Half Tilt

Thank You!
7 months ago – Tue, Feb 06, 2024 at 09:15:52 AM

The campaign is now over and we’re so glad to announce that we’ve absolutely smashed our initial goal of £4,000! So thank you to all of you backers!

Our next steps are to wait for Kickstarter to release the money to us, which normally takes about 3 weeks. In the meantime, we’ll begin working on the Backerkit Pledge Manager, where you can allocate your funds and make additional purchases, and work on the various assets for the many knights! We’re aiming to have this ready by the end of the month, and will let you all know when it's live.

We have everything planned out in time for release and will keep you all updated in our regular Friday updates starting in March. So make sure to join us then to get a first look at some new sculpts, including the Kickstarter Exclusive Knight!

Thank you for all your pledges, and we look forward to getting this all into your hands to see what fun you can create!

Moments of Glory!
7 months ago – Mon, Feb 05, 2024 at 08:00:23 AM

Before making any kind of Action Check, a knight may declare a Moment of Glory! To do this, the knight may spend any number of Glory up to their current amount and roll one dice for each. The more glory spent, the more dice you get to roll! The player then chooses one of their dice and applies the corresponding effect on the Glory Table. Most effects will provide buffs for your knight in the coming Action Check. Just try not to roll a 1, or that glorious moment may turn into one of great embarrassment. 

King François Chevalier Focus
7 months ago – Mon, Feb 05, 2024 at 04:40:08 AM

For the majority of the time, Vertridge is a quiet, uneventful kingdom. This was not always the case however, with the land divided between various individual leaders all launching their own battles for supremacy. These battles did not always come to blows however, many lands were lost in simple eating contests, or who could make the best pork pie. It became so bad in fact, that the scribes couldn’t possibly keep up with who owned what! Change was enacted, and the first King of Vertridge was crowned. Years later, the current ruler is King François Chevalier, a warrior king that inspires both on and off the battlefield. From his seat at Gourmet Castle, he’ll personally lead the defence of his land upon his noble hippogriff Tempest. When the mood hits him, he’ll often take to the tiltyard, much to the awe of both the other knights and the crowd.

For the final day of our campaign, who better to show off than the King of Verteridge himself, François Chevalier. As a Renown 5 Knight, you can expect him to put in some serious work in the tiltyard, with the raw skill to go head to head with any other knight in the game! His monstrous Jousting Skill of 12 means he has plenty of options when it comes to outplaying your opponents and in addition, he also provides all Chivalrous knights (both yours and your opponents) with the Focused trait while he is present through his “Respected and Feared” unique trait. After all, who would want to turn tail and flee while in the presence of the king! All this power however, does come with some restrictions and weaknesses. Due to being Renown 5, King François cannot be included in a standard 10 Renown game and so is restricted to larger games. He also carries the “Hail to the King!” Unique trait which means he must always be selected as the first knight to joust. And if he ends up being defeated, he counts as Renown 7 for working out who has won the game. Generally this means that defeating him will earn you instant victory in anything below a Renown 14 game.

We are still in the process of playtesting King François and a couple other renown 5s for later down the line to make sure they are enjoyable to both play and play against. With statlines that so heavily outclass other knights, we have to be careful with their implementation. As such, don’t be surprised if a couple of things on the card above change before release!

And that’s it! We’ve covered every knight! Except, wait, is that a latecomer? And is he drunk? I guess we’ll have to speak about him in a future update! Until then jousting fans!

Sneaky Stabbas Focus
7 months ago – Sun, Feb 04, 2024 at 11:14:54 AM

Goblin raids are not uncommon in Shortreach and are an unfortunate occurrence for the halflings of the land. Making their home in Lacklight Forest and the Roughlands beyond, they make for difficult foes to defeat. Not two years ago, a combined force of Goblins and Ogres attacked Gourmet Castle, luckily, they were driven away by the presence of the king himself. However, by the laws of the land, jousting is a neutral ground sport and if a band of goblins travel through Vertridge with this intention, they cannot be denied. As such, the occasional Goblin Team takes part in the many tournaments of the land. One thing is for certain though, through animosity taken too far on the tiltyard, or failure in the eyes of the Warchiefs, the turn over rate for the average Goblin knight is exceedingly high.

Of perhaps all the teams in Half Tilt, the Sneaky Stabbas are the ones that benefit most from teamwork. The main theme of the team is to weaken the enemy with lowly knights before sending in the Chiefs to finish the job. To this end, you will often find yourself outnumbering your opponent with the goblins. The Howls in the Night Team box contains 3 Renown 1s, 2 Renown 2s and a single Renown 4, meaning most of the time, you’ll be using 5 of the 6 knights in the average game. The team are all mounted on wolves, which provide them with a +1 Initiative Modifier at the expense of their Block. As such, you’ll find the lower level knights are generally best for diving in to weaken the enemy before inevitably being unmounted.

