Let's see it. Last year I backed three miniatures related Kickstarter projects. I missed out Zombicide and Kings of War in the spring, I backed Sedition Wars mostly for the figures, I backed Reaper obviously for the figures and I backed Judge Dredd for a couple of Dredd figures (would have gone for more if my cash resources had not already been strapped out). I missed out Dreadball due to aforementioned cash shortage and the fact that I still hate hexes. Missed out on Kingdom Death for the same reason, minus hexes.

This is nothing new really. When you buy a boxed game with figures, at the very least you're getting the figures, right? I tend to value them based on the figure content. If the box is worth it just for the figures, it doesn't matter if the game sucks or not.

And now Rick Priestley is coming out with a new game and wants me to invest in it sight unseen. I have 140 rule systems -- I just counted them. Money is still not falling out of the sky, why would these be worth my while? Getting the Feeder box is a fair bit of cash and so far we really haven't seen much of the actual figures. And saving money by getting just the rules wouldn't net any figures.

Well, I can't deny I'm vaguely interested. I promised Rick a quid just to keep up with the updates. I don't really have the time to frequent forums, sometimes I find Rick's emails a bit long-winded but I have checked out the videos.

So far I've seen some preliminary gameplay details that seem fairly interesting but haven't really turned me into a rabid fan yet. I've heard some things about the background, but I don't really know shards from ashardalon (or was that another game?). Seem to be lots of mercs and dynamic force composition, which makes sense from the starting business point of view as well. And nanotech. Gotta have nano-stuff these days to be cutting edge. Then whenever someone asks a sticky question, you can just say it's mag... er, nano!

The thing about the living background or whatnot? Texting your game results and having it maybe affect something somewhere? I'm an old geezer and frankly I couldn't care less for these new-fangled gizmos. Maybe the young whipper-snappers will like it.

But what are these hints about pansimians or what? Are we talking space monkies here? With guns? Space monkies with guns? I want pictures. I think I'm almost sold on the idea here.

Did I buy Rogue Trader based on what I heard about the background? No. Did I buy Rogue Trader based on what I heard about the game mechanics? Not really. Did I buy them for a chance to play with Space Marines?

Hell yeah!

A box full of space monkeys! That's something I could really go for. Someone else can keep the nanominis, I want some space monkeys with guns!

Then even if the game sucks, I can play Planet of the Apes or maybe field a full army of Jokaero to upset Rick's former employer's fanboys. Few things are more fun than upsetting people who take things too seriously. But I sure hope they don't suck, I've got plenty of door stops as it is. Fortunately Rick's track record is pretty good in my book, I don't think he's going to roll a crit fail on this.

I must admit I was sort of bribed. I was probably going to write about this anyway, but Rick offering an old figure of his up for grabs certainly helped me find the time to actually do it. And I think Rick's figure wouldn't feel lonely with these guys -- even though he is much better painted.