TABLETOPIA TEST

 <iframe width="680" height="340" frameborder="0" allowtransparency="true" scrolling="no" src="https://tabletopia.com/workshop/widget/kaiju-conquest-r4qr8n/680x340"></iframe>

GAME PLAY VIDEOS - PART 1

 For the last 2 weeks I was on isolation because a co-worker had been tested positive for COVID. At this time I don't know his situation. Hopefully okay. I did come out of it okay, but those two weeks gave me the opportunity to create my game play videos.

There were a total of six videos. The first four were Game setup and components, Draw Cards Phase, Resource Phase and Movement Phase. Each were from 2 minutes to 4 minutes long.  It took me at least 10 hours of multiple takes to get the right footage. I would have love to do multiple angles while taping, but I only had one good camera I was borrowing from my daughter, a tripod and two light stands for extra lighting. 

It was to be a top down view of the table. This way you get to see everything, at least.

My setup with tripod and one of the lamps visible.

This was during the Battle Phase video.

The last two videos were Battle Phase and End Phase. Those took me another 12 hours and at least 30 takes to get it to the point I was satisfied. Once I had all the videos completed, it was time to start editing. I currently use Pinnacle Studios 17. I have been using and upgrading that program for at least 14 years now. I have tried a couple of others and this one works best for me.

It was easy to edit the first four videos, but it still took me another 10 hours to edit all of them. I am using a laptop that is four years old now. The problem I found during the editing process is that I would have to wait practically a full minute after making an edit before I could make another edit. But at least they were done to the point I could add simple changes to them, Part of the problem may be my laptop cannot handle processing all that audio video data since it is four years old. But I will keep using it until it totally crashes on me.

The Battle Phase edits have taken me at least 37 hours now. The video is almost 15 minutes long. The original was 18 minutes, so I had room to make the required cuts. Once again it was painstakingly slow because of waiting for it to update after each edit. 

My plan is to get the videos completed within the next week now that I have to gone back to work. However, luckily next week I will be visiting family in Calgary and may have some time to do final touches.

Once the videos are done, I will be posting them on my Youtube channel and then advertising their link on my FB pages. More to follow when they are done.

THE RAVAGER (aka Giant Ape, aka Shimen Kolata)

This is one of the smallest Kaiju. It was originally called a giant ape by the humans but later given the moniker of Ravager due to it ravaging its way through towns, villages and cities.

Height: 40m

Primary Role: Front line assault

Abilities: Very agile in forests such as the Redwoods in California, USA, and adept at using tall structures in cities as cover.

Description: Normally a friendly species. They have a simian appearance. Their hair is a mix of browns and blacks, with blue feet, hands and chest.

Background: The Shimen Kolata are native to the world of Byndazii. Byndazii is a temperate world, with a mix of desert, mountains, jungles, and arctic tundra located on a few large continents. There are also many islands spread throughout the ocean. The Shimen Kolata prefer to inhabit the rain forests and mountainous terrain. The rain forests on Byndazii can reach over 100m in height. 

The Shimen Kolata enjoy leaping and climbing about these trees. There is another intelligent species on Byndazii called the Ferook. Where the Shimen Kolata are 40m tall, the Ferook are about 2m tall and also simian in appearance. The Ferook have a light coating of striped and spotted fur that is unique to their species, much like the Shimen Kolata. 

When Sazzarran "diplomats" appeared on Byndazii, they were amazed at the variety of species, especially the Shimen Kolata, when they were able to see them. It seemed the Shimen Kolata were a timid sort, considering their size. Bit it was soon found that they are protective and very ferocious when they, and especially their family, is threatened.

The Sazzarran engaged in conversation with the Ferook, which was mainly sign language and took many months for their linguists to understand. The Sazzarran wanted the Ferook to help them capture some of the Shimen Kolata, but the Ferook would have nothing to do with it. The two species lived well together and preferred to leave one antoher alone. When the Sazzarran started to threaten and torture some of the Ferook, the Shimen Kolata took notice and attacked the Sazzarran.

