We're previewing art and models from the game over the coming months in the run-up to launching our Kickstarter.
Very much appreciate you folks taking a look, and happy to field any questions you may have,
all the best
John
So some quick googling reveals that is going to be a 6mm epic scale mass battle game. Any idea when the kickstarter is penned in for?
Looking through the people on your team, Jake Thornton and Adrian Smith are some big guns. If I remember rightly Wayne England did quite a bit in the 2nd ed Tyranid codex, which put me off his work. I'll be interested to see if his style has changed any over the years.
Hi chaps,
Thanks for the comments.
No final date yet penned for the start of the Kickstarter but it will be in a month or as near as, just getting final production numbers and getting some of the stretch goal models made before we announce it.
We have all of Wayne's Junker concept art up here:
http://www.ageoftyrants.com/index.php/galleries/artwork/junkers and you can see the 3D renders in SketchFab here:
http://www.ageoftyrants.com/index.php/galleries/models/junkers There's more previews on the way today, I'll keep you posted and by all means ask any questions too, I'll be back later on, cheers
Wait what? Is this what remains of VOID/Urban War? What happened to all of that anyway?
I really, really suggest doing something to make an image representing a full 6x4 table and how it would look. Even just a good quality 3D concept render of a full tablescape would help.
Also, throw a matcap or at least an ambient occlusion pass on those models you're showing in 3D.
@Vertrucio well it is set in the same Universe, Void's being sold by Scotia Grendel and you can order all the Urban War stuff from our Myriad Miniatures site.
Yeah its a good idea to show you the scale, to that end we'll have some actual minis to show before we launch the game, these are some test prints we've had made up and painted, both the wee men and a few tanks.
All figures and vehicles and figures are based on 50mm by 50mm bases, the 3D render previews of the troopers will give you a better idea of scale, I'll also check with the graphics chap to see if we can drop something in the coming 3D renders also.
Company level games will be played on a 4 foot by 4 foot table, and for multiple companies a side we suggest and 8 foot by 4 foot board.
Really spectacular looking stuff. I've been slowly building a Void Junker army and I love the look of their vehicles. I vaguely recall seeing word of this game in the past. Unfortunately my sci-fi small scale gaming is in 10mm, but I'll be watching this project and maybe I'll pick up the rules.
Thanks Eilif for your very kind comments The tanks are up to 50mm long for some factions, such as Junkers, so they maybe would even fit with your 10mm stuff!
cheers
BeAfraid wrote: Looks a bit too 40k for my tastes, but the minis look decent enough for those who are into that sort of thing.
MB
Automatically Appended Next Post: Also... You MIGHT want to check on the IP.
I am pretty sure that the name "Viridians" is already taken by another company.
I want to say Darkest Star.
MB
Viridians may be used by other companies, but they've been a part of the "Void" Universe (The setting for this game and Void 1.1, Urban War, and Metropolis) for about 15 years now.
I think we're very tight on the IP, I know there have been companies using Junkers since we used it, but again its a tough one since there were Junkers As Eilif has rightly pointed out, we've continued to develop this IP since the Void days in late 1999, so there's a good backbone to the world, this new scale will introduce new story lines and further develop the IP.
I'm glad you like the minis, more to follow soon. Figures I think have worked very well in this scale, we had the very talented Ben Skinner on those.
... I was busying being murdered by my wife
Hey all, chiming in on this thread. I'm the writer and designer of AoT. We'll be putting a preview copy of the rules up on the Age of Tyrants website soon, so you can try it out with proxies. It has a new command system for this type of game, based on combined arms.
Speaking of the combined arms stuff and Syntha, the synths are an interesting one rules wise. They get to activate fewer bases on orders than the other factions, but they suffer no ill effects from suppression.
Although the wrong scale for me, I've always had a soft spot for Void and Urban. I might actually convince myself to dive into this one. The miniatures so far look really good!
I wonder if this is held back a bit by the old aesthetic more than the nostalgia is helping.
It's 6mm.. There's an opportunity here to do something crazy and amazing with a small scale, big battle, crazy scifi game. Instead we get boxes on treads from the 80s.
That infantry is better, but those vehicles could still use a lot of work. Boxes with some angles, compared to the amazing 6mm work put out by places like GHQ?
Perhaps it's not the best idea to lean too heavily on the aesthetics of an IP that has failed twice already.
Cheers all. Kickstarter is scheduled for January 14th. One of the key things about this KS, and partly why it has taken so long, is that we've done all the development up front, so it's all ready to go when we launch. What we don't want is to have the Kickstarter paying for development, where often there are delays, maybe you bite off more than can chew, then the project doesn't get delivered on time, or worse it doesn't get delivered at all. With this one the KS is paying for production and shipping, not development.
@Pacific cheers fella, that's very nice of you to say so, and as Mark says Jan 14th's the day we kick off.
We're going to have some competitions too on the launch where you can win some original artwork by Wayne England.
All the best
John
Very good to hear ! Will make sure I save some Xmas money.
One more thing, although I've read that one design objective of the game will be to be able to play on a small tabletop, will it scale well? One of my best memories of Epic was getting a 12ft wide table and having literally entire companies of troops, tanks and titans duking it out. Perhaps getting ahead of myself a bit but will a similar thing be possible with Age of Tyrants?
Yes the game is scale-able Basic company action, one a side, is on a 4 foot square table (each company can be from 16 to 32 bases each, each base being 50mm square, Deep Cut studios will be providing 4 foot gaming mats for each of our environments for the KS, and Brigade Models will be providing terrain mixes too). As you increase the number of companies you effectively add on more 4 foot square areas.
