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2014/05/27 22:36:15
Subject: CMoN Ron & Bones Kickstarter - Ended at $739K - late backer option open until 1/31/15!
So here it is, ladies and gents. Hands on preview of the upcoming Ron & Bones game from CMoN. I have to say, I'm super excited about it. The game feels like a MOBA and has gorgeous production to boot. Hell, I'll just let you read:
I don’t typically do a ton of video gaming in general, and I do even less on the computer because we’ve never had one with much power. Because of that, and because I grew up in the late 90s, the only games I could really ever play on my various computers were Real Time Strategy games like Command & Conquer and Warcraft. I love the game type, and was really happy last year when Cool Mini or Not and Super Rocket Punch Games released Rivet Wars, a fantastic game that reminds me a ton of all the RTSs I used to love. One of my major gaming itches had been scratched, and well.
The other itch for me has been the Multiplayer Online Battle Arena, or MOBA, a game system that was birthed from the RTS and has overtaken it for competitive play, with its two big guns DOTA 2 and League of Legends (LOL) featuring heavily in the professional gaming circuit. But the style, despite having been alive for 10 years (15 if you ask some people), never found its way to the miniature table. WizKids released a crappy DOTA set for their Clix system, but it felt nothing like a MOBA and had even worse miniatures.
Enter upcoming game Ron & Bones from Coolminiornot.
If you’re unfamiliar, Ron & Bones was a miniatures line from Spanish outfit Tale of War that had a tacked on game system, but was primarily responsible for creating arguably the best pirate miniatures I’ve ever seen. I love Werner Klocke and his Freebooter’s Fate line as much as the next guy (I own the entirety of 4 different armies), but Ron & Bones’ miniatures stand a cut above. They’re full of character and definition, and when CMoN purchased the property from Tale of War in 2013, I was excited because they’d finally be easier for me to get. I had no idea when I learned of the purchase at GenCon that they’d turn the property into a game system that, based on my two gameplays at CMoN Expo, is probably my most anticipated game of the year.
ALL HANDS ON DECK – The Overview
The Ron & Bones game system is, like any good MOBA, based on two teams battling each other for dominance of lanes. Instead of generic battlefields like in LoL or DOTA, the pirate theme of Ron & Bones gives you the perfect scenario: two pirate crews boarding each other. Your lanes are the planks that have been set between the two boats, your capture points (in the demo game we played) the mast and wheel of the galleon.
Gameplay in the beta was conducted in an I-Go-U-Go scenario, where each player activates his heroes and has three actions to move them around the board. The heroes were all class based, with all of the MOBA tropes present, from Little Tom the Undead Tank to the Wraith, the Undead Assassin. Ranged DPS, Support, and bruisers were also present in various forms. Each Hero has statistics for their basic attack, a passive ability that benefits him no matter what, and two abilities that he (or she) could pay for using the pieces of 8 they acquire throughout the game. Pieces of 8 could additionally be spent on the tide deck, a means of creating the “shopping” aspect of the MOBA without involving too much book keeping. Finally, pieces of 8 could be spent to “block” damage. But the big question is where do we get these pieces of 8 from? Well creeps, of course.
There’s gotta be creeps, right? Any good MOBA game has creeps, and Ron & Bones is no exception. The creep system in the game isphoto fairly simple. You roll three D6s (one for each spawn point) and then assign your rolls to the various spawn points to create your creep waves. The basic chumpstains have one wound and die fairly easily, yielding a single piece of 8 when you kill them. Roll a 1 or a 2 and you get to spawn a super creep called a boatswain who has two wounds and yields 2 pieces of 8 when you kill them. Creeps advance forward one space at a time, closing in on your opponents objectives and, if they reach them, can damage your enemy spawns and objective points. It’s a simple mechanic that works really well.
The game ends when one team has depleted their opponents morale by killing heroes and destroying objectives. In the beta, heroes were worth 1 point while objectives were worth two. The demo, taught to us the first time by designer Michael Shinall, moved incredibly quickly and finished in around 80 minutes.
GIVE EM HELL, IT’S A MERRIER PLACE – What I liked
The easily pleased gamer in me wants to say all of it (I genuinely enjoyed both games I played) but I won’t. Instead, I’ll focus on a few things that really stood out to me.
– The game “feels” like a MOBA. Everything is there that you could ask for in a MOBA inspired tabletop miniatures game. You’ve got hero classes with variable powers. You’ve got creeps relentlessly droning across the board. You’ve got spawn points that you can destroy to make your opponent less effective. You’ve got towers that defend your base and inflict serious damage to any hero that isn’t careful. You’ve got the Tide deck that serves as a shop. It’s really all there. George, with whom I played the first game, agreed with me that the game simply “feels” right.
