Mars Attacks

I recently heard about the Mars Attacks miniatures game which was published back in 2014 by Mantic Games (not that you'd know from their current website).  This is based on the 1960s trading cards and 1996 film of the same name (almost, the movie added an exclamation mark).

Someone had staged a Perilous Tale using a neoprene street scene gaming mat which was one of the Kickstarter bonuses and what originally caught me eye.  The pair of mats were available on eBay for just a little more money, I could get the whole game - with even more extras.

I won the auction earlier this week and a big box arrived today.  This includes the original rules and cards plus solo rules with AI cards for the Martians.  The rulebook is substantial but includes lots of biographies and stats on the characters, plus ten scenarios across a campaign, so the actual rules aren't too complex.  As you'd expect from the theme, this is very much a fun playable game.

Miniatures (about the same scale as 25/28mm) include General Tor and loads of Martians:

What surprised me was the number of different poses - ten unique Martian figures with 2 or 3 of each.  Earth is defended by 9 human heroes and 10 US troopers, all unique figures.

Another of the kickstarter extras were civilians, casualties and a flaming herd of cows, replacing in part, some of the cardboard figures also included in the game.

Other creatures are represented by cardboard figures and the set includes a range of counters and D8.

The Martians are invading having already destroyed the town so the set includes lots of detailed ruined walls and shop fronts that can be variously clicked together...

...plus a range of rubble, barricades and street furniture to hide behind:

Last but definitely not least are the pair of 2'x2' rubber mats with street and pavements, which will be perfect for other games like Ghostbusters or Dad's Army.

Ideally I shouldn't get too excited before I've actually read the rules and playtested it... but it's too late for that.  But frankly, even if I don't get on with the rules this is such a great collection of scenery and the miniatures could easily be used with other rulesets.  So if the rules are good, that's a bonus!

There are plenty of pictures of what the figures look like painted up and several tutorials on YouTube for painting the Martians, so I will add the miniatures and scenery to my painting list.  But I will certainly try the rules before starting the painting.