Just wanted to say thank you for this video and its sister one! The rulebook is terrible and we're going to be playing Aliens a week on Saturday so will definitely watch both of these again in order to hit the ground running (away from Aliens). Thanks so much!
Thank you very much for this video; it's the only one i've come across that discusses the "edge cases", which I have found occur all the time and aren't clarified in the rulebook! I love GF9 games, but this one definitely has the most holes in the rules. I would really appreciate if they could correct any wording errors or gaps in the rules in the PDF version of the rulebook they provide on their website - I'd be happy to print it off myself to add to the box. Otherwise, this game is great for a fun evening with other Aliens nerds and is dripping with the source material theme (like all of the other GF9 games). I'd love a part 3 video that discusses the expansions and the other tid bits not discussed in this video. Cheers!
@@TheBoardGameGuy you won’t believe but watched it again today as Saturday 7th august will be 1st playthrough. There will be 5 or 6 of us none has played before. I think I got the rules down thanks to your help and reading and rewriting the rule book in my own bigger writing.Wish me luck lol
Your Aliens videos have been extremely helpful! I'm wondering about Newt--once activated, is she a regular 7th character in the game? I know she shares cards with Ripley & cannot equip weapons, but is each mission limited to a squad of 6 or is Newt automatically included whenever Ripley is played? I can't find the answer anywhere, and would really appreciate your thoughts! Thank you!
I'm glad you found the videos helpful. Newt is a bit of a puzzle. I believe that once you've saved her, for future missions she becomes a choosable character like any of the others, not an automatic adjunct to Ripley, but that's an educated guess, not a factual statement.
So was there anything ever found out about Newt running towards the Aliens? In some ways it does make sense since they are likely hiding or around the corner from where she's running to, but also if they are LOS then it makes NO sense for her to run towards them.
I was playing the expanded game Queen's Gambit. So I was curious when you have let's say three Alien tokens and one alien model attacking let's say Hicks. And in the defense roll, Hicks rolls the correct amount for the Melee. Does rolling that correct Melee number kill all four Aliens or just one. If so do you then continue to attack and defend off each of the other three? Also what do you do when the Alien Queen attacks and you roll the Melee. Does it kill her o do you just place a damage token on her? The instructions were not too clear. I would love your feedback. Great videos too by the way.
I wish I could answer your question about the alien queen, but I only have the base game, so I have no idea about how the expansion content works. As for your question about Hicks killing an alien while defending, he wouldn’t actually kill any aliens. He has a melee score of 3 (or 2 as a grunt), and since he is fighting off a swarm with 3 tokens, he must add 3 to his defence roll against that swarm, meaning, even if the die is a 1, his defence roll is 4, which is lower than his defence number, but higher than his melee number. The swarm is fended off, but no aliens die, and no more rolls required that round. Let’s say he was defending against a swarm of just one figure and one token, then +1 would be added to his defence roll, so if he rolls a 1, it becomes a 2, which is a successful defence AND a successful melee kill, so the token is removed, but the figure stays. No more rolls are made this round because Hicks’ defence roll succeeded. I hope that helps, and thanks for watching!
Can you explain event cards? When and how they are played during a turn. The cost is simple. They list how many endurance cards to play. They do not cost an action to play. Thanks for the instructions on this cool gsne6
Thanks for this! It clarifies a few things I was wondering about. One thing: for "cost" on a weapon, it's only paid when it's equipped? So if a weapon is already equipped there's no need to pay it every turn?
Correct. The cost in the corner of the card is only paid when you equip it, however, many weapons require you to exhaust cards in order to use them. That cost will be in the body of the text on the card.
This game does seem to be fun however I wish the game was a bit more simplified. The concept seems to be fun which is that there's a girl you must save, there's spawn areas for enemies, doors, terminals to reveal enemies, and you must wait a few turns for the exit to start. However the game isn't really competitive. I always wish there was a game (board game or otherwise) where I get to play as the xenomorph (fortnite doesn't count). That was a missed opportunity for the game since there are blips that hide the enemies' levels and you could coordinate attacks (maybe 1 of the spawn areas are the alien queen). Maybe if the creator of Nyctophobia: the hunted saw this game she could simplify the rules and make it similar to her game. Just a thought for the future!
I believe they have what they had while they were a grunt. Grunts can have weapons & gear, so they should have been tooled up from the start of the mission. Grunts don't have a hand of cards, but once a grunt becomes your hero, your hand of cards becomes their hand of cards. Thanks for watching.
Also: during Defensive Fire, do the characters who attack begin with their current aim dial number, or is it reset to the number on the character sheet before this happens? For example, if Vasquez is already down to 3 on her aim when we get to the Defensive Fire phase, her aim is not reset to her default of 8 before she engages in Defensive Fire, correct?
