Designers: Brendan Kendrick, Bernie Lin

Artists: Viktor Kolodiazhniy, Amit Thulasidasan, Tania Gomes, Andrew Martin

Publisher: Dead Alive Games

Genre/Mechanisms: action points, area movement, campaign driven, dice rolling, miniatures

Funding Status: At the time of this posting, Omicron Protocol is already fully-funded.  In fact, pledges currently total more than 1.5x the initial funding goal with less than 36 hours left to go on the campaign.

Player Count: 1-4

Solo Mode: yes

Complexity: medium-heavy

Risk: high

What It’s About:  An “intra-apocalyptic” miniatures skirmish game where you control a squad of unique characters and a 3rd party enemy “to mess with your opponent.”

How It Works: Players (or teams of 2 players each) control a faction of survivors in the city of San Lazaro, competing for their own altruistic or sinister goals. Omicron Protocol is played over a number of rounds using an action point system; the exact number of rounds, along with any objectives or specific win conditions, are determined by the specific scenario being played. When playing as a team, action points are split between the players on the team. Each round consists of a Setup Phase, Activation Phase, and Round End Phase.

During the Setup Phase, players determine who goes first (after the first round, this is chosen by the player with fewer VPs, with ties broken by the player with more unspent APs at the end of the previous round, and then by the player who did NOT decide initiative in the previous round), and then players Generate their AP pools for the upcoming round. Players/teams generate 8 AP per round, shared by all characters on the team. Players/teams also generate 1 extra AP beginning in the second round if they are the 2nd player/team to take actions that round. The Activation Phase consists of the following possible actions: Move Actions: Walk (0 AP), Run (1 AP); Attack Melee/Ranged (1 AP); Charge (1 AP); Interact with Objectives (1 AP); Draw a Forage Card (1 AP); First Aid (1 AP); and Remove Conditions (1 AP). Free actions include Using a Forage Card or, once per game, using an Extraordinary Tactic. Players can also Perform their Abilities by spending AP as directed. Some player actions can be used without spending any AP, like Sidestep, Shift, Stun, and Steal. During the Round End Phase, players perform an EM Noise Spawn, then a Round Spawn, Round Upkeep (with scenario objective VPs scored first by the first player, who also determines which Objective Card VP to score for the round), and finally a check to see if an end-game condition has been met. If it has, players will play one final Round before end-game scoring.

During end-game scoring, the first player will again score scenario objective VPs first, choosing which Objective Card VP to score if applicable, just as in the Round End Phases.

Comparisons:  The miniatures/action points should immediately remind players of the likes of Gotham City Chronicles, Hellboy, Conan, and franchises like Zombicide. On the other hand, Omicron is a bit unique because it’s intended for 1 vs. 1 play (and can be played with teams of up to 2 players each), yet it’s a skirmish game not meant to be played with more than 2 players/teams. So out go the comparisons to multi-player skirmish games like Tsukuyumi: Full Moon Down. On the other hand, the EM Noise Spawn that determines where enemies will spawn is very similar to the mechanic used in Nemesis.

What Should I Pledge?:
$39 Basic Survivor: one copy of the base game with cardboard standees (no miniatures) and all non-deluxe unlocked stretch goals.
$59 Prepared Survivor: a copy of the base game with 2 full factions (including miniatures) and all non-deluxe unlocked stretch goals.
$99 Super Survivor: everything in the Prepared Survivor pledge, plus the Up to No Good expansion containing an additional two factions with miniatures.
$149 Ultimate Survivor (Deluxe All-In): everything in the Super Survivor pledge, plus all Add-Ons from the Deluxe All-In section and all deluxe unlocked stretch goals in addition to the non-deluxe unlocked stretch goals (these include the neoprene game mat, hardcover art/storybook, neoprene dice tray, dice bag, Peacemakers dice, Survivalists dice, and Red Dragons dice).

Add-Ons:
$325 Nomad’s Dice Tower by Master Monk
$40 Up to No Good Miniatures Expansion Box
$19 Up to No Good Standees Expansion Box
$35 Metal Peacemakers Miniatures
$35 Metal Survivalists Miniatures
$35 Hardcover Art, Storybook & Rulebook
$25 Neoprene Mat
$15 Dice Tray
$10 Dice Bag
$10 Peacemakers 10 Dice Pack
$10 Survivalists 10 Dice Pack
$10 Red Dragons 10 Dice Pack
$25 20 Aurbits Luck Tokens

KS Exclusives:
The Initiative Token, the standees included in the Core Box, the standees version of the Up to No Good expansion, the OP Noise Dice, the linen finish on the Forage and Solo/Co-Op cards, and the linen finish on the Core Box.

All-In Total: In the continental U.S. if you really want everything, you’re looking at $149 for the Ultimate Survivor (Deluxe All-In) Pledge, $325 for the Nomad’s Dice Tower, $70 for both sets of Metal Miniatures, $25 for the Aurbits Luck Tokens, and $19 in shipping for a total of $588. Or you could consider going with the $99 Super Survivor and foregoing many of the extraneous extras as well as the Metal Miniatures; with $16 in shipping that pledge would run you a much more affordable $115, and you’d still have the all-minis version (just not the metal miniatures).

Omicron Protocol completes its Kickstarter on Thursday, November 7th and tentatively ships in January 2021.