io9: privateer press

Monsterpocalypse is a Rampaging Good Time

Ed Grabianowski — Thu, 30 Oct 2008 08:20:00 PDT

Anyone who ever spent a Saturday afternoon as a kid gleefully watching Godzilla or Gamera battle weird space dragons or giant robots while destroying the vital infrastructure of Japan has got to love the idea of Monsterpocalypse. We've played a bunch of games to see if the game lives up to the hype - and by "hype," we mean, "our fervent kaiju-loving desire for an awesome giant monster fighting game."Privateer Press is new to the collectible gaming market, but they have a reputation for quality with their War Machine and Hordes miniatures games. The Monsterpocalypse minis are no different. The monsters are impressively large and solid, with some of the best paint jobs I've ever seen on a pre-painted mini. The smaller units (tanks, dinosaurs, UFOs, and so on) look great too, although they are not as detailed. The use of translucent colored plastics to accentuate the figures adds a lot. I particularly love the green tractor beams coming out of all the Martian Menace units. One caveat - two of four monsters in our two starter sets were damaged, but some superglue fixed them in seconds. Game play uses an innovative action dice system that has you weighing your options with every turn. Choices are always a good to have in a game, and Monsterpocalypse makes you really feel in control of your force. You have to spend action dice each turn to move and attack with your figures. You can only use either your monster or your small units each turn, and the dice you use transfer to the other "pool" when you use them. If you're taking a monster turn, the dice you roll when he attacks go over to the unit pool. If you want to take two monster turns in a row, you'll need to conserve some dice in the monster pool. The interaction between monsters and units seems simple at first: monsters obliterate everything in their paths, and single units can't even hit a monster. However, you can team up groups of units and actually damage the monsters (a tactic my wife uses to great effect). There are also numerous points on the map that have strategic importance. Power zones, spawn points and buildings can be controlled by your units and give you certain advantages. The most important advantage is the chance to earn power dice. Only monsters use power dice, and they can be spent to boost attacks, to perform special power attacks, or to change into your monster's hyper form. Power attacks are sweet. There's nothing quite so fun as body slamming your opponent's monster into an apartment building, or throwing him halfway across the map so that he lands on (and destroys) three of his own units. Hyper form is an interesting mechanic that I'm not totally sold on. By spending some power dice, your monster transforms into a more powerful version. You switch the figure on the map with the hyper form figure, which is cast entirely in translucent colored plastic. Both the basic and hyper forms must be defeated to end the game. Starters and boosters come with "ultra" hyper forms. There are also limited edition hyper forms known as "mega" hyper forms. These are obtained through mail-in offers or as convention exclusives, and they can be won by playing in official tournaments at your local game store. Update: I talked with the folks at Privateer, and they explained that they've gone to great lengths to ensure that mega forms are not necessarily any better than ultra forms. They will have a different mix of abilities and stats, so they will offer flexibility when building a team, but not an unfair advantage. The starter boxes come with a double-sided map, all the dice you need, a random monster (plus corresponding hyper form), some buildings and a handful of random units. Different building placement means each game will be very different even on the same map. Different buildings have different effects. For example, if you destroy the nuclear power plant, a radioactive hazard zone is left in its place instead of just rubble. Some buildings give bonuses to certain factions for controlling or destroying them. Having more buildings to put on the map definitely makes for a more interesting game. If there's one major flaw with this game, it's the way the figures are purchased. I know some of you absolutely hate collectible games of any kind, and Privateer's methods here are not going to change your mind. In addition to starters, you can buy monster boosters or building/unit boosters. A monster booster includes a single random monster and his hyper form. That's fine when you're starting out, but if you're looking for a certain monster or faction, or just trying to avoid doubles, you can spend more than $10 for a booster and get something you have no use for at all. There's no advantage to having doubles of monsters (other than trading), and with nothing else in the pack to soften the blow, you can really end up feeling like you wasted your money. Building boosters suffer somewhat from the same problem, but having double buildings isn't bad, and you get a bunch of units too. Since there's no difference in rarity between the monsters, I see no reason for Privateer not to sell them non-randomly. Pick your faction, buy your monsters, and then collect units and buildings through random boosters. That would make a lot more sense to me. Ultimately, though, Monsterpocalypse is a blast to play. The monsters and buildings look awesome, and there's a lot of strategic and tactical depth to explore as you learn all your units' abilities. Grab a friend, buy some starters, and while away an afternoon stomping cities into rubble.

Caption These Giant Monsters, Win A Sweet Autographed Monsterpocalypse Poster

Ed Grabianowski — Sun, 19 Oct 2008 11:00:54 PDT

Monsterpocalypse is finally here. The miniature game of monsters destroying cities hit store shelves about a week ago, and starter packs are already sold out at the distributor level. Privateer Press sent us some cool posters that are signed by the entire Monsterpocalypse design crew. You can win one by coming up with a creative caption for this image of Zor-Raiden and Armodax.