– Character classes are varied and appropriate. In the game, we had the opportunity to play with all the classes, and each one really felt unique. The bruiser/tank types were really good at soaking and regenerating damage, while your ranged DPS were good at killing creeps and fairly effective at killing heroes. The captains worked as your support, with both helping to generate income in one way or another. And the assassins, especially the Wraith, felt like assassins.
– The game is tense the entire time. I thought I was in a position to have George beat, so I took a gamble and rode the Wraith over the riggings (yes, you can bypass a lane and land yourself in enemy territory fairly quickly by attempting to swing across on the rigging) to try and assassinate his character. I failed, rolling a dubious set of snake eyes on my last action, and that swung the game in George’s favor. And I loved it.
– The Ron & Bones miniatures are top notch. The game is going to look gorgeous, and, if rumors are true, may even include 3D ship boards to fight over. The notion of that has me fondly remembering my old Crossbows and Catapults Sea Battles set.
A MERRY LIFE, & A SHORT ONE – Ironing out the Kinks
Again, while I really did enjoy both times I played the game, there are some areas that we discussed for improvement in the game that Mr. Black & Leif are tossing around.
– The spawn rolls are the only thing that, occasionally, felt uneven about the game. Boatswains aren’t quite powerful enough to spawn by themselves, and spawning a single boatswain while your opponent spawns six crewman did create some imbalanaces in gameplay. You do get to decide where you put your allocations, but Mr. Black explained that they were tossing around the idea of making the spawn numbers either static or rolling once at the beginning of the round, and using the results for each team. I like the notion of the latter, as it will adds some variability into it, while keeping it balanced for each side.
– Respawns were hard to keep track of in the I-Go-U-Go system, and is something Mr. Black was definitely aware of. On turn two George used his Ranged DPS to knock one of my characters into the water, forcing him to climb back aboard and respawn two turns later. It was hard to remember when exactly he was supposed to come back on. The CMoN design team is considering moving the game to one of alternating activation and simply requiring that a respawn require the player to use of their activations for the game turn. We talked through it, and this seems like it would improve the game in a few ways. One, it would eliminate that need for bookkeeping, and two, it would allow each player to react more spontaneously to what their opponent did.
– The Tide Deck, despite the fact that it worked well enough, was occasionally forgotten by George and myself. Additionally, having the cards all be ‘play immediately’ upon purchase really eliminated any sense of surprise. The team is considering making it so that after purchasing a tide deck card, you put it into you hand to be played at an opportune time later in the game. I like this potential change a lot, as it reminds me a lot more of shopping at the store in LoL.
AND A BOTTLE OF RUM! - What’s Incoming
Again, I really enjoyed the game, so I think anything they do to improve upon it now will be icing on the cake. Here’s the breakdown of what we know will be coming, so far:
– A kickstarter in late Summer 2014 with a pricepoint around $100.
– 10-14 different crews, from your traditional Pirates to Chinese Pirates to Undead Pirates. Each Crew will come with their own unique tide deck as well as their own unique ship, not of all which are Galleons. We were told the Chinese Pirates, for instance, will have three Junks that are connected together while the French Pirates will have two smaller Cutters. So not only variable Tide power decks, but also variable ships. Very Cool.
– Plastic 1-Piece miniatures most likely similar to the Arcadia Quest plastic or Zombicide plastic. I got my hands on some of the final production plastics for Arcadia Quest, and they were well detailed. I think it’s fair to say that the models will have a bit softer detail than the original lead models did, but based on the growth the industry has seemed to make with plastic detail, I’m really excited.
– Some final tweaking to the rules before it becomes official.
Like I said, this one is at the top of my watch list. The game was a blast to play, with quick, exciting rules and the correct feel for what I envisioned a MOBA tabletop game would be. If I was CMoN, I’d name the ruleset and start making money on it like FFG did with their X-Wing System, as I’m sure someone’s going to come along one of these days and want to make a DOTA tabletop game.
I'm sure I left some stuff out of the Preview Article, so if you have any questions, please fire away.
overtyrant wrote: Will not be touching another CMON project over how they have handled the RK shipping. They have lied lied and lied again and think that its ok to do it. I wont be touching SPMKS either, they're as bad as each other.
I don't think there was any lying; I think the shipping problem was a combination of an honest mistake and the determination of how to move forward with fulfillment since the CMoN/SPM relationship was severed.
But that's obviously your choice, and I respect it. Simply think you'll be missing out on a really, really fun game.
