Brave The Elements - Kickstarter's Best Kept Secret?

Brave the Elements from Chaos Publishing

Is this the best kept secret that Kickstarter has at the moment? It quite possibly is!

This is not a good thing though, as with a mere 5 days to go to reach its funding goal it really looks unlikely (this time round at least). I really have to tell you that this is a crying shame. Brave the Elements is a fantastic card and at £20 represents excellent value (or £18 for our US cousins). In fact, there are pledge levels that cover pretty much the entire planet and each offering great value.

Brave the Elements is currently on Kickstarter seeking funding and with only 5 days to go, looks unlikely to fund. Of course, there is still time to turn the campaign around, but it will take a great deal of hard work.

But why the lack of interest? Chaos Publishing had a presence at the UK Games Expo, so I am sure it is not through lack of trying on the part of the designer Miles Ratcliffe. Perhaps it is due to the huge glut of games that are currently appearing each week on Kickstarter. According to a recent post by Henry Jasper of Grublin Games there has been 98 new games in the last two weeks alone.

So why does Brave the Elements and Chaos Publishing deserve your support? Spare me a few moments and I will at tell you, or at least give you some information to help you decide.

What do you get for your money?

Components

• 108 Cards:56 Locations, 46 Disaster Cards, 4 Reference Cards, 1 Round Tracker, 1 Start Player Card

• 62 Tokens/Markers: 25 Victory Point Tokens, 20 Element Tokens, 10 Runestones, 6 Element Markers, 1 Time Marker

• 3 Dice: 2 Custom Defence, 1 Energy Die

• 16 Custom Meeples: 4 per player

Oh, and did I say shipping was included!

I think this does represent value for money, not an amazing, fantastic, bury your fledgling company in debt value, but certainly a fair and competitive price.

Artwork

Now, I have been playing with a prototype copy of the game for last week or so, so I have not seen first hand the artwork that is to be used. However, there are plenty of examples of it on Kickstarter and I will share some of these with you now. The artist Jordan Grimmer has done a simply marvellous job.

Picture Courtesy of Chaos Publishing

Picture Courtesy of Chaos Publishing

The cards to, at least according to the Kickstarter page, share equally beautiful illustrations:

Card Art Courtesy of Chaos Publishing

Card Art Courtesy of Chaos Publishing

They really do convey the essence of the game, the gorgeous structures you build and the fantastic power you unleash against your opponents to destroy their buildings.

Gameplay

"A strategic resource management game for 2-4 players. Control the forces of nature, prevent disasters and prove your elemental mastery!"

The game places each player in charge of civilisation trying to prove itself and its master of the four basic elements (earth, fire, wind and water). Throughout the game you will construct building which will help you harness the power of the elements and / or increase the power of any disasters your conjure against your opponents.

The game is played out over a number of rounds, normally between 6 and 8. Each round is split into 6 phases to the game. Each player will complete the phase in order and then move onto the next phase.

1. Draw cards

Each player will draw up to six cards. These cards are used to perform actions, conjure disasters, or help protect against disasters conjured against them.

2. Construct

Each player will choose one of the available buildings to construct and place it in their city. Each player can have a 5 buildings and each will provide some sort of benefit to the owner.

3. Take an action

Using the cards drawn in step 1, each player will play a card(s) from their hand. These cards will have provide the player with instructions on what they can use the card for; conjuring additional disasters, drawing cards and taking extra actions, etc.

4. Infiltrate

Each player also has four available followers who they can use to infiltrate their opponents' buildings. Success or failure is based on a dice roll (1-6) vs. the strength of the building they are infiltrating. If successful, the building is captured and removed from the game. If the attempt fails, the follower stays on the building and will provide a bonus against future attempts (or disasters conjured against the building).

5. Conjure Disasters

Using the cards from step 1 each player can also elect to conjure a disaster. You pit the value of the disaster against the strength of the target building (and applying any modifiers). If the value of the disaster is higher than the buildings strength then the disaster comes into effect. You can also use other cards in your hand to support disasters from the same element group (this will increase the potency of the disaster, helping you attack better defended building).

Defence against the disasters is possible and disaster tells you what elements are required to defend against it. To defend you roll the defence dice and match the symbols, but can also use building modifiers that you might have, or use the element cards from your hand too.

6. Collect Victory Points

Finally, victory points are collected for the number of buildings you end the round with. 4 buildings = 1 VP, 5 buildings = 3 VP.

At the end of the game, the winner is the person who has collected the most Victory Points.

