The Thing: Infection at Outpost 31

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Enjoyment of The Thing: Infection at Outpost 31 not only comes down to having the right people to play with but, more importantly, how many. The game seats from 4-8, but I'd say don't bother with anything less than 6. Even with 6 or 7, the overall experience seems a little bit off when compared to the full 8. Most of the mission cards require 4-5 players to be involved, and that doesn't leave much choice when playing with lower counts. You really want the full complement on this one, otherwise the infected players are practically guaranteed a spot on the mission. It doesn't have the playtime of an "event game" like Twilight Imperium, but it might as well be one to get the best possible experience from it. Play as 1 of 12 iconic characters (and as either a human or an imitation) from the movie, such as MacReady, Palmer, and Blair. The game is for 4 to 8 players and one we highly recommend. Everyone puts their cards in. Captain looks at the cards when deciding if they should get rid of one. Captain randomly chooses a person who contributed - "What did you put in?" We do most of our discussion before we even decide who’s in on the mission. We get everyone to state exactly what they’re putting in. This way, the entire group knows what should be in there. If it doesn’t add up, we start asking questions. However, the player can exhaust both charges to ‘torch’ a player, removing them from the game. After accusing someone of being an imitation, all players vote with a thumbs up or down on torching said player. Note, only one player can be torched in a game with 4 or 5 players.

The game starts with each player being given a Blood Sample card. This will reveal their role in the game, to them alone, either that of a human or an imitation. There will be one imitation dealt at the start of the game to one of the players.

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Finally, each player rolls two dice, with the player rolling the highest number taking the revolver token. This is your first Captain. Now it’s time to work your way through Outpost 31, discern the imitation(s) among you, and hopefully escape! I was frankly surprised by how much fun I had playing this game. Based on other games I own I would say that The Thing feels the most like a mash-up of The Resistance and Battlestar Galactica the Board Game (BSG). It has the team building from The Resistance but then uses a card based resolution system that’s much more BSG. Add in the fact that a player can swap sides mid-game (this happens twice) and you move a bit more towards BSG. The fact that the game doesn't restrict you from talking about what cards you put in (rather it seems to require it at times to coordinate) is a real flaw. It makes it so that an imitation has such a rough time of sabotaging. After setup is complete play begins: Each Character board has a character from the ’82 movie and includes a unique Captain power.

Everyone starts with a couple pieces of equipment along with a blood sample card which lets you know if you’re human or an “imitation”. Keep this info secret and be cautious in how you play because every action will be scrutinized by your team.BIG UPDATE (8/10/19): Thanks to some amazing and hard work by Michael Phelpz, pretty much every part of this mod has been improved. I was not old enough to see the movie The Thing on the big screen in 1982. I had to wait about 6 years later when a High School friend rented it. The Thing seemed just the right kind of wrong to me. Disembodied heads growing legs and eye stalks, and gaping maws opening in a man chest seemed to emulate my love of the macabre and Lovecraft. This brings us to today’s review, The Thing: Infection at Outpost 31. The Thing is based on some famous John Carpenter movie that gets me boos from fellow geeks every time I say I’ve never seen it. The Thing puts 4-8 players into the role of a member of the crew at an Antarctic Outpost who discover an alien ship that’s 100,000 years old (oh spoilers!). Some Thing comes from the ship and tries to infect and infiltrate the humans. Right from the start of the game the players know this. They know one of their team is an “Imitation.” The humans freak out, decide they need to grab some crucial gear, kill off the thing and escape the base. The Imitation wants to blow the place up, infect everyone or sneak aboard the chopper so they can get access to the rest of humanity. To make things interesting, as the players explore the base there are two more chances that more of them could become infected and also become an “Imitation” which turns the game from a one vs. many hidden role game into a full-on team game.

When they Battle The Thing, players follow the previous steps but instead, the Captain uses Supply cards to roll dice to roll 3 or 4 of a kind depending on The Thing level. If they fail the Contagion Level increases. Another big plus for me is that The Thing does an excellent job at emulating the 1982 movie. As soon as you open the box and look over all the components, it’s like stepping into the movie. Also, as the game begins, all players start in the rec-room trying to decide what their next steps are going to be, which places you in the tensest part of the film. Supply cards include many tools but also include Sabotage cards used for automatic fails. Once chosen, these players move their miniatures to the ‘Escape’ space on the board, and the moment of truth arrives. These players reveal their Blood Sample cards one by one. If the escape criteria is met, congrats! The Human players win! However, if one imitation made it on board, the Humans lose, and Earth is doomed. Be sure to make the right call! One More Thing…In The Thing, most players will play a human who want to clear all three sectors of the outpost and then get on the helicopter to escape. Some player(s) will play an Imitation who want to move the Contagion Level up, destroy the outpost before it’s cleared, or to stow away on the helicopter. All roles are kept hidden until the end of the game.