You the player are the CnC, the off board commander and you can command any number of companies.
A 12 foot by 4 foot table will be no problem might hurt the bank a bit
Don't really have any more to add on the scaleability question than what John said. In the rulebook we recommend that for every 50 bases on the tabletop, you add a 4x4 section to give you space to deploy and manouevre.
The vehicles have to be in resin, they look fab BTW, will be posting pics of production casts soon.
Figures wise we don't plan to go to plastics at this stage, would actually require a redesign of the figures because, as they stand now, you couldn't mould them as there are too many under cuts
So the question is to do them either in metal (virtually pure tin to get them to cast) or in resin. Now resin will hold the detail much better, and would be my choice, however it is more expensive, approximately 80% more than metal.
So at this stage the plan is to print the masters, mould them, then cast resin masters and then make production moulds for metal casting. This way at least we cut down one metal pressing so hopefully they'll retain more detail, than if we'd mastered them in metal and then produced in metal.
Cheers
Automatically Appended Next Post:
First review of production casts, this features the Junker Venator and the Viridian Dire Wolf, it is in Spanish but you can clearly see the miniatures.
That must be a hard compromise to reach! Obviously you want the best results possible, but its no good if the prices are so high that no-one will want to buy them.
Have to say those do look like really crisp sculpts, very promising if those are the production sculpts. That's one big-ass cannon on the top of the Junker vehicle !
This project is absolutely fantastic !! Obviously, there is a dream team judging from the great names I can see ^^
The artworks are awesome... But the minis are more awesome !!
I didn't know that prodos was the caster... Despite the fact the KS AVP is apocalyptic BUT seems to see the light in the tunnel (at least for the communication), it would be a good point for Age of Tyrants because the minis of prodos are REALLY fine detailed !!
I'm one of the "lucky" backer who receive his box and honestly, until now my best minis were those from RN Estudio... But now I must confess prodos ones are better.
The tanks look very good indeed !! I would like to see more about the viridian please ^^
@Pacific deciding on the material is important and although plastics for example would give us very good costings it wouldn't have alloyed us to do the kind of dynamic models that resin affords.
But when it comes to the figures I wish we could do them in resin, the detail is outstanding.
What we may do is put up some comparisons for folk to comments, maybe folk would pay more? Further depending on the numbers we may be able to offer both, since the master process is the same. I'll keep you posted on this as feedback will be essential.
@Morikun That's a great endorsement fella, much appreciated I think Prodos do a crackin' job, they far exceeding the two other companies that quoited us for the job, not only in terms of quality but also service, we had accurate costings, sample print and sample casts all within a fortnight, another supplier of quality resin products took 6 months and then we only had a ball-park number, so from my own personal point of view they couldn't be a better partner for us on this project.
Automatically Appended Next Post: Oh @Pacific yes these are what customers will get
I'm quite excited by this.
I love Urban War and have a decent sized Triad force.
Loved the ruleset, shame it's nearly impossible to get a game these days.
I'll be keeping an eye on Kickstarter when it launches.
Roland Berberich has been an ardent follower of our Urban War game from its inception back in 2004 so it comes as no surprise that he was enthusiastic about our forthcoming Age of Tyrants. We sent him a few samples of models to let us know what he thought. Here’s what he said on his blog Roland Mini reviews
https://rolandsminireviews.wordpress.com/2015/10/17/age-of-tyrants-junkers-and-viridians-part-i/
Hi Pacific, Infantry bases will vary depending on type and faction. Junkers will have the most (now this is an aesthetic thing not really necessary for the game to work, for example in the KS a standard infantry base will be 12 figs, but we will offer an "upgrade" pack for Junkers to give them that real Legion feel, this is purely for cost in the KS as all infantry base/platoons will cost the same so when you pledge you simply buy inf platoons, or amour platoons, but you can wait until the pledge-manger to decide which faction you want). All basic infantry bases for Junkers have 24 figures, specialist such as exo-suits will have 12, with HMG teams 6. The other factions are 12 standard figs per base, 8 specialist and 4 heavy weapons.
Again this is all aesthetics, we have always wanted Junkers to be this mass army, but found that hard to achieve in our 28mm skirmish games without making them too poor in combat, the Auxilia in Urban War were an attempt to get low cost troops, but at the cost of no shotguns, which made them very vulnerable.
AoT and this sort of bases gives them the look that we always envisioned for them, masses upon masses of infantry legions
Minis are really awesome, details are absolutely perfect... But IMO, the prodos resin is too soft (whereas, about the AVP minis, I didn't met such troubles)...
Also my experience with Prodos is mostly good. Their early Warzone stuff was finicky, but they vastly improved the modelling aspect in the next run, so knowing Prodos is in is actually a plus for me.
Hey guys,
Thanks for the positive comments and thank you to Mori kun for posting here.
I am in talks with Prodos to review some of the issues raised by the review, and I am very confident that these can all be overcome. My experience of Prodos has been very positive, they have really worked hard for us to get these designs out, we deliberately pushed the envelope on the details of these craft knowing that they were up to the task and I think these pics prove that they have.
We have a second generation of samples coming out this week, and a rather tasty VASA Red Hammer, so Mori kun will be posting feedback on those very soon.
All the best chaps
I fixed the junker tank problem with an another Marseille Soap with a very soft brushing : there was definitely too much of silicon molding product on it ^^'
I'll post some pics soon and I wait for the Vasa tank ^^
Hey folks, sorry for the hiatus, I was called away on family business for the last few weeks but I see my good mate Morikun has been keeping you entertained. Very pleased with all the positive comments chaps.
