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Just saw this on Beast of war anyone know this?
Aethersteel is a 28mm miniatures game that combines the strategy of a wargame with the customization and excitement of a card game.

Kickstarter link
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/aethersteel/aethersteel?ref=nav_search

https://d2pq0u4uni88oo.cloudfront.net/projects/1792724/video-539582-h264_high.mp4



he story of Aethersteel begins with its gods known as Aeons. Each Aeon began with an identical copy of the same world where they shaped their own perfect race to prove who was superior among them. However, something went terribly wrong and waygates were opened between each of the Aeon's worlds. Fearful of the waygates, each world armed themselves in unique ways to protect its citizens. In the game of Aethersteel, you get to take control of an Aeon and command your army to lead them to victory!

ABOUT THE GAME

Aethersteel is a skirmish-style, tabletop wargame set in a lore rich world. Aethesteel fluidly mixes 28mm miniatures combat with an exciting interactive card game. The cards are available in fixed distribution so there are no booster packs.



In the game of Aethersteel, you take on the role of an Aeon using your might to both empower your followers and to smite your opponents. Currently there are two Aeons that a player can choose from:

Krath is the Aeon of War, Conquest, and Honor and he fearlessly leads his Legion into battle. The Legion are a race of elite humans who mix early 20th century technology with ancient martial techniques. Although they might be armed only with a simple rifle, the wisest remember that every part of a legion soldier is a deadly weapon.

Skyrus is the Aeon of Science, Beauty, and Progress and she intelligently leads her Teknocrats on their quest for discovery. The Teknocrats are a race of scientifically advanced humans who have devoted their resources to unlocking the secrets of the universe. One day, they hope to unlock the secrets of the Aeons themselves.

The game supplies you with unit reference cards so all of the games relevant information is right at your fingertips. There is no need for roster printouts or stacks of rulebooks. The game also supplies you with a customizable Aeon deck representing your Aeon powers. These cards allow you to augment your soldiers in order to swing the battle in your favor.



Learn more about our gameplay in the video below:




ARMIES

The Legion



The Legion are the warrior race loyal to the Aeon Krath, Aeon of War, Conquest, and Honor. As a people, they believe that the only way to know your limits is to challenge yourself and that there is no greater challenge than that of war. Despite centuries of constant fighting, a strict code of honor has prevented them from blasting themselves into oblivion. Because of this, the arms and armor of wars past have been blended together into their current fighting style.

The Legion are vicious on the battlefield, attacking first and rushing their opponent with what might be considered reckless abandon. They fight with rifles and sub-machine guns, but also swords, hammers and, on occasion, their very fists. Their play style is very fast, getting into the opponent's face quickly and hitting them hard.

The Aeon deck for the Legion focuses on taking initiative and controlling movement on the game board. The goal being either to advance your own units quickly or to prevent your opponent from getting away. Once the Legion player gets into position they can supplement their power with a brutal assortment of cards that can do anything from granting bonus attacks to adding extra firepower.

The Teknocrats



The Teknocrats operate under the philosophy that, "the ends justify the means." Their loyalty to the Aeon Skyrus, Aeon of Science, Beauty, and Progress, has caused them to seek technological advancement at any cost. They have sapped every possible resource from their world in a brutal corporate race to market. Surrounded by the most advanced equipment available, the Teknocrats find the laws of the universe as mere hurdles in their path.

On the battlefield, the Teknocrats use their technological advancement to punish their enemies. Be it by hurling dozens of expendable war-machines into their ranks or by crushing them under their cutting edge powered armor. A Teknocrat army can endure hellish punishment and deliver it right back.

The Aeon deck for the Teknocrats focuses on durability and innovation. They combine heavy armor with unique contraptions. Against the Teknocrat army, no position on the battlefield is safe for long and things are rarely exactly as they seem.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
Miniatures look retro but a little simplistic, some of the armored suits look interesting, but i think the painting detracts from the miniatures

Cool balls.

The floaty balls are the big winner in my eyes.

There are modifiers to the modifiers to the modifiers...wow, no thank you.