Many of the Sazzarran were slaughtered, but so were some of the Shimen Kolata and many Ferook. The remainder of the Sazzarran departed Byndazii, only to return with a much larger force and manage to capture many of the Shimen Kolata as well as the Ferook. 

It was later that the Sazzarran scientists discovered that the Shimen Kolata and the Ferook were of the same species. Apparently, after many years of adulthood, the Ferook depart their community and disappear into the rain forests and mountains. Over a period of several years, they eventually grow into the Shimen Kolata. 

When nature calls, the Ferook respond and have to leave their community or risk causing damage and suffering to their people when they start growing and become less intelligent.  The Sazzarran can now tap into that resource as much as possible when they need a pool of war beasts for their invasion of new worlds.

SO CLOSE YET SO FAR

Since my last post, I have finally inserted Kaiju Conquest into Tabletopia and Tabletop Simulator. I had bought the platforms about 3 years ago and at the time I was having difficulty using them. Since then I watched more tutorial videos and it was easier than I thought. It seems TTs is more popular than Tabletopia, but I wanted to have both platforms for those people who are more comfortable with using one or the other.

I sent my game for quotes to several Chinese manufacturers. They were WINGO, NINUX, Magicraft, Longpack and Whatz Ganes. The results are about the same between them. It is just a matter of which one I want to choose. More to follow on that.

I received actual 3d models of each of the mecha and kaiju. I will not start posting them until after I get the landing page setup. 

I have been trying to post regularly on Facebook,  Instagram, and Twitter, but it is not easy considering I still work full time and have other domestic considerations that take priority. Currently  posting once per week. The problem is I don't like "spamming" myself a lot and I am not getting a lot of Likes or responses anyway. I wonder if it is worth it sometimes. But I keep trying.

Currently, I have paid someone to help me with setting up a landing page to begin proper email subscriptions in order to gain a following for Kaiju Conquest. I can only hope it works. I will post it on here soon.

I feel I am getting closer to the Kickstarter launch for Kaiju Conquest, but I know I have a long way to go yet. This is a list of what needs to be done:

1. Publicize the landing page.

2. Send weekly newsletters to those who have subscribed on the landing page.

3. Promote the game as much as possible on FB, Instagram, Twitter.

4. Promote the game online with Tabletopia and Tabletop Simulator.

5. Confirm which Chinese manufacturer I will choose.

6. Contact shipping and fulfillment companies. I need to choose about four to distribute around the world.

7. Contact boardgame reviewers to review Kaiju Conquest. This will be done either through physical copies or online with Tabletopia and TTS.

7. Pay someone to help create my Kickstarter page. I am very weak in graphic designing.

8. Create a Kickstarter pre-launch promo page. 

9. Launch Kickstarter once I can confirm I will have anywhere from 300 to 500 followers.

I was planning for May 2021, but it really depends on the number of followers I get who will be backing the game. I cannot launch the kickstarter unless I get that minimum number in order to reach the funding goal, either within 3 days or at least by the end of the Kickstarter.

I have created a new email account just for ATC Games, advtocontact@gmail.com. You can contact me by email or currently on Facebook at ATC Games, https://www.facebook.com/advtocontactgames/

NEW GAME LAYOUT

I have to clarify something, My last blog was title Latest Game Layout. However, it is no longer the latest game layout. The one below is. Eventually, this image will replace the current one on the  top of the page. Of course, it will need a little cleaning up with the components. 

The game can still have 2 to 4 players and play within 90 minutes once you are familiar with the game.

THE LATEST GAME LAYOUT

I cannot believe it has been almost two years since I last posted on my blog. My apologies for those who may have been following my blog since the beginning.

Since then I have once again improved the rulebook, gameboard and components as follows:

The rulebook is 24 pages now. Here are a couple of page examples.

