The Gods in all their Glory!
over 3 years ago
– Tue, Jan 26, 2021 at 12:10:28 AM
Hello Viking Warriors!!
We've been hard at work with the factory to ensure Raid is the very best it can be when it arrives on your doorstep this summer (currently targeting May/June for deliveries). In fact, since the campaign ended, we decided to upgrade all of the cards from 300gsm Bluecore to 310gsm Ivorycore. This upgrade will apply to all backers, across all versions!
We have also finalized illustrations for all of the God cards which was an unlocked stretch goal during the campaign. Like the rest of the Raid art, they are beautiful.
Kudos to Brennen (lead game designer/creator of Raid) and Stone (God illustrator)!
We are expecting samples of the Fate Die soon as well and can't wait to share them once they arrive.
Thank you for all your support!
- The Modern Games Team
BackerKit Surveys Incoming!!
over 3 years ago
– Sun, Dec 20, 2020 at 04:31:21 PM
Hey Viking Warriors!
It's been a minute since our last update, but we've been hard at work prepping and testing the Raid BackerKit survey and illustrating the God cards (Stretch Goal) + prepping all the art for delivery to the factory. More on the latter soon!
In the next day or so, you’ll receive an email from us with a special link to your BackerKit survey. It’s important to respond to your survey as quickly as you can since we need this information to fulfill your rewards.
You don’t need to create a BackerKit account to fill out your survey. When you receive the email with the survey, click the survey link to respond. Answer the questions about your reward preferences, provide shipping information, and purchase add-on items if you like. You don’t have access to this survey link yet, but it will be available soon via email!
After you respond to your survey, you can go back later and change your responses at any time before we close the surveys and get our final counts.
If you need to review your information or pledge status, you can return to your survey by clicking the link in your survey email or requesting your survey link under "Lost your survey?" on our BackerKit project page at https://raid.backerkit.com.
If you used your Facebook credentials to log in to your Kickstarter account, the BackerKit survey is sent to the email address you use for your Facebook account. If you have another email address that you prefer to use, please contact support at https://raid.backerkit.com/faq.
We can't wait to Raid with you all!
- The Modern Games Team
We did it, you did it!
over 3 years ago
– Thu, Nov 12, 2020 at 05:40:09 PM
To the nearly 2500 of you who backed Raid, shared it with friends and family and chatted with us over the past few weeks, thank you, thank you, thank you! We are deeply humbled by your support and kind words.
Now the real work begins as we shift fully into production and fulfillment mode. The good news, we've done this before. This isn't our first rodeo as we've designed and shipped products worldwide. We are currently shipping our other game, Beasts of Balance and its myriad of expansions, across North America and the EU on a daily basis and we will lean into our manufacturing and logistics processes to ensure Raid delivery runs smoothly as well.
Next up, you can expect to receive an invite to the Raid survey through our pledge manager in the coming days. As we want to ensure an on time delivery of Raid, it is important that everyone complete their survey quickly so we can finalize manufacturing orders and lay the foundation for delivery around the world.
On our end, we are working with the factory to finalize and proof production art, making tweaks as we go, and are looking to shift into the mass production phase in early 2021.
We will post regular updates along the way and look forward to you all joining us in playing Raid in May 2021!
Thank you again!!
- The Modern Games Team
Raid is a game that was designed to travel, while traveling the world
over 3 years ago
– Sat, Nov 07, 2020 at 10:57:23 PM
Hello Viking Warriors!
To say the Modern Games team loves traveling would be an understatement.
Founders, Justin & Amanda, took their then 2 years old daughter, Zoe, on a multi-country, six week trip through Europe as Justin embarked on the 1500-mile Virgin Strive Challenge in 2016.
Jason (our partner and CFO) spent a year traveling the world with his wife and three sons. Pre-Covid he was still racking up the miles and has visited 58 countries to date.
And then there is Brennen, Modern Games' lead game designer, who when he and Justin met last year was already well into a nearly two year adventure around the world with his wife Sierra. This is a story about their journey and the origin of Raid.
What started with a single deck of playing cards while sailing in a small sailboat from Panama to Columbia, would later be refined in a car driving from London to Mongolia and back.
When Brennen and Sierra set out on their travels around the world in 2018, Brennen was inspired by the idea of creating a card game that played like a CCG, but where players didn’t need to own or keep buying card packs in order to play. Looking back, it’s hard to believe Raid was born on that sailboat from such a simple idea.
