Well their first KS has been delivered/ last units are been delivered, it is not a bad game and the miniatures were good, so it got a ready backer base.
Got an 'Early Bird' (#844). Looks like it could be fun.
Will undoubtedly 3D print replacements for the game tiles, etc., which obviously though not in any way necessary it will just suit my personal taste better.
I feel like this is like Blood Rage - cool game, terrible name
Wish I'd paid more attention as I somehow got an email alerting me when this would go live this morning, but forgot to check.
It seems like their prior campaign, Endure the Stars, is just delivering in Europe, but won't start shipping to US backers until mid-March (it's on a container boat). Kind of a bummer not to wait just one more month so people could receive and review the first one!
$25 for four 35mm resin models is INSANE. Combined with the quality, I am chomping at the bit to see the werewolf!!! I would love a really good werewolf model
I looked around for some reviews of the minis of their previous game but was unable to find much. Can anybody tell me what material the minis are made from and if they are as good as the renders? Any general review of the minis would be useful in fact.
They just posted the first new addon: $20 for two new townies and two monsters. I'm worried that they're falling into the KS enthusiasm trap of putting stretch goals and addons too close together. Many SGs, which add (for free) between 1 and 5 minis, are only +$6,000. Anyone else concerned by that?
Huginn wrote: I looked around for some reviews of the minis of their previous game but was unable to find much. Can anybody tell me what material the minis are made from and if they are as good as the renders? Any general review of the minis would be useful in fact.
There previous game Endure the Stars just started arriving to backers I think last month. I read pretty solid reviews of the mini's. Plus they are 35mm scale for this game, so that should help detail. The material I believe is PVC, and the close up photos of the game and models appear to be two different colors, I think the light Gray is their resin models, and the darker Gray I only assume is the hard plastic.
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Clanan wrote: They just posted the first new addon: $20 for two new townies and two monsters. I'm worried that they're falling into the KS enthusiasm trap of putting stretch goals and addons too close together. Many SGs, which add (for free) between 1 and 5 minis, are only +$6,000. Anyone else concerned by that?
This is their 2nd KS, and the first one appears to have been ok. Does look to have delivered 4 months late, but what KS doesnt! I have not done to much research, but im hopeful. Im more worried that the prices seem to good to be true honestly.
As for too many SG's, most dont seem to overwhelming yet. Not like a Kingdom Death Stretch goal... So far new tiles, some traps, some new monsters and sculpts. Seems reasonable so far to me.
As of Feb 23rd the he current shipping status for "Endure the Stars" is this; everyone except for the United States, Canada, Brazil and Mexico should be receiving their games any day now, if they haven't already. The shipment containing the orders for the countries just listed is currently floating it's way across the Atlantic and is due to arrive in Chicago on 16th March. From there, ShipBob will be fulfilling the orders as fast as they possibly can!
This is on my remind me list but unfortunately won't be backing until I receive my copy. I might go in for a $1 to follow updates until then though. It isn't because I'm not sure they won't deliver but because I like to be sure of the quality before backing further projects.
Quality is ok, for their first product its quite well, the biggest issue so far universally is how the core game was packed, I do not think they will repeat the same mistake.
And that was because it is fully packed with minis.
Looks awesome - and I'm just glad to see that, by the title, this isn't about a town somewhere that had all pledged to Robotech® RPG Tactics™ and decided it was time to get out the torches and pitchforks...
The minis for this are fantastic looking - the price is....OK...
You have to admit some of the sculpts coming out these days are just absolutely gorgeous. Never even heard of this company and they're putting out stuff that was unimaginable even 12-15 years ago.
Admittedly terrible name, and seems quite expensive for a board game (especially considering this is KS price) but it does look lovely and really like the idea of the concept! Makes me think of Dungeon Keeper, which was always a lot of fun
Chopxsticks wrote: Im hoping it replaces Zombicide for me entirely. I dont get much from that game. This is kinda like it but ads a couple layers.
Which Zombicide(s) do you have and how do you find them lacking?
I have Black Plague, and although fun, I just felt it was lacking. Not alot of depth I guess, move around attack, move some more attack. Zombie spawn and follow you. Village Attack doesnt look drastically different in that regard, but I like the idea of the traps and more depth with the villagers and the Monster sub type interaction. Zombicide's zombies were pretty much the same, aside from movement and damage required to kill them.
Chopxsticks wrote: I have Black Plague, and although fun, I just felt it was lacking. Not alot of depth I guess, move around attack, move some more attack. Zombie spawn and follow you. Village Attack doesnt look drastically different in that regard, but I like the idea of the traps and more depth with the villagers and the Monster sub type interaction. Zombicide's zombies were pretty much the same, aside from movement and damage required to kill them.
