XCOM: The Board Game – Evolution
Expansion of: XCOM: The Board GameXCOM: Evolution is an expansion for XCOM: The Board Game that complicates your war effort with new missions, enemies, and invasion plans, as well as mechanics that make your struggles more dangerous than ever.
90m
1 - 4 Players
Ages 14+
esac1122
The base X-com board game is hampered by certain roles not having enough to do. After a few playthroughs, the scientist/commander players would usually be pretty bored. The scientist doesn't get to interact with the board state or even the other players outside of funding and giving out techs. The commander has very little to do outside of maintain a steady level of funding. Evolution fixes these problems. The scientist can now directly influence the squad leaders chance of success and has more techs that bolster his own gameplay. The inclusion of the EXALT means the commander now has multiple problems to focus on at the same time. The commander has to make multiple trade-offs; does he spend extra funding to get more soldiers on the field and use his new agent card to kill the EXALT foe hampering the mission, or does he remove the EXALT token in orbit and save funds to afford incoming base damage? Evolution gives a new toy, the MEC, to the squad leader which drastically changes the way the combat game can be played. Only the central officer gets gimped by Evolution (but to be frank, the central officer is usually the only role truly starved for time) outside of some techs from the scientist. Excellent expansion that I highly recommend. Evolution is to the X-com board game as Enemy Within is to Enemy Unknown.
Greenosaur
We have used some pieces of this expansion. I can see how it ramps up the help and also adds more difficulty. I think it is a must use in XCOM.
Mithrandirhunter
A great expansion for fans of the original game. Contains a handful of new gameplay mechanics, which further complicate sessions and allow for new assets (mainly mechs) and new threats (mainly enemy sabotage). Non-essential, but highly recommended if you are a fan of the original. Makes the scope of options broader and thereby more interesting.