I can see why they've gone the way they have with these mount sculpts, but I really don't like it, so probably the first AQ pass from me
(wonder if the KS will be 1 or 2 weeks?)
Yeah I don't like it either but I get the design choice. KS is 5 days only May 21st to 25th. I'll probably pass unless it's sub $50 and shipping is low (shipping has been getting more and more expensive on CMON KS recently). Might be worth a $1 wait and see pledge.
Sorry 5 days I forgot to include both the first and last day. I guess this is a test to see what happens when you cut out the middle and have just the first 2 and last 2 days.
Automatically Appended Next Post: I forgot the add Kick Ass to the above- due Q3
and Narcos
CMON Limited announced today that they have teamed with Gaumont, the oldest film company and producer of Narcos to design and publish Narcos: The Board Game, based on the Golden Globe and Emmy ® award-nominated television series.
Narcos: The Board Game, designed by Fel Barros and Renato Sasdelli, puts two to five players in the roles of the series’ most powerful characters and factions as they rewrite the story behind the rise and fall of El Patrón. One person acts as El Patrón, managing a growing narcotics empire while trying to keep their location on the board a secret. The remaining players lead the Hunter Factions: the DEA, Policía Nacional de Colombia, Cali Cartel, and the guerrilla extremist group. These seemingly disparate groups are united in their common interest to discover the hidden position of El Patrón, sharing information and discussing strategies. If the El Patrón player manages to complete their secret objectives without being captured by the Hunters, they win. However, if the Hunters are able to uncover El Patrón’s location, they succeed in their mission and win.
“Working with Gaumont to bring Narcos to the tabletop has been an incredible adventure,” commented David Preti, CMON’s Creative Director. “Every aspect of this game is carefully coordinated with the Gaumont team to ensure that the show fans love is brought to life on the tabletop unlike anyone could have imagined, while also appealing to players who have never seen the show.”
“CMON is known for its focus on high-quality and engaging games and we trust them to develop and design the first Narcos board game title that will allow our millions of Narcos fans to immerse themselves within the storylines and characters of the show” added Tim Stephen, Head of Legal and Business Affairs at Gaumont.
Narcos: The Board Game is scheduled for release in Q4 of 2018 with an SRP of $54.99.
It's certainly going to be interesting to see what a stretch goal free KS (for minis/games) looks like in backers eyes,
my guess is even if the initial offering is great value (and I'm unconvinced this will be simply because it's small so even adding 100% extra 'stuff' won't seem a great deal) without the steady uptick in extras a lot of people won't be able to see it
NAVARRO wrote: Is it me or most is Boardgames and PVC minis and Kickstarters?
Pass.
You've just described CMONs entire business model Only 2 of those games are going to KS (and 1 only as an experiment really) the rest go straight to retail.
NAVARRO wrote: Is it me or most is Boardgames and PVC minis and Kickstarters?
Pass.
You've just described CMONs entire business model
What happened to Dark Age, high quality and collectors/ltd editions miniatures for painters etc?
Based on what I've seen and experienced, it seems that CMON has shown they will only provide support for a limited time on any non-board miniatures game. Both Dark Age and Wrath of Kings have devoted players frustrated that CMON doesn't do more for those games. Will be interesting to see how they handle the GoT mass-battle game after it's been out a year or two. By and large it does appear that CMON's business model focuses on releasing a game (via KS or otherwise) and then moving to the next one.
Really disappointed with the lack of any Wrath of Kings news. Seems like Westeros will completely replace it. A shame.
Then again, it's not like there was much news on Dark Age either...
I am pretty convinced that WoK is one of the best games available on the market today, I would love to see more for it (especially rpg, standalone board game, etc..)
Really disappointed with the lack of any Wrath of Kings news. Seems like Westeros will completely replace it. A shame.
Then again, it's not like there was much news on Dark Age either...
I am pretty convinced that WoK is one of the best games available on the market today, I would love to see more for it (especially rpg, standalone board game, etc..)
I think where they went wrong with WoK was with the art direction. The art direction is a saturday morning cartoon/original Zombicide type style, but then they mix that with really adult type bdsm themes that would have worked better with a grittier art direction/world. I personally never got into the game because I don't want to play a game (or have rule books sitting around) with a bunch of naked bdsm women and monsters running around for a variety of reasons, one of which is how jarring it is with the cartoon/exaggerated style of the miniatures.
Really disappointed with the lack of any Wrath of Kings news. Seems like Westeros will completely replace it. A shame.
Then again, it's not like there was much news on Dark Age either...
I am pretty convinced that WoK is one of the best games available on the market today, I would love to see more for it (especially rpg, standalone board game, etc..)
I think where they went wrong with WoK was with the art direction. The art direction is a saturday morning cartoon/original Zombicide type style, but then they mix that with really adult type bdsm themes that would have worked better with a grittier art direction/world. I personally never got into the game because I don't want to play a game (or have rule books sitting around) with a bunch of naked bdsm women and monsters running around for a variety of reasons, one of which is how jarring it is with the cartoon/exaggerated style of the miniatures.
pretty much have to agree there *specifically you are talking nasier, they have a reason for it, but....yeah... The art style is a big issue, I am not a fan of the art, though some of the models I like, the fluff I really like the rules are what keeps me in.
Gallahad wrote: I think where they went wrong with WoK was with the art direction. The art direction is a saturday morning cartoon/original Zombicide type style, but then they mix that with really adult type bdsm themes that would have worked better with a grittier art direction/world. I personally never got into the game because I don't want to play a game (or have rule books sitting around) with a bunch of naked bdsm women and monsters running around for a variety of reasons, one of which is how jarring it is with the cartoon/exaggerated style of the miniatures.
Personally, I'm perfectly fine with a bunch of naked bdsm women and monsters running around. I really liked the jellyfish faction better though. I do think the art style is somewhat offputting, though not because of the adult subject matter. It's just an exaggerated, kind of ugly style that I would only occasionally describe as aesthetically pleasing.
For me, I needed a cheap and easy way to try out the game. The starter sets were $70 per faction, and with nobody around who played it, I'd have to foot the bill for two starters just to demo games. The two player starter kit (Honor and Treachery) came out way too late, and by then, the game had already started to wane. I liked the starter enough to consider investing in an army, but really, the game was dead by then. I think it is too late to save WoK, but the same system with a different artist and an easier path to new player interest could probably do very well. It could even be in the WoK world, since the lore in the rulebook is actually quite good.
Meanwhile, I've never seen Dark Age available at any of the online shops I frequent, and I've never seen them in person anywhere. I wouldn't even know how to start Dark Age if I wanted to (and I'm curious to).
Really disappointed with the lack of any Wrath of Kings news. Seems like Westeros will completely replace it. A shame.
Then again, it's not like there was much news on Dark Age either...
I am pretty convinced that WoK is one of the best games available on the market today, I would love to see more for it (especially rpg, standalone board game, etc..)
I think where they went wrong with WoK was with the art direction. The art direction is a saturday morning cartoon/original Zombicide type style, but then they mix that with really adult type bdsm themes that would have worked better with a grittier art direction/world. I personally never got into the game because I don't want to play a game (or have rule books sitting around) with a bunch of naked bdsm women and monsters running around for a variety of reasons, one of which is how jarring it is with the cartoon/exaggerated style of the miniatures.
pretty much have to agree there *specifically you are talking nasier, they have a reason for it, but....yeah... The art style is a big issue, I am not a fan of the art, though some of the models I like, the fluff I really like the rules are what keeps me in.
Nasier pretty much being unusable in many settings plus the core trooper types of Shael Han being really boring pretty much knocked two factions off my interest list from the get go, then you add in the fact that through some combination of melty details and weird design I just can't make heads or tails of the Hadross Deepmen and it was pretty much over for me since I get more hobby time than I get game time.
Related to the other announcements, I'm cautiously optimistic about the Cthulhu game. Did they say in the video there wouldn't be stretch goals for that campaign? If there is enough stuff in the box from the get go I'll back it. I'm a sucker for Lovecraftian horrors.
Gallahad wrote: Related to the other announcements, I'm cautiously optimistic about the Cthulhu game. Did they say in the video there wouldn't be stretch goals for that campaign? If there is enough stuff in the box from the get go I'll back it. I'm a sucker for Lovecraftian horrors.
That's apparently how they are doing the Arcadia Quest Riders kickstarter next week. 5 days, no stretch goals. It's weird because Riders is supposed to hit retail on Jun 29, so that's roughly a month to finalize and ship everything out to backers. Seems a bit iffy to me.
Gallahad wrote: Related to the other announcements, I'm cautiously optimistic about the Cthulhu game. Did they say in the video there wouldn't be stretch goals for that campaign? If there is enough stuff in the box from the get go I'll back it. I'm a sucker for Lovecraftian horrors.
That's apparently how they are doing the Arcadia Quest Riders kickstarter next week. 5 days, no stretch goals. It's weird because Riders is supposed to hit retail on Jun 29, so that's roughly a month to finalize and ship everything out to backers. Seems a bit iffy to me.
If there are no stretch goals and everything’s in boxes in the warehouse already, then it’s just like a presage. Slap UPS labels on it and go.
Look through all the BoW coverage and really didn't see anything that struck me as interesting, guess that's good for my wallet, but can't help but wonder if they'll have a 5th KSer this year since Arcadia is just a short pre-order.
Is it just me, or does Death May Die sound incredibly similar mechanically to Mantic's Hellboy: The Board Game?
The cooperative role of the player characters, the two-part gameplay of investigation and boss fight, with the former being against a doomsday tracker that increases the fight to impossible difficulty, minions/subordinates trying to kill you to make the investigation harder
Biggest difference so far, pending actual official releases of DMD's mechanics, is the insanity meter.
Not suggesting anything, and I'm always down for an Eric Lang title, but it's quite the coincidence
Tim the Biovore wrote: Is it just me, or does Death May Die sound incredibly similar mechanically to Mantic's Hellboy: The Board Game?
The cooperative role of the player characters, the two-part gameplay of investigation and boss fight, with the former being against a doomsday tracker that increases the fight to impossible difficulty, minions/subordinates trying to kill you to make the investigation harder
Biggest difference so far, pending actual official releases of DMD's mechanics, is the insanity meter.
Not suggesting anything, and I'm always down for an Eric Lang title, but it's quite the coincidence
That is a good point. Hopefully they are both well executed (to be clear I think the probability of a good release is high in both cases).
Really disappointed with the lack of any Wrath of Kings news. Seems like Westeros will completely replace it. A shame.
Then again, it's not like there was much news on Dark Age either...
I am pretty convinced that WoK is one of the best games available on the market today, I would love to see more for it (especially rpg, standalone board game, etc..)
I think where they went wrong with WoK was with the art direction. The art direction is a saturday morning cartoon/original Zombicide type style, but then they mix that with really adult type bdsm themes that would have worked better with a grittier art direction/world. I personally never got into the game because I don't want to play a game (or have rule books sitting around) with a bunch of naked bdsm women and monsters running around for a variety of reasons, one of which is how jarring it is with the cartoon/exaggerated style of the miniatures.
pretty much have to agree there *specifically you are talking nasier, they have a reason for it, but....yeah... The art style is a big issue, I am not a fan of the art, though some of the models I like, the fluff I really like the rules are what keeps me in.
Nasier pretty much being unusable in many settings plus the core trooper types of Shael Han being really boring pretty much knocked two factions off my interest list from the get go, then you add in the fact that through some combination of melty details and weird design I just can't make heads or tails of the Hadross Deepmen and it was pretty much over for me.
Related to the other announcements, I'm cautiously optimistic about the Cthulhu game. Did they say in the video there wouldn't be stretch goals for that campaign? If there is enough stuff in the box from the get go I'll back it. I'm a sucker for Lovecraftian horrors.
I believe the no stretch goals mentioned was for the next Arcadia quest campaign as it’s only 5 days long and the games are already sitting in the warehouse ready to ship as soon as the campaign ends.
Damn. Can’t wait for that Death May Die KSlol. Invader was so much fun. Late 2018 that seems to coincide with that new Rogue Trader game so Xmas will be expensive…
Dark Age does receive regular monthly releases (almost all of which are fantastic!) and Bryan Steele does regular rules updates, live chats, etc.
It is a great game that is a lot of fun and tactical, and on the quick side to play too.
But yeah, CMON can't keep a lot of it in stock in their own online store, and apparently burnt quite a few bridges one or two times in the past attempting to distribute it?
A shame, as it really is one of the best looking and playing games on the market.
Agree about WoK Nasier - I don't mind if other people enjoy the BDSM element or CMON's cartoony house style in general, but they're not for me.
Death May Die looks worth watching, even if "Shoot Cthulhu in the face" is one of the dumbest hooks I've ever heard. CMON doing Lovecraft is exciting in and of itself, as it may finally give us a Cthulhu miniatures game with good qualilty sculpts and high production values. (What about Cthulhu Wars? Props to Petersen for game design and heart, but the minis aren't good enough for me.) That said, the Death May Die monster minis shown so far are fine but none of them set me on fire yet, and with the possible exception of the canine-faced ghoul, they look more Lovecraftian than Lovecraft, i.e., Cthulhu-inspired rather than direct representations of his actual creatures. If they're going to do Cthulhu and Hastur, I hope they'll go whole hog and pull from the classic menagerie. Otherwise, why bother? As for the human figures, I definitely don't need a herd of 40+ KS exclusive 1920's civilian characters with guns, axes, shovels, whatever. Maybe if they go down the Zombicide homage route a little and do takes on famous pulp characters like The Shadow etc. I might get more interested in them. Otherwise my interest will depend on how many different monster sculpts they do, and how outstanding the sculpts are. The miniature casting quality, if its anything like Black Plague's, should be excellent.
Vermonter wrote: Agree about WoK Nasier - I don't mind if other people enjoy the BDSM element or CMON's cartoony house style in general, but they're not for me.
Death May Die looks worth watching, even if "Shoot Cthulhu in the face" is one of the dumbest hooks I've ever heard. CMON doing Lovecraft is exciting in and of itself, as it may finally give us a Cthulhu miniatures game with good qualilty sculpts and high production values. (What about Cthulhu Wars? Props to Petersen for game design and heart, but the minis aren't good enough for me.) That said, the Death May Die monster minis shown so far are fine but none of them set me on fire yet, and with the possible exception of the canine-faced ghoul, they look more Lovecraftian than Lovecraft, i.e., Cthulhu-inspired rather than direct representations of his actual creatures. If they're going to do Cthulhu and Hastur, I hope they'll go whole hog and pull from the classic menagerie. Otherwise, why bother? As for the human figures, I definitely don't need a herd of 40+ KS exclusive 1920's civilian characters with guns, axes, shovels, whatever. Maybe if they go down the Zombicide homage route a little and do takes on famous pulp characters like The Shadow etc. I might get more interested in them. Otherwise my interest will depend on how many different monster sculpts they do, and how outstanding the sculpts are. The miniature casting quality, if its anything like Black Plague's, should be excellent.
