An turn based combat adventure RPG with a unique combat system with no dice rolling ⚔️.
Latest Updates from Our Project:
Update #56 - Mass Production Underway
over 2 years ago
– Wed, Oct 25, 2023 at 10:45:05 AM
Hi all,
Welcome back to our monthly update.
This will be a short one, and we'll jump right into the good news! We can confirm that Heroes of the Shire has now moved into mass production :) The manufacturer has been setting up the game on the production line, and last week, they will send us their schedule for completion soon. Once we know more, we'll drop another update.
We're also hosting another TTS PvP Tournament (draft), alongside fulfilling the updated PnP sheets. Details below.
Print n' Play Update
We can confirm that we have updated all of our PnP sheets and will be delivering these later today. If you have already printed the game, it's important to know that the adjustments are relatively minor, primarily involving hero balancing based on the outcomes of our recent 2v2 arena tournament. To save on your printing costs, we would recommend only reprinting the Hero boards and Spell mastery boards. The most significant tweaks to gameplay other than the hero balances, are outlined below.
The condition Immobilise now doesn't effect CD:0 spells.
Cooldown die no longer get removed during a board reset.
Any questions, please don't hesitate to ask in the comments or over on Discord.
Tabletop Simulator PvP Drafting Tournament
We're excited to announce that we're hosting another PvP Tournament on Tabletop Simulator throughout the month of November, and we'd love for you to get involved. However, this tournament will be a bit different as hero teams will be drafted on the day.
In this format, players will take turns selecting 2 heroes from a roster of 20. Out of these 2 heroes, one must be placed in a KEEP pile, and the other in a DISCARD pile. Once all 10 heroes have been drafted in this manner, one player will then create 5 teams of 2 (2v2 teams) using the heroes in the KEEP pile. The other player will then select their team first, followed by the second player who created the teams. The decision of who creates the teams and who picks first will be determined by a die roll.
This tournament will be a 2v2 format, and players will need Tabletop Simulator on Steam to participate, along with using our Discord channel for voice communication during the matches. The winner of each pod (8 players) will receive all 12 of our promo cards.Additionally, during the tournament, we will randomly award 4 Berserker playmats to participants as a token of our appreciation for their time.
The full tournament rules can be found on the sign-up form below.
Our colouring books and A4 Art prints have arrived this week from our UK Manufacturer. We will apply some barcode stickers to the art print packaging and then forward them to the fulfilment centres in a week or two.
Moving Forward
Here's a little sneak peak of some spells that we're currently testing for our expansion next year. If you have any ideas for spells that you would like to share, send us a DM or drop them in the comments, we're always on the lookout for inspiration!
- Limitless: you receive 1 additional power cube which may be spent on any spell or ability from within your spell mastery.
- Partnership: when an ally (excludes yourself) with taunt attacks an enemy, you may assist them by attacking the same enemy with your CD:0 spell. (ally DMG hits first).
- Freezing Waters: whilst you have a CD die on Freezing Waters, each enemy with more AGI than you, receives 2 undefendable DMG and -1 DEF for 3 turns.
- Feral Bond: Heal all pets you and your allies control to maximum HP. One target pet also receives taunt for 3 turns.
- Deliverance: Target all enemies and increase their CD die by a value of 1 + deal X undefendable DMG, where X is the amount of CD die increased.
We're still actively running a poll on our Discord channel to gauge interest in new heroes that we're considering introducing to the Shire. If you haven't already, please cast your vote in the pinned poll on our Discord channel, or feel free to comment below. Here's an update on the voting since our last KS update.
Dweller 1
Fire Mage 2
Explorer 5
Artificer 5
Cannibal 5
Cannoneer 5
Seductress 6
Sensei 7
Evolutionist 7
Elementalist 8
Lancer 9
Blacksmith 9
Mad Scientist 10
Dragon Rider 10
Raven Handler 11
Arcanist 11
Monk 12
Swashbuckler 13
Enchantress 14
Necromancer 15
Until Next Time
The wait for Heroes of the Shire is coming to an end, we're closing in to the last few months now. Thank you all for your patience with our project. Once we have more information from the manufacturer, we'll be back with another update. Until then, happy gaming.
