Octopus Overlords

hepcat wrote: ↑Fri Nov 29, 2019 11:17 am

Zarathud wrote: ↑Thu Nov 28, 2019 2:45 am It's Car Wars. I played the hell out of a custom version in high school, and used to play every year at Origins. Very much in.

Should I bother backing it?

People seem...kinda interested in this. They're offering a special "Cyber Monday" backer level that is apparently only good for another 3 hours. They're claiming for $145 you get $290 of KS value or closer to $350 post-KS value.

Got the tiny pen (TiPen) received, a bit of meh.

Smoove_B wrote: ↑Mon Dec 02, 2019 3:16 pm

hepcat wrote: ↑Fri Nov 29, 2019 11:17 am

Zarathud wrote: ↑Thu Nov 28, 2019 2:45 am It's Car Wars. I played the hell out of a custom version in high school, and used to play every year at Origins. Very much in.

Should I bother backing it?

People seem...kinda interested in this. They're offering a special "Cyber Monday" backer level that is apparently only good for another 3 hours. They're claiming for $145 you get $290 of KS value or closer to $350 post-KS value.

That's a hell of a price point. Dammit.

Damn. I do not have that kind of money, but I just backed. I'll take a really close look later to see if I can actually pull it off and if it is a good enough fit to justify even trying. I can always back out. But as a 90s Car Wars aficionado (I still have my boxed set, my expansions, my counters...), I have to make the attempt.

Smoove_B wrote: ↑Mon Dec 02, 2019 3:16 pm

hepcat wrote: ↑Fri Nov 29, 2019 11:17 am

Zarathud wrote: ↑Thu Nov 28, 2019 2:45 am It's Car Wars. I played the hell out of a custom version in high school, and used to play every year at Origins. Very much in.

Should I bother backing it?

People seem...kinda interested in this. They're offering a special "Cyber Monday" backer level that is apparently only good for another 3 hours. They're claiming for $145 you get $290 of KS value or closer to $350 post-KS value.

It sure looks like it is the $140 pledge plus a $15 add-on so I am not sure how they are coming to $290 kickstarter value. Either way I bought lots of the original car wars and never found anyone to play it with me and I expect the same would happen with this one (though my 10yo is a hot wheels fanatic, so maaaaaybe) so I'm trying really hard to pass on this one.

coopasonic wrote: ↑Mon Dec 02, 2019 5:51 pm

Smoove_B wrote: ↑Mon Dec 02, 2019 3:16 pm

hepcat wrote: ↑Fri Nov 29, 2019 11:17 am

Zarathud wrote: ↑Thu Nov 28, 2019 2:45 am It's Car Wars. I played the hell out of a custom version in high school, and used to play every year at Origins. Very much in.

Should I bother backing it?

People seem...kinda interested in this. They're offering a special "Cyber Monday" backer level that is apparently only good for another 3 hours. They're claiming for $145 you get $290 of KS value or closer to $350 post-KS value.

It sure looks like it is the $140 pledge plus a $15 add-on so I am not sure how they are coming to $290 kickstarter value. Either way I bought lots of the original car wars and never found anyone to play it with me and I expect the same would happen with this one (though my 10yo is a hot wheels fanatic, so maaaaaybe) so I'm trying really hard to pass on this one.

Have you looked at Gaslands? Way WAY cheaper, and a boatload of fun. Carload. Whatever.

I'm still trying to justify going with this game when Gaslands does everything I want...I pledged for now, but I may be dropping.

hentzau wrote: ↑Mon Dec 02, 2019 5:54 pmI'm still trying to justify going with this game when Gaslands does everything I want...I pledged for now, but I may be dropping.

I had the same thought. I was going to pledge just to get the cars.

hentzau wrote: ↑Mon Dec 02, 2019 5:54 pm

Have you looked at Gaslands? Way WAY cheaper, and a boatload of fun. Carload. Whatever.

I'm still trying to justify going with this game when Gaslands does everything I want...I pledged for now, but I may be dropping.

And that's where I ended up. I've got Gaslands (although I don't have the new book.) I can't justify spending the money on this, too.

Smoove_B wrote: ↑Mon Dec 02, 2019 3:16 pm

hepcat wrote: ↑Fri Nov 29, 2019 11:17 am

Zarathud wrote: ↑Thu Nov 28, 2019 2:45 am It's Car Wars. I played the hell out of a custom version in high school, and used to play every year at Origins. Very much in.

Should I bother backing it?

People seem...kinda interested in this. They're offering a special "Cyber Monday" backer level that is apparently only good for another 3 hours. They're claiming for $145 you get $290 of KS value or closer to $350 post-KS value.

