Aerial Assault - The Robot Card Game
 

Members of TechFire have created a card game version of Aerial Assist, and it's getting published!
In Aerial Assault, you can simulate an entire season of FRC in a table-top card game. You build your robot, train your drivers, and play matches! The basic game is for four players, but with the expansion pack you can have six, for a more realistic game.
Besides being really fun, it's a great outreach tool- you can introduce a stranger to FRC while playing a game.

In order to get this to happen, we need your support by pre-ordering the game on our Kickstarter.
There are several levels of support, but at the team level, your robot can become part of the game! And at the highest level of support, you get 10 copies of the expanded pack at a reduced price, which you can sell at a profit for your team.
Help us make this happen- if the game is successful, we'll make a game each year.
Go to bit.ly/aerialassaultks to check it out!

If you have any questions, contact us at RobotCardGame@gmail.com

Re: Aerial Assault - The Robot Card Game
 

I got to see the game setup in-person at Battle of Baltimore. It looks to be a pretty fun game, similar to how the game series Sid Meier's Civilization games would work if they were a card game and each side had its turn concurrent to the opponents.

The way the game works is very similar to how a few teams I know kick off their strategy sessions - 6 robots are placed on a field and move/interact using a limited amount of resources. Thus it may be a good segway to investigate new strategems which help a robot focus on a certain aspect of the game over the others.

It should be a blast to play in the evenings at competition.

Re: Aerial Assault - The Robot Card Game
 

Thank you for your great comment. Your support for our game is really appreciated. We look foreword to creating a new game every year, hopefully that will be out before Champs of that season. What would your team most likely use the game for?

Re: Aerial Assault - The Robot Card Game
 

What I really liked about what I saw is that there are multiple types of implementations of multiple subsystems for building during the season. Then, during the game play, there are multiple types of movements during the game.

For young teams, the relative 'cost' of the subsystem cards in the 'build season' phase of the game should give them an idea of level of effort with respect to finite resources. The game play phase will then give them an idea of level of reward in a multi-robot environment. This might help them realize that the more important decisions they have to make as a team are about what to focus on rather than what the coolest mechanism is.

For my team in particular, the organization of the game play phase actually parallels how we've organized our scouting (accidentally...) in the last few years. "Who is the best at X" -- rather than focusing on individual robots, it's usually easier (and more fun) for our scouts to pay attention to specific movements on the field which would lead a team to being the best at 'X'. We then try to get the top 5 of each of our categories, find overlap and choose accordingly.

So the card game, even if it isn't a perfect mirror to the season, provides another fun and engaging way to get students (and stubborn mentors...) trained on an effective way to strategize and scout for a game.

Re: Aerial Assault - The Robot Card Game
 

Great observation about the similarity of CIV to Aerial Assault.

http://bit.ly/aerialassaultks

As one of the designers on Aerial Assault and a big long time fan of Sid Meier's Civilization games (since the original CIV), I wish I could take credit for the build phase of the game. But it was actually during play testing the game with the #225 teams that the team came up with having each part of the robot taking X number of weeks to build. Players wanted full control over that part of game and came up with a great solution.

Re: Aerial Assault - The Robot Card Game
 

This sounds like a really awesome concept.

Can you give an idea of how much time this game takes to play through a round?

Will there be duplicate cards for different robot mechanisms (eg for some reason everyone in my game suddenly thinks that Toro Pickup is the best)?

Re: Aerial Assault - The Robot Card Game
 

Awesome looking game! Time to convince my family we need to pledge...

Re: Aerial Assault - The Robot Card Game
 

We've kept the play time down to about 30 minutes for a 4 player game that includes build seasoning, driver training and 1 match. We figured this would be fun activity to blow off some steam between doing some heavy thinking and building activities in the shop.

The game was designed by First Robotics teammates so they insisted that each player can build their robot how they would want to build it so yes we have 4 duplicates of each robot component (+2 in the deluxe version). 4 Serve Drives, 4 Tank Drives, 4 Claw and punch shooter, 4 catapult shooter, etc.

Here's the link again to the Kickstarter. Only 10 days left so please help!

http://bit.ly/aerialassaultks

Re: Aerial Assault - The Robot Card Game
 

Here's a couple of cool articles and reviews about Aerial Assault:

Board Game Geek:
http://www.boardgamegeek.com/thread/...ame-worth-look

Geek Dad's Review
http://geekdad.com/2014/09/aerial-assault/

Re: Aerial Assault - The Robot Card Game
 

We're looking for photos of your robot to put into the card game.

Please email photos to Robotcardgame@gmail.com.

Re: Aerial Assault - The Robot Card Game
 

As the Kickstarter closes in roughly 2 days, I wanted to resurface this thread.

