (Top: mines resource where last Lab was built; Central: gain 3 Credits; Bottom: activates Corporation token around where last Lab was built). Grant VP at game end if hosting required astronaut types.
  • Headquarters (size 6): Improves your Agency Leader tile ability and provides income during Maintenance (1 Reputation per astronaut).
• Action Bonus (if ENGINEER deployed): Choose a Corporation. If there's no Corporation token from that Corporation around the sector you just built, take the next token from that Corporation board, place it on an empty slot around the crater, and activate it. If there is already a token, activate that one instead. If no empty slot, activate one already present.

Fund a Project

Gain powerful abilities and end-game VP!

• Deploy any astronaut on the leftmost available slot to fund a visible Project card from any Corporation in play.
• Choose a visible Project card and check its Credit cost and Energy requirement (indicated on the right of the Corporation board, on the bottommost visible slot).
• If the Energy level is equal to or higher than the requirement, proceed. If not, you must produce Energy (e.g., by building a Solar Panel or using Workshop abilities) until the requirement is met.
• Consume the indicated amount of Energy (in red) by reducing the Energy level.
• Pay the Credit cost from your supply.
• Take the Project card and place it next to your base. Apply any immediate effect.
• Reveal a new Project from the same Corporation, if possible.
• Project Card Anatomy: Name, Immediate effect (if any), Ability, Corporation it belongs to, VP at the end of the game.
• Action Bonus (if TECHNICIAN deployed): Perform a Corporation action (see below).

Perform up to 3 Corporation Actions

Utilize corporate power!

• Deploy any astronaut on the leftmost available slot to perform up to 3 Corporation actions. You can perform the same action multiple times, except for those from the Reputation track.
• Corporation actions can be found in various areas:
  • From the Reputation track: You can only perform these if your Reputation marker has reached or passed the slot with the action. If performing multiple, they must all be different. Actions include: Gain 2 Reputation, Gain 1 Titanium, Gain 1 Rare Earth, Activate 1 Corporation token from the main board.
  • From a Corporation board: Each Corporation offers a powerful action. You can perform these multiple times.
  • From a Project you funded: Some projects provide Corporation actions. If a project has the "Once per Round" icon, rotate the card 90 degrees after use. Rotate back at the end of the round.
• Action Bonus (if SCIENTIST deployed): Take an astronaut from the Lunar Gateway and place it on an available slot of your base. If no room, ignore.

Visit the Lunar Gateway

A flexible option for any astronaut!

• Deploy any astronaut and place them in the Lunar Gateway area of the main board.
• Perform the following in any order:
  • Gain 3 Credits.
  • Take an Astronaut from the Lunar Gateway (different from the one you just placed) and place it on an available slot of your base. Skip if no astronauts or no room.
  • Perform a Corporation Action.

End of Turn: Claim Corporation Goals

At the end of your turn, you may claim any number of Corporation goals:

• You cannot claim more than one goal from each Corporation.
• Check if you meet the requirement and if the slot is available (no goal token, and not reserved for higher player counts).
• Place one of your Goal tokens on the slot and score the indicated VP + extra VP based on your Reputation marker's position (0-4 VP).

3. Maintenance Phase

Time to tidy up and prepare for the next round!

1. Corporation Maintenance: Resolve the Maintenance step for each Corporation (from top to bottom), as explained on their Corporation sheets.
2. Retrieve Astronauts from the Crater: Starting from the topmost crater space and going clockwise, the player with the biggest total structure size in the row facing the astronaut gains it and places it in their base. If tied, the astronaut goes to the tied player with the biggest structure in the sector closest to the astronaut slot (then second closest, etc.). If you have no room, the astronaut returns to the Lunar Gateway. You can reorganize astronauts on your player board, but only one per slot. Excess astronauts return to the Lunar Gateway.
3. Collect Income: In turn order, players collect income:
   • From Corporations, if any.
   • From Domes: 1 Titanium per ENGINEER, 3 Credits per TECHNICIAN, 2 VP per SCIENTIST.
   • From Headquarters: 1 Reputation per astronaut.
4. Pay Maintenance Costs: Players must spend Credits for:
   • The last Reputation maintenance cost their marker reached on the Reputation track (0-4 Credits).
   • The total maintenance cost for their built structures (Domes: 1 Credit, Workshops: 2 Credits, Laboratories: 3 Credits, Headquarters: 4 Credits).

   Note: Each ENGINEER in a Workshop reduces your maintenance cost by 3 Credits. For each missing Credit, move your Reputation marker back one space. If it goes below 0, lose 2 VP for each remaining missing Credit (VP cannot go below 0).

5. Astronaut Cleanup: Return all astronauts from the Command action area to the supply.

End of Game and Scoring

After the Maintenance phase of the 3rd round, it's time for the final tally to crown the lunar champion!

1. Score VP from the Projects you funded.
2. Score VP from Astronauts in your Laboratories: For each Laboratory you built, score 2/5/10 VP if it has 1/2/3 astronauts of the matching type.
3. Score VP equal to your Reputation level.
4. Score VP from the three Corporations, starting with the topmost one. Scoring instructions are on the Corporation sheets.

The player with the most VP wins! In case of a tie, the tied player with the most Reputation wins. If still tied, the tied players share the victory.

Tips for Victory

To give you a head start on your lunar ambitions, here are a few tactical pointers: