AND WHAT ABOUT THE RULEBOOK?
about 2 years ago – Wed, Apr 13, 2022 at 11:59:09 PM

Since the Scarface 1920 Pledge Manager ended at the end of December, we have been sharing all kinds of information with you about the process, although in the latest updates we paid special attention to two very special game elements: the Gametrayz (wonderful, right?) and the final miniatures. Your reception has been super positive, but the same question has also been hovering around the comments: “What about the rulebook?”

Well, much later than we thought, and much better than we ever imagined, we can finally say what many of you were waiting for: WE HAVE THE RULEBOOKS. And not one, but three… Yihaaaaa!

I would like to explain to you, before stepping in, that in our initial production planning, the fine tunning and graphic design of the rulebooks was less that one month, more or less. It turned out to be more than four months of work at the end! But you know what? It was completely necessary. First, because we firmly believe in our philosophy of making the most premium products we are capable of. And second because, once the rulebook wheel was put in motion, we discovered that a series of small changes were going to have implications in other game elements, and would help us bring the game closer to what we intended it to be. Overall, it has been a few months longer than expected, but it has been worth it to get here.  

Folks, here you have our rules and some info about what has changed to make the Scarface 1920 gaming experience even bigger, more challenging, and more fun. Ready?

STANDARD GAME (32 pages) - DOWNLOAD 

The Scarface 1920 rulebook is finally 32 pages long and is, if I may, one of the most beautiful I've ever seen (yes, I know, it’s our baby). 

Regarding the modifications the rules have had in recent months, the main one is that it is no longer mandatory to give an Order on every turn. There used to be a punishment-like Order that, in case you were unable to execute any other Order, made you remove Thugs from the Districts. But this was always questioned and did not add anything good to the game, so it has been taken out, tested, and it works. This changes the number of Orders available in the game, and was also the perfect excuse for us to make once again a completely new Player Aid sheet, which is also in the back cover of the rulebook.

Some other tweaks and changes include, for example, how Business markers in your Neighborhoods affect the final score at the end of the game, or modifications on how the Send to Districts Order is executed by your Thugs. You will be able to see it all in the rulebook.

This new version of the rulebook also introduces a subtle but great new gameplay variant that adds even more depth to Scarface 1920. This is the Customized Deck variant and allows players to integrate Associates into their starting hand, in replacement of some bodyguards and lieutenants. This allows players to focus on a certain strategy according to the Skills of the Associates in their initial gang. You can find more information on page 29 of the rulebook. Spoiler: this modality works very well specially with players that have a good domain of the basic game, and multiplies the replayability.

SOLO MODE (8 pages) - DOWNLOAD 

For reasons that need no explanation, the pandemic multiplied the interest in solo games. As you know, the pandemic hit us when we were in the middle of the Scarface 1920 development, including its solo mode. Like other aspects of the game, the solo mode evolved and became much bigger and more relevant than we had originally envisioned. At the end, the final version of the solo mode has its own rulebook, 8 pages long, and it is such a solid game that it has even allowed us to introduce new variants, like games between two human players and the AI. 

While evolving the solo mode concept we decided we had to add new components and elements to improve the experience even more, and now all the Gang boards have a Solo Mode side, with some new mechanics, to be used exclusively in that modality. In addition, two difficulty levels have been tested and implemented in the solo mode, and the game escalates without any problems. In short, Scarface 1920 offers many different game modes, all equally solid, challenging and entertaining.

THE ENFORCERS EXPANSION (2 pages + 3 Character Sheets) - DOWNLOAD 

The third rulebook that players of Scarface 1920 will have is The Enforcers expansion one. In this case, we are also facing a much more complete expansion than the one we proposed on Kickstarter. As you know, The Enforcers expansion adds more depth to the standard mode and powerful new features for the solo mode.