- Heroes of the Shire
Update #56 - Almost At Mass Production
over 2 years ago
– Thu, Oct 05, 2023 at 04:34:36 AM
Hello everyone,
Welcome back to our monthly update. We don't have much to share with you at the moment, so this update will be brief. In our most recent communication with the manufacturer, the subject line was 'One Last Question.' This suggests that we should be moving into mass production very soon, with our target being this month. We're looking forward to our next update, which we hope will be titled 'Mass Production Underway.' As soon as we receive an update from the manufacturer, we'll keep you informed. We anticipate hearing from them any day now.
Thank you for your continued support and patience.
Manufacturer Updates
Our manufacturer responded shortly after our last update, and we'd like to share some of the changes we've discussed regarding the physical copies of the game:
Tutorial Sheet Quality: We've made a change to the tutorial sheet. Initially, it was planned to be printed on 250gsm card stock. However, upon further consideration, we've decided to use 100gsm paper instead. We believe that the tutorial sheet doesn't require high-quality material since it's typically used once for about 30 minutes and then rarely used again. This adjustment not only serves the purpose effectively but also helps reduce manufacturing costs.
Spell Mastery Boards: We've improved the quality of our spell mastery boards. Originally planned to be printed on 250gsm card stock, they will now be printed on 350gsm card stock. This upgrade ensures a more durable and substantial feel for these important components.
Warlock's Demon Form Overlay: Similarly, we've enhanced the quality of the Warlock's Demon Form overlay. Originally intended to be on 250gsm card stock, it will now be printed on 350gsm card stock. This change is aimed at improving its durability, ensuring it can withstand regular use.
Apart from what we mentioned in our previous update and the adjustments detailed above, everything else from the master copy we received will remain unchanged.
We appreciate your understanding and support as we work to enhance the game's quality and playability. If you have any questions or concerns, please feel free to reach out.
Canadian Backers
This message is specifically intended for our backers residing in Canada.
In response to our previous update, we want to inform you that the Backerkit admin team has taken the step of adding the additional £20 shipping increase to your pledge. To bring these balances back down to £0, we will proceed to charge the cards you have on file with your Backerkit account. This transaction is scheduled to occur on Friday, October 13th, at 10:00 am GMT+1.
If you find it necessary to update your card details with Backerkit, you can still do so by logging into your account and clicking "edit address" under your Heroes of the Shire pledge. From there, you'll have the option to update and save your card details. Should you encounter any difficulties during this process, please don't hesitate to get in touch, and we will do our utmost to assist you.
We extend our sincere apologies for this additional charge.
Please note: If the payment fails due to incorrect card details or insufficient funds, Backerkit will reach out to you, requesting that you update your details. This step is crucial to ensure that your pledge balance returns to £0 and is ready for fulfilment, which will be happening soon.
AireCon 2024
We are thrilled to announce that we have successfully booked our exhibition stand for the AireCon games convention, scheduled for March 2024. If any of you are planning to attend, we warmly invite you to seek us out and say hello. This year, our presence at the convention will be even more substantial than last year's. We'll have two demo cubes and two tables available for you to sit down and enjoy a game.
We're eagerly looking forward to meeting you in person and sharing the joy of gaming at AireCon. Mark your calendars, and we'll see you there!
TTS Arena Tournament
Following the resounding success of our previous Arena tournament, we are excited to announce that we are planning to host two more tournaments. These additional Arena tournaments will introduce a slightly different format, allowing us to gather valuable feedback from participants regarding their preferred format among the three options.
In the coming days, we will create a participant form and share it on Discord. While these tournaments are unofficial and primarily aimed at helping us refine competitive play, we do have a special reward in store for those who choose to participate. Participants will have the unique opportunity to contribute to the creation of new spells and abilities for some of our upcoming heroes. Additional details regarding this exciting opportunity will be posted on Discord very soon. If you're not a member of our Discord channel, you can join us here: https://discord.gg/ue7y4cpem6
Moving Forward
- We are excited to share that our website is currently in development and is set to launch early next year.
- An update on our Epic Pledge tier: We are in the process of updating the artwork from our Heroes of the Shire colouring book, which was initially created and printed in 2020. The colouring book included in the Epic Pledge tier will feature this new and improved artwork. These colouring books are being manufactured right here in the UK and will be sent to fulfilment centres prior to shipping.
- Good news for our Epic Pledge tier backers: The A4 art prints have been sent for printing and are expected to arrive next week. Like the colouring books, these art prints, too, are being manufactured in the UK and will be dispatched to fulfilment centres before being shipped to you.
