If you asked me whether board games are a good fit for Doom, I'd probably scratch my head a little, stroke my chin thoughtfully, and settle on "hmm." No matter whether it's the original 1993 shooter or the latest grungy installment, The Dark Ages, the franchise is known for one thing: speed. Well, that and gore. And demons, of course.
Anyway, the point is this: I was unsure of how well Doom would translate to board games at first, because that sense of frantic momentum is pretty difficult to represent on tabletop. That's why I eyed the upcoming Doom: The Dark Ages Arena (hitting Kickstarter in the not-so-distant future from designers Resurrectionist Games and publisher Modiphius with wariness – until I talked to developer Ben Maunder about the project, that is. Besides namechecking an already fast-paced wargame I'm very fond of (Warhammer: Underworlds) as an inspiration, he tells me that "speed, violence, and escalation" were key to its design. More specifically, he says that the elevator pitch is "heavy metal chess." If I wasn't in before, I sure as hell am now.
