Race Formula 90 2nd edition by Gotha Games

Race! Formula 90 2nd EditionNewsletter - Issue nr. 1

gamesgotha — 2020-07-15 05:38:47 UTC

Greetings!

Welcome to the first issue of the RF90 newsletter. Here I intend to do my best to keep you updated on the status of the 2nd edition of the Race! Formula 90 boardgame.
As probably you know already, we aim to launch a campaign on Kickstarter by the end of this year if possible or beginning of next one should we need more time. This will be the first time that Gotha Games runs a project on Kickstarter and the specific reason for doing so is that through your backing we hope to publish a very much improved version of the RF90 game.

How the 2nd edition will differ from the original game?

IMPROVED RULEBOOK
The main criticism with the first edition of RF90 was the badly written rulebook and following the release of the game I did issue a comprehensive FAQ, several play aids and finally I published a completely rewritten RF90 3.0L Engines Rulebook.
I believe it was a mistake to start the rulebook with the Basic game and build on it to present the Advanced game. The game we played and developed was the Advanced one - the Basic game was just an attempt to offer a softer introduction to new players.
The new rulebook describes the game as it should be played i.e. in advanced mode. There is only one set of rules now, where everything is explained in sequential mode. Many chapters like the order sections are activated, the behaviour of robots, the handling of off-track trajectories have been expanded and improved. Strategies and Skills are summarised at the end of the rulebook, so they do not interfere with the flow of the main rules.
The new Rulebook will contain everything you need to play the game, explained in the best possible manner.
In addition to this, we intend to release a Companion Rulebook, which will include all variants and optional rules like teammates, alternative weather rules, simplified ways of playing etc.

RULES STREAMLINING
Most of the playtesting effort of the last two years was put into streamlining some aspects of the game without altering its depth and strategic intensity. Areas which have been improved are:

Checks - all checks are now made against the target check card on the dashboard, so the process is the same for every checks made in the race and this has greatly simplified the rules. It also means that attempting a late brake manoeuvre will now have a variable level of difficulty with the specific point of the track only indicating a modifier to your check. This triggers more interesting decisions to make in relation to how you manage your target check value.

Strategies and Skills - we have reviewed strategies and skills to ensure these are all well balanced and to eliminate some fiddles rules and exceptions. Hazard in particular has been demoted providing maximum one track card per turn.

Yellow flags - we have changed the way how yellow flags operate as, currently, trailing players are affected more than cars in in the lead when a yellow flag is played.

Extreme Trajectories - we have done a lot of work here to simplify how ETs are handled and to make them more attractive. One problem with the original ET rules is that failing the initial blind check means losing an entire game turn. Late Braking never suffered of this issue as these are done at the end of a player turn.

Safety car - we have rivisited the SC procedure and now cars are positioned behind the Leader according to their current race standing (therefore lapped cars will be placed behind everybody else). At the race restart there is now more tension, and better chances of catching up with the Leader who has the free track advantage.

TRACKS
The 2nd edition will include all tracks released so far (6 tracks in total) and relative track cards.
Some of the rules changes described above have forced us to make changes to the tracks. Also, older tracks like Monza and the Hungaroring have been revamped to include aspects of the game that were introduced in the subsequent expansions like Extreme and Sharp trajectories.

DELUXE COMPONENTS
We are looking to upgrading the quality of the components in this 2nd edition of the game. Areas we are looking at are:
- a larger and better designed car chart
- higher quality play cards
- improved strategy and skill chits
- 3D flags
- better miniatures and in particular, a proper safety car

STRETCH GOALS
We are considering some juicy add-ons to the KS campaign like bonus cards as well as additional strategies and tracks should we reach a higher funding threshold.
We are open to your ideas. If you want to suggest a possible stretch goal, send your suggestions to info@gothagames.co.uk

UPGRADE KIT
I want to express my sincere thanks to all fellow gamers that bought the original RF90 game. Without your enthusiasm and support (and financial backing) we would not be here talking about a second edition.
Also, during these five years, I have been in touch with many of you who enquired about the game, sent suggestions or just shared their videos, photos and design ideas. I came across terrific people who offered their help in designing new expansions, improving the game system and translating the rules in different languages. Some of this people like Giuseppe Rossini, Stan and Carl Hilinski, Darrell Hanning and Ryan Freels I have never met in person; still I feel like I have been known them forever and I have shared with them hours and hours of fun and enjoyment in playtesting and discussing improvements to the rules.

