What Caught my Eye with Rogue Angels

So let’s talk about the reasons why I am backing this game. It’s another big campaign game, this time set in space, and I already own two games like that, ISS Vanguard and Stars of Akarios. What is it that makes me want to add Rogue Angels to my collection?

Story

I’ve experienced some of the Rogue Angels story and I’ve experienced it somewhat out of order. But the story with this game is just fun. Emil, the designer, refers to it as a Mass Effect style of story and game. One where you are making agreements with different groups, getting back stabbed, possibly turning on groups yourself, and making choices that affect where everything is going.

I really like it when the choices that I make in a game influence that game going forward. That is something that makes Stars of Akarios and Roll Player Adventures stand out to me. Rogue Angels offers that same feeling. I feel like the choices I make, in the end, really do matter and influence how the story goes. Whether it’s in that scenario or throughout the campaign.

Scenarios aren’t Kill Everything

Speaking of scenarios, one of the knocks on Gloomhaven, a game that all campaign games get to compared to, is that you just kill everything. Well, Rogue Angels is not the same game, and Frosthaven even learns from the mistakes so it’s not a kill everything, the follow up to Gloomhaven.

But Rogue Angels actively doesn’t want you to kill everything. Maybe at the end of some scenarios that is the case, but part of the puzzle is that you can’t. Enemies activate in two groups. If you kill all the red enemies, groups are red and yellow, the yellow enemies activate every time. So now you’re dealing with a group that’s harder to avoid because they are coming faster. So even when you want to kill everything, you need to be strategic about it.

Other times you really don’t. For the game reasons as before, the other group might activate faster. But your goal, and you have a limited number of turns, is to move a box of goods in a pick-up and deliver scenario. Now you have bad guys shooting at you, but if you stop to kill them, or have everyone stop to do it, you won’t win the scenario. And that is just a simple example of different scenario types.

Card Play

Card play or something interesting and unique that you do with your character are important for making a campaign game feel different. I think that there are a good number of dice chuckers out there. And I wouldn’t mind another, but I prefer it when a game does something unique. And Rogue Angels offers something different.

You get to play out two cards, or up to, each round, that do actions. It might be as simple as a basic movement or interaction with an object. Those slot into a cooldown track of 0 and immediately go back to your hand. So you could move twice. Or you might, instead, go and pull out your big gun to try and take out an enemy in a single shot. That has a cooldown of four. After four rounds you’ll get that gun back, so make that shot count.

But, if four is two long, you can hurry it along. It cools down one each turn, and then you can also not play a card to cool down again. And sometimes that is the best action, but it isn’t getting you closer to your objectives. Do you wait or do you really need that gun back now?

Dice Modifiers

And basically every card allows you to roll dice. Those dice offer some different bonuses, though not work on all cards. By that I mean that some actions allow you deal damage, interact so much, or move a distance, and you roll the dice and you can increase that. You look for +1 or +2 in those cases.

Other times, you can’t do that. The amount of damage you do is fixed, or the amount of tokens you draw on an interact is fixed. But you still get to roll some dice. Why, you can get back shields, your defense, that way, or you can get movement. It gives you, potentially a bonus.

And of course, you might need a +2 to your damage off of two dice and you don’t get it. That’s okay. There is a resource you spend to reroll. Granted that’s a limited resource as well. But if you really need to deal enough damage to take out an enemy or your cooldown track will fill up with damage, it’s a good plan.

Damage Cards

Finally, let’s talk about how you take damage, because I mentioned it above and I really like and dislike it. I dislike it because I take a lot of damage in Rogue Angels, sometimes that is even intentional. Other times, the enemies act in a way that I just can’t avoid them.

But when you take damage it goes into your cooldown track. There are some interesting things it does though. When I play a card to the track if I can’t play it to it’s cooldown slot, I can always go to a higher one. With damage, I just get that card back. So you might get back a really powerful card. But now you are trading that off for having less space in your track to play cards.

And the damage cards also are one of the ways that you can set your difficulty level. They have three different groups of bad things that they can do to you. You pick, as you start to play, what level you want to be at. It might be that you want a more casual story driven experience. So you only play with the first bad thing, and sometimes there isn’t even anything in that section. Or you play on hard core mode, and now you’re dealing with some really rough things. It’s a nice simple system to set your difficulty.

Back or Brick?

You already know that Rogue Angels is a back for me. I said that at the beginning, this is a game that I just have way to much fun with. In fact, it was my #1 anticipated crowdfunding game for the rest of the year. And now that it is live, I am even more excited for it. This is really a great game that has just enough luck an randomness that it might mess you over. But there is also a lot you can do to mitigate that, if you planned it well.

If you like campaign games, if you like fun story, I really recommend checking out Rogue Angels. Again, you can find the Kickstarter project here. Hopefully I haven’t oversold it or built up the hype too much. But don’t just take it from me, checkout other previews out there as well.

