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The Kickstarter IS LIVE!!


Please back us at https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1886312028/skull-tales


Main Features

* 46 High quality Resin Miniatures.

* Live a life packed with thrilling adventures as the Sea Dog, the Cutthroat, the Lookout, the Surgeon, the Voodoo Shaman or the Gunner.

* 2 game modalities: campaign and solitaire

* 2 Difficulty levels: basic and advanced.

* It works without a Master and has high replayability thanks to its AI and the system of random tile appearance.

* Two games in one: explore and fight all kinds of enemies in the Adventure Phase, while in the Voyage Phase you can sail and plunder even more riches as you shout: board!

* Insult, push, search dead enemies, drink rum…take what you can…and give nothing back!

Figured I might as well grab an EB while I can!

Maybe this will be the next Shadows of Brimstone? (well, the good parts anyway )

Funded in 12 hours!!!

This looks pretty cool.

Need some ship maps,for some ship on ship action, maybe even to take over ship fleets.

Nothing like some good honest thievery for some beer and pretzel fun.


Are there more then the six characters to work with? They look a little meh, but the figures themselves are pretty nice.


Automatically Appended Next Post:

 Alex C wrote:
Figured I might as well grab an EB while I can!

Maybe this will be the next Shadows of Brimstone? (well, the good parts anyway )

I was thinking that myself when I saw the actions/ combat.

I was excited at first but reading the comments the material is 'plastic resin' (i.e restic, or mantic equivalent rubbish potentially). They maybe shouldn't be advertising them as resin minis - gives an unfair impression (like being black scorpion esque).

The sculpts also look weird in places. The glasses (?) On the surgeon and the whole of the marine sculpt. Also not sold on the sea monsters.

I'd like to see a production material example cast before I commit rather the the presumably (true resin) masters that are currently shown.

Fraggle, I saw that too. Bit of false advertising there. Pulled my pledge anyway, Home Raiders is getting my money instead.

Alex C wrote:Fraggle, I saw that too. Bit of false advertising there. Pulled my pledge anyway, Home Raiders is getting my money instead.

Fraggle wrote:I was excited at first but reading the comments the material is 'plastic resin' (i.e restic, or mantic equivalent rubbish potentially). They maybe shouldn't be advertising them as resin minis - gives an unfair impression (like being black scorpion esque).

The sculpts also look weird in places. The glasses (?) On the surgeon and the whole of the marine sculpt. Also not sold on the sea monsters.

I'd like to see a production material example cast before I commit rather the the presumably (true resin) masters that are currently shown.

All resin got plastic but in diferent mix. Our plastic resin allows to achieve a heigher degree of detail and definition than plastic. It's a heigher quality material that those who like to paint the miniatures will thoroughly enjoy.

The videos and pic miniatures aren't master, they coming from production.

For see details you can see that:






Thanks for your questions

Grot 6 wrote:This looks pretty cool.

Need some ship maps,for some ship on ship action, maybe even to take over ship fleets.

Nothing like some good honest thievery for some beer and pretzel fun.


Are there more then the six characters to work with? They look a little meh, but the figures themselves are pretty nice.


Automatically Appended Next Post:

 Alex C wrote:
Figured I might as well grab an EB while I can!

Maybe this will be the next Shadows of Brimstone? (well, the good parts anyway )

I was thinking that myself when I saw the actions/ combat.

We are working in sailing phase manual. Then you'll can see all ship action. I'm sure that you'll enjoy!!

Thererfore, I can say is not the next sadows of birmstone. Creator have not play at SoB yet


Thanks for your questions

Fair play theradikalgames, thanks for the info and pics. The level of detail looks good on those pics.

I'll see how this one progresses. Ship minis, monkeys and some more piratey pirates would be nice. Also a scale shot would be good.

Another Stretch Goal unlocked! Thanks to the 500 followers on Facebook.



A two-barrel gun which will allow you to perform two shooting actions before having to do a “Reload Firearm” action to reactivate this card.

Which of ye scallywags will loot enough gold ter spend on this beauty that gives ye a second chance ter send yer foes to Davy Jones’ locker? Or even better...ter blow a second smoke-hole in their ugly faces! Har!