Your Renown 1 knights are Nosepicka, Silica and Bribs. None of these knights are going to win you the game by themselves. All of them feature +2 Initiative, -2 Block and a Strike Re-Roll, so they can certainly do some work against lower level knights. Their unique traits however are where the synergy of the team begins to come into play. Each goblin has an ability that interacts with the opposing knight, Nosepicka has the potential to gain Glory each time he causes damage, while Bribs mocks his opponent for not besting him quick enough! Finally, Slica can potentially slip a knife into his opponent on the way down, good for a last minute laugh. When each Renown 1 knight is defeated, you are able to select one Chief or Warchief in your team and provide them with an enhancement, making them all the stronger when they do reach the tiltyard!

In the Renown 2 slots, Chief Crackknuckle and Kluzz Krinkrokk provide a little bit of extra muscle to the team. Crackknuckle has the Chief Keyword, allowing him to be the target of your buffs if you don’t want to pass them to the Warchief. Along with his Veteran trait, this potentially allows him to challenge knights of a higher renown and win one on one! He also has the handy trait to pass off any glory he earns to the Warchief. It was their plan all along anyway! Kluzz on the other hand is the team's Wizard and a knight that works best from the backlines or finishing off knights with low Endurance. The first of his two Unique Traits allow him to cast a shield over all Chiefs and Warchiefs while he’s in the Stables, protecting them from some incoming damage. His second trait gains him a +2 Modifier to Initiative on a 3+, giving him a total of +4! On a 1 however, in true goblin style, things can go very badly.

Finally, Warchief Wizkonk is the big bad of the box. With an already solid statline for a Renown 4 (if not a little bit squishier), once buffed up from the Renown 1s, he can become a true powerhouse, potentially sweeping your opponents weakened knights to bring victory. Passively, he also provides all Goblin knights on his team +1 Jousting Skill while in the stables with his “Da Warchief is Watching!” trait. However, should he be defeated, all goblins gain the Cowardly trait for the rest of the game. Careful use of your Warchief is crucial for victory with the Sneaky Stabbas. As a knight can only stay in the tiltyard for two consecutive rounds, you cannot rely on the Warchief to do all of the work for you, and losing too many lower Renown knights can lead you to defeat.

With the campaign nearly over, we only have one more knight to show off. And we did indeed save the best for last. Join us tomorrow when the king himself finally makes an appearance!

Duke Stonebridge II and Squires Focus
7 months ago – Sat, Feb 03, 2024 at 12:33:28 PM

Named due to the interesting shape of its towers, Croquette Castle lies on the quiet river that runs across Verteridge. Duke Stonebridge is lord of that castle, a stern faced halfling that takes who crosses his bridge very seriously. He is said to be a good judge of character, and only lets those of noble hearts pass. He also is known to hold jousts along the length of his bridge, with many a defeated knight being sent plunging to the river below upon their defeat. None-the-less, when Stonebridge gets into the tiltyard himself, he never seems more alive.

Another Renown 4 Option for the Chivalrous knights comes in the form of Duke Stonebridge II, an imposing halfling with a grudge against those who cross his path. Armed with a mighty Two Handed Weapon, Duke Stonebridge II is able to both deal damage and take it with his Tough Trait. In addition, his “Lord of the Crossing” ability is able to slow the opposing knight down, meaning they have to use 2 Momentum to move 1 extra space after an Impact.

Some knights are born into noble families, granting them a position of authority immediately upon coming of age. Such knights are trained from a young age in the ways of their families, with many generations training under the same tutor. Others have to make a name for themselves in the world, normally by becoming the squire of another knight. Alvin, Bob and Charlie are three such knights. Three brothers born in ordinary circumstances, they grew up with the same dream. They practised on their father’s farm, and by the end of their 15th year, were able to joust using many of the farm's animals as mounts. On their 18th birthday, they set out. Alvin managed to draw the attention of Sir Rooksborough when he turned up to a local joust to challenge the knight. He’s been his squire ever since. 

On the other end of the Renown scale, we have the squires Alvin, Bob and Charlie, three Renown 1 knights to fill in the gaps of those Chivalrous teams. In the lore, Alvin is Sir Rooksborough’s personal squire, and so carries the “Yes M’Lord?” unique trait. At the start of the game, you may select one Renown 3 or higher Chivalrous knight and grant that knight one free re-roll over the course of the game. Bob on the other hand is out to make a name for himself, allowing him to roll once on the Glory table whenever he rolls two or more 6s on an Action Check. 
 

As for Charlie, he acts as the knight with the greatest potential of the three. He has possession of a magical trinket of jousting, granting him a whopping Jousting Skill of 12! Unfortunately, it also makes him extremely unlucky, and so he carries the Hindered Generic Trait for all Action Checks! Each time Charlie rolls a 1 (or a 2 due to his “Simply Unlucky” Unique Trait) he suffers a -1 Modifier to that Action Check!

Tomorrow, we’ll have a look into the final team. One that doesn’t contain a single halfling! Well, unless one of the wolves has had a snack on the way to the tiltyard.