Thoughts

I really like the hand management element in this game. Your cards, of which there is no hand limit, are used for almost everything. They dictate what actions you can take, the disasters you will conjure and the how effectively you defend against actions/disasters played against you. What makes this really interesting is as the first player, you could you go all out against your opponent, fail miserably, through their defence and leave yourself wide open to the counter attack as your opponent will know exactly what number of cards you have left when they come to their turn and attempt to bring your city to its knees.

Initially I was uncertain how I felt about the infiltration and disaster mechanic, as it seemed I was attempting to do the same action, but employ a different method to do it. The end result of infiltration and conjuring is the same; your opponent loses a building and you place it face down in front of you. However, the more I played, the more I appreciated the subtly difference of these actions.

Of course, where this dice there is luck. And this game can hinge a little too much on good / bad dice rolls. However, with the infiltration action workers stay on the target location if they don't succeed at the first attempt and help weaken the structure and make future infiltration attempts easier. Against disasters, again dice rolling comes in to play, but a carefully managed hand will allow the defender to use their cards as a backup should the dice not roll in their favour.

Another aspect of conjuring disasters and defending against them that I think works exceptionally well is the fact that the stronger the disaster, the easier it is to defend against. Weaker disasters may offer no defence dice rolls, meaning the defence is entirely from the cards you have in your hand. Stronger disaster may allow the defender to roll two dice. This leads to some interesting decisions when conjuring; do you play a strong disaster and make it easier to defence, or play a weaker disaster and support it by playing additional cards from your hand. This of course means you have less cards to defend with and is especially important depending on where you are in the turn order and how many players you are playing with.

I would like to see more varied disaster cards I think. Artwork aside, each of the four elements had identical cards. So while there are 46 cards (including wild cards which can be used as any element), there are only a very limited number of types of cards (in terms of the actions they offer). I also found that we would exhaust the card deck very quickly due to the presence of cards such as "draw a card, take an action." In one turn, I drew 5 additional cards on top of the 5 drawn at the start of the round. That is almost a quarter of the available cards. In a four player game, without drawing an additional cards, you would most likely be exhausting the deck every other turn.

While this is not an out and out review, although it started to sound that way, I do think there is a lot of fun to be had with this game. My experience has been two player games and they were great. I can only imagine the mayhem (of the good kind) that would ensue in a four player game.

Brave the Elements is currently funding on Kickstarter, please take a look:

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/682642109/brave-the-elements

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Waggle Dance Review (posted on BGG and Club Fantasci)

Taken from my review on www.clubfantasci.com

Publisher: Grublin Games Publishing
Game Designer: Mike Nudd
Artwork: Mateusz Szulik
Players: 2-4
Ages: 10 to adult
Playing Time: 60 – 80 minutes
Game Mechanics: Worker Placement, Dice Rolling, Set Collection
Contents: 72 dice (18 per player), 90 pollen cubes, 48 hive hexes, 12  action/flower cards, a set of Queen Bee cards (exact number tbc), 18 blocking  counters, 1 x rule sheet
Suggested Retail Price: Currently on Kickstarter
Parental Advisory: Safe for children

“Build a beehive, collect pollen & make honey – be efficient, be strategic, outmaneuver your opponents in this strategic board game!“

Waggle Dance places each player in charge of a swarm of bees, sending them out to compete over flowers for pollen which they will later turn into honey. Along the way they will also look to increase the size of their hive, hatch new eggs to increase the size of their swarm and perhaps seek favours from the Queen Bee.

Let me start by saying I am a big fan of what Grublin Games have achieved over the past 12 months. Their first game, Cornish Smuggler, was successfully funded on KickStarter; a serious game aimed at serious gamers and has garnered a great deal of support and a few industry nominations along the way.

So, I will be the first to admit to a little disappointment when they unveiled their second title “Waggle Dance.” Upon hearing the concept of the game I immediately conjured up images of cute cartoon bees in my head. It didn't help that it was described to me as a family, possibly gateway game, this only added to my preconceptions. Still, as any good gamer should I pushed my misgivings to one side and sat down to play. Were my fears to be realised, or was I to eat humble pie? Continue on dear reader to find out…

I think I should first quote Henry Jasper of Grublin Games from a recent interview with G*M*S* magazine to give you a clue!  “I definitely didn't want to see … cutesy cartoon bees.”

As stated, each player controls a group of bees which they send out to collect pollen to later process in to Honey. Honey creation is the victory condition, with the player who makes the most honey being declared the winner. The end game is triggered when someone creates seven honey segments in their hive. This can be easily adjusted for shorter or longer games and is in fact how I have introduced new players to the game, playing up to three or five so everyone can get a good feel for the game.

