So here it is, ladies and gents. Hands on preview of the upcoming Ron & Bones game from CMoN. I have to say, I'm super excited about it. The game feels like a MOBA and has gorgeous production to boot. Hell, I'll just let you read:
I don’t typically do a ton of video gaming in general, and I do even less on the computer because we’ve never had one with much power. Because of that, and because I grew up in the late 90s, the only games I could really ever play on my various computers were Real Time Strategy games like Command & Conquer and Warcraft. I love the game type, and was really happy last year when Cool Mini or Not and Super Rocket Punch Games released Rivet Wars, a fantastic game that reminds me a ton of all the RTSs I used to love. One of my major gaming itches had been scratched, and well.
The other itch for me has been the Multiplayer Online Battle Arena, or MOBA, a game system that was birthed from the RTS and has overtaken it for competitive play, with its two big guns DOTA 2 and League of Legends (LOL) featuring heavily in the professional gaming circuit. But the style, despite having been alive for 10 years (15 if you ask some people), never found its way to the miniature table. WizKids released a crappy DOTA set for their Clix system, but it felt nothing like a MOBA and had even worse miniatures.
Enter upcoming game Ron & Bones from Coolminiornot.
If you’re unfamiliar, Ron & Bones was a miniatures line from Spanish outfit Tale of War that had a tacked on game system, but was primarily responsible for creating arguably the best pirate miniatures I’ve ever seen. I love Werner Klocke and his Freebooter’s Fate line as much as the next guy (I own the entirety of 4 different armies), but Ron & Bones’ miniatures stand a cut above. They’re full of character and definition, and when CMoN purchased the property from Tale of War in 2013, I was excited because they’d finally be easier for me to get. I had no idea when I learned of the purchase at GenCon that they’d turn the property into a game system that, based on my two gameplays at CMoN Expo, is probably my most anticipated game of the year.
ALL HANDS ON DECK – The Overview
The Ron & Bones game system is, like any good MOBA, based on two teams battling each other for dominance of lanes. Instead of generic battlefields like in LoL or DOTA, the pirate theme of Ron & Bones gives you the perfect scenario: two pirate crews boarding each other. Your lanes are the planks that have been set between the two boats, your capture points (in the demo game we played) the mast and wheel of the galleon.
Gameplay in the beta was conducted in an I-Go-U-Go scenario, where each player activates his heroes and has three actions to move them around the board. The heroes were all class based, with all of the MOBA tropes present, from Little Tom the Undead Tank to the Wraith, the Undead Assassin. Ranged DPS, Support, and bruisers were also present in various forms. Each Hero has statistics for their basic attack, a passive ability that benefits him no matter what, and two abilities that he (or she) could pay for using the pieces of 8 they acquire throughout the game. Pieces of 8 could additionally be spent on the tide deck, a means of creating the “shopping” aspect of the MOBA without involving too much book keeping. Finally, pieces of 8 could be spent to “block” damage. But the big question is where do we get these pieces of 8 from? Well creeps, of course.
There’s gotta be creeps, right? Any good MOBA game has creeps, and Ron & Bones is no exception. The creep system in the game isphoto fairly simple. You roll three D6s (one for each spawn point) and then assign your rolls to the various spawn points to create your creep waves. The basic chumpstains have one wound and die fairly easily, yielding a single piece of 8 when you kill them. Roll a 1 or a 2 and you get to spawn a super creep called a boatswain who has two wounds and yields 2 pieces of 8 when you kill them. Creeps advance forward one space at a time, closing in on your opponents objectives and, if they reach them, can damage your enemy spawns and objective points. It’s a simple mechanic that works really well.
The game ends when one team has depleted their opponents morale by killing heroes and destroying objectives. In the beta, heroes were worth 1 point while objectives were worth two. The demo, taught to us the first time by designer Michael Shinall, moved incredibly quickly and finished in around 80 minutes.
GIVE EM HELL, IT’S A MERRIER PLACE – What I liked
The easily pleased gamer in me wants to say all of it (I genuinely enjoyed both games I played) but I won’t. Instead, I’ll focus on a few things that really stood out to me.
– The game “feels” like a MOBA. Everything is there that you could ask for in a MOBA inspired tabletop miniatures game. You’ve got hero classes with variable powers. You’ve got creeps relentlessly droning across the board. You’ve got spawn points that you can destroy to make your opponent less effective. You’ve got towers that defend your base and inflict serious damage to any hero that isn’t careful. You’ve got the Tide deck that serves as a shop. It’s really all there. George, with whom I played the first game, agreed with me that the game simply “feels” right.
– Character classes are varied and appropriate. In the game, we had the opportunity to play with all the classes, and each one really felt unique. The bruiser/tank types were really good at soaking and regenerating damage, while your ranged DPS were good at killing creeps and fairly effective at killing heroes. The captains worked as your support, with both helping to generate income in one way or another. And the assassins, especially the Wraith, felt like assassins.
– The game is tense the entire time. I thought I was in a position to have George beat, so I took a gamble and rode the Wraith over the riggings (yes, you can bypass a lane and land yourself in enemy territory fairly quickly by attempting to swing across on the rigging) to try and assassinate his character. I failed, rolling a dubious set of snake eyes on my last action, and that swung the game in George’s favor. And I loved it.
– The Ron & Bones miniatures are top notch. The game is going to look gorgeous, and, if rumors are true, may even include 3D ship boards to fight over. The notion of that has me fondly remembering my old Crossbows and Catapults Sea Battles set.
A MERRY LIFE, & A SHORT ONE – Ironing out the Kinks
Again, while I really did enjoy both times I played the game, there are some areas that we discussed for improvement in the game that Mr. Black & Leif are tossing around.
– The spawn rolls are the only thing that, occasionally, felt uneven about the game. Boatswains aren’t quite powerful enough to spawn by themselves, and spawning a single boatswain while your opponent spawns six crewman did create some imbalanaces in gameplay. You do get to decide where you put your allocations, but Mr. Black explained that they were tossing around the idea of making the spawn numbers either static or rolling once at the beginning of the round, and using the results for each team. I like the notion of the latter, as it will adds some variability into it, while keeping it balanced for each side.
– Respawns were hard to keep track of in the I-Go-U-Go system, and is something Mr. Black was definitely aware of. On turn two George used his Ranged DPS to knock one of my characters into the water, forcing him to climb back aboard and respawn two turns later. It was hard to remember when exactly he was supposed to come back on. The CMoN design team is considering moving the game to one of alternating activation and simply requiring that a respawn require the player to use of their activations for the game turn. We talked through it, and this seems like it would improve the game in a few ways. One, it would eliminate that need for bookkeeping, and two, it would allow each player to react more spontaneously to what their opponent did.
– The Tide Deck, despite the fact that it worked well enough, was occasionally forgotten by George and myself. Additionally, having the cards all be ‘play immediately’ upon purchase really eliminated any sense of surprise. The team is considering making it so that after purchasing a tide deck card, you put it into you hand to be played at an opportune time later in the game. I like this potential change a lot, as it reminds me a lot more of shopping at the store in LoL.
AND A BOTTLE OF RUM! - What’s Incoming
Again, I really enjoyed the game, so I think anything they do to improve upon it now will be icing on the cake. Here’s the breakdown of what we know will be coming, so far:
– A kickstarter in late Summer 2014 with a pricepoint around $100.
– 10-14 different crews, from your traditional Pirates to Chinese Pirates to Undead Pirates. Each Crew will come with their own unique tide deck as well as their own unique ship, not of all which are Galleons. We were told the Chinese Pirates, for instance, will have three Junks that are connected together while the French Pirates will have two smaller Cutters. So not only variable Tide power decks, but also variable ships. Very Cool.
– Plastic 1-Piece miniatures most likely similar to the Arcadia Quest plastic or Zombicide plastic. I got my hands on some of the final production plastics for Arcadia Quest, and they were well detailed. I think it’s fair to say that the models will have a bit softer detail than the original lead models did, but based on the growth the industry has seemed to make with plastic detail, I’m really excited.
– Some final tweaking to the rules before it becomes official.
Like I said, this one is at the top of my watch list. The game was a blast to play, with quick, exciting rules and the correct feel for what I envisioned a MOBA tabletop game would be. If I was CMoN, I’d name the ruleset and start making money on it like FFG did with their X-Wing System, as I’m sure someone’s going to come along one of these days and want to make a DOTA tabletop game.
I'm sure I left some stuff out of the Preview Article, so if you have any questions, please fire away.
I always liked the look of the Ron & Bones line - but it was even harder to find than Freebooter's Fate stuff. And then it pretty much disappeared entirely.
I like the route they went with the game too. I'm much bigger on "board game in a box" type stuff anymore.
Despite that, I'm going to be a very hard sell on this one I'm afraid, just by the sheer amount of unpainted pirate minis I already own.
Plus owning two pirates games? That'd make me sound like some sort of decadent Roman emperor.
One of these days, I'm going to have to pull out and post a How To on making pirate ships...
I liked Ron and Bones back in the day, too bad CMON had to get their filthy mitts all over it.
As to the Freebooters fate, yes, I really like Werner's game ALOT. I am wholeheartedly impressed with the scale of the selection of that one. Hope to see a bit more of their New stuff for Ron and Bones one before I commit. IIRC, there was quite a bit of the stuff and the crews were a bit wacky, not your average Skull and Crossbones types of pirates....
I am going to keep my eye on this one regardless of CMON.
Grot 6 wrote: One of these days, I'm going to have to pull out and post a How To on making pirate ships...
I liked Ron and Bones back in the day, too bad CMON had to get their filthy mitts all over it.
As to the Freebooters fate, yes, I really like Werner's game ALOT. I am wholeheartedly impressed with the scale of the selection of that one. Hope to see a bit more of their New stuff for Ron and Bones one before I commit. IIRC, there was quite a bit of the stuff and the crews were a bit wacky, not your average Skull and Crossbones types of pirates....
I am going to keep my eye on this one regardless of CMON.
Oh god do I want to play freebooter's fate so much. Unfortunately it sits in my boxes of unused stuff like Dark Age and Anima because there is no interest.
in regards to CMON, unless it was there past history, CMON for the most part delivers a solid product. At least in terms of board games.
I really would like to see Wok and RK minis in hand before I kickstart anything else from CMON for the minis.
Grot 6 wrote:One of these days, I'm going to have to pull out and post a How To on making pirate ships...
Yes, please do! I always see great-looking pirate ships that people made from Pirates of the Caribbean lego sets that are now oop and sell for ridiculous amounts on Ebay.
Grot 6 wrote:
As to the Freebooters fate, yes, I really like Werner's game ALOT. I am wholeheartedly impressed with the scale of the selection of that one. Hope to see a bit more of their New stuff for Ron and Bones one before I commit. IIRC, there was quite a bit of the stuff and the crews were a bit wacky, not your average Skull and Crossbones types of pirates....
Yes - they were a bit cartoony-ier than Freebooter's Fate. Not that that's a bad thing. It'll be interesting to see if the plastics (I'm guessing board game plastic? But maybe restic) match the nice characterful metals.
Piston Honda wrote:
Oh god do I want to play freebooter's fate so much. Unfortunately it sits in my boxes of unused stuff like Dark Age and Anima because there is no interest.
in regards to CMON, unless it was there past history, CMON for the most part delivers a solid product. At least in terms of board games.
I really would like to see Wok and RK minis in hand before I kickstart anything else from CMON for the minis.
Yeah - unfortunately FF just isn't popular outside of Germany. Hell, I have a hard time finding people to talk about it on the internet with even, since I don't speak German. And when I updated my FF news thread it drops like a lead balloon off the front page.
I think with CMON issues like quality and punctuality largely depend on who their partner is. Rivet Wars for instance has been tremendously well done. Others ... less so. Really the issue that would give me pause with CMON running it is "how many exclusives will I miss out on if I decide I don't want to back the KS but want to buy-in later on," Nothing kills my interest in a project faster than finding out half the best stuff for it is unavailable.
the facebook page has had a bunch of concept art for undead pirates posted,
but you don't want to see that do you (if so visit facebook), but more interesting is an actual photo of the minis posted by Ezine El Quinto Destino
Automatically Appended Next Post: Oh I will post one of the bits of concept art as she's not undead and is not in the shot above and because she's a saucy pirate (captain?)
