Designer: Benjamin Farahamand

Artist: Scott Chantler

Publisher: Benjamin Farahamand

Genre/Mechanisms: action point allowance system, grid movement, hand management, point-to-point movement, variable phase order

Funding Status: At the time of this posting, Faza is already fully-funded.  In fact, pledges currently total 1.3x the initial funding goal, with 4 days left to go on the campaign.

Player Count: 1-4

Solo Mode: yes

Complexity: medium-heavy

Risk: medium-high

What It’s About:  A cooperative sci-fi board game with art inspired by Fallout, Doctor Who, and the original Star Trek series; players combat enemy drones and recruit Rebel Faza to attack and destroy the three motherships.

How It Works: Gameplay in Faza is separated into two phases, the Team Phase, and the Faza Phase. During the Team Phase, players may perform the following actions as many times as they are able, and in any order: Use a player card to move your character pawn, OR enhance your dice rolls during combat; Engage in Combat by rolling dice to battle Drones on your tile; Command 1 Rebel to Attack a Mothership; Use a Skill on your Character Card; Spend 2 Points to Recuit 1 Rebel and place it on an Outpost. The Faza Phase varies by mode; Easy, Medium, or Hard. In Hard Mode, the following occur: if at least 1 Rebel and 1 Drone are on the same tile, remove 1 Rebel and 1 Drone from that tile; players on a tile with a Drone or Mothership receive 1 Injury; add 1 Drone to all tiles with Rebels; shift the movement tracker once to the right and follow the steps on the Mothership card for the Mothership with the Tracker, do this the same number of times as the number of players; regain all used cards and begin the Team Phase.

The collective team, Faction Zeta, has eight characters possessing different skills within one area of focus: tactical, medical, technological, and political. The team wins if they defeat all 3 Motherships; the team loses if 1) any player dies, 2) no more Drones can be placed on the board, 3) all Outposts have been Fazaformed, or 4) all Faza Rebels have been removed from the board (Hard Mode only).

Comparisons:  Forbidden Island and Forbidden Desert are similar. But Faza has a sci-fi theme, is a bit more complex, and includes combat.

What Should I Pledge?:
$45 Faza: retail copy of Faza with all stretch goals and free U.S. shipping.
$300 Honorary Producer: the Faza pledge (and the option to have the game signed if you’re okay with the designers breaking your shrink wrap), plus a prototype copy and an honorary producer copy in the rulebook.

Add-Ons:
None.

KS Exclusives:
None.

All-In Total: In the continental U.S. you’re looking at $45 for the Faza pledge, assuming you don’t want a prototype copy and a vanity credit.

Faza completes its Kickstarter on Thursday, July 25th and tentatively ships in June 2020.