Octopus Overlords

Smoove_B wrote:This was a point of confusion from day one. The 2020 shipping date covers the scope of the KS project. By 2020 he plans to have all 12 (I think it was 12) of the new expansions shipped.

Reprints of the base game and current expansions are scheduled for delivery August/Sep/Oct of this year, not 2020.

Wait, what now?
hmm... That does make it a little more tempting.. I think it's time to watch some lets play videos. Not sure if this game will be something my current play group will be able to handle though. Need to see how complex the game is. Anyone know of a good video? By good, I mean something that explains the game at a slow pace and doesn't assume you know anything about the game. I glanced at a couple of videos real quick and they were more like, draw card, do this, this, this, move here, etc.. All at a fast pace. I had no idea what was really being done or why.

The entire game with all expansions can be found on Table Top Simulator. You may want to give that a look prior to spending the money.

Lordnine wrote:The entire game with all expansions can be found on Table Top Simulator. You may want to give that a look prior to spending the money.

Yeah, I already have that, but there aren't any rules I could find so all I could do would be look at the game board and figures but not know how to play or how complicated it is.

I think the rule book is there actually. It's one of the fancy right-click-to-choose-a-page ones. At-least in the version I downloaded.

I only see and hear people talk about the miniatures for kingdom death. I never hear anyone actually talk about the gameplay. Not that that means it isn't a good game. It's just that all I ever hear about is the minis and the ridiculous number you get with it.

I’ve heard if you have the dedicated group for it, it is incredibly engrossing. Unfortunately, it’s also repetitive, can take a month to finish a campaign and really hard to “win”. I find it fascinating but the costs is too high when my gaming group only meets about once a week and getting less than 5 player games in is hard.

Shutup and sit-down did a video on it. They seemed to have a love/hate opinion of it.

Completely out of the blue, there was a second edition KS for Black Orchestra. Since I missed the first round, I jumped on this one.

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/ga ... nav_search

baelthazar wrote:Completely out of the blue, there was a second edition KS for Black Orchestra. Since I missed the first round, I jumped on this one.

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/ga ... nav_search

Interesting. Keeping an eye on that.

I'm in. US Shipping is +$9.

For those that have played it:

Backed to get the Upgrade Pack.

Backed it as well. Been meaning to buy this, good reason as any to do it now.

FYI -
Red Raven Games is opening its KS for Empires of the Void 2 tomorrow, around 11:00am-12:00pm or so. The first was a very interesting and quick playing 4X that had some good ideas.



They are saying it is different enough from the original to not be called a "second edition." FWIW, the first edition is OOP and worth about $150, due to demand. The designer and artist is Ryan Laukat, now very successful from Above and Below and that line.

Satanic Panic - the RPG:

Satanic Panic is a tabletop roleplaying game set in the fictional 1970’s and 1980’s where players take on the role of secret government agents tasked with combating the evils of tabletop. The players work as a team with the common purpose to contain, control, and eliminate the threats to our world. They must do all this while keeping the truth from the public, lest a panic ensue.

The game will be a 200-page hardcover book with everything needed for a GM and 2-6 players. It is designed so that the game can be played as a traditional RPG campaign or can be played in an episodic fashion with different numbers and arrangements of players. Satanic Panic brings modern game design principles to traditional tabletop game play. It gives the players all the power they need to fight against the forces of evil while making their every decision have long term consequences.

baelthazar wrote:FYI -
Red Raven Games is opening its KS for Empires of the Void 2 tomorrow, around 11:00am-12:00pm or so. The first was a very interesting and quick playing 4X that had some good ideas.



They are saying it is different enough from the original to not be called a "second edition." FWIW, the first edition is OOP and worth about $150, due to demand. The designer and artist is Ryan Laukat, now very successful from Above and Below and that line.

Have you played the first? I'm intrigued by this company since I believe the owner does everything, and I mean everything. Designs the games, does the art, and publishes it. That's fascinating, and yet he seems to have done a nice job with these games. So I am intrigued by this... but I'm being much more cautious with my money on kickstarter so I would be interested in any thoughts on the game.

Just browsing it I am very interested in it. Very cool looking.

Link to the campaign.