When using the smart gun, it is written it always hits on 6 or less. So what for is the aim counter in this case? So defence with a smart gun is aways 6?
Did you happen to discuss alien and blip movement with the designers? It is not covered in the rulebook, nor conclusively discussed on BGG, on whether aliens/blips can move diagonal between two squares occupied by other blips/aliens. I have decided that they can, given my experience with other grid based skirmish games. It also technically does NOT violate the rule as written that aliens "cannot move into a space containing an alien model or blip", as they pass between the occupied squares via the vertices and directly to the diagonally opposite square.
I have not discussed this particular issue with the GF9 team, but I agree with your decision. If you look at the combat example on page 21 of the rules, the diagram in the top right shows Hudson facing off against 3 aliens. One of those aliens has to reach across the diagonal between the two other aliens to attack Hudson. As it's allowed for them to attack across diagonals, it stands to reason that aliens can move across those diagonals as well.
This tutorial is specifically about the first mission, Newt. The mission rules for mission 1 state she is a grunt unless Ripley is being played as a hero, in which case, Newt is also played as a hero. The Bug Hunt missions specifically state you are not to use Newt at all, but neither of the other story missions have any rules relating to Newt's status as a grunt or a hero. Expansion missions may have such rules, but they are not within the scope of this video (I don't have them).
What is the bachup weapon for? Flamethrower always hits on 7 or less, smart gun 6 or less. So the aim counter is not in use, while equiped with this weapons?
The backup weapon slot is where you put a secondary weapon that may be a better choice in some specific situations than your primary weapon. For example, if you have grenades in your backup slot, and you're faces with a bunch of swarms all close together, you can do some serious damage to the enemy at the cost of the one grenade card, instead of burning through a tone of cards with your smart gun or pulse rifle. You still rotate your aim dial when firing a smart gun or flamethrower because your aim doesn't reset until the start of your next turn, and you might have to use a shotgun or pistol in your backup slot to defend yourself, and that will use your current aim.
@@TheBoardGameGuy But using the smart gun you can not equip a backup weapon. So the aim dial is useless for this character,, wright.Forget this sentence. I am wrong. Smart Gun does not hit always on 6 or less. So the aim dialer is important. Sorry man.
I haven't spoken to the GF9 team explicitly about this question, but the rules do state on page 23 "when resolving Motion Tracker cards, make sure to read and follow the card's game text as well." Because of that line I would assume the following: If the text on the card relies on the presence of the blip that the barricade cancelled, then you don't resolve the text, otherwise you would resolve the text effect of the card. For example, the Alien Vanguard card has you place a blip and then reveal a card, placing another potential blip based on the symbol revealed. That effect does not require the presence of the initially placed blip to resolve, so you do it. The Alien Assault card has you move the new blip if there's already a blip on the given spawn point. Since the barricade stopped this new blip from arriving, it cannot be moved by the text effect.
Great explanation. The best yet. My one question is this... so it says Newt is supposed to run away from any Marine as far as possible,,,, except for Ripley. so if a 4 is not rolled and Ripley is the closest person to her does she NOT run away?
She must use her moves to be positioned as far from a marine as possible after acting. Ripley is not counted as a marine figure for calculating distance, but she also doesn’t prevent Newt from running. So let’s say that Newt, Ripley, and Hicks are all adjacent to each other and all the marines are in another part of the map, Newt will run as far as possible from Hicks. Ripley’s presence doesn’t keep a feral Newt from bolting. I hope that helps. Thanks for watching!
@@TheBoardGameGuy ok great. let's say Ripley is the only character that finds Newt. I roll and get an incorrect roll. Then does Newt not run away since it's ONLY Ripley beside her? The rule book (which is confusing) says Newt runs away EXCEPT for Ripley.
Yeah, it is a confusing rulebook. Newt will not run away from any civilian characters (Ripley, Burke, Bishop) if running would put her closer to any Marines. If Newt is already as far as she can get from any Marines, Ripley’s presence will not make her run. If Newt can still get farther from the marines by running she will run. That could move her either farther from OR closer to Ripley depending on exact board placement.
Took me till tonight over 2 years after getting game to play it as building aliens is a nightmare , enjoyed game but felt i was getting something wrong
Not sure if you'd be up forit, but they redid the core and get away from her you B**** addon's rules and have shipped em out. I recently bought them myself :D Don't think things like Ultimate Basses needs to be updated according to the store I got them for ((they've been asked a few times already)), so that's atleast a bonus.