- Expansion content is in the works, and we plan to launch a crowdfunding campaign for it next year. We're also on the lookout for Tabletop Simulator (TTS) playtesters to help us gather valuable feedback on this expansion. If you're interested, please send us a direct message, and we'll add you to our list of playtesters.
- We're still actively running a poll on our Discord channel to gauge interest in new heroes that we're considering introducing to the Shire. If you haven't already, please cast your vote in the pinned poll on our Discord channel, or feel free to comment below. Here's a glimpse of the current candidates and the number of votes they've received so far:
Dweller 1
Fire Mage 2
Explorer 3
Artificer 3
Seductress 4
Cannibal 5
Cannoneer 5
Lancer 5
Sensei 6
Mad Scientist 6
Dragon Rider 6
Evolutionist 6
Elementalist 7
Blacksmith 7
Raven Handler 7
Swashbuckler 9
Arcanist 9
Monk 10
Necromancer 10
Enchantress 13
Until Next Time
The wait for Heroes of the Shire is coming to an end, we're closing in to the last few months now. Thank you all for your patience with our project. Once we have more information from the manufacturer on mass production, we'll be back with another update. Until then, happy gaming.
- Heroes of the Shire
Update #54 - Almost At Mass Production
over 2 years ago
– Mon, Sep 04, 2023 at 06:26:15 AM
Hello everyone,
We trust you've had a splendid month of August; we certainly did, thoroughly testing our master copy. We've been diligently conducting quality control across all components, making a few last-minute refinements, and engaging with the manufacturer to address some queries. We're delighted with the outcomes from our manufacturer, and we're confident that you will be too!
We submitted our feedback on Monday, the 21st of August and are now awaiting their response. Once a few minor issues are resolved, we'll be ready to give them the green light to commence printing. These minor issues include the orientation of the front card in the battle pack add-on, which contains the barcode crucial for scanning. Additionally, there was a slight discrepancy in the count of small wooden cubes; we originally requested 65, in line with the requirements for a 6-player game. However, we received only 64, so we've increased our order to 67 to ensure a surplus of +2. Rest assured, all the other issues we reported are similar to the above and only minor. We've included several photos and unboxing videos for those of you who are interested. Please take a look below.
Collectors Edition Unboxing Video
Cards Opening Video
True Solo Mode Opening Video
Last Minute Tweak's
Print & Play backers, please take note that we will be updating the Print & Play (PnP) files over the next few weeks. If you have already printed the game, it's important to know that these gameplay adjustments are relatively minor, primarily involving hero balancing based on the outcomes of our recent 2v2 arena tournament. The most significant tweaks to gameplay are outlined in the first two bullet points below.
General Tweaks
The condition Immobilise now doesn't effect CD:0 spells. This change was made to stop players locking out the spells on Trash Mob cards.
When our scenario mode was originally designed (2020), we had heroes not resetting their boards after battle. However, this system was quickly removed as the heroes didn't stand a chance against our epic bosses when their HP wasn't full. We tried a few different systems, but always reverted back to the board reset. I personally play magic the gathering and this is what happens after combat there, so it wasn't something new to me. During the last 12 months, around 50% of our scenario mode games we've played in-house, we have been testing a slightly different way of resetting the boards. Most of it didn't work, however one thing seemed to improve the game. So we've made the last minute decision, before mass production to change the board reset. Cooldown die no longer get removed during a board reset.
Updated the rulebook section defining what an attack and support spells is for when Hero Boards don't have clear labels (due to their unique layout). In short, if the spell has a Melee or Ranged icon in the bottom left, it's an attack. We've also added in a small section called Cancel Out in the percentages section. This informs players that when there are 2 conditions that counteract each other, such as Advantage 50% more DMG, and Protection 50 less DMG, no math is required and that both conditions cancel each other out to save time. We have also darkened the grey background colour to better help with the contrast.
Individual hero changes
Alchemist: Her Alchemists insight spell was increased by +1 DMG.
Assassin: Helpful Infection was upgraded to allow the Assassin to cast another spell afterwards.
Bard: Torment spell was reworded to make clearer.
Blood Mage: Dark Ritual and Blood Pact both had their cooldowns increased by +1 to slow down the effectiveness of reviving your own sacrificed ally.
Druid: Her Earthbound spell was increased by +1 DMG alongside the buffs it grants increasing by +1 duration.
Druid: Both her defensive claw and morph spells had their cooldowns reduced by a value of 1 to help improve the DMG of the druid.