You can be reassured therefore that owners of the 1st edition will not be left behind. I will look into the most sensible commercial and practical way of offering an upgrade kit to those who do not want to purchase the new edition.

Race! Formula 90 2nd EditionNewsletter - Issue nr. 2

gamesgotha — 2020-07-15 05:41:52 UTC

Greetings fellow drivers!

Let's be honest, shall we? The mono-colored plastic cars included in the original Race! Formula 90 game box are really ugly. And the Safety car? I recall someone describing it as a disgusting white Fiat Panda...

Of course, when we published the game in 2013, it was a priority to keep production costs down. It was unclear to us if there was a sufficiently large audience for a medium/heavy racing game to recover our production costs. So, our choices were limited.
I did not resist the temptation however, to offer better cars and we designed the 3D metal models which became known as the GG and PA Line metals cars featuring different painting styles. These miniatures have been a lot of fun to make and a great commercial success with fans ordering from distant places like Australia and Brazil despite them coming at a high price and with a long lead time.

For the 2nd Edition we are working hard to include high quality miniature cars in the box so that you do not have to buy them separately as an add-on. We believe that high quality miniatures greatly improve the RF90 game experience!
By getting funds through Kickstarter we can calculate at what exact point it makes sense to invest in injection moulding and what coloring details we can afford.

In the meanwhile, I have put together the product specification for the cardboard components in the 2nd edition and sent a request for quotation to a few selected printers. Including all the expansion we have reached the amazing number of 396 play cards. I can see this going to be the ultimate racing boardgame !!

Stay tuned. Exciting times ahead for our RF90 fans!

Alessandro

Race! Formula 90 2nd EditionNewsletter - Issue nr. 5

gamesgotha — 2020-07-15 05:43:14 UTC

Greetings fellow drivers!

First of all, apologies for the long radio silence.

As you know Gotha Games suffered major disruption at the latest Spiel Essen with our entire fair income having been robbed at our booth. We did spend the period after the fair licking our wounds and discussing what the next steps should have been.

As it stands, we decided to skip the fundraising initiative and re-finance the company out of our pocket, which we did.
There are many reasons why we decided to proceed this way with the primary one being the urgency to clear any pending legal and financial obligation of the company and, in particular, to finalise the printing of a new boardgame whose licence was close to expire and we really did not want to lose.

Consequently, most of our efforts in the period between January and June have been on Aqua Mirabilis which we are going to release at the Spiel Essen this year.
more info here

If you wish to support Gotha Games financially, the best thing you can do is to purchase Aqua Mirabilis and/or promote ournew title. It is a great game and the proceedings will help us in recovering quickly from production costs. Many thanks in advance for your consideration.

Now on RF90. We have not been inactive on the 2nd edition of Race! Formula 90 and I am happy to annouce that we now have target dates for the Kickstarter campaign and estimated delivery time.

Kickstarter campaign to start on February 2020
with estimated delivery between October and December 2020.

Most of the work went into rewriting the rulebook (once again!), redesigning some aspects of the game and specifying a new set of miniatures. All quotations have been received and reviewed and, in particular, we have an exciting list of stretch goals under consideration. I personally crawled throughout all the posts on BGG and all the emails we received in the last three years with suggestions and tips for rule changes, improvements and add-ons, shortlisting those we believe must be included in this 2nd edition.

In particular we are considering a companion rulebook including all optional rules and variants for playing the new edition of RF90. I would like to thank in advance Andrea Verch and Martino Muschi for giving me permission to publish their Weather variant. I am sure this will please many fans of the game who have been very vocal in the past about having a weather system which is not under the influence of players.