I agree Vermonter, if I back DMD it will be for the monsters. You've actually made my stomach churn a little at the thought of it being run as a Zcide style campaign adding primarily just new investigators with a bunch of "For the LULZ!!!" homages... That would be awful.
Really disappointed with the lack of any Wrath of Kings news. Seems like Westeros will completely replace it. A shame.
Then again, it's not like there was much news on Dark Age either...
I am pretty convinced that WoK is one of the best games available on the market today, I would love to see more for it (especially rpg, standalone board game, etc..)
I think where they went wrong with WoK was with the art direction. The art direction is a saturday morning cartoon/original Zombicide type style, but then they mix that with really adult type bdsm themes that would have worked better with a grittier art direction/world. I personally never got into the game because I don't want to play a game (or have rule books sitting around) with a bunch of naked bdsm women and monsters running around for a variety of reasons, one of which is how jarring it is with the cartoon/exaggerated style of the miniatures.
pretty much have to agree there *specifically you are talking nasier, they have a reason for it, but....yeah... The art style is a big issue, I am not a fan of the art, though some of the models I like, the fluff I really like the rules are what keeps me in.
Nasier pretty much being unusable in many settings plus the core trooper types of Shael Han being really boring pretty much knocked two factions off my interest list from the get go, then you add in the fact that through some combination of melty details and weird design I just can't make heads or tails of the Hadross Deepmen and it was pretty much over for me since I get more hobby time than I get game time.
Related to the other announcements, I'm cautiously optimistic about the Cthulhu game. Did they say in the video there wouldn't be stretch goals for that campaign? If there is enough stuff in the box from the get go I'll back it. I'm a sucker for Lovecraftian horrors.
arent we all, and they can really pull a fast one if they want to since most of those horrors are indescribable nightmares anyhow bad cast? who knows. It still eats people so good to go
I don’t think they will go with the celebrity inspired characters with DMD. They didn’t with The Others or several other recent non-Zombicide games so can see it being the same here.
So I've repurposed the Expo thread for this as it didn't seem worthwhile to start a new thread.
Recent CMON games news
Project: Elite - Kickstarter Q4 2018
those unreleased Sedition Wars minis finally get a release (this is not connected to Sed Wars just using those minis)
CMON Limited announced today they are producing an updated edition of the widely-acclaimed board game Project: ELITE by designers Konstantinos Kokkinis and Sotirios Tsantilas. Originally released in 2016, Project: ELITE is a unique real-time, cooperative board game like no other.
In Project: ELITE, players are members of the ELITE squad on a mission to stop the invading forces of an alien empire. Stopping the invasion will require players to speedily roll dice as they take part in real-time, 2-minute combat rounds against waves of terrifying enemies. Once the ELITE members take their turn, the aliens will react. The game continues in this fast-yet-tactical series of rounds until the scenario is won or the aliens take the Earth.
CMON’s new edition was developed based on community feedback from the initial release. Players can expect all-new art by Stefan Kopinski, Saeed Jalabi, and Henning Ludvigsen, all-new miniatures by Studio McVey, with personal oversight by Mike McVey, new card designs, new weapons, new ELITE members, new enemies, and more. Beyond the base game, CMON will also introduce expansions and more through a Kickstarter campaign set for Q4 2018.
CMON’s Production Manager, Thiago Aranha recalls, “When Project: ELITE released, gamers loved it. We saw their feedback and knew CMON could take the game to the next level with a new edition that upped the production value to match the high-quality gameplay.
Zombicide RPG:
You’ve fought zombies in the malls. You’ve fought them in the morgues. You’ve fought them in the prisons. You’ve fought them in castles. You’ve fought them in hedgerows. You’ll soon be fighting them in space. But this new Zombicide lets you fight zombies in an all-new way. CMON has announced a new Zombicide Role-Playing Game.
From the announcement:
CMON Limited announced today that they have partnered with Need Games!, an up-and-coming Italian RPG publisher, to design and publish Zombicide: The Role-Playing Game (Z:RPG), based on the celebrated board game franchise.
Z:RPG, designed by Marco Maggi and Francesco Nepitello, merges the classic zombie-bashing action that players expect from the Zombicide line of board games with the exciting character creation and development of an immersive role-playing game. An intuitive set of game rules will allow players to create original Survivors during a Prologue that narrates the players’ first contact with the undead menace. Then, the Survivors will plunge head-first and galvanize into a group of die-hards with their first adventure: “The Crossroad”. This adventure will allow the players to describe where and how they got together, and why they watch each others’ backs. “The Crossroad” is a fully-customizable entry point, created to allow for different play-styles and settings, whether a classic urban locale, an infested shopping mall or hospital, a remote scientific lab, and more.
Trudvang Legends Board Game - KS Q2 2019
CMON Limited will be launching a Kickstarter campaign for Trudvang Legends, an upcoming storytelling board game based on the successfully crowdfunded Swedish RPG: Trudvang Chronicles. Steeped in epic Nordic and Celtic myths and sagas, players will take the roles of legendary heroes who make their mark on a dynamic, everchanging fantasy world.
Designed by Eric M. Lang, Guilherme Goulart, and Fel Barros, Trudvang Legends thrusts players into a cycle of epic sagas, where their achievements will change not only the world itself, but the very rules by which gods, peoples and nature interact. They will quest through an interwoven series of Adventure Books, and the results of their choices will echo through history: changing the relationships between sovereign nations, usurping kings, creating new waygates, or even locking and unlocking parts of the map.
Change in Trudvang Legends manifests physically, as parts of the board actually change, making the actions of previous hero generations affect future sagas. However, the changes are only as permanent as long as history remembers them, which makes the game endlessly replayable, and even playing the same Adventure Book repeatedly will have a completely different feeling, because the world itself has changed. Heroes, following a path of destiny, will even become historical fixtures as they become Kings, Guildmasters or even Gods!
Trudvang Legends features incredible art by Paul Bonner, Alvaro Tapia, Gio Guimarães, and Henning Ludvigsen and graphic design by Fabio de Castro and Júlia Ferrari. Heroes and monsters will be represented by highly-detailed miniatures sculpted by Juan Navarro Perez, Arnaud Boudoiron, Edgar Ramos, and Aragorn Marks.
“We, at RiotMinds, could not ask for a better partner than CMON to elevate the Trudvang franchise.” says Theodore Bergquist, co-founder of RiotMinds. “The work we’ve seen so far is absolutely stunning and all the Trudvang fans out there will see the world come to life for sure.”
“The world of Trudvang presents us with an exciting opportunity to create a really innovative game based on the cycles of history and legend,” said Lang. “We’re looking to push some boundaries with this game, and really commit to the concept of a living world.”
Trudvang Legends will launch on Kickstarter in Q2 of 2019.
Munchkin Dungeon
CMON Limited announced today that they have teamed with Steve Jackson Games to design and publish Munchkin Dungeon based on the award-winning card game.
Munchkin Dungeon captures the same playful sense of humor of the original card game, while providing a completely new experience. It is the first collaboration between designers Eric M. Lang (Blood Rage, Rising Sun, Arcadia Quest) and Andrea Chiarvesio (Richard the Lionheart, Kingsburg, Hyperborea).
In the game, 3-6 players will enter a dungeon and attempt to collect the most treasure and achieve the highest character level. They will have to push their luck if they want to be successful in their adventure, but if they come across a foe that’s a little too big to face, they can always run away. If players choose to take the cowardly (albeit occasionally logical) route of avoiding danger, they will earn Shame which will be counted against them at the end of the game. You can’t be a hero without exhibiting a little bravery!
Starcadia Quest Kickstarter 28 August -already has it's own thread
CMON’s newest Kickstarter promises to be out of this world! Starcadia Quest is an all new stand-alone campaign game for 2 to 4 players. The dastardly Supreme Commander Thorne is looking to control the galaxy (at least a good portion of it) and each player leads a crew of two heroes flying through space on a quest to defeat him. While they share the same goal, the different crews are not exactly in league with one another. They will compete as much with each other, as they do with Thorne and his army.
Players choose the direction their campaign takes, following different branching paths, each with their own unique experiences along the way. They must choose which opportunities to pursue, and which ones to leave behind—a decision that can have serious consequences later in the campaign.
Starcadia Quest takes place in a remote galaxy. A galaxy filled with aliens, lasers, treasure, and rugged heroes ready to take on anything. It’s coming to Kickstarter on August 28 at 3 PM EST, so prepare your star chart, begin the countdown, and set your phasers for fun!
Wacky Races Board Game
MON Limited is off to the wild-world of cartoon racing with their upcoming release of Wacky Races, in partnership with Warner Bros. Consumer Products, based on Warner Bros.’ popular Hanna-Barbera cartoon. Recreate the crazy, fun, and yes… wacky races from the adventurous 60s animated series.
Wacky Races puts players in the “driver’s seat” with control of their favorite drivers from the cartoon series, including The Slag Brothers, The Gruesome Twosome, Penelope Pitstop, Peter Perfect, and more, each with their own car equipped with special abilities. They’ll compete against each other—and the game-controlled, mustachioed Dick Dastardly and his wheezy pup Muttley. Each racer is depicted with amazing art from the Warner Bros. archives and CMON’s artist Giovanna Guimarães and beautifully sculpted miniatures.
Please. Just a little closure. Tell us that the game is dead. It's fine. We understand. There's enough unit variety out there to last a little while longer yet.
Please. Just a little closure. Tell us that the game is dead. It's fine. We understand. There's enough unit variety out there to last a little while longer yet.
Essentially this. If they tell me it's dead I'll grab a last few things and prepare for this to be a game I teach my kiddos as it's fast and easy. I can break out 4 armies whenever for funsies if friends want to play but telling me it's dead means I can wrap it up like other dead games where I'm happy with it and be done.
Project Elite was a lot of fun. It was very frantic once the action phase started and the timer ticks down.
As long as everything is one piece molds I won't be too worried about the models. The original ones are pretty ugly, but they took the abuse of getting flung off the table as we rushed to meet the enemy advance.
Please. Just a little closure. Tell us that the game is dead. It's fine. We understand. There's enough unit variety out there to last a little while longer yet.
Essentially this. If they tell me it's dead I'll grab a last few things and prepare for this to be a game I teach my kiddos as it's fast and easy. I can break out 4 armies whenever for funsies if friends want to play but telling me it's dead means I can wrap it up like other dead games where I'm happy with it and be done.
When someone on TGN criticized CMON for trying to support too many tabletop miniatures games, the moderator (Polar Bear) pointed out that there hadn't been any new releases for Wrath of Kings.
That's probably the clearest declaration of death we're going to get.
A few big events that CMON never announced:
- Cancelled sequels to Sedition Wars (they had lore and minis made)
- No follow up to Rivet Wars
- Split with Gamezone (CMON used to be their US caster).
- Split with Sodapop
So, yeah- not announcing that Wrath of Kings is over. Maybe they think that a post mortem would kill their chances of moving remaining stock, or maybe they want to keep their options open in the hopes of using that property again. Maybe they just don't like to announce bad news.
In any case, we're not going to see the game's death announced.
If CMON wonders why they aren't selling any items for a game they don't promote then they are way out of touch. Doubly so if they think that most gamers are stupid and don't know to wait for their annual sale where those items will likely be less than half price. They have no one to blame for the death of this game but themselves. That's the reality they made for Wrath of Kings which is a shame. I love the game and it's one of the very few non-board miniatures games I own any more. Anyone considering backing a CMON Kickstarter project should decide if they are okay buying a game that will get little if any promotion or follow-up outside of the actual project and it's initial retail release. That's just CMON's pattern, though admittedly I didn't realize that back when I backed WoK.
His Master's Voice wrote: If Trudvang Legends has enough Bonner designs, I might actually buy into a CMoN KS again.
As far as I can tell the core minis they've show off so far are all based off of his designs. Jen Haley had some pics on facebook of the ones she painted for Gencon. Now Bonner isn't the sole artist for Trudvang, I've got all the RPGs, so I wouldn't be surprised if some stuff isn't based off of his work but a lot probably will be.
It was announced by Sodapop. CMON hasn't ever said anything about it officially.
And that announcement came after the split, by quite a bit- long enough for CMON to develop Arcadia Quest as a replacement for Super Dungeon (the announcement was after the AQ kickstarter had ended- it was during the Forgotten King Kickstarter).
Project: ELITE is CMON's next Kickstarter campaign coming later this year. This is a brand-new edition of the critically-acclaimed game from Artipia Games. Combining the frantic real-time dice-rolling and tactical gameplay of the original with updated art, components and graphic design, this new version of Project: ELITE will prove an intense and heart-pounding experience for all players.
Might have to pick it up just for the minis as I have the SW:AoS rules for them. I see Vokker's (or whatever he's called now) weapon has been redesigned just as well as the original was too thin to transfer to PVC. The minis would probably also be useful in Zc:Invader - crossover perhaps?
I find it charming a game that failed because of the models despite a really good system and the models that failed because of the system despite them been really good models (ok its more complicated in their case) are combined into one product.
They should be useful to ZcI more or less they are the models we all expected ZcI would have, if CMON is modestly intelligent one of the faux streachgoals will be datacards for ZcI
highlord tamburlaine wrote: A great way to milk both this and Invader would be to have a crossover hero pack. Hell, toss some Xenoshyft crossovers in just for fun!
Same scale, same manufacturer, throw in a bonus KS exclusive figure... $$$.
You're welcome CMON.
Crossover hero pack, crossover monster pack, both ways.
highlord tamburlaine wrote: A great way to milk both this and Invader would be to have a crossover hero pack. Hell, toss some Xenoshyft crossovers in just for fun!
Same scale, same manufacturer, throw in a bonus KS exclusive figure... $$$.
You're welcome CMON.
Crossover hero pack, crossover monster pack, both ways.
Urgh.. Don't tell them. That would probably get me to back, whereas I think I can skip this one as is.
Trudvang looks excellent! I hope it's chock full of monsters and heroe minis.
Wacky Races seems like a great game for parents and kids. Or those of us old enough to remember the show.
