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More of The Awesome!

Conan by Monolith
October 22 · Edited
You wanna see something big? Something really disgusting? Here's Thog!!!! Sculpture by Stephane Nguyen based on a drawing by Adrian Smith.

KS launches in January...

Looks like someone has been teleporting multiple lifeforms at once again!

Looks good, more nurgling than nurgle!

Tentacles in my Conan?

Not sure I'm gonna be able to resist this one now...

Just something else for him to slay with his mighty thews..

Seriously hoping Conan has an ability called "Camel Punch".

"Conan gets drunk and uses Camel Punch. It's super effective!"

My biggest reservation is still having to play as the overlord.

Tired of it. I've got a family of whiny babies who don't like me playing to the best of my abilities. They've got that hero mentality going on, where since they're playing the hero, they feel like they deserve to "win" the game more than I do.

This is one thing that Myth and Brimstone (and hopefully the new Super Dungeon Explore) are able to let us play against the game.

Let me play as Conan with my kids, thumping picts and squishing serpents, I'll be more than happy to pledge.

(Who am I kidding, I'll probably pledge anyways for the figure quality alone.)

New SDE lets you play against the game. No Consul required (though you can use one if you want to).

Conan needs an Overlord? Well that dampened my enthusiasm...

That is an awesome model!

Here's hoping there is some manner of PvE experience in the game. My wife pretty much refuses to play games against me, but a good game that doesn't take multiple hours that we can play together would be really good.

Conan by Monolith
October 24 · Edited
What about a new drawing by Adrian Smith before going to bed? Here's Zelata and her giant wolf!!! The model is ready and was sculpted by Gregory Clavilier.

Conan by Monolith
November 3 · Edited
Our "controversial" version of Thak is almost finished. It only lacks a (red) cape. Sculpt by Thomas David based on an illustration by Adrian Smith. Expected in the base box or a stretch goal ...

Conan by Monolith
November 4 · Edited
Mummmiiiiiiiiiiiies!!!

Conan by Monolith
November 5 · Edited
Today, I received the resin draws models and bases. What I have to do now is a nice prototype with all this for our Kickstarter shooting session set in november! The little blue thing on absorbent paper is a 3D printing test, we just had a small size issue with the file. Still, it worked. It's a pretty impressive machine to me.

Conan by Monolith
November 6 · Edited
The 400 people who have tried Frederic Henry's Conan game so far know that the Overlord controls his troops with his "Book of Skelos." It's a tray on which the Overlord moves his gems to determine his actions and the characters tiles that he can activate. So far, in our prototypes, the Book of Skelos was made of wood by a craftsman. But recently, Gregory Clavilier modeled the plastic version that will be included in the base box.

Conan by Monolith
November 7 · Edited
Here's one of the heroes who will be in the "Deluxe" box of the Conan project. Introducing Zelata the witch, who will come with her giant wolf, that she can control. Sculpture by Gregory Clavilier, based on a drawing by Adrian Smith.

Conan by Monolith
15 hours ago · Edited
Here's another digital sculpture by Gael Goumon: a black scorpion from Stygia... Gulp...

Love that Adrian Smith art, and like the idea of a wooden base/tracker thing (can imagine that being quite a cool optional add-on).

I'm not familiar with Zeleta the witch, is that a character from the books?

 Pacific wrote:

I'm not familiar with Zeleta the witch, is that a character from the books?

Yes, she helped Conan on several occasions:

When Conan was captured by Xaltotun, he was kept in Belverus, Nemedia. He escaped from Xaltotun and fled southwards into Aquilonia where he met Zelata with the Nemedian soldiers hot on his trail. The Nemedians caught up with him, and Zelata helped him by sending her wolf at the soldiers.

Later, when Conan had gained the Heart of Ahriman and gone to fight for the crown of Aquilonia, Zelata, together with Hadrathus, stopped Xaltotun from using his magic to destroy Conan's army.

Video of the components and game in French. English coming soon. English video probably does not include human-treant gamer.

http://www.trictrac.tv/video/Conan_de_le_comment_ca_marche

khalli wrote:What I heard: the boards will be in thick cardboard that you unfold.
There will be 3 double-sided boards in the deluxe pledge (including 1 that will be in an early Strech goal). That means 3*2 maps:
- a pict village
- a swamp
- a boarding between 2 boats (I have played on this one, see my review a few days ago)
- an underground network
- a citadel
- a tavern (see above)

There will be 2 scenarios developped for each map in the box, but a website will be opened and will propose more scenarios, and tools for the community to build their own and publish them on the site.

I don't know how many boards will be in the base pledge, probably only 1.

http://boardgamegeek.com/thread/1273119/tavern-scenario-report-bouqoss

Looks nice, but the Gencon or Bust seems ...optimistic for a project starting in January 2015. So best/earliest realistic hope is for post-CNY 2016, then?

I might be tempted to back if they include full co-op right in the box. If not... well, I've got a lot of other stuff in the meantime, so no excitement funding it a year in advance.

I get the feeling this one is definitely going to be worth the wait though.. That write-up on BGG sounds very cool (although I'm pretty sure Conan didn't meet Baal-Pteor in a tavern, wasn't that guy the 'strangler' in the temple that ends up getting strangled himself by Conan? ) - it almost reads like an RPG though, have to say am extremely excited by the prospect of both this game and the miniatures now!

I would be really excited for this..but an overlord game... it kind of kills it for me. The fact that the co-op rules will be download only makes me think they will just be an after thought, breaks my heart but I think I may have to pass.