I played the first one, a few times, but I am not sure how much my impression are applicable to this iteration. The games are VERY different. The first one was an interesting 4X blend or Ameritrash conquest and Euro-style diplomacy. It was much lighter than Eclipse and Twilight Imperium, but still had stuff like a tech tree to flesh it out. You could conquer planets (many of which had native species) or diplomatically annex them through influence (longer and more difficult but without the chance of losing valuable units). The most interesting element was that native species gave you special abilities, so you could "customize" your empire that way. I remember the combat being a little lackluster, a system like Twilight Imperium but with fewer units. It was a fun game, but it did not hit the table as much as it could have because, when my group wanted to play 4X (and the group met infrequently), they chose the time commitment for Twilight Imperium instead.

Now this one looks like a much different bird, almost akin to the old Dune game (or the re-implementation Rex) but simplified. Here you influence or conquer planets using card play to get access to not only resources but also native "units" that have special abilities. Your "army" is made up of native units and your own units, giving you a chance to customize the forces you will use in future endeavors. Both games use a mechanic of "lead" and "follow" actions like in Glory to Rome, so there is little downtime.

Ryan Laukat does, indeed, do most of everything in his games. He paints the art and designs the games. The art in is games is almost as interesting as the game itself (particularly for games like Above and Below and that line). A lot of people love his games and stand by them. They also tend to go out of print, so if you hate the game, resell is often good.

Cool thanks for the info. I appreciate it. Glory to Rome is a great game and I love that mechanism (same as in Puerto Rico, roll and race for the galaxy etc) so I'm happy to see it used more. After reading your info and looking more into it I'm tentatively backing for now.

MapForge - battle map creation software:

Have you always wanted to make your own slick-looking full-color battlemaps, but just don’t have the time or patience to learn to use a sophisticated image editing application like Photoshop or Gimp? Or perhaps you tried anyway but in the end you ran away screaming in frustration because you found it too difficult and/or time-consuming?

Have you tried existing mapping software and been frustrated with the learning curve, the cost, the interface, and/or been disappointed by the results?

If the answer to any or all of those questions is “yes”, then my brand new MapForge application is probably just what you’ve been searching for (and possibly waiting for for years).

Rising Sun by CMON and Eric Lang. Seems like a mix of Blood Rage and Cry Havoc with an emphasis on allies and diplomacy. Also seems to borrow the action system from Puerto Rico; when you take an action, everyone benefits but you and your allies benefit MORE.

Miniatures are of course gorgeous.

I'm tempted by this. Blood Rage is one of my favorites.

Just received my copy of Martians: A Story of Civilization from a 2016 kickstarter I backed on a whim. The reviews have varied from "meh" to "great", so it's something I'll just have to play to see if it's good or not. I will say that the rulebook is god awful, but the artwork is top notch.

I would be interested to hear impressions of that one. I remember following it for a while but backing out because I cant get 4 player games to the table very often.

It has a pretty well reviewed solo mode.

Man, the rule book is a complete mess. I guess the Polish developers decided to do the English translation themselves instead of hiring an English speaking editor. And it shows. Boy does it show. The game actually includes a 4 page errata that covers a bunch of odd wording choices. I think I'll just watch the Ricky Royal play through instead.

I had backed that one initially and cancelled my pledge the last day. I think it looks really interesting, looking forward to hearing your impressions. I had heard the rulebook was a complete mess.

Unfortunately it might be a few weeks. Gloomhaven has its hooks firmly in my gaming time right now. But I'll try to carve out some time for a solo game one weekend.

High Frontier arrived today. Now to find a free afternoon to actually figure out the rules...

The upgrade of stop thief launches tomorrow. It's by restoration games, a new developer redoing old board games. I'm in for sure. Stop thief was one of my favorite childhood board games.

AWS260 wrote:High Frontier arrived today. Now to find a free afternoon to actually figure out the rules...

First you need to get a Phd in rocket science.

I can only imagine how deep this game is. I have a hard enough time wrapping my mind around his Pax series.

Stop Thief!

This game was my favorite game during my childhood. I would play it for hours. It had an electronic little handheld device that would make noises based on where the thief was, and everyone raced to be the first to catch the thief. Very fun game. My parents still have the game at their house and my siblings and I played it one Christmas recently and it actually holds up pretty well. It is still unique, and fun.

This kickstarter is a revamping of that game. Restoration games is a new company taking old games that had a lot of promise, and updating them for modern printing, including new art, improved mechanics, etc. For instance stop thief will have individualized decks of movement cards for each detective instead of a simple roll and move mechanic with generic detectives that the original had.

