Can you prepare your country for war in this dice management game?
Latest Updates from Our Project:
Final 24 Hours!
about 1 year ago
– Mon, Feb 13, 2023 at 09:24:29 AM
Hello Backers!
Thank you so much for the surge of support you have given us over the weekend as we push toward the campaign's final day.
We'll be announcing the winners of the Company Names tomorrow, but we seem to have some strong leaders already. If you haven't already, click here to vote: Vote Now! Company Name's for War Machine
As we move toward the post-campaign, I want to highlight a few things for you. If this is your first Grail Games Kickstarter, you can expect monthly updates here - we call them our Third Thursday Updates. This is the minimum amount of updates we will send you. We will give extra updates if there is enough information or if something that's time sensitive.
If you need support of any kind such as replacement parts for our other titles, help with the pledge manager when it goes out, etc., please reach out at the below link. We try to keep all our requests in a single space so that we can maintain accountability when it comes to helping you all solve your problems, and that space is the best place for it. Posting in the comments or messaging us on Kickstarter will not be as effective as the link below.
War Machine Company Names!
about 1 year ago
– Tue, Feb 07, 2023 at 10:40:15 AM
Hi everyone!
There are only 6 days left in the campaign! We have some wonderful comments on BGG regarding the company names. We have set up a poll for everyone to vote on which company names they like best! There are some excellent suggestions in the comment section that we are also taking into consideration as well!
Feel free to join to contribute your own company names by following the link below to vote!
Thank you again for all your continued support! We appreciate it so much!
- GG
Designer Chat with Jan Gonzalez and Live Stream with Beneeta Kaur!
over 1 year ago
– Mon, Jan 30, 2023 at 04:15:53 PM
Hi everyone!
We want to thank you all for your continued support! We are nearing 650 backers which is AMAZING!! For today's update, we have an interview with the designer Jan Gonzalez. If you ever have a question for the designer or team feel free to leave it in the comments below and we'll be sure to get it answered!
We are so excited that Beneeta K will be hosting a live stream with special guest, Jillian - @meanpomelo on socials of War Machine on February 1, 2023, at 9 PM EST! We'll be in the chat as well answering any and all questions so be sure to stop by and come hang with us! https://www.twitch.tv/beneeta_k
1.) What inspired you to create War Machine, as a Manhattan Project game? Did it have any other themes before landing on the "War Machine" theme?
War Machine participated in and was selected as the winner of the Game Crafter Manhattan Project Dice Challenge. Since the design was made to be submitted as an entry for that contest, it had the Manhattan Project theme from the beginning. I did experiment with other themes at some point after the contest ended, like a post-apocalyptic wasteland setting where players search for survivors in hopes of rebuilding their civilization.
2.) Do you have any advice for anyone wanting to design board games?
Never give up. The road from game idea to released product is a long and challenging one. Take a break to re-focus if you need it when things get overwhelming, but come back to it once you feel rested. Spend enough time on your early prototype’s graphic design to produce components that are usable and easily understandable by players. It doesn’t have to be an art masterpiece, but it has to be functional and intuitive. However, don’t spend too much time on it, either, as you will create waste by adding, changing, and removing things throughout development and testing.
3.) What are some of your favorite games, we'd love to know!
I tend to gravitate towards games that don’t take an entire lifetime of an adult mayfly to play, yet offer interesting decisions, such as Everdell, Viticulture, and Blood Rage. As far as recently played games go, my favorites have been Endless Winter and Foundations of Rome. When I’m in the mood for longer, heavier games, I always enjoy playing Anachrony and Caverna.
4.) What inspirations did you take from Energy Empire when creating War Machine?
I drew inspiration from the great Energy Empire for things such as the different card markets and having workers do things both when placed on the main board and when they are returned to your player board. The Manhattan Project Dice Challenge required a light to medium-weight design and complexity level. My main goal with War Machine was to have a similar experience to EE but in a smaller time window. The intent was that compressing the time, but not the complexity, would mean the game would end before players spend the last few turns cranking an engine that is fully built. This would allow players to replay the game and try out new strategies, without repeated plays feeling too similar. I was also inspired by other games such as San Juan and Roll for the Galaxy.