I saw them at Origins Game Fair, but since I was working I didn't get a chance to check them out. I like the Skirmish Bot and that the miniatures have a retro feel.

Unfortunately the deterrent was the cost. I can't justify and figure out how 14 miniatures comes to a $100 cost. I'm not sure what the miniatures are made of, but even if they were resin, metal or plastic none of it matches up with the cost.

 Dark Severance wrote:
I saw them at Origins Game Fair, but since I was working I didn't get a chance to check them out. I like the Skirmish Bot and that the miniatures have a retro feel.

Unfortunately the deterrent was the cost. I can't justify and figure out how 14 miniatures comes to a $100 cost. I'm not sure what the miniatures are made of, but even if they were resin, metal or plastic none of it matches up with the cost.

That's a little stiff for a squad-based game with 5 model units, but that's about $7/model. Pretty standard for metal fantasy models. Was it a starter set that also came with cards?

$100 is also pretty standard for a single player to have enough models to play a 'proper' game, or for two players to have enough models for a small game.

Operation: Icestorm, for example, includes 14 models at a $100 price tag.

weeble1000 wrote:
That's a little stiff for a squad-based game with 5 model units, but that's about $7/model. Pretty standard for metal fantasy models. Was it a starter set that also came with cards?

$100 is also pretty standard for a single player to have enough models to play a 'proper' game, or for two players to have enough models for a small game.

Operation: Icestorm, for example, includes 14 models at a $100 price tag.

That is true to a degree when you break down the price point per miniature. Aether does come with cards but not enough to justify the higher cost considering what Operation Icestorm had in the box. Icestorm technically only cost $90 but MSRP was higher so I guess it depends on when and where you get it. It came with enough for 2 players to play, everything needed with terrain that you can buy the box and play. Yes you'd need to purchase a few more to play at a 300 point level, but you were able to play immediately without anything further.

The Starter for Aether is only enough for one player, so to introduce a second player then it would be $200 at the very least. The other issue is that I can use Infinity miniatures for other games as the look can fit in with them. Aether although interesting in look, makes them harder to find a secondary use for them other than maybe the droids.

 Dark Severance wrote:
That is true to a degree when you break down the price point per miniature. Aether does come with cards but not enough to justify the higher cost considering what Operation Icestorm had in the box. Icestorm technically only cost $90 but MSRP was higher so I guess it depends on when and where you get it. It came with enough for 2 players to play, everything needed with terrain that you can buy the box and play. Yes you'd need to purchase a few more to play at a 300 point level, but you were able to play immediately without anything further.

The Starter for Aether is only enough for one player, so to introduce a second player then it would be $200 at the very least. The other issue is that I can use Infinity miniatures for other games as the look can fit in with them. Aether although interesting in look, makes them harder to find a secondary use for them other than maybe the droids.

As a counterpoint, Icestorm is an introductory product from an established company that is offering a discount on the contents of the starter set. Purchased individually, the set includes a Nomads starter set and a PanO starter set, each 40 euros (and a slight discount over purchasing the contents individually even considering the loss of one troop from the basic unit), plus two exclusive models which are of a type that carries a 11.25 euro price tag from Corvus Belli.

In short, the models alone, purchased individually (if they were all available) would top the MSRP of Icestorm even taking into account the extant discount on the faction starter set. All that other stuff is cream on the top intended to draw in new customers.

In contrast to Corvus Belli, Aether isn't in a position to be heavily discounting a starter set, but even so, you are still getting pewter models at roughly $7/model even if you set everything else on fire. Compared to the market as it exists, that's pretty well par for the course. And if you buy into Infinity deeper than Icestorm, the retail prices are going to pinch if you are expecting a price per model commensurate with the box set.

That said, as I mentioned initially, the price per model is a little stiff given the number of models on the table, which seems to be above Infinity and closer to games with pewter models that retail for around $5/model, e.g. Empire of the Dead, Quar, etc. Even so, One player sets that offer a 'complete' army tend to clock in at around $100, as do most two-player sets that offer 'incomplete' armies.