Below is a comprehensive list of stretch goals which we are planning for our campaign. New suggestions are always welcome and can be submitted by email to info@gothagames.co.uk

Bag: a RF90 branded bag for drawing damage
Play aid: set of play aid cards
New tyres: new supersoft tyres
Play aid: handy robot chart that summarise all rules that apply to bots
Short race: New ruleset and components for playing a short race
Play aid: a chart to help resolve the qualifying session
New track: Suzuka track
New track: Magny Cours track
Meeple: customised wooden turn indicator - chrono shape
Meeple: customised wooden blue flag
Meeple: customised wooden orange flag
Meeple: customised wooden weathern indicator - cloud shape
New teams: two new teams' charts
Refuel: five qualifying chits per player to facilitate the initial bid
Weather: Martino's weather system 2.0
New track: Hockenheim track
New track: Interlagos track
Play aid: a tile with useful reminders of all leader special rules
Pit: set of pit stop time chits to customise each race
Tray: plastic tray insert
New bots: new category of ultrafast robot
Skills: 6 personalised skill chits for each player to facilitate setup
Expansion: a deck of event cards (optional rules)
Skills: Skill cards in place of skill chits
New track: Indianapolis track
New track: Imola track
Weather: two new weather charts usable on all tracks
Play aid: a chart to help resolve contest among multiple cars
Expansion: a deck of standard track cards to use on new home made tracks
Expansion: Solo rules

Work will now proceed along three main streams:
Graphic design - we have appointed a new graphic designer to revamp all the graphics and do all the necessary additions and modifications
Game and components design - we will now focus on the design and testing of all the game material required for our stretch goals
KS campaign - this relates to the design of the Kickstarter page and the financial calculations for setting the stretch goal levels

Many thanks for reading till this point and be assured that there will be more frequent updates in the future.

Alessandro

Race! Formula 90 2nd EditionNewsletter - Issue nr. 7

gamesgotha — 2020-07-15 05:43:49 UTC

Greetings fellow drivers!

Today we would like to share with you an updated Monza track, a mock-up of the new car chart and the latest version of the 2nd edition Rulebook.

Monza
Many, many thanks for all the feedback received on the new artwork for the Monza track. We have listened and reworked the board removing excessive play aids and enlarging the racing space. Trajectories have also been modified with proper symbols on the track and rubber-colored racing lines (to be improved).

http://gothagames.co.uk/padlet/race2nd/latest_monza.jpg
Latest Monza Track

http://gothagames.co.uk/padlet/race2nd/previous_monza.jpg
Previous Monza track

Car chart
We have increased the size of the car chart to accommodate Strategy cards in place of Strategy chits and took the chance to add some useful play aids.

Strategies play a very important part in the game and often players must turn to the rulebook to check exactly how they work in the different circumstances. By using cards we can provide more detailed information on the back of the card, hopefully speeding up play.

As always, we would love to hear from you. If you have any comment or suggestion on the new graphic style, send us a note at info@gothagames.co.uk

Rulebook
You can now download the latest version of the rulebook by clicking on this link.
Ignore the images and the formatting please - we will add all the bells and whistles (and a full range of examples) later.

Key rules changes you may wish to check out:
- Extreme Trajectories
- Yellow flags
- Safety car
- Strategies
- Skills

I have received many offers of help for proofreading the rules! THANK YOU ALL. We are not there yet, but I will certainly be in touch at the proper time.

Happy reading!

Alessandro

Race! Formula 90 2nd EditionNewsletter - Issue nr. 6

gamesgotha — 2020-07-15 05:44:55 UTC

Greetings fellow drivers!

We are late! We know.

We keep working on the 2nd edition of Race! Formula 90 and we want this game to be superb. A lot of effort is currently going into the graphic design of the new edition - we are challenging every element of the artwork to find the style that will result the most attractive and the most functional during play. This is taking longer than expected.

We have just achieved one important milestone nevertheless: we have completed the redesign of Monza and signed off the look and feel of all the other tracks. See below and click inside the image in order to make it bigger.

http://gothagames.co.uk/padlet/race2nd/latest_monza.jpg

All game boards have been increased in size by 20% circa and this has forced us to redesign the background of the tracks.
The graphic style for trajectories and off-track situations has been revisited to facilitate the game play. We took into account the needs of those who are color blinded.
All play aids have been improved and redesigned.

We would love to hear from you. If you have any comment or suggestion on the new graphic style, send us a note at info@gothagames.co.uk

If you have played Race! Formula 90 before, you will quickly notice some changes to Monza that now features Sharp and Extreme trajectories as in other tracks. Also the check resolution for Late Brake and Extreme Trajectories has been updated in accordance to the new rules.

