So you‘ve found us. Welcome to MonPocRealms! But it looks like something might have found you as well. Do you see it? Lurking around the corner? Peering down at you from over that building? It’s the Monsterpocalypse!

Some of you may be asking, “What is Monsterpocalypse?” Monsterpocalypse is a miniatures game that combines the kaiju elements from giant monster movies with a little bit of the “Rampage” video games and some good old fashioned wrestling moves. Monsterpocalypse involves building a city and then tearing it down as you throw, smash, and head-butt your opponent into oblivion.

Sounds interesting. What do I need to know? The game is played on a map that contains various points on it… unit spawn points, building foundations, power points, and terrain.

Each turn either the units or the monster are active. On unit turns, units are spawned, moved, secure power points and buildings, and can attack opposing units, the opposing monster, or buildings. On monster turns, the monster powers up, moves, and attacks... either buildings, units, the opposing monster, or some combination.

How do turns and actions take place? The "currency" of the game is are the 10 white Action dice (A-Dice). A-dice are used for just about everything... spawning units, moving, and attacking. When your Action "dice pool" is depleted, that's the end of your turn. As you "spend" A-dice during your turn, they move from one pool to the other. For example, if it's your unit turn, you spend dice to spawn units. As you spend those dice, you move them from your unit side of the map to your monster side of the map. On your next turn, you'll have those dice available to take a monster turn. When those dice are spent on your monster turn, you put them back on your unit side, and so on.

A-dice management is one of the key strategies of the game. Do you try and conserve A-dice when taking a monster turn so that you have some left over in order to allow you to take a back-to-back monster turns? Or do you throw them all into the attack to better your odds of hitting, knowing that it might leave you vulnerable since you'll have to take a unit turn next time? You only have 10 A-Dice to use, so consider your options wisely.

Aren't there more than just the white dice in the game? Yes, there is also the blue Boost dice (B-Dice) and red Power Dice (P-Dice).

The blue B-Dice are basically "bonus" dice. These are key to unit attacks and helpful during monster attacks. While a single unit usually won't hurt a monster, they can gang up to do a combined attack. Some of these figures have a bonus associated to their brawl (close combat) and blast (ranged combat) attacks. Those bonuses show up as a star plus a number under the attack stat. The number that follows the star is the number of B-Dice you can include in your attack. Likewise, some abilities will grant extra B-Dice as well. Abilities with the same name don't stack but if the abilities are different, more B-Dice can be added to the roll. There is no limit to the number of B-Dice you can roll... whatever you can squeeze out of your attack stats and abilities is fair game.

The red P-Dice can only used by monsters and are used during their attacks. In addition to the standard brawl and blast attacks, monsters can perform Power attacks. Power attacks consist of throwing an opposing monster accross the map, smashing them into a building, stomping a group of units into the ground, and everything in between. Power Dice almost never miss and are required for Power attacks, but they can also be thrown into any brawl or blast attack the monster makes as well. They are critical for a player to fully utilize his monster. There are several abilities that allow P-Dice generation and some that take them away from an opponent. At the beginning of each monster phase, he can power up to try and get P-Dice as well. Some monsters excel at generating P-Dice while some monsters excel at denying their opponent P-Dice! Like A-Dice, you can never have more than 10 P-Dice. Use them well!

How do the buildings factor in? Buildings represent the city the monsters of Monsterpocalypse are fighting in. It is built by your and your opponent at the start of the game. Buildings serve multiple purposes. First, they are hazards for the monsters. Monsters that end up colliding with buildings receive extra damage... sometimes more than 1 extra damage. Destroyed buildings also leave hazards behind. Sometimes the hazard is simply debris. But some buildings burn when they come crashing down, some leave nuclear waste behind, while others are an environmental disaster of hazardous chemical spills. Some building hazards even become new spawn points for particular factions. Hazards can often do additional damage to monsters and destroy units. Second, buildings have abilities that you can utilize. Capture a building by placing three of your units around it, and you can use those abilities to your advantage. It might be a discount for spawning new units, or extra B-Dice when attacking. Or maybe you get a bonus for knocking it down. That leads us to the third use for buildings... generating P-Dice. P-Dice can either be generated by knocking a building down or by securing it. Knocking it down with a Brawl attack gets you P-Dice equal to the building’s energy stat. Knocking it down any other way (with a Blast attack or by throwing an opposing monster into it, for example) will net you a single P-Die. But you can also generate P-Dice by securing the building instead of destroying it. At the beginning of the monster phase you can power up to generate the red P-Dice. If you successfully power up, you will get one or more P-Dice for each building secured (depending on the building that you are securing).

