Blitz Built Games exists to provide competitive people and families the opportunities to connect with others that share your hobbies and defeat them in combat.
If you bring the parts, our goal is to assemble the rules, combatants, and coliseums. We aim to coordinate engaging content, quality companies, and great battles for your combat, building and collecting pleasure.
After years of tinkering with the concept of a turn-based games using action figures, Washington resident Joshua Burrier has finally come up with a game that appeals to anyone, adult or child, who loves “playing war.”
The game, Mini Blitz, takes the traditionally arbitrary and chaotic play of action figures and combines it with the structure of a card game. Having played it at numerous events such as Brickcon, Bricks Cascade, and Emerald City Comicon, he has now launched a Kickstarter campaign, which will enable him to manufacture the cards through local businesses.
Growing up surrounded by Lego and other figures to wage plastic warfare, Burrier said he was interested in going beyond what can otherwise be a solitary game by adding others into the mix.
“As fun as making cool armies and vehicles are, I wanted to combat them against other creations,” he said.
To avoid arguments and ensure fair play, however, there had to be established rules.
“I take everybody's 'Pew-pew, I-hit-you,' 'No, ya didn't' way of playing and put it into a game set,” he said. “By making a card game with some basic rules, I want to assist others in making their creations come to life.”
The initial creation was Brick Blitz, a mech and vehicle game that brought large weapons into the battle, though Burrier kept making changes, removing pre-made sets and storyline so that people could tell their own stories with their figures. Ultimately, however, he felt the game, which involved individual armor points, a joy-stick and other additional factors, made it too complicated.
“It was large and cumbersome, but the math worked,” he said. “I boiled the good parts down, shelved the vehicle concept, and released a much simpler game.”
Finally, he decided to completely rework it to the point where it became an entirely new game, Mini Blitz. In keeping with his desire for simplicity, he created a small instruction manual containing the rules and terms only two pages long. For the game, players provide their own figures, allowing them to bring their own sense of creativity to the battlefield.
“I had to balance the game between reality and K.I.S.S. (Keep It Simple Stupid),” he said. “Mini Blitz took the good parts (Encumbrance Math, movement, different weapon stats) and boiled them down to a much easier and quicker gameplay experience. “
Mini Blitz involves a variety of different cards that are divided into separate categories, such as equipment, utility and field cards. Equipment cards provide armor and weapons for use in battle, while utility cards provide one-time abilities in combat. Field cards aid a player in their battle strategy by boosting figures’ speed, or allowing the player to lay traps or provide them with extra turns.
The use of these cards is regulated through an “encumbrance rule.” With certain movement points assigned to each figure, the more cards attached to it, the slower it goes.
In addition to two more Mini Blitz games coming out, Burrier has nine expansions planned for release in the near future. Mini Blitz 20th Century, for example, features firearms and explosives, while the Medieval Expansion has players clashing with melee weapons and bows, and Beyond Earth will feature science fiction style energy weapons and gravity shifting equipment.
“The rules work together through all the different genres of cards so that you can have a unique army,” he said.
So far, Mini Blitz has met with a positive response at events like Brickcon, where Burrier said he sold two thirds of his decks. Those who play the game, he said, have not only loved it, but given him additional feedback that he incorporated into the expansion packs.
“This game being played hypnotized people,” he said. “They love the concept, the rules, the ease of play, and especially that they bring their own game to it.”
I AIM TO LEAVE BETTER THAN I ARRIVED AND HELP PEOPLE WIN WHILE THERE.
I strive to be a disciplined follower of Jesus Christ. I have found that there are several simple lessons in the Bible the show the ways any person can grow mentally, physically, spiritually, emotionally, and financially. I enjoy sharing these to anyone who asks.
I also love to challenge people’s problem solving abilities and enjoy their company by playing games with them. I hope to challenge you soon.