Major Update - Play Examples, card decks, and more

Welcome to the first major update of 2022 for Roar of Alliance! First, a non-comprehensive change list:

• Added extended play example for the Engagement to the Core Rules booklet
• Significantly expanded Enemy Vehicle Reference in the Vehicle guide booklet
• Added Crew Deck, including custom portrait Jacks
• Added Engagement Deck, leaving partially blank for landscape art coming soon^TM
• Minor edits and updates to character archetypes to clarify abilities and standardize language
• New art in several places
• The base and suggested price have gone up!

Under the Treads

This major update for Roar of Alliance should improve playability by providing useful examples with extensive visual guides to using the provided components. One full round of the Engagement is written out as an example showing all player actions and enemy actions, and demonstrating a variety of mechanics. Lots of board states and sheets are visually demonstrated to clarify what players can expect things to look like.

The Vehicle Guide also features a much-expanded section on the Enemy, including a breakdown of reading the Enemy Vehicle Cards and some notes on how to narrate outcomes for the enemies.

Two new custom decks of playing cards are now included in the download, with custom icons and some notes useful to play: shell type represented and damage dealt. This means that players comfortable with printing their own cards no longer need to provide their own playing cards for the Crew Deck and Engagement Deck, and can use the custom included cards instead. The Crew Deck features illustrated portraits of potential crew members and allies for the Jacks, and no art for the Kings or Queens. The Engagement Deck has the suit/value information in the corners and the ammo type notes, but lacks any art or suit symbols in the center area of the card.

The character types have been updated to reflect the correct action names in use elsewhere, and to clarify certain abilities.

A few new illustrations have been added to enhance the presentation of information and make reading a little more pleasant.

On the Horizon

While the game is very playable and fun right now, there are quite a few things I'm still working on to improve its presentation and bring it closer to completion.

Likely in the next update:

• Extended example(s) for Downtime including at least one complete scene
• Additional art assets for game components - particularly card backs for various decks.

There are even more items further down the road:

• Redesigns of Character Archetype and Vehicle Record sheets to use current branding and visual language
• Redesigns of various cards to improve information presentation and graphic design conformity
• Cover designs for the Core Rules book and Vehicle Reference with full, wrap-around illustrations
• A complete editing pass of all text and play materials by an outside editor - something last done many revisions ago