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I love the sculpts and want to pledge for all the starter sets but the customs will kill it for me. Hope North America enjoys and I'll maybe pick up some when there's a UK distributor.

Pledged for a starter, but might get a second starter as well later on!

Is the rulebook going to be available in hard copy at some point? The miniatures look great!

Jumped in for a starter, although I know I'll being putting some add-ons in there before it closes.

I'm actually missing a rules only pledge if I'm being totes honest.

 BrookM wrote:
I'm actually missing a rules only pledge if I'm being totes honest.

Indeed. Although it may be in Airlock's interest to make the rules freely available, or at least a stripped down version of the book with just the rules.

If I am being totally honest, the pledge levels do seem a little steep considering that right now the starter sets only include 5 models and a .pdf rulebook (rules+scenarios does not two books make). Not that I don't want Counterblast to do well, mind, but it seems like the unlocks for the starter sets should really be part of the basic set at $55.

That said, I personally don't pledge for the rewards so it makes no nevermind to me. However, it may be that it is better for Airlock in the long run to keep the sets confined to 5 models if the campaign only gets to 60K. Again, I don't pledge for the rewards so if that's what it takes for Airlock to come out of the KS happy, healthy, and producing more Counterblast stuff, that's perfectly fine with me. But it might turn some backers off until those extra three models get unlocked.

If the rules are good, I'll gladly pay for them. At this stage I am personally more interested in the rules than most of the models on offer, not a big fan of the anthro scene.

Thanks for the great feedback! We have been pressed to get everything done by launch time so the offering may have seemed a little thin until I could get some of the graphics updated.

We will be posting our first update shortly and it will include a link to the CORE RULES PREVIEW[i] as a FREE PDF which you will be able to download right from the main project page!

The Core Rules PDF and Scenario Guide PDF have been added to the ADD-ons section. The means you can back at the SPACE CADET level and get the rules PDFs al'a carte like the other models.
The Prototype models have been added to to the ADD-Ons section.

The following Stretch Goals have been posted.

FUNDING GOAL - $60,000 - Selected backer levels will receive a FREE Science Officer H. Salinger model. She will also be available as an ADD-On for $10

$ ??? - REINFORCEMENTS - Each Faction Core Set will unlock an additional model for FREE!

$ ??? - Add-On - Each faction unlocks 1 new model as an ADD-ON.

$ ???- Add-On - Complete Rulebook Print & PDF available as an ADD-ON.

$ ??? - REINFORCEMENTS - Each Faction Core Set will unlock an additional model for FREE!

I will update those goal amounts as we get closer to funding.

Awesome, thanks!

MISSION UPDATE 1

IMPORTANT ADJUSTMENTS TO THE PROJECT

A new backer level called SPACE CADET DOWNLOAD has been posted. This is another a'la carte level for international backers to get the offered PDFs without being billed shipping for the pledge. Keep in mind that if you back at this level and select physical rewards we will not send them unless you make arrangements to cover shipping.

The printed copy of the Complete Rulebook is now available as a $25 ADD-ON to any pledge level. This includes a FREE copy of the Complete Rulebook PDF if you select this reward. The Core Rules PDF and Scenario Guide PDF have been combined into the Complete Rulebook PDF and is also listed in the in the ADD-ons section for $15.

The CORE RULES PREVIEW as a FREE PDF is now available to download right from the main project page and here! This Free Preview does not include the Scenarios, Campaign Rules, nor Faction Model Stats, and does not include everything needed to play.

The Prototype models have been added to to the ADD-Ons section.

The following Stretch Goals have been revised.

FUNDING GOAL - $60,000 - Selected backer levels will receive a FREE Science Officer H. Salinger model. You can also select her as an ADD-ON for an additional pledge amount of $10.

$65,000 - REINFORCEMENT - The Lancer Faction Core Set will unlock an additional HOpR Bot for FREE!

$70,000 - ADD-ON - The Edo Scutter will unlock as an available choice for the additional pledge amount of $12
$75,000 - REINFORCEMENT - The Neiran Empire Faction Core Set will unlock an additional Clansister model for FREE!
$80,000 - ADD-ON - The GDF Combot will unlock as an available choice for the additional pledge amount shown!
$85,000 - REINFORCEMENT - The Mekkus Faction Core Set will unlock an additional Defender model for FREE!

AND MORE . . . !

I've read through the core rules .pdf a couple of times now and it's a really nice system. Fairly easy to get to grips with but plenty deep enough. Campaigns should be a blast!

Lots of sweet new add-ones to pick from too. I'm especially liking the physical rulebook option. Nothing beats that new book smell!

Thanks Alex! We appreciate the feedback!

No problem!

I'm looking forward to finding out what the GDF Combot looks like. Something comparable to the Edo Scutter?

Oh dear - https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/airlockgames/counterblast-adventure-battle-game/posts/754345

HANG IN THERE!

First of all, regardless of how this turns out, We want to go on record and thank you all very, very much for your comments, suggestions, advice, etc., and support. It is much appreciated!!! Ya'll are awesome!!!