I've always liked the minis I've seen for the game, but my recent vacation in poverty has made me question what I really want or need. As much as I like the stylized minis and really want a pirated themed game I'm unsure of the inevitable $100 buy in. It seems every week there's a new game on Kickstarter with something that briefly piques my interest. Even with infinite money, I still only have so much time to paint and play, but I'll keep an eye on this because fantasy (cheesecake) pirates.
Will not be touching another CMON project over how they have handled the RK shipping. They have lied lied and lied again and think that its ok to do it. I wont be touching SPMKS either, they're as bad as each other.
overtyrant wrote: Will not be touching another CMON project over how they have handled the RK shipping. They have lied lied and lied again and think that its ok to do it. I wont be touching SPMKS either, they're as bad as each other.
I don't think there was any lying; I think the shipping problem was a combination of an honest mistake and the determination of how to move forward with fulfillment since the CMoN/SPM relationship was severed.
But that's obviously your choice, and I respect it. Simply think you'll be missing out on a really, really fun game.
I will have to keep in eye out on this one. I'm unfortunately not much of a Pirates or Zombies fan.. but the gameplay looks interesting. Now if there were some Ninjas to kick some PIrate booty and then I might be hooked. ^_^
I wonder if the minis in the photo are the old painted metal ones of the Ron and Bones line (which were amazing btw). The paint job looks very familiar.
Some if those have to be new sculpts because they have not been sold before. Some of them may be the old metals; they do look familiar.
I'm glad I bought some of the originals over the last couple years as I've found them. They are really characterful and many are very well sculpted. But, I too am on the "avoid C'MON" train. Not impressed with their ability to do any kind of positive customer service. They just don't feel like they know how to run a business beyond trying to throw out as many products made as cheaply as possible.
They have constantly lied about the shipping of RK. Each week it's 'it will be on the plane monday honest' then comes an excuse that its not our fault its not on there and the casual disregard CMON has had for the backers of said project for months we had no news and update and when we do they have given us something quite foul to eat and said its suger.
overtyrant wrote: They have constantly lied about the shipping of RK. Each week it's 'it will be on the plane monday honest' then comes an excuse that its not our fault its not on there and the casual disregard CMON has had for the backers of said project for months we had no news and update and when we do they have given us something quite foul to eat and said its suger.
There's a lot of pretty incorrect assumptions there.
Of course you're entitled to believe it. Even it it's wrong.
overtyrant wrote: They have constantly lied about the shipping of RK. Each week it's 'it will be on the plane monday honest' then comes an excuse that its not our fault its not on there and the casual disregard CMON has had for the backers of said project for months we had no news and update and when we do they have given us something quite foul to eat and said its suger.
There's a lot of pretty incorrect assumptions there.
Of course you're entitled to believe it. Even it it's wrong.
Your either a company man or involved with them aren't you......
Alpharius wrote: A lot of the 'issues' they've had in the past might legitimately have been mostly from their partners, maybe?
CMON shoehorns exclusives into every project (A Eurogame with exclusives. Riiight.), but otherwise, yes. I've only backed Zombicide S2, and it took them a year to fulfill USA, which I find acceptable.
I think transparency and communication can always be improved in a KS, and CMON should better distinguish its own responsibilities from their partner's. Professionalism, communication, and transparency make your backers more forgiving of delays.
overtyrant wrote: They have constantly lied about the shipping of RK. Each week it's 'it will be on the plane monday honest' then comes an excuse that its not our fault its not on there and the casual disregard CMON has had for the backers of said project for months we had no news and update and when we do they have given us something quite foul to eat and said its suger.
There's a lot of pretty incorrect assumptions there.
Of course you're entitled to believe it. Even it it's wrong.
Your either a company man or involved with them aren't you......
Nope. Just not quick to claim that everyone is a dishonest liar when of know international shipping is often not at the full discretion if the company requesting it, but rather the shipping company. That's become increasingly clear the more KS companies have trouble with it, and that's certainly not limited to CMoN.
But I'm sure if it were you, you'd have muuuuuuuch better control of how and when a warehouse half a world away ships your stuff.
Like I said, you're entitled to believe what you want, but if you're going to reserve vitriol for CMoN in this case, which is certainly your right, it needs to be shared with the other parties involved unless disingenuous hypocrisy is what you're shooting for.
The true test for CmoN is with kickstarters that they own the sole ip to. Or at the very least minimize their parternships. With Relic Knights despite the ungodly wait time (about 2 years) I really like the miniatures and the rule book at a glance is of pretty high quality.
I did not buy into sedition wars so i cannot rate that at all. But it seems people have the most problems with the KS and the dates/production etc when it was through a partnership.
Now for Wrath of Kings and Arcadia Quest those are two games that are primarily from Cmon. That would be the true test if Cmon itself was to solely blame for some shortcomings of their past Kickstarters or it was just a bunch of circumstances that left people with a sour taste in their mouth.
Now for Wrath of Kings and Arcadia Quest those are two games that are primarily from Cmon. That would be the true test if Cmon itself was to solely blame for some shortcomings of their past Kickstarters or it was just a bunch of circumstances that left people with a sour taste in their mouth.
Rum & Bones is a miniatures board game where players control fantastic pirate crews engaged in fierce combat. Inspired by MOBA style video games, Rum & Bones’ gameplay is deep, fast-paced, and highly strategic. The game pits two pirate factions, controlled by 2 to 6 players, whose ships are locked in combat, with each crew attempting to board the enemy ship and disable it.
Each ship’s single-minded crew of Deckhands and Bosuns charge headlong across the gangplanks to attack key deck features on the enemy ship. These lowly crewmen are not directly controlled by the players. They form a constantly-replenishing mob of pirates charging towards the enemy, but the crews are evenly matched, so it’s up to the player-controlled Heroes to shift the tide of battle!
Deckhands and Bosuns of the Wellsport Brotherhood and Bone Devils.
Each faction has five types of Heroes at their disposal: Captain, Quartermaster, Swashbuckler, Gunner and Brute. Each of these roles has its own general place in the battle. However, each Hero is still unique, with their own set of attacks, abilities, and reactions to crush the enemy or give their crew the push they need!
The Heroes of the Wellsport Brotherhood!
The Heroes of the Bone Devils!
The Wellsport Brotherhood and Bone Devils factions included in the core box also have access to unique powers via their Tide Decks. The 30 cards in these decks (most of them unique to each faction) can be played at different times, bringing about unexpected effects, surprise attacks, welcome boosts, or even summon a Sea Dragon!
Just beware that these startling abilities might just attract the attention of that mythical terror from the depths, the Kraken!
The Kraken and Sea Dragon are enemies to all pirates, but their intervention can be advantageous to you in the right moment. And slaying these legendary creatures might give you the glory necessary to be victorious in battle!
Your Captain-level pledge gets you the Rum & Bones core game as well as the 5 Kickstarter exclusive Heroes from the Helrökker gang, and any stretch goals we manage to unlock! The Helrökker Heroes are all Mercenaries, meaning that they can be used by any faction, and they each come with their miniature and Hero card.
The Mercenary Heroes of the Helrökker gang, in all their high-heeled glory!
Note that anything marked with this:
is an exclusive item for Kickstarter backers, with remaining stock available at conventions only.
Shipping information - Please take note
Based on past experience, we will be charging shipping after the Kickstarter concludes based on the actual costs incurred to ship. We will collect this via our pledge manager after the campaign concludes. This is so we can be fair to all our backers as shipping is rarely one size fits all, and also give you more stretch goodies and possibly a choice of carrier options.
We will ship your rewards at our cost to our international hubs. Depending on where in the world you are, we will either ship you from our hub in Germany (EU backers), China (Asia Pacific backers), Canada (Canadian backers), Australia (Australia and New Zealand backers) or Atlanta (USA and the rest of the world). As a rough estimate, the game will cost about $10 to ship in the USA and to Hong Kong, about $15 to Australia, about $15-$25 in the EU and Canada, all the way up to $50 to Singapore and South America, but this may increase or decrease based on the quantity of stretch goals we might unlock and your carrier choices.
Please note that while we do our best to get you your rewards in a timely manner, you may not necessarily receive your rewards before the product makes it into distribution in your own country or before it's made available in conventions and special promotion opportunities We hope that the special price and exclusive items you will get during the Kickstarter will make up for any such possible lag. However, if this is something that is not acceptable to you, please do not back this project but instead wait for the retail release. Thank you for your understanding.
@Orlando - I know I'm a CMoN pusher in general, but aside from Rivet Wars this is my favorite game they've done. If you like MOBAs at all, you really should get it.
Put a buck in and join the CKPM later, if you're on the fence.
FUNDING REACHED! Onward to Unlocking More Treasure!
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Mateys! We've funded in just over half an hour!
I must say, I am mighty proud of you all!
Yarg, but I know what ye all be after... Ye want a bounty of Stretch Goals!
Well let's start diggin' and see just what we can unearth!
We unearth this stretch goal and a second Deckhand sculpt will be added for each faction in Rum and Bones! Meaning more variety for all ye pirate crews, whether ye be the cutthroat Wellsport Brotherhood or the sinister Bone Devils!
Onward, ye' scalawags, there be more treasure to uncover!
Beyond the base game I think this has potential for some neat mashups with Dreadfleet, which has all the components for a wider ranging game, and those amazing minis, but I never play because the rules are pretty terrible.
I'll be watching this one - I'm a sucker for pirates, and the game itself looks interesting.
The two starter crews are nice - but the exclusive mercenary crew isn't much of a draw. I hope all the stretch goal additions are for real crews/crew member designs and not just milking pop-culture references.
FUNDING REACHED! Onward to Unlocking More Treasure!
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Mateys! We've funded in just over half an hour!
I must say, I am mighty proud of you all!
Yarg, but I know what ye all be after... Ye want a bounty of Stretch Goals!
Well let's start diggin' and see just what we can unearth!
We unearth this stretch goal and a second Deckhand sculpt will be added for each faction in Rum and Bones! Meaning more variety for all ye pirate crews, whether ye be the cutthroat Wellsport Brotherhood or the sinister Bone Devils!
Onward, ye' scalawags, there be more treasure to uncover!
Because it has to be said - FAKE STRETCH GOALS AHOY!
Now that that is out of the way - bring on the KRAKEN and SEA DRAGON models!!!
Jeez, those colors are going to give me seizures if they're as bright in person.
Kinda bad timing for me since I'm in on another KS and Christmas is right before this ones closing date.
But Cincy says it's the best thing since Rivet Wars and I love that game. And I read on the last page that there were going to be Kraken(?), guaranteed.
drazz wrote: So, they're not going to directly use any of the old Ron Bones pirate models? Just take a play of some of them?
I'm not sold. I loved the old metal models, and the new plastics are not really giving me the same feel. I'll keep watching though.
I find myself in the same boat (pun intended). I really wanted to see a re-release of the previous line of miniatures, but this doesn't look to be it. Shame, as those were completely fantastic.
drazz wrote: So, they're not going to directly use any of the old Ron Bones pirate models? Just take a play of some of them?
I'm not sold. I loved the old metal models, and the new plastics are not really giving me the same feel. I'll keep watching though.
I find myself in the same boat (pun intended). I really wanted to see a re-release of the previous line of miniatures, but this doesn't look to be it. Shame, as those were completely fantastic.
But Cincy says it's the best thing since Rivet Wars and I love that game. And I read on the last page that there were going to be Kraken(?), guaranteed.
!
I won't go so far as to offer a money back guarantee because I'm too poor to do that but I legitimately love this game. A few of the problems I had with the game in my original article seem to have been resolved in the last edition of the rules I saw, and I had a blast with the game then.
If you enjoy tabletop games and you enjoy MOBAs, you'll like this game.
I like it so much that I've told some of the people I know at CMoN that I'd love to see them license out the system like FFG did with X-Wing to other companies so we could see, say, a DOTA2 or LoL version in the future.
Because it has to be said - FAKE STRETCH GOALS AHOY!
What? $50k to fund the entire game including about 20(?) sculpts followed by another $50k to fund 4 whole alt sculpts? What could possibly be fake about that?
