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A new Kickstarter from one of my favorite miniatures companies, Happy Games Factory. They have been around for at least a decade and have good success with the post-apocalyptic skirmish game, Eden https://www.eden-the-game.com/?lang=EN. This is their 6th KS, and they had delivered on all of them (and even an IndieGoGO!). I personally love their models and they are entirely too good to their customers.

Arena Bots is modern battle bots in their future setting of Eden. Its a beer and pretzels type game, as you can see with the free rules (below). Good models, quick fun game and great people.

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1778045168/arenabots-a-sci-fi-miniature-board-game/description



Free Rules (still in progress):
https://www.dropbox.com/s/e6n7bolf0gsfx3x/ArenaBots-livret-regles-bilingue-tempv433-eng-Cb.pdf?dl=0&fbclid=IwAR1jK0bkZDonlI-bBMYfn0FzL1553iB3RjCeHnWUsUS-DIp_OLYov_RybxI

Are the miniatures in resin or plastic?

Anyway, I'm in for a euro now. The spider bots and push bots are right up my alley, so if they come up as add ons, I'll go for them.

 BobtheInquisitor wrote:
Are the miniatures in resin or plastic?

JFC, this is becoming a thing with you. It is in the Risks and Challenges section.

All miniatures will be produced in plastic, and all the sculpture are already done .

I swear I read the risks and challenges and every other segment of text and didn't see it. I saw resin masters mentioned a few times, though. Besides, JFC how hard is it to mention critical information in the immediately visible description of the project? JFC, why make a potential customer scroll all the way down to the risks and challenges lose interest in your product instead of answering one of the most asked questions at the top of the page?

If it would help, I can stop pledging to support smaller companies that need the funds more than the polished behemoths.

They use plastic, and have done so for an couple of years. I think they have a successful method for sculpting with the medium and a good supplier that provides a quality product.

 drazz wrote:
They use plastic, and have done so for an couple of years. I think they have a successful method for sculpting with the medium and a good supplier that provides a quality product.

So are their Eden figs plastic now too? They used to be metal, but the boxes on their webstore don’t say either. If they have gone plastic then that’s something they should be talking up.

 drazz wrote:
They use plastic, and have done so for an couple of years. I think they have a successful method for sculpting with the medium and a good supplier that provides a quality product.

Awesome. Thanks.

@Theo - I think they are, I ordered some recently expecting metal as I'd previously bought the same figure, but got plastic

They’re doing a mix. Some models are metal, but generally they are transitioning to plastic.

I’ll look tonight and see if I can show a couple recent plastics from them.

Hi, to quicly sum up:

As young pilots, 2 to 6 players fights for glory along their bots in the arena. Bots are drafted with cards to compose a team of 6. They are controlled via routine cards. There are basic routines everyone possess in their deck and special routines specific to a pilot.

You can attack other pilots and bots to score arena points, you can also hack bots or terminals to control them. Terminals give 1 point each turn and at the end of the game, you score 1 point for each bot and terminal you control.

Of course you can find more details and some videos on KS.

Compatibility cards to play the miniatures with EDEN have been unlocked, and a new pledge has been added to include add-ons.


The KS is ongoing until december 7.

When I get my correct rewards from your last KS, then I will back this one...

Maybe you'll have: We received Escape early this month and delieveries are in progress. 100 pledges are sent yet, that's almost 1/3.

If there is any problem or further questions you can contact ou SAV: sav@happy-games-factory.com


Here is a look at the pilots


Boris the hacker, Tyra the overclocker, Giuseppe the botmaster, Alice the mechanic, Benjamin the virus master and Rouge the ninja.2.0

Pilots are almost powerless without their bots, I will now mention the three basic bots of the game.


PushBot, RoninBot and SpiderBot

Of course each one of them has its specif ability as decribed by the following diagrams.





Pilots have to compose their team carefully to suit their strategies.
Other bots can be unlocked as stretch goals. Learn more on Kickstarter!

Is that Rouge, or Rogue??

Looks interesting!

Almost Rogue, but no, she's named Rouge.