Engineer: Mind Control helm was given another upgrade layer, making the gadget require 3 upgrades to be Up and Running, instead of 2. The take control spell also grants the Engineer confused for 2 turns after casting it. This was for balance reasons as the Mind Control helm proved to be extremely strong in our PvP tournament that we just held.
Engineer: Detonate had it's extra DMG reduced by 1.
Engineer: Jumpstart had it's cooldown increased from 5>6.
Engineer: Frazzle ability increase from 1>2 DMG to make the Electro spell mastery more appealing.
Engineer: Overtime spell, had it's +1 DEF removed and replaced with -1 AGI to be more thematic with the hard work/overtime spell. Removing the +1 DEF was to help balance the Engineer.
Huntress: Strength of the Wild was buffed and now reads: Your Bird, Bear & Snake now deal an additional 1 DMG, for each time they have attacked during the round. This will make the Huntress's Leadership sacrifice stronger alongside the Boars assist spell.
Huntress: Tactical Shot now grants -2 DEF for 2 turns instead of -1 DEF to help strengthen the Huntress's arrow specialist path.
Illusionist: A Great Chill spell has had it's cooldown reduced from 5>4 to grant him 1 additional spell to cast whilst not transformed into his illusive form.
Illusionist: Most of his attack spells where increased by +1 DMG.
Musketeer: Tactical Reload had the 'Can't be Targeted' condition replaced with Protection. It's cooldown was reduced from 6>5 to fit the theme of all Reload spells costing CD:5.
Scholar: Flash of Fire was upgraded to allow the Scholar to cast another spell afterwards.
Shaman: Her Combustion spell was changed to help fit the theme of the elemental power tree. The previous support spell was almost a double up of Focused Attack. So instead, the new spell reads 4 DMG + -2 DEF for 3 turns, allowing the elemental shaman to keep up her DPS tempo.
Shaman: Elemental Healing has been changed to Elemental Damage. This is to help better fit her archetype of high risk, high reward in the DPS tree. This new ability grants her +1 INT in her End Phase for each consecutive attack spell she has cast, incentivising her to continuously attack.
War Drummer: Battle Drumming has been changed to reduce the HP lost from the Drums of War ability. Previously this reduced the cost to 1,2,3,4 and now the costs are 1,3,5,7, which is a reduction of 1 HP per activation, rather than 1 HP per beat of the drums.
War Drummer: Heavy drumming hero ability, the +2 DEF was reduced to +1 DEF to help balance the War Drummer, as he's proved time and time again to be a very strong team character. The finals of our 2v2 PvP tournament contained different variations of War Drummer teams.
War Drummer: The Defensive Might ability under the Survival path was changed to now grant the War Drummer +Str attack modifiers on his attack spells with +Def attack modifiers. This change was made, because the War Drummer is capable of already being a great tank, which made the previous Defensive Might ability somewhat redundant.
Warlock: We reworded the Raise the Dead spell on the Army of the Dead cards to be clearer. We adjusted it, so that if an Army of the Dead has already been summoned to an ability tab this turn, then no more could be summoned. This meant that Warlock's army wasn't able to duplicate itself the turn it was summoned, so instead we increased the amount of army of the dead cards summoned initially to x2 instead of 1. In turn, Restore the Dead spell mastery now summons x3 army of the dead cards. This change, works slightly better for the Warlock as one of his pets now gets an extra turn of dealing DMG instead of having to duplicate.
Warrior: His Spear Throw spell now includes a wounded condition for 2 turns.
Warrior: Fighting Lesson now grants +2 STR whilst in brawl stance instead of +1 to help improve the viability of the DPS Warrior.
Canadian Backers
Over the past 12-18 months, we've encountered several shipping cost increases, and we've diligently tried to mitigate these expenses. For instance, last year, there was a 22% price hike in shipping packages to France. This meant that we were essentially subsidising about £5 per backer for shipping games to France. Our approach has always been to charge our backers only a minimal amount over the actual cost to us, which is why our shipping rates remained very reasonable for the majority of our backers.
However, just last month, we received news from QML, our US distribution hub, that the cost of shipping to our Canadian backers was set to increase by a staggering 102%. While we can absorb approximately £5 of this cost, we regretfully have to pass on the additional £20 to our Canadian backers. We want to emphasize that this decision wasn't made lightly, and it saddens us to have to relay this message. Unfortunately, we find ourselves in a financial situation where absorbing these extra expenses is not feasible.