The momentum on the current project has clearly stalled but we are not abandoning hope! The staff here at the Bomb Factory has been burning the candle at both ends along with the midnight oil to crunch numbers and retool the entire project. But to do that we would have to close the current project.

With a LOWER INITIAL FUNDING GOAL, an ALL NEW BUILD of the BACKER REWARD LEVELS with MORE MINIS per backer level, a PRINTED RULEBOOK right from the start, additional BACKER LEVELS and many more options to customize your support of the Counterblast Adventure Battle Game.

it will take a couple of days to rework some stuff and complete the approval on it but we have listened to your suggestions and implemented as many as were feasible.

We understand many of you will jump ship in anticipation of migrating to the new project. We ask that you maintain your current backer status in oder to receive the updates from this project announcing the new version!

We will be posting another update soon covering all the details about migrating current backers to the new project. We will also have an an updated preview of the new project to give you an idea of what it will look before it launches.

Again, thanks very much for hanging in their with us! We will keep you posted!

The Counterblast Team

I think it's a good thing. They will lose some backers along the way, but a new and more focused campaign with goals that are much easier to achieve will likely do much better than the campaign as it is right now.

I've been talking over PMs about this project, but hadn't piped up lest I be "that guy", but it looks like the campaign creators have cottoned onto what I intuited some time ago. So, here are my thoughts on this project, in no particular order;

The Funding point is wildly higher then contemporaneous campaigns:
$60,000? For some perspective, that's twice the initial funding goal of Shadows of Brimstone, almost twice the cost of KD:M, and $10,000 more then the initial funding goals ($50,000) of Deadzone, Mars Attacks and Wrath of Kings.

This isn't to devolve into a question of 'How can they do so much more with so much less?", rather my point is to note that by having a lower stretch goal, in each case they were able to more quickly go from the uncertainty of "funding" into the emotionally rewarding period of meeting and adding stretch goals. As can be seen here, being unable to meet the initial funding goal quickly means that the interregnum between opening burst and final scramble is even more uneventful.

The Rewards...
To be blunt, the value of the deal presented is... perplexing. The faction starters are running roughly the retail price of an Infinity starter/Sectoral pack, but even the Early Birds are a six-month delay. There is an adage in accounting: Money today is worth more then Money Tomorrow. So yes, there are some extra fillips (2 LEs and a PDF of the rules), but paying six-months ahead of time...

It's also worth pointing out that two of the four faction starters (Edo and GDF) initially consist of a single leader model and two pairs of repeated models. I don't pretend to understand what Airlock Games' manufacturing, pricing or logistics are like: but, I do know what competing metal models are going for. The price point, even if one is buying during the KS campaign, for this game seems to be very much on the boutique end of pricing for metal models.

That's probably enough to start. Let me say that there are some very interesting ideas on display here and I wish Patrick and his team all the best, but I'm honestly uncertain that this project can be hammered into the mold of other six-figure-plus campaigns, which seemed to be the initial intent.

Making a game is always going to be harder than just making minis,

You need more (paid) talent to design the game which is tricky if you don't have a credit line to cover any shortfall in the target

And as soon as you get factions backers will get upset if they don't see their faction getting some love in the near future

And you'll put off those who don't want to pay for 'unwanted' rules unless you have a minis only pledge, but as soon as you do you've got to fewer people actually paying for the rules

hopefully Patrick & Co can find a way to turn this around (launch with 2 factions & save the rest for another KS if nessesary?), but it is a tricky one

I like the ruleset, but have just lost the enthusiasm for this project that I had before it launched.

 Alex C wrote:
I like the ruleset, but have just lost the enthusiasm for this project that I had before it launched.

Yea, I'm out. And I don't think I'll be backing the next one. My enthusiasm has waned. I like the work Airlock is doing, but it doesn't seem to me like it is being handled well, and I don't love it enough to throw money at it just 'cause. That project was going to fund. Even at 60K it was going to fund. Maybe not much more than 60, but if their goal is to run a blockbuster campaign instead of getting the game off to a start I'm done.

I'm really sorry to hear how quickly some of you have turned on the project. We didn't build the initial project to be some "blockbuster runaway" event. We were very fearful we would not be able to recoup the costs we have already invested in the project. We are not giant companies with established resources and target audiences. That was why the goal was set as high as it was.

I'm going to repost a my reply in the comments section from earlier but I don't know if will do much good.

"how are you able to afford to cut required funding in half?"
We're really not. The new build doesn't include a lot of the perks we were going to drop into the backer levels along the way nor does it cover compensation for the months of work the team has already put into the project or any of the capital we have already spent on launching it. So the $20k+ we have already spent on art, advertising, etc. is just a write-off. This just covers producing the new models and printing the book. That means that the 24 sculpts that I have already completed for this project I will not get paid for. And this is what I do for a living. So I would basically be donating the sculpts to the project. It would be the equivalent of you boss coming to you and saying, “Hey, we have anew project. We can’t afford to fund it so we’ll need for you to work for free one week a month for the next three months.”