You don’t get the whole deck back for the next mission. Each player gets to pick one card from all those discarded from the endurance deck to put back, and then the rest are shuffled and a certain number (I can’t remember how many right now) of random ones are permanently removed from the game, with the rest going back into the deck.
Hello. I want to ask. In the manual it says. About cards in hand. But I know that only hicks have the ability to take cards on. And when I watched a few videos. So someone played as Ripley. And. And she. Si she put the cards in her hand, even if it is not written in the ability. Can each character have a heroic card in her hand. Or the dining room. Some. That is stated in the rules, right? Or in the overview. kkrok . That I can send out a soldier. Does it mean that every character. Can. Cards in the hand. Do I need a crow? or I'll take a card and look at it whether I want it or not
Hello if I have actually 6 people playing would all 6 of us be playing as heroes? No one would really want to play as a grunt. then on each turn we'd pass the play token correct?
With 6 players you each play as the hero version of your chosen character, that is correct. At least in 1st edition. They recently printed a 2nd edition of the game, and I don't know what changes may have been made to the rules.
@@TheBoardGameGuy ohhhh, I can’t let you off that easy! A quick google search search for the game’s title and “revised rulebook” takes you to a GaleForce9 link as well as boardgamegeek discussion with link to said document, posted Feb, ‘23.
Just found this game and these videos. Thank you so much. The Xenomorphs swarmed and killed me in 3 minutes last night. Now I know why! Thank you.
Just wanted to say thank you for this video and its sister one! The rulebook is terrible and we're going to be playing Aliens a week on Saturday so will definitely watch both of these again in order to hit the ground running (away from Aliens). Thanks so much!
Thanks for watching. I’m glad I could help. Good luck, marine!
Thank you very much for this video; it's the only one i've come across that discusses the "edge cases", which I have found occur all the time and aren't clarified in the rulebook! I love GF9 games, but this one definitely has the most holes in the rules. I would really appreciate if they could correct any wording errors or gaps in the rules in the PDF version of the rulebook they provide on their website - I'd be happy to print it off myself to add to the box. Otherwise, this game is great for a fun evening with other Aliens nerds and is dripping with the source material theme (like all of the other GF9 games). I'd love a part 3 video that discusses the expansions and the other tid bits not discussed in this video. Cheers!
Thanks for watching. Glad it helped. Unfortunately, I don't have any of the expansions, so I can't do a tutorial for them.
Great video very helpful thank you
Glad it was helpful! Thanks for watching.
@@TheBoardGameGuy you won’t believe but watched it again today as Saturday 7th august will be 1st playthrough. There will be 5 or 6 of us none has played before. I think I got the rules down thanks to your help and reading and rewriting the rule book in my own bigger writing.Wish me luck lol
Your Aliens videos have been extremely helpful! I'm wondering about Newt--once activated, is she a regular 7th character in the game? I know she shares cards with Ripley & cannot equip weapons, but is each mission limited to a squad of 6 or is Newt automatically included whenever Ripley is played? I can't find the answer anywhere, and would really appreciate your thoughts! Thank you!
I'm glad you found the videos helpful. Newt is a bit of a puzzle. I believe that once you've saved her, for future missions she becomes a choosable character like any of the others, not an automatic adjunct to Ripley, but that's an educated guess, not a factual statement.
So was there anything ever found out about Newt running towards the Aliens? In some ways it does make sense since they are likely hiding or around the corner from where she's running to, but also if they are LOS then it makes NO sense for her to run towards them.
I was playing the expanded game Queen's Gambit. So I was curious when you have let's say three Alien tokens and one alien model attacking let's say Hicks. And in the defense roll, Hicks rolls the correct amount for the Melee. Does rolling that correct Melee number kill all four Aliens or just one. If so do you then continue to attack and defend off each of the other three? Also what do you do when the Alien Queen attacks and you roll the Melee. Does it kill her o do you just place a damage token on her? The instructions were not too clear. I would love your feedback. Great videos too by the way.
I wish I could answer your question about the alien queen, but I only have the base game, so I have no idea about how the expansion content works. As for your question about Hicks killing an alien while defending, he wouldn’t actually kill any aliens. He has a melee score of 3 (or 2 as a grunt), and since he is fighting off a swarm with 3 tokens, he must add 3 to his defence roll against that swarm, meaning, even if the die is a 1, his defence roll is 4, which is lower than his defence number, but higher than his melee number. The swarm is fended off, but no aliens die, and no more rolls required that round. Let’s say he was defending against a swarm of just one figure and one token, then +1 would be added to his defence roll, so if he rolls a 1, it becomes a 2, which is a successful defence AND a successful melee kill, so the token is removed, but the figure stays. No more rolls are made this round because Hicks’ defence roll succeeded. I hope that helps, and thanks for watching!
