Octopus Overlords

I am considering going all in on Too Many Bones while I am also checking to see if friends want to take Gotham City Chronicles off my hands... I may need an intervention.

Dude, I am literally packing up boxes of games to move and I have more games being delivered. It's madness.

I continue to volunteer my services for long-term game storage!

(I say as I pack a bunch of never-plays into a tote for space.)

AWS260 wrote: Thu Jun 06, 2019 12:06 pm

hepcat wrote: Thu Jun 06, 2019 9:51 am But I'm not paying 75 bucks for a storage solution alone.

Plus shipping. There's nothing in that box, but shipping companies will charge based on its volume.

That is not totally true. The Trove box comes with:

• 14 Gearloc Trays - You can just grab a tray and have all the dice and chips for the character - comes with covers

• 2 Chip Trays for the other chips

• Blind-Draw Card Box for Loot and Encounters

• 19 Tyrant Boxes

• Chip Dividers

It also looks like comes with trays, magnetic flaps for storage, and is a bit more than just an empty cardboard box. I would say this is more on par with a storage solution like Broken Token's Chests (which easily cost $75 and you have to assemble them).

That said, I am worried it is going to weigh like a ton when filled.

Smoove_B wrote:I *hated* TMB, but I did just pick up Hoplomachus Origins, because apparently something is wrong with me. Or I like Gladiators. Hard to say. Have you noticed how there's no more "Kickstarter season" - companies are just running KS projects all year now?

The DVG Kickstarter that was cancelled last month because of the way they had it structured was relaunched a few days ago with a structure that (I think) makes more sense. However, they've once again listed it as KS delivery in October and I would be willing to bet that after the KS closes there will be delays and "issues with the printer" and magically it'll be pushed to Q1 2020.

And that's why as much as I want to support this game and the creator, I cannot support DVG via KS anymore. I'll get it in retail when it becomes available; I'm fine with it.

Wow, that DVG game is divided into 3 core games at $45 a piece? They're standalone games but from the description it sounds like they can be combined to make a campaign. More power to them I guess but that's a bit too much money for me.

This is what's happening with a lot of KS efforts. They have an entire product line planned out and they try to KS what would be 2+ years of development and release all at once. It would be like if FFG proposed the Arkham Horror Card Game core box on KS then as add on stretch goals, started listing all the card chapter packs every $15K. Then in March of 2020, you get a giant box with content that would have been normally spread out over a year.

I can understand why they're doing it (development costs) but you're asking KS backers to fund an entire life cycle of a system. The cost of entry is going to be higher but (more importantly) you're trusting that the developer is able to create/balance/edit what amounts to years of content over the KS time frame.

So with this game, it seems like maybe there should have been a core box (2 factions) and maybe some related stretch goals (upgraded tiles, extra scenarios, upgraded components, etc...), however instead they're front-loading the KS effort with everything planned. Why? Because ~4 months from now, I'm guessing DVG is going to move on to the next KS project and this one will move to the back burner. Above and beyond not supporting the DVG model, the way they're doing things now means you either need to go "all in" on every KS or risk not seeing the games or expansions again any time soon - at least until they run another KS and re-print. Maybe. There's little if any retail presence; it's all about getting the next KS cash infusion "hit".

A lot of games are going the 'Kickstarter only' route, as some companies have learned that the retailers want the full product for less than what a Kickstarter pledge would be, especially for larger projects.

coopasonic wrote: Thu Jun 06, 2019 6:51 pm I am considering going all in on Too Many Bones while I am also checking to see if friends want to take Gotham City Chronicles off my hands... I may need an intervention.

They raised a hair over a million and I am responsible for more of that than I would really like to admit. Except I will... $576... and there will be a bit more ($12?) to pay for split shipping when the pledge manager opens.

coopasonic wrote: Fri Jun 14, 2019 5:28 pm

coopasonic wrote: Thu Jun 06, 2019 6:51 pm I am considering going all in on Too Many Bones while I am also checking to see if friends want to take Gotham City Chronicles off my hands... I may need an intervention.

They raised a hair over a million and I am responsible for more of that than I would really like to admit. Except I will... $576... and there will be a bit more ($12?) to pay for split shipping when the pledge manager opens.

Hopefully you will enjoy the huge amount of TMB loot coming your way. I've never regretted buying anything from CTG.

I was a bit bummed as I've always fully backed each Too Many Bones kickstarter in the past, but funds were too tight to do so this year. So I just backed the base game, knowing I could pick up the rest from Chip Theory Games in the future.

