Galaxy Defenders

Congratulations! You've made it to Saturday! *throws a little party*
Mine's been busy so far. We're just a couple weeks out from Gen Con, and that means about a million little things to get done (along with a couple big things) before heading to the show. My "To Do" list is imposing, but with steady work, I'll chew through it all.
*looks at list* Hmm, "Type up Review Roundup."
Alrighty...

Today we have: Sugi, Stak Bots, Food Fighters, Infinity Combined Army Onyx Force, Galaxy Defenders: Operation Strikeback Expansion, SET, Dragonwood, Millennium Blades, Beyond Baker Street, Dark Dealings, America, Fate of the Elder Gods, Burano, Happy Party, and My Village.



Toucan Play That Game:

Sugi Review

In this video you can find out my thoughts on Sugi by GDM Games.

Stak Bots Review

In this video you can find out my thoughts on Stak Bots by Dogeared Games.

Food Fighters Review

In this video you can find out my thoughts on Food Fighters by Kids Table Board gaming.

Brueckenkopf Online:

Infinity Combined Army Onyx Force Unboxing

The team of Brueckenkopf Online takes a look at the new Onyx combat force for Infinity.

Play Board Games:

Galaxy Defenders: Operation Strikeback Expansion Review

Operation Strikeback is an expansion for Galaxy Defenders it adds more powerful aliens, better tech for the players and a few new mechanics.

Board Game Quest:

SET and Dragonwood Review (Editor's Note: I LOVE SET!)

SET is the “The Family Game of Visual Perception” originally published in 1988 by SET Enterprises for ages 6+. The name of the game says it all. You are creating sets of 3 cards that have all of the same attributes OR all different attributes. Sounds pretty easy until you see that the cards each have 4 different attributes – Symbols, Colors, Numbers and Shading, and that all 4 of the attributes have to be the same or different. You can’t have 2 cards that are green and 1 that is purple. You have to have all of the cards the same color or all of the different colors. The same goes for the rest of the attributes in a set.

Millennium Blades Review

Millennium Blades is a game in which you and your opponents play the fictional CCG game Millennium Blades. Don’t worry though, everything you need to play Millennium Blades is in the box, there is no money sink on booster packs here.

Drive Thru Review:

Beyond Baker Street Review

Intro (00:00); game overview (01:17); final thoughts and review (09:31)

Dark Dealings Review

Intro (00:00); game overview (01:10); final thoughts and review (10:53)

America Review

Intro (00:00); game overview (01:06); final thoughts and review (08:04)

Fate of the Elder Gods Kickstarter Preview



iSlaytheDragon:

Gender Role Selection (A Review of Burano)

Players in Burano lead prominent local families directing their clan’s productive and domestic affairs. While cooperatively building one of the more famously colorful communities in the world in the process, each patriarch/matriarch earns points by sending out men to do men’s work – like fishing – and women to do women’s work – like sewing. It’s the rules, so remember, don’t shoot the reviewer.

I Was Told There’d Be Cake (a review of Happy Party)

Happy Party is a dexterity/memory game for two to four players. Players roll dice and blow out cake candles to collect presents for their wish list. The first player to complete his or her wish list is the winner.

Where’s the Taxes? (A Review of My Village)

Each player will be charged with the care and growth of an idyllic village with the goal of creating a town to be remembered for generations to come. You’ll be training your villagers in various professions, selling wares, farming the land, and constructing various religious and civic buildings. Death of your villagers, either via rat infestations or old fashioned time, will need to be monitored in order to make sure everything runs smoothly. You begin the game with six trained villagers and a handful of coins in order to achieve greatness. Moment to moment achievements are less important than ones that will last for generations. A church building that will last for years grants prestige points, whereas minor achievements only grant story points that need to be actively converted into prestige points.

Origins is coming up soon. Less than a month, in fact. It's practically here! Among all the fine vendors that will be at the show will be Ares Games. They have quite a lot of special things in store for the show, including new releases that won't be available to the public yet, as well as letting you try out some games that won't be out until later in the year.




Galaxy Defenders fans will have first crack at Ares' two new expansions for the game. Operation Strikeback! and Extinction Protocol will be available at the booth, so you can pick those up. WWI more your style? That's fine. They will have the Fokker E.V, Nieuport Ni.28, Macchi M.5, and Hannover CL.IIIa for Wings of Glory. The age of sail more to your liking? The HMS Victory and USS Constitution can be purchased for Sails of Glory. Tolkien more your angle? You can get The Battle of the Five Armies.



Origins will also be a place you can try out a pair of new games that won't be released until Gen Con. If you're a big fan of pirates, then Jolly Roger might be your speed. Meant for 4-10 players, each of you plays as part of a pirate crew, each looking to snag the most booty from the others. Odyssey seats 2-5 players and takes you on the long journey after the Trojan War back home again to Greece. Of course, the gods have different plans, and certainly don't make the sailing easy.



Source

Ares Games is in their final couple hours over on Kickstarter for their Galaxy Defenders Kickstarter campaign. Even with just a few hours left, they've opened up a new pledge level.



Source

From the update:

In its final hours, Galaxy Defenders Season 2 campaign on Kickstarter, “The Earth Strikes Back!”, open a new "door" into the project - The GD Lab level. This new pledge level gives to a backer only the three exclusive KS figures - Tritium, Niobium and Xeno-Lord, at $35.00, with shipping worldwide for these three figures included.

The GD Lab backers will have the chance to upgrade from The Lab to any other level with the Pledge Manager. So, if you are a fan of Galaxy Defenders, and you cannot commit now to the higher pledge levels, this is a good way to support the project!