Is Munchkin Dungeon a miniature based Dungeon crawler game with the Munchkin theme? I hope it's not just a bunch of cards, that's what the original game already is!
> Is Munchkin Dungeon a miniature based Dungeon crawler game with the Munchkin theme? I hope it's not just a bunch of cards, that's what the original game already is!
IIRC, Munchkin Dungeon was originally a Munchkin Arcadia Quest game. There *is* a Munchkin CCG, by Eric Lang, that is a card-only game.
Siygess wrote: Is it me, or do all of CMON's games look the same now?
This is what happens when Adrian Smith is in charge of your art department it’s all looking very samey but if it can crossover with Zc Invader then that’s a positive.
The Searsting (scorpion) looks a bit like a larger bone crab I guess they are keeping some of the Sedition Wars/Arms of Sorrow design as thats what some of the minis were designed for.
I’ll be backing just for the minis I have a few in resin already but I’d like to have more of the cannon fodder type stuff.
I do think their art direction has really suffered the last year or so - not sure on the cause, but I agree with the criticisms here. That scorpion-with-face model is extremely uninspired... especially the sculpted render at the top left of the first pic above.
I will fully admit I do not like his style and technique, but the point of an art director is to guide/ shape and safeguard the branding of the companies art direction, not to turn all the companies art to whatever he would draw/ like to see.
I will fully admit I do not like his style and technique, but the point of an art director is to guide/ shape and safeguard the branding of the companies art direction, not to turn all the companies art to whatever he would draw/ like to see.
So, the reason I love all of Adrian Smith's Warhammer/40k artwork is because he was working at the direction of a seasoned art director, and the reason I dislike most of his CMON art is because he is working at the direction of himself as art director?
Do we now draw comparisons to Image Comics or Shatner directing Star Trek 5?
CMON ACQUIRES LICENSE FOR NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD
Oct 29, 2018
Fifty years ago, George A. Romero’s Night of the Living Dead changed the horror movie industry and created the zombie genre. Since then, zombies have become a mainstay in popular culture, and now, CMON Ltd., maker of worldwide best-selling tabletop games including their flagship title Zombicide, has acquired the license from Living Dead Media to create branded board games and associated play accessories (including miniature PVC figures, board, dice and tokens/coins, cards) based on Romero’s original iconic movie. These new games are officially approved by Image Ten, the original production company and custodians of George A. Romero’s iconic film, making them the definitive tabletop products based on the horror classic.
Geoff Skinner, CMON’s VP of Media Development, said of the partnership, “Night of the Living Dead is the quintessential zombie movie. It’s an honor to work with such a property, and we are excited to be able to partner with Living Dead Media and Image Ten on creating a game worthy of the movie’s legacy.”
Spoiler:
[spoiler]
CMON Acquires License for Night of the Living Dead
For this release, CMON Ltd. is once again working with Evolution USA LLC, the licensing and brand management agent of Living Dead Media. Their first collaboration was a tabletop game based on the popular Gaumont-produced Netflix series, Narcos. That game is slated to hit store shelves on November 23rd.
Travis Rutherford, Partner/Chief Revenue Officer at Evolution, said, “We’re thrilled for Night of the Living Dead to be hitting gaming tables all over the world next year and are excited to see what the team at CMON has cooked up. Just like their work on Narcos, we know this will be a fitting addition to a legendary franchise.”
"Living Dead Media and Image Ten are proud to partner with CMON to bring legions of fans a new way to experience Night of the Living Dead. And, Living Dead Media will be honoring George A. Romero by donating a portion of its profits to the newly formed George A. Romero Foundation known as GARF," said Steve Wolsh, CEO of Living Dead Media.
The announcement to create games based on Night of the Living Dead coincides with CMON Ltd.’s opening of their new L.A. office. From there, CMON looks to further work with licensors to create tabletop products. Earlier this year, CMON successfully launched the A Song of Ice and Fire: Tabletop Miniatures Game based on the NYT Bestselling book series by George R. R. Martin as well as Bloodborne: The Card Game based on Sony's best-selling PS4-exclusive video game, Bloodborne. In Q2 of 2019, they will be releasing a family tabletop game based on Hanna-Barbera’s classic Wacky Races cartoon series. The L.A. Office is being led by Geoff Skinner.
Of his mission in L.A., Geoff Skinner said, "CMON is the premiere tabletop gaming company in the world, and I couldn't be more proud to help establish our footprint in Hollywood. By opening an office in L.A., we're looking forward to strengthening our licensor relationships in the film, TV, and electronic gaming communities, as well as to forging partnerships that will expand the narrative of our own IPs into television, features and animation."
So, this is going to be based on the original Romero movie, and not the Tom Savini remake? So, I guess that means this time around zombies get to use weapons, will be afraid of light, and whoever plays Barbara gets to be hysterical the entire game while doing nothing.
Maybe Barbara will be an NPC with a random AI (runs in a random direction, screams for a noise counter, etc.) and you have to keep her alive! (Not that the movie succeeded!)
There is currently a 50th (!) anniversary HD restoration on at some cinemas in the UK (preceded by a documentary) so they will hopefully be making some money from that as well (the documentary also showed footage of a mobile prequel which is officially licenced).
I had sworn off Zombicide (with the exception of the final fantasy set) but this does have me intrigued as to make a faithful adaption will be quite a departure from regular Zombicide.
I don't think most people are aware of how different the zombies in the original movie are from what was in the later ones. There's still vestiges of I am Legend in it, what with the zombies being afraid of light and all. Plus I could swear several zombies do use weapons in the movie. At least one does use a trowel to kill someone.
You know what would be cooler? A Return of the Living Dead baordgame. It could be a base defense/ horde mode survival game where you have to keep the barricades up and fend off the unkillable zombies long enough for the military to launch a nuke. It'd be like Lost Patrol almost, where the point is more seeing how long you can last rather than if you can actually survive or not.
Barzam wrote: I don't think most people are aware of how different the zombies in the original movie are from what was in the later ones. There's still vestiges of I am Legend in it, what with the zombies being afraid of light and all. Plus I could swear several zombies do use weapons in the movie. At least one does use a trowel to kill someone.
You know what would be cooler? A Return of the Living Dead baordgame. It could be a base defense/ horde mode survival game where you have to keep the barricades up and fend off the unkillable zombies long enough for the military to launch a nuke. It'd be like Lost Patrol almost, where the point is more seeing how long you can last rather than if you can actually survive or not.
Wasn't that basically Zpocalypse? I'm pretty sure that's what the premise of that game is. Surprisingly I've never owned it either...
Blood Rage Digital will be the next Flash Kickstarter campaign by CMON. Featuring Multiplayer and Solo options, the core game as well as many expansions, a customizable AI that can be used to introduce new players to the game or challenge the most strategic Vikings out there, and graphics that will put you in the middle of a war at the end of days, Blood Rage Digital is perfect for any fan of the Eric M. Lang original masterpiece. If that is not enough to get your Norse spirits fired up, this short campaign will also offer a few amazing promos, like new versions of the four exclusive Monsters only seen in the original Blood Rage Kickstarter, and the all-new Stag Clan!
Like they they're redoing the exclusives as new sculpts. I wonder if this means those will go into general retail as Bloodrage probably still sells pretty decently.
CMON stock price continued to fall as the company reported losses of $4.1 million for the 9 month period ending September 2018. The company blamed the losses mainly on decreasing Kickstarter revenue and increased convention expenses.
Revenue fell 32.6% from $17.5 million for 2017 to $11.8 million in 2018. The losses were primarily due to decreases in revenue from Kickstarter including ‘A Song of Ice & Fire: Tabletop Miniatures Game’ and ‘Arcadia Quest: Riders.’
CMON’s gross profit decline, from 47.5% to 39.8%, was attributed to the increase in fixed costs. Cost of sales decreased as inventories declined and shipping and handling costs dropped. The company also reported a decrease in the sales of advertising space on their website.
Expenses also increased for the game maker due to increase marketing efforts, namely the participation in large scale game conventions.
The company also incurred extra costs related to an application to transfer their stock listing from Growth Enterprise Market (GEM) to the main board.
CMON’s stock continued to slide, closing at 0.16 HKD on Friday, a decrease of 30.4% over last years price.
well it looks like CMON are having a tough time of things
Hate: $1,469,000 and 10,227 backers (probably as good as could be expected, not bad but factions a bit too samey so while you got a bucket of stuff it was all chaos marauder fodder)
Arcadia Quest Riders: $316,000 from 5,272 (seemed to do fine for what it was an sold what was there and more so uninspiring but not a failure)
Zombicide Invaders: $3,353,000 and 18,486 backers (decent but only 2/3 of Green Hordes take although spend per person very similar, uninspired designs)
Death May Die: $2.412,000 and 15,831 backers (poor response to an Cthulhu game, I suspect they expected far more backers even if they didn't expect the demand for giant Cthulhu, poorly run campaign, too many investigators too few monsters)
Starcadia Quest: $935,000 and 6500 backers (poor result, I'm sure they expected 3X this, lots didn't like the aliens, too many paid add ons that were probably intended to be stretch goals, too many mini robots)
that said, and despite blaming it all on KS & Convention expenses one wonders about how much licencing fees to GRRM contribute.... now the KS is done I wonder if what they're selling is actually enough to cover them on an ongoing basis
If they’d do less Kickstarter exclusive add ons I think they’d get more sales. I wanted some of the trees and huts from Hate, and could have possibly bought the hills too. Zombicide barricades and hedges would have sold too. I mean they could have continued to make money on existing molds, but tried to milk the cow too much.
I guess we know why CMON is throwing out all these "Flash Kickstarters" then.
And yes, have to believe that if CMON is *not* selling the IP for WoK, then it is dead and buried.
Dark Age might get a second (or is it third now? Fourth?) chance but, cynicism aside, don't expect the promised "Soon" announcement on WoK and DA until after their Black Friday sale.
Where they'll likely try to blow much stock out the door as possible.
The closer to 80% off that WoK and DA stuff ends up at will determine whether or not CMON will be moving forward with either (on none) of them.
Well, that makes sense why certain items from kickstarter's haven't made retail if they weren't popular in the ks.
As one who had backed almost every cmon kickstarter, I think their kickstarters are fine... as long as they did only a few larger projects a year like 2017 and prior. The smaller projects seem like they are raising cash only to fund the larger projects (stealing from Peter to pay Paul... what soda pop minis had done.). Cmon set the standard for games and ks, but the market is full of games and companies now (mythic, etc, hell the assassins creed game looks ace too!!). If they release too many they will end up like mage knight.
This year they made costly decisions to hire smith, mcvey, and the best game designer out there... they all came with a large cost im sure. The worst decision was to hire a sole artist for their games. Smith is good for horror stuff (7 sins, cthulu, etc), but he doesn't fit in more lighthearted stuff (wok, zombicide, zombicide inv, etc).
They also seem to release their ks only exclusives at conventions. The first zombicide promos should be long gone, but are still there at cons. This has dropped values so folks aren't buying multiple copies for resale/investments anymore.
They have a lot of good products coming and some ace systems (project elite, zombicide, black plague, Arcadia quest, etc). Even though they took a loss I don't think you will see cmon leave the market.
As for wok, I think it was more unique and a less costly system than fire and ice.I don't see fire and ice becoming big, and it's a shame if they stop supporting wok. It is such a good game system, with some amazing minis!!
455_PWR wrote: Well, that makes sense why certain items from kickstarter's haven't made retail if they weren't popular in the ks.
As one who had backed almost every cmon kickstarter, I think their kickstarters are fine...
….They have a lot of good products coming and some ace systems (project elite, zombicide, black plague, Arcadia quest, etc). Even though they took a loss I don't think you will see cmon leave the market.
As for wok, I think it was more unique and a less costly system than fire and ice.I don't see fire and ice becoming big, and it's a shame if they stop supporting wok. It is such a good game system, with some amazing minis!!
The Kickstarters are now what is wrong with CMON. I liked their methods before, when they had a lot of exclusive enemies or charcters while those who did not back it would still have a good selection of expansions. Unfortunately, starting with Green Horde, you begin to see a pattern where you need to back to fully enjoy the game; otherwise, you could be playing either a very easy or very difficult game since every expansion is an exclusive(Massive Darkness and Zombicide: Prison Outreak, although earlier, are two examples those difficulties).
Hopefully, after Zombicide and AQ's latest project they should go back to what made them CMON with new stuff. Unfortunately, hopefully is an made up word to them; they are probably keep using the same crap while abandoning the projects that they refuse to shape(like Dark Age and WoK. I strongly think they are not family friendly to their image which could be why they are discontinued ).
P.S. Rick and Morty games always have a parental advisory sticker. Making Hate KS exclusive because it has mature content instead of placing a sticker on the box is NEVER an excuse.
I don't think the flash sales are a sign of weakness for CMON. KS backers have long known that 30 days is too long for a KS, with its middle days making less money than the beginning and end ones. Mythic Games is also holding a short KS for its Reichbusters campaign.
I dunno how larger these companies are, but I'm gonna err on the side of small. That month you have a community guy answering questions doesn't work for free, so why keep spending money on a project for 30 days when you can do it for 10?
As for add-ons, expansions don't sell as well as the base game. So, like WotC, CMON may be moving to a model where they want to sell more base units of different games to a larger audience, than have competitions spend hundreds of dollars on a single game.
Which comes to WoK and DA. While Dakka is primarily an audience of miniature gamers, the market CMON is after is not. Boardgamers have *much* more money to spend than miniature gamers and CMON long ago focused its business on them. WoK and DA are still supported, but, by the posts on Dakka about the releases of these games, CMON certainly isn't giving much support. What I make of GoT is that the GoT games and even toy license has been around for all these years, so it shouldn't be unusual that a hobby game company has a license for it. Why a GoT miniatures game? FFG has had the GoT boardgame rights for over 15 years, so that leaves CMON with a miniatures game. The miniature game model of selling retail-only products mollifies retailer complaints about CMON using KS to sell games -- and we don't know if CMON will stop supporting GoT like they are doing with WoK.
Speaking of retailers, I *think* retailers prefer to carry multiple base games of different games than stock many expansions of a single game line. Miniature gamers may not know this, but, for boardgames, the sales of expansions drops a fair amount for later released expansions. So, back to add-ons, having fewer add-ons fits better into this model of selling a base game and few expansion sets.
KS is there for the creator, not the backer. Maybe Mythic and Monolith will resume the previous CMON model, but I'm not seeing this, with Mythic's shortened funding period, and Monoliths' experiment of units made before the KS starts. We'll see.
