Thoughts on Update #65: The Black Friday Update (Patreon)

Have we really only had 65 updates on this campaign? That's crazy! Though given the circumstances Adam has shared with us, the context on his comparative silence now makes more sense. Our condolences and best wishes to the Poots family for their loss.

I'm going to walk through things and comment, speculate and opinionate at the various parts in this mammoth update. I wish it had been released in parts over the previous months, but I think we can overlook that now.

(Note: If I am speculating on something, and it might not be clear that it is speculation, it will be in italic font. I want to differentiate between the actual stated facts and the implied stuff.)

Gambler's Chest

To start with, we have a full look at the plastic Gambler's Chest models, which are indeed in a superb and crisp detail. They make the current armor kit stuff look pretty weak in comparison.

Examining them it seems that the new standard for KDM survivor sizes is the size we've seen for the role survivors. I scaled an image from the old KS with one of the narrative sculpts (matching the leg bend as best I could) and you can see that the new ones are taller and have larger proportions.

I prefer this new size, but I wish I could get the original survivors and armor kits in that scale. 

This line of models also gives us a look at a whole host of different gear pieces, including Monster Grease and Dried Acanthus amongst others. It makes me wish that we'd had these things included on the core game sprues along with a load of lanterns of different sizes (and those new lanterns are gorgeous).

The bases also open up scope for modelers, not only do we have the classic faces in a bunch of different sizes, but we have sand, square tiles (see above), stairs, magma, plants and much, much more besides. It's great to see that all the variety of terrain types sculptors have used over the years are reflected here in the official bases. I predict that many people will be casting these bases for use on other models.

Some of the interesting things in this range are the dual wielding of weapons that do not have paired. We have twin bone daggers (Bright Eyes) and twin Denticle Axes (Tough Guy), I am wondering if the philosophies will allow for this, or if it's just a stylistic choice.

Finally, before we move on, the tiny man holding a sandwich(?) on the Anna Poots model is just primo.

Advanced Monster

I can admit, that what Adam talked about during the Gencon interviews left me a bit cold and disinterested in AM (Advanced Monster). It sounded like it was going to be something that I play a bit to review and then move on. What he's pitched here (one gripe aside) is more interesting.

So let's get the gripe out of the way, it's locked behind what seems to be described as a "strain milestone". I am probably going to be ignoring that and going straight to AM, because I'm not in the mood to play another standard campaign once the GC turns up. 

That done, the pitch sounds solid and interesting. It's effectively giving survivors 'classes' via this philosophy system and providing them with interesting unlocks. The demonstration Fighting Art 'Meat Shield' shows a few fascinating elements. It has further unlocks behind it and it's classed as a - fighting art, white lion -, I'm not a super fan of how it levels up (by killing off other survivors) as that's likely to become a metagame thing at the higher play skill levels,
but it is thematic. The linked disorder Selfish is also great, it's thematic and fun, with a real debilitation that is harmful without basically reading 'you are retired'. 

The Collective Cognition system seems like the replacement for Hunt XP, which is solid and interesting. For AM to work, the game absolutely needed to replace Hunt XP, I look forward to finding out what Adam's solution to the Weapon Proficiency dilemma is.

I am not convinced that the Crimson Crocodile is a real thing yet, the crest is a play on the White Lion's one, but the derpy face and name suggests it might be a troll. Only time will tell, because Adam is prone to adding surprises into the boxes and posts (see later for one example), but he also likes to troll.

As for the rest, we have some neat teasers in the Hand's behavior, a suggestion that the scouts of death are going to be integral to AM and a superb piece of Poots trolling in the picture of the first plastic male penis on the Bone Eater. Enjoy, there are more to come. 

This is without even considering Atnas and the Gambler!

Overall, it's clear that the Gambler's Chest is absolutely a 'must have' for players of KDM, the scope, size and quantity of plastic content in this one is going to be huge and I'm gonna mark it as the first of the must haves.

