The Beta Expansion

There are a limited number of copies of the beta expansion for The Expanse that should be floating out there by now.  If you happen to have one of them, and are wondering "how does this expansion work?" you've come to the right place.

Rule Changes

First off, there are some rule changes that go along with the expansion:

• To win the game, the number of Locations you need to explore depends on the number of people playing:
• 4 players = 6 Locations
• 3 players = 7 Locations
• 2 players = 8 Locations
• You no longer need to worry about needing to discard duplicates with the new rule above.

How to use the expansion cards

There are two ways you can play with the three new Locations and their respective Explorations:

Swap out

The first, and most straightforward is to simply remove three of the current Locations and their matching Explorations cards, and put these new ones in in their place.  This leaves the rules unchanged, and allows you to try out different combinations of cards.  Keep in mind that more higher-cost Locations will result in a slightly longer game on average.

Larger Expanse

The second is to add the new cards to the existing ones, and play with a 3 x 4 grid instead of the existing 3 x 3. This will result in more moves towards, rather than all the way to a location than in the base game.  The number of Locations you need to explore is one more than in the 3 x 3 game:

• 4 players = 7 Locations
• 3 players = 8 Locations
• 2 players = 9 Locations

Questions?

Please let me know if you have any questions, or if something does not make sense, using the email address on the expansion cards, or by posting it here.  Thanks!