Spotlight on Captain Cards: The Masterbrain

"There are heroes on both sides"

One of the biggest challenges for me as a game designer on Rayguns and Rocketships was making sure that no one Planeteer faction ended up feeling like "the bad guys". I wanted there to be something to like about each faction - be it the speedy Astro-Rangers, the powerful Star-Pirates, the noble Zard or the crafty Blaarg.

An important part of this balancing act was designing the Captain characters. I wanted them to not only look interesting but to be fun to play. They are meant to be powerful characters - much like the Queen in chess - used skillfully in battle rather than held back.

Blaarg Captain character design

Blaarg Captain color guide by Scott Rogers

Captains are fairly robust characters. They can take 3 hits of damage (which can be healed) and every Planeteer Captain has the "Captain" ability, which awards the player 1 extra action token as long as there are friendly crew in play. After all, the Captain is only a captain if he has someone to boss around! 

In addition, each Planeteer Captain in the game comes with two versions or "builds" of the character. Each side of the card highlights a different set of abilities.

Prototype card

The first "build" of the Masterbrain allows him to move a Blaargling aide-de-camp along with him for free. This allows you to get a crew member to a location in the Blaarg saucer faster or accompany him on a boarding action. The other ability emphasizes his deadly metal tentacles - every successful melee attack allows him to do damage to two adjacent targets with one strike!

Prototype card

The second side of the Masterbrain Captain card features more bizarre abilities. First, Mind Control makes an opponent re-roll a die roll once per turn. This can be extremely useful during melee or ranged combat attacks. Or you can be extra sneaky and make your enemy fail an attempt while fetching that spare raygun from the hatch! Mechanical Pants gives the Blaarg Captain a burst of speed - up to 8 spaces in one turn! That cyclopean horror charging is sure to strike fear into the heart of any Planeteer!

Stay tuned as we spotlight more content from Rayguns and Rocketships!

Gameplay spotlight: Playing the Astro-Rangers

Hey Planeteers!

The Kickstarter for Rayguns and Rocketships is LIVE! (https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/idwgames/rayguns-and-rocketships) Thank you to everyone who has pledged so far! As the campaign charges forward, I wanted to highlight the some of content and game play you'll find in the final game.

 

 Let's first take a look at the GALACTIC ASTRO-RANGERS!

In Rayguns and Rocketships, rocketships are moved using a deck of command cards. Each Planeteer faction's deck of command cards is designed to encourage their specific behavior. Astro-Rangers are fast! They are skilled pilots; whether at the helm of their rocketship or when flying with their jetpacks. Their cards were designed to take advantage of their speedy nature.

A command deck consists of two types of cards: regular ones that turn or move the rocketship around - forward, turn starboard or turn port - and star cards that are used for more spectacular and daring maneuvers and actions. Star cards are pre-programmed by the player and require some strategy to use correctly. Remember once star cards are used they are discarded. But a discarded star card is worth 1 victory point, so it's worthwhile to use them. Let's take a look at three command star cards exclusive to the Astro-Rangers' deck.

NOTE: The following card art and designs are from the game's prototype. Examples of the final card art can be seen at IDW Games.com

EVASIVE MANEUVERS
This star card allows the Astro-Rangers do what they do best - fly around obstacles like asteroids and move quickly out of shooting range of other rocketships. You remember that scene in The Empire Strikes Back when the Millennium Falcon dives down and away from pursuing TIE fighters? This card is like that. It leaves the opponents saying "I didn't think something that big could be that maneuverable!"

BARREL ROLL
"I'll try spinning - that's a good trick!" Sometimes a desperate situation requires a desperate move. But while the Astro-Ranger player doesn't gain any crew action points for this move (the crew are all hanging on inside the ship for their lives) they become ridiculously hard to hit for the duration of the turn. It's the perfect move when you are surrounded on all sides.

 

RANGERS ATTACK!
Rangers Attack! is my favorite Astro-Rangers card in the game. On the crew movement/action phase, the Astro-Rangers blast out into outer-space with plenty of action points to mount a boarding action or race across the stars to retrieve an atomic core! It even works great as a last minute escape plan if another player's captain boards your ship with murder on its mind!

