Sci-fi Squad-based Combat!

Core Space : First Born is a great introduction to the series with a really unique and tragic main villains to go up against and a plot that feels like you're taking part in a weekly sci-fi adventure show or blockbuster movie. The miniatures themselves look great, especially the Rock Worms!

Your crew will be delving into various asteroids to seek out alien riches, however the long dormant aliens have awoken and will be coming at you with deadly ferocity. Your missions tend to be a race against time where you'll be running into hostile territory, trying to achieve your mission, grab as much loot as possible and escape before the Aliens overwhelm you.

The Aliens themselves can be deadly even in the earliest stages, so you'll need to position your crew as strategically as possible and weigh up the risks/rewards of pushing your luck to get valuable loot (which you can sell to upgrade your ship/crew members).

This game has huge table presence thanks to Battle System's terrain system, you get a lovely mat to put onto your table and then construct the 3D terrain to match the map for the mission you're attempting (of which there are 10 included) or just make up your own.

This is where the "project" element comes into it, as popping out all the terrain and painting the miniatures is going to be a really fun activity for someone who enjoys this kind of thing. Painting the miniatures isn't essential, but you'll want to so they look as good as the scenery they're in. The terrain itself can be a bit tricky to assemble sometimes (Especially the Ark chests, which are a little fiddly) but as long as you don't try to force the components together with brute force, you'll be able to assemble these with relative ease and have a stunning looking game at the end of it. What’s also really fun is that the terrain has searchable elements where you physically remove items from the terrain, which adds to the immersion!

Gameplay wise this is a cross between a board game and a table top skirmish game but the introductory scenario that comes with the game really helps you dive right into the game and when you get into the campaign the fun really begins as you'll become quite attached to your crew and if you leave someone behind you'll most likely want to attempt a rescue mission which comes with it's own risks.

Once you've finished this, you can pick up the original Core Space which pits multiple crews against each other or continue the first born threat with the various expansion packs available.

If you're after a project to keep you busy which is also a really competent sci-fi squad based combat game, Core Space : First Born is the game for you.