Moonbase Alpha

About this board game

Moonbase Alpha is a 45-minute simulation of lunar combat for 1–2 players, set in an alternative history where private corporations fight over territory and intellectual property.

Two exo-planetary companies stand opposed: Luna Mining Corp and Mond Bergbau AG. Rather than relying solely on conventional forces, these corporations hire private “security” companies to enforce their interests across the lunar surface.

The conflict unfolds amid the wreckage of ambushes and the drifting dust of the Moon. Combat reporters may struggle to describe the devastation, but the game frames this confrontation through the consequences that matter most to the corporations: casualties, profit, and stock price.

• Players: 1–2
• Play time: approximately 45 minutes
• Setting: alternative-history lunar combat
• Opposing corporations: Luna Mining Corp and Mond Bergbau AG
• Forces include crawlers, MCUs, and PMC soldiers

In Moonbase Alpha, one route to a major victory is to inflict enough casualties on the opponent to drive down their stock price. Another is to earn enough profit to maximize your own stock price. These objectives connect the violence on the lunar battlefield to the financial interests of the corporations behind it.

If neither side achieves a major victory, the negotiations provide a final measure of success. The corporation with the highest stock price at the end of negotiations wins a minor victory.

Released in 2012, Moonbase Alpha presents a focused contest in which lunar combat and corporate fortunes are directly linked. Its stark setting and alternative-history premise place private security forces, corporate rivalry, and stock-market consequences at the center of the struggle.