Monsterpocalypse Now! What’s different?

Do you like playing gigantic monsters and trashing cities as much as we do?

Kaijū and giant fighting robots are returning to your gaming tables to wreak even more havoc in this new supercharged edition of the game co-pro’ed by Privateer Press and Mythic Games.

Now that you have a better idea of what the game is about thanks to our first article, here’s a second deeper dive into the details of this new edition. This article isn’t just for Monsterpocalypse Miniatures Game second edition (2018) veterans who are asking themselves questions about the compatibility of their existing minis and rules, but also for potential new players. So, we’ve drawn up an exhaustive list of all the evolutions contained in this new edition, while avoiding going into the details of the Kickstarter offer (we are saving that article topic for later).

With a long history in retail, Monsterpocalypse the miniatures game has had two distinct retail lives already. The first one in 2008, as a set of pre-painted collectible miniatures, released at a time when this format was extremely popular, with huge hits such as Heroclix, indeed, the release of this game was a spectacular success in the US, with 200,000 starters sold in 15 days (and one can only imagine the number of boosters sold). 

The rules format of Monsterpocalypse (V1) allowing you to assemble your forces using any faction that shared the same agenda, made this marketing format possible. Indeed, as there are only two agendas, you’re almost guaranteed to be able to play with the random miniatures you ended up with. 

Over the years, however, the fashion for “collectability” dried up, especially for miniature games where customers have increasingly wanted to know exactly what they were buying rather than risk receiving duplicates or having to trade up to get exactly the miniature they were looking for. So, the new 2018 edition came along this time as a Hobby format, with unpainted, unassembled figures. It is this version that this new Board Game project is based on,  but increasing the product range, the aesthetics, the “ready to play” aspect, the different gameplay modes, and the “a la carte” Kickstarter offer.

Cosmetics on paper

Let’s start with the purely aesthetic aspect of the game. The first wish of the Mythic Games team was to bring the game maps up to 2020 board game production standards. Both from a graphic and materials perspective. Gone are the paper poster-like game boards, this version of Monsterpocalypse will benefit from cardboard game boards, whose graphics have been completely upgraded. We entrusted this task to David Demaret, a former graphic designer from the video game world, who burst into the board game world a few years ago. You can enjoy his work in the Mythic Battles: Pantheon, Joan of Arc, and Steamwatchers board games. As the board illustrator for HEL: The Last Saga (currently in development at Mythic Games), his maps guide our adventurers, tile by tile, through King Haakon’s hostile island. 

In addition to adding textures, as well as many details to the maps, David has also enhanced the readability of the game elements. All-terrain areas that have an impact on movement (difficult terrain or impassable terrain) now have an appropriate icon to indicate this. The difference between a simple aesthetic element (a crevasse drawn in the middle of a road for example, or an overturned car) and a game element will be obvious. Furthermore, all control spaces, or spaces that drop power dice, will have a halo effect that will go beyond the edges of the space to identify them (and so you don’t forget about them) even if a miniature is placed on that space.

The location of the game elements hasn’t changed. Veteran players will quickly find their bearings in Obliteration Boulevard and the core box will contain two maps.

The unit, building, and monster cards will also get a graphical Mythic Games makeover, to improve their aesthetics, as well as their legibility (for example, the powers described on the cards will be re-arranged in a more intuitive and ergonomic way). Different colors now make it easy to distinguish the two Agendas, Protectors and Destroyers (previously all cards had the same blue background), and the logo of each faction is highlighted to easily discern which factions you can mix to combine their skills as in Monsterpocalypse, you can recruit monsters and units from two factions of the same agenda, and even have two big monsters from two factions on the map, just to play Kaijū-catch!.

Icons are introduced to make the game features more “visual” while keeping the same acronyms so that veteran players aren’t confused by the new icons and ensure full compatibility (SPD for Speed, DEF for Defense, etc.). 

Finally, the dice management dashboard, which was integrated into the paper map of the hobby version, will be separate and autonomous with each player getting a dashboard. The game will also include a visual game aid, listing the different special attacks that each monster can access.

3D cosmetics

In games that include miniatures, players have high standard expectations of the minis on offer. In this new edition, it’s important to mention that most of the miniatures offered will be the existing miniatures from Privateer Press. 

There will be some new minis, including 5 NEW Apex monsters (Monsterpocalypse creatures’ ultimate evolution, much bigger!) in the multiplayer expansion. Plus, a surprise, but we’ll have to wait for that reveal to appear in the article that outlines the Kickstarter breakdown.

But even if the majority of minis are existing Privateer Press minis, the Mythic Games customary production filter will be applied, so high standard, no assembly required, standard plastic, immediately playable out of the box minis are what you’d get.