At these prices - 80% off Dark Age and Wrath of Kings - it looks like our only hope is that CMON has also already sold off the IP for these two great games as well.
Meh, everything I want to round all all 4 factions that aren't Hadross is available dirt cheap. So I'll finish off the collection today for another $80. That'll bring me all in to a total of around $500. Less than I spend on a single 40k army for 4 full factions. gak happens but I'll have the full game experience available to play.
I will say not everything is 80% off. Quite a bit of the WoK range isn't. It's basically starters and portions of the last two waves that are onsale.
One box is likely fine. You might want to double up on one or two of the specialist boxes like the Great Wings or the other Nasir big guy and the flying crazy wolf and super zombie. Outside of that I'd probably just grab 2 starters and one of each other box.
Good lord their site is slow. What's it running on, a TRS-80?
I think I'll go ahead and grab the remaining Nasier I don't have (if it ever loads) just because at 80% off, why not? I do kinda hope that they've sold off that IP to a company that will do something with it.
Well order completed. Now can run anything I want for 4 factions. Plus a bit extra on models I just really like. All told between the kickstarter, selling off random bits and two sales I'm up 4 factions for around $125 each.
Hulksmash wrote: One box is likely fine. You might want to double up on one or two of the specialist boxes like the Great Wings or the other Nasir big guy and the flying crazy wolf and super zombie. Outside of that I'd probably just grab 2 starters and one of each other box.
so to make sure i got it
Honor and Treachery: The Battle of Ravenwood
1
Nasier Starter Box
2
Nasier Ashman Box
1
Nasier Pelegarth Box
1
Nasier Fel Hammers Box
1
Nasier Rank 1 Specialist Box
1
Nasier Character (Specialist) Box
1
Nasier Great Horn box
2
NASIER- PELEGARTH BRUTES BOX
1
Nasier Firehawk Reavers
1
NASIER- ARKIZAN GREATWING BOX
2
Nasier Izari Warhounds
1
Nasier Character Box 3
1
Goritsi Gotha Knights
1
Goritsi Whitemane Duellists
1
Goritsi - Ravener Alpha
1
Goritsi Blood Engine Box
1
Goritsi Starter Box
1
I got one box of each of the rest of the Goritsi line except the knights and duelists during the last sale.
I ended up ordering the last units from Book 2 that I needed to complete my Shael Han.
I'm tempted to throw in a second order and get all the available Nasier stuff... but since the games basically dead, I think I'd rather just have a single army to take to events and games that pop up.
What is going on with Rivet Wars? Here is the UPDATE.
Is RW dead? No, since Super Robot Punch owns Rivet Wars we can make or release any RW product we choose. Right now, CMoN is not going to publish future RW products, so we would need to find a new publishing partner to continue to release RW in a box, with minis, printed manuals etc. If anyone has contacts, suggestions or is a publisher, maybe we can find a new home for Rivet Wars.
For now though we’d like to give folks a chance to get the miniatures and rules that they’ve been asking for. Let’s get the Ruska, Ottoman, and maybe some ships...into the fight!
Miniatures - I’m uploading the 3D files to Shapeways. In this way you can pick models you’re interested in and have Shapeways print and send them to you. This has some drawbacks but it gets the models out there and it’s a la carte so if you want to get a Rusk KV-12 tank and only the tank, that’s all you have to order. I’m not sure how fast these will come online, but all the base Ruska units are up there now.
Rules/Stats - We have a lot of rules and stats for the new models. There are also some exciting additions to the rules like Line of Sight and Cover. Really simple but effective and it adds more tactics to the game. This was to be part of the Ruska Ottoman campaign. I’ll compile the stats and rules and release them in digital form as PDFs. This will allow anyone to download the information and get using the new rules and minis.
Other stuff - I’ve been working on a video game version of Rivet Wars. Right now it’s looking pretty great and could hopefully tie in to the board game and some new ideas. Just another way to Get in the Fight!
So what happened with CMoN? For years we’ve been discussing the expansions for Rivet Wars but at this time RW does not fit into CMoN’s publishing plans. They are a great team and made Rivet Wars a reality and I’d love to work with them again if the chance ever presented itself.
Right now I hope this allows folks to get their hands on some of the Ruska, Ottoman and rules that we have planned for and created. A lot of time and work went into these new factions and we want to see people enjoying them. Hopefully we’ll learn a bit as people explore this new content and this may lead to a future release or kickstarter or something else. Thank you all for your support and interest and for getting in the fight!
well this just dropped on the Rivet Wars facebook, CMON is apparently officially dropping IPs.
Even though it's polite you can see Ted Terranova has all this new content ready to go for a long time and CMON just sat on it, (presumably they had an option, perhaps with a small yearly payment? that's now been given up)
I love Dark Age and enjoyed WoK. If CMON drops them, I hope they find a new, solid home. Heck, both are in good position for relaunches and Kickstarters (looking at you, new Brood sculpts).
Not really. CMoN finds it more. Profitable to do boardgames with one large expansion and several small ones. Miniature games are long term effort that rarely pay off at the level of the short term boardgame. This doess make the song of fire and ice game likely to be shuttered if holiday sales aren't good knowing their reputation - especially after hearing about the loss they took with licensing fees.
$15 for the steam game (no physical copy) or $60 one including the physical stuff
basically only of use if you missed the original Blood Rage KS and want the extra clan and minis that were KS exclusive. If you got the stuff in the first KS you don't need this (unless you want some female warrior sculpts)
The mountain giantess is a step down from the original mystic but the wolfwolmen looks just as bad as the wolfman.
Not understanding why they aren't making the monsters at least non-KS exclusive as surly they could sell those at retail? Maybe blood rage is just too old and the expansions don't sell well (read somewhere that expansions have a shorter shelf life then core boardgames).
indeed. I don't have any real issue with the wolf or seer and the Stag clan looks great but some of them are really meh.
While I'm not expecting the original KS exclusives to appear I do hope they bring back the 3d token packs as I would like to have some consistency. Though now that I think about it, I could just print tokens.
TBH I don't know what they think or hope it will be. I would assume 250 would be the high end without any addons. It already almost 150k but I know a lot of people in the comments are just backing so they can beg for old KS exclusives.
basically only of use if you missed the original Blood Rage KS and want the extra clan and minis that were KS exclusive. If you got the stuff in the first KS you don't need this (unless you want some female warrior sculpts)
The 5th player in the original KS was the Ram Clan. It looks to me like everything in this current campaign is new. Just to avoid some confusion.
I agree with everyone that the giantess appears to be a step down in quality. Everything else seems on par IMHO.
the new clan isn't the same as the 5th clan in the last KS, but there are no new rules for it and you can't play a 6 player game by the rules so if you've already got the Ram Clan the only reason to pick up the Stag Clan is for the sculpts, it doesn't give any extra gameplay unless you've just got the basic retail box and want to play with 5 players
Automatically Appended Next Post: Edit:
and if the folk in the comments think they'll be able to bully CMON into selling them they physical stuff without the game good luck too them
but i'd like to point at every expansion box ever with CMON KS that they've refused to sell without a purchase of the base game (and they're a lot more expensive than $10)
Ya, I have no idea what those people are thinking. Several I've seen doing that are long time KSer backers and at least one is also long time active on the Reaper Forum so he should know what to expect.
I'm in for now. Price wise it's not bad even if you don't want the game as it's $70 for mainland US.
Stag Clan would be around $20 at retail after discounts (this is the same as the retail 5th clan), the two giants would probably be the same. Wolfman maybe $10 and I'm not sure how big the wolf is so maybe $15?
that's $85 based off of amazon prices plus the game if it's something you want.
Automatically Appended Next Post: So someone from CMoN has been in the comments section and has stated there's a good chance for an add on for upgraded clan tokens from the original game.
Also no KSE stuff from the original:
We're hearing your suggestions, and will work together to see what we can try and bring to reality. Some of them are just not going to happen (offering the original exclusive monsters), but others just might work out.
Tokens are now an $8 addon and they've also unlocked 3 new version of the god sculpts that are free for anyone with the physical tier. These are the same goes in the retail expansion but larger and with gold paint.
Oh, extra tokens. I'm tempted in staying on this KS to get those. My KDM set needs nice activation tokens on the four player colours (red, blue, green and brown). I was thinking of raiding my BR set for these, but now I could buy an extra set... decisions...
They've now unlocked Thor, Heimel and how Hel which is a replacement for a super rare excusive Hili (wasn't even in a CMoN KSer) functionality wise.
Now with Hel, the Stag Clan and the 4 Monsters all the KSer exclusive game elements that are crazy expensive on Ebay (like $200+ per item) have alts but again all KSer exclusive to this campaign.
Still the 60$ pledge is pretty good if you like the game.
So they've gone though several SG for tokens and such and are now adding the first new gameplay item to the game via the $60 pledge.
The son of the Midgard Serpent that encircles the world, Jörmungandrsson is a completely new addition to Blood Rage! An amazing figure with all new rules. This powerful monster is able to inhabit both the land and the sea, and as such has the unique ability of occupying either Villages or Fjords!
ya. They really had to come up with something silly to get it to fit into their base size.
Automatically Appended Next Post: Just noticed how little Project Elite raised and that this will probably beat it. Hopefully this gets CMoN to rethink the course they've been on the past 8-10 months.
They've had lots of lazy campaigns this year with lazy art design as well. Really seams like they thought they could just phone it in and the money would just still be there.
Glad that turned out to not be true as I want the Trudavang KSer next year to go well. Really like the setting and RPG the upcoming boardgame is inspired by.
I like the big lizard thing, but I backed the first campaign and still have not played it. Bought it for the figs, I feel no need to shell out $60 again for the stag clan and the lizard, I also don’t need Giant golden gods who are going to get painted eventually.
I really hope they turn their around and come up with a non-tentacled/vagina faced game that I can play with my kids.
The game is great, as I really like the Eric Lang zone control games (Rising Sun and Chaos in the Old World are 2 others), but I also bought for minis (post KSer) only this year and could easy do with more.
So ended with a box, pillage tokens, a new giant and large boar mini.
Next game announced is the Munkin boardgame that I believe was mentioned earlier this year (can't remember if at gencon or before).
While the war to end the world comes to an end on the surface of the Earth, deep down below, a new adventure is about to begin. The desire for treasure is a strong lure, and despite the potential danger, the call to enter one more underground labyrinth is just far too tempting!
In Munchkin Dungeon, players will take control of the heroes from the original hit card game Munchkin, like the Wizard, the Dwarf, and the Thief, and delve deep into twisting underground caverns. To come out on top, players are going to have to push their luck, taking risky moves to get ahead. They’ll search for treasure, level up through experience, and of course, face off against a number of deadly monsters! And what would a Munchkin game be without a little backstabbing? Players will want to keep their friends close and their enemies closer… say, within reach of a short dagger.
In Munchkin Dungeon, fans of the series will see the classic adventurers – and monsters! – come to life in highly detailed miniature figures. Players work their way through the board game’s many different routes, moving their minis as they go. Adventures like these are only meant for the very brave or the very foolhardy. If you fall into either of those categories, or both, make sure to check out the upcoming Kickstarter campaign.
Munchkin Dungeon will be the next Kickstarter from CMON, early 2019. Stay tuned for more details as the campaign approaches!
Monkeysloth wrote: They've had lots of lazy campaigns this year with lazy art design as well. Really seams like they thought they could just phone it in and the money would just still be there.
Indeed, but CMoN isn't alone here, just the worst offender in 2018. The novelty of an expensive KS campaign with a small mountain of "meh" just isn't going to pull the big money on pure hype and FOMO any more. Horizon Zero Dawn TBG was similarly "off", and failed to get my money. Indeed, I didn't back a single new KS in 2018.
Quite frankly, I'm just not willing to drop $150 shipped for a pile of minis when the actual game itself is probably going to disappoint. I might gamble $100 shipped, but more than that, and I'm really skeptical.
Monkeysloth wrote: They've had lots of lazy campaigns this year with lazy art design as well. Really seams like they thought they could just phone it in and the money would just still be there.
Indeed, but CMoN isn't alone here, just the worst offender in 2018. The novelty of an expensive KS campaign with a small mountain of "meh" just isn't going to pull the big money on pure hype and FOMO any more. Horizon Zero Dawn TBG was similarly "off", and failed to get my money. Indeed, I didn't back a single new KS in 2018.
Quite frankly, I'm just not willing to drop $150 shipped for a pile of minis when the actual game itself is probably going to disappoint. I might gamble $100 shipped, but more than that, and I'm really skeptical.
The norm for 2018 seems to be $120 plus shipping. I assume it will likely jump to $150 in the next year or so. And that's when we'll see a drop off in these big projects.
It seems a lot of them are struggling to make over 1 million these days, and with each subsequent project they are experiencing diminishing returns.
And it's not just CMON. This seems to be happening with quite a few titles with a few exceptions from some of the newer companies. I don't suspect it can be maintained indefinitely, especially with the US tariffs on imported goods.
In early 2019, we're delving deep below the surface to face off against fire-breathing Dragons, fur-covered Trolls, and ...Large Angry Chickens...?! Munchkin Dungeon is coming to Kickstarter and there's a ton of Loot just waiting to be discovered! Follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and on our Kickstarter page for all the updates! https://cmon.co/kickstarter Steve Jackson Games #Munchkin #Boardgames #Miniatures
Automatically Appended Next Post: So it looks like this is coming sooner rather than later this year, Not of any interest to me but Munchkin is popular I guess
The minis don't look like they'll be able to blend in with many other lines or collections.
If they'd made the figures more Arcadia- like, it would make sense for the crossover appeal, but then that wouldn't really be Munchkin at that point...
I'll at least keep an eye out. My kids and students have always enjoyed the game far more than I ever have.
SJG already released a Munchkin Dungeons game several years ago, as well as Munchkin miniatures.
The original artist was John Kovalic, who has a large following, though not by Dakka. I do find it odd that the cover art isn't Kovalic (?).
SJG has had success, albeit of a smaller scale, with its Munchkin KS, though, afaik, none have been miniatures. SJG has also had success with miniatures for its OGRE game.
Eric Lang also developed the recent Munchkin CCG, though I dunno how well it has done.
So... mebbe this KS will actually be useful (: to give SJG and CMON an idea of how popular the Munchkin franchise is -- or still it. After all, one use of KS is to have a better idea of the demand for your product!
I have some of the old SJG Munchkin miniatures, and found them easier to paint, though, surprisingly, conventional painting techniques still apply.