In a more positive light, we have confirmed with QML that the goods sent to Canada will see no additional customs fees and will be sent Customs Friendly. See their response below.
"Backers in Canada will receive their shipments customs-friendly, so they won't see any additional costs for customs clearance when they receive their shipments. We pack a consolidated shipment at QML and send it to a FedEx facility in Canada. We do charge importation costs to publishers for the bulk shipment, but the individual orders enter the FedEx system in Canada as local shipments with no associated customs costs."
Fulfilment Coming Soon
We extend our heartfelt thanks for your enduring patience as we communicate back and forth with our manufacturer. We are now on the cusp of giving them the green light for mass production. We estimate that by the time you receive our next update, this pivotal step will have been completed, and we will be able to provide you with a production commencement date.
Once production commences, our trusted fulfilment partners will immediately collect the games and initiate the process of transporting them to their respective countries. It is at this juncture that we will lock your shipping addresses. Therefore, if you have relocated in the past 12 months and have not yet updated your address in the BackerKit pledge manager, we kindly request that you do so without delay. If you require assistance with this task, please do not hesitate to reach out, and we will be more than happy to assist you.
Thank you for your continued support and understanding, we will be back next month with another update.
Best wishes,
- Heroes of the Shire team
Update #53 - The Master Copy Has Landed!
over 2 years ago
– Thu, Aug 03, 2023 at 10:55:01 AM
Hi all,
We want to express our gratitude for your patience as we liaise back and forth with the manufacturer regarding the printing of the physical pledges. We apologize for the several delays we've experienced in receiving our master copy. The most recent setback was due to the weight of the punchboards, which proved to be too much for the cardboard tray inside. However, we've worked closely with the manufacturers to find a stronger solution, and we're pleased to confirm that the issues have been rectified, and our master copy has finally arrived.
Now that we have the master copy, we will immediately conduct in-house quality control to ensure that everything meets our standards. Once we are satisfied with the results, we will give the green light to proceed with printing. We will keep all of you updated throughout the next steps of the process.
Below are some images of the master copy that we received today. Stay tuned to our social media channels, where we will be sharing an unboxing video and detailed visuals of the physical game.
Thank you for your continued support and patience. We're excited to bring you the best possible product and can't wait for you to experience it first-hand.
Much heavier than they look.
The rest of our update is to give you some general information of what we've been up to over the last few weeks, so if you're only here for the important stuff, you don't need to read on from here.
Scenario Mode - TTS
We can confirm that we are currently working hard to add the full scenario mode (PvE) to Tabletop Simulator over the coming weeks. See a screenshot below of the progress we've made on adding the water scenario with the rest to follow.
Last Minute Gameplay Tweaks
Our master copy has been printed, but there is a tiny window of opportunity to still adjust artwork before the final printing. We've taken this opportunity to update a few spells before the game goes to mass production. See below a small list of spells that we have updated.
Alchemist: Numbing potion was reduced from CD:4 to CD:3 to keep it out of range of Hex.
Alchemist: Sleeping Powder spell had it's cooldown increased from 5>6, to stop sleeping loops and to help play become non-linear.
Assassin: Assassinate spell mastery ability now grants him a semi-permanent advantage condition when his HP is 14 or below. Previously it was for 1 turn, now it' a semi-permanent, making him a much stronger opponent when close to death.
Assassin: Slice & dice spell now grants the 'Can't be Healed' condition for 2 turns.
Assassin: Base attack spells have all been increased by a value of 1.
Assassin: Helpful Infection spell now allows the Assassin to cast another spell afterwards.
Bard: Soothing Voice spell had it's cooldown increased from 4>6, to stop sleeping loops and to help play become non-linear.
Bard: Spelling correction on fools strength > fool's strength.
Berserker: Base attack spells have been increased by a value of 1.
Blood Mage: Blood Pact spell, we have added in an exclusion so the Blood Mage can't target himself with the sacrifice.
Cleric: Quick heal CD:0 spell has been removed and replaced with Restore, which is a single target cleanse. This does indeed work with counter-attack.
Cleric: Generosity spell was increased from cooldown 4>5, to stop any paralyzing loops and to help play become non-linear.
Engineer: The create gadget spell has been removed and added to the hero ability, meaning the Engineer is able to get his gadgets up and running a turn earlier. The create gadget spell has been replaced with the original spell we had there, Gadget Maintenance, which reduces the CD die of gadget spells by a value of 1.
