The Colonists is a game that has the word “epic” on its cover, which might be a bit presumptuous for not only a game, but for a first-time designer (Tim Puls) to claim for itself. But, since its release in late 2016, The Colonists has earned its honorific by giving players a larger-than-life gaming experience. If you’re unfamiliar with The Colonists, you’re about to discover an amazing game experience. If you’re in the know, we’ll reveal some of the new twists that scenarios bring to the game.

At its heart, The Colonists is a worker movement game. Instead of worker placement, where players have pawns that they place at a location in order to get or do something, The Colonists gives you workers that you move around on a board in order to accomplish things. Now, the positions of the workers you have on the board are important, as they can only travel so far on a turn. In order for you to accomplish your goals, you must think about where you are on the board, and whether you can reach the spaces that allow you do what you need to do.

Fortunately, the game gives you several ways to increase your choices. You can gain more stewards (your workers on the board), make ‘em move faster, and jump from wherever they are to a market in order to take a variety of actions and to, perhaps, get back towards the center of the board in order to travel in another direction.

That’s important, because the play area gets larger with every game-year you play. The Colonists is broken into eras (up to four during a full game), in which there are five years. Players take actions twice a year, with new tiles coming out at the end of almost each year. So, as the board and the choices grow, players must be careful that their stewards on the board have a wide variety of actions to choose from.

All of these resources and actions are used to develop your community board. Your buildings and colonists are found here, in addition to your resources. Access to resources is a constant concern in the game, and juggling your storage, your warehouse (overflow storage), and your buffer (temporary storage on your production buildings) are important to your success.

Over the course of your campaign, your community boards go from a few lowly farms to a massive variety of buildings. Farms become flats and apartments, banks and casinos may appear, shops and workers will begin to offer benefits, and even your farmers have the chance to upgrade to citizens and merchants. Old buildings will be razed, and space becomes a premium towards the end of the game when not just buildings, but constructing the right builds, becomes even more important.

Another pivotal aspect of the game are the nine colonies included in The Colonists. For each game, you’ll select either four or five colonies to be in play. These create new and different synergies that players can access by building embassies on their community board. The higher the level of the embassy associated with the colony, the better the rewards you’ll receive from the colony.

All of this may seem a bit overwhelming, but boiled down to its basic elements, it’s very easy: move your stewards around on the board to get or do things. Expand your capabilities, storage, and victory points with buildings and workers, and use the embassies you build to gain special advantages.

The game can be epic in length: four brand-new players who play the full four eras can take six hours or more to finish a game! However, the first era (which teaches you the basics of the game) can be completed in around an hour, and the game provides rules to start and end your game at any era that you choose — you can play just Era 2, or play Eras 3 and 4 together. Your game experience can be as long or as short as you choose!

We often recommend that players try the solitaire game in order to learn The Colonists, but there’s another tool provided to assist with learning — the Introduction manual offers a step-by-step run through of a complete Era 1 game for two players. You can set up a board or two, then follow the gameplay as described in the book to get a hands-on feel for the way the game works!

All of this is impressive, but since The Colonists’ release there’ve been two scenarios introduced, with a third soon to be made available. Scenarios give players the ability to change the focus and goals of the game, sometimes in dramatic ways.

The first scenario released was ‘The Imperial Post’, a solitaire scenario (also available on the Mayfair Games website). It focuses on the Envoy Colony, and a player is required to achieve the highest level of the colony before the end of Era 4. Along the way, other specific goals need to be met (which could cause you to lose the game immediately). It’s a challenging exercise in trying to optimize your actions and the movements of your stewards.

The scenario included in this issue of GTM is ‘The Alliance of the Six Cities’. The scenario actually features six different end-game goals, with play now focused on a series of specialized cities you must travel between and around in. The challenge is to achieve the selected goal, with the added travel restrictions and the congestion of the other players.

The third scenario, ‘Ante Portas’, was introduced at Essen and is a cooperative game for 1-3 players.  In this scenario, you’re trying to defend your newly founded communities against a horde of Raiders and fire-breathing Dragons! You lose when the invaders break through your line of defense.  The scenario also includes two confrontational variants for 2 and 4 players.

More is planned for The Colonists, with an expansion already being developed (adding eras to the game). The Colonists provides a very flexible game system, and players who enjoy a deep level of planning and gameplay will discover a lot to love within (and to be added to) this game’s box!

About The Colonists: Designed by Tim Puls for 1-4 players, ages 12 and up, and plays in 30-240 minutes. MRSP: $90