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 recruittons wrote:
500k, Cultist gets Dagon and Hydra for free, so that is the first of, hopefully, many!

Wells good, was that in one of the 50 updates they spammed out today?

Nope, it was added onto the stretch goal track on the front page. It's the last one on the list.

more updates, we'll be up to date soon

The Yuggoth map is quite unusual. It adds three new Areas with special powers.

The Slime Sea

The faction which controls the Slime Sea overlook is allowed to summon the useful Slime Mold monsters, which are a good mid-level monster. The problem is that they obey ANYONE who controls the overlook. So if you have summoned up a batch of Slime Molds, and then another person captures the overlook from you, THEY take control!

The Laboratory

The faction which controls the Laboratory is able to use it to transform his Cultists into Brain Cylinders. Fans who have read The Whisperer in Darkness or seen the eponymous film know what I'm talking about. The cylinders still produce Power like a normal Cultist, but cannot move on their own (they have to be carried). They also cannot fight or be selected to take a hit in combat. Instead, when a Brain Cylinder is "dropped" the other side can capture it. Now THEY get the Power from it.

The Green Pyramid

The Green Pyramid contains the mighty Brain of Yuggoth, which boosts your faction in many useful ways. However, each Cleanup Phase, the Green Pyramid's controller has to check to see if the Watcher of the Green Pyramid has been awakened! The Watcher is a particularly loathsome Great Old One who is the enemy of EVERY faction, and, after destroying all units at the Green Pyramid, moves on a set path around the map wreaking destruction everywhere. He has his own unique figure.

Update the next

Yig is the first of our free add-ons, positioned as a "thank you" to everyone who has supported us with $200 or more.

Yig is a new Great Old One who comes with a high-quality figure, a loyalty card, and his own unique spellbook. The loyalty card contains his Awakening procedure, his special Ability, a cool picture of him, and his unique Spellbook requirement. On the back of the loyalty card are all needed rules for using any or all of the bonus Great Old Ones in a game.

The first player to meet Yig's Awakening requirements places him on the map, and takes Yig's loyalty card. As long as Yig remains on the map, that player can try to fulfill his spellbook requirements, and then he will earn Yig's spellbook, which will also benefit him. If Yig is killed, the loyalty card is "released" and then any player can race to meet Yig's Awakening requirements and take control.

and finally taking us up to date

Atlach-Nacha is the second unlocked free Great Old One for our fans at the $200 level.

He works the same as Yig (q.v.) though of course he has a different ability, a different awakening procedure, and a different spellbook. He also comes with several Web tokens.

Atlach-Nacha's special ability is a new Action. Here is the in-game description.

Spinneret (Cost: 1) place one Web token in the Area where Atlach-Nacha is located, if one is not already present.

What does the Web do? Well THAT is where his spellbook comes in. Atlach-Nacha, in the mythos, is a sort of Ragnarok emissary who, when he finishes spinning his eternal bridge connecting the cosmos, brings the End Times. His spellbook requirement says that he has to have a complete chain of Web tokens across the map in order to get the spellbook.

But the spellbook itself simply states. "You immediately win the game".

So he provides players with a new, alternative, victory condition. It's a risky one, too, because Web tokens can't be destroyed - so if you spent half the game trying to move Atlach-Nacha across the map, and painstakingly placing Web tokens, it could all go awry at the end if another player is able to kill Atlach-Nacha, and then re-awaken the spider god, now under that OTHER player's control.



Automatically Appended Next Post:
& good spot on Father Dagon/Mother Hydra Recruittons

 rabidaskal wrote:

Bossk_Hogg wrote:

 highlord tamburlaine wrote:
Should be interesting to see what happens pledge- wise once they start hitting free Great Old One territory, since you need to pledge at least 200 dollars (which was confirmed somewhere or other).

The $200 requirement frankly pisses me off. Assuming the game goes retail, the creator's are already making more off these direct KS sales than they will be after the distributor's and retailer's take their required cuts. The "stretch goal" for expansions boil down to "buy this at more than you can from any online discounter, 6 months in advance!". So that's crap. Same with the base game now that the good early birds are gone.