Huntress: Base attack spells have been increased by a value of 1.
Musketeer: Run for Cover spell was increased from cooldown 3>4. Also Tactical Reload had it's cooldown increased from 5>6. Both of these were to stop loops with Taunt and Can't be Targeted.
Musketeer: One of her reload abilities didn't have the word Reload in italics, this has been corrected.
Scholar: Artwork for the elemental book was altered, displaying full colour backgrounds for ease of identifying the pages. See image below.
Shieldmaiden: Crowd Pleasure spell which used to grant STR & DEF now grants STR & INT, due to already having to much DEF buffing. While this hero isn't tournament legal (because not everybody will have access to her apart from you guys), we still want her to feel balanced in scenario and arena mode.
Shieldmaiden: Cross Cut and Perforate spells had their DMG increased.
War Drummer: Hero ability (viciously 8 HP) has been downgraded to only reducing cooldowns by a value of 1. This is to help reduce loops being formed with crowd control effects such as Sleep, Hex or Paralyzed.
Warlock: Base attack spells have all been increased by a value of 1.
Witch Doctor: Hex spell has been downgraded to only last for 2 turns, as 3 turns was making the ability far to strong in Arena mode. The CD has been reduced from 6>5 to offset the nerf.
Witch Doctor: Voodoo worship, the energised condition has been reduced from 3 turns to 2 turns to help better balance his hero ability which grants HP.
PvP Tournament
This month we held a 2v2 PvP Tournament over on Discord/TTS. We had 19 players from all across the world do battle with each other across 2 pods. The tournament was held for a couple of reasons, but mostly for us to get feedback on the 2v2 format and suggested rules moving forward with the competitive meta. First up, we would like to congratulate both winners of their respective pods who are, @Yannor, @DorkKnight, @Shaggy & @KnightofLight. For those of you that might be interested, see below a little infographic of which heroes where picked during the tournament.
We kindly asked Cregan for permission to share his match and as you can see below, he kindly accepted. For anyone interested, here is the Round 1 match between Cregan & Scamz, recorded by @Cregan.
Expansion Content
We are thrilled to share that most of the project is now in the capable hands of our incredible manufacturer and will soon be forwarded to the fulfillment centers. While we eagerly await the next steps, we're using our free time to work on expansion content for Heroes of the Shire. As part of this expansion, we already have six new heroes designed and currently in the testing phase. However, we also want to involve our backers in shaping the roster of heroes by adding more through addons.
Last month, we posted a poll on Discord with a list of potential heroes and archetypes that we are considering. These include Cannibal, Swashbuckler, Fire Mage, Sensei, Explorer, Mad Scientist, Arcanist, Cannoneer, Enchantress, Lancer, Monk, Elementalist, Blacksmith, Necromancer, Raven Handler, Artificer, Dweller, Seductress, Dragon Rider, and Evolutionist.
So far, the Enchantress, Swashbuckler, Necromancer, Monk, and Raven Handler are leading the votes. We invite you all to cast your votes or suggest completely different hero ideas in the comments of this post. Your input, along with the votes from our Discord community, will help us determine the direction for new heroes to be added.
Rest assured, new heroes are not the only exciting content on the horizon. We have many more surprises in store, including professions, a movement phase, mini bosses, individual hero quest lines, and much more. However, creating and testing new heroes is a significant part of our development process, and that's why we are eager to flesh out these characters early on.
Thank you for your continuous support and enthusiasm for Heroes of the Shire. Your engagement and feedback play a crucial role in shaping the game into an extraordinary experience for everyone.
Until Next Time
Thank you, everyone, for your continued support and for accompanying us on this incredible journey. As we progress, we eagerly anticipate the next few months when the game will be mass-produced and shipped to fulfillment centers in the UK/US. We hope that the wait will be minimal, and you'll soon have the product in your hands! The full scenario mode will be available on Tabletop Simulator (TTS) for all of you to sample and enjoy. We want to ensure you have a taste of the game while you wait for the physical copy. We'll keep you updated on all developments, and we can't wait to share the next update with you. Once again, thank you for being an integral part of this venture.
- Heroes of the Shire team
Logistics Manager - Chloe
Update #52 - Master Copy Being Printed
almost 3 years ago
– Mon, Jun 19, 2023 at 02:34:18 AM
Hi all,
Welcome back to another monthly update. In todays update, we'll let you know what we've been up to over the last month. When it comes to the physical game, we don't have much to update you on at present. We're still awaiting our master copy from the manufacturer. We can confirm that our master copy is being printed right now and that they have apologised to us for the delay. Explaining that our project is quite complex and required a little more planning on their side creating the pre-production tools. By our next update, we should have our physical copy to show you all! Until then, please see what we've been up to over the last few weeks.
