Monsterpocalypse

Monsterpocalypse is a Kaiju themed miniatures game that will transition from a collectible into a non-collectible format, produced by Privateer Press. At present there are five series, or sets, for Monsterpocalypse: Rise, I Chomp NY, All Your Base, Now! and Big in Japan. There is also a stand-alone Voltron set released in the summer of 2010.

The Game
There are four core elements to the game of Monsterpocalypse, consisting of a force, a city, dice, and map. The force is composed of miniatures that feature a monster and the units that fight along side it. The monster has two forms: an Alpha and a corresponding Hyper form which can be any of the Ultra, Mega, or Quantum variants. Units number up to fifteen in any compliment and are smaller than the monster both in the actual size of the miniature and in the scope of their power, typically forcing them to work together to be effective where the monster may fight by itself. The city is comprised of a map and the buildings on said map. Maps resemble what is typically a well-developed urban setting featuring roads, green areas, water, and of course, buildings. Buildings are the only element of the city that is represented by miniatures. These building miniatures are placed in sequential turns on the city map to create what is referred to as a cityscape. The dice serve as the means by which one force moves about the cityscape and attacks an opposing force. The game continues until one of the monsters has both its Alpha and Hyper forms reduced to zero health. There are also other means of determining a victor at events where there is a game time limit.

Factions
Each faction also belongs to an agenda, which is listed in parenthesis. An agenda represents a shared philosophical ideal allowing units and monsters of the same agenda to cooperate more easily with each other than those of a different one.

Block 1: Rise, I Chomp NY, All Your Base
 * G.U.A.R.D. (Protectors) - Globally United Advanced Research & Defense, the giant robot defenders of humanity.
 * Lords of Cthul (Fiends) - Evil, inter-dimensional demonic entities seeking to destroy and enslave Earth.
 * Martian Menace (Invaders) - Big floating saucers (and walkers in some cases) from the red planet come to take what is ours.
 * Planet Eaters (Destroyers) - Cosmic invaders from far, far away, come to destroy earth.
 * Shadow Sun Syndicate (Collaborators) - Genetically-engineered, cybernetic ninjas created by a vast criminal syndicate out to save humanity... when they stand to gain.
 * Terrasaurs (Radicals) - Giant dinosaurs wreaking havoc and trying to bring nature back to equilibrium, often with the help of the Green Fury organization.

Block 2: Monsterpocalypse Now!, Big in Japan
 * Elemental Champions (Protectors) - Champions of Nature summoned by Japanese monks to defend humanity.
 * Empire of the Apes (Radicals) - Intelligent apes that will stop an nothing to see all live in harmony with nature.
 * Savage Swarm (Destroyers) - Radioactive insects from the Mid-West who like to trash the lights.
 * Subterran Uprising (Fiends) - Mole-like people seeking to enslave humanity and defile the surface.
 * Tritons (Invaders) - An undersea race bent on stealing coastal cities for their aquatic empire.
 * ÜberCorp International (Collaborators) - Reverse-engineered mechanical monsters sold to the highest bidder.

Maps
Each map has the following components:
 * "Wells" for unit and monster dice pools for each of the action, bonus, and power dice types.
 * Placement points for buildings that are placed in the order of green then yellow. Placing different buildings in different places provides an opportunity for different strategies.  After securing buildings, they unlock different powers and actions that the player can take.
 * Monster starting points, two for each player, which are zones to place monsters in at the start of the game.

Each map also has:
 * Power Zones
 * Negative Zones
 * Spawn Points

Some maps also contain:
 * Speed Boosts
 * Teleporters
 * Ability Zones

''See the main article, Battle Maps for a list of maps.

Supplements
There are three strategy guides available: the Rise Strategy Guide, the I Chomp NY Strategy Guide, and the All Your Base Strategy Guide. The books have sections for each faction, statistics for each monster and unit, tips for using your monster and units effectively, and how to effectively play double-monster battles. Both contain general strategy tips, tips for playing on the various maps, playing in organized play, dice probability tables, a puzzle to solve, a section on the buildings and their use, as well as a glossary of all the game abilities. The guides each come with one double-sided map.

The All Your Base Strategy Guide hit store shelves a considerable amount of time after the set itself shipped out. According to Privateer Press's Monsterpocalypse page, the late release of the guide was due to "a hold up with the Department of Homeland Security." The company later stated that future sets would not have strategy guides produced for them due to the difficulties of their production and distribution.

Three map packs were also released: the Rise Map Pack, the All Your Base Map Pack and the Now! Map Pack. Each included maps as well as an exclusive building that could only be obtained with each individual map pack.

Dice
Official sets of dice are sold in accessory kits, which also come with plastic bases that affix to your buildings, monsters, and units in red and blue flavors. These help distinguish each player's figures on the battle map. These dice are the same as the official set that comes with each Rise starter set.

The 'strikes' which are painted on the dice wear out quickly and after a few games it becomes hard to read results of an attack roll. Addressing this concern, Q-Workshop has produced custom, engraved dice which do not wear out as quickly. These dice were designed with the help of the Monsterpocalypse online community and are currently available for order exclusively here.

Other Media
A movie trailer was produced by Team Covenant and released in 2010.

A four-issue comic book (issues 0 through 3) by Stephan Nilson, Jason Avery, Karl Waller, Rick Bonilla, and Marek Oko was published by Desperado Publishing.