Weather Machine Should You Back It?
“Leverage research and lab experience to address extreme weather facing the world.”
by Vital Lacerda art by Ian O’Toole published by Eagle-Gryphon Games
Kickstarter Campaign launches on November 11th!
Weather Machine is coming to KS very soon and I thought this would be the perfect time to take a look at the game. Since we don’t have information on the different pledges we can really only focus on the game itself and previous Lacerda KS games for data.
Lacerda games have a certain flavor to them. Some love them, others find them too much game at times. This one could very well be a worthy addition to the Kallax.
Look, I’m not going to dance around it. Lacerda games tend to be heavy complexity, thinky, and relatively pricey. Those are understandable turn-offs for dare I say, the majority of board gamers. But I’m here as someone who has backed and received several Lacerda games and this one is certainly up my alley.
First things first, the art! You know me (or at least some of you do!). I’m a huge fan of Ian O’Toole’s art. I personally own or am still backing many games he’s done the art for including On Mars, Kanban EV, Voidfall, and Carnegie. the man has a certain style that gamers love or hate…mostly love! The picture above is the backside of the mainboard. You know, the place that is usually black and barren. This looks incredible and is good signaling of the detail put into this game.
Fans of the Steampunk genre will no doubt be drawn into this one by the art and the components, but those 2 things are not enough to make for a game, not at the level we expect in the hobby board game space at least. Weather Machine will have to prove itself at the level of game mechanics and the crowdfunding value proposition.
Here it is! In Weather Machine this is where it’s at. This massive mainboard and some pretty intricate player boards. Like several of Vital Lacerda’s previous games, the boards look much scarier than they really are. After a teach-and-playthrough, I’m sure most Euro gamers will have a good handle on how the game plays out. That’s not to say there isn’t a lot going on here, and perhaps this is the record for most color shades on a single game board!
Here we have a close-up view of some of the numerous components. Meeples, robots, gears, chemical barrels(?), as well as many different tiles representing research and government subsidies. It’s tempting to fall in love with this project just from these few pictures but let’s keep moving.
Thematically, What’s really going on in this game?
Here is the story creator — Nathan Morse’s take.
“Natural disasters will soon be a thing of the past!” proclaimed Professor Sêni Lativ, Project Chief of Meteorological Manipulation at Lightning Technologies. Tests of his new invention, the Weather Machine, showed positive results. Visions of quelling floods, subduing cyclones, and ending droughts made him smile.
In Weather Machine, you are scientists on Prof. Lativ’s team, tampering with local weather: adjusting rainfall for farms, maintaining wind and clear skies for ecological energy sources, tweaking the temperature for resorts and sporting events. The prototype is quite effective so far; however, a pattern has emerged, revealing a worrying side effect: Each use of the Weather Machine also alters the conditions elsewhere on the planet — a “butterfly effect”.
Prof. Lativ’s dreams of eliminating climatic catastrophes quickly evolve into nightmares of ending humankind. Each test causes worse side effects. One day, the professor bursts into the lab with resolve in his eye, followed immediately by stone-faced stoics in suits.
Government officials have accepted the urgent nature of the situation, as well as the fact that only Prof. Lativ’s team might fix the very problem he has stirred up. “We must build a new prototype,” he announces as the agents shoot him sidelong glances; “…but this time we’re going to get it right.” The agents silently give a single, crisp nod of confirmation. “The government is funding this, and we will succeed.”
As Prof. Lativ explains the plan, the need to secure suppliers for sufficient bots and chemicals is clear. In addition to the materials, time is of the essence; you must be focused and efficient to have any hope of reining this growing global terror, Earth’s atmosphere before conditions are too harsh for Homo sapiens and countless other species of all biomes.
At this point, Professor Sêni Lativ will be remembered as a mad, but brilliant, scientist for as long as humanity survives, but you could go down in history as the savior of the world.
A bit long but I thought it best to include as much official information as I can because that’s less opinion and more meat-and-bones of what this game really is. That crazy Professor Vital…I mean Lativ…my apologies to the professor. He’s at it again, but this time his cooky invention threatens to turn the Earth into a wasteland of meteorological disasters.
If we don’t fix this problem and correct the Weather Machine, who will? So the theme checks out just fine, and so do the art and the components. What about the game mechanics?
Weather Machine is a 1–4 player game (Solo mode!) played in 60–150 minutes for ages 14+. I’m very skeptical that this game could be played in under 60 minutes but I digress. The early word from playtesters has been that this will not be close to Vital’s heaviest game. Its weight should be similar to Vinhos — which is no complexity slouch! Expect a deep and crunchy gameplay experience.
A strategy Euro game with mechanics including Action Points, Set Collection, Worker Placement, and Tile Placement. Players will use several types of resources which can be used to play actions during their respective turns. Placing workers and tiles are staple mechanics for just about any Lacerda game so no surprise there.
If you are still intrigued I urge you to check out Gaming Rules tutorial and playthrough with Paul Grogan as well as a “teach-and-play” from Heavy Cardboard.
In this game, you will send your Scientist meeple to different sectors on the mainboard while also activating abilities on your player board. Gain knowledge, government subsidiaries, and assemble bots to do the hard work for you!
Should You Back It?
If you are familiar with Lacerda games and this looks up your alley or if you are a Lacerda completionist then of course this is a no-brainer. If the look and the theme intrigue you, then it’s still going to be vital (lol) that you check out if the playstyle is something you and your group will enjoy. Otherwise, this will just be a heavy expensive brick in your Kallax. Many are going to dive into this crunchy Euro and it will almost certainly have a VERY successful crowdfunding campaign. From a financial level consider if this is a sensible purchase once the pledge levels are revealed.
Just for fun, if I were to rate what I think this game will be for me based on watching the two videos, knowing Lacerda games, etc. I would guess this would rate about BGG 8.5 (for me). I am extremely eager to try it out, but I’m not sure if I will be the one to back this game. I hope another player in my local gaming group backs it though. The reason I say this is because I backed Kanban EV and from what I’ve seen it really reminds me mechanically of that game, enough so that I don’t know if it’s the right financial decision to back a game that might just be splitting Kanban Ev’s previous table time.
This looks to be another solid offering from Eagle-Gryphon Games. Let’s wait for the pledge levels to be revealed before making a value judgement and then we can take an even closer look at Weather Machine.
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