Gears of War / Legendary Encounters Aliens

[PanzersEast]

Got a chance to play both games I received as gifts over the the holidays..... have to say I have enjoyed both.

Gears of War has some interesting mechanics and can get real dicey as well.  I now you at somewhat at the mercy of the dice, however there is some strategy involved and things you can do to get past each stage.  I like the card and tile art and the missions are pretty well done.

LE Aliens has a lot of atmosphere and is a tough game... but probably one of the best deck/card games I have played.  I have read that setup time was a negative, however I found once all cards are divided it is very easy to setup and tear down.  The mat is very nice and the card art is well done although some do not like it.  All the movies are represented and you can mix and match as well.... All of my components where in the package as I know it was reported that some cards were missing from some boxes that were shipped, all was there for me.


PE

[Nefaro]

I like the mix of card management and map tactics in Gears of War.   It's also not excessively rules heavy.

Legendary Encounter's mechanics utilized more of the theme than Marvel Legendary did, and it's also more challenging than the original's base set.  I like the gory cartoon artwork in it too.  Not sure how much replayability it will have in the long run since the content is all tied to the Alien movies, so  I'm guessing it will be a one-off. 

Good looking & enjoyable solitaire stuff.  O0

[PanzersEast]

I like the mix of card management and map tactics in Gears of War.   It's also not excessively rules heavy.

Legendary Encounter's mechanics utilized more of the theme than Marvel Legendary did, and it's also more challenging than the original's base set.  I like the gory cartoon artwork in it too.  Not sure how much replayability it will have in the long run since the content is all tied to the Alien movies, so  I'm guessing it will be a one-off. 

Good looking & enjoyable solitaire stuff.  O0

I agree, the rules for GoW could have been handled a little better, however they work well, but could have been stream lined.

I believe Aliens will have a long life because of the difficulty and the mix you can do of the characters.... and some upcoming add-ons / user created content.... however it is not a game you play back to back to back.... but overall a better experience than Marvel for sure as it seems less generic.

PE

[Nefaro]

I thought the Gears of War rules were okay.  The rulebook probably drags their explanation out more than they warrant, but that may just be due to excessive examples of easily learned mechanics.

I'm often a completionist when it comes to wholly reading the rules the first time but I did skip many of the gameplay example sidebars in GoW without guilt.

I would also relate the gameplay style as a bit like the Mage Knight Boardgame.  Although the latter has more mechanics (such as a little deck-building added), uses hexes instead of squares, and other big differences, the hand management driving the available actions every turn is still similar.  I suppose the same could be said for Middle Earth Quest and some others though.