Octopus Overlords

baelthazar wrote: Wed Jan 12, 2022 12:57 am
I think I am going to skip the mats. While I initially was drawn to them, the boxes themselves are basically "mats" and being split means they are awkward on my smallish table.

I may order the mat from season 2 later now that I've looked at it. There's absolutely NO reason to buy the season 1 mat though if you get the second season mat. It appears to address many of the issues I had with the season 1 mat (location deck numbering, a space for vignette cards/special film cards, etc.). In essence, the season 2 mat is the updated season 1 mat after player input.

I'm still leaning towards retail for season 2, but if they add rewards I may change my mind.

In case anyone wanted to join in on the insanity.

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/cm ... -zombicide

$130 for one core box is insane. INSANE.

All in pledge with shipping is basically $500.

Yup. I'm guessing you'll be able to snag the individual boxes for $99 retail, but you're going to be missing out on all the "freebies" they've added in for the KS backers. Note there's no stretch goals, just daily unlocks. The pretense of it being anything other than a glorified preorder has finally happened. And I''m guessing the new pledge prices are pandemic related.

I gave a moments thought to it, but I am still waiting on a CMON project so I think I am going to be able to resist. There is a decent chance that by this summer I will have NO OUTSTANDING KICKSTARTERS! That would be a first in many years.

My initial draw is still there - the sculps and art look fantastic. I cannot resist them. As soon as they announce Gambit is in the game, it's over.

Yeah looking at the sculpts nearly caught me, but I am not a painter so they would never be all that they could be which would make me sad.

After passing on Cthulhu: Death May Die and multiple Zombicide campaigns in favor of the retail boxes, I now consider myself immune to CMON's freebies.

Smoove_B wrote: Tue Jan 18, 2022 5:55 pm My initial draw is still there - the sculps and art look fantastic. I cannot resist them. As soon as they announce Gambit is in the game, it's over.

Have you done any Marvel: Crisis Protocol? Amazing (but annoying to put together) figures.

Yes, I have the core set and a few of the boosters. I also love those sculpts and agree they're a bit difficult to assemble. My issue with them is the scale - they don't play nice with others.

I'd been using them as "tokens' during my Marvel Champion games. Expensive, but it's been a long 2+ years.

coopasonic wrote:All in pledge with shipping is basically $500.

That’s an easy pass from me then. Besides, they already got me on He-Man. No more!

Not sure if anyone else is waiting on Dungeon Universalis (2nd Edition), but I just found this buried in the comments from the creators:

About USA/Canada, the ship has not left yet and we have no ETA. The shipment has been waiting to leave for many weeks. I know that they are waiting for information from the USA about a port with possible access, to avoid the ship staying at sea for a long time waiting for access.

As I mentioned last month? Two months ago? This is exactly what happened with Hunters 2114 AD - just no way to get it to the United States.

LIkewise with Pathfinder for Savage Worlds. That's the one where another company overpaid the snipe away their reserved container, resulting in them being priced completely out of shipping. Pinnacle is an established company, and yet the best they can do is to leave their stuff sitting on a palette in a warehouse and keep their fingers crossed.

This is not a good time to have Kickstarters due.

I’ve given up on expecting many of my kickstarters until 2022, to be honest.

hepcat wrote: Thu Jan 20, 2022 9:35 pm I’ve given up on expecting many of my kickstarters until 2022, to be honest.

TheMix wrote: Thu Jan 20, 2022 9:42 pm

hepcat wrote: Thu Jan 20, 2022 9:35 pm I’ve given up on expecting many of my kickstarters until 2022, to be honest.

Oh goddamnit.

Well, at least I’ve only written 2021 a half dozen times in the last three weeks.

The shipping woes over the last year have helped me a ton with the backlog. I've finally hit the point in the past couple of weeks where I'm relatively satisfied with the state of the library. In that there's nothing on the shelf that has never been played, and I at least feel I've given every game a fair shot. Sure, I still have games that are underplayed for what I paid for them, and there are plenty of unfinished campaigns. But none of those are causing me any mental anguish - I've come to peace with the idea that I got what I wanted out of them.

My FLGS is starting a consignment service next month, and I feel that I'm going to be clearing a LOT of shelf space.

The recent Core Space update mentions that QML basically hiked the price for them to get into the delivery queue and that they absorbed the cost out of their profits. I'm not giving Blacklist a pass here, but that sounds commiserate with what they have been claiming. Thankfully, it looks like QML will start delivering Core Space soon, but I understand the delays until 2022 have created major issues for shipping.

And I am not confident we will see Dungeon Unversalis any time soon.

baelthazar wrote: Fri Jan 21, 2022 11:59 am The recent Core Space update mentions that QML basically hiked the price for them to get into the delivery queue

QML saw a pretty massive price hike in general this year. Package over 8 pounds now cost an additional $2-3 and brings the overall cost up over $20 . I think the days of cheap shipping in the US are sadly over.

Yeah, that's what I was saying about the CMON Marvel project above. Not only did they hike the price for the core boxes by ~30% (from historical prices), but when you look at the estimated shipping it;s close to $50 for the two boxes + additional unlocks.

We're definitely in a new era of KS projects and I'm guessing we're going to start seeing fewer and fewer big box / bucket of miniatures games because of changes to manufacturing and shipping. I know we've been talking about it before, but you can see it already happening.

Considering that most kickstarters are now just basically preorders, I've been leaning more towards just buying the games retail these days. Many of the projects don't even include stretch goals that are exclusive to kickstarter nowadays. Or they offer them for sale after a while.

I wonder if this will be a catalyst for the adoption of acrylic standees over minis. As much as I love mini painting as a second hobby and as a bonus way to get enjoyment out of a game, I also love the idea of reducing costs and box size.

