I picked up the new Doom board game by Fantasy Flight Games at Gatekeeper Games pre-Christmas. Being one of my favorite video games, with some nice looking models and made by a company known for it’s high quality board games, I figured I couldn’t go wrong.
Opening and contents
Upon opening, the game had three books on top, similar to other FFG games I’ve played recently (like Star Wars Imperial Assault, which is a natural comparison point), a Learn to Play, Rules Reference Guide and Operations Manual (containing the missions). Diving deeper there is the set of modular cardboard tiles and cardboard tokens to be punched out, all on thick stock (about 5mm, and looks like it will be durable). Then we have 6 custom d6’s, door stands, a lot of cards (normal and FFG small) and, of course, a big pile of miniatures.
Rules and Overview
The game accommodates up to five players, with 1-4 marines working against one Invader, who controls the demons.
The rules look relatively well laid out and straight forward, with an introductory/tutorial mission included that means you can start playing after reading only six pages of the rulebook. Combat mechanics have the attacker rolling dice for damage, and the defender flipping cards for defence which feels more in line with the theme than opposed dice rolls.
Rules Reference Guide is a large glossary of terms laid out in alphabetical order which should make solving rules queries during games straight forward.
There are 12 missions, divided into two ‘operations’ (or campaigns) in the Operations Guide. These appear designed to be played in order, but the book indicates players can just pick a mission and go. One minor quibble is that there doesn’t appear to be any progression mechanics, but it looks like this is is made up for by certain weapons being available within missions and players able to customise their marines via card choices at the start of a mission.
Models
There are four marine models (two rifles, one chaingun and one chainsaw), and loads of demons. The models all appear well detailed for board game models, and the video game look has been well rendered in them. The cacodemon and cyberdemon are standouts, with the latter being a four part model (which goes together very easily). Some of the models have rather harsh mould lines which will require a bit of work to clean up, but this isn’t anything a hobbyist wouldn’t expect. I’m definitely looking forward to painting these bad boys, and have already been tossing up whether to use the newer, darker aesthetic or the older, brighter style. I think the latter would be cooler.
Conclusion
This game looks pretty cool, seems relatively easy to learn and should make a good break for my regular group’s Imperial Assault run. The campaign looks light on in terms of progression, but maybe this will not be an issue once we get into it and use the customisation mechanics. I’m also very keen to get the models painted up, with them slightly different to my usual fare (Games Workshop/Privateer Press/Outlaw Miniatures). I’ll share some initial thoughts on the game once I’ve had a chance to play, as well as my experiences painting the models.
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