And there are more out there. Just two of the previews that I really like. And let me know if you’re interested in backing this game? What drew you in to back it?

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Find the campaign for Project L Pieces Missing Kickstarter Here.

Project L

Project L is a game that reminds me of the spatial puzzles that you maybe played as a kid. Though, this is much easier as thee is always a solution even if you don’t play in the most optimized way. Plus you mix in an engine building game.

In Project L you are placing down polyomino tiles onto different cards trying to fill them in. If you complete one it gives you or two things. You get a new piece to add to your collection to help fill in more tiles. And it might provide you points. The goal is to get the most points, but getting more pieces helps speed that along.

For more details on the game play, you can checkout my review here.

Why Back Now?

Normally I put my reasons not to back first. In this case, if the game interests you at all, back it. Mainly because of the tale that I’m about to tell of a board game company that came back from the dead. Details as to how, I don’t have all of them, but they don’t seem like malicious zombies or other undead.

Boardcubator’s Story

Boardcubator had good success with Project L. It is a very fun game that I enjoy quite well. I got in on the game during the second Kickstarter. But for them it was the first big hit and turned out to maybe be a one hit wonder.

With the funds that they raised, plus I’m guessing other funds they raised they started work on an ambitious project: Kingdom Come – Deliverance. This is based off of a video game by the same name. A very open world RPG system where you don’t start out as a class but can put stats into whatever you want and build up your character that way. Boardcubator invested heavily into developing this game and an app for it and went to Gamefound to launch it.

That’s where the issues started. The game gained some traction but not enough to make it financially feasible. That’s a secret, poorly kept one, of crowdfunding. Often the goal isn’t the goal. Mainly, it costs a lot to do some parts of games, and you need a certain volume to make it feasible. They didn’t hit those totals fast enough or were even on track to hit those totals.

So, they cancelled the project. But not only cancelled, the issue was, that ate up their money. They were developing this massive, ambitious game with an app. And they didn’t have more money to continue as a company. So they went again. Now, they are back. Don’t know the details, but they are back with a game that there is track record to show that this is a fun game.

What’s New

So, say you already have the game and you want to support Boardcubator, what is new in the game for you. You can get the Phoenix expansion. In that expansion it is just more tiles you play with and those give you additional scoring opportunities higher than any others in the game. But they are shaped in ways that you need to think about using the smaller pieces. So slower completion but a way to get even more points.

What Works?

This is a game that has nice slick actions to it. You do a few actions but they are all pretty easy to follow and understand. The hardest being the master build action where you add to each shape you are building. But even that isn’t too bad when it gets down to it, there are just a few times, early, when you need to figure out how you are trying to optimize it.

This is a very good engine building game for people who want that light engine building. I’d put it in the same weight as a Splendor or a Century: Golem Edition. And that’s a very nice thing about it. Those games give you engine building and something interesting, though hopefully not too repetitive, as you play. And while I find that Splendor plays out pretty much the same each time, I haven’t hit that point with Project L yet. And with the expansions, I’m not sure that I will.

Back or Brick

I telegraphed this one, it is a Back for me. I already talked about that I like the game. And I might even back for a second copy of the game to give as a gift to someone, it’s a game that I think is really accessible that way. But beyond that, the board game hobby has lost a few companies recently.

I am out a Kickstarter game, adventure puzzle book, potentially because money ran out. And another company as well had to close their doors with crowdfunding games unfulfilled. And Mythic Games, while still going, was touch and go there for a little bit. If you wonder why game prices are going up, why shipping is higher, don’t. If that means you can’t back or support as many, so be it, but these companies aren’t trying to rip you off.

Boardcubator, I am really happy, is back. But that is going to be the rarer story than those who are just gone forever. So, support a good company trying to do the right thing. Support a fun game that you can play with family and friends. But know if the game is for you. I back it because I like the game already. And I’ll share it because I think others will do.

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This game, I’ll say, caught my eye because of the artwork and because I know one of the designers. With that said, as I look at what might not work and what might, I’ll try and be fair and balanced. I do want people to know, when reading this, that I have more of a connection to the game than sometimes. On the flip side, I’ve played it as part of OOMM Games playtesting, so I have experience with it. You can checkout the campaign here.

How To Play Stonesaga

Stonesaga is a legacy game where the decision you make about how to build up your society will affect the game. I will talk more about legacy aspects later. But the game play is pretty simple, you have a limited number of action points to take actions with each round and players can take their action(s) in any order.

The actions are things like gather resources, craft, hunt, fish, explore new areas and more. All of these things, or most, are done through there little game. For fishing, you are trying to complete fishing tracks to get fish as a reward and any other bonus, like more water. For hunting or foraging, you explore a tableau trying to avoid the monster and collet resources. And then you can craft using resources that you’ve found to invent or build new things.