My wife brought up a good point; so many of these models have crossover potential for Warmachine, you're basically buying super cheap proxies for Merc and Cryx units/casters and getting a free game to boot
Alex C wrote: My wife brought up a good point; so many of these models have crossover potential for Warmachine, you're basically buying super cheap proxies for Merc and Cryx units/casters and getting a free game to boot
Except I don't know your local Warmahordes community, but mine, and the majority of them are NOT friendly to proxies, etc. We have a weird local meta where a lot of National Champions and major gaming clubs play, but relaxed and casual is NOT the way to describe the usual environment. :-p
Alex C wrote: My wife brought up a good point; so many of these models have crossover potential for Warmachine, you're basically buying super cheap proxies for Merc and Cryx units/casters and getting a free game to boot
Except I don't know your local Warmahordes community, but mine, and the majority of them are NOT friendly to proxies, etc. We have a weird local meta where a lot of National Champions and major gaming clubs play, but relaxed and casual is NOT the way to describe the usual environment. :-p
My local Warmahordes community consists of me and the missus
Thanks for keeping track of this cincy! Fan of the original line and went in on this one. Expect maybe two more factions. Probably British and Spanish navies as those fit the traditional pirate themed tropes.
silent25 wrote: Thanks for keeping track of this cincy! Fan of the original line and went in on this one. Expect maybe two more factions. Probably British and Spanish navies as those fit the traditional pirate themed tropes.
Lots of rumblings about Asian, too. I'd be perfectly fine with that!
Backing 100%. As I like dota type games. And if for nothing else, to resell if it doesn’t find table time for a lot more then I spent on it! Not a fan of the first optional buy though, model wise. If it matched the picture more in pose it would be great. Something just seems off to me about it. I do agree though bout the females being represented and having more of them!
Really fallen for how CMON does their kickstarters. Such a good job. Usually 1 early bird, then 100$ or so for the full game and all strech goals. No 100 tiers of pledges, and for 100$ you almost always get a super deal. Makes me hate how I missed Arcadia Quest :(
I think the big disconnect is between the art and the actual figure- it's what I like to refer to as Anima Tactics syndrome. Love the art and the poses they produce, but then the figures themselves don't match up.
Not knocking the figures here though- I actually like a lot of them. The new add on looks good. Her artwork looks even better though.\
Really hoping Ahab ends up with that whale on his shoulders too.
str00dles1 wrote: Backing 100%. As I like dota type games. And if for nothing else, to resell if it doesn’t find table time for a lot more then I spent on it! Not a fan of the first optional buy though, model wise. If it matched the picture more in pose it would be great. Something just seems off to me about it. I do agree though bout the females being represented and having more of them!
Really fallen for how CMON does their kickstarters. Such a good job. Usually 1 early bird, then 100$ or so for the full game and all strech goals. No 100 tiers of pledges, and for 100$ you almost always get a super deal. Makes me hate how I missed Arcadia Quest :(
I applaud that they always seem to include so much in the base $100 pledge, but I greatly dislike that they make almost everything they fund Kickstarter exclusive. Because you're right - you have effectively missed Arcadia Quest. If you were to buy the retail version now, you'd get 12 heroes, and another 2 in the expansion - just enough to play a 4 player game with no real additional choice. The Kickstarter version + expanison contains 43 heroes, 29 of which are Kickstarter exclusive. If a friend has a fun time playing a CMON game, and wants to buy their own copy, I have to tell them that the (still very expensive) retail version has a fraction of the content, and they usually don't bother.
So for this, I'm rather anxious to see alternate 'teams' funding, that can be bought on shop shelves and actually give this one a bit of lifespan. MOBAs thrive on character choice and variety, after all!
str00dles1 wrote: Backing 100%. As I like dota type games. And if for nothing else, to resell if it doesn’t find table time for a lot more then I spent on it! Not a fan of the first optional buy though, model wise. If it matched the picture more in pose it would be great. Something just seems off to me about it. I do agree though bout the females being represented and having more of them!
Really fallen for how CMON does their kickstarters. Such a good job. Usually 1 early bird, then 100$ or so for the full game and all strech goals. No 100 tiers of pledges, and for 100$ you almost always get a super deal. Makes me hate how I missed Arcadia Quest :(
I applaud that they always seem to include so much in the base $100 pledge, but I greatly dislike that they make almost everything they fund Kickstarter exclusive. Because you're right - you have effectively missed Arcadia Quest. If you were to buy the retail version now, you'd get 12 heroes, and another 2 in the expansion - just enough to play a 4 player game with no real additional choice. The Kickstarter version + expanison contains 43 heroes, 29 of which are Kickstarter exclusive. If a friend has a fun time playing a CMON game, and wants to buy their own copy, I have to tell them that the (still very expensive) retail version has a fraction of the content, and they usually don't bother.
So for this, I'm rather anxious to see alternate 'teams' funding, that can be bought on shop shelves and actually give this one a bit of lifespan. MOBAs thrive on character choice and variety, after all!
Great reply here. I agree 100%. You either go in 100$ and get an amazing ammount of stuff, or you miss it and either cross it off your list of games you will play or fork over the big bucks on ebay or some other trading site for everything you missed. This is why I will now always back a good looking CMON game, for the reason of if I dont like it, I can actually make a lot of money off of it selling it.
Looking for the full KS of Arcaida quest, ive seen it SELL for 400+ for everything people paid 100$ for. And that is like you said, so much becomes KS only, so without a retail value to put a price on it, the sky is the limit! I will keep searching and try for AQ,
Bioptic wrote: I applaud that they always seem to include so much in the base $100 pledge, but I greatly dislike that they make almost everything they fund Kickstarter exclusive. Because you're right - you have effectively missed Arcadia Quest. If you were to buy the retail version now, you'd get 12 heroes, and another 2 in the expansion - just enough to play a 4 player game with no real additional choice. The Kickstarter version + expanison contains 43 heroes, 29 of which are Kickstarter exclusive. If a friend has a fun time playing a CMON game, and wants to buy their own copy, I have to tell them that the (still very expensive) retail version has a fraction of the content, and they usually don't bother.
So for this, I'm rather anxious to see alternate 'teams' funding, that can be bought on shop shelves and actually give this one a bit of lifespan. MOBAs thrive on character choice and variety, after all!
Whoa, I didn't realize it was that drastic for Arcadia Quest! I wish companies would not do so many exclusives, too, as my funds can be limited at the time the campaign is running. I guess that means if you are interested in this, it makes sense to put in $1 and hope to be able to upgrade later.
Also, to cincydooley - I sent you a PM on Tuesday and have yet to receive a reply. I would appreciate it if you would, since you are clearly checking Dakka as you have posted here in the two days since!
Mateys, tis a fine morning here at CMoN. The air is clean, the water is pure... And yet all does not seem right with the world...
So we've been looking over the feedback you guys have given in the comments over our new optional buy, Captain Anne Bonny, and the general consensus is that, well... You'd like to get a better deal for her.
Having seen the sculpt and samples of the plastic in person, she honestly blew me away in terms of sheer awesomeness, but the important thing is what you all, our loyal backers, consider fair and reasonable - none of this would be possible without you guys, after all, and you're helping us to bring our vision to life, and we deeply appreciate it.
So, having heard your concerns, we went in and looked at just what we could do for you all, and after much counseling and negotiation, this is what we've decided to do:
Captain Anne Bonny is being removed from the Optional Buy list. In her place, however, is the new and improved Wellsport Brotherhood Pack (which includes Miss Bonny, of course )
So, what's the specifics? Glad you asked:
For $15 you're going to get not one, not two, but three Heroes to add to your expanding roster of Wellsport Pirates.
You all know Captain Anne Bonny, so we'll open with her:
Next up we have the lovely Grace O'Malley, Wellsport Gunner:
and Theo, the Terror of Nova, Wellsport Quartermaster extraordinaire!
As always, please note that the figures come unpainted. What we're showing here is just an example of what a skilled painter is able to do with them.
We're pushing forward, all thanks to backers like you, toward our next stretch goal as well. If Slevin is really lucky, we should have him unlocked and onto the next stretch goal in no time!
Arrrrrr.... I need to stop checking this thread, I'm starting to think like a pirate
I finally got a chance to read through the full campaign page, and I love the idea for this! However, I think the Wellsport team sculpts are weaker from a design standpoint and not as unique as the Bone Devils team, which I absolutely love. Will keep an eye on this and see if they unlock a cthulhu-type team or the like... in which case I would definitely have trouble resisting.
The Kickstarter exclusive Helrökker team just seems silly to me... I would definitely sell these if I back this. I'm not too into "homage" characters, I would much rather see ones which fit the theme of this game... which a cthulhu-type team would excellently!
I'm glad they listened to popular complaint and made the add-ons part of a pack instead of individually. And yay for them getting quite a bit cheaper in the process ($10 for a single mini vs. 3 for $15)
I wish they'd listen to the "we're sick of everything being exclusive" crowd too though. It's better for everyone involved (CMoN too!) if more product is available for retail sale down the line.
They should keep the KISS knockoff mercs as the KS exclusive for the campaign and call it a day on exclusives.
Although I've backed almost 100 campaigns, this is my first for CMON! Is there confirmation anywhere that you can in fact up your pledge later if you only put in $1, or is that a safe bet based on past campaigns?
Also, how long after the campaign ends do you generally have to finalize your pledge / add onto it before they close the pledge manager?
Mateys, we've hit our $200,000 goal, meaning Slevin the Lucky has been unlocked and added to the crews of all backers! Yarg!
Not only that, but we also just finished uploading our Rum and Bones Gameplay video! Double Yarg! Check it out here:
Please keep in mind that all components in the video are still in prototype form and far from the quality of the final product (where quality cards and thick cardboard tiles will abound!)
Of course, now that we've hit 200K, I'm sure you're all wondering what our next goal will be!
Well in all fairness to the Bone Devils, we couldn't unlock another Hero for the Wellsport and not take care of them as well!
Meet our $225,000 stretch goal, Mr. Smith, Bone Devils Gunner! Triple Yarg!!!
We're nearing the end of our first week, Mateys, and there is still a sea of booty to be plundered out there! Let's go and find it! QuadraYarg!!!
Alex C wrote: I've only watched the first half hour of the video so far, but it's looking like a super fun game
Awesome!
It really is one of my faves, despite only have played it about 6 times (a few times in may, a few times this month). I'm just a huge fan of the gameplay and the models, that I really hope this one does well.
The game demo video is really chewy, wish it could be more concise and elegant. That's the one major gripe I have had with CMON kickstarters, they are rushed not very well planned.
Alex C wrote: Yes, less banter and more of clearly explaining what each player is doing, what game effects are taking place and how things are resolved.
Enjoyable to see the game in action though!
This ^
I mean id feel the same if I got to sit down and play it, but id rather them go over it all and 1 person walk through a few rounds on how stuff works, and explain. Watched bout 30 min also and turned it off. Don't want to sit for an hour and a half of two buddies playing and joking around. No offense! Takes some of the professionalism away.
Alex C wrote: Yes, less banter and more of clearly explaining what each player is doing, what game effects are taking place and how things are resolved.
Enjoyable to see the game in action though!
The style of demoing they do seems to be ideal when you and your friend sit down, but when you do a video, break it up and get to the point of the aspects of the game mechanics. Infinity did a great job of this, in fact, they probably have done the best job of any introduction video to a set of rules for any minis/board game.
Schmapdi wrote: I'm glad they listened to popular complaint and made the add-ons part of a pack instead of individually. And yay for them getting quite a bit cheaper in the process ($10 for a single mini vs. 3 for $15)
I wish they'd listen to the "we're sick of everything being exclusive" crowd too though. It's better for everyone involved (CMoN too!) if more product is available for retail sale down the line.
They should keep the KISS knockoff mercs as the KS exclusive for the campaign and call it a day on exclusives.
Devil's advocate here, but while I would very much like CMoN to stop with the sheer number of exclusives, I think they are doing better out of the current model than they would otherwise. Zombicide 3 took nearly 3 million dollars from 12 000 backers in direct sales (no retail cut), which is substantially more than the average specialist boardgame can hope to ever sell even at retail. They get the money all in one guaranteed chunk, rather than in an unreliable trickle.
