Pretty much every gamer out there knows of Kingdom Death. The original Kickstarter campaign made over $2mil. But then... oh the troubles. It was one of the campaigns that took the longest to actually
Pretty much every gamer out there knows of Kingdom Death. The original Kickstarter campaign made over $2mil. But then... oh the troubles. It was one of the campaigns that took the longest to actually deliver. However, from all I've seen, it was worth the wait... and worth the weight, since the final game's components made it so heavy that selling it retail wasn't really an option. Well, the game is back up on Kickstarter with a new, revised version, and a new record-breaking Kickstarter.
For those that don't know, Kingdom Death is a highly immersive tactical rpg board game. You play as villagers in a harsh and terrifying world, killing the various monsters that inhabit it, and taking pieces from them in order to sculpt and craft new gear. Will you be able to build up your village and protect yourselves from the various monsters? Or will you end up as a red smear on the ground?
The campaign's doing well (understatement of the year). It's already got over $5 million in funding. No, that's not a typo. There's plenty of time still to go, too. 40 days, in fact. So you've got some time to save up your nickels if you want to back it.
It's Saturday. Those of you that are at KingdomCon, be sure to selfie responsibly. #RossFaceFor me, it's the weekend before CMON Expo, so I'm super-busy getting things put together for the show. Lots
It's Saturday. Those of you that are at KingdomCon, be sure to selfie responsibly. #RossFace For me, it's the weekend before CMON Expo, so I'm super-busy getting things put together for the show. Lots to do, both work-related and just other things I need to get done.
In the meantime, though, I'm taking a break from baking German Chocolate Cake Cookies to bring you your regularly-scheduled Review Roundup.
Today we have: Blood Rage, Gempacked Cards, Star Realms, Polyversal, Scathach Games M.T.S Shipping Containers, Tash-Kalar Everfrost Expansion, VS 2PCG Defenders Expansion, Twilight Struggle Digital, Onimata, Warfighter, Stronghold 2nd Ed., Adventure Land, Thunder & Lightning, Celestia, Greedy Greedy Goblins, Splendor iOS, Feed the Shoggoth, Kingdom Death: Monster, and Res Publica 2230AD.
The thing that makes Polyversal stand out from the crowd is its being designed as a toolkit game, i.e. players can create army lists themselves and can take any miniature they own and use them in the game, but they are also planning on releasing the starter set of the rules with miniatures from different manufacturers to show players what’s being produced these days and also allow players to get a game going quickly whilst they start designing their own armies.
Join us as we check out the M.T.S Shipping Containers and accessories from Scathach Games, a UK based company specialising in laser-cut terrain for games like Warhammer 40k, Necromunda, and Infinity. Scathach Games contacted us a while ago asking if we’d review some of their terrain, and kindly sent over the products below. First we’ll have a look at the parts included in the various kits, and then what we can build out of them. As you can see below, they’ll definitely be handy for modern and sci-fi skirmish and wargames.
What follows is a thematic story “review” based on my recent solitaire session of Warfighter by DVG. Warfighter is a card-based tactical game of modern warfare, focusing on smaller groups of soldiers who are undertaking missions through enemy territory.
Stronghold is an asymmetrical two-player game. One player is the Defender, attempting to defend his medieval fortress. The other player is the Invader. Her horde of goblins, orcs, and trolls are trying to take the fortress from the Defender. Stronghold is a long and involved game, so I will not even attempt to list and explain every rule, action, and phase. Instead, let me just give you an overview of what the game feels like.
Adventure Land brings players to a medieval fantasy realm filled with swords, magical herbs, and deadly monsters. Players send their team of adventurers across the land, using strategy and smarts to score points by collecting valuable items, defending cities, and defeating evil.
In Thunder & Lightning, you’re playing in a grid made up of columns and rows. At the beginning of the game, Thor and Loki each draw nine cards from their draw deck.
It's time once again for you to place your evening in our large, spindly hands. Following on from Arboretum and Pasta With Trees, why not invite your friends over for a game of Celestia and a fluffy frittata?
Lovely push-your-luck mechanics? Check! Little cardboard boat? Check! Vegetables? Check!
We're not sure who'd have a checklist like that, but if you do, we should hang out. Get in touch!
Here’s how Greedy Greedy Goblins works: 2-4 players all want to be the first to reach 100 gold coins. Between these players are a circle of mineshafts. Between the shafts is a giant pile of tiles. Running your hand across these tiles makes a sound like a wave pouring over a pebble beach, but don’t start daydreaming! Daydreams are for winners.
When it comes to great family games, one doesn’t have to look much farther than Splendor to find an award-winning example. A gem of a game (pun intended) from publisher Space Cowboys, Splendor sucked people in with its very accessible rules and entertaining engine building mechanics. We actually reviewed Splendor a while ago, and have played it quite a bit since then. Today, we are going to take a look at the tablet version of this popular board game and see how this gateway game translates to the digital realm.