Slice it whichever way you like, the prices Aether is offering are objectively well in line with the market. I'm not saying that this isn't cause to complain. I'm merely suggesting that you aren't going to get much of a better deal on a similar product no matter where you go.

weeble1000 wrote:
As a counterpoint, Icestorm is an introductory product from an established company that is offering a discount on the contents of the starter set.

That is true, although I wasn't the one that brought up Operation Icestorm to use as a comparison. Although they don't say they are metal miniatures, at least that I can see on the KS page, but given the analysis it definitely looks like they are going to be metal. It would seem that resin would give a better price currently but is a bit more labor intensive. I guess it comes down to who is doing their casting.

 Dark Severance wrote:

weeble1000 wrote:
As a counterpoint, Icestorm is an introductory product from an established company that is offering a discount on the contents of the starter set.

That is true, although I wasn't the one that brought up Operation Icestorm to use as a comparison. Although they don't say they are metal miniatures, at least that I can see on the KS page, but given the analysis it definitely looks like they are going to be metal. It would seem that resin would give a better price currently but is a bit more labor intensive. I guess it comes down to who is doing their casting.

It is a convenient and appropriate example of a starter set that clocks in at a similar price point with exactly the same model count. If you only care about the metal, then the products are about exactly the same price. The comparison is actually more favorable to the value proposition of Aether given that the 'off the shelf' cost of the Icestorm models is in line with the average Infinity model price of approximately $10/model.

I presumed they were metal based purely on the price and the painted models. They look like spincast pewter. But you make a very good point. The material used is conjecture on my part.

That said, resin models would tend to have an even higher price per model, lol, for reasons that are related to market perception for the most part. They are more labor intensive to produce, but the material costs are lower. If you are contracting out the casting, spincast pewter might actually be less expensive. I'm not sure. I haven't priced out the contract rates for resin production.

The broader point is that Aether isn't really out of line with the market in terms of price. Quality, value, aesthetics, those are more subjective. Metal can be really jarring in terms of price if you are used to games with cheaper per model prices, or are buying up models in a piecemeal manner as opposed to a big set all in one go. Building an army out of metal can be really expensive. The prices seem to work out best when customers can pick up a few models here and that tend to have a lot of gameplay value. Privateer's Warcasters are a great example as you cna pick up a new warcaster, throw it in with your extant collection of models, and significantly alter your gameplay experience.

I personally think this is why unit-based games tend to hover around a $5/model price point in metal, or stick to restic/plastic if the expected volumes are high enough. Historical metals tend to be particularly cheap at around $1-$3 per model, but then the sculpt quality is lower and you get far more repeat sculpts in an army/unit.

When volume goes up, price can come down. Tin is a commodity, so it literally just costs what it costs the day you buy it, and it isn't terribly cheap. That said, a human-sized ~30mm model might be around a half ounce of pewter, which would be about 50 cents if you assume some material loss in the production process. So the COGS can be pretty low, but you need unit sales to offset development costs. Skirmish games that avoid repeat sculpts can suffer from pretty low unit sales on individual sculpts, which means that the retail price needs to be pretty high.

Starter boxes can have a lower price per model because you can expect higher unit sales on the included models. Folks who want to buy a two player starter set for Infinity have to by the Icestorm models.

weeble1000 wrote:
If you are contracting out the casting, spincast pewter might actually be less expensive. I'm not sure. I haven't priced out the contract rates for resin production.

Since we have been determining what we want to do in-house vs having someone else deal with casting, initially we have been looking at contracting out casting. We were going to handle it in-house but it leaves us better prepared to deal with other issues, while ensuring that we don't have to deal with casting issues for a larger batch. Afterwards we'll continue casting in-house. Currently resin is cheaper than metal for 32mm miniatures that we are looking at, however to be fair that is comparing metal casting in the US compared to resin casting in EU. I have not checked pricing for metal though in the EU as at the time I was trying to keep things domestic in the US but due to trying to keep costs down, without going overseas to China, we've started looking at EU casters.

I agree with DS if the 100$ would have got you both armies it would have been a good deal but 100$ for half a game?