The fundamentals of the genre are going to have Zombicide-ish move / fight / spawn mechanics, so that part doesn't change much. Zombicide at least keeps things relatively simple, aside from the keywords as you advance your character. I suspect you might have liked Prison Outbreak more than Black Plague. PO has a lot of mechanical puzzle solving strategy tools that are used in the various scenarios, in addition to the different flavors of Zombies, so the players are working at God's eye strategic level, in addition to an in-game tactical level. In my case, I'm big on Rue Morgue, which I see as the refinement of the Zombicide concept, with its scalability, teaming, dynamic crawlers and mix of indoor & outdoor locations. Black Plague just didn't catch my eye.
Village Attacks definitely adds more variety, and flipping the script is very clever!
That's cool for you Ian! Since we are sharing, 35mm scale works just fine for me...
On related news, new add-on for 4 sweet new models for $20 USD, Sandman, Werewolf, and a Plague Doctor! Looking forward to seeing that Doctor's 3d render
Ian Sturrock wrote: 35mm scale makes these minis much less appealing to me. 35mm to the eye is just nothing like any of the other minis in my collection.
35mm is Kingdom Death scale, which is similar in bulk to a 40k mini, but much more naturally proportioned.
Also 32/35mm is a pretty close match for stuff like Wild West Exodus, Shadows of Brimstone, and Malifaux, all places where those pitiful villagers would make for some fun rabble to rise up and stir up trouble.
highlord tamburlaine wrote: Also 32/35mm is a pretty close match for stuff like Wild West Exodus, Shadows of Brimstone, and Malifaux, all places where those pitiful villagers would make for some fun rabble to rise up and stir up trouble.
Unfortunately, not a good match for D&D and Pathfinder minis, though. I'd love the added diversity to my RPG townsfolk but I can't have them more heroic than the heroes.
Yup, I'm a scale snob The disparity between green army men and their tanks bugged the hell out of me as a kid
That being said, this game looks great and I'm still backing it !!
I would think everything else would fit fine. I used a Dark Vlad from Enigma Games as a Vampire Lord for my Games Workshop army. Made total sense he would stand head and shoulders above his legion of ghouls and skeletons!
Ian Sturrock wrote:35mm scale makes these minis much less appealing to me. 35mm to the eye is just nothing like any of the other minis in my collection.
Embrace other scales! It will make collecting historicals a lot easier
Casey's Law wrote: And it should match the newer Infinity sculpts which has me intrigued.
I'm intrigued by this comment.. envisaging a spec-ops Pan-O team assaulting Dracula's castle?
Casey's Law wrote: And it should match the newer Infinity sculpts which has me intrigued.
I'm intrigued by this comment.. envisaging a spec-ops Pan-O team assaulting Dracula's castle?
Vampire Nomads, it's the next big thing.
Nah I'm always looking to expand my Infinimunda and I have another couple of projects I'd like to make happen in the same scale. I don't like heroic scale one little bit so the more 35mm truescale options the better!
These VA models are really pretty. Since we're all obsessing over scale, has anyone seen any comparison pictures yet?
Yeah I don't really mind undead leaders being 10% taller than everyone else, but peasants being 10% taller than everyone else just means that most of the minis from this wouldn't get used outside the game.
What the hell, I'm in.
Does anybody else see the Hornchurch UK location under the main banner on the Kickstarter page, or am I being dumb and that's my location?
Interesting, that's where I live and I'm very involved in the local gaming community, I may already know the makers although I don't recognise the names.
Wonder if that means they can hand deliver my copy lol.
I'll also recommend this to my flgs who may back the retail kickstarter
The FAQ lists that there will be a Pledge Manager, which would tend to indicate that you can.
I'm in at the basic Pitchfork level at the moment, although the resin monster and hero add-ons look good. I'm glad they offer this kind of option, the miniature sculpts for the 'heroes' look lovely and it would be nice to have a proper go at them.
Pacific wrote: Ah that's nice if they are in a local UK location, see if you can fish out any more information Huron.
Of course they might always want to come and show off the studio version of the game
One of my fellow flgs members has contacted them to find out if they're interested in doing a demo with us which they said they'd love to. (Which I guess confirms their Hornchurch location) They're also looking for a play test group which we said we'd be willing to be a part of. Just got to get our store owner to show an interest and looks like we should be getting an early look at the game mechanics and models.
Hopefully they will allow you to report on the game, would love to hear first hand account about it!
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JohnHwangDD wrote: That "Wendigo" looks a lot like Bisley's Lord Wierd Slough Feg...