A certain percentage of boardgamers will never buy expansions, or at least will never buy many small ones - they want something that is self contained, so will be happy to buy the retail versions. The other percentage that hoovers up every single available expansion? They'll be on the Kickstarter, buying every single add-on offered, for fear of missing out. In general, they cultivate an attitude of "I have to put money down for this now, even if it's not any good, because there's no point in buying it later", which is always going to drive more sales than people reading reviews and trying the game out for themselves - even if the game is actually great!
I dunno about that. You make some good points, but:
I would never buy a game like Zombicide or Arcadia quest at retail precisely because 30% or more of the content created will never be available to me (or I will be ebay gouged to get it). I'm not the only one - others have expressed similar sentiments.
Plus even with 12,000 backers, I'm sure well under half bought everything. Which means for each individual add-on they're only selling 3,000, 4,000 maybe 5,000 copies? That's a lot of sculpting and manufacturing investment to then toss aside.
Plus don't forget KS takes a chunk of that 3 mil, and they have higher shipping costs, and manpower vs. retail. I'm sure it's more profitable to make a sale via KS (which is why people do it). But I don't think it's THAT much more profitable, especially in the long run. Which is why current KS are much stingier with the freebies and whatnot than they were a year or two ago.
IMHO, in the long run - taking in nebulous things like goodwill, and word of mouth. CMON (and everyone) would be better served doing a few exclusives (to get some of the effects you mention) and then laying off.
Bioptic wrote: In general, they cultivate an attitude of "I have to put money down for this now, even if it's not any good, because there's no point in buying it later", which is always going to drive more sales than people reading reviews and trying the game out for themselves - even if the game is actually great!
And thats the big problem. I missed Arcadia Quest. They give me 3 options.
1. Buy it all on ebay for +400$
2. Buy what I can in retail, missing 26+ heroes
3. Never buy any of it.
Only option 2 now helps the company, and the fact I cant get so many guys turns me off from buying it and giving them any money. The 100$ model they use is great, but id rather there be a million optional addons.
I like how the Rum and Bones looks, and hoping it does really well but not for the right reasons. I KSEd it and hope that they follow what they always have in past games with so many exclusives and I can resell it for triple the price or more.
While KS may take a small chunk of the cash raised, and even considering the extra warehouse costs
selling through retail distribution takes a much, much larger one
I think that's probably why there have been more exclusives in the recent CMON KS projects (eg arcadia quest).
Most board games are sold to people who buy them and stick them back in the cupboard after a game or two. They will never know that there was exclusive stuff they are missing.
Those who do are the ones who are aware of KS (or heavily into gaming so learn about it from review sites who will tell them about KS), if they want them and can afford them they'll use KS in the future (win for CMON),
if they can't afford them they're unlikely to be able to in the future (or if they can it will be at the expense of the 'new' upcoming game and exclusives) so they're probably not a market CMON feels he need to cater too strongly
Of course, (and this may be going too far off-topic) one of the more irritating aspects of using Kickstarter repeatedly is that you can't regulate 1) your outgoing cash easily (you don't know when Kickstarters are going to happen, or what they are going to cost, although some offer "$1 pledge manager" options), and 2) the delivery of products, due to all the slippage. I went through half a year of largely nothing arriving, and now everything's piling in during December/January!
If you were doing things the "normal" way, you'd decide you were in the market for something new (you're bored of existing things, your group wants to try something different, you have some spare hobby time and/or money), buy it and play it immediately. With multiple Kickstarters it might be arriving in the middle of 5 other games, it might arrive when your gaming group has just disbanded, when you're in the middle of annual crunch time...
So my resentment of the CMoN model is that it removes a lot of choice from the equation. I'll still continue to go along with it though, as long as the value is there and I still have the "FOMA". It doesn't hurt that boardgame retail prices are abysmal here in the UK - Zombicide S1 at retail used to cost more than the Kickstarter pledge shipped from the US.
On topic, I really am a fan of the R&B models - they have a pleasing solidity to them that isn't as goonish as AQ or as...non-detailed as Rivet Wars.
I do wonder if some backers are being misled about them though. CMoN claims that "What we're showing here is just an example of what a skilled painter is able to do with them." No mention of the fact that the examples are clearly resin, or on completely different bases!
Bioptic wrote: Of course, (and this may be going too far off-topic) one of the more irritating aspects of using Kickstarter repeatedly is that you can't regulate 1) your outgoing cash easily (you don't know when Kickstarters are going to happen, or what they are going to cost, although some offer "$1 pledge manager" options), and 2) the delivery of products, due to all the slippage. I went through half a year of largely nothing arriving, and now everything's piling in during December/January!
If you were doing things the "normal" way, you'd decide you were in the market for something new (you're bored of existing things, your group wants to try something different, you have some spare hobby time and/or money), buy it and play it immediately. With multiple Kickstarters it might be arriving in the middle of 5 other games, it might arrive when your gaming group has just disbanded, when you're in the middle of annual crunch time...
So my resentment of the CMoN model is that it removes a lot of choice from the equation. I'll still continue to go along with it though, as long as the value is there and I still have the "FOMA". It doesn't hurt that boardgame retail prices are abysmal here in the UK - Zombicide S1 at retail used to cost more than the Kickstarter pledge shipped from the US.
On topic, I really am a fan of the R&B models - they have a pleasing solidity to them that isn't as goonish as AQ or as...non-detailed as Rivet Wars.
I do wonder if some backers are being misled about them though. CMoN claims that "What we're showing here is just an example of what a skilled painter is able to do with them." No mention of the fact that the examples are clearly resin, or on completely different bases!
I believe the samples are actually metal.
IIRC, they're using the same plastic that they've used with the newer Guest Artist Boxes and newer heroes, and here's what some skilled painters have done with those models:
It's also of note that R&B models are a little larger scale than Zombicide, with more exaggerated proportions. I'm going snap some photos of some of the old metals with some zombicide models for reference.
R&B models are indeed on the large end of the hobby. I'd say they are pretty much the 35mm version of the 28mm scale.
Also, Mr. Smith is the first direct translation of the original metals to the board game in this KS. Grace, Albrect, and a couple of the deckhands look like re-imagined versions of some of the metals.
Have they confirmed the size of the production miniatures, though? Since they seem to be all new, no recycled sculpts, there's nothing to indicate they're sticking with the larger scale, is there? If they were, it would've seemed to make sense to recycle some sculpts... I just think hoping for all the grunts (of which there are Many) to be bigger than Zcide might be wishful thinking.
The Mr. Smith sculpt is a direct recycle. So, if that model is done in the exact same scale, then its reasonable to think the rest of the models will have that larger-bodied feel the originals had.
Are You Ready to ROCK?! A Look Into The Helrökkers
Michael here once again, and today lets look at the world famous heavy metal pirate team: the Helrökkers!
Before we begin lets cover some basics: First off, all these guys are Mercenaries, which means they will work for any faction, Wellsport or Bone Devil, that wishes to hire them. Also important- while they are a unified crew all of their own as well, they can all be used individually to stand in for their representative role on your ship.
Lastly, ROCK ON.
Presenting the first of our group, The Killmaster! Not your ordinary Quartermaster, The Killmaster brings a bit of everything to your crew.
His first action is Trade Route to Hell. Acting as his only actual Attack, and therefor source of Coin, The Killmaster features the standard 4 die 4+ to hit, with the avid caveat that Heroes hit by a 6 suffer Bleed. Want some extra boost to your Renfield Bone Devil's crew? Want an extra bit of Status Effect damage applied to your Wellsport guys? The Killmaster brings it in aces of spades.
Next up we have one of the first global effects in the game: Solo Performance! An expensive ability to be sure, but this dynamo's performances are potent enough to rob the entire enemy crew of an action next turn. True metal power cannot be contained. So, three Heroes, -3 Actions- you're basically stealing away 1/3 of their team's capabilities next turn. There isn't a crew out there that can't make use of this.
Rounding The Killmaster off we have Encore. It's here we'll note that The Killmaster doesn't function like most Quartermasters we've seen, as he has very little that directly benefits his crew. What he does have, however, is the ability to bypass all that "don't take damage" business and straight up keep them... Well straight up. Enemy think he has you with that last attack? Encore. Worried that that nasty Bleed is going to do your guy in if he does too much? Encore. Want to throw your guys at a possibly insane (yet totally awesome) suicide mission that could win you the game, but worried if it backfires? ENCORE!!!
And that is why The Killmaster is awesome.
Hier Kommt Alex! I mean Here Comes Alex- Alex of Pain! Alex here is a world famous Gunner, but like the rest of his crew, he is a performer unique in his own right. Were as most Gunners prefer just to shoot them, shoot them until their dead, and then shoot some more, Alex brings some finesse to the gig with his range of abilities.
He has a standard Gunner attack with Rose Thorns, in that he can always target Heroes. What sets this apart from most other Gunners, however, is that its 2 dice on a 2+. The trade-off here is that Alex will seldom miss, though he doesn't have the raw earning potential some of the other crewmen have.
This is more than made up for, however, in his second signature action, Are You Ready to Rock?! Once again pointing out Alex and his fellow crewmen work together, we see the second global ability, and boy, does it hurt. Are You Ready to Rock?! Silences all enemies, meaning they cant spend Coin on Actions. That. Is. METAL... Also super powerful. You can already see the nastiness in combining Alex and The Killmaster to cripple the enemy team... Sure, it's a lot of Coin, but a good strategy for them is to build everyone up to unleash one Mega Performance of Metal Death and outright shut down the enemy team for a turn. It takes lots of coordination, but it should never be overlooked.
Now, as mentioned, Alex is a Gunner who doesn't do a lot of damage- very unique, with his third ability, however, he continues his trend of punishing the enemy for merely existing. Last we have Showstopper, which is a free Reaction that punishes enemies for using Abilities near Alex. That enemy Quartermaster wants to heal guys up? Little Tom trying to wrangle your guys into a corner? They can still do it if they would like, but they're gonna have to pay for it.
Don't worry, the name The Slasher is only for show- He'll also stab, cut, gut, and bash you to death as well!
So jumping right in with Hunger for Destruction we have a Swashbuckler that rolls 2 dice and hits on a 2+, causing auto-Bleed. Again, like many of his Helrokker counterparts, he doesn't generate the most Coin of anyone out there, but he certainly makes due with what he's got. In the case here The Slasher prefers precision over raw dice. Wellsport can make good use of this due to the number of +attack dice cards and effects they have, while the Bone Devils get a Hero that hits when they need him to (and his other abilities play into their faction strengths as well)
Multi-talented is probably the most interesting ability on The Slasher, which is ironic because it does nothing in itself- instead giving him the insane ability to copy any Attack from a Deployed enemy Hero. I love effects that turn an enemies greatest strength against them! Think of the nasty combinations here: You're playing Wellsport, so you get The Slasher and copy Patchwork Porter's Soul Storm...except then you throw down an Unbridled Fury card to give him +3 dice on the attack... The amount of Coin generated makes me warm inside... Or lets say you're playing Bone Devils and they have Blackout Bart... Suddenly there's a surprise Bullseye or Greased Lightning Barrage. You can never discount this ability, and there has been several times where an unwary opponent will deploy a Hero, only to immediately have The Slasher utilize his attacks and win the game.
So, last up for The Slasher we have Nirvana, which proves you cant keep a good musician down. All in all, this Reaction makes The Slasher one of the most survivable Heroes in the game- as long as you're willing to pay for it. Note that this functions on friendly or enemy Tide Cards, so it will add some extra through to your opponent and put them in a no-win scenario: I need to play this Tide Card to kill The Slasher... But by playing it he's just going to heal... and then I can't kill him... Aw hell!
So rounding him out we have a Swashbuckler that is good at keeping himself alive and turns the enemies greatest strengths into his own. That is a style I can get behind!
DRUM SOLO!! Thunder Lars, that is. The Brute of the Helrokkers, Lars bullies his way around the board. Like most Brutes, Lars specializes in making the enemy pay for dealing him damage, and nowhere is this more apparent than his Mace of Valhalla ability, where if he's suffered 10 or more damage then his thunderous choir dishes out Silence to all nearby enemies. Basic bit of advice: don't leave Lars alive- take him down if you're going to target him!
