Disclaimer
Free League Publishing sent me the Alien Rapture Protocol miniature set for the Alien Role Playing Game Evolved Edition to review for my blog. While I am very grateful for the opportunity, I won’t let it sway my opinion. This will be my honest review. Make sure you also check out my reviews for Mutant Year Zero and Alient TTRPG.
Table of contents
Unboxing
What’s in the box?
- 20 high quality miniatures
- Skirmish rulebook
- Tokens
- Game Catalogue
What is it?
Free League Publishing has released a set of 20 high-quality figures to fill your next session of Alien TTRPG. The set comes with a condensed rulebook for skirmish play for players who want to enjoy some wargaming in the Alien universe. Most importantly, the miniatures are ready to fill your world whether you are following one of the prewritten adventures, like Rapture Protocol, or you are creating one of your own from one of the many high quality source books. Whether you leave them unpainted, or get a little creative with the paint, these are going to look great on any table.
What is Skirmish?
Skirmish is Alien TTRPG’s pvp mode. The game is designed for two players (or teams) as they fight for survival. Booklet includes three unique scenarios to help players get started, but there is room for some solid homebrew potential. For example, a team of humans must fight their way through a Xenomorph infested planet to retrieve keycards to help them escape. The game is over if the humans complete their objective, or the aliens kill all the humans. There are rules for army creation, combat, and even a fear mechanic to make the game very thematic. I am a huge fan of the radar mechanic because it makes the game flavorful. If you’re into Alien RPG for just combat, definitely look into the skirmish mechanics.
Thoughts on skirmish
I am not very good at wargaming, so I appreciate how easy this mode is to get into. I got destroyed the times I played, but I had a lot of fun doing so. The game mode is full of cool flavor that will make fans of the Alien series very happy. The fact that Xenomorphs start as blips of a radar until discovered is terrifying. The fact that one of them turns into a cat is fantastic.
Combat is strait forward, but engaging. I am not very good at army building, but there seems to be a good amount of options for some diversity. I am sure there might be a meta, but I had fun playing what was cool. I had a lot more fun playing the Xenomorphs, but only because I was better at it.
I love that the rulebook comes with the miniature because it makes the set a board game you can pull out when you are not running games.
Review
If you like the Alien movies, you might as well pick up this miniature set. This is a very cool set that will be a lot of fun to paint, even if you don’t end up playing the tabletop game.
Quality
I am amazed, but not surprised by how good the quality of these miniatures is. Free League Publishing consistantly produces high quality products for all their IPs, and it can be clearly seen in the amount of work that went into each sculpt. The Xenomorphs look terrifying, and the humans look like they are ready to survive the invasion. I had a lot of fun looking examining each figure and appreciating all the small features. The ripples of the muscles, the poses of the figures, and even face huggers look cool. I definitely wish I was good at painting.
Is it worth it?
Yes. If you are a fan of the series, the figures have the detail you need. Buy these, paint them, and add them to a cool scifi display.
You don’t need miniatures to run a campaign of Alien TTRPG. Before this set, I was just using coins, but it does make my players a lot more excited. The first time I pulled one of Xenomorps to attack the party is a memory I will treasure for ever. It is a very fun and useful accessory, if you have the space and need for it. I only bring these out for combat, so its nice that the set includes rules for a standalone game mode.
If you are buying this for skirmish, I think it is a fun little game mode that you can pull out when you don’t want to run a full session. Skirmish isn’t my thing, but I did have fun the times I played it. I’ll probably mostly use it for all my tabletop rpgs I run moving forward because of how good they look on the table. Now I just need to convince my wife to paint them for me.
You can pick up the Alien TTRPG Rapture Protocol miniature set on the official Free League Publishing website.