One of the new things of the final version is that we have added three Enforcer figure cards that explain the skills and effect of each Enforcer miniature (Alina Ivankova, Raven Kwiatkowski and Tom Lee) on the Scarface 1920 board. Each Enforcer will have their own Enforcer card that becomes part of your deck and can be used when Laying out your Plan, but also a card that summarizes the Enforcer’s miniature skills and rules when present in the streets of Chicago. Also, as you can see in the components description in this rulebook, we added 30 new tokens (10 for each Enforcer), which they will use during the game, as well as plastic rings to identify their miniature as one of your gang’s.

Last, but not least, as part of the general rules overhaul, all cards in the game have also been reviewed and improved. ALL. And you know that we have quite a few of them... The result is that several of them stay the same, some of them have been adjusted, and some of them have drastically evolved, like our nice and friendly Slicer, or the Real Mccoy, Bill Mccoy:

The production continues full-steam ahead and is going well.Our designers are now working on the Art Book, which has more than doubled its size and will now be 100 pages long. The publishers continue working on their translated versions of the game, which will be finished in less than a month. And we are working with the manufacturer every day, specially on all the add-ons production, which give us a ton of work, but they are turning out wonderful. On the next update, we will talk in detail about all the add-ons and elements that are in production and manufacturing, giving you more details of the process and final result. Look what we have in hands already, and yes, it fits perfectly. We are just checking its sample but we can already assure you will love it…

Nothing has changed in the calendar since our last update, and we are still looking at a July delivery from the manufacturer, and then the shipping to final destinations. You know that the world is going crazy, and things can change out of our control, but so far this is the plan and we are sticking to it. 

Oh, by the way, if you have doubts or suggestions about the rules, or if you detect any mistake and want to inform us, we have set up an email account ([email protected]) were we will answer them. Also, we will publish the most interesting questions and their answers in our website, for everyone to learn the game together. See you soon!

THE MINIATURES OF SCARFACE 1920
about 2 years ago – Wed, Mar 16, 2022 at 02:43:27 AM

Hello friends, how are you doing? Today we bring you a new batch of news from Scarface 1920, our first board game. The previous update was practically a monographic on the spectacular GameTrayz of the game, although we also sneak peeked you the miniatures that Scarface 1920 will finally have. As we said, we received the final samples from our manufacturer, Eastar, to check and approve before mass producing them. Let’s check together all the minis that will enter the scene when the fight for the throne of Chicago starts. Ready?

Let's start with the undeniable protagonists of Scarface 1920: the Bosses and their gangs. Each gang features the Boss mini, 12 thugs in three different models, a unique building for the 7 Control markers, a car (3x) and a truck (2x).

THE CHICAGO OUTFIT

Led by the visceral Al Capone, The Chicago Outfit embodies the corruption in Chicago. Capone controls the authorities with ease and has an enormous capacity to develop his gang with all kinds of criminals. But Scarface doesn't want a gang, he wants an empire. By the way, have you noticed the details in his mini? That cigar is less than 1mm thick.. and the fur on Al Capone's dress? 

NORTH SIDE MOB

Behind his baby face, Dean O'Banion hides a cunning and cruel guy. The leader of the North Side Mob leads a gang capable of squeezing the last drop of alcohol from every barrel in Chicago. If there's a bootlegger in town, he surely works for the Irish boss. In this case, pay special attention to Dean O'Banion's mini, his face, full of pride and power, as well as the level of detail in the boxes. Although, to tell the truth, all thugs have a special charm...

THE BLACK WOLVES

Arriving in Chicago from New York, Stephanie St. Clair is a hurricane over the City of Wind. The Black Wolves control the streets with ease, they are the best at storming enemy neighborhoods and a real headache for the rest of the gangs that aspire to the throne of the city. Be careful, those miniature Tommy guns seem too real.

THE SEVEN GEMS

Guided by Arnold ”‘The Brain” Rothstein, The Seven Gems are a surefire gang when it comes to spreading their tentacles over Chicago and controlling the city's shady businesses. They dominate banks and politicians, and they control betting to the point of... rigging the World Series? Let me highlight the spectacular Boss miniature, the thug with his Molotov cocktail and that  car, which is surely the most spectacular of all those that will roam the streets of Chicago.