Next up we have Thunderous Beat, which offers some nice board control to Lars- it also means that Gangplanks become super deadly for a Hero to be standing on, least Lars come up and bring the pain, knocking them Overboard and out of play! And what if you start next to him (like some foolish attack that didn't work out??!), then he'll just BAMBAMBAMBAM (I'm... not good with drum sound effect...) and begin pushing everyone back. Push, move up, Push again- BAM- into the drink with ya!
Then you can follow up and Bring the Thunder!! Which not only removes those pesky Condition tokens from a friendly Hero but also gives them +1 attack die- that's right, rock enthusiasts, here we have a Brute that also acts in some ways as a Quartermaster!
Wellsport will love to take advantage of this and Lars and Miss Mags can team up and give 1 Hero a staggering +2 attack dice for the rest of the turn. Meanwhile on the Bone Devil side they have a large number of healing-on-hit effects, and Lars just amplifies that to 11 (while also helping to remove Conditions- something the Bone Devils struggle at!)
Of course, Lars is also at home pumping his own Helrokkers and pushing them to extremes- most of them already hit on a 2+, and now they will have more attacks to work their magic with!
Le petit empereur himself, Napoleon, is the Captain of the infamous Helrokkers. Believing him to be the rock and roll messiah due to his invention of platform shoes, Napoleon doesn't let his stature get in the way of his raw I AM A BETTER COMMANDER THAN YOU tactics.
He starts with Inspiring Strike, which is a basic 4 dice 4+, but allows you to give a Deployed Hero a Coin. Yes, he and Miss Mags from Wellsport share this ability, meaning you can double down and gain a huge economy of Coin! Or you can take him with the Bone Devils to help pump out the expensive abilities all that much faster.
This is very important seeing as how most of the Helrokkers have some expensive abilities (as we've seen)- Napoleon takes a lot of the pain in paying those costs out with help from this ability.
So, taking a moment, let me preface this by saying Napoleon is the first Captain we've seen who excels at manipulating the Tide Deck... and boy, he does not mess around when it comes to his job! Total Recall allows him to pull any discarded Tide Card back from your discard pile- the effects of this are two-fold. First, the obvious benefit- you get to double up, triple up... quadra...up.. whatever... the Tide Cards you've already played. Want your Deckhands and Bosuns to make a huge push across the lanes? Pull back See Some Hustle and let them go crazy. Want to pump a massive amount of Coin into one Hero in particular? Play Rum and then play Rum again, gaining them six Coin to use as they please!
The second benefit is much more subtle, but still just as powerful. Don't want to suffer the ire of the Kraken? Pull those Kraken symbol cards back into your hand! Did an opponent summon the beast then laugh at you because you had more icons? Show them your raw tactical genius by pulling all those cards back into your hand then laugh, LAUGH at them as the eye of the beast suddenly turns back upon them! AHAHAHAHA!!!
Ok, so that all sounds great, but it requires me to have the cards I need! Well, I'm glad you brought that up. Napoleon knows just when to act, he's a genius after all, and nowhere is that seen more than his Perfect Strategy ability. Sure, it's expensive at six Coin, but searching your Tide Deck for that specific game-winning card will always be worth it! And remember, once you have it you can keep pulling it back with Total Recall. The fact that Napoleon is a Mercenary means everyone gets to benefit from this, and all opponents will suffer for it.
Napoleon exemplifies a Captain who doesn't take the fight to the enemy. No, he sits back, lets his crew do the hard work, and wins through sheer force of will and tactics. He is a welcome addition to any crew that feels they have enough raw killing power and instead want to opt for something a bit more subtle.
Use his tactical mind well and he will lead you to victory, disregard it and suffer the fate of countless enemies who have stood against him!
And that, backers, wraps up the Helrökkers! These Mercenary Heroes are KICKSTARTER EXCLUSIVE, so be sure to get your friends in on the action, least they be assigned to being a mere Deckhand (the roadie of the sea) while you rock and roll your way across the seven seas in search of plunder and the lost treasure of Les Paul, err, Davy Jones!
Until next time!
-Michael Shinall
Pretty cool update here. Only about 5K away from hitting the next stretch
You honestly didn't think Wellsport and the Bone Devils were the only pirate factions on the high seas did you?
In honor of completing our first week (with an explosive 2400 backers Week 1 alone!) we're proud to bring you an all new faction for your enjoyment: Mazu's Dreadful Curse!
Mazu's Dreadful Curse is a FULL EXPANSION BOX featuring the following:
5x Hero Miniatures
24x Deckhand Miniatures (3 Sculpts!)
6x Bosun Miniatures
1x Unique 30 Card Tide Deck
3x Junker Boards (See how they interact with the Galleons of Wellsport and Bone Devils below!)
3x Objective Tiles
3x Deployment Point Tokens
3x Windgate Tokens (this blessing of Mazu allows the pirates to quickly move between the different ships!)
By purchasing this expansion box, you'll also receive the following KICKSTARTER EXCLUSIVE bonuses:
1x "Nemo, the Lost" Miniature
1x Sculpted Deck Gun Miniature
To claim this faction as your own, merely add $40 to your pledge and we'll get it sorted once the Pledge Manager is released!
So, just who are the crew of the Dreadful Curse? Let's take a look:
And the Kickstarter Exclusive:
As always, these models are sold UNPAINTED, the paintjobs above just show what a skilled painter could accomplish
Lastly, we'll show you their Hero Cards and just how their ships interacts with the Galleons of the Wellsport and the Bone Devils.
Mazu's Dreadful Curse brings lightning speed and Hit-and-Run tactics to the field! These deadly pirates get in, destroy what they need to destroy, then escape before the enemy even knows what hit them!
The Kickstarter Exclusive "Nemo, the Lost"
And lastly, the Board Layout for when Mazu are fighting Wellsport or the Bone Devils:
You may notice the small Whirlwind Icons around Mazu's ships! Those are Windgates and they allow rapid teleportation between the 3 Mazu ships! Note however, a crafty enemy can make use of them as well!
We're rapidly approaching our latest Stretch Goal, dear backers. Just one small push and things will really start to heat up!
skarsol wrote: It continually baffles me why companies trying to run a professional KS fail to get even minor proofreading done on their copy. :(
I only skimmed it; nothing stood out to me. What did I miss?
Real quick once over:
In general: dashes should be x-y or x - y, not x- y. Ellipses and capitalization are inconsistent.
basics: First -> basics: first
the avid caveat -> the added caveat
Heroes hit by a 6 -> Heroes hit on a 6 (debatable)
Renfield Bone Devil's crew VS Wellsport guys -> should be Devil crew to match Wellsport guys, or else "Devils" if it's plural.
keep them... Well straight up -> keep them... well... straight up (at least the lowercase w, the cadence they're going for needs the extra ellipses)
Were as most Gunners -> Whereas most Gunners
until their dead -> until they're dead
is that its 2 dice -> is that it's 2 dice
Are You Ready to Rock?! Silences -> Are You Ready to Rock?! silences
they cant spend -> they can't spend
That. Is. METAL... Also super powerful. -> blarg
Now, as mentioned, Alex is a Gunner who doesn't do a lot of damage- very unique, with his third ability, however, he continues his trend of punishing the enemy for merely existing. -> Rough. Maybe "Now, as mentioned, Alex is a Gunner who doesn't do a lot of direct damage (very unique), however, with his third ability he continues his trend of punishing the enemy for merely existing."
makes due -> makes do
need him to (and his other abilities play into their faction strengths as well) -> no ending punctuation
you cant keep -> you can't keep
add some extra through to your opponent -> I think they wanted "thought"
standing on, least Lars come up -> standing on, lest Lars come up
action, least they be assigned -> action, lest they be assigned
Whomever painted that has an evil sense of humor..
The thing is, I could get behind one thing like that. But of 4 crews, now 2 of them are homage type crews (with this one having a kung-fu panda, too, and the first being the KISS band).
The game already has such a unique and strong theme, sticking to that would have been so much better, imo. Start out with a pirate and a skeleton theme, then add a cthulhu one, and watch the money roll in...
As it is, it seems to me that they've applied a business model / strategy that worked well for things like Zombicide where it's fun to run around as Chuck Norris or whatever, but it just doesn't translate as well here.
skarsol wrote: It continually baffles me why companies trying to run a professional KS fail to get even minor proofreading done on their copy. :(
I only skimmed it; nothing stood out to me. What did I miss?
Real quick once over:
In general: dashes should be x-y or x - y, not x- y. Ellipses and capitalization are inconsistent.
basics: First -> basics: first
the avid caveat -> the added caveat
Heroes hit by a 6 -> Heroes hit on a 6 (debatable)
Renfield Bone Devil's crew VS Wellsport guys -> should be Devil crew to match Wellsport guys, or else "Devils" if it's plural.
keep them... Well straight up -> keep them... well... straight up (at least the lowercase w, the cadence they're going for needs the extra ellipses)
Were as most Gunners -> Whereas most Gunners
until their dead -> until they're dead
is that its 2 dice -> is that it's 2 dice
Are You Ready to Rock?! Silences -> Are You Ready to Rock?! silences
they cant spend -> they can't spend
That. Is. METAL... Also super powerful. -> blarg
Now, as mentioned, Alex is a Gunner who doesn't do a lot of damage- very unique, with his third ability, however, he continues his trend of punishing the enemy for merely existing. -> Rough. Maybe "Now, as mentioned, Alex is a Gunner who doesn't do a lot of direct damage (very unique), however, with his third ability he continues his trend of punishing the enemy for merely existing."
makes due -> makes do
need him to (and his other abilities play into their faction strengths as well) -> no ending punctuation
you cant keep -> you can't keep
add some extra through to your opponent -> I think they wanted "thought"
standing on, least Lars come up -> standing on, lest Lars come up
action, least they be assigned -> action, lest they be assigned
Oh, so a bunch of pedantic nonsense only you care about. Gotcha.
How is the chinese pirate crew a homage? Serious question. I get the KISS crew and personally dont like them, pretty much for the reasons you stated. But these guys look to me like a 'real' crew with a theme of mobility, who happen to have a single homage character thrown in.
Edit:
Its not pedantic nonsense :( its proper grammer and punctuation :( :(
Have you played League of Legends, Dota, etc...? They're over-flowing with odd-ball characters, and a Panda warrior doesn't stick out as a "licensed knock-off" in the least.
Not even close to master blaster. King fu panda, sure.
That said, the whole original line was quirky. There's a guy using a giant eel as a weapon, one with a shark tooth spear, one using pigbombs, a swabby with a mop. So, nine of these are far off the original feel, even the KISS crew. I don't mind it, but can see how it's not for everyone.
There were some more traditional style models before, so maybe there will a couple crews here.
Alpharius wrote: I'm liking it all so far - but would also prefer more 'themes' and less 'wacky homages'.
I'd also not like to pay $40 a crew too!
I don't think the price is that bad - considering you get the 6-7 crew members, plus what, 24 of the chaff? Plus tiles for the ship(s) and all the cards and whatnot. Though it strikes me now as that's a ton of chaff to have to paint.
Oh, so a bunch of pedantic nonsense only you care about. Gotcha.
i sea watt you did their.
There are more egregious errors in this post than in anything you're nitpicking about a blog style KS update.
You can concern yourself with forgetting apostrophes for contractions, or correcting a conversational run-on sentence, or bothering with the spacing of dashes and ellipses.
When it comes to it, it's incredibly pedantic to pick at them for, as I said, a KS Update post.
You're going to just ignore the completly wrong word choices? Got it. Also, an official company communication with the goal of soliciting money should reasonably be held to a different standard than people shooting the gak on a forum, no? Regardless, we obviously have different standards, and I guess thats why they feel comfortable pooping on English. ; P
skarsol wrote: You're going to just ignore the completly wrong word choices? Got it. Also, an official company communication with the goal of soliciting money should reasonably be held to a different standard than people shooting the gak on a forum, no? Regardless, we obviously have different standards, and I guess thats why they feel comfortable pooping on English. ; P
You can "wink wink" all you want; I think you're being COMPLETELY pedantic.
I think that standard, for a conversational KS post (which is basically a blog post), is fine there, and to say they're "pooping on English" is pretty absurd.
My standards are plenty high, as I make part of my living writing. Unlike you, I simply understand the purpose and context of said update posts, and know most of the things you're nitpicking are hardly a poor representation of...what did you call it? Oh yeah, a "professional kickstarter."