Speaking of, Slaine would be one hell of an IP to build a game around. Way better than Dredd, for starters.
Definitely agree with you there, a Slaine game would be brilliant!
The latest update for the £212k mark
The Log Ram trap has been unlocked!
Dear backers,
The castle is indeed a dangerous place! The Log Ram trap is now part of the trap deck:
News of the Wendigo's arrival at the castle has spread far and wide, and the Spirit Tracker has made it his mission to hunt the creature down!
With all the excitement during the beginning of the campaign, we never got around to showing off the dashboards for the Succubus and Grimlord Revenant, so here they are:
The Succubus presents some interesting tactical choices, as her first ability "Seduction" allows her to choose a zone within range in which to move Villagers activated with the Villager symbol, instead of the zone furthest away from the Castle Heart. At first this might seem like a strange plan, but when coupled with a well placed trap the Succubus could be leading the Villagers to a grisly death!
The Revenant refuses to die, and this is shown in his abilities. Right from the start, his resurrection damages the Castle Heart less than other Monsters, allowing you to play a little more recklessly with him, but he really becomes a force to be reckoned with when he unlocks a few of his abilities....
Nunc est tempus faciendi...
The Grimlord Games Team
Have to say some of the artwork for this product is absolutely brilliant, really top standard.
Our 3rd add on! Spring Heeled Jack and Black Annis have arrived!
Dear backers,
Time to introduce our third add on, the Fear & Torment pack!
This pack introduces the English legends of Spring Heeled Jack and Black Annis:
Art by Henry Wong & Bjorn Hurri
The graphic designer is currently on holiday, so here's the legends form the back of the dashboards:
Dear backers,
Time to introduce our third add on, the Fear & Torment pack!
This pack introduces the English legends of Spring Heeled Jack and Black Annis:
Art by Henry Wong & Bjorn Hurri Art by Henry Wong & Bjorn Hurri
The graphic designer is currently on holiday, so here's the legends form the back of the dashboards:
Black Annis “Crone of the countryside” In the quiet and seemingly peaceful countryside of England lurks a malevolent force; sick and twisted to the core. By day you are safe, but come nightfall the ghastly silhouette of Black Annis can be seen wandering by the light of the moon. A wretched witch, as ugly in appearance as in soul, her preferred prey is unsuspecting children that she’ll reach into houses to snatch, or lambs when children prove scarce. She devours her victims but keep their skins, tanning them and wearing them around her waist. Despite numerous efforts to track her down and kill her, no one has managed to discover the crone’s lair, but there are whispers that she uses her immense iron claws to scale the sandstone cliffs and hide in the bluffs.
Spring Heeled Jack “Bane of London” The Big Smoke can be dangerous at night; thieves, drunkards and brigands are in no short supply. But there is an inhuman presence far more terrifying than any man that stalks the streets of London. A creature almost beyond words, this crime against nature is surely something from beyond this world. In fact, its appearance is so terrifying that none of its surviving victims can give an accurate account of the fiend, describing it as simply a man with pointed ears and horns, a goatee and a rather farcical getup. It has no name and it appears to have the uncanny ability to leap vast distances, leading the locals to dubbing it Spring Heeled Jack. Jack appears to feed on the fear of its victims, often frightening them to the point of madness and disappearing into the night, just as quickly as he descended.
The townsfolk will not stand for these newcomers! The Battle Mage and Exorcist have arrived to help drive them out!
Art by Bjorn Hurri
Please note that the Exorcist concept is still a WIP, the artist fell ill today but still soldiered on to get her this far along
To purchase these or any optional add on, just click the "Manage Your Pledge" button on the Village Attacks Kickstarter page and add the cost of the items to your pledge. You don't need to tell us where you're extra money is being spent now, this will be confirmed in the pledge manager post campaign.
This is one of the few KS that I've wanted to pledge for and is run from the UK, which means very cheap postage (£5-10, which is excellent).
Entirely selfish of course!
I believe the last KS run by the company was released in good order, and the developers have stated that the product is almost ready for release regardless of this KS. So even though it's not CMoN I think the signs are good that this won't be a Heroquest or AvP (if I had to wager)
Next update, past the £231000 mark now so ticking along at a nice pace. Although not a very exciting stretch goal for the next one, hopefully it can pass this and on to the next quickly.
I hadn't considered as well, this being in the British pound means it's a much better deal for people ordering from overseas (other than ... erm, Zimbabwe?)
Next update
23 --- The Spirit Tracker comes for you! Another stretch goal done!
Dear backers,
The Spirit Tracker Town Hero is now part of every pledge:
This man is very dangerous indeed, and if he finds any of your traps he'll disarm them before they have a chance to go off!
