The Complete Terraforming Mars Expansion Guide

With an arsenal of Terraforming Mars expansions at your side, conquering the Red Planet is more exciting than ever. Whether you’re settling deep space colonies or building the Luna Metropolis, the added maps and game mechanics of the expansions bring additional layers of depth and chaos to the original board game. But which expansions are the biggest game changers? And which expansion is the best one to buy first? In this guide, you’ll find a complete breakdown of the game’s add-ons listed in the suggested purchasing order.

How Many Terraforming Mars Expansions Are There?

There are currently five official expansions for Terraforming Mars. However, Stronghold Games is working on three more, which will first be available via Kickstarter. There are also a few additional add-ons that develop the world of Terraforming Mars beyond the boundaries of the iconic board game. But before we get to those, let’s take a look at the main expansions. 

1. Terraforming Mars: Prelude

If you’ve played Terraforming Mars without any of its expansions, you’ve probably noticed that the early generations can be quite slow. The cards in the Prelude box jumpstart your corporation’s production and terraform rating right out the gate, which puts you in the middle of the engine-building action when the game begins. For this reason alone, it’s easily the best Terraforming Mars expansion to buy first. The Prelude expansion also adds five new corporations to the mix, ensuring further gameplay variance.

2. Terraforming Mars: Hellas & Elysium

The Hellas & Elysium expansion adds two new game boards that explore the far side of Mars. Ocean spaces shift positions, placement bonuses change, and cards like Noctis City lose their placement restrictions. In addition, each board offers new milestones and awards that change your strategy significantly. On the Hellas map, the temperature rises quickly. On the Elysium map, the game’s expensive cards are more impactful than ever.

3. Terraforming Mars: Colonies

With the Colonies expansion, the reach of your corporation extends to the distant expanses of the outer solar system. A randomized selection of the new colony tiles placed during setup represents destinations where players can either build a colony or send their trade fleet for resources. If you trade on the moons and planets where your opponents have a colony, they’ll benefit from your actions. The Colonies expansion also added 49 new project cards and five new corporations, so there are even more ways to win. 

4. Terraforming Mars: Turmoil

If you’ve already purchased all three of the expansions listed above but want further mechanics and gameplay variance for Terraforming Mars, you can go with either Turmoil or Venus Next. Turmoil is the most complex expansion available for the game, designed specifically for experienced players. It includes the new committee board, on which you can add your delegates to political parties to influence which party will be in power during the next generation. The ruling party then passes policies that alter the game environment. Alongside the committee board, a series of global events will also take place each generation, which add considerable chaos to the game by restricting resources, decreasing temperature, and even destroying cities.

5. Terraforming Mars: Venus Next

The Venus Next expansion adds a new global parameter, the Venus track, which increases your terraform rating in a similar fashion to the temperature and oxygen scales. However, the Venus track doesn’t have to be maxed out for the game to end, which means it will sometimes be ignored entirely, depending on which corporations are in play. For this reason, Venus Next is the lowest priority expansion on this list. However, it adds five new corporations, 49 new project cards, and a few additional milestones and awards, all of which are definitely nice to have. 

Expanding the Terraforming Mars Universe

The world of Terraforming Mars includes more than the original board game and its expansions. If you can’t get enough of this fantastic universe, here are a few extra ways to amplify your Terraforming Mars experience.

Terraforming Mars: Ares Expedition

It’s easy to mistake Ares Expedition for one of the original game’s expansions. However, it’s a standalone game that simplifies many of the core mechanics of the original. As a result, it plays at a significantly faster pace. While the oxygen and temperature parameters tied to the completion of the game remain the same as the predecessor game, tile placement is no longer important because oceans are locked in place and simply need to be flipped. The game also has three expansions of its own, Discovery, Foundations and Crisis.

Terraforming Mars: The Dice Game

Terraforming Mars: The Dice Game is another standalone game that reimplements many of the mechanics of the original. Dice randomize resource production, and only two of the three global parameters are needed to complete the game. It’s a good choice for younger players who enjoy the theme of Terraforming Mars.

The Terraforming Mars Book Trilogy

The Terraforming Mars books are neat novelties that provide extensive backstory for the events of the board game. There are three entries in the series, which begins with In The Shadow Of Deimos. The story continues in Edge Of Catastrophe and is completed in the final novel, Shores Of A New Horizon. The events of the books closely involve the Terraforming Committee and its influence on the taming of the Red Planet, which means they’ll make the most sense to gamers who have already played the Turmoil expansion. 

Terraforming Mars Puzzles

In addition to the games and books, there are also Terraforming Mars puzzles available for true collectors and enthusiasts. The Prelude and Colonies puzzles focus on the key art from the expansions after which they are named, while the corporations puzzle features a fun display of all the corporation and board game tile and card icons.