Massive Darkness

[Crabbok 9,869]

if you are on the fence, you can EASILY make money by re-selling it.   CMON games resell for 120% of what you paid, minimum.  usually 200%.  

[Crabbok 9,869]

They are gonna break 3 million!   I didn't expect that!

[Fiveowing 27]

I am still on the fence. This would be my first Kickstarter. I'm not a painter (probably cuz I am more scared of the learning curve and me crappily painting miniatures than anything else) and also wouldn't use the mini's for any other game. For me the merits of this game need to be a totally self contained experience. Add in new releases for X-Wing and Armada coming up, and the plastic crack is bleeding my wallet. Weirdly I almost like the fact that we probably wouldn't get the game till next year as I recently bought Cosmic Encounters, The Resistance, Space Alert, and some Talisman expansions, so I have plenty to keep me occupied for a while. My other worry is the closest I have come to getting something from Kickstarter was trying to late pledge Sedition Wars (luckily that didn't work out). After missing out on it, all I read was dissatisfied customers not getting their pledge or all of their pledge, excuses about late product, poor quality mini's, the game being terribly unbalanced, and pretty much a dead game system out of the gate. Maybe I am bad luck for games. Game systems I got into that died shortly after I got into them Heroscape, Battleship Galaxies, and back in the day Heroquest. On second thought maybe I should just stay away from anything Milton Bradley/Hasbro. I guess I have a few hours more hours to come to a decision.

[EastCoast 1,349]

Hi Five, don't be too scared of the painting.  A minwax dip can make up even for the most novice painter. I never thought I'd find the satisfaction I did out of getting some games up to tabletop standard.

 

Then I watched Sorastro... I now actively pursue the hobby.  With a high stress job, it really quiets my mind.

 

Here's the link if you want to start down the dark path...

 

https://www.youtube.com/user/Sorastro

 

This is my first kickstarter, but I've found folks here like Crabbok and Visceroth and posters on the kickstarter project page really helpful. It's a steep price, but you get a craaaaazy amount of plastic!

 

But seriously, watch Sorastro

[Crabbok 9,869]

Sorastro is indeed amazing.   I wish I had half his talent.   But yeah I agree with East Coast, it is very relaxing to paint in the evenings.  I'll put on an audiobook and just sit out in the garage for an hour or two each night. 

 

However in the case of Massive Darkness, I think I'm going to hold off on painting.  At least for awhile.   My problem with some past kickstarters, is that they arrive and I open the boxes and want to begin painting right away!   Well, that can take me weeks if not longer... and in the meantime I STILL haven't even played the game yet!!!   So when Massive Darkness arrives, I think I'm going to actually run a few campaigns first, and then eventually paint stuff after the fact!

 

 

Also another realllllly cool way to paint if you are a novice is going monochromatic.  It's where you use some black primer, spray down all your minis in black, then get a dry brush and use like 2 or 3 layers of the same color.  (Blue for example, use a dark blue, then a medium blue, then a light blue), with a dry brush.   It's easy and still shows off a ton of the detail. 

Here's an example I found on youtube:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S9tXVBqxCtQ

 

This guy doesn't actually let his coats dry though.  I would suggest letting coats dry before moving to the next coat. 

[Fiveowing 27]

Appreciate the advice! I will watch the videos and see if I can build up the courage to paint.  One last question before I decided if I should jump in.  I recently was given Imperial Assault as a gift but have not had a chance to crack it open yet. I realize Massive darkness is different, no DM, simpler rules, less strategy perhaps, easier to play, more grind style of play, 1 player options.  Having said that if I only had the money to put towards a bunch of Imperial Assault expansions or Massive Darkness which would you guys recommend.  If any of you ever played Heroquest, I loved that game back in the day and played it through including a couple expansions. On the flip side I also love Talisman which while no DM and not cooperative ends up taking multiple hours to play because the guys I play with never try to win and just seem to want to quest for ever....or maybe it's because, if they quest forever we play more and therefore beer more...hmmm..... Will Massive Darkness hold my sway or would it be better to stick to Imperial Assault and go all in on that.

