Dead Reckoning Port of Call from AEG

A peek at some new Sea Dogs
4 months ago – Thu, Aug 08, 2024 at 08:28:38 AM

Ahoy Buccaneers,

We're here to give you a sneak peek at some of the Free Booty Sea Dogs you'll get with your reward if you are signed up for our Newsletter. If you haven't already, subscribe here, and when we're ready to ship we'll crosscheck our subscriber list with all backers and ship them free with your reward!

Yesterday I previewed some of the new Ships you'll get with Port of Call. They are double sided with a different ship on each side. Well, there's one Commander who's a bit of a strategist and wants to take advantage of both sides. 

You can start the game with a very Piracy driven ship and when you're ready to switch gears, you can flip your ship to a whole new setup. You'll get to keep all your cargo, coins and Ship upgrades and move them to new spots, even unstacking upgrades if you have room. I envision this like an old A-Team montage where the crew breaks down the ship and gives a whole new setup to help defeat the bad guys.

A-Team, anyone? Anyone remember that? :D 

The Old Salt has been studying the new exploding cannon technology and when he gets to Level 4, he'll turn all his cannons into Exploding versions. If you thought battles were crazy before, wait until you string together 4 or more exploding cannon shots!

The Blue Jackets tap into the new setup that Port of Call gives you as well. Since there are 2 sets of Sailors to choose from now when each player sits down to the table, and they are not designed to be mixed, John snuck in a way that will let you do just that. Once per game you'll get swap out one of your current crew cards with its alternate version at the same level. This lets you strategize with alternate sailor abilities in mind!

This Master Gunner is probably one of my favorite Sea Dogs ever. I LOVE mechanics that let you tear down or take damage as an alternate cost to gain some benefit. It's a fun and thematic thing to work around. I envision this crazy master gunner yelling at fools like Mr. T to teardown that mast because he's got a plan... (I'm sure some of you have seen the A-Team, right?)

And finally, we have the Quartermaster, always looking for an edge that his crew can exploit. The other Captains may have been counting on those points from an Achievement they've been working towards since the start of the game, but you've had other plans. Now you can flip that achievement to something that only you've been building towards, because every edge counts on the high seas!

That's all for today, I'll save the rest of the Sea Dog for you to discover when you get the product in your hands. Tomorrow is the last day of the campaign, and we want to thank all of you for backing and enjoying Dead Reckoning!

-First Mate Kirk

Port of Call - Asymmetrical Ship Boards!
4 months ago – Wed, Aug 07, 2024 at 12:29:19 PM

Ahoy Buccaneers!

First Mate Kirk here to share some information about the contents of Port of Call!

We're nearing the end of this voyage and we thought we'd share a few of the new asymmetrical ship abilities, while keeping a couple closely held as surprises. If you'd like to keep them all a surprise, tread no further!

There are 4 new ship boards that are double sided (8 new ships total). At the start of the game these are randomized and 1 ship board is dealt to each player. Each player gets to choose which side they use during the game. Note: If using Sea Dogs, the ship boards are dealt out first so players can see what 2 options they have and then Sea Dogs are drafted. This gives you more flexibility in drafting your Sea Dog and building a winning strategy.

John D Clair has provided some iconography to categorize each ship a bit to help suggest what type of strategy each ship starts out leaning towards, but you can always customize each with Ship Upgrades to combine, or change strategies as you play.

The crossed cutlasses indicate ships with more of a Piracy start, the yellow coins indicate a more Merchant start, and the Telescope is for more of an explorer's start to the game. There are 3 Piracy Ships, 2 Merchant Ships, and 3 Explorer ships.

The Pétardiére (Spitfire in French) is shown in the Rulebook, and is obviously a very offensive ship to begin the game. You begin the game VERY strong with 3 cannons and 2 sails, but you lack cargo capacity. Also, as the game progresses, upgrading your ship means deciding if you want to keep a cannon or sail, and merely upgrading to increase your cargo capacity, or changing the makeup of your ship and shifting strategies mid-game. Or just remain a ruthless captain and fight, fight, fight 'til the end!

The Scallywag is a Merchant captain's dream! The built in ability to drop an influence cube every turn makes island control and production a very strong strategy. You start off a little slower (fewer sails) so you'll want to upgrade your crew and ship with more sails to begin exploring further islands to trade with. Astute captains will notice that the Scallywag has an extra Ship Upgrade slot at the back of the ship. All of the ships in Port of Call, except the Pétardiére above, have this extra slot, giving you more customization during your adventure.