Munchkin Dungeon is a hilarious adventure game designed by Andrea Chiarvesio and Eric M. Lang where 2 to 5 players explore the Dungeon and have to push their luck, facing not only hordes of monsters but also their friends' treacherous tricks! The celebrated hit card game Munchkin and its infamous characters come to life on your tabletop with amazing miniatures!
well it's live for any who are interested, I'm not interested enough to run a separate thread but if you are please go for it
Ok, the Bullrog mini looks pretty great, but I don't think the Munchkin style really speaks to me as a painter.
I can imagine a lot of Munchkin fans really wanting minis, though. And for painters, they are nice meta-breakers (like Chibi miniatures, Stuffed Fables and things like that- painting them would be very different from other things).
I feel like the painted examples are WAY below CMON's usual quality level, though. I wonder if they decided that was more appropriate for this, or what.
I think the painting level is appropriate. They're trying to mirror how it's colored in the original art. This game isn't targeting the normal mini's crowed so I think it's smart to show similar painting. Something that's very achievable by most people.
its been up about 12 hours and still struggling to reach its funding goal. Given the casual gaming Munchkin audience this is aimed at I think they would have been much better going straight to retail rather than Kickstarter.
It certainly hasn't leapt out the blocks like most Cmon KSs. Suppose it suffers from being too much of a niche within a niche. Plus, there may be a perceived lack of value from the usual cmon fans given there's not actually a huge amount of models in the box (compared to, say, Blood Rage.
Still, it's not exactly limping over the line just because it hasn't funded in the first 12-15 hours. If it barely moves by the 48 hour mark then it's probably more concerning (though still in very little danger of not funding).
I suspect cmon may be learning to temper their expectations after ASOIAF didn't quite make as much as they appeared to have been expecting.
Lessee...
* There's already a SJG Munchkin dungeon-themed boardgame called Munchkin Quest. IIRC, The miniatures in the CMON KS are only sorta compatible with the standees in the SJG game.
* SJG already has various Munchkin miniatures (and meeples), though not as much variety as the KS.
* SJG recently released a Munchkin CCG, as well as continued expansions.
* SJG continues to release Munchkin card game expansions, including through KS.
Munchkin's been around for so long, the iconic characters and monsters (Where's the potted plant? (: have been diluted. The art isn't by the original artist, John Kovalic, so there's no Dork Tower tie-in (unless SG's say otherwise), and, even then, SJG released Dork Tower miniatures.
IIRC, While Munchkin sells quite well, it's sales are not as strong as before.
If the SG's don't get hit, yeah, retail. I've picked up CMON base games at 1/2 of the pledge plus shipping price of a CMON KS.
Well it's funded and crawling on slowly and they've already dropped in a paid expansion
I wonder if it will have the old hockey stick shaped graph on kicktrack as knowledge of it starts to reach people who actually want a munchkin dungeon game ?
or if the price is just basically to high compared to 'normal' munchkin stuff
Bloodborne: The Board Game is CMON's next Kickstarter campaign coming soon! This brand-new board game is based on the critically acclaimed action role-playing Playstation 4 game Bloodborne, published by Sony Interactive Entertainment.
Bloodborne: The Board Game is CMON's next Kickstarter campaign coming soon! This brand-new board game is based on the critically acclaimed action role-playing Playstation 4 game Bloodborne, published by Sony Interactive Entertainment.
This probably delivers before the last Dark Souls stretch goals^^ (and probably is a better game)
LunarSol wrote: Super curious that Steamforged isn't doing that one...
Seeing how much Steamforged cashed in for Dark Souls, I think Sony might have upped the licence fees. That and Steamforged is nowhere near completion 2 years after the promised delivery date for Dark Souls and simply won't have the manpower to take on another big project for the next 2 years.
LunarSol wrote: Super curious that Steamforged isn't doing that one...
Seeing how much Steamforged cashed in for Dark Souls, I think Sony might have upped the licence fees. That and Steamforged is nowhere near completion 2 years after the promised delivery date for Dark Souls and simply won't have the manpower to take on another big project for the next 2 years.
What are you talking about? They just completed Resident Evil 2, AND got it deliveredas planned around the same time the remake of the video game hit shelves. That wasn't exactly a small project and what delays they did have were pretty minor.
Not sure how I feel about CMON announcing Bloodborne. They already have multiple Kickstarters than need to be fulfilled with several more planned to launch soon. Them pretty much dumping all of their own IPs makes on top of that makes me kind of wary of sending more money their way.
Wasn't HATE pretty much on time? That's the last one I backed and I recently got my copy and some of those minis are just ACE.
Bloodborne is way too tempting, especially if they do those floor crawling crows. I built a winged, plague mask-wearing mutant for my Nurgle furies because the concept is so disturbing, the real deal would be an instant buy.
I'd much prefer CMON doing it than Steamforged. CMON will have sharper details at the very least, and hopefully a bigger pile of loot when all is said and done.
RE2 may have delivered, but Dark Souls is still in limbo as to when everything will be finished.
Most of CMON's current crop seem to be not to heavily delayed and HATE should be hitting us stateside pretty soon.
Other than that, there's what, Starcadia, Invader, and Cthulhu which are all due late spring or summertime. Project ELITE just barely finished its pledge manager. Munchkin just wrapped up.
LunarSol wrote: Super curious that Steamforged isn't doing that one...
Seeing how much Steamforged cashed in for Dark Souls, I think Sony might have upped the licence fees. That and Steamforged is nowhere near completion 2 years after the promised delivery date for Dark Souls and simply won't have the manpower to take on another big project for the next 2 years.
Beyond Dark Souls, a lot of the curiosity stems from the fact they already make a Bloodbourne card game.
LunarSol wrote: Super curious that Steamforged isn't doing that one...
Seeing how much Steamforged cashed in for Dark Souls, I think Sony might have upped the licence fees. That and Steamforged is nowhere near completion 2 years after the promised delivery date for Dark Souls and simply won't have the manpower to take on another big project for the next 2 years.
SONY owns the license for BB and CMoN has had this for table top for quite some time (they also have a card game). Darksouls is owned by Namco. Even though the dev studio is the the same.
CMON has had the license for boardgames since at least 2016 when they put out the card game (so probably 2015). That's the only real explanation as to why CMoN is making the boardgame -- they bought the rights first.
madzerker wrote: I thought that Trudvang was going to be the next kickstarter for CMoN. That is the one I am really looking forward to.
Yeah, same here. I just doubt that there will be many interesting miniatures (for me) in Bloodborne since it is a video game property ( hence over designed in every way possible) and my tastes lie more classical design wise.
madzerker wrote: I thought that Trudvang was going to be the next kickstarter for CMoN. That is the one I am really looking forward to.
Yeah, same here. I just doubt that there will be many interesting miniatures (for me) in Bloodborne since it is a video game property ( hence over designed in every way possible) and my tastes lie more classical design wise.
DaveC wrote: So I've repurposed the Expo thread for this as it didn't seem worthwhile to start a new thread.
Recent CMON games news
Trudvang Legends Board Game - KS Q2 2019
CMON Limited will be launching a Kickstarter campaign for Trudvang Legends, an upcoming storytelling board game based on the successfully crowdfunded Swedish RPG: Trudvang Chronicles. Steeped in epic Nordic and Celtic myths and sagas, players will take the roles of legendary heroes who make their mark on a dynamic, everchanging fantasy world.
Designed by Eric M. Lang, Guilherme Goulart, and Fel Barros, Trudvang Legends thrusts players into a cycle of epic sagas, where their achievements will change not only the world itself, but the very rules by which gods, peoples and nature interact. They will quest through an interwoven series of Adventure Books, and the results of their choices will echo through history: changing the relationships between sovereign nations, usurping kings, creating new waygates, or even locking and unlocking parts of the map.
Change in Trudvang Legends manifests physically, as parts of the board actually change, making the actions of previous hero generations affect future sagas. However, the changes are only as permanent as long as history remembers them, which makes the game endlessly replayable, and even playing the same Adventure Book repeatedly will have a completely different feeling, because the world itself has changed. Heroes, following a path of destiny, will even become historical fixtures as they become Kings, Guildmasters or even Gods!
Trudvang Legends features incredible art by Paul Bonner, Alvaro Tapia, Gio Guimarães, and Henning Ludvigsen and graphic design by Fabio de Castro and Júlia Ferrari. Heroes and monsters will be represented by highly-detailed miniatures sculpted by Juan Navarro Perez, Arnaud Boudoiron, Edgar Ramos, and Aragorn Marks.
“We, at RiotMinds, could not ask for a better partner than CMON to elevate the Trudvang franchise.” says Theodore Bergquist, co-founder of RiotMinds. “The work we’ve seen so far is absolutely stunning and all the Trudvang fans out there will see the world come to life for sure.”
“The world of Trudvang presents us with an exciting opportunity to create a really innovative game based on the cycles of history and legend,” said Lang. “We’re looking to push some boundaries with this game, and really commit to the concept of a living world.”
Trudvang Legends will launch on Kickstarter in Q2 of 2019.
“Bloodborne? I mean, I’m familiar with it, but no, I haven’t played it. I do know the basics, though. The setting is interesting, and people like the mechanics… Punishing but fair. You lose, it’s because you messed up, not because the game cheap-shotted you. I can get behind that.
Board game adaptation? Yeah, I’d have some ideas.”
I’m not sure how long ago that was, time sort of runs together from the beginning of a project to its end (heh, end, as if we’re there yet!) But the beginning does stand out, mixed together with initial design and concept sessions, art briefs, and, in a unique case to this project, acquiring a PS4 and the subsequent eleven+ Full Completion runs of the game.
Looking back, it does still feel like we started this project only a few months ago- time runs together as I said- and it takes Eric (Lang. Might have heard of him) reminding me that it has, in fact, the specific event I’m remembering took place over a year ago, and that wasn’t even near the actual beginning.
So where did it all begin? Well, specifics of that are not really all that interesting, so let’s fast forward a bit to one of our initial design meetings, and show a snippet of just where this game was born. Sadly, I do not remember exactly which convention it was at, but myself and Eric were sitting down in the later hours at our hotel, literally the only available time for these things, given how frantic conventions tend to be. This was one of the rare opportunities where we were physically in the same part of the world, so we had to make these sessions count. Fixing myself a complimentary cup of hotel-quality coffee (black) while Eric procured a sugar-laden fruit juice (little known fact: Eric Lang is part Fruit-fly), we sat down and began to compile the snippets of ideas and thoughts we’d been sharing over the last week or so:
“Alright, so as I said before, you know something I’ve always wanted to do?A dice-less, card-driven dungeon crawl. Remove as many aspects of “luck” as possible. Make it so your choices are what determine success and failure. Just so happens, that also describes Bloodborne.” I said, in a completely natural “this was not written as exposition and intro” way (again, my memory sometimes warps events).
“Deck-building. If we’re going to use cards, then let’s go all out. Not just have cards be a part, but be an essential part. We have a chance here to make something truly unique. Aww man, I’m gonna be honest, I’m super excited for this.” Eric replied, pulling a notebook from his backpack and flipping it open. Unsurprisingly, there were already scribbled notes and bullet points laid out- thoughts and ideas collected over the last week, pulled from nearly two-decades worth of game-design experience.
Before long, we had come to realize our initial “light design chat”, had spilled over into 3am… This did not bode well for the next day, convention still in full swing… But as I mentioned before, these face-to-face sessions were rare, and what was a couple nights without sleep in the grand scheme of the project? It’s not like those would be the only ones- oh no, far from it. Even then, we both knew this would be the new “normal” if we wanted to make this the best we could- and we weren’t going to accept anything less than that.
But for now, we had the beginning of an idea… And, despite usually trying to remain neutral when it came to projects, I had to admit I walked away excited.
Returning to my room, I brought up Youtube on my phone. The time was 3:15am, the video, something along the lines “The Lore of Bloodborne” clocked in at over 45 minutes… But hey, what was another hour in the grand scope of the project?
Emphasis mine. Those looks like interesting design choices. So a dice-less, deck-building dungeon crawler? Maybe the game focuses on the beginnings of the Healing Church looting the Chalice Dungeons?
Lannister Heroes 2 for ASOIAF due for release March 29th.
Includes:
King Joffrey with both combat and NCU cards
7 Kingsguard - each are unique heroes includes
- Ser Jaime Lannister
- Ser Boros Blount
- Ser Barristan Selmy
THE KING MARCHES TOWAR
Officially born as the son of Robert Baratheon, King Joffrey is a Lannister down to his core. Not much more than a boy, Joffrey now sits on the Iron Throne of Westeros, but can be found occasionally taking up sword against the enemies of the crown and House Lannister. Fortunately for his highness (and those supporting his rule), the white-cloaked Kingsguard are never far from his side, protecting his majesty whilst on the battlefield. This month, the lions of House Lannister can choose to test the young king’s mettle in battle or as a distant commander, adding King Joffrey Baratheon and his mighty Kingsguard unit to the A Song of Ice and Fire: Tabletop Miniatures Game. Let’s peek at how this unique all-character unit changes how House Lannister wages war.
Before looking at the Kingsguard as a unit, let’s look at the golden-haired reason why they would join up and stand against an opposing army, King Joffrey himself. Like some other Heroes in A Song of Ice and Fire: Tabletop Miniatures Game, Joffrey can be added to a House Lannister army in two different ways.
Joffrey Baratheon can be chosen either as the Lord of the Seven Kingdoms, a Non-Combat Unit orchestrating the ins and outs of battle from the Iron Throne, or as the First of His Name, the heart of the unique Kingsguard Combat Unit. When taking with the Kingsguard unit, he does so as the Army Commander. Joffrey brings his own flavor of Tactics Cards to the army, each showing the powerful influence of the King’s commands as well as the toll that serving the little tyrant has upon his own troops.
In addition to his potent tactical demands, the Non-Combat Unit version of Joffrey has the full might of the Iron Throne behind his decisions. No matter where on the Tactics Board Joffrey is placed as his action, the Lord of the Seven Kingdoms is also considered to be controlling the Crown zone, even if an opponent’s miniature is already controlling it! Exerting such control from King’s Landing reminds his own troops that the Boy King is watching, disquieting some soldiers who might fear Joffrey’s decisions as much as the enemy’s blades.
When King Joffrey dons his gilded armor and summons the Kingsguard to battle, he joins with SEVEN distinct heroes to form a single devastating Combat Unit. The Kingsguard are a deadly combination of skill, duty, and the best equipment the royal coffers can buy. As a unit with 8 non-restorable Wounds, the Kingsguard are utterly Fearless (never suffering penalties to Morale and are immune to the Panicked condition completely!) and will battle to their last breaths to protect the King, fighting at full offensive ability to the very last man, having a massive 8 dice melee Attack that hit naturally on 2+! That isn’t all, since their thick armor can withstand punishment like that of some cavalry, and once per round the Kingsguard can choose to strike back against those they defend successfully with automatic Hits.