Verdict: Must Have

Campaigns of Death

This is something people have been hoping for a long time, and it's a bit of a pleasant surprise that it's been inserted into Campaigns of Death. That is all of the Gen I Expansions are getting a 1.5 update bound inside a hard backed book called Campaigns of Death.

As we can see from the Gorm cards, we're getting updated versions of some AI cards that'll integrate different behaviors from the Gorm together. Thunderfoot has just become very dangerous if the Posturing Piss behavior is in play, that's something which has turned two rather benign/beneficial moods into a threat. So thumbs up on changes like that.

There is also going to be the long requested Prologue Gorm, the Manhunter is getting a new trap and will actually use his gear, the Flower Knight is getting a tweak (but it still seems like it's not enough) with a single trait card for the L3 and an upgrade to the most disappointing FK item, the Vespertine Foil. The Cycloid Armor is getting +2 armor to all locations (which is serious WTF? imo, that armor was already overpowering) and People of the Sun is getting some huge love with an early game Katana, a more powerful end boss, and official confirmation of the 'use whatever expansions you want' play in PotSun.

We're also getting multiple different lonely trees, with an upgrade to the Tree's position in the game, the Lion God is getting a new AI deck (something I've said is absolutely essential, because it's not powerful enough, seriously I can't stress enough how wrong the rumors are about the LG, it needed this love). And we have cross expansion gear, which is something I do in my homebrew already and I'm thrilled it's turning up.

We then also have the strain system, which started to appear in Echoes of Death. This system looks like it's going to be one of the hearts of longevity for KD:M play. It's worth just reading through everything that's pitched there yourself and appreciating what this represents. Not only is it going to make the Gen I expansions backwards compatible, but also the new expansions are going to include integrations into this strain system.

Lastly we have the big old Ancient Butcher. I was hoping he was going to look more bloated than this design, but it is still a lot better than the current Butcher's sculpt.

Verdict: Must have!

Pinups of Death

I'm going to skip past the pinups, they look great and I'm excited to get my hands on them, but they do not represent much game content. However, do remember that every single Pinups of Death Pitch included information that there would be a few promotional cards in the pack. It is not clear if these promo cards will be in the fabled 'card pack'. So be aware of that.

Verdict: For obsessive collectors, painters and players of KD:M Pillow Party

First Hero

Those two First Hero models are big, really big; and they must have a ton of Giant's Blood flowing through their veins to get that massive. There was honestly not much additional info on them here, mostly just confirmation that they'll use a wide range of weapons and a look at the assets. The First Hero still remains a bit of a question mark, and seems like something worth it for the more experienced players who want to jump in at the higher game content faster instead of going through the motions of the early game.

Models are superb though!

Verdict: For experienced players and those who want to start off as badasses.

Screaming God

Monster's version of MB Games' Thunder Road, was demoed at Gencon, and I'm super on board with the fall off the end of the showdown and die part of the expansion, that's literally the mechanic from Thunder Road (and Necromunda: Ash Wastes), it makes sense. However, it looks like there is plenty of positional counter play, which is good news - more showdowns that mix up the usual 'hit, evade, block' routine are good. The Screaming God also includes the incredible looking Parasite Queen, Illuminated Ladies and more plastic penises with the two Illuminated Lords

Verdict: For experienced players, especially ones who enjoy positional play. But feels like a wait and see for people on a budget who don't get to play much.

Black Knight

As part of the Inverted Mountain Package, this hunt for Percival's dogpole, has seen a lot of transformations from the initial pitch. It's got it's own unique showdown board, with unusual mechanics and the models are absolutely beautiful (I have a Black Knight in Resin), it's hard to judge what this one will be like based on the demo or the pitch, but the 5 year squire campaign makes this one a super interesting purchase for owners who want a quicker experience.

Verdict: Must have for Inverted Mountain, desirable otherwise.