Each of these actions is going to help you find and build towards different goals that you have. Each goal is going to lead to another though some of them are going to lead to another and to the end of that game session. And as you find stuff, your story will progress.

Why You Don’t Need This Game

Firstly, it is a legacy game. I did say that I was going to talk about that. I understand the risks of a legacy game. However, it is a legacy game that you can reset and play again, finding the story you missed maybe 2-4 times, depending on player count. But it will limit how many times you can play the game.

Also the price point of this game. It is not a cheap game, again for a legacy game as well. If you go all in, it’s a fair amount and is that worth it for a limited number of plays. To OOMM’s defense on this one I have Stars of Akarios and the products they put out are high quality. But for a game that isn’t minis filled, it is expensive, though the other content is what makes the price go up. Shipping, on the other hand, is very reasonable.

Finally, and this ties into the first one, it is a legacy game and the best legacy games for me have good story to them. I say that, but I also enjoyed Risk Legacy which is light on the story. But Pandemic Legacy seasons 1 & 2 had a lot of story and I liked them the best. Or they stuck with me the best. Charterstone was some mechanics with pasted on story. Where will Stonesaga land. And maybe it isn’t an issue for me, but I think about it.

Why You Need This Game

Let’s start out with that it is very mechanically sound and interesting. The minis games are a lot of fun as you start to dig into all of your options. Delving deeper and deeper and then needing to get back out is interesting. Fishing is a dice placement puzzle of trying to catch what you can but also not fail the check and have bad things happen. Foraging/hunting in the forest might cause you to come across a monster. But it also gives you a grid to layout to create your most optimal gathering.

Also, since I have played it, there is some solid story to it. Is it the most story, is it like Pandemic with story between missions that tells you how the world is changing, or a paragraph in Aeon’s End Legacy, no, it is less. But it is more than Charterstone. And the decision you make, how you build up your settlement, will make a difference in what you explore next as the story branches out. And I like that story but I also like how it does the branching as well.

Finally, this one is based off my experience with OOMM Games games not doing the playtesting or the company itself. But their games are a lot of fun. They offer a ton of different and unique things in them. Stars of Akarios is very ambitious but works really well with a hodgepodge of mechanics and provides a fun story. So based off of my gaming history with OOMM Games, I don’t know if this is a game you’ll want to miss.

Back or Brick – Stonesaga

This is a Back for me. And I backed it at the highest level. Now, I will say that if it wasn’t OOMM Games and I didn’t know the designer, I might have backed it at the lower level. The value seems just a bit stronger there for what you are getting. Though as the campaign goes on, that might change.

But this is a game that will have limited retail availability. OOMM does seem to get some extra stock but they don’t have wide retail releases. And things like expansions will be harder to get. Yes, that is leaning into the FOMO, but I’m doing so based off of playing it.

Now, there are reasons it won’t be for everyone. If you like to get two games a year and delve into them 50+ times each, legacy won’t work. But you already know that. I do think mechanically, with snappy quick actions it is accessible. I found that it is very collaborative as you play, and that players stay engaged because of the mechanics.

How about for you, is it a back or brick?

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This game caught my eye as one to cover because I enjoy trick taking games. And FORK doesn’t look too unique, but it looks solid and like it does some interesting things. You can see more details for that here. But what about it sets it apart that I’d want to look into it.

How to Play FORK

FORK, like I said, is a trick taking game. In FORK you are playing out different suits, terrains, and different animals or food. Fox, Owl, Rabbit, or Kale on the cards, hence FORK. The winner is the person with the highest card in the right terrain, or suit.

But that won’t always work. You play cards face down, so if two people play a Fox, for example, the foxes chase each other away. Now someone who played an Owl would score, unless no one did, then the highest rabbit would eat the Kale for scoring, assuming someone played the Kale.

The game is interesting in how you take cards for scoring. The Fox being the highest doesn’t score itself but instead scores a rabbit or an owl. So if you can get someone to waste a fox, they can score a low valued rabbit and it won’t be that worthwhile for them. As the player with the most points in the end wins.

Why Don’t Need This Game

This is a trick taking game, there are a lot of ones out there. In fact there are a lot of hot ones out there right now. So you can get those immediately and not have to wait on them. Plus, if you own a deck of cards there are quite a number of them that you can play.

It also has the potential to be too random. It definitely will benefit someone who is good at counting cards as you play through everything. But you’ll need to figure out how you play as you weed down your deck of cards. I am unsure if the game will feel that random but it is a concern.

Why You Need It

This is a faster trick taking game. A lot of them have you play multiple hands and add up scores over time. But FORK is going to be one hand and done. That is a big selling point for me as it becomes the trick taking game that I can pull out and play when there is a little bit of time. Yes, there are other faster ones out there as well, but FORK looks like it intentionally is going for that fast time frame.

