You will have gathered by now that something rather big is afoot. It will all soon by made plain, as our plan is to bring this game to world properly by the end of March... In a word, Glory.
To say that we are excited is to miss the mark entirely. Elated. I’m not sure. It’s a complex cocktail. Enthused. Bursting at the seams. We are now knee-deep in Beta playtesting and feel that we are really pushing through the final-stage revisions on this long and wonderful project. You might be wondering what this behemoth is exactly. Well, here is a first, modest introduction to the game that we have built in the long winter of these last two years.
Aetherium is a tabletop miniatures board game set in the virtual shadow of our own desperate future. The premise is a simple one. Assemble your collective of hackers, agents, activists, or anarchists and lead them on hyper-fast runs into a dangerous virtual reality. Players are encouraged to use cunning, wit, will, and bloody-minded determination to carve a space in the wild virtual frontiers of the Aetherium.
Aetherium unfolds on a customizable battle map and tile dynamic, and requires about an hour to play a standard game. The unique modular schematic tile system responds directly to the will of the players during the game, so the virtual landscape remains constantly in flux.
For our initial release, players control one of two evocative factions: the Axiom, a dominating presence of rigid governmental authority, and the Nanomei, a decentralized collective of wild and desperate resistance.
The game uses a dynamic, intuitive d12 mechanism, and a brand new turnless (in the conventional sense) interactive mechanism that holds each player in the game for its duration. We have compiled a rich and evocative sequence of scenarios to take you through the game itself, but the structure ensures that each experience, each game, is completely unique.
In the Aetherium, players will:
- Control between 10-25 highly detailed, beautifully sculpted miniatures to represent your unique cadre of hackers and affiliated programs.
- Engage in a daring struggle for control of an ever-shifting landscape, set against a backdrop of mind-crushing quantum noise.
- Strategically program your activation deck cards in order to anticipate your opponent’s movement, and to sequence your software as you lead your team on a bold run into the Aetherium.
- Struggle for control of the psychological reality itself, while utilizing your free remaining resources to stay in the fight to the bitter end.
- Revel in unmitigated glory.
... The Next Phase:
We have two years of work behind us, but we are already looking ahead, and working extraordinarily hard on several new and tremendously exciting factions to expand the Aetherium experience: Menacing Corporations, Rogue Viral Programs, Corrupted Research and Development Operatives, Flatlines, and so much more.
These are only the first bold steps into the Aetherial universe. Further exploration awaits in the form of expanded play possibilities, new personas, new miniatures, fantastic new landscapes, brave new factions to unleash upon your virtual reality! It’s all happening.
Naturally, all work here is Copyright of Anvil Eight Games. All Rights Reserved.