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I bought Psycho Raiders and received it yesterday. Overall, I am happy with the appearance of the game, except for the components. The big ziplock bag seems like a fine way to store the game, but it is just a little bit small for the magazine containing the game, which I wanted to keep with the game. I don't mind that the mini-character sheets are meant to be photo-copied and written all over each game. But the cards are an awkward size for sleeves, and not sturdy enough to survive play without sleeves. Some of the cards are an awkward size that are too big for mini-sleeves and too small for normal sleeves. And some of the cards are too big for any sleeves. Pete mentioned that he laminated his set of cards, which sounds like a great idea. But I don't want buy a laminator for just this one game. Even a cold laminator is going to cost as much as the game if not more.
Shellhead wrote: Pete mentioned that he laminated his set of cards, which sounds like a great idea. But I don't want buy a laminator for just this one game. Even a cold laminator is going to cost as much as the game if not more.
Shell, I've got a laminator - just buy some 3 or 5 mil lamination sleeves and you can use it.
Oh, uh, I bought all the BattleLore 2nd edition expansion stuff. I'm writing a little map campaign system for it. Also going to buy some Combat Commander stuff from the GMT sale...
Psycho Raiders seems like the kind of game that's meant to look beat to hell and half falling apart. I'd just scan the cards in, then if you need to replace one that's disintegrated, just print out a new one and if it don't match, screw it, play anyway.
Chaz wrote: Psycho Raiders seems like the kind of game that's meant to look beat to hell and half falling apart. I'd just scan the cards in, then if you need to replace one that's disintegrated, just print out a new one and if it don't match, screw it, play anyway.
Yeah man, WTF...keeping that game in "mint condition? No way. It actually looks WRONG not tore the hell up.
I just got it too, a year later than I should have. It's BRILLIANT. The package, the concept, everything. The funny thing is that it is really an OLD school SPI/Avalon Hill style game. It has a lot in common with Legend of Robin Hood.
More genuinely maverick games like this, please. Less Kickstarter shit shoveled by the ton into the eager mouths of backers.
Chaz wrote: Psycho Raiders seems like the kind of game that's meant to look beat to hell and half falling apart. I'd just scan the cards in, then if you need to replace one that's disintegrated, just print out a new one and if it don't match, screw it, play anyway.
I considered just playing Psycho Raiders as is, because it does seem like the game components should look beat up. And I also thought about the scan idea. I even considered just cutting down the bigger cards to fit standard sleeves. But I don't want to lose part of the art on those wild Kill cards. And while I am not obsessed with keeping a game in mint condition, marked cards would give me an unfair advantage as the game owner. A few marked cards in a big deck is no big deal, because those cards won't come up often and who can remember which mark is which. But Psycho Raiders has very few cards, so just a couple of marked cards are going to really stand out as obvious. I'm going the lamination route.
Because of my own (limited) game design experience, I am often on the lookout for insights into the methods of other designers. So I just realized something. Psycho Raiders has 54 cards, not counting the oversize character cards. 52 cards in a normal deck of cards, plus 2 jokers. I bet they prototyped the game with a normal deck of cards and just wrote all over the white space on the cards.
In my quest to fill the Ancient AT gaps in my collection, I bought a copy of Starship Troopers this week, and an 3M copy of Aqcuire. My Avalon Hill collection is getting quite robust now. Really only a few things left to get with Magic Realm. That's my next target.
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