Well, I made my own board game. Before I show it off, I feel obligated to provide a disclaimer: the miniatures used in this board game for character pieces were done so without permission. All rights are reserved to the respective intellectual property owners; this board game was created for personal use and will not be distributed. Moving on.
A couple of months ago, a friend of mine was moving into a new house, and invited some of his closest friends over for a game night. Whilst playing Apples to Apples, I casually asked my friend, whom I call P, if he had gotten the new miniature board game, Mass Slaughter 2. The jokes continued, including the game’s hardcore mode, where you actually kill your opponent, and its status as an award winning sequel to the non-existent Mass Slaughter. The next day, P and I got the bright idea to actually make Mass Slaughter 2; its unveil would be a big laugh fest, but we also intended that it be a very playable and enjoyable game. Over the next two months, P and I, with the help of my brother, worked hard to get the game finished to be played by Christmas vacation. Besides my brother, I am the only one of my friends who paints miniatures, and therefore did the vast majority of the work.
What's in the Box?
I won’t bother to explain the rules at all; there’s too much to read as it is! Just know that the game supports eleven players based on dice rolls.
The game itself consists of numerous different parts, each almost as equally as important as the others. The box took a lot longer than I thought it would, and was mostly for gags, ecspecially the unpictured back cover. There are two boards, which didn't take long at all; one is the main game board, the other is the Arena. The rules are quite short, and extremely easy once the game gets rolling. There are 23 cards. Each card consists of a title, picture, description, and effect; most of the descriptions are inside jokes, historical blurbs, or non chalant sentances just to get something on there. Then, there's the eleven miniatures, which I know is what you guys want to see! They aren't as good as my usual due to the rush, and the camera doesn't do them justice to boot!
No, fur realz.
The Referee started life as a Blood Bowl Referee from Games Workshop's Citadel Miniatures that I picked up from a hobby store in South Carolina.
The English Halberdier was a Warhammer Bretonnian Men-At-Arms from GW's Citadel that I got from a hobby store here in NC before it closed.
The Scottish Knight is from eBob Miniatures's Rebellion range.
The Union Soldier is actually a repainted Confederate Soldier that I picked up at the gift shop in Arlington Cemetary. I could not, for the life of me, find the company it was made by.
The Confederate Soldier is the same as above.
The "Cowboy Pirate." I ordered the Western Gunfighter from eBob Miniatures, but it was out of stock. I still haven't recieved it, unfortunately (but don't hold that against eBob, he's awesome!!). So...I had to get a replacement in time for the unveil. I pulled out eBob's villager, the one that resembles Bill Ferny. When I said it was a Cowboy, everyone else said it looked more like a pirate--and thus, he was called the Cowboy Pirate.
Ramon is from eBob's Western range.
The German Non-Commissioned Officer is from eBob's Stalag Luft III Range.
The German Rifleman is also from eBob's Stalag Luft III range.
The Ghoul is from Mantic Games. I recieved it by signing up for Wayland Games Newsletters. This mini was my first experience with Mantic; I was very impressed.
The Space Marine. Last and certainly not least. I bought the 40K paint set for conversions with my Blood Swords (which I never, ever, ever play with) and had a few leftover Marines.
The Unveil
Well...
P, my bro, and I finished the game three hours before playtime. We had kept MS2 under wraps for the entire development period. P was set to host a social gathering at his house; ten players ended up showing (my bro didn't come, he wasn't feeling well). P invited these friends over as if it was a usual board game night, without letting them know about Mass Slaughter 2, so that when I brought it in, casually as if it was a real board game, it would be a big, hilarious suprise. Yes, we got the laughs, and we actually played Mass Slaughter 2 twice, but it wasn't recieved as well as I thought it would be. In other words, they liked it okay, but they didn't REALLY appreciate it or love it. To be fair, we did little playtesting and it isn't the best set of rules around. I don't feel like I wasted all my time or money, but it does demotivate me to do something like this again. Aw well...it was fun to make!
Questions and comments are welcome. And again, the minis do look better irl.
