The game runs pretty much entirely through the iPad app, but it runs it so well. The mechanics of the game are so straightforward we picked them up within 30 minutes and each player was able to concentrate on their role and enjoy being part of a team effort.
The app has various difficulty settings and for our first game we chose "tutorial". This laid everything out very clearly and once we completed the game we swapped roles and jumped straight into an easy game, just to cement the rules.
There are 2 main phases in each turn; the timed phase and the resolution phase. During the timed phase everyone's on edge, preparing their next move for when the app pops up that the player needs to do something. There is sometimes just enough time to try and help each other out or use special abilities, but it's frantic and exciting! The resolution phase is not timed and is basically where the dice are rolled and research and combat results are determined.
My original concern about the app requirement seems less important now. It works so well that I'm not going to think about 10 or 20 years time. I can see this game being a firm favourite and hitting the table a lot for the next few years. So, whatever happens with the app on future devices, I'll get my moneys worth.
I do still have a minor concern though; I can't imagine playing without 4 players exactly. I'm not sure I'd want to! It works so wonderfully well with a player on each side of the board doing their allocated role, getting players to do more than 1 role would mean losing a large part of the dynamics of the game, so I can see this being quite a limiting factor.
Overall though, XCOM: The Boardgame is brilliant!
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