I was thinking more along the lines of Zarathud backs it, the Chicago gang plays his copy for free. WIN!

hentzau wrote: ↑Mon Dec 02, 2019 5:54 pm

coopasonic wrote: ↑Mon Dec 02, 2019 5:51 pm

Smoove_B wrote: ↑Mon Dec 02, 2019 3:16 pm

hepcat wrote: ↑Fri Nov 29, 2019 11:17 am

Zarathud wrote: ↑Thu Nov 28, 2019 2:45 am It's Car Wars. I played the hell out of a custom version in high school, and used to play every year at Origins. Very much in.

Should I bother backing it?

People seem...kinda interested in this. They're offering a special "Cyber Monday" backer level that is apparently only good for another 3 hours. They're claiming for $145 you get $290 of KS value or closer to $350 post-KS value.

It sure looks like it is the $140 pledge plus a $15 add-on so I am not sure how they are coming to $290 kickstarter value. Either way I bought lots of the original car wars and never found anyone to play it with me and I expect the same would happen with this one (though my 10yo is a hot wheels fanatic, so maaaaaybe) so I'm trying really hard to pass on this one.

Have you looked at Gaslands? Way WAY cheaper, and a boatload of fun. Carload. Whatever.

I'm still trying to justify going with this game when Gaslands does everything I want...I pledged for now, but I may be dropping.

I watched one of the playthrough videos on the KS page and that reminded me why it was a bad idea. Car Wars is a slog. Note that I don't play any tabletop miniatures game so I can't really compare it to much of anything.

I do have Gaslands on my wishlist but I may even remove that as I'm kind of turned off on the entire idea really. if I can't get the kids to play X-wing there is little actual hope for this stuff.

So I've gone through the tutorial for Tainted Grail after receiving it last week; and I have to say, it's quite interesting.

The combat and diplomacy (the conflict portions of the game) are handled in a really unique fashion. Cards are played to the right side of the encounter (in both diplomatic and combat based encounters) and you match up "keys" that are found on the right side of the encounter from the card you play to get results. The keys include thematic resolutions of what you match up. Then you can add MORE cards if you have a key with a lightening bolt that can match the card you just played, etc.. I've not seen anything quite like it before. As you level up, you can add cards to your combat and diplomacy decks (which you can rebuild to your liking at the end of each day as long as you have at least 15 cards when finished) and buy skill cards/increase your attributes.

The rest of the game is very close to 7th Continent, although you do have to limit your exploration to only those areas near an active "Menhir" (protective statues that you can find and then power up to extend your exploration range).

I'm looking forward to diving into the real game this weekend. I think I have a handle on it, but I'm sure I'll need the reference cards and rules nearby for the first few hours.

Side note: Awaken Realms makes some of the most amazingly detailed miniatures I've ever seen in a game. The 3 Menhirs they give you are fantastic. The figures for your characters almost equally so.

I'm kicking myself a bit for not backing Tainted Grail as everything I've read so far sounds fantastic and right up my alley. Hopefully I'll get a chance to grab it at retail someday.

Received "TiPen" as part of Kickstarter... It's a bit lamer than I expected. The pen is nice, and solid, but looks plastic-y instead of metal.

Smoove_B wrote: ↑Mon Dec 02, 2019 3:16 pm

hepcat wrote: ↑Fri Nov 29, 2019 11:17 am

Zarathud wrote: ↑Thu Nov 28, 2019 2:45 am It's Car Wars. I played the hell out of a custom version in high school, and used to play every year at Origins. Very much in.

Should I bother backing it?

People seem...kinda interested in this. They're offering a special "Cyber Monday" backer level that is apparently only good for another 3 hours. They're claiming for $145 you get $290 of KS value or closer to $350 post-KS value.

Just got back from Pax Unplugged and had a chance to play this.
I'm a HUGE original Car Wars fan. Still have a lot of my original stuff.
Depending on your history with the game and how you originally played it is similar.
So if you mostly did deathmatch/arena battles this will be familar.
If like me you were more of a mission/campaign player then there isn't anything for you...yet.
I played a game with my wife. The only info she has on the game, original or kickstarter, is stuff I've described to her in the past.
She doesn't always understand complex rules and I typically have to guide her through how to play.
For some reason she picked up a lot on the rules pretty quickly. There were a few where the demo guy had to guide her but she picked up the gist of it right away. (I think she didn't quite understand the control mechanics..or she just didn't care and liked pushing her dice luck)
She tended towards some pretty crazy maneuvers but over all rolled well so it didn't matter. Even when I started to play a little seriously she made the right moves at the right time. She ended up wrecking me in the game we played.
It looks like most of the mechanics will be pretty easy to pick up.
I backed at the lower price on black Friday and now wished I had backed at the next level because she seemed to like it a lot.
I asked about other vehicles like bikes and trucks and the demo guy said they are looking into how to add bikes, but not looking into trucks.
He also said they were thinking about looking into missions.
I suspect we could make our own missions, but they will be pretty simple since it's only cars right now and there is no pedestrian mechanic in place.
I'm still going to back the game since we both enjoyed it, but to be honest I would have been fine with a revision of the original games with the original counters and make this Car Wars Arena or something.
Still an enjoyable game for us.

