G&G XIX: Aliens

Finding the right games for our annual Gaming & Guinness get-together can be a challenge, as most most strategic games (whether board, card or otherwise) tend to support 4-6 players and not the 8 or 9 we typically have in attendance. We have repurposed a lot of miniatures games that are meant to be played one-on-one by splitting the forces up (Starfleet Battles, Warhammer 40K, Legends of the Old West, X-Wing, Battletech etc.), but that doesn't always yield satisfying results.

Three years ago I brought Aliens: Another Glorious Day In The Corps, which supports 8 players out of the gate and 9 if you let someone play the Alien Hive Mind with the expansion. It is a solid game with great miniatures but a bit ponderous and almost puzzle-like at times, which is not always a great fit for an event that has an alcoholic beverage in its very name.

And in truth, the experience we were trying to recapture was from a much earlier, much simpler game from 1989.

Leading Edge Games, known mostly for their Living Steel (sci-fi) and Phoenix Command (modern military) RPGs, had somehow netted the game license for James Cameron's hit movie Aliens and made a dandy little tactical game out of it. 

Tragically, their limited production values, noticeable at the time, had become egregious over the years. The 'board' is printed on glossy but flimsy folded paper, and the counters are stand up pieces of thin card punched out along perforated lines.

They expanded upon this with three sets of 25 mm miniatures for the humans and xenomorphs, which, again, were not bad at all for their time, but leave much to be desired today. Great storage cases though!

The game was simple yet challenging: the titular aliens drop onto the map completely randomly, moving towards the closest target. The nine marines each have 2-3 actions per turn which they have to divide between moving towards the exit and shooting hostile bugs. 

Luck plays a pretty major factor, obviously, but there is room for smart play as well, and the tension of knowing that on any turn, a xeno can drop right on top of Sgt. Apone and take your best flame unit out of the game keeps things wound up pretty tight.

But as much fun as it is, the map is not just flat, it is plain, and a bit small for 8 players to clamber around to boot. I know the game is a favourite of Island Mike, who has played an online Flash version of it many, many times. But how to overcome its overwhelming lack of pizzazz?

BoardGameGeek to the rescue!

I had actually contemplated scratch building a 3D board for the game years ago, but faltered when I wondered what I could use for the machinery and xenological corruption that made up so much of the board. 

More recently I had wondered if anyone had attempted something similar for 3D printing, and sure enough, LV427 Designs (nice!) had posted pics of it on the famed boardgame site.

I quickly directed our fabrication specialist Jeff to the site and set him to work printing the plates we needed. A few days (and spools of filament) later he brought over a box of great looking grey plastic, and I cleared a space in the garage to prime it all.

There was very little in the way to supports to trim, but all of the scenery (save one larger piece) print out as attached to the floor. This made priming and painting a little tricky, especially for the ones close to the walls.

But once all the paint was applied (mostly drybrushing and SpeedPaints), adding the numbers was not too difficult, despite all the recounting I did to make sure they were all in the right places.

Only after I was completed did I realize I had used an optional, larger exit instead of the proper one, and rushed to replace it. Luckily one of the extra pieces Jeff had printed was exactly what I needed, and the numbers got added at G&G, about an hour before playtime...

And once all the miniatures from AGITDC were added and I threw a printed graphic under the stairwell, it all looked pretty marvelous!

We had a pretty sound strategy, some lucky xeno deployments (and only one 'bonus bug' all game!) and a couple of very fortunate Alien Attack rolls. Two Marines ended up incapacitated but were successfully carried to safety by their comrades - no casualties!

The best part though, was watching Mike's face at the beginning when I pulled away the paper map and revealed the 3D board underneath - wish I had gotten a picture.