Then at lunch today, my wife asked me if the TMB kickstarter had ended yet and what I had pledged. She seemed a bit frantic, made a quick phone call, then let out a big sigh.

Turns out she and my daughters backed the Trove Box for me as an early Christmas gift--the one thing I really wanted but would probably not spend on myself. I'm a lucky guy my family understands my love of board games.

hepcat wrote: Tue Apr 23, 2019 9:23 pm

hepcat wrote: Sat Mar 31, 2018 11:53 am I think the real selling point for me was the narration for Unbroken's trailer on the kickstarter page. I really felt like I was listening to a pervert tell me about a board game while he looks at porn sites.

If you backed Unbroken, check out the comments section of their Kickstarter page for a surly shipping company attacking customers, who admittedly were being complete dicks at times; as well as an update pleading for backers to send them more money as they underestimated shipping costs.

It’s truly something.

The comedy train continues to chug along. Apparently, Golden Bell (the surly shipping company) was trying to bend the rules a little on what constituted "media mail" for USPS, so they threw in a link to a music score and a sheet of music in every box, then declared they could use media mail rates. Supposedly, USPS said, "wait...what? no...that's...that's not how that works".. So now they're throwing a CD in every box to satisfy USPS (there's a debate in the comments as to whether or not it's just a blank CD).

I honestly don't know what to make of this if it's entirely true. I got my shipping notice on the 18th, but it hasn't moved an inch so far. I will say that I will definitely cast a wary eye on any kickstarter using Golden Bell in the future.

Heads up that Aeon's End Digital is now on Steam Early Access. Kickstarter backers can unlock their copy, but it's also general release with a 10% discount for Early Access.

Early Access game seems pretty full-featured on the mage side with 8 to choose from, though there are only 2 Nemesises (Nemisi?) for now.

For the asking price of $17.99 I'll likely pick it up since it is one of my favorite deck builders. iOS version is slated for a month after Steam GA, so I don't think I can wait that long.

hepcat wrote: Fri Jun 21, 2019 9:47 amI honestly don't know what to make of this if it's entirely true. I got my shipping notice on the 18th, but it hasn't moved an inch so far. I will say that I will definitely cast a wary eye on any kickstarter using Golden Bell in the future.

Golden Bell is absolutely gaming the system. I don't believe for a second they secured any type of permission to send things via Media Mail and they'd been planning on it the whole time. However, the scope of this KS (7K+ packages) probably put them on the radar of the USPS for shipping and so now they're scrambling to try and meet the spirit of the law. My label was printed last weekend and it hasn't moved in 4+ days. I will never support a GB project again.

Tempted by Altar Quest... but then I would have to pile on the add-ons... so much plastic. I just dumped a ton on Too Many Bones. I never play this stuff, why do I keep looking?

coopasonic wrote: Tue Jun 25, 2019 9:39 am Tempted by Altar Quest... but then I would have to pile on the add-ons... so much plastic. I just dumped a ton on Too Many Bones. I never play this stuff, why do I keep looking?

coopasonic wrote: Tue Jun 25, 2019 9:39 amI never play this stuff, why do I keep looking?

I at least know I like the game design that the Sadler brothers have tweaked. The other perfect storm for me is that they all natively support true solo play. For Altar Quest they said they really wanted to design a game that filled a void (that they saw) in a two player dungeon crawl. The feel the dungeon crawl space requires four characters, but they've said that while this supports up to four, they love the interactions between just two.

You and your damned Street Masters posts are the whole reason I am looking at this. Damn you Smoove. I am not interested in the Street Masters theme, but make it a dungeon crawl with a campaign and a much lauded card system with highly mitigable dice play... if I can just put it off for a couple more hours...

You could just get the Altar Quest core box. Neither the First Character or Arkenspire add-ons are KS exclusives - so you'd be able to grab them at retail later.

The core pledge would get you the Gloomhaven crossover adventure and all the insane stretch goals - plenty of dungeon crawl goodness.
I still maintain I've never been more surprised by a game than Street Masters. I fully expected to hate it because of the theme, but it's now one of my favorite solo games of all time. ALL TIME!

If the Blacksky Sharpshooter Lurker ever ruins your game of Altar Quest, you can thank me as I just put the campaign over the line for that stretch goal.

Damn you again Smoove.

