Wehrkind wrote: Good point DaveC. When is Relic Knights supposed to get anywhere? I haven't gotten any shipping info as far as I know.
Tons of people at the local store (Dream Wizards) have pledged for Relic Knights... that will be a real crucial "make or break" for CMON depending on how it delivers. It's already sooo late, so it better be good!
Wehrkind wrote: What went so badly with Zombicide? We got our Season 2 stuff without any problems, but I wasn't in the Season 1 kickstarter.
Zombicide is great, imo... Mark is bringing it to the store tonight if you have any chance of making it in (who am I kidding, right? you're probably in perpetual class then )
Wehrkind wrote: Good point DaveC. When is Relic Knights supposed to get anywhere? I haven't gotten any shipping info as far as I know.
Tons of people at the local store (Dream Wizards) have pledged for Relic Knights... that will be a real crucial "make or break" for CMON depending on how it delivers. It's already sooo late, so it better be good!
Wehrkind wrote: What went so badly with Zombicide? We got our Season 2 stuff without any problems, but I wasn't in the Season 1 kickstarter.
Zombicide is great, imo... Mark is bringing it to the store tonight if you have any chance of making it in (who am I kidding, right? you're probably in perpetual class then )
*L* I was no doubt while drawing phase diagrams of proprietary gradients for virtues and discussing whether or not approbation can be confiscated or transferred. Not even kidding (though it is fascinating!)
In December I am going to game my eyes out, and hopefully get to play those boxes of Zombicide sitting on my shelf!
It's a lot of fun, and I actually lived this time! Maybe in December you'll have your Relic Knight too, as most WoK backers are hoping will be the case...
I don't get why we've seen production photos for a lot of these models (more than Deadzone) and the model quality here is in question but not anymore on the mantic thread..
*Shrug* I don't know. I have a lot of faith in Deke myself, but I have had more personal experience with him than some I guess. Early adopter of the line, and all that.
Yeah, I'd actually missed that update somehow and when I was messing around and trying to figure out what I wanted to add I decided to look for the rulebook to see if there was any particular style I might prefer and found the link to those production shots and they look awesome.
Oh well. Like I said earlier. I can get the entire line for less than a 40k army. Which is enough to get 5 people into this locally which should be fine. At this point I'm just debating whether or not to order extras of some of the monsters and the base inserts.
It's got a ton of the production mini's out of the bag. Stuff looks awesome.
Interesting comment at about 8:50-
"The plastic of the weapons might change, this one is the same as this one (Note: he was referring to a PVC model at the time), however a couple of the other ones are a different material"
The weapons being polystyrene was what almost got me in on this campaign... is that not going to be the case? Now that I've been paying attention to the differences between polystyrene and PVC, I would kill for something like the Trollbloods Fennblades models to have their bodies made from PVC, and their weapons from polystyrene.
So... I hope they stick with that plan as it was what I was most excited about for this campaign.
Weapons are supposed to be a different plastic. I wouldn't read to much into that single comment since every, single, other model he showed was plastic weapons.
Hulksmash wrote: Weapons are supposed to be a different plastic. I wouldn't read to much into that single comment since every, single, other model he showed was plastic weapons.
Oh, good to know . Sorry, didn't have a lot of time when viewing it and that's the very first one he showed!
I think it is. Granted they are the first run off the molds and he makes that clear. And they might change the plastic mix to better take paint but the models look excellent. The detail is definitely there and the mold lines seem light. Again, it's the first run off the molds but I'm pumped now
Okay, so I managed to miss this KS entirely (strange, I know) but a friend of mine has a $1 placeholder pledge I can piggyback on now in the pledge manager. Now that all the excitement of the campaign has died down, do you folks still think it's worth taking the plunge?
