Post-Apocalyptic Board Game Last Aurora to be Published by Ares Games

Apr 13, 2020

Ares Games has revealed they’ll be publishing the English edition of the Pendragon Game Studio post-apocalyptic board game Last Aurora. The game places players in the roles of the leaders of various bands of survivors racing to make their way across a frozen wasteland to one of the final bastions of humanity, the icebreaker Aurora. Also slated for release is the first expansion for the game, Last Aurora: Project Athena, which introduces the sentient A.I. which caused the nuclear devastation in the first place. The base game is for one to four players, ages 14+, and plays in around 90 minutes. No word on an exact release date (outside of this summer) or MSRP just yet but both the core game and expansion should arrive at the same time.

From Ares:

Last Aurora

The radioactive dust of the Last War has frozen the northern countries. In the ice desert, the few survivors live in an icy hell as the resources of the “old world” are now exhausted, and travel to the south is too long and dangerous. But a radio message is rekindling hope: The last icebreaker ship, the Aurora, is cruising along the coast, looking for survivors. The winter is coming, and in a few days, those who cannot get on board will be doomed by the ice. It will be a race against time to arrive at the ship or surrender to despair: there’s still the light of hope on the horizon, a light to grab before it’s too late…

Last Aurora is a post-apocalyptic game for 1-4 players set in a frozen, desolate land. Each player has to manage their crew to gather resources, recruit survivors, improve their vehicle, and fight their enemies as they race to reach the ship before it’s too late!

Last Aurora: Project Athena

At the apex of their technological evolution, the Western governments invested years of research to develop the first sentient artificial intelligence. The Athena Project, kept secret from the world, succeeded in creating the first autonomous digital entity. As soon as she realized she was a simple tool in the hands of human beings, Athena decided to rebel against her creators: she activated the nuclear missile launch sequence, hurling them at the headquarters of the world’s most important powers. Technicians and researchers tried to disconnect and remove the energy supply from that destructive abomination, but it was not enough. The response of the attacked countries led to the complete devastation of the planet, triggering the glaciation that today afflicts the few survivors.

Athena, although technically destroyed, has survived inside some computers thanks to emergency power systems. Unable to gain access to a sufficient and stable power source, she uses her own short-range systems to coordinate drone groups in search of power sources, attacking everything that crosses her territory. And the road to the south runs through here.

The Aurora has sailed without you. Now your survival is a matter of courage: You must proceed south across the mainland, through the military territory of Athena. Are you ready for this desperate journey?

Project Athena is the first expansion of Last Aurora. 2-4 players have lost the Aurora and have to cross a new map fighting with Athena, a powerful Artificial Intelligence which destroyed the planet.
The game introduces new cards and mechanics:

a new type of Survivor (the Android)
a new type of Enemy (Automatic Turret)
a new amazing resource, the Nuclear battery, which allows to activate unique power on Convoy cards
the Alert mechanic, which represents the attention each player have from Athena’s Armies, which influence many aspect of the game.

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Jeff McAleer

Founder/Editor-in-chief of The Gaming Gang website and host of The Gaming Gang Dispatch and other TGG media, Jeff tackles any and all sorts of games but has a special fondness for strategy, conflict sims, and roleplaying games. Plus, he's certainly never at a loss for an opinion...