Futuristic space games have long flirted with the fantastical notions associated with outer space. Aliens and clones have appeared in a variety of computer and tabletop RPGs, and a few games have been totally based around settings drawn from scientific and astronomic references. New World Computing presented a futuristic strategy RPG based on gang warfare called Chaos Overlords. TSR came up with its own version of a space fantasy themed setting and rules with the Star Frontiers product line. Perhaps the most popular such RPG in this vein is the Babylon 5 RPG.

Now, a new CCG has come down from outer space (aka Aliens of the Universe) which sports a grand amalgamation of Chaos Overlords, Star Frontiers, and Babylon 5, along with game play aspects similar to the 7th Sea, Legend of the Five Rings, and Warlord CCGs, which were made by the same company as HumAliens, The Alderac Entertainment Group (AEG).

A First Look

HumAliens comes with a choice of two 50-card starters of either – you guessed it – Humans or Aliens. The box is somewhat unconventional for a CCG, in that it does not have a deck shape. Each starter deck has two different covers – one with the appearance of three Humans (since the game is set in the far future, humanity has come a long way, so naturally, human appearance has changed) and one with three Aliens.

The cards are illustrated with full-color art - and outstanding full-color art at that. Contributing to the card game illustrations is Justin Hillgrove. The base set, titled “Challenge”, suggests correctly that there will be undoubtedly future expansions.

The overall price is a somewhat painless $11.99 US for a 50 card deck (which includes a die, 10 energy clips and a full color rules sheet) and $2.99 US for the nine card booster packs.

Characters from Outer Space

The HumAliens rules sheet book is divided into 24 boxes. The first three boxes cover back-story. The introduction also sets up a frame of mind as to how epic this space fantasy will be.

The fourth box covers the winning conditions of the game. There are two. The first is a Battlefront Victory, which is what happens when your opponent has no HumAliens (characters) on his or her front line. The other is a Superbeing Victory, which is what happens when three HumAliens achieves Superbeing status.

Superbeing status can be achieved by either reaching 500 Energy Points (EP) or when they reach three Knockout credits (a HumAlien gets a Knockout credit when it knocks out an opponent front liner.

The fifth box discusses how to prepare for battle (aka your card game). First, you and your opponent determine how many and which HumAliens start on your Frontline. One can pick up to five HumAliens that can cost up to 400 EP. You also will have to choose what faction you are representing – Alien, Human, Beast, Clone, or Robot. Each faction has an advantage.

The sixth box focuses on each faction’s advantage, as well as how to turn teams face up, set starting EP, and shuffle cards.

The seventh box on Game Play is loaded with rules for this space fantasy themed game. The rules are impressive, but there are even more in the eighth box. In brief, the rules are:

• Draw Cards – Draw 5 cards.
• Roll Initiative – Roll d10. High result wins. 0 = zero, not ten.
• Player Turns – Take turns giving two Orders.
• Play until someone wins.

The eighth and ninth boxes explain the play area – how to line up your Front Line, where to put your deck and discards, etc.

The tenth box talks about Action cards. These are sorted into two categories: regular Action cards and Team Action cards. As you might expect, Team Action cards are more powerful. They provide such great power, that a deck is limited to only three Team Action cards per deck.

The eleventh box talks about HumAliens (character) cards and what all the faction symbols mean.

The next two boxes of the rules sheet are about Enhancement cards which can be linked to a character on the Front Line.

Enhancement cards come in three categories – Ethic cards, P.E.T. (Paranormal Extra Terrestrial) cards, and Technology (aka equipment) cards.

The fourteenth box includes advice on building a deck as well as an in-depth look on Attacking.

Finally, Game Details such as Reading the Dice, Types of Actions, Rolls, Resistance, the Golden Rule of CCGs, Timing, Hand Size, and Deck Etiquette wrap it all up in a neat little package, along with the credits.

Conclusions

Visually, this is quite possibly the most stunning CCG by Alderac Entertainment Group to date, showing a great deal of flare and artistic talent, and being well-organized and readable.

I have good feelings about fighting for my faction’s very survival, making HumAliens the ultimate setting for space fantasy CCGs. HumAliens contains a lot of neat characters, and their mechanical implementations into a card game environment were well done.

I consider this a strong contender for an award or two in 2004.

It does the hardest thing a card game can do – be fun. If you want to run Aliens, Clones, Humans, Robots, Beasts or any combination of them, you can do that. I have not heard any complaints about this game, nor do I expect to. I consider this game to have a strong entry into the gaming world on November 3rd in game stores everywhere.

-dedicated to Alan D. Kohler, a huge inspiration to me.