Each bee is represented by a single six-sided die. At the start of the game, each player starts with six bees under their control. Additional bees can be gained as the game progresses by claiming and hatching eggs. The other actions that bees can take are increasing the hive, collecting pollen, trading, creating honey and seeking favours from the Queen.

At its heart Waggle Dance is a worker placement game with a dice rolling element. Upon first inspection it is very easy to view this game as mainly a dice rolling game due to the sheer number of dice (72), and therefore mistakenly one might think it is heavily luck based. While there is of course an element of luck, as there would be where dice rolling occurs, this is mitigated by the number of dice rolled and the manner in which actions are taken and pollen is fought over.

Game Play

The game is played out in rounds, which are each split in to two phases, Day and Night (Placement and Resolution).

The Day phase starts with each player rolling their respective dice. The face up numbers will determine what actions are available to each bee that a player controls. In turn, each player will then place one of their bees on a desired card and play will continue round-robin style until all bees are placed.

Available Actions:

• Increase the hive
• Hatch an egg
• Claim an egg
• Visit a flower (to attempt to collect pollen)
• Trade
• Make Honey
• Pick up a Queen Card

Picture courtesy of Grublin Games Publishing

Some actions cards are limited to six dice, with a space for each number 1 through 6. Once a space it taken, no further dice of the same number can be played there.

Actions like hatch an egg and create honey are played on the respective players hive and require pairs of the same number. These actions are only limited by the number of pairs a player has and/or the required items (eggs/pollen cubes).

Finally, the flower cards are not limited at all. There is one flower for each number 1 through 6 and bees visit the flower that corresponds with their number. The player with the most bees on any give flower can claim two pollen cubes, the player in second place can claim a single cube. Four pollen cubes (of the same colour) are required to create a honey segment in the hive. This will block the hive square off and lead to players expanding their hive.

The Night phase is where each card is resolved in order. Should someone create a seventh (or more) honey segment in this phase then the game is over. The victor is the person who has created the most honey at the end of the night phase. If no one has reached this point then each player reclaims their respective dice and rolls them again to re-start the day phase.

I talked a little about Queen’s favour cards earlier and these add another element to the game. These can be collected by each player and each card provides a slight advantage to the player activating it, or perhaps a slight disadvantage to their opponent. None of the cards are especially powerful and seem fairly well-balanced, though there is still some discussion ongoing about which of the currently available cards will make the final cut.

Production, Artwork and Quality

The game has been designed with simplicity in mind. The concept and execution of the game is very easy to understand and after a round or two players quickly get the hang of things. The iconography used throughout is very intuitive and provides clear instruction on what action any given card provides, or in the case of the Queen cards, what affect the card has. The only criticism is perhaps that the cards are very clinical and do not carry across the beautiful artwork of Mateusz Szulik that is used for the cover art.

Picture courtesy of Grublin Games Publishing

The game moves along at a fairly quick pace and rarely is there any downtime between players, of course, this can happen from time to time due to the number of decisions that a player has to make over the course of the game.

It is being marketed as a game that has “something to offer” all level of gamer and this is largely true. It appeals on several levels due to the tactile nature of the game, the sheer number of dice being rolled and it is simple in concept. A new gamer can easily start playing this with minimum fuss and will learn the strategy as they go. An experienced gamer will perhaps at first think there is not enough in it for them, but again, after a round or two you see the expressions change, brows furrow, hands run down chins and eyes glisten as a plan starts to form; there is depth here make no mistake about it.

The game states up to 80 minutes play time (for 4 players, playing a full game of 7 segments of honey). Perhaps, for a game marketed as a gateway game, this is a little too long and might turn away people who are looking for an introduction to the hobby.

Having played the prototype and seen and played with a mock-up of the production version, I can say that components look to be the quality you would expect, round wooden tokens representing eggs, and wooden cubes representing pollen. The dice themselves were slightly disappointing especially as they feature so heavily, but this is being looked at. The only things I cannot really comment on is the final quality of the cards and the hive spaces.

Like with most Kickstarters the rulebook is still being finely tuned, but from what I have seen thus far it is well laid out and very easy to follow.

Final Thoughts

Waggle Dance is a joy to play and feels great while playing it. It’s great holding a fistful of dice and even better watching them scatter with abandon across the playing area. There is plenty of depth to keep experienced gamers happy, but equally the simplicity is great for new players too.

Do not be fooled into thinking this is a game that revolves around luck, as there is plenty available to each player to mitigate bad dice rolls. Of course, these can still occur, but it is doubtful whether victory (or lack of) will hinge on such things.

In case you were wondering, the pie tasted good!