@Albertorius price wise we're not quite there yet, still finalizing cost as we need to reverse engineer in all the free stretch stuff as well as giving better discounts for larger set purchases.
What we are trying to do is offer all the tanks/vehicles at the same flat rate, it keeps the KS a lot simpler to run, we are also trying to do this with the figure bases too, Junkers however will be more expensive as they have twice as many figures on them BUT we may even offer a basic base for them- 12 figures- with an option to buy a booster set to take it up to 24 for those who want the true Junker Legion experience.
I hope to have prices within a few weeks for you folks.
cheers
Wow that's something of a coup getting Angel Giraldez onboard, boy can that guy paint!
Can't wait to see what he comes up with.
Kid_Kyoto wrote: Sir Johnny, would you like this thread moved to News and Rumors where it may get more attention? Or would you like to start a new thread there?
Sounds like a great idea! Would definitely get a lot more coverage there.
@Kid_Kyoto
I really wasn't sure where to start this in the beginning, if you think it would benefit being moved then by all means fella please move it, I'd be very grateful, thank you very much
And just to re-iterate Morikun, release date is 14th of January 2016, cheers
I loved Urban War. I always felt it was a shame it just seemed to fade away so I'm happily in for this. Knowing the expected date actually means I'll save some money for kickstarting goodness!
Hey Zond,
Very pleased you're looking forward to this, always great to see Urban War fans joining us for this adventure, I think it will be the best one yet, it's certainly the one closet to my heart, and I think, the one that will replicate the epic space opera style wars of the Draconis Alba Galaxy best. The Junker legion bases really give a better "feel" for how we envisage that faction looking too, something we couldn't do with Urban War without reducing the Legionaries to total cannon fodder- the Auxllia were an attempt to create masses of cheap troops, but we had to drop the shotguns to get that to work points-wise which really restricted what they could do.
Great to have you on board.
Hey Pacific,
yes we have been very fortunate to have Angel wade in to help us, he's been a good mate for many a year now, not only a fabulous painter- perhaps the best- but an A1 guy too, generous and very down to earth, guy deserves all the praise he gets.
Just today he said: "These concepts and your description give me an idea, I'll apply my magic and you'll see fething awesome paintjobs bro!"
Looking forward to seeing what he comes up with.
cheers
Automatically Appended Next Post: Ah Kid_Kyoto you beat me to that one
Out of curiosity is this then a reboot as it were of the Draconis Alba setting? And possibly beyond the scope of the kickstarter is there an aim to do anything more with the background such as an Urban War revival? I remember back in the day there was much talk about RPGs, and obviously Metropolis was a thing for a while. I appreciate this is already a huge undertaking, I'm just interested to see where it all goes.
Anyway looking forward to the kickstarter. If anyone has any NIB Urban War models PM me. I've got an itch I need to scratch.
Wow, I am really glad you moved this to N&R as I had totally missed it! Looking forward to your Kickstarter, the art and now casts shown on the last few pages look really great
Always liked the Urban War stuff, so I'm curious to see how this pans out.
I know my brother has been a big fan of the Junkers in all their many iterations, while I preferred the Koralon. My biggest gripe was how the figures never could compare to the quality of the artwork. I'd imagine a lot of that was due to casting techniques at the time more than likely.
Curious to see just how many factions are going to end up represented in this.
Are we going to be seeing mostly resin and metal, or is plastic a possibility?
Any idea what currency this campaign will run in? That seems to play a factor in how funding goes.
Hey folks,
@Zond,
Yes it is a reboot of sorts in the sense that we are building on what was already there in the Galaxy in Void/Urban War/Metropolis
We will use the same timeline set in Urban War, however if you check back to the Iskandria sourcebook you will see that we have set the timeline back in the "Age of Tyrants". We did this so that we could start with the 4 main Homeworld factions. The plan is then, depending on well the Kickstarter goes, to bring the timeline forward so that we can then introduce the Koralon, with Blue Eden and First Contact, and then the Iskandrians (in Iskander's first "appearance") and then further into Operation Arkadian Dawn where we left ti with Urban War, bringing in the sub-factions: The Triads and Gladiators.
There is no plan at this stage to further develop Urban War under this KS, it is purely a 6mm scale venture. However if this does go well it does open up possibilities to revisit the 28mm scale skirmish game with the idea that we would integrate this with the 6mm AoT in an over aching "Nexus" campaign system where a series of scenarios would be linked using the different games to create a meta campaign system. We also looked at Sapceships too BUT with the proliferation of high quality games in this genre its not a priority at this stage.
RPG would be very interesting BUT we'd probably prefer to license this rather than tackle it ourselves, we are more miniature guys that RPG folk.
For Urban War models go to Scotia Grendel they are currently producing all the Urban War figures.
Thanks for the interest fella
@RiTides,
Well we have Kid_Kyoto to thank for moving the thread for us. Glad you liek ewhat you've seen so far, more in the pipe
@Pacific,
Thanks for the support mate I'm looking forward to what Angel does too!
@highlord tamburlaine
I do actually agree on the whole that the 28mm miniatures didn't live up to the expectations the art created, I think when we started we struggled to find top class sculptors that could translate the designs, further we were perhaps too price conscious and tried to reduce the number of bits, thus reducing the retail price, for minis and as a consequence we maybe stifled the designers from the get go.
With AoT we have attempted to push the envelope with the designs and make them as dynamic and detailed as possible.
