Read Me First

…and welcome to the High Frontier universe. Since its first edition in 2010, High Frontier has been the definitive science-based adventure game of space exploration and development. Based on real science & technology (and designed by a bona fide rocket scientist), it has been fine-tuned by a team of enthusiasts for a decade to be playable, comprehensive, and packed with the latest developments in engineering and planetary science. This document provides a progressive learning path, a full list of components, and advice on how to engage with the complexities of High Frontier. It also explains how this edition differs from High Frontier 3, lists reference material, and gives credit where credit is due.

Where do I begin?
To tell the story of how great a game can be
The game of space that is older than the sea
The simple truth about you playing it with me
Where do I start?

High Frontier has a reputation for being difficult to learn. Consistent with the High Frontier 4 All name, we’ve designed a progressive learning path to ease your way through the High Frontier universe. Depending on the complexity level your group is comfortable with, this path includes several books:

Space Diamonds is a lightweight, family-friendly race through the solar system. It is a standalone game that uses the standard map from High Frontier, but has its own set of rules, rocket/sail and mission cards, and discovery chits.

Race for Glory is the “essentials only” High Frontier, equivalent to “Basic” in previous versions of High Frontier. It is not a standalone rulebook, but instead references the Core rulebook when helpful. It uses its own set of two-sided cards and includes a comprehensive tutorial.

Core Rulebook is the baseline version of High Frontier. It adds rules for supports, thermal control, power requirements, solar flares & Radiation Belts, Glitches, hazardous operations, events, and more. It uses its own set of two-sided cards. Here is an outline of your progressive learning path:

You are…

Book to Start

… a boardgame novice. Start with Space Diamonds. This is a standalone game, so you don’t need the

… after a fast, lightweight family game.

Core Rulebook

…an experienced board-gamer who’s never played High Frontier before.

Start with Race for Glory, the “essentials only” High Frontier. Do the tutorial if you don’t know the rules.

You may want the Core Rulebook for reference.

… after the essentials only High Frontier experience.

… after the fully-fledged High Frontier experience.

Start with the High Frontier Core Rulebook. Exclude Module 0.

… a High Frontier veteran.

Add Modules and/or Variants to ramp up the complexity.

1 Box

5 Rules Booklets (Read Me First, Space Diamonds, Race for Glory, Core Rules, Appendix)

2 Player Aids

1 Mapboard

2 Placards: Sol Sunspot Cycle/RfG Sunspot Cycle and Political Assembly/RfG Player Aid

5 Playmats with Fuel Strips

35 wooden domes (7 each in 5 player colors) for Colonies

35 wooden cubes (7 each in 5 player colors) for Factories

1 gold wooden star for Active Law (Module 0 - Politics)

45 plastic disks (9 each in 5 player colors) for Claims

10 plastic rockets (2 each in 5 player colors). For rocket stack location and net thrust. 80 blue plastic beads for Aqua and water FT

40 transparent red plastic disks for Busted Sites, Seniority & Glitches

1 black six-sided dice (1d6) used for prospecting, hazards, flares and glitches.

1 Punchout board (95 Discovery Chits, 10 Outpost markers, 20 Dry and Wet Rocket Mass Chits, 9 Glory and 4 Heroism Chits)

155 Cards (35 Space Diamonds, 36 Race For Glory, 77 Core patents, 6 Crew, 1 map overlay)

10 Ziplock Bags

Components included in HF Upgrade kit.

Do I Need to Immediately Read the Core Rulebook?

No. Follow the progressive learning path above to see what you should read to start your adventure. If you start with Race for Glory, keep the Core rulebook handy for reference. If you start with Space Diamonds, you will not need the Core rulebook at all because Space Diamonds uses its own set of rules.

What Other Teaching Materials are Available?

• A Glossary is found at the end of the Core rulebook. Capitalized terms in the books are defined here. Useful for any version of High Frontier.

• The Player Aid defines icons and summarizes game procedures, and is useful for any version of High Frontier.

• Heavy Cardboard Video Tutorial. The YouTube channel Heavy Cardboard has produced a video tutorial of this game. Links are found in our webshop www.ionsmg.com under the section “Video”. Either use this QR-code (right), or just google “High Frontier Heavy Cardboard”.

• Tabletop Simulator, Vassal & Cyberboard. Three tools are available to allow you to play High Frontier 4 All digitally: the Tabletop Simulator found on Steam, a Vassal module located at www.vassalengine.org (the game is found among the modules) and a Cyberboard version found at http://www.garycki.com/highfrontier.html.

How To Use the Modules?

Modules extend your High Frontier experience beyond the Core game, combined in any way you’d like,

• Module 0 – Politics is included in the Core box, and includes Faction delegates who vote on rule changing laws and provide alternate endgame scoring conditions O.