And they cant afford to throw the backers a bone?

Get cultist + the first expansion, that should bring you up nearly to 200. The game is designed for 5 players but the base game only ships with 4, so the extra expansion is worth it. I don't find the extras at the 200+ pledge levels to be worth it, so bumping up a cultist level is ideal for me.

well, except I would have to buy 2 of the overpriced expansions (overpriced vs what I can buy them for at release), since I have a $110 cultist. Its throwing good money after bad.

Again, the makers are profiting more off this than they will when the game is released. Considering we're paying 6 months (and lets be honest, thats IF its released on time), I think a bigger break is due.


Automatically Appended Next Post:

 Cyporiean wrote:

 recruittons wrote:
500k, Cultist gets Dagon and Hydra for free, so that is the first of, hopefully, many!

Wells good, was that in one of the 50 updates they spammed out today?

Well, they were trying to bury the discontent expressed in update 7.

 OrlandotheTechnicoloured wrote:
The Yuggoth map is quite unusual. It adds three new Areas with special powers.

Like you, I think I will wait for retail to get the miniatures expansions ... but I really do want that Yuggoth map!

Ugh, looks like they changed the requirements to qualify for the $200 pledge level freebies. Yesterday is was "$200 pledged," todays its "$200 or more BEFORE SHIPPING."

Think I'm gonna have to wait for retail. Sadly this is out of budget for me.

More choice excerpt from BGG by the project creator

Right now I play the game with 24 dice, and about every second game we don't have enough for both sides to roll at the same time.

We are planning to provide 12 dice in the game, which frankly is grossly insufficient. But the way I see it - if a BGG who buys Cthulhu Wars doesn't have more than enough dice for all his needs, he has a misspent youth.

in response to someone claiming that he should have provided more dice since component should not be grossly insufficient at $169, he replied

I guess I just don't care that much about how many dice are in the box. Do you not have enough dice easily at hand? We are trying to use the money wisely in creating the game. Which, EVEN AT $169, is tight - this game is really big, very high component quality, and the simple fact that we have such a large variety of figures ups the price per box a lot. Particularly with a small print run.

If it really bugs you I will look into how much we would have to take out of the game to add 12 more dice. Maybe we could do a black-and-white manual or something.

 rabidaskal wrote:
Ugh, looks like they changed the requirements to qualify for the $200 pledge level freebies. Yesterday is was "$200 pledged," todays its "$200 or more BEFORE SHIPPING."

Think I'm gonna have to wait for retail. Sadly this is out of budget for me.

No, it was always $200 before shipping. I initially pledged at the $110 early bird cultist level in the first couple if minutes, then switched to the $200 fathers day special about 20 mins later after I'd read the front page completely because of this. (they have changed the question in the FAQ relating to this to make it clearer though, just not the answer)

 OrlandotheTechnicoloured wrote:

 rabidaskal wrote:
Ugh, looks like they changed the requirements to qualify for the $200 pledge level freebies. Yesterday is was "$200 pledged," todays its "$200 or more BEFORE SHIPPING."

Think I'm gonna have to wait for retail. Sadly this is out of budget for me.

No, it was always $200 before shipping. I initially pledged at the $110 early bird cultist level in the first couple if minutes, then switched to the $200 fathers day special about 20 mins later after I'd read the front page completely because of this. (they have changed the question in the FAQ relating to this to make it clearer though, just not the answer)

I was going by the unlock banners towards the bottom of the page; I'm 100% sure those were changed from the beginning of the Kickstarter, since I read them very carefully before coming to the conclusion that shipping counted. As of today though the banners read "$200 or more before shipping." But as you say, the info could have resided elsewhere like in the FAQs and I just missed it.

Ugh still horribly conflicted on this. Will ruminate on it a few more days.

