Space Infantry: Resurgence

Space Infantry: Resurgence is a reissue of an older Lock & Load title, with the sort of small cult status that keeps a game alive without automatically turning it into a masterpiece. Its inspiration comes from the Starship Troopers film—not Avalon Hill’s wonderful asymmetric “pew pew,” but the film that merely shares a title with Heinlein’s militaristic dystopia.

Before the mission begins, I assemble my squad through a point system. I choose what it takes along, load it up with guns, medkits, grenades, and anything else I think might save me later, then send it toward the mission objective.

At the table, the central idea is to complete that mission before time runs out or before the members of the squad do. The pressure, then, is not some opaque rules procedure: it is the simple, effective question of whether my equipment and choices are enough to get the job done in time.

And that is probably its strength: it does not drown me during the teach. The basic rules take 10–15 minutes to learn, while anything left over becomes clear in the first mission. It is not something extraordinary, nor does the reissue change the fact that this is a fairly simple title; but for anyone wanting an immediate military sci-fi mission without first wrestling with the rulebook, I completely understand why it has kept its fans.