Heroes of Land, Air & Sea, a huge fantasy-themed 4X game from Gamelyn Games, is back on Kickstarter this month, with a lower price point, simpler reward tiers, and some other new developments.
I wrote a review of the game (based on a prototype) back when it first launched in January this year, and although the game had actually hit its funding goal on the first day, Michael Coe of Gamelyn Games decided to cancel the campaign and rework it, because he felt he could do better. The initial campaign had many different reward tiers with and without expansions—now, it’s simpler, cheaper, and better.
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While you can still check out my initial review for the gameplay and my impression of the game, here’s what’s changed in the relaunch:
Reward tiers: There are just two now: the base game ($79), and the base game with expansion ($139). Rather than having two separate expansions with two factions each, they’ve combined them into one expansion. The base game now only goes to 4 players, but you add the 5th and 6th player through the expansion—it means a reduced cost for both the base game and the expansions. There is no longer an option to get cardboard standees only—all games will have plastic miniatures, and painted miniatures will be available as an add-on.
Game Board: The prototype game board that I played with was really huge, but the final game board was going to be even bigger—to the point that the game may not fit on some tables. The change is that the base game board is now a square with 4 islands, and the expansion adds 2 more islands with a board extension. The full board with extension is still the same size as originally planned, but at least now if you just have the base game (or are playing with up to 4 players), you don’t need to buy yourself a new table to do so. While I do like the look of the old map a little better, because the continents weren’t on a grid and had more varied shapes, it also looks like there’s more water space available for placing those huge boat pieces now.
Development: The game has also undergone further development (partly to ensure that the islands are balanced both with and without the board extension), and there are now also a solo mode and a team variant.
If you like 4x games, you should definitely check out Heroes of Land, Air & Sea. Gamelyn Games and designer Scott Almes have worked together on several projects quite successfully, and I’m excited to see what they do with this massive epic kingdom.
For more information, check out my original review, or visit the Heroes of Land, Air & Sea Kickstarter page.
