Stats:
No. of players: 2-5
Amount of time to play: 30-45 min
Age requirements: 12+
Set-up time: minimal

Outpost Siberia is a cooperative card game of survival. Can you get enough food and water and survive the strange creatures you encounter?

Outpost Siberia Rules Description:

After setting up the game you select your character. Each character has a special ability that can help you at certain points in the game. Then you decide who will take the first turn. Each card in the game can be used in one of three ways for supplies, to attack Threats, or to represent an event or Threat. Sometimes you choose how it is used but often it will depend on when it is drawn or played.

Each player’s turn will consist of five phases. First you draw two cards from the Outpost deck. You then decide which card you’d like to keep and which one you’ll put into the Supply. The card you keep can only be used for its attack value to defeat a Threat. Cards you put into the Supply are available to anyone on their turn and can only be used as the equipment or resource it shows.

In the second phase you can attack any Threats by playing cards from your hand. To defeat a Threat you must play enough cards with attack values that total the Threats health or more.

Next you may play Equipment cards from the Supply. There are three types of Equipment cards you can use in phase three, a Flare, a First Aid Kit or a Weapon. A Flare cancels the effect of one Threat for the round. A First Aid Kit heals one player one Health. And some Threats require a specific Weapon (either a Flamethrower or Ice Axe) to defeat.

During the fourth phase you draw one card from the Expedition deck. This might be an event (good or bad) or a new Threat. If it is an event you must discard a Food or Water from the Supply and then the event happens. If you are unable to pay one character must lose a Health. If it is a Threat you must assign its damage to a character that has not gone this round.

Lastly you turn you character card to show you have gone this round and pick the player to go next.

After all characters have had their turn the round ends. If any Threats have end of the round effects they trigger now. And then a new round begins.

If you have drawn the last card in the Expedition deck and survived you win the game. But if at any point a character is reduced to zero Health or there are five Threats in play you lose.

Quick Review of Outpost Siberia:

Outpost: Siberia is easy to teach and learn and can be enjoyed by young and old alike.

The components are well done. The cards are of good quality and the artwork looks good too. The rules are well written and easy to teach and follow.

I like how every card has three different functions. A card’s function might depend on when it is drawn but you also have some control over how cards are used. It is a nice design and gives you a bit of control of the board.

This game also does a good job of letting you adjust its difficulty. There are easy, normal and hard variants. This helps add to the game’s replay value and ups the challenge once you have mastered it.

Be aware if you are playing with just two players you might need to adjust the difficulty. It is tough with just two characters to win. You don’t have enough attacks or Health to keep up with the Threats.

Outpost: Siberia is a fun cooperative card game that is very portable and lets you scale its difficulty. If you are looking for a game to travel with or your group is looking for a new cooperative game check it out.

Score and synopsis: (Click here for an explanation of these review categories.)
Strategy 3 out of 6
Luck 4 out of 6
Player Interaction 4 out of 6
Replay Value 5 out of 6
Complexity 2 out of 6
Fun 4 out of 6
Overall 4 out of 6