The answer really depends on what you want to get out of it
It's 'another' skirmish game, so do you think you'll have people to play with
(assuming you're not getting it for 'counts as' or painting like me)
The minis are still mainly restic so if you hate the material stay away,
that said they look decent and the weapons being in a different plastic will help avoid restic's problems with sharp detail and the stuff throne of angels had shows they can be cast with minimal mould lines
this is all CMON's baby, no other companies to share the blame if things go wrong mean I think the might just be more on the ball with quality control & shipping than they've been before (and their decision to airfreight relic knights shows that's improving anyway)
I'm happy I'm in the KS and actually added a bit more cash via the pledge manager, but only for a couple of the factions, overall the factions look too disparate for me to be all in
What Orlando said. I'm still excited enough to take the plunge. I'll be getting the full range for all factions. Mostly this is because I plan on working it up in our area. It will fill that fantasy itch a lot of us have since we've been driven out of WFB. We all like fast skirmish/battle games and this looks solid.
Anyone going to up their pledge? I was just in for the King and the Kingdom Death miniature bur seriously considering either getting two or all five factions with a few extras.
I'm liking this one more and more the more I see, but I overloaded the budget on Kickstarters this year, and combined with Holiday Spending, I don't think I'm going to have any room to add anything to my $1 pledge before the deadline on this one hits.
Between myself and Barzam, we've got everything but Shael Han.
Then I went and got everything extra for Shael Han even though neither of us are getting their starter. If their infantry would have just ditched the bathrobes and put some fighting clothes on I would be all in for them.
I'm going to continue to plant that Mordheim idea all Inception- style everywhere I go- I believe Mr. Black mentioned it first. Possibly in that one mercenary city state?
Ongoing small scale fantasy skirmish with their unique designs? I'd be all over it.
Hopefully all the communications and presentations going on at CMON will bode well for the future. Maybe we'll even get this one reasonably on time?
I went all in!
Had dropped back to just the zombicide guys, but really, I do like the look of a lot of this stuff. So ancient king and a bunch of extras.
Ended up splitting a pledge with a friend and bought one of everything for Teknes and Goritsi plus all the crossover miniatures. Poor Hadross got traded back in.
I just broke down and upped my $1 to the King level. I love the fluff, but only like the aesthetic of Goritsi and Teknes. Had to suppress my completionist tendencies.
Hopefully with the pledge manager closing today and Rivet wars being fulfilled, CMoNs "come to Jesus" moment regarding customer service doesn't evaporate in a couple days.
Triple9 wrote: I just broke down and upped my $1 to the King level. I love the fluff, but only like the aesthetic of Goritsi and Teknes. Had to suppress my completionist tendencies.
This describes me EXACTLY - down to the two factions I'm interested, and my urge to 'catch 'em all' too!
I'm tempted to add Hadross to the list... must resist...
I'm torn by my completionist tendencies too. I love the Nasir, Teknes, and Shael-Han factions. And the Goritsi has some invididual gems. Just not a fan of the Hardross outside of the frenzies. Gotta make my decisions tonight..
I managed to pass mine. I traded in Hadross and Goritsi and went all in on the other 3 factions (including base inserts). It's still a lot of money but I'm happy with my decision.
Talked to one of the primary designers the other day and the hadross and Shael Han both have some really interesting mechanics. Shael Han has some really synergistic buffs, and hadross do a lot a lot a lot of debuffing and tar pitting. It's pretty darn neat.
Last weekend we uploaded the new Wrath of Kings cards. Well this week we have another treat for you Wrath of Kings fans! This week Michael “Mr. Black” Shinall and Derek “Oz” Osborne face off in a full length game play video!
Oz takes up the mantel of the mighty and mystical House Shael Han, while Mr. Black dons the foreboding red mask of House Nasier, the most skilled swordsmen in the continent of Arikania!
This video will give you a great idea about how the current rules play, as well as some insight into these two houses’ unique skill sets.
If you have any questions or comments please join the conversation happening over at the Wrath of Kings forum here:
Ok, I lied. I read the darned Goritsi cards and really like their new mechanics so I wound up going in for Teknes, Shael-han, Goritsi, and Nasier. For everything except bases and two monsters each (figured I'd never really use more than that cause I like at least some of all the "specialists".
When are we supposed to start seeing models hit retail for this? Months, years? I am really only interested in the pigmen and the Wolfen....mostly the Wolfen, so I held off on the KS (also hate restic). Been checking in every once in a while on this KS to see how it is going, but I haven't seen much movement.
