[Frail]

I have spent a year and a half creating this prototype. It’s developed into somewhat of a mix between “Settlers” and “Axis and Allies.” The goal was to make a tournament style game, something that could be played at a competitive level. I also wanted enough random and organic elements to create high risk and reward situations. All of the pieces are handmade, the board itself has gone through 4 different versions, even a non symmetrical one.


The Vulgar Holy War (working title)
2-3 Players. Turn-based tabletop game. Players collect resources by claiming land or cities. Victory goes to the player who owns four cities by religion. Players balance the line between having a strong army or economy.

Main mechanics:
1. Peace or War?
     a.   The way players plan their strategies to a large extent comes down to whether the season is in peacetime or during wartime. If it’s during peace, players can move freely across the map where there is Empire soldiers.

2. World Events
     a.   At the start of every turn a new World Event card is revealed. If the card is not an elemental card, players can auction to see who can use the card.

3. Tactic Cards
     a.   Head on battles between players usually give a defenders advantage. Tactic cards however, turn the advantage to the attackers. Each flanking force into the defenders land, grants the attacker 1 tactic card. (Attacking from four lands into one gives 3 tactic cards.)

I would love to hear feedback if you see an area of improvement. I am satisfied with the game in terms of stats and balance, but it is not at a Kickstarter level. I would also be happy send over the PDF’s of the board as well as the sheets and rules, if anyone would like to help test the prototype. A first time playthrough takes most people around 2-3 hours, but with experienced players it rarely crosses the hour mark. I even have a spare set of clay pieces, but that would be an expensive shipment, (unless of course, Bakker is reading this and demands the original set.)



I could even do a video playthrough demonstration in the near future. My end vision for this would have each player be a different religion, the green pieces would reflect an Inrithi aesthetic, while red would be Fanim... and blue, Skylvendi.

[Redeagl]

Damn man, that is just all kinds of awesomeness! 

[H]

Awesome, looks very reminiscent of Settlers to me, although with fighting obviously.

[Wilshire]

First, thats incredible. Well done.

I'm not sure where you live, but sometimes large public libraries, like the one at your nearest major city, have 3D printers that you can use for free or nearly free. I think a figure about that size costs around $0.05 to make, plus time. If you're going to make something more official prototype for a kickstarter, that might be the way to go. (But those clay figures are awesome ).
This says you can make 3D Scans using a smartphone (scroll down to step 7), and then use some program to construct the 3d image. Once you have that its nearly as easy as sending it to a printer .

[Edit]
Let me know what type of feedback you are interested in, and if there's anything I can do to help.

Obviously, be careful where you're sending your intellectual property, especially online. That said, I'd love to see an electronic copy of whatever you've got. Ruleset, map, cards, whatever. I have a friend or two that do a lot of boardgames, so I might be able to print some stuff out and try to playtest it with some kind of stand-in tokens for the pieces. (Why do I always get the stone? ... lol)

Send me a PM, or email, or skype, gmail chat, etc.

Speaking of IP, if you're using names/places/characters/words from TSA, I'd be sure to reach out to Bakker sooner rather than later. His blog seems to be a decent way to do that, but maybe he'd get back to you if you ping him using his website.

[Madness]

That's really cool, William. Of course, if there's any way that members can help sharpen the execution, let me know.

[mostly.harmless]

That is.. beautiful, I wants one!

Sent from my Nexus 6 using Tapatalk

[Frail]

Thanks everyone. I will post major updates on here, which could take some time...

@Wilshire The IP aspect... I would love to keep it set in the PoN universe, but if that isnt possible I will probably just make a more generic one. The 3D printers, yea, did not even know that was an option. If I went to a board game convention, I figured making all of the clay pieces would set me apart from the others. I will send you a PM for the rules and such.

[Wilshire]

I've known a few people who have asked to check if such things would be ok, and I haven't heard of anyone being denied. Its just a courtesy and a due diligence thing.

[Wilshire]

Have you considered taking it to Gen Con?

I don't know where you live or how feasible it would be, but its in August in Indianapolis.

Its a large gaming convention, and they even have a dedicated playtest section for pre-retail games: http://www.gencon.com/host/2017feph

The FEPH is scheduled in 2-hour sessions throughout the weekend, from 8 am until midnight each day (closing at 2 pm on Sunday). All manner of games are welcome, including card, board, dice, miniature, story, role-playing, etc.

Players can get tickets for individual sessions just like any other event when event registration opens on May 28, 2017. Or, please just show up onsite, and you'll usually be able to be seated for a game.

For presenters, a package of four 2-hour sessions is $300(includes 2 GM badges) and a package of eight 2-hour sessions (4 GM badges) costs $600.
Applications will be open online through July 21st; after that date, you can go to the FEPH room onsite to determine if there are spaces still available.

So, a bit pricey, especially if you're out of town, but maybe worth it depending on where you're at in the process.

[Frail]

Thank you Wilshire. That's actually exactly what I was looking for. Something to kick myself into gear, I need to have a better pitch to sell the game for new people.

[Wilshire]

Just trying to help you out. Good luck, hope you go.

[Wilshire]

So, thoughts on GenCon? Are you going? Bringing VHW? Its a couple hour drive for me, I could come and help you out .

[TaoHorror]

Thanks to Wilshire for directing me to this thread.

Frail, you demon! I love it, are you still into this? Ever made it to GenCon? Why haven't you posted on my board game and mini's thread?

Not to harass you, but let me know if you're up for a Skype or something to talk about your project here, very impressive!

[Wilshire]

I've done a few runs of this, and he even sent me one of the original clay sets to play test.

We also ran a game online using roll 20, which was acceptable but clearly not as good as a real tabletop.

[Wilshire]

Wonder if there is some kind of generator for this stuff because:
https://www.deckahedron.com/
This guy's game looks like it has the same fonts and similar graphics.