Nightmare Ram

As Poots wrote, "I fear I have mislead you all!" Apparently the dungeon crawl aspect of the Nightmare Ram has been moved to the hunt phase and replaces most of it. By the looks of the pictures we have a corridor based encounter with a bunch of creepy looking Water Bugs followed by another unique showdown board.

Apparently, this expansion was originally designed by Zach M. (Spidicules, Lion Knight) but he left and then Adam got the whole thing redesigned for some reason. That's not actually a bad thing to consider, because Zach M's work has been a bit more questionable in quality than the average Monster expansion. So as a negative, it's been reworked, on the positive, it's been reworked! 

A lot depends on where/when this thing turns up, we have a bloat of LY7-9 monsters and a drought in the LY5 position.

Verdict: Essential for Inverted Mountain, otherwise wait and see.

Pathfinders of Death

Pathfinders of Death is just the models, which are gorgeous, but there's not much else to garner from them, this expansion still remains hot and in demand. The main reasons this is considered chase is because it is crossover content and we don't know if it's going to be available outside of the kickstarter and because an expanded hero mode is something everyone wants!

Frogdog

Some players love the childish aspects of Monster, personally I find that they detract from the overall experience, and the Frogdog is certainly the most childish of the things we've seen so far. It's been given a Fart deck, sorry a FRT deck. Which mechanically at least seems to be quite unique and will be fun to play against. It's just a shame that it's a going to feel really cartoonish and bizzare for some people.

I think you're going to have to decide if you can stand a farting dog/frog hybrid with that classic Japanese troll face or not for yourself. 

Verdict: Looks good, but it's very cringe inducing. Essential for Inverted Mountain.

Ivory Dragon

The plastic Satans (Stan 1 and 2) are decent, the resin ones break very easily (especially the staff) and it's awesome that we're getting both the original ones and the remakes. But the main event is the Ivory Dragon (Mega Stan) and boy that model is looking big. 

Also we're getting survivor Stan models! That's freaking amazing, it has big lore implications (remember Allister looks like the Scribe) but also there are some suggestions that the Ivory Dragon storyline may run from very early in the campaign. Considering Mega Stan would only turn up at the end it's fantastic to consider that the expansion could have content earlier on.

Verdict: This has become a must have. Get your Mega Stan now.

Honeycomb Weaver

Ok this was the other huge surprise of the update, the HCW now has an additional quarry monster in the titanic bee. The wording suggests that this expansion will include three monsters total (Bee + two versions of the HCW) and the encounter bees and the narrative sculpts. 

Monster thrives on early game content and the HCW seems to be supplying both early game and mid game content in one package. Plus it has integrations with Abyssal Woods so it's really become a chase expansion for me.

Verdict: Insanely good value for money. Yes please.

As for the rest, we don't have any additional info beyond what we knew before. I still feel that the Inverted Mountain has the best potential because it's being project led by Anna Poots and Zachary Barash has been involved in at least some of the expansions that make up its whole (they are the duo responsible for the DK expansion, Anna made the Gorm and Zach B. 'fixed' the DBK so it actually interacted with its ball, so decent track record). 

Finally we have this thing which was hidden away:

It's in the Gambler's ball video, it appears to be an alternative sculpt for a White Lion (and it looks a lot like the Black Lion would). We'll have to see what it actually represents, especially considering the unusual terrain it's perched on. There's not enough information to go on at this point.  However it's existence makes the Crimson Crocodile feel less like a troll and more like a real thing. So we'll see, if it turns up or not.

All in all, it was a huge update, with loads of stuff, both explicit and implicit and I really do hope that this represents a return to a semi-regular update schedule from the Kingdom Death team because the one, big key thing here is we know there is a delay, but we don't have any timeline for how long it will be.

