Stretch Goal #5 // Livestream
almost 2 years ago – Thu, Jul 21, 2022 at 06:58:06 PM

Lunarians!

I am going to write this update super quickly because it coincides with my son finally being asleep, dinner being almost ready, and Nick & company live-streaming a full 3-player game of Moon including the Valkyrie expansion. If you're reading this close to the time I post it, you'll be able to watch live and post comments which may or may not be noticed and responded to by Nick.

Livestream: 3-player game with Valkyrie

Stretch Goal!

We now have a new Era II Expedition card. Huzzah!

The text on the card is slightly wrong because Haakon has used the old term for rovers, "truck" :D We'll fix that before the card gets printed. Probably.

The Psychic Expedition, as you would expect, allows you to move massive vehicles with your mind. When you hold this card you can return a rover placed on one of your cards back to your supply, freeing up the worker placement spot for the other players, so something for everyone!

Our next goal is a new Reputation card, of the Silver persuasion...

Streets: Deluxe

We have located another 100 copies of Streets: Deluxe edition and made them available as add-ons. If these sell out, we will consider a reprint if there is sufficient demand.

And that's all!

Told you I'd be quick. Thanks for reading!

Take care, and play games,

Dave

Stretch Goal #4 // Valkyrie // Engine Building
almost 2 years ago – Wed, Jul 20, 2022 at 05:10:32 AM

Lunarians!

It's hot here today, as in national emergency hot. I hope everyone in the UK is staying out of the sun and staying hydrated. In the meantime, we have stretch goals to deal with. They won't cool you down, but they might distract you from our fiery doom for a minute. I've also drafted Haakon and Nick to write parts of this update so you should have something actually interesting to read for a change.

4400 Backers: Stretch Goal Unlocked!

I can't quite believe we're at 4400 backers already, but here we are! This means we've added a snazzy Valkyrie Launch Board to the Valkyrie expansion pack, replacing two cards which are now not needed. I'm going to hand over to Haakon who will tell you more about Valkyrie. Appropriately, Haakon is currently closer to the Moon than any of us, because he literally just wrote this on a plane on his way back from holiday, and sent it to me from the air. We already live in the future! 

Haakon Gaarder: The Valkyrie Expansion

The Valkyrie is the first self-contained reusable spacecraft, requiring no additional booster rockets for launching into space from the Earth or the Moon. This utility comes with a cost, as it has very limited cargo capacity and uses extremely valuable Helium-3 harvested from the surface of the Moon and converted into fuel. Each of the first settlements has been equipped with one prototype Valkyrie. If disaster should strike a settlement, the Valkyrie can be used to escape to Earth. For this reason, Moon people rarely use their Valkyries, saving them for only the most important missions and unmissable opportunities offered by Earth. A Valkyrie will typically return with cutting-edge technology sponsored by interested parties on Earth. The first Beef Tree seeds were brought to the Moon by Valkyrie.

All of this is represented in the game with five glorious wooden spacecraft that players can send off to a display of worker placement spots representing opportunities on Earth. A recurring theme in Moon is that timing is important. Cards should be flipped at the best possible moment, Reputation cards claimed as fast as you can or as late as you dare, rovers saved to the last moment or rushed out to block the best spots. When you use your Valkyrie you get to build an extra card from the deck of powerful Valkyrie structures. Whoever does this first will have the first pick of the cards. But these cards are expensive and you can’t use your rovers to pay for them or unlock their flags. Better start saving up some resources and expanding your capabilities through new flags! In addition, players that use their Valkyries later get rewarded with various perks such as extra resources, while whoever goes first gets nothing. So you must decide just how badly you want that special card, is it worth giving up those extra resources to make sure no one else gets it? Or maybe you feel confident that only you want that particular card, and so you can afford to wait for the increased payoff. You get to use your Valkyrie once per Era, and those 3 extra structures you build will take your settlement to the next level.

Nick Welford: Engine Building

Thanks so much for joining us on this rocket fuelled adventure! Thanks to you we have over 4400 backers, hit number 4 on the BGG Hotness and, most importantly, exposed BGG to the beauty that is the Beef Tree!

Today I want to talk to you about engine building and Moon. No not those lovely little rovers, but the cards that make up your settlement and the delicious combos you can perform with them. I have played Moon hundreds of times now and I am still finding wonderful combos to explore and exploit.

