Dynamite - Dynamite can be used twice in a game to add or remove one pip to or from a dice. Simple, but very useful. I have had countless games where seemingly innocent actions by players can raise eyebrows and motivations were often questioned.

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. 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. However, the player can exhaust both charges to ‘torch’ a player, removing them from the game. After accusing someone of being an imitation, all players vote with a thumbs up or down on torching said player. Note, only one player can be torched in a game with 4 or 5 players. Despite a few minor issues The Thing: The Board Game is an outstanding hidden role game. Totally immersive and thematic and one of the best interpretations of a movie into a board game I have ever played.Finally, each player rolls two dice, with the player rolling the highest number taking the revolver token. This is your first Captain. Now it’s time to work your way through Outpost 31, discern the imitation(s) among you, and hopefully escape! 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. Usually, another player has been quietly setting up arguments and accusations. If they managed to creep their way onto the Helicopter to win the game for the Imitations, when everyone was convinced of their innocence... well, this is what hidden character games are all about and what games like this are made for.

When completing missions in rooms, you might get items (or ‘gear’) to use throughout the game. These can be used at specific times by the person who holds the item. Set in a South Pole research station, the story details the invasion of an alien being, that has the ability to transform its appearance and starts to take over different people within the camp. The perfect theme for a hidden character game, so perhaps it was a mechanical choice more than a thematic one? Or maybe designer Joe Van Wetering is just a fan of the movie? Are We Alone? As a fan of the original movie I can say that this is a superb hidden role game and one of the most thematic and immersive experiences I have ever played. Playing Your Roles In The Thing 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. The Thing is a semi co-operative game and this means that despite working together, some of you may have alternate agendas.Some parts of the game may feel a little tedious if players are repeating actions. Gameplay does ramp up once the suspicions rise but I get the impression some may find this build up and slow tension not to their liking.

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. John Carpenter’s 1982 classic The Thing was a milestone of the Horror genre. Both were immensely successful and influential, pushing the boundaries of practical effects at the time, and raising the bar for cinematic horror going forward. A group of people trapped together not knowing who is friend or foe? Sounds like a pretty engrossing social deduction board game concept, don’t you think? 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 dozen playable characters include familiar faces from the film - notably Kurt Russell’s MacReady and Keith David’s Childs - with the map providing a top-down view of the entire outpost. True to the paranoia of the movie, players can equip themselves with weapons such as a flamethrower and dynamite, and even tie up suspected imitations and test their blood as they try to weed out the alien horrors among them - if even a single imitation makes it onto the helicopter, the players (and humanity) lose. Flamethrower - The most dynamic bit of gear in the game, with two ‘charges’ of use. The player can either add 3 dice rolls to any mission, or have a player reveal their Blood Sample card to only the player wielding the flamethrower, then the Flamethrowers first ‘charge’ has been used. The card is flipped, and can only then be used to add 3 dice rolls to any subsequent mission. Split the yellow room tokens into their respective sectors (1, 2, and 3), shuffle them, and place one yellow side up in each room. Make sure not to look at the underside until completing a mission in that room, which I’ll get to shortly. The Thing is played over a series of rounds each consisting of 8 phases. The game can end in a number of ways. The humans can win if they manage to identify all alien threats and escape the outpost.

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. Once chosen, these players move their miniatures to the ‘Escape’ space on the board, and the moment of truth arrives. These players reveal their Blood Sample cards one by one. If the escape criteria is met, congrats! The Human players win! However, if one imitation made it on board, the Humans lose, and Earth is doomed. Be sure to make the right call! One More Thing… 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. If there’s an uneven split (you’re not playing with 6 players exactly), don’t worry! As long as it’s relatively even, it’s okay! Be sure to look at what Captain powers characters have, as they can help you when you’re leading a group of supposed humans on your turn! Take your respective miniatures and place them in the ‘Rec Room’ on the board. Deal out 5 supply cards to each player. Your hand is secret, don’t show anyone! 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 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. 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. Finally we have the dog movement phase where the adorable husky miniatures move around the board based on location cards. These pesky canines can be a problem for two reasons. If a character is alone with a dog in a room they draw from an infected bag and have a small chance of being secretly infected. The other reason is that if a revealed alien finds itself in a room with a husky, it will consume it and grow in strength!