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Didn't see this listed but mods please merge if it's a duplicate.

Ignoring the fairly annoying narration, Slaughterball looks like an interesting new sci-fi sports game.
Want to see more of the rules before I'd look into picking it up but the style and minis/concepts definitely have my interest.

Publisher hints there are one/more review copies being routed to reviewers.
Looking forward to reading/seeing actual gameplay impressions.


https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/frogthewhatgames/slaughterball
http://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/153113/slaughterball

So, um, sci-fi sports game with the name "slaughterball"? Can anyone say ripoff of Dreadball? Also, I don't see Dreadball as a ripoff of Bloodbowl, as Jake Thornton made both: he can't rip himself off, even if both games were for different companies. This, uh...no.

Figured I'd get that comparison out of the way early on.

Just looked at the game-looks similar enough to the version of Dreadball with 6 player options. It does look pretty though.

If SB's rules are decent AND the minis aren't flash fodder (bonus points for not being plastic resin) --- I'm willing to play both

Was interested up until the $71 for shipping.

Yeah. Non-US buyers have noted shipping as a real problem. Wondering if he can work some sort of deal like (I think Reaper?) did.

Canadian shipping is actually reasonable if it's a standard board game box size. They're probably taking a loss on that actually.

We're going to see this a lot. People don't seem to realise how much postage has gone up over the last year.
If you're running a KS and basically selling product at cost you can quickly screw yourself by not adequately accounting for shipping.

 timetowaste85 wrote:
So, um, sci-fi sports game with the name "slaughterball"? Can anyone say ripoff of Dreadball? Also, I don't see Dreadball as a ripoff of Bloodbowl, as Jake Thornton made both: he can't rip himself off, even if both games were for different companies. This, uh...no.

Wow, an Ironic statement which is immediately qualified with backpeddling? Terrible shill job.

So Mantic now owns all 'fantasy sports' that are Sci-Fi? But yet, Dreadball was not simply 'space bloodbowl'?

There is nothing wrong with more 'sports boardgames' out there and this looks literally *NOTHING* like Dreadball especially from the board and dice mechanics.

Some of the figures look 'interesting' but I will admit they have an uphill battle to prove they have a market and that the game has value.

 plastictrees wrote:
We're going to see this a lot. People don't seem to realise how much postage has gone up over the last year.

Don't get me wrong, I fully understand that shipping stuff the size of a boardgame is expensive. That doesn't make it any less off-putting.

I find myself thinking that people looking to launch boardgames on Kickstarter should first look at the potential for international distribution (rather than individual postage) as a matter of course.

 timetowaste85 wrote:
So, um, sci-fi sports game with the name "slaughterball"? Can anyone say ripoff of Dreadball? Also, I don't see Dreadball as a ripoff of Bloodbowl, as Jake Thornton made both: he can't rip himself off, even if both games were for different companies. This, uh...no.

"Slaughterball" is a rip off of an Amiga game called "Speedball" from 1988, which in turn is a rip off of a 1975 movie called "Rollerball".

Loving the omg the 90s comic book art and Valkyries

 timetowaste85 wrote:
So, um, sci-fi sports game with the name "slaughterball"? Can anyone say ripoff of Dreadball? Also, I don't see Dreadball as a ripoff of Bloodbowl, as Jake Thornton made both: he can't rip himself off, even if both games were for different companies. This, uh...no.

Figured I'd get that comparison out of the way early on.

Uh... Jervis Johnson designed Blood Bowl. Not Jake.


Also, Speedball (and Speedball 2) are things that already exist.

An easy pass for me. If you want $160 for a board game, it better all be stuff I want.

I doubt it's a direct Dreadball rip-off, but I do think the success of Dreadball is what's given them the impetus to get it made and on KS.

The value isn't there for me though.

Yeah, looks like no American-based Kickstarters for me in future.

Had to pull out of Bones II due to the international ship charge... it just makes things excessively difficult when you have to deal with customs fees on top.

privateer4hire wrote:
Yeah. Non-US buyers have noted shipping as a real problem. Wondering if he can work some sort of deal like (I think Reaper?) did.

Unfortunately, Reaper did not work out any kind of deal! They simply lost a lot of money shipping internationally on the first one (flat $25 shipping fee for a big heavy box that could also include big heavy extras), and charged actual price on the second one. Both of them suffered from VAT/Import issues. But then, Reaper stuff is still quite difficult/expensive to get outside of the US anyway.

The only way publishers can get around this is by bulk shipping to a local distributor (which can have...issues, a la Sedition Wars), or by being a distributor in multiple markets (like Mantic). It's far from ideal, but with the latest batch of export-shipping cost rises, I think a lot of smaller-scale Kickstarters are effectively going to have to be US only.

nkelsch wrote:

 timetowaste85 wrote:
So, um, sci-fi sports game with the name "slaughterball"? Can anyone say ripoff of Dreadball? Also, I don't see Dreadball as a ripoff of Bloodbowl, as Jake Thornton made both: he can't rip himself off, even if both games were for different companies. This, uh...no.

