Weekly Trash - DOOM: The Boardgame

I've never read Geek of the Week on BGG. For the simple reason that I'd rather talk about games than gamers. So I though why not try a Weekly Trash thing here highlighting a different game each week and see how it goes. If this is a stupid idea feel free to call me on it. Also, I'm making this up as I go so please forgive the lack of any real format to it. Unsurprisingly to anyone who can see my avatar, this weeks game for the trash bin is DOOM: The Boardgame and expansion.

DOOM:TBG gets a lot of slack for being too tough on the marines. I'm not ashamed to admit that I died many times playing the original videogame trying to get through each level. This challenging aspect was probably what kept me playing it. I don't want to walk through the game just leveling up and collecting new outfits or whatever. I want to fight my way through while fearing for my marines life the whole way. Maybe even need to run through rooms now and then to survive. DOOM:TBG may resemble a tactical squad game more than a first-person shooter, but it does give me the same challenge I felt playing the videogames. What do you think about the difficulty level in DOOM? Do you use the expansion or other variants to change it?

I've only played the game with 3 players (1 overlord, 2 marines). I think this is actually the sweet spot for player number. Although we don't care how long anyone takes to think about what to do, I can imagine a 4th player might slow things down significantly because three people would be debating tactics. Plus with a 3rd marine the resources for each scenario would be stretched a bit much. I can see trying it as a 1 vs 1 game, but haven't gotten around to it yet. What are your thoughts on player numbers? Do you have a preference? Do prefer to play as the overlord or a marine?

I have to say that I'm actually kind of annoyed at FFG for not releasing more scenarios on their website or making some kind of official scenario editor available. I'm slowly working on an Aliens scenario with face-huggers and such. I procrastinate mainly because I don't want to have to draw out the map. Do you feel there are enough scenarios with the game? Have you made any yourself? Any favorite scenario?

That's all I can think of offhand and I have to get back to work anyways. Even if you just want to post an experience you had with the game or a short comment on it, please post something about it good or bad.

This is a great idea and you should submit further entries for the front page.

"BUT THE MARINES RUN OUT OF AMMO!!! THAT'S NOT FAIR!!! MOMMA!!!"

Interesting idea for an article.

Ok I've been curious about DOOM for a while and I have some questions. If I have and love Descent will DOOM seem too similar or does it scratch a totally different itch? Will I get the same visceral joy that I get from Space Hulk? Many folks have opined that you need the expansion to make DOOM shine? Do you agree? Why or why not? Finally why oh why do the minis for the marines look so lame? They have all these kick ass modles for the baddies but the lump of plastic I'm supposed to use as my avatar sucks! Where can I get a mini of this guy?




-Will

Michael Barnes wrote:

This is a great idea and you should submit further entries for the front page.

I have personal issues against my posts being rated by people.

"BUT THE MARINES RUN OUT OF AMMO!!! THAT'S NOT FAIR!!! MOMMA!!!"

This is why you have a chainsaw.

Yeah,, basically all I know about the game is that it is hard. Which again, is a negative if you only play games to win and be competitive.

Also I'd love for someone to answer Bulwyf's question. Is there still a place for this game in a collection when Descent and other dungeon raid games are out there?

I've not played Descent, but I don't see why not. Doom is all about aliens and massive guns, thematically that's quite different from Descent even if the concept is basically the same, but then that's the case with tonnes of games. If you narrowed your collection based on similarity to other games, you'd end up with 1 euro, a smattering of AT, a CDG, a hex and counter wargame and a block game. So it depends on the mood you are in. Sometimes you want to shoot an alien dog in the face with a shotgun, sometimes you want to mess up an orc with a battleaxe. If you have no interest in splattering alien dog guts all over the place, stick with Descent.

Bulwyf wrote:

Interesting idea for an article.

