Late Pledge Store - Village Attacks: Grim Dynasty Reborn

May Update: Mould Manufacturing and Tariff Talk
over 1 year ago – Thu, May 01, 2025 at 11:57:47 AM

Hi friends,

It's been a tumultuous few months and I suspect most of you have heard enough about tariffs already, but I did want to give you an update on where stand - and tariffs obviously impact that. 

Because of the uncertainty, we're putting off opening the pledge manager for now. As frustrating as all of this is, I am hopeful that tariffs at an industry killing level will not be our reality for long. Given that I think this kind of tax increase is unsustainable, my guess is that things will smooth out sooner rather than later. For now, our plan is to wait on the pledge manager and see what happens. 

That does not mean we're at a standstill, as behind the scenes we're moving forward with getting the game ready to print. We're finalizing the order for some mould repairs and replacing one that was previously lost; I expect all of the moulds to be ready to go within around 30 days. We're also polishing up some graphic design issues as well in addition to some final changes to the Grim Dynasty rulebook. 

One minor thing we're working on are the Tactician dice that come with Grim Dynasty. Those of you that watched any of the Youtube playthroughs might have noticed the prototypes had ugly, mustard-yellow dice included. The final version was intended to a marbled, golden look. The first mockups from the factory were not exactly what I was looking for:

Still a little mustard-y for me. Thankfully, the factory is working on a new set with material that will have brighter, more metallic sheen. I'll hopefully be able to show those off next time!

I appreciate your patience as we bring this project to life. The tariff issues are frustrating, but I'm confident they can't last forever. In future updates, we'll have a look at the next iteration of dice, the finalized rulebook, and hopefully some test prints from the moulds. 

A Heartfelt Thank You and Tabletopia News!
over 1 year ago – Fri, Apr 04, 2025 at 01:37:32 PM

Hi friends! Thank you for the amazing support.

I've taken a few days to take a breather after the campaign and also absorb the gut punch that is the tariff news. The new tariffs, which are higher than many predicted, will impact the entire industry. We're going to take a look at things as they (hopefully) settle, but I priced in some uncertainty since we had some vague warnings about what was coming on 4/2 since before our campaign launched. If they increase again before we ship, we'll have to look at our options, but fingers crossed, this is the worst of it!

For now, the work begins on getting the pledge manager ready. I don't have a firm date for that yet, but I hope to have it and pre-orders up soon. Right now, we're doing some graphic design cleanup on the packaging and getting digital files ready. I anticipate the factory will start with the mould repairs next week and then do the tooling for the plastic packaging after that. 

I'm going through the Grim Dynasty Reborn rulebook again as we found some issues over the course of the campaign, I'll provide that once it's ready and will also send an update once I know the factory is working on the moulds. In other news, we'll soon have a new way to play Village Attacks!  

Village Attacks is Coming to Tabletopia

The nice folks at Tabletopia have reached out about a digital conversion, and we've agree to add the Core Game to their list of available titles. We're just now starting this process and haven't been given a timeline on how long it might take, but I believe a lot of the assets should be ready since the game is already on TableTop Simulator. I hope to have a better timeline for this development next time as well, but I can confirm the game will be available with a free account. 

Speaking of TableTop Simulator, if you own it on the Steam Store, you can play Village Attacks online right now. It includes most of the legacy expansions as well as Grim Dynasty content. You can find the TTS mod here. 

that's it for now!

Home Stretch Update and a Look At The Wretched Journey
over 1 year ago – Mon, Mar 31, 2025 at 10:55:41 AM

Hi friends, 

We’re glad you enjoyed yesterday’s update about the Dragon Clan! Today we have already entered the last 48 hours of the campaign and it’s exciting to see more and more people joining!

Thank you all for your support in this journey reviving Village Attacks and bringing to life the
Grim Dynasty expansion. We are really happy that we will finally bring this to your tables, and
we  appreciate the support, especially from the old backers of Grimlord Games who
joined us.

Right now, we don’t have plans to bring the game to retail so you are all part of something
very special and exclusive!

As we enter the final 24 hours, we would love your help spreading the word, making this as big a success as possible. The better the campaign does, the bigger the game print run will be, dropping the costs per copy. We want to stress as much as possible that by pledging here you already help us a ton, but spread the word is invaluable as well! You can help by sharing the campaign to your friends, any Facebook groups, Boardgamegeek or online communities you are part of.