Tabletop Simulator
We originally opened up our Tabletop Simulator version of the game as a demo, with only 6 heroes, showcasing Arena mode. We have now decided to open up our Arena Mode to include all 20 heroes on TTS, free or charge to everyone. We have given the old mod some TLC, naming all the files, adding all the snap points in etc... Here is the link to our TTS if you are not already subscribed: https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2929355606
We also have a solo mode demo on TTS, that allows players to take on some trash mobs and the first enemy boss of the earth scenario! Videos to Damian playing the TTS demo are up on our YouTube channel. Link to the solo mode TTS demo here: https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2943651427
One of our backers recommended a different layout, placing the Trash Mobs where the equipment board is. Please feel free to move the components around as you see fit.
Whilst our TTS mod is free of charge, we kindly ask that, if you find some value in it, that you would consider donating to help support our project. Your donations will be greatly appreciated, as a small indie publisher, we're heavily reliant on the community. In exchange, we'll do our best to provide you with some awesome content! If the community shows us love, we'll show it back by adding all of our Scenario mode to TTS over the coming months. Donations can be made via PayPal to [email protected] or alternatively you can Tip us via our Backerkit pre-order store: https://heroes-of-the-shire.backerkit.com/hosted_preorders
To celebrate the full release of our TTS Arena Mod, we'll be hosting a PvP Arena tournament over the coming weeks. While this isn't an official tournament with a prize pool, it will give players the opportunity to test our 2v2 tournament format in a competitive environment and give us feedback to help shape the future of tournaments. Official tournaments will start after the game has been fulfilled. If you would like to register your interest for the event, please fill in this quick form (30secs). https://docs.google.com/forms/d/13VZ9hSx7Q-5TUFP0AqUb2Iy5gfzjcDyHAOryHm-Eq1k/edit?pli=1
YouTube Channel
Over the coming weeks, we've been slowly adding more videos to our YouTube channel. If you haven't subscribed yet, please do so! Link here. You can find the link here. We've recently added some Solo Mode videos, along with a 1v1 Arena Tier list for the heroes. We'll be uploading many more videos in the coming weeks, mostly focusing on how-to-play guides for all game modes. When your game arrives, if you're like us and typically prefer learning how to play by watching videos rather than reading the rulebook, we've got your back! However, we do encourage you not to skip reading the rulebook entirely, as it is the most informative way to learn the game, not to mention we've spent a lot of hard work into it :)
We attended the UK's largest games expo earlier this month, which had its highest footfall to date, with 52,000 visitors across the 3 days. We had a blast demoing our game to all those who stopped by. We also had the pleasure of meeting many backers during the expo. Thank you to all who turned up to say hello and show your support! Additionally, several social media channels visited us during the event to record videos of what we had to show. If you're interested in hearing us talk about the game, check out the couple of videos below.
Some happy players during the convention! We also got permission to post their photo.
Our playmat is quite old and dirty, so ignore the quality! We've had it since 2020 and it's been used hundreds of times.
Print n Play
Our Print n Play files were all delivered at the end of May. We hope you're all enjoying the game if you've had a chance to print it out and play. If you encounter any issues with any of the files, please contact us immediately, and we'll rectify them. So far, we've sent out 2 Hot Fixes, so please double-check that you have also downloaded these files.
Website
We're currently building our website, which we hope to launch in a few months' time. This will be an access point for people to come and learn more information about the game and all the heroes. Each hero will have a downloadable reference PDF, alongside their ability cards that some players may want to print out at home and have multiple copies of. For example, our Warlock hero comes with 5 Army of the Dead cards, but in one game if you managed to summon 6+ and didn't have the required cards, you can print the excess out yourselves. Our website will also house an in-depth FAQ section, containing examples of all the different interactions between spells/conditions.
Until Next Time
And that's it for this update; there's nothing important to note for now. Once we have more information from the manufacturer about mass production, we'll be in touch to let you all know that the games are being printed :) Thank you for your patience while the game is now out of our control. We're working with a great manufacturer from China who has an impressive portfolio of successful titles, so rest assured that our product, as well as yours, is in great hands. Until next time, happy gaming.