Last year, in September of 2019, the group from GNork Games offered to playtest my game. They provided a pre-game video, gameplay video and their thoughts after, Although it may have been hard to hear some of the points they made, it allowed me to make significant improvements to the rulebook and game mechanics. However, it took me almost a year to do it with some playtesting.

So, now I hope I have something more stable, logical and easy to read.

This was the gameboard as of September 2019.

This is the latest version.

The differences are as follows:
The Resource Trackers. I converted from four to two, one on each side, but having more points to score on the tracker, being 25 now instead of 20, and each player using one Tracker token instead of two each. Having one Tracker on each side with two players on a side to share became easier to manage.
The second thing changed was I added the stats for the Military Units (MUs) on the brushed metal half hexes on left side of the board.
The third thing was modifying the VP and RP charts.

The MECHA and Kaiju character cards were changed significantly. Last year, the cards had a Healthy side and a Damaged side, with a different special ability on each side. Apparently, it became a little difficult for the players to understand the abilities and manage the damage on the cards.
So, I improved them by only having the same stats on both sides of the card but the abilities are different. This means the players must choose which ability they want to play. Think of it like picking between 16 MECHA or Kaiju than only 8 of each.

The Target City cards are now called Target Zone cards and I have added cards for deploying in sea and land zones. This allows the Sazzarran player  more options to deploy their forces, especailly if they do not want to deploy into an enemy occupied zone.

The Tactic Cards were changed from this:

To only changing the back of the cards to this. The left is the Sazzarran Tactic Card and right is the UERF Tactic card.

 Lastly, the MUs were double sided with the same image on both sides. I changed that so that they other side now has a Damaged icon. During the Battle Phase, as the UERF forces are hit first, they needed to be turned over to a destroyed side before being removed because they still get to attack as combat is considered simultaneous, with exception of certain rules, such as using Nukes or Bio-Bombs.
So, now each MU looks like this with Sazzarran Mu example below.

That is pretty well it for the changes. This had vastly improved game play.
You may notice that the image I have of the gameboard and component layout on the page header is the previous version as of September 2019. I will eventually be replacing that with the new one.

My next blog will be about the 3d models.

KAIJU CONQUEST LATEST GAME PLAY 11 NOV 18

A long time friend of mine, Todd, and I played a game of Kaiju Conquest yesterday. I was trying out the following new rules:

1. NEW RULE - Seven Phases per game round vice 6 phases. Adding Draw Card Phase as the first phase. This is used for the Tactic and Mission Cards. All seven phases as follows:

1. Draw Card Phase

2. Portal Phase

3. Resource Phase

4. Movement Phase

5. Battle Phase

6. Re-Deployment Phase

7. Victory Phase

RESULT - I needed to add the Draw Card phase because in previous games, the players would draw the cards during the Resource Phase. This caused a problem as there are cards that can be used in the Portal Phase. By drawing them in the Resource Phase they cannot be used until the Portal Phase in the next game round. This is not necessarily a problem, but it did not feel right to me. If the players are going to discard and draw their cards, they should be allowed to use any of those cards during the same game round.

Keep this new phase for now.

2. NEW RULE - Using Mission Cards (10 cards in a deck for each player). During the Draw Card Phase, the players will each draw 3 Mission Cards and pick one. Once they achieve the Mission, they can draw another 3 cards and pick another card on the following Draw Card Phase, or they can discard the Mission and draw another 3 cards to choose another Mission. 

RESULT - These cards add extra flavour to the game and allows players to achieve extra VPs if they succeed in the Mission. With 10 Missions per deck, and 6 game rounds, there will only be a maximum of 6 Missions achieved per game. By the end of Game Round 6, Todd achieved 4 Missions totalling 15 VPs,  and I achieved 3 Missions with 11 VPs.

Keep using Mission Cards for now. Some of the Mission objectives and will need to be modified.

3. NEW RULE - Using only the Tactic Cards for Portal, Resource and Movement Phases. Twelve cards per deck per player. 

RESULT - Each player starts with 4 Tactic Cards and on the Draw Card Phase of each game round can discard any number of cards and draw back up to 4 cards. With only the 12 cards in a deck, this allowed all of the cards to get used as much as twice during the game for a 6 round game.

