Our guest judge Danny Devine has selected his winner for the Miniatures Design Challenge. Here’s what he had to say:
I know how the finalists feel, not long ago I was in your shoes, patiently waiting to see who would win the contest. Judging this contest has been tougher than I thought it would be. What do I need to focus on? The miniatures themselves? The theme? How finished the game looks? While all that is important, it all boils down to one question. How fun is the game? Once I figured that out, I knew which game had won.
Ok have I dragged that out enough? The winner of The Game Crafter’s Miniature Design Contest is Cosmos by Peter Jackson!
Cosmos fit itself into the miniatures design contest by the skin of its teeth. It paired back the number of players in order to make cost and it swapped out wooden discs for little rockets to meet component requirements (great thematic swap by the way). This is not what you would really call a “Miniatures game” but it is well within the rules.
The game play of Cosmos is easy to learn, teach and understand. When you get into the game however, you quickly realize you have some work to do if you are going to win. The game has a nice slow build that picks up a little momentum every round. This is not only a great way for new players to learn the game, but it is exciting to watch unfold.
My favorite mechanic of the game has to be how the Market works. Basically there are 5 resources, every time you build a colony to gather one type you must add a cube to a different resource to drive up its demand. For example, if I build a colony to gather Diamonds I would then add a cube to something other than Diamonds on the market tile. When you go to deliver a resource you receive points equal to the number you delivered times the “demand” for that resource. So if I delivered 3 Plutonium, and it had 3 demand cubes on it I would receive 9 points. Whenever a delivery is made you remove a demand cube from that resource. It is elegant and smooth and it forces players to think ahead and build colonies one place to drive up the price of the resource they really care about.
I have had a blast with this game so far and I can’t wait to play again, I am looking forward to grabbing the upgrade I need to play with more than 3 players. Great work Peter, you have a strong game on your hands! Congratulations!
Also thanks again to the other Finalists, in the next coming weeks I am going to try and email you all individually with my feedback on your games.
Regards,
Danny Devine (@3ddevine)
We’d like to thank everyone who participated in this contest. And congratulations to our winner Peter Jackson.
Please don’t forget that our next contest, is has already begun: The Classic Arcade Challenge