To that end for the vehicles we have opted for resin designs, this by far scores over metal in terms of detail and scores heavily over injection moulded plastics in terms of dynamics.
For the infantry however we are still undecided to go for metal or resin. Plastics is out for these particular designs as they are too dynamic, too many undercuts so they'd need a re-design.
Metal is certainly cheaper than resin for miniatures at this scale but the resin does give extraordinary fidelity. We have metal casts of some of the Viridian sprues, they look pretty good, but not WOW, which I think we've managed with the vehicles, so we are experimenting with various setups of the resin to see if we can bring the costs down, we'll keep you posted.
Currency wise it will either be GBP or Euros, and yes it does have a bearing, we just need to see what currency works in KS as the company is registered in The Netherlands, more later on that.
Hope that helps
@Zond
A great reaction sir, many thanks We have no casts yet for the Sythna but we have tonnes of stuff on our website in the galleries with 3D renders and full colour and B&W concept art, see here http://www.ageoftyrants.com/ Hope that helps
Cheers
I'm the community manager at Age of Tyrants, so taking over from John for the most part.
He's a nosey beggar though, so I'd imagine he will pop in now and again (which is a good thing!).
RIGHT
The Kickstarter goes LIVE ON THE 21ST OF JANUARY 6PM GMT. It will be in GBP (£) Currency.
Everything else John has said is currently correct!
We've had lots of activity on our Facebook page, please do check it out for regular updates. We're working with lots of bloggers, all over the world - and that's how we let you guys know about it. Please head on over and hit like, as well as turning on notifications!!!
We also popped over to Northern Ireland to do some filming with Beasts of War. About 25 minutes into the Weekender, you'll see Mark Brendan, the illustrious writer and game developer for Age of Tyrants, as well as my over-excited self, chatting about the game, the universe, the models, the scenery - literally everything - about Age of Tyrants.
The countdown clock on their web page really irks me. It's like they couldn't be bothered to center it or get a counter that doesn't have to shift it's spot every second because a decimal place shifts.
Other than that it looks real interesting, hopefully the return of Epic doesn't occur during the KS, or I could see bad timing killing this.
There will be CLAU units, which are sort of Stompy Robots.
There will be Dropships...
Just remember, this isn't Epic 40k. We're not going to 'fill the gaps' that GW failed to fill. They could come along and fill them themselves, whenever they want, crushing our awesome game into the dirt!
The countdown clock on their web page really irks me. It's like they couldn't be bothered to center it or get a counter that doesn't have to shift it's spot every second because a decimal place shifts.
Other than that it looks real interesting, hopefully the return of Epic doesn't occur during the KS, or I could see bad timing killing this.
Sorry for the frantic spamming, but there will be blog posts going up a lot tomorrow, as the project goes live on Kickstarter at 18:00 UK time. That's 17:00 in Western Europe, 12:00 East Coast USA and 10:00 West Coast USA!
rob_alderman wrote: Sorry for the frantic spamming, but there will be blog posts going up a lot tomorrow, as the project goes live on Kickstarter at 18:00 UK time. That's 17:00 in Western Europe, 12:00 East Coast USA and 10:00 West Coast USA!
You will see in the pre-production model pictures that the small components are in resin. This proved too fiddly so we will produce parts like antennae and satellite dishes as metal add-ons sets. This will allow backers to get their forces on the table at the double, whereas those who want to personalise their models can do so with these add-ons.
That's not a paid add-on, right - what is pictured will be included (satellite dishes and all) just with the small bits in metal instead of resin?
Just noticed this, was a huge fan of Urban War back in the day.
6mm scale is something I haven't played in ages, DZC isn't quite the type of gameplay I'm after (tried it, not for me), will have a look at this and see how it goes.
Interested in the minis to try 6mm Warpath with if nothing else!
It looks interesting, but I've never liked the "use money to buy individual units" method when a Kickstarter is for a defined game and not just a model range. If there's a 2 player starter set (or even 1 player company sets), I'll definitely join in.
I notice Prodos wasn't listed among your partners, do you have a different manufacturer lined up?
Prodos are one of three companies we have lined up. We have costed to go with any of them. Prodos has the largest capacity for this and has so far not let us down. If they do, we'll just go to one of the other two.
You will see in the pre-production model pictures that the small components are in resin. This proved too fiddly so we will produce parts like antennae and satellite dishes as metal add-ons sets. This will allow backers to get their forces on the table at the double, whereas those who want to personalise their models can do so with these add-ons.
That's not a paid add-on, right - what is pictured will be included (satellite dishes and all) just with the small bits in metal instead of resin?
No, they will be included.
Automatically Appended Next Post:
scarletsquig wrote: Just noticed this, was a huge fan of Urban War back in the day.
6mm scale is something I haven't played in ages, DZC isn't quite the type of gameplay I'm after (tried it, not for me), will have a look at this and see how it goes.
Interested in the minis to try 6mm Warpath with if nothing else!
This game is VERY different to DZC.
We will have gameplay videos up there soon enough.
Automatically Appended Next Post:
infinite_array wrote: It looks interesting, but I've never liked the "use money to buy individual units" method when a Kickstarter is for a defined game and not just a model range. If there's a 2 player starter set (or even 1 player company sets), I'll definitely join in.
Hey there,
It's worth pointing out that the units are actually designed to be very easy to put together in an army. We're running a series of army building guides on Beasts of War to show you how simple this is.
By the time you come to choosing units, you'll know exactly what you need!
