I played
Nexus Ops with Blain and Bapizoid last night. The game seemed similar to
WarCraft: The Board Game, but with more choices of unit types.
There are no upgrades to get in the game, so all unit types are available as soon as you can afford them. The Rubium mines are how you get income, which end up on almost every space of the board. In Nexus Ops you can use your smallest three unit types for mining, and you don't have to worry about using those guys just for mining, since they can fight beforehand also. Combat is short since only one round of combat is fought on each space, with contested areas being left to deal with on another turn. Contested mines cannot be harvested, so you can effectively block someone just by moving into a space with a large enough force.
Of all the units, the Rubium Dragons were everyone's favorite unit type, since they could move and attack without getting directly involved in combat (minimizing the risk of getting killed). Rock Striders were also a favorite of mine since they could move pretty quickly, have a good attack, and are half way up the scale of costs.
The Secret Mission cards and Energize cards really keep the game going. Secret Missions allow you to get more than one point for winning a battle, while Energize cards allow players who have been getting stomped to boost their strength.
Overall, fun game, worth playing again. I'd give it 4 out of 5 stars. I don't think it requires as much pre-planning as WarCraft: The Board Game, so depending on what the mood is for the night, it might be more or less preferable than that game, but otherwise, those two games have a similar feel.