5.) What was it like working with James?
Working with James was an amazing and unforgettable experience. You could truly feel his passion and desire to turn our industry into one that is welcoming and where anyone can succeed given the right amount of hard work and dedication. James would never turn down the chance to help others and be a contributing member of the industry’s growth. James had strong opinions and was quite determined to not change his position on something he believed he was right about. I learned a lot from James, and we had our share of arguments, but it was always about what was best for the game in the end. One particularly useful lesson that James taught me was when he said that sometimes you have to change something in the game that just doesn’t feel right, even though the math around it is correct and accurate.
6.) What are some strategies you have for a new player when playing War Machine?
It seems like for many players nowadays, playing board games can be about trying something new and then moving on to the next hot game. In the case of War Machine, my recommendation is to try it beyond your first play and consider different strategies, The first play will possibly be a learning experience where you may be rolling dice without much of a plan in mind. As you play the game, try to consider the importance of every dice roll and the implications behind the order in which you place your workers on the main board. It can take multiple plays to see all the nuances and impacts of your decisions, and the game can also play quite differently depending on the player count. So try it with a different number of friends, but more than anything else, have fun playing!
Questions from our Backers:
On the fence, given the radically different style change/art between previous Manhattan Project games and this one, as well as turning workers into random dice. You had dice in Energy Empire determining how much energy you got each round, but there were a number of ways to deal with that... whereas here, it just looks like you get 3 dice each round, which could roll to severely restrict what workers you even get? That is par for the course of many dice games but has not been a factor in the main Manhattan Project games. Curious about what prompted this direction?
War Machine was designed to participate in the Manhattan Project Dice Challenge, so having dice as the main mechanism was a requirement. There are ways to get more than 3 dice, but unlike other similar games, you have to be careful about the extra actions you may be giving your opponents when you gain extra workers. There is also mitigation for bad luck that you can improve beyond its starting capabilities if you find yourself on one of those days where things just don’t go your way. You can always take one action of your choice, even on your first turn, by getting one less action that turn.
Backing this lovely-looking game. you guys did a fantastic job getting us cold war after the tragic events, thank you very much for that as well as for making sure that TMP games continue. One question which I think bares looking at is BoardGameCo's comment about activating building is based on whether dice are there, this means that there is little reason to ever put more than 2 dice in a section, I hope it is looked at so possibly dice placed for factories can only be used by a single card opposed to all of them as that does open up the game too quickly and without interesting choices, it could get stale.
There are structures in the game like the Treasury and the Iron Mine that you can activate up to 3 times. In one of its earlier design iterations, the game required you to “spend” dice to activate your structures. During testing, we found it frustrating for players to build 5-card engines and then only be able to activate 1 of the 5 structures due to not having enough dice or not rolling what they needed. This problem was even more severe in 4-player games where you have fewer chances to run your engine. We also didn’t want players to feel forced to have to get 5 dice to win. We have seen games won by players that finish with just their starting 3 dice by focusing on other areas while getting extra actions from their opponent’s extra workers.
Thank you so much Jan for taking the time to answer all of these questions and we again thank you all for your continued support! For our next update we are letting the community vote on some of the company names or feel free to submit your own, but more on that later this week!
Until next time!
- GG
Thank you.
over 1 year ago
– Tue, Jan 24, 2023 at 10:26:52 AM
Hi everyone!
We just wanted to hop on here real quick and say thank you all for supporting The Manhattan Project: War Machine! We are thrilled at the immediate support the game has received and it's because of all of you!
In terms of how this campaign is going to be managed, I'll certainly be answering all comments/questions that come through but we also have some engaging updates ahead that will have our backers voting for company names, a live stream with Beneeta Kaur, and some interview opportunities to ask the designer, Jan Gonzalez, some questions!
Also, more reviews and coverage will be coming in over the next week or so as well! We are thrilled that our reviewers have been loving the game, and this one comes from The Chubby Meeple himself, Mark!