Don’t forget you can still unlock the Twitter and BGG Stretch Goals to get more new and powerful weapons for your pirates to wield!


https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1886312028/skull-tales/description

Hi everyone!!

The alpha rulebook (Adventure phase) is here!

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1886312028/skull-tales/posts/1230806

Thanks!

While I own a...lot of dungeon crawl boardgames, and will be owning rather more in the next year or so as Kickstarters start to come in, I'm really pleased by both the theme and more RPG-ish approach taken by this one!

I actually think it's rather less pure combat-focused than Shadows of Brimstone/Warhammer Quest - you're exploring the seas and islands, having encounters with NPCs, trying to get enough loot to pay everyone's wages. This might push up the game time beyond what my group could get through in an average session, but that remains to be seen!

I wasn't hugely convinced by the detail on the miniatures until I stumbled across this image on BoardGameGeek - sorry if it's a bit huge:



I believe that these are production models, although 4Moon can correct me if not.

EDIT: Oh, and there's also a scale shot - scale is 32mm:



One area that I think could still be punched up a bit is the character art for the humans - it currently looks a little drab and uncertain, although still better than many indie efforts I've seen!

Looking nice so far.

Must admit I'm getting tempted by this, despite the fact that I've got quite a few games in similar settings.

I agree about the heroes- not very exciting, especially after the more visually exciting (if not necessarily plausible or accurate) pirates from Rum & Bones.

Bioptic wrote:


I believe that these are production models, although 4Moon can correct me if not.

You're right, these are production models

About heroes... We could not make everyone happy, so we tried not to make everyone unhappy.

Thanks guys!

News: Today we present the first two addons!

1. A bag with 50 plastic coins. Do you feel you need more coins for your gaming community? Here they are! 25 one coins, 15 five coins and 10 ten coins. Also, we'll include 40 coloured Beads: 20 red Wound Tokens. 10 green Prestige Tokens. 10 crystal Destiny Tokens.



2. Tile package. Would you like to create your own adventures? Expand your scenarios? Longer games for tougher players? This pack includes all the tiles of the basic set, allowing you to recombine and expand. Create epic adventures for your gaming group with this Tile pack.



Thanks!!!

It's been a few days, and the project is within spitting distance of unlocking the Captain's Daughter for all pledges:



Something seems to be slightly off on that sculpt, although I think it's partly angle and partly the WIP nature. Always the danger of showing partly-complete stuff, I suppose!

All pledges now have an extra large, extra perilous tile:



And we have our first example of a painted production model! Or any kind of painted model - a shame they couldn't get those sorted out from the start, as I think it would have helped the miniatures to 'pop' more:



They're also now offering $12 packs of 5 enemies (Human, Monsters, Sea Creatures) as add-ons to the main pledge. No miniatures-only option yet, for those wondering.

Thanks Bioptic!!!




And... Captain's Daughter is in the crew!!!


The Captain’s Daughter is highly intelligent, loyal and witty. Brought up under the attentive gaze of a true pirate legend, she made the most of his teachings to gain herself a reputation as a pirate. A feisty woman in a world dominated by men, she struggles to keep and improve that reputation.
She learned all the best sailing routes, hidden isles and tricks that only the most seasoned sailors of the Caribbean could know. Having this pirate on board will ensure you find a berthing place, somewhere to resupply and fix the ship if necessary during a crossing.

She makes up for her lack of brute strength with excellent swordsmanship through fencing, improving her close quarters combat rolls by +1.



She has a monkey, her faithful companion, who will distract her enemies, reducing their combat rolls, and it will also help her search enemy corpses to increase her plunder.



A brave, intelligent and strong-willed woman who won’t cease in her endeavour to achieve the rank and prestige her father once had.

For our next Stretch Goal we have a tile that will definitely throw some punch into the mix.

“…a dense fog has covered the place completely. Under these conditions we can’t use our guns. No doubt the best option is get out of here as soon as possible, that way, through those… rocks? Bushes? Er…it looks like the rock, or whatever it is, is moving…”





Thanks!!

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1886312028/skull-tales/description

Breaking news!! (add-ons)




10 dice in two different colours so that you can roll your character’s and your enemy’s dice separately, each with their own coloured dice, and a red bag. This pack has an exclusive kickstarter offer, costing only 12$, even though the negotiations cost our Captain his leg.