2014/08/07 17:56:50
Subject: Coming Soon from CMoN - Ron & Bones: The MOBA!
overtyrant wrote: They have constantly lied about the shipping of RK. Each week it's 'it will be on the plane monday honest' then comes an excuse that its not our fault its not on there and the casual disregard CMON has had for the backers of said project for months we had no news and update and when we do they have given us something quite foul to eat and said its suger.
There's a lot of pretty incorrect assumptions there.
Of course you're entitled to believe it. Even it it's wrong.
2014/08/09 15:06:39
Subject: Coming Soon from CMoN - Ron & Bones: The MOBA!
overtyrant wrote: They have constantly lied about the shipping of RK. Each week it's 'it will be on the plane monday honest' then comes an excuse that its not our fault its not on there and the casual disregard CMON has had for the backers of said project for months we had no news and update and when we do they have given us something quite foul to eat and said its suger.
There's a lot of pretty incorrect assumptions there.
Of course you're entitled to believe it. Even it it's wrong.
Your either a company man or involved with them aren't you......
Nope. Just not quick to claim that everyone is a dishonest liar when of know international shipping is often not at the full discretion if the company requesting it, but rather the shipping company. That's become increasingly clear the more KS companies have trouble with it, and that's certainly not limited to CMoN.
But I'm sure if it were you, you'd have muuuuuuuch better control of how and when a warehouse half a world away ships your stuff.
Like I said, you're entitled to believe what you want, but if you're going to reserve vitriol for CMoN in this case, which is certainly your right, it needs to be shared with the other parties involved unless disingenuous hypocrisy is what you're shooting for.
2014/08/09 18:11:39
Subject: Coming Soon from CMoN - Ron & Bones: The MOBA!
Now for Wrath of Kings and Arcadia Quest those are two games that are primarily from Cmon. That would be the true test if Cmon itself was to solely blame for some shortcomings of their past Kickstarters or it was just a bunch of circumstances that left people with a sour taste in their mouth.
I agree.
2014/12/02 20:11:49
Subject: Re:Coming Soon from CMoN - Ron & Bones: The MOBA! KICKSTARTER IS LIVE
Rum & Bones is a miniatures board game where players control fantastic pirate crews engaged in fierce combat. Inspired by MOBA style video games, Rum & Bones’ gameplay is deep, fast-paced, and highly strategic. The game pits two pirate factions, controlled by 2 to 6 players, whose ships are locked in combat, with each crew attempting to board the enemy ship and disable it.
Each ship’s single-minded crew of Deckhands and Bosuns charge headlong across the gangplanks to attack key deck features on the enemy ship. These lowly crewmen are not directly controlled by the players. They form a constantly-replenishing mob of pirates charging towards the enemy, but the crews are evenly matched, so it’s up to the player-controlled Heroes to shift the tide of battle!
Deckhands and Bosuns of the Wellsport Brotherhood and Bone Devils.
Each faction has five types of Heroes at their disposal: Captain, Quartermaster, Swashbuckler, Gunner and Brute. Each of these roles has its own general place in the battle. However, each Hero is still unique, with their own set of attacks, abilities, and reactions to crush the enemy or give their crew the push they need!
The Heroes of the Wellsport Brotherhood!
The Heroes of the Bone Devils!
The Wellsport Brotherhood and Bone Devils factions included in the core box also have access to unique powers via their Tide Decks. The 30 cards in these decks (most of them unique to each faction) can be played at different times, bringing about unexpected effects, surprise attacks, welcome boosts, or even summon a Sea Dragon!
Just beware that these startling abilities might just attract the attention of that mythical terror from the depths, the Kraken!
The Kraken and Sea Dragon are enemies to all pirates, but their intervention can be advantageous to you in the right moment. And slaying these legendary creatures might give you the glory necessary to be victorious in battle!
Your Captain-level pledge gets you the Rum & Bones core game as well as the 5 Kickstarter exclusive Heroes from the Helrökker gang, and any stretch goals we manage to unlock! The Helrökker Heroes are all Mercenaries, meaning that they can be used by any faction, and they each come with their miniature and Hero card.
The Mercenary Heroes of the Helrökker gang, in all their high-heeled glory!
Note that anything marked with this:
is an exclusive item for Kickstarter backers, with remaining stock available at conventions only.
Shipping information - Please take note
Based on past experience, we will be charging shipping after the Kickstarter concludes based on the actual costs incurred to ship. We will collect this via our pledge manager after the campaign concludes. This is so we can be fair to all our backers as shipping is rarely one size fits all, and also give you more stretch goodies and possibly a choice of carrier options.
