Looking over at the page, it has nine or so hours left to go before it funds. They've got about 20k left to go on a 500k ask, so they're close. I said I would say what was up with it, and I never did, partly because I'm a bad person but also because no that's why.
One of Golem Arcana's primary goals is to make wargaming something everybody can do. People at that company have already revolutionized gaming on the tabletop three or four times at my last count, so they're good for it - but one of the things I like most about wargaming is the Arcana: that is to say, the secrets and mysteries. The tomes and chin-stroking, the unearthing of some esoteric bullshit that has within it the molecule of victory. But I still backed it, for two reasons.
The first is that I agree with its mission. I think a lot of people, including a lot of gamers, are actually wargamers who simply never had the opportunity. Painting is intimidating as fuck. What's even more intimidating is hauling a tacklebox full of treasured minis to the "friendly local game store" to play against strangers who all seem to have slightly different levels of rigor regarding rules questions and measurement. This game, whose primary differentiator is a stylus that communicates game data and position to an impartial tablet or phone, hacks down a lot of that stuff in one fell swoop and heaps it to burn. It's informed by boardgames, but isn't one - it's definitely in the wargame continuum, and a skirmishy volume of on-table plastic makes every maneuver count.
Two, I think this would be a blast with my son. Or with children in general, really. I think they'll like the wand, and the spooky figures. They'll like playing a game for Big People with mom and dad, and a lot of the wobble and hassle of a traditional game of this type just boils away with electronic adjudication. And ten years from now, when they're putting brush to plastic to better serve the Emperor of Mankind, well, you'll know why.
(CW)TB
