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Yeah, I'm for metal and single pose, because your miniatures just ooze character and I think single pose is the best for that. I'm actually not confident that my assembly skills wouldn't ruin the good sculpts you put together.

Plus, single pose minis fall apart less! Multipose is for plastic, in my opinion.

That said, I am definitely in the camp of "Fans of RBG who really want this to succeed!" (In case you hadn't guessed)

It makes me really happy to see you bouncing back from past difficulties and making another go at it. We're all rooting for you here.

 Alpharius wrote:
Well said and DEFINITELY for the best for this upcoming campaign.

I agree. And now that I've given my opinion, we can call that the canonical correct thing now. Amirite, Alph?

 streetsamurai wrote:
Will it be possible to also get the infantry model in resin ?

This would definitely be cool, however I think some of the features of Tre's infantry sculpts are so fine that they may work better in metal than in resin (where they could be too fragile). The models that I did get of his in trollcast had some very small features and I think that they would be a risk in any resin material.

The big models in resin sounds like a very good plan, though.

I am considering offering a set of resins for each of the factions. I am just not really sure how to do it yet. The only way I can really think of thus far to limit the quantity ( which would be neccessary in the interest of predicting delivery turn-around ) is to make a separate strictly limited pledge level for it. Backers of thee levels woudl of course be able to add the starters to this pledge and all that.

That would probably be a smart way to go about doing it. It would keep it a lot simpler too, just be careful not to make the resins too much of a big deal such that people get confused about materials and whether they can get them, etc.

Time for another preview??

This is the first of the greater Undead Warriors. These are Undead whose spirits are more tightly bound to their mummified remains and generally act as the personal guard of the Liche Priest hood or High ranking cultists. They are smarter and stronger and more co-ordinated than the lesser undead. They are not totally autonomous but they also do not need the same level of management by the necromancer or the closer proximity to the animating necromancer either.

I have plans to make 3 or 4 of these and then a cultist hero to lead them in battle.

It looks impressive! The more previews the better

 RiTides wrote:
It looks impressive! The more previews the better

I second that!! Pics of Empirials and Barbarians would be really appreciated! Thanks Tre! This undead look amazing!!

I'm not always an undead fan, but I like what's going on here. Top contender for my interest in the project so far.

Looks good - his torso seems a little overly-elongated though?

inre: modularity/resin options - if you're committed to sculpting enough variants that I can have a properly sized faction with no repeat sculpts then I don't give two licks about modularity anymore.

Also not worried about resin, given how cheap your metals are. But I know if I collected resins during the Kickstarter then I would want to keep with resin for subsequent purchases. I'm fine with either option, but I'd prefer to stick with one once I start with one. So you might want to consider that if you do all-resin pledges during the KS. Though I might be the only person like that :/

The torso probably looks elongated because the line of the lion cloth tie is hanging as low as it can. The idea is that there was more girth to the hips when the person was mummified. Now his muscles have shriveled quirtre a bti and thus his garment hangs lower on his hips. At least that was the idea anyway.

I am goign to hold off on pics of the Empirials until I know whether or not they are going in to the KS campaign. I am tempted to show them off but I think I may have already ruined too much of the suspense. I will be previewing the Barbarians soon though.

Modularity. Well the experiemtn thus far seems to have worked btu I need to explore it abti further to really know whether or nto it will work as mroe options are added on.

The resins in the campaign will be a strictly limited thing, and there won't be resin LEs for every item funded. They will come with all the bells and whistles you might expect from LE items though; fancy box, art work, authenticity cards, etc.

Back to working on the rules now!

Hi Tre,

I'd personally love to see a sculpting video/tutorial on some of these pieces- that alone would be worthy of a kickstarter.
Are these Procreate? Inspirational work- looking forward to seeing more.

Tre, are you planning to release the rules 'as is' or will backers be part of some sort of beta testing?

Just to note: I find knowing what I can buy before I buy plenty suspenseful! Show me the barbarian range now and tell me I can buy them in X days, and I will be up that morning, credit card in hand hitting F5 as fast as I can.

Just sayin

hah hah Wehrkind. Not to worry there will be previews of the barbarians before th launch.

Plastic Trees....... The rules will be released in beta phase and the intent is to refine the rules as needed with the direct feedback from the testers. This is not to say that the game will be design by committee. There will be certain mehcanisms that won;t change, and the fluff certainly won;t change, but I do want everyone's feedback on the rules and how they work, whether or not they are fun or not fun, what is broken and needs fixing, what is clunky and needs refining, what is superflous and needs tossing out etc. I want players to feel liek they did actually have a direct influence on the development of the rules btu I also have a particular target in mind that I want to hit.

It the game just completely sucks then I will toss it out and go back to work makign whatever changes need be made to make the game great. Or I will hire some professional help ( KS funds allowing ) to make a great game.

My vision for the game is to do something that I do not see much of in table top gaming. It seems to me that for the most part players just move their models tot he center of the space and then roll dice until only one model is left.

I want to produce a table top game that feels a kin to a Chess game where every move counts and strategy plays a vital role but a game that also maintains a high level cinematic action, fast pacing, and just enough chance to keep everyone guessing.

I have never liked the number of checks that are involved in most games or the amount of back and forth that seems intrinsic to table top gaming. In this game almost every test si resolved in one roll for both sides. All of the pertinent adjustments are factored in to that single roll and the results are the results. Models change position constantly through play both for the sake of advantage and as the result of the course of the action. Position plays a role in the results of a lot of tests and terrain features are as important to melee as it is to ranged combat tests.

Magic is powerful and difficult to use. Magic use can also be just as dangerous for the caster as it can be for the target. The more powerful the magic the more dangerous to everyone it is. The more often a magic user casts spells the more likely it becomes that something disastrous will occur. Some actors can be affected simply by the presence of magic to positive or negative ends. Some of them have random reactions to magic.

