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Don't know how many of you have played Galaxy Defenders, but they've put up the Kickstarter for the first two big expansions to the game. (Season 2, as it were.) Since the game has minis (And is basically Zombicide meets X-com meets better rules) I figured it deserved a thread.

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1402889231/galaxy-defenders-the-earth-strikes-back-boardgame

Earth pledge gets you the two expansions, two KS exclusive figures, and any of the blue stretch goals.
Moon pledge gets you the Earth pledge plus the red stretch goals.
Galaxy pledge gets you the Moon pledge plus a copy of the original game and the extra minis expansion for the original game.










First time starting a KS topic so my formatting sucks. At the time of this writing there's still plenty Early Bird 1 for Galaxy left. Early Bird 1 for Moon filled up in less than three minutes. Still bunch of Early Bird 2/3 for Moon which is 11 bucks more.

Up since 4:30 AM trying to squat a EB.

I LOVE GALAXY DEFENDERS.

It's a great game, and all the new crap is going to add a lot to the table. Considering it comes with a built in campaign, but is also a total sandbox game, makes it really cool.

With modular tiles now, power armor, power suits, allies, more devices and gear to use, new classes to use said gear with, what looks to be a bunch of new mechanics added in...

It's worth it. Finally get some multi hex aliens this time around as well.

I'll be the first to say the minis are BOARD GAME PIECES. They are not hobbyist level at all. That said, there's quite a bit of charm to them.

Game is quite tactical, and very brutal at times. Good luck with the red level aliens. They aren't pretty!

Well, you were certainly right about there being a lot of power armor in there. The designs are looking better this time around, other than the female model's waist being so narrow. I enjoyed the first one, so I look forward to sending my troops to their deaths in the future.

So now you can mix your tactics up even more and get a better shot at those damned aliens.


Also, don't forget the new psionic alien class, playable knight class, and BIO BOOSTER ARMOR GUYVER allies/ armor sets?



Or a new generic drone that EVERYONE can use, instead of just the Biotech (who never seems to do much with them whenever I try and use them).



Seriously, there is a lot of PLAY in these boxes with just these few stretches, nevermind all the crap in the base game.

Is that EVE? She looks so angry.

There's also some somewhat familiar faces looking to cause trouble as well:



Master Alien means he's going to be one bad dude, compared to even the "regular" elite level red aliens. I wouldn't be surprised if there's an option to get a playable version of the Xeno- Lord as well.

Is there a sci fi setting that this game isn't ripping off yet? Gameplay might be stellar, but almost all of their images seem like they are just copying other sources.

Yeah, the bulk of the KS exclusive stuff has all been homages to other scifi works. None of that whatsoever is in the retail releases.

It's not only figures either- in the first campaign, there were a bunch of movie/ game homages in the devices you could use (paper unicorns, full metal jackets, arbiter blades, stuff like that).

Also, for the player characters at least, those homages are just variations on existing classes, with slightly tweaked abilities (for better or worse). You don't actually lose much if you don't have the KS stuff.

In my opinion, it's no worse than Zombicide's homages.

No, no, no. Angry Eve is ten times more awesome than Zombicide's homages.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
Wait. Is there a version of this game that is already selling through retail channels?

 BobtheInquisitor wrote:
No, no, no. Angry Eve is ten times more awesome than Zombicide's homages.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
Wait. Is there a version of this game that is already selling through retail channels?

About sixty bucks through most online stores.

http://www.coolstuffinc.com/p/196981

http://www.miniaturemarket.com/aregrpr001.html

Galaxy pledge gets you the original game and the Elite Alien Army expansion on top of the stuff from Moon pledge.

Looking forward to fighting this:



And we also have a new buddy to hang out and help us save the Matrix... I mean save Earth! That's an ally version of the one... guy we got earlier.


Made almost as much money as the entire first campaign in less than 24 hours. Good on the Gremlins!

Very excited to see what else this project has in store for us all!

Galaxy pledge is a much easier choice for EU backers, as:

1) The game is currently out of stock (in the UK at least), and they'll be shipping the base game as soon as the second worldwide print run is ready, well in advance of the Kickstarted expansions.

2) The project is "EU friendly", and there's no additional shipping required for Galaxy vs. Moon.

3) Even when in stock, the prices here were...somewhat less generous than $60. I was seeing ~£55 for the base game, ~£22 for the elite aliens.


As someone unfamiliar with the game, I don't actually see the X-COM comparison that clearly. The aesthetic is sometimes comparable to the original game, but is really just an almighty mish-mash of neon and concepts that they found interesting. The characters are...characters rather than generics, and (I may be mistaken) there isn't any concept of base-building resource management.

It does look extremely nice though, and I'm all for more variations on a co-cop theme - especially ones with an actual story to follow!

So here's the next goal (the last goal was already crushed, in addition to the Kingator, and it was more tokens with a funky concept of being based on age of the players).



Basic pledge gets the GD-5 (shades of Short Circuit with that numbering?) figure to be used as a drone, all in pledges (or as an optional purchase to get the data sheet) can use him as a Biotech class. Kind of cool.

Regarding the X-Com theme- yeah, the base building isn't there, you don't need to worry about getting funding pulled, no interceptions or terror missions... it's always reminded me of the combat phase, mixed with a dash of 80s action moie ridiculousness.

People like these minis?

The proportions of the miniatures make GW's heroic scale look down right realistic.

The new bot? Yes disassemble!

I think the minis look pretty fun.