Can you explain event cards? When and how they are played during a turn. The cost is simple. They list how many endurance cards to play. They do not cost an action to play. Thanks for the instructions on this cool gsne6
Event cards were explained in Part I, the component overview.
Thanks for this! It clarifies a few things I was wondering about. One thing: for "cost" on a weapon, it's only paid when it's equipped? So if a weapon is already equipped there's no need to pay it every turn?
Correct. The cost in the corner of the card is only paid when you equip it, however, many weapons require you to exhaust cards in order to use them. That cost will be in the body of the text on the card.
This game does seem to be fun however I wish the game was a bit more simplified. The concept seems to be fun which is that there's a girl you must save, there's spawn areas for enemies, doors, terminals to reveal enemies, and you must wait a few turns for the exit to start. However the game isn't really competitive. I always wish there was a game (board game or otherwise) where I get to play as the xenomorph (fortnite doesn't count). That was a missed opportunity for the game since there are blips that hide the enemies' levels and you could coordinate attacks (maybe 1 of the spawn areas are the alien queen). Maybe if the creator of Nyctophobia: the hunted saw this game she could simplify the rules and make it similar to her game. Just a thought for the future!
You can play as an Alien with the expansion 👍🏻
@@oliparker1309 which expansion?
I believe it’s the “Get Away from Her, You Bitch” expansion.
@@TheBoardGameGuy which mission?
I don’t have any of the expansions, so I can’t answer that.
Question: If a player's character dies and they choose a new grunt to flip over to hero side to play as, does the new hero get any equipment?
I believe they have what they had while they were a grunt. Grunts can have weapons & gear, so they should have been tooled up from the start of the mission. Grunts don't have a hand of cards, but once a grunt becomes your hero, your hand of cards becomes their hand of cards. Thanks for watching.
Also: during Defensive Fire, do the characters who attack begin with their current aim dial number, or is it reset to the number on the character sheet before this happens? For example, if Vasquez is already down to 3 on her aim when we get to the Defensive Fire phase, her aim is not reset to her default of 8 before she engages in Defensive Fire, correct?
Aim dials do not reset before defensive fire. So in your example, Vasquez’s aim is 3 when defensive fire begins.
When using the smart gun, it is written it always hits on 6 or less. So what for is the aim counter in this case? So defence with a smart gun is aways 6?
Did you happen to discuss alien and blip movement with the designers? It is not covered in the rulebook, nor conclusively discussed on BGG, on whether aliens/blips can move diagonal between two squares occupied by other blips/aliens. I have decided that they can, given my experience with other grid based skirmish games. It also technically does NOT violate the rule as written that aliens "cannot move into a space containing an alien model or blip", as they pass between the occupied squares via the vertices and directly to the diagonally opposite square.
I have not discussed this particular issue with the GF9 team, but I agree with your decision. If you look at the combat example on page 21 of the rules, the diagram in the top right shows Hudson facing off against 3 aliens. One of those aliens has to reach across the diagonal between the two other aliens to attack Hudson. As it's allowed for them to attack across diagonals, it stands to reason that aliens can move across those diagonals as well.
Thanks for the video! If the mission rules state Newt is a grunt isn't she a grunt even if you have hero Ripley ?
Thanks
This tutorial is specifically about the first mission, Newt. The mission rules for mission 1 state she is a grunt unless Ripley is being played as a hero, in which case, Newt is also played as a hero. The Bug Hunt missions specifically state you are not to use Newt at all, but neither of the other story missions have any rules relating to Newt's status as a grunt or a hero. Expansion missions may have such rules, but they are not within the scope of this video (I don't have them).
What is the bachup weapon for?
Flamethrower always hits on 7 or less, smart gun 6 or less. So the aim counter is not in use, while equiped with this weapons?
The backup weapon slot is where you put a secondary weapon that may be a better choice in some specific situations than your primary weapon. For example, if you have grenades in your backup slot, and you're faces with a bunch of swarms all close together, you can do some serious damage to the enemy at the cost of the one grenade card, instead of burning through a tone of cards with your smart gun or pulse rifle.
You still rotate your aim dial when firing a smart gun or flamethrower because your aim doesn't reset until the start of your next turn, and you might have to use a shotgun or pistol in your backup slot to defend yourself, and that will use your current aim.
@@TheBoardGameGuy
Thanks for your fast answer and your great Videos.
But iam wright, aim dial does not affect smart gun, grenades and flamethrower!?
