Terraforming Mars: Hellas & Elysium

We were down to three, the wheel of chance landed on Terraforming Mars, and for a little freshness we opened the Hellas map — one I had never seen before. It was simply a very good session, the kind that suits the end of an evening: the map on the table, the choices spread out in front of us, and the sense that the whole group can see the same story unfolding.

In Terraforming Mars, the key thing for me is that you are not playing in isolation. You build your own strategy, but you constantly need to watch what everyone else is doing and adapt. Hellas simply brought a welcome change of scenery to that familiar process, without losing what makes a session interesting.

That comes across much more clearly at the physical table. I can follow everyone else's position, see their moves, and respond to their strategy as the game develops. On Steam, I find it harder to keep that overall picture in view, and therefore harder to adjust my own choices the way I would like.

The digital version also lacks the expansions, but even if it had them, I am not sure it would change my preference. I prefer Terraforming Mars on the table: a perfectly good game, a perfectly good session, and a very nice way to end a Saturday night.