Let me introduce 3 of the 6 Pilots.

Benjamin, Virus Master


Benjamin considers the bots' mechanical aspect as a secondary thing. The computer systems are his main point of interest and in particular the way he can infect them to take control over.

In order to do that, his deck countains some special routines, programs of his creation that others do not have access to.

Level 1: Trojan Horse. Choose a Bot. It performs a hacking action on a target. If successful, a second target next to it is also connected. Replace its base with one of the pilot’s color too.
Facing Benjamin's bots, the opponents will have to be cautious when leaving bots side by side. This routine can also be used as a "counter-hack": if an opposing bot has taken control of one of Benjamin's, by playing this he can regain his bot and in addtion take control of the bot that made the hack!

Level 2: Infection. Choose two Bots. They each perform a Move action followed by a Hack.
This routine allows Benjamin's forces to spread like the flu in winter, or bacteria on a slice of pizza fallen on the floor, without allowing any time to react. He did not usurp his nickname of Virus Master!


Tyra, Overclocker

Unlike Benjamin, Tyra relies a lot on optimizing his bots. She thinks that there is always a way to boost mechanics a little more. Her assumption: if her bots are capable of feats to which opponents are unprepared, she has an advantage.

Level 1: Boost. Choose a Bot. It performs a Move action followed by an Attack action.
Boys of her age are often struck by the the young girl's attractiveness, especially since she doesn't particularly hide it, as if she had nothing to fear from anyone. In any case in the arena she's kinda direct and straightforward and his opponents should not allow themselves to be distracted, otherwise it's by a bot at full speed that they will be struck!

Level 2: Destructive overload. Choose a Bot. It performs a Move action, then literally explodes: it attacks each item (Pilot, Bot) next to it. Then the Bot is out of order and his miniature is removed from the arena. This special attack cannot be reinforced nore defended from.
Warning! Please handle with care!
Sometimes it's useful to push a bot far beyond its limits. This attack can be extremely powerful, however the price to pay is high and the operation deserves to be well calculated.


Giuseppe, Botmaster

Tyra, Benjamin and the others could argue about what's most important in the arena between mechanics and programming skills. I think that Giuseppe would intervene to say "Do not forget the Pilot". He would say that control makes the difference.

Level 1: Theater. Choose two Bots. One after the other, they perform one of the following actions: Attack, Move or Hack.
Giuseppe sees the arena as a scene where he must create the show. The admiring ovation of the audience, when he manages to combine the actions of two bots, is his first reward. The second reward is of course the advantage he gains onto his opponents.

Level 2: Puppeteer. Choose an opposing Bot. This Bot performs two actions among Attack, Move or hack. The actions are performed as if the Bot was connected to the Botmaster: he gains Arena points from attacks and the hacked items are converted to his color.
Even more spectacular than controlling one of your bots to perfection: to do the same when manipulating one of those of the opponent! It's a way of asserting his superiority in the field. This routine allows you to perform an action that earns points while disrupting the plans of the real owner of the bot. Even if this control last no more than a turn, it allows an often unexpected action, like attacking a pilot who thought himself safe or to take a less temporary control of a bot in the middle of his team!

Here is a preview video from the Dice Tower.




If you want to know more about the rules, check the pdf of the rulebook: https://www.dropbox.com/s/e6n7bolf0gsfx3x/ArenaBots-livret-regles-bilingue-tempv433-eng-Cb.pdf?dl=0&fbclid=IwAR2PUchWYXrvmxugoPgkP-XYv61cVuUT16tyHAlA3TC8ZQf-G-_4XL7wl50

More about the mysterious Rouge:



In the closed environment of their underground shelter, it's quite unusual for young pilots to meet for the first time in the arena. However, Rouge seems to have appeared from nowhere. She may be inconspicuous by nature, but she became the topic of a lot of questions. How did she get there? In what circumstances did she lose an arm? Could it be that she went to the outside and, as some people suspect, came from another shelter?


Level 1: Sneak attack. A Bot performs a Move action, followed by an Attack that can’t be defended.