We will ship your rewards at our cost to our international hubs. Depending on where in the world you are, we will either ship you from our hub in Germany (EU backers), China (Asia Pacific backers), Canada (Canadian backers), Australia (Australia and New Zealand backers) or Atlanta (USA and the rest of the world). As a rough estimate, the game will cost about $10 to ship in the USA and to Hong Kong, about $15 to Australia, about $15-$25 in the EU and Canada, all the way up to $50 to Singapore and South America, but this may increase or decrease based on the quantity of stretch goals we might unlock and your carrier choices.
Please note that while we do our best to get you your rewards in a timely manner, you may not necessarily receive your rewards before the product makes it into distribution in your own country or before it's made available in conventions and special promotion opportunities We hope that the special price and exclusive items you will get during the Kickstarter will make up for any such possible lag. However, if this is something that is not acceptable to you, please do not back this project but instead wait for the retail release. Thank you for your understanding.
2014/12/02 20:42:10
Subject: Coming Soon from CMoN - Ron & Bones: The MOBA! KICKSTARTER IS LIVE
@Orlando - I know I'm a CMoN pusher in general, but aside from Rivet Wars this is my favorite game they've done. If you like MOBAs at all, you really should get it.
Put a buck in and join the CKPM later, if you're on the fence.
FUNDING REACHED! Onward to Unlocking More Treasure!
Comment
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Mateys! We've funded in just over half an hour!
I must say, I am mighty proud of you all!
Yarg, but I know what ye all be after... Ye want a bounty of Stretch Goals!
Well let's start diggin' and see just what we can unearth!
We unearth this stretch goal and a second Deckhand sculpt will be added for each faction in Rum and Bones! Meaning more variety for all ye pirate crews, whether ye be the cutthroat Wellsport Brotherhood or the sinister Bone Devils!
Onward, ye' scalawags, there be more treasure to uncover!
This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2014/12/02 20:43:06
2014/12/02 21:04:03
Subject: Re:CMoN Ron & Bones KICKSTARTER IS LIVE and FUNDED! @ $70K, first stretch @ $75K (Alt sculpts)
drazz wrote: So, they're not going to directly use any of the old Ron Bones pirate models? Just take a play of some of them?
I'm not sold. I loved the old metal models, and the new plastics are not really giving me the same feel. I'll keep watching though.
I find myself in the same boat (pun intended). I really wanted to see a re-release of the previous line of miniatures, but this doesn't look to be it. Shame, as those were completely fantastic.
But Cincy says it's the best thing since Rivet Wars and I love that game. And I read on the last page that there were going to be Kraken(?), guaranteed.
!
I won't go so far as to offer a money back guarantee because I'm too poor to do that but I legitimately love this game. A few of the problems I had with the game in my original article seem to have been resolved in the last edition of the rules I saw, and I had a blast with the game then.
If you enjoy tabletop games and you enjoy MOBAs, you'll like this game.
I like it so much that I've told some of the people I know at CMoN that I'd love to see them license out the system like FFG did with X-Wing to other companies so we could see, say, a DOTA2 or LoL version in the future.
It's fun.
This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2014/12/03 04:14:50
2014/12/03 14:36:37
Subject: Re:CMoN Ron & Bones KICKSTARTER IS LIVE and FUNDED! @ $70K, first stretch @ $75K (Alt sculpts)
silent25 wrote: Thanks for keeping track of this cincy! Fan of the original line and went in on this one. Expect maybe two more factions. Probably British and Spanish navies as those fit the traditional pirate themed tropes.
Lots of rumblings about Asian, too. I'd be perfectly fine with that!
2014/12/04 16:45:48
Subject: Re:CMoN Ron & Bones KICKSTARTER IS LIVE and FUNDED! @ $70K, first stretch @ $75K (Alt sculpts)
Mateys, tis a fine morning here at CMoN. The air is clean, the water is pure... And yet all does not seem right with the world...
So we've been looking over the feedback you guys have given in the comments over our new optional buy, Captain Anne Bonny, and the general consensus is that, well... You'd like to get a better deal for her.
Having seen the sculpt and samples of the plastic in person, she honestly blew me away in terms of sheer awesomeness, but the important thing is what you all, our loyal backers, consider fair and reasonable - none of this would be possible without you guys, after all, and you're helping us to bring our vision to life, and we deeply appreciate it.
So, having heard your concerns, we went in and looked at just what we could do for you all, and after much counseling and negotiation, this is what we've decided to do:
Captain Anne Bonny is being removed from the Optional Buy list. In her place, however, is the new and improved Wellsport Brotherhood Pack (which includes Miss Bonny, of course )
So, what's the specifics? Glad you asked:
For $15 you're going to get not one, not two, but three Heroes to add to your expanding roster of Wellsport Pirates.
You all know Captain Anne Bonny, so we'll open with her:
Next up we have the lovely Grace O'Malley, Wellsport Gunner:
and Theo, the Terror of Nova, Wellsport Quartermaster extraordinaire!
