Maneuver through the solar system, explore distant worlds, and lead your faction to glory in this fast-paced, asymmetric strategy game. Funded on Kickstarter in under 8 hours, Factions of Sol is only available to pre-order for a limited time.
For Retail inquiries, please contact the team directly.
Latest Updates from Our Project:
THREE DAYS LEFT for the Backer Survey!
over 1 year ago
– Sun, Nov 13, 2022 at 03:48:42 AM
The short version:
The backer survey is due in 3 days!! Check your inbox and fill it out ASAP to make sure we get your shipping address.
If you’re in Chicagoland or in the Atlanta area and want free shipping:
DO put your address in the backer survey– ignore BackerKit’s note about N/A.
DO select local pickup as your country– it will still be delivered, no pickup required!
GAME UPDATES:
You all SMASHED The Underdogs Faction Expansion goal, and made it our most popular add-on!
We’ve gotten to work finalizing the game components! We’ve also been playtesting alternative game modes for our campaign book.
The long version:
Happy Saturday, beautiful backers! A couple of quick reminders and announcements:
The Backer Survey
First, there are three days left to fill out your backer survey! Remember, the survey is how we get your shipping address– So please fill it out ASAP. It only takes about 5 minutes to complete, and will also let you edit your pledge and score any additional add-ons.
If you can’t find the backer survey in your inbox, do the following:
Make sure the email you’re checking matches the email you backed us on Kickstarter with.
Check your spam and trash folders.
If you still can’t find it, message us and we can help you sort it out.
The survey is due November 15th! If you run into any issues, don’t hesitate to contact us via Kickstarter, BackerKit, or email at [email protected].
If you’re in the Chicagoland or Atlanta area, you can get free shipping! Choose “Local Pickup” as your country (you won’t have to pick anything up, one of our team members will hand-deliver it to you!). Please also ignore BackerKit’s note about putting N/A as your address. We DO need your address!
If you anticipate your address changing before we deliver the game, don’t worry! You can log into BackerKit and change your address any time before we ship. You will have plenty of advance notice before we lock addresses.
Game Updates
The last few weeks have been a flurry of playtests, meetings, and editing as we work on finalizing our designs for production. Shout out to team members Harry, Elam, and Joe for flexing their Illustrator skills to make final edits! Here are a few things that we’ve checked off as “print ready”:
Mercury cards
Venus cards
Jupiter cards
Saturn cards
Neptune cards
Base game faction playmats
Base game rocket design (our manufacturer will be making our molds within a week!)
And thanks to you, the Underdogs Faction Expansion will officially be happening! You all helped us reach the goal in under a day, and now they’re our most popular add-on, with more than 75 orders! Featuring both of the stretch goal factions originally offered on Kickstarter, the Voidwalkers and the Amalgam Collective, these factions can now have a place on YOUR gaming table.
In addition, we’ve settled on a new draft of the scorepad add-on! (Some small elements will be changed/refined but otherwise, this is the design we've settled on)
The Factions of Sol scoresheet!
The team has also nailed down rules for our cooperative modes for two and three players. You can now work as a TEAM to win MegaCore’s fortune and dominate the solar system!
Speaking of other game modes, we’re playtesting Faction Challenges. These are game modes themed around different factions that add an extra level of challenge and replayability to the game. Examples include:
Deep State: All classified information has been leaked– Players collaborate to complete every secret objective before the end of the game.
Zealots of Sol: The Sun has extinguished and recharging your ship at Mercury is impossible. Players share a battery and work together to avoid getting stranded in space.
Megacore, Inc.: Uprisings have begun throughout Sol. Playing solo, you must visit each planet to squash rebellions before they get out of hand.
All in all, we’ve been busy here at Mark IV Games, and can’t wait for you to see the fruits of our labor next summer. Thanks for reading this far– See you next update!
May Sol shine upon you!
The Mark IV Games Team
The Backer Survey is OUT!
over 1 year ago
– Wed, Nov 02, 2022 at 10:33:05 PM
The short version:
The backer survey should be in your inbox! Please fill it out ASAP.
