FREE STLS!

The Gunfight Royale campaign is at the halfway point with almost 12k raised so far!

Here are a couple of little gifts for you to mark the midway point of the campaign. 

Do you have a 3D printer, or know someone who does? These will work best on one of the new liquid resin printers (Anycubic Photon, etc.). Print them to the size they're saved and you'll get a good sampling of the style of the cartoon minis, and you'll have a nifty old-west themed D3 for use in any game.

Mountain Man

D3

Everyone's printer is different, so I didn't include supports in the download. If you need help, let me know. Also let me know if for some reason these downloads don't work.

Those who have played with the cartoon figures have fallen in love with them. I hope you'll feel the same after being able to see how delicate and detailed they are up close. They probably present smaller than you might be imagining.

Visit the Kickstarter page today and support what we're doing! 

Forrest

KNUCKLEDUSTER MINIATURES IS KICKSTARTING A BOARD GAME!

On January 2nd, Knuckleduster Miniatures is launching a Kickstarter for a lighthearted Western gunfight board game called Gunfight Royale, designed as a gateway product for board gamers (relatives, non-gamer friends, etc) who want a fun shootout game but have never considered themselves "hobbyists." It ticks many boxes on the list of things that make a game friendly for people outside the hobby: It features plastic cartoon figures and simple rules, is completely self-contained, requires no painting or modeling, and can be played straight out of the box. 

Players (from 2 to 6) each get one character and fight to the finish (the name references the "battle royale" style of video games) through numerous scenarios using not only weapons, but dirty tricks and found items. The poker-chip wound system from Gunfighter's Ball has been adapted to Gunfight Royale, as well as the "quick draw" concept of turn interruption. Each game takes about a half hour, so multiple games can be played in one session. Players whose character gets eliminated can continue to play dirty tricks so that nobody is completely left out because of an early misfortune. A time-keeper traverses a track on the outside of the board to enforce an end to the game and eliminate the possibility of stalemate. There are enough rules to formulate sophisticated strategies, but the various types of cards place all the important information at your fingertips so intrusive rules lookups are not required.

Throughout playtesting, this game produced an amazing vibe. It taps into the elements that make Knuckleduster's "Gunfighter's Ball" game so much fun; a sensibility that's very close to a first-person-shooter arena video game, with players laughing their way through the unbridled devastation of large-caliber firearms, crazy melee weapons and, not infrequently, explosions.  The cartoon figures and artwork reinforce the carnival atmosphere and the idea that games like these need not be intimidating to play or learn.

The Kickstarter offers a boxed game with the board, cards, dice, dry-erase markers, chip-and-token punch-outs, 12 plastic figures and a mounted time-keeper model called "The Lone Rider of Eternity." Stretch goals will add characters to the game at the medium tier pledge level, and at higher levels metal versions of the figures, clay poker chips, and wooden tokens are included. The latter three items are also available as add-ons, as are metal versions of the game characters in the "Gunfighter's Ball" style of sculpting for use with that game. Buy the boxed game for a non-gamer and keep the Gunfighter's Ball figures for yourself!

More info:

Kickstarter page 

FAQ 

Facebook

GUNFIGHT ROYALE GAME FAQs

So what's the fuss all about? Here are all your Gunfight Royale questions answered in one place!

(This FAQ has to do with the game itself, and not the kickstarter).

WHAT IS GUNFIGHT ROYALE?

Gunfight Royale is a board game with plastic cartoon gunfighters who fight to the death!

KNUCKLEDUSTER IS KNOWN FOR TABLETOP MINIS, SO WHY THE CARTOON FIGURES?

We wanted to make something fun for people who love board games and aren't necessarily interested in the tabletop miniatures hobby. No painting or modelling is required; you can play this game right out of the box.

HOW DO YOU PLAY?

Players each get one character. When it's your turn, you can move, shoot, or brawl using dice, or you can do non-combat things like pick up items from the board, manage your inventory of stuff, or reload your weapon.

Your character's health is represented by poker chips, and as you take damage, you cash in your chips. Each character has a bounty, and each time you eliminate an opponent, you collect their bounty. 

IS IT HARD TO LEARN?

This is a board game and not a hobby game, so have a quick flip through a booklet and then just follow the cards, which have instructions printed on them so you don't have to constantly look things up. 

If you can play Cataan, Monopoly, or Risk, you'll find this a breeze.

WHERE DID THE NAME COME FROM?

A "battle royale" in video game terminology is a fight to the finish. Playtesters loved the first-person-shooter feel of the game, and the name just seemed to fit. 

IS THIS A SERIOUS STRATEGY GAME?

This is a cut-throat first-person shooter strategy game that has simple rules crafted with hidden strategies that encourage players to think about every move. It's serious from the standpoint that it's rich with opportunities to outwit your opponents, but the cards are loaded with humor and unexpected twists and turns. There is plenty of luck involved as well, so if things don't go your way, you can always blame the dice!

HOW MANY PEOPLE CAN PLAY?