The Kingsguard unit also flies the banners of the King’s official house, the rearing Baratheon stag. These four royal flag miniatures are unique to this unit, being removed to grant the Kingsguard one additional benefit per round when a banner is removed. These range from allowing the unit to Maneuver or Retreat for free, crippling a foe before a single swing is made, and more. While each banner triggers an ability only once, they could be all that it takes to break the enemy utterly if chosen at the right moment. Little can withstand the combined might of the Kingsguard unit in a melee, their white cloaks returning to King’s Landing stained scarlet with the enemy’s blood, but these Heroes can alternatively be chosen individually as Attachments! As long as the Kingsguard Combat Unit is not being fielded, any or all of the seven unique Kingsguard may be chosen as Attachments to lead other House Lannister Combat Units!
Each Kingsguard member is different. Ser Boros Blount inflicts automatic Wounds to enemies that attack his unit while House Lannister controls the Crown. The expert dueling skills of Ser Jaime Lannister inflicts extra damage on enemy units and can even outright slay Attachments that could be leading them! You might desire the veteran tenacity of Ser Barristan Selmy, who restores Wounds to his unit in the name of the Crown and bolsters their bravery. All seven Kingsguard members have their own reason for being called upon to lead a unit, possibly even being a greater asset than when they join up and fight as one to protect the impetuous King Joffrey.
No matter which way you choose to integrate the Kingsguard into your army, they will be a powerful force in combat and lets the enemy know that all of King’s Landing is against them on the field.
The Lannister Heroes II unit box will be available March 29.
LunarSol wrote: Super curious that Steamforged isn't doing that one...
Seeing how much Steamforged cashed in for Dark Souls, I think Sony might have upped the licence fees. That and Steamforged is nowhere near completion 2 years after the promised delivery date for Dark Souls and simply won't have the manpower to take on another big project for the next 2 years.
What are you talking about? They just completed Resident Evil 2, AND got it deliveredas planned around the same time the remake of the video game hit shelves. That wasn't exactly a small project and what delays they did have were pretty minor.
Not sure how I feel about CMON announcing Bloodborne. They already have multiple Kickstarters than need to be fulfilled with several more planned to launch soon. Them pretty much dumping all of their own IPs makes on top of that makes me kind of wary of sending more money their way.
CMON isn't doing too well, and they've really decided to double down/go all in with Kickstarters now - outside of maybe only SOIAF?
Only time will tell if this is a wise decision, but it isn't like they tried or cared about their actual tabletop wargaming properties for a while now.
I do too, although I don't have a huge amount of hope for WoK as whoever was pushing that within CMON doesn't seem to be around any more
Dark Age probably has a better chance as the people who push it are still there (and might just decide to go off on their own if given a chance to take the IP with them)
OrlandotheTechnicoloured wrote: I do too, although I don't have a huge amount of hope for WoK as whoever was pushing that within CMON doesn't seem to be around any more
Dark Age probably has a better chance as the people who push it are still there (and might just decide to go off on their own if given a chance to take the IP with them)
I'm REALLY hoping that's what happens here.
They also let Bryan Steele go recently, so I'd love to see him, Dave Talyor and...a company that actually gives a damn about Dark Age get together and run with it!
CMON isn't doing too well, and they've really decided to double down/go all in with Kickstarters now - outside of maybe only SOIAF?
Only time will tell if this is a wise decision, but it isn't like they tried or cared about their actual tabletop wargaming properties for a while now.
Alpharius, I'm surprised to hear you say that CMON isn't doing well. From my perspective, they are really the one company thriving under the new age of Kickstarter. They can dredge up a million plus dollars pretty regularly on KS.
What makes you say that CMON isn't doing well? You seem to know more about coming and goings there than the average consumer. Just curious what I don't know/see.
CMONs financials for last year were terrible. ASoiF license cost them dearly, and the HK market responded accordingly. I don’t think they finished out 2018 in the black. All of that is public under their financial section on their corporate web site.
Will they sink? No, too many streams of revenue. Do they need to find out what kind of a company they actually are? Most definitely.
Selling dark age to someone that gives a damn would probably be a good start towards generating revenue and reducing non-ks gaming obligations. As for WoK, I would love to see more expansions, but I think that it might be finished.
Kickstarter accounts for 59% of their income 35% is wholesale sales and the balance is their online store (3%) and conventions so the online store isn't really adding much to their business. Kickstarter didn't perform as well as expected in the period. Their long term goal is to focus on the Chinese market so expect anything that doesn't fit that market to be dropped.
their KS projects have also not been taking the money (or the backer numbers) of the glory days of black plague & green hordes (although they're still big enough most companies would kill for them)
Probably from a mix of KS fatigue from established backers (how many huge boardgames with minis can you have in your collection), experiments like the Arcadia Quest: Riders mini KS, competition from other players able to offer buckets of good minis like Monolith & Diemension Games, lower project value and annoying descisions on unlocks & expansions
Also, their most recent projects have all suffered from asstastic mini designs. I was prepared to hand them buckets of money for Project Elite and Zombiecide Invader, but then they decided to have Adrian Smith shove that money back into my wallet.
CMON isn't doing too well, and they've really decided to double down/go all in with Kickstarters now - outside of maybe only SOIAF?
Only time will tell if this is a wise decision, but it isn't like they tried or cared about their actual tabletop wargaming properties for a while now.
Alpharius, I'm surprised to hear you say that CMON isn't doing well. From my perspective, they are really the one company thriving under the new age of Kickstarter. They can dredge up a million plus dollars pretty regularly on KS.
What makes you say that CMON isn't doing well? You seem to know more about coming and goings there than the average consumer. Just curious what I don't know/see.
These guys here:
Sacredroach wrote:CMONs financials for last year were terrible. ASoiF license cost them dearly, and the HK market responded accordingly. I don’t think they finished out 2018 in the black. All of that is public under their financial section on their corporate web site.
Will they sink? No, too many streams of revenue. Do they need to find out what kind of a company they actually are? Most definitely.
Selling dark age to someone that gives a damn would probably be a good start towards generating revenue and reducing non-ks gaming obligations. As for WoK, I would love to see more expansions, but I think that it might be finished.
DaveC wrote:Yep they reported a loss of $4.1 million for the 9 months to September 2018 from a profit of just over $1 million the previous year
Kickstarter accounts for 59% of their income 35% is wholesale sales and the balance is their online store (3%) and conventions so the online store isn't really adding much to their business. Kickstarter didn't perform as well as expected in the period. Their long term goal is to focus on the Chinese market so expect anything that doesn't fit that market to be dropped.
...beat me to it!
But yes, their own financial report is where I was getting my info from.
And they've basically killed off almost all of their 'real' wargame lines too, so yeah, I'm a little biased - but it is backed up by real numbers too!
Thanks for the info everyone. I didn't know they had such a bad year. Their recent KS have been a pretty big let down from a design perspective.
Hopefully they can get that sorted. I know at least locally ASOIF is doing better than I thought it would, so maybe they can parley that into some profits. It seems reasonably priced with great miniatures and rules that the locals here seem to enjoy.
I had a further look this morning as I wanted to see how 2018 ended. CMON actually turned things around in the 4th quarter of 2018 largely due to KS income and will record a profit for the year.
DaveC wrote: I had a further look this morning as I wanted to see how 2018 ended. CMON actually turned things around in the 4th quarter of 2018 largely due to KS income and will record a profit for the year.
I’ll be interested to see the financials (due this month) as the 2 KS in Q4 wouldn’t overcome a $4.1 million deficit by themselves.
That's a heck of a comeback for 2018 - which will sadly only reinforce their 'good decision' to go 'All Kickstarter All The Time' (mostly) and bury their actual wargames even farther down.
I wonder if their Chinese 'KS not done via KS' money doesn't get onto the balance sheet particularly swiftly and this represents this coming in from the last few (or the whole years) campaigns?
I want information about Wrath of Kings. Even though I know I won't get it. CMoN makes me sad with miniatures games. Fantasy Zombicide and Massive Darkness have been fun though.
Whenever the Warrior’s Sons have been tested and found worthy (i.e. – pass a Morale Test), their commander may add a Faith Token to the unit. Faith Tokens can then be spent as a temporary boost to their own Attacks, gaining a bonus to Hit and the armor-cleaving Sundering ability. Alternatively, their Faith can also offer an enhanced Defense against the Attacks from their enemies, whether from swords, axes, or arrows, adding +1 to all of their Defense Save rolls from the impending attack! Whether their Faith is guiding their sword arms or helping them ignore otherwise crippling wounds, it is perhaps their mightiest aspect.
Occasionally leading the Warrior’s Sons (or other allied infantry) into battle is their veteran Champion of the Faith unit Attachment. A seasoned fighter that has the perfect parable or battle cry to pour steel into the veins of his fellows, the Champion turns a moment’s possible weakness into raw, zealous tenacity. When the unit passes one of its Morale Tests, the Champion of the Faith can Order them to Stand Resolute, forcing all enemies in contact with them to become Vulnerable. A Champion of Faith can, with the right words, turn something as terrible as being completely surrounded into a way to prove his unit’s faith in their blessings from the Seven.
The Warrior’s Sons are a powerful unit to add to a House Lannister force that is ready to pay the point cost for such mighty heroes of the faith, with or without their Champion. When combined with some of the other House Lannister units, Attachments, and tactical assets, these shining examples of what the Seven can do for the people of Westeros can be all that is standing between a crushing defeat and a joyous victory. Now is the time to bend the knee to the heavens, shine your seven-pointed-star, and ask the Warrior to keep your blades sharp, your aim true, and your plate mail unyielding.
The Warrior’s Sons unit box will be available March 28.
BLOODBORNE DESIGN DIARY (PART 2)
Design Diary (Part 2): Cards, Combat, and Deckbuilding
A key component of the Bloodborne video game is how you manage your stats. They determine which weapons you can use, how powerful said weapons will be, and manage your Hit Points, Stamina, and… Bloodtinge (don’t worry, if you don’t know that last one, it’s fine). When leveling up, it’s a careful balancing act of choosing between dealing more damage and upping your overall survivability.
This degree of customization and progression, of course, had to make it into Bloodborne: The Board Game.
Before we eventually settled on the deckbuilding aspect, we tested many different variations of utilizing cards as your overall resource. Versions where you had a set hand of actions (effectively becoming a Hand-Building versions), an Action Board sort of system, and probably more that I can’t even remember at this time. Eventually, however, we decided on utilizing deckbuilding as a means for players to progress their Hunter over the course of the campaign.
Rather than delve into the nuts and bolts of how we got to this point, I figured today I’d give a run-down of exactly how this system works, so let’s get right into it!
When you start a Campaign, each Hunter will begin with the same generic deck of Stat Cards: Twelve cards spread across four stats: Strength, Vitality, Skill, and Endurance- stats taken directly from the video game. There are a couple others that players could technically build (Arcane, Bloodtinge) but they function more as secondary stats than anything else (listen, Bowblade fanatics, I’m sorry, but can’t fit everything!)
Vitality is a Hunter’s ability to mitigate damage/their overall health. Strength is raw damage. Skill manipulates how quickly you can attack (and some other various damaging effects). Endurance reflects how many raw actions you can perform before needing to recover. That’s a very simplified rundown of the Stats, but should give you the general idea of each of them.
Now, as mentioned in the beginning, your cards are basically the resource you’re going to be expending to do pretty much everything in the game. It would be an entire article just talking about that, so I want to focus in specifically on how they’re used in combat:
Bloodborne Design Diary (Part 2)
Each Hunter has a specific Trick Weapon (a melee weapon that can transform between two different forms). This is the most important aspect of each Hunter’s kit, as it determines their overall play-style and “feel.” Each weapon form has its own unique attacks, featuring variable damage, speed, and an ability unique to that form. When you make an attack, you’ll place a Stat Card from your hand onto one of the attack slots of that weapon, modifying it in some way. For example, Ludwig’s Holy Greatsword has a high-damaging, but slow, attack.
To use the attack, you must select a Stat Card from your hand and play it into that attack slot, but that Stat Card will grant the attack some additional benefit. Say you just want to deal more raw damage. You’ll obviously play a Strength Card down. But say you’re going against an enemy that also has a slow high-damage attack. Odds are that theirs is much scarier than yours, so you might utilize a Skill Card, upping the speed of your attack so you strike them first (hopefully killing them before they get a chance to make you dead!). Or, as a final example, you might decide you need to use an Endurance Card, which allows you to immediately clear the attack slot once you complete the attack. Oh, did I not mention that? Yeah, you can’t re-use an attack slot if it’s been used until you clear it (which we’ll cover another time).
So that’s the basics of combat: Choose an attack, play a Stat Card down (modifying the attack in some way), and go slay some enemies… Hopefully, anyway.
In your initial deck, you’re going to have 3 copies of each of the basic Skill Cards, same as the rest of your hunting companions. At this stage, your weapon(s) will be the main difference between you. Of course, that alone is already going to create a large amount of diversity, as a hunter utilizing the Threaded Cane/Serrated Whip is going to have a drastically different move-set than one playing with the Hunter’s Axe.
That’s not all, however. As you slay enemies, you’ll acquire Blood Echoes. Upon returning to the Hunter’s Dream, you can spend these Blood Echoes to purchase Upgrade Cards. These are enhanced versions of your basic Stat Cards that replace cards in your deck (so, yes, your deck will always be 12 cards). Something to remember though is that you do not have to replace cards type-for-type. This means that if your weapon and/or play-style doesn’t suit, say, Vitality Cards (you’re just not into healing/blocking damage), you can begin replacing those with something more to your liking, like Strength Cards for more raw killing power.
It’s in this way that, even if you were to play the same Hunter across multiple campaigns, you could choose to spec into different stat-builds and your experience would drastically change.
Let’s look into another example, going back to the previously mentioned Ludwig’s Holy Greatsword Hunter. Base-line, the weapon features a number of slow, damage dealing attacks. You could begin spec’ing into Skill cards, which up the overall speed at which you swing your weapon. Suddenly, your attacks are coming in much faster, while still dealing a good amount of damage. Next campaign, you could invest in Vitality cards, meaning while you am hitting the enemy rather slowly, you am going to be healing based on the damage you deal (Rally Mechanics!). The natural damage of the weapon means you’ll heal that much more.