Not long now until we unlock the KS exclusive black marble dice! This will mean that every Pitchfork pledge comes with 12 dice!
As an added bonus, we'll be making the black marble dice available to purchase once the stretch goal unlocks!
Nunc est tempus faciendi...
The Grimlord Games Team
This KS is just giving me to much D&D goodness. I was hoping to get resins, but that was before so many add-on packs for the monster/heroes dropped. At this point im almost tapped out on how much I can spend on this KS with out being beaten by my wife.
The only interaction I have had with plastic game board miniatures was Zombicide Black Plague. So as long as these are at least as good I'll be pretty happy.
UK is good, but I definitely say this for countries like Spain and Poland. I'd like to see more countries in the gaming hobby, and shipping is a practical reason as well.
Manufacturing and sculptors is already international, and I find that ironic. You could have the sculptor living in the same country as yourself, yet pay much more for a game than us Americans!
Retail games are expensive in other countries, and I see KS as a step towards making games more affordable to worldwide gamers!
I was thinking that too but the size is... what? 35mm? I know they're bigger than GW stuff and D&D is 25mm, so more LoTR size.
LotR scale is way different to 35mm truescale. I'm not sure what it's actually meant to be but I'd eyeball it to be something close to 25mm truescale, it doesn't match anything else I've personally encountered. 35mm truescale is taller than GW's 28mm heroic but better proportioned which make some people think they are 'smaller'.
As a note, North America has yet to get their EtS games, but most of EU has. Or at least should have in Feb.
Thanks for that link!
The human characters look REALLY good - and as it was done by Ludo Fact, that probably bodes well here too.
Those aren't production models, they are prototype resins or possibly even 3D prints. Notice the post was made close to a year ago, they didn't show production minis until this update in September:
Actually this whole expansion is pretty cool. New hunters, new heroes, new tiles, summoning mechanics... quite tempting.
Saddened by the severe lack of reptilian villains, but I'm having trouble thinking of any that are based more on folklore than typical fantasy tropes.
Well, the Naga of India, the Kappa of Japan, the Gorgons of Greece, Tlaloc (Aztec God depicted as a man with snake fangs?), the Dragon Kings of Chinese Myth. There are others, but almost every one of them is snake-like or half-snake. Or a God/Giant monster. At least when I searched Reptilian Humanoids of Myth.
Sad to say, it looks like most reptilian monsters are just that, monstrous beasts that really wouldn't reside ina castle except in perhaps the caverns below or as guard pets?
Those aren't production models, they are prototype resins. Notice the post was made close to a year ago, they didn't show production minis until this update in September:
Those aren't production models, they are prototype resins. Notice the post was made close to a year ago, they didn't show production minis until this update in September:
On hand they look better than the photos, but to really see the detail you need to prime the models, their single biggest mistake was selecting that white colour for the heroes.
The detail is not as deep as the renders/ prototypes because the renders need to be more deep than intended to facilitate the loss of detail the casting method creates.
As a note, North America has yet to get their EtS games, but most of EU has. Or at least should have in Feb.
Thanks for that link!
The human characters look REALLY good - and as it was done by Ludo Fact, that probably bodes well here too.
Those aren't production models, they are prototype resins or possibly even 3D prints. Notice the post was made close to a year ago, they didn't show production minis until this update in September:
They look good for PVC but nowhere near the prototypes:
Prototype:
PVC
Uh oh...
Enthusiasm seriously dampened now.
That is not good at all...
PsychoticStorm wrote:On hand they look better than the photos, but to really see the detail you need to prime the models, their single biggest mistake was selecting that white colour for the heroes.
The detail is not as deep as the renders/ prototypes because the renders need to be more deep than intended to facilitate the loss of detail the casting method creates.
I *hope* that's the case, but if I can't find some 'primed' 'production' models before this campaign ends, I'm dropping my pledge.
I was hoping to have Endure the Stars by now. You would think there would be more pictures available considering everyone except the US, Canada, Brazil and Mexico received it. The shipping crate was expected in Chicago on March 16th. Just waiting on ShipBob to send it.
Not that I don't distrust other peoples pictures. I just like to have them in hand to see, feel and look at. There have been quite a few times I've seen videos and pictures of items, then got them in hand and was less impressed by them. But that is just me.
For Alpharius though here is an unboxing video and some pics (not a good selection of pics though):
There will be some unbending and hot treatment needed for a few things.
It's certainly an interesting quandary. I'm more or less only interested in this for the miniatures, so seeing those production samples from Endure the Stars was a bit worrying. Checked the reviews for it on BGG though, and it seems that the miniatures and art design are regularly praised, albeit in lieu of anything else nice to say about the game itself.