For single-piece boardgame models, they look great - very silly, but that's entirely in keeping! They paint up quite nicely too.

http://boardgamegeek.com/image/1967493/galaxy-defenders?size=large

Let's be realistic- the minis are UGLY. The proportions on the humans are totally funky. Some fair far worse than others too- condolences to the pieces who aren't wearing helmets or armor. Big heads, skinny waists, oversized weapons... but they're board game pieces. They aren't hobby products by any stretch.

They had actually offered metal figures during the first campaign.

That said, they've got a nice chunk to them, especially the aliens. The bigger and bulkier they get, the better (in my opinion). Actually, the xeno-morphs from the first campaign were pretty decent sculpts, as was the xeno-hunter (Predator) figure, but again, they're board game pieces. It beats having a bunch of cardboard standees at least.

Looking forward to running a very drone heavy squad- with the new support class and Wall-E there, should be interesting!

Yeah, the figures have a very early 90s look to them. They aren't going to be winning any beauty contests. In fact, those minis were basically what kept me away from the original. however, after actually playing the game, I think the gameplay completely offsets the ugliness. Figures aside (and these figures look loads better), the game is totally worth the money. Just sub in your own stuff if you don't like the included figures.

Bioptic wrote:
For single-piece boardgame models, they look great - very silly, but that's entirely in keeping! They paint up quite nicely too.

http://boardgamegeek.com/image/1967493/galaxy-defenders?size=large

Those painted example do look better, but they are all aliens, so they get a pass on odd proportions. The humans are a entirely different matter. I don't think just because these are for a board game that the minis needs to be as poorly sculpted as these ones are. There are plenty of examples of well sculpted, appropriately proportioned figures currently offered in many popular board games. If the look of the minis was intentional to suit a specific aesthetic for the game, well fine, but to me they look like the crap toys you buy from gumball machines in a grocery.

They're certainly stylized. They remind me a lot of the little capsule toys I'd get from a quarter vending machine outside the grocery store growing up, just a little higher quality. While I'd probably replace the components with "real" miniatures, there is a certain charm to them that I quite like.

So it sounds like a couple of you guys genuinely love the gameplay. I don't suppose someone could share their thoughts?

Can the game be played pure co-op versus the system? Is their longevity?

I heard "sandbox" mentioned, which has me leery as Myth is rotting in a corner as its overly sandbox-y lack of structure leaves it feeling little like a game, and more like a project.

 highlord tamburlaine wrote:
Let's be realistic- the minis are UGLY. The proportions on the humans are totally funky. Some fair far worse than others too- condolences to the pieces who aren't wearing helmets or armor. Big heads, skinny waists, oversized weapons... but they're board game pieces. They aren't hobby products by any stretch.

Why is this an acceptable excuse?

The minis in Zombicide, Descent, Myth, and plenty of other contemporary board games are well designed.

The gameplay does look interesting, but those minis make me lose any nerd-boner I'd have over the gameplay.

NewTruthNeomaxim wrote:
So it sounds like a couple of you guys genuinely love the gameplay. I don't suppose someone could share their thoughts?

Can the game be played pure co-op versus the system? Is their longevity?

I heard "sandbox" mentioned, which has me leery as Myth is rotting in a corner as its overly sandbox-y lack of structure leaves it feeling little like a game, and more like a project.

It's more like Zombicide in structure. The rulebook has various scenarios laid out and tells you which cards to put in the encounter deck and alien deck, and how to build the map. You can either play them as a campaign or start a one-shot mission as the suggested rank.

Only thing really sand-box about it is there's an app for scenario design, and you can add/swap cards into the mission decks if you have extra aliens from the Kickstarted expansions.

Game is pure co-op. A player takes a turn, then they draw a card from the alien deck and activate any aliens on the card. Aliens have a basic AI pattern listed on their stat card that says what they do based on how close they are to agents. After all players have gone, a random event card is drawn which can do things like cover the board in fog or have the aliens in play all heal.

Anywhere I can read more about the campaign aspects, and even the moment-to-moment gameplay? Is it simulating table-top war-gaming versus an AI? I see that there are stances, etc... which implies to me that there would also be stuff like cover, LOS, etc?

NewTruthNeomaxim wrote:
Anywhere I can read more about the campaign aspects, and even the moment-to-moment gameplay? Is it simulating table-top war-gaming versus an AI? I see that there are stances, etc... which implies to me that there would also be stuff like cover, LOS, etc?

There are some really good videos on boardgamegeek.com

Thanks man! Will go do some research. Sitting on an EB Galaxy pledge while I do though. ;-)

That giant worm beastie looks like it could draw the attention of Games Workshop. Looks VERY much like the Warhammer Forge Dread Maw

More stretch goals for everyone!

First up was the 200k goal, a special agent black box to store all the extra KS junk we get. This is a good thing. I already can't store the stuff I got from the first campaign in the box.

Coolest part was they let backers come up with ideas for new devices, and the best three will be made and put in the box!

Next up at 215k is more bio armor for everyone, as well as set of new missions based on exceeding a new backer total.



If you pledge at Moon level, you can now play as the Guyver instead of as a regular agent.

Look at the moon worm and the maw beast, I do see the resemblance in the lower jaw. Hopefully Ares has got its butts covered. At the very least the moon worm will be significantly smaller.

There were also teases of vehicles showing up (at least according to Gremlin's comments). I'm still hoping for a mutlihex giant robot for the agents to use...

Have they made a Garthok homage yet?

I want a Garthok.

I'll admit, I had to look that one up.

Obscure. Why not make one of the monster from Howard the Duck? That was probably the only real redeeming factor of that movie. Wait, I take that back, my brain from way back when seems to recall another really awesome scene that had a strange power over me....wonder if it's on Youtube....