The Board - Part 2

The single boards were cut by a mate who is a woodwork teacher. A little off being square, but im not complaining as he did it for a can of coke (cheap :-D). The base boards are made from 6mm MDF because it is strong, lightweight and will stand up to student enthusiasm. I have identified a few rooms I really wanted to include and will focus on these first;

• A helipad and exterior tile will allow a starting and/or exit board for the players to work with. 
• A vehicle hanger/ garage for a large relatively open space. 
• A command and control room with monitors along the walls. 
• A few barracks/ sleeping spaces with toilets and officer's quarters. 
• A cafeteria for a large relatively open space.
• The obligatory surgery room and science lab, filled with cadavers and tubes with aliens/ face-huggers.
• A massive power chamber or large open space with gantries for multi-level combat.
• Some storage rooms or smaller rooms with machines in them.
• An armoury for the base defenders to stash weapons and allow players to arm civilians in-game.

I penciled in the layout of the rooms to show me where movable places were and how they would fit into the overall layout in the larger game. 

Much of the interior obstacles(tables, barrels etc.) will need to be mounted on separate bases to enable me to change interior layouts from game to game. 

I have decided that the obstacles will need to be in three sorts. Category 1: Does not impede movement, or line of sight. Category 2: Does not impede movement but blocks line of site. Category 3: Blocks movement and line of sight.

The Board Part 1

ALIENS BOARD

Ok, first step, The Board. The playing space we have on the tables at the College is about 1200 mm by 1200 mm. The bases of the figures are about 20 mm wide which, including space for enthusiastic fingers, requires squares in corridors to be about 30 mm wide. This is good as models such as the power-loader, Alien Queen and most aliens have tails, claws etc that poke over the side of the base. It also allows models to move/ shoot past each other.

I also wanted to include air-ducts for the models to crawl through as well. This will allow for another aspect of the game and provide the Aliens side with cover and maneuvering options. Marines and predators will be able to use the ducts too, but a a greatly reduced speed.

The boards will need to be interchangeable in order to provide a little variety in the games. Similar to Space-hulk with corridor sections and rooms. I was thinking of 300 mm square boards to begin with. However, I settled with the idea of smaller boards and corridors as they provide real alternative layouts for the missions. With this in mind I have designed the boards to be in multiples of 3x3 square sections. Middle squares will provide open ways for movement, edges will have walls with a height of 40 mm to allow for the air ducts to be set at a higher position.

15 mm ALIENS game

15mm Aliens Game

I was inspired by the Aliens movie lately to start a group game based on the events which unfolded in the second movie. As the club has about 10-12 members, it would have to be a simple, fast play game which could be run a a few hours. We play 15 mm since we do not have the storage room for 28mm. After about a week's worth of thought I decided I would need to get/ do the following:

1. Marine, Aliens and Predator (why not?) figures in 15 mm. Khurasan does fantastic figures and the bulk would be purchased through them. I also decided to get some civilians, the power-loader, deployable gun turrets and that cool APC to finish the collection. I decided against getting the facehuggers from Khurasan and will get them from Ground Zero Games instead as they look like proper facehuggers. There are several other models that would be great including a WALL-E type robot,but that is not vital at the moment.
2. Create a board that provides not only enough scope for an interesting game, but also provides options for a modified layout. Taking a leaf from Spacehulk I decided to make the board in smaller interlocking sections. To make it more sturdy (and because i'm not made of money) I decided to make it out of MDF instead of buying some of the outstanding kits which are available. This will take a bit longer but the experience will be worth it for the club members. After a bit of searching I have found several people who have made similar projects so I will be borrowing hints and tips from them.
3. A set of rules which is quick, easy to play and understand, can be picked up quickly by teenagers and is playable by up to 15 people simultaneously.