So, as soon as ALIEN: Fate of the Nostromo was announced, I immediately ordered it. As a fan of the olde skool Universal monsters, I was quite impressed with Ravensburger's lite-n'-spoopy co-op Horrified. I also dug Jaws for similar reasons, even though the poor, sad, under-powered shark generates more pathos than fear in the game.
Anyhoo, here's the mission briefing on this new release, presumably from Weyland-Yu...er, Ravensburger itself:
In ALIEN: Fate of the Nostromo, players take the role of Nostromo crew members Ripley, Lambert, Parker, Brett, or Dallas. Over the course of the game, they collect scrap, craft items, and fulfill different objectives. The crew will lose and gain morale as they encounter the Alien and other situations. If crew morale reaches zero, players lose the game.
Each turn has two phases. In the Crew Action phase, players creep through the Nostromo's halls, gathering scrap, crafting items, trading scrap and items with other players, and using items and their special abilities. Brett, for example, can craft items with one fewer scrap than other players. If the Alien is within three spaces of the player with the incinerator, that player can use the incinerator to send the Alien back to its nest.
In the Encounter phase, players draw and resolve an Encounter card. The Alien could be lurking behind any corner...
Once the players fulfill their initial objectives, they face one of five final missions, each with a unique set of requirements. Players must fulfill the final mission's requirements simultaneously to win the game. Players can also introduce Science Officer Ash for a more challenging game. Ash moves through the ship, removing scrap and forcing the crew to lose morale.
Looking for the full transmission? Then just slip into MU-TH-UR 6000's interface room and get all the Special Order deets right hur.
***
SAMPLE PLAY-THROUGH
Lambert uses her Special Ability to take a peek at the top card of the Encounter Deck. It’s “Order 937 - Collating Data.” Since this card isn't particularly scary right now, she decides to put it back on top of the Deck. She then uses her three remaining Actions to move into Equipment Storage.
“Order 937” is revealed. Since nobody has any Scrap, that part of the card is ignored. Instead of moving, Ash just discards the two Scrap in the Medbay. (RULES QUESTION: Does Ash only turf Scrap when he moves into, or “Encounters”, a space? In other words, would he first have to move out of the Medbay and then move back in if he wanted to discard the Scrap?)
Brett decides to move three spaces towards the Hypersleep chamber.
He then draws an Encounter card: “Order 937 - Meet Me In The Infirmary.” This immediately moves Brett to the Medbay. Since Brett is now keeping Ash "under observation”, he doesn’t move.
Dallas moves four spaces into the MU-TH-UR space.
He then pulls a “Quiet” Encounter card. After the Alien moves one space out of the Nest, two Scrap is added to the Docking Bay along with a Concealed token.
Lambert spends an Action to peek at the top Encounter Card. Since it’s a powerful Alien “Stalk” card, she decides to bury it at the bottom of the deck. She then uses her second Action to pick up a Coolant Canister, the third to move into Suit Storage and her final Action to drop the Canister.
Her Encounter card is another “Quiet.” After the Alien moves one space, a Scrap and a Concealed Token are both placed on the Bridge.
Even though there’s a Concealed token in the Docking Bay, Brett decides to risk it and move three spaces to get there. Unfortunately, the token reveals an Alien attack! (STRATEGY TIP: build a Motion Detector ASAP to mitigate going into rooms blind like this!) The Crew Morale takes one damage and Brett is forced to flee three spaces. (RULES QUESTION: between the vague rule book and the forums on BGG, it looks like you have to "flee" exactly three spaces if you can. But I still don't have a conclusive answer as to whether or not you can voluntarily choose a shorter route or into a room with a Concealed Token, which halts movement. Honestly, I have no idea!) He decides to gamble again, moving down into Maintenance, and flipping another Concealed token, which is marked “Safe” this time. Since this happened on Brett’s turn, his Encounter step is skipped.
Dallas uses an Action to pick up a Coolant Canister. (ERROR: looks like I might have also snapped up the two Scrap in this room, but that would have required its own separate Action) He then uses two Actions to move onto the Bridge, forcing him to reveal the Concealed token there. Jones the cat immediately leaps out at Dallas, causing a one-point Crew Morale loss before the token goes back into supply. Dallas then decides to take a Craft Action, spending two Scrap to make a Flashlight and then uses his final Action to pick up the single Scrap on the Bridge.
Dallas draws an Encounter card, which turns out to be an Alien “Stalk.” Brett is the closest target, so the Alien moves into Maintenance with him. This result in a three-point Crew Morale loss and Brett is forced to flee three spaces, so he decides to run into the Garage. Since there’s a Concealed token in there, it’s revealed...but it’s declared “Safe.”
(RULES CLARIFICATION: only drawing a "Surprise Attack" Concealed Token prematurely ends a player's turn)
Lambert starts her turn by revealing the top Encounter Card, which turns out to be another “Quiet.” She then spends the rest of her three Actions moving towards the Docking Bay.
The Encounter Card is then resolved, and the Alien moves one space into the corridor. (ERROR: it should have moved into the Docking Bay since it would be within one space of Lambert versus two spaces away from Brett.) Also Equipment Storage receives two Scrap and a Concealed Token.
