Thursday 3 July 2014

The oddballs Have Landed...

The other day I heard the postman desperately attempting to jam a package through my letterbox. I wasn't expecting anything, so it was quite exciting as I opened the package to see what it was. Turns out it was oddball Aeronauts, a little card game that I backed on Kickstarter a while back and then pretty much forgot about. A nice surprise.

oddball Aeronauts


Excitedly, I opened the box to check out what my money had bought. My impressions were mixed, which seems to be a running theme with games I Kickstart.

First of all, the box for the game is stunning. It is sturdy and compact, and the artwork is lovely. That artwork continues onto the cards, which have a clean design and look amazing. There was also a very attractive enamel pin, which was one of the Kickstarter stretch goals. I wouldn't ever wear it, and it is quite small; but it looks really good.

Unfortunately, I was not so impressed by anything else, and there were some missed opportunities to make things really shine.

The game includes a "first player" token, which is simply a wooden disc. Why there wasn't a stretch goal for a sticker to put on one side is beyond me. It would have made the token something that you could flip, and would have looked more attractive.

The tin that was available as a stretch goal was also a bit of a fail. I was never particularly excited about the tin anyway, but considering it is not big enough to fit all the cards, it is almost entirely pointless. In addition, it wasn't a printed tin; it came with a sticker to apply by hand. That would be fine if the sticker was the right size and shape.

oddball Aeronauts game contents


Finally, I found the rules to be poorly written. There isn't a single example of play to go through, hardly any diagrams, and several sections where I simply could not work out how to play. For a simple two-player card game, that isn't great.

However, the game itself does look like a lot of fun, and the cards truly are beautiful. As it stands at the moment, despite how negative I sound, I am glad I backed the game. Additionally, this game turned up early, complete, and with no manufacturing defects. That right there makes it one of the best Kickstarter games ever.

oddball Aeronauts cards


Once I have played a few times, I will post a review.

2 comments:

  1. The tin doesn't fit all the cards, and the sticker for the tin doesn't fit the tin? Crazy. At least the game looks good; Rahdo was very enthusiastic about it in his runthrough.

    I guess this is why stretch goals being added late in a project are often seen as such a bad thing on Kickstarter! :)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Just to clarify on the tin situation: The tin has a recess in the lid, which has curved corners. The corners of the sticker do not match up with the curves in the lid. As a result, the corners of the sticker "ride up" over the lip of the recess.

      One of the other stretch goals was more cards, which is very much needed for the deck construction aspect of the game. I would rather they had pumped out some more cards instead of the tin (which is basically just a plain tobacco tin).

      However, the game really does look fantastic.

      Delete

Go on, leave me a comment. You know you want to.