So let’s look at some examples from our Game Night play-through on TTS. Both examples come at the start of Era 3 and give a glimpse at the sort of things that are possible. Note that although I had these two excellent turns in the late game I still lost to Hudders - the doe-faced assassin!

In the game Sam had been hogging the flags and rovers, Hudders specialising in reputation cards and grey scoring cards and I’d been doing a bit of everything. At the start of the video, my tableau has a healthy amount of yellow and blue cards, an Obelisk, a Printer and a Fragmenter.

For my first move, I build the Space Sling, giving me three transport flags and a shot at winning the flag reward for them. Then I use the Obelisk to build a second structure, placing the Obelisk back in my hand. This gives me three more flags, causes Hudders to mutter ‘Oh no’ and earns me the Bombastic Reputation card for building two yellow structures with three flags. But I haven’t finished there.

I consider using my Printer but choose not to, realising I can use it in a future turn to earn another reputation card. Instead, I use the Sneaky Expedition card in my hand to use Hudders' pink Archive card to build a third structure from the previous Era deck. I decide to build another Obelisk giving me further options in my future turns. It’s important to note that I still had to pay the costs for these extra builds.

 On my next turn, I’m extremely happy as I receive the grey Parliament card which scores 6 points for each set of all 5 flags I have, and I know I only need some housing flags to make this score big. I build the Parliament as my first action, costing two resources. I then take a chance using the First Expedition to discard a card and draw a new one - hoping for housing flags as I have an Obelisk which would allow me to build another card from my hand. I also take the chance to discard the Cinema and deny Sam a scoring opportunity for his rovers.

I immediately build the Ion Computer giving me three science flags. This will ultimately be a mistake as I am ignoring good scoring from the TV Station (one heart per yellow structure) on a chance that I secure more housing flags. Greed is bad, kids.

Next, I flip my Printer to pay a metal and build a card from the Era 3 draw deck (this will still cost me resources). I have currently spent 5 resources on building cards. At this point greed blinds me and I make the error that ultimately costs me the victory. I play another Parliament, neglecting to look for the Hab Blocks cards, which have three housing flags on them. Had I built one of these I would have earned 18 points instead of the puny 6 the Parliament gives me.

I have however paid 7 or more resources this turn which earns me the Capable Reputation card. Ironically I have just proved that I am incapable of prioritising common sense decisions, as the 12 points I neglected cost me first place in the end. Still, those combos were fun, fun, fun!

Some of you have asked about game length, recognising that playing in turn makes for a longer game than playing simultaneously. The video clips used here were taken near the end of a 3 player game that we live-streamed, and aren't indicative of an average turn. The whole stream took 105 minutes. We were playing on Tabletop Simulator and I was trying to narrate and look out for comments. All three players had played at least once before. These two videos represent some of the longest turns during the game. Adjusting the time for the quirks of live-streaming and virtual board game simulators and I think we can safely say that a three-player game will average about 60 minutes.

Well, Lunarians, my time at the update controls is passing, I hear the rumblings of Head Astronomer Dave approaching and he hates it when I touch his things. So I will slip quietly off into the low gravity atmosphere. Ask your questions though, and I will answer through the power of the Obelisk I so recklessly wasted…

Production Schedule

It occurs to me that I haven't shared our estimated production schedule with you yet. As is traditional, I am including a major life event in it, because we like to deliberately schedule them when we're at our busiest with Kickstarter things :) For Villagers, Carly and I had a baby, for Streets we had a pandemic, and for Shifting Seasons we got married.  This time we've decided to move house immediately after the campaign ends. I will end up writing updates from inside a packing box.

That concludes this update, apart from revealing the next stretch goal! A new Expedition card for Era 2...

Until next time, take care, stay cool, and play games!

Dave, Nick, Haakon

Stretch Goal #3 // Add-ons
almost 2 years ago – Tue, Jul 19, 2022 at 02:19:42 PM

Lunarians!

We hit a stretch goal in the wee hours due to people backing the campaign while I was asleep, which is sort of creepy, but I respect it.

Before we dive into the new goal, it would be remiss of me not to mention that Moon is now at #4 on the BGG Hotness. I feel bad for the games under us, so as a sign of respect I humbly ask that you thumb this picture of Hakon laughing.

I also have a small correction to make: the Flag Reward Board we unlocked as our first stretch goal will actually be included in the retail edition of the game as well as the deluxe. This is the only upgrade we have planned for the retail edition, but it's a good one!

