Stronghold Games Terraforming Mars: Hellas & Elysium Expansion

This is an expansion for Terraforming Mars, one of my favorite games. This expansion is composed of one doublesided board with two new setups for play. The board comes heavily wrapped for protection and is beautifully printed (as their products tend to be). In terms of gameplay, this expansion offers an easy way to rapidly expand your Terraforming Mars experience. The 2 maps available have different resource setups and 2 new sets of milestones/awards, leading to large changes in play strategy. It even allows for random map drawing or blind startups, where players randomly select a map after choosing their starting cards. It also pairs nicely with the Preludes Expansion.

This double-sided expansion board is a must for anyone who enjoys Terraforming Mars. It provides TWO new maps to study as well as some new ways to win, without any increased difficulty from the base game. I'm very happy to say that this board is better quality (read: FLAT) than the original game, and in spite of a thin plastic shipping bag, it arrived in perfect condition. Next day delivery.

This expansion consists entirely of another game board to add to your base game of Terraforming Mars. No new cards, no extra pieces and yet the board adds so much strategic depth to the game and changes up how you play just enough to make it exciting. The board is dual sided with 2 different sides of mars with different water placement and resource placement spots. Also each side has a different batch of milestones and awards that can be won. That’s……….pretty much all that can be said about this. That’s all there is too it. If you are a huge fan of Terraforming Mars then this is a must have. It really opens up the replayabilty for the game. Now whenever my wife and I play we randomly choose 1 of the 3 boards (base game and this dual sided one). The awards and milestones will change the way we play every time.

This is a great addition to the base game. It is just a double-sided board that comes with a different map, different milestones and awards. The basic structure remains the same, but adds variation to the play. If you like TM, you should have Prelude and Hellas and Elysium as the expansions. Belive me, you need them to enjoy the game to the fullest.

It is simply a double sided board, and it is great to have three different options ( along with the original) ...my only complaint is that it is over 20$...but all in all it is worth it and, what the heck...$20 isn;'t that much these days.

I have played Terraforming Mars close to 20 times solo. I love the game and the replayability and wanted to grab an expansion to add to that. Hellas & Elysium seemed to be a great choice. I gave this expansion 4 stars for a couple of reasons. #1. The packaging is just a shrinkwrapped board. That's it. I knew it was just a board but I thought maybe it would have at least a thin, thin box. The reason that matters is because Amazon shipped it in an envelope. I contacted customer service and told them to try to notate it in the system to avoid shipping this in an envelope for future customers since mine arrived slightly damaged. CS apologized and sent a replacement, which was needed or requested really. Anyway, the replacement showed up the exact same way. #2 There isnt a card or anything with the Awards and Milestones. The only place the breakdown of Milestones and Awards is listed is on the paper wrapped around the board. In my opinion, I would have much rather received one reference card instead. I actually threw away the paper and had to Google the requirements. So here are some positives behind the 4 stars. First of all, Hellas & Elysium is a great value. It provides two different boards (one board but double sided). Placement bonuses are unique and provide bonuses like Heat, Ocean Placement and even some spaces that provide 3 Plant resources instead of the usual 2 max provided by the base game. The board quality is identical to the base board, which is great. The Milestones and Awards offer a nice change from the base as well. (However, that doesnt mix up solo play any because those arent used in solo play). Overall, it's a great expansion and definitely worth the price. If you or your group get Terraforming Mars to the table regularly, you wont regret adding this.

The game is complex, the game is so much fun to learn. We have purchased upgraded 3D printed tiles, from Spain. And we also got a gamebox organizer that I custom painted. I just purchased card sleeves for the game, due to having shuffled and played the game so much. I got it as a present for Father's day in June, and have played more than 50 hours of games. I like it more now, then the first time I played. I highly recommend this game. My kids (high school) love to play the game.

Great little addition to Terraforming Mars. It’s just two boards but gives a nice little change to the base game. Only annoyance was that there was no package protection for the game. Boards were just shrink wrapped with no paddings. My copy had a couple of dinged up edges. More a problem with shipping, not the game.

Wir hatten unser Lieblingsspiel "Terraforming Mars" so oft gespielt, dass es tatsächlich langweilig wurde. Mit dieser neuen Spielersetzung des Spielbretts ist es wieder total spannend geworden, alle alten Lieblingstaktiken sind durchbrochen, wir haben sogar den Eindruck, dass es strategischer geworden ist, weil der Wert der Konzerne ausgewogener ist und auch das Spielbrett ausgewogener. Da man das Spielbrett austauscht, braucht man nicht mehr Tischfläche und muss auch keinen neuen Spiel-Mechaniken lernen. Mit dem Spielbrett ist die Landfläche nach Norden oder Süden hin gekippt, je nach Spielbrettseite, andere Meilensteine, andere Auszeichnungen, andere Platzierungsboni. Jedoch keine neuen Konzerne, Projektkarten oder Mechanismen.

An excellent way to keep the game 'fresh' by offering two alternative boards to the one in base game.

our gaming group immediately found the milestones and awards so much more balanced than the default board. Previously every game started with people rushing for mayor, gardener, then builder. It's worth it for this balance change alone. However the variation of the layout of the boards is another reason. Our gaming group just alternate these 2 boards now and can't bring ourselves to go back to the default board now.

Absolutely amazing and fun. The delivery package was a bit deceptive at first since it's only the actual two-sided board covered by some print. That kinda shocked me at first since I usually expect boxes instead of envelopes with anything related to boardgames but it was quite alright and it arrived undamaged.

Expansión para terraforming mars con 2 tableros extra. Para darle otra vuelta si has jugado mucho al juego base.