In my younger days, I liked science, math and science fiction. History seemed boring (as it was presented to me). Now, in my later years, I am finding out that history can be quite intriguing and exciting! Take one of the heroes in Rogue Angels for example:
Memnon
I actually am in the middle of a campaign where he is on my Heroes Team (along with Laelia).
So, it was exciting (for me anyway) to find out that there really was a “Memnon” in ancient history!
When I am not playing games, I have several other projects, including creating an online index to the art included in the Word on Fire Bible. Working on this index really bumped up my appreciation for both the art (from over the centuries, even millennia) and its history! I finished indexing the first two volumes (with over 100 works of art indexed, including photos, videos and articles). I am working on the third volume right now and on page 260 the work of art was a statue of the “Younger Memnon”!
Wow!
For your quick reference, here is the index page for that work of art:
True! I know from my own experience playing on my own. It is intriguing as well as interesting. It is strategic and tactical yet luck plays it’s own hand in the game as well.
It would have been great if it only came with just four heroes to choose from. But Emil (the main designer) made it extremely extravagant. He elegantly expanded the game to provide SIXTEEN well balanced heroes to choose from!
If you play the game solo, you need to control two heroes. This was not a problem at all in my experience since the game plays so smoothly.
But look at the variety available to a solo player (as well as to a two player game). Look at the number of combination of two heroes that you can make:
If you start with Adryel, you have fifteen different combinations as you can match him up with each of the remaining 15 heroes.
Digital production is progressing as planned! (yay) Lots of new stuff!
More inspiring character designs from Linggar:
Examples: a Templar warrior, a Champion, a converted Changeling and a civilian hybrid (you should meet them during gameplay)
Next … Przemek has designed a few more maps for the game:
Plus, Gunship Revolution has created more illustrations for Action Cards:
There should be another 20 coming soon! They will be part of Action Cards like these:
And Laslo Hohenwald also created two more miniature models:
Emil uses Excel spreadsheets to keep track of the story pages and now has about 740 pages completed! The ending for Chapter 4 includes a significant milestone (no spoilers here though)! [Len’s note: The snapshot of just a small portion of one of his spreadsheets should let you know that we have a genius developing this game]
And if that isn’t enough, here is an example of a mission flowchart (many of the choices offered are included in this snapshot):
Lisa and Martin continue finalizing the hero stories plus the 4 extra Action cards that each hero will gain access to during gameplay. Six of the heroes are completed and seven more have folders with development notes.
Daniel from Piratical Creative had this to say:
And Nate from Nightwatch Reviews wrote this: “This game is definitely on my radar and should be on yours as well. The art alone should draw your eyes if you are into anything related to sci-fi (e.g. Star Wars, Mass Effect, Star Trek, etc).”
Rogue Angels was at Fastaval in Denmark:
Plus it will be at two more events in Denmark in April (NitriCon in Hadersleve on the 6th and Sci-fi Con in Randers on the 11-12th)
REMEMBER … Late Pledge is still available for anyone who has not pledged to get the game yet!
My six decades of playing board games was mixed with hundreds (thousands) of trips to the library (I love reading) and watching movies and shows (mostly Science Fiction). I remember watching the original Star Trek when it was first broadcast. While in grade school I used to ride my bike on a 5 mile trip to the public library to check out as many books as they would allow. The next week I would return them and check out another bundle of books (mostly Science Fiction I think). I’m sure the bike riding was good exercise for me, but it was the books!!! It was the books!!! I could sit and read for hours. I remember reading The Lord of the Rings trilogy (and The Hobbit) and liking it so much that I made my own 3D map of that “world”.
Well, thanks to my daughter inviting me and buying me tickets, I just found out that the Lord of the Rings movie trilogy is back in the theaters! Movies like this need to be seen on the big (huge) screen! Marcus theaters have a special reduced price system to see the three movies in their system called Passport which lets you see all three movies for just $12 (plus get a 20% concessions discount with Reward member number).
Then on the Marcus Theaters PASSPORT page I noticed that they had a similar offer to see all episodes of season 4 of The Chosen (not available on DVD or streaming yet) for just $15 (and 25% concessions discount). So I am going to see all 8 episodes of The Chosen on the three days prior to Easter now too!