Punisher wrote:

Smoove_B wrote: ↑Mon Dec 02, 2019 3:16 pm

hepcat wrote: ↑Fri Nov 29, 2019 11:17 am

Zarathud wrote: ↑Thu Nov 28, 2019 2:45 am It's Car Wars. I played the hell out of a custom version in high school, and used to play every year at Origins. Very much in.

Should I bother backing it?

People seem...kinda interested in this. They're offering a special "Cyber Monday" backer level that is apparently only good for another 3 hours. They're claiming for $145 you get $290 of KS value or closer to $350 post-KS value.

Just got back from Pax Unplugged and had a chance to play this.
I'm a HUGE original Car Wars fan. Still have a lot of my original stuff.
Depending on your history with the game and how you originally played it is similar.
So if you mostly did deathmatch/arena battles this will be familar.
If like me you were more of a mission/campaign player then there isn't anything for you...yet.
I played a game with my wife. The only info she has on the game, original or kickstarter, is stuff I've described to her in the past.
She doesn't always understand complex rules and I typically have to guide her through how to play.
For some reason she picked up a lot on the rules pretty quickly. There were a few where the demo guy had to guide her but she picked up the gist of it right away. (I think she didn't quite understand the control mechanics..or she just didn't care and liked pushing her dice luck)
She tended towards some pretty crazy maneuvers but over all rolled well so it didn't matter. Even when I started to play a little seriously she made the right moves at the right time. She ended up wrecking me in the game we played.
It looks like most of the mechanics will be pretty easy to pick up.
I backed at the lower price on black Friday and now wished I had backed at the next level because she seemed to like it a lot.
I asked about other vehicles like bikes and trucks and the demo guy said they are looking into how to add bikes, but not looking into trucks.
He also said they were thinking about looking into missions.
I suspect we could make our own missions, but they will be pretty simple since it's only cars right now and there is no pedestrian mechanic in place.
I'm still going to back the game since we both enjoyed it, but to be honest I would have been fine with a revision of the original games with the original counters and make this Car Wars Arena or something.
Still an enjoyable game for us.

Have you/do you play Gaslands? How would you compare?

In the past months I've received:

Cthulhu Death May Die
Tainted Grail
Dark Venture
Deep Madness (reprint)
Arena the Contest

And it feels like there's been a significant jump in the overall quality of KS produced games. Between the provided inserts, miniature sculpts, super thick manuals and layered player boards, I can't help but feel like maybe gaming has finally hit a new level. I've had games with single elements that are excellent, but all the above games are firing on all cylinders.

For those that didn't back the Kickstarter and aren't aware, there's a digital version of Tainted Grail that was proposed during the KS and is now listed on STEAM. I don't think it's 1:1 translation of the board game, but instead more of an RPG-style game that uses the characters and lore from the board game to tell the same (similar?) story.

I've been playing Tainted Grail off and on for the last 3 weeks or so. And I'm only at chapter 2. This one can be rough and unforgiving. But it really does feel like 7th Continent with a combat system and a deeper story.

Just discovered this one...

Dungeon and Town

Simple 3D modular set for dungeons and towns for fantasy TTRPGS. Looks like a lot of value for the money. But only 24 hours or so to go. I’d probably jump on board if I wasn’t so far down the Battlesystems rabbit hole.

I just noticed that Deep Space D-6: Armada, a co-op multiplayer version of Deep Space D-6, is up on Kickstarter:



While I certainly enjoyed the original Deep Space D-6 solo game this is based upon, I can't help thinking that it seems a wee bit pricey for what's included. So I'm inclined to hold off and if it reviews favourably, perhaps grab a discounted retail version instead.

Received a few other KS items. The tashtego "tool rollup" dopp kit bag is here, still waiting for the rest of the stuff... *sigh*

Anonymous Bosch wrote: ↑Wed Jan 01, 2020 3:31 pm While I certainly enjoyed the original Deep Space D-6 solo game this is based upon, I can't help thinking that it seems a wee bit pricey for what's included. So I'm inclined to hold off and if it reviews favourably, perhaps grab a discounted retail version instead.

