Terminator Genisys: Rise of the Resistance "boardgame" 1st Play

Last month's concealed preview:


Is this month's revealed review:


Got my copy from CoolStuffInc, but it is also available from other outlets. If you're into board / miniature board games, then you should know Gamernerdz also.

BLUF is that I wanted the minis no matter what. There's Ah-nold as a Defender, John Conner, Kyle Reese and Alex the Hacker all in full combat array [with a few NPCs], and a lovely T-1000, special T-800s [leader, flamethrower, etc] and a pile of T-800s, small HKs, and lots more. At $60 it is worth it for the figs alone. But having read the reviews at Boardgame Geek [CLICK] and YouTube, I wanted to try the game also. 

With kids, a cooperative game is often a better choice than competitive since they get to win [or lose] with the other players. This results in "Tear Reduction" while still giving them opportunities to lose with the team which is good for character building. After all, winning with dignity is pretty easy; losing with dignity is much harder! I can think of plenty of adults who struggle with this...

Below, Resistance Leader Winkie has picked the T-800 Defender and scans the layout.


The T-800 defender fig - looks like Ahnold - and his playing card. Basically, you roll 4 dice each turn and allocate them to Action spaces on the card. Below the card are "slots" for weapons and equipment, some of which you start with and others you acquire during play.

The T-800 Defender has a Plasma Shotgun and Explosive Munitions - pretty deadly. His special abilities are to attack everyone adjacent to him in one attack, and enhanced defense abilities.

Alex the Hacker, has Mk1 plasma rifle and EMP grenade. His special ability is to tamper - a bit - with where the Endo's and HK's enter [presumably hacking their 'net]. Below is his dice allocation for his turn, two movement dice worth 6 movement points each, and an Interact [with a Waypoint he can reach] and the '1' is to switch enemy entrance point to location '1' at the far side, away from where they're starting.


First turn, Alex dashes to a Waypoint, and reads the results. There are 5 Waypoints on this mission, 3 of which represent supplies. Alex and Ahnold need to gather the three with supplies - the trick is that you won't know until you reveal them if they are supplies. Ahnold hasn't taken a turn yet and is in the Truck at bottom left.


Skynet's defense lineup for this installation. Each time you take an Action, you roll for enemy to enter the game and if they do you take that many successes of enemy figs and put them at the entry point they rolled. At game start, there are entry points on a '1, 3, & 5' on the dice. If no successes are rolled, no enemy enter. They also take their actions after the human of the same color acts, so there is a constant inter-action between the game [Skynet] and the players, albeit the players have *some* say in when the enemy act because they can decide in what order each of them act. Simple!


Turns 2-3ish. Having reached a Waypoint, it is flipped and revealed as "Bravo" which is a bad one! Instant surprise attack by two enemies that come from *nowhere*. Alex survives but takes a wound from the T-800 which is "Relentless".




Still having Actions left, Alex shoots his Plasma gun and rolls three Hits, taking out the Endo! The biggest threat is out, since the HK's are faster but less lethal.

On a streak, Alex shoots again and blasts the HK out of the sky.


Turns 4-5. The Endos have been entering, and as Alex advances he takes a risk to move faster. Attacked by an Endo for two Wounds [he only has 3], Alex takes advantage of the "Fist" rolled to cancel one wound. But an HK is also coming!


On Turn 6, Alex takes a rest to heal a wound, then gets no less than 4 Hits, blasting the Endo to pieces!


Turns 7-8, Alex and Ahnold advance deeper into the complex, Ahnold leap-frogging forward while Alex is rearguard, holding off a number of yellow enemy. Ahnold is dashing to the Waypoint! It is supplies, bringing up to two supplies gathered [one each], but it adds reinforcement chances to the enemy who will now appear more frequently - pressure is on!


Turns 9-10, Alex then leap-frogs ahead of Ahnold and hits a Waypoint in the small room at top right. It is a supply point - mission accomplished! However, it again adds to chance of enemy to appear, and they need to exfil the facility. Alex retreats to Ahnold, but successful rolls for T-800s and HKs increase the danger. A T-800 enters and shoots Alex up!


Turns 11-12 or so. Meanwhile, Ahnold is holding off no less than five yellow enemy! He goes full-combat and takes out three then retreats to cover.


Turn 13-ish. Alex and Ahnold are wounded, but Ahnold uses a med-pack he found and heals himself up. The pair then blast their way to the truck and jump in - Mission Success!


Game end. The facility is alive with enemy, but our heroes are preparing to drive off out of the complex to the outside tiles at top left.


This is a great game! The mechanics work smooth and only a couple of errors were made with the rules - you need to be IN the terrain to get Cover [takes the first Hit or two] and Waypoints are revealed when you enter their area, you don't need to interact with them.

The combat is great, and mechanics are worth stealing for other games. The graphics are excellent and the miniatures are really nice [more on that in another post]. My 9yo son was allocating his own dice by the end of the game and doing a good job with it. It teaches thinking and planning skills as well as reading the tactical situation, so a great game for kids. We can easily play it in under an hour on a school night, and do larger games on weekends.

I HIGHLY recommend getting this game! it is cheap for what you get and has lots of replay value with variety of characters and enemies, very characterful mechanics that are also pretty realistic, and has both campaign and one-off variants. The only mechanic that I missed was an opportunity fire / overwatch mechanic, which can easily be added to the rules. It will give both sides more realistic fire opportunities, which could be more deadly, but it is for both sides.

Anyone who is interested in modern combat should get this game as all the gear is either presently in use or a near-future weapon, and of course the sci-fi name and fluff on a weapon can easily be changed to a real weapon, perhaps with toned-down effects.

I'll be using this as a go-to kill-team game with any firepower era period, and of course sci-fi as well.  As always, it is fun to say "bite me" to GW and their overblown unplayable games, but now I REALLY don't regret taking a pass on GW's Kill Team game as it costs twice as much and you get a lot less fun out of it [unless trying to figure out what the rules are and who won is your thing].

My son and I are on vacation, and look forward to playing this again when we return.