Like I said, we obviously have different standards. Why take the time to make fancy art to show off your product and not take the time to make fancy prose to do the same? *shrug* It obviously doesnt bother you, and that's fine, but it equally obviously does bother other people and the cost to make it seem like they give a hoot is minimal. Why not put your best foot foward in what is essentially an advertisement for their product? Writing it off as a "blog post" doesnt work for me as I expect a professional company to proofread their official blog posts. Anyway, we're obviously not going to agree here, so be it.
In re the actual product, I'd love to get a couple of the models but the range as a whole isn't enticing enough to get my money. Some of the art (especially the musicians) is just a bit too far over the top. Will be interesting to see how it translates.
I think you should send the list you compiled directly to CMON via PM/e-mail and not let this thread get dragged off topic and descend into the depths of a Flame War from which there might be no return!
skarsol wrote: In re the actual product, I'd love to get a couple of the models but the range as a whole isn't enticing enough to get my money.
This is where I'm currently at (pledged for $1) but I'm hoping for a Cthulhu gang that I can buy stand-alone in the pledge manager. Love the skeleton gang, too!
I too wish they had of stayed a bit more thematically pirate in their miniatures. There were a ton of fantastic "Ron n' Bones" miniatures that I would love to have, and yet we're getting Not KISS (although Lars instead of Peter Criss, and Lars is now huge instead of being a dwarf like he should be with that name), Kung Fu Panda and Eastern derivatives.
There are so many good sculpts which would have solidified this line a hell of a better to begin with, and then you could of added in more of the wacky stuff.
You get no option with the Hellrokkers right? They come with the basic set? If so, man I would have preferred to have been able to switch them out for something different.
Just paint them rockers up like the New York Dolls instead of KISS, who were better not only musically but also in their fashion sense!
David Bowie would have been a far more logical captain than the Napoleon guy.
I hope the panda gets his hat back like in the art.
I'm usually all for pop culture references but I also hate the Kiss minis too. I would have rather seen them rip off some pirate movies / shows. Heck they could even add a pirate firefly crew, they were pirates, just in space! I do like the panda though.
The Kraken has been revealed, but it seems it's just tentacles on bases:
Which, while cool, I've got tons of similar things from models like Monster Pocalypse's Ancient Osheroth:
Spoiler:
So, it's not something I personally need. Still hoping for some sweet Cthluhu stuff, but the Kraken was something I was really looking forward to, and it doesn't seem like it will be getting a whole miniature (obviously it would have been an add-on, not included, but I think PVC would actually lend itself well to a model like that, unlike many others).
This KS is really plodding along ... I like the tentacles OK but they don't strike me as something that's really going to get the pledges rolling in. Hopefully they add a head/mouth at some point too.
Plus since no one else has mentioned them - they added some more buy-ins. First some T&A for the Mazu crew:
Spoiler:
Plus different-colored dice for each faction: (again - a little underwhelming here)
I just think they have their business model completely locked in:
- $100 Base game for RRP, or slightly higher than RRP. Can sell very high volume through direct sales, ensure success through exclusives funded directly through the Kickstarter, so no risk.
- Many, many extras at a higher than normal price, very solid profit margin, are lapped up by collectors and resellers.
- $40/50 Expansions sold for slight discount off RRP (equivalent to standard retailer discount) which they get as direct sales, throw in an exclusive model so that collectors can't wait for retail.
Personally, I'd like to see them actually expand the contents of the base box, or expand the expansion - how many mercenaries does one person need? Then again, try telling that to the average DOTA player.
Shoot, if somebody ever wants to run any sort of pirate- themed RPG, you're going to have plenty of choices of players and NPCs by the time this thing wraps.
Based on how far they have stretches planned out for this one, I think they expected it to pick up a little more traction than it has. I'm fairly certain the Asians aren't the only other crew that has been tested.
Also:
The Kraken Has Been Unleashed! Wellsport Calls For Reinforcements...
Another stretch goal down! All backers will now receive NINE sculpted Kraken tendrils with their pledge!
Now that the Kraken has been unleashed, however, Wellsport has called for some reinforcements to aid in taking the beast down!
*Please note that all miniatures come UNPAINTED. The painted versions above merely showcase what a skilled painter could accomplish with them.
Ah, "Not so Noble" Baston, a Brute that really wishes he was a Swashbuckler! This addition to the Wellsport Brotherhood pushes their role as the premier damage dealers in the game, I mean, even their Brutes deal damage like Swashbucklers! Of course, Baston does not fight fair, choosing to get extra blows in via his Low Blow attack. However, for it to be effective, he needs the opponent to be at a disadvantage, that is where Great Cleave comes into play!
Failing all that, Baston does have a nasty surprise for any enemy targeting him: While he may not have the rawHP that other Brutes have, he does have the nasty Tip of the Hat ability, meaning if you target him and don't kill him, you'll be Stunned (aka -1 Action)!
If you really want to push the offense theme, then Baston is your Brute of choice!
Like the gameplay powers for Baston. Looks like he'll be fun to play.
I noticed this also. I mean there seems to be some updates every few days, but compaired to AQ that ended with 772k, I dont see this one getting that far. Maybe if it was Scifi...or more fantasy. Im not a fan of pirates personally. Its a weird inbetween for me, kind of like Wild/weird west. Not quite fantasy and not scifi, both which I like the most. Granted it has fantasy elements, al la Undead, but its still pirates. Gameplay it looks fun, but not sure in its sticking power. I see AQ keep expanding with more places,heroes,places,bad guys. This is always gonna just be a MOBA in ships. ( Well I guess you could do a storm the beach kind of thing...)
Sloths could have been the next big thing if ADW had actually done something with those Ice Age Mammals, and could have been riding the success train to the bank rather than skipping town with a few grand.
Maybe we need a sloth crew. Zombie Lovecraftian Sloths.
I think the ships are really inconsequential too. MOBAs are MOBAs. That doesn't change. It's all about being in your base, shooting your dudes. Boats, castles, islands, sloths... A base is a base. And at the end of the day, all your base are belong to us, remember?
I didn't like rivet wars. Was a bit too static. Was afraid it was going to be Dust Tactics by another name, thankfully it wasn't that bad but not a game I see getting a lot of play like Zombicide.
I got an opportunity to Play Arcadia Quest, despite my absolute hate for Chibi art style the game was was rather fun and nifty. Makes me wonder how good or bad Super Dungeon is.
Piston Honda wrote: I didn't like rivet wars. Was a bit too static. Was afraid it was going to be Dust Tactics by another name, thankfully it wasn't that bad but not a game I see getting a lot of play like Zombicide.
I got an opportunity to Play Arcadia Quest, despite my absolute hate for Chibi art style the game was was rather fun and nifty. Makes me wonder how good or bad Super Dungeon is.
Sad you didn't like Rivet, but thats okay! Like you, I thought it was going to be similar to Dust Tactics, but was really happy when I found out it wasn't.
I have both in my collection. They're really completely different. Only thing similar is the art style.
Arcadia Quest is a fair bit simpler, and i think lends itself a bit better to pick up and go gaming, especially with the ability to basically "troll" opponents (thats half the fun).
SDE is quite a bit more robust. I like them both quite a bit, and the art style for both has proven beneficial to getting my spouse to play them!
Piston Honda wrote: I didn't like rivet wars. Was a bit too static. Was afraid it was going to be Dust Tactics by another name, thankfully it wasn't that bad but not a game I see getting a lot of play like Zombicide.
I got an opportunity to Play Arcadia Quest, despite my absolute hate for Chibi art style the game was was rather fun and nifty. Makes me wonder how good or bad Super Dungeon is.
Super Dungeon is great fun and Forgotten King should be delivered to backers within the next month. It's the new core set and as well as the classic "players vs. GM" mode of the original, there's other modes introduced such as co-op vs. AI and Warband Skirmish. I would heartily recommend trying it.
I suspect it's a combination of MOBA style gameplay not being as big an attraction as they hoped
Christmas
and the lack of an 'official' $1 pledge slot
(yes you can do it, but casual backers especially won't know that and may well decide the kids/partners Xmas present is more important)
it was also after the bases in October and Smog (really poor in terms of cash) in November which may have worn out some potential backers
Thank you for reminding me, I wasn't aware it was my opinion.
I just mean to say that a lot of other folk must disagree as they are a very successful company, in response to your query about how they make money...
Mantics Scifi is far better look wise then its fantasy. night and day for me. I love Deadzone and the models for it are really great and the price is amazing. I will proably get into Warpath 2.0 depending on rules as I have so much stuff in deadzone I will just need vehicles. The terrain is also leaps and bounds past whatever GW puts out.
I personally love the Chibi. I did Krossmaster Arena, SDE, and now AQ. AQ is by far my favorite, and I had everything for SDE. SDEs problem was it took hours and hours to play. Some people like that, and some games I dont mind taking a few hours but it was consitently 2-3 hours a game and it was a huge uphill battle for the good guys. To much keeping track of badguy stuff I felt in SDE.
AQ is very different, but some parts are close to the same. As mentioned AQ is a very "hey you for 30 min? lets play" kind of game. Very fast, and you get to troll your friends but have to also fight the board to win.
BACK to rum and Bones though...I feel its a great idea, just the theme might have been misplaced. So far im all in on it as it looks enjoyable, and Lovecraft team might really spike the profits. They should some a hint to this though sooner rather then later to get people in. I just hope this wont take away from AQ expantions!
But also I think the contents of the $100 pledge are fairly lackluster. Take out the fake stretch goals, and things like dice and the cannons that should be in the box already. And what are you left with?
The Helrokkers - the consensus on which seems to be pretty negative. At least from what I've seen (and I certainly agree).
The Kraken - which everyone seemed to be pretty underwhelmed by also.
And then a half-dozen singles. None of which are bad - but none of which are really amazing either.
Yeah, this has been my reaction to most of the reveals. The bones crew is so cool... it's surprising many of the others are so lackluster.
And the Cthulhu crew, which seemed like an obvious inclusion, seems not to be, which has got to just be leaving money on the table . I really wonder how they arrived at the crew themes... standard pirate, undead pirate (both cool)... but then not-KISS, and French... not a strong theme.
Can't say I'm blown away by the French crew either. At least it will hopefully draw enough funds to get through another stretch goal today (it was on track to be 2 days from now).
Really - I wish they'd just make resin singles available - I'd happily pick up a handful of single sculpts.
I decided to take a look at this since Tamburlaine will probably bug me about it again. As I figured, I'm really not very impressed with the designs. The Helrockers or whatever are kind of lame (though, I do like the name Thunder Lars for some reason. ), the French aren't nearly fabulous nor French enough, the skeletons are way too cartoony for my tastes, and rhe Chinese are juat kind of there. Overall, there's just a lot of bland designs here.
But, as Tamburlaine already knows, I really don't like pirates, so my distaste isn't any real surprise. I will say though, afull faction of pirare sloths might actually get me to consider backing it.
Finally, some of the figures from the Ron&Bones line that I wasn't able to pick up. Wish they had thrown in more of the old figs rather than giving us some stupid 80's hair band rejects.
This one is getting expensive for me with the two expansions thrown in.
Personally, La Brise Sanguine have quickly become tied for my favorite faction (along with the Bone Devils). I'm a little bummed to see there isn't more enthusiasm for them, but, oh well! Dante and Madeline have become two of my favorite character sculpts.
I'd like to see a pledge for base game and both expansions with a better discount, right now all the SG seem pretty false, value isn't there. I don't view KS from established companies as altruistic, I want a deal if I'm giving money months ahead with no firm release date or regular purchase protection.
Alpharius wrote:The French are a perfect Pirate Theme!
I'm fine with them as an idea - but in execution, design-wise they don't seem that different from the existing pirates. It is also a little weird that we have pirates, undead pirates - and then all the other factions are just different nationalities of pirates.
cincydooley wrote:I Agree. I quite like the french.
I have zero interest in a Lovecraft/Cthulu themed crew. But then again, I personally think Cthulu is stupid.
I'm not a Cthulu fan either. But it would be nice to see something a little more different from the existing pirates as a faction.
I agree with you about the French. There's nothing to really set them apart from the other human pirates. I would have preferred that they had gone really off the walls with the designs. How about a crew of animal people? How about a crew of clowns? How about a crew of a bunch of bears? That would've been better than a bunch of crews of samey, filthy looking dudes and one crew of dead guys. At least the dead guys are visually distinct from the other crews.
