MLEM: Review
Information:
Mechanics: Push Your Luck, Modular Setup, Dice Rolling
Player Age: 8+ Player Count: 2 - 5 PlayersTime to Play: 30 - 60 Minutes
Game Designer: Reiner Knizia
Player Age: 8+
Game Designer: Reiner Knizia
Introduction:
Cats were always bound to conquer our world and in this game they succeeded. They didn't stop there, however. They set their sites on outer space.
MLEM is a push-your-luck game of feline space exploration. Each turn all players will send one astronaut to board the spaceship with the active player as the captain. Every time the ship moves, players can choose to depart to collect points from moons (one astronaut per moon), planets (multiple astronauts allowed but the majority will score the most points), or they can push their luck and score large points by reaching the end comet or galaxy. There are added scoring goals and modules that help elevate your goals as well.
Game Anatomy:
Rocketship:
The rocketship has a vacant spot for every player. On a turn, every player is on the same voyage. Each player will place their chosen astronaut on the ship and the commanding officer (the player whose turn it is) is situated at the top.
Map:
The map is a nice player mat that rolls out across the table, depicting a voyage of 25 stops. Along this voyage are moons that will grant points to the first player who lands there; planets that will grant points based on the majority of astronauts in first, second and third place; and a galaxy/comet that grants 5 or 7 points if the ship reaches the end of the track. The commander will enter the comet zone and receive 7 points, whereas other astronauts will enter the galaxy and receive 5 points.
The map also contains an 11-step track along the bottom that will count every crashed expedition, ending the game if it reaches the 11th spot. Each location across the map will also contain dice roll results. These are the only results that the commander can use to move from that location. If they fail to roll any of these numbers then the spaceship crashes down and the token on the crash track increases.
Astronauts:
Players will receive a cat board that will hold their 8 astronauts, or should I say catstronauts…
Each player has the same mix of astronauts that contain certain abilities, such as being able to land when crashing, scoring double points for particular landings, and giving a number advantage to the commander.
Dice:
The dice are made up of an afterburner symbol and the numbers one, two, two, three and four.
Every time a player moves as a commander they will roll all available dice. Any results that don’t match the current location will be moved aside for the next turn while the rest of the dice will be organised into groups of identical die-faces. The player will determine the group they want to use and move locations based on the sum of the chosen group. For example if you have a group of two 1 dice, and one 4 dice the commander can choose to move 2 spaces or 4 spaces respectively.
The afterburner value is determined by the value shown at the location, which could be one, two or three. The afterburner will be combined to the same valued group, i.e. if the afterburner value is one and you roll a one, they can combine to move two spaces. The great thing about afterburners is unlike other dice, once they are used for travel they are not discarded.
Goals:
There are four goals, each with five points that will go to the first player to meet it. These are landing on four different planets, landing on four different moons, having two astronauts reach the end of the track, or have three astronauts on one planet.
Modules:
There are three modules included in the game to add more variability. Secret missions award the player points if they land on certain moons or planets, gaining 10 points if they manage to achieve all three.
Exploration tokens award the commander a bonus if they land on the space location that the token is on. This could be points, regaining dice or moving the spaceship further.
A UFO that will change the rules for each expedition while slowly moving the UFO towards where the spaceship launches. If the player finishes their movement where the UFO is they will gain bonus points for the end of the game.
Setup:
- Roll the map mat across the table.
- Place the goal tokens, point tokens, rocket ship within reach of all players.
- Give each player a player board and their eight astronauts.
- Place the cosmic failure token on the track of the bottom of the mat.
- Place the ship token on the zero location on the mat.
How to Play:
Now that you understand the game pieces, it's time to blast off into a turn. Each turn has three phases; takeoff, travel and landing.
Takeoff Phase:
You will begin by returning the ship token to the zero space on the mat. Then every player will determine which of their astronauts is going into this expedition. The current player will be the commander at the first spot on the ship. The rest of the players in clockwise order will choose and place their astronaut.
Travel Phase:
The travel phase will keep occurring until every astronaut on the expedition has either landed or the ship itself has crashed. This occurs by not having any dice results matching the location. The commander can leave the spacecraft to occupy a planet or moon and the next astronaut in line will become the new commander.
The commanding player will roll all the dice they have available (six at the start of the turn). Any dice that matches the location value will be sorted into groups of identical faces, while the remaining dice are moved aside for the next travel phase. The commander will choose one of these groups, discarding the chosen dice from the die pool, and will move based on the sum of the pips. The exception to the discard rule is the afterburner die faces. The players in ship order can now decide to leave the ship, landing on the connected planet/moon, or stay on board. If there are still astronauts on the ship after landing there will be another travel phase. If the commander leaves the ship the next astronaut in line will be the new commander. If there are no dice available because they’ve all been used successfully or an astronaut has removed the last one, the commander will gain one die back each turn until they crash or land.
Landing Phase:
After every travel phase, starting with the commander and then going clockwise, players can disembark the ship and land on the connecting planet or moon. Immediate points are gained from the moons or astronauts must vie for control of a planet at the end of the game.
End of Turn/ Scoring:
Turns will pass in a clockwise order and the game will continue until there have been 11 crashes or one player has placed all eight astronauts. Players will then determine who scores what on each planet, count the point tokens in front of them and add the goal tokens. The player with the highest score is the best catstronaut space has ever seen.
Final Thoughts:
- Engaged on every turn.
- Mini modules change the focus between games.
- Great components, especially the mat.
- Different strategies to employ when you're the Commander.
- Great family weight push-your-luck game with a good amount of choices.
MLEM is a game I have played constantly since receiving it. Both the components and approachable ruleset easily help to immerse the player. I especially enjoy the fact that players are engaged on every turn. Above that, there are a lot of decisions in what astronaut you send in and how you navigate the expedition as the Commander. These decisions are amplified when you add in the modules. When using the secret missions you may be aiming for an earlier planet so you’ll use up as many dice as possible while reaching your short goal. This way the next commander inherits a run-down ship with a low dice pool and decreased probability of reaching their destination. This is now one of my go-to push-your-luck games and has earned a Go-To Golden Game Seal.
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