You still drop your aim when using one of those weapons, but your success is based on the info on the weapon card, not your aim dial.
@@TheBoardGameGuy
But using the smart gun you can not equip a backup weapon. So the aim dial is useless for this character,, wright.Forget this sentence. I am wrong. Smart Gun does not hit always on 6 or less. So the aim dialer is important. Sorry man.
Do you know when drawing motion tracker cards. If a barricade stops a blip/alien from spawning do you still resolve the text effects on the card?
I haven't spoken to the GF9 team explicitly about this question, but the rules do state on page 23 "when resolving Motion Tracker cards, make sure to read and follow the card's game text as well." Because of that line I would assume the following: If the text on the card relies on the presence of the blip that the barricade cancelled, then you don't resolve the text, otherwise you would resolve the text effect of the card. For example, the Alien Vanguard card has you place a blip and then reveal a card, placing another potential blip based on the symbol revealed. That effect does not require the presence of the initially placed blip to resolve, so you do it. The Alien Assault card has you move the new blip if there's already a blip on the given spawn point. Since the barricade stopped this new blip from arriving, it cannot be moved by the text effect.
Great explanation. The best yet. My one question is this... so it says Newt is supposed to run away from any Marine as far as possible,,,, except for Ripley. so if a 4 is not rolled and Ripley is the closest person to her does she NOT run away?
She must use her moves to be positioned as far from a marine as possible after acting. Ripley is not counted as a marine figure for calculating distance, but she also doesn’t prevent Newt from running. So let’s say that Newt, Ripley, and Hicks are all adjacent to each other and all the marines are in another part of the map, Newt will run as far as possible from Hicks. Ripley’s presence doesn’t keep a feral Newt from bolting. I hope that helps. Thanks for watching!
@@TheBoardGameGuy ok great. let's say Ripley is the only character that finds Newt. I roll and get an incorrect roll. Then does Newt not run away since it's ONLY Ripley beside her? The rule book (which is confusing) says Newt runs away EXCEPT for Ripley.
Yeah, it is a confusing rulebook. Newt will not run away from any civilian characters (Ripley, Burke, Bishop) if running would put her closer to any Marines. If Newt is already as far as she can get from any Marines, Ripley’s presence will not make her run. If Newt can still get farther from the marines by running she will run. That could move her either farther from OR closer to Ripley depending on exact board placement.
Took me till tonight over 2 years after getting game to play it as building aliens is a nightmare , enjoyed game but felt i was getting something wrong
I just found a video about putting magnets in the butt of the aliens. I think I’m gonna do that. That tail is so delicate.
Not sure if you'd be up forit, but they redid the core and get away from her you B**** addon's rules and have shipped em out. I recently bought them myself :D Don't think things like Ultimate Basses needs to be updated according to the store I got them for ((they've been asked a few times already)), so that's atleast a bonus.
So, do you reset the endurance deck and take back all the cards you exhausted in a successful mission
You don’t get the whole deck back for the next mission. Each player gets to pick one card from all those discarded from the endurance deck to put back, and then the rest are shuffled and a certain number (I can’t remember how many right now) of random ones are permanently removed from the game, with the rest going back into the deck.
@@TheBoardGameGuy ok thank you very much!
By doing the resupply mission you can get back some of the removed cards, but you risk losing more cards from the endurance deck in the process.
Hello. I want to ask. In the manual it says. About cards in hand. But I know that only hicks have the ability to take cards on. And when I watched a few videos. So someone played as Ripley. And. And she. Si she put the cards in her hand, even if it is not written in the ability. Can each character have a heroic card in her hand. Or the dining room. Some. That is stated in the rules, right? Or in the overview. kkrok . That I can send out a soldier. Does it mean that every character. Can. Cards in the hand. Do I need a crow? or I'll take a card and look at it whether I want it or not
Hello if I have actually 6 people playing would all 6 of us be playing as heroes? No one would really want to play as a grunt. then on each turn we'd pass the play token correct?
With 6 players you each play as the hero version of your chosen character, that is correct. At least in 1st edition. They recently printed a 2nd edition of the game, and I don't know what changes may have been made to the rules.
Now, how about an updated version based on the revised rules:?
I don't have a copy of the revised game, so I can't do an updated video.
@@TheBoardGameGuy ohhhh, I can’t let you off that easy! A quick google search search for the game’s title and “revised rulebook” takes you to a GaleForce9 link as well as boardgamegeek discussion with link to said document, posted Feb, ‘23.
I noticed that you rolled two marine dice at once. Is that a house rule? It's certainly a good way to make the game a little easier.
When using the Smartgun, you roll two dice and take the best roll. It’s right there on the card for that weapon.