As always, please note that the figures come unpainted. What we're showing here is just an example of what a skilled painter is able to do with them.
We're pushing forward, all thanks to backers like you, toward our next stretch goal as well. If Slevin is really lucky, we should have him unlocked and onto the next stretch goal in no time!
2014/12/05 02:54:02
Subject: Re:CMoN Ron & Bones KICKSTARTER IS LIVE and FUNDED! @ $70K, first stretch @ $75K (Alt sculpts)
Mateys, we've hit our $200,000 goal, meaning Slevin the Lucky has been unlocked and added to the crews of all backers! Yarg!
Not only that, but we also just finished uploading our Rum and Bones Gameplay video! Double Yarg! Check it out here:
Please keep in mind that all components in the video are still in prototype form and far from the quality of the final product (where quality cards and thick cardboard tiles will abound!)
Of course, now that we've hit 200K, I'm sure you're all wondering what our next goal will be!
Well in all fairness to the Bone Devils, we couldn't unlock another Hero for the Wellsport and not take care of them as well!
Meet our $225,000 stretch goal, Mr. Smith, Bone Devils Gunner! Triple Yarg!!!
We're nearing the end of our first week, Mateys, and there is still a sea of booty to be plundered out there! Let's go and find it! QuadraYarg!!!
2014/12/05 03:09:01
Subject: CMoN Ron & Bones KICKSTARTER IS LIVE and FUNDED! @ $70K, first stretch @ $75K (Alt sculpts)
Alex C wrote: I've only watched the first half hour of the video so far, but it's looking like a super fun game
Awesome!
It really is one of my faves, despite only have played it about 6 times (a few times in may, a few times this month). I'm just a huge fan of the gameplay and the models, that I really hope this one does well.
2014/12/05 14:14:36
Subject: CMoN Ron & Bones KICKSTARTER IS LIVE and FUNDED! @ $70K, first stretch @ $75K (Alt sculpts)
Bioptic wrote: Of course, (and this may be going too far off-topic) one of the more irritating aspects of using Kickstarter repeatedly is that you can't regulate 1) your outgoing cash easily (you don't know when Kickstarters are going to happen, or what they are going to cost, although some offer "$1 pledge manager" options), and 2) the delivery of products, due to all the slippage. I went through half a year of largely nothing arriving, and now everything's piling in during December/January!
If you were doing things the "normal" way, you'd decide you were in the market for something new (you're bored of existing things, your group wants to try something different, you have some spare hobby time and/or money), buy it and play it immediately. With multiple Kickstarters it might be arriving in the middle of 5 other games, it might arrive when your gaming group has just disbanded, when you're in the middle of annual crunch time...
So my resentment of the CMoN model is that it removes a lot of choice from the equation. I'll still continue to go along with it though, as long as the value is there and I still have the "FOMA". It doesn't hurt that boardgame retail prices are abysmal here in the UK - Zombicide S1 at retail used to cost more than the Kickstarter pledge shipped from the US.
On topic, I really am a fan of the R&B models - they have a pleasing solidity to them that isn't as goonish as AQ or as...non-detailed as Rivet Wars.
I do wonder if some backers are being misled about them though. CMoN claims that "What we're showing here is just an example of what a skilled painter is able to do with them." No mention of the fact that the examples are clearly resin, or on completely different bases!
I believe the samples are actually metal.
IIRC, they're using the same plastic that they've used with the newer Guest Artist Boxes and newer heroes, and here's what some skilled painters have done with those models:
It's also of note that R&B models are a little larger scale than Zombicide, with more exaggerated proportions. I'm going snap some photos of some of the old metals with some zombicide models for reference.
2014/12/05 15:38:32
Subject: Re:CMoN Ron & Bones KICKSTARTER IS LIVE and FUNDED! @ $70K, first stretch @ $75K (Alt sculpts)
Are You Ready to ROCK?! A Look Into The Helrökkers
Michael here once again, and today lets look at the world famous heavy metal pirate team: the Helrökkers!
Before we begin lets cover some basics: First off, all these guys are Mercenaries, which means they will work for any faction, Wellsport or Bone Devil, that wishes to hire them. Also important- while they are a unified crew all of their own as well, they can all be used individually to stand in for their representative role on your ship.
Lastly, ROCK ON.
Presenting the first of our group, The Killmaster! Not your ordinary Quartermaster, The Killmaster brings a bit of everything to your crew.
