Fast‑paced strategy card duel. Assemble your creatures! Outsmart your opponent! Snatch precious totems! Visit totemhoarder.com
Yesterday evening the campaign has reached € 14000 and we are already close to € 14500 as we're writing this. Things are looking up and we're all very excited!
By the looks of it, you will be unlocking a new stretch goal any moment now!
Hey, Lenart here!
In my last little article I talked about some more obvious examples of what I believe makes Totem Hoarder all clever and tactical. You know, Totems and Spooky Skellies, a.k.a. the cards that make you win and the cards that make you lose.
But let's look at some other, less obvious aspects of the game, where you have to carefully consider the pros and cons of your next move!
Say you play a lot of Fungs to build up a ridiculously powerful combo of Bonuses?
Fun fact: Bonuses are probably the oldest concept of the game. Oskar and I both very much enjoy engine-building and combining card effects, so the very first prototype was basically a bunch of cards that either trigger each other or have card effects strictly dependent on other cards in your team.
Having a powerful engine of Bonus-carrying Fungs is definitely a good idea. But since you only get to play one card per turn, it will take quite a few weak turns to pull it off. Keep in mind that Fungs have a weak “Draw 1” Action when you play them. And while you try to pull this off, your opponent will have plenty of time to get through your Bodyguards, harm your Fungs and wreck your combo.
Another downside to having many Fungs is the amount of room it takes up in your team. A long chain of Bonuses takes up quite a bit of room, thus potentially crippling you in your upcoming turns! Filling 4 spots in your team will only leave 6 more spots for the Bodyguards, Totems, and creatures that would trigger your Fungs.
In the situation shown here, all your opponent needs is 2 Spooky Skellies. For each card that you play, they will Stop you. Then you will be forced to Clean-up and thus get rid of one of your Fungs!
Let’s say you did everything right so far and managed to completely decimate the enemy team. All the while putting together a highly functional team with a powerful chain of Fungs.
Congrats, that’s great! But there is one last catch. See this little rule here?
Now, this may seem like a tiny little perk on the surface, but hear me out:
First off, Hypnotizing your Skellies and sending them over is suddenly useless! Whatever you decide to send over into the enemy team, your opponent will just keep taking into their hand! So much for overwhelming them with Skellies.
Your opponent also gets a much better control of their hand. Instead of drawing at random, they get to keep returning and playing that one perfect card!
The idea of these two tactics blogs was basically this: A card can be either completely useless or immensely powerful, and it all depends on when and how you use it.
Hey folks! We have finished the art for the latest unlocked totem - the Totem of Safety. This time our artist made a cool little time lapse, where you can see how a Totem Hoarder artwork gets made.
In other news, we are close to reaching the following milestones:
Board Game Geek fans: 10 more!
Facebook followers: 23 more!
In the next unlock, we will alter the artwork of one of the Spooky Skellies. Basically, we will make one lucky skelly rich by giving him a gold tooth and a crown and everything!
Cheers,
The Totem Hoarder Team
Hey folks! Lenart here, the co-creator and artist of Totem Hoarder. I’m reporting from my bed, where I’m getting over a cold. Too weak to paint, ok enough to type!
When we started working on the game, the main idea was this: Can we make a game as clever as Magic: The Gathering and as simple as Uno?
Well, it’s definitely simple, but I figured I’d write a couple of little updates about what I believe are some of the more clever aspects of our game. The ones that make it a proper tactical game!
As you know by now, you normally start your turn by drawing 1 card and then play 1 card. To win, get 3 Totems into your team and rid it of Spooky Skellies!
So whoever is lucky enough to draw more Totems and Bonuses wins, right?
Well, not exactly. You see, each powerful move has a downside to balance it out.
Let’s say you have a Totem in your hand.
Playing it gives you 2 Actions and brings you one step closer to victory. However, if your opponent has a Spooky Skelly in their hand - and there are 10 of those - they can play it to Stop your totem! This prevents you from doing the Actions AND moves the totem into their team.
So, before playing a Totem, make sure you can answer “YEAH, BABY!” to at least one of the following:
How about if you have plenty of Spooky Skellies in your hand?
This way you can just negate any powerful combo or card that your opponent plays.
Well, there is a downside to doing this. You see, there is a limited number of spots in your team. Each card you play takes a spot. Once you run out, you will be forced to waste a turn doing a Clean-up (“get rid of 1 Roach, 1 Karp, 1 Fung and 1 Spooky”) which will weaken your entire team.
Not to mention that having a Spooky Skelly in team prevents you from winning and having 4 Skellies makes you lose!
Also, when you play a Spooky Skelly, your opponent’s turn does not end! They may decide to play another card. So if they expect you to Stop, they will simply play their second or third strongest card. After you use your Skelly, they will follow up with a stronger card, while you will be stuck with a Spooky Skelly in your team.
Alright, that’s it for today! I’m gonna go make tea and get some rest. Let me know if this was fun for you!
Next time, I will be writing about how the game gives the underdog a unique edge! How it keeps from snowballing and gives the less lucky player a chance to turn things around. Stay tuned for Totem Tactics part 2: David and Goliath (or something dramatic like that)
Roach Hypnotist has claimed yet more victims! You have shared the post enough times to unlock another milestone and add another totem to The Lost Totems expansion.
Totem of Safety is a strange totem that also functions as a bodyguard: When you strike your opponent's team, you actually HAVE to strike this totem (and move it to your team) before striking anything else!
Will you be able to use this weird twist to your advantage? Check back for the art update!
