Four Horsemen: An apocalyptic co-op game - Late pledge store

Pledge Manager Closing and Final Components
10 months ago – Thu, Mar 28, 2024 at 07:23:12 AM

Hi everyone!

First, let me thank you all for backing this game. I am so excited to see the pledge manager close and the game prepare for shipping. This has been such an exciting adventure, and I can't wait to share Four Horsemen with the world. I greatly appreciate all of the feedback and excitement I've felt from the community and reviewers.

For this update, I have a new 2-player video I recorded against Pazuzu. He was tough, and we definitely did not play our best game.  We ended up having a lot of fun playing regardless. I hope you enjoy it, despite my camera being a potato!

Here you can see some of the prototype minis. The real ones won't be orange. The manufacturer doesn't dye them for the review pieces. The final ones are the color of their pantheon.

I have one last video from Marcel over in Germany as well. He goes through the pledges and talks about the different levels. Sorry that I don't have more recent third-party ones in English. I sent all of the demos abroad to conferences and reviewers - even my most recent personal copy. I will send out copies for unboxing videos when I get new copies from the manufacturer.

I also thought I'd show some of the final components. For example, this is what an Apocalypse Scenario card looks like.

The Apocalypse Scenarios often have a lot more information on them, depending on the complexity of the demon and how many rules the demon modifies. Here are what a hero board look like. 

The world board is where the fun is. 

The event cards are double poker size.

Relic cards are poker sized and are played as a Boon, Use, or Sacrifice on the Hero Board.

Thanks again for your patience while we wrap up the production. I still expect them to arrive in August due to transit from China to Europe and then distribution to you all. The end is here!

1 week left until the pledge manager closes and more
10 months ago – Thu, Mar 21, 2024 at 06:47:20 PM

Hi everyone,

Also

Yes, its in German but I love this guy. This is full play through against Avarice, which twists Four Horsemen into a deck building game instead of a deck upgrading game. Its a nail-biting finish with great thoughts about the game...if you speak any German. 

The pledge manager closes in just over a week. I'm crossing my fingers I have the final minis delivered by next week so I can post them along with the characters. 

2 weeks until the pledge manager closes
10 months ago – Fri, Mar 15, 2024 at 07:02:39 AM

March Update: Production underway
11 months ago – Sun, Mar 03, 2024 at 12:00:59 PM

Hi everyone! Welcome to March! This is a little delayed since production started in February, but:

According to the Gameland, production should take until about May (a rough estimate). At that point, the game will get on a boat and head to the distribution center. I printed 1000 copies, which will be enough to cover the orders plus any parts that break during shipping. However, there won't be a ton of copies available after the Kickstarter for distribution to retailers or selling on the website.

Apparently, the long production time is from the mini molds. I've asked Gameland for an advanced copy of the final game production ("Send me the first one!") so I can do an unboxing video and demo of the final game. Super pumped this is in printing. You can see some of the mini reviews and how they break it up into pieces. Don't worry, all of the minis come fully assembled.

With production underway, I can announce that the pledge manager will close on March 31.  This is a little later than I told some of you (the original date was March 15th-ish), but I wanted to keep it open slightly longer to give people a chance to finalize their pledge. Please finalize your pledge if you have not!! 

I've played more games recently. I still love playing against Krampus no matter which hero I play. His gift giving mechanic adds randomness to the game but leads to a lot of fun when you get a terrible present. Meeple on Board also demoed the game over at Cannes. I haven't heard back on how that went, but I'm hoping they took some pictures! I'll share them once I have them.

As always, LMK if there's something you want to see or know. I appreciate your support!

Four Horsemen

February update
12 months ago – Thu, Feb 01, 2024 at 09:36:59 AM

Hi everyone!

The good news is that Four Horsemen is still on-track for full delivery by August this year. The bad news is manufacturing has been slow so there haven't been a lot of updates in the last month. The proofs are done, inserts created, and the game is moving along, but I'm still waiting on the white box test that shows all components and how they fit into the box. The manufacturer (Gameland) has assured me production will complete just after the Chinese New Year. Hurrah!

After production, the game will be loaded on a freight ship bound for the distribution centers. As such, the pledge manager will close on March 15th. Please complete your shipping information before then! After the boat reaches the distribution centers, we'll get shipping numbers and start delivering. 

For today's update, I thought I'd share some of the villains in Four Horsemen. Each villain uniquely changes the strategy and win conditions. Your favorite hero might excel against some villains and be rubbish against others. I find that the best strategy is a good mix of support and warrior heroes. Some of the villains are:

1. Malaise is the tutorial villain but still fun to play even after you know the game. My regular play testers call her the sandbox villain as Malaise lets you try different strategies and weird combinations. To beat Malaise, the heroes need to prevent one event and demonstrate their divine powers. She's also only 6 hours (turns). 

• Avarice is greed and envy. Avaracie loves relics, even damaged ones.  To prevent Avarice from owning all humankind, the heroes need to stop Avarcie from acquiring relics by re-acquiring their own sacrificed relics.  Avarice turns Four Horsemen into a more traditional deck builder where your stack of relics grows beyond the usual 10.

• Hades, a Greek god, floods the earth with minions from the underworld causing their numbers to double each turn. I'd advise heroes to clear the board of his followers to avoid being overrun. Hades is in league with death and wants to rain destruction down on the mortals. To stop Hades, the heroes have to prevent 4 catastrophes. 

• Iblis, from Islam, leads the devils and controls both volcanoes and fire. Each turn, Iblis destroys part of a continent making the land uninhabitable, even for demons. Heroes caught by the destruction suffer divinity damage. Iblis shortens the demon track in each continent, which allows the demons to hunt down a hero's followers more quickly. To defeat Iblis, the heroes must create an area that is safe from his devil servants. 

• Behemoth, from Christianity, is too large and powerful for a binding spell to banish. Instead, the heroes attack Behemoth head-on while he roams the world spawning his children. Unlike other nemesia, Behemoth is defeated immediately after taking a certain amount of damage. Behemoth hits back hard so a good mix of defense and offense is advisable.

• Louhi is a powerful Finnish witch with protective arcane powers. These powers allow her to whisk away her minions just before death, meaning heroes can never defeat them all. As a powerful magic user herself, Louhi can only be defeated by casting two binding rituals at the same time. 

• Beelzebub, the lord of flies, devours everything in his path. Each round, Beelzebub consumes the heroes' followers or feeds on a hero's power instead. Beelzebub is the strongest when he's hungry. To defeat him, the heroes must sacrifice their own followers to weaken Beelzebub sufficiently that the binding ritual can seal him away for a time.  

• Abaddon is the void and can cancel other magical and divine powers. Each round, Abaddon covers the world with darkness suppressing relics with certain properties. Heroes with those relics cannot use them. The best way to beat Abaddon is with cunning and an arsenal of different magical artifacts. 

• Agon is the Greek concept of conquest. Agon pits the heroes against each other to find the true champion in their midst. Agon turns Four Horsemen into a competitive game where the heroes struggle against each other for prestige. There can only be one champion.

• Apep is a giant snake from Egypt that hates light. Her goal is to devour the sun as her offspring need total darkness to survive. Her nests are represented by demonic portals with their spawn being her demonic children. Destroy the nests to save the world. 

• The last one for today, Hundun, from China, causes confusion and blindness. You never know what relic you might find with Hundun involved as you acquire them randomly. To defeat Hundun, the heroes must bring order back to the world by organizing their arsenal against it. 

I hope you enjoyed seeing some of the villains described. Please let me know if you have any questions or need help with the pledge manager. Thank you for backing the game!