Aliens

The Eighth Edition is finely produced with thick cardboard counters and a sturdy thick game board. The rules are in full color (with cartoon) and very well done. This humorously entertaining game pits two players against each other aboard a spaceship. One plays the ship's crew, trying to kill the evil and rapidly-multiplying aliens controlled by his opponent. And although the crew members have several weapons available to them, they don't know what effect those weapons will have until they try using them in combat against the Awful Green Things. Originally appeared in the Dragon magazine #28. The Outside the Znutar expansion, published in Dragon magazine #40, is included in the box in the Steve Jackson Games versions of the game.

A similar but more serious game is The Wreck of the B.S.M. Pandora.

Supplemental articles were published in TSR's Dragon Magazine including:

"The Awful Green Things From Outer Space" Tom Wham - Issue 28 (page 26)
Addenda "Outside the Znutar" Tom Wham - Issue 40 (insert)

Do you have what it takes to be a deep space colonist? An alien frontier awaits the brave and daring! This new planet will be harsh, but if you have the skills to manage your resources, build a fleet, research alien life, and settle colonies, the world can be yours.

Alien Frontiers is a game of resource management and planetary development for two to four players. During the game you will utilize orbital facilities and alien technology to build colony domes in strategic locations to control the newly discovered world.

The game board shows the planet, its moon, the stations in orbit around the planet, and the solar system’s star. The dice you are given at the start of the game represent the space ships in your fleet. You will assign these ships to the orbital facilities in order to earn resources, expand your fleet, and colonize the planet.

As the game progresses, you will place your colony tokens on the planet to represent the amount of control you have over each territory. Those territories exert influence over specific orbital facilities and, if you control a territory, you are able to utilize that sway to your advantage.

The planet was once the home of an alien race and they left behind a wondrous artifact in orbit. Using your fleet to explore the artifact, you will discover amazing alien technologies that you can use to advance your cause.

Winning the game will require careful consideration as you assign your fleet, integrate the alien technology and territory influences into your expansion plans, and block your opponents from building colonies of their own. Do you have what it takes to conquer an alien frontier?

Roll and place your dice to gain advantages over your opponent and block them out of useful areas of the board. Use Alien Tech cards to manipulate your dice rolls and territory bonuses to break the rules. Steal resources, overtake territories, and do whatever it takes to get your colonies on the map first! Don't dream it'll be easy, though, because the other players will be trying to do the same thing.

Overview

For The Win is an abstract strategy game in which each player gets ten tiles, two of each character representing Monkeys, Zombies, Pirates, Aliens, and Ninjas. The objective is to connect five (or more) of one's tiles, including at least one of each type, together (sides and corners count). Additionally, all five (or more) tiles must be face-up, or unactivated. The game ends immediately when a player achieves this goal. Each character type has a specific ability to help you toward the objective.

Gameplay

Players take turns using either 1 or 2 actions within 5 action rounds. Once one player's actions are consumed for a round, the other player(s) get to use any of their remaining 5 actions at once. Judicious action management is key; if one budgets one's actions wisely, one can play several actions in a row for game-winning combinations. The available actions are as follows:

Add a tile to the Grid
Move one of one's tiles
Refresh or flip a tile face up
Shove a tile or column/row of tiles
Activate an ability (the chosen tile turns face down; see below)

Characters & abilities

Alien — The Alien uses her tractor beam to pull any tile in the Grid to a space that is adjacent to her.
Monkey — The mischievous Monkey uses a banana peel to flip over all of the tiles it is touching.
Ninja — The sneaky Ninja can move from his current spot to any other unoccupied space in the Grid.
Pirate — The Pirate uses his trusty cannon to blast an adjacent tile to any unoccupied space in the Grid.
Zombie — The Zombie can infect any adjacent tile. The infected tile is removed from the Grid and replaced with a Zombie tile that has not yet been added to the Grid. If all of the Zombie tiles have already been added to the Grid, the Zombie may choose one adjacent tile and deactivate it (that is, flip it face down).

"The invasion has begun and now stronger fighters have landed...
Only the brave GD agents face this menace to save our planet!"

The Elite Alien Army expansion enhances the game difficulty and the overall game experience by combining the Galaxy Defenders core set elements with these new aliens.

This expansion may be integrated into any Galaxy Defenders mission to enhance the challenge, by either replacing an entire alien color rank or simply by following the campaign enhancements detailed in the Rules Booklet.

This is not a complete game, a copy of the Galaxy Defenders core set is required to play.

Galaxy Defenders is a sci-fi cooperative, tactical battle game in which 1-5 players fight together against an oncoming alien menace. Each player takes control of one or more agents with unique powers to defend the planet from the alien invasion. Gameplay revolves around a tactical combat system, using custom ten-sided dice. Each player sequentially plays his Agent turn and then one Aliens turn. Players carry out their turns [agent and aliens] in clockwise order until the last player finishes his Aliens turn. Once done, the game passes to the Event phase that will bring the players to the next round. Players may choose up to five agents:

Marine: Coming from U.S. Special Forces, the Marine is an excellent soldier who can manage different combat situations, especially multiple enemies.
Biotech: The Biotech is the most technologically adept agent in service. He can use Nano-Technology to heal wounds or control war drones.
Infiltrator: A deadly and stealthy agent. This lethal specialist prefers hiding in the shadows. She has fast movement and good short-range combat ability.
Sniper: A silent sharpshooter and expert in camouflage and ranged combat. The sniper has average movement and excellent long-range firepower.
Hulk: The Hulk was a successful mercenary and now is one of the best agents; although slow, he enjoys an extraordinary resistance to damage and has high firepower.

There is no "Alien player" in Galaxy Defenders; instead, the aliens are controlled by the game system itself, through an artificial intelligence system based on two types of cards:

Alien cards, which define the behavior of each different alien and detail its skills and combat abilities.
Close Encounter cards, which are used at the beginning of each alien turn to determine which aliens activate.

The combination of a unique AI for each alien species and the uncertainty about alien activation in a turn provides a realistic simulation of the chaos of battle and a sophisticated challenge for the players. Since having more agents brings more alien activations for the aliens, the turn structure allows the level of difficulty to scale dynamically based on the number of agents in play. If agents die during the game, the system "recalibrates" the difficulty to a reasonable and enjoyable level, so you still have a chance to complete the mission.

The battle for Earth will be carried out in a series of twelve missions organized in a completely story-driven campaign. Mission events influence future games in two different ways:

Each mission has multiple endings, and the outcome of any mission will change the flow of the story.
The agents gain experience during the missions. This experience transforms a good soldier into a perfect Galaxy Defender agent with multiple skills, basic and improved tactics, and the ability to use new devices, improved human weapons, and Alien technology.

With the downloadable Galaxy Defenders: Alien Mind variant, you can transform the game into a competitive affair, with one player becoming the alien mastermind and controlling the alien army and the card in play, attempting to thwart each mission undertaken by the Agents. To do this, the alien player completes his own game objectives, obtaining new "alien signals" that can be teleported onto the battlefield. This variant, which allows for play with up to six players, can be used in a single mission or for a whole campaign of Galaxy Defenders. Using Alien Mind may increase the game difficulty and is suggested only for expert players.

Official FAQ: http://www.galaxy-defenders.com/faq.php
Additional Missions: http://www.galaxy-defenders.com/mission.php
Galaxy Ball: http://www.galaxy-defenders.com/gb-cards.php