On the starboard side we have the crown’s jewels, the pack of sea enemies. A pack formed by 8 miniatures made in plastic resin, all in one piece and ready to play with. Eight different highly detailed models at a unique price of 18$. Our captain lost his hand and an eye in this negotiation, so we might soon be left without a captain. Prepare your prestige points, lads and lasses! This be our chance, says I!

Finally, we’d like to remind your that all the add-ons we release are not game essential, simply to enhance the game experience, create a better ambience, provide miniatures for collections or other games and help you design your own adventures and campaigns.

We also want to make the most of this chance to thank you all not only for backing the project, but also for sharing and spreading the word, for your feedback, your really cool ideas, and the great atmosphere you create, blowing wind into Skull Tales’ sails so we might sail to world’s end. We’re really enjoying your company on this thrilling voyage, you’re making it a great crossing, so thanks lads and lasses, truly.

Ahoy maties! Are ye ready for some good old pirate adventure? Take a look at these scallywags exploring the mysterious isles of Skull Tales’ Caribbean. This is a gameplay of a “tutorial” adventure. It’s very simple and lacking some of the more elaborate mechanics and features of a normal adventure, but it’s useful to illustrate the basics of the adventure phase.

We hope you enjoy it and please forgive these four lovable pirates for making many mistakes (if you read the rules carefully you’ll see they hadn’t), but filming time was limited and we wanted something that was fluid and natural, even fun, more than a boring lecture on rules. Enjoy and get ready, for the next to go on adventures could be you!




PS: News Stretch Goals for you. Thanks, Pirates!!!

Looks very interesting!

Glad to see more Spanish KS! Good luck!

Thanks, guys!!!

And now... breaking news!!

“We live on a group of islands called The Canaries, birthplace of legends and tales of piracy. An archipelagos made up of seven islands that inspired the Voyage Phase.

If we’re ever lucky enough and destiny brings you to our magical shores, don’t hesitate to contact us so we can all live a Skull Tales’ Pirate Adventure together, with some rum and enjoying our living paradise, Tenerife.”

Author’s note, David Illescas.

And without further delay, lords and ladies, the Voyage Phase! Where the Captain will pay for his sins while his voyage companions rejoice in their dark and secretive plots.

Download

In a few days we’ll have the Port phase alpha rulebook translated.

Once again, our most sincere apologies for the delay, as we said, there was an external problem with the translation on the eve of launching the campaign, and we had to hire new translation imps to get it all done. As always, feel free to suggest possible changes both in rules and in wording, your input is priceless. And, of course, it’s a hurried translation of an alpha rulebook, so please excuse typos and other mistakes.

And remember...take what you can! Give nothing back!

What are these figures made out of?

 Grot 6 wrote:
What are these figures made out of?

The material the miniatures are made with is very similar to Avatars of War's.

Are they made out of that rubber plastic Bones stuff, or are they harder resin? I don't have any Avatars of war, so I'm not really familier with that type or material.

I do however have a substantial amount of pirates... This looks like a great sedgeway into RPG Pirate games. There a upgrade on that Surgeon model? Those glasses he has should just go on ahead and go. Maybe he lost them in a barfight, or something...... Not like that never happens.

This one really looks cool,, and give me a reason to buy more 'rats.

Looks very cool imo!

Thanks, Ratius!!!

 Grot 6 wrote:
Are they made out of that rubber plastic Bones stuff, or are they harder resin? I don't have any Avatars of war, so I'm not really familier with that type or material.

I do however have a substantial amount of pirates... This looks like a great sedgeway into RPG Pirate games. There a upgrade on that Surgeon model? Those glasses he has should just go on ahead and go. Maybe he lost them in a barfight, or something...... Not like that never happens.

This one really looks cool,, and give me a reason to buy more 'rats.

The material is plastic resin (harder resin): Rugged and highly detailed.

About the surgeon (model)... Well, the pictures does not do him justice. When you have it in hand, the glasses are not bad. Many people thought like you until they had the miniature in hand.


And... breaking news:

We’re unlocking another Social stretch goal!!!

This is a very special gear card. When a character receives a permanent wound and loses a hand, therefore losing the chance to equip any conventional weapon in it, until now a hook has the only alternative, and its damage is limited.

