I had one of the stripped-down Avalon Hill versions for a while and it... wasn't fun. No flares, not many aliens, and no Tick-Tock. So, I traded it and never thought about it again. But once I heard FFG was coming out with their version and including a lot of the legendary fun stuff, I knew I'd probably get it. Having seen this, I just put in a pre-order with my FLGS. As a Tick-Tock fan, it's probably no surprise that I was fond of Turbo Stasis back in the day (Draw, Island, Go. Draw, Island, Go. Draw, Island, Go...) There's nothing I like more than trying to maintain a balancing act in a game. Or watching other people try...

My train of thought when I read Tick-Tock's card:

"I so thought that art was gonna be Machine. Time limit on game? That's...wait a sec, only when the offense doesn't defeat the defense. Oh great, an alternate win condition [i don't realy like those]."

All in all, an interesting alien that I'll definately try out but probably not keep at the top of the stack.

We playtested them quite a bit before they reached this form. It looks worse than it is.

Most games are actually over before attackers lose 10 times. People forget how many bases are gained from offensive ally wins, negotiations, and other wackyness. It just doesn't seem like there are that few wins.

And Tick-Tock tends to draw a lot of cosmic zaps to prevent them from discarding tokens.