Starter boxes, we hope will come further down the line. We will also do suggested armies.
markb wrote: Thanks all for backing, much appreciated. The minis are all on 50mm square bases by the way. Not so tiny ;-)
Ah, so they're more like 10-15 mm scale tanks, closer to Epic Baneblade size?
Info and scale pics need to be on the KS and easy to see, if you call it a 6mm tank, people are going to think of the tiny little rhinos from GW's Epic.
Have you got an image I can thrown in my sig to promote this?
markb wrote: Thanks all for backing, much appreciated. The minis are all on 50mm square bases by the way. Not so tiny ;-)
Ah, so they're more like 10-15 mm scale tanks?
Info and scale pics need to be on the KS and easy to see, if you call it a 6mm tank, people are going to think of the tiny little rhinos from GW's Epic.
Have you got an image I can thrown in my sig to promote this?
Cool stuff, but im not seeing this being that great due to pricing among other things.
Rules should be free on the KS, atleast the alpha.beta ones so there is a understanding of the game. It says a massive massive units game, but your spending a fortune to play to seems by the ammont your getting. Ive dropped 300$ for epic armies and with that ammount I get not only tons but 4-5k points worth
68 bucks gets me 8 tanks. Not a good price at all compaired to others selling epic sized models. Onslaughtmini is 14$ for 3, not to mention many many other options.
The infantry are a decent price. It would be better to have more details on what you get. Hard to tell via pics (heavy weapons leadrs etc?). I just dont see what factions they could be "counts as" for in epic. Pissibly Guard
Lots of compairing to epic I know ,but thats the main competor being 6mm
The Beta rules are available on our website for free.
www.ageoftyrants.com
There's a link to them on the KS too, under 'The Game' heading.
As for cost, sadly, we're not a garage business. We simply have to make a margin to cover the wages of our staff, development costs and also advertising fees, among other things (not forgetting Kickstarter fees).
We're also very keen for there to be a market for this game following the Kickstarter, so we have to have a margin to cut into for traders (generally speaking, retailers/distributors expect anywhere from 35% to 60% off RRP, not including VAT).
With that in mind, we're playing a careful game with our prices. We are going to increase the value in the pledges as the project goes along and when we know we can afford it.
Can you give an idea on the standard game? How many tanks/ infantry bases we looking at? That would help us kickstarter backers see how much mney would need to be spent.
And for your market, are you looking to sell armies or packs in miniature game stores online? (Miniature Market) to name one
Sure thing, we've got Mark, who wrote the rules, working in the background on a quickstart guide to selecting your army. Give us a day or so, we'll also eventually have videos explaining it. It's all well and good me telling you it's simple, but I think we need it to be simple AND clear. So bear with us!
As for gaming stores, sure thing, we'll be talking to everyone. Right now, our focus is on Kickstarter and we'll start talking to distributors following on from that.
We're based all over (Staff in UK, Holland, Malaysia and the USA to name a few) so we should have it covered!
^ Thanks for the info, sounds good! Registered on your website to see what's happening with the forums, was a member of the old Urban Mammoth boards about 10 years ago, it's really great to see the setting come back for another game, had lots of fun with Urban War, still have some old syntha in a box right behind me.
Had a look through the beta rules too, seems solid, I like how easy the points system is. Looking for something with the same sort of scale and ease of play as Epic Armageddon.
Looks like I'll be able to get two starter armies with my £96:
- 4 of the £12 VASA platoons.
- 4 of the £12 Syntha platoons.
Then free command tanks for both factions, free pdf rules, printed art book, plus whatever else gets thrown our way. Over 300 minis total, with a mixture of infantry and vehicles. That'll do nicely.
I'm never usually a fan of pick what you want style pledges. I'm interested but it's a big turn off for me. I'll wait and see how it progresses I think.
@Zond - we might try and make some simpler pledges, or pledge choices. But we did this to make it easier to build your army. Just like going into a game store, back in the day, and selecting your blister packs.
Hey Zond,
if you check out the interview you get the skinny from Warren on the rules
The AoT interview starts about 28.50
Currently we've had a couple of unlocks with die-punch card counters for all Pledge levels on top of the rules I mentioned last time, with custom faction dice just around the corner.
We have also uploaded some new set companies: and Infantry, an Armour and a Mixed so that may suit you Zond.
Yeah, I should think we'll open up the terrain shortly.
Right then, here's the skinny folks! I haven't updated recently, and John went MENTAL with updates on KS, so I have collated the news here for you all in one bite size chunk!
First up, we've made some super simple starter armies for you to select as your pledges. They come in 3 forms.
1: Mixed Company - a combination of Infantry and tanks
2: Infantry Company - a Company purely composed of Infantry stands (and Armoured Personnel Carriers, where appropriate).
3: Armour Company - a Company purely composed of Armour (Vehicles) stands
Firstly, the Mixed Companies:
Next up, the Vehicle Companies:
Then there's the Infantry Companies:
Syntha one is missing... John! SYNTHA ONE IS MISSING!!!!
Okay, I'll find out what's happened.
In the meantime, we hit some stretch goals!
First off, we have tokens (you'll need them!) which will come FREE.
There's also been some KS Exclusive ADD ONS made available.
Just remember, this is on Kickstarter NOW - and we need all the support we can get to make it MASSIVE!
I know the thinking behind going in to a shop and picking up a blister pack of minis (a feeling that many of us feel fondly about), but until KS launches on Occulus Rift or whatever the feeling just ain't going to be the same
Think I'm going to get Veridians but can't decide on an opposing force yet..
