I've played Doom: The Boardgame hundreds of times and it seems that no-one could ever beat the first stage on the normal difficulty level (I always play as invaders player), only on the easier difficulties. Mostly because lack of ammo and even on the easiest level they would die half the times.

Am I being too harsh on them, is the game too hard or do all the players I ever encountered just can't play right?

Are they working together? If not than no duh their gonna get killed, they can't split up or the monsters will rpi them to shreds. Also, as with the hundreds of other "Dooms to hard" complaints (nos saying your complaining) is that it's DOOM! they arent supposed to win all the time! Thats why when they do win, it will be greater than a win if they do it all the time, besides, your a player to, you gotta win!!

Is this based off of the video game "Doom" that eventually was made into a movie?

Doom the Boardgame is based on the original Doom PC game series.

Yes, Doom is supposed to be hard...

I definitely recommend the expansion, download the expansion rules and check the suggested optional ones to adjust to your game style.

I have the expansion. And my friends are working closely together. The thing isn't that doom is hard. The thing is that they win a lot on the easiest level ("i'm too young to die"), almost never win on the second difficulty and have never one a single level on the normal difficulty level. I think i'm just being too good of an invader

I played against my friend on a 1 vs 1 (I'm the invader player) using Hurt Me Plenty (normal rules, no special changes), played Missions 1 to 10. I lost each and every one of them. Marine... rolls too good... my demons... rolls misses a lot...

Doom is a very hard game for the Marines. The best fix I have found is simply increasing the marine's starting armor from 2 to 3.

Or how about trying some different tactics? When I run the game we usually play it on the standard level and it gives the Marines a run for their money but if at first, second or third times you don't succeed....why try, try and try again but use a different strategy. The game should be hard and it should make players really try and adapt to the changes and challenges tossed at them. The game is not impossible but it will definately be "too hard" if your tactics are bad. So keep trying and those Marines will find themselves slowly but surely getting through those levels.

Mr Skeletor said:

You're kidding right? Even if I have them start with -2 wounds I'll still lose. My dice is cursed! CURSED I TELL YOU!

I haven't ever found doom that difficult from either players perspective, but thats probably me.

what my group has found works really well is that u get an ammo whenever u pick up a wepon, u only get an ammo if u pick up a duplicate wepon (we just the wepon breaking rules), and that the listed frags is the respons so that when they run out the just dont respawn any more

When playing my friends as the invader, I see that if I didn't hold back on playing a spawn card here or a darkness card there I would have won long before they got to the winning door. I didn't want to give them the impression that it is stacked in favor of the invading player and never want to play again. So yes , it can be hard. But if they get good rolls and work as a team they can make it out.

Maybe that's the reason I always lose. I only use spawn cards and smash cards. I ignore most other event cards (though some of the 'range' cards in the expansion I sometimes use)

My g/f doesnt seem to find it hard as the Marines, she won the whole campaign play with them on the normal difficulty settings. Im not a blithering idiot when I play the Invaders either, but she has a knack for strategy so yes it can be done. Finding the right rhythm for each scenario is what it seems to take, what that strategy is? I have no clue, I seem to be stuck like your group on level 1 with normal play, but I find it fun anyways.

Hmm maybe there is a difference between Doom players and Descent players? Is there less whining about Descent by Doom players on a game being unbalanced that say players who only have played Descent? Since Doom players have more going against them?

The biggest prob for the rines is not knowing the invader's cards. If you play with a noob group I would always suggest to join the rine team and let one of the noobs figure out the invader strategies.

I think it depends a lot on strategy and remembering to take full advantage of your skills as a marine or the invader deck if you play him. I play two player most often. I managed to complete all the missions in the first game with one marine on normal difficulty (before the rule changes came online), once I got to the third or fourth mission I had a lot of armour and felt quite sorry for the invader.

I would say that I am lucky with dice rolls and my opponent is the opposite, so when he plays the marine and I am the invader I usually win. This was getting him down and so we didnt play for a while.

We cracked open the expansion box on the weekend and I let him choose his skill cards so that he could develop a better strategy to suit his play style, we played on the Not too Tough difficulty level with no other mods and he got through the first expansion mission with only two frags. I might of been able to frag him once more if I had been totally on the ball and really nasty with my cards, but I was feeling gentle! Still he is up for another game now

So I think it is important that if you play as the invader with new marine players and you want them to get excited about it and play again you really do need to be careful not to put them off. They do not know what cards you are holding after all so you can frag them a few times but let them win by the skin of their teeth and they will come back for more.

Alternatively you need to each take it in turns playing the invader and then all try your hardest to win!

I think new players (myself included when I started) concentrate too much on killing invaders and picking up stuff. In doom, if you do this all the time you'll lose. 3 Marines have little chance against the invader hordes. It might look it at first but it isn't a traditional dungeon crawl with fragile mosters and almost invicilbe heros.

The trick is to run, run, run RUUUUNNN!

Kill only the monsters you have to. Pick up stuff if it's on the way or you really need it. In most rooms it's difficult for invaders to block your path. Only in corridors will you find often find it neccessary to blast a path through.

That's my thinking anwy how

Playing as invader i mentioned that right choise of the equipment will help marines to win.Marines should take weapons that reflects their cards.For example marine with marksman card should take machine gun,marine with the bonus to damage should take shotdun etc.Marines should share their equpment.All

founded equipment should be divide between marines.For example I saw very funny situation week ago.We played last level of the original game.I had 5 frags(as invader).Marines were near the exit.One of them was seriously wounded and wanted to take health kit during his next turn.But another marine who lost only

2 wounds took his health kit.Then i just finished wounded marine and they lost the game.

Tips for rookie marines:

- ADVANCE QUICKLY: Don't dawdle in a room trying to kill all monsters and taking all the loot. This ain't a dungeoncrawl where you're always stronger than the monsters, this is a survival game.

- CONSERVE AMMO: Don't waste your chaingun rounds on a trite for godsakes.

- STICK TOGETHER: Avoid splitting up or you'll be mincemeat. Try to position so the Invader player has difficulty to place new invaders.

I think its fine. The game is challenging, but for players experienced in tactical wargames its winnable. Of course, we are only playing the core rules. We don't have the expansion yet so maybe that makes it a lot harder.

Most of the time, Doom's difficulty depends. It can be hard at times, usually when the invader player becomes shrewd and spawns hordes in the marine starting area, usually killing a marine or two as well as stalling the group for a few turns. This is mainly based on my experience with the game, which is much more than that with Arkham Horror, since I've owned Doom for over a year.

Usually, since I do have the expansion as well, I play the difficulty on Too Young To Die when I'm the invader against my 7-year old brother. But the difficulty of the game, I think, truly depends on the skill of the invader player.

HP Dreadnought said:

On the contrary, it makes things easier for the Marines as it has a more balanced Invader deck (seriously, the cards It's a Trap, Sealed In, Not Quite, Ambush and the original Dud are pretty broken) and difficulty settings.