Keep this rule for now.

4. NEW RULE - Nukes, Bio-Bombs are 4 RPs each to purchase. Nukes and Bio-Bombs were originally 5 RPs.

RESULT - Making the Nukes and Bio-Bombs 1 RP less to purchase makes it easier to get them. During this game I only bought one Bio-bomb, and since they stay on the board after use, it forced Todd to avoid the zone it was placed in as it affects the MUs/EMUs only.

Nukes and Bio-Bombs currently stay at 4 RPs.

5. NEW RULE - GSWs are 4 RPs to purchase, vice the 3 they were originally. The GSW will also have 6 attack dice and 6 Hit Points. Each time it takes a hit, it also loses an attack die. Previous GSWs only had 4 Hit Points to destroy.

RESULT - The GSWs at 4 RPs makes them a little more expensive but also gives them an attack value to defend the zone and city they are in. As the maximum dice allowed to use is 6 each battle round and the GSWs use 6 attack dice, they can last for one or two rounds before being destroyed, but maybe take out as much of the enemy forces in the process.

Keep GSWs at 4 RPs with 6 attack and 6 HPs. It seems to be working. 

 

6. NEW RULE - Elite Military Units (EMUs) can be purchased for 1 RP to replace the regular MUs. The MUs have Movement  of 1, Attk Dice of 1, no Armour value, and 1 Hit Point. The EMUs have Movement of 1, 2 Attack Dice, and Armour Value of 1, and 1 Hit Point. You basically need 2 Hits to eliminate each EMU.

RESULT -  The EMUs proved valuable and made quite a change to the game. When playing I realized that we were adding more than 12 units to the board. What would happen for example, is the UNRF player, Todd, would spend 1 RP to replace as many of his MUs into EMUs. However, on the next game round, if they still survived, Todd would gain a certain number of more MUs and then convert them to EMUs. So eventually he would have more then the usual 12 units on the game board. We went with that as I could do the same thing for the Sazzarran forces. The only problem was he already had the upper hand on me and better dice results, that I could not keep any of the zones I tried to take.

For the next game I may try it with the EMUs costing 2 RPs to replace an MU.

7. NEW RULE - Decoys and Blips are used for the Sazzarran Kaiju, and military units to hide their movement in the Movement Phase. They are only revealed when engaged in combat.

Thee blips and decoy are not final images.

RESULT - The hidden movement system using the Blips seems to work. This is actually the third game trying it out, and so far so good. For every two Kaiju and MUs deploying through a Portal, the Sazzarran player also gets 1 Decoy token. So if 2 Kaiju and 8 MUs were deployed during the Movement Phase, there would also be 5 Decoy tokens added to them. All Blip tokens have Movement of 2, regardless of the actual unit/Kaiju underneath. When engaged in combat, the blips are turned over. Any Decoys are removed. The MU or EMU remains in play, and the Kaiju revealed is replaced with the actual stand up Kaiju.

Keep the blips as they are working for now.

8. NEW RULE - When a Sazzarran Giant Shield Wall (GSW) is built on a city zone the Sazzarran get full VPs for it at the end of the game. Usually, the Sazzarran get full VPs for destroyed cities they control and only 1 VP for non-destroyed cities they control.

RESULT - In previous games if the Sazzarran player wanted to control a city without destroying it they would place a GSW on it, but would only get 1 VP for controlling it. If they wanted to destroy a city they would have to destroy the GSW first, or have the UNRF do it for them. This became stupid, so we decided that since the intent of the Sazzarran forces is to subjugate and enslave the humans, that putting up a GSW around the city would emphasize their control of that zone. 

Keep the ruling of Sazzarran GSWs in non-destroyed city zone get full VPs, vice only 1 VP. 