 Sculptdude wrote:
I'm really sorry to hear how quickly some of you have turned on the project. We didn't build the initial project to be some "blockbuster runaway" event. We were very fearful we would not be able to recoup the costs we have already invested in the project. We are not giant companies with established resources and target audiences. That was why the goal was set as high as it was.

I'm going to repost a my reply in the comments section from earlier but I don't know if will do much good.

"how are you able to afford to cut required funding in half?"
We're really not. The new build doesn't include a lot of the perks we were going to drop into the backer levels along the way nor does it cover compensation for the months of work the team has already put into the project or any of the capital we have already spent on launching it. So the $20k+ we have already spent on art, advertising, etc. is just a write-off. This just covers producing the new models and printing the book. That means that the 24 sculpts that I have already completed for this project I will not get paid for. And this is what I do for a living. So I would basically be donating the sculpts to the project. It would be the equivalent of you boss coming to you and saying, “Hey, we have anew project. We can’t afford to fund it so we’ll need for you to work for free one week a month for the next three months.”

I get the high goal. What I don't get is why you pulled out of a campaign with 30k of 60k funded and 28 days to go. No, you don't get my backing again. That project was in all likelihood going to fund, and if it didn't you could try again. Instead, you pulled out without giving it a chance. What am I supposed to expect, that you thought you couldn't raise another 30 grand in 28 days? If you're not willing to commit to the project, you can get my money via retail, not up front with me shouldering your risk.

There are more deserving projects on Kickstarter.

weeble1000 wrote:I get the high goal. What I don't get is why you pulled out of a campaign with 30k of 60k funded and 28 days to go. No, you don't get my backing again. That project was in all likelihood going to fund, and if it didn't you could try again.

First of all, I haven't "pulled out". We ARE trying again. Like Necros and Buzzsaw mentioned, a lot of backers have been suggesting ways to restructure the backer levels to add value to what is offered in the Core Sets and the rulebook. Unfortunately the way Kickstarter works is that we cannot edit the backer levels nor the the funding goal once the project is launched. Once a reward has been selected by at least one backer only the quantity can be modified.

In order to do that, we have to launch another project with the corrected levels in place. It is in no way abandoning the material. It’s actually quite the opposite.

In all likelihood, the way it is structured now, it is not going to fund because there are not enough backers willing to contribute to the project right now the way it is laid out. If you are just going by the “trending” graph on Kicktraq, that will continue to drop daily as time increases but the funding amount does not. I don’t think it’s fair to our backers to make them languish for a month only to have the project not fund at the end. That is why we have scaled back our initial offering to mainly the rulebook and initial starting miniatures.

I would rather see the project fund early, even if we offered no stretch goals, secure in the fact that the material was going to get made that was funded, rather than waiting a month with only half of the funds raised and get to produce nothing at the end of it.

weeble1000 wrote:Instead, you pulled out without giving it a chance. What am I supposed to expect, that you thought you couldn't raise another 30 grand in 28 days? If you're not willing to commit to the project, you can get my money via retail, not up front with me shouldering your risk.

We did give it a chance by launching it. I AM willing to commit to the project, by addressing your concerns, spending time replying to this post, rebuilding all of the graphics and restructuring the funding project so that it DOES fund, doing additional sculpts I won’t get paid for, and generally sinking more of my effort into figuring out a way that we can make this game happen. Wednesday, Bret, Vicky and I met for six hours just to discuss how we could HELP the game and find a way to get it made for the people who wanted it.

weeble1000 wrote:There are more deserving projects on Kickstarter.

That may be the case. But can you explain how the merit of the material has changed simply because we want to restructure the funding project to add value to it? Has the writing or rules changed somehow? Is the sculpting less quality now? Have the art or designs changed? It evidently hasn’t because you feel willing to purchase it retail afterwards.

I can’t see how pledging to a project only to have it not fund at the end is shouldering ANY risk. If it doesn’t fund, you aren’t billed and the project goes away and doesn’t get made. Our track record shows that if it DOES fund, you will get your stuff.

How is that a bad thing?

I'm happy to wait for a restructured relaunch. It's been mentioned before how KS campaigns can't be adjusted after launch, so it makes sense to restart if they want to change the structure of the pledges. Been very happy with previous campaigns run by Patrick, and see nothing to make me think this one will be any different - just maybe a bit later than expected

I'm not seeing the reason for the negative vibes, Moriarity.

Project looks good to me, eitherway. Looking at some of the talent here, as well? you KNOW the things going to work out, it just takes the proper amount of scratch to make it happen.

Going to let the dust settle a bit, but I'll be getting in on them, as well.

Still love those figures.

They've posted on the reaper Forum that they plan to re-launch on Monday

Relaunched: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/bombshellminis/counterblast-miniatures-game

 Cyporiean wrote:
Relaunched: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/bombshellminis/counterblast-miniatures-game

You beat me to it!

EEK.. I almost missed the early bird.

The variable shipping costs for international backers could be a bit sucky.

Unfortunately Drake and Dreadball have all my monies now. Good luck with the relaunch though!