THUNDERBIRDS CO-OPERATIVE BOARD GAME.

As we were both suffering from colds, and needed a game with little preparation time, this Thursday's game was a first try of Thunderbirds 50th Anniversary Co-operative Board Game.  https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/160610/thunderbirds

Starting positions.

The concept is the players play cooperatively as International Rescue. The team try to avert disasters and complete rescues, whilst at the same time trying to thwart the schemes of the evil Hood.

To start off with, the team has three missions to deal with. They complete them by moving the required characters, ships and machines to the locations on the card. Once the combination is in place, the rescue is resolved. This usually, but not always, requires a die roll using 2 d6. These are not normal die, as there is no 6. This is replaced by a Hood advance.

When this is rolled, The Hood moves along his track, setting off events and trying to reach his scheme cards. If he reaches any one before the team have the combination to beat the scheme, he wins. If the team beat all three schemes, they win. Some of the disaster cards are Hood advances too.

Disasters on three continents. Which one can we combine to defeat first?

Each player takes a character card at random. This card has bonuses and benefits that the character can use. The character is your active character and needs to be in a vehicle or ship to make it work. This makes it a bit more difficult as the non active characters cannot pilot ships, they can only be passengers. I drew Virgil, Rick drew John.

Another combination needed to avert disaster in North America.

Once we got used to the game and the rules, we managed to avert a few disasters. This was aided by the lack of Hood Advances cards or dice. It took a lot of thought and tested our ability to cooperate and prioritise.

The Hood's first scheme defeated.

Disaster averted in South America.

Bizarre juxtaposition, Scott in FAB 1 in TB2 and Penelope in TB1! The things you need to do to avert disaster.

The Hood's second scheme thwarted.

One too many disasters means we lose the game.

We managed to complete a good few rescues and we even defeated two of the schemes, but it was the number of disasters that did for us. It took a bit of time to figure out how the disasters moved down the line. The secret is to complete rescues to create a gap in the track and then get John to do a 'scan' to move a card into the gap and give a little breathing space. Don't worry, you'll understand when you play the game.

This game really needs three or four players. Hopefully get a chance to play it again soon.

This game has a personal interest. I get a name credit in the rules as a Kickstarter backer.