The space pirates could be kind of fun. Everyone with big bubble dome helmets and old school 50s rayguns?
Prior to seeing them, I'd expected the French to really be over the top in their Frenchness. Mimes, chefs, tiny guys with giant hats (which I guess they do have technically)
They should do a SG to replace those poor "not KISS" figures with anything....... I'll watch and see how it develops, SW Armada already preordered next year and Imoerial Assault looks tempting so......
Barzam wrote: I agree with you about the French. There's nothing to really set them apart from the other human pirates. I would have preferred that they had gone really off the walls with the designs. How about a crew of animal people? How about a crew of clowns? How about a crew of a bunch of bears? That would've been better than a bunch of crews of samey, filthy looking dudes and one crew of dead guys. At least the dead guys are visually distinct from the other crews.
That all just sounds awful. Just awful.
Maybe I'm crazy, but the French Pirates look pretty visually distinct to me from the "regular" pirates.
But yeah, animal people, clowns, and bears all just sound terrible.
I'd love to see a Hadross crossover from Wrath of Kings, but thats about it.
Anyone have any experience with the material they're using for this project? How does the quality of the actual sculpts you get compare to the showcase photos, which I assume are based on resin masters?
Anyone have any experience with the material they're using for this project? How does the quality of the actual sculpts you get compare to the showcase photos, which I assume are based on resin masters?
Good point! I would also like to see a painting video, with some tips of how you apply paint on this kind of minis, if they should be undercoated e.t.c, like they did for WoK.
Anyone have any experience with the material they're using for this project? How does the quality of the actual sculpts you get compare to the showcase photos, which I assume are based on resin masters?
Not quite resin quality, but IMO very good, and on part or better than metal.
Automatically Appended Next Post:
Introducing: The SKULLKICKERS!
Backers, we're proud to announce Rum & Bones' first official tie-in!
SKULLKICKERS is a fan favorite fantasy action-comedy comic series published by Image Comics. In Skullkickers a gang of hard-headed mercenaries kill monsters and cause havoc in their search for money, fame, and adventure. The cast of pirates appearing in Rum & Bones come from the third volume of Skullkickers, titled "Six Shooter on the Seven Seas". You can read Skullkickers online, order books, and find out more information at www.skullkickers.com
Meet the heroes that make up the Skullkickers gang:
(The figures come unpainted. The images above are just examples of what a skilled painter is able to do with them.)
Rum & Bones is proud to feature the Skullkickers! And of course they will be a fine addition to any crew as they are a full band of Mercenaries. Please note that this pack is a Kickstarter Exclusive! To get the Skullkickers, just add $25 to your pledge and after the campaign is finished you'll be able to select what the extra funds are for.
It's the final week of the campaign, mateys! The next stretch goal is within sight, let's keep pushing and see how far we can sail this ship!!
Love the look of the Skull Kickers! I had heard this may be happening, but really excited to know that it is! Skull Kickers is a really fun comic, if you've not heard of it!
Apparently the painted masters for this are metal rather than resin, actually.
The plastic (based off my experience with Zombicide) is pretty good on detail, but mould lines can be quite variable (non-existent, or running over really awkward areas) and sometimes forces compromises (like filling in overhangs in the folded crook of someone's arm). By now, they should mostly be designing the sculpts around this process - certainly every wave of Zombicide has been an improvement on the last. They are also larger than standard miniatures, which helps detail - Zombicide is 35mm, these look even taller and certainly chunkier.
Thanks for the info. Seems like I'll be pledging for the minis. Any shortcomings coming from the single piece nature of the product can be solved with a knife and some gray stuff anyway.
Bioptic wrote: Apparently the painted masters for this are metal rather than resin, actually.
The plastic (based off my experience with Zombicide) is pretty good on detail, but mould lines can be quite variable (non-existent, or running over really awkward areas) and sometimes forces compromises (like filling in overhangs in the folded crook of someone's arm). By now, they should mostly be designing the sculpts around this process - certainly every wave of Zombicide has been an improvement on the last. They are also larger than standard miniatures, which helps detail - Zombicide is 35mm, these look even taller and certainly chunkier.
I know that I'm hoping all of that = some really nice miniatures here!
Bioptic wrote: Apparently the painted masters for this are metal rather than resin, actually.
The plastic (based off my experience with Zombicide) is pretty good on detail, but mould lines can be quite variable (non-existent, or running over really awkward areas) and sometimes forces compromises (like filling in overhangs in the folded crook of someone's arm). By now, they should mostly be designing the sculpts around this process - certainly every wave of Zombicide has been an improvement on the last. They are also larger than standard miniatures, which helps detail - Zombicide is 35mm, these look even taller and certainly chunkier.
I know that I'm hoping all of that = some really nice miniatures here!
If it means anything to anyone here, the most recent Zombicide sculpts (from Rue Morgue) are really, really high detail. Easily the best I've seen from a plastic 1 piece.
I haven't received my copy of Rue Morgue yet. How are the mold lines? I HATE HATE HATE (foams at the mouth the mold lines on boardgame soft plastic. I'm currently getting rid of the mold lines on Prison Outbreak. Are the mold lines on Rue Morgue any better??
Oh, and glad to see Skullkickers. Last crossover I saw them was in Munchkin, and that was some time ago!
Anyone have any experience with the material they're using for this project? How does the quality of the actual sculpts you get compare to the showcase photos, which I assume are based on resin masters?
Not quite resin quality, but IMO very good, and on part or better than metal.
Please could you explain how you reached this conclusion? I assume that you meant on a par with or better than metal.
My only experience with CMON plastics are from Sedition Wars and Zombicide, while the Zombicide figures are indeed very good for boardgame plastics they do NOT hold sharp detail as well as metal can.
Indeed, if the CMON plastics were on a par with or better than metal, why would CMON use painted metal models to showcase their product, rather than painted plastics?
I'm not backing this KS (I explained my general CMON misgivings to you in the Big Child Creative thread!) but I am definitely interested in the forthcoming The Others KS, if only for the miniatures; if CMON have indeed improved their plastics to the point where they can equal metals I would LOVE to see some comparison pictures.
1. The CMON plastics have continued to improve from the first Zombicide campaign in a considerable manner. They've moved to a stiffer plastic blend than the first game, and it's a bit harder and certainly holds detail better (well, IMO.)
2. They've also moved their production to a new factory, which, based on what I've seen, has played a large part in their improved quality.
3. The one plastic The Others model I own is ridiculous. The detail is better than any non HIPS plastic I've ever seen.
That's a pretty basic iPhone 5 photo I took, but hopefully you can see what I'm talking about there.
4. I'm guessing they're using the metals because those were produced as the masters and then painted as such by the studio artists at Big Child.
His Master's Voice wrote: Many thanks, that does look incredible for plastic. Any comments on how it cleans?
I actually haven't even touched it. The cast is super, super clean. There's a slight mould line on the back. I'll snap a photo later when my fussy kid goes to bed.
1. The CMON plastics have continued to improve from the first Zombicide campaign in a considerable manner. They've moved to a stiffer plastic blend than the first game, and it's a bit harder and certainly holds detail better (well, IMO.)
2. They've also moved their production to a new factory, which, based on what I've seen, has played a large part in their improved quality.
3. The one plastic The Others model I own is ridiculous. The detail is better than any non HIPS plastic I've ever seen.
That's a pretty basic iPhone 5 photo I took, but hopefully you can see what I'm talking about there.
4. I'm guessing they're using the metals because those were produced as the masters and then painted as such by the studio artists at Big Child.
That's the Pride miniature from The Others game there was a handful sold at Gencon this year and a few others went out some other people (I have one). It will be available as part of The Others game.
As Cincy says lovely miniature holds the detail very well there are a few mold lines here and there in tricky areas like between the fingers but for the most part it's a very clean casting. Made by Dust Studios who are also doing the Blood Rage and new Sedition Wars miniatures.
Now, those Skull Kickers! I like them a lot. I know I'm just spoiled as the only prior Kickstarters I have backed were Kingdom Death, Super Dungeon Explore, and Zombicide Season 3, but it's kind of a bummer to see it take so long to hit a stretch goal.
The Fragile Breath wrote: Now, those Skull Kickers! I like them a lot. I know I'm just spoiled as the only prior Kickstarters I have backed were Kingdom Death, Super Dungeon Explore, and Zombicide Season 3, but it's kind of a bummer to see it take so long to hit a stretch goal.
Well, they're setting each stretch goal as 25 grand, it's not from an existing franchise, and it's launching over Christmas! They are however putting in add-ons with no funding required, which explains the gaps between stretches. It does mean that there's quite a lot of content already available though - just that the core pledge lacks value, and you're looking at nearly $200 for the game, 2 expansions and a few mercenaries.
DaveC wrote: That's the Pride miniature from The Others game there was a handful sold at Gencon this year and a few others went out some other people (I have one). It will be available as part of The Others game.
As Cincy says lovely miniature holds the detail very well there are a few mold lines here and there in tricky areas like between the fingers but for the most part it's a very clean casting. Made by Dust Studios who are also doing the Blood Rage and new Sedition Wars miniatures.
Some detail shots I took awhile ago
Spoiler:
Sorry to hijack, but I like this model, and am curious as the game release, etc. Where is the detail?
It's for the currently unreleased title The Others, which is scheduled some time 1st or 2nd quarter next year. Minis are by studio mcvey; rules are by guillotine; producer I believe is rumored but not confirmed to be CMoN
Anyone have any experience with the material they're using for this project? How does the quality of the actual sculpts you get compare to the showcase photos, which I assume are based on resin masters?
Not quite resin quality, but IMO very good, and on part or better than metal.
Automatically Appended Next Post:
Introducing: The SKULLKICKERS!
Backers, we're proud to announce Rum & Bones' first official tie-in!
SKULLKICKERS is a fan favorite fantasy action-comedy comic series published by Image Comics. In Skullkickers a gang of hard-headed mercenaries kill monsters and cause havoc in their search for money, fame, and adventure. The cast of pirates appearing in Rum & Bones come from the third volume of Skullkickers, titled "Six Shooter on the Seven Seas". You can read Skullkickers online, order books, and find out more information at www.skullkickers.com
Meet the heroes that make up the Skullkickers gang:
(The figures come unpainted. The images above are just examples of what a skilled painter is able to do with them.)
Rum & Bones is proud to feature the Skullkickers! And of course they will be a fine addition to any crew as they are a full band of Mercenaries. Please note that this pack is a Kickstarter Exclusive! To get the Skullkickers, just add $25 to your pledge and after the campaign is finished you'll be able to select what the extra funds are for.
It's the final week of the campaign, mateys! The next stretch goal is within sight, let's keep pushing and see how far we can sail this ship!!
Love the look of the Skull Kickers! I had heard this may be happening, but really excited to know that it is! Skull Kickers is a really fun comic, if you've not heard of it!
spiralingcadaver wrote: It's for the currently unreleased title The Others, which is scheduled some time 1st or 2nd quarter next year. Minis are by studio mcvey; rules are by guillotine; producer I believe is rumored but not confirmed to be CMoN
The Hell Rokkers and all their buddies can now officially be their own crew. Not sure what that entails for deckhands, bosuns, and ships, but you could easily substitute one faction's stuff in I guess.
Maybe Mr. Black will shed some light on that in the future.
I was kind of hoping hey'd have that pirate Santa they had posted on their Facebook. A pirate Santa merc would indeed be interesting.
I'll settle for Bangaranging at least until we see something from the deep.
Well, that's a different Pan than before. Fits the pirate theme better, so no complaints. Still not sold on the whole game. I think like many I am waiting for a crew that really draws me in. Maybe I (we?) shouldn't be so picky considering the lack of pirate games out there?
I just want to know when they are going to re-use another ron & bones sculpt - LOGAN!!!
He is the coolest character they had and I for one need at least one heroic, unexaggerated character to use with the others! I pledged for this KS even though I am not a fan of every character (they are very exaggerated, but some seem over the top). He is the main reason I pledged, hoping they would add him as they used many of the other R&B sculpts and I remember seeing his picture in the dakka KS preview thread. PLEASE MR BLACK! GIVE US LOGAN!