My thoughts exactly.

hepcat wrote: ↑Fri Jan 03, 2020 9:59 pm

Anonymous Bosch wrote: ↑Wed Jan 01, 2020 3:31 pm While I certainly enjoyed the original Deep Space D-6 solo game this is based upon, I can't help thinking that it seems a wee bit pricey for what's included. So I'm inclined to hold off and if it reviews favourably, perhaps grab a discounted retail version instead.

My thoughts exactly.

I'm waffling on this, I've already backed it but may back out for much the same reasons. We'll see as we get closer to the funding date. From his first update:

Deep Space D-6: Armada has funded in just 2 hours! I'm completely overwhelmed. I hope this means what I think it means and that people will still support high quality games even without crazy stretch goals and overproduced deluxe versions. Just good fun games that you can get to your table. Thank you all so much! I promise some fun rewards as the campaign continues!

Also, my copy of Machina Arcana arrived.

Just got my shipping notice for Machina Arcana.

Now that I'm finally recovering from my perpetual winter cold (turns out it was a bad sinus infection....antibiotics for the win!), I'm going to try and get to a good stopping point in Tainted Grail and Give Machina Arcana a shot. I like the concept behind it, but I need to actually see it in play in order to find out if some of the things I'm worried won't work, will actually work.

With 2 days left, I’m trying to decide if I want to bail on my Car Wars pledge. For the level I’m at ($145 cyber Monday pledge) you get a metric shit-ton of product...but will I play it? Since I have Gaslands to fall back on, I mean...

I will stay in on Car Wars out of nostalgia, so I have you covered. I'll even go in on an extra set of cars.

Who hoo!

I kinda want to buy one of those fancy pens, but at $50 or more each, it's a bit... of a luxury item.

Zarathud wrote: ↑Sat Jan 04, 2020 4:44 pm I will stay in on Car Wars out of nostalgia, so I have you covered. I'll even go in on an extra set of cars.

Thankfully my wife liked this at Pax Unplugged so I upped my pledge to the New Years' Eve one for $145. Mostly for nostalgia and since I know I will eventually get it to the table, but I am still highly disappointed they didn't just revised the old one. As much as I am into mini's I would have been perfectly fine with the old cardboard counters versions. It would be cheaper to make and we could have had a TON more stuff for less money. Especially since my group RARELY played a straight arena war. We did a bunch of town fights and road fights, but they ended up being part of a larger campaign where we got to upgrade and expand our crew over time. We eventually ended up have a tank on the crew, but while it could fire, it couldn't move so it was tied to a flatbed and hauled around and just dropped off at times as a barricade type thing for some adventures. (We also had limited ammo except for the MG's.) Played at least 2-4 times a week after school during my HS days.

We used to hold car wars event nights in the mall setting at least once a month. We loved that one.

We homebrewed Car Wars and ended up with modified rules for cycles, tanks, and eventually battlesuits facing enemy space (hover) craft. One player even came up with “waterproofing” rules that were then used to create a tracked submarine for one crazy mission along a river.

We had a great time coming up with rules after learning “never to get out of the car” for long to complete a mission. And the most creative use of our new rules always came from someone other than the proposer.

Cancelled my Car Wars pledge. Feels like I just earned $150.

Good news then -- the Apex: Theropod reprint just launched. Been looking for this one for a long, long time but the prices for used (or older copies that are somehow unopened) were always insane. No more plastic dinosaur for the first player marker and I'm ok with that.

Well. Guess I can sell my paints now.

Hero Forge announcing color 3D printed minis.

And if the image on their placeholder page is really what you can get...wow.

Is that a divine warcorgi?

TheMix wrote: ↑Sat Jan 04, 2020 2:32 pm Machina Arcana.

Better get started on the paperwork for that second mortgage.

Yeah, the minis in gray are pretty dang pricey as is.

The Hero Forge folks had a booth at PAX UP last year and while they had some amazing stuff it was expensive. There big sales pitch at the convention was being able to 3D model "you" in to a miniature, again it was expensive but I could see only needing one or maybe two for a favorite RPG character. I just put together a fairly simple Skeleton figure on the website and it was $20 bucks for standard and $30 for premium plastic. It looked amazing but I can't really see buying these in any sort of quantity.

They're not really meant for quantity. They're meant to give a player their character exactly as they imagine them, or the GM a villain to exact standards. For a campaign that runs for several years, I can see the value in getting your character made rather than using a 'good enough' miniature.

At the same time, in my experience, HeroForge minis are brittle as hell.