Golem Arcana Kickstarter Live - FUNDED!

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**DrunkenBoxer**

I haven't seen anyone post about this yet, so thought I'd throw it up there...Harebrained Schemes has just launched their Kickstarter for Golem Arcana, a tabletop/digital hybrid with a unique world and nice prepainted minis. Take a look:

Here's the link to the Kickstarter: http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1613260297/golem-arcana

**Rolt**

I was just about to hit submit on my thread for this.

, In that case let me just help out a bit:

Jorden Wiseman's/Harebrained Schemes new game Golem Arcana has a Kickstarter running from today till Tuesday Oct 15, 8:00am EDT.

From the Golem Arcana site:

Golem Arcana will be an expandable board game of the battles between armies of magical Golems, the Mages who master them, and the Ancient Ones they call on for supernatural powers. Though the Golem Arcana game mechanics are deep and sophisticated, the game moves quickly and is accessible by a very wide audience due to all of the mechanics and record keeping being handled by the game’s TDI stylus and mobile App.

Players assemble armies looking for the combination of attributes and special actions that allows them to realize their strategy. A typical army would consist of four to six Golem figures, each with an associated Golem Master or Blood Knight, and a couple of Ancient Ones to supply supernatural powers. Golems are represented on the game board with pre-painted figures while the Golem Masters, Blood Knights and Ancient Ones are presented in the game as digital characters within the mobile App

The game is a pre-painted (10mm/15mm scale?) boardgame which will use App's and digital devices for record keeping, dice rolling, special abilities (both golems and the map itself) and of course core battle mechanics. There is all intention to include A.I characters such and the colossus, which will act as a separate side attacking both players. From what I've heard the game can be played without the use of the apps, but I'm not sure what that changes as a whole.

Link to the Kickstarter page:http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1613260297/golem-arcana
Link to the Main site:http://golemarcana.com/

Beta rules!!!!
Link: https://s3.amazonaws.com/www.harebrained-schemes.com/golem_ks/GAKickstarterCrunchyBits.pdf

Enjoy.

**DrunkenBoxer**

Did anyone get a chance to play this at PAX or Gencon, and if so, what did you think?

**cincydooley**

I don't know if I even saw this at GenCon.... Need to do some investigation to ensure this isn't simply Ex Illis 2.0.

**Rolt**

There's a short explatnation video here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w0_iVzbj4IU

and this video which shows a bit more (I find the guy in this annoying as hell, just saying): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4HmKYiLvFjE

Hope that helps a bit

-------------EDIT----------------

Beast of war have a video up too: http://www.beastsofwar.com/golem-arcana/golem-arcana-hits-kickstarter-fantastic-gaming-idea/

**cincydooley**

Oh, nevermind. The funding level is at $500K. Have a lot of trouble seeing that happen.

**Catyrpelius**

cincydooley wrote:
I don't know if I even saw this at GenCon.... Need to do some investigation to ensure this isn't simply Ex Illis 2.0.

I saw it at Gencon. They didn't have a booth in the exhibit hall but they did have a tiny little corner in hall E. I wandered by it a few times but it reminded me too much of Exilis and one of those kids book where they press on words with a pen and the pen reads the word...

When I see games like this I really wonder if the creators ever really spent any time with the community they are trying to serve... It might seem like a great idea to get rid of the rulebook, dice rolling and stat tracking, but if you've removed all of that from a game whats left?

A $500,000 funding goal... Are these people nuts? Boardgame Kickstarters with a funding goal this high do not fund.

**BrookM**

cincydooley wrote:
Need to do some investigation to ensure this isn't simply Ex Illis 2.0.

My thoughts exactly upon seeing that pen thingy.

**wildger**

That is going to be the game format of the future for the next generation. Ex illis failed miserably for a lot of reasons, not because of the concept. So far, it is more than 10% in less than 12 hours. Not bad. Let's see whether the momentum will continue.

**Necros**

Dunno about this one .. I wish them well but I "just don't get it"

it might seem like a fun idea to have iDevices to run the game and all, but you really need to have it be playable with dice and normal people who don't have iWhatevers, and use the techy stuff as an alternate thing, not the one and only.

**BrookM**

Ex Illis was just plain rude, calling its potential player base too stupid to play the game without the overly expensive software was a great way to turn them against you. Plus, why buy minis when you can see the action happen on screen? Oh right, the minis come with digital codes you needed to enter, otherwise you couldn't "use" them.

But this, why do we need an electronic gizmo to play that game? I see it has dice and minis, what else do we need?

**SheSpits**

Doesnt even look fun.

**Rolt**

@Necros

As far as a can tell you can play this without the digital devices, it comes with stat cards and dice after all, the only issue is by the looks of things if your not playing digitally you lose access to the Ancient Ones,
swappable Blood/Golem Knights (which supply back buffs and minor stat changes) and terrain effects (if counters don't exist?).

**Perkustin**

I like the look of the Minis but if they're already painted it just kinda looks like Skylanders but with a tabletop game rather than an xbox game.

**Rolt**

They really could do with some bigger 360 shots of the golems themselves, its really hard to tell how detailed they are.

**wildger**

The game does have the unpainted version of all the miniatures for those who don't like the pre-painted.

At this rate, it is likely reach the 20% goal in the first day.

