(Under Falling Skies photo credit to Czech Games)
We don’t know where they came from or what they want, but they are invading and we need to stop them or it is the end of us all! Those who remain have sought shelter underground, but that won’t save us alone, we need to make a weapon that will defeat them. YOU are only the hope humanity has left, are you up to the task?
Under Falling Skies is a 1 player dice placement, tough decision-making game from Czech Games. It is made to be a solo game, but it can be cooperative with everyone making decisions. This review will cover the base game only; you can discover the campaign on your own.
To start, take out ONLY the components for the basic game indicated in the box; for the first game select Roswell as the city. Place the top base section on the A side and the bottom on the B side. Set the sky tiles starting with the brightest at the bottom and ending with the darkest at the top. Take out the 2 white and 3 gray dice. Place the energy marker at its starting space, the damage marker at the top, and the research marker at its starting location. Finally place the mothership at the top and the 5 purple alien ships on the 5 spawn points on the mother ship, setting the 4 white ships aside. Place the excavator on its starting space, and you’re ready to go.
Under Falling Skies is played in turns consisting of three phases; Dice Roll Phase, Room phase, and Mothership phase. The game ends if the base is destroyed, the mothership reaches its loss indicator on the mothership track, or the research maker reaches the top space and you win and humanity is saved!
In the dice phase, you roll the 5 dice and place them in the rooms on the base; noting that only one die can be placed in each row. Next, move the alien ships down the track towards your base equal to the die roll. If you placed any dice in the Anti-aircraft room, the first row of the base, the ships move one step less than the die; so a die roll of 1 means they don’t move at all. It is important to note the order you place dice in. Whenever you place a white die, you must reroll all remaining dice. This is for both white dice.
Resolve any actions indicated where the alien ships have ended their movement ( you can find the list of actions in the rule book). They either move the mothership down a space, shift one space left or right, or are on target spaces where they can be shot down.
Next comes the room phase; Here you resolve all of the actions indicated on the rooms that you placed die in; you do not have to resolve the room action if you choose not to, just remove the die from the room, You can resolve the rooms in any order. Rooms with a modifier use the total die less the modifier and rooms with two spaces require a die in each space to activate. If a room has a cost, you must have the energy to pay it to activate it. Rooms can be used to produce energy, send fighter jets to intercept the aliens, or research which moves the research track up; and how you win the game, A die can also be placed in front of the excavator which will move the excavator that many spaces and allowing those rooms after it to be available to use. Note you cannot activate any room that is in front of the excavator.
To produce energy, place the die in a room with the energy symbol and increase the energy counter the number of spaces indicated on the die, less any modifiers. Hangar rooms allow you to destroy alien ships that are on the destroy symbol. Destroy any ships that are less or equal value to the total values of all hangars. Destroyed purple ships return to the mothership to respawn while white ships are removed to the side.
Research rooms allow to use the total research value and move up the research track. You can only move up the track the total number of research points you have but you resolve each die separately. You must have a total on the die greater or equal to the research threshold indicated on the track. The rulebook explains this in greater detail. But for example, the next research threshold is a 3 and you have a total of 5; a 3 and a 2. You will need to spend the 3 die to move up the track so you spend the 3 die first. The next threshold is a 1 and you have a 2 so you can advance again to the 1.
Once all rooms are resolved, it is the Mothership phase. First, move the mothership down one space and resolve the mothership effect based on the symbol on the track. If the mothership reaches its skull symbol, you lose the game. If any ships are on the row the mothership descends to, they are scooped up and placed back on the mothership to spawn,
After the mothership effect is resolved, spawn all ships on the mothership. Spawn purple ships first then white ships. Ships are spawned on empty rows first, then the rows with ships farthest down the track to the base.
The next turn begins and you start over with the Dice Rolling phase and the game continues until either you win or lose.
The first question you may be asking is why a solo game? if you want to play alone, why not a video or mobile game, why would you play a board game solo? There could be several reasons; you could ask yourself why do a puzzle alone? There are more games coming out now with apps and solo mechanics because there are more people who are playing games solo.
Under Falling Skies is just one of many new games (Final Girl for example) that are made for just one person. The puzzle this game creates is not easy; it is not the same as playing a mobile or computer game, it is full of difficult choices; much more than just move and shoot as you only win by generating enough research points. The descending mothership and the waves of aliens coming down, make that task quite an undertaking.
It can be described as a streamlined version of XCOM the board game. It provides a similar experience but can be managed alone. Under Falling Skies offers a challenge in the base game with two levels of difficulty, but that is not all; there is a whole campaign in the game with more bases and different challenges so the replayability is very high.
With a theme reminiscent of Independence day and good old space invaders, Under Falling Skies will appeal strongly to those fans. The gray and white dice mechanic is interesting and provides mitigation for a very bad roll but like any dice game, there’s always a risk.
The room usage and energy are not just add ons or fillers, but crucial factors in decision making. Make no mistake, if you want to win, this game demands your attention. Every die you place has a cause and effect, so it is imperative you understand both the benefits and the costs associated.
In summary, this is a wonderfully challenging game with lots of decision-making. If you are a solo gamer, or if you want a good puzzle to work out while having a cup of coffee relaxing by yourself, Under Falling Skies may be a great fit.
Written by Ed Carter
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