You know what would be nice? Some pictures of the unlocked stuff. Hopefully they'll put some out in the next few days.

and while I was away we passed another stretch goal

$350K FREE Ghatanothoa (Great Old One) mini & rules for those who pledge $200+ (not including shipping)

next

$375K FREE Bokrug (Great Old One) mini & rules for those who pledge $200+ (not including shipping)


On the subject of dice mentioned above, it does seem a shame if players regularly end up needing more dice than are provided in the game

although I see no reason why both sides have to roll at the same time, it doesn't seem to be set in the rules, so you could share dice without trouble (if a single player needs more than 12 dice it could be an issue)

So as far as we know, when all is said and done those 200 pledges are getting (at least) six or seven free Great Old Ones.

I still never found out one way or the other if that 200 freebie level can attained via the pledge manager (and post shipping).

I've pledged all I can, which was more than I had ever planned on pledging in the first place!

I think if artworks starts showing up that will help push funds up even higher.

Now I gotta go check up on all the other games I had planned on pledging for...


(I also see my flag has changed location to where I am currently. Cool!)

Just to keep folk informed

You can now add on Great Old One minis (+ Rules/spell books) that you are not getting free (or if you want extras for painting)

$20 for 1
$50 for 3
$150 for 10

(and of course you can only add the ones that unlocked at the end of the campaign)

also

When the campaign launched the Great Old One Y'golonac was one of the future (unreached) stretch goals, unfortunately there may be copyright issues about using him/her/it so they've pulled this goal and replaced it with a different one

(if they can resolve the issues Y'golonac will rise again later in the campaign)


Automatically Appended Next Post:
Sandy Petersen has provided some basic strategy tips for the 4 starting factions exclusively to BoardGameGeek, I won't copy/paste them (and I'd ask other board members to respect this too) because of this but provide links to them below

http://boardgamegeek.com/thread/989370/great-cthulhu-player-tips-a-bgg-exclusive
http://boardgamegeek.com/thread/989372/crawling-chaos-player-tips-a-bgg-exclusive
http://boardgamegeek.com/thread/989373/black-goat-player-tips-a-bgg-exclusive
http://boardgamegeek.com/thread/989375/yellow-sign-player-tips-a-bgg-exclusive


Automatically Appended Next Post:

Update #19 · Jun 10, 2013 · 1 comment





Bokrug comes from the tale The Doom That Came to Sarnath, by H. P. Lovecraft, one of my favorite stories as a kid.

Bokrug changes the rules of the game yet again. You see, he is sort of an extinct god, only a shade, but still capable of wreaking terrible havoc on the world.

His special ability is as follows: "Ghosts of Ib (ongoing) if Bokrug is killed, you do not lose his Loyalty card. Instead, place him on top of this card. During Cleanup, place Bokrug back on the map in any Area not containing enemy units. If there is no such Area, leave Bokrug here till next Cleanup." So, you are thinking to yourself. That's pretty nice - I don't have to fulfill Bokrug's onerous Awakening requirements again, once I've got him.

But wait, there is more. His spellbook requirement is THIS: "Select an opponent. Hand Bokrug's loyalty card to that opponent, and he immediately places Bokrug's Apocalypse spellbook on this card." So you can hand Bokrug to another player, if you don't already have his spellbook (which last would mean someone else had given Bokrug to YOU."

And then, his spellbook says: "Apocalypse (ongoing) during each Cleanup phase, select an opponent. That opponent then chooses one of your Cultists and removes him from the map."

In effect, Bokrug, though a decent combat monster, also weakens your faction and messes with you. He is a good Great Old One to awaken first, so you won't get stuck with him!

Anyone due the math yet and figure out the total you'd have to pledge to get all of the unique gameplay expansions?

Might be nice of him to do some sort of "Buy 3 get the 4th Free"...?

Not sure if it will be buy 3 get 1 free, but...

Creator Sandy Petersen 3 minutes ago
We are definitely considering some kind of bundle for the paid expansions.

 recruittons wrote:
Not sure if it will be buy 3 get 1 free, but...