Those are just some quick examples of potential builds. Beyond that, you’ll also need to decide if you want to heavily invest into one specific Stat, or perhaps spread across a few to give yourself some greater access to combos and a more balanced playstyle (Maybe you take advantage of that sweet, sweet 2x Stat Card slot… Vitality + Skill? Vitality + Strength? Double Skill??).
Well, we could theory-craft an entire article on just utilizing the Greatsword… And we still wouldn’t have even covered the fact that it has an entire other form to factor in as well! But this should give you a good primer into just some of the elements that set the Bloodborne Boardgame apart from any other out there.
Now get out there and hunt. It’s just what hunters do, after all…
I’m still lamenting the limbo we’re in on Dark Age and Wrath of Kings. Both are great systems, and I wish that CMON would either sell them off to someone who loves them or officially get behind them again.
Really, any official word one way or the other is better than not knowing either way.
Optimism level >9000 (!), maybe they’ll use the new web store to launch a complete re-dedication of the games and start an official tournament circuit!
The distribution deal will go into effect as soon as the operational transition is completed this spring. CMON will continue to design and create games, and run their own Kickstarter campaigns, Asmodee NA will take over customer service support for non/ post Kickstarter related issues.
so probably replacements and such on KSer delivery is handled by Asmodee.
Availability of CMON products and especially Song of Ice and Fire miniature game releases is already extremely poor in some European countries including the UK and I can’t see this deal motivating CMON to do anything to fix that.
More Bloodborne previews and ASOIAF Stark Heroes 2
Most of the figures in the Stark Heroes II box come in the form of Unit Attachments. Able to join where most-needed, they can take a standard unit and make them much more elite on the battlefield. For example, whenever Jojen Reed’s unit activates, his Greensight ability lets the Stark player roll a die and determine what sort of bonus they receive. It could be that the unit gets a free Maneuver action, or that they can re-roll misses that activation. But beware, rolling a 1 will cause the unit to become Panicked and Vulnerable. Seeing through someone else’s eyes can sometimes be disconcerting.
Several of the Unit Attachments also punish the enemy simply for taking them on in combat. Osha causes Wounds directly to any enemy that dares destroy a rank of her unit. Meera Reed will cause the enemy to worry about every step they take, able to put out traps and cause Wounds to opponents simply for trying to move around the battlefield. Then there’s the master swordsmen Syrio Forel. His special rules are simple, as he causes the enemy to suffer -1 To Hit against his unit when they are attacked in melee, his fencing skills transferring to the troops around him.
Aside from the Unit Attachments, there is also a single Non-Combat Unit in the box in the form of Arya Stark, The Wolf Girl. Having trained well under Master Forel, she has taken his lessons to heart and makes sure that the enemy never quite knows what she is up to. Her once-per-game ability allows the Stark player to give 1 free Maneuver action to a unit at the start of any round. This has many potential uses, from getting a jump on an enemy that thought they were safely out of range, to pouncing on an objective late in the game, or pulling a threatened unit out of harm’s way. As her flavor text says, “Never do what they expect” can be powerful words to live by on the battlefield.
The Stark Heroes II box also contains a single unit. Shaggydog, Rickon Stark’s pet direwolf, is also included. A rather vicious beast (quite literally, as he has the Vicious special rule, which causes enemies to suffer -2 to Panic Tests he causes), and very fast on the battlefield, Shaggydog can tear into the enemy with is Savage Mauling attack, rolling two dice and hitting on 2+. However, to bring Shaggydog, Stark players must be cautious, as Rickon himself will also be out on the battlefield, and enemy commanders would surely love to get their hands on a prince of Winterfell.
The Stark Heroes II box gives Stark commanders a myriad of new options out on the battlefield. Their units can become much more difficult to deal with and a lot less predictable with these various attachments and the NCU. And anytime you have direwolves roaming around, it’s a time to be cautious.
and I half suspect they'd drop ASOIAF if they could after the KS didn't go as high as they'd have planned but that's locked into contracts with third parties and they'll have to see out the contract I don't see it getting extended and then ASOIAF will be quietly dropped. ASOIAF is already proving difficult to get (outside the US at least) my free folk order got pushed back several times and I had it preordered along time before release.
ASOIAF seems to take a long time to distribute around the world via ship so the new heroe boxes and barely announced new units are being sold in China but won’t be in Europe for 3+ months. It’s very different to the world wide release date that companies like GW utilise but it’s just how they do things.
At GAWA they apparently announced the next faction is Baratheon and would be released this Summer (UK at Christmas then!).
I don't think it's just sea shipping as stuff would be behind, but would be fairly predictably so,
I think it's CMONs fairly shambolic EU distribution hitting again, they're not doing it themselves they keep on awarding licences to 3rd parties that just can't handle it (and probably don't provide much stock for them either)
Isn't distribution what really helped kill Wrath of Kings as well?
All I've heard about Bloodborne is it involves deck building of some sort. I thought I read somewhere you'd be using a deck of cards to build chalice dungeons or something along those lines...
Gallahad wrote: Those ASOIF releases look good. I'm anxious to see the sculpts. I need to get into that game.
Most of the sculpts for those sets are floating about somewhere; only ones I can't remember seeing via the Facebook group are the Tully Knights.
The release outside of US is bizarre; some items seem to breifly appear in EU (including UK) extremely early compared to US (NW Catapults spring to mind) then go out of stock for months. Others are about 3 months behind.
Their distribution manager did make a point of mentioning that they'd had quite a few issues with Asmodee regarding the non-US releases (it's Asmodee... nothing new there) and had basically wanted them to tighten up because CMON were increasingly aware that they had a large international community for the game and wanted to make it more consistently available. They've just signed a deal with them for exclusive US distribution though so who knows?
Gallahad wrote: Those ASOIF releases look good. I'm anxious to see the sculpts. I need to get into that game.
Most of the sculpts for those sets are floating about somewhere; only ones I can't remember seeing via the Facebook group are the Tully Knights.
Could you share a link or post up a picture or two? I looked yesterday via Google and today on what I think is the Facebook group you are referring to and couldn't find anything. Maybe my Google Fu is just weak. Fragmented publicity in the digital age drives me crazy. They don't have pictures of them on their website, or anywhere I could find them but apparently released pictures on some Facebook group.
I think alot of stuff is getting posted on private facebook groups so it's hard to find I javen't found any mini pics but did just find another unit for the Free Folk - Followers of Bone
DaveC wrote: and I half suspect they'd drop ASOIAF if they could after the KS didn't go as high as they'd have planned but that's locked into contracts with third parties and they'll have to see out the contract I don't see it getting extended and then ASOIAF will be quietly dropped. ASOIAF is already proving difficult to get (outside the US at least) my free folk order got pushed back several times and I had it preordered along time before release.
Which would be a shame because it's really quite fun.
DaveC wrote: and I half suspect they'd drop ASOIAF if they could after the KS didn't go as high as they'd have planned but that's locked into contracts with third parties and they'll have to see out the contract I don't see it getting extended and then ASOIAF will be quietly dropped. ASOIAF is already proving difficult to get (outside the US at least) my free folk order got pushed back several times and I had it preordered along time before release.
Which would be a shame because it's really quite fun.
I don't think they will drop the game before they release their potentially biggest hit army: The White Walkers
Plus, they still have a couple dragons to release....
Sacredroach wrote: When they release the Dothraki or forces of Sunspear, then I will start playing. Although I am buying the Heroes sets for the sculpts.
I really think they've done a great job with the sculpting. I'm really excited to be able to purchase well proportioned human miniatures that will scale nicely with other fantasy miniatures. Other available sculpts out there tend to be either tiny (Perry miniatures) or poorly proportioned and tiny (Frostgrave, Oathmark, etc.)
I think the Dothraki and Sunspear could also be huge sellers. I'm curious as to why they announced that Baratheon is next which seems a bit like more of the same.
Baratheon is 3 forces in 1 army? I.e. the three brothers might get separate army lists and maybe a troop type or two? The Heroes will be divided in 3 camps at least? Maybe. Perhaps.
Col Hammer wrote: Baratheon is 3 forces in 1 army? I.e. the three brothers might get separate army lists and maybe a troop type or two? The Heroes will be divided in 3 camps at least? Maybe. Perhaps.
I think the game's "setting" is post Robert's death, so we'll likely see two forces: Renly and his supporters like Brienne and House Tyrell, and Stannis with his Dragonstone forces.
Col Hammer wrote: Baratheon is 3 forces in 1 army? I.e. the three brothers might get separate army lists and maybe a troop type or two? The Heroes will be divided in 3 camps at least? Maybe. Perhaps.
I think the game's "setting" is post Robert's death, so we'll likely see two forces: Renly and his supporters like Brienne and House Tyrell, and Stannis with his Dragonstone forces.
Easy enough to make a young Robert who just runs stuff from either/both forces.
Well yeah. But that'd be totally against the "timeline" we're at in the game. If they want, we could get an eventual Robert's Rebellion expansion that lets us use the current generic models with special leaders.
...which would also mean releasing a dedicated Targaryen faction. And that'd be freaking AWESOME.
infinite_array wrote: Well yeah. But that'd be totally against the "timeline" we're at in the game. If they want, we could get an eventual Robert's Rebellion expansion that lets us use the current generic models with special leaders.
...which would also mean releasing a dedicated Targaryen faction. And that'd be freaking AWESOME.
Isn't Ned in the game already? That's essentially already pushing the timeline.
infinite_array wrote: Well yeah. But that'd be totally against the "timeline" we're at in the game. If they want, we could get an eventual Robert's Rebellion expansion that lets us use the current generic models with special leaders.
...which would also mean releasing a dedicated Targaryen faction. And that'd be freaking AWESOME.
Isn't Ned in the game already? That's essentially already pushing the timeline.
It's at the point of Robert's death and Ned is still alive at this point. No timeline pushing required.
infinite_array wrote: Well yeah. But that'd be totally against the "timeline" we're at in the game. If they want, we could get an eventual Robert's Rebellion expansion that lets us use the current generic models with special leaders.
...which would also mean releasing a dedicated Targaryen faction. And that'd be freaking AWESOME.
Isn't Ned in the game already? That's essentially already pushing the timeline.
It's at the point of Robert's death and Ned is still alive at this point. No timeline pushing required.
Is Ned in a battlefield role or his only on the sideboard?
infinite_array wrote: Well yeah. But that'd be totally against the "timeline" we're at in the game. If they want, we could get an eventual Robert's Rebellion expansion that lets us use the current generic models with special leaders.
...which would also mean releasing a dedicated Targaryen faction. And that'd be freaking AWESOME.
Isn't Ned in the game already? That's essentially already pushing the timeline.
It's at the point of Robert's death and Ned is still alive at this point. No timeline pushing required.
Is Ned in a battlefield role or his only on the sideboard?
He's got a version for both, though with the same sculpt.
I don't get that guy's left arm....
I'm relieved I can skip out on the Bloodborne KS, but anxious for it to finish already so they can move onto Trudvang.
My guess is that Trudvang will be their big summer campaign in June or so.
Gallahad wrote: I don't get that guy's left arm....
I'm relieved I can skip out on the Bloodborne KS, but anxious for it to finish already so they can move onto Trudvang.
My guess is that Trudvang will be their big summer campaign in June or so.
LunarSol wrote: Right, so his battlefield gameplay takes place in the hour(?) between Robert's death and his arrest?
I don't really care. I'm glad Ned's in the game. I just think he makes the line a little more blurred and open to things like Robert.
The position they've taken and been quite open about is that the game starts with Robert's death (the only finite timestamp) and everything within the game is something of a hypothetical based on the potential for, say, Ned to actually make it back North and take command or, for Jaime to defeat Robb at Whispering Wood etc. Basically anything that could in theory happen.
Obviously there's plenty based on later developments (maimed Jaime etc.) but it's essentially a case of creating a canvas for gamers to play out different scenarios and their own narratives with these characters and this setting.
They have said that, in the unlikely event they run out of material, they could potentially look at other timelines; Robert's Rebellion, Blackfyres, The Dance etc. but naturally their main focus is ASOIAF.
Can’t believe we might finally get a good SoulsBorne game after all this time and the Steamforged fiasco... the visual design in those games is probably the best I’ve ever seen, along with perhaps Kingdom Death (although I’d say SoulsBorne is superior, simply exquisite)
Mymearan wrote: Can’t believe we might finally get a good SoulsBorne game after all this time and the Steamforged fiasco... the visual design in those games is probably the best I’ve ever seen, along with perhaps Kingdom Death (although I’d say SoulsBorne is superior, simply exquisite)
What's wrong with the SFG Dark Souls? It does some really unique and cool things, and the main flaw is how grindy it can be and can be easily fixed with a variant. They could be better at getting the Kickstarter stuff released though, and the prices are too high by half.
I like Eric Lang, and I prefer Bloodborne, so I'm excited about this.
I quite like Dark Souls; it just mostly fell into the dungeon crawler trap of impossible expectations. People want the dungeon crawler experience complete with multiple encounters that advance stats and provide interesting choices for loot leading up to a big boss encounter; and they want it in about 90 minutes. It's just not a real thing. I mean, how long did it take you to take out the gargoyles in the videogame?
It's also a bit odd to translate the game's "git gud" mentality into a multiplayer setting. The try try again, then try harder mindset is fine solo, but doesn't quite keep a group together very often. I think its better if you play it as the campaign in the back of the book, but honestly if you just want the meat of the game, draw up some loot and go straight to the boss encounters, getting more loot after each loss. I think that captures the spirit of the game quite well and still provides a pretty meaningful game experience.
When designing the original Doom boardgame, iirc, Kevin Wilson said he didn't want to design a boardgame version of a video game, but design to the *strengths* of a boardgame. The Dark Souls' boss ending, which was the only part of the game demo'ed before the DSKS, was well-received, but, the grindy part, which wasn't demo'ed, wasn't. So it looks like the SFG game designer succeeded halfway (although some didn't like the dice mechanics).
ced1106 wrote: So it looks like the SFG game designer succeeded halfway (although some didn't like the dice mechanics).
I think the SFG guys succeeded at precisely the goals they were aiming for, it's just different from what people expected. They translated the Dark Souls experience to a board game, while I think a lot of the players just wanted a more recognizable dungeon crawl experience with a Dark Souls coat of paint. I think CMON's Bloodborne game is going to be like that, and while that's not a bad thing, I do think SFG deserves more praise than they get for creating "The Dark Souls of Board Games".