The Höllenshlund (Hellmouth in German) lets you stay out to sea and explore, needing less trips into port to pick up cargo as it will scoop up 2 cargo every turn for free. There's an interesting tension with your cargo capacity as you can store those first 2 free, but hoarding without upgrades will cost you movement. Easily one of my favorites, I love being able to pick up advancements for my crew without having to head home as often!

And finally, since the Pétardiére was basically spoiled in the rulebook, We'll share one more Piracy themed ship, the Indomptable (Indomitable in French). With the ability to repair 1 damage every turn, you'll want to be picking fights early and often, racking up those Piracy Achievement points.

We'll save the details of the other 4 ships for when you get Port of Call into your hands.

Tomorrow, We'll share some of the new Sea Dogs from the Free Booty giveaway! Until then, stay salty you scurvy dogs!

-First Mate Kirk

Build Your Own Bundle Reward & back from Gen Con!
4 months ago – Tue, Aug 06, 2024 at 05:15:10 PM

Attention on Deck Legendary Captains!

We've sailed the salty seas, and braved the Easterly winds to make it back from the perilous adventures of Gen Con! It was a resounding success, and we've added many new brave captains to the Dead Reckoning fold!

There have been a lot requests for a Game-Play only reward, along with many other more custom bundles tailored to previous backers needs, so we've come up with a way to answer those requests with a $10 discount in one magic bundle:

Now you can build a game-play only bundle, or ANY bundle you want with a $45 minimum cost to you, and get $10 credit towards more stuff!

This bundle can include anything from this campaign except the Captain's Chest, which has its own discounts and subsidized shipping built into the Port of Call & Captain's Chest reward and the All-in Reward. If you pledge for the Build Your Own Bundle Reward on Kickstarter you won't be able to change it in the pledge manager on BackerKit.

You can pledge $45 now, and after the campaign, in the pledge manager on BackerKit you will have $55 in credit on your order.

It's OK to pre-build your bundle on Kickstarter. Whatever you add-on will be charged on Kickstarter and your balance on BackerKit will be adjusted. If for some reason you end up with a credit due we'll issue refunds as a part of our fulfillment process.

Or, you can just pay $45 on Kickstarter, select this Reward, and manage all your Add-ons in BackerKit after the campaign ends (which, frankly, is probably the easiest thing to do).

This Reward will not be available in the pledge manager on BackerKit even if you chose the $5 "Guaranteed Access to the Pledge Manager" Reward. If you want to Build Your Own Bundle, you must select this Reward while the Kickstarter is running.

1st Day Thank you, and some Ship Upgrade storage goodness!
4 months ago – Mon, Jul 29, 2024 at 08:36:59 PM

Hello Buccaneers,

Thank you so much for an amazing first day, we're very excited about the Port of Call expansion. It adds some really cool stuff for your adventures on the High Seas.

When John brought his first designs to us and there was a whole new crew, new asymmetrical ships, and exploding cubes that made battles even more epic, I couldn't wait to dig in and play. The cubes added quite a bit of hooting and hollering to our battles as they can just keep going, and going–it reminded me of my days as a casino dealer when there was a hot roller on the craps table.

We're also happy about the response to the Captain's Chest, we are going all-in on making the most deluxe version possible with a design from our new friend, and industrial designer extraordinaire, Dan Cunningham. He has spent weeks with John and I coming up with a system that makes setup quick and tidy for both breaking out the game and putting it away.

I've promised in the comments to share more info as we begin the prototyping process to make sure everything works, will last, and is super deluxe. Remember that you are getting a peak at how the sausage is made, so what you see in these early stages will be tested, revamped, and redesigned to make sure the final product lives up to our high expectations.

First up, is a recent render from Dan showing how the vacuform trays that will hold Ship Upgrades work. These 3 trays will have their own drawer in the chest, and you can pull them out, remove the snap-on lid and use them on the table for quick access. Dan designed a nice little angle-dip on the side opposite the finger-cut so you can press down on the stack, and pop them up to more easily grab the tile you need:

I'm off to Gen Con this week, but next week, I'm expecting an update from our manufacturer with a proof of concept for the wooden box with the drawers that I'll share with you. 

Until then, I'll see you in the comment section (a little less often from Wed-Sunday as I wander the floor- but I'll check in in short bursts and before bed).

- First Mate Kirk