Creator Sandy Petersen 3 minutes ago
We are definitely considering some kind of bundle for the paid expansions.

Cool!

For me, I need a bit of extra incentive to drop the expansion money down now, rather than wait for it to show up at retail...

The only reason I'm dropping the $$ for one now is because it helps get me to the $200 level for the free Great Old Ones. I don't want the one in the $240 level, and I have a $110 EB, so 1 expansion plus a couple of the add-ons I really love and I'm taken care of

Essentially, I'm rolling my EB savings into a "free" expansion

Sandy Petersen has posted this about the expansions in the KS comments

Plus we are making the expansions these gigantic things, full of figures, die-cut counters, rules, and so forth. We are actually pricing the expansions at just above the break-even point. I know that sounds odd, given how expensive they seem to be, but remember that they include all shipping, and will have a lower print run than the main game, which bumps up costs per copy.

and in another post

Our goal is to have as many expansions as possible available in stores one day. But they will probably be somewhat harder to find than during the kickstarter, if only because of the nature of things.

Sandy

so for those (like me) thinking of delaying getting the expansions till after the KS they probably won't have a huge margin for retailers to discount from so while you might find them cheaper, they may not be that much cheaper, if you can find them

decisions, decisions

Add-On Costs:

Basic Game: $150 (for sake of argument)
Opener of the Way: $48
Sleeper: $48
Windwalker: $48
Azathoth: $48
Primeval Map: $40
Yuggoth Map: $48
TBA Map: $48 (???)
Non-Faction Great Old Ones: $150 (for all 10)
Aenath Waite: $25
Gates: $25
Dice: $12
TOTAL: $690


The $240 level comes with*:

Basic Game: $150
Opener of the Way: $48
Non-Faction Great Old Ones: $150
Aenath Waite: $25
Gates: $25
Dice: $12
TOTAL: $410

*assuming the KS makes at least $500k

I wish I had been lucky enough to have snagged one of those Early Bird $200 levels...

I'm not crying over $40, although that $40 would have gotten me the primeval map.

I suppose that's so, but I'd rather have $40 extra in my pocket and be getting those stretch goals!

Good point on now being free to pick whatever add-ons we want to get to the $200 level though.

Though has it been clarified that spending $200+ gets you the stretch goals or does it have to be the "Cultes Des Goules" level?

Any way you get to $200 works for getting those freebie great old ones

 Alpharius wrote:
I wish I had been lucky enough to have snagged one of those Early Bird $200 levels...

I took one for my cousin just in case he wants to drop 240$ on a board game.
Right now, he's more on the "no thanks side" so I might have to drop it. I'll let you know ?

Whoops, I should add, so as to avoid confusion, its $200 before any additional shipping charges.

Stretch hit

$400K funded: FREEAbhoth (Great Old One) mini & rules for those who pledge $200+ (not including shipping)

next

$425 FREE Chaguna Faugn (Great Old One) mini & rules for those who pledge $200+ (not including shipping)

The game looks awesome, but the price is keeping me on the sidelines on this one.

When are we looking at the retail on this one in local stores?

Well they say KS fulfilment in Dec 2013

(I could be wrong but that is a very tight schedule as the art/sculpts for at least some of the expansions is not done yet so I'm betting on 3-6 month of delays at least)

As to whether it hits the stores in a big way ? (certainly from the sound of it the expansions may end up direct from them only)

they've also implied both the game and the expansion have lower margins than typical board games so retailers my have less opportunity to give discounts (and I guess that may mean some just don't stock it)

Wow, this thing is really chugging along. I figure we're due for the KS lull to hit soon. The current growth is astonishing, but is it sustainable? It would be awesome if it was!

and another goal falls

$425K funded: FREE Chaguna Faugn (Great Old One) mini & rules for those who pledge $200+ (not including shipping)

next

$450K FREE Cthugha (Great Old One) mini & rules for those who pledge $200+ (not including shipping)

plus new art & info for some of the earlier unlocks is up on the KS front page