MARCH A SONG OF ICE AND FIRE: TABLETOP MINIATURES GAME GENERAL RELEASE DELAYED
Mar 28, 2019
In the swirling tumult of war, troops might not always make it to battle when a commander might expect them. Veteran leaders will be able to compensate and simply pray that the reinforcements get there soon. Eventually, though, those troops will make it to battle.
We are sad to say that there will be a delay in the release of the March sets for the A Song of Ice and Fire: Tabletop Miniatures Game. This means that the Stark Heroes II, Lannister Heroes II, Lannister Warrior’s Sons, and Free Folk Cave Dweller Savages will be pushed back and have an April release.
However, those who are up in Chicago for Adepticon this weekend may still have a chance to get their hands on these new figures. We have very limited quantities available!
Stop by booth 107 and see!
We apologize for the delay, but things will be back on track for next month.
The new distribution deal is off to a good start. I've read elsewhere that some preorders outside the US have been cancelled and refunded by retailers as they can't get stock.
It baffles me that CMoN went with Asmodee considering how poorly they've done for CMoN in Europe. It's almost like they want CMoN to have troubles so they'll be cheaper to acquire.
Interesting CMON have picked up the God of War licence I wouldn't mind seeing a board game with minis even though I generally avoid board games of video games.
CMON ANNOUNCES GOD OF WAR: THE CARD GAME
Apr 16, 2019
Ragnarök is coming. The fate of all existence is at stake. Is destruction inevitable, or are there ways to avoid ultimate cataclysm? The Norns, mystical beings of great power, have decided they will not go quietly into oblivion and have turned their attention to the well of Fate, Urðr, in order to find any possible way to stop Ragnarök. Looking deep into the swirling waters, they can foresee what potential combination of heroes, villains, battles, victories, or defeats might stop the end of all that is known. But will they find the right combination in time? Is there any true path to salvation at all? They must hurry and seek the true way through, before all is lost.
In God of War: The Card Game, players take on the role of the Norns as they try different combinations of heroes and events in order to stop Ragnarök. Each game is a new attempt to find the right key to saving Midgard from destruction. One-to-four players must work together, embodying mighty heroes such as Kratos, Mimir, Atreus, Brok and Sindri, and Freya. They will fight enemies and bosses from the popular God of War videogame, but combined and remixed in exciting new ways, creating unique “What if…?” scenarios every time they play. If they succeed, the way forward has been secured and Ragnarök can be halted. Failure means the Norns will have to try again, as only death and destruction lay along that particular path.
Each Quest in God of War: The Card Game is made up of a mosaic of cards that recreate monsters and locations from the video game. Each Quest’s mosaic is different, and each card is double-sided, depending on if a section has been destroyed or not, and each has special rules that go into effect when it is face up on the tabletop. Learning how each Quest is won, as well as what strategy to employ, is key to victory. As players progress, earlier Quests will have an effect on what comes after them. At certain points along their path, players must choose which Quest they will complete. Completing one might grant a bonus, but Quests left untouched will result in dire permanent consequences as the players move forward. These choices and challenges lead to new strategies, making it so no two games of God of War: The Card Game are ever alike, and adding real significance to the choices players make during the course of the game.
Heroes in the game have several elements that make them unique. Each comes with their own dashboard that explains their special abilities, health totals, and tracks the number of cards a player can keep in their hand from round to round. Tokens are used to keep everything clear as heroes gain and lose health and build up their power so they can unleash a mighty special attack. Heroes begin the game with a unique starting deck of cards which will be augmented as the game progresses from additional decks. Players can construct their deck to focus on their strengths, or look for ways to generalize their approach, preparing for future Quests that lie ahead. Each hero also has a unique standee that indicates what portion of the mosaic they are facing. With multiple heroes to choose from, numerous ways to build their deck, and various different Quests to attempt, each game of God of War: The Card Game will be a new experience that will echo throughout eternity.
God of War: The Card Game will be coming Q3 of 2019.
"Hey, let's take the license of that popular video game and make it a boardgame"
"Why?"
"Because it will bring us lots of money for the next Kickstarter!"
"Makes sense"
It's probably a lighting problem with the 3d render, since it's a miniatures wearing the Executioner Garb wielding a Kirkhammer.
The odd helmet worn by the band of Executioners commanded by the martyr Logarius.
The conical gold helmet, symbol of the executioners, represents luminosity, ambition, and an unflagging resolve to face impurity, staring it down with stern golden spirit.
As the great Logarius once said, "Acts of goodness are not always wise, and acts of evil are not always foolish, but regardless, we shall always strive to be good."
The March releases (Lannister heroes 2, and Stark heroes 2.) for Asoiaf were delayed until April. Now, the March releases and the April releases have been delayed until May. The Facebook post says that there is no definite release schedule but releases will be accelerated in May.
Wonder what’s causing the delay. I really want
both new heroes boxes...
We unfortunately must report that the street date for the releases expected today (Stark Heroes II, Lannister Heroes II, Lannister Warrior’s Sons, and Free Folk Cave Dweller Savages) is being pushed back. The delay is due to product making its way to Asmodee’s fulfillment locations, which is happening now. We do not currently have a definite date for these releases, but there will be an accelerated release calendar in May in order to catch back up. Once this is finalized, we will make a more formal announcement.
We sincerely apologize for the delay and will keep you informed as to when you can add these box sets to your collections.
"Free Folk Cave Dweller Savages" sounds like the name of a college band whose drummer is in your Chemistry class, and you keep promising you'll attend one of their gigs, but you have no intentions of attending one of their gigs.
Seams like Miniature Market bout out a lot of CMoNs stock as they're having a big sale starting tomorrow and have been advertising Rivit Wars, Kaos Ball, and The others as things that will be available.
Kind of interesting to see what CMoN sold to MM for this. I expected games that CMoN didn't 100% own like Rivetwars but seeing The Others and Arcadia Quests is surprising as well as Smog and a bunch of their non-mini boardgames. Guess we're looking at things that just aren't selling that well?
Most of the offerings didn't surprise me. I backed most of those earlier ones and while some were well received, most kinda just languished with no further support.
Notice there weren't any Zombicides or Arcadia proper on there.
I actually was surprised that some of the Zcide add ons from across various seasons didn't show up.
Everyone likes to tout Lang as being this amazing game designer, and admittedly, he's made some great ones, but a lot of his early CMON contributions weren't all that exciting.
Great minis for the most part though. Especially the Others. Man I wish that game had been a bit more enjoyable to play, or seen a nasty co-op version released.
Well there's two $40 expansions up - Yahar’gul, Unseen Village and Byrgenwerth - which are self contained campaigns. They seem a little expensive for 13 miniatures, an oversized tiles, and a new deck of cards, but maybe that's offset by the amount of "free" stuff we've gotten so far.
Total miniatures at the moment is 85, and some seem to be pretty large. If the model detail is good, a pledge of $170 for $2 a model isn't too bad, and some of them are quite large. And that's not counting the cards, tiles and token upgrades.
Plus, it's got solo rules, so one of the biggest fears of any big kickstarter - not getting it on the table for lack of players - is averted.
highlord tamburlaine wrote: Most of the offerings didn't surprise me. I backed most of those earlier ones and while some were well received, most kinda just languished with no further support.
Notice there weren't any Zombicides or Arcadia proper on there.
I actually was surprised that some of the Zcide add ons from across various seasons didn't show up.
Everyone likes to tout Lang as being this amazing game designer, and admittedly, he's made some great ones, but a lot of his early CMON contributions weren't all that exciting.
Great minis for the most part though. Especially the Others. Man I wish that game had been a bit more enjoyable to play, or seen a nasty co-op version released.
Lang is quite good but no one constantly hits things out of the park -- especially with the rate CMoN has him developing stuff. He also tends to have certain game play styles that he does much better then others.
I keep wondering if we see stretch goals specifically for the expansions.
I know Invader had stuff get added in to the other core game, but maybe that was due to having a totally extra core game and them really wanting to grab those FOMO pledges.
The Wet Nurse is probably my favorite of the models shown so far. Too many limbs and too many blades make it A-OK in my book.
Shame I have yet to see an actual boss in the video game proper. Damn do I suck at modern gaming...
The Wet Nurse is a pretty fun fight at the end of a grueling run (gotta love when midgame bosses come back as midlevel mooks). It's visually crazy with all the limbs and blades swinging everwhere and the gauzy cloth moving about.
So Mergo's Wet Nurse is close to being unlocked and CMON previewed the next stretch goal - PVP.
4 player screens to keep your information hidden and a new set of rules. You use a premade Chalice Dungeon with enemies (but no boss) and need to be the last Hunter remaining. Seems cool and adds a third way to play the game.
Also, new poll on next Hunter unlock - Charred Hunter set or Gehrman's Hunter set. Charred may look cooler than Gehrman, but I'd bet the Gehrman set has the Burial Blade, which is an awesome weapon.
This ones been growing on me. I never played the video game, but the design aesthetics are cool, and the minis are nice. For the games I actually play, the upgraded gaming elements are nice, but if all I want is the minis, they quickly become useless stretch goals(for me). Still awhile left on this one, before it's done, so hopefully the mini count will continue to rise!
In regards to the miniature market sale. I was able to get the others stuff I had always wanted (just the 'sins' monsters), for a steal, so that worked out great. Sounds like from what people are saying that I can just dump the gaming elements though.
That Migo on Roids looks great. Not sure how the wing things will work in PVC, but it just might be the ideal medium for them. Maybe I'll be able to pick up that expansion for 60-70 on eBay in a couple years...
If you're not a big fan of the IP or game system, that makes sense. I'm actually not a big fan, but I like the miniatures and already have too many dice-based dungeoncrawlers. BB's card mechanics seem solid.
After reading Steamforged Game's fulfillment problems and component quality issues, I'm gonna wait for retail for DMC. Base games during holiday sales usually go for half the price of a base game pledge plus shipping, although, of course, you don't get the SG extras. I've only seen the DMC anime, so am only really interested in Dante...!
CMON ends Crystal Brush partnership with Adepticon
THE FUTURE OF CRYSTAL BRUSH
May 09, 2019
We are sincerely thankful for AdeptiCon being a gracious host for Crystal Brush throughout these wonderful years and making it one of the premier painting competitions in the world. The partnership between Crystal Brush and AdeptiCon has been amazing over the past eight years since the two joined together in 2011. However, the 2019 event will be the last year that Crystal Brush will be held at AdeptiCon. After many lengthy discussions, CMON and Adepticon have decided to part ways.
Crystal Brush is continuing on. Painters will want to pay attention for an announcement coming from CMON Expo, happening May 31st to June 2nd. We will have more information about the future of the contest.
Again, our most sincere thanks to AdeptiCon for their wonderful hosting of Crystal Brush and we wish them all the best in the coming years.
ced1106 wrote: If you're not a big fan of the IP or game system, that makes sense. I'm actually not a big fan, but I like the miniatures and already have too many dice-based dungeoncrawlers. BB's card mechanics seem solid.
After reading Steamforged Game's fulfillment problems and component quality issues, I'm gonna wait for retail for DMC. Base games during holiday sales usually go for half the price of a base game pledge plus shipping, although, of course, you don't get the SG extras. I've only seen the DMC anime, so am only really interested in Dante...!
And the add-ons for this one have certainly added up to quite a bit.
+$220 if you 'want it all' at this point, making the whole thing a $310/$320 affair, depending on when you jumped on board.
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And I can't be sure, but I don't think CMON EXPO has the same attendance as Adepticon.
I wonder what that was all about, re: Crystal Brush/Adepticon?
And I can't be sure, but I don't think CMON EXPO has the same attendance as Adepticon.
Adepticon is 4500, CMON Expo is around 600 - much smaller event.
Probably so they can control what products can be painted (CMON only) for the competition. I’m sure whatever the prize giveaway costs were also part of the negotiations. Promotion costs and the rest are also probably sticking points with the way the numbers for CMoN posted last year, tightening financial costs where they can.
CONSCRIPTED INTO THE BROTHERHOOD
May 10, 2019
In the far north of Westeros, the brotherhood of the Night’s Watch keeps constant vigil along The Wall, the towering edifice protecting the southern lands from the dangerous people and monsters that live beyond. The Night’s Watch is known for taking in anyone and everyone, being a motley band of lesser noble’s sons, convicts, and anyone else who might end up there. These men are trained up to be tireless defenders, but in the beginning, they all start as simple conscripts. This month, Night’s Watch players will be getting the Conscripts unit that they can add to their armies.
The Night’s Watch, overall, is an army of elites. The units have been trained relentlessly and tested time and again against the nightmare creatures of the far north. The one issue is that this results in high unit costs. Night’s Watch players might find themselves with points left over as they try and come up with army builds, or worried about being outnumbered on the field. The Conscripts unit is very economical at just four points to field. They can help balance the numbers game against an opponent who will possibly be fielding more units than they are, as well as just take up the last bits of points within an army build.
With a moderate points costs comes moderate stats. The Conscripts are a dedicated melee unit, with average melee stats. The defensive side of the coin shows that they are not equipped like the full Night’s Watch brothers are, and they definitely haven’t received the same sort of training. One of their special rules, Uninitiated, doesn’t allow them to take Vows. Their defensive save is on a 5+ and their Morale is an 8+. This unit is at risk of losing figures fairly readily.
So, how do they manage to stay on the field? That comes from their other special rule. It’s called Reinforcements, and it allows the unit to regain d3 Wounds whenever it activates. If the Night’s Watch player controls the Wealth space on the Tactics Board, they automatically recover 3 Wounds instead. That’s almost a full rank of troops coming back every time they activate. And opponents can never count the unit out, since if they leave it alone for a round or two, they might suddenly find the Conscripts back at full fighting strength.
The Conscripts box also comes with the Watch Recruiter Unit Attachment. This figure also adds to the durability of the Conscripts, or any other unit they might join. Through Forced Conscription, the unit they’re part of regains a Wound whenever an enemy engaged with them loses models from an Attack or Panic Test. They essentially yank someone out of the other unit and suddenly have them join the Night’s Watch. Welcome to the service!
The Conscripts unit for the Night’s Watch gives commanders a points-efficient unit for the battlefield. They have solid melee stats, and their moderate defensive abilities are mitigated by the unit being able to regenerate Wounds readily. The addition of the Watch Recruiter to any unit will only make sure that the unit is ahead of the curve in a war of attrition against the enemy.
The Night’s Watch Conscripts will be available May 23rd.
Only 2 of those games are going to 
bad cast? who knows. It still eats people so good to go 
[spoiler]
around and come up with a non-tentacled/vagina faced game that I can play with my kids.