Six max.

CAN YOU PLAY TEAMS?

Yes. There are specific scenario cards for team play.

DOES IT MATTER WHICH CHARACTER YOU PLAY?

Most definitely! One of the first choices you will make is which character to play.

They each have very different abilities, starting weapons, and quirks so your choice of character has a huge impact on your chances. Make sure to choose your fighter based on the objectives of the gunfight, and the other characters in play, as some characters have offsetting abilities.

WHAT MAKES THIS WESTERN GAME DIFFERENT THAN OTHERS?

1.  This is not a "sandbox" game, so it's not a whole hobby-in-a-box. It's focus is very disciplined; the characters, board, cards, and mechanics are fine-tuned to deliver a particular experience which is intensely entertaining. This is a well-crafted board-game first and foremost, and a western game second. If this kickstarter goes well, we already have ideas to adapt this game engine to other fun genres like space, pirates, or high fantasy.

2.  The art design is very specific. The cartoon gunfighters are just one part of a look that is meant to have a "Sunday Comics" feel. This isn't really life-and-death; it's just a playing "cowboys!"

HOW DO GET IN ON IT?

Support our kickstarter in January 2021. Go here and click "notify" to get an email when the festivities kick off!

Kickstarter

ART DESIGN PART II: FORM FOLLOWS FUNCTION

Art does not exist in a vacuum. It almost always has context, and the medium of board games requires a different approach than that of tabletop miniature games. I mention this, because
Gunfight Royal is a move-and-shoot strategy board game that was inspired by a full-on tabletop miniatures game called Gunfighter's Ball. In a tabletop skirmish wargame, lots of things are ambiguous and a judge provides interpretation. In a board game, things like cover and movement penalties must be absolutely clear-cut so no interpretation is necessary.

On first instinct, we tried to make the board look like a top-down view of a miniatures game with lots of fancy painted objects and digital artwork, but it was far too messy and made the game hard to play. In the medium of board games, clear is better, and it's important to make art design take advantage of the medium where it exists. This "Winnie-the-Pooh" style of drawing provided that clarity (it's also a clue as to how seriously the combat is meant to be taken).

The board featured here shows where items can be picked up (? marks), where characters can spawn in certain scenarios (the numbers), where there are doors and which way they swing (doors are orange and arc is printed on the board), which terrain features cost an extra movement point to traverse (dotted lines), and which obstacles cost a full action to cross (swooping arrows).

The character figures themselves have octagonal bases so they are forced to choose which of 8 directions they face. A small arrow on one edge of the base indicates which way the character is pointed, and is the point from which line-of-sight is traced.

It took a long time to get to this point. Each playtest session brought new suggestions, and brought to light the need to let go of what works in a tabletop game and embrace what works in a board game. The result is game that plays quick as greased lightnin'.

Next subject: card design.

ART DESIGN PART I: THE FIGURES

ART DESIGN PART I: THE FIGURES

Suppose you found a western shootout board game at an antique store? Far in the back, next to a stack of old hats, a World's Fair souvenir beer stein, and some dried up fountain pens is a dusty box, a little worn around the edges, perhaps partly collapsed. How do you suppose it would look? How would the figures look?

The Victorians saw things through a peculiar lens, tinged with the absurd and grotesque. Look no further than a 19th-century circus to see how bizarre their tastes ran.

I am endlessly fascinated with the 19th-century's art design, particularly their love of flamboyant exaggeration. The golden era of the Old West, the 1870's and 80's, were smack dab in the middle of the this period.

Here are some examples of cartoons from the 1800s and some of GR's figure designs. These "colorized" renders come from the back of the character cards.

GUNFIGHT ROYALE COMING SOON!

 Gunfight Royale is a move-and-shoot tactical board game for up to six players from Knuckleduster Miniatures, the makers of Gunfighter's Ball.
The game comes to Kickstarter later this spring, but in the meantime, we'll be posting about it here, on Facebook, and through Youtube videos.

QUICK FACTS:
* Each player controls one character and collects bounties by eliminating other characters. The games themselves are quick, and a single play session involves several games. You win by collecting the most bounties for the entire session.

2. You score hits through dice rolling and card play, and you use 9 poker chips to track health (think "9 lives"). 
3. You collect "dirty trick" cards and play them on one another, even after your character is eliminated!

4. Chips are distributed around the board that can be picked up and cashed in to draw from the weapons and items deck. You never know what you're going to get!
5. There are 12 character in the basic game, but as the Kickstarter gets bigger, the number of characters, game boards, and the quality level of the components will increase.

6. Tons of playtesting has been done, and this game is ready to go. A Gunfight Royale game is a lighthearted romp, with players angling for every advantage they can get to screw each other over. The sound of laughter is the common thread that runs throughout all of our playtests!

STAY INFORMED ABOUT THE GAME'S PROGRESS
Use the links at the top right to keep track of us on Facebook, Youtube, and Kickstarter.

MORE INFO COMING SOON . . .