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These miniatures represent the four stages of evolution of The Thing, with some iconic shapes seen in the movie, such as the Spider-Head or the Norris-Thing. The Thing: Alien miniatures expansion contains a set of four highly detailed character miniatures, to use in place of the Alien standees you can find into the base game box. The Thing: Human miniatures expansion contains a set of eight highly detailed character miniatures, to use in place of the Characters standees you can find into the base game box. On the map are the same rooms as seen in the film, and each of these rooms allows players to perform a different action. Human players have to feed themselves and keep the boiler and the generator on to avoid being in the cold and dark. The Thing will try to sabotage these places to make life difficult for humans...or not, trying to camouflage itself among the humans and infect them when the perfect opportunity presents itself.
Keeping the base operational feels true to the progression of the film. Working together to keep the heat and the lights on, while trying to figure out the motivations of any suspicious characters is one of the highlights of this game.The idea of drawing tokens from a bag to see if a dog infected you is scary but exciting as your role can suddenly switch. Downplaying the result and keeping your head down while you secretly changes roles feels like your acting out a role in front of your friends. The Thing: Infection at Outpost 31 is a hidden identity game. You will relive John Carpenter's sci-fi cult classic in a race to discover who among the team has been infected by this deadly lifeform. Play as one of twelve characters as you lead a series of investigations through the facility, using supplies and equipment to clear the building. The tension mounts and paranoia ensues as you question who you can trust. It’s the ultimate race to save humanity! The moments when one player is convinced that another person is playing as a human, and they defend them to the hilt, only to then realise they were wrong, can be hilarious, tense and highly rewarding. This a wonderful system and such a simple way to allow non human players to wreak havoc across the base without anyone ever knowing what role card they have. When I mentioned table talk earlier bringing out some serious debates, it doesn’t getting scarier and funnier than seeing a couple of sabotage cards enter the pile, prompting the leader to question everyone’s loyalty and true intentions. Although the crew in the film consisted of 12, we only have 8 in the core game. The majority of the iconic ones are here but I can’t figure out why they left out Childs, one of the only survivors at the movies’ climax.
In addition to these elements, players also have to manage Outpost 31. On the map are the same rooms as seen in the film, and each of these rooms allows players to perform a different action. Human players have to feed themselves and keep the boiler and the generator on to avoid being in the cold and dark. The Thing will try to sabotage these places to make life difficult for humans...or not, trying to camouflage itself among the humans and infect them when the perfect opportunity presents itself.The Thing is a game that mixes different mechanisms to create an experience that is as faithful as possible to that of the original film. It is a "hidden role" game, in which one player is initially the Thing and the others players are humans. The purpose of the Thing is to infect others, to prevent the survivors from escaping from the base (which can happen three different ways), or to try to escape with them by behaving as a human. The game starts with each player being given a Blood Sample card. This will reveal their role in the game, to them alone, either that of a human or an imitation. There will be one imitation dealt at the start of the game to one of the players. I have had countless games where seemingly innocent actions by players can raise eyebrows and motivations were often questioned.
The Thing: The Board Game is being published by Pendragon Game Studio, the company behind the 2016 hidden movement game Last Friday, inspired by the genre of slasher films made popular during the 1980s. Co-designing the game are Giuseppe Cicero and Andrea Crespi, co-creator of Potion Explosion and survival horror game Alone. Dicebreaker is owned by Gamer Network Limited, a ReedPop company and subsidiary of Reed Exhibitions Limited. In addition to these elements, players also have to manage Outpost 31. The game board shows the same rooms as seen in the film, and each of these rooms allows players to perform a different action. Human players have to feed themselves and keep the boiler and the generator on to avoid being in the cold and dark. The Thing will try to sabotage these places to make life difficult for the humans... or not, trying to camouflage itself among the humans and infect them when the perfect opportunity presents itself. The alien can win by either infecting everyone, or boarding the chosen escape method, they’ve managed to get out into the world and spread!As I mentioned at the start of my review this is one of best thematic horror game experiences and a well crafted emulation of the themes of the movie. First of all we roll the blue weather dice and consult our chart to see the effects. Clearer skies mean the base uses less fuel and the rescue helicopter will move faster to the base. Bad weather means more fuel is consumed and the boiler room can break, meaning the humans can freeze to death. This can also cause the generator to break resulting in the base being plunged into darkness. If you manage to defeat The Thing in battle, you will move onto the second section, which increases your chance of being infected. More Blood sample cards are dealt out to all players as you open your crew up to a wider area of the base. This gives a second or third player the chance to become an imitation, making each decision for building a crew, mission and battle even harder. In the final third section when you defeat the Thing, then will move onto the final escape attempt on the helicopter. Table Talk
If players believe a member of the group is acting strangely, they can make accusations in the leisure room to increase their level of suspicion. If a player has enough suspicion placed upon them, they will be forced to reveal which action card they actually intend to play that round. Eventually, players will be able to perform a blood, fire or wire test to determine whether a certain player is the alien or not. Thematically, I can now see what encouraged the designer of this game to choose this film and specifically this location for a game like this. The sense of isolation adds to the game. There is no help coming, and you need to get out to survive. It works perfectly with a hidden character game and helps develop the sense of uncertainty in every decision, and ultimately, the fun the game brings to the table. The entire game is built on two T’s. Table talk and tension. With the right group, this game can be amazing. The accusations, counter accusations, and general arguing are hilarious. What I love here though is that each character has an ability balanced enough and thematic to their character. Clark is the dog handler so he can ignore the dogs ability to infect him. Nauls is the cook and can use fewer food tokens when managing the kitchen area. Having these abilities gave the game a lot more replay value for me and allowed for some fun combinations of characters.Some items felt a little underpowered too. Weapons like knives and guns don’t really do much other than prevent encounters with players. I only really found the flamethrower and dynamite to be effective at repelling the thing itself. If it’s obvious when players are lying, the game becomes a bit of a process. Simply running through the motions without any real tension or drama. However, if a player can really hide their true motivations and create some chaos, then this game can become truly epic. Unlike most games, the harder this game is to win, the better it is as an experience for those round the table. The Thing – The Boardgame is a game created and produced by Pendragon Game Studios. The English Edition is distributed by Ares Games.
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