Thanks again for being part of the rebirth of Village Attacks and the Grim Dynasty expansion!

Add-On Review: The Wretched Journey Offers Monsters - And Heroes

The Wretched Journey is unique among Village Attacks expansions, as it comes with four unique and incredible miniatures that can be used in two distinct ways: as playable monsters or legendary heroes. 

The four monsters from Chinese folklore include:

• Ao Lie - Dragon Prince of the West Sea
• Sha Wujing - Spirit of the Deep Sands
• Sun Wukong - Great Sage Equal of Heaven
• Zhu Bajie - Marshal of Heavenly Navies

take for example Ao Lie, who has a number of abilities that can manipulate peasants and traps across the castle. It starts with Thunderous Roar, allowing it to stun a peasant or hunter at long range. As you gain experience, you can add Royal Decree that lets you collect experience when traps eliminate villagers, potentially sharing those experience points with allies if you choose. Reign of Terror allows you to move villagers around the castle each time you enter a room. One of the things I really enjoy about this expansion is that the new monsters bring much more to the table than just dealing damage. 

In addition to a playable monster, you can also use Ao Lie and the other three characters as Legendary Heroes. These super-powered versions of Town Heroes are not just hard to kill, they also come with their own set of powers that are controlled by a single roll of the die each turn.

These rolls not only control how the Legendary Heroes move, but they also unleash unique powers. Depending on the roll, Ao Lie can deal damage, spawn villagers, and remove dice from the monsters' next roll. They are by far the toughest single test you can face in Village Attacks.

That's it this time! 

Add On Review: The Dragon Clan is a Unique Threat
over 1 year ago – Sat, Mar 29, 2025 at 08:34:44 PM

As we close in on the end of the campaign, I wanted to take a quick look at another expansion - the Dragon Clan! The Dragon Clan rules are included in the Advanced Rules section of the Village Attacks: Grim Dynasty Reborn rulebook. You can use proxies for the miniatures if you like, and we also offer an expansion that includes the 14 miniatures you need to have two full-sized dragon clans on the board at once. 

Each dragon clan is made up of one head, one tail, and between zero and five body members. Unlike many of the other neutral monsters, the Dragon Clan does not have dedicated event cards. Instead, you will bring a dragon clan into play if you draw two hunter cards in a row on the same turn. Instead of adding the second set of hunters, you'll place the Dragon Clan in that spawn point. 

The size of the Dragon Clan depends on the tier of the game you are in as well as the number of players. Instead of spawning hunters, you'll spawn a number of dragon clan members equal to the number of hunters indicated on the card. You will always have a head and a tail, plus a varying number of bodies. Let's take a look. 

In this example, if you draw this card immediately after another hunter card while in Tier 1, the dragon clan spawns with two members - a head and a tail. If you're in Tier 3, you'll spawn a head, a tail, and four bodies. You can also expand or contract this number based on the number of players at the table. However, the Dragon Clan can never spawn fewer than two or more than seven members. 

The Dragon Clan all starts in the same spawn point. On the following turn, the head moves one space toward the castle heart. as it moves closer, any body members will form a chain, eventually pulling the tail with them. If the head is destroyed, the body member at the front of the line will keep moving forward, with the rest of the Clan following. Body and tail members can also move multiple steps to fill in gaps if links in the middle of the chain are destroyed. 

Where the Dragon Clan truly stands out is the tail. While it has no offensive capabilities to speak of, the game immediately ends if it manages to reach the castle heart. This is the case regardless of how much health the heart has left at the time. 

The Dragon Clan is a fun wrinkle to add into the game, requiring you to quickly rethink your strategy. Thinking about picking up the miniatures expansion? In total, it comes with 14 handsome miniatures!

Thanks again for your support so far! As we close in on the end, I am very thankful to all of you for helping to make this thing possible. 

Slickerdrips is going live with a Grim Dynasty playthrough shortly
over 1 year ago – Fri, Mar 28, 2025 at 08:51:57 AM

Slickerdrips has a live playthrough of Grim Dynasty Reborn at 11:00 A.M. central time, which is 16:00 GMT. I'll also be dropping into the stream briefly to say hello before it gets rolling! If you haven't had a chance to see the game played with the expansion content, this is a good chance. It will be available to watch on demand if you can't make it.