Love the outstanding engine building and tile laying tactics of Terraforming Mars but feel ready to try something new? Thankfully, there are many great tabletop titles that feel equally satisfying and are absolutely worth adding to your collection. Below you’ll find our picks for the best board games like Terraforming Mars in terms of either their gameplay mechanics or theme.
1. Underwater Cities
Underwater Cities features an interesting action-card based engine system with some similarities to Terraforming Mars, though with a handful of unique twists. It’s your goal to match the colors of the cards in your hand with actions on the board, as this will allow you to take optimal turns. However, that’s not always possible, so it’s often up to you to make the best of your current resources and draw. Each player will also get their own building board on which they’ll get to map out a unique network of tunnels and domes for their city.
2. Dune Imperium: Uprising
Instead of taking over the Red Planet, why not attempt to become the overlord of Arrakis instead? In Dune Imperium: Uprising, you are the leader of one of the Great Houses. By sending your agents to various locations on the desert planet, you can generate spice, trade for resources, and participate in combat. If you choose to visit other locations in the Imperium, you will also increase your standing with factions like the Fremen and the Bene Gesserit. As your persuasion points build, your deck will continue to pick more more steam, and your turns will become more powerful.
3. Scythe
The strategic depth of Scythe’s engine building gameplay is an exciting and engaging experience, especially if you’re already a fan of games like Terraforming Mars. Though the theme is admittedly completely different here, the complexities of resource generation and structure building are incredibly satisfying to manage. The game’s five major factions offer completely distinct play styles from one another, and the miniatures and artwork are both stellar. There are also plenty of great Scythe expansions to choose from if you’d like to add airships, new factions, or space for seven players.
4. A Feast for Odin
While A Feast for Odin is primarily a worker placement game, the decision making, building, and resource management processes in this title will greatly appeal to fans of Terraforming Mars. You’ll have a sizeable collection of viking meeples to send out on raids, trades, and all manner of crafting and production tasks. When your vikings come back home, they’ll bring a collection of item tiles for you to add to your personal board. You’ll need to smartly arrange these tiles to cover up negative victory point spaces and make room for your next loot haul.
5. 7 Wonders
7 Wonders is a classic of the engine building genre with mechanics that are significantly easier to manage than those found in Terraforming Mars. The result is a much more accessible title to share with people who aren’t as familiar with board games that still scratches the same itch. You are in charge of one of Earth’s age-old civilizations, and must advance from ancient times to an era of enlightenment over the course of three rounds. You’ll start by farming and mining, then move towards military conquest, artistic prowess, and perhaps even scientific progress.
6. Eclipse: Second Dawn for the Galaxy
If you enjoy sci-fi themed board games and want to try something that balances building an epic space empire with in-depth conflict, then Eclipse: Second Dawn for the Galaxy might be the perfect fit for you. On your turn you can construct unique technology tiles, build ships, and explore deep space. Alternatively, you can move your tokens and attempt to conquer your enemies, but only if there’s a nearby wormhole to their sector. Though there are a lot of components, the storage solutions included in the box make token management easy.
7. It’s a Wonderful World
The five major Empires left on dystopian Earth seek to extract the planet’s last remaining resources and restore their power in the It’s a Wonderful World board game. Rounds start with a drafting process that gives players a mix of project cards that they can either build or recycle. Completing projects will either give you more resources during the production phase, or net you victory points. Games take less than an hour, and it’s surprising how satisfying the engine building experience is here considering the short play time.
8. Race for the Galaxy
Build a unique civilization in space by exploring and settling new planets, developing new technologies, and producing goods in Race for the Galaxy. This excellent tableau-building card game has a unique mechanic that allows players to secretly choose which phases occur in a given round. For example, if everyone leaves the settle action card behind, there won’t be a settlement phase. Expansion content for Race for the Galaxy is also great, and adds plenty of interesting new home worlds.
9. Maracaibo
In Maracaibo, you’ll take on the role of an explorer, privateer, or pirate in the 17th century Caribbean. You’ll sail your ship around the board’s loop of locations, and take a variety of actions along the way, from completing quests and upgrading your ship to increasing your standing with various island factions. Like Terraforming Mars, there are so many different ways to claim victory points, and rushing to the journey’s end doesn’t necessarily mean victory. It’s also one of our top picks for pirate-themed board games.
10. 51st State: Master Set
The51st State board game puts you in charge of a unique faction that seeks to control the ashes of post-apocalyptic America. To gain power, you’ll need to build cards for your tableau, make deals, and, ironically, avoid hoarding resources. Some of the locations you construct will give you more of these resources each turn, while others will provide action and victory point bonuses instead. The master set includes two expansions worth of extra cards that help add more to game’s already high replay value.