Brett spends his first Action to pick up the two Scrap in the Garage, then use a free Action to construct a Grapple Gun (which only costs him two Scrap) and then fire his new toy, pushing the Alien all the way back to the Workshop. He then uses his final Action to pick up a Coolant Canister.
He draws another “Quiet” card. After the Alien moves one space back into the corridor, away from the Workshop, two Scrap and a Concealed Token is then placed in Suit Storage.
Dallas spends four of his Actions getting to the Suit Storage area. Since there’s a Concealed Token in there, he’s forced to turn it over, revealing that he’s “Safe.” He then uses his final Action to drop the second required Coolant Canister, completing the “Prep Suits” Objective Card.
He then turns over an Encounter Card, which is another “Quiet.” After the Alien moves one space back into Maintenance, one Scrap and one Concealed Token is placed in the Airlock.
Lambert uses her first Action to look at the next Encounter Card, revealed to be another “Quiet.” She puts it back on top of the deck and then spends an Action to move one space into the Docking Bay. She uses her third Action to pick up the two Scrap and then her final Action to Craft a Motion Detector.
She then reveals and resolves the “Quiet” card. This reveals a serious miscalculation, since Maintenance and the Docking Bay, where Lambert is standing, are adjacent. So, the team suffers a two point Crew Morale drop and Lambert is forced to flee three spaces towards the Suit Storage area. (ERROR: I'm not sure if I placed the new Scrap and Conceal token from this card! D'oh!)
Brett decides to move three spaces towards Equipment Storage.
His Encounter card is another “Quiet”, so the Alien moves just one space. Since there’s an equal distance between Lambert and Brett, they decide to move the xenomorph into Maintenance. Two Scrap and one Concealed token also appears in the Hypersleep chamber.
Dallas uses his Actions to pick up a Coolant Canister, gather up two Scrap and move from Suit Storage into Equipment Storage, where he’s forced to reveal a Concealed token. It’s Jones again, but since Dallas has a Flashlight, the Morale loss is reduced to zero. After Dallas picks up two more Scrap in the Equipment Storage room, he then uses his final Action to craft an Incinerator.
His Encounter card is “Order 937 - Crew Expendable,” forcing Dallas to lose his single Scrap token. (NOTE: This is likely karma kicking in, since I illegally picked two up earlier.) Then all of the “Order 937” cards are shuffled back into the deck. Finally, Ash leaves the Medbay and slinks two spaces towards Lambert.
On Lambert's turn, she decides to spend all four of her Action points to get from the corridor just north of Suit Storage to the corridor just off the the Hypersleep chamber.
She didn’t bury an Encounter Card this turn and, unfortunately, it turns out to be an Alien “Hunt” card, which moves the creature two spaces. It spooks Brett (again), resulting in a massive four-point Crew Morale loss. He then runs three spaces away, ending up in the corridor between Maintenance and the Workshop.
Brett then moves two spaces into the Docking Bay and spends his last Action to drop a Coolant Canister there.
The Encounter Card he draws is another Alien “Stalk.” The creature springs at Dallas and the team loses two more Morale points, a point of which is mitigated by the Captain’s Flashlight. The heroes are just two Morale points shy of losing the game! Dallas then flees three spaces into the Maintenance room.
Dallas spends Action points to pick up Scrap in Maintenance, move into the Docking Bay and then drop a Coolant Canister there. This completes the “We’ll Take Our Chances in the Shuttle” Objective. He then spends his fourth Action to pass one Scrap to Brett, and then uses his final Action to move one space down the corridor towards the Airlock.
His Encounter card is “Order 937 - Meet Me In The Infirmary”, which forces Dallas to move to the Medbay. This also moves Ash two spaces into the same room, forcing Dallas to discard one of his Scrap back to the pile. (RULES QUESTION: Can you voluntarily lose Morale instead? Not really an option for me, since I'm perilously close to losing!)
Lambert scans the Hypersleep chamber with her Motion Tracker, detects Jonesy, and shuffles the token back into the pool. For her second Action, she moves into the Hypersleep chamber, fulfilling the “Check the Hypersleep Chamber” Objective. For her third Action, she picks up the two Scrap lying there, and then spends her final action to look at the top Encounter card. It’s “Order 937 - Collating Data”, which would force each crew to lose one Scrap! She decides to gamble and bury it at the bottom of the deck.
She then draws in a Encounter card and gets a “Quiet.” The Alien moves via the ladder from the Equipment Storage room to Suit Storage. Three Scrap and one Conceal token is then placed in the Garage.
Brett moves two Spaces, enters the Galley and then uses the Grapple Gun to force the Alien back three spaces. The creature ends up in the central Sub Deck corridor, two spaces away from its Nest. With this second use, the Grapple Gun is now exhausted and the token goes back into supply.
He then draws an Encounter Card which is another “Quiet” result. The Alien moves one space into Maintenance, while two Scrap appears in MU-TH-UR as well as one Concealed token.
Dallas moves three spaces into the Docking Bay and then uses an Action to activate the Incinerator, driving the Alien back to its Nest. He then moves one space down the corridor towards the Galley.
