Voltron: Defender of the Universe

Remember when Saturday morning was the time for awesome cartoons? Yes, Saturday morning was sweet—and not just because of all that extra sugar you poured on your already-sugary breakfast cereal. It was because five mecha-lions piloted by a super force of space explorers showed up each week to form Voltron, Defender of the Universe! Now the intergalactic champion protector will make his way into Monsterpocalypse with the Voltron: Defender of the Universe battle miniatures game.

Before its summer release, we’ll periodically take some peeks into what’s inside the two-player Voltron box. We’ll start with one side of the double-sided battle map.

Because Voltron’s battles take place in space, the buildings you’d normally find in a Monsterpocalypse game weren’t appropriate. Instead we created a cosmic starscape full of hazards and benefits that could only be found in space. Of course, if you want to see Voltron and Lo-Tron battling it out over an urban landscape, you can always bring them in to your regular Monsterpocalypse games.

Solar Conflict

The Solar Conflict map pits the Voltron Force and the Galaxy Alliance against Prince Lotor and the Drule Empire right in the midst of a powerful super nova.

Power crystals found throughout the map will give you the opportunity to power up. A successful power up roll will net you a power die for each power crystal space occupied by any of your units or morphers. As the battle rages on you’ll vie for control of the solar amplifier that doubles the power dice gained from a power up roll.

There may be no buildings floating in space, but that doesn’t mean it’s empty! Certain spaces on the map cause extra damage when you throw, smash, body slam, or toss your opponent into them. Active asteroid fields cause 1 damage, while the super nova in the center of the map causes 2 damage. And if a figure ends its activation in an active asteroid field or the super nova, it will take even more damage!

Accessing the fueling station will give your force an edge with a speed boost for all your figures. Although the battle map is a bit smaller than the normal Monsterpocalypse map, the extra speed will go a long way—especially when navigating through those movement-hindering asteroid fields.

Playtest Notes

Playtesting on the Solar Conflict map was super fun. The 13 x 13 gridded battle map meant the action began really quickly, allowing us to get in the testing we needed and still have time for trash talking. (Who am I kidding? We always make time for that!)

While developing the figure interactions with the battle map, we explored many different ideas, including both old and new map elements. In the end, we found a nice balance that would couple some of the classic Monsterpocalypse feel with the experience of a Voltron space battle. We ended up with an awesomely fun map that’s sure to be a top choice for your game table.

Stay Tuned

Next time we’ll take a look at the other side of the map, Cosmic Influx. 

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