Kickstarter Loot 4 - Meeples for Tiny Epic Western by Meeple Source

I haven't done a Kickstarter providing supporting material for another Kickstarter since I backed Traveller 5th Edition. That was a mistake when I backed a Kickstarter featuring the first starship booklet designed specifically for 5th Edition. It took several years to get any rewards, although I did get the booklets eventually. I never did receive the 15mm scaled ship layouts to use with my miniatures.

However, this time its a different story. Meeple Source has a number of successful kickstarters and they teamed up with Gamelyn Games to produce a set of Meeples for the Tiny Epic Western game. There are actually two sets; the first set is to replace the player's own pieces and the second set represents the 12 Bosses (you don't actually need pieces for the bosses but it adds a lot of flavor) that eventually ended up in the Kickstarter version of TEW. I opted for both sets. This allows you to swap out the blue, yellow, green and red player pieces with full color character versions.

I received these on Monday and I think they are fabulous. A great job by Meeple Source which delivered only a week or so late because of a printing error created by the printer. An excellent Kickstarter and a high quality reward. Now I really need to play TEW!

All of the TEW Meeples as depicted in the Kickstarter artwork

I would happily buy stuff from Meeple Source again. Meeple Source

Kickstarter Loot 3 - Tiny Epic Western boardgame by Gamelyn Games

September was supposed to be a big month Kickstarter wise, but the inevitable delays are making it look like October is going to be the big month instead. However, Tiny Epic Western did arrive on time and I had a chance to un-box it and take a look. I have Tiny Epic Galaxy by them and I really enjoy that game so I'm looking forward to getting in some play time with TEW as well. Of course this is setting the gears in motion to get moving on Calamity as well, so maybe I'll be dusting off the workbench and get some buildings built after ReaperCon this month.

Tiny Epic Western (TEW) is a combination of poker and worker placement as you vie for control of the various buildings in town. As a Kickstarter backer I have a few extras that aren't going to be found in the commercial version of the game. For instance the standard game has 8 "Boss" cards and I received 12. There are 4 bullet dice in the Kickstarter edition and only 2 in the commercial edition. The influence tokens have designs printed on them and I don't believe the commercial versions will. In addition there is a plastic version of the wanted card with a clear window in it. Quite frankly I don't know what that is for yet, but I'm sure I'll figure it out after a couple of games.

I also ordered a full deck of the playing cards as an add on and a roll up game mat as well. The game mat arrived almost a month ago I think and I, of course, forgot to take a picture of it. Think poker mat with a town layout on it and you will be close though.

Right off the bat I can see the high quality of all the components. The box walls are very thick so its going to be very resistant to typical gaming damage. The top has printing on the inside and serves as the "dice corral" and the box bottom has basic FAQs printed on it for quick reference when you don't have time to lip through the 20 page rule booklet. I'm really excited to jump into this one!

A box packed full of game components. Note the interior printing on the inside of the box top.

These are the building mats that form the game board.

One of the 12 boss cards. The backside has basic game information on it for use as a quick reference.

The two card "decks" (eraser on the right not included)

The Building cards

The poker cards and the wanted card. This is not a full deck of playing cards there are only 20 of them. However you could order a full deck as an add on purchase which I did.

The game components. The twelve meeples in four colors will be replaced with some meeples from a supporting Kickstarter project that should be arriving in the next week or so.

Kickstarter Watch 1 - Tiny Epic Western Boardgame - Final Days

This little kickstarter is now under the 72 hour mark to its end and they are close to breaking the $400,000 mark and reaching their final stretch goal. They report that all components, including the stretch goals, are tested and ready and none of these will delay the delivery date. Based on that the $400,000 stretch goal is the final goal regardless of how much money is raised at the end. This is an important stretch goal as it takes the boss mats from being double sided to being single sided which will add a lot more complexity and flexibility to the game right out of the box.

$26 will get you into the deluxe version of the game with all the achieved stretch goals both physical and digital. This is a good company and I highly recommend them from my last experience on kickstarter. What are you waiting for?

Here is a graphic of the current box contents

Kickstarter Watch 1 - Tiny Epic Western Boardgame

I have really reduced the number of Kickstarters that I have gotten involved with but this is one that I'll be jumping on; Tiny Epic Western. I have their last Kickstarter game; Tiny Epic Galaxies and while I haven't had a chance to play it yet it is well designed with high quality pieces and parts and was delivered on time! I have high hopes for this one as well and apparently so does everyone else. It kicked off today and has already crossed the $117,000 pledge mark and wiped out all their initial stretch goals. They were only looking for $15,000! This might create a delay in production but I'm okay with that as it fits into the western genre that I love. For $26 you are in for the deluxe version with all the add-ons and digital content. What are you waiting for? Tiny Epic Western

I'm not sure about fitting in your pocket but Tiny Epic Galaxies easily fits in my full backpack.

At the beginning

In play

This is currently what you would be getting in the deluxe edition of the game.. Shipping in the US is only $2, Shipping everywhere else was looking pretty reasonable.