Gallahad wrote: When are we supposed to start seeing models hit retail for this? Months, years? I am really only interested in the pigmen and the Wolfen....mostly the Wolfen, so I held off on the KS (also hate restic). Been checking in every once in a while on this KS to see how it is going, but I haven't seen much movement.
Months?
The original delivery date was listed as May 2014, and they haven't moved off of that yet.
If this is a CMON only production, and I think it is, they'll probably hit that date too - though it is now all up to production in China and shipping overseas to their distribution center(s).
ive been checking this out off and on for awhile now.
do any of you know if its still possiboe to pick up the 220 models for $200 dollars offer theyre showing on the KS website?
Yeah, I'm thinking it should be available by May. I'm actually looking foward to checking them out in person at Adepticon since they the mini tournaments running all weekend.
@usernamesareannoying
Nope, since the pledge manager closed unless you can find someone looking to unload you're out of luck.
So i dropped something like 120$ on this and was looking forward to it.
Yesterday, I made a post on the CMON forums regarding art direction. Aside from all the obviously edgy stuff, you can see the Iron Lotus' and Madam Mui's "lady parts" and wanted to find out who thought that was a good idea.
Post removed, account banned.
wtf?
On a side note, the majority of the 'steam punk' aesthetic is just a dude wearing an engine of some sort, for no good reason. Any ideas how this 'steam powered armor' works when all it constitutes is a backpack and maybe a few metal plates?
Alpharius wrote: Do you mean the rather prominently displayed breasts?
Because that's been there since Day One.
Or...something else?
Go look at the pictures of the two models i quoted. You can clearly make out where the labia begins to split.
Im mostly just irritated that instead of addressing it, they went with a blanket ban/removal. You can't include this sort of thing in a 'game' and expect it not to be noticed or talked about.
Now that you mention it, it's definitely in the art. I never bothered to inspect it that closely.
Will all their girly parts be out on display on the actual figures? Would the sculptors feel the need to make sure everything is accounted for, or end up just making it a bit more suggestive with a well placed piece of cloth/ straps?
Doesn't really bother me too much since I didn't pledge for Shael Han!
However, they're French artists so it seems about par the course.
highlord tamburlaine wrote: Now that you mention it, it's definitely in the art. I never bothered to inspect it that closely.
Will all their girly parts be out on display on the actual figures? Would the sculptors feel the need to make sure everything is accounted for, or end up just making it a bit more suggestive with a well placed piece of cloth/ straps?
Doesn't really bother me too much since I didn't pledge for Shael Han!
However, they're French artists so it seems about par the course.
Still seems an odd choice.
Id say ask onthe cmon forums... but then you might get banned. For something...
Spotted a few towards the end. Not sure if it is the same material as SedWars and relic knights, if it is I feel sorry for the poor bastard who had to clean them up.
My left thumb will forever be scarred thanks to sedition wars
The video posted earlier looked really good too. Personally I'm still stoked for this. It'll be a nice paint change during my summer lull between GT's and 40k stuff. And the rules updates seem solid. Doesn't hurt that I went pretty all in on everything except Hardross (just didn't like enough of the figs).
And regarding lady parts...meh. The Lotus were my least favorite models from Shael Han anyway. But since lady parts don't worry me overmuch I think it's kinda cool. To each their own.
The Hadross barely had distinguishable face features in the vid. Detail looked significantly softer to me compared to the studio cast resins, might be the glare and video partly though. I'd love some of those resins...
I am still waiting on an a proper review from people having them in their hands There are some figures I really like, but not enough to blindly go for pvc again.
I know it has become somewhat fashionable to bag on CMON, but the miniatures look pretty good to me:
Update #69
Feb 26 2014
More production plastic pictures
16 comments
26 likes
Yesterday, we posted 360 turntable views of some of the production plastics and some backers wanted to see still photos instead, so here they are. Keep in mind that these are production plastics without any cleaning or scraping.
I think there really but be something to the whole "If CMON is in Charge of Everything" theory...
Pics are much better than the vid - thanks for posting those Alpharius.
