Wouter & Ymke 
Nucleum: Australia, the first expansion for the popular game Nucleum, transports players to the untamed outback of the Land Down Under. The energy revolution that began in Saxony is now echoing across the globe, and Australia, with its rich uranium deposits, is ready to join the fray. Entrepreneurs are taking on the vast, challenging terrain, utilizing innovative shipping methods to transport resources and connect with the nearby islands of Tasmania.
👥 1-4 players, ages 14+
⌛ Playing time: 60-150 minutes
📝 Designers: Simone Luciani & Dávid Turczi
🎨 Artwork: Andreas Resch, Zbigniew Umgelter & Aleksander Zawada
🏢 Publisher: Board&Dice (review copy provided)
How to Play
Nucleum: Australia retains the core mechanics of Nucleum while introducing new possibilities and challenges. One of the most significant changes is the new gameboard. Australia’s sprawling landscape features cities along the coast and mining areas further inland, presenting players with the added complexity of transporting resources to one of the five available power plants. This new setup demands a whole new level of strategic planning.
To tackle these logistical hurdles, a new action tile comes into play. Players can now opt to use their new shipping tile when playing a tile above their player board. This strategic move allows them to place a ship on the shipping route, facilitating the sea transport of resources. After placing the shipping tile, players proceed by playing another action tile on top, resolving the actions as usual.
To further streamline the shipping process, new action tiles featuring the ship action and multicolor edges are added to the mix, making these actions also available when placing tiles as a rail on the board.
Australia’s rich fossil fuel reserves, represented in the game as coal, offer another twist. Unlike the base game, where coal is solely available through import, Australia holds on-board coal mines. Players can construct these mines just like turbines and uranium mines, placing a worker on the mine and adding the mine tile to their extraction board. Adjacent mine tiles grant bonuses, and the worker will automatically produce coal for any connected plant the player chooses to activate during building energization.
New contracts add fresh challenges, requiring players to consider ships and coal mines in their strategies. Due to the demanding building conditions in Australia, the game-end triggers have been increased from 2 to 3, though this change barely affects playtime.
Game Info
Nucleum: Australia is a new chapter in the expert eurogame saga, designed by Simone Luciani and Dávid Turczi and published by Board&Dice. This expansion, like the base game, accommodates 1 to 4 players, ages 14+, with a playing time of 60-150 minutes. Just a heads-up: your first few games might run a bit longer as you get the hang of it.
Nucleum has already climbed into the top 250 on BoardGameGeek within its first year, and with this expansion, we predict it’ll ascend even higher in no time.
Gameplay and Strategy
At its core, Nucleum isn’t the easiest game to master, and the Australia expansion adds extra suspense by dramatically altering the map. The new geography situates mines far inland, with limited connections to the coastal cities, forcing players to rethink their strategies. You’ll need to work together to complete tracks, ensure there are enough uranium mines connected, or build coal mines and gather enough power from the sparse shoreline mines. Both strategies can work, but they require careful planning and hard work to execute well.
Ignoring sea transport? Not a good idea. Shipping routes are vital for moving coal and uranium across long distances. However, players must ensure that the connection from the power plant to the city is solid since boats don’t carry electricity (they’re not magic, after all). This added logistical challenge makes an already complex game even more intriguing.
In terms of player interaction, using opponents’ turbines remains a key strategy for generating enough energy for the cities. However, in Australia, there’s an added cost for placing boats in spots occupied by opponents. Sea connections are recommended as they offer a fast way to transport resources and are the only means to reach Tasmania. So, don’t be shy about setting sail!
Final Thoughts
Nucleum has already provided us with countless evenings of engaging gameplay, and the Australia expansion did not disappoint. The added shipping routes and altered map open up a whole new world. At first, we struggled to adjust to the new layout; resources reached their destinations, but electricity didn’t flow as expected since ships don’t carry it and our rails weren’t connected yet. Figuring this out proved to be a lot of complicated fun.
If you enjoy playing Nucleum and want to add extra challenge and replayability to your games, this expansion is definitely for you. Plus, who wouldn’t want to see kangaroos hopping around while managing their power plants? Just kidding, there are no kangaroos—but the expansion is still fantastic!
📝 Disclaimer: We received a copy of the game from the publisher, Board&Dice.