So, the new backers who slipped in very thematically by moonlight deserve our thanks, because they've added a new Reputation card to the Valkyrie expansion which EVERY BACKER will receive. Thanks, new backers!

The Early Adopter card requires that you have one pink flipped structure in your base. This is quite a simple requirement, but it might influence you to flip a structure before you wanted to so you'll have to weigh the decision carefully. Once it's in your tableau, the card is worth 2 points at the end of the game, but its ongoing ability is really strong:

"You may park rovers on occupied parking spaces".

This could be huge. Popular parking spots get used up quickly, especially in the second and third eras when the double and triple resource buildings come out, and it combines really well with cards like Charger that convert resources into points.

For our next goal, let's bring the Valkyrie expansion in line with the base game with a Valkyrie Launch Board!

Hopefully, we can unlock it in the next couple of days, at which point we'll talk more about how the Valkyrie expansion works and what the launch board is for.

Add-ons

By popular demand, we have added quite a number of add-ons to the campaign, covering everything available for Haakon's first two games, Villagers and Streets. Everything has been listed in limited quantities because we are selling stock we haven't been able to move because all the conventions were cancelled for the last 2 years! If anything sells out during the campaign we will consider doing reprints and making the items available again in the pledge manager.

Add-on items shipping

We will ship add-ons at the same time as we ship Moon, in 2023. This will save you money on shipping, and us on the logistical challenge. Many of the add-ons are available now on our website, so if you don't want to wait, please consider ordering there.

Shipping will be calculated and charged in the pledge manager, but here are some estimates of the additional cost to ship an extra game (Streets or Villagers, for example).

• UK & China: £1
• Europe: £3
• USA: £5
• Australia: £6

How to add items to your pledge

• 1. Navigate to Moon on Kickstarter and click "Manage your pledge".
• 2. Click "Change your pledge".
• 3. Assuming you want to stay at the same pledge level, click the green "Pledge £XX" button, or change your pledge level if you wish and then confirm it.
• 4. You should now see the list of add-ons and will be able to select whatever you want to add.

What do I add if I only want gameplay content?

For Villagers, you'd want to add everything EXCEPT the Playmat and Coin Chest, and for Streets, just add everything. Please note that the Villagers base game being offered already includes the 2018 Kickstarter Expansion Pack (it's pre-packed inside the box). The expansion is available separately for anyone who picked up Villagers at retail and is missing it.

Do Villagers and Streets come with Kickstarter extras?

They do. All the Kickstarter extras for Villagers are bundled into the 2018 Kickstarter Expansion Pack, which comes with the version of the game we're offering here. It's the same as the "Lumberjack" pledge from the original Kickstarter campaign.

Streets is being offered here in its Kickstarter Deluxe edition, which contains all the unlocked stretch goal content, and the upgraded meeples and wooden money. The two promo tiles being offered were not included in the original Kickstarter.

The new Villagers: Shifting Seasons expansion is also being offered in its Kickstarter edition, including all the extra content, at the original Kickstarter price!

What are Great Scott! and HONK!?

They are two games published by Sinister Fish but not designed by Haakon. They both have exclamation marks in the title to simply communicate how much FUN they are!

Great Scott! is a reprint of the first game from Sinister Fish, designed by Dave, and now available in a smaller box (Now with more less!) but with the same content, including the Kickstarter expansion pack. It is a very silly pick & pass drafting game (we like those!) about making ludicrous Victorian inventions and then explaining what they do.

You score points by various methods of set-collection (including alliteration), but nobody really cares about who actually won. Tom Vasel really doesn't like it because of all the long words.

Find out more about Great Scott! on the Sinister Fish website.

HONK! is our first game aimed at younger players aged 5+, but it's designed to be enjoyable for the adults who are forced to play too. It's a low-luck game of tactical goose collection, where you collect cards from open stacks, using them to feed geese according to their requirements. The geese are thrown into a stack in the middle of the table, and you can only feed a goose if there's no part of another goose on top of it. You know, just like with real geese.

Collecting geese rewards you with eggs, and the more geese of a particular breed you collect, the more eggs you get. There are also more valuable golden eggs at the bottom of the stack that are won by the player who uncovers them. The first player is the person who can do the loudest goose impression. You can thank us for that one later!

You can find out more about HONK! on our website.