The troops on the bases look so out of place. The bases are twice the size they need be just looks wrong. The pay more to fill your base is a joke right ?? Lol
And hate tanks on bases
Some nice designs for the models but not sure the rules will be much cop fingers crossed
I don't mind the infantry spacing, really. Epic bases have always felt a bit crowded to me and so the larger spacing pleases the eye. And clearly there's many different kinds of units using that space in different ways. Plus there's room if you wanted to get a bit more scenic with your basing, or to make sure there's no fragile bits overhanging for transport. Indeed, with a standard base size, transport solutions become rather more straightforward.
10penceman wrote: The troops on the bases look so out of place. The bases are twice the size they need be just looks wrong. The pay more to fill your base is a joke right ?? Lol
And hate tanks on bases
Some nice designs for the models but not sure the rules will be much cop fingers crossed
Hey there,
The bases actually serve a function within the game.
We have designed some add on sets to add some 'flavour' to the bases as well, it allows for modellers to make each base of models a miniature diorama, if they fancy it.
Speaking of which, you can check the quality of the game rules on our website www.ageoftyrants.com for free.
Automatically Appended Next Post: Okay, there have been some more updates as I slept overnight...
First off, more heroes have been unlocked! These are KIckstarter Exclusive!
Next up, exciting news... We have unlocked the CLAUs...
Here's some of the concept art, to whet your appetite before seeing the models...
The tanks in this system looks so incredibly good.
two competing 6 mm game systems, each with rad minis, generating considerable funding on KS for a niche genre.
Very exciting times. This is going to be a difficult choice.
6mm sci-fi has been overlooked for a long time, despite the potential. Epic used to be GW's third core game alongside Warhammer and 40k back in the 90's.
Epic Armageddon was a masterpiece that never got much support and was dropped after a year or so.
Tried to get into DZC, but just not the game for me, 6mm massive-scale armies with simple rules and an order system is more my cup of tea.
I'm looking forward to using the minis for 6mm Warpath too (Mantic will be releasing rules for 6mm, but no models) think I can easily make Asterians out of Syntha (I used Urban War Syntha as Asterians for Deadzone for some time), VASA for Enforcers, and Viridians or Junkers as GCPS. I like the look of VASA and Syntha the most currently.
Tried to get into DZC, but just not the game for me, 6mm massive-scale armies with simple rules and an order system is more my cup of tea.
I'm looking forward to using the minis for 6mm Warpath too (Mantic will be releasing rules for 6mm, but no models) think I can easily make Asterians out of Syntha (I used Urban War Syntha as Asterians for Deadzone for some time), VASA for Enforcers, and Viridians or Junkers as GCPS. I like the look of VASA and Syntha the most currently.
Yes DZC has great models but that also was not the game for me.
ThE Warpath rule set is a good point.
I'm getting two factions from this KS because even if the rules don't end up trumping other systems, I can use these excellent sculpts with so many different games.
I really like some of the models on this, even tho I find the tanks in general the strongest factor. they are superb IMO.
We're going to be filming a quick video with Hairy Gamers, which will give you a chance to see the gameplay, warts and all!
We're also working on some animations, but these are taking a little longer than we hoped, due to Rene (our amazing Dutchman) having a 'proper job' taking up his time too.
First up, how to build a Junkers Company. An article written by Mark Brendan and hosted on Beasts of War. It's clean cut, simple and even includes an animated video on how to do it in a nutshell. Also introduces how to use the cards.
http://www.beastsofwar.com/age-of-tyrants/build-junkers-company/
Next up, we've introduced some multiplayer bundles, especially for the Clubs.
We've also made some how to play the game videos! Huzzah!
We've also had a FANTASTIC interview with Chilling Wargamers, covering loads of content. It was great fun, really relaxed and easygoing - so apologies if it's long winded at times, but we do genuinely cover a lot.
Finally, we have unlocked the Printed rulebook for all Pledge Levels of Level 2 and up for FREE!
It's a poor excuse but I've been a little busy, so struggled to stay on top of things.
First thing I want to cover is the death of our friend and colleague, Wayne England. I think John summarised this the best in his update.
Many of you will already know of the passing of Wayne England yesterday. It came as a terrible shock to all of us and, even now as I write this, it’s still hard to imagine.
Since Wayne was a partner in this project, as well as the lead artist and concept designer, I think it appropriate to say a few words.
I have had the good fortune to work with Wayne over the last couple of decades, we was a genuine guy, who loved what he did. He didn’t suffer fools gladly and was never afflicted with an artist’s pretensions, he was down to earth, keen to see that his clients got what they wanted and above all professional. He was a dream to work with, with an easy, relaxed and engaging manner.
We both worked together on developing the look of Age of Tyrants over the past 5 years, he was instrumental, prolific and inspired. Deep down he was always a Junker, those B&W concepts he did are SO Wayne, he needed absolutely no direction, they were already in him.
And he was my friend.
No words can console the loss of a loved one and our thoughts are with Victoria and his family, all that I can say at this time is that he was admired, respected and loved by all of us.
I’ll leave you with one of the last emails I got from Wayne, just after our project was funded.
“We Are The Champions..WAAOOOOOOT”
Something Wayne wanted us to do, before the project started, is share his fantastic artwork with the world. That's why our Early Bird Pledges generally contain original pieces of artwork. We would really like to honour him, by seeing all of these snapped up by the community. Do check out the project and see if you can grab one of his original art pieces for this project.
From my own heart of hearts, I am gutted. The guy was a genius and an absolute gent. He was utterly awesome and a gentle person. He cared deeply about those around him. I miss him so much.
We've also had some gameplay videos appear in the community...
