Holiday Gift Guide: Board Games – Jaws, The Thing, Full Moon Jacket, Alien, The Rocketeer, Watergate and more

Like it or not, but Christmas is drawing ever closer. With that in mind I thought I would try and do a series of gift guides to inspire you and point out some bits and pieces you may not be aware of.

Instead of lumping them all into one huge post, I am going to break them down into different groups – board games, roleplaying games, books, film and then one with all the things that didn’t fit in to any of them. Oh and you can also order film themed T-Shirts, mugs, hoodies and the like over at the Live for Films store.

First up is board games. I do love getting some friends round and playing a board game or two. There are so many different types that you can be spoilt for choice, but hopefully some of these will hit the spot.

As always, try and pick them up from your local games shop as it is always good to support small local businesses (Bulwark Games is my local) but I have also included order links in case you do not live near one.

Thank you for supporting Live for Films (LFF) when you order using any of the Amazon links below. As an Amazon Associate LFF earns from qualifying purchases. If you are using an adblocker you will not see the link.

Jaws

A fantastic board game from Ravensburger for one of my favourite films. It features two games in one on the double-sided board.

• A perfect strategy board game for families and fans of Universal, Jaws and classic strategy gamers. fans and families. Jaws is perfect for any game night occasion and makes a great gift for shark lovers
• Great replay value – in this asymmetric style of game play you can either play as the Shark or cooperatively as a member of the crew. Each game will be different as the results of act 1 will affect act 2 either in the crews favour or the Shark
• Clear instructions – high quality, easy to understand instructions make it easy to start playing right away
• Contains 1x double-sided game board, 3x human movers, 1x Shark mover, 2x boat movers, 5x dice, 1x paper pad, 4x character boards, 8x boat pieces, 1x beach closed token, 3x resurface tokens, 3x target tokens, 5x barrel tokens, 16x swimmer tokens, and instructions
• This 60 minute game for 2-4 players will have you playing the epic finale to the classic film over and over again.

Jurassic World: The Legacy of Isla Nublar

Funko Games brings us a legacy game based on Jurassic World where every game in the campaign has lasting effects for those that follow.

• THE LEGACY AWAITS: Welcome to Isla Nublar, where you and other scientists, dreamers, and schemers will build an attraction like no other. Take on the role of visionaries John Hammond and Simon Masrani, visiting scientists Dr. Alan Grant, Dr. Ellie Sattler and Dr. Ian Malcolm, sharp-minded park personnel Claire Dearing and Dr. Henry Wu, and many more, each playing a vital part in the island’s legacy.
• ASTONISHING ENCOUNTERS: Together, you will transform Isla Nublar into an astonishing paradise where awe-struck visitors encounter creatures never before seen by human eyes. Decide where to build park facilities, dinosaur enclosures, and guest attractions. And keep employees and visitors safe from the mighty Tyrannosaurus Rex, colossal Brachiosaurus, clever Velociraptor, and other threats.
• THRILLING ADVENTURE: Play through 12 thrilling adventures in which you’ll customize an entirely unique game board and breed new dinosaurs you cannot unmake. Your team’s fateful choices will have a lasting impact, creating your own Isla Nublar story. Your experience will culminate in an endlessly replayable game of your own creation.
• HIGH QUALITY COMPONENTS: Game Board, Research Board,12 Dinosaur Figures,Raptor Claw,5 Attack Dice,Zone Die,4 Mover Bases,8 Mats,225 Tokens,182 Stickers,124 Game Cards,52 Rule Cards, Rule Cards Ring,12 Adventure Guides, Instructions
• GAME DETAILS: Ideal for 2- 4 players with a 90-150 minute action packed gameplay per adventure. Fun for the entire family with ages 10 years +

Alien: Fate of the Nostromo

This game plays through the events of Ridley Scott’s Alien. You choose different missions each time you play and then work your way around the ship to complete them. Meanwhile, the Alien (and Jonesy the cat) stalks through the Nostromo, chasing down the crew. Dripping with theme and some great strategy elements this is a great game even if you have never seen the film. If you fancy something a bit trickier then Aliens: Another Glorious Day In the Corps from Gale Force Nine is worth tracking down. Just make sure you compare prices as it can be quite expensive these days.

