When I was about 18 I had a dream of designing a tabletop game based on Armored Core, where players would custom-build their own mechs and take them into battle against each other. I even designed a few cards for it, then got distracted with college and life and forgot all about it. It's now [redacted] years later, and I just saw a game at PAX East that brought those memories flooding back.
Speaking of childhood memories, who else just remembered the big box of random Legos you used to have?
Snap-Snap, Pew-Pew
Snap Ships Tactics is a game where, as you might have guessed by now, you build a fleet and take it into battle against your opponent's fleet. Each ship comes in a kit that you can buy individually, but you can also take the ships apart to create your own custom builds. Every ship part has a corresponding card with its abilities and costs on it, so you can design your perfect ship using those and then assemble the model to play with.
Or you could build something that looks awesome and then see what it can do.
How to Pew-Pew
The goal of Snap Ships Tactics is to blast the enemy ships to pieces (literally). You do this through careful planning, precise maneuvering, and rolling lots of dice. The most obvious comparison here is Star Wars: X-Wing, but despite having some similar mechanics, the feel of Snap Ship Tactics is completely different. Because you can't suddenly put on a burst of speed, and turning is fairly hard to do, it handles more like a naval battle than a dogfight.
Here I cleverly use an ice cloud for cover, which utterly fails to protect me from Adam's missile barrage.
Coming to Kickstarter... Soon...?
Snap Ships actually already exists as a line of model ships, which you can (of course) take apart and reassemble however you want. There's even lore and an AR app for it. However, an upcoming Kickstarter campaign aims to bring these ships from the shelf to the table. We've been informed that you'll be able to either buy the models & cards, or just the cards if you've already got the models. We don't know yet what the buy-in levels will be, but can tell you that they were selling their 14 existing ships as a package deal at PAX for $230 (individual ships range from under $10 to around $40). We also don't know exactly when the campaign will start, but were told "within the next couple of months," so we'll keep tabs on this.
All in all, Snap Ships Tactics is a really cool game, and built on a concept that's very close to my heart, so it's well worth keeping an eye on.
Head Writer
Since as far back as I can remember I’ve loved escapism. From games to books, anything that could show me a shinier and more exciting world has always fascinated me. That carries over into my gaming in no small way. I like my games intense, exciting, fast-paced and action-packed; on the other hand, I’m still a total sucker for anything that pulls at the heartstrings. If it’s fun or funny, I want to experience and share it.
Since as far back as I can remember I’ve loved escapism. From games to books, anything that could show me a shinier and more exciting world has always fascinated me. That carries over into my gaming in no small way. I like my games intense, exciting, fast-paced and action-packed; on the other hand, I’m still a total sucker for anything that pulls at the heartstrings. If it’s fun or funny, I want to experience and share it.
