Xcom The Board Game

A co-operative board game of global defense for 1-4 players based on the award-winning video game, XCOM: Enemy Unknown A free and innovative digital app coordinates the escalating alien invasion, teaches you the game, and serves as your rules reference Players assume four distinct roles, each of which is vital to XCOM's success: Commander, Chief Scientist, Central Offlcer, and Squad Leader A push-your-luck dice mechanic partners with the use of the app to heighten the game's tension and drama Includes sixteen sculpted XCOM soldiers, eight Interceptors, and twenty-four UFOs In XCOM The Board Game, the alien invasion has begun. Early encounters have only served to prove that the worlds militaries are hopelessly out-gunned. Panic leads to riots and governments struggle to maintain any control. Human civilization is on the brink of collapse. As the department heads of XCOM you and your friends must succeed where the worlds militaries have failed. You lead the elite members of an international, military organisation which is funded by a secret coalition. It is your job to destroy UFOs, research Alien technology uncover the alien invasion plan and find some way to turn back the alien invaders. You must do this all while preventing the collapse of the governments that secretly fund your organisation.  Paris has fallen. New York is a pile of rubble spilling into the Atlantic. Alien attacks against Nanjing and Changzhou prompt widespread panic throughout the streets of Shanghai. Defense satellites detect UFOs in orbit over Mexico, Russia, and Brazil. Military responses have proven ineffectual. Fear and anxiety lead to widespread riots. Human civilization stands upon the brink of collapse… You are humanity’s last hope. In XCOM: The Board Game, you and up to three friends assume the roles of the leaders of the elite, international organization known as XCOM. It is your job to defend humanity, quell the rising panic, and turn back the alien invasion. Where the world’s militaries have failed to stand against the alien invaders, you must succeed. To do so, you must make strategic use of the resources available to you. You must launch Interceptors to shoot down alien UFOs, assign soldiers to key missions, research alien technology, and use that technology to defend your base, all while you try to keep the world from collapsing just long enough that you can coordinate one final mission to repel the invaders for good.  Innovative Digital Enhancement The most notable aspect of XCOM: The Board Game is the way that it incorporates a free and innovative digital app into the core of its gameplay, then uses the app to promote a unique play experience unlike anything you and your friends have previously encountered in a board game. This digital companion will be available both as a downloadable app and as an online tool. The app’s primary function is to coordinate the escalating alien invasion, randomly selecting from one of five different invasion plans. Each invasion plan represents a general outline that the alien commanders will use to coordinate the arrival of new UFOs, plan strikes against your base, and respond to your successes or failures as it seeks to conquer Earth. The app manages all of these tasks and heighten’s the game’s tension as it forces you to respond in real-time. Then, after you move quickly to coordinate your response, you engage the enemy in the untimed resolution phase and feed the results to the app. Based upon these results, the app launches the invasion's next strikes. Additionally, the app teaches you the rules, controls the information that your satellites provide you, and tracks the progress of your resistance efforts, even as it allows you to enjoy the game at any of three levels of difficulty: Easy, Normal, or Hard.  A crisis card The use of this app does more than simply streamline your play experience and track your turns in real-time. It also permits a uniquely dynamic turn structure. While the variety of game phases remains the same from round to round, the order in which you and your friends must play through them may change, as may the number of a given phase. As a result, while you’ll want to know where UFOs appear before you deploy your Interceptors, the alien invaders may be able to disrupt your satellite intel and force you to deploy your Interceptors on patrol with limited or no knowledge of the UFOs current whereabouts. Similarly, you may be forced to think about the costs of resolving the world’s crises before you know how many troops you’ll need to commit to your base defense. The effect of the app, then, is to immerse you deep into the dramatic tension at the core of XCOM: The Board Game, and it ensures that the game presents a challenging and cooperative (or solo) experience like no other. Just like the XCOM department heads that you represent, you’ll need to keep cool heads in order to prevail Players 1-4 Playing time 60 - 120 minutes