The Thing: The Boardgame - The Esoteric Review!
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- Опубліковано 27 сер 2024
- The Esoteric Order of Gamers is the warmest place to hide when Peter reviews The Thing: The Boardgame by Ares Games/Pendragon Games.
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Intro music by Peter Miller (www.scribbletro...). Used with permission.
You can find my THE THING rules summary and reference here: www.orderofgamers.com/games/the-thing
It sounds like you had a blast playing that Peter.
I did! I wish I could get 8 players together for a game!
Would love to see a Battle Report for this game.
Just did a review of The Thing for Halloween and it reminded me just how AMAZING this movie is. Im right there with you for the complaints. I really wish the cards and parts of the map werent so bright. Its a shame because the bleak and realistic feel of the movie is why we love it!!! Heres hoping they do a more gritty 2nd edition printing!!
I hope so too!
Great review!
I did find the audio had quite a bit of echo. Hope you get a lapel mic or something soon.
Ahh, audio, my greatest foe. this one was filmed up in my living room so the space is a bit bigger. I do have a lapel mic but it's a pain syncing the video!
Question: If you have played The Thing: Infection at Outpost 31, which do you prefer between that and the game you reviewed here? I don't have space for both, but, like you, am a huge fan of the original film. Thanks!
Haven't play that one, sorry, but I remember giving it a miss when it came out, perhaps I read some reviews and decided it wasn't for me.
Love the movie so this has me intrigued. Thank you for the review
You're most welcome, I hope you have a chance to check out the game!
how opaque are the contagion tokens? Those and the dog tokens look a little see-through. Are they very see-through? If so, do you think that would be a problem during gameplay?
It could be an issue if you study the tokens. But they were a Kickstarter extra and there are cardboard versions.
Hey. Been looking for reviews of the Thing board games to decide which one to get and this is a really good explanation. Will check out your rules as well. Did you get those the Thing alien miniatures from the game itself or did they come in an expansion? They look really cool.
Thanks Matt! The summary is up to v1.6 now and I'll keep it updated as clarifications come in. The minis were in separate packs - standees come with the core game.
@@EsotericOrderGamers Where would I be able to purchase those packs? Do you have references for them?
@@sketchymofo I'd contact Ares Games, the publisher.
I know this is an older review, but was curious if you had thoughts on the expansion? Is it a must or just a different way to play etc.
Haven't had a chance to play it yet sorry. Getting larger groups together is a bit tricky for me lately!
@@EsotericOrderGamers know how that goes. Still liking the base game
Great tutorial/ review & video. One of the best Ive seen regarding this game so far! I dont have the game yet but am now seriously considering getting it. I do have a question, the coloured base 'markers" on the miniatures, do they come with the game or did you get them elsewhere?. Thanks in advance!
They came with the game, but this was a Kickstarter edition so I don't know if they come with the retail copy.
@@EsotericOrderGamers Thanks for that! I have been looking for things like this for years as they can be used for so many different miniature games. Still haven't found them!
Hello Peter, I enjoyed this review but I have a question about Aliens and the card sleeves you use for that game. After several games I realise I’m gonna need to protect the Endurance cards especially as they are shuffled and handled a lot. I’m not one for sleeving all my games cards but as these cards are probably going to be impossible to replace they’ll need protection. The “Escape” game you played with Will showed you using sleeves that didn’t appear to be too slippy, as the constant handling of the cards on and under the Reshuffle card could cause all sorts of slip-sliding and the deck sliding all over the table! Please advise the optimum sleeve set(s) manufacturers and I’ll try and order via Amazon or eBay. Muchos gracias! 👍🏻
They're by a company called Swan Panasia Games, they're called 'Custom Made for MAGIC', size 64mm x 89mm, 100 sleeves in a pack, thick, ultra clear polypropylene, acid free, no PVC.
@@EsotericOrderGamers Thanks Peter, I’ll search the world for them!
Good luck on your adventures Phileas Fogg! 🤣
Most sleeves will be slippery for a while, but that goes away after a play or two. Gamegenic matte have been my faves for shuffling.
@@deadfalltropics6422 Thanks, I don’t much use sleeves, so I hope they do slip less after lots of use as this game is our go to lately!
So if everyone is infected. Does everyone lose? Or does everyone win? I find it conflicting. Why would or wouldn't the alien want to infect someone early?
The best place to ask rules questions and get comprehensive answers is on the Boardgamegeek forums.
This game desperately needs a rules summary, or more specifically rewrite. The rulebook is awful.
You did notice I made one didn't you? 🤣
@@EsotericOrderGamers yes can’t wait to check it out 👍
@@EsotericOrderGamers where can we find your rules book?
@@superbn0va Second line of the show notes, above.
I hope this helps but in your reference for 1-3 players under 8. you have the following.
"If there is not enough food, all characters become hungry, and
their players’ maximum hand limit is immediately reduced to 2
cards (discarding 1 of their choice if necessary)."
Should this not be 1 die is removed for the 3 players game since the players in the 1-3 do not have action cards?
Fixing this now!
@@EsotericOrderGamers BTW don't know if your interested but for the solo game I removed using the suspicion counter and instead used the Action cards as infection cards, basically giving a card to a character for every encounter. The suspicion is based on how many cards a player has to test them first. But over all it makes the game feel more like the 8 player game since you can get infected with every possible encounter. Something I found made the solo game better and had everything in the box already. The developers should have done that method, my only reasoning is the 1-3 solo was an after thought. If want give it a try use about 34 Green cards and 8-10 red cards for infection. I have had some fun playtesting, so much so I am making some custom infection cards for the solo game.
@@Firefly-101 Sounds interesting - I agree the 1-3 player rules seem tacked on, and they're certainly poorly written in the rulebook. I may give this idea a try!
@@EsotericOrderGamers You'll like it, I have play tested several times and feel it an improvement, I used the suspicion counter for the Alien strength, because the amount of cards a character has is reason for suspicion to test first. Over all it comes very close to the original game feel with the cards, I had some that where human but later got infected with too many encounters.
Keep up the good work on the videos!
P.S. Thank you for the quick sheet of the rules for the game, a lot of work went into making that wonderful tool.
@@Firefly-101 You're welcome. Check out the EOG on Patreon! There's a great little community on the Discord channel. :)
Thanks for the review! What would you consider the sweet spot player counts and how long does a typical game take?
I haven't played enough games to be expert by any means , but 4 players seemed like a good amount to me - enough for the sneakiness and skulduggery to work but not to much to slow the game down. But it plays up to 8, and more players would be pretty fun if everyone made the effort to learn the rules. Play time depends on number of players and how much table talk happens of course, but a couple of hours at least.
Basic version doesnt have all movie characters.
A hard pass for that.
Yes, that is a shame, though really, not worth missing out on the game for. I got the whole lot from Ares *except* that extra character pack. Hopefully they'll make it available separately.
@@EsotericOrderGamers I backed The Thing and because I find it hard to get more than 2 or 3 people to play any game I mauled over selling it, I never realised that the second player pack was not available outside the kickstarter (which I have) which made me not sell it on as I love the film and would like to play this game one day, and would probably kick myself for selling it and not be able to get the other characters.
I really think they should sell the second human pack, people shouldn't miss out on something like that.
@@HarleyFirestorm I have a contact at Ares so I'll ask if they're going to.
@@EsotericOrderGamerslooks like it’s available on their website now
@@skinflutey Yay!
good review but I don't think this is the game for me