FUNDED!!!

I don't know if you heard but...

 Thank you, thank you, thank you from the bottom of my heart to everyone who has pledged the Kickstarter campaign. And the rest of you, hop to it, we have stretch goals to unlock!!

The Rayguns in Rayguns and Rocketships

I've been bursting to share this announcement ever since IDW Games first showed me their plans for this super-rad add-on. Check it out! Miniature Rayguns!!! They are so cute, but deadly!

You can add these on to your existing pledge!

It comes with 23 rayguns - enough for all four rocketships!

They are perfectly scaled to the Planeteer crew member miniatures!

So cool!

Keep it up, Planeteers!

The latest report just came in and you've already defeated more Blaarg! Great work! Keep going! WE CAN DO IT! ONWARD TO VICTORY!!

Only YOU can defeat the Blaarg!

A visit to IDW Games!

Hey Planeteers!

Even though I live in Los Angeles, IDW Games is (relatively) close in nearby San Diego for me to come in for a Rayguns and Rocketships related visit.

IDW Games is located above the awesome Comic Art Museum - which is housed in a beautiful Southern California mission-style building. It has a cool collection of original comic book art.

However, I was there to see Rayguns and Rocketships! And on this visit, they had a surprise for me, a production copy of the game!

I was thrilled to see the game finally looking how I always imagined it

Now keep in mind, there are still a few tweaks here and there to be made - THIS NOT THE FINAL VERSION OF THE GAME - but this is pretty close.

The painted cards by Ron Salas are gorgeous!

This board will look even better with tokens and rocketships on it!

This is just one of the token sheets for the game. Note the raygun-shaped 1st player token

The box on the top is the final size - plenty of room to fit the game and (hopefully) expansions!

Needless to say, I was thrilled to see the high-detail miniatures (what final size they will be in still be discussed) and the beautiful card and board art.

The miniatures look amazing on the new rocketship game board!

The Planeteers are ready for action!

A big thanks to IDW Games for hosting me. They are doing an awesome job with the game. I can't wait for YOU to see Rayguns and Rocketships for yourself!

Rayguns and Rocketships Prototype

My brother recently shared these photos of an early prototype of Rayguns and Rocketships from my birthday party from a few years ago. This would probably be version 2.0 of the prototype of the game. Sharp eyes will not only spot the hand-drawn rocketships and star map, but also the four-armed Blaarg captain and the male Astro-Ranger captain!

Thanks to Chris Rogers for the great photos!

Spotlight on Captain Cards: Count Ventura

Anyone who knows me knows I love pirates. But despite my best efforts to not be so predictable, pirates have always managed to find their way in my game designs. However, with Rayguns and Rocketships I knew I had to have pirates in the game. The Star-Pirates Planeteer faction was always a big part of the game from the beginning.

In the Rayguns and Rocketships universe, the Star-Pirates are actually the military who have decided it would be much more profitable to turn to piracy. As a result, they have the strongest rayguns and the skills to use them. They operate from a bolt-hole in the Samadi asteroid belt, where their rocketships emerging to prey on passing merchant and pleasure rocketships.

Count Ventura concept art by Scott Rogers

Count Ventura color guide by Scott Rogers

The Star Pirates are secretly led by Count Ventura, a dashing nobleman who lives a double life as a ruthless pirate. The Count can be found supporting public works and attending gala balls, where he is viewed by all as a charming liar. Count Ventura is inspired by some of my favorite pirates - Captain Hook, Captain Morgan, and space pirate Captain Harlock as well as Prince Barin, as played by Timothy Dalton in the Flash Gordon movie.

As the leader of the Star Pirates, Count Ventura is a deadly opponent who gives his victims no quarter. However, there is one victim whom the Count will always spare - Princess Persevone of Vaporia, whom the Count is infatuated with.

Prototype card shown. All content subject to change.

I wanted Count Ventura's Captain cards to reflect both natures - dashing rogue and ruthless pirate.The first build of Count Ventura features the Count's sword fighting skills in Expert Duelist. The count may re-roll one missed melee combat roll per opponent per turn.The Count's second ability, Ruthless Pirate lets the player sacrifice one Star Pirate crew member to steal up to 6 banked action tokens from an opponent once a game. No victory points are awarded for crew sacrificed this way. Clearly the Count will do anything, even kill off one of his own crew members, to insure victory!

Prototype card shown. All content subject to change.

The second build of Count Ventura gives the player a choice: should I stay or should I go? Master Gunner gives the player a powerful advantage when manning a raygun. And if that raygun should get shot at, the Count can always absorb a hit or two to protect that raygun. However, with Bloodthirty, the Count can immediately join a crew member who has boarded an enemy's rocketship. Is it better to leave Count Ventura on the ship or with his crew? That's for you to decide!

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