Also Icestorm is 2 factions, where the kickstarter is $100 for 1 faction.

Also since I would want the Blasted Ones, it would be 150 for that.

It really is a solid game, and the card decks and the gameplay actually make the expense worth it. The cost becomes an issue when you realize it is only 1 army.

I have a hard enough time finding an opponent for games I've kickstarted when I am supplying both our armies. Only having 1 army makes it even harder to find an opponent for such a new game.

So that is it for the price complains from me, now the positive. I got to Play this at Origins this past weekend and really enjoyed it

The Factions - They really do feel different from each other especially when the aether deacks are added

Combat - Both different and familliar at the same time. the different attack types (Combat, Tech ect...) do add some strategy to the game, making which units you choose to attack matter more.

The Models - Plain, but very differnt from each other. I really do love the look of the Blasted Ones Though

The Card mechanic - Really keeps the games moving, and gives you that feeling of pulling off epic combos.

It really is a good game

Digclaw,

What did you think of the modifiers? It seemed to me from the gameplay video that there was a lot of back and forth addition and subtraction requiring references to both players' cards before you could roll dice.

Combat plus this from this card minus your combat, but wait I switched the def to your whatever, so my TN is 4, not 2. But I played my card that adds 2 to that stat, see. Okay, so I'm rolling for...wait, my stat 3 plus 2 minus your other stat 2 plus
2...that's 1. So I'll burn these cards to give me another bonus annnnnnnd TN 3! Okay. I rolled two successes. Now let's calculate your save...

weeble1000 wrote:
Digclaw,

What did you think of the modifiers? It seemed to me from the gameplay video that there was a lot of back and forth addition and subtraction requiring references to both players' cards before you could roll dice.

Combat plus this from this card minus your combat, but wait I switched the def to your whatever, so my TN is 4, not 2. But I played my card that adds 2 to that stat, see. Okay, so I'm rolling for...wait, my stat 3 plus 2 minus your other stat 2 plus
2...that's 1. So I'll burn these cards to give me another bonus annnnnnnd TN 3! Okay. I rolled two successes. Now let's calculate your save...

It was actually natural enough we really didn't think too much about it. The modifiers are mostly generic + or - so even if you change the target or attacking stat, it still gets the modifier.
Now there is the part where some of the effects only change it to that stat for attack and not the target, but it really didn't slow things down.

do loke will stat now attacks, but the target is still combat, that sort of thing, but you would still get your plus 2 to attack from another card.

The full game I played fell into such a stalemate because of dice rolls my opponent had to concede, but I couldn''t kill his archon, technocrats really can stack the armor. But I really enjoyed using the Legion. One of my friends got to use the Mage Faction, they play even more different.

The Gameplay really does speak for this game.

Hey Guys,
I am the game designer for Aethersteel here to try answering some of your questions.

Models: The models are metal and made in America. That unfortunately makes them expensive and we are actively researching ways to keep our costs down. The game also comes with a full card deck for the faction and unit reference cards for all the models.

Modifiers: The gameplay video unfortunately shows a rather complex example trying to explain the card interaction. Each player only gets 7 cards per round to divide up among all their units. Playing addition cards on the same unit causes you to discard cards. So really powering up a unit will cost you all the cards in your hand, leaving no cards for any other units.
The result of this is that units usually only have 1 card on them at time. So usually the math tends to be pretty easy. I just taught the game to two 10 year olds who had no trouble with any of the math in the game.

Cost: You do not need to buy the miniatures to play the game, there is a cheaper option to only buy the cards (which are necessary to play). $65 gets you the rulebook and all the cards currently in the game (for both factions).
The gameplay really is the strong point of our game, and we encourage you to try it out with your own models. It takes people on average 15 minutes to learn the game, and I have taught players from ages 10-60 how to play and they had fun doing so!

Thanks for joining DakkaDakka and adding information

Now at $3,444 pledged of $19,500 goal with 9 days to go.

Seems like it is not going to make the goal.

Well Funding Canceled
Funding for this project was canceled by the project creator 3 days ago.