Out of curiosity- is it the same material used by CMON for games like Zombicide and Blood Rage? If not, how comparable is it; better or worse?
Tim the Biovore wrote: It's certainly an interesting quandary. I'm more or less only interested in this for the miniatures, so seeing those production samples from Endure the Stars was a bit worrying. Checked the reviews for it on BGG though, and it seems that the miniatures and art design are regularly praised, albeit in lieu of anything else nice to say about the game itself.
Out of curiosity- is it the same material used by CMON for games like Zombicide and Blood Rage? If not, how comparable is it; better or worse?
This helps, but then I'm not sure that I'd 'trust' BGG for 'miniature reviews' either though...!
@Alpharius
I think given that most, if not all, of the people who currently own it do so from the Kickstarter, it'd be reasonable to assume the majority of them are familiar with how widely the quality of sculpts can vary. "Above average quality" for board game miniatures isn't exactly the most glowing endorsement in the general world of miniatures, but at the same time they're not so un-noteworthy that it becomes in itself noteworthy, which is......something?
I do have more confidence after seeing a backer comment in the Endure the Stars update featuring the production samples, insisting that Monolith's Conan suffered from a similar issue, with poor material colour choice and sub-par photography dropping backer morale there until they retook the photos on better backgrounds with primed miniatures. Assuming Grimlord have learned from their mistakes, and the same mistakes made by others, then hopefully we won't see a repeat of it here with Village Attacks
I'd also love it if Grimlord can do just that - retake the photos from ETS on better backgrounds with primed miniatures and post them for us to see - ASAP!!!
I think that without seeing them up close, it's probably safest to assume these won't be at CMON/Blood Rage quality, because nobody else seems to quite have that expertise yet. "Between Bones and Conan quality" is my best guess, but there's quite a bit of difference between those extremes.
I think they are about the same sculpting quality given the studio they use is the studio that did rum and bones for CMON.
The material colour is a really poor choice and if one does not undercoat it it will not show much of the detail, the "monsters" have the same detail, but show it because of different colour choice.
For boardgame models they are on the top tier of models witch puts them on the averagely good tier for wargaming models.
I do not think I have a setup to make good photos of the models and I do not intent on priming/ painting them, so they will still be a white thing.
I'm sitting on the same fence everyone else seems to be.
Ideally I'd just like to buy both sets of miniatures after kickstarter at retail, that way I can get a couple and decide if they are good enough to warrant taking the plunge.
I'm gona email them. Will let return if/when I hear back.
I still don't see why posters are looking for high quality miniatures with boardgame plastic. You get what you pay for (or might as well buy it if you're only painting to tabletop or advanced tabletop), and there are *plenty* of higher quality generic fantasy miniatures out there.
VA does have a resin pledge, so, sure, get that set if you're looking for better mini's.
That's the annoying part -- not enough information for me. The game designer has released Endure the Stars which has one in-depth review on BGG. The rules are available on the KS and there's a gameplay video, but, myself, I can't get a sense of the game until I read more community comments, particularly negative ones which some agree with. The *lazy* answer is that, with more games reprinted on KS, it's easier to wait for the reviews and a reprint, than it is to find out you don't enjoy the game, either because the components or gameplay aren't good, or because "the game is not for me". I do find it odd that there's not much discussion about gameplay on BGG. Anyone else looked closely at the gameplay?
Last night I played my first game of Village attacks and thoroughly enjoyed it. As expected it was similar to Zombicide but with enough differences to make it worthy of owning both. We failed in our mission to destroy the villagers morale before one of our number got dragged away to a presumably grizzly fate. Even now I'm thinking up strategy's for trying to successfully run this scenario. Each playable monster having it's own unique traits and play style, therefore making repeat games very much worth doing
We used the games designer's preview set and therefore probably saw the best of the models, but even so, wow! I don't think I've seen better models for a game.
(I hope this isn't considered thread necromancy as I believe it is of interest to those who have backed it and those who will buy it once out)
Yes that was our group playing. Fortunately it wasn't me who got captured although I confess to getting killed instead, however death isn't the end of the game for the monsters as they can come back (as you'd expect) but with our castle heart taking damage instead, if this reaches zero you auto lose.
I played the Lich, a character that can use magic and levels relatively quickly. Our biggest problem was coming up against the Grave digger, a town hero who acts as a sort of tank for the villagers.
Wow that's cool. I pledged. Excited about the Chinese theme and mythology here which is a nice break from the ordinary samurai, geisha, ninja. etc. Japanese theme. Counting down until June 2020...