I have some of the limited WoK resins and they are nice. I am mostly in it for the hobby so I am a bit overly critic perhaps, but I'd still prefer a few choice resins over lots of pvc in this case. The larger figures look like they faired better compared to the smaller ones imho. Will be interesting to see the reactions when people finally get them.
"Real" Resin will always look better than 'not hard' plastic, but even with that, I think these minis look really good - especially when you consider the cost!
Those images make me more pumped. Glad to see a bunch of the alternate stuff they added. It looks good.
I'm looking foward to this. Hopefully it gets off the ground locally since it'll be relatively cheap to play and the models look like they are coming out solid.
Wow. Those casts look much better than I anticipated. I sat out this KS, and I now completely regret it. I must have those wolfen and those pig men. I just have to wait for retail.
Yea, I am not too worried. Anxious though. I think RiTides owes me 50$ if WoK gets to my door before RK. And I could seriously use a box of plastic lovin' lately.
Yeah, this seems to be chugging right along. I'm looking forward to seeing the models live at Adepticon. I was going to sign up for one of their little events but there isn't any time!
That'd be great. I definitely wanna give it a run through. I went in pretty hardcore on it so that I'd have enough stuff to demo/get friends to play with me so getting a chance to play it will only increase the odds of me painting it as soon as it comes in
@Alpharius
Yeah, I can't not do the Team Tournament and a buddy wanted to do the Doubles so I went in for that. Only thing on the possible chopping block would be the champs and honestly what saved it is that it starts the weekend
Wehrkind wrote: Yea, I am not too worried. Anxious though. I think RiTides owes me 50$ if WoK gets to my door before RK. And I could seriously use a box of plastic lovin' lately.
Hmm, I seem to recall it just being a gentleman's wager!?
Going to be a close call for sure, which is pretty funny in the end (at least, being that I'm not one of those waiting for Relic Knights...).
CMoN have envoked their subject to change clause, not sure there was much wrong with the original sculpts but then I didn't pick Goritsi, these used to be called Blood Dancers.
Project Update #70: A few Goritsi resin masters!
Posted by CoolMiniOrNot ♥ Like
We just received some Goritsi resin masters, Here they are for your viewing pleasure!
You will notice that we have brand new War Dancers sculpts. That is because we decided that the original sculpts were just not good enough and we commissioned 3 new ones with better poses and detail. Hope you guys like them!
Gregorio Don Sissora
War Dancers
We will post more pictures as we receive new materials to make sure that our backers are with us every step of this exciting journey!
I'm not saying it's not a huge improvement (it is). I am also not saying that it's derived from the Cryx stuff (it's not). What I am saying is that's all I can think of when I look at them now.
This actually makes me happier about my ordering the Goritsi. My biggest detraction on that faction was the dancers and now I really like them. Though there were supposed to add sculpts or bitz so hopefully they don't pull those since they did the new sculpts. I also hope the Dance Master gets upgraded to match.
I didn't think the originals looked all that bad. These do look better though. The poses for sure are much better and actually convey a sense of movement and that they're actually dancing. The hair horns though... they remind me of Rita Repulsa.
Tamburlaine, you keep your mits out of my Goritsi. You have your fat ladies and you'll like them, dammit.
I'm dissapointed. I was fond of the original dancers and was looking forward to painting them. I don't like the new ones nearly as much. Now I regret not getting the resin casts :/
NOOOOOOO! The original dancer ladies were basically what kept me from backing this as I really, really disliked them, and didn't care to get a bunch of them. These new ones are a huge improvement in my eyes. GAAAAAGH! Full of regret now.
Hulksmash wrote: They'll let you re-open if you want to change it. Just sayin.
Since I'm probably going to myself. I liked the production run of the Hadross so I might just go back in for that faction too.
Problem is I failed to even go in for $1. Just flat out forgot to do it before the deadline passed (busy busy busy real life), so unless they let you pledge post KS, I think I'm stuck waiting for retail.
Yeah, not sure how long but they just opened mine back up tonight. I think I'm gonna grab a couple more monsters and bases. I'm still torn on whether I want Hadross or not.