However, what does this mean for someone who wants to invest now? This weekend? While the backerkit is open? And they can't afford to 'get it all?  Well this is the best I can do for you:

You can consider all of the expansions to sit in a bunch of buckets and these buckets are divided into tiers. The Buckets are the thematic links between the expansions, while the tiers are early game, mid game and late game. Forget about the node system for now, we don't have any solid information on it, but what we do know is that you encounter monsters in kind of a pyramid. Think about how often over all campaigns you encounter the White Lion/Screaming Antelope/Gorm vs. The Dragon King/Sunstalker/DBK or even say The Watcher.  It's clear that these early game monsters make up most of the backbone of the campaign, especially the ones with useful multi-level gear (Gorm, Spidicules, People of the Sun WL/SA) and you encounter them more than others. 

So to be efficient you want to prioritize a good pool of early game, a decent pool of mid game and a few select late game monsters. (First Hero switches this up a bit, but I would still class that as an experienced player expansion).

As for buckets, well we currently have 5 buckets. They are Abyssal Woods, People of the Lantern, Inverted Mountain, Green Armor and Generic. There is considerable crossover between Abyssal Woods and Green Armor also, so it's worth considering the extra value these two buckets represent (even though I am personally not keen on some of the expansions in them, I still feel the overall experience is solid).  Also People of the Lantern, as the core expansion, can fit just about anything from the other expansions in, so it has a lot of crossover there.

First up, as mentioned above, if you can afford them the following should be your top picks.

• Core game 
• Gambler's Chest
• Campaigns of Death

People of the Lantern

• Screaming God - Late Game
• First Hero - Late Game
• Ivory Dragon - Late Game/Campaign(?)

Abyssal Woods

• Abyssal Woods - Campaign
• Flower Knight - Early Game
• Spidicules - Early Game
• Dung Beetle Knight - Mid to Late Game
• Honeycomb Weaver - Early to Mid Game

Inverted Mountan

• Frogdog - Early Game
• Oblivion Mosquito - Early Game
• Nightmare Ram - Mid Game
• Black Knight - Mid Game + Campaign
• Gryphon - Mid Game
• Red Witches - Mid Game + Campaign
• Pariah - ???
• Inverted Mountain - Campaign

Green Armor

• Gorm - Early Game
• Spidicules - 1 Card only required
• Flower Knight - Early Game
• Lion Knight - Early to Mid Game
• Manhunter - Early to Mid Game
• Dung Beetle Knight - Mid to Late Game 
• Green Armor - Late Game

Generic

• Dragon King - Mid Game
• People of the Stars - Campaign
• Sunstalker - Mid to Late Game
• People of the Sun - Campaign
• Gorm - Early Game
• Slenderman - Early to Mid to Late Game
• First Hero - Late Game
• Dung Beetle Knight - Mid to Late Game
• Death Armor - ??? Late Game?
• Promos of Death - Promos
• Lion God - Mid to Late Game
• Silver City - Campaign (Requires Lion God)

Then there is the other stuff like the crossovers, Pathfinders, super saviors and so on. The details on them is much less specific.

So how does this work? Well outside of the 'generic' pool, everything else is grouped together into expansions with the most interlaced links currently described by the kickstarter. For example, if you already own most of the Green Armor stuff, the Abyssal Woods is going to give you the biggest bang for your buck, because it's reusing some of that stuff. This seems like the best choice for someone on a budget who already has the Green Armor stuff.

Whereas, if you have a lot more disposable income and love the Nightmare Ram + Red Witches, you can consider picking up the rest of the Inverted Mountain stuff. However I think that the Inverted Mountain is the most expensive and risky investment there is, we know the least about it.

So ultimately, I don't super recommend any of the new expansions until you have what you want from the current ones and you can afford to have that money tied up. These expansions could well be two years away whereas you could be playing People of the Stars right now.

And as always, pledge responsibly, KDM's design is (unintentionally) very good at causing FOMO and collector's drive. So be careful about them, don't spend more than you can afford! 

Have fun!