I'm a little worried about the Street Master/Altar Quest system myself after playing Brook City a couple of times. I found Brook City to be...well...a bit boring. At least in the solo games I played. It was way too long I thought, and I ended up just doing the same things over and over again. I kind of regret picking it up at Origins now. I went all in on Street Masters, and I backed Altar Quest, so I've spent a pretty penny on the system. I just hope I haven't made a mistake now.

I ultimately passed on Altar Quest, primarily because I have the STREET MASTERS all-in arriving in October. Just didn't see the need to go chasing another Sadler Bros game when I have one on the way that's already going to take me eons to play.

I figured if AQ really is that good, I can always back the inevitable reprint/expansion KS down the road.

With the high probability I'll be moving next year, I really need to cut back on my game purchases. I've already got one entire closet full and the collection has spilled out into stacks underneath my gaming table. GenCon is going to be a supreme test of willpower this year.

We can form a support group for Gencon. If you see me trying to buy a game, or I see you doing the same, we can hurl things at each other's heads. If that doesn't work, we can force each other to visit the artists section of the vendor hall.

That's one reason I scheduled more events/library time this year. It keeps me out of that damned vendor hall!

I just have to get through Thursday............

I won't be there this year due to the cost, but I'll be rooting for you all from home!

hepcat wrote:We can form a support group for Gencon. If you see me trying to buy a game, or I see you doing the same, we can hurl things at each other's heads. If that doesn't work, we can force each other to visit the artists section of the vendor hall.

I take that support group. But I’m sure you will continue to buy games while I am doing something else, so it’s going to end up just about punishing you.

After playing Artemis Project, I am lukewarm about the gameplay. The bits are going to be great, but there wasn’t a lot new besides drawing workers from a bitbox. The Kickstarter isn’t too far off now.

hepcat wrote: Tue Jun 25, 2019 3:44 pm I just hope I haven't made a mistake now.

Brook City definitely has a different vibe than Street Masters. I can't quite put my finger on it yet, but I will. It felt a bit more...puzzle-y (?) in trying to figure out the best way to move around each turn. Whereas SM was always about tactics and dealing with positioning for enemies. I haven't spent nearly enough time with it to say what my final verdict is, but I do want to dig deeper into the characters.

I've only tried 3 characters, but they all felt very similar to me. They all have some "encounter with 2 dice" cards, some "remove 1 stress" cards and some slight wording change. But I honestly didn't get a sense of individuality out of the 3 I played. As for the cases, they seemed well put together, but the actions just always came down to trying to rush to one location and do an encounter, rinse and repeat.

But I should probably play it once more with some other people to see if perhaps I'm just being overly hard on it.

In other news, my Hexplore It 2nd edition base game and the new Forests of <insert generic fantasy name here> arrived today. I do not know why I keep up with this game as it frustrates me every time I play. But I see...something...in it.

My Hexplore It pledge is due to arrive tomorrow which is another Smoove_B enabled purchase I believe. Gotta wrap up my Dawn of the Zeds game so I have some space to play it. I think my demise at the hands of the Zeds is near anyway so it shouldn't take too long...

Zarathud wrote: Tue Jun 25, 2019 7:34 pm

hepcat wrote:We can form a support group for Gencon. If you see me trying to buy a game, or I see you doing the same, we can hurl things at each other's heads. If that doesn't work, we can force each other to visit the artists section of the vendor hall.

I take that support group. But I’m sure you will continue to buy games while I am doing something else, so it’s going to end up just about punishing you.

After playing Artemis Project, I am lukewarm about the gameplay. The bits are going to be great, but there wasn’t a lot new besides drawing workers from a bitbox. The Kickstarter isn’t too far off now.

The Artemis Project is pretty good as a solo game though.
Also, don't use the expansion deck, it's definitely not balanced.

BoardGameTables.com has a kickstarter for an updated version of their board game bag that I like so I backed that and in the "Thanks" screen I saw there was a kickstarter for a new expansion to Roll Player. I have been meaning to get the base game so I just backed the whole kit. The I got updates on Aventuria and I'm sitting here like crap, I have that coming too... oh yeah, Oceans too. I'm going to have to put together a tracking list. I am almost back to my peak kickstarter habits. On the plus side I generally do get to play board games at least once a week now which is *way* better than the last few years have been and I've got the money so what the hell.