The game, originally called Rush, and the basic mechanics were developed using a poker deck prior to the Mongol Rally.
Europe and Eurasia
Next came the Mongol Rally phase of Raid’s development, billed by its creators as “motoring stupidity on a global scale,” Brennen, along with three friends, Ian, Mark and Kevin + occasional guest, Sierra, embarked on a journey from London to Mongolia and back in a tiny car emblazoned with a wrap promoting another game Brennen was working on at the time (one that will hit Kickstarter in 2021).
The four friends were stuck in a car as they traveled more than 20K miles and they really needed something to do during each of the 14 hour driving legs. The crew spent much of their time driving through Turkey with Ian talking about norse mythology and listening to podcasts on history.
While making a much needed pit stop in Tbilisi, Georgia, most of the theme and progress for Raid was made in a small coffee shop over the next 7 days.
After 6 months of traveling through much of Europe, & Eurasia, Raid was getting very close to the game as we know it today.
Southeast Asia
The next chapter of its life was traveling across Southeast Asia, where the game would be play tested with friends and strangers at coffee shops, bars, and even in the middle of the jungle. For another 9 months, the game was finally taking shape.
It took 2 years, 30 countries, and >20k miles, but Raid was finally finished and ready to share with the world.
The effort and feedback from so many different people, from different cultures helped create a unique experience that without even knowing the language could be played and enjoyed. A card game perfect for waiting for a flight, stuck at a goat crossing, taking a water break in the jungle, or just enjoying drinks at a bar with friends. Raid was born while traveling the world, intended to be played around the world.
We can't wait for you to Raid with us all around the world!
- The Modern Games Team
Raid Dev Diary #1
over 3 years ago
– Sat, Nov 07, 2020 at 07:34:59 PM
Hello! My name is Brennen Peters, the lead game designer on Raid for Modern Games. I wanted to use the Dev Diary as a place to share interesting points about the decisions we made during the creation of the game and also interesting tidbits about how to play well against your enemies!
When to raid, when not to raid
In this first chapter I wanted to talk about the main mechanic that makes Raid special: The trade off mechanic between when to keep a warrior on your longboats and when to send them as raid damage.
During the course of battle we wanted players to go through “waves” of feeling like they had the advantage and then back to feeling like they didn’t. I personally am not a fan of games that feel like you can snowball your way to victory. In Raid it’s much more difficult to do so. Now, that doesn’t mean you can’t crush your opponents and score 40+ raid points to their mere 10, but it takes much more strategy and a bit of RNG to make that happen. Raid was designed to constantly rebalance the playing field, because when you take the advantage you have to choose to then score points by making yourself weaker by removing your warriors. This constant choice is the crux of the entire thought process, of how to win well in Raid.
The best way to score points and keep an advantage is to send low power warriors through Raiding Parties while keeping stronger warriors on longboats to defend. An Axe Thrower (1 power) is worth just as much raid damage as a Giant (9 Power), so when given the choice, sending the Axe Thrower as raid damage is preferred.
When given the opportunity to send an Elite Warrior (worth 2 raid damage) it’s typically worth sending them. Most of the time players are holding onto Jarls and Valkyries in an attempt to kill these Elite Warriors that remain on your longboats. By not giving them a chance and sending them to Raid, you get to score points and don’t allow your opponent to more effectively use their Elite Warrior powers. However, if you have a pair of Elite Warriors and know the enemy may not have a Jarl or Valkyrie it makes much more sense to keep them on a longboat and use their strength to continue to keep the enemy longboats down.
In most card games knowing what the enemy has in their hand is vital information, however, in Raid (mostly when playing a single shared deck) it’s not just vital but necessary to win handily. Since the game has a fixed amount of cards, card counting can actually help you figure out what your opponent has and doesn’t have. This information should be used to determine what warriors should stay on longboats and what warriors are best to send to score raid damage.
Another big factor is keeping combos on longboats alive using low power warriors. Think of these cards as second rate oarsmen. :) Having a triple set of Axe Throwers (1 power) warriors is a very weak boat, but with a single Elite warrior or high level warrior with it, can make it a really great “trash boat” cleanup. At certain points, your opponent will throw out single warrior trash boats to protect themselves as they wait to get their hand in order. This low triple + high longboat makes a perfect strategy to remove those weak boats and allow you to ferry other warriors as raid damage.
There are many, different scenarios that will make you think about that simple choice: to raid or not to raid.
Good luck friends and can’t wait to see you in Valhalla!