I also think that the scoring is interesting. You don’t score everything. In trick taking like hearts, where you don’t want points, you take the whole hand and get all the points from the hears and queen of spades. Here, you want points and you keep one card from the trick and that is based off of what you won it with.

Also, the price point is great on this game. It is $10 for the pocket version and $18 for the box version. So the game isn’t big and it isn’t expensive to get. I like the idea of the pocket version best simply because it’ll make the game very portable. And trick taking games are good for taking to spots like a brewery or pub where you sit around for a while and hangout. It would give you something more to do while chatting and drinking.

Back or Brick – FORK

For me this is going to be a Brick. I saw it, thought it looked cute, but if it had cost more, I would be out. And I’m only in for the pocket version which is $10 plus $7 shipping. It’s because of that last point, I like the price point, but I prefer the portability. I will take this out places to play because I can stick it in my pocket.

But how about for you, do you like trick taking games? I don’t think that FORK will give you more than anything else and change your mind. But FORK, if you do like trick taking games, it might be interesting for you.

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Checkout the campaign over on Gamefound.

How to Play Witchbound

I already covered most of it here in the preview that I did. But I want to cover it a little bit more as to how your average action goes.

The game mechanics are pretty simple. You collect items, spells, actions, and prompts as you play the game. Each of those can be used with interacting with things are people. To do that, you take the number from the prompt of “Hello” for example and combine it with the character you are speaking to and their number. So “Hello” might be 2 and the character might be 40 for 240. And you read some story and make some choices or track a quest.

There are challenges you do as well. To succeed at those you either can spend focus or you can roll a die. Your results there will determine how well you did, in RPG fashion. Though, you do have a limited number of auto-succeeds for things that are really important.

Why You Don’t Need This Game?

Firstly, it is solo only. Now, I’ll immediately disagree with that premise here. This is a solo only game, but like most solo only games, you can split the decision making and make it a multiplayer game. Whether that’s making the decisions jointly or taking turns, you can turn a solo game into not being solo easily enough. But for some, it being solo and having to work at it will make it not the game for you.

It is a mechanically light. I’ll talk about this in what I like about the game as well, or why you need it. But the actions you do and interactions are simple. There are elements to the game that are very choose your own adventure. And getting that story from the choose your own adventure is the experience. But like something like a Legacy of Dragonholt, or Roll Player Adventures, there are good decision making points and challenges.

Why Do You Need It?

It is a solo game that is fast to the table. I didn’t mention this in the other part about solo games. That was more for people who didn’t want a solo only game. But if you like solo only games, like I do, then Witchbound should be interesting because it’s a bit story driven game. Not to the size of a box like Gloomhaven or Middara, but big in that there is a lot of story. But it takes a minute or two to get it to the table.

To go along with that ease of getting it to the table. It is also easy to play. This is a game where you don’t need to know a ton of rules, again making it easier to table. But also making it more accessible than Gloomhaven or Middara because you don’t need to dive heavily into rules before starting play. So it is a game that can work for anyone.

Next is the story and artwork. I lump both of them together because they really do create the interesting elements of the story. The artwork is great, very cute, very anime, and delivers an aesthetic where you can tell what type of world it is. The writing supports that.

Price point is the final reason you should back this. If you want a story driven game, this is $40 plus shipping for 30 hours of game play. The fancy version is 80. Yes, it doesn’t come with all the minis, because it doesn’t need them, and that also makes it much easier on a wallet.

Back or Brick – Witchbound

This was an easy back for me. When I went through all the crowdfunding games I knew of, this one made it to my Top 5 for 2023. And the price point, having demoed it, all of that made it extremely easy to back. I really like the story and artwork. And Witchbound is the perfect type of game to play on Malts and Meeples.

I also look at this and see a game that I can hand off to my wife, someone who likes games and either play jointly, or she can pick it up for herself. Or as my 4 year old gets older to play with him. I don’t think it is so juvenile that it’s a kids only game. But it does seem to offer a whole family experience in terms of adventure. I think I mentioned games like Zelda or movies like Kiki’s Delivery Service and a show Little Witch Academia. Those aren’t adult, but they work well for adults to enjoy, and I think this also hits that.

So how about for you, is this a Back or Brick?

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To follow along with the campaign or back it yourself, you can use the link here.

How to Play Marvel United

So, I have already talked about and reviewed Marvel United before, but that was just the base game. Let’s quickly recap that and then talk about the new stuff.

Marvel United is a cooperative game where you take a team of heroes up against a villain. The heroes all have their decks of cards and you want to defeat the villain. But before you can interact with the villain you need to complete a couple of objectives. Either take out their schemes, defeat thugs, or rescue bystanders. Once you have done two, you can interact and beat down the villain.