Pretty sure im going to back out. Really looks a lot less profitable then Arcadia Quest was if I ever decide to sell it all. Not really one of my top themes and the characters/sculpts are not doing it for me. The undead are great and I like the panda but that's bout it. Needs more fantasy added to it.
quickfuze wrote: Man I want to buy in so bad, but its almost $300 for everything...grrrr
This.
Plus Christmas, meh Visual Design, KS Fatigue, Waiting on so many other delayed projects (from CMoN and others), competition for my dollars from things available now and not in 8-10-12 months/Christmas 2015 with KS delays factored in (unless it's shipping from China in May? And after the PM finishes in Feb?) and now having SO many boardgames. Still, the price is what ultimately makes it or breaks it, and it's too much here, given all the factors above and way too many $5 boardgame plastic add-on figures.
Of course we don't need all the miniatures and add-ons, and a 'base' pledge looks to offer a lot of value and gameplay, so...
Except they added exclusives to each additional crew - so you kinda do need them now, if you want them. The hero booster 3 packs are skippable for now at least.
That sea monster is atrocious (I see it didn't even get mentioned here). It's a shame that something like the Logan sculpt get skipped while that makes it in (maybe Logan is too finely featured).
Undead_Love-Machine wrote: I have to admit, some of those sculpts look really good. Has it been confirmed that they are not going to be released in resin?
Was any of the Zombicide stuff ever released in resin? CmoN doesn't seem to have the best track record with collectors releases.
I pulled out, the range of miniatures is not consistent enough. It's all over the place in style and theme. I mean I can be forgiving when it comes to influences sometimes, but putting a Tommy gun in a pirate game, not-Kiss and Don Quixote of all people, it just becomes muddled.
If I want any, I'll go looking for the old metals and save myself a packet that way.
Undead_Love-Machine wrote: I have to admit, some of those sculpts look really good. Has it been confirmed that they are not going to be released in resin?
Was any of the Zombicide stuff ever released in resin? CmoN doesn't seem to have the best track record with collectors releases.
No, I don't think so. Maybe CMON prefer to release the figures in plastic as the profit margins presumably are higher?
Some of these sculpts definitely deserve a resin release.
Is there any chance that the "Logan" miniature will make it into this Kickstarter?
And if not, will it be released later on?
Creator CoolMiniOrNot about 3 hours ago
Alpharius, who let you off of Dakka.
Logan wont be making an appearance during this KS, as for later? Well... Who knows
In all seriousness though he's probably have to have a bit of conversion to make him 1 piece... but the sculptors have really been impressing me with what they're rigging up in casting lately, so who knows.
I love the "Who let you off Dakka?" comment, Alpharius.
I have to admit I'm surprised, although, relieved, that it ended up being only two faction boxes. La Brise Sanguine and the Skull Kickers are definite buys for me, Mazu's Dreadful curse are an extremely likely buy, and the Luck Goddesses are a probably. Those faction dice are pretty sweet, but they're definitely not ten dollars worth of sweet. Those additional heroes boxes will have to wait, I really like the two for my favorite factions (La Brise and Bone Devils) but there is already a lot to buy that can't be bought later, so things that can be bought later will be passed over for now.
I pulled out of my pledge just a bit ago. I love the miniatures, but to get all of the Kickstarter exclusive ones, the cost is just more than I can bear right now...especially with how difficult it can be to get all my other games to the table.
I was on the base pledge and was happy with it. However in the end I quite liked the French crew and thought they'd help the games replayability. Also chipped in some extra bucks either to complete the crew with matching heroes but perhaps I'll choose something else come the pledge manager.
I see the late pledger option, but I'm not biting.
If I were jumping in, it'd be $180 + S&H to get the base game and both major expansions - that's quite a bit more than I'd want to commit to this game. To me, it's just overpriced at $200-ish, to say nothing of adding all of the extra hero figures.
Schmapdi wrote: Just noticed - if anyone has non-buyer's remorse - you can still pledge through the end of January, there's a link on the main Kickstarter page.
This actually makes me quite happy they're doing this. A lot of my hesitation in keeping my initial pledge was that my job situation is a bit uncertain right now, so didn't want to invest a lot of money in a Kickstarter at the moment...but I'll have a much better idea of things by the end of January.
So CMON may still end up getting my money in exchange for sweet pirate minis...
I was hoping for some westernized One Piece designs... Oh well. Some of these figures are pretty cool, but it seems like it might be a good game with 'hero overload' as both Zombicide and AQ have pointless hero overload and is a bit suffocating with no real gameplay increase.
cincydooley wrote: Just commit to the base game, then. I'll never understand the need to get all the things now. Especially when they'll be available later.
KS exclusives, higher retail prices, availability, shipping and the ability to be "over and done with it" all contribute. The middle three perhaps holding more weight for those of us overseas than for people in the US.
It's a little unclear whether KS exclusives drive purchases from anyone besides CMoN, and even then, it's because those KS exclusives are usually non-core homages.
Yes. I'm thinking of a few non-CMoN KS in which we backed for basically 80-90% of the gameplay right off the bat. $250+ each time.
The big purchase was driven more by completionist tendencies and awesomeness of stuff.
In those cases, there wasn't a lot of KS-exclusives available or purchased. Had they been chock full of exclusives, we might not have backed as we did. If at all. The whole KS-exclusive thing just doesn't excite me.
Either the game is good, or it isn't. If it's good, I'll buy it and it doesn't need gimmicks.
Unfortunately with CMON the exclusives make up a pretty big chunk of the game sometimes, so you can't just "get things later."
Not grabbing everything but the 3-hero packs you lose out on:
Exclusive heroes/cannons for the Asian/French factions and the 2 add-on pirate "factions" (the cross-over one and the all lady one). Which make those all "buy now or never."
And god forbid you want to buy at retail sometime (which, ostensibly is the point of Kickstarter - bringing products to the market). Then you lose out on the above, plus like 10(ish) more exclusives, and the ability to play Mercs as a faction. And the kraken/sea dragon. I wouldn't want to get a game that only had 50-60% of the content available.
I think a lot of how you approach CMON comes down to how frequently you intend to play the game.
Personally, I will play a game a couple times and put it away for a long period of time before coming back around to it. Or it may just sit for quite some time before I even get to it The extras tend to add no value (for me) as they will probably never get played with or just take up closet space for a long period of time.
One thing about CMON, there are so many exclusives and freebies, I always back with the knowledge that I'll put the extras on eBay as soon as they come in. Sedition Wars has been the only lemon, but so far, I've always been able to get more than the amount I pledged for just the extras, effectively getting the core game for free plus a little profit.
My one small hangup on this one (despite the lack of fishmen) is now that mercs have their own tide deck, what will they use for their crew and boat(s)?
If I don't buy any expansion crews, they're basically stuck using what's in the box. Skullkickers would look a bit odd commanding legions of the undead, don't you think?
Not a huge deal, but it would have been nice to have an optional purchase of extra Wellsport deckhands in a different color to go with the mercs.
I guess I just need to get one of the expansions to squelch my inner nerd's complaints.
Schmapdi wrote: I wouldn't want to get a game that only had 50-60% of the content available.
I guess?
The content is always made available. The only thing that isn't are the miniatures. Rules and gameplay pieces have been made available for them.
I find my life is much less encumbered by not have to worry about being a completionist.
To me, the miniatures are the content. Rules-wise I can proxy whatever mini for whatever other mini I want. But I can't sculpt an Asian pirate-guy holding a clownfish.
To me, the miniatures are the content. Rules-wise I can proxy whatever mini for whatever other mini I want. But I can't sculpt an Asian pirate-guy holding a clownfish.
We see the completely opposite. I can proxy whatever mini I want for an Asian Pirate guy holding a clownfish, but I can't make and playtest the rules for him.
It really depends on how you view the equation. We're on a miniatures-dominant board here, and so it's no surprise that people view the figures as an integral part of the content - equal (or even more) weighted than the rules.
I mean, you know I've been looking to get hold of a Sheldon (Dave?) for Zombicide. The rules are available, but unless I have the original figure (or a good proxy - in this case none available out there for Shelly) it's not the same - especially when we're at the point of painting the heroes to look like their characters and the extra characters are so very much pop-culture homages - which is a huge part of CMoN's KS/Marketing scheme at this point.
It's a different kettle of fish if we're looking at, say, Pandemic.
To me, the miniatures are the content. Rules-wise I can proxy whatever mini for whatever other mini I want. But I can't sculpt an Asian pirate-guy holding a clownfish.
We see the completely opposite. I can proxy whatever mini I want for an Asian Pirate guy holding a clownfish, but I can't make and playtest the rules for him.
I find that confusing though - if you have the figure, you can use rules for really any other pirate in the game for him (rules that have been playtested/balanced already). Or you can make your own rules (theorycrafting/homebrew rules/just plain ole wishing stuff was better or worse - seems to be a pretty popular past-time on the forums) as long as it's not for a tournament or something really official. Anybody can do either of those things.
Very few people though have the ability to sculpt a decent mini. That's where the rarity comes in - and IMO is what makes it the content. I'm very unlikely to find anyone else making an acceptable Asian pirate holding a clownfish I can use (Though with Reaper around, God Bless them - I can't say that with 100% certainty).
I love pirates, and skirmish games, and minis, and the idea of a MOBA-style skirmish game is very appealing. But the style and quality of the sculpts is too variable, as is the theme, so I passed on this one. Especially given the uncertainty as to whether the rules will be any good.
Ian Sturrock wrote: I love pirates, and skirmish games, and minis, and the idea of a MOBA-style skirmish game is very appealing. But the style and quality of the sculpts is too variable, as is the theme, so I passed on this one. Especially given the uncertainty as to whether the rules will be any good.
The rules are very good. You can view them if you'd like. There's really not any uncertainty as to that because we've got multiple anecdotal accounts and the rules are available for your to peruse.
Ian Sturrock wrote: I really like to wait for a bunch of independent reviews, based on long-term play, before I commit that much to a new game.
Then say that the first time. Don't act like you can't read the rules and playtest the game on your own right now, because you can. We've played the game about 8 times since they released them on the KS page, and the game is incredibly fun and fast.
Let's not kid ourselves: any of those "independent reviews" won't be based on long term gameplay. All of the major boardgame reviewers play the game once or twice before putting up their reviews.
Yeah, I'm in a similar spot, where unless the minis are great, I'm pretty wary about not seeing any sort of independent reviews after a few games. I felt pretty burned by a few recently, so it's taking more and more for me to consider just about anything.
spiralingcadaver wrote: Yeah, I'm in a similar spot, where unless the minis are great, I'm pretty wary about not seeing any sort of independent reviews after a few games. I felt pretty burned by a few recently, so it's taking more and more for me to consider just about anything.
Schmapdi wrote: (which, ostensibly is the point of Kickstarter - bringing products to the market).
Ehhhh, you may assume that is the point of kickstarter because a majority of KS in the wargaming arean seem to be by established businesses looking to produce product and then support that product at retail, but I can tell you it is *NOT* the point of Kickstarter to bring products to market. Lots of KS are simply to make a project a reality, have a single run of the product and then be 'done' with no plan or expectation to make more.
And there is never any obligation for for a company to provide support or retail availability post KS. They can literally produce the product then close up shop.
Limited run minis which have no plans for second printing or retail sales happen more than you think on KS. Especially for smaller sculptors who want a product made but don't want to run a company. A single run makes sense, defers costs and wraps stuff up.
Not counting ones which were okay but didn't live up to expectations...
I increasingly felt Myth was unprofessionally executed the more I played it, and didn't like their weird overzealous christian thing. The others aren't miniatures-related so aren't so relevant, but suffice to say other games with nice presentation but disappointing content. I might ragequit KS's if Kingdom Death falls into this category, and I'm very wary at this point of anything where I haven't been able to find and thoroughly read reviews of other products by the company at least.
Arena Rex has been the only KS I think I had meet or exceed every expectation right out of the box, and even they have had pretty poor communication and some substantial delays so are far from perfect.
but I legitimately love this game. A few of the problems I had with the game in my original article seem to have been resolved in the last edition of the rules I saw, and I had a blast with the game then.
. I really wonder how they arrived at the crew themes... standard pirate, undead pirate (both cool)... but then not-KISS, and French... not a strong theme.