• Module 1 – Terawatt adds thrusters in the trillions of watts, and flexible high-technology (and low-technology) Freighters. Sold separately.

• Module 2 – Colonization adds orbital habitats and oddball space Colonists who may come into conflict with Earth. Sold separately.

• Futures are mega-engineering missions involving the farthest reaches of the map, and is possible if you have both Modules 1 and 2.

Other Variants?

• Appendix. This includes: scenarios V; strategy tips W; experimental nerdy rules X; essays about the thoughts, ideas and the vision behind the game Y; and finally a card-by-card description of each patent’s functions and specifications Z.

• Bios:Earth Campaign are rules to integrate High Frontier into a grand campaign that plays through all three Bios-games (Bios:Genesis, Bios:Megafauna 2, and Bios:Origins) before starting your game of High Frontier using whatever creatures have evolved from the primordial soup in the course of the three prior games. You will use the Core rules and either V7 or V8 in the appendix (depending upon your trajectory through the Bios games).

QR-code for Heavy Cardboard HF4 Playthrough.

Tip Marginalia: Hints, tips, and reminders found in the rule margins.

Introduction

• Water Tanks in LEO are now referred to as Aquas A1. Aquas continue to serve the dual purpose of currency and as a source of Fuel for Rockets.

• Endgame for the Core Game is after 48 turns A1a.

• Race for Glory replaces the Basic Game as the essential rules of High Frontier 4 All. The Race to Mars tutorial teaches the Race for Glory game and much of the Core rules A3.

Components and Anatomies

• Dry Mass & Wet Mass Indicators are now colored chits B1.

• Number of Factory cubes increased from 6 to 7 B1. Colony Domes are no longer limited to what is supplied.

• Ventures have been removed. Glory cards have been replaced by 9 glory chits. Glory chits are placed on the map and can be loaded into Spacecraft B3.

• Exploitation Tracks reads 8/5/4 victory points, rather than 10/8/6, and introduces the H Spectral Type B5.

• Burn Space is a magenta-colored map icon B7c.

• Cycler is removed from Core. It is now only a Bernal Ability.

Setup

• Senility as a term is now replaced with the term Seniority C1.

• Start Crew. Players secretly choose which side of their Crew card to use C2.

• Each Crew begins in LEO, goes to LEO if Decommissioned E7, and does not need to be Decommissioned for glories La.

• 1st Player & Sunspot Cube have been introduced. 1st Player is chosen based on the clout of their Crew C8a.

Yearly Play Sequence

• Each Year is now divided into two distinct phases: the player turn phase D1 and the advance sunspot cycle phase D2.

Hands & Stacks

• Faction privileges redone so that all 12 Factions have unique privileges.

Spacecraft Mass & Fuel Management

• Obsolete Terms include Water Tanks (WTs), Fungible Fuel Tanks (FFTs), and Depots. FFTs are now simply Fuel Tanks (FTs). FTs no longer have rad-hardness B2j. See F1.

• Thrust & Mass are calculated at the start of movement F2, F3.

Free Actions

• Dirt Refueling is now a free action (cargo transfer, G1c), and gives a different amount of fuel for Crew thrusters than for other dirt thrusters.

• Jettison is now no longer allowed during movement G and jettisoned material will not remain on the map G1f, G1g.

• Dirt FTs (fuel carried as cargo) no longer exist G2.

• Colonies are permanent. Terminology has been changed from Space Colony G3.

• Tokens are Discarded rather than Decommissioned G6.

• Glitch Repair Free Action has been added G7.

Movement

• Thrust Movement Points (TMPs) has been removed as a term.

• Spacecraft must activate an operational thruster in order to move H2.

• A Thrusters no longer needs Fuel to be activated H2a.

• Spacecraft with a net thrust of zero or less are allowed to coast H2b.

• Push Factory & Powersat have been combined into a single concept H3d.

• Bonus Pivot added to some cards (e.g. Sails) H4c.

• Burn is spending an amount of Fuel equal to fuel consumption H5a.

• Synodic Comet Sites cannot be entered or exited by a Spacecraft unless the Sunspot Cube is in the matching-colored season H6a, B7h.

• Atmospheric Factories can use factory-assist H6c.

• Factory-assist is not a Hazard if you have Powersat H6c.

• Hazard Rolls occur on a roll of “1” and result in Stack Decommission. Radiation Hazards have been renamed Radiation Belts.

• Bonus Burns are available only with an operational and activated thrust triangle H8a.

Tip: Rules references for Modules are prefixed with the Module number (e.g. 2C1a for Module 2). The prefix “i” (introductory) indicates Space Diamonds, and the prefix “t” (tutorial) indicates Race for Glory.

Tip: Some rules that were experimental in HF3 are now standard.