Oh and Mark Laiman has done an awesome time lapse of sculpting the new Junkers Vulcan Bomber...
We've also added a whole boatload of scenery from Brigade Models!
Glad to see this one come back on the radar especially after the loss of a friend for the creators. My condolences.
It looks like from scrolling through the updates the project is slightly bigger than 6mm, maybe more like 8? And that kickstarter page is now very dense. It's not clean or clear after all the changes. And I'm still concerned about retail pricing or prices vs competitors.
I mean glad it has funded, and congratulations and all, I think with some forethought and research it could have funded better. Unless the last 5 days are overwhelmingly positive.
Just wondering how many people from Dakka Dakka are on this Project?
Also what factions have you gone for?
For me it is Junkers first then Viridians.I went in at level 3 and added a bit as items became unlocked.
John's idea for the Junker unit add on for £3 is so that they look just like he imagines them to like Romans.I can see that too as the are really a close combat orientated force.The only
thing missing now are the Dune Buggies.
It is great to have seen what is in the pipeline as more money goes into the KS.Unlocks at every £500 and some free items later on too.The casualty sets will be great to add more variety to your bases and terrain too.The tank crews look good too.Love the VASA tank riders (very Soviet).
I also think i will have to get some of each factions Clau's.
Being able to buy single bases and tanks now will be good for people wanting to use them in other games or playing Void in 6mm.I know some have done this with 40K.
The VASA CLAUs (that look like Gundams) and the Syntha tanks (that would fit right in with the PHR from Dropzone Commander) are what's really drawing me to this KS. I have no nostalgia for the Void universe or Epic 40k as a game as I wasn't a gamer at the time. So while getting the game ruleset as an extra would be cool, it's really not a priority for me. The two player starter is very attractive for the cost, having two factions that I want, rulebook and tokens and the really neat dice. But my desire for a Syntha full armored company is a dampener on me buying in at that pledge level. I wonder how much it would be to "upgrade" the Syntha half of the two player starter.
Also the Sandrunners are cool. I need 6mm camel riders. *Everyone* needs 6mm camel riders.
You could go for the level 3 pledge there are some Early Bird one's still available.That would give you plenty of options for getting a good sized force for Syntha and a few options to get some other platoons like Camel riders .You also get a few free things with this pledge and a piece of Wayne England art too.
haha Manic_miner doesn't work for us, I swear! Though, he probably should...
Yeah, he's right though. The Starter Boxes are a great deal, but you can essentially make them youself if you fancy Armoured companies instead. It will just cost a little bit more.
The starter sets are a great intro to the game and rules.There are card tokens for the different factions available to down load and use with the rules which are online too.That way you can get an idea of how things work.
Looks like the KS is starting to rise which is great new's for the guy's behind it all.
This will mean more un-locks which in-turn means that i need to find more money .
Looking forward to getting the Casualties and Tank crew's.They will make great additions to the range.
I like the look of some models a lot, but quite a few of those starters only have 1 tank despite two factions! Overall what is shown looks quite infantry heavy for gameplay, and infantry is a bit like pins at this scale.
manic _miner wrote: Just wondering how many people from Dakka Dakka are on this Project?
Also what factions have you gone for?
VASA and Syntha, the models look fantastic.
Actually, everything about this project is brilliant. Lets see..
- An excellent 6mm ruleset (have read through them, they use an order mechanic that is very fast to play and creates interesting tactical decisions).
- Interesting well-established background (there have been 3 previous games using the setting over the course of the last 20+ years). Really nice looking traditional painted artwork and concepts.
- 6mm sci-fi is awesome, this a natural alternative to Epic for people who have collected that game, and other small scale sci-fi (such as Dirtside etc.) over the years.
Also, if you look at the website, it is loaded with resources and information, and is really well done, this is something that has had a serious amount of work put into it over the course of 5 years before it even went near Kickstarter, it is very much a traditional Kickstarter in terms of it is actually allowing a small company to produce a high quality product, and a lot of effort has gone into making it work.
Really glad to see the funding total for this going up, think the £48 starter boxes are a great idea, hopefully it can end on £40-£50k total.
I'm in for a quid and I'll most likely up my pledge after. As much aw I love Draconis Alba this is the 3rd reboot or attempt, and UW for did explode and fold spectacularly with no communication, so I want to get a small amount for painting and not go nuts as much as the game excites me.
I have been into all of the incarnations of the setting Zond.Not sure why but the Junkers have always appealed to me.Maybe it is because they seem like the under-dog just like the Imperial Guard in 40K.Which i loved too.
Once the KS has finished i too will be after more stuff i am sure.Pretty spent up at the moment.
Had to pledge at a level to get some of Wayne Englands art work.
RiTides wrote: I like the look of some models a lot, but quite a few of those starters only have 1 tank despite two factions! Overall what is shown looks quite infantry heavy for gameplay, and infantry is a bit like pins at this scale.
Not quite, you can play it Infantry heavy if you want.
Essentially, we've offered those, because someone said they wanted to be able to start playing for under £50. That's what we gave them. If you want to go vehicle heavy, then you could pledge a little higher and get yourself armoured platoons instead!
As for the fact it's 1 per starter, yeah, some factions mobilise their Infantry in vehicles, others don't. It's just the make-up of those particular platoons.
RiTides wrote: I like the look of some models a lot, but quite a few of those starters only have 1 tank despite two factions! Overall what is shown looks quite infantry heavy for gameplay, and infantry is a bit like pins at this scale.
Not quite, you can play it Infantry heavy if you want.
