The near-future is here, and Earth’s abandoned cities are now battlegrounds for the ultimate spectator sport: GIANT KILLER ROBOTS.

Let that sink in for a second.

GKR: Heavy Hitters is a miniatures board game designed by Cryptozoic Entertainment and Weta Workshop. Normally any miniatures boardgame has my interest, but with Weta Workshop taking a lead with the design, now this has my attention.

For those that do not know, Weta is the famed New Zeland based special effects studio responsible for the incredible productions of  The Lord of the Rings Trilogy, King Kong, The Chronicles of Narnia, Avatar, District 9, The Adventures of Tintin, Elysium and The Hobbit Trilogy. Needless to say, these people know who to produce cool shit.

Some of the slickest robotic designs in the past decade are the one’s featured in District 9 and Elysium. The first time I saw the pre-production models for GKR at GenCon 2016 I immediately thought of those films and I could not be more excited play a game featuring the same style.

After only a few days, the Kickstarter campaign is going strong. The core box is $100, a hefty price, but with more and more add-ons and stretch goals being unlocked that $100 goes a long way. The core box has already been upgraded with four more pilots, more terrain, plastic player boards, more weapon cards and a bunch more enhancements. At this pace each copy of the game will contain a massive amount of content.

I think I may be more excited for the models than the actual game. One of the first things I’ll do when I get my copy will be to strip the paint off the four Heavy Hitters and paint them up myself. I will be sure to paint the support units as well. I love the color schemes and all of the sponsorship deals on the models but, as a miniatures hobbyist, I rarely pass on a chance to put brush to model.

Be sure to take a look at GKR: Heavy Hitters. There are gameplay videos, pictures of the models and a whole lot more. I have already pledged for a copy and I cannot wait to get my hands on this game.