Anyway, I think I have said enough for now on the rules. Got to get back to work. I have a LOT of packign and shipping to do so that I can get back to sculpting and writing!

 tre manor wrote:

Magic is powerful and difficult to use. Magic use can also be just as dangerous for the caster as it can be for the target. The more powerful the magic the more dangerous to everyone it is. The more often a magic user casts spells the more likely it becomes that something disastrous will occur. Some actors can be affected simply by the presence of magic to positive or negative ends. Some of them have random reactions to magic.

If I can give some pre-beta feed back, be really, really careful with this. One of my biggest complaints with WHFB is the magic system, in that you can't rely on it for small effects, and the big effects are so powerful tend to end the game, one way or the other. It forces you to take an expensive caster, but half the time the caster won't do what you want, or even anything interesting. Basically the magic system is so random and dangerous it just stops being fun, and you can't even squeeze many good combos out of it because of the bloody random spell generation and never knowing if your spell will go off or be blocked. Warmachine has a much nicer system in that spells just work, but you might have to make attack rolls or put yourself in a bad position to use them.

Just a suggestion. I know lots of people that really loath the current WHFB magic rules, so steering clear of that might be a good plan. Some randomness is probably ok, but players need to feel a fair bit of control and not like the whole game comes down to the result of a single die roll in the middle of turn two.

Ugh I get frustrated just thinking of some of the games I have played where after 45 minutes of set up the game was decided by a mage blowing themselves and their unit up, largely before a blow was struck.

I know exactly what you mean.

In this system Magic Users are vital to every force. They can cast small effect " spells " or big effect " spells ". Teh small effect spells are less dangerous and easier / faster to cast. the bigger the effect the more magical energy needed so they tend to take longer, require more specific circumstances, and pose a bigger threat if something goes wrong. Not every casting requires a check for miss firing. Sometimes a miss fire can be the result of direct meddling by another caster or intervention from some other source.

Small effect spells are pretty much a guaranteed effect everytime they are used. Tragets might be able to mitigate the effect to some degree based on their attributes or other elements of their character, but for the most part spells always just work.

Big effect spells can be interrupted during their casting btu doing so is very dangerous for everyone involved because it can create disastrous area of effect effects or can create other dangers.

Big effect spells can also go wrong on their own based on a number of other factors that I do not want to go in to too much just yet. rest assured using a Magic user will be fun and keep gameplay tense.

You will HAVE to use magic regularly throughout game play or one reason or another. It is part of the character of the setting.

You won't be popping off spells left right and center or relying on magic solely for success but it will play an integral role in every force the same as melee fighters and ranged support troops and champions. You will have to make a lot of tactical decisions with your magic use because you will never be able to cover all the bases you need to cover with every decision / action.

Ok, that sounds better then. If I can choose when to take risks that makes it a lot more sound, and letting little buffs and such always work gives the lads something to do other than wait to accidentally explode

I am really interested to see how your do champions etc too. I have been noodling over that a good bit in the home brew Jin and I have been working on. Seems like a super tough thing to really get right balance wise in a mass combat game.

Yep the champs are going to be an issue for testing. They are nto so much an issue if the numbers of the opposing warband are greater than what is typically a skirmish sized game. But being that I want to try to keep the model count conservative then I need to owkr on the Champs a bit better.

Hopefully the champions wont be restricted to simply attacks, and they'll have a few tricks that makes playing them fun

Its been too quiet in here - how about another Sneak Peek Tre?

Oooh oooh! Barbarians! YEA! Especially as I just convinced myself I don't want to afford the Darklands Kickstarter, so I am awash with theoretical funds for future projects. If they involve cool Celtic or Pictish style barbarian things.

Or Grecian style Dwarves. And centaurs. And boobs. I have broad interests.

Well, there will nto be any Celtic or Pictish style barbarians.

It is difficult to quantify the character of the world I am building by pointing out specific real world allegories and comparisons. There are inspirations from almost every ancient culture in the known world BUT saying that the barbarians are Celtic or Zulu or Aztec would not be any more accurate than saying they are NOT Celtic , Zulu, or Aztec. I am drawing inspiration from many sources and trying to create something totally fresh and new.

That said there definitely is an overall guiding theme of the world. I guess " Ancient Distopia " is the best way to describe it. Suffice it to say that you will see elements of many familiar mythos combined in strange ways combined with elements of unfamiliar mythos.............

I will try to get a new preview up sometime today.

"I will try to get a new preview up sometime today."

That is pretty close to what we want to hear, right behind "Here are some new previews!"

 Wehrkind wrote:
"I will try to get a new preview up sometime today."

That is pretty close to what we want to hear, right behind "Here are some new previews!"

Actually I'd like to hear 'And the kickstarter is live!'

Looking forward to the previews!

"And I am offering 75% off to backers!"

You know, if we are dreaming out loud

This "world" needs to be actually "built" --- meaning written down and recorded for all to see, perhaps backed up by some concept art... not just locked inside your mind Tre

I have notes scattered over 100's of spiral bound books written over the past 19 years. I am trying to get it all together now. I think this will be a very fluff driven effort. I think that the rules will be popular once they are refined and the miniatures are certainly a huge element as well btu it is the fluff that was my first labour of love with this. I am actually kind fo antsy to get it out there finally.

Yes, getting it out there (in book form? or just on the web / in a pdf?) is vital to making this a success, and would be a really good idea imo

I woudl liek to write a series of books but it depends upon the actual success of the miniatures. There will be some accompanying fluff pieces with the KS campaign. One for each faction with some over arcing narrative connecting them together.