Meh, forget that whole I haz laser gun stuff that no one is posting batreps of..
What we need is majestic 12 selling out mankind, what we need is naval battle fleets and robot mech vs giant squid (yes I've suggested mega shark for a sequel, might not make it in but sounds like giant lizards will) we need broodqueens that have a positive in game synergy when put down with her hatchling swarms, black goo and assassins oh my.. We need to be able to destroy the whitehouse, we need secret deep bunkers sending Nuke after nuke after nuke as our days our numbered. We need intelligence forces and secret bodies meeting in the Mount Rushmore.
What you need is to see a preview batrep of the latest game by Mark Chaplin that’s going on sale at Essen (distributed through white goblin games)
next week. So here you go.
From the box:
The box is a standard square shape similar to Dominion,Talisman etc etc 30cm x30cm.
The contents 140 standard cards 70 per side, plus 11 heroe cards, a Gaming board and a bunch of tokens for keeping track of what I’ll call money and shields (although in game they are called power and whatever fluff is relevant to maintaining the card on the table).
Unfortunately the boxes internal layout makes the contents feel small (a bit rattley) but that is just the interior design of the box..meh.
The game is played by placing a board in between 2 players. From that a grid of cards 3 across 4 deep forms to make a moderate playing area.. The board is primarily used to keep track of time till victory (1 of the victory conditions) special one off events that each player can use and to remind people which column/ territory everyone is battling in and what modifiers are effecting said areas.
The game at first glance appears to be a meatgrinder, the alien is the only player who “attacks”. However this is just one method of victory so I figure I ought to go into those..
Humans win if the alien player runs out of cards in his blind draw deck (starting at 70)..
The central “time” (my word, not theres, as it can go up and down) reaches 0.
Or a special card is allowed to stay in play unmolested for 5 consecutive turns.
Aliens win if humans run out of cards in his blind draw deck (starting at 70)
The positive modifier in the central playing area is reduced to 0 (V hard to do)
Both of the lesser areas are reduced to 0
All 11 “Heroes” are killed
There special card is allowed to stay in play for 5 turns.
5 games in so far my games have consisted of the central “time” barrier running out, or “draining” the opponents deck. But its nice to be able to play to different targets dependant on the luck of the draw. I managed to kill 5 heroes with concerted effort but I am a noob playing its creator.
Gamey stuff-
You pay to use stuff, sometimes by discarding from your hand, sometimes by “draining” a cool concept by which you just reduce your pile of draw cards(remember when they’re gone they’re gone). Considering the epic nature of throwing nukes and giant squid babies at each other I found the cost reward basis very balanced.
Both players have player turns, in which luck of the draw you get to do horrendous things to each other.. whilst only the invaders can "invade" (forcing a draining of your deck by winning a points battle in the middle of the board) the humans CAN FIGHT its just they do it through use of cards ONLY, so they don’t get to tot up totals and diminish the opponents deck directly but they can throw special forces, satellite lasers and suicide bombers at them. (its not a passive role) and you just have to wither the storm to win..holding the aliens to a stand still means humans win.
Human heroes are a tad weird.. they don’t massively bolster or inspire, what they do is permanently block one of your squares on your grid, but they can shift zone to assist in battles and they can be sacrificed to up the number of cards in your hand..They are a fluff game objective/King rather than an uber card/queen, once thats clear in your head the game flows smoothly.
The build quality is excellent the artwork accurately represents the incredibly diverse use of whole reams of sci fi/ Cinephile knowledge paying tribute to classics and contemporary themes that keep geeks happy.
The game plays with a momentum that makes a narrative/fluff very easy to whisk away to. My opponent was able to atomise the moon melt the polar ice caps whilst I performed alien autopsies and destroyed a self replicating cloud of nanites all before norad and cheyeene mountain got whisked away in a brutal assault losing me control(/ power under invasion) in eurasia and africa.
I ask you, how else are you going to get global apocalypse with squid babies into a 45 minute lunchbreak?
Some pics
No mercy I play a mean card Man clasping his hands over his ears shows I'm ready to throw down a prion madness bomb to seal one of her heroes fates.I've played a bigg purple stalker giant baddy card, but games designer saw it happening and has placed a blocking card on it, arrgh.As baddy the games designer is cornered.. as he cannot replace any of the low value cards he was winning with early on.. so now his grid is full he had very limited mobility, however he is still winning in one region so ,in this particular game, he doesn't care and kicks my butt.More detailed pictures of a few cards here http://boardgamegeek.com/images/boardga ... 4/invaders The manufacturer http://www.whitegoblingames.com/game/214/InvadersBesides direct and at Essen I'm not sure yet whose going to be selling it here but thought you guys would want a heads up..woohah.