So what have you been up to, Cowboy Guy?

Great question, unspecified reader!

Infection: Humanity's Last Gasp--my first published board game--was officially released on Tuesday, May 21st, 2013.

By May 28th I had broken into the top 10 selling games for the month:

On June 11th I had the top selling game for the month:

By the end of June I had sold over a hundred copies.

By July 24th Infection had broken into the top 10 selling games for the year, and it had only been on sale for 2 months:

Solitaire gamers from all over the world have bought my game: Canada, USA, Russia, Germany, Poland, France, Denmark, etc.

My first written game review was in Russian: http://tesera.ru/game/Infection_Humanitys_Last_Gasp/

I have since had my game reviewed--or at least discussed--on three different podcasts:

The 1 Player podcast with Albert Hernandez: 1P 042 - Infection: Humanity’s Last Gasp

http://fractaloon.podbean.com/2013/07/21/1p-042-infection-humanitys-last-gasp/

On Board Games: OBG 111: All Alone With Friends
http://onboardgames.net/

The Secret Cabal Gaming Podcast: Episode 46: Belfort, Board Game Themes and Meet the GM: Brian
http://www.thesecretcabal.com/2013/07/17/episode-46-belfort-board-game-themes-and-meet-the-gm-brian/

As of today, Friday, August 2nd, I am working on an expansion for Infection.

Here are some ideas I have had:

Infection: Virus with a Brain

1st Expansion to Infection: Humanity's Last Gasp

As I start to close in on 350 sales of my solitaire board game Infection: Humanity's Last Gasp, I need start thinking about making an expansion.

So I have an idea: The expansion would add a second player to the game, and they would play the role of the virus. The suggestion for the expansion name comes from one of the losing conditions in the current rulebook:

Infection: Virus with a Brain

The challenge would be to make a balanced but asymmetrical game play between the two players.

Definite ideas:

•          The virus player will have their own player board, which will be smaller than the main game board. It will have its own funding track and a method for accessing proteins to use to build molecules, which can then placed on the Virus.
•          Virus player will have their own tokens and cards which will aid/hinder them in the game.
•          The Virus player will win if there are still molecules on the virus when the turn marker reaches space 10 on the Death Toll Track.

Ideas:

•          Adding a virus player to the game will either eliminate the Status Report cards or simply have the players ignore the mutation section of the card. Another possibility is that the Virus player chooses what molecule is placed by the card.
•          At the beginning of the game the virus player starts out with x funding, and the virus is empty.
•          The virus player always goes first every turn, and then the Scientist player goes second.
•          The virus player receives funds at the end of every turn based upon what parts of the virus is still populated.  3 for A, 2 for every B and 1 for every C hex.
•          The virus player will have something similar (but different) to the Incubator which will allow them to purchase proteins to use to build their molecules.
•          The virus player will also have to pay to place their molecules on the virus, perhaps in reverse cost: A = 1, B = 2, C = 3.
•          The virus player could spend funding to purchase negative special event tokens to play on the Scientist player, or purchase cards/tokens beneficial to them.
•          The player board could have a staging area where they place molecules face down that will go onto virus in future turns. The purpose of this is that the virus player has to plan ahead about what to put out and cannot change his mind if conditions change, plus the Scientist player cannot know what is coming out since the tokens will be face down. All he will know is the number of tokens and cost.

·          

Globe Trotting Expansion

This expansion would add a campaign to the game, still keeping it a strictly solitaire game. There were would be 8-10 scenarios, each one getting more progressively difficult to defeat. It would use a small board displaying a map of the world with 8 to 10 locations marked by circles on which you would place a marker indicating your current location. The first location would be in Zaire (easiest scenario) and the last location would be in Atlanta, Georgia (hardest scenario). Half of the scenarios would use the Bacterial side of the board and the second half would use the viral side.

The expansion would add 25 cards and roughly 35 new tokens (quarter sheet) to the game. There would be a smaller board (8 1/2" by 5 1/2" ) added with a map of the world, plus a rulebook for the expansion.

These new components would be comprised of the following:

•          New lab personnel cards with new powers.
•          New lab equipment cards with new powers.
•          New Special Event tokens.
•          Perhaps add a sixth protein.
•           New molecules with Greek lettering:  a, ß, O, etc.
•           There would be new 3-protein, 4-protein and 5-protein molecules, plus a 6-protein and a 7-protein molecule.
•          Some of the new cards would look like mini tablets, each displaying a different new molecule that could be placed beside the vaccine side of the board.
•          New status report cards that have events that are scenario specific.
•          A card that adds a 2nd 7-hex virus to the game.
•          All the new lab and status report cards would have the same back as the base game, but there would be an icon on the face of each card to indicate it is part of this expansion.

The rulebook would set out each scenario, describing what new tokens and cards to add, or which ones to remove from the base game. Scenarios could be played as one-offs in any order that the player wishes, or as a campaign where the player plays each scenario in order, starting with Zaire and ending in Atlanta.

Some scenarios might require the player to count out 15 status report cards, face down, the add a special new Status report card mixed into the bottom 5. This card would signal the end of the game, so the player knows they have at least 10 turns to beat the game, but after that it would be up to chance.

Each scenario would have a paragraph or two of flavor text describing the situation and the location in the world. Some scenarios would introduce a new personnel card that might only be used in that situation (a local helping out the team that flew in).

Some of the more difficult scenarios would add a 2nd  7-hex virus to the game. When a Status Report card says to place a molecule on hex B4, and B4 on the main virus is occupied, then place the new molecule on the secondary board. If the secondary board is populated, then the player receives an additional -1 to their containment check die roll.