Essentially, we've offered those, because someone said they wanted to be able to start playing for under £50. That's what we gave them. If you want to go vehicle heavy, then you could pledge a little higher and get yourself armoured platoons instead!
As for the fact it's 1 per starter, yeah, some factions mobilise their Infantry in vehicles, others don't. It's just the make-up of those particular platoons.
Yuppers, variety and choice man. I'm going to try to jump back in on this. The 2 player starter is incredibly enticing. I'll simply add some of my favorite tanks on the side for a bit more to get started.
I've changed my mind. I want everything on this KS. but I'm so strapped for cash I'll probably end up getting nothing
The scenery is awesome, the aircraft are awesome, the gaming mats are cool, the Viper Wing are awesome, the Dune Raiders are awesome but only 62 hours left to make up my mind. I don't think I'll be in a much better situation when the pledge manager hits. If I don't back this now I'll be kicking myself later, but if I do back it... I'll still be kicking myself later.
There sure is a lot of free stuff but I think I'm just going to have to go in for a pound right now and decide later.
It is really hard to decide what to get with all of the cool units being unlocked Bocatt.If you can you should try to go for the £48 pledge and get a Company that way you get the free Commander vehicle and some freebies too.
I am trying to scrape more funds together to up my pledge yet again.
Thought you might like this piece of new's from Mark Brendan.
And if we go beyond £35k? What then? Well, don't worry, next in the pipeline will be Allied forces in the form of Gladiators for the Junkers, Saurian Federated States for the Viridians, Prosthenes for the Syntha, and Triads for VASA. Each set will feature an elite infantry or mounted infantry platoon, and a heavy platoon (won't say too much yet, but fans of big robots are going to be happy).
Sounds very interesting to me and i would love to see it reach this level.Even though i would most likely have to add to my pledge after the KS has finished.
It's been an interesting weekend on the Kickstarter, which on Saturday was looking a bit moribund, and had been sliding inexorably backwards, but then on Saturday evening it took off like a rocket with an influx of new backers. We're almost on £30k now and all the Recon platoons are unlocked and the first of the Air Superiority platoons. Just £5k and bit more, and we'll be able to release everything we planned for this Kickstarter.
So to recap, we've unlocked Sandrunners and Dune Raiders (Legionaries mounted on mutant camel beasts and quad bikers) for the Junkers, Saurian Riders and Jaguar Strike Craft (Colonial Marines mounted on dinosaurs, and hovercraft) for the Viridians, HK Scouts and Heavy platoons for the Syntha (grav bikes), and for VASA we have Archangels and Viper Wings (light jump troops and bike squadrons). All these Recon platoons have a special rule that allows them to be kept off the play area during deployment and come on at a flank in a subsequent turn. In addition to the Recon platoons, we've unlocked the first of the Air Superiority platoons, in the form of the Viridian Mustang Fighters.
And if we go beyond £35k? What then? Well, don't worry, next in the pipeline will be Allied forces in the form of Gladiators for the Junkers, Saurian Federated States for the Viridians, Prosthenes for the Syntha, and Triads for VASA. Each set will feature an elite infantry or mounted infantry platoon, and a heavy platoon (won't say too much yet, but fans of big robots are going to be happy).
-Mark Brendan
Okay, so onto the pictures!
Viridian Mustangs are the latest unlocks.
Red Vectors terrain is available to this project.
We've had a great crop of unlocks over the weekend: VASA Viper wings and Archangels, Viridians Saurain Riders and Jaguar Strike Craft, Syntha HK2000 Scouts and Junkers Dune Raider quads.
We are also very grateful to Spud from Chilling Gamers who's set up the "official" Age Of Tyrants Officially Group! Why not pop over and say hello.
More news from the front! Follow the link to hear about the Age of Tyrants expansion packs, as well as watch the Viridian Fighter being sculpted with a, quite frankly, awesome soundtrack!
Have to say those look fantastic, basing is very effective.
And cracking paint jobs considering the scale!
I think a lot of people get put off by the size of miniatures but as a long-term epic fan it's fairly straightforward to get some good results at the scale (in many ways actually easier).
Wow, those infantry look superb. I'm still very on the fence on whether to pledge or not. But looking at those infantry, I can definitely see myself dropping a big pledge and trying to start a group at my FLGS.
@Freytag93 if you are going to pledge big you can still get the earlybird options.I was at level 3 and would have got a black and white piece of art by Wayne England as a bonus at that level plus free stuff.Changed my pledge Yesterday to level 4 which gets me a black and white and colour pieces of art by Wayne England.Now they on there own would be quite a few £'s so it is a bonus to get.Plus the extra free stuff too .
Not far from unlocking lots more stuff including the free Tank crews.
Just wondering what you would go for?
Automatically Appended Next Post: 31 hours to go and more stretch goals have been added.Gladiator infantry and Gladiator Pit Beasts with more to come.Link below to the stretch goals.
Lots of people seem to be getting Junkers and i am one of them .
I'm putting together some junkers and viridians, enough to have two companies to game with( to try and get the guys I game with interested). It's really hard to choose what exact units to choose though. There are too many cool looking ones for my wallet to take!
Automatically Appended Next Post: Couple of things to update you on!!!
We have free sprues for pledges level 2 and up, these casualty sprues will make excellent suppression counters or simply to decorate your bases to give them that "battlefield" look.
We've added Romain Gaschet exceptional work to our online galleries.
This morning we unlocked the VASA Sky Hammers, next up Viridian Falcon Transports
We also have a painting tutorial for Viridian Marines by Giovanni Bosio which you can find on our site.