Wow, an Ironic statement which is immediately qualified with backpeddling? Terrible shill job.

Your ability to comment on any statement even indirectly positive about Mantic is startlingly impressive.

Bioptic wrote:

privateer4hire wrote:
Yeah. Non-US buyers have noted shipping as a real problem. Wondering if he can work some sort of deal like (I think Reaper?) did.

Unfortunately, Reaper did not work out any kind of deal! They simply lost a lot of money shipping internationally on the first one (flat $25 shipping fee for a big heavy box that could also include big heavy extras), and charged actual price on the second one. Both of them suffered from VAT/Import issues. But then, Reaper stuff is still quite difficult/expensive to get outside of the US anyway.

The only way publishers can get around this is by bulk shipping to a local distributor (which can have...issues, a la Sedition Wars), or by being a distributor in multiple markets (like Mantic). It's far from ideal, but with the latest batch of export-shipping cost rises, I think a lot of smaller-scale Kickstarters are effectively going to have to be US only.

Thank you. I seemed to remember some company working out a deal to get things to a European firm in bulk. Sounds like it was Sedition Wars rather than Reaper, then.

Bioptic wrote:
The only way publishers can get around this is by bulk shipping to a local distributor (which can have...issues, a la Sedition Wars), or by being a distributor in multiple markets (like Mantic). It's far from ideal, but with the latest batch of export-shipping cost rises, I think a lot of smaller-scale Kickstarters are effectively going to have to be US only.

They could also get around this by encouraging people to buy the stuff they actually want, instead of trying to drown them in miniatures they don't want. How many people actually want the Valkyries AND the Swords of Damocles AND Carnage AND Nemesis?

Remember the USPS prices rose yet again on towards the end of January

(and probably signals the end of US based KS for me to unless they can dropship from within the EU)

US based Kickstarters are here to stay - as they most likely represent the biggest slice of the pie in terms of where backers are located and where the most money is coming from.

I hope more companies can find workable shipping/distribution solutions going forward!

start a UK/EU based kickstarter for a distribution company!

It's odd that nobody's made an actual Blooodbowl replacement that could use the same miniatures, etc, but this is the third sci-fi footy game i've seen crowdfunded.

 Agamemnon2 wrote:
It's odd that nobody's made an actual Blooodbowl replacement that could use the same miniatures, etc, but this is the third sci-fi footy game i've seen crowdfunded.

Pretty sure those have been a thing for years.. Elfball or something like that?

Bloodbowl has long had an active community with LRB and even expansion teams for a decade now... There are bucketloads of 'Counts as' Bloodbowl figures out there.

nkelsch wrote:
Bloodbowl has long had an active community with LRB and even expansion teams for a decade now... There are bucketloads of 'Counts as' Bloodbowl figures out there.

Yeah, BloodBowl doesn't need a replacement - you can buy anything you like pretty easily, and the LRB is free. Then there's Elfball - also free.

On a game play note, I think the scoring idea is pretty cool.

"There are three ways to score in Slaughterball:

Open the goals: The goals are shut tight at the start of the game. The first team to run the ball over the dangerous meat grinder scores 2 points and opens the goals. After that, any team can score in any goal.

Goals: Throw the heavy steel ball into any goal and your team scores points equal to the distance between the shooter and the goal. That's right, risk-based scoring adds another layer of strategy to the game. Do you go for the easy 2-point shot, or try for a risky 5-pointer to take the lead?

Slaughter: Fans love to watch the athletes inflict maximum carnage. To encourage that, teams score points for knocking down or injuring opponents. Of course, taking out a looming butcher scores the most points, but that's nearly impossible. Cleavers are the best victims, since they're worth 2 points and aren't that difficult to injure. You don't score any points for hurting a razor, because that's not very challenging, is it?




Automatically Appended Next Post:
The publisher is looking at ways to distribute outside North America. If you've got any bright ideas, I'm sure they'd be happy to hear them.

Also new pics of the concept miniatures.

http://www.slaughterball.net/

Well worth checking this game out! Love the style, world and rules. I certainly think it deserves a shot at being funded.

Does anyone want to split a pledge at all? I really only want one team. Maybe 2. And I would only want to pay a proportionate amount.

As the thread hasn't been updated yet the funding for this was cancelled this morning.

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/frogthewhatgames/slaughterball/posts/768165

It seems like the right decision. I'm not sure how much better things are going to be in a few months since those interesting in this type of game will have invested already and be awaiting their games; of course, they'll also have more money since the bigger names in sports-mini-boardgames will have moved into production and be out of crowdfunding.