All of this is done playing down cards. You use cards to move, punch, or do heroic actions. Each card has one or two symbols and maybe a power. You use your special powers, but also the actions on your card and the card before. So with good teamwork you can setup powerful actions or attacks to defeat the bad guy.

What’s New?

So, there isn’t a ton new in this one. I say that meaning game play. There is a ton new in characters already added to the game. And there will be expansions as well to add in more characters you can play. But there are two new things to talk about.

The first one is equipment. Equipment are basically cards that you can get into play and keep in play and use. They might even start in play, I forget the exact details. But basically powerful things that you can do. For example, Gambit gets playing cards, Magik gets her sword, Captain America gets his shield, other things like that. Now, that throws off the balance of the game, so to play with them, you remove the double wild symbol card.

The other thing, and this isn’t that new really, is that you get a big Galactus. Now, it is a smaller Galactus than you could have gotten for Marvel Zombies game that CMON did. But one that is going to have it’s own type of scenario around it.

Why Don’t You Need It?

Changing this up slightly from what works and what doesn’t work. I think that why you don’t need it and why you do make more sense for a Kickstarter campaign.

This is pretty easy and two simple reasons why you don’t need it. Firstly, it is more content for a game that already has a ton of content. The two original boxes, Marvel United and Marvel United X-Men, I believe, come with over 200 villains, heroes, and combo characters. This one is going to add to that number. You won’t play it all.

The second, and probably easier reason, is if you know you don’t like cooperative games or light games. Now, Marvel United X-Men allowed you to play as the villains. And that system will work here as well, from what I know. So you can turn it into a one versus all game. But it doesn’t add to the complexity of the game.

Why Do You Need It?

Firstly, it is more content. Yes, I know that is one of the reasons that you don’t need it. But Marvel United is a simple plug and play game. It doesn’t matter which heroes or which villains I grab, it takes minutes to get to the table. So more content doesn’t make it harder to play. Harder to transport, sure, but not harder to play.

Next, if you love Marvel. The first two gave us a few oddball characters. But for the most part, they were a little bit more common. We’ve had some more common characters, but we’re also getting the Starjammers crew right now. And for a lot of people that is going to be a team that they don’t know. Or we are getting the Wrecking Crew, you might barely know that from the She Hulk show.

Finally, this is a good game to play with family. Now, is this maybe the spot to jump in on it? I’m not sure, more expansions are coming to retail so it might be worth getting it that way. And you can get it sooner. But the value of a CMON campaign is generally very good, you get a ton of characters as stretch goals, even if you back at the lowest level. So you’ll get a ton of content at a better price that way.

Back or Brick – Marvel United Multiverse

No suspense here, it is a Back for me. Now, I already own everything for it. And I make a Marvel Podcast. So I love Marvel content. In fact I’ve been reading a Marvel comic every night before I go to bed as a challenge to try and read 365 issues this year. Clearly this campaign is for me.

But how about for you? Is this a Back or a Brick? To get everything it is not going to be cheap. And if you already have even one of the previous Kickstarters, do you need more content? Let me know.

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The Game – Elden Ring: The Board Game

This section is going to be a little bit light. Mainly because there are a lot of videos out there on this game that are probably just better to checkout. But the basics are that this is a campaign game with each session being two parts (or every other session). But there is a part where you explore, possibly to find a boss or some bigger quest part. And then there is a boss battle. How those work, you can checkout the videos from Quackalope and BoardGameCo below.

What Doesn’t Work?

Let’s, as always, start about what doesn’t work for this game. And unfortunately one of the big things is the company that is doing it. Not that they don’t turn out fun games, they do, and from watching this game play, I think it’s the most fun of a game play that I’ve watched. So I appreciate that, but from a crowdfunding side of things, they are hard campaigns to back.

The base game level pledge doesn’t get stretch goals. So if you’re just looking at that, it’s not worth backing, grab it likely cheaper, after factoring in shipping at retail. The next level up is probably the best deal but it’s notably more expensive. And then the all in, while it might hold it’s value, is now extremely expensive.

I also do wonder about the replayability. The game is a campaign game with about 20 hours, they say 20+ in the core box. That isn’t bad, but for a campaign it’s not that long. And price point isn’t the issue here, it’s that 20 hours is something I can sit down and stream, but if it’s fun, would I want to play it again. The story, at least in the introductory scenario, which might be just that, doesn’t offer that many choices. It’s more a random exploration and then a boss fight.

What Works?

Now, to go back on what I said in some ways, I think both the exploration and boss fight look fun. Mainly because players can get into mini fights with creatures in the world during the game. And the fighting system, I think that looks really intriguing. It’s about positioning yourself so that you don’t take too much damage but can be in there and get damage. And I like that you can change your stance from aggressive to more defensive so there is good strategy in that.

