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Sprocket. What a smashing word. It’s one of those words which, in my humble opinion, sounds great in your head when you read it, and fantastic when you say it out loud. I don’t know about you, but it makes me think of that part two-thirds of the way into an adventure, when the heroes (that’s us, of course) have to create a McGuffin out of the few items they have available, and the device is almost done, but oh no, there’s something wrong with the sprocket…
Apologies, gone off on one there.
Forge is a damn fine word too. A firm word. Fab games need fab names, and thus we come to Sprocketforge!
In Sprocketforge, players are artificers building a factory with enchanted gears to produce mana and complete orders to earn renown. Players will add, upgrade, and swap gears in their factory to create an efficient system.
However, mana is messy and clogs up your vents, requiring players to balance earning points with keeping their machine clean. The noble houses of Sprocketforge will reward the factories with the cleanest system as players vie for favour to earn more points and additional actions.
I was immediately grabbed by the theme – goblin workers toiling away in a mana factory to fulfil their orders, and it also has a strong steampunk flavour, which I’m rather partial to. Table presence is solid too – it looks great with its five interconnected cogs on each player mat which rotate to create the required mana.
There’s a fair amount of player interaction in this one, and you’ll want to keep a beady eye on what the player before you does and what the player after you might intend to do, as this can shape your strategy as well as allowing you to disrupt that of your opponents. Each player’s actions result in lesser follow-on actions for other players, so there’s no long waits between turns here, the engagement should remain steady throughout.
An interesting mechanic comes in the fact that if there is an option for you to take an opponent’s mana – for example if you turn up the transmute icon – then you must do so, encouraging a flexible and adaptable edge to your strategy. After all, you’re going to require specific mana to complete your order cards, and a stray bit of water when you’re after two fire and an earth might really set you back, and the noble houses are watching your performance carefully…
Sprocketforge is coming soon to Kickstarter, click this link to follow the campaign and get notification on launch: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/sophcerb/sprocketforge
Don’t hold me to this, but I’ve seen mention of a launch date of July 16th, so not long to wait for this one.
Sophisticated Cerberus Games have previous form, namely a horror board game called The Stifling Dark which had a successful Kickstarter campaign, finishing with a very tasty $220,000 in backing, so the team can be relied upon to see this fresh campaign through to fulfilment. Also, you can find the guys here on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sophcerb Do me a favour, give the team a follow and some encouragement.