I am rewatching seasons 1, 2 and 3 now to get back in sync before going to see season 4. You can watch all the shows in these three seasons for free from their website (as well as on YouTube):
While I truly believe that playing board games can enrich your life (see more below), The Chosen can enrich your spirit… and personally, I needed that right now! It relates the story of the Gospels from the Bible in a way that makes them come alive. I appreciate the time and effort (and financial cost) that went into creating the stories of Jesus’s life along with his apostles and followers (and Pharisees, Romans, etc). And what was extremely interesting is that they gave the show away for free on their streaming site! They funded it mainly with donations (kind of like Kickstarter) and at the end of season one they included the names of the donors! You can see them here in this YouTube video (queued to the right spot):
And now, back to enriching your lives by playing board games… I queued up this documentary to a spot that says this extremely well:
Scroll down under the YouTube video and read some of the comments! Board games actually really do impact peoples lives!
It is important to remember the Enemy Standards and Enemy Priorities, so I formatted them to fit perfectly on a card the same size as the Enemy Behavior Cards. I also formatted other important information about the enemy behavior to also fit that size.
Simply print, then cut out the top row (of two cards) and bottom row (of two cards). Fold each in half and insert into the same size card sleeve that you use to protect the Enemy Behavior Cards (see article=>Card Sleeve Info)
In this video I take a look at MAPS and CHARACTERS and compare Rogue Angels to three other well done games (Pandemic Legacy, Artisans of Splendent Vale and ISS Vanguard).
You still can get in on this great game via Late Pledge on Gamefound. There are no added cost add-ons or expansions. One price is for everything! =>Rogue Angels on Gamefound
Highlights, clarifications and extended comments are below this video window!
Highlights (and clarifications and additions):
Very well designed. Looking at Maps and Heroes. To see how well Rogue Angels is designed it may be beneficial to look at a few other well designed games (as points of comparison).
Pandemic Legacy has one map (that you sticker as you play) and 5 characters (to start with … but we ended up with 10 characters to choose from each game after we played through the campaign). Characters have cards that you can sticker as you play. Stickers can allow benefits to other characters with the same sticker. You also can add bonus abilities via stickers but you also might have to put on a sticker that reduces their benefits! While each character has a special ability (or two) there really isn’t any “story” for them. They are just a card that gives us those abilities. Rogue Angels utilizes this sticker aspect for character abilities.
Artisans of Splendent Vale has 35 maps and 4 characters. Actually, in addition the 35 maps in the spiral bound book there is one large fold out map just like the old road maps that we used to use to plan our trips and see where we were as we drove to distant locations. While having 35 maps sounds impressive, it was a mixed bag (for me anyway). The maps have wonderful art … but the art obscured the grid of squares, rectangles, hexes or circles and at times I couldn’t even tell where the spots were that my character would be moving through! The 4 characters don’t have “cards”. They have folded character sheets (that are very unique)… and character books… and character boxes! Each of the characters have their own quirks and abilities and we do get to know and follow them through the game. Each character has their own book that is several hundred pages long (pages are not numbered). However, these books present the long story that we become part of and much of each book is simply a duplicate of the books for the other three characters. However, there are places where only book has a certain map or view of a map or a bit of the story. Rogue Angels has something like this but places characters interactions and dialog in six campaign books (over 1,000 pages). As you play the game you get to know your character as their story unfolds for you. Rogue Angels takes that one step further in that you get to know your character as you play through the game … however, in Rogue Angels it is YOUR choices made that develop your character but creating their very own four quadrant personality grid PLUS a chart of their relationships with other characters in the game!
ISS Vanguard has 32 maps and 90 characters (crew members). Each crew member has a special ability (and a convert skill), but very minimal story (which does not evolve as you play (however for an added cost you can get the Personnel Files add-on that has a page or of added story (and a quest) for each of the characters). Rogue Angels takes that aspect (of an added story) and runs with it by letting our character develop during the game based on our choices and decisions (and mission outcomes). With ISS Vanguard you never can use the same character in two successive missions, so you can’t really identify well with them. You play the same character for the entire campaign with Rogue Angels. As for the maps … there are many (32). The use of the map in ISS Vanguard is different than Pandemic Legacy (where you move from city to city) or Artisans of Splendent Vale (where you move across and around a changing grid system). A map in ISS Vanguard has a wonderful background graphic and between 3 and 10 rectangle spaces that your characters move between. So there is very little moving about, but when you arrive on a space there often is something that happens (such as reading a log or changing the POI card). In Rogue Angels, moving (and maneuvering) about the map is strategic and essential.
