Battles work by the players involved in the mission by providing another card to determine how many dice can be rolled. You will be facing The Thing at three different levels of difficulty throughout the game as you make your way through different rooms within the base. A level one Thing requires you to roll three of a kind with three rolls. 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 You must cooperate to survive – but who is really on your side? And if you reveal The Thing – are you ready to fight it? The road to victory is truly hard, but not impossible. Be careful though!

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 "hidden role" game, in which one player is initially the Thing and the other players are humans. The purpose of the Thing is to infect others, to prevent the survivors from escaping from the base (which can happen in three different ways), or to try to escape with them by behaving as a human.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. Infection at Outpost 31, the board game adaptation of John Carpenter’s cult horror movie The Thing, is making a return later this year. The cards played by each chosen crew members will determine the number of dice that can be rolled per mission, to a maximum of six. If the result of the dice roll meets the requirement for the mission card, then the humans pass the mission and can reveal the chip that was in this room. Their search was successful. 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. I have had countless games where seemingly innocent actions by players can raise eyebrows and motivations were often questioned.

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. I found the game had a few issues regarding the alien player. While its great to become the alien and surprise everyone, players who join forces with them at a later time don’t really have much to do other than help decide where the aliens strength tokens will be placed.The Thing: Infection at Outpost 31 board game is based on a film originally made in 1951. It received high praise from critics and cinema goers alike. In 1982 it was remade with somewhat less enthusiasm coming from the public but has since gained quite the cult following from fans of suspense and horror films due to its creepy thrills. I love how this encourages co-operative gameplay and brings out table talk. You will be debating and at times, arguing over what to do as the situation grows more intense and the pressure rises. It’s a shame that governmental satires remain relevant with cyclical predictability. The Crazies as a concept is as relatable today as it was in 2010 or 1973. Eisner understands that Romero’s foundation doesn’t have to be altered, only the presentation. Proper remakes reinvent; they don’t rehash. Watching Romero’s and Eisner’s versions of The Crazies paints a complete red, white, and bruised picture of how the government works for itself, not the American people. That’s because they’re two halves of a conversation about broken systems, neither movie stepping on the other’s lines when telling their stories.