Although it may seem quiet on the Handwritten waterfront, like a quacky little duck my legs have been churning like crazy beneath the surface. Halfling Heist is being put through the playtesting wringer. It's poor mechanics have been given the thrice-over, there's balancing spreadsheets all over the place, and frankly some of the rules could be forgiven for being huddled in the corner sobbing their bleary little eyes out after the last brutal round of editing.
Not to mention, the incredible @deceptikong is back and making brand new artwork for all of the cards.
We wanted to give a solid, visceral feeling to the Brawl of Halfling Heist, and Rich's new illustrations are doing a wonderful job of putting those pesky Halflings right in the forefront of being beaten to a pulp. In the lead up to the game's release, I thought we'd share some of Rich's work to give you a taste of what you're in for.
Halfling Heist Preview #1: Sidestep
This is Hector.
As you can see, Hector's gleeful enthusiasm towards clobbering squishy Halflings can only be matched by his utter lack of depth perception. (He also happens to be one of my favourite personalities featured in Rich's artwork - possibly because of his horrible (read: awesome) aversion to one specific, pointy vegetable on the board design.)
The Halfling here is luckily able to make use of Hector's limited vision and easily dodge the cumbersome attack with a deft sidestep.
Sidestep is a Counter card. Counter cards can be found in the Luck deck, and are used to negate the various heaps-hurties inflicted on the Halflings throughout the brawl. Clever use of Counter cards can keep a Halfling agile and in the game while the others are being thumped, beaten and trodden over.
In particular, Sidestep counters the particularly nasty Haymaker, which can force a Halfling to drop some of their precious hard-earned Food. If you want to keep your hands on your chicken sandwich, you'd better hope the Luck deck has a couple of these set aside for you!
This blogpost can also be found in our news section: http://www.handwrittengames.com/news/
Further details about Halfling Heist: http://www.handwrittengames.com/games/halfling-heist