9. NEW RULE - Each Mecha and Kaiju must be bought and played once before being able to buy any of them again. There is only one of each type. This allows the players to think more carefully about which Mecha and Kaiju they deploy each game round, because they will not be able to get the same one again until all of them have been put into play and the same one has been destroyed that it can be purchased again.

RESULT - In the numerous games played previously, the players could choose which Mecha and Kaiju they wanted to buy. Sometimes we would buy the same ones over and over because we liked their combat stats and special abilities. The problem with this is that certain other Mecha and Kaiju would not be chosen would be considered useless to the game. So, I adjusted all the special abilities and made the rule during this game that we had to use each of our Mecha and Kaiju before being able to purchase them again. 

This ruling worked out quite well. The result in this game was that I only had the Warlord Azzarro left to purchase, and Todd had purchased all of his Mecha with 3 remaining on the board. We were able to use nearly all of them and their abilities during combat. So it worked out.

Keep this rule for now.

10. NEW RULE - Using 6 six-sided dice per player. Each die has 4 hit sides, 1 double hit side, 1 Special Ability side and one Miss side. Every hit symbol rolled is a hit against an opposing MU, Mecha, Kaiju, GSW or city, by choice of the player that rolled the dice. If a Special symbol is rolled, the player can choose to use that to activate the Special Ability on their Mecha or Kaiju. 

RESULT - My first version of this game each player was using several 10-sided dice with the players having to roll a certain number or higher to hit opposing targets in battle. Eventually, I went with as many as 10 ten-sided dice, then 10-six-sided dice. That still became too much for dice rolling and applying the results as we were still using the number system. 

Now using the symbols for the last three games improved ease of game play and applying the results against opposing targets, as the damages are simultaneous and do not take effect until the next battle round. The idea was for the players to also limit how many of their forces were placed in each zone, as the maximum dice to use were 6, regardless of how many actual attack dice from combined units you could have. 

However, it did not bring game time down, as it still takes 2 to 3 hours to play 6 game rounds. 

The reason for length of game play is due to the players taking the time to strategize what Tactic and Mission Cards to use, which Mecha or Kaiju to purchase, where to place their MUs and GSWs, where to move and countermove their forces on the game board, and finally, what targets to apply the dice results against. The only random element is when rolling the dice. Everything else is by choice of the players.

Keep the 6 dice with symbols. This is working for now.

11. NEW RULE - Playing the game only as 2 player vice 3 or 4 player. 

RESULT - This will still be practiced to see what kind of feedback I get from the players. Although having 3 or 4 players involved in the game can be a little more challenging as they have to share the resources, it can also take longer in game play to strategize between the players.

A 2 player game is easier to handle, as the players control all of their own pieces. Its possible in the future that a better 3 or 4 player variant can be created, especially if new alien species are involved.

OVERALL RESULTS

The game lasted 2.5 hours of fun and complete slaughter of the Sazzarran forces. The only thing left belonging to them on the game board was a GSW in Vladivostok.

The UNRF player had 59 VPs on the game board and another 15 VPs from four Mission Cards, for a total of 74 VPs. The Sazzarran had 3 VPs on the game board and another 11 VPs from three Mission Cards, for a total of 14 VPs. A total first time overwhelming victory for the UNRF player. 

The Elite MUs made a big difference in the battles as you needed to use up 2 HPs in order to eliminate each EMU, instead of just one for each regular MU. Also, not being able to buy the same powerful Mecha and Kaiju each game round if it was destroyed on the previous game round, made a difference, especially for me as the Sazzarran player, as I had to figure out what I wanted to risk sending into battle. I did not expect Todd to just focus on destroying each Kaiju that came through and ignoring any hits I was throwing on to the cities. 

The one advantage to the Sazzarran forces was having the blips and decoys. By placing the decoys in sea and other zones, they could block movement of UNRF forces trying to counterattack as they would have to engaged the blockading units, not knowing if they were real units or not. This occurred a few times during the game, and helped the Sazzarran forces, but it was not enough to win the game this time.

If you enjoy reading these blogs, please Like and Share my ATC Games FB page.