First-time Canberra boardgame publishers, Liam Wilson and Ryan Venner of Yarn Mail Games, are this close to turning their dream into a reality with a real-time biplane boardgame titled Dogfight.

Liam conceived the initial kernel of an idea for Dogfight, inspired by his favourite boardgame genre, real-time, where cards are played down instantaneously before being resolved.

“It introduces a bunch of chaos,” he told Canberra Daily.

Both avid players of boardgames since childhood, the duo began working together when Ryan approached Liam with an idea of his own.

“It was a case of well, we’ve played a lot of boardgames, we understand the mechanics of them, and figure we can make one that’s good and fun to play.”

Dogfight had its genesis in the duo getting stuck in a rut while developing that initial boardgame three years ago.

“We got to a fairly late prototype stage, we had all the rules down and it was a matter of designing the pieces and we just couldn’t quite get it to work,” he said.

With a couple of other “half-baked” projects to choose from, Dogfight’s fewer pieces, simpler rules and collaborative nature made it the standout project worth pursuing further.

“We landed on Dogfight as the one we wanted to push through to completion, because in terms of scale, it’s smaller than the other two,” Liam said. “It’s also very much a game of communication.”

Dogfight ‘a game of communication’

The boardgame has been two years in the making, with the first six months dedicated to sorting out “95 per cent” of the game’s design.

The other 18 months of development were spent chiefly getting the artwork ready; in-house artist Ryan completed artwork for 120 cards, with 40 to 60 unique pieces of art. They also secured manufacturing and shipping.

Their Kickstarter was then launched on Thursday 17 February, looking to raise at least $14,000 by 19 March, which would cover costs on the minimum order size from their manufacturer.

As of 1 March, the project has received just under $10,000 worth funding with 18 days remaining.

Dogfight is a two-on-two biplane board game played in real time, each team comprises a gunner, and a pilot, who each hold a different set of cards. The pilot moves the plane around while the gunner tries to shoot down their opponent.

It’s been designed to play as a fast, tactical game that is accessible and still contains a deep level of strategy and skill for keen players to dive into.

A game sees teams play through a series of 20-second rounds. During the allotted time they strategise before playing four cards down, after which the cards are revealed one by one, resolving what’s happened.

This is where the game’s key component, communication, comes to the fore.

“You have to make and execute a plan in that time,” Wilson said. “And the enemy team is doing the exact same thing at the exact same time.

“I can’t show you my cards, I have to tell you what I want you to do, and they can hear that, and you can hear what they’re planning.”

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