Introducing the Underdogs Faction Expansion!
How to get free delivery for Chicagoland & Atlanta areas (see below).
Game Donations – If you have a particular game club, school, store, etc. that you would like us to donate a game to, mention it in the survey! You can also comment a brief description of it on this update to ask other people to submit it as well.
First Day Newsletter Discounts – You should’ve gotten it! If you haven’t, reach out to [email protected].
The long version:
Hello hello, lovely backers! We’re back from a weekend of playtesting for Extra Life, and are happy to say the game is in better shape than ever! We can’t wait to start manufacturing, but in order to do so, we have some important announcements:
The Backer Survey
The survey should be in your inbox already. If you can’t find it, do the following:
Make sure the email you’re checking matches the email you backed us on Kickstarter with.
Check your spam and trash folders.
If you still can’t find it, message us and we can help you sort it out.
Please fill out the Backer Survey as soon as possible! Your survey information is essential– without it, we can’t get you your rewards! The survey also lets you modify your pledge, select new add-ons, and access support. The survey is due by November 15th, but early responses help us give you any and all help you may need.
Free Delivery for Chicago & Atlanta
If you’re in the Chicagoland or Atlanta, Georgia area and want free delivery, please select local pickup as your location under the countries tab (no pick-up required). Please also fill out your complete address–and ignore the note that suggests you put “NA” for address fields instead.
The Underdogs Faction Expansion
After lots of great feedback from backers, we’re proud to announce that we’ll be able to offer both the Voidwalkers and Amalgam Collective as an add-on stretch goal in our Underdogs Faction Expansion! The expansion will come with playmats for both the Voidwalkers and the Amalgams, along with the Voidwalkers planet miniature. In order to unlock it we only need 10 orders, so fill out your backer survey and add it to your pledge! You won’t be charged for it unless it’s unlocked.
Game Donations
As part of our stretch goals, we’re donating 16 copies of Factions of Sol to game clubs, schools, libraries, etc. of YOUR choice! In your survey, you’ll have the opportunity to submit an organization. Once everyone has filled out the survey, we will randomly select 16 organizations from among the submissions.
If you feel very strongly about an organization and want to increase the chances it’s selected, feel free to leave a comment on this update advocating for your group. If you don’t have an organization in mind, you can peruse the comments for an organization to submit!
First Day Newsletter Backer
You lovely folks should have already gotten your $5 discount, but BackerKit will still list your pledge at the original amount (e.g. $59 instead of $55). That is correct, and you will not be recharged that $5!
If you have not yet received your refund, it is likely because there were issues with your payment and Kickstarter could not charge you. If you’ve sorted that out and still don’t see a discount, contact Emma ([email protected]) and she’ll make sure you get it!
In the meantime, please reach out with any questions, and thank you for all your help getting Factions of Sol one step closer to your front door.
May Sol shine upon you!
The Team of Factions of Sol
One week later! Plus, we're raising money for Extra Life!
over 1 year ago
– Thu, Oct 20, 2022 at 04:00:14 PM
The short version:
We will be sending out the backer survey late next week! PLEASE fill it out ASAP– it will ask for essential info on shipping, where you want to donate a game, and more.
We’re raising money for Extra Life, a gaming-based charity that helps children in hospitals by funding medical bills, equipment, and research. To make a tax-deductible donation, head here!
The long version:
Hey everyone!
We’re one week post-campaign and the team is working hard to get us into production for Factions of Sol.
BackerKit is up and running, and you will be able to make edits to your pledge after filling out the backer survey, which will be headed your way late next week. The survey will ask for important information, like the number of copies you will receive, where you would like to donate a game, and more.
Most importantly, it will ask you for your shipping address!
This is THE most essential piece of information we need from you! The survey allows us to calculate your shipping, send the game, and allows you to update your cart! If your address changes between now and the delivery of the game, you will have an opportunity to change it. For now, though, we do need an address from you so please fill out the survey as soon as it’s in your inbox!
