Belter: Mining the Asteroids, 2076

Economic SF wargame set in the asteroid belt in the year 2076. In the basic game, two, three, or four players control mining companies that mine asteroids for ore, gas, and highly dangerous shards of CT (contra-terrene matter -- a name for antimatter lifted from the Seetee novels of Jack Williamson). These commodities are traded for credits at the three major planetoid stations. Vicious fights can break out over control of particularly lucrative asteroids. The players have to agree on the winning conditions: The winner is either the first player to one million, ten million, or a hundred million credits, or the wealthiest player after a set timespan elapses. (The playing time is, accordingly, completely arbitrary; two hours is probably too short, but seems like a sane number.)

In the advanced game, an additional player plays the Peace Keeping Force (PKF), whose role is ironically not to stop the fighting, but to suppress revolts and other conflicts just enough to keep prices of ore and gas low. The PKF player achieves partial victory if the price of either commodity is below 200 credits at the end of the game, or decisive victory if the prices of both commodities are below 200 credits.

Includes: 480 counters