Now … with that background from other nicely designed games, let’s look at maps and characters (heroes as well as a glance at enemies) in Rogue Angels:
There are 16 heroes (characters) to choose from as you get ready to start a campaign. Each hero has a character sheet that includes a four quadrant personalty grid. As you play the game your decisions and choices made (as well as mission outcomes) often will result in you being instructed to color in one of the white bars in one of the personality quadrants (see article=>Which Hero is Your Type? ). Gradually, through your choices, your hero becomes more or less of each type: Dominating, Inspiring, Cautions, Supportive as identified by expanding colored bars in each of those quadrants:
For each white bar you color in you will get one token of that color at the start of each mission (thus, you are deciding how your hero will likely be able to help in upcoming missions via these four types of personality).
Next examples of how Shields and Focus (typically for rerolling dice) change from one hero to another (and how Memnon has one permanent shield).
Next examples of using Damage Cards. They typically are placed on your cool down track on the spot that matches the number in the top left of the card. If one of your action cards is there, it is returned to your hand and the Damage Card is placed in that spot. If there already is a Damage Card in that spot, then the card is place in the next slot to the right. If there are no available slots to the right (either there are no more spots or they are already filled with Damage Cards) then you character goes unconscious (ie, your hero is NOT killed) and no longer gets a turn until one of the other heroes come to “heal” them (healing means removing 1 or more damage cards from the cool down track). Laelia is the one hero that can ignore the first time she should go unconscious on a turn (but does go unconscious the second time that turn). She has this ability to ignore going unconscious on every turn!
There will be 88 different maps for Rogue Angels. Each will be different. There is not one map per mission (ie, there will not be 88 missions). Sometimes during a mission you will be instructed to switch maps. Other times during a mission you will be told update the current map (but adding a door or enemies, etc).
Enemy standees have their stats printed on them. The first number is the range that the enemy can attack from. The second number on the top is movement (how many squares can they move on their turn). The red number in the middle is how much damage they inflict when they hit you. The number in the bottom left is the amount of shields that they have to block your attacks. The final number at the bottom right is their health (or hit points) indicating how many hits it takes to destroy them.
One aspect (of many) that is extremely well done in Rogue Angels is that you don’t just run around the map shooting enemies. Often it is preferred (or even required) that you sneak around (go into stealth mode) where you try to never have any of your heroes be in the line of sight of any of the enemies. In some missions if you kill or remove an enemy, they will “respawn” back into the game (there will be a respawning square for them). This may affect how you strategize … what tactics you use to get through the mission successfully.
Good Progress on most fronts, but a bit short of the goal
Chapter 4 story feels very satisfying and has both new openings and conclusions based on previous choices. This is what the flowchart to just one section / mission in chapter 4 looks like:
And here is a part of the 33,509 spreadsheet cells that are used to manage the game flow:
And here is how designing the game using InDesign looks:
Emil and his family has been sick for the past week, but he did write 55 new pages before that.
Linggar has delivered more amazing artwork for enemy encounters!
This is a Neomorph Soldier and a Templar. Next is an “unspecified character” and an “unspecified Ronin”
Here how they have been adapted to their standees:
Meanwhile, Przemek is working on new maps. Here is a quick peek at some:
And Angelita has been working on characters in the story. To prevent spoilers, some are not shown here and all the names are removed (and they are just thumbnails):
Plus Gunship Revolution has made great progress as well.
These will be merged into Hero cards!
Lisa and Martin are kept in the loop and have been progressing the individual character stories. Here is an example for Laelia:
Peder from Malts Meeples did a playthrough of mission C5: =>Mission C5 Playthrough
Then he posted a playthrough of mission C6: =>Mission C6 Playthrough
Colton from Board Game Officer mentioned Rogue Angels on the Man vs Meeples Crowdfunding news: =>Excited for Rogue Angels (queued to the right spot)
Alex from BoardGameCo speaking of games he played: =>Games Played in 2023 (queued to the right spot)[Polish] On Table news about Rogue Angels =>Rogue Angels news [Polish]
Derrick from Canje Studios does a playthrough: =>Solo Playthrough
And thanks to James, Rogue Angels was at Winter Con!
Qorox has two Action Cards that deal unblockable damage. He has the most shields of all the heroes plus almost the most scar circles as well. Plus four of his Action Cards include an “IF” clause (like a possible bonus) that I kept forgetting to take when I played Qorox in my first campaign.
Key Three:
Special Ability: Take the damage from an enemy instead of an adjacent hero (likewise, has an Action Effect Card that has enemies target him instead of fellow heroes IF he is a valid target)
Shields and Scars: Has the most shields and 2nd most available scar circles
Weapon Action Card: Deals 2 unblockable (or more with die roll) damage PLUS if you destroy the enemy, also gain 2 focus!
My Rogue Angels 