Gracie and Katie have put a lot of work into designing the card game, and the team would sincerely appreciate everyone's support to make sure the project gets funded!

Re: Aerial Assault - The Robot Card Game
 

Why did you choose the name?

Re: Aerial Assault - The Robot Card Game
 

Just backed, congrats on reaching your pledge goal! :)

Re: Aerial Assault - The Robot Card Game
 

Woo! Just got the email. Congrats on full funding! I look forward to dueling someday :cool:

Re: Aerial Assault - The Robot Card Game
 

Hey, We're still looking for robot photos for the cards, so if you want your team to be in the game just email photos of your robot to robotcardgame@gmail.com and we'll use them if we can. Thanks!

Also, on the name:
My father kept calling the FRC game "aerial assault" at the beginning of the season, so when we didn't get a clear OK from FIRST to use the name, we put that in as filler. After a few meeting about the name, we decided just to keep it.

Re: Aerial Assault - The Robot Card Game
 

Aerial Assault - The Robot Card Game based on the 2014 First Robotics competition is now available.

In the card game you and friends and family can build a robot, train your drivers and compete for a Blue Banner all in 30-45 minutes.

To order the game click on this link:

http://www.escapevelocitygames.com/aerial-assault/

or email me at pputnam1966@yahoo.com.

Here's a review of the game http://geekdad.com/2014/09/aerial-assault/

Re: Aerial Assault - The Robot Card Game
 

In case you missed it a few weeks ago, Amazon has been restocked!

Re: Aerial Assault - The Robot Card Game
 

Just bought it! It seems really cool! What is the format of the cards? I would like to buy sleeves...

Re: Aerial Assault - The Robot Card Game
 

Standard Magic the Gathering sleeves will work fine.

Re: Aerial Assault - The Robot Card Game
 

I wanted to list out the teams that we used photos in the Aerial Assault card game. I wish we could have used photos of more teams in the game. If your team wasn't included in the game never fear. It's pretty easy to make up a robot card with a photo of your robot or maybe your favorite alliance partners using Power Point or some other graphics program. Here's the list of teams we used in the game.

And thanks again for giving us permission to use the photo of your robot.

Featured Teams that you can play as in base set:
Team #1610 - Builders of Tomorrow
Team #1885 - ILITE Robotics
Team #225 – TechFire
Team #2363 Tripple Helix

Teams with photo on action cards include: 304, 306, 308, 316, 341 - Miss Daisy, 357 – Royal Assault, 365, 484, 433, 533, 708, 1114, 1540, 1625, 1678, 2067, 2168, 2590, 3175

Featured Teams in Deluxe set
1640 Sab-BOT-age
1023 Bedford Express

Teams with photos in Deluxe set include: 11, 48, 56, 74, 193, 195, 230, 234, 254, 1625, 4473

Direct link to Amazon:

http://www.amazon.com/Escape-Velocity-Games-Aerial-Assault/dp/B012YVHA0U/ref=as_sl_pc_ss_til?tag=escavelogame-20&linkCode=w01&linkId=ZCFAGIMROTT3AP4O&creativeAS IN=B012YVHA0U&utm_source=Website+Signup&utm_campai gn=9834380eae-Newsletter_02_07_23_2015&utm_medium=email&utm_term =0_eb731dfe74-9834380eae-193937045

Re: Aerial Assault - The Robot Card Game
 

Received the game a few days ago and you guys did a great job! I love it!

Re: Aerial Assault - The Robot Card Game
 

No 2056? That's harsh ;) I'm really thinking about getting this game.

Re: Aerial Assault - The Robot Card Game
 

There are a lot of rules to learn very quickly. But once you get into it the game is very exciting and several times has come down to a nail biter at the end on the last turn. Getting the deluxe set also allows you to play 3v3 instead of 2v2.

"Give us money and your team will be put on a card"
Virginia teams be like

Re: Aerial Assault - The Robot Card Game
 

haha. I'm not sure about the money thing. 234, my team, had a decent 2014 year but never made it to worlds. Somehow, we got on a card. lol

Re: Aerial Assault - The Robot Card Game
 

I mean the featured teams. 1/2 of them are VA teams. With 3/4 of the base set being VA.

Re: Aerial Assault - The Robot Card Game
 

Haha. I see now. I'm sure if I invented a card game for robotics, many teams from my state would be on it. But i'd also add some usual greats like 1114, 148, 254, 2056, 33, 233, 2826, 1023, 118, 16, etc.

Re: Aerial Assault - The Robot Card Game
 

Can confirm from playing this 3v3 over the summer, its fantastic! However in order to enjoy it you can't really be a casual FRC team member.

