Project overview
Game Description:
Earthenwar is a two-player fantasy board game where you use dice to magically control a Golem on a battlefield of the First World War.
The board itself is based on the Battle of Passchendaele in 1917. A trench at each side indicates the starting position of each Golem. Your Golem moves around No-man's-land between these trenches, delivering attacks in all directions.
The way in which you determine the moves of your Golem is the twist which makes the game unique and addictive!
Each player has a grid in which you must place dice. Dice determine moves according to their colour, number and position. There are only 8 places in your grid to put your dice - so you have to carefully manage which dice go where, and make calculated trade-offs as to what is the best arrangement.
The game comes into its own when you have multiple dice in your grid and use several in the same turn to deliver elaborate, and often devastating, combos to your opponent!
Games are short and punchy, but have a richness in their emergent puzzles which keep players coming back for more. (“What if all my dice are 3s? What if I only have attack dice? How many attacks can I land this turn?”)
The game was created by the Lazy Poets - but who are they?
- John and Peter have been playing games together for 20 years and have collaborated on the Alderney-Man comic, The Lazy Poets radio show and Lazy Poets Twitch stream.
- John was the lead designer of Crystal Hall, successfully Kickstarted in 2016 and published by Britain’s oldest Game Publisher, Gibsons in 2018.
- Peter is a storyteller, screenwriter, script reader and novelist.
How was the game developed?
- First conceived in an impromptu game jam at Peter’s house in 2016, Earthenwar has been a slow but unstoppable creative project - like a Golem itself!
- The game has been honed in the cauldron of creativity that is ‘ Playtest UK’ - a community of game designers who pull apart and rebuild the best new games in the UK.
- During lockdown, the game was refined by sending it on a world tour (and possibly the world’s largest game of Pass the Parcel!)In early 2021, the game was finally finished!
- Global talent has been recruited to bring the vision to life. The cover art has been designed by Colombian illustrator Pol Amaya, and the ceramic pieces have been designed by Canadian sculptor Jessica Sallay-Carrington and crafted by Kinver Ceramics in Worcestershire, England.
What do the reviewers say?
- “The ceramic golems have rocketed into my top five game components of all time, and I can’t think of any that would stop them from being number one off the top of my head! ...This board game is beautifully simplified, yet strategically complex.” - Nick at Board Game Review
- “Your golem feel like a big, heavy lump, akin to a giant battleship...The whole process of movement and attack is what makes Earthenwar so interesting and addictive.” Oliver at Tabletop Games Blog
- “It’s one of our favourite games for 2 players - it has a lot of strategy and we think these pieces are amazing” John at La Oficina de Juegos.
- “A really cool game. I haven’t played anything like this. It almost felt like advanced chess.” Richard at Jenders Gaming.
- “A rather clever strategy game, and it's versatile too” Boards Eye View.
Logistics
We are taking orders until 18th December. We aim to ship all orders Spring 2022.
Kickstarter Reward Tiers
Reward Tiers Based on Kickstarter Pledges.