That's us done for another update. A big thank you goes to everyone who already added items to their pledge - yesterday ended up being bigger than day two and makes up for a lot of sales we DIDN'T make during the pandemic, which is a big deal for us.

Next time, Moon developer and lead playtester Nick is going to talk to us about engine building in Moon. Hopefully, we will hear from Haakon when and if he comes back from vacation (unbelievable!) to show us the Moon solo mode. Until then...

Take care, and play games.

Dave

Stretch Goal #2 // Hotness
almost 2 years ago – Thu, Jul 14, 2022 at 05:17:08 AM

Lunarians!

Is it that time again already?! It would appear that we've hit our second stretch goal by reaching a staggering total of 3500 backers on day 3!

Let's take a closer look at that new card...

The Eager Expedition grants the following ability to the player currently holding it:

"You may place 1 heart on each of your unflipped pink cards. If the cards are flipped, the hearts go to your supply".

This is a really interesting ability, especially as it can appear in Era I, right at the start of the game. Having hearts on cards in the scoring phase means that you add that number of hearts to your supply, but you leave the original hearts on the cards where they'll do the same again at the end of the next era. If you've played Villagers, this mechanism might be quite familiar to you! So with the Eager Expedition in play, you might be tempted to build a pink structure that you'll just load up with hearts instead of using its flip ability. The opportunities for crafty card play just increased!

So what's next? Let's do another card, shall we...

We're now aiming for a new bronze reputation card, "Early Adopter". Reputation cards really shake up the game every time you play, because many of them give you useful ongoing abilities, and the mix of available cards is always different. Reputation cards are tiered into bronze, silver, and gold levels, suggesting which era they should be achievable in. However, they are not restricted by era - this means that with some careful planning you might be able to grab a silver reward in era one, or a gold one in era two, putting you ahead of the curve!

BGG Hotness

In the last update, we asked you to interact with the Moon BGG page. You came out in sufficient numbers to rocket us up the Hotness from 40th position to 13th! This is amazing because it means people are being exposed to Moon who would have otherwise not seen it.

Can we keep it going up? Let's try thumbing this image. And yes, you did read it correctly, it's Beef Trees.

Villagers & Streets Add-ons

Some of you have been asking about making Villagers and Streets available as add-ons during the campaign. I had planned to wait & do this in the pledge manager because I need to be sure of the logistics, but if I can make sense of everything before the end of the campaign, I will seriously consider it. Would you like to be able to add Haakon's other games to your pledge? Let us know in the comments!

Alright, that's all from me for today. The whole team thanks every single 3500+ of you with every fibre of our beings!

Take care & play games,

Dave

Blasting Off // Stretch Goals
almost 2 years ago – Thu, Jul 14, 2022 at 04:42:04 AM

Hello everyone,

Once again, we are flabbergasted, which is an odd 18th Century English way of saying we are greatly surprised or astonished at the first few hours of this campaign :D

Thank you SO much to everyone who hovered over Kickstarter when we launched. Your obvious zeal for crowdfunding and quality tabletop gaming products saw Moon funded in 26 minutes, which is our fastest to date!

Stretch Goals!

Thrilled as we are with such a strong start, we have 20 days ahead of us, and with this in mind, we should probably talk about stretch goals. As has become our usual routine, we already know what stretch goals we want to unlock, and it's extremely unlikely that we'll stray from that plan. We have some very cool stuff lined up and we hope you enjoy what we have to offer as the campaign goes on!

As we've explained on the campaign page, some of our stretch goals only apply to the Deluxe edition of Moon. We want to keep the price of the Retail edition as low as possible, and this requires not adding extra components that will increase the production cost. Freight shipping is largely to blame for this - pre-pandemic we would need to allocate roughly £0.50 of the production budget for each game to ocean freight. Now, it's more like £2.50 per game, which has an even larger knock-on effect on the retail price. HOWEVER, we will include ALL gameplay extras (new cards etc.) with the Valkyrie expansion, which EVERYONE gets. This way, backers at the MOON // BASE pledge level still get the entire game. With the Deluxe edition, we have more room to increase production costs because we don't sell these copies into distribution at a 60% discount. I'm happy to discuss this and any other aspect of the production & logistics side of things in the comments, so don't be afraid to ask questions!

That's all for now - we will speak again very soon!

Take care & play games,

Dave

www.sinisterfish.com