**Bossk_Hogg**

Necros wrote:
Dunno about this one .. I wish them well but I "just don't get it"

it might seem like a fun idea to have iDevices to run the game and all, but you really need to have it be playable with dice and normal people who don't have iWhatevers, and use the techy stuff as an alternate thing, not the one and only.

I also really dont get it either. The minis seem like pointless props since everything looks like its tracked in the software. I dont get why they even have dice either. Do you have to touch the dice with the pen after rolling lol? Why not just make a little video game strategy app instead?

**RiTides**

Man, I really like the asethetic, but the gameplay video looks awkward and not very fun :-/

**DrunkenBoxer**

By the way, they've announced that the Durani Colossus Golem, which is an unlockable add-on at $600K, will be priced at $44 for the KS when/if it unlocks.

**Sean_OBrien**

wildger wrote:
That is going to be the game format of the future for the next generation. Ex illis failed miserably for a lot of reasons, not because of the concept. So far, it is more than 10% in less than 12 hours. Not bad. Let's see whether the momentum will continue.

Most people I know who play wargames in miniatures do so to unplug, and if they wanted to play a wargame with a computer there are many better options (i.e. - actual computer games). About the only compromise they make are digital editions of rules...though even there about 90% of them either print it out or buy the physical versions of the rules when available.

After spending all day in front of computers, scanning tracking labels, using spreadsheets...that is the last thing they want to do in a game. It might make in roads with the clicky game market, but there big selling point is the huge number of big name licensed properties that they work with.

**SheSpits**

So pretty much action figures size?

**pretre**

Perkustin wrote:
I like the look of the Minis but if they're already painted it just kinda looks like Skylanders but with a tabletop game rather than an xbox game.

I was thinking this when I saw it.

**DrunkenBoxer**

Sean_OBrien wrote:

Most people I know who play wargames in miniatures do so to unplug, and if they wanted to play a wargame with a computer there are many better options (i.e. - actual computer games). About the only compromise they make are digital editions of rules...though even there about 90% of them either print it out or buy the physical versions of the rules when available.

After spending all day in front of computers, scanning tracking labels, using spreadsheets...that is the last thing they want to do in a game. It might make in roads with the clicky game market, but there big selling point is the huge number of big name licensed properties that they work with.

I spend all day at the computer...and I actually like the idea of a nice interface between a tabletop game and a mobile device. I often use my iPad to reference rules and build army lists for games, but when looking things up, it can be a bit tedious. So, if this is all implemented in a logical, efficient manner, it could really enhance a tabletop skirmish game.

As you probably guessed from that "if," I'm not completely sold on the project...but I'm sufficiently intrigued to dig a bit deeper and see what average people who got their hands on this at conventions have thought of the gameplay.

**Tannhauser42**

I think the biggest problem with things like this is the same problem we already face with video games: can you still play it ten years from now, or will the apps no longer be compatible with future devices?

**wildger**

Tannhauser42 wrote:
I think the biggest problem with things like this is the same problem we already face with video games: can you still play it ten years from now, or will the apps no longer be compatible with future devices?

None of the versions of Xbox, Nintendo or PS lasts that long. People are still buying and each new game is not cheap. Yes, WH40k is still around but I no longer see anyone fielding the first and second editions of Orks, if you even aware of what they look like. No point of looking at 10 yrs from now.

BTW, the project has passed it's 20% mark as I predicted.

**Absolutionis**

That cover art looks absurdly similar to the famous Guild Wars 2 Sylvari art:

Spoiler:

Probably the same artist, concept, and everything else.

Regardless, I wasn't a fan of Ex Illis's odd scale and "D"RM, and I don't think I'd like a variant of Warmachine-meets-Skylands with "D"RM.

**Dronze**

I have to agree with the people drawing parallels to skylanders or, honestly, disney infinity... I don't want to have to worry about whether or not my digital devices are charged and on just to play a game. In fact, this whole concept smacks of one of my largest personal peeves, which is people on their phones while playing a game. Add in the specification of "Terrain microdots" and I can almost bring myself to publicly tell these guys where to stick their prepainted figs. There is no way I'm buying a minis game that even slightly suggests that I *must* purchase their terrain in order to play

**BrookM**

This is sounding more and more like Ex Illes 3.0

**Zweischneid**

BrookM wrote:
This is sounding more and more like Ex Illes 3.0

To be fair, if Ex Illes came out today, via Kickstarter in a professionally presented fundraising-page and non of the "past baggage", it would probably rake in millions too (independent of how long-term viable it may or may not turn out).

**highlord tamburlaine**

I had put down for one of the early bird spots, but the more I looked at this, the more it started to irk me. The biggest problem was that besides the lame interactiveness that seems tacked on, I just don't like the boxed game models. Never been a fan of wood type units, and never really cared for undead types either.

Would have preferred the fire types and those silver "hero" looking units.

Of course I would have also just preferred an actual tabletop game, and not need to mess with my phone in order to play it. After all, I've already got plenty of Skylanders I can play with if I want that plastic/ electronic interaction (plus I don't have to explain lots of arbitrarily complex rules to the kids in order to play Skylanders).

That leapfrog pen is a big turnoff too.

Really like those fire type units. Might pledge for just those.