With more than $260,000 pledged and over 1270 backers, the Galaxy Defenders campaign on Kickstarter reached more than 25 stretch goals adding a lot of value in add-ons. Tuesday, June 17th, is the last day to pledge. The campaign ends on June 18th at 3:00 AM CEST (1 AM UTC/GMT).

Ares Games updated their Kickstarter showing off some new stretch goals for their Galaxy Defenders expansion campaign.



Source

From the update:

The final week of our Kickstarter is ahead and - as promised - this update unveils our stretch goals up to $ 300,000.

First of all, however, I want to thank you. Yes I know, I always end my updates with my thanks - and you well deserve it. This Kickstarter has been amazing - full of positivity, genuine enthusiasm, love for the game, support to our company.

The funding we got is important to the success of Galaxy Defenders, but the way you're embracing this game also shows that we can expect a long and bright future for this line. Reaching $ 300,000 was, at the start of the Kickstarter, a wild dream. Now, it's close to becoming a reality.

Enough blathering, let's see the rewards that will unlock if we indeed achieve this level of success.

Ares Games Board Games Crowdfunding Galaxy Defenders Kickstarter News

Ares Games has made it through a bunch of stretch goals already in their Galaxy Defenders Kickstarter campaign. There's always still more to go, though. Check out the page for preview renders and more.



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From the campaign:

Galaxy Defenders!

We achieved our $ 230,000 funding goal, and the set of 6 Xeno-Skulls is now unlocked!

This package of 6 Alien figures (2 each in three different ranks) is a $ 25 add-on, that is now included in all Moon and Galaxy pledges - bringing the total value of the options in your "all-in" bundle to $ 185.

Ares Games has made it up and over $200k on Kickstarter so far, making it to 5x their initial goal.



Source

From the campaign:

The Alien Queen is the most imposing miniature we ever developed for Galaxy Defenders, and of course, she’s both a Master Alien and a Multi-Hex figure.

She’s also an impressive opponent, the worst that our Agents will face in "The Earth Strikes Back" campaign.

Ares Games has updated their Galaxy Defenders board game Kickstarter in order to create new pledge levels for international backers. They've also updated their stretch goals.



From the update:

With the new pledge levels, Ares Games will take upon itself completely the shipping charges. Starting with 100 Early Birds at US$ 155 - the normal pledge for this level will be $ 170 - it will offer the same rewards of the Elite Agent level (1 copy of the Galaxy Defenders Game, 4 Kickstarter-Exclusive Miniatures, plus Stretch Goals), plus US$ 50 of options, with free shipping worldwide.

The new stretch goals posted today offers even more incentives to people interested in supporting the project. At US$ 90,000 pledged, the KS backers will receive, free of charge, the Alien G-Droid, and an optional add-on (again, for KS backers only) will be available - the Human version of this awesome character. At $ 100,000, the murderous Xeno-Beast will enter the scene, as a free bonus. If this goal will be unlocked, one red Xeno-Beast will be added to the core set.

Other stretch goals are defined for US$ 110,000, US$ 120,000 US$ 130,000, and US$ 140,000, including Galaxy Ball, a SF sport/combat game using the Galaxy Defenders miniatures. Besides these value-based stretch goals, new backers-based goal will be announced later.

Ares Games has posted up a game play video for their Galaxy Defenders game that's doing rather well over on Kickstarter.



From the announcement:

Our first gameplay video is finally available!

This first video will get you through two game rounds, to give you a feeling about the gameflow, without getting slowed down by too many details. For a better understanding of the system, we're also working on a second video, featuring the combat system.

Ares Games launched their next Kickstarter campaign. This one is sci-fi based: Galaxy Defenders.
And they're already more than 150% funded.



From the campaign:

Galaxy Defenders is a cooperative tactical board game, inspired by the classical Sci-Fi movies and video games of the '80s and '90s.

In Galaxy Defenders up to five players fight together – each taking control of one or more agents with unique powers – to defend the planet from an alien invasion. The Aliens are controlled by a sophisticated, card-driven artificial intelligence system. The battle for Earth against the aliens develops in a series of missions organized in a story-driven campaign.

Our miniatures do not require any assembly - The game is ready-to-play out of the box. Painting them is optional: agents are grey, aliens are in green, red, blue plastic, so you don't need to paint them if you don't want to.

By backing this Kickstarter, you will receive a copy of this unique Sci-Fi game, and you will have access to exclusive miniatures, available only to the backers of this project. If we reach and exceed our initial funding goal, we will be able to upgrade the game contents with exciting options: bonus miniatures, additional maps, cards, missions, and more!

Galaxy Defenders creeps closer to the launch of their Kickstarter and is showing off some more minis on their website as well as having opened their official forums.



From the update:

The cooperative tactical Sci-FI game Galaxy Defenders will be launched on Kickstarter in less than one month, on April 16th, and the countdown has already started on the game’s website. New images and details about the game are being unveiled, and a prototype version was shown in the Ares Games’ booth at the GAMA Trade Show (March 19-20, in Las Vegas), getting a lot of attention from retailers and distributors attending the show.

Ares Games has a photo up of the first couple minis that'll be part of their new Galaxy Defenders game.



From the preview:

Galaxy Defenders, the upcoming cooperative tactical Sci-FI game, will feature high-detailed miniatures of Humans and Aliens.

The first images of these miniatures start to be revealed today on the Galaxy Defenders website, together with the preview of other game components.

The first two miniatures to be posted on the Galaxy Defenders website will be the human agent Biotech, a Lieutenant Commander with medic and technology abilities, and the alien Xeno-Grey, leader of the alien army.