While it's always handy to have some buildings to body slam your opponent's monster into, it's also critical to protect your own power base and keep those buildings that you are using from being destroyed. More times than not however, that's easier said than done.

Sounds good... how does a game progress? You and your opponent each come to the table with two monster forms (the Alpha and Hyper form), up to 15 units, and between 2 and 12 buildings. After rolling off and choosing a map, you both start to build the city by placing buildings. Once the map is ready to go, monsters are placed in their starting areas and player one starts spawning his units, moving them, and making any attacks he chooses. Player 2 then follows suit. When it's player 1's turn again, it'll be time for his monster to head into the city and do what it does best... wreck things! Play continues until time runs out or until one player loses both forms of his monster.

Each player plays with 2 different monsters? Not exactly. A player plays with two forms of the same monster, called Alpha and Hyper forms.

The Alpha form of your monster is the one you start with. As the game progresses, you can spend a number of P-Dice (as specified by the monster stats) and bring in your Hyper form. Chances are, the two forms play differently. They have different stats and different abilities. While the Alpha form might be an up close beatstick, the Hyper form might gain range and big Blast stats. One form might work very well at tearing down the city while the other is made for taking out the other monster. The Hyper form also has it's own health stat, so switching between the two can be a strategic move if you've taken a beating with one form or the other.

There are also two main kinds of Hyper forms. The standard hyper form that comes with each Alpha monster in a booster is called the Ultra form. The second type of Hyper form is called the Mega form (currently the game has a single third type, called a Quantum form, but we won't get into that here). Mega forms are limited edition (LE) monsters. They are usually won by playing in tournaments but can be obtained other ways, such as purchase promotions. The Mega form of a monster is not necessarily better than the Ultra form, it's just different. So when you're picking your monster for the game you have to choose which Hyper form you'll bring to pair with your Alpha monster... the Ultra or the Mega.

If one form is destroyed during the match, the other form takes its place thereby allowing the beat down to continue!

Great! Now where do I start? For the game itself, you have a few different options.

The basic option is to pick up a Monsterpocalypse starter and some boosters, start collecting, and play. If you're the "gotta have 'em all" type, this might be the option for you. Don't worry about getting duplicate units as you pick up boosters either. Units are generic and you can use up to five of any particular unit on your force. Duplicates are good!

The second option is to pick up the Voltron set that was recently released. It's a great set and a "must buy" if you're a Voltron fan. The really nice thing about the set is that it's everything you need to play a two-player game in the one box... Voltron and Lo-Tron, units for each side, a map, and the rules. It's a great place for beginners for a few reasons. First, the rulebook is very well put together and easy to follow making the game easy to learn. Second, there are no buildings in the Voltron game. Instead, the map has hazards on it that will deal a monster additional damage. This simplifies the game a little and helps the learning curve. Finally, both sides (Voltron and Lo-Tron) are extremely well balanced. Choosing one side or the other doesn't lead to an automatic victory. Once you decide you're ready to tackle the larger Monsterpocalype universe, you'll find that the forces from the Voltron set are fully compatible with the rest of Monsterpocalypse. It's a stand-alone game that integrates completely with the standard Monsterpocalypse game.

The third option is to buy factions from the secondary market. The monsters and units are divided into Agendas and then again into Factions. Although units from outside your monster's Agenda can be used on your force, you'll pay a penalty for doing so. Units that are from a Faction within your monster's agenda all play nice together and there is no penalty for using them together. By picking up a Faction or Agenda force, you'll have what you need to play without extras from other Factions that may or may not work well with your force. If you buy from the secondary market, don't forget the buildings!

How do I pick a Faction (or Factions) to play?There's no easy answer. Sometimes play style will dictate the Faction to play but often times, as in any miniatures game, it's the visual appeal that is the deciding factor. Take a look at the monsters available for a faction and decide what you like. So far, the Agendas and Factions in Monsterpocalypse are...

