Joined in 2023 
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Some parts of the game may feel a little tedious if players are repeating actions. Gameplay does ramp up once the suspicions rise but I get the impression some may find this build up and slow tension not to their liking. Now, let me tell you why you should let me use the armory - if I find a flamethrower I promise to use it responsibly... The game supports four to eight players, and I feel the game plays better the more you have. It allows you to vary up the teams more than you can playing with four, since most missions require at least three people. Infection at Outpost 31 can create such memorable moments at the table, with tons of enthusiastic accusations flying as things start to spiral further out of control. Even if one imitation gets discovered, the other can have a good chance to still cause chaos to help defeat the humans. There’s tons of fun to be had playing on either side, with each offering their own forms of tension and excitement. The dozen playable characters include familiar faces from the film - notably Kurt Russell’s MacReady and Keith David’s Childs - with the map providing a top-down view of the entire outpost. True to the paranoia of the movie, players can equip themselves with weapons such as a flamethrower and dynamite, and even tie up suspected imitations and test their blood as they try to weed out the alien horrors among them - if even a single imitation makes it onto the helicopter, the players (and humanity) lose.
I found the game had a few issues regarding the alien player. While its great to become the alien and surprise everyone, players who join forces with them at a later time don’t really have much to do other than help decide where the aliens strength tokens will be placed.At the beginning of the game, cards are drawn that will make one player “the imitation,” who will be in conflict with all the human players in the game. Each player is then dealt a hand of supply cards that will be used to complete missions each round. The captain for the round, which passes between players, looks at the mission and selects a team of players to help fill the requirements on the mission card. After the team is selected, you’ll go to a room where each player on the mission will secretly add a card to the mission pile to see if they can meet the objective. I love how players can be elected to be the leader of the group. It can give you a great sense of duty and control over the game,. Deciding how to distribute the action cards to various locations while keeping an eye on where players are moving to. It’s even more fun if you are secretly an alien player. Watching everyone squabble and argue over why that player moved to a location or why they did something the last turn. This chip could either be a useful item such as some Rope or The Thing itself which would start a battle. If they fail in any way, either through missing the requirements of the room or via a sabotage card, then the room could be lost to fire. Loose too many rooms and the game is lost. Get Rollin’ The alien can win by either infecting everyone, or boarding the chosen escape method, they’ve managed to get out into the world and spread!
It’s a shame that governmental satires remain relevant with cyclical predictability. The Crazies as a concept is as relatable today as it was in 2010 or 1973. Eisner understands that Romero’s foundation doesn’t have to be altered, only the presentation. Proper remakes reinvent; they don’t rehash. Watching Romero’s and Eisner’s versions of The Crazies paints a complete red, white, and bruised picture of how the government works for itself, not the American people. That’s because they’re two halves of a conversation about broken systems, neither movie stepping on the other’s lines when telling their stories. This a wonderful system and such a simple way to allow non human players to wreak havoc across the base without anyone ever knowing what role card they have. When I mentioned table talk earlier bringing out some serious debates, it doesn’t getting scarier and funnier than seeing a couple of sabotage cards enter the pile, prompting the leader to question everyone’s loyalty and true intentions. Thematically, I can now see what encouraged the designer of this game to choose this film and specifically this location for a game like this. The sense of isolation adds to the game. There is no help coming, and you need to get out to survive. It works perfectly with a hidden character game and helps develop the sense of uncertainty in every decision, and ultimately, the fun the game brings to the table.
The idea of drawing tokens from a bag to see if a dog infected you is scary but exciting as your role can suddenly switch. Downplaying the result and keeping your head down while you secretly changes roles feels like your acting out a role in front of your friends. If you manage to defeat The Thing in battle, you will move onto the second section, which increases your chance of being infected. More Blood sample cards are dealt out to all players as you open your crew up to a wider area of the base. This gives a second or third player the chance to become an imitation, making each decision for building a crew, mission and battle even harder. In the final third section when you defeat the Thing, then will move onto the final escape attempt on the helicopter. Table Talk Board game adaptations aren’t always the easiest to pull off, as they can’t rely on the same linear storytelling as something like a video game, but Infection at Outpost 31 pulls from existing board game tropes and wraps it in the movie’s signature brand of tension and body horror.
Keeping the base operational feels true to the progression of the film. Working together to keep the heat and the lights on, while trying to figure out the motivations of any suspicious characters is one of the highlights of this game. The moments when one player is convinced that another person is playing as a human, and they defend them to the hilt, only to then realise they were wrong, can be hilarious, tense and highly rewarding.The Thing is played over a series of rounds each consisting of 8 phases. The game can end in a number of ways. The humans can win if they manage to identify all alien threats and escape the outpost. Later in the game, more will be dealt out amongst other human cards. In a seven or eight player game, there is the chance for two more Imitations to be dealt. In a four to six player, there can only ever be one more. This is the main rule difference between player counts, but the overall feeling with more players is very different. For a game about table talk, the more in this case is very much the merrier. I have had countless games where seemingly innocent actions by players can raise eyebrows and motivations were often questioned. This expansion for The Thing – The Boardgame allows you to experience the events that happened at Thule Station, the Norwegian station where it all began! As for the 1982 version, the expansion lets you relive the tensest moments from the story, transporting you into the cinematic film! The core element of the game is based on the emulation properties of the Thing, which will hide its identity under a blanket of fake humanity, but with substantial differences in the way they interact with the game and with your feelings.
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