Work continues on the graphic project and I will share more news as far as we make progress. We are very excited of how the new edition of the game is coming together and I hope you are too.

If in the meanwhile you wish to support Gotha Games, the best thing you can do is to purchase Aqua Mirabilis, our latest release at Essen 2019. If you cannot find the game through the usual resale channels, send us a short email to shop@gothagames.co.uk and we will supply it direct. More info here . Many thanks in advance for your consideration.

Alessandro

Race! Formula 90 2nd EditionNewsletter - Issue nr. 3

gamesgotha — 2020-07-17 10:31:42 UTC

Greetings fellow drivers!
Time for another update on the preparations for the 2nd edition of Race! Formula 90.

In the last month we have made contact with a number of printers to get offers and discuss potential cost optimizations. The master plan has not changed - we want to publish the game with all expansions: 6 tracks and 396 play cards! So smoothing corners without affecting quality is crucial and there are a few tricks to play with like using standard box sizes or fitting cards within standard sheets that we are paying attention to.

Also we have hired a graphic designer with the goal of enhancing the quality of the original artwork and improve the way how information is displayed on the cards. I will share samples of the improved artwork when ready.

A lot of work is currently going into designing the new car miniatures. We have partnered with Irondrake, a professional 3D model designer, to develop a brand new design suitable for plastic injection molding and mass production. The goal is to provide every backer with high quality, state of the art models of Formula One cars to be used in the game.

If you will attend the Essen Spiel this week, pay us a visit at booth 1-F132. We would love to have a chat and hear your ideas about possible stretch goals for RF90!

Race! Formula 90 2nd EditionNewsletter - Issue nr.8

gamesgotha — 2020-11-14 13:50:55 UTC

Greetings fellow drivers!

Work continues on the new graphic files for the 2nd edition of Race! Formula 90.

During the summer time we took the important decision to replace the single coloured plastic cars of the original game with cardboard car tiles. Our artist has now produced all required artwork getting inspiration from real racing cars silhouettes - there are 26 different car tiles now and the effect on the track when setting up a full race is simply amazing!

http://gothagames.co.uk/padlet/race2nd/cardboard_car_tile.png

One advantage is that we can now number all cars and create a clear link to the corresponding refuel chit. This is particularly useful for color blinded players.
Another benefit is that we can customise robot and indicate their basic speed on the track.

http://gothagames.co.uk/padlet/race2nd/cardboard_robot_tile.png

And very importantly, we have now created a proper Safety Car. We chose the PORSCHE 911 GT2 which was used at the 1995 Belgian GP at SPA.

http://gothagames.co.uk/padlet/race2nd/cardboard_emergencycar_tile.png

We had to re-do from scratch many of the tracks to better fit the increased dimensions of the boards. Some of these layouts are still work in progress. Below you can see the final version of the Hungaroring where we also fixed an error in the layout after turn 7. I hope you like it.

Race! Formula 90 2nd EditionNewsletter - Issue nr. 9

gamesgotha — 2021-03-06 18:10:35 UTC

Greetings fellow drivers! and Happy New Year!

A brief update on the work ongoing on the 2nd edition of Race! Formula 90!

The graphic project is quickly moving into completion. All tracks and cards are finished. We also created the game boxes (more below) and defined content for each. Our artists and graphic designers will now do some work on the tiles and create dedicated artwork for the KS campaign.

It is time to re-validate all quotes and define pledge levels. We feel we are getting closer and closer to the end of the KS preparation stage and are very excited to move into real action.

And now a little preview. Below the box for 2nd Edition game. This will include expansions #1 and #2 for a total of 6 tracks and more than 400 play cards. It is a big box full of stuff and weighting almost 4Kg. We changed our decision and will include plastic car miniatures in the game.
2nd edition Box

Together with the 2nd Edition box we will also offer Expansion #3 including the Suzuka and Magny-Cours tracks (and relative track cards) plus a solo module with different difficulty levels and a full series of beautifully illustrated car tiles.
2nd edition expansion #3 Box

There will be many exciting stretch goals and high quality add-ons. 2021 is aiming to be a great one for racing enthusiasts!

That's all for now.
Wishing you and your families health, happiness, and prosperity in the new year.

Alessandro