Edited July 7, 2016 by Fiveowing

[Crabbok 9,869]

Good question.   I think you'll get several different opinions on it as well. 

 

My answer - Massive Darkness is ABSOLUTELY the better value right now, considering you get SO much stuff for the base pledge.   Even with no add-ons, you are getting TONS of extra content for free.  (Just remember in about 2 months you'll need to have something like 14 bucks for shipping - when the pledge manager opens up).  Also, it's really cool waiting a year and getting updates periodically, and then suddenly one day you get a shipping notice, and have this HUGE box waiting for you when you get home... it's that same feeling you had as a child on Christmas Morning - and for me it's not even a question - that feeling is worth it 10x over. 

  Additionally the fact that you don't need a Game Master is HUGE imo.  If it's a rainy day you can play it solo.   If you want to house-rule things to make it harder or easier you can.   If you want to double up with a buddy and you each play 2 heroes for a single session only... you can.  If you want to run a full campaign, you can.  The versatility is good, but it is really driven home by the fact that you, as the owner, can play IN the campaign, instead of running the campaign. 

 

 

  My one main problem with imperial assault, (and others like it) are that if I invite people over to play... they aren't going to know the game well enough to run a campaign.   So when you BUY Imperial Assault - you are effectively locking yourself in to ALWAYS being the Imperial Player.   And that sucks.  Now if you have a buddy who has the game, then maybe they'll host a campaign and you'll get to play as a rebel.... but in this case you use your buddy's game, and therefore you don't actually need your own copy, so you leave your own box at home. 

  The saving grace for Imperial Assault is Skirmish mode - where you build a small 40 point army and so does another player, and you guys fight to the death.   But that is partially an afterthought with this game and while it IS actually pretty fun, it also has it's share of issues.   For starters, several characters included in the core set box have been HEAVILY erratta'd so in order to play them you now have to research their new abilities and print out your own version of their updated cards...  Then there's the idea that you have to pre-construct a map from one of the scenarios before you play - it's annoying to do.  It makes setup and teardown for skirmish take much longer than it should.  Skirmish is supposed to be quick.  FFG really needs to release some pre-built map sheets for IA Skirmish so we can just roll out the mat and get started. 

  All in all Imperial Assault is a quality game, but there are just a few design flaws that I find particularly annoying, and those aren't really present in a game like Massive Darkness. 

 

 

Also the price point is absolutely in MD's favor here.  All the bonus minis will easily keep you busy for months and months.

[Crabbok 9,869]

It's also worth noting that for Imperial Assault - you don't actually have to go "All-In".   Just get the core box and you'll have everything you need for several skirmish builds and be able to run the campaign a few times. 

 

  And in the future, if you end up getting BOTH games, I bet you could even house-rule IA miniatures to work in Massive Darkness.... so when you open a door instead of Goblins, you get Stormtroopers with an officer... and instead of a large roaming monster you get an AT-ST.  I was considering doing something like that for Black Plague..... a Zombie Stormtrooper scenario!

[Fiveowing 27]

I think you might have talked me into it.  If nothing else it will be a good gateway game for my soon to be 7 year old involved until he is old enough to get him into heavier strategy games.  I suppose if when it arrives I play a game and hate it, I can always unload it on eBay quickly and hopefully try to as least get my money back.

[Fiveowing 27]

I made my pledge and have thrown myself in with the lot of you.  Here's a big Huzzah to one last stretch goal.  As ViscerothSWG said, decisions are hard.

Edited July 7, 2016 by Fiveowing

[ViscerothSWG 3,940]

[Fiveowing 27]

Realized I still have some money sitting in my paypal account and now I am thinking about late pledging Dark Souls. I think I need to step away from the Kickstarter.

[Fiveowing 27]

Well I did it, late pledged Dark Souls. Now I must go back to pretending Kickstarter doesn't exist before I find something else to take my money.