Directive: Invasion! Map Tiles

Unlike other 4x games, Directive doesn't randomly distribute it's map tiles, but instead allows players to place them one after another.
This means you can try to set the terrain to your advantage, while your opponents are attempting to do the same.

Horrors First Playtest

We finished up our first full Horrors play test this week. A few things need to be tweaked, new mechanics introduced, and some skills were added while others removed. Overall, things went well and people had fun.
Click read more for the breakdown of the game.

To add new mechanics to Directive: Invasion!

When the Mars kickstarter was going it gave Directive: Invasion some downtime. And whenever something I'm working on has down time I will, without fail, find something to add to it.
One of these new mechanics will definitely be added to the main game, the other... well, I haven't decided yet.

Happy Thanksgiving

Can't post new entry, eating turkey.

Things to fix next kickstarter

Mistakes I Made This Last Kickstarter

So the Mars kickstarter didn't make it, although it came close and got a bunch of backers. I'm going to make a few changes and try again next year. I started realizing mistakes I had made after the first week, and I'm not going to do that again, I hope.

I'm still alive

Hello everyone, sorry I missed last week. Its been a bit crazy over here trying to get the word out about the Mars Kickstarter, which has 6 days left if you haven't pledged already.


I was going to have some fiction for you today, but its not finished yet. I will have it for you next week, so look forward to that.


I guess there isn't really much to this entry.
Oh I did a Q&A for Mars that you can now read if you missed it.
http://gmshoe.wordpress.com/2014/11/11/qa-preston-poland-the-robotic-age-mars/

Otherwise... yeah, nothing much today. Once the kickstarter is over I will be back to more interesting updates.

Third Game announcement!

As I mentioned before, I had planned to announce my third game about now, and with Halloween tomorrow this seems as good a time as ever.
Click Read More to find out what it is.

The Robotic Age: Mars NOW ON KICKSTARTER!

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1842635065/the-robotic-age-mars

Did you know The Robotic Age: Mars is now on kickstarter? Because it is.

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1842635065/the-robotic-age-mars

State of the Games

Short Version

• Directive: Invasion delayed to early 2015
• The Robotic Age: Mars kickstarter begins next week!
• Third project will be announced in the Oct 30th blog.

Long Version

New Rules for Mars

As you might expect there are a number of new rules in Mars. Some will be new upgrades, some will be only for vehicles and mecha, but a few are new rules that are universal. They apply to just about everyone and should even be included in regular Robotic Age games.

Click Read More for some preview universal rules you can use right now in your Robotic Age games. There might also be a surprise at the end...

The aliens of Directive: Invasion!

The galaxy holds countless worlds full of life, but there are only a dozen species that are capable of interstellar travel. Most species have trouble understanding their own cultural differences, let alone those from a completely different world. Because of this xenophobia, each species knows very little about each other and prefers to keep it that way.  

Fiction: The Goddess

Sorry for this one being a day late, Wednesday and Thursday just flew by me. Lots of work happening on all the projects over here.

So today I present some of my original fiction after the jump cut. More game stuff next week.

The human resistance and how you score

The Human Resistance

  Directive: Invasion! comes with a deck of cards that represent what the human resistance is doing at the start of each turn. These cards affect everyone in the game and are almost always negative. One turn the humans might steal weapons from your troops, lowering their attack value, or maybe they will bomb an outpost thus removing it from play, or just maybe they will get on board the mother ship and try to disable the engines. 

In the long run the human resistance are much more than an annoyance, with all their effects temporary. However a clever alien can use these attacks to their advantage, swooping into his opponent when they are weak and vulnerable. 

Player Actions Directive: Invasion

While playing Directive: Invasion each player gets a Mother Ship Board, giving details about your species' attributes, ability, and different actions your mother ship can take each turn. Lets look at the mother ship for the Greys.

Mars Art

Art Preview

Vehicles, Mutants, and Psychic Powers

Vehicles, Mutants, and Psychic Powers

Mars Antagonists

Mars is a wild planet, owned by no one and each city claiming it's own set of laws. This has lead to a large number of different groups each vying for control and power.

Directive: Invasion! Game Basics

Week 2, still going strong!

So the game starts off with the players randomly picking their alien race and the Directives they will use to score points. After that the players will be taking turns laying Terrain and Monument tiles to build the game board. This means the game board is different every game and changes in size based on the number of players.

About this blog and first looks at Directive: Invasion!

So this is my first blog, ever. As some of you might have guessed, I'm a bit of a recluse when it comes to social media. I'm more of a lurker then a poster most of the time.

Well this blog is going to change that as every Thursday (yes I know this one is late) I will post updates for the current games I am working on, news or reviews I may feel are relevant, and maybe even some short fiction if i'm in the mood.

At the top of the page will be current updates on my next 3 games, which are Directive: Invasion, The Robotic Age: Mars, and a secret third project I will reveal more on as it gets more completed. Those listings will, hopefully, be updated every week when a new post is up. 

Speaking of Directive: Invasion!

Directive: Invasion! is a board game for 2-6 players where everyone plays a different alien species who has invaded earth at the same time.
Harvest resources, destroy monuments, take over cities, and do whatever you can to conquer Earth before they do!

The base box will include six alien species to play as, with more being unlocked via stretch goals. 

• The Bugs spread quickly and fiercely, but don't think to defend their hives.
• The Grey's are the most technologically advanced and can teleport troops around earth.
• The Reptiles are masters of mimicry and can pose as humans.
• The Hunters gain strength in numbers and should always move as a pack.
• The Greens are prepared for anything and can move their outposts as walking tripods.
• The Robots are the most efficient and can harvest resources with minimal effort. 

The game is close to being Kickstarter ready and should be up in just a couple of months if everything goes right. Next week expect more details on the game mechanics and then the week after that will probably be about Robotic Age: Mars.