Gangs are not the only stars on the board in Scarface 1920. There are also a number of common elements that have their own miniature. And of which, of course, we also have the final version for you to enjoy. The fearsome Enforcers appear in this group: the Russian ex-combatant Alina Ivankova, with her cute pet; the extortion king “Raven” Kwiatkowski, with an aristocratic bearing; and wily businessman Tom Lee, with one of the most incredible weapons in the game.

But there are more common elements, such as the friendly Paperboy, the police cars, the barrels and guns that everyone craves for, and of course, the good (or bad?) guy in the story: Eliot Ness.

The last minis that we see today will only reach those who backed the Kickstarter edition. In this case, it is the Family ring and the special Al Capone miniature, two of the most spectacular pieces of Scarface 1920. You will feel the power of the underworld when you put that ring on. Yes, it is wearable...

GAME PRODUCTION STATUS

Regarding the production of the game, we continue to work hard with the rulebooks. We will be very honest: we are newbies in the field and that has a price. It is turning out to be much more laborious than we expected to have a 100% perfect product, in terms of design and layout. In fact, the initial rules of the game have changed several times during the last months, always thinking about the best option for the player (for you), and in the end we have decided that the solo mode rules will be independent from the standard mode, as we gave them a lot of love and attention. Therefore, we will have three different rulebooks: Standard game, Solo mode and The Enforcers. Oh, and our international partners are already translating it into French, German, Hungarian, Spanish, and Korean.

All these changes and extra work are delaying the production times slightly and forcing us to update some of our forecasts, but don't worry, because our plans are still to deliver Scarface 1920 during this summer.

Another new thing that we can tell you is that we have been reviewing and fine tuning the gang colors, as well as the rest of the common elements, and now the game is completely suitable for colorblind people (we tested it!). The final color palette is the one you can see in the PVC samples below: in the upper row are the colors of the gangs (The Chicago Outfit, The Black Wolves, North Side Mob and The Seven Gems) and in the lower row are the common elements (Eliot Ness and police cars, Paperboy, guns and barrels).

We have reached the end of the update and I would like to open a little debate in the comments, to see if your opinions are similar to those of us who worked on the development of Scarface 1920: what are your three favorite minis? In case you have any doubts, our super talented colleagues from Bigchild Creatives, creators of all the minis in the game, have been able to check their spectacular final product and have even dared to paint some of them. Look, look how wonderful! Let us know, which are your favorites?

Stop everything you're doing: you have to see this!
about 2 years ago – Sat, Feb 05, 2022 at 11:33:08 PM

It has been more than a month since our last update, in which we talked about the end of the Pledge Manager. Too long, right? Yes, but we believe that the wait has been worth it because, during all these days, we have been working very hard on various areas of Scarface 1920. And one of them, which we can already show you with great pride, is the Gametrayz!

Do you remember that during the campaign we announced that all our backers would have a Gametrayz for free, right? The first thing you should know is that the version of the Gametrayz that we showed during the Kickstarter campaign was not the final one. By then, we hadn't finished fine tuning all the game components and we also didn't have the final list of stretch goals. Since then, we have been doing (many, MANY) tests to get the best possible version of Gametrayz… and finally we have the definitive one. And we must say that we are soooooo proud of what we have achieved, as all the components of the game fit together like a glove. And, as you know, Gametrayz guarantees the best quality plastic and the best finishes. Ok, you want to see it, I get it! Here's the result. This is yours:

What a pleasure when everything fits together like the last piece of a puzzle, right? Let's see the details. What trays will you find in the Scarface 1920 box?

Base Tray: It is the organizer to store the common elements of the game: The Associates, Raids, Solo Mode, Dealers, Jobs and News cards will be stored here, in addition to the Neighborhoods, the Family Ring token, the Solo Mode tokens, the Time marker and the Elliot Ness figure. In this tray, as you can see, the Thug boards and the Gang boards are also stored. In addition, it has two rectangular spaces on both sides where you can store items that not everyone will have… but you do because you are a backer! I'm talking about the plastic Family Ring, as well as the miniatures of The Enforcers expansion and the Al Capone special edition figure, and the Paperboy if you backed the game in the first 48 hours or added it to the pledge later. All these elements fit in one of the two sides, so the other side is still empty, available for other add-ons that you might have bought, such as plastic money or any other element. Isn't it wonderful?

