We have some tough decisions to make here in Collider Towers, you see, the biscuit jar is nearly empty, we’re down to the last roll of toilet paper and the only coffee we have left anywhere in the building is Nescafe Original. All problems that can be easily fixed, however, the allure of current and upcoming Kickstarter campaigns has us thinking we can make do if it means we can squeeze another pledge out of the petty cash*.
On Mars
Campaign Page <Not yet live>
Vital Lacerda
Ian O’Toole
Mars
What? That isn’t enough? Okay then.
In this game of martial terraforming, players will choose the game goals as well as their own secret objectives. There is a pool of action and resources each turn available to all players and you’ll need to carefully select and manage these to grow your colony. Everything has a cost in On Mars, forming part of a chain that needs to be carefully considered and planned for. All require energy, so keeping the generators upgraded and the power grid stable is a must, but energy is just one piece of what is needed, you’ll also need ore, people and oxygen.
This is a typically heavy Lacerda game, mixing economic engine building, worker placement, area control and Rover meeples. And the art and design of this game looks amazing too.
Anachrony: Fractures of Time
What do we want?
More time-bending, brain-melting decisions!
When do we want them?
Yesterday!
Fractures of time is the first big expansion for the time traveling worker placement game and in it a new, alternate timeline is presented to players. A new path, the Path of Unity has been added and with it access to new technology, Flux. Use one of these bad boys in your Fracture device will allow you to move one of your already placed exosuits instead of placing a new one, or it can be used to retrieve some of a player’s workers or Free Action markers.
All of this creates a huge and varied mixing pot of options, strategies and tactics. Flux Cores sound great, I hear you say...that’s because I haven't mentioned the potential side effects like Temporal Glitches, exosuits bays shutting down unexpectedly or increasing the risk of Anomalies.
This is just a snippet of what is on offer in this campaign, no doubt Andy will be spouting all of what this expansion has once his copy arrives (I’m just going to assume he’ll back it on launch day).
Kingdom Rush: Rift In Time
A few weeks ago at AireCon, Steve and Jon got to play the prototype for Kingdom Rush from Lucky Duck Games and it’s fair to say they enjoyed it immensely.
Based on the popular tower defence mobile game, you will build a series of towers to defend against invading orcs, goblins and other beasties. Playing just the introductory scenario was enough to get a very good taste of the game and I can tell you that at least one member of the Polyhedron Collider team will be backing this...if they haven’t already done so.
Why you may ask? Because this is a really clever take on the tower defence genre. True it may look all cutsie but it’s really a difficult puzzle. You have to decide when to add towers, when to upgrade towers and where to place your damage, with damage placement being a polyominoes puzzle in the same vein as Barenpark and Cottage Garden.
You can her the boys talk about this on in episode 58 here
Critical Core
Scrolling through the new Kickstarter games looking for something to bring you this week I saw this and it immediately jumped out as being something worth bringing to your attention and talking about. A game specifically designed for neurodiverse players.
Critical Core is a RPG system, essentially a stripped back 5e, that can be used to help people on the autism spectrum build confidence and social skills. More than this though the Games Master’s book, or in this case, the Facilitator’s Guide, helps the person in that role play and create encounters and adventures that encourage growth.
Of course, with the rather pretty reference cards, tokens and a few adventures it can be used as a stepping stone for younger adventures (cognitive age of 9 and up) into the world of RPGS and tabletop gaming.
One more thing, the “publishers” Game to Grow are actually a non-profit organization, so backing this game will not only get you a new game to play (or donate to a good cause) but it will also give you a warm fuzzy feeling.
The Secret Cabal Gaming Podcast
If you’re a listener of our podcast you will no doubt be aware that not only are we massive fans of The Secret Cabal, but we also have a bit of banter with the fine chaps from Pennsylvania.
To us the Secret Cabal is the gold standard in tabletop gaming podcasts. Not only is the audio quality top drawer stuff, the friendly banter is always refreshing and their reviews honest. It’s probably no surprise that we’ve been nicknamed the European Secret Cabal (or are they the American Polyhedron Collider?) as they have been a big influence on our own podcast.
Pledge and we can guarantee more podcasts and more video content. Unfortunately there still isn’t a pledge level that can stop Steve telling his bad jokes.
*It’s just a joke, there’s no petty cash at PHC and we always have biscuits.
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