Thinking about Kingdom Death again...

" It looks exceptional and very awesome. However, a huge bulk of the cost is in the true Hobby quality miniatures. They are good minis but some of the kits are extremely difficult to put together (Phoenix in particular)."

My biggest hope is that other designers will take some of the very clever sounding innovations from Kingdom of Death and create interesting games that don't rely so heavily on the modeling aspect, which virtually guarantee I would never get the game to the table.

The whole trend of using 3D miniatures in board gaming seems like kind of a strange one. I really appreciate the aesthetic advantage it provides but I kind of wish it hadn't become the default for so many games.

In war gaming 3D models exist for specific game play reasons (at least in theory), to make it easy for players to understand how their units relate to their environments (line of site, facing, cover) and each other (unit cohesion, special equipment or powers).

But most board games such as Descent or Last Night on Earth don't really rely on these kinds of mechanics so the game play is fundamentally unaltered whether there are actual models or tokens.

I don't mean to diminish the importance of aesthetics in game design because I do believe it serves a critical purpose, I just wonder if more game designers need to be asking if the inclusion of high end miniatures is really enhancing the experience or simply being taken for granted.

Yeah, that whole "singular experience" thing- and the apparent solo playability- are definitely big selling points that are critical at that price. But I kind of would rather go with CW and get some X-Wing that I missed, regardless. I think if KD:M were in the $250-$300 range, it would be a more clear cut decision. But at $400, that really does cross over some kind of threshold, I think.

But then there is the reality that Cthulhu Wars is a tried-and-tested game with people I play games with, and everyone has been talking about/asking about expansions. It's been played a bunch and it seems to be moving into that Cosmic Encounter area of games everyone is ALWAYS willing to play- because it's so easy to throw out and bash through a game in an hour and change.

John, I'm kind of with you on the miniatures thing. Especially after playing Heroes/Shadows of Normandie a lot lately. No miniatures. As a trade-off, you get chits with all game information on them. Yet it does not suffer, and it feels like it has all of the miniatures game stuff in it.

But there is that argument that KD:M uses those miniatures as part of its aesthetic presentation...

You can live without it. There is always a Kingdom something ie. new game around the corner ready to blow you off your feet. Of course it may make you happy for a while to get it, hell, I'm not immune to the siren's call. I know what it's about. but I am a lot more jaded and sceptical after 10 years in the hobby about just how much_happiness_ a single board game can provide. Pretend it never existed. You won't miss it. You won't be 400 dollars lighter.

Fuck it. You know what I'm going to spend this windfall on? Armada.

It is finished. One of everything plus a playmat. Had to go to Cardhaus for a Gladiator but everything else was the cheapest at CSI- all in for about $300. Super psyched. Even if I just solo it, I still love having the SW ships. Definitely a Cadillac game.

And I'll probably still wind up with a couple of Cthulhu Wars expansions since the pledge manager is going to be open for several months.

^Jealous. Sort of?

I just posted in the "buying..." thread. The presence of those Armada models just blows away x-wing models, to me...

Just gotta say:

"You're right, fuck miniatures."

"Fuck it, ARMADA!"

Hilarious.