Directive: Invasion! Game Basics

Week 2, still going strong!

So the game starts off with the players randomly picking their alien race and the Directives they will use to score points. After that the players will be taking turns laying Terrain and Monument tiles to build the game board. This means the game board is different every game and changes in size based on the number of players.




 So while a two player game will be fairly small...

Please note that the images are not final and were only placeholders during play testing.

... a full six player game can be huge!

Please note that the images are not final and were only placeholders during play testing.

Once the game starts players will take turns destroying monuments, harvesting water or wooded areas, building outposts, or even uplifting humans into loyal troops* and sending them to battle your rivals. All from the comfort of your mother ship.

*While being uplifted by the Hunters could be considered an honor, the Bug's uplift process is a bit... messy.

I like to call Directive: Invasion! a territory control game. In the first few rounds players scramble to claim valuable spots on the map, but soon it turns into all out war as they try to claim land from each other while protecting their own. Pushing too far forward with your troops might lead to your opponent dropping an outpost behind you. Move off a monument to defend a city one turn and have an opponent blow it up with their orbital laser. 

However there is something to keep in mind as you wage open war on Earth's surface: the game has a time limit. The game will always end in a certain amount of rounds so you have to manage your actions carefully. If, for example, the game ends in 9 actions will you have time to knock your opponent out of that lake? Do you have time to place your troops where they need to be for maximum points? What if you are perfectly set up and dread having to defend for that long? Well maybe then you antagonize the humans, turning 9 actions into 6 and ruining all of your opponents plans...

But I'll go more into Actions and Directives some other time. 

Next week, something I know a lot of you have been waiting for, Robotic Age Mars stuff!