Operations

• Income Operations now earn a player 1 Aqua I1.

• Free Market Operations earn 3 Aqua for White-Sided Cards I3a.

• ISRU Refuel Ops for isotope Fuel are no longer possible I5a.

• Factory-Refuel generates 7 FTs rather than 8 I5b.

• Raygun Prospecting Restrictions on Synodic Comet Sites has been removed (but the map has been altered to achieve the same effect).

• Prospecting Luna requires permission of the 1st player I6.1.

• Prospecting the Kreutz Sungrazer is automatically successful I6.3.

• Basic Game Freighters are now replaced by the delivery operation I9.

Supports

• Afterburn Cooling can only be applied to thruster Stack cards, and only during movement J4d.

• New Rounding Rules for some specific fuel consumption instances J5c.

• Supports in the support chain that count as movement-modifying supports has changed J5d.

Sunspot Cycle Events

• Blue Event has been changed to anarchy K2e.

• Glitch has been added as a new event. Rules to cover this new addition are: Glitch Event K2b, Glitch Rolls cau-sed by Glitch Triggers H8g, G1h, I5, I6, I7, I9, and Glitch Repair Free Action G7, N8. Glitches are carried on a Stack as red disks. Glitches are triggered by cargo transfer free actions, prospect operations, site refuel operations, industrialize operations, and flyby maneuvers.

• Pad Explosion / Space Debris Events do not affect Crew, Black-side Cards, Purple-side Cards, Colonists, and Bernals.

Glories

• Chits now stored in the Heliocentric Zones to be picked up by Humans.

• Heroism expanded to 4 categories as listed on the map (Lc)..

Game End & Scoring

• Token VP includes every wooden or plastic Token on the map of your color.

• Glory Chits are worth 1 VP each if claimed, and various VP each if returned to LEO M2b.²

• Colonies are worth variable victory points M2b.

• Factories on special Sites (e.g. Astrobiology, Submarine) are not worth extra VP.

Negotiation

• Negotiation Rules have been restructured. The ability to negotiate a Glitch Repair has been added N8.

• Science & TNO Science have been replaced by Astrobiology. “Lost Astrobiology” in the list of Sites below includes Sites that had Science or TNO Science in High Frontier 3 but do not have Astrobiology in this game.

• Atmospheric Sites indicated by a new icon.

• Route Yellow goes to Lutetia instead of Ceres.

• Route Blue goes to Ceres instead of Comet Enke.

• Signposts show Burns but not Hazards.

• Burn Spaces & Intersections have been added and removed, including: – The purple route has fewer intersections (more bridges) between Luna and the Mars Heliocentric Zone. – Earth & Venus flyby approaches are changed. – Jupiter flyby approaches and the route to Saturn are changed. – The Mars North Pole routes are changed. – Uranus / Neptune zone paths are significantly changed. – The half-burn near Ceres is no longer a Hazard. – Many Burn Spaces that were also Hazards have been split into two Spaces. – Hazard Spaces next to Synodic Comet Sites are also synodic.

• Earth Space Elevator from High Frontier 3 no longer exists.

• Eight New Space Elevators added to the map (in addition to Mars-Phobos) and may be built using the Freighter rules in Module 1 1B9.

• Many Aerobrake Hazards have solid entry routes to emphasize that Spacecraft may move into the Aerobrake Hazard and then exit without landing on a later Turn. This is mainly useful with the air-eater refuel op I5c.

• Numerous Bernal Home Orbits added, 2B3.

• Heliocentric Map Locator (using clock hours) can be used to describe locations on the map B7l.

• Specific Site Changes are listed in the table on next page:

Tip: Glitches are no longer a bolts from the blue that cripple everyone simultaneously. Rather they are potential failures requiring risk management.

Tip: Heroism rewards suffering devastating events, loss of life, helping a stricken opponent, or newbie miscalculations.

Tip: Distance to the outer solar system is now a greater and more realistic number of Burns and Turns.

Tip: Blue font indicates rules found in the Modules rather than in Core.

[1] The cover of The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy (by Douglas Adams) has the admonition “Don’t Panic”. Maybe we should include these “large friendly letters” on our cover as well, in case things look “insanely complicated”. In any case, welcome to the first footnote of the game! Footnotes contain background material used to create the rules, and contain no rules necessary to play High Frontier.

[2] LEO stands for Low Earth Orbit. The International Space Station is in LEO, with an altitude of 400 km. The orbital speed at this altitude is 7.5 km/ sec, equivalent to 3 Burns in the game and fast enough to circle the Earth every 92 minutes. Copyright © 2020, Ion Game Design & Sierra Madre Games EAN: 653341041166 Cover image: Josefine Strand and NASA (https://images.nasa.gov/)