Plus I like that the boss fight isn’t that much different, it’s just everyone versus the boss with the boss scaling on how much health it has. And the bosses lair, for lack of a better term, is just a bigger version of what you are fighting on. I think that works really well because you don’t need to learn a new system for the boss battle or lose the strategic decision making points for the smaller battles.

I also want to mention the minis in this game. Because Steamforged definitely does really good minis. And this doesn’t seem to be any different. So for a fan of the game and a fan of campaign games with minis, I think you’ll enjoy painting them a lot. And even for someone like myself who doesn’t paint minis, I like the looks of them a lot for this game.

Finally, I like that in exploration there is a timer. You need to complete everything by a certain amount of turns, or basically turns that you aren’t doing anything to progress quests or fighting a monster. If you can progress, then time isn’t ticking down. But otherwise, a turn of just exploring new locations, that is going to get you closer to losing the game.

Who Is It For?

I think this is for that medium weight board gamer to play with their friends who are video gamers. Maybe you got through all of Elden Ring and now you want to play something else but there isn’t a new video game out, well, this might work for you.

As for heavier or campaign board gamers, like myself, I think it’s one that we’ll enjoy. The exploration phase might be a bit simple. But the combat definitely looks like it offers a good challenge. And there are boss battlers out there already, but this might have an easier theme to sell.

Back or Brick – Elden Ring: The Board Game

This is a tough one for me. I really do think that the game looks interesting for Elden Ring, and it is a theme and world that I want to explore more, both in the video game and with this board game. But right now, this is a Brick for me. Might I regret it, I think that I might. Might I back it still, it is possible, but there is one big reason it’s a brick right now.

And that’s the pricing model. For a base pledge of something like a CMON Zombicide Game, you get the base game and all the stretch goals. From Steamforged, you need to pledge up a level to get the same amount of things. So do I want to back for $90 + shipping and not get stretch goals. Or do I want to back for $180 + shipping and get stretch goals and not that much extra. It’s a huge jump. So I am more apt to just wait for retail on the base box and probably get it for $90 or $100, and if it’s $100, I get free shipping. They really want you to play higher up.

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Werewolf: The Apocalypse – Retaliation

Compared to some of the games I talk about, I know less about this game. There are a few reasons, though, why I’m looking at this one on crowdfunding, but we’ll get to them later. Let’s talk about what I know of the game play.

Werewolf: The Apocalypse – Retaliation, hence forth called Werewolf, is going to be an adventure game, an RPG in a box type of game. You take on the role of a werewolf who can either be in werewolf form, human form, or chrinos form – think standing up werewolf versus fully wolfed out. And you will change between those as the story and the moon leads you.

So you will be adventuring, exploring locations, interacting with people and then fighting monsters or whomever is standing in your way. If it is like Vampire: The Masquerade – CHAPTERS, also by Flyos Games, there is going to be a lot of story to go through. And while Vampire: The Masquerade is about intrigue and keeping the masquerade up, Werewolf is going to be more in your face and violent.

What I’m Worried About?

There is one thing I am concerned about with this. It bills itself as a dark game. Now, I can totally see why it would do that. And I expect that it will be a fairly dark game because werewolves basically being beasts. I wonder how that translates into the story though. Because while I am fine with dark, if it is a dark for the sake of being dark versus for the sake of the story, that is a concern. It should be dark as the story requires.

What I’m Excited About?

Speaking of the story though, I am excited for that. Vampires: The Masquerade – CHAPTERS has around 750,000 words. If Werewolf is even close to that, that is a ton of story. And just in the base box, it promises 30+ booklets of story, between 40 to 60 pages. What I saw from CHAPTERS, some were over that, so that is a ton of story for the game. And if they pull the story off well, it has elements that I love in a game.

It is going to have that story to the game with choose your own adventure. But at the same time, you get tactical combat. And you are going to be leveling up and building out your character, which I like as well. I like that you can pick those three different forms, wolf, chrinos, and human. It isn’t that you grab a human and get the other two forms. You can mix and match however you like to get your character which I think is awesome. It means less presets and more playing how you want to play.

Who Is It For?

Well, I think there are two things to consider before you buy it. Firstly, it is going to be a darker story. I haven’t experienced it, but that is what they are billing it as. Without knowing details, I am guessing that is the case mainly from a violence perspective. But it could mean a lot of things. So ask yourself, do you want to play a very dark campaign?

The other thing is that this is a campaign game. 30+ scenarios, and if a scenario takes 3 hours, I don’t know how long they will take, but even 2 hours, that is a lot of content to get through. So ask yourself do you want or need another campaign game. And if this is your first campaign game, what is drawing you in. I don’t think it looks like the most complex campaign game I have seen, but also not the easiest.

Why Back Now?

Firstly, Flyos Games is a small indie publisher. So supporting them to help them get a dream project off the ground is a valid reason. Now that has already happened. The game has funded and it’ll be happening. So another reason can be to help unlock stretch goals.