Re: Aerial Assault - The Robot Card Game
 

I'm pretty sure if I spend a good chunk of my day on Chief Delphi in the off season, I'm probably really into first. So I'll enjoy it. Lol.

Re: Aerial Assault - The Robot Card Game
 

Thanks for the great comments about the game. That's great to here you've ended up with some nail biters. In the 2vs2 game our scores usually ended in the 80-90 point range, 3v3 with the extra points for autonomous and assists the scores broke 100.

Sorry to everyone about the amount of rules, 10 pages. We knew robotics people are really smart so we didn't want to dumb down the game to FRC Candyland. We tried to keep it as real as possible with Tank Drives, Swerve Drives, Mechanum Drives and Pneumatic Catapults. At the same time we tried to make a game you can play in less than hour. No FRC Monopoly here. It's great to hear that once you learned the rules things ran well. Everyone we play tested the game with seemed to pick up the rules pretty quickly.

Re: Aerial Assault - The Robot Card Game
 

So, I understand it's a good game and I'd enjoy it but is it easy to play for a Non- FRC person? I know it'd be great to bring for competitions during lunch or for breaks, I'm trying to figure out if it would be possible to play with my family. Thanks

Re: Aerial Assault - The Robot Card Game
 

It is definitely possible to play with your friends. The rules aren't complicated, there are just a lot of them to take in at once. Set up a basic game with some prebuilt robots and walk them through how it all works and they should be fine. Then play a real game with them.

Re: Aerial Assault - The Robot Card Game
 

It helps to have a little understanding of FRC. I know most FRC members have families and friends who come to competitions to cheer on their team. Aerial Assault was also designed so family and friends could better understand the strategy of designing a robot or competing for a Blue Banner. I think it's perfect for the tweener 11-13 year old to get them excited about joining FRC in high school. My non-FRC youngest daughter, wife and some of Gracie's non-robotics friends all enjoyed the game. 8-10 year-old will need some help with the game. They'll need some coaching.
Hope that helps.

If anyone is going to Battle of Baltimore this weekend or Duel on the Delaware in October. I'll be at both locations showing off the game.

Re: Aerial Assault - The Robot Card Game
 

I was hoping to get a better geographical distribution of team photos but getting good useable photos of team robots was actually harder than I thought it was going to be. 1st we needed a clear close up photo of the robot, 2nd we need a photo without any people in shot, 3rd we needed a contact person to get permission to use the photo. I'm a MAR-Middle Atlantic Robotics volunteer and I live just north of Baltimore, MD so it was just a lot easier get photos from the east coast teams.

From my earlier post. Feel free to make up your own teams cards and share them with each other. It's pretty easily to moch one up on Powerpoint. The back of the card matters on the action card but it doesn't really matter on the team card or build cards so be creative.

Re: Aerial Assault - The Robot Card Game
 

Haha. Yeah. Stupid laws make it harder to make games with pictures ;). I got what your saying though. I see how tough it was to get the photos now.

Re: Aerial Assault - The Robot Card Game
 

Very excited to see that 230 is on your list!! :cool:

You list here a base set of cards and a deluxe set, but there is only one link to Amazon for purchase and it does not indicate which set it is. If it is just the base set then can you give us a link where the deluxe set can be purchased?

Re: Aerial Assault - The Robot Card Game
 

The 230 photo is pretty nice. It's an action shot with 230 carrying a red ball during a match. Email me at pputnam1966@yahoo.com or Escape Velocity Games. The deluxe version is $10. It lets you play with 5 to 6 players.

Re: Aerial Assault - The Robot Card Game
 

I'm curious. How would you play the game with 5 players?

Re: Aerial Assault - The Robot Card Game
 

The game is best with 4 or 6 players with each player managing 1 team. With 3 or 5 players one player will manage 2 teams. With 2 players, both players will manage 2 teams. With more than 6 players you'll need another copy of the game but you could run a tournament.

Re: Aerial Assault - The Robot Card Game
 

Aerial Assault the robot card game is back in stock at Amazon.com. Sorry to anyone who tried to order it for Christmas. Happy Holidays and good luck in 2016.

Re: Aerial Assault - The Robot Card Game
 

I have 8 copies of the deluxe addition of Aerial Assault left. The original price was $35.00 for deluxe 6 player game. Email me if you'd like a copy for $25.00.

Re: Aerial Assault - The Robot Card Game
 

Just in time for Christmas we've lowered the price on Aerial Assault the Robot Card game based on First Robotics. Check it out on Amazon

https://www.amazon.com/Aerial-Assault-SW/dp/B012YVHA0U

Re: Aerial Assault - The Robot Card Game
 

Its funny how the cover photo is the Pittsburgh Regional in 2014 but its not even of the Winning Alliance! I own the game which is a hit during competitions, thank you for creating it!