ARMORED CORE Board Game Coming to KickStarter
Board game version of Dark Soul’s Dev’s Armored Core Announced
The long running video game franchise continues in the world’s first RTS board game.
No dice, no turns, no waiting, in Armored Core™ RTS, players pilot miniature mech models simultaneously through a 3D cityscape. They dodge around corners, boost to the rooftops, and activate weapons at the same time to capture the speed and action of the video games.
How is this possible? The developers incorporated a variety of mechanics but the largest innovation is an LED pointer built into each miniatures’ base to provide instantaneous line of sight.. Physical buildings provide cover from the lights.
About the Game
This officially licensed board game version of Armored Core™ is for 2 to 4 players (expandable to 6), and has been specifically designed to be fast to setup, fast to teach and fast to play.
Between the 20 minute missions, players spend the rewards they earn for accomplishing objectives to upgrade their mechs and equipment. Like the video games players are able to customize their mech according to their play-style and team role. Over the course of the campaign teams will strive to accomplish objectives for their faction in order to become the ultimate ‘Ravens’.
About the Publisher
The publisher, Bad Crow Games, is a consortium of Utah board game designers and entrepreneurs. They finalized their license agreement with FROM Software early 2016 but have been developing this board game around Armored Core since 2014. Their stated goal is to create board games that actually get played rather than grow dust in the gaming closet. To accomplish this, they designed their RTS system for Armored Core™ RTS to be taught to casual gamers in five minutes or less.
“The trick,” says the lead designer,” is having something so simple also provide the depth to keep players coming back for more. The Armored Core franchise was perfect for this, as it incorporates fast action in short missions followed by intense customization. We get new players piloting their mechs and shooting weapons in 5 minutes. Later they can sink their teeth into buying new parts and upgrading equipment. The multi-mission campaign creates a narrative that connects the 20 minute missions, so there is always something to return to, to try your latest equipment on.”
Cooperative Expansion
In addition to the base game, the KickStarter will include an optional cooperative expansion titled A.I. Unleashed, which allows players to play solo or with a team against the game itself through a special campaign. Using an A.I. deck of cards, the game prioritizes different types of targets and determines how it goes about attacking them.
“We are extremely pleased with how the cooperative system turned out. It does play a little more methodical than the team vs team, but it was worth it to provide a cool cooperative option for those that don’t like a lot of competition,” says the lead designer. “We separated out the cooperative rules and components into their own expansion to keep the price of the base game very affordable.”