Resource Trays: There are three, and they are made to be distributed around the board for all players to have easy access to the game's resources, no matter where they sit. Here we will place the Money, the Business markers, the Barrels of alcohol and the Guns. And you know what? The lid of these Resource Trays is designed so that you can use it as a base for the wooden crates. 

Gang Trays: There are four of them -one for each of the gangs-, and they are, allow me to say so, the jewel of the crown of the elements made by Gametrayz. It is designed so that each player can take his gang’s tray and start the game, without long preparation times, without waiting, without having to look for the missing miniature or marker. Easy peasy: you take your gang's tray, open it and launch an assault on the streets of Chicago. Each gang tray contains the Boss figure, the 12 Thug figures, the Car (3) and Truck (2) figures, 7 Control markers, 12 upgrade cubes, the Crime rate marker, 10 Gang member cards and the Gang screen. When players uncover the gang tray, they will take the lid and use it as their play area, which contains slots to make it easy to organize cards during the game. This is magic.

By the way, before you ask in the comments, the answer is YES, the Gametrayz is meant to contain all the cards in the game sleeved.

Next update: the definitive rulebook

Spoiler alert: the next time we contact you we will show you the final rulebook for Scarface 1920. Over the last four months we have thoroughly restructured, reviewed and polished the entire rulebook. And, although what you need is to have it in your hands and read it, we can tell you that the current rulebook is much, MUCH better than the one we had during the Kickstarter campaign. This one is clearer and much more elaborated, it has better wording and coherence, in addition to adapting to the changes that we have introduced in this time. In that sense, even some actions or keywords of the game have been redefined, which has forced everything to be reviewed with a magnifying glass. Right now, the content is finished, and it is 100% translated, in addition to having passed two phases of proofreading, so the "only" thing remaining is to apply the final design, which will be spectacular, like in all the elements of Scarface 1920.

But that will be in the next update. Oh, one more thing… In that next update we will also show you something that has arrived to us TODAY from China: the final and approved samples for all miniatures! Spoiler 2: they are awesome. See you soon!

We’ve reached the end of the road... last 24 hours!
over 2 years ago – Mon, Dec 27, 2021 at 12:17:50 AM

A Kickstarter campaign, a funded game, a bunch of exclusive content unlocked and 52 updates later, we've reached the end of the road. Tomorrow... wait, TOMORROW! ends the Scarface 1920 Pledge Manager. Is there anyone out there who hasn't completed the purchase process yet? Friends, the countdown has started... don't wait any longer!

By the way, if you are having problems doing the Pledge Manager, if you have doubts and do not know how to move forward or if you want to ask any questions before making a decision, do not hesitate to contact us on [email protected], where we will answer you as soon as possible.

Merry Christmas!

WE ARE FINALLY READY TO START CHARGING THE PLEDGE MANAGER
over 2 years ago – Mon, Dec 13, 2021 at 02:06:14 AM

This is a short update to notify you we are finally ready to start charging the Pledge Manager. Some of you told us through direct messages or comments on the wall, that the taxes we had in the system were not correct or the usual ones for a kickstarter in your respective countries (All of them countries outside the European Union).

The card charges were planned to start on the 6th, but we put it on-hold until we solved this important doubt, and now we have managed to clarify, confirm and reconfirm it. VAT in all countries has been corrected or removed (where needed) and now no one will pay an amount that does not correspond to them.

As you can check if you enter your survey, now the VAT of your pledge is correct. Our apologies for this delay of a few days in the payment of the cards, our intention at all times is to listen to your requests and above all, avoid problems or innecesary expenses for our backers. Card charges will continue without further problems next Monday the 13th.

Speak you soon!