• A deadly Alien stalks the crew of the commercial starship NOSTROMO while they struggle to survive! In this fully cooperative strategy game based on the 1979 film.
• Perfect for Families and Alien Fans – Whether you’re playing with a group of Alien fans, classic board gamers, or your family, Alien: The Game is perfect for any game night occasion and makes a great birthday present or Christmas gift for Men or Women.
• The Game plays 1 to 5 players ages 10+ and up and takes approximately 60 minutes to play.
• Each game comes with 1x Nostromo game board, 5x player reference cards, 5x Crew placards, 5x Crew figures, 1x Alien figure, 1x Morale marker, 21x Encounter cards, 10x Objective cards, 5x Final Mission cards, 20x Scrap tokens, 12x Item tokens, 6x Coolant Canister tokens, 13x Concealed tokens, 1x Self-Destruct track, 4x Countdown tokens, 1x Ash standee.
• Clear Instructions – Learn to play with a clear, high-quality, step-by-step rulebook.

Marvel Dice Throne

Dice Throne gets a Marvel update with this new version that can be played with any of the pre-existing Dice Throne games. Lots of characters to choose from – Scarlet Witch, Loki, Thor, Spider-Man, Doctor Strange, Black Widow, Captain Marvel and Black Panther.You only need one of the two character boxes to be able to play. You can read my full review here.

• Suit up for battle in Marvel Dice Throne – a game of intriguing dice, tactical card play, powerful Marvel heroes, and unique abilities. The 4-hero box is a fast-paced 2-4 player combat game (1v1, 2v2, or free-for-all). Select from a variety of Marvel heroes (Scarlet Witch, Thor, Loki, Spider-Man) that play and feel completely distinct from one another.
• Attack opponents and activate abilities by rolling your hero’s unique set of five dice. Accumulate combat points and spend them on cards that have a large range of effects, such as granting permanent hero upgrades, applying status effects, and manipulating dice directly (yours, your teammate’s, or even your opponent’s).
• Expand your Marvel Dice Throne collection and play with up to 6 players, choosing from 8 heroes, with expansions featuring Captain Marvel and Black Panther in one set, and Black Widow and Doctor Strange in another set. These collections are compatible with the entire Dice Throne ecosystem from Roxley Games.
• Includes: 4 Hero Boards (Scarlet Witch, Thor, Loki, Spider-Man), 4 Leaflets, 4 sets of 5 dice (1 set each hero), 132 Hero Cards, 4 Combat Point (CP) Dials, 4 Health Dials, Rules
• 2-4 Players (2-6 Players with Expansions) Ages 8+ 30+ Minute Play Time
• Number of items: 153

Horrified

A cracking board game featuring Frankenstein, Dracula, the bride of Frankenstein, the Wolfman, the Mummy, the invisible Man, and the creature from the black Lagoon. You can mix and match any combination of the monsters to give yourself different challenges. Then there is Horrified: American Monsters which features Bigfoot, Mothman, the Chupacabra, the Jersey Devil, the Ozark Howler, and the Banshee of the Badlands.

• Fun play experience – horrified is a cooperative board game for ages 10 and up, in which universal’s most iconic monsters are coming for you. Work together with your fellow heroes to defend the town against the onslaught of Frankenstein, Dracula, the bride of Frankenstein, the Wolfman, the Mummy, the invisible Man, and the creature from the black Lagoon.
• High quality components – Contains 1x Game Board, 6x Monster Mats, 7x Monster Figures, 7 Hero Badges, 7x Hero Movers, 10x Villager Movers, 20x Bases, 60x Item Tokens, 20x Monster Tokens, 1x Terror Marker, 1x Frenzy Marker, 30x Monster Cards, 20x Perk Cards, 5x Reference Cards, 1x Item Bag, 3x Dice & Instructions
• Easy to understand instructions – high quality, easy-to-understand instructions make it simple to start playing right away.
• Great replay value – 60 minute play time, for 1-5 player, horrified’s innovative game play is easy-to-learn with varying levels of difficulty. The unique monsters require different strategies and tactics to be defeated which creates a different experience Each time you play.
• Long term quality – Ravensburger has been making products for the hand, head, and heart for over 130 years.