His first action is Trade Route to Hell. Acting as his only actual Attack, and therefor source of Coin, The Killmaster features the standard 4 die 4+ to hit, with the avid caveat that Heroes hit by a 6 suffer Bleed. Want some extra boost to your Renfield Bone Devil's crew? Want an extra bit of Status Effect damage applied to your Wellsport guys? The Killmaster brings it in aces of spades.
Next up we have one of the first global effects in the game: Solo Performance! An expensive ability to be sure, but this dynamo's performances are potent enough to rob the entire enemy crew of an action next turn. True metal power cannot be contained. So, three Heroes, -3 Actions- you're basically stealing away 1/3 of their team's capabilities next turn. There isn't a crew out there that can't make use of this.
Rounding The Killmaster off we have Encore. It's here we'll note that The Killmaster doesn't function like most Quartermasters we've seen, as he has very little that directly benefits his crew. What he does have, however, is the ability to bypass all that "don't take damage" business and straight up keep them... Well straight up. Enemy think he has you with that last attack? Encore. Worried that that nasty Bleed is going to do your guy in if he does too much? Encore. Want to throw your guys at a possibly insane (yet totally awesome) suicide mission that could win you the game, but worried if it backfires? ENCORE!!!
And that is why The Killmaster is awesome.
Hier Kommt Alex! I mean Here Comes Alex- Alex of Pain! Alex here is a world famous Gunner, but like the rest of his crew, he is a performer unique in his own right. Were as most Gunners prefer just to shoot them, shoot them until their dead, and then shoot some more, Alex brings some finesse to the gig with his range of abilities.
He has a standard Gunner attack with Rose Thorns, in that he can always target Heroes. What sets this apart from most other Gunners, however, is that its 2 dice on a 2+. The trade-off here is that Alex will seldom miss, though he doesn't have the raw earning potential some of the other crewmen have.
This is more than made up for, however, in his second signature action, Are You Ready to Rock?! Once again pointing out Alex and his fellow crewmen work together, we see the second global ability, and boy, does it hurt. Are You Ready to Rock?! Silences all enemies, meaning they cant spend Coin on Actions. That. Is. METAL... Also super powerful. You can already see the nastiness in combining Alex and The Killmaster to cripple the enemy team... Sure, it's a lot of Coin, but a good strategy for them is to build everyone up to unleash one Mega Performance of Metal Death and outright shut down the enemy team for a turn. It takes lots of coordination, but it should never be overlooked.
Now, as mentioned, Alex is a Gunner who doesn't do a lot of damage- very unique, with his third ability, however, he continues his trend of punishing the enemy for merely existing. Last we have Showstopper, which is a free Reaction that punishes enemies for using Abilities near Alex. That enemy Quartermaster wants to heal guys up? Little Tom trying to wrangle your guys into a corner? They can still do it if they would like, but they're gonna have to pay for it.
Don't worry, the name The Slasher is only for show- He'll also stab, cut, gut, and bash you to death as well!
So jumping right in with Hunger for Destruction we have a Swashbuckler that rolls 2 dice and hits on a 2+, causing auto-Bleed. Again, like many of his Helrokker counterparts, he doesn't generate the most Coin of anyone out there, but he certainly makes due with what he's got. In the case here The Slasher prefers precision over raw dice. Wellsport can make good use of this due to the number of +attack dice cards and effects they have, while the Bone Devils get a Hero that hits when they need him to (and his other abilities play into their faction strengths as well)
Multi-talented is probably the most interesting ability on The Slasher, which is ironic because it does nothing in itself- instead giving him the insane ability to copy any Attack from a Deployed enemy Hero. I love effects that turn an enemies greatest strength against them! Think of the nasty combinations here: You're playing Wellsport, so you get The Slasher and copy Patchwork Porter's Soul Storm...except then you throw down an Unbridled Fury card to give him +3 dice on the attack... The amount of Coin generated makes me warm inside... Or lets say you're playing Bone Devils and they have Blackout Bart... Suddenly there's a surprise Bullseye or Greased Lightning Barrage. You can never discount this ability, and there has been several times where an unwary opponent will deploy a Hero, only to immediately have The Slasher utilize his attacks and win the game.
So, last up for The Slasher we have Nirvana, which proves you cant keep a good musician down. All in all, this Reaction makes The Slasher one of the most survivable Heroes in the game- as long as you're willing to pay for it. Note that this functions on friendly or enemy Tide Cards, so it will add some extra through to your opponent and put them in a no-win scenario: I need to play this Tide Card to kill The Slasher... But by playing it he's just going to heal... and then I can't kill him... Aw hell!
So rounding him out we have a Swashbuckler that is good at keeping himself alive and turns the enemies greatest strengths into his own. That is a style I can get behind!