We'll leave the contest open until about noon Eastern Time on Monday, so our weekday readers can get in on the fun. To enter, just post your caption in the comments below. Make it funny, clever, or profoundly moving. Can you capture the pathos of life as giant bio-engineered space ninja? We'll announce the winners next week. Here's a look at the posters. Good luck, and keep an eye out for our in-depth review of the game next week (there will be much playtesting this week).

The Official Rules for Destroying Cities with Giant Monsters

Ed Grabianowski — Fri, 12 Sep 2008 08:00:00 PDT

We've been eagerly anticipating the release of Monsterpocalypse, the tabletop game of giant monster destruction, for months now here at io9. With the first set of monsters hitting game stores in just a few weeks, Privateer Press has released the full rulebook for the game in PDF form. Yes, it has giant monsters chucking buildings at each other, but it has so much more.

The rulebook (available here) is a hefty 64 pages, but that includes stats for all he figures in the first set and a glossary, plus two page descriptions of each faction, like the one for the Martian Menace pictured above. Here are some details:

Each monster comes in two forms - Alpha form and Hyper form. There are also two flavors of Hyper - Ultra-Hyper and Mega-Hyper. Mega-Hyper figures will be available as prizes at special events and tournaments, or as mail-in offers. It's like when Godzilla walks into high-voltage wires and his back fins get all glowy.
When a building is destroyed (and they will be) a couple of things happen. The monster doing the destroying gets a power-up, and the building is replaced by rubble that might be a towering inferno or a pile of radioactive waste.
The play mat is a city block with places for monster spawn points and building placement. I hope they come out with new maps. I love new maps.
The game uses special dice that you "spend" to activate your units. Each turn will require decisions as to which units to move or attack with. Go all out with your monsters, or play a tactical game with your hover tanks and robot ninjas?
You can play with multiple monsters, not just one-on-one. There are special rules for monster team-up attacks, like the double head-butt, and a maneuver where two monsters pick up a third and swing him around.
A tip for those of you who are turned off by collectible games: get a starter pack, then wait a month or two and cherry pick the figures you want on ebay.

Images by: Privateer Press.

The Monsterpocalypse Looms

Ed Grabianowski — Fri, 08 Aug 2008 08:00:00 PDT

Kaiju fans probably already have their eager hands on issue #0 of the new Monsterpocalypse comic book, but the rest of us can head down to our local comic shop and put in a pre-order for issue #1 starting this week. Based on Privateer Press' upcoming collectible miniatures game, the comics will flesh out the back story of a global defense force that uses giant robots to fight off repeated attacks by giant alien (or other-dimensional) monsters. We've more details on the free limited edition figure you can get with the comics, along with some interior art previews.

Globally United Advanced Research and Defense (GUARD) uses a giant robot called Sky Sentinel to protect Earth from all the giant monsters that are, apparently, constantly attacking. In the three-issue series (not counting #0) from Across the Pond Studios and Desperado Publishing, Sky Sentinel has just been repaired after being defeated by Gorghadra, a battle which resulted in the destruction of most of Chicago. Now, a new, horrible menace threatens New York City, and the Sky Sentinel crew has to leap into battle with a green commander they don't especially like.

Anyone who buys all three issues can send in the receipts to Privateer Press and get a free Mega Sky Sentinel miniature (basically a powered-up version of the basic Sky Sentinel). I saw the paint masters for some of the minis at Origins, and they look even better than I expected. The big launch for Monsterpocalypse will be at Gen Con Indy later this month. Images by: Across the Pond and Desperado.

The Comic is Coming. [MonsterInsider]

Cthugrosh and the Lords of Cthul Are Pure Evil in Sculpted Plastic

Ed Grabianowski — Wed, 04 Jun 2008 08:00:00 PDT

Of all the monster factions in the upcoming miniatures game Monsterpocalypse, the Lords of Cthul are the evilest. In the words of designer Eric Yaple, "Fueled by the worship of their cultists, these fiends seek to draw life from the Earth as a starving man sucks the marrow from a bone." We've got inside info on Cthulian Meat Slaves and Task Masters, and how being evil means using your friends as projectile weapons.

The Lovecraft-inspired Lords of Cthul will be a tricky faction to manage, as their big beasties don't deal the raw damage that the other kaiju are capable of. They also need to manage their non-giant minions better, since they can fuel themselves with the lifeforce of the hapless cultists and minor demons.

Meat Slaves are basically walking incubators for other (nastier) monsters, while Task Masters (pictured) use telekinesis to chuck friends and foes across the game board. It looks like Monsterpocalypse won't be based around predictable 1-on-1 monster battles, but will instead make a combined arms tactical approach crucial for victory. If only they could get the license to make a Cloverfield unit. Images by: Privateer Press.

Lords of Cthul. [MonsterInsider]