Big Rock Candy Mountain.

weeble1000 wrote:
Big Rock Candy Mountain.

Say what?

 Alpharius wrote:

weeble1000 wrote:
Big Rock Candy Mountain.

Say what?

Kickstarter is the Big Rock Candy Mountain.

The Big Rock Candy Mountain is a hobo's paradise that does not exist. It is a place of unrealistic dreams of plenty and comfort such as cigarette trees and hens laying soft boiled eggs.

The original final stanza of the 1928 Hank McClintock folk song from which the phrase comes makes it clear that not only does the 'Big Rock Candy Mountain' not exist, but it is, like El Dorado, a myth that leads to a fruitless and ultimately doomed search for riches.

I find the Big Rock Candy Mountain to be a particularly apt metaphor for Kickstarter because it is a hobo's paradise. Kickstarter has become a platform that does more harm than good to small, hitherto unknown table top games companies.

The punk rolled up his big blue eyes
And said to the jocker, "Sandy,
I've hiked and hiked and wandered too,
But I ain't seen any candy.
I've hiked and hiked till my feet are sore
And I'll be damned if I hike any more
To be buggered sore like a hobo's whore
In the Big Rock Candy Mountains."

The Teknokrat balls remind me a lot of Phantasm.

Hey gang,

We appreciate the interest and questions. We decided to cancel the funding since we hadn't really done a decent enough job of getting word out about our game. The feedback has been incredibly positive so we are just postponing a little to let word spread. In the meantime we are working to retool a few things based on suggestions.

Luckily for us the game is pretty much done, so at this point we have the luxury of time on our side to try to improve things. We are actively looking for community feedback and will defiantly be more active on here in the future as we look to relaunch.

 Sinful Hero wrote:
The Teknokrat balls remind me a lot of Phantasm.

They Remind me of the Mr. Handy robots from Fallout

 Digclaw wrote:

They Remind me of the Mr. Handy robots from Fallout

You are like the 4th person to say that! I need to go play Fallout to see these things.

O2Games wrote:
Hey gang,

We appreciate the interest and questions. We decided to cancel the funding since we hadn't really done a decent enough job of getting word out about our game. The feedback has been incredibly positive so we are just postponing a little to let word spread. In the meantime we are working to retool a few things based on suggestions.

Luckily for us the game is pretty much done, so at this point we have the luxury of time on our side to try to improve things. We are actively looking for community feedback and will defiantly be more active on here in the future as we look to relaunch.

Thanks for being on DakkaDakka, the game looks promising, I think one of the issues is that the price per faction is too steep, most starter sets have enough to play the game for around 100-125$. 100$ for what people perceive as half a game is what turned a lot of people away i think.

 Jehan-reznor wrote:

Thanks for being on DakkaDakka, the game looks promising, I think one of the issues is that the price per faction is too steep, most starter sets have enough to play the game for around 100-125$. 100$ for what people perceive as half a game is what turned a lot of people away i think.

I agree, We are trying to figure out the best way to make changes to that. Obviously we want to be able to produce high quality models, and we think that means metals. We are considering releasing the card game and rule set by itself so that anyone who has minis collections of their own can get into the game for cheaply ($30ish). Then if they want some of models they can get them. The other option is to offer a starter box that has fewer peices to it. But we dont want to reduce it to the point where it isn't fun.
Another option we are looking into is to offer a starter box with something simple for models, say cardboard units in a high resolution printing. This would let us offer the game to new players for very cheaply and then allow models to be added as time/money allows.
We're thinking about a bunch of stuff at the moment, but are always open to suggestions.

Starters don't have to be full armies.
They just need to be enough to get you started with the basic rules and maybe some basic fundemental units.

A 2 army starter with an Archon and 1 basic unit each (5 gunbots, 5 legenaries), would be good enough to get people started

that way, you could offer other units for additional purchase and people could but the extras they want.

Also having the Mage faction as a known stretch goal would be cool as well.

The biggest challenge to new miniatures games is the lack of a player base. so giving people a way to get others to play like having a basic 2 player starter is very helpful.