Radicals Agenda

• Terrasaurs - giant dinosaur looking creatures, pure forces of nature
• Empire of the Apes - giant, intelligent apes from the jungles of Africa that have adopted discarded human technology

Protectors Agenda

• G.U.A.R.D - the massive robots that the humans have built to defend themselves from the Monsterpocalypse
• Elementals - a band of secretive monks that control the elements of the world and use them to protect mankind

Collaborators Agenda

• Shadow Sun Syndicate - a shadowy corporation that has built an army of cybernetically enhanced warriors
• Ubercorp - building personal protection robots for you... if you can afford it!

Fiends Agenda

• Lords of Cthul - 'nuff said!
• Subterran - dwellers from beneath the Earth that see the Monsterpocalypse as a way to return to the surface

Invaders Agenda

• Martian Menace - they destroyed their own planet for the natural resources it had... and now they want ours
• Tritons - deep sea dwellers intent on increasing their territory by taking our costal cities

Destroyers Agenda

• Planet Eaters - they arrived on Earth seemingly to simply destroy it
• Savage Swarm - giant radioactive insects who only care about feeding and enlarging the colony

Are giant robots your thing? Grab some GUARD. Do you like Godzilla and King Kong? The Radicals are for you. Maybe Ultraman and mecha monsters are up your alley. Pick up the Collaborators. Or maybe your sanity is slowly slipping away? In that case, the Lords of Cthul may have already chosen you!

OK, I want to play. Are there tournaments? Places I can meet other players? The first thing you'll want to do is register at www.privateerevents.com. Once registered, you can search for venues in your area that are running events. If there is a venue that runs events, you're golden. If there isn't one, talk to your local game store and see if they'd be interested. Considering becoming a "Pressganger" or envoy for Monsterpocalypse and work on building a player base in your community.

One of the great things about organized Monsterpocalypse events is the prize support. Once six players sign up for an event that's been created, Privateer Press will send out a prize kit. Contained in the prize kit will be two Mega monster forms, one for the Pressganger running the event and one for the winner. Also, there will be LE units to be handed out as participation prizes to everyone that pre-registered for the event. Everyone that pre-registers and shows up gets a free figure!


So get out there and find someone to play with. The Monsterpocalypse is coming... will you be prepared?

I demo'd this at GenCon, and instantly bought a Starter and 4 Boosters. Going through the process of learning the game now ... of course there aren't any events in Georgia (seems like a common problem for a lot of games though). Oh well; at least there's MonPocRealms.com !

Wasn't expecting you to be live yet, but I'm here!

so am i .....

We're in the process of launching; but it never hurts to have people. It's going to take me a little while to get all the figures into it's own units section; but we'll get there.

Typhon, good to see the site up and running. If you are looking for a game, there is always Vassal. I have to get to a tournament. But I'll post a thread about playing online later.

I'll be around here as well, trying to learn whatever I can and figure out if I'm gonna branch into the greater MonPoc game or just huddle in my little corner with Voltron.

You know I like this game but NO ONE in my area plays it. I wish I could find people to play it. =)

I tried finding events in Georgia (Alpharetta/Cumming/Buford area) as well but couldn't find anyone to play. I eventually ended up selling my figures since they were just collecting dust.

This is great but wouldn't it help if we had the obligatory player finder up and running?

Everybody's saying I need people around here... but nobody knows where anyone is at!

*edit*

I've got playable armies for each of the first six factions to test out, all from set #1 Rise. If anyone in South Central PA is thinking of starting up.

Go to this link, pop in your zip code, and hopefully you'll find some local events and players to help build your base:

http://privateerevents.com/venues/

You also might want to keep an eye open for flyers at venues that sell Warmachine or Monsterpocalypse.

PrivateerEvents has had some search problems lately. If you get a lot of odd results in the search try a different one looking for events rather than venues or Warmachine events rather than MonPoc just so see where the gaming stores are near you.

Thank you for that extremely helpful post. I was curious about the game after seeing you and others mention in on the clix realms, but I didn't know anything about it. Now that I know what it's all about, I'm probably going to pick up the new starter that's supposed to be out soon and give it a try.

I have a few questions for hair10 or anyone else that would like to chime in. The information I've seen says that MonPoc is supposed to be played with 1, perhaps 2, monsters against your opponent's 1, perhaps 2 monsters. Is there anything that prevents larger games, or is it like Heroclix, where the official "standard" build is 300 points, but you can easily play games of up to 600 or more?
Second, somewhat related, question: how is MonPoc for multi-player? Is it pretty easy to do free-for-alls with 3 or 4 people, or do adjustments need to be made, and if so, to what extent?