Sunday, February 15, 2015

Aliens: This Time It's War (redux)

Managed to get in another solo game of Aliens: This Time it's War recently. While the game is very tactical, as opposed to strategic, I have to admit that I really like the game due to the cinematic situations that develop naturally while playing the game.

Game report below.
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The Aliens got off to a slow albeit steady start. They were never able to massacre the marines but were able to kill off at least 1 marine per round. This meant that, relative to the movie, they were slightly behind (Apone didn't die until the marines were escaping by way of APC).

However, in the mid-game, the Alien player managed to pull off another dropship disaster which helped to thin down the marines. The murder of Ferro lead to an additional 2 rounds in the Dropship Evac stage which gave the Aliens a chance to recover and get some kills. Particularly helpful was the lack of operations cards during the same period.

Moving into the final stage on the Sulaco and things were pretty tight. The marines still had Ripley, Bishop and Newt. By now, the Alien player was starting to feel pretty good albeit the marines did have a pretty decent handsize as the marines were unable to play many operations cards during Dropship Evac.

These cards were promptly discarded to power the Sentry Gun! Woohoo!

However, the joy was shortlived as the Aliens threw down an Alien Swarm and managed to kill off poor little Newt. Advantage to the Aliens!

However (again!), a lucky draw in the second round of the Sulaco (after poor little Newt got eaten by a passing Alien) allowed the marine player to field the Powerloader. Together with the Sentry Gun and other ops cards, the marines now had 13 power on the Sulaco stage! Firepower FTW!

The last couple of rounds were brutal as, in desperation, the Alien player threw everything he had at the marines. Two security doors dropped to delay the marines final escape - pushing back the turn marker back twice in the final rounds. However, this would only delay the inevitable if they couldn't pull any Alien cards to overwhelm the marines firepower. With the lack of marine kills, the Nuke counter was also ticking perilously close to zero!

Aliens kept coming at the marines in waves. Some were devastated by careful controlled bursts by the marines. Others were blown apart with grenades. Despite this, the Aliens kept coming - knowing it was their last chance to take out the last surviving marines before their timely escape.

Ultimately, despite Bishop being torn in half, the marines were able to keep the Aliens at bay and scrape out the win. It was a close call but, in the end, the combined firepower of the Powerloader and Sentry Gun proved too much for the Aliens to deal with.

Hoo ah!

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