Primogenesis has launched their Kickstarter this evening for The Third Law which sees you battling it out on the tabletop in control of mighty robots smashing seven shades of something out of each other!

You play the role of a Machinist in control of a group of what are known as Wreckers. This 28mm scale game sees you 'jacked in' to your Wreckers on the tabletop looking to knock out your rivals through various means in order to snatch success.

The Game

You will be able to customise and add to your team between games, switching things out to better suit your way of fighting. Each of the Wreckers teams plays in different ways too, and there are many variations on Machinists and Wreckers within each too to allow you to hunt for success.

Enemies can be taken out in different ways...

1. Smashing up one of their Wreckers. When a Wrecker takes too much damage on the battlefield it becomes trashed.  The controlling Machinist suffers Feedback from this whilst the Pit Crew haul the Wrecker off and set about repairing it.
2. Controlling Nodes on the battlefield. There are several Nodes on each battlefield, and controlling an active one at the end of a turn will cause Feedback to the rival Machinist.  However, the Nodes aren't always active.  The good news is that they follow a series of logic rules, allowing you to plan your in-game strategy.

One of the interesting mechanics of the game that caught my eye is that when one of your Wreckers is smashed to pieces it isn't out of the game. A 'pit crew' comes in and starts working on patching up the Wrecker to get it back in for the next round of combat.

Of course, you have taken feedback damage from this and therefore are losing when your Wrecker is destroyed but it means that the game is a constant fight until the end of the game rather than halfway through. There's always a way to get back into the fight and try again!

Download The Print & Play Resources

The variety of options open to you when you play the game also hopes to engender that feeling of "just one more game" from you as you step back and consider your tactics. You can also check out the Gameplay Basics in the Tutorial Video above.

The Factions

There are going to be four factions at the launch of the game and on their Kickstarter page. You can find out more about them individually on their respective background pages linked below.

Carbon Combine

Full Metal Dragons

Liberty Division

The Ridden

As mentioned before each of them plays in a different way and comes with a rather awesome background to get stuck into, fleshing out the world. Based on the artwork alone I reckon that I'd have to go for the Liberty Division or the Full Metal Dragon.

When it comes to big smashy robots the Carbon Combine really have taken the medal though. I reckon that's the set that Justin might go for but what do you think? Take a look at their background and find out for yourselves which team meets with your approval.

The Miniatures & Pledges

So now we get to the miniatures and the pledges to see if this game has got you sucked in. The miniatures themselves are looking rather impressive and we'll be showing off some of them throughout this next section painted up by Dark Iron Studio.

At the midst of this is their Core Pledge  (£89) which gives you...

• "Hall of Famer" Pledge Level Reward
• Enhanced Array Set from any unlocked Faction
• The Third Law Dice Pack (18 x dice)
• The Third Law Rulebook (printed)
• The Third Law gaming tokens (high-quality acrylic)
• The Third Law machinist upgrade cards (printed)
• Limited Edition "Hound" miniature
• "Included Free" Stretch Goals

...and gets you started in the game. If you want to get in on this with a friend then there is the bigger pledge option (£145) which gets you this.

• "Hall of Famer" Pledge Level Reward
• 2× Enhanced Array Set from any unlocked Faction
• The Third Law Dice Pack (18 x dice)
• The Third Law Rulebook (printed)
• 2× The Third Law gaming tokens (high-quality acrylic)
• The Third Law machinist upgrade cards (printed)
• Limited Edition "Hound" miniature
• "Included Free" Stretch Goals

The addition of the extra stretch goals to this might push you toward diving into this one but the team at Primogenesis has stressed that you go and download that Print & Play Pack and give the game a to before you dive in.

There are ways to get extra Add-Ons for your pledges and they have planned out Stretch Goals too so the team behind this game really do want to push this towards a level of awesomeness on the tabletop. It's also really great to once again see some finished miniatures showing off what you're going to be getting when the game launches.

This really does feel like a game that's dripping with theme and a real sense of guts and weight to it. The models look fanatastic and unlike anything I've seen before too. Match that with some mechanics which allow for fun, competitive gameplay where you always have a chance to get back into the game and this could make it onto the tabletop of a few gamers I know.

Will you be checking this out in more detail?