Aliens: Another Glorious Day in the Corps is a peculiar release. Aliens, James Cameron’s follow-up to the sci-fi classic Alien is frankly one of the best action films ever made, so the excitement around this new cardboard adaptation is not surprising. The problem? We’ve seen it all before.
Aliens first received a tabletop implementation with a strong 1989 design published by Leading Edge. The spirit of the film was further embodied in Games Workshop’s classic Space Hulk, a game that was Aliens in all but name. Space Hulk influenced hundreds of tabletop dungeon crawlers since, each paying homage to their predecessors and re-wrapping that core tense experience with minute deviations.
So Aliens: Another Glorious Day in the Corps is already facing a challenge: how to be something new? Designer Andrew Haught realized that hurdle and introduced a seemingly unique central mechanism called the “endurance deck.” Everything else in this game is secondary. The plastic miniatures depicting Hicks, Ripley, and a score of aliens are all background. The fog of war blips, clearly influenced by Space Hulk, are just another tool. The lovingly crafted graphic design that covers every square inch of this game is simply veneer.
But the endurance deck is the game’s lifeblood. Players control multiple marines, spending cards to fire their weapons and initiate special abilities. Even new equipment enters play through the deck. Occasionally, players trigger a negative event from this deck as well, adding to the sense of danger lurking around every corner.
In some ways, this system is sleek and clever. It condenses multiple ideas—equipment, events, and abilities—into a single mechanism, which saves table space and lowers the rules overhead.
Of even more significance is the thematic accomplishment. You exhaust cards from the endurance deck to pay for actions, sometimes removing them permanently from play. The number of cards waning over time represents your group’s decreasing morale and resources. The deck provides an overt sense of dread that escalates across the arc of play. It will often mimic the board state, supporting the tension as xenomorphs crawl out of the ductwork and surround your squad.
