Amid a whirlwind of other activities at Gen Con a couple weeks ago, I had the opportunity to run players through some Heap demos. Even when I’m just showing the basics of how to play the game, it has a real tendency to draw me into the action. The combat portion of the game (called the Rush) almost invariably leads to some interesting plays and moments of excitement.

Today, I’m going to write about my perspective on how Heap came to be. Heap is a game that’s been on my radar for what seems like a long time now. Due to the landslide of work that was WARMACHINE and HORDES Mk II, however, Heap wound up on the back burner for a while before being revived, re-skinned, and revved-up into the game you see today.

Game design really comes down to two core elements: the game theme and the game mechanics. Sometimes you start with a very distinct concept, as was the case for LEVEL 7 [ESCAPE]. Other times, you start with a fun game mechanic and build a setting (or “skin”) around it. In the case of Heap, we originally started with the desired theme, but oddly enough, it’s not exactly where the game ended up. The original concept was for bodgers building ramshackle steamjacks and battling for the best loot from a pile of steamjack parts. They’d haul these parts back to their garages, amp up their ’jacks and return for more carnage.

The game mechanics for collecting different types of cards in different suits or colors stayed relatively consistent from the very first drafts of Heap to the final version of the game. The effects of playing those cards, however, went through a bit more change. Playing cards during the bodge step, playing them during combat, and playing them during the haul all went through a number of revisions. The combat mechanics for the battles around the heap became a real focus of dialing in the game’s development and direction. The various versions of combat had differing degrees of player interaction, tactical decisions, and luck of the draw. After we tested out a new combat version that hit the sweet spot of balancing interaction, decision-making, and luck, the other elements of the game really solidified around it.

After additional playtesting and some minor tweaking, we were ready to wrap up the development for Heap and start getting things underway to turn our playtest cards and rules into a true product. But it was at that point the real Mk II crunch time hit the office, and we had to set Heap aside for a while.

When we had the opportunity to return to Heap, I was excited about the prospect. Our first meeting about reviving the game and getting it produced took an unexpected turn, however. It somehow morphed into a meeting about Heap’s skin and whether bodge-jacks were the best option. The bodger characters and their nature of being devious, industrious, and (let’s face it) downright crazy are core to Bodgers Games, but the other details of the games can differ greatly. The conversation took some interesting twists and turns, including a brief brainstorming session on the possibility of turning the ’jacks into different sorts of pirate ships. Ultimately, though, we came to agree on the post-apocalyptic bodger wasteland with ramshackle vehicles and bizarre weaponry.

I was pretty happy with the post-apocalyptic theme from the start, and I think you’ll agree that the bodger zaniness combined well with the resourcefulness, desperation, and intensity of wasteland vehicular mayhem.

Apocalyptically,
-DC