In other news, we’re participating in Extra Life next weekend! Extra Life is a fundraising platform for gamers that raises money for children in hospitals. Money raised from Extra Life pays for medical expenses, equipment, and research for children and their families in Children Miracle Network Hospitals. You can find our Extra Life campaign here.
For the last three years, the Mark IV Games team has participated in Extra Life with a 24-hour Dungeons and Dragons marathon and raised $5,846. This year, though, we’re switching it up. We’ll be playing brand new Factions of Sol game modes from our Scenario Book that YOU unlocked! And you can play with us! We will be hosting TTS and Tabletopia playtests from our Discord channel so that you can join in on the fun.
If you want to play the game yourself and maybe even playtest a new game scenario with us, head to our Discord channel now! We’ll have more information on timing and how exactly to get involved in an update next week, alongside the backer survey.
See you then! Thanks for reading :)
The Mark IV Games team
Campagin closed at $34,753
over 1 year ago
– Thu, Oct 13, 2022 at 11:16:12 AM
WE DID IT!
We closed our campaign with over $34,000!
Thank you to every single one of you for your support! We would not have been able to make it this far without you. With your help, we funded for $34,753, reached 4 stretch goals, and will donate 16 games to game clubs, schools, and libraries!
The team is so excited to get to work and bring you your rewards– so here’s an outline of what the next few steps will look like!
You’ll be added to BackerKit sometime soon and will be able to adjust your order until we finalize production.
Keep an eye out for a backer survey coming in a few weeks! This is where we will gather preliminary shipping information, ask you where you want to donate games, and more.
If you missed your chance to back us on Kickstarter, no worries! You can still preorder the game from BackerKit at this link.
Also… About the Voidwalkers.
We came SUPER close to unlocking the Voidwalkers stretch goal. However, knowing that we may not reach them in time and seeing how much the community was interested in them, we held a meeting last night to discuss our options.
And we’re happy to say that The Voidwalkers will be an add-on stretch goal on Backerkit!
If enough people add Voidwalkers to their cart, it will become available as an add-on. (You won’t be charged for the add-on until it is unlocked.) This “Voidwalkers Expansion” will come with the Voidwalkers playmat, their rogue planet miniature, and the Voidwalkers Alliance Card for the Pluto Expansion.
We can’t wait to get to know you all better over the next few months as we work on getting your orders fulfilled! If you have any questions, comments, or concerns, please reach out to us! We’re so grateful to all of you and are looking forward to repaying you with high-quality products and friendly service.
Thanks again everyone!
See you again VERY soon,
The Mark IV Games team
24 HOURS LEFT for Factions of Sol!! 🚀🚀
over 1 year ago
– Wed, Oct 12, 2022 at 01:45:43 PM
Today's the day!! In less than 24 hours, the Factions of Sol Kickstarter campaign will be over!
We’re so proud of everything we’ve accomplished as a community these last few weeks, and now it’s time for the final push. We have less than 24 hours to hit our next stretch goal: the Voidwalkers!
Unlocking the Voidwalkers will add the following to every copy of Factions of Sol:
A new faction playmat
A custom miniature of their rogue-planet spacecraft, Xerxes IV.
The Voidwalkers are a unique faction that prowls the outer reaches of the solar system with their rogue planet, unable to reach the inner ring. It’s one of our best factions yet, and we really want to get them in your hands! If you want to help us get there, here are a few ways you can contribute:
Tell a friend! Do you have a board gamer or space lover in your life that would like a new game? Send them the campaign link!
Check out our add-ons! You'll get an even cooler version of the game, and we get just a bit closer to our goal.
Post about us on social media! You can share the campaign or head to Instagram to share some of our posts.
Thank you so much for following this campaign, whether you joined us years ago or just found us. Your support of Factions of Sol means the world to us and we absolutely CANNOT wait to get copies of the game into your hands!