But, the main reason is that it’s unlikely to get a retail release. I know that more campaign games are getting some sort of retail release. But often those come from bigger companies will more connections. But they are hard for retailers to carry for multiple reasons. Mainly, though, it eats up a ton of shelf space so they can have less product out. And it costs a lot, so it tends to sit longer. So I wouldn’t expect to see too many copies of this in the wild.

Back or Brick – Werewolf: The Apocalypse – Retaliation

I look at this two ways. Firstly, I think that this is probably going to be your main way to get the game. Yes, it might show up in some retail locations but it won’t be there consistently. The other thing, though, is that Vampire: The Masquerade – CHAPTERS is being boxed and getting ready to ship now. While I didn’t pledge it, I am getting a copy through a retailer who pledged it. But I don’t know what I think of that game yet, other than watching some game play.

So part of me thinks this should be a Brick until I can get my hands on CHAPTERS. But right now, it is a Back for me. Why, because I’ve watched game play of CHAPTERS and it looks great. This is also the chance to get it now and werewolves are very underdone compared to vampires. Plus, I could do what I did with CHAPTERS, get it from a retailer who pledge it, but it is definitely cheaper to back it on the campaign than likely what I’ll pay later for it.

How about for you, is Werewolf: The Apocalypse – Retaliation a Back or a Brick?

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Roll Player Adventures: Gulpax’s Secret

I can talk a bit more about this game because this is a game that I’ve played. Roll Player Adventures is a big choose your own adventure, exploration, and fighting game. In the base game you try and explore to figure out what is happening with a conflict between three parties, the King, the Dragul, and the Starlight Door. Much of what you do is in a choose your own adventure style where you reach decision points and decide what to do as a group. But it is very open in that you can come back and probably do some of the options again.

But then there is the combat or skill tests as well in the game. Those are where the mechanical part of the game really starts to take hold. Roll Player Adventures is a dice management and hand management game. You expend points in stats to use them to get the color dice you need, and you expend cards to manipulate those dice to the right sides.

What Doesn’t Work?

So, I have one main knock on the game. I think that Roll Player Adventures doesn’t do one of the things that I expect campaign games to do well. That is, I don’t think that Roll Player Adventures scales super well. From what I know, two players can be very challenging, but four players, what I am playing at, is very easy. Well, not very easy, but almost always able to be solved.

We get into combat and we can generally win in two rounds. We’ve gotten enough cards and enough XP to push us to be able to win. Same with skill challenges which are I think easier. You only have one round, so they need to be. But, we can basically always solve them.

Now, some of this is how we built out our characters and what has come up. And it is not a fast process at times where we figure it out as a group off the bad. It often takes a lot of thinking and planning. So the game is still challenging to come up with a solution, but a solution can basically always be found. I’d like to feel a bit more crunch and pressure to get things right.

What Works?

On the flip side, the story in the game is fun. And I think that Roll Player Adventures has a lighter story with it as well. So game play where you are doing well, I think that makes sense. It is a campaign game that I can have fun with, who have played heavy campaign games, and I know of families who are playing it together. If Roll Player Adventures were harder, and it could be, I think that it’d push it further into the hobby side of the game.

And, I also very much enjoy the characters in the game. Nefras’s Judgement is to me a needed expansion to the game. Now, the downside is that it adds to the cost of the game and all it’s doing is adding in some backstory. But that backstory really helps you flesh out a character. And it does set your alignment. Which I think is important because often players feel like they don’t know what to pick for an action. But when you have a backstory that says you’re “chaotic good” or “lawful evil” that can help direct that decision making process.

Finally, I think the core mechanics of the game are fun. I called them easy because we win our encounters. We haven’t lost one or we haven’t had a player go exhausted during the game. But I like the puzzle of the dice manipulation. And I think it’s one that people can get into because it’s not too complex.

Who Is It For?

Now, who is Roll Player Adventures for, I think it’s an accessible campaign game. Now, not in the way that Gloomhaven: Jaws of the Lion is, a game in a small package. But more a game that has a massive box, but once you get into the box and you see the story books and maps, it isn’t nearly as component heavy as a lot of campaign games. So if you can get past the box size, it is an easier one to pick-up and play with any group.

What Is New?

So, why back it now? Firstly, it’s a big box, it won’t hit retail much because it doesn’t work well on a retail shelf. But also there is now Gulpax’s Secret. This is another story that you can play through, and it’s cheaper because it doesn’t need to give you all the dice and everything if you already have the base game.

On the flip side, if you haven’t played the game, I don’t think there is anything in the new stuff that you need to get. The base game offers a lot of options and I fully expect Gulpax’s Secret to be available again on a future crowdfunding campaign. Probably with another story that they come out with eventually.