So we had a few words with Jack, Tortuga’s smith, and he’s designed this special hook that has a wee cannon to shoot with.



With all but a week ter finish the kickstarter campaign we’d like to share our happiness and joy with all of you, since this is one step closer to fulfilling our pirate dream.

Thanks for the info on that.

I'm going to have to get in on this one.

 Grot 6 wrote:
Thanks for the info on that.

I'm going to have to get in on this one.

We love you! May the freedom winds of the pirate life blow prosperous in your sails!

Hi everybody! Breaking news!

And finally, completing the three phases of the game, we have the Port Phase alpha rulebook. Here our pirates will get the chance to improve their gear and prepare for new adventures with some Rum or healing potions, acquire new abilities that help them specialize or to cover one of their weak spots, or even make up for a maimed limb.

For the Captain, it’s time to take some decisions. ¿What to do with the Captain’s Booty? ¿Hire more crew members? ¿Recruit specialists that will help you on the Voyage Phase with their abilities? ¿Improve the ship by buying more sails or cannons?

A whole new world of possibilities opens up for our Skull Tales’ pirates.

DOWNLOAD

We’d also like to mention that we’ve redesigned the dice addon. The black dice will have the Logo on number 6 for the pirate players, while the red dice will have the logo on the face of number 1, for the enemy rolls.



Many of you have ask about the chance that if some Stretch Goals don’t become unlocked we release them as addons during the pledge manager. We’re seriously studying how to, but first we’d like to know your opinion on the matter. So if you’re so kind as to write it in the comments, we’ll take it all into account.

And... KS exclusive:

Me good pirate brethren, since the start of our Kickstarter campaign ye’ve asked us several times, both in comments and private messages, forums and emails, for an exclusive Backer Stretch Goal.

We added the Social Stretch Goal cards to the for this so that no miniature would be exclusive. Those of you who know us are aware that our philosophy is that exclusive miniatures damage shops, which are the pillar of the gaming community.

But we’re also aware of the tremendous effort and support you’ve put into this project, the trust and good atmosphere, so much better than we could have expected. You’ve manned your stations to the very end, me hearties, and without you this game-dream wouldn’t have ever come true.

So there had to be a way that rewarded you accordingly, pirate justice, of a fashion, a way to seal this pirate oath that bonds us as brothers in our joint crossing.

So after hours and meetings with all the team to face the end of the campaign, someone asked about a character that seemed to have been left out. Another person asked how we could reward you guys for your tremendous support, not only financial backing, but moral and intellectual support, effort and tremendous feedback. You’ve devoted time to answer people, spread the word, intervene in forums, shared this with your friends…

So here’s the answer, now, riding the final wave of this strange and promising tide, when the dream is nearest than ever of becoming truth. Our dear Pirate family, it is our pride and pleasure to announce to you that someone is joining us on our crossing…”THE AVENGER”.

“He was a sweet farm boy once, hard-working and family-minded, with eyes like the sea after a storm. He lived happily on a small farm with the love of his life.

Until one day the Governor’s men arrived. They destroyed the crops, they stole what little cattle they had and they burned their house to the ground.

The woman, enraged by the injustice that was being committed, caught the Captain of the Guard unaware and stole his sword off him, but just as she was going to run the blade right through the captain, a Red Coat shot her down, and she agonized on the ground, trying to escape death.

Our man tried desperately to run to his beloved’s side, but the soldiers stopped him with cruel blows from their muskets.

So hard was the beating they gave him that he lost consciousness. When he managed to get up again but a few flakes of ash remained of what had once been his home and his life. He walked as best he could to the beach and abandoned all hope of life, and gave himself to the sea. As he walked inwards, the waves wrapping around his injured body, a figure can be seen above the waves, as if it were a dark angel.

He spend years by the side of that strange angel or demon that rescued him, he learned the pirate trade, how to use the sword, naval battle-tactics, developing his knowledge and immunity to all kinds of poisons, even iocane, and preparing to someday inflict his own justice.

Vengeance was served…as he wished…”




More info...

“The tavern reeked of drunkards and smoke from smuggled tobacco. I wasn’t going ter find any man worth recruiting here, nay.

Just as I were turning me back on this pigsty of a place ter get out fer good, a group of scallywags started to harass the landlord’s daughter, they did, an’ in a bad way too.

