CMON Launch Kickstarter For Ankh: Gods Of Egypt Board Game
April 15, 2020 by brennon
CMON has now launched the Kickstarter for the third game in Eric Lang's Legendary Saga. Ankh: Gods Of Egypt puts you in the mythical sandals of the old gods of Egypt, fighting to reclaim their lost power and win over the people.
Featuring the dream team of Eric Lang, Adrian Smith and Mike McVey once more, Ankh: Gods Of Egypt is a game for two-to-five players where you try and fight against inexorable oblivion as history moves away from the old ways and advances towards monotheism.
You'll be using the power of your gods, their mythical guardians and faithful warriors to win over the people and inspire them to follow you. Only with devoted followers can you build monuments that honour you and carry your legacy on into a very different world. Whilst each god find themselves in the same position, only one god can remain and claim the love of the people.
Each god features different powers and abilities which allow them to change the game to suit their needs. These unique options mean that games of Ankh should be different and interesting each time you sit down to play.
If you're interested in learning more about the rules for the game then you can read the Rulebook which has been made available for download after watching the video with Eric Lang above.
The game certainly seems like an interesting one and very much builds on the core concepts of Blood Rage and Rising Sun in a different way. I do like that each of the three Legendary Saga games has approached area control and combat in a different way which fits each pantheon of gods and their mythology.
Pledges & Stretch Goals
It wouldn't be a CMON Kickstarter without a wealth of options and the core pledge for the game comes with lots right out of the box. You won't be wanting for content.
Much like with the other games in the series, you'll have some magnificent larger than life models matched up against an array of standard units and monstrous creatures which you can call on. All of these have been designed by Adrian Smith and Mike McVey using that signature style they've become known for. As someone who has lots of the Blood Rage figures, they are very nice indeed and I can only imagine the quality has gone up since then!
Talking of figures, here is a look at some of the fully painted models...
So, if you were running out of things to paint, this Kickstarter should sort you out in that regard. Of course, you don't have to paint any of the miniatures in this game (they are board game pieces after all) but if you were so inclined to do so, it would be fun to see people's projects as they work on the collection when it gets released!
Also, as this is a Kickstarter, Stretch Goals are also at the forefront of people's minds and CMON has added quite a few already.
More Guardians and plenty of upgrades make this quite the luxurious collection already. If you're a big fan of plastic-filled Kickstarter campaigns then it seems like CMON has done it again. I'll have to take a deeper dive into the rules but I do trust Lang as a designer and he's not dropped a clanger yet (as far as I remember!). That, of course, is the main thing here. If the rules aren't good then there's no point having all of those lovely miniatures!
Are you tempted by this new Kickstarter from CMON?
"Are you tempted by this new Kickstarter from CMON?"
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People might want to check the financial status of the company before pledging.
https://icv2.com/articles/news/view/45581/annual-report-delayed-trading-suspended-cmon?fbclid=IwAR1SquWmVuleOhkP4lWL4p3zkaCEXsrXvQNrvRqFetZ93-IG4TgyafmFpxE
“Trading in the stock of game publisher CMON Limited on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange was suspended on April 1, after the company warned of audit issues and said it would delay release of its annual report for 2019. ”
As of me typing this the KS is at £800K so just goes to show most folks do no due diligence or have money they can afford to lose.
Caveat Emptor.
Interesting, I thought CMON was making a lot of money with their frequent Kickstarters.
To be fair, most people that are in any way familiar with KS would assume CMON are a safe bet. They’ve frequently delivered on some of the biggest boardgames launched on the platform. The argument usually levelled at them is that they’re too established to justify crowd funding.
due dilligence needs doing on your part as well @tankkommander CMON response : https://www.cmon.com/news/cmon-april-2020-update tl;dr; summary : They have a negative cashflow because they treat their kickstarter money as both a debt and an asset. Whether that is how it should or should not be done is something I don’t know, but it made sense as it is effectively money they’ve spent and can’t use for anything other until the pledges are shipped or refunded (which is why they can do a refund at all … ). == edit == always use money you can afford to lose on kickstarters.… Read more »
Yes, I read the reply from CMON. Comes down to how much weight you put on that statement vs the audit report and fact that share trading has been suspended. Personally I hope that CMON continue on and that it is just a difference of opinion on how much of a ‘going concern’ the business is. The fact that CMON have delivered in the past is not particularly reassuring if the fundamental financial position of the company is shaky. Any current KS money will be an unsecured debt, so if it does go under the backers will be at the… Read more »
I think the stockmarket/financial auditing isn’t used to dealing with businesses that use crowdfunding as both a means of getting capital and selling product.
CMON might have underestimated the effect of their crowdfunding dependency. They’re still relatively small compared to the big boys on the market (who I suspect get a lot of freedom when similar things happen)
Chances of getting money back are practically zero for anyone who hasn’t done a significant stake in a company are practically zero after mister Taxman has taken his share. As such I doubt there is anything that crowdfunding laws could fix.
