Wednesday 28 February 2018

The Sagas of Noggin the Nog ......playtesting!


Well, Nick Case has decided to go on tour with his prototype boardgame...it's come a long way since his early drafts and he's had a lot of help from various Nog inspired individuals along the journey. Today we were hosted by the admiral chaps at Patriot Games in their Sheffield store (click here although they are on Facebook here). Nick spent a while setting up - it was great to finally meet him and chat about the project. For me, of course, it's mainly about the miniatures, but the game turned out to be very interesting.....

Now although I didn't actually join in I was allowed a badge.....


And I did manage to get Nick his badge from my own Kickstarter.



Setting up took a while and the actual playtesters took their seats. Fortunately the Siberian weather hadn't really kicked in as yet.....


From left to right...Jerry, Alex, myself, Nick, Nigel and Graham (I think I've got that right).


The gameboard itself....


Characters on board and now showing of wood resources (bottom left), fishing (bottom right) and stone (top right) ready to be used by the Nogs. The seasons counter top left is important throughout the course of the game....the players take turns in building up and using / replenishing resources, rescuing characters and avoiding Nogbad. 

  

  

Completion of sagas is a very important aspect of the game....it can be completed with cooperation or as competitive as you like (which could become very un Nog like of course...) here the Moon Mouse Saga nears completion...points are awarded based on which parts of the Saga you've helped complete...the wooden pieces are the different players' Nogs.




Various cards with new artwork by Peter Firmin himself. Inventions allow you to gain points in various nefarious ways.....

  
  

I thoroughly enjoyed watching the game evolve. As Nick said it can take a while for the first moves to be understood as with any game however, once the game got underway, it quickly picked up tempo and the players were laughing away as Nogbag jumped in and out of mischief and the Nogs purported themselves with alacrity. To be recommended.....Kickstarter coming in May 2018.


Nick has a Facebook page for updates;


Also a page on Boargame Geek here.

And of course the main page here.

Quick preview below of my own Noggin masters sent by The Mouldmaker. Hopefully the miniatures Kickstarter will be posted out in the next few weeks....slightly behind schedule but hopefully not too bad....


I was due to join the evening playtesting but the snow started to fall.......