Eldritch Horror

There are many different board games based on the H.P. Lovecraft Mythos – Arkham Horror, Eldritch Sign, and Unfathomable to name just a few – but Eldritch Horror from Fantasy Flight is my favourite. A true globe-trotting adventure tracking down strange cults, gaining powers, and hoping to close gates before time runs out and horrors are unleashed.

• An ancient evil is stirring. You are part of a team of unlikely heroes engaged in an international struggle to stop the gathering darkness. To do so, you’ll have to defeat foul monsters, travel to Other Worlds, and solve obscure mysteries surrounding this unspeakable horror. The effort may drain your sanity and cripple your body, but if you fail, the Ancient One will awaken and rain doom upon the known world.
• Eldritch Horror is a cooperative game for one to eight players, based on the fiction of H.P. Lovecraft and inspired by the classic board game Arkham Horror. In Eldritch Horror, investigators travel the globe in an urgent quest to save the world from a diabolical, omnipotent Ancient One. With four different Ancient Ones, twelve investigators, numerous monsters, and hundreds of possible encounters, every game provides an unique and epic adventure.

Full Moon Jacket

Take a Vietnam War Movie and throw in some Werewolves and that is the basis of Full Moon Jacket. Very quick to learn how to play and lots of fun moments as each new wave of werewolves appears. A great game from Stone Sword Games that you can order from their site.

• Full Moon Jacket is a solo and co-operative squad based game in which players take roles of various unique US Marines and Vietnamese Fighters in the Vietnam War. Each character brings their own skills and signature equipment in order to survive against endless waves of Werewolves as Dusk turns to Night.
• The hordes of Werewolves are controlled by simple AI rules and to survive against them you must work together using ammo efficiently, searching supply drops for larger more brutal weapons and equipment and scavenging materials to craft your own unique items.
• No one game is ever the same. With unique modular boards randomly positioned, supply drops and werewolves randomly spawned and the mission objectives randomly moved, adjust your tactics in a bid to escape the ever-changing situation.

E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial: Light Years From Home Game

Steven Spielberg’s E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial has its 40th Anniversary this year. Time just flies by. To celebrate, Funko Games has released a new board game – E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial: Light Years From Home Game – to celebrate. You can read my full review here.

• HELP GET E.T. HOME: In this cooperative adventure game, play as Elliott, Gertie, Michael, and Greg as you work together to send E.T. home. Bike through the neighborhood, using shortcuts and ramps to avoid the agents.
• FEDERAL AGENTS: He’s 3 million light years from home and needs your help getting back! E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial was left behind, and now, federal agents are coming for him!
• FLY THE MOTHERSHIP: Collect items that E.T. can use to build a communication device and call his ship. Then get E.T. to the clearing before his heart light fades! “Fly” the mothership around the board until it rescues E.T.!
• DETAILED PLAY FIGURES: The E.T. figure and the device dice fit inside the kids’ bicycle baskets with Adorable and detailed figures of the kids on their bicycles!
• CLASSIC SCENES: Beautifully illustrated components and cards that depict beloved scenes from the classic film with the game board of Elliot’s neighborhood, including shortcuts and ramps that the kids can use to outrun the government agents.
• SPECIFICATIONS: An ideal family strategy game for ages 10+ and between 2 – 4 players. The game time is 30-minute ensuring fun for all the family

The Thing: The Boardgame

John Carpenter’s The Thing is my favourite film of all time so when I saw this board game on Kickstarter I had to back it. I am so glad I did as it really takes the theme of the game and runs with it. The infection spreads and each round of the game features a turn where you just discuss who could be a Thing and who could be human. So much fun as the paranoia rises and the food runs out. The more people playing the better it gets. An excellent game by Pendragon Game Studio. They also crowd funding a game based on Escape From New York which ends (at the time of writing) in one day.

