We recently go the opportunity to check out Battle Hardened Games premier game 1750. This is the first game by Jason Huffman and takes a theoretical conflict between the empires of England and France and allows players to fight it out over four theaters of war. What we really think is great about this game is the fact that it plays in about 30 minutes. It offers a deep strategic element too, which even in the prototype stage has us wanting to replay it.
If you are interested in the game feel free to check out the Kickstarter project which can be found (here).
Kickstarter
Pack o Game Kickstarter Preview
Chris Handy of Perplext brings us a very unique look at the Micro Game. Pack o Game goal offers an insane amount of different mechanics and games all within the packaging of a standard pack of gum. What he has done is truly remarkable and makes for Pack o Game to be a Kickstarter project we feel is worth looking into. Kickstarter launches on August 4th.
Check Out The Kickstarter
Warring Kingdom by Harry Gao (Kickstarter Preview)
Our Thoughts
Warring Kingdom is a deck builder that brings something fresh to the genre – player interaction. Now it is my opinion that deck building games can, not always but certainly can, just seem to be a multiplayer game of solitaire. What I mean by that is I am playing a game with other people but only interacting with myself and a central supply. Warring Kingdom turns that very notion on it’s head making the win condition not deal in victory points but in that fact you win if you can destroy another players Castle – the very heart of their kingdom.
Warring Kingdom skillfully balances kingdom management using the cards. Higher more advanced cards require an upkeep cost to maintain, if you do not have the economy (coin bought from the supply combined with advanced civilians like Farmers and Money Lenders), you will not be able to maintain your armies for very long. Combat is handled very interestingly. A player can only have deployed two rows of five units – potentially. Once you have at least one solider you can declare to attack on your attack phase – you roll six d6 and depending on on the results that is who attacks. For example if I roll 1,1,1,2,5,5 the unit I had in position 1 would attack three times (if present), the unit I had in position 2 would attack once, and finally the unit I had in position 5 would attack twice. The defender will also roll 6 dice to determine which of his defenders will deal damage in the defense.
Interested in supporting? Check the Kickstarter!
Quick Facts
Designer | |
Artist | |
Publisher | |
Year Published |
2013
|
# of Players |
2 − 4
|
Playing Time |
45 minutes
|
LLU # 3: William Smith from Waning Gibbous Games
In this episode of the LLU podcast Ricky talks to Bill from Waning Gibbous Games. This discussion includes what it was like developing a game like Larceny, why they decided to crowd fund through Kickstarter, and what is happening now that the game has been funded. You can follow William and the rest of Waning Gibbous Games on their Facebook or twitter pages.
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
LLU Preview – Stack and Attack by Egra Games
Stack and AttackQuick Notes: Designer: Jeremy Burnham Year: 2013 Players: 2-4 Ages: 8+ |
In Stack and Attack you play a neanderthal in an age where technology doesn’t quite exist. Down on your luck you decide to look to the heavens and build a monument that the Gods can not ignore. You head to the quarry and grab stones of all shapes and sizes and being to stack them on top on another. After a bit of work you realize your neighbors all had the same idea, and the Gods will only show favor onto one. It is time to stack faster and if needed throw stones at their towers to buy you some more time.
Stack and Attack plays 2-4 players, but is probably best with 3. It is a great casual game that at it’s core is a deck building game within a race. There are two different types of stones flat and round. Within those there is three different sizes small, medium, and big. Each rock has a different cost to play/buy, an attack rating and a defense rating. On your turn you have 4 action points you can use to buy additional stones, stack stones, or throw a stone at your enemies tower. If successful the entire tower can potentially come down, if they defend you have just given them another stone to use for their tower.
Stack and Attack’s kickstarter is live now and has a pretty modest goal of $6,000. These are essentially printing costs to cover the first true run of the game.
This video is brought to you by collaborating with www.2d6.org. If you are interested in contributing to this project all you need to do is:
Check the Kickstarter
Lack of Kickstarter Spotlights
You may have noticed the lack of Kickstarter spotlights in the past couple weeks, the reason for that is a bit complicated but it comes down to a few factors.
Content
I have looked for a few hours here or there but haven’t found any KS campaigns that have really ‘WOWED’ me. I am not saying they aren’t out there and I would be more than happy to get recommendations as to which ones to look at. I don’t want to have a weekly piece on the site when I would, potentially, forced to pick the best worst game that is out there currently. That is not something I want to do, and not something I will ever subject you to reading.
Time
I have had an insanely busy work load the past few weeks that has distracted me a bit from this page, sorry, I will definitely try to keep things updated better. Our Facebook, YouTube, and Twitter pages are getting content every few days – sometimes I forget – sorry. I want to be able to provide a seamless experience between all of the social platforms while still being able to create meaningful content.
…Doom
In recent weeks you may have felt a great disturbance in the force, like the sound of $122,874 being raised at the promise of a neat game where Cthulhu meets Monopoly only to have the publisher mismanage the funds to the point where the project has been scrapped. Yes that’s right, The Doom That Came to Atlantic City’s kickstarter campaign has been abruptly cancelled after the publishing company The Forking Path essentially blew all of the money.
It is important to note that the actual game designers Keith Baker and Lee Moyer are not at fault, they simply created the game and do not have the resources to publish the game – essentially print the game, create the figures, and package everything for the shelf. This was actually the pair’s second at bat with this game, it was first to be published by Z-Man Games, although it was cancelled due to some internal reorganization at Z-Man. It is my opinion that Erik Chevalier the man running things at The Forking Path is directly responsible for the funds and the eventual cancellation of the project, only after the designers pursued legal council and forced TFP to come clean on the state of the project. The game has also had its share of legal problems for looking and playing a little too much like Monopoly. There is actually a really long thread about the entire history of this project that tends to paint Erik in a very negative light, probably rightfully so. Check it out here.
That being said, I am a little leery to recommend games that are not a sure thing. I will say that there will be more spotlights because I am passionate enough about gaming to not let this one Jaws moment scare me out of the water completely. I only want to do my homework on the designer / publisher of a project before I jump into bed – or worse get someone else to – on a project because it has shiny minis.