I'll echo the sentiments for an optional co op mode, preferably straight out of the box.

I've got no qualms fighting it out with older family members, but the kids would much rather play with me than against me... at least for the time being.

ditto for coop if at all possible.

I'd love co op as well!

Probably best to tell them this directly - maybe on their Facebook page?

Non-GM'd co-op is tough though. You have to design rules for the behavior of enemy models that is inherently predictable but nevertheless remains challenging and stimulating.

It has always worked very well with zombie-themed games, for obvious reasons. Mice and Mystics does a decent job of it, but the play-through can easily turn into either a cakewalk or a slaughterfest.

Replay value can also be a bit limited with that type of format. Once you've played through a scenario, you've done it and it doesn't really change much. You can try to build some randomization in, but the more you do that the more complex it gets and the more opportunities there are for the system to crack.

KD Monster has an interesting way to handle it with the monster behavior deck, but that's not terribly efficient if there are lots of enemy models on the table with different roles/abilities.

Anyone here get the electronic version of Ravage magazine?

Apparently it has a special feature on Conan this month, available for download now. I'll pick up a copy once it goes to paper version and post what is there if no-one else has already done so

hoy, Ravage readers! The digital edition of Issue #17 has been published online, and what an action packed issue it is. Beyond the striking cover, you’ll find so many exciting previews, reviews, and guides, you might have to read it twice to take it all in. Readers get an amazing preview of Monolith’s new Conan board game, bound to excite casual and die hard fans of the iconic barbarian. You’ll also get an early look at CMON’s newest game, Rum & Bones, that brings the MOBA video game genre to the table. We also got the chance to sit down with Justin Gary, the man behind the popular Ascension deck building game. As always, the wonderful General Consensus feature is here, along with game reviews, a BGGCon report, painting guides, and so much more. So hoist the sails, sit back, and sail off into this issue of Ravage.

For those of you with an electronic subscription, you will be able to download it now. Or you can buy single issues from Amazon or iTunes.

Ok, so here's a rundown of what the article covers:

- The base kickstarter set will include 2 (or 3 if stretch goals are met... so 3) double sided maps.
- Each map will come with 2 scenarios.

The game is being developed for 2-5 players, with 1-4 being the heroes and the last being the Overlord. It is, according to the article, essentially a scenario driven dungeon crawler.

Each character has a pool of stamina points that he can spend on actions each turn (attack, shoot, move, interact, defend and reroll a dice seem to be the ones listed). Movement is free. Stamina is regenerated at the start of the turn, but the number regained depends on your current state and what you're doing, for example resting will regain you more stamina than if you've just attacked someone and are in the middle of a fight.

Active characters regain 2 gems, but can do anything they want. Resting characters regain 5, but can only use defend or reroll actions.

Stamina is used as hit points, so your gem pool shrinks as you take wounds and only healing or potions will increase it again.

When attacking, each gem you add, gives you an extra attack, plus any weapon, terrain or situational bonuses. The armour value of your target (e.g. 3) negates that many successes before they start to take wounds. A standard soldier has 2 armour and 1 wound... so 3 successes would be needed to kill him (assuming the Overlord doesn't spend some of his gems to give him extra defense dice.

It then talks about different coloured dice for defense, so I assume the armour value automatically negates some hits and then you get extra dice to potentially avoid more damage. Apparently all the tests are the same principle. Spend gems, get X many successes above the Defense/pass score.

The article ends on a bit about how the maps have been designed to prevent getting stuck in a tight corridor and make things more dynamic... but doesn't really explain how.

As cool as the minis and tiles look, I'm staying the hell away from licensed projects. Something always seems to go wrong somewhere down the line.

Interesting...will keep an eye out for this one!

 Alex C wrote:
As cool as the minis and tiles look, I'm staying the hell away from licensed projects. Something always seems to go wrong somewhere down the line.

Alex, I share your pain from AvP.

But, for this kind of thing I find it's best if you just pledge and then forget about it. It's like an alpha/early release of a PC game, you end up going back in 6 month increments to find out if if's now worth your time

Or I suppose it's equally valid to wait until a retail release and find out if its worth buying when people already have the product in their hands. As long as everyone doesn't do that!

 Pacific wrote:

Or I suppose it's equally valid to wait until a retail release and find out if its worth buying when people already have the product in their hands. As long as everyone doesn't do that!

It's valid, but they have said that the kickstarter box will have lots of things that the retail release won't. It will be interesting to see if they stick to that plan, or if that was just a rumour

I can't find there Facebook page, could anyone send me a link please, thanks!

the facebook is

https://www.facebook.com/monolithedition?fref=ts

 endtransmission wrote:

 Pacific wrote:

Or I suppose it's equally valid to wait until a retail release and find out if its worth buying when people already have the product in their hands. As long as everyone doesn't do that!

It's valid, but they have said that the kickstarter box will have lots of things that the retail release won't. It will be interesting to see if they stick to that plan, or if that was just a rumour

Honestly I find that style of Kickstarter troubling. It gets to a point where you're obviously aiming to just make your money by direct-selling through the KS campaign and any sales you make of the much-reduced finished product later on is a bonus, which is great for the company but utter rubbish for the consumer since your choices are reduced to - paying up front and entirely on trust for a full product which may not meet your expectations or the maker's promises, or indeed may never arrive at all; or waiting until retail and getting an inferior product.

There are plenty of ways to incentivise backers without making large parts of the game inaccessible to retail customers.