I am not sure that KS funding is that much different to accounting for a company that takes pre orders for products, so I personally would not ascribe the auditors concerns to this. Whilst CMON have been taking in eye watering amounts of money on their KS projects we have no way of knowing how healthy the margins are. Considering the percentage that KS take out, the up front design costs, marketing etc. it may not be particularly profitable. It is interesting that one of the auditors concerns is the distribution deal with Asmodee. This has already caused problems for… Read more »
BGG has two threads on CMON’s audit, with opinions from accountants. Second one has more info. Josh Conner: “I think many people are overlooking just how serious a “going concern” opinion is. Typically, if you are conducting an audit, and you bring to the attention of the management team that you plan to issue any type of opinion besides an Unqualified Opinion, the management team will do absolutely whatever it takes to rectify the issue. Having an audit team issue any type of Qualified Opinion, is more-likely-than-not a death sentence for the senior management team. Furthermore, if during an audit… Read more »
“If the rules aren’t good then there’s no point having all of those lovely miniatures!”
LOL. Since when did that stop any of these over produced KS project making millions?
There are plenty that are still good – yes, there are some terrible ones, but most of them have been good heh.
Quality has never been the number 1 reason people bought a whole heap of things that are popular.
Kickstarter projects may highlight this aspect as it needs the hype/marketing to succeed.
Besides … without crappy games we wouldn’t know how good the great ones really are 😉
As much as, imo, Eric Lang’s diluted his name with the more Ameritrashy CMON and other games, hardcore Eurogamers know and expect his best work to be his trilogy of Blood Rage / Rising Sun / Ankh. I’m not a fan of Eurogames, but BR took BGG’ers by surprise (typically the ones who looked down on CMON), and I think Rising Sun was well-received. We’ll have to see hos Ankh does.
CMON produced one of my favourite games, the (in my opinion) excellent Dogs of War. Sadly the game was totally over produced with over sized plastic figures (aimed at the KS crowd) which actually get in the way of being able to see what is going on on the board. The game has subsequently never been produced for retail, and as such (unless CMON allow it to pass to a more sensible company) is dead. A real shame as it is an engaging and tense game that should and could have been a classic.
mechanic in game may be good but as a game lore I am not convinced.
If you’re looking for a heavily thematic game that emulates Egyptian mythology, yeah, perhaps look elsewhere. Already BGG has threads about *two* pawns for a god, sculpt choices made for one or two gods, camels vs. horses, that sort of thing. My impression is that it’s a Eurogame, which seems to be a license to ignore historical accuracy, even if it’s fictional. Who else remembers the names used on the Rising Sun game board??
The painted miniatures really look very impressive.
They were done by Rogland Studio. They guy does amazing work.
I’m waiting for the Morpork expansion….
….I’ll see myself out….
nah, that needs to happen.
Just not feeling this game, not sure what the reason would be. Just isn’t doing it for me. I like a few of the miniatures, but not enough to spend money for the game to get them. I am not a person that usually cares about excessive miniatures in a boardgame that doesn’t need them, but for some reason the miniatures just look to big for the board and make it look entirely stupid to me. No real big reasons. Just lots of little reasons. Besides, CMON did not impress me with the last set of space zombicide miniatures. They… Read more »
this is definitely a game that has me wondering why the heck the miniatures are there to begin with.
Wooden meeples would do just fine for what they’re doing.
The theme/setting isn’t speaking to me either.
I think I’d have gone for a Mummicide game though …
CMON’s thing is the heap of plastic you get with their games, but I do agree that at the scale they have the board the minis feel a bit jarring. Like yourself, the theme in this doesn’t appeal to me at all so I was never going to back it, but it was the same scaling issue that put me off backing Trudvang Legends when normally I would have jumped at anything with Paul Bonner’s art. That said, I think they need the large minis to distract from the dullness of the game board. You’d be forgiven for thinking you… Read more »
I think CMON is stuck between a rock and a hard place with their games.
They are expected to do minis with their games and might not have explored the option of doing a meeple-only variant like the ‘great wall’ kickstarter from Awakened Realms did.
I don’t know if the game would be dull, but there is something to be said for not making it too abstract.
The figures are fabulous, i was half expecting SG1 turning up during the video but.
?lol was thinking the same
Stargate : Mummycide 😉
“So, if you were running out of things to paint”
For shame… I thought you knew your audience @brennon !
On a similar theme the 2nd edition of Kemet is due to come to KS this year iirc.
I do like Kemet and Blood & Sand sounds like a good new edition. I would prefer playing that over this I reckon.
My concern is that Matagot are an established company, with a game that has a proven track record, and yet they are using KS.
I don’t think you have to be that worried. They are probably doing it for the added pomp and ceremony plus they are working on more up-to-date game pieces and such so that might require a bit more extra funding from the community in their eyes.