Alien: Fate of the Nostromo

We have Amazon to thank for this. 

There I was, looking for suitable Christmas pressies for Alicia, when this popped up in the "shit you might like" section. I clicked on it, read a couple of reviews, saw it cost $25 with free shipping, and bought it. In case anyone is wondering, I did go back and buy something for my long-suffering girlfriend. I just wish I could remember where I put it.

Unsurprisingly, the whole point of this game is to complete missions before the Alien shoots its inner jaw through your forehead and/or the Nostromo self-destructs. It can be played as single-player, where you take the role of all the crew members, or a co-op with different players taking different roles.

So let's get the top off!

The first thing you see is this image of a snarling Jones, and as pathetic as it sounds it did make me jump a bit. Whoever came up with the idea for doing this deserves a ton of credit, it's so much better than a blank board.

Here's what's in the box: the board, crew and Alien minis, crew cards, mission cards, objective cards, the rulebook and tokens.

The board is a map of the USCS Nostromo, with each level of the interstellar tug represented, from the main deck down to engineering and cargo. It's got some very cool details, such as:

The Alien's nest, which to me is the most horrifying scene in the movie (as long as you're watching the director's cut);

The hole melted through the floor of the Medbay when SPOILER ALERT FOR A 43-YEAR-OLD MOVIE Dallas and Ash attempted to remove the facehugger from Kane;

The corresponding hole in the floor below as the acid ate its way through the ship;

A blood trail across the table and floor of the Galley where SPOILER ALERT the infant Alien escaped after bursting through Kane's chest.

You get six miniatures: from left, Parker, Brett, Dallas, Ripley and Lambert, with the Alien looming over them. The game takes place after SPOILER ALERT AGAIN Kane's death, so he's not represented, and before ANOTHER SPOILER ALERT Brett's. Science Officer Ash doesn't have a mini; because he's SPOILER ALERT THE FOURTH working to keep the Alien alive, he's an optional extra that will make the missions harder if included. 

The minis are decent sculpts. The plastic is a tad soft but there's not much in the way of mold lines and it's obvious which figure is which crew member. They're accurate to the movie, and include details such as Parker's sweatband, Brett's roll-up cigarette and Lambert's cowboy boots. The Alien is the skinny version from the film and is well detailed. I'm looking forward to painting these, and for $25 the game was worth it just for the miniatures. 

The player's crew cards are well made from chunky cardboard and have really good print quality. Each member has a special ability they can use once per turn, and there are spaces for their equipment. The crew photos will come in handy when I paint the miniatures.

The backs of the crew cards are top-notch and even include the Nostromo's manufacturer and model number.

There are five missions to complete which follow the basic plot of Alien.

The rulebook is slim, only eight pages, and looks pretty straightforward. If I can get my head around Space Station Zero, I should be OK with Fate of the Nostromo.

There are Objective cards and Encounters cards. Objectives are when players have to take an item to a certain location, and Encounters cards are for when the Alien is close by. The other cards are reminders of basic rules and actions.

The tokens are well made and designed. You can see the Ash token on the bottom right, along with an Alien token. To their left is the self-destruct mechanism, and the left card has tokens for equipment such as flashlights, oxygen canisters, flamethrowers and motion trackers.

The miniatures are already on my to-paint list so hopefully I'll be playing a game in the next month. Stay tuned!