I'm a huge fan of X-Com, and was excited when I first saw the add for an X-Com board game.... However, after seeing the video and explanation of the game, I started wondering how much this game will be playing itself, with players merely reacting to the game with obvious decisions.... followed up by random dice rolls to determine whether or not your "forced" reactions succeed or fail...

How deep will the strategic/tactical decisions be? I hope I'm wrong on this, as I'd LOVE a good X-Com board game, but the gameplay seems to be 1) do what the app/card says to do. 2) roll dice to see if you succeed. Rinse/Repeat.

I know I must be missing something.

I'm a huge fan of X-Com, and was excited when I first saw the add for an X-Com board game.... However, after seeing the video and explanation of the game, I started wondering how much this game will be playing itself, with players merely reacting to the game with obvious decisions.... followed up by random dice rolls to determine whether or not your "forced" reactions succeed or fail...

How deep will the strategic/tactical decisions be? I hope I'm wrong on this, as I'd LOVE a good X-Com board game, but the gameplay seems to be 1) do what the app/card says to do. 2) roll dice to see if you succeed. Rinse/Repeat.

I know I must be missing something.

the app doesnt tell you were to put your jets, soldiers or which research to do just when in the turn to do it.

but the game does seem to be more luck over skill game for the gencon play i have seen

The app acts as the enemy player (Overlord, if you're familiar with Descent). Most of the game is traditional turn-based board game play. The app (and the real-time element) make up a small portion of the total gameplay, as follows:

• How many UFOs appear and over which continents.
• Any aliens that invade the base.
• How many and when to research techs.
• Total budget available for the X-Com team next turn.

I may be missing a few

Each of the above is timed, and each team member has to place tokens/minis on the board within the time limit during the real-time segment. The real-time segment takes maybe 2-3 minutes.

After the real-time segment, each player takes their turn (un-timed), in which they have to choose satellite coverage, budget funds, assign assault squads, assign interceptors, etc.

The app governs all those actions mentioned above, however more importantly it governs the timing for those actions. For example, if you did well in the previous round, the app will inform players of UFOs and invading aliens before telling you to deploy troops and interceptors. However, if you did not do well previously, the app may tell you to deploy troops and interceptors BEFORE declaring any invasions, leaving players to guess blindly where the aliens are going to appear.

The app acts as the enemy player (Overlord, if you're familiar with Descent).

I smell a possible future expansion here...