I actually joined an acrylic standee KS last year (Skinny Minis) to see if they were worth it. I totally agree that it would like save so much space and time...while also pushing miniature painting back into a more niche hobby (I think).

I did the same with Vagrantsong (not a KS, but pre-ordered). Looking forward to it.

The only downside I potentially see is difficulty seeing figures when viewing top-down. I often play a lot of games solo while standing up at the table. Probably not a huge deal IRL, but I noticed it in a couple of games in TTS.

That's a good point. This is one thing I did notice for Mansions of Madness (the 2ED) - instead of using the monster minis, just using the flat tokens. The art is great, it doesn't clog up the board and it would address playing while standing up. I totally get why minis are great, but there are definitely benefits to using token or acrylic (or even paper) standees.

Wow, CMON is not messing around - they added a Fantastic Four Zombie expansion to the mix. Apologies.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rJDL0Om ... annel=CMON

Back in the 80's Avalon Hill put out a solitaire wargame where you controlled a squad of soldiers in WW2 trying to complete missions and fighting the Germans. It was called Ambush and it was a story driven game where you gradually felt connected to your squad and it was a bummer to lose an experienced squad member.

This is not an Ambush sequel per se, but it feels like a spiritual successor. The game is Purple Haze by Phalanx games, the same boardgame folks who created "Uboot", a real-time app-driven boardgame about commanding a German U-boat.

Purple Haze has you commanding a squad of Marines in Vietnam as they try to accomplish their missions and not die. While on mission they gain XP and in between missions they use their XP to increase their skills. There is a Lets Play video on the game to give you an idea of how the game will play out.

Anyway, it looks like it will scratch my Ambush itch, which is good because Ambush is out of print and selling for crazy prices. I backed it.

I've been watching and I was going to back it as well as it seems like a narrative-based thematic war game.

Incidentally (and maybe i should have posted it here) but Combat! Vol. 2 was finally released (originally scheduled for Fall 2020) after completing a magical 14 day Kickstarter run earlier this month. The reason I mention it is (1) the publisher seems to print very few additional copies - he prints to order and (2) Volume 2 adds campaign elements, including soldiers that level up with skills and get medals or other traits that affect them moving forward (like Ambush). Apparently Volume 1 is now OOP and of course Volume 2 requires the use of Volume 1 materials, so...I don't understand game publishing in any capacity.

But yeah, Purple Haze looks quite interesting.

EDIT: And Core Space: First Born is now shipping from QML! Oh boy!

Smoove_B wrote: EDIT: And Core Space: First Born is now shipping from QML! Oh boy!

It appears that all of North America got their shipping notice today.

I was kinda surprised as I know QML sent out the address verification like 3 weeks ago, but they updated their Twitter feed today to say they were shipping Solomon Kane stuff. It's like a stealth shipment!

I had just finished priming my core space base game crews and the expansion crew I bought a while back. The I checked my email and saw the notice my copy had shipped. It’s supposed to be here Sunday, but it’s going to my office so I’ll get it Monday.

Need to re read the rules again. I’m going to try to start up a campaign again with a few folks. The set up and tear down were the deterrents before. Especially sorting all those damn tokens. But it looks like you can buy a copy of those tokens in their store. That might make things easier.

hentzau wrote: Thu Jan 27, 2022 7:26 pm

Smoove_B wrote: EDIT: And Core Space: First Born is now shipping from QML! Oh boy!

It appears that all of North America got their shipping notice today.

I got mine!

hentzau wrote: Thu Jan 27, 2022 7:26 pm

Smoove_B wrote: EDIT: And Core Space: First Born is now shipping from QML! Oh boy!

It appears that all of North America got their shipping notice today.

Not me

I got my notice too.

I jumped in to Kickstarter campaigns about 8 or 9 months ago and ordered 3 different games. First time I'd done this instead of buying something at retail. Various email updates kept saying we're waiting on shipping containers and other delays. Then out of the blue I got 2 shipping notifications within a week of each other!

Flash forward a week. It's a Wonderful Kingdom: Legends and Sentinels of the Multiverse have both arrived on my doorstep! I've been too busy to even take the shrink off the boxes. I'm in the process of making a foamcore storage solution for Mage Knight: Ultimate Edition. Then I want to play some more MK, so I don't know when I'm going to find the time (or table space) to play my Kickstarted games.

Ahh...first-world problems.

hepcat wrote: Thu Jan 27, 2022 9:58 pm I had just finished priming my core space base game crews and the expansion crew I bought a while back. The I checked my email and saw the notice my copy had shipped. It’s supposed to be here Sunday, but it’s going to my office so I’ll get it Monday.

I had a QML FedEx order that shipped on 1/17 with a scheduled delivery date of 1/19. It actually arrived 1/26, so I'm highly, highly suspicious of claims that your delivery (and mine) will be here on Sunday.

I don’t live in Jersey, so the odds the truck is hijacked by the mob is much lower than it is for you.

Mine also says Sunday. It is in TN right now. But who knows.

Mine’s in Chicago already, so looks like I’ll get it Monday after all. Unless they drop it off in the mailroom at work and I drive in to get it tomorrow.

I ordered the deluxe rule book and the dangerous days expansion this morning. I’m going to give the game a serious shot this time.

First Born may or may not be on the way. It was one of the last big projects I backed before the fit hit the shan. A friend then backed an all-in on my behalf as a birthday gift. So when it finally does ship, it'll ship to them, then they'll ship it to me. Delays along the line are to be expected (such as the cost of shipping something that size in this day and age.)

So I expect that it'll be here sometime between tomorrow and May.