• The Thing is a game that mixes different mechanisms to create an experience that is as faithful as possible to that of the original film. It is a “hidden role” game, in which one player is initially the Thing and the others players are humans. The purpose of the Thing is to infect others, to prevent the survivors from escaping from the base (which can happen three different ways), or to try to escape with them by behaving as a human.
• In addition to these elements, players also have to manage Outpost 31. On the map are the same rooms as seen in the film, and each of these rooms allows players to perform a different action. Human players have to feed themselves and keep the boiler and the generator on to avoid being in the cold and dark. The Thing will try to sabotage these places to make life difficult for humans…or not, trying to camouflage itself among the humans and infect them when the perfect opportunity presents itself.
• The goal of the game designers was to bring the same personal emotions and paranoia that the protagonists of the film experienced to the gaming table.

Rear Window

Alfred Hitchcock’s Rear Window was the first film I ever reviewed on Live for Films back in 2008 and now Funko Games has brought out a board game.

• SUSPENSE: Experience Alfred Hitchcock’s masterpiece Rear Window in this game of deduction and suspense. Carefully observe strange clues and ominous patterns in the things going on in the apartments across the way
• MYSTERIOUS: There are parties, knives, a saw, bickering, laughing, music…and a mysterious trunk. Do you detect a murder? Or is the secret, private world of the neighbors planting frightening ideas in your mind
• SUSPICIOUS: Compelling gameplay that brings the movie to life using cooperative deduction and decision-making. The players are unaware if a murder happened until they start noticing suspicious signs from their neighbors
• HOLLYWOOD LEGENDS: An eye-catching package that features Hollywood legends Grace Kelly and Jimmy Stewart. The recognition of Alfred Hitchcock and his history of suspenseful filmmaking immediately sets the tone for gameplay

Lost Ruins of Arnak

Czech Games Editions‘ Lost Ruins of Arnak sees you as explorers moving around a mysterious island to recover treasures. The theme of pulp adventure works well in this worker placement game that reminds me of The Lost World, Indiana Jones and the like. It plays well, and has many different ways to win. I still need to get hold of the expansion which promises new team leaders and a morse asymmetrical experience.

• On an uninhabited island in uncharted seas, explorers have found traces of a great civilization
• Now you will lead an expedition to explore the island, find lost artifacts, and face fearsome guardians, all in a quest to learn the island’s secrets
• Players lead rival expeditions to a newly discovered island. Explore jungles, find artifacts, and discover the Lost Ruins of Arnak!
• A unique combination of worker placement and deckbuilding
• 1 to 4 Players | 30 Minute Player Time | Ages 12+

Watergate

All The President’s Men is a great film that looks at the investigation into Richard Nixon and the Watergate scandal. It is not something that immediately springs to mind as the basis for a board game. However, Capstone Games took the events and turned it into my favourite two-player game of all time. The fact the board looks like one of those conspiracy boards with the red thread (Pepe Silva not included) just adds to the theme. A very easy game to learn how to play, but the cards…oh those cards that will have you laughing and cursing with their ridiculous powers will have you rushing to recruit witnesses, find evidence and hopefully block the other player. The rule book also goes into details on the various people and events involved in the whole scandal, but you don’t need to know any of that to enjoy the game. If you enjoy this one then definitely take a look at Twilight Struggle. It uses some of the same mechanics but goes through the events of the Cold War.

• In the two-player game Watergate, one player represents the Nixon administration and tries not to resign before the end of the game while the other player represents The Washington Post and tries to show the connections between Nixon and some of his informers.
• 2-player card-driven game about the notorious political scandal.
• History of Watergate included with the game.
• Tense, political tug of war.
• 2 Players | Ages 12+ | 30-60 Minute Playing Time

The Warriors: Come Out To Play

“Warriors, come out to play!” Walter Hill’s action thriller follows the titular gang fighting their way through New York City to get back home. Funko Games took this concept and turned it into a great little board game with some cool mechanics. You can read my review here.

