Kickstarter-Watch: Forbidden Psalm

Forbidden Psalm is a miniatures-based skirmish game that’s based on the RPG, Mörk Borg. The game was originally Kickstarted in early 2021, and the creators have since released other expansions and a fantasy football-themed spinoff which we have previously covered on Kickstarter-Watch.

I’ve actually been looking over the past few days to find a copy of Forbidden Psalm. I want to make an effort next year to try some more skirmish games, and this seemed like a good one to try. I wasn’t able to find a copy for a reasonable price, but my search did lead me to this Kickstarter campaign for a new edition of the rulebook. This book will combine the core book and the expansion, In the Footsteps of the Mad Wizard, into one big book:

Forbidden Psalm is a skirmish game that takes place in a very grim, very dark (some might say it was ‘grimdark’, even) setting. Your warband is working at the whims of a mad wizard called Vriprix. The tone takes big cues from the post-apocalyptic fantasy punk vibes of Mörk Borg. This is also based on Mörk Borg in terms of rules as well.

It’s not often that you see an RPG ruleset translated into a miniatures game. There are probably others, but I’m more aware of it happening the other way around, with a miniatures game ruleset being adapted to an RPG. We saw this when Malifaux became Through the Breach and Warmachine became a previous edition of the Iron Kingdoms RPG.

In addition to collating an expansion into the book (bringing it to around 180 pages), there’s also been more design work to improve the layouts. There’s also going to be a bit more rules clarification. The game rules themselves are unchanged, and that rough, dark, Mörk Borg-esque artwork will also remain gloriously unchanged. The book will contain 25 scenarios you you to play through.

In addition to the new core book, there’s also a new book alongside it. This is the Collection of Death. This is a compilation of several small expansions for Forbidden Psalm. Consisting of 80 to 100 pages, these expansions will include 20 new scenarios, 20 new horrors, some new weapons, and more.

There’s also a little warband book in here. It’s just a roster book with templates in which to record your models. I like that they have also included a section to memorialise your dead models. It’s a nice touch, y’know?

I think this campaign is pretty good. There’s lovely art throughout it, the reward tiers are clearly explained, and the creator has a proven track record of delivering on campaigns. The book has already been written, too. This game has also already been a thing, too. It’s already been out in the world and this is a good thing because there are already loads of reviews and other coverage. You should be able to see if it’s something you’re going to enjoy. Here’s an example video from Guerrilla Miniature Games that the campaign suggested:

There are other links and videos on the campaign page.

I’m pretty confident that I can recommend this campaign in terms of product, reliability and polish. What about price? Let’s take a look at the price points for different pledges:

End Times Digital: PDFs of the three books (core, Warband, Collection of Death), plus digital stretch goals. £15.
Physical: Collection of Death Only: PDF and physical softcover of Collection of Death and CoD-related stretch goals. £20.
Physical: Softcover Basic: PDFs and physical softcover of the core book and Warband. PDF only copy of Collection of Death, plus digital and physical stretch goals. £25.
Physical: Softcover All In: PDFs and physical softcovers of the three books (core, Warband, Collection of Death), plus digital and physical stretch goals. £35.
Physical: Hardcover Basic: PDFs and physical hardcover of the core book and Warband. PDF only copy of Collection of Death, plus digital and physical stretch goals. £41.
Physical: Hardcover All In: PDFs and physical softcovers of the three books (core, Warband, Collection of Death), plus digital and physical stretch goals. £51.

There are also some tiers where you can get your name on stuff, and an obligatory ‘whale’ level pledge for those with money to burn. Of course, postage also adds to the cost of our pledges, but the estimates we have at the moment seem pretty reasonable:

So, yeah, all in all this has to be a solid recommendation. It’s a good campaign for a good product by a proven creator at a good price. Fantastic. They even have a suggestion for how one could recycle the product: