Longsword Tabletop Tactics is part game, part tabletop platform
It's on Kickstarter
I have spent a silly amount of cash on tabletop games that rarely see the light of day. It’s increasingly difficult to get a bunch of people in their 30s to drop their babies and spouses and pop round to mine for a day of Star Wars Armada or Arkham Horror. So games like Longsword Tabletop Tactics [official site] make me very happy.
Army building, miniature painting and custom tabletops -- it seems to be everything you’d expect from a tabletop game, inside a PC game. It’s on Kickstarter now, though it seems to be struggling a wee bit, so why not take a peek?
As well as being a tactical minis game, Longsword is also a CCG. Players will be able to collect cards that represent heroes, spells, equipment and structures, all with different rarities, before deploying them on the hex-based battlefield. You’ll be able to acquire cards by spending in-game currency, but also by spending cash. Cards purchased with real-world funds can then be traded with other players via Steam.
Developer Daniel DiCicco, who also created 4X game StarDrive and its sequel, has some rather ambitious plans for the future of the game, too. He envisions Longsword as not just a game, but a platform for other tabletop romps.
The true potential of Longsword is that it is not just a game, but a framework for tabletop games. The world of tabletop gaming is huge and we want to provide a common ruleset and a common set of tools to bring tabletop gamers from every genre into an online space where they can share their passion.
So while it’s all fantasy monsters and armoured knights at the moment, future playsets could be sci-fi themed or set in a more contemporary universe. Exactly what shape these extra playsets take will largely depend on player feedback.
I’m always a little hesitant when a small developer proposes something so ambitious, especially when the base-game is still on Kickstarter, but it’s a compelling prospect all the same. I’m reminded a lot of the excellent Tabletop Simulator, though that’s much broader and very much a free-for-all, where anything goes and you make up the rules.
DiCicco is looking for $20,000, which is modest by Kickstarter standards, and the current pledged amount is $4,745. The campaign has 13 days to go.