Aliens - Board game by Leading Edge

Aliens - This Time It's War.
So, this week Craig wanted to play an old game of his that he had managed to locate at the bottom of his wardrobe - he has wanted to play it for a while, Aliens - This Time It's War by Leading Edge.

Craig and Adrian bought the game, the expansion and most of the figures years ago and wanted to have another crack at it.  The game itself allows players to recreate three key battle scenarios from the 1986 science fiction/horror film and I have always loved the films.

The scenarios include:
1. The Reactor Room  (nine marines vs. the aliens in their lair)
2. Operations and Air Ducts (the surviving marines face an alien assault and pursuit)
3. Ripley vs. The Queen (Ripley uses a powerloader in her final battle with the Alien Queen)

Aliens - Leading Edge

Aliens - Board game 

he game comes with a 17" x 34" game map, character cards, and counters to represent both the Colonial Marines and the Aliens. Craig also had the expansion set.

It was clear from our first game that Colonial Marines have very short life span, as you will see below!

 Especially if they don't work together, as with mine - racing for the exit and "Each man for himself" = lots of dead marines!

After the first game it was clear that play is fast and can leave you thinking about were to move and where the Aliens will sporn, the sense of urgency akin to the movie of trying to escape was good fun.

Aliens - Board game

The main map (pictured ont he right) shows how the Marines have to negotiate across the board, while trying not to get captured by Aliens.

As stated earlier, my first game I just ran to the exit and only managed to save 3 of my Colonial Marines and despite the Aliens taking heavy casualties, I just couldn't hold them of long enough to get Hicks and Hudson out of the exit.

On my second game, I changed tactics and knew what I needed to do.  My marine stuck to one side and huddled together in a circle, placing flamer units around the group to maximise fire power against any alien that tried to get near me.  It worked a treat and I smashed anything that even tried to get near.  I only lost 2 marines and that was because they entered the board next to my squad and were able to quickly grab them (although I even killed two Aliens fightign hand-to-hand).

All in all it was a fun and exciting game that made me remanis about the old movies.

We welcome anyone interested in playing Lotr SBG, WotR or any warhammer/40K battle - why not let us know so that we can arrange some starter battles, like the one above, or if you/your club want to challenge us. We have all the LOTR SBG figures and LOTR scenery from the Mines of Moria to the siege of Helms Deep ready and waiting. 
Feel free to email us to come along or arrange a game.

East Grinstead War Gaming club
Sussex