Review: Scorpius Freighter (AEG)

The dream of the Scorpius system started with such hope, but it turned dark over the years.

Now you and your fellows support the fight for freedom as something of a part-time gig. You fly your freighters, customize them to meet your needs, and keep the underground economy humming while avoiding the eyes of the government’s oppressive orbital motherships. Sure, the government notices you every now and then, but that’s just the cost of doing business… and the revolution — your revolution — is coming.

Welcome to the world of Scorpius Freighter from Alderac Entertainment Group (AEG), a fascinatingly multi-layered strategy game for two to four players.

Here are the top five things you need to know to stay one step ahead of the authorities and keep fighting for freedom in Scorpius Freighter.

Classic Mechanics in a New Mix

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At heart, Scorpius Freighter is a sci-fie pickup and delivery game where you move data, medicine, and goods around to earn victory points.

But there’s also an interesting ship customization side, along with an option to draft your crew members. And on top of that, there’s a timed end condition (more about that in a bit) which seriously ratchets up the stress factor late in the game.

This mixture of mechanics adds delicious levels of strategy to the game while also giving it high replayability. Just because you created a killer combination last game doesn’t mean the same combo will even be available next time.

Three Planets Worth of Options

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The main board keeps things very simple, with three planets encircled by a series of action spaces. The government motherships cruise around these tracks as players select what they want to do each turn.

Each planet offers a different mixture of actions, so you need to keep an eye on what the other players choose. One planet focuses on storage upgrades and ship equipment, while the center planet is all about ship operation and loading goods. The last planet is where you complete side deals and deal with contracts. All three planets give you a space for activating crew so you can benefit from their special abilities.

Timing is everything when selecting your action. You can only move a mothership one or two spaces ahead and perform the action that the ship lands on, so the choice you make also affects your opponents’ options.

Do you need a storage upgrade before picking up goods? Would activating one of your crew make sense or should you complete a side deal? And do any of those moves leave a huge opening for an opponent?

Equipment, Contracts, and More

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In addition to the planets and mothership tracks, the main board also includes spaces for two kinds of upgrades, the side deals, and contracts.

Every player gets a double-sided board that represents their unique freighter. You can customize your ship by claiming tiles from one of the main game board’s supply sections of four storage expansions and four equipment upgrades.

Two other sections of the board offer four contracts and four side jobs. This is where you get victory points by delivering particular goods (or combinations of goods).

Of course, your choices depend on the available action spaces around each planet, and those motherships only move so fast…

Everybody against the Clock

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In addition to limiting your action choices, the motherships and their respective tracks also act as the game end timer.

Each time a ship circles a planet, the player who moved the ship that turn loses one good from their freighter because of a government crackdown. That good gets “loaded” onto the mothership itself. When any one ship has four, five, or six goods (depending on the number of players), that triggers a final round of action before tallying up the score.

Many Ways to Play

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I especially love all of the options Scorpius Freighter gives you to keep every game fresh. You start with either a basic or advance freighter board, plus a cockpit with either a basic or random advanced ability.

You can select a pre-set crew of four or shuffle the crew members together and draft your choices. Use one of the basic crew sets when learning the game, but after that draft your people. It’s a lot more fun that way.

The Verdict

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Scorpius Freighter makes a great match for players who like the pickup and delivery concept, but want something that goes beyond the basics of an Earth-bound train game.

Thanks to the mix of a special cockpit, unique ship board, four one-of-a-kind crew members, and the randomly-available upgrade and delivery tiles, every game gives you markedly different challenges. Because player choice governs the available actions each turn, even the group that you play with will affect your game.