Hellboy: The Board Game Expansion Kickstarter – Interview and EXCLUSIVE Card Reveal
Hellboy. Creature. Anung Un Rama. Whatever you call him, he is back on Kickstarter for Mantic’s mighty Hellboy Board Game (CLICK HERE)
Now it’s no exaggeration that this game got me and my kids through Lockdown One without murdering each other (just). Its emphasis on co-operative gaming, mystery, and monsters (well, and drinking with skeletons) was an absolute winner, and we’re thrilled to get a look at the new core sets, expansions, standalone dice game (travel Hellboy! Woo!), plus a couple of sneak peeks and words of wisdom from the guru of all things Mantic, community manager Rob Burman.
The Kickstarter launched this week on a 10-day campaign running to Friday 7th May, and was fully funded in under half an hour, and almost 400% in the first day!
We’ll see a whole host of new B.P.R.D. agents from the spin-off comics and rougher, tougher versions of familiar faces, along with expansions focusing on the End of Days storyline and a whole host of bigger, nastier beasties in Pandemonium.
Mantic have a proven track record of delivering their KS product on time and to the highest standards, and their passion for the Mignolaverse really shines through both the first iteration of the boardgame and the recently- completed RPG KS.
But, without further ado, let’s get some info from the hellmaw, or at least Rob @ Mantic:
BCP: Hey Rob, thanks for taking the time to talk to us.
Rob Burman: My pleasure!
BCP: So, let’s kick off with the board game – what can we look forward to in the new sets?
RB: I think the key word here is ‘MORE’! There are more playable Agents, more bosses, more minions, more Deck of Doom cards… you get the idea. I think generally though we know that the core game has been available for a while now and people are looking to expand their Hellboy experiences. It also gave us the opportunity to bring in some of the elements from the excellent B.P.R.D. comics, so we can introduce characters like Ted Howards (who is a personal favourite) and Sledgehammer.
BCP: Needy Cat Games came up with some really exciting mechanics for the base game: are there any new mechanics to watch out for?
RB: The Storm and The Fury expansion is an interesting one because it’s based around that climatic moment when Hellboy is climbing the tower ready to face Nimue. In the game, you constantly loop around the stairs of the tower facing all-manner of tough minions before finally taking on Nimue in her dragon form. It’s a very tough challenge that we expect even the most hardened Hellboy player will struggle with!
Plus, if you want to add even more challenge to the game, there’s the all-new Ragnarok mode. This makes minions and bosses tougher, so you’re going to have to be very careful about what Agents you select for your team. Thankfully some of the Agents are hard as nails, so they should be up for the challenge.
BCP: If, say, you had to pick one agent and one villain/creature that you’re most excite to play and fight, what would they be? I’m really excited for the new Abe Evolved and full-blown adventures featuring Nimuë, personally.
RB: As mentioned earlier, for me it’s Ted Howards. I loved him in the graphic novels and here he’s a really unique character. As you’d expect, he’s able to rip through enemies but it can often leave him quite exposed. So you’ve got to carefully balance sending him ahead to take out the minions, with making sure he doesn’t get injured because he can run into trouble quite easily.
BCP: Tell us a bit about the genesis of the dice game – I believe it started with you guys just around the office?
RB: That’s right. Unlike the board game, which was designed by Needy Cat Games, the Dice Game is a Mantic designed product. Basically myself and Matt were messing around with the various Hellboy dice in the office and think that there had to be a game in there. We both enjoy push your luck dice game, plus we don’t always have time to play the full Hellboy experience but still want wanted to play some sort of Hellboy game on the tabletop.
BCP: Obviously, it’s got radically different mechanics to the main game, so how did you ensure it still felt part of the same game-universe?
RB: The big moment for us was when we created the Exploration Deck, which is full of rooms to explore. Originally we were just rolling dice and trying to ‘score’ the most points… but that didn’t feel very Hellboy. As a result, we created a series of rooms that you must explore but, a little like the Board Game, you never know what’s around the corner. Yes, it could be a swarm of frogs or it could be a really strong enemy like Baba Yaga or Rasputin. Introducing the cards meant we could use some of Mike Mignola’s distinctive artwork and it also helped you to feel like you were actually a B.P.R.D. agent heading through a dangerous location.
BCP: What are the highlights of the upcoming Kickstarter campaign for you, particularly in terms of stretch goals (for the board game, dice game or both)?
RB: We always have a couple of surprises up our sleeve for the stretch goals, although this campaign won’t be quite as crazy as the original Kickstarter. When we were developing the idea of the Dice Game, we wanted to introduce more enemies and the concept of allies – so Hellboy suddenly turning up to lend a Right Hand of Doom. Although the retail product won’t feature those, it would be great to unlock some of those for the Dice Game.
BCP: Anything else particularly juicy (squishy, bloody…) you’d like to share with us?
RB: I just hope that people are as excited as us about Hellboy making his return to Kickstarter. The Board Game has been a huge hit and this feels like a great way to expand on the elements we’ve released previously and give people new experiences. Plus, always watch out for monkeys with guns… you never know when they might crop up!
BCP: Thanks again for taking the time to talk to BCP!
HELLBOY DICE GAME
One thing we’re really loving is that there’s a bit of irreverence in the dice game, more of a party game feel – it’s playable with 1 to 10 players, and you just know that everyone’s going to be yelling that the monkey’s got a gun by the end of it.
And, icing on the (pan)cake, here’s Big Red himself for the Dice game:
You can download the rules for the dice game here:
Plus a full run-down of the mechanics here:
https://www.manticgames.com/news/what-is-hellboy-the-dice-game/
And if you head over to the Kickstarter page, there’s also a contest to design your own cards to go into the game!
There’s a whole crop of new nasties coming in the End of Days and Hell on Earth expansions:
Personally, I’m loving the emphasis on ceaseless hordes of enemies in the new expansions (although I might change my mind once playing!) But then again, there’s a whole lot more daemonic goodness (well… you know what I mean) in Pandemonium:
Plus, as Rob mentioned The Storm and the Fury expansion gives us not only Hellboy, Last King of Britain, but the biggest figure yet, Nimue in Dragon form. So far we’ve also got Big Red, Abe, Liz and Trevor for the Dice game (along with a host of extras villains) and The Queen’s Champion and Wendigo as Unexpected Threats for the Board game as stretch goals, along with the introduction of an extra Case File featuring the new Overwhelming difficulty level, Johann in the Vril Sledgehammer suit – and still more to come!
EXCLUSIVE CARD REVEAL
And finally, we know you’re only really here for the exclusive, right?
So here it – or rather, she – is in all her glory: Agent Elizabeth Sherman, from End of Days!
COMPETITION WINNER!
Don’t forget that our 20% off code for Moonstone (BIGCOMIC20) and 10% off code for gamemat.eu (BIGCOMIC10) are still valid up to until midnight Sunday! Go on, you know you want to treat yourself this payday!
Oh, and of course, before we go, we need to announce the winner of our most recent contest for a set of TT Combat Briar Rose Cottages… @darth_tater77 (seriously guys, get over to Instagram to grab those bonus entries for the contests!)
Well done, and get in touch with your details for your prize!
The Writer of this piece was: Sam Graven
Article Archive: Geeking Out
You can follow Sam on Twitter and Instagram
BIG COMIC PAGE 
Comment On This Article