The Great Wall is live (Building the Great Wall)
The Great Wall is live on Kickstarter, and the campaign will run for 20 days. If you back on day 1, you get the Iron Dragon mini, board and cards for free (its role is yet unclear). As mentioned below, you have the option to back the minis or the meeples version.
The game was originally designed to be played competitively but the first stretch goal is the addition of cooperative mode, and it has already been reached.
Our preview post below was published on November 24.
Awaken Realms is releasing their first lavishly produced eurogame, The Great Wall, on Kickstarter on November 26. It is a 1-4 player worker placement game set in ancient China at the time of construction of the famous fortification.
The game consists of three phases: Production, Wall Defense, Wall Building. Each player is a General with a different special ability, and the aim is for the players to collectively defend against attacking Mongolian hordes while each of them tries to earn the most victory points for their leader.
In the Production phase, players use their cards to place workers and soldiers on the designated map spaces (Tea House, Quarry, Barracks, etc.). However, in order to gain the resource they need, all the slots of that place have to be filled, and if they fill them all by themselves there may be a penalty. In the Wall Defense phase, the soldiers that players placed in the previous phase will defend against the Mongolians and reap rewards or suffer losses. Finally, in the Wall Building phase, resources will be spent to further build the Wall and gain points from doing so.
The game appears to thrive on player interaction and negotiation. Details on the solo mode will be revealed after launch, so it's impossible to say how well it works. Component quality looks top notch as usual, and the company offers a version of the game with wooden meeples besides the one with minis. You may check the Kickstarter Preview.