• The roughest and toughest gangs of New York have assembled at a midnight summit when Cyrus, leader of the powerful Gramercy Riffs, is murdered! Everyone wrongly thinks you, the Warriors, are to blame, which means every gang in the city is gunning for you as you try to make your way back to your home turf of Coney Island!
• In the co-operative strategy game The Warriors: Come Out to Play, you need to watch each other’s backs to navigate the dangerous streets and subways of New York, dodge rival gangs, and maintain your rep. Make it back to Coney Island and show the Gramercy Riffs you’ve been framed to prove the Warriors are not just good but are the best of the best! Can you dig it?
• Players work together to move on the board using cards to fend off attacks, participate in brawls, and ultimately reach Coney Island. The game ends successfully if the Warriors make it and escape out of Coney Island, and the timing of the game is controlled by the deck of cards and the life of the players.
• 2-4 players – Ages 13+

The Rocketeer: Fate of the Future

Another two player game that takes a couple of turns to get your head round it, but once you do the various aspects of the different characters just clicks and the strategy builds. Once you finish the first game you will be itching to play again and see if you can get things just right on the next playthrough.

• SINISTER PLOT: Trouble is brewing high above the city of angels! The mysterious Rocketeer—who can blast through the skies with an ingenious jet-pack—must stop a sinister plot! Hollywood actor Neville Sinclair is scheming to steal the rocket’s blueprints
• HERO OR VILLIAN: A breakthrough of modern engineering could revolutionize the future of flight. But in Sinclair’s hands, it could fuel the dark future of warfare. Play as the heroes or the villains in this action-packed strategy game for two players. Whether for good or evil, you will determine the fate of the future!
• ADVENTURE: Inspired by the 1991 Disney adventure movie. Includes seven beautifully sculpted miniatures of the Rocketeer, Jenny, Peevy, Sinclair, Lothar, Valentine, and the Luxembourg, a high-flying zeppelin
• IMMERSIVE PLAY: A two-player strategy game that immerses the players into the events of the movie and the golden age of Hollywood. Original illustrations and design that evokes the art deco style of the 1930s. Play a game of cat-and-mouse with the rocket plans and keep them hidden from your opponent
• SPECIFICATIONS: Ideal for ages 12+ with 2 players and a 45-minute gameplay

Star Wars: Outer Rim

There are lots of Star Wars movies, TV shows, comics and books so it is no surprise there hear there are many board games set in a galaxy far, far away. However, as many of us wanted to be Han Solo flying the Millennium Falcon I thought I’d focus on Outer Rim.

• In Outer Rim, players take on the roles of outlaws on the fringes of society and set out to make their mark on the galaxy.
• You’ll travel the Outer Rim in your personal ship, hire legendary Star Wars characters to join your crew, and vie to cement your place in the legends of the Star Wars galaxy!
• Do you have what it takes to survive the dangers of the Outer Rim while building your own legacy?
• The goal of Outer Rim is to be the first player to ten fame, but the path to notoriety can be different for every scoundrel.
• 2 – 3 Hours Playing Time

Dune

Denis Villeneuve’s new adaptation of Frank Herbert’s classic sci-fi novel has reignited interest in all things Arrakis. Gale Force Nine updated the forty-year-old board game which looks gorgeous.

Imagine you can control the forces of a noble family, guild, or religious order on a barren planet which is the only source for the most valuable substance in the known universe.

Imagine you can rewrite the script for one of the most famous science fiction books of all time. Welcome to the acclaimed 40-year-old board game which allows you to recreate the incredible world of Frank Herbert’s DUNE.

In DUNE you will become the leader of one of six great factions. Each wishes to control the most valuable resource in the universe – melange, the mysterious spice only found at great cost on the planet DUNE. As Duke Leto Atreides says “All fades before melange. A handful of spice will buy a home on Tupile. It cannot be manufactured, it must be mined on Arrakis. It is unique and it has true geriatric properties.” And without melange space travel would be impossible. Only by ingesting the addictive drug can the Guild Steersman continue to experience visions of the future, enabling them to plot a safe path through hyperspace.

Who will control DUNE? Become one of the characters and their forces from the book and . . . You decide!