Waggle Dance is seeking funding on Kickstarter now and is competitively priced for all regions. You can check it out here: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1811420414/waggle-dance

Club Fantasci Scoring (Based on scale of 10):

Artwork: 8

Rules Book: 8

Re-playability: 8.5

Component Quality: 7

Club Fantasci Overall Score: 8

I am giving “Waggle Dance” 8 out 10 stars because it is a great game to play, it looks and feels great, has a high degree of interaction between players and is a game with hidden depth. After a couple of turns things start to click, strategies start forming and hopefully plans come together. The latter is very unlikely as every other player will be doing their level best to make sure that doesn’t happen!

This game is Club Fantasci Certified!

Company Website: [url]http://www.grublin.com/[/url]

Company Facebook: [url]http://www.facebook.com/GrublinGames[/url]

Company Twitter: [url]http://www.twitter.com/GrublinGames[/url]

Note: This review is based on a pre-production copy of the game.

Frankenstein's Bodies the Card Game

I am a big fan of KickStarter when used properly; by independent companies or individuals who are genuinely trying to make their dream a reality. Andrew Harman and YAY! Games is one such example.

I have been following Andrew Harman for some weeks now, watching his endeavour and hard work as he tries to create a real game out of a two year labour of love. He has painstakingly taken the seed of an idea, designed, finely tuned, created artwork (all from scratch and not being an artist) and come up with his very own game - Frankenstein's Bodies.

Andrew was kind enough to send me a prototype copy to play with and introduce to others. He was also at the UK Games Expo. in Birmingham this weekend running demonstrations and I was able to seek him out and catch up with him. That being said, he has been all over the country doing the same over the past weeks / months. I do hope all his hardwork and dedication will pay off.

So what is Frankenstein's Bodies all about?

The idea is really quite simple. Each person is working for Dr. Frankenstein and trying to make him the perfect body. This is done by collecting various body parts and constructing them on their work bench, cleaning them and crafting them as best they can to form a whole. To aid the player they can employ Master Surgeons (who can also protect their finely crafted cadavers).

In the game this is played out by drafting cards in to your hand and playing them on your surgeon's tables (or if you wish, on your opponent's table). Body parts ordinarily come with infection, so they must also be cleaned if they are to be of use, or you can employ (if you are lucky enough) a Master Surgeon to help select uninfected body parts and stop other people from taking them from you). There are also cards that allow you to deflect actions that are played against you or another. This can lead to a lot of tit for tat and general skullduggery.

Victory points are awarded to players for crafting bodies from parts that come from the same body types and sex. Infected parts score zero themselves, but do count toward the end game, which occurs when two full bodies are completed by one person.

The game is for up to 6 players and can be played in about 45-60 minutes.

The KickStarter campaign has about three days left and is about 2/3 funded. Head over and check it out:
Frankenstein's Bodies - Body Building the Baron's Way

The Bees Are Coming: Waggle Dance

Waggle Dance

Designed by Mike Nudd and Published by Grublin Games.

What is 'Waggle Dance'?

"A series of patterned movements performed by a scouting bee, communicating to other bees of the colony the direction and distance of a food source or hive site."

What is the game about?

The idea of the game is simple. Each player controls a hive of bees who are out and about collecting pollen which they will then later turn into honey. The first player to create 7 segments of honey is declared the winner.

The game is played with a set of dice which determine possible available actions to each player. Actions such as increase the hive, collect and hatch eggs (new worker bees), garner favours from the Queen, collect pollen, create honey.

These pictures are taken from the prototype, but do give a good indication of how the final game will look (in terms of component types, not component quality).

More Information?

Grublin Games will also have a presence at the UK Games Expo. in Birmingham which runs from the 30th May to 1st June. Henry and his team will be running demonstration games, so pop by to stand K1 and say hello.

How can you get a copy?

The game is being funded via Kickstarter and the campaign aims to launch on May 27th, so keep an eye out for that. And from what I understand, price wise it is really well positioned (with exceptionally well priced shipping costs for everyone).

You can also find more information about this game and other Grublin releases by visiting their website: www.grublin.com

Print & Play: Yard Master from Crash Games

So in a rare moment of energy and inspiration I found myself tackling a second print and play this week.

The game in question was Yard Master, designed by Steve Aramani, published by Crash Games.

If you want to find out more about this game head on over to the KickStarter page: http://www.boardgamegeek.com/blogpost/30343/print-n-play-yardmaster

I will be honest I thought it would be an easier project than my last couple (Pay Dirt and Snitch!). It is an out and out card game, so how hard could this be?