I'm pretty excited about this kickstarter, I'm looking forward to seeing what Restoration games can pull off.

Academy Games just opened up the Kickstarter for the first entry in its "Birth of Europe" series - 878 Vikings: Invasions of England.

As a medievalist, a fan of Academy Games, and a person who needs more 2-4 player games, I was on this like Ivar the Boneless on the city of York. Best yet, Academy estimates the delivery date at August!!! They tend to be fairly accurate with their delivery dates, but I would expect October is more likely. Still, a project that is not slated for a year from now is nice!

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/61 ... n=334dd56b

BACK IT! THE THEGNS COMMAND YOU!

I am also excited to see where he goes next in the Birth of Europe series. I was not overly excited by the Birth of America stuff, as it is not my area of expertise or interest. But I am very excited if he decides to go to stuff like Charlemagne or the Hundred Years War next!

If you insist.

I'm really on the fence on this one. I have 1775 rebellion and I love it. But... In reading the rulebook I don't see enough differences with this game to really justify adding it to my collection. I have more interest in the revolution than in European history. That said I backed it for the early bird now but... Might back out.

The game will be great (in my opinion) because I think the system is great.

hepcat wrote:Man, the rule book is a complete mess. I guess the Polish developers decided to do the English translation themselves instead of hiring an English speaking editor. And it shows. Boy does it show. The game actually includes a 4 page errata that covers a bunch of odd wording choices. I think I'll just watch the Ricky Royal play through instead.

Yeah, was a bit surprised when I opened mine and saw all of the errata. Sheesh. Any idea if there is a plan to reprint the rules? I also got the miniatures and now regretting (a little bit) that I didn't get them painted as I'll probably never get the elusive Round Tuit.

And "The Dresden Files Cooperative Card Game" arrived yesterday. Need to see about taking that out for a solo spin.

Chrisoc13 wrote:I'm really on the fence on this one. I have 1775 rebellion and I love it. But... In reading the rulebook I don't see enough differences with this game to really justify adding it to my collection. I have more interest in the revolution than in European history. That said I backed it for the early bird now but... Might back out.

The game will be great (in my opinion) because I think the system is great.

You waver, even after our great king Alfred called you? Are you not stirred by the story of Edmund of East Anglia (also called the Martyr) whose head - so cruelly separated by the Heathen hoard - called to his men to be reunited with his body! Pick up your ax, man!

baelthazar wrote:

Chrisoc13 wrote:I'm really on the fence on this one. I have 1775 rebellion and I love it. But... In reading the rulebook I don't see enough differences with this game to really justify adding it to my collection. I have more interest in the revolution than in European history. That said I backed it for the early bird now but... Might back out.

The game will be great (in my opinion) because I think the system is great.

You waver, even after our great king Alfred called you? Are you not stirred by the story of Edmund of East Anglia (also called the Martyr) whose head - so cruelly separated by the Heathen hoard - called to his men to be reunited with his body! Pick up your ax, man!

Haha I'm still in for now

Reminder that there is a 2017 thread for Kickstarter posts.

Also, I got my copy of Fugitive yesterday. It's very light, but nicely put together. I'm sure I will play it some day. It's sort of what happens right after you play Burgle Bros, running away from the coppers with some bluffing card play vs the investigators deductive investimigating.

So far, I have only backed a Looking For Group (web comic) KS to get an action figure of Richard.

Crap... I accidentally looked at an ad on BGG and saw this...

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/cw ... lar-system

It's a space themed racing game using the Powerboats system. A 2D racing game makes a lot more sense with the boat theme, but I'll forgive them that. This looks to add more spaces and more course variety. With 3 days to go it is sitting at about 92%... but I hardly get to play Powerboats...

Gloomhaven's second printing is on KS right now...

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/13 ... =discovery

Over a million on the first day, 9500 backers for the game itself.

I love this game so much, I'm almost tempted to buy it again.

I do think I'll buy into the upgrade pack. But at the rate I'm playing it right now, I'm just worried I'll be almost done with it by the time I get that stuff.

edit: oh, nice! they've already uploaded the revised rules and scenario book for first edition users. I may just grab a couple of health dials from somewhere else and merrily continue on with my game.

Health dials would be nice. I went ahead and jumped onto the upgrade package.