So let me get this straight: you are making a game of mechanical robots... but in the past. A game of battling with giant mechanical robots, made up of train engines and cogs? A game where you harness the power of steam to fuel your weapons, bit by bit, to bring them to maximum power againstyour foes?
Yes, please.
I haven't quite seen a game before like Heavy Steam; perhaps its why I've taken so long to getting around to writing this. Its not that it is a bad game: in fact, it looks absolutely amazing, and yet again Kickstarter will be siphoning money from me with the promise of future games to my door. Why do I keep doing this to myself? It goes back again to the Penny Arcade Expo, when I was surrounded by so many innovative game designs and concepts to try and experiment with and become addicted to by the end of the weekend.
How to summarize Heavy Steam? Its a concept that is fantastic - and a little intimidating - in its execution. On a battle ground, you and your opponent meet with a steam titan, One on one. However, it doesn't stay that way very long, as your machines engines begin to produce steam: the all powerful resource that allows you to do everything in the game. Yes, you can work to start smashing your opponent to bits, surging forward and powering your favorite weapon right away. However, then the steam that you have allocated to those pistons and weapons is gone, spent, and you have to wait for more.
I have to keep going back to fascinating, genius, and daunting to describe what is being done here. You really, truly feel as though you are in control of your machine as you play this game. Steering it, choosing where its power runs. You can spent steam also to buy cards and summon reinforcements in the way of regular infantry and mortars to act independently of your titan as you do this. In that scenario I described above, you might make it to your foe and start firing all weapons, but by then your opponent might have a firing line waiting for you; even worse, while you have had one weapon charged, they were steadily building up steam in all of their weapons. If you can't cripple them in the first shot, you are probably in for a world of pain.
This is your character sheet. You have a lot of thinking to do about using that precious power.
Greenbrier games has a small reputation for trying new things, for fleshing out board game concepts that often are more hurried affairs elsewhere. Zpocalaypse is a zombie game, sure, but it isn't about just that mad dash through town, but how to scavenge and survive. You get that same feeling here: this could have been a war game where all you do is roll dice with large steam robots...but it isn't, its something more nuanced. I was fortunate enough to play a small round of the game with its designer, Scott Kimball, and we talked about how he had wanted to really put you in a place where you felt you had control.
In his own words:
"I really wanted to capture how the inner workings of large, military vessel affect the effectiveness and combat capability of that vessel. Whether it be a battleship, a death star or a giant steam mech, how the resources of that vessel are allocated and directed (men, supplies, ammo, energy) are bigger decisions in the end than choosing where to move the vessel or what to fire its weapons at. If the right choices aren't made for the former, the later never even happen! It was these resource decisions that I wanted to simulate in my game, and then represent the results of those decisions out on the battlefield."
It is a very great take on a genre of board games which is usually about that end result - the weapons blasting, the explosions that occur. Its refreshing to see this change around, and while I know this is not going to be an easy game to learn, it also looks to be a game that is highly rewarding when you grease all the wheels just right.
The weapons are equipable, and the miniatures are working towards having arms you cansnap off and exchange armaments on. Really cool.
The Kickstarter for this game is near its end, and its so very close to being funded: just a few more to knock it over the top. Thinking about my love of wargames, I find myself unable to look away - it is a board game that captures that nuance and feeling of investment that many miniature games try to cultivate on their own. It looks to be a great game, and for those of you who really want to sit down and get into the gritty details of how a machine, how a well oiled team has to work on the battlefield, this game is for you.
Here is the link to the Kickstarter - now excuse me while I fund this with the remants left of my wallet from PAX East 2014. Yet again, the money is worth it.
-Wyatt
