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@nyrath still so bloody good value after all these years. The big version makes it so much easier too.... gotta paint those minis me thinks.
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The entire tabletop gaming industry is just going to get murdered now, isn't it? And especially the part of it dependent on crowdfunding.
Not that RPGs and boardgames are the most important thing in the world right now but, eh, I care about them.
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Steve Jackson Games publicly does the math on the crushing tariffs on games printed and manufactured abroad.
https://www.sjgames.com/ill/archive/April_03_2025/Tariffs_Are_Driving_Up_Game_Prices_Now
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Last night we were over at the Leiden University board game society demoing the Acrux star board game.
This is the latest near final prototype with the box and folding board.
The rules are solidifying now but the students suggested one interesting variation we are going to try out.
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Does anyone have experience with board game fullfillment? Printing games is not the issue - I'm looking for a reliable and affordable company to handle shipping.
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I have seen so many boring #boardgames played on triangular, square and hexagon grids. Even a few played on octagon grids. Time for one played on a nonagon grid?
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Update: for those interested in my Acrux star board game. The latest prototype (board, box and card deck) has gone to the printer (Azao Games) in Belgium.
The other smaller components are arriving from numerous places this week.
After vacillating between hexagonal pieces or a playing mat, I decided to go with a traditional quad folding board for this prototype. Curious to see how legible that will be.
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We played 2p #SETI for the first time tonight (we'll finish it next week), it's pretty fun! Very thematic and very thinky (and very nice to look at too). #boardgames
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I am using a poster as the game board for my Acrux star game prototype. Definitely the cheapest option but requires an awkward poster tube when transporting the game.
This week I split the game board into 15 puzzle pieces, printed them on sticker paper, stuck them on 3mm foam board and cut them up with a sharp knife.
Here is the assembled result.
In production this would be done with a die cutter and even someone else might have done better with a knife.
I really hacked it up. 馃槤
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We're now two-thirds of the way to the 100 euros we need to make the new improved Acrux star board game prototype. I'm hoping that we can raise the remaining amount today and I can start work on it this weekend.
Thank you to everyone who has contributed so far. We just need a few more tips to put us over the top (and for me to stop nagging you!)
Please help: https://tiptopjar.com/kevinjardine
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All set up at today's Dutch game fair in Amersfoort. #boardgames
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Game design nostalgia.
Ever since the first Gaia Mission data release in September 2016 I have been working on prototypes to use the data in a star-themed board game.
There have been three major versions:
Achernar, which includes relativistic velocity and time dilation
Guniibuu, which focuses on stars within 10 parsecs of the Sun, and
Acrux, which focuses on stars within or near the Local Bubble (about 400 parsecs from the Sun) and adds research stations and trading posts.
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This Saturday, my star-themed board game, Acrux, based on data from ESA's Gaia and Hipparcos survey missions, will have its public debut at the Dutch Board Games Association (Ducosim) game fair in Amersfoort. I am busy improving my prototype to make it look as good as possible! #boardgames #astronomy #gaiamission
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Introducing new player boards and aids for the Acrux star board game. Looking less and less like a prototype and more like a real game.
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My Acrux board game set up for play. The new action card feature where you are allowed to buy up to three cards that give you one-time powers like jumping to any star or emptying an opponent's ore supply has turned out to be very popular.
After six months of play testing I think the game is basically finished so I am now looking at ways to promote it and find a publisher.
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I just found this worker-owned publisher company that makes these apparently amazing #boardGames: Space Cats Fight Fascism, Co-opoly the Game of Cooperatives, Strike! The Game of Worker Rebellion, Community Garden the Board Game... I can foresee lots of fun!!
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My wife has been helping me add more competitive interaction features to the Acrux board game using a new set of action cards and more trading posts. First run through was encouraging! Expands the area control aspect of the game.
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At the suggestion of our latest play testers, I added a star system legend on my Acrux game playing board at the upper right. The board is looking pretty good so I am considering having a quad fold version printed in Belgium.
The Acrux prototype is looking more and more like a real board game!
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We just finished playing the last few turns of our game of Terraforming Mars from last week and it was INSANE - Final score was 199 to 159 (I lost 馃槥 ) but that's still my best score by far. Almost the entire board was filled up too - mostly by my opponent John, who unleashed a deluge of cities and forests (12 cities were placed in total in the last three turns of the game!). On the card side, I was doing a lot with the Floaters, John was big on the animals/life cards. I did manage to pull off some big plays in the last few turns - I think we ended up playing for a total of 13-15 generations? I was vastly outmatched in points from what I call the "ground game" (cities and forests) but aside from that we wouldn't have been too far apart in points. I just find it hard to concentrate on both the cards and the ground game - I tend to just stick with one (usually the cards) and leave it til too late to start actually terraforming Mars itself. John did also start with two Preludes that gave him a big leg up in starting production too which probably helped him a lot.
Still I don't feel too bad about that considering that's my best score so far and I felt like I knew what I was doing. Maybe four intervening years of gaming experience was useful 馃槉
#boardgames #scifi
(incidentally the digital version and DLC is on sale on Steam until 25th November so grab that while you can!)
Terraforming Mars, final board
Terraforming Mars - my opponent is red and green because he ran out of marker cubes of one colour! (I'm the black cubes).