Back or Brick: Roll Player Adventures + Gulpax’s Secret

I really like this game. I backed, or late pledged, the original. And I got to play it at Gen Con 2019 as a prototype. So I have a good connection to the game. I am also having a ton of fun playing through the adventure with friends. So for that reason it is a Back for me. Even if it shows up well after we are done, I can see coming back to it. If I were just looking at it now and with the reviews out there, I think that the base game is worth backing as well. But I’m just in for Gulpax’s Secret.

Is this game a Back or Brick for you?

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How to Play Slay the Spire?

Slay the Spire is a rogue-like dungeon crawling, or spire crawling game where players take their hero(es) up the spire to fight monsters through card play, get money, buy cards, get cards, and get relics and potions. All in an attempt to beat the different level bosses and move further on and further up.

What that looks like on the table is that Slay the Spire is a deck building game. Each character has unique cards and powers that allow you to build up a deck that combos off of itself. These cards offer two main things, attack and defense. Attack is how you kill the monsters and defense prevents damage if the enemy gets a turn.

There are a few minor twists. The first being that you don’t automatically heal after every battle. The Ironclad, they heal one after every battle, but other characters do not heal. You only heal, and fully, after you defeat the level bosses. The other minor twist probably comes from the potions and the relics. The relics are powerful, but often has a drawback. But they are always in play which means they are always active. Potions are one time use cards but they can be used any time and are not in your deck.

Why Back Now?

Let’s start out by asking, why back it on Kickstarter now? And I am not sure there are a ton of great reasons to do so. The price and shipping are good, but Contention Games hasn’t said what MSRP is. The game right now is $100 for the base pledge and $12 shipping. When you look at all you get, it seems pretty reasonable for what you are paying. But if it’s $120 MSRP, you’ll be able to get it for basically the same price as the Kickstarter later.

How Does It Compare to the Video Game?

Let’s talk about the video game vs the board game first before we get into what works and doesn’t work. Because, yes, this is a video game that is a deck builder before it is a board game. I think one thing to note about it is that the board game is scaled lower. Enemies, characters, attacks, defense, all of them have lower numbers. You and the enemies are easier to kill. Attacks and defense deal or block less damage respectively.

Also, while relics and abilities might offer similar things, some of the more complex ones doesn’t seem to be in the game. Right now, I haven’t seen stuff like get an extra energy after playing 10 cards, or your eighth attack deals double damage. Basically, it looks like the board game is streamlining some of that out so that the game doesn’t become too complex versus the video game that can handle it.

What Doesn’t Work?

I don’t have too many complaints about what I’m seeing in the game. The one thing that caught me off guard to start was that every pledge level comes with sleeves. They actually added a bit of detail to the page to show why that is the case. In Slay the Spire you can upgrade cards. The upgrade side is on the flip side of the card, which is nice and easy, but that means that the cards are double sided and need to be sleeved.

This works really well, but it also means that at the end of the game, you need to unflip all the cards you had previously flipped. For set-up of the game, it won’t add much time. But tear down of the game now requires that as you sort out your starting cards, you are also flipping cards that you’ve upgraded.

What Works?

Firstly, I think this looks like and does a good job of emulating the video game. Like I said, it scales it down, but watching game play, you can see The Brothers Murph play it below, it looks like the video game. There are some differences, but one of those I’ll put down next as a positive.

The next thing is that this offers cooperative play. Slay the Spire, the video game is completely solo play. It means that we can team up on monsters to take them out or help stop damage that is coming through. It’s a different experience than the video game, but it’s a fun bit to be added into the game. I like that it is there because it means that the board game is different than the video game. And I like to play solo games, but I also like with some games to have the option to play multiplayer as well.

Finally, I like that the core of the game is the same as the video game. It is about deciding when you want to push your luck and go for an elite boss to get more relics. How you want to power up, how you want to build your deck. Each character still has their main thing that they do, but because it’s a board game, it is now social.

Back or Brick – Slay the Spire

Right now this is a Back for me. I like the video game, and I think this will offer me the same experience. But for me, if I can play a board game over a video game I will. And if this gives me the same Slay the Spire experience as the video game, or near that, then I am really interested in it.

However, I will say, I am more on the fence than I thought I might be. Mainly because of the price of the game. $100 is not cheap, and I was not pleased when I saw that it required sleeves. However, the sleeves makes sense, you need it for the upgrades. Otherwise you’d probably need to add in another 400 cards. And I do think that Contention Games wrapped in some of the shipping costs – $12 is very cheap – to the price of the game. But I also know that $100 plus $12 shipping will price it out of a certain part of the board gaming audience.

And for that, I am grateful there is a the video game. The video game is about $15. So if the board game is too steep, well, I expect it to come to retail so you can get it later. Plus you can play the video game until that comes out. In fact, I think I’m going to play the video game tonight.

How about for you, is it a Back or Brick?