Terraforming Mars Maps: Hellas, Elysium, and Random Milestones

If you have only played on the base map, you have only played with one set of milestones and awards. Tournaments change that. WBC rotates boards through its rounds, and its 2025 and 2026 events used random milestones and awards on the original board and in every round from the quarterfinal on. Reading a new board at setup is a tournament skill.

Hellas and Elysium

The Hellas & Elysium expansion is one double-sided board that replaces the base map. Each side shows a new region of Mars with its own placement bonuses, ocean areas, milestones, and awards. Turns work the same way.

Hellas

From the rulebook, Hellas shows the south pole and the great Hellas sea, up to the equator. Plant bonuses sit along the equator at the top of the map.

• Heat bonuses appear in the Hellas sea and around the south pole.
• The south pole space costs 6 M€ to place a tile on, and gives you an ocean tile to place, with its TR.
• No volcanos or Noctis region, so Noctis City and Lava Flows lose their placement limits.

Milestones: Diversifier (8 different tags), Tactician (5 cards with requirements in play), Polar Explorer (3 tiles on the two bottom rows), Energizer (6 energy production), Rim Settler (3 Jovian tags).

Awards: Cultivator (most greeneries), Magnate (most green cards in play), Space Baron (most space tags, not counting events), Excentric (most resources on cards), Contractor (most building tags, not counting events).

Elysium

Elysium runs from Olympus Mons to Elysium Montes, with the northern lowlands reaching toward the equator. It has no special placement bonuses. Noctis City loses its limit, and Lava Flows can go on four volcanic sites.

Milestones: Generalist (all 6 productions raised at least 1 step, where corporation starting production counts), Specialist (10 production of any one resource), Ecologist (4 bio tags: plant, microbe, and animal), Tycoon (15 blue and green project cards in play), Legend (5 events played).

Awards: Celebrity (most non-event cards in play costing 20 M€ or more), Industrialist (most steel and energy), Desert Settler (most tiles in the four bottom rows), Estate Dealer (most tiles next to oceans), Benefactor (highest TR, counted first).

What changes on a new board

Compare these lists with the base board’s and you can see the shift.

• Different paths pay. On the base board, Mayor and Gardener reward cities and plants. Hellas rewards breadth, energy, and Jovian tags. Elysium rewards wide production, bio tags, and lots of played cards.
• Some awards count what you hold, others what you built. Industrialist counts steel and energy cubes, which anyone can save or spend in the last generation, like Thermalist and Miner on the base board. Awards that count tags or tiles change slowly.
• The map’s shape changes placement value. Where the plant bonuses, ocean areas, and special spaces sit decides where cities and greeneries want to go. The questions from the tile placement lesson still apply.

Random milestones and awards

Tournaments often draw milestones and awards at random. WBC’s rule draws 5 of each. FryxGames also sells a Milestones & Awards expansion that lets you randomize or choose them for every game.

With random sets, you cannot rely on memory. You have to read them fresh, every game.

Reading any board at setup

You choose your corporation, cards, and Preludes before the first action. So read the board first. A routine:

1. Milestones. For each one, ask whether your corporation and starting cards get you close. A milestone you can reach in the first few generations is 5 VP for 8 M€.
2. Awards. Which ones fit your likely path? Which ones count cubes that can swing late, and which count things that build slowly?
3. Bonus spaces. Where are the steel, titanium, plants, cards, and any special spaces? Do they fit your hand?
4. Contested goals. Which milestones will several players chase? Those races will be decided early.

Then let what you found break ties between corporations and cards. A corporation that is slightly weaker in general but heads straight for two milestones on this board is often the better pick.

During the game

Keep the board’s goals in view. With 6 milestones when Venus is in, and different ones every game, it is easy to lose track. A quick count at the start of each generation helps: who is closest to each milestone, and who leads each award?

Practice

Play your next few games on boards you know least. Board Game Arena offers Hellas, Elysium, and other maps, which makes it easy to see each one many times.