Since the Incinerator was just used, Dallas avoids drawing an Encounter Card.
Lambert uses all four her Actions to move into the Galley, joining Brett.
She then draws an Encounter Card, getting “Order 937 - Crew Expendable.” Sadly, this forces her to lose all of her Scrap Tokens. (WORTH NOTING FOR NEW PLAYERS: Scrap is never completely discarded from the game...it just gets “tied up” in Inventories or on the board) After all of the “Order 937” cards get reshuffled back into the deck, Ash moves two spaces down the hall towards the Docking Bay.
With plans to complete the “Crew Meeting” Objective now completely dashed, Brett decides to venture two spaces to the Suit Storage room to pick up a Coolant Canister.
In the equivalent of getting a nice, big paper cut and pouring lemon juice all over it, the Encounter Card that Brent draws is “Order 937 - Collating Data”, which forces every crew member to throw out a Scrap! Ash then moves two spaces and freaks out Dallas. The Captain doesn’t have any Scrap, which would normally result in a loss of Crew Morale, but he still has his Flashlight which (I assume) mitigates that loss. Again, I can only assume that the Flashlight prevents Morale regardless of the source.
Now completely devoid of any Scrap, Dallas is forced to backtrack three spaces to the Airlock and flip the Concealed Token there. This reveals an Alien Encounter, causing a loss of three more Crew Morale, which ends the game!
***
REVIEW
PROS
- It's pretty! Again, Ravensburger completely knocks it out of the park regarding the game's production. The board, minis, tokens and cards are all top-notch. The art alone on the Player Reference Cards is downright suitable for framing!
- It's tense! Flipping over those Concealed Tokens can be super-stressful. It's a solid mechanic that elegantly replicates the cinematic device of some threat just kinda poppin' out at ya. Side note: this would also be well at home for, say, a Friday the 13'th board game. * hint, hint *
- It's easy! At it's core, the game is pretty simple: spend your Action Points on Moving, Crafting, Trading, Picking up stuff or using your Special Ability. Then draw an Encounter Card and follow the directions. Super simple!
- It's crafty! I like how crafting weapons and equipment can mitigate the effects of the Alien. Going straight for the Objectives may be tempting, but spending some of those early Scrap gains on helpful tools might be a smart future investment.
- It's sneaky! You always have to be paying attention to where you are in relation to the Alien. A whopping sixteen Encounter Cards move the creature, with eleven moving it a single space, two moving it two spaces and three moving it three spaces. This makes it really challenging to keep your distance from the xenomorph.
- Ir's on point! The Character special abilities are straightforward and make thematic sense. Warrant Officer Ripley is good at giving orders, Dallas is a generalist, Chief Engineer Parker can generate Scrap and Engineering Tech Brett can make gadgets from that Scrap. Only Navigator Lambert's ability to peek at the top card in the Encounter Deck seems like a bit of a stretch.
- It's reasonably varied! There are ten Objective Cards and five Final Missions, which will give you a unique combination of challenges with every game!
- It's genuinely co-operative! The odds are definitely stacked against you, so you really hafta work together if you have any hope for survival.
- It's lame. Sorry, I know that player elimination is an unfathomable concept in games nowadays, but if any title needed it, it was ALIEN. I'm going to see if I can house rule a nominal combat system that pays a modicum of respect to the film's nihilistic theme.
- It's a bit too simple. I can't shake the feeling that the producers of this game wanted it to be a lighter, even family-style game in the style of Horrified. God, I hope I'm wrong. Alien was, and still is, one of the most terrifying movies ever made, and the content is definitely not for kids. Besides, the only people who actually care about this IP are crusty old fucks like myself, ergo, this game should be geared towards adult fans and should have been more substantial. Sure, the designer has an informal "Director's Cut" list of rules suggestions, but this (and much more) should have been included of the core rules. Speaking of that particular rag...
- It's confusing. To prep for this solo session, I watched a how-to-play vid, a YouTube play-through, I ran a two-player game with Chad last Thursday night and then I re-read the rule book from front to back. And I still have plenty of questions about rules vagaries and how to adjudicate certain things. Seriously, game publishers, get to know me. I'm a veteran gamer, writer and editor, who also happens to be a stickler for a clear and comprehensive rule set. I'll play test the crap outta your design and make sure that the rule book that ships with the game has all of its bases covered and won't immediately inspire a massive rules thread on BBG.
- It's scaled all wrong. One day, I'm going to try and play this thing with a full compliment of five-players, and I fully expect it to be a complete shit show. Given the size of the map, I have no idea how the Alien can't bump into players on every friggin' turn.
I'm happy that the game looks great and has a semblance of the movie's original feel, but I'm also sorely disappointed that it's missing some substantial chrome, pulls its punches and the anemic, eight-page rule book would inspire even the most casual rules lawyer to stick their head in an airlock.
Sadly, of all the games I've played lately, this one virtually screams out for house rules, like a space jockey cornered by a biomechanical nightmare creature.
The ALIEN: Fate of the Nostromo scores 3 pips out of 6 with an M-class starfreighter-sized tilt up.
No comments:
Post a Comment