MOLE MAJORITY: CARD UPDATES - MAY 2015
Cards have been updated once again after a weekend game designer retreat. Even before I went a few of the cards had been updated with Sharpie marker, so they were long overdue anyway. Here is a brief summary of updates, and some pictures of the placeholder artwork.
- I solved some "dead hand" problems by merging the Convert card with the +1 Breed Bonus card. In a playtest session I changed the name of the +1 Breed Card to "Providence" and allowed players to add a +1 to Breed, Move, Attack, or Convert actions. Removing the plain Convert card from player decks didn't seem to cause problems, and I was able to trim the deck down to a slim 16 cards per player.
- The HAWK ATTACK is now a GROUNDSKEEPER. All mechanics are the same, it's just the placeholder artwork and name have been updated to reflect a more thematic attack card. These come in +1 and +2 Breed Bonus varieties.
- I clarified the text on the card that allows players to either Make a Home or Cause a Cave-In. The Cave-In is to allow the player to build 2 barriers at once, so I added some numbers to the card to make this as clear as possible. Also, both actions allow the player to take a Home Token. Make a Home takes the token from the active player's hex, while Cave-In allows a player to take one that's not in play (there are extra tokens not used when the map is arranged at the start of the game, so there were no extra pieces needed for this rule change to work).
- Speaking of Home Tokens, I've added stickers to them for the moment, allowing me to label each of the tokens with 1, 2, or 3 points. The backs of each token - placed on each hex at the beginning of the game - will have a small golf flag/pennant on it. Note that the final version of the sticker will be circular. The layout looks a bit odd on this graphic because it's the template for the sticker, larger than the tokens themselves.
- All cards have had a bit of a layout makeover, including a clear delineation for all "stackable" bonuses so there's no confusion about full actions versus free actions. On the cards above, you'll note that all stackable options have a "whited-out" background to identify them. All required cards have received this essential visual adjustment.
With that, I think it's time for just a bit more playtesting, and then drafting a list of publishers to submit to. I'm sure I've said that a dozen times already in the past year, but this time, I really really mean it (which is something I've also said a dozen times in the past year...).