Ok I've been curious about DOOM for a while and I have some questions. If I have and love Descent will DOOM seem too similar or does it scratch a totally different itch? Will I get the same visceral joy that I get from Space Hulk? Many folks have opined that you need the expansion to make DOOM shine? Do you agree? Why or why not? Finally why oh why do the minis for the marines look so lame? They have all these kick ass modles for the baddies but the lump of plastic I'm supposed to use as my avatar sucks! Where can I get a mini of this guy?

-Will

I've never played Descent. Its funny because the closest gamer to me owns it and loves it, but has never played DOOM. He thinks DOOM will be too similar to Space Hulk, but not as good. I think Descent will be too similar to DOOM, but not as good. Although possibly because I don't feel a shortage of fantasy adventure games in my life.
I'm not in the camp that thinks the expansion is necessary. More options and scenarios are nice, but the game still plays the same way. Its pretty much exactly like getting an add-on pack for a computer game that gives more levels, items, and such. The difficulty levels variant can be used without having the expansion, but I don't have a problem with the difficulty. I feel the game is balanced enough and if anything the scenarios could have been revised to account for different player numbers.
You don't usually see yourself in a first-person shooter, but you do see the monsters in detail. So more thematic maybe? Honestly, I never paid much attention to the marine details except to paint the bases with a black sharpie so the mini's stand out more from other mini's on the board.

I love Doom. Love it. It was the first game that made me giddy when I started pulling pieces out of the box.

The game is a bitch for the marines but, if that's considered a problem, just give the Invader some slack when it comes to placing ammo or health on the map. Problem oh so easily solved.

I get a little pissed off when I think about how FFG has completely abandoned the Doom franchise in favour of Descent. They don't need to pump out another big expansion, just a new book of scenarios would be fantastic. Some of us aren't willing to drop money on both games so it really sucks to see Descent players get so much cool bonus stuff.

Never played the game, but what's wrong with one side having an advantage over the other? Makes it more of a challenge and makes it that much more rewarding when you win. Oh yeah, I forgot everything is about balance these days.

mikoyan wrote:

Never played the game, but what's wrong with one side having an advantage over the other? Makes it more of a challenge and makes it that much more rewarding when you win. Oh yeah, I forgot everything is about balance these days.

I think the difficulty level is a turn-off for a lot of people because the players aren't eased into things at all. The first scenario is extremely frigging tough, and seems basically impossible on a first attempt. Even FFG's downloadable introductory scenario is no walk in the park. My friends and I have actually never completed a scenario without at least a little help from a generous Invader player.

Difficulty dosen't bother me. Hell look at Space Hulk. Until you know what you're doing, those missions are brutal for the Space Marines. However, it's that very difficulty which makes Space Hulk awesome. (First ed at least. Screw that sissified 2nd ed)

From what I'm hearing DOOM might fill a niche for me. A 3 player "dungeon crawl" with lots of gore and a high bodycount. Descent is also awesome but it needs 5 imho to shine. And lately I have more gaming sessions with 3 so there you go.


-Will

Difficult is fine. Impossible is not.

I've always wanted to play Doom, but as I got Descent first (and I'm the primary game owner in my group) I haven't felt the need to own Doom also. If somebody else had it I'd totally play it.

I imagine Doom got shifted to the side in favor of Descent because it's FFG's own intellectual property. Due to licensing, I bet FFG makes more off of each copy of Descent than Doom.

I do like the idea of this feature though.

They both use the same system but one is fantasy themed and the other is well Doom themed. The Doom game is more shooting based. It is also more difficult in the base game. I only played the first two Well of Darkness expansion scenarios for Descent and they were impossible in the first case and hard in the second. The difficulty thing makes the games feel quite different. Descent is a nice dungeon crawl that feels like part of a larger campaign, in the base game that is. Doom is an up against the ropes getting pummeled, will we make it out alive kind of game. I played one game of Doom where we didn't even make it out of the first room that is how hard it is.

WRT creating custom scenarios for Doom, there is a free program that you can use to make custom Doom maps that look almost exactly like the maps in the base game. You may be on your own if you want custom Aliens graphics. Go to this url:

http://members.cox.net/shawnriordan/tilesystem.htm