At a whistle from Sáez, the old owner of the place, a whirlwind of fuss broke out from a dark corner of the room.

A man carrying all kinds of weapons jumped over the tables kicking the largest of the attackers in the face. Dodging fists and thrusts, he knocked them down one at a time until the four of them lay bruised and banged on the tavern floor like a beat-up rug.

Aye, says I tae meself, this be the man I’m looking for...”





The next Stretch Goal is unlocked! And it comes with a surprise. Two extra Bounty Hunter figures for your pledge, which you’ll be able to include in any adventure you wish to.

But that’s not all. Many of you have asked to be able to play with the Bounty Hunter, so we’ve decided to add him as an ally so he might watch your back in this new, mysterious world.





On top of his unique Close quarters combat skills and high agility stat, the Bounty Hunter will make the most of his abilities to search fallen enemies without any action costs, which means you’ll force your crew-mates to search fast before it’s this ally’s turn.

A dangerous Tile awaits as our next Stretch Goal, specially for the heftier characters, who could easily be buried by the quicksand...




Regards!

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1886312028/skull-tales/

Last 12 hours!!!

And breaking news: (News unlocked SG)

Yet another Stretch Goal unlocked, and it brings us a new Tile to add to your adventures, the Quicksand Pool.



This dangerous tile can leave your character unconscious for which you should think twice before crossing it, especially if your pirate has a high strength stat.

Every time a character or allied moves three squares across the tile or stopping his movement on it, he will have to overcome a an agility roll with a difficulty equal to his strength. Should the character fail, it will become unconscious.

Once the pirate is unconscious, at the beginning of his next turn, he’ll have to try to overcome the roll again to continue normally or he’ll spend another turn unconscious.

Example: “The Gunner enters the Quicksand Pool tile. When he moves onto the third square on the tile, he takes an agility roll with the three dice that correspond his agility stat, and he must overcome his strength stat, four. He rolls the dice and gets a 1, a 2 and a 4. Since he hasn’t had any successes, he’s left unconscious. At the beginning of his next turn he rolls his three agility dice again, and manages to get a 5 on one of them. The character takes a deep breath and continues with his normal movement to exit the tile.”





“Every pirate crew must have a good cook. But this man is something more. Capable of gaining the trust of the whole crew and to raise their moral thanks to his cooking talent.

On his shoulder there was always that loud parrot of his, blaspheming and cursing this way and that. Not a single member of the crew could best the parrot in an insult duel.

The cook would often wade into battle with his meat cleaver and a frying pan. It was enough to take good care of whoever stood before him. This one time, such was the violence of the blow he delivered with his pan on the face of a skeleton that the shape of the skull was dented onto the bottom of the pan. Since then, the food has a special spice to it that the whole crew loves.

I’ve seen him chop off the head of a Longshade clean with that cleaver of his, while his parrot made a jest of the sea serpent, which ended up as seven-course dinner that evening...”

Another Crew member joins us, the Cook, and he’s not alone. There are three unique starting gear cards with him: a parrot, a meat cleaver and a frying pan.



Thanks to the parrot the character can finish his turn with a free insult on adjacent enemies.



The pan might not be a very powerful weapon, since it only inflicts one wound on enemies, but stunning them can get you out of more than one tight spot.



And the cleaver is a good close quarters combat weapon and really harmful in ranged combat.



As well as his equipment, our Cook has the Seasoned veteran ability, which allows him to win the close quarters combat draws. While for the Voyage phase, his ability will allow the Captain to double the supplies tokens he gets if this character is part of the crew.

The winds of Yemayá bring good tidings. Our Voyage Companions of Cartamundi want to participate in the campaign with a new Stretch Goal. A metallic coin 40mm across to indicate which is the player deciding the order of the turn (the one with the highest prestige).



Thanks!

Ah, really hope that we can get that coin! Of course, I'm more hoping for that pack of 5 adventures, which will increase the amount of game content by 50%.

For those still wavering - $85 really does get you everything you might possibly need, although I'd also reckon that the $18 pack for ship/sea creature miniatures is worthwhile to round things out. And while there are an awful lot of dungeon-hack games incoming, I personally think that this one does plenty to distinguish itself.