Unstitched!

[Justin]

I just thought I would start a discussion on the new edition of Puppet Wars: Unstitched.

A lot of things have gone into production of the game: plastic models, a better board, improved tokens, and a sturdy box. But, I thought a discussion about the rules changes would be good.

With Unstitched we cleaned up a lot of the rules. We opened up movement by eliminating the blocking rule and only having puppets become exhausted when they take an action. This created more dynamic game play and shortened the average length of the game (the first version took 1-2 hours which was too long for a simple board game)

We also spent a lot of time cleaning up abilities on a lot of the models. Before, we simply had too many. It was more like a small scale war game than a true board game. However, we wanted to keep a lot of the cool combos and tricks from the original. We did this by improving the upgrade system. Upgrades are now far easier to attach and grant a few more unique actions. This is where the depth of the game really comes in. You'll probably notice that the puppets with the fewest abilities (Ronin, Rotten Belle) can also attach an extra upgrade, making them a bit more customizable. By revamping this system, I think that we made the rules easier to grasp while making the game play even more dynamic and interesting.

If you haven't seen it yet and want to check out the rules, head on over here: http://www.puppet-wars.com/

All of the rules and stats are free online, so have a look for yourself.

And, if you've tried the game out, post here and tell me what you think!

[SpiralngCadavr]

Cool, re: physical pieces, length, redesigned structure. All of those sound like great improvements (though I obviously haven't been able to try it out yet)

Are there any thoughts on

-printed versions of the game for those of us who bought first edition

-a printable PDF

-any other way to play the game without being in front of a computer?

(also, the link to the game box doesn't go anywhere right now)

edit: also like the way you implemented the search function (don't remember if the old rules had one)

Thanks

Edited May 9, 2013 by SpiralngCadavr

[Hugor]

I'll try to get in a game next time I have some down time and people over and post my thoughts when I get around to playing a game.

Looking forward to seeing it all at Gen Con as I am going to have to save all my money between now and then for all the Wyrd stuff coming out, and not knowing what minis are coming and what all will be there, I just have to wait until then to make a decision about the physical game, but from the pictures, the quality of the minis look great, although I may still use my retro ones.

Any thoughts on setting up a board in Vassal for Puppet Wars? Would love to be able to play some quick games during lunch online, since I am far too slow at Malifaux to even think of trying that.

[Arkenfel]

I picked up a copy at Salute a couple weeks back and after putting it all together and giving it a couple of games with friends I can safely say that it is great fun. Even friends who aren't normally into gaming enjoyed it and have asked about playing again.

The only slight negative is with some of the plastic pieces such as the tail on the rattler, the birds feet on the austringer and the belt buckle on the death marshal being separate (extremely tiny) pieces, but this may just be down to me having sausage fingers...

All in all, I really like Unstitched. It feels like a quality product and is a lot of fun to play.

[Clousseau]

I have run a lot of demos and its a really easy game for people to pick up. The only full game I've played was great fun and hinted at a lot of depth once you work out some great combinations.

Playing again on Monday.

Oh yes, and the figures are FANTASTIC>

[Hugor]

Read through the rules and the cards. They both look good. I might have to get this and work on painting all the puppets over the summer. Then I can bring it into school and teach some of the kids to play.

[themurphyfella]

Played the first game of the Unstitched version tonight against a new player. He's tried malifaux and bounced of the rules complexity but he really liked this game.

Personally it's the version of the Game that I wish the original had been. Cleaner and with a lot of very elegant mechanics.

I wish I had the cards for all the original pieces so that I could have the option of which version to pay as the mood takes me but I'm very happy with the impulse purchase at salute. Having the extra figures from the original game just means I have more game options when people are over so can play mirror matches. And it makes it easier to determine which of figure x it's the one under my control.

Next up is purchasing a big bunch of the colored bases. Any chance of a base pack for the puppet players? It'd be nice to get a slight deal based (see what I did there) on having less packaging in a bigger bundle.

[ThePandaDirector]

I'm still building my Puppets so haven't had a game yet (maybe I'll use it to hook people into playtesting M2E). As far as assembly goes - Silurid, Rattler and Death Marshal are a bit of nightmare. Despite my attempts, Siulurd has a bunch of gaps where the parts refused to stay together, Rattler doesn't have his tail (and I thought pin the donkey was hard) and Death Marshal is still in pieces. They are amazing models, but hopefully future releases are a little more gamer friendly.

I never realised how different PWs' rules are to Malifaux until I played the latter for the first time. I asked my opponent if suits stacked and he just went "noooo..... that'd make Critical Strike very powerful" (my response was "critical rooby-roo?") =P

I do love the core gameplay, and regardless of what some might say, it hasn't changed much. I did hate the Blocking Rule, so glad to see it go.

I'm glad Upgrades are more unique and that they're easier to Attach, but it's sad you can't steal from your opponent's Scrap Heap (maybe that'll become a puppet/upgrade action/ability). I do still like my idea of Puppets fighting for upgrades though

My only real issue though is that, despite its differences, M2E is sort of making PWU feel more Malifaux-lite than it did before. I do feel that the idenity of PWU needs to be defined and solidified in future releases. I think Wyrd could go further in taking advantage of the puppet theme and more abstract gameplay (nothing really needs to make logical sense in PW).

Overall, I look forward to playing again, and developing a Wyrd community at my club, not just a Malifaux one.

Now I just have to see how Wyrd plan on supporting PWU in the future.

[Vmag]

When the trial rules/puppets were posted a while back I made up temporary puppet cards in powerpoint in order to try out the proposed rule set. I've since updated these puppet cards to the current stats posted on the site. I guess what I'm looking for from the community is a bit of proof-reading. The link for the powerpoint on Google Docs is below, no password req'd.

The cards don't look quite right (image is too dark) unless you download the file and open in powerpoint. The cards were designed as squares with the upgrade along the side, the idea being that the card being attached could be placed under the attaching puppets card such that the upgrade info sticks out the bottom of the attaching puppets card. Also, if you desire to print these, I've found that printing them as handouts with 4 cards per page works pretty well.

Please let me know if there are any errors!

thanks!!

https://docs.google.com/file/d/0BxrZn1mJFH5KQlpBX05KMFA5NjQ/edit?usp=sharing