DRUM SOLO!! Thunder Lars, that is. The Brute of the Helrokkers, Lars bullies his way around the board. Like most Brutes, Lars specializes in making the enemy pay for dealing him damage, and nowhere is this more apparent than his Mace of Valhalla ability, where if he's suffered 10 or more damage then his thunderous choir dishes out Silence to all nearby enemies. Basic bit of advice: don't leave Lars alive- take him down if you're going to target him!
Next up we have Thunderous Beat, which offers some nice board control to Lars- it also means that Gangplanks become super deadly for a Hero to be standing on, least Lars come up and bring the pain, knocking them Overboard and out of play! And what if you start next to him (like some foolish attack that didn't work out??!), then he'll just BAMBAMBAMBAM (I'm... not good with drum sound effect...) and begin pushing everyone back. Push, move up, Push again- BAM- into the drink with ya!
Then you can follow up and Bring the Thunder!! Which not only removes those pesky Condition tokens from a friendly Hero but also gives them +1 attack die- that's right, rock enthusiasts, here we have a Brute that also acts in some ways as a Quartermaster!
Wellsport will love to take advantage of this and Lars and Miss Mags can team up and give 1 Hero a staggering +2 attack dice for the rest of the turn. Meanwhile on the Bone Devil side they have a large number of healing-on-hit effects, and Lars just amplifies that to 11 (while also helping to remove Conditions- something the Bone Devils struggle at!)
Of course, Lars is also at home pumping his own Helrokkers and pushing them to extremes- most of them already hit on a 2+, and now they will have more attacks to work their magic with!
Le petit empereur himself, Napoleon, is the Captain of the infamous Helrokkers. Believing him to be the rock and roll messiah due to his invention of platform shoes, Napoleon doesn't let his stature get in the way of his raw I AM A BETTER COMMANDER THAN YOU tactics.
He starts with Inspiring Strike, which is a basic 4 dice 4+, but allows you to give a Deployed Hero a Coin. Yes, he and Miss Mags from Wellsport share this ability, meaning you can double down and gain a huge economy of Coin! Or you can take him with the Bone Devils to help pump out the expensive abilities all that much faster.
This is very important seeing as how most of the Helrokkers have some expensive abilities (as we've seen)- Napoleon takes a lot of the pain in paying those costs out with help from this ability.
So, taking a moment, let me preface this by saying Napoleon is the first Captain we've seen who excels at manipulating the Tide Deck... and boy, he does not mess around when it comes to his job! Total Recall allows him to pull any discarded Tide Card back from your discard pile- the effects of this are two-fold. First, the obvious benefit- you get to double up, triple up... quadra...up.. whatever... the Tide Cards you've already played. Want your Deckhands and Bosuns to make a huge push across the lanes? Pull back See Some Hustle and let them go crazy. Want to pump a massive amount of Coin into one Hero in particular? Play Rum and then play Rum again, gaining them six Coin to use as they please!
The second benefit is much more subtle, but still just as powerful. Don't want to suffer the ire of the Kraken? Pull those Kraken symbol cards back into your hand! Did an opponent summon the beast then laugh at you because you had more icons? Show them your raw tactical genius by pulling all those cards back into your hand then laugh, LAUGH at them as the eye of the beast suddenly turns back upon them! AHAHAHAHA!!!
Ok, so that all sounds great, but it requires me to have the cards I need! Well, I'm glad you brought that up. Napoleon knows just when to act, he's a genius after all, and nowhere is that seen more than his Perfect Strategy ability. Sure, it's expensive at six Coin, but searching your Tide Deck for that specific game-winning card will always be worth it! And remember, once you have it you can keep pulling it back with Total Recall. The fact that Napoleon is a Mercenary means everyone gets to benefit from this, and all opponents will suffer for it.
Napoleon exemplifies a Captain who doesn't take the fight to the enemy. No, he sits back, lets his crew do the hard work, and wins through sheer force of will and tactics. He is a welcome addition to any crew that feels they have enough raw killing power and instead want to opt for something a bit more subtle.
Use his tactical mind well and he will lead you to victory, disregard it and suffer the fate of countless enemies who have stood against him!
And that, backers, wraps up the Helrökkers! These Mercenary Heroes are KICKSTARTER EXCLUSIVE, so be sure to get your friends in on the action, least they be assigned to being a mere Deckhand (the roadie of the sea) while you rock and roll your way across the seven seas in search of plunder and the lost treasure of Les Paul, err, Davy Jones!
Until next time!
-Michael Shinall
Pretty cool update here. Only about 5K away from hitting the next stretch
2014/12/09 20:16:21
Subject: CMoN Ron & Bones KICKSTARTER IS LIVE and FUNDED! @ $70K, first stretch @ $75K (Alt sculpts)
You honestly didn't think Wellsport and the Bone Devils were the only pirate factions on the high seas did you?
