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[The Fifth Horseman]

I've been looking around BoardGameGeek today and stumbled on their page devoted to X-Com: Tactical (http://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/18206/x-com-tactical) which was a fan-made attempt to take UFO: Enemy Unknown and convert it to a boardgame. Your mileage may vary on how well it worked out (IMO: not really), though.

So here's a question: If there was another X-Com boardgame being made, what kind of approach to the gameplay mechanics do you think would work best? Where should it stick as close as possible to the original, and where would you prefer it to simplify the mechanics while keeping the same "spirit"?

Let's talk about it.

My take: Most of the Geoscape gameplay could be pruned down to bare bones without affecting the gameplay significantly - base structures would be represented by different levels of upgrades, for instance, and research by having the Labs generate a certain amount of "research points" which can then be spent to "unlock" items on the tech tree. There probably shouldn't be a designated "alien player", but rather each player would control a separate anti-alien force protecting different continent(s) and would control aliens during their attacks on the other player's territory. The Battlescape would have to be somewhat simplified just because what works when the computer handles the mechanics and bookkeeping doesn't do so well when it's the players who have to do it. The alien forces could be randomized by drawing cards from a deck, with the species, equipment etc being affected by an "escalation level" of the game (which in a basic way replicates how UFO scaled the enemy forces to the player's progress).

[TheChosen]

I think something similar to Space Hulk should do the trick. As for rest of the stuff like researching, those could be cut out easily. Or alternatively, some sort of campaign rules like I've seen some Warhammer players do.

[Eagle of Fire]

I don't think Xcom would translate well to a board game. Not that it is impossible, mind. I've played my share of Batman and TMNT board games in my youth.

The thing is, however, that none of them were memorable nor really fun.