These plastic minis will be produced in two different colors: blue/grey for the Protectors, and beige/red for the Destroyers, which will make it easier to distinguish the two agendas that are going head-to-head during the game.

One important evolution over the 2018 version whose bases were transparent and had to be glued to the mini is our replacement textured bases in ABS (hard and perfectly rigid plastic) pre-assembled on the mini.

These textured bases will give even more character to the monsters and units since they will show elements of scenery such as overturned buses and cars, urban furniture, cracks, debris, and even crushed enemy monsters.

For those vets who have only played Monsterpocalypse the miniatures game V1 (the pre-painted version), you should know that all the miniatures had been completely re-tooled during the transition to V2. The monsters have even grown a few centimeters (and even more for the Apex monsters!).

Another interesting upgrade is that non-specialist unit come in two categories: basic and elite units (e.g. basic G-Tanks or elite G-Tanks). Elite units have slightly better stats and add various bonuses to the other units that accompany them, usually, a bonus die. Grunt and elite units share the same sculpts. Previously, elites were recognizable by a star engraved on their transparent base, which was not or only slightly visible. From now on, elites will have a colored sub-base that will instantly identify them. Of course, if you paint your miniatures, you won’t even need this plastic sub-base: you can distinguish your elites with extra paint details or a slightly different color style than the base troops.

While the previous edition’s starter contained cardboard buildings requiring assembly, all buildings in this new edition, from simple apartment buildings to more specific buildings like nuclear power plants or transmitters, will be plastic miniatures that include a textured base, that fits the size of the building spaces perfectly.

Economy of scale

Hobby gamers know! Traditional miniatures are expensive! If you’re looking to play Monsterpocalypse in its hobby version, you’ll find that each monster or building costs between 18 and 30 dollars each. The Kickstarter model and the switch to plastic will allow us to cut costs dramatically and we are confident that this KS deal will be the MOST affordable way ever! to start playing Monsterpocalypse.

About the rules

Privateer Press is known in the miniature game world for its well-oiled mechanics, with a level of complexity that stretches even experienced players. The world of miniature games is a world with its own customs, different from that of board games. Rule presentation and the way you write that rule are not quite the same.

The 2018 rules set is totally solid, the result of the designers incorporating 10 years’ worth of thousands of players’ feedback, so there is zero need to change that rule set for the board game. Then again, we will adopt a miniature and a rule layout in line with modern board game standards, to allow easier access and comprehension for our new players, members of our community more used to board games (even expert ones) than to pure miniature games.

Our rules edition will of course include the latest changes, errata, and FAQs. The rulebook will also include the solo player rules and the cooperative game rules (2 players vs an AI, previously released in a recent expansion for the miniatures game, the MEGATON Mashup) to ensure absolutely everything is united into a single book, that’s way easier to reference during a game.

Each player will also get a player aid that includes a gameplay summary and a monsters powers list. Those powers are an intrinsic part of the game, built-in right at its heart, unleashing a power attack that sends your opponent’s monster crashing through several buildings is one of the best parts of this games experience.

Something new

While our primary goal is to offer new players a great way to start a career in building crushing and metropolis destruction, we haven’t forgotten about the veteran players of the Privateer Press edition. 

We’re going to offer new content, developed by the Privateer Press design team, and all this new content will be collected in a multiplayer expansion called Battle Royale. In this expansion, you’ll find everything you need (extra dice, specific game boards) to play up to 3 or 4 players both individually and in 2v2 or 2v1, but also in co-operative or solo mode against the APEX, evolved versions of the game’s iconic monsters. 

Gameplay potential and possibilities are greatly magnified when you add this expansion to the mix.

When your battles include more players, you need an opponent that is up to the challenge: Defender Extreme, Arctic Armodax, Mega-Gorghadra, Insatiable Yasheth, and Nightmare Gallamaxus are new incarnations of existing, fan-favorite monsters that will get new stats and a new sculpt exclusive to this Kickstarter! Oh, and they will tower over all other non-Apex monsters. 

The 3-4 player game boards offered in this new expansion (one side 3-player, one side 4-player) are significantly larger than the regular boards, and they are entirely new. In the “every man for himself” mode, players will deploy in a specific area of the map. If players are playing cooperatively, they will have to eliminate an AI-controlled monster that is deployed in the center of the map.

We hope this article has answered as many questions as possible from veteran players and has provided further information to any potential players that we’d love to see join us.

In the next article, we’ll go into more detail about the game rules system, to check out the slick mechanics that are hidden under the armor of a monster like Gorghadra!

Monsterpocalypse Board Game

Coming SOON to Kickstarter!

https://mythicgames.net/kickstarter/

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