She's called Rouge, but her way of carrying out attacks might indeed evoke a rogue. An attack has a fifty-fifty chance of of being successful. Therefore, forbiding the opponent from asking a re-roll, while having the right to do it yourself — by discarding routine cards — significantly increases the chances of achieving your ends.

Level 2: Shadow puppets. The Pilot’s Bots jam opponents’ Bots’ censors. Rouge and her bots can’t be the target of Attack or Hack from opponents’ bots until her next Turn. She’s not protected from Pilots.

Rouge is no longer a little girl, she's not afraid of the big bad WolfBot, nor of any Bot. But sometimes it's better to be unnoticed and let others fight among themselves! This routine doesn't fully protect since it doesn't affect the drivers and doesn't protect terminals. It's still an excellent protection, especially useful to play soon after exposing yourself.

The Hacker

Igor is the hacker exemplar. It seems that no system, no matter what nor where it is, can remain impenetrable to him. Nothing motivates him more than to confront his skills and his mind to new défensive barriers. Nothing can be more fun than surprising the opponent with a hack he didn't expect.



Level 1: Flash hacking. Choose a Bot. It performs a Move action followed by a Hack.

Hacking a bot doesn't immediately earn Arena points, but it's easier to do than an attack and it allows you to gain the upper hand over the opponents. In addition, the target can also be a terminal. Note that used on an SpiderBot, this routine allows you to reach almost anything!

Level 2: Anonymous. The Pilot uses his own systems to perform two Hacks on any Bot or Terminal in the arena. These hacks must be performed on two different targets.

No bot or terminal is immune to Igor's skills. Being able to access any component wherever it is and hack it, it's certainly the absolute hacker's dream!

I would back this game, but I seriously think you're going to fail again, no matter what; I think Blackstone Fortress and Claustrophobia saw to that.


Since that's sadly the case, do you guys have a plan B(i.e. just release the kids as mercenaries/bots as ISC and put the rules online)?

The chances of success are decreasing but the KS campaign is still running until 7 Dec.

No plan B at the moment. Eden will have its usual releases, nothing is planned to add ArenaBots' content in the Eden range.


There is one pilot I haven't told about here yet .

Alice, the mechanic



The young pilots competing in the arena are all students in robotics engineering. Does not "engineer" contain "engine" ? According to Alice, too many other students are passionate about programming to the point of forgetting the basics of mechanical designing. It would be illusory to consider that this is the simplest part: servos can be easily replaced, but for the rest, it is better to know how to use the contents of a toolbox and know how to demonstrate "ingenuity". For Alice, dismantling and reassembling is often the best way to repair something. Sometimes it's just the best way to satisfy her curiosity.



Level 1: Improved Routine. Choose a Bot. It performs a move action of up to 6 hexagons, or an Attack or a Hack with a free reinforcement.

A well maintained and well tuned bot is able to execute a more demanding instruction without even overheating. Doing the same as others but better, isn't the best way to get the upper hand?

Level 2: Repair. Two “Out of order” Bots are placed in Alice’s starting area. Then each one performs a Move action.

It's crazy all that people scrap while there is often so little to do for it to work again ... Anyway, to the player controlling Alice, this routine is the assurance to not be short of troops.

There are also many addons available. You can choose three with the Master Pilot pledge or you can add as many as you want by increasing your pledge.



Large miniatures come with specific rules. The others have their own abilities and allow you to compose different bots team.

We have been asked for it, here it is: the All-in pledge!

For €169 you'll have everything, including the addons and even the pandabots!

So in addition to the basic game, with its 6 pilots, 24 Bots, cards, dice and all game components that come with, you'll have

the Carmine Hadakauma + dashboard + 24 routine cards + rules

the Serial Shenron + dashboard + 6 colored bases + rules

Scott + dashboard + 6 colored bases + rules

the Green Tentomushi + dashboard + 6 colored bases + rules

8 Catbot miniatures + draft cards

8 Pandabot miniatures + draft cards

8 Caterbot miniatures + draft cards

8 Monkeybot miniatures + draft cards

Now is the time, only 3 days left!