Be the Boss in Space
After a failed Kickstarter campaign in August 2019, Bossin’ Space by Czech publisher Albi has now gone straight to retail and is available all over Europe in a variety of languages. Apart from being a Czech design, it also shares with the raging title Under Falling Skies its key “Space Invaders” inspiration, as you fight alien enemies spread onto four lanes, blasting at them with your spaceship.
Each turn, you draft four “command” cards for your spaceship and draw four cards for the monsters that you set up in line (an additional line of boss cards is also added in the end game). Then, you have to match these enemy cards with your four command cards to weave a “chronology” that will unfold this round. Cards activate from left to right, alternating between your command cards and the enemy cards. The command cards allow you to cancel enemy cards, move, fire at the enemy ships from a large arsenal of weapons, or heal. The enemy cards have the alien monsters move, attack, or can summon more of them. Beware though, as not only do you have to survive the enemy blasts, you must also make sure that firing your weapons doesn’t heat up your ship to explosion.
Throughout the game, you will be able to gather XP to improve your spaceship, from its weaponry to its hull resistance. Once all enemies have been summoned, the boss comes in; if you survive this final phase, you win the game.
The difficulty level can be adjusted by adding special enemy cards into the enemy deck during set-up. You can also choose from 5 different bosses to ensure replayability. Finally, the game can be played cooperatively with up to 5 players, following the same general rules.