Well, the files comprised of:

40 Railcar Cards
52 Cargo Card
4 Engine Cards
5 Token Cards

... front and backs. That is a hell of a lot of cutting. It took a long time [i]and[/i] for once I managed to beat down my OCD nature and not mount them onto card stock and then cut them all out. This time round I contented myself with sleeving the paper cut outs with a M:tG card in between the front and back for sturdiness.

I really wanted to play it this evening, but I totally underestimated the investment in time to create the game. I am starting to understand why more people don't indulge in this side of the hobby.

The results:

I am very happy with the chips which I mounted on poker chips to give them some weight.

I will write my review and session reports soon hopefully.

A Snitch! In Time

Snitch! is currently funding on KickStarter and is a little over 50% toward the target of $16,000

It is being published by Common Man Games,  the company that brought us Police Precinct.

I also recently put up a blog article on a Snitch, my most recent Print and Play project. You can read it here.

I have now played it a little and completed a solo game, but what is the game about?

The Game

In Snitch! each player takes the role of a detective trying to gather evidence against the city's Kingpin in an effort to aid the District Attorney's attempt to bring her to justice.

But what does this really mean and how does the game play out?

The basic mechanics of the game are 'pick up and deliver' and 'tile placement'. The tile placement represent each detective exploring the city looking for Civilian Informants (or Snitches) who are willing to hand over information. The pick up and deliver mechanic represents the collection of the information from the Snitches which must then be collated and taken to the D.A.

When tiles are placed the City grows. As it grows it will be formed of green areas (safe) and red areas (zones of influence). Safe areas are the areas that each detective can move into/through while undertaking their investigation.

The Zones of Influence (red) are territories that detectives cannot enter, rather they must move around. These are the areas that the Snitches operate in.

As the game progresses each player will start to employ snitches either by paying for them or by spending some of the information they have. Once employed, these snitches will continue to gather information for their detective (though rival detectives can also take actions to interrogate them for the information they hold). Additionally, if not visited regularly, the Snitch will eventually start 'spilling his guts' to anyone who will listen and this is represented by information cubes being placed on the board for anyone to collect.

When enough information is collected by a Detective they can return to the D.A. to hand it over and score points.



Status points are gained for the usefulness of the information provided. This translates to the number multiplied by the variety of information cubes the detective hands over.

Status points are the games currency and are also how a winner is determined.

My Thoughts

I have only played a solo game so far, but it feels like a slick game that should not take too long to play at all. I think my solo effort could have been all wrapped up in about 20 minutes.

For 2-4 players, I would anticipate that it would take about 15 minutes per player.

I really like the theme of the game and how the designers have translated that to the mechanics. The modular tiles building a picture of the city and creating the zones where the snitches operates works well and adds further depth for multiplayer games as these zones can be used to block opponents movements.

The collection of information works well in the theme and the fact that info can also be used as a currency is perfect!

The actual victory conditions are based on your status as a Detective and the fact you can use your status as a bargaining tool works wonderfully (and when you do so your reputation takes a hit, which is the cost to you in status points. This sacrifice can both hinder and help you toward your goal).

There are so many rules in the game that are tied to the theme that it really does give you a sense of playing detective.

The game seeks to make you feel like you are playing Detective, uncovering information and building a case and it really does appear to deliver on that front.

There are number of stretch goals tied to the campaign. I would be particularly keen to see the 5 / 6 player ones reached.

If I had any criticisms, it would be on the colours used. Some of them are very, very hard to distinguish from one another, but this could merely be because I am playing a print and play and they may well change in the final game.

Lastly, for us mere mortals in the UK, the shipping might put a few people off at $25

For more infomration take a look at the Kickstarter: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1529038443/snitch

Live from the living room

Featuring Lisbee Stainton

Saturday night, what a great, but equally odd, experience. Kelly-Ann and I were invited to watch an artist called Lisbee Stainton perform live from the living room of a house on Cambridge Road. I was not familiar with her work, but was told she was a folk singer who had performed with Seth Lakeman for his song 'The White Hare'... being my favourite song, or very close to, it was imperative that I go along.

Not exactly certain what we should expect, we arrived a little sheepishly to find a home packed to the rafters with people coming to watch Lisbee perform. Drink and food were served before hand and then at about 20:15 we were ushered to our seats to watch the hugely talented Lisbee Stainton. What a voice and what a wonderful guitar player. I should also say what a privilege!

Dates that Lisbee will be performing in and around Berkshire

Maidenhead on the 16th May at Norden Farm 

Ascot on the 7th August at Jags

I won't prattle on any further, rather just post a couple of videos so you can get an idea of what we experienced, albeit we were a matter of feet from her and there was no band in tow, just Lisbee, a couple of guitars and her voice.