XCom Project

[Jeffmal]

Greetings! Like I'm sure many many people before me, I've been toying with the idea of creating a homebrew XCom tabletop game. I'd love to see some discussion about this. I know there are some folks on here who have already been doing so, and I'd love to reach out to them, and also to see what others think.

So far my notes have explored a few areas, all of which need expanded. Things like:

• What miniatures to use for both XCom and Aliens
• Where to source terrain, and what terrain to use
• Ruleset that includes the gritty danger of XCom and some of the aspects that make it so great, such as Overwatch

• How to handle the campaign aspects such as base building, research, Council funding, and the like
• Interception of UFO's, abstract or miniatures-based minigame?
• Terror Missions!

I'd love to just start some discussion on rulesets that would suit, in particular, or what things YOU would love to see in an XCom miniatures game.

I love seeing the home brew attempts at creating a tabletop or board game version of this classic! We've had a go at this project as well--calling our take on the classic: CE6 (Close Encounters of the 6th Kind). Miniatures are painted, draft rules (we developed our own rules set), custom character/weapon cards and components (developed our own dice, templates, equipment, scenarios, NPCs, etc.) are good to go--and yes, we have an overwatch option. We have play tested several times and I am very happy with the functionality and the X-com feel that it captures.  Miniatures are a combination of 40K, Starship Troopers, Battletech, Reaper, War Rocket and Void--with a bit of customization. For now, we are focusing on a scenario (skirmish) based boardgame--perhaps most similar to Earth Reborn--with 2D tiles/ships (thank you X-com Tactical for sharing tile art). Right now we only have 1 farm map set of tiles but plan on creating a city or base set of tiles on reverse side. I may eventually toy around with advanced rules (flight, more vehicles, adding floaters/ethereals, etc.), 3D terrain option and a campaign that will expand the game into base building, research/tech trees, production, funding/diplomacy, soldier rank progression, territory acquisition, etc. I have found that it is very ambitious to try and capture all aspects of the video game...

Our adaption is somewhere in between the old PC games (we like snake men) and the newer platform versions (we like the different classes of soldiers), but leans heavily towards the classic. The Fantasy Flight vision looks to capture the other high level aspects of the game (that we have yet to incorporate into ours) but misses this tactical skirmish piece (which was always my favorite). I'm not knocking the official board game--I just haven't played it yet and not exactly the game I was hoping to see.  In my mind, our rendition has the appropriate level of complexity, tension, replayability and tactical strategy without getting bogged down in the math. No plans to publish at this time--but happy to play if you are ever in the Louisville area (and would love to get more feedback) and happy to share draft rules with other game designers. I enjoy the discussion and the various ideas that have been shared!

[Daeothar]

Awesome! My favourite game of all time (ok; maybe bar TIE-Fighter), and you've done all the classic races justice too. Can we get some more close ups of some of them? The Snakemen look interesting.

And I especially like the Muton; what mini did you use for that?

Also love the map. Is that a straight copy/port form the game, or did you make it yourself? Will you be making a model for the transport and the houses too?

I'll be keeping my eye on this thread for sure...

[Jeffmal]

Thank you and you have great taste--I would definitely put X-com and Tie Fighter on my all time top 10 video games list. I will try to post some better pics. The muton was a late addition--to give the aliens a Heavy--it is actually a modified Heroclix Incredible Hulk. The chryssalids are modified 40K genestealers. The terrain and ship art were printed for X-com Tactical print and play (on Boardgamegeek) and simply repurposed. I would love to create ship models and 3D terrain one day--but the 2D stuff works for now and still sets the mood just fine.

[Jeffmal]

The sectiod and muton miniatures that Brother Vinni is putting out might be the direction I would go in hindsight--they are incredible but more in line with the newer games. He is doing some cool Fallout stuff too (which is also in my top 10 video games). Pig iron stuff looks very cool for X-com operatives as well.

What are best ideas for old school ethereals or floaters? I've seen some cloaked figures from Heresy that might work for ethereals, but nothing for old school floaters?

[Kegluneq]

Nice!  Well, I do have a good number of grays from the old reaper bones kickstarter ... and some sedition wars guys just sitting around ... yeah, okay I'll give this a try.

What comes to mind for me is this: how do I make a cyberdisk?  The actual disc part isn't so bad, but I am a tremendous fan of the "open" configuration shown in XCOM:EU 2012.  I might kit-bash something together with some bits if I can find the time.

[wellender]

Crossover Miniatures

http://crossoverminiatures.com/product/grey-alien-flying-saucer/

[Dezmond]

What comes to mind for me is this: how do I make a cyberdisk?  The actual disc part isn't so bad, but I am a tremendous fan of the "open" configuration shown in XCOM:EU 2012.  I might kit-bash something together with some bits if I can find the time.

Glue a mini babybel to one of these? (or an alternative spider robot of your choice)

[Kegluneq]

Well I like that spiderbot for a sectopod, actually.  Great find!   

But the cyberdisc in open configuration is floating and bristling with mechanical bits.  Image from 2012:

[Jeffmal]

So I gave up on finding miniatures that would work for floaters and ethereals and mutilated a few Heroclix figures instead. Now we have another old school muton (heavy), 2 floaters (scouts) and an ethereal (commander)! These are still a work in progress but good enough for the table!

[Jeffmal]

If anyone is curious--Heroclix Incredible Hulk figures make great Mutons. I used a Cloak model (from Cloak and Dagger) for the Ethereal and a couple random characters I had never heard of (Hourman and Dr. Polaris) for the floaters--all cheap Heroclix models. The floaters required a dremel (to hollow out chest cavity) and some putty, etc. but the others were very simple mods.