Feed the Shoggoth! is a fast paced card game where you play a cult faction leader trying to earn victory points by sacrificing minions to the hungry Shoggoth. Sounds easy right? Wrong!
Red Publica 2230AD is all about set collection and trading. The game works by building an increasingly complex tableau of cards in front of you that give extra options and more importantly victory points. To build these cards you need to collect sets from one of two decks, races and sciences. You'll gain new cards at the end of every turn but to get the cards you need you're going to have to trade with other players.
Well, it's a day that many of us never thought would come. But it's finally here. Kingdom Death: Monster is about to ship from the manufacturer in China and make its way across to distribution centers
Well, it's a day that many of us never thought would come. But it's finally here. Kingdom Death: Monster is about to ship from the manufacturer in China and make its way across to distribution centers and start heading out to backers. And in addition to backers, they are taking pre-orders as well. So if you want to get your set at ~33% off, you'll want to jump in on the pre-order, but you'll have to hurry. You only have a couple days.
The game will be $400 retail, but if you want to get it for just $275, make your pre-order on the Kingdom Death site before the end of the 19th of July (yeah, just 2 days away). Now, $400 is a lot of money (and certainly so is $275, but apparently the box weighs in at 17lbs. There's a 224 page rulebook, 17 sprues of minis, 10 dice, two pads for character sheets and settlement sheets, and over 1000 cards. Yeah... there's a lot in that box.
Kingdom Death posted an update about how things are moving along with Monster, their board game that's been in production for quite some time. The first bit is that fulfillment hasn't started yet. How
Kingdom Death posted an update about how things are moving along with Monster, their board game that's been in production for quite some time. The first bit is that fulfillment hasn't started yet. However, they are moving forward with things and have a schedule for the core games being printed. The first set of games should be done around the end of May. Plastic piece creation has been completed and the pieces have been sent to the company that will be packaging the game. They also posted up a small preview shot of the Gorm sprue from the game.
We met our print deadline, mentioned last update. Plastic production is now 100% finished and it has been transported to the company handling the printing and packaging. Core Game packaging has been approved by me, I’ve been given a timeline. (see above!) Our Tray that holds the game components is done and it's awesome. All the files for the expansions have been checked and evaluated by the printing company. We aim to sign off on the fine details this week. Challenge scenarios got another round of polish. Actually played some games besides Kingdom Death. Of the bunch, Core World and Power Grid were the favorites. Starting to lay down the ground work for projects that will support Kingdom Death:Monster. Such as video tutorials, an online glossary and some form of a message board. I slept.
The game box has been finalized! Its huge, heavy and I couldn't resist going for a black on black design. If I saw this game on a shelf as a kid, I would have killed myself pulling it down to check out. Clearly, this makes it the perfect box for Kingdom Death: Monster.
Kingdom Death lets us know how things are going on Monster. Though the title says much of it, "This project is not finished yet."Note: Being Kingdom Death, of course there are some elements that may n
Kingdom Death lets us know how things are going on Monster. Though the title says much of it, "This project is not finished yet." Note: Being Kingdom Death, of course there are some elements that may not be safest to view at most places of employment.
The amount of effort that has gone into each and every miniature is akin to squeezing a diamond from a lump of coal. Metaphorically speaking, I’m covered in soot, my finger nails are cracked and I’m coughing up black chunks.
I’ve been busy, more busy then I’ve ever been in my life, trying with every ounce of myself to keep the plastic production on track. It has been a huge challenge and has required more of my attention than I anticipated. When I tried to step back, I had to balance it against more lost time or worse yet, a loss of quality and thus, I’ve just had to keep my nose to the grindstone.
I could not step away from the tasks at hand and thus, could not get this update out any sooner. Between preparing it and getting my brain ready to respond to the follow up messages, I decided to finish the time sensitive stuff, and then return to the public surface.
Kingdom Death posted up a pretty huge update on their Kickstarter page for their Monster game. It includes info about all aspects of the production and how it's moving along, plus a lot of preview pho
Kingdom Death posted up a pretty huge update on their Kickstarter page for their Monster game. It includes info about all aspects of the production and how it's moving along, plus a lot of preview photos.
From the update:
Schedule Update We are still aiming to hit our target date to begin shipping rewards in november. At this time the manufacturing partners involved have made it their priority to meet our very aggressive timeline. Things will be close as time is tight. As we work as hard as possible, If I feel the quality of the game or its components will suffer in any way, I will let you know and we can decide if we should delay it or not. While I feel that maintaing our timeline is of the utmost importance, Anna has reminded me several times that actually you, the backers, are the most important and that no one wants anything to be rushed.
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