In honor of completing our first week (with an explosive 2400 backers Week 1 alone!) we're proud to bring you an all new faction for your enjoyment: Mazu's Dreadful Curse!
Mazu's Dreadful Curse is a FULL EXPANSION BOX featuring the following:
5x Hero Miniatures
24x Deckhand Miniatures (3 Sculpts!)
6x Bosun Miniatures
1x Unique 30 Card Tide Deck
3x Junker Boards (See how they interact with the Galleons of Wellsport and Bone Devils below!)
3x Objective Tiles
3x Deployment Point Tokens
3x Windgate Tokens (this blessing of Mazu allows the pirates to quickly move between the different ships!)
By purchasing this expansion box, you'll also receive the following KICKSTARTER EXCLUSIVE bonuses:
1x "Nemo, the Lost" Miniature
1x Sculpted Deck Gun Miniature
To claim this faction as your own, merely add $40 to your pledge and we'll get it sorted once the Pledge Manager is released!
So, just who are the crew of the Dreadful Curse? Let's take a look:
And the Kickstarter Exclusive:
As always, these models are sold UNPAINTED, the paintjobs above just show what a skilled painter could accomplish
Lastly, we'll show you their Hero Cards and just how their ships interacts with the Galleons of the Wellsport and the Bone Devils.
Mazu's Dreadful Curse brings lightning speed and Hit-and-Run tactics to the field! These deadly pirates get in, destroy what they need to destroy, then escape before the enemy even knows what hit them!
The Kickstarter Exclusive "Nemo, the Lost"
And lastly, the Board Layout for when Mazu are fighting Wellsport or the Bone Devils:
You may notice the small Whirlwind Icons around Mazu's ships! Those are Windgates and they allow rapid teleportation between the 3 Mazu ships! Note however, a crafty enemy can make use of them as well!
We're rapidly approaching our latest Stretch Goal, dear backers. Just one small push and things will really start to heat up!
2014/12/10 01:27:48
Subject: CMoN Ron & Bones KICKSTARTER IS LIVE and FUNDED! @ $70K, first stretch @ $75K (Alt sculpts)
skarsol wrote: It continually baffles me why companies trying to run a professional KS fail to get even minor proofreading done on their copy. :(
I only skimmed it; nothing stood out to me. What did I miss?
Real quick once over:
In general: dashes should be x-y or x - y, not x- y. Ellipses and capitalization are inconsistent.
basics: First -> basics: first
the avid caveat -> the added caveat
Heroes hit by a 6 -> Heroes hit on a 6 (debatable)
Renfield Bone Devil's crew VS Wellsport guys -> should be Devil crew to match Wellsport guys, or else "Devils" if it's plural.
keep them... Well straight up -> keep them... well... straight up (at least the lowercase w, the cadence they're going for needs the extra ellipses)
Were as most Gunners -> Whereas most Gunners
until their dead -> until they're dead
is that its 2 dice -> is that it's 2 dice
Are You Ready to Rock?! Silences -> Are You Ready to Rock?! silences
they cant spend -> they can't spend
That. Is. METAL... Also super powerful. -> blarg
Now, as mentioned, Alex is a Gunner who doesn't do a lot of damage- very unique, with his third ability, however, he continues his trend of punishing the enemy for merely existing. -> Rough. Maybe "Now, as mentioned, Alex is a Gunner who doesn't do a lot of direct damage (very unique), however, with his third ability he continues his trend of punishing the enemy for merely existing."
makes due -> makes do
need him to (and his other abilities play into their faction strengths as well) -> no ending punctuation
you cant keep -> you can't keep
add some extra through to your opponent -> I think they wanted "thought"
standing on, least Lars come up -> standing on, lest Lars come up
action, least they be assigned -> action, lest they be assigned
Oh, so a bunch of pedantic nonsense only you care about. Gotcha.
2014/12/10 03:04:21
Subject: CMoN Ron & Bones KICKSTARTER IS LIVE and FUNDED! @ $70K, first stretch @ $75K (Alt sculpts)
Oh, so a bunch of pedantic nonsense only you care about. Gotcha.
i sea watt you did their.
There are more egregious errors in this post than in anything you're nitpicking about a blog style KS update.
You can concern yourself with forgetting apostrophes for contractions, or correcting a conversational run-on sentence, or bothering with the spacing of dashes and ellipses.
When it comes to it, it's incredibly pedantic to pick at them for, as I said, a KS Update post.
but I legitimately love this game. A few of the problems I had with the game in my original article seem to have been resolved in the last edition of the rules I saw, and I had a blast with the game then.