Outstanding stuff and scheduled/current timeline:
Zombicide Jul-19
Aventuria Aug-19
Sabotage Aug-19
Oceans Sep-19
Aeon's End Sep-19
Too Many Bones Dec-19 (split shipment, base game ~8/2019)
Roll Player Apr-20
Altar Quest Jun-20

So I'll have a bunch of new stuff before BGG.CON so maybe I will spend less while I am there!

coopasonic wrote: Wed Jun 26, 2019 2:18 pm BoardGameTables.com has a kickstarter for an updated version of their board game bag that I like so I backed that and in the "Thanks" screen I saw there was a kickstarter for a new expansion to Roll Player. I have been meaning to get the base game so I just backed the whole kit. The I got updates on Aventuria and I'm sitting here like crap, I have that coming too... oh yeah, Oceans too. I'm going to have to put together a tracking list. I am almost back to my peak kickstarter habits. On the plus side I generally do get to play board games at least once a week now which is *way* better than the last few years have been and I've got the money so what the hell.

Outstanding stuff and scheduled/current timeline:
Zombicide Jul-19
Aventuria Aug-19
Sabotage Aug-19
Oceans Sep-19
Aeon's End Sep-19
Too Many Bones Dec-19 (split shipment, base game ~8/2019)
Roll Player Apr-20
Altar Quest Jun-20

So I'll have a bunch of new stuff before BGG.CON so maybe I will spend less while I am there!

Damn you... I just backed the expansion to Roll Player. I have the base and MM expansion, but bought them post Kickstarter. So for 60 bucks, buy the big box edition and get the kickstarter bits...Okay, I can do that.

Not a board game, but I got my GoCube yesterday. It's a "smart" Rubik's Cube.

https://getgocube.com/

It comes with an app that will help you get better. The cube has more sensors than my Tesla. It has very smooth action. Both of my kids were super excited about it so I just ordered two more (Mine is the Edge which is supposedly a little better in some minor ways, they aren't getting the more expensive one). There may be a challenge there as I don't think there is an apple for Kindle Fires. I guess I'll have to work that out.

Tomorrow I get my full Hexplore It pledge and I am very excited. I never got to play it before, and I think it may tick some boxes for me. But the trick will be finding time to solo play in the evenings. Thankfully, I can leave it out.

I went a tad crazy this month and backed Altar Quest and Too Many Bones Splice and Dice. I also am looking at Battlestations: Dirtside, as is it supposed to be fully soloable and have a rich, almost RPG style (and people seem to rave about the in-space version of Battlestations, which is less solo-able). Just as I was considering that, Middara popped up on KS. I am skeptical about this one, but it is hard to not jump into the hype bandwagon. Have any of you all played Middara? I like the art, but I am not sure I could get many people to play it with me, given how pervy anime it is.

This summer's most anticipated game is Cloudspire. I think it is getting pretty close now, but you can never know with KS projects. I am also, oddly, excited about Planet Apocalypse, because I love giant Sandy Peterson over-produced miniatures. Supposedly this one has finally finished its production and is set to ship soon, so maybe we will see it by the end of August. I just hope their fulfillment team is more competent than their previous attempts.

Dungeon Alliance should also be headed this way during the summer. I backed this on a whim (and because Hepcat, I think, kept singing its praises). Despite that, I am fairly well excited about it.

Dungeon Alliance is a sure thing. I can’t wait for the expansions from the Kickstarter.

hepcat wrote: Fri Jun 28, 2019 7:29 am Dungeon Alliance is a sure thing. I can’t wait for the expansions from the Kickstarter.

So, the second printing is strictly a reprint rather than any kind of an update, correct? I have the game (thanks Hep) and not sure how I missed this but looks like I can (eventually) get the expansion at retail but the Adventure Packs are KS only?

As far as I know, strictly a 2nd printing, not a 2nd edition.

But man, all that extra quest and campaign goodness that's coming is going to take the game to a new level.

I'm not sure about KS exclusivity on the rewards. I usually end up seeing that stuff out in the wild eventually. Don't they have a late pledge option though?

Looks like they did but it's too late for late now.

Ah crap, sorry.

On the other side of the coin, I recently backed a Kickstarter for an RPG book. It funded on (about ) the 5th of June. Survey was sent the 7th. Project was due in December of this year. It shipped yesterday. He had a six-month window, and fulfilled it in about an eighth of that.

Blackhawk wrote: Mon Jul 01, 2019 12:18 am On the other side of the coin, I recently backed a Kickstarter for an RPG book. It funded on (about ) the 5th of June. Survey was sent the 7th. Project was due in December of this year. It shipped yesterday. He had a six-month window, and fulfilled it in about an eighth of that.

That is awesome. I know that if I ever have a KS I will add 6-12 months to my project delivery date to give me a huge buffer in case stuff goes sideways.

Any OO experience with Middara?