Designer: Adam Smith (Endure the Stars, The Everrain, Village Attacks)

Artists: Bjorn Hurri (The Everrain, Village Attacks), Kieran Russell (The Drowned Earth), Maxim Kostin, Sebastian Kowoll (The Everrain), Adrian Prado (The Path of the Adventurers), Victor Hugo

Publisher: Grimlord Games (Endure the Stars, The Everrain, Village Attacks)

Genre/Mechanisms: area movement, cooperative game, dice rolling, miniatures, modular board, variable player powers

Funding Status: At the time of this posting, Village Attacks: Grim Dynasty is already fully-funded.  In fact, pledges currently total more than 1.8x the initial funding goal with 11 days left to go on the campaign.

Player Count: 1-5

Solo Mode: yes

Complexity: medium-heavy

Risk: medium-high

What It’s About:  A cooperative castle defense game where players take on the roles of the most infamous creatures of folklore and legend; the new Grim Dynasty expansion adds mythical creatures from Chinese folklore.

How It Works: After choosing a scenario, Village Attacks is played over a series of rounds, each including the Monster Phase, Villager Phase, and Clean-Up Phase. To win the game, players must complete the objectives outlined in the given scenario. Players lose if the attacking Villagers reduce the health of the Castle Heart to 0, or if a fail condition for the given scenario is met.

During the Monster Phase, the first player rolls the dice and then allocates them to various actions, including: Move, Attack, Activate Abilities, Interact with Objectives, and Place Trap. Once they’ve finished the next player in player order does the same. After all players have taken their turn, the Villager Phase begins. During the Villager Phase, the Village Event Dial is advances 1 space for every Monster involved in the scenario. Village Events may be trigged. Then the Villager actions are triggered, including movement and attacks, beginning in every location with the Peasants, followed by the Hunters, and finally the Town Heroes. Traps are then Triggered, and finally more Villagers Spawn by drawing from the Villager Spawn Deck. Clean-Up involves removing expired tokens and Traps from the board, and all dice results not in a Monster’s Reserve are cleared as from their dashboard.

Comparisons: Any game or dungeon crawl split into two phases, where the players attack in one, and the monsters attack in the other, with their movements controlled by some kind of programming mechanic, make for a pretty good comparison. Descent, Mansions of Madness, and the various Arkham Horror games all fulfill this criteria, with the one caveat that Village Attacks also happens to be a tower defense game. Some other popular tower defense games include: Carnival Zombie, Castle Panic, Cloudspire, Dawn of the Zeds, Star Trek Panic, and Stronghold, keeping in mind that Village Attacks still has one unique card up its sleeve– the fact that players take on the roles of unique Monsters, and must defend against an onslaught of angry human villagers. Most dungeon crawls and tower defence games usually see the players in the roles of humans battling monsters, zombies, demons, or the supernatural. In Village Attacks, the script is flipped.

What Should I Pledge?:
$58 Dynasty: the new Grim Dynasty expansion, the Xing Tian Legendary Hero, and all unlocked stretch goals.
$97 Legacy: the Village Attacks core game, the Xing Tian Legendary Hero, and all unlocked stretch goals.
$135 Dynasty & Legacy: the Village Attacks core game, the new Grim Dynasty expansion, the Xing Tian Legendary Hero, and all unlocked stretch goals.
$200 Storm the Gates: everything in the Dynasty & Legacy pledge, plus Wrath & Ruin, Despair & Abhorrence, Rage & Avarice, 3D Traps, The Troll, and Grimlord & Revenant.

Add-Ons:
$205 Ancient Evil Bundle: includes Horrors of the Sands, Greed & Fury, Terror & Anguish, Fear & Torment, Dread & Malice, Doom & Suffering, Wrath & Ruin, Despair & Abhorrence, Rage & Avarice, 3D Traps, and The Troll.
$135 Returning Evil Bundle: includes Horrors of the Sands, Greed & Fury, Terror & Anguish, Fear & Torment, Dread & Malice, and Doom & Suffering.
$31 Acrylic Dice Bundle
$74 Metal Dice Bundle
$32 Major Arcana Art & Mission Book
$25 Dragon Clan, including 14 miniatures
$45 Pandora’s Box: storage solution that holds every Village Attacks miniature from the original Kickstarter and new to this Kickstarter
$45 Horrors of the Sands Expansion
$20 Greed & Fury
$20 Terror & Anguish
$20 Fear & Torment
$20 Dread & Malice
$20 Doom & Suffering
$20 Wrath & Ruin
$20 Despair & Abhorrence
$20 Rage & Avarice
$15 3D Traps
$13 The Troll
$25 Art Book
$8 Undead Dice
$8 Mythic Dice
$8 Arcane Dice
$8 Cursed Dice
$8 Demon Dice
$19 Metal Dice: Undead
$19 Metal Dice: Arcane
$19 Metal Dice: Cursed
$19 Metal Dice: Demon
$19 Metal Dice: Mythic
$13 Grimlord & Revenant Pack
$8 Clip On Bases Pack
$20 Game Tile Pack

KS Exclusives:
The Xing Tian Legendary Hero, the Hou Yi Legendary Hero (stretch goal), the Tactician Dice (stretch goal), the Troll Dashboard (stretch goal), the Zhong Kui Legendary Hero (stretch goal), Pandora’s Box, and the Grimlord & Revenant Pack.

All-In Total: In the continental U.S. you’re looking at $135 for the Dynasty & Legacy Pledge and $205 for the Ancient Evil Bundle ($200 for the Storm the Gates pledge and $135 for the Returning Evil Bundle would save you $5, but you’d also miss out on the Grimlord & Revenant Pack in the process), $31 for the Acrylic Dice Bundle (assuming you don’t feel the need to instead get the Metal Dice Bundle), $32 for the Major Arcana Art & Mission Book, $25 for the Dragon Clan, $45 for Pandora’s box, $25 for the Art Book, $8 for the Clip On Bases Pack, $20 for the Game Tile Pack, and at least $26 in shipping for a total of $552… but be prepared for a likely increase in shipping from all of the add-ons, possibly as much as 3x the listed shipping price (so as much as $604 total).

Village Attacks: Grim Dynasty completes its Kickstarter on Wednesday, November 6th and tentatively ships in June 2020.