Keep in mind, these are just some of the Planeteer specific cards you'll find in the game. Keep tuned as we spotlight more content from Rayguns and Rocketships!

And in this corner... The Battlin' Boxx!!

Today I was taking inventory of the characters in the Kickstarter campaign for Rayguns and Rocketships.

Let's see... Fearsome Star-Pirates? Check...

Sword-fighting Lizard-Men? Check...

 

Jet-pack wearing Astro-Rangers? Check...

Cyclopean brains in mechanical pants? Check...

 I feel like I'm missing something... What could it be??

I know!! A ROBOT!!!

The Battlin’ Boxx was formerly the super-heavyweight-class boxing champion of the galaxy. After refusing to take a dive against a human opponent, Boxx went on the run. He eventually "took care of the situation" (his words) and is now is a bot-for-hire as a mercenary captain. Boxx refuses to use weapons in combat; finding them both distasteful and unfair. But why use weapons when you can batter your enemies both up-close and from a distance with rocket powered fists?

Concept design by Scott Rogers

Model sculpted by Simon Grell

Color guide by Scott Rogers

The Battlin' Boxx is a Kickstarter exclusive and a character that is great fun to play. Since he only fights with his fists, Boxx only performs melee attacks. Fortunately, he can fire his rocket-powered fist up to 4 spaces away. And this attack cannot be riposted! Once the Battlin' Boxx gets going, he becomes a deadly combatant:

Jackhammer Punch: If Boxx hits with a melee attack, he can keep making melee attacks as a free action until he misses.

This robot really packs a punch! Let's hope the Battlin' Boxx gets unlocked as part of the Rayguns and Rocketships campaign! Only YOU can make that happen!

Beware the WarWulf!

The Rayguns and Rocketships Kickstarter has launched and the campaign has revealed a new character - The WarWulf! Every copy of Rayguns and Rocketships comes with the WarWulf miniature and captain card.

The WarWulf is a legendary warrior with a fearsome reputation. Some claim that the WarWulf is thousands of years old and shows up whenever the galaxy is in turmoil. Others say that the WarWulf is the state-of-the-art product of the Empire's weapons manufacturing labs. And a few whisper that the truth is anyone can become a WarWulf – and it is a dread curse passed down through the ages. None have survived a battle against this awesome beast to learn the truth.

WarWulf concept art by Scott Rogers

WarWulf model by Simon Grell

WarWulf color guide by Scott Rogers

Mercenaries are a special character that can be used with any Planeteer faction, which can be used as a replacement for the player's captain figure. However, the WarWulf doesn't replace the captain but instead can be brought into play when the player chooses to spring the surprise. The WarWulf's special ability reads: 

 
The Wulf Among Us: Do not place WarWulf during set-up. At any time, as a free action, replace a crew member with the WarWulf.

This surprise ability allows the player to have a crew member change into the WarWulf when the time is right, causing maximum chaos!

The WarWulf is also possesses unique combat abilities including extra thick pelt to provide defense and a cybernetic eye that can be used to mark a captain target and gives the WarWulf extra attack bonuses! The WarWulf is a really fun addition to the game and I hope you enjoy playing him when you receive your copy of Rayguns and Rocketships this fall!

Kickstarter is LIVE!

The Rayguns and Rocketships Kickstarter is off to a roaring start! Click on the banner below to back the game!

It's not been 24 hours yet and we've already funded over 60%!

Please continue to spread the word, maybe we can get some of the cool stretch goals unlocked! Thank you very much to everyone who has already backed the game so far! Let's see how far this rocketship can get!

Planeteers! To your rocketships!

The Kickstarter is about to go live but I wanted to make sure that all you loyal Planeteers knew that Rayguns and Rocketships is offering a discount for "early bird" pledges.

Only 500 of these "early bird" pledges will be available, so make sure to order your copy of Rayguns and Rocketships early!