That's likely what I'm going to wind up doing. Not 100% sure I wanna dive into Hadross but I'm definitely going to be picking up an extra monster for the other 4 factions. I have 2 already so one more of each gets me one free for each so I might as well
Ahoy, folks, I'm Eric Kelley, the head writer for Wrath of Kings. It is my great pleasure to present you with the electronic edition of the Wrath of Kings novel.
We're doing something different that most games in how we present the background. Most books provide expository sections for factions, units, and setting with just a few narrative pieces for flavor. With Wrath we're going the other direction. This novel represents about three fifths of the rulebook. There will be rules (naturally) and brief unit entries, but everything else is presented in a narrative format, and we're pleased to bring this to you today.
One note regarding the map: We tested for compatibility on as many devices as we could find, and the map is legible most of the time, but not always. Images don't always convey well in EPUB or MOBI format. So, here's a high res JPG for you to download: http://wrathofkings.com/ks/downloads/WOK-map.jpg
Also, note that we're not putting security on this. We're giving you the raw links. It's completely free to anyone that wants to download it for a limited time. So, if you're seeing this post on a forum, TGN, or through an email from a friend, please feel free to download the book and give it a read.
Please let me express my extreme appreciation of your support. Your patronage has given us the opportunity to build a beautiful game and story. I can't thank you enough! Thanks very much for reading!
Saw a lot of the figures live at Adepticon. They look really good. Not sure if they are production models or not but the actual sculpts are solid and now that I've seen Hadross in person I'm glad I went back in for them.
We had a few requests in the comments for pictures of the Wrath of Kings miniatures alongside figures from other lines, so we took some side-by-side photos for scale with miniatures from Sedition Wars, Dark Age, Gamezone, Soda Pop, and Confrontation.
Can't wait for this. Still pumped after seeing the models in person at Adepticon. Can't wait to see some of the third infantry unit sculpts cause I still haven't seen any of them.
Gallahad wrote: Anybody have any guesses for what they put the probability at that this ships next month?
My guess is that this ends up shipping 3-4 months late. Which really isn't too bad.
I'd be surprised if it's that late.
This shipping closer to the deadline would be great. I'm just trying to manage my expectations. It has been a long time since new Wolfen sculpts have made their way to my paint bench, and I can hardly wait.
I talked to CMON at Pax and redoing the blood dancer has slowed things down a little bit. It was the last piece that needed to be done and was finishing tooling. The estimate was that they might have everything by late May, but June was more likely. I would expect a minor delay, but it didn't sound anything like 3-4 months.
They mention anything about the 3rd infantry sculpts? Or some of those other Rank 2 Specialists that were only artwork- I know a few Nasier and Teknes ones were still just line art, like the minotaur guy.
Triple9 wrote: I talked to CMON at Pax and redoing the blood dancer has slowed things down a little bit. It was the last piece that needed to be done and was finishing tooling. The estimate was that they might have everything by late May, but June was more likely. I would expect a minor delay, but it didn't sound anything like 3-4 months.
That is great news. Thanks for sharing. I think that redoing the blood dancers was a good idea, and worth a short delay. Hopefully we will see some of those 3rd infantry sculpts soon. I'm particularly looking forward to the Ravenscar mercs.
Wrath of Kings Production Update and Delivery Estimate
Hello Wrath of Kings backers,
We've just finished a round of production meetings with our manufacturers and in a nutshell, we're sorry but the wait is going to take a little longer (August to September). Here's the state of the kingdoms right now...
Three things pushed us back a little - the first would be completely new sculpts for some of the stuff that weren't really up to scratch with the rest of the line. For example, many backers wanted new Blood Dancers, and the resculpts came out great!
The second would be the variant parts / additional poses requested while the campaign was running - this one was the trickiest. Since this wasn't envisioned before we planned the start of the campaign, one proposed solution was to create a first batch of starters with these parts in metal, and having the retail versions in plastic. After some back and forth testing how unpainted armies looked with the metal models mixed in we decided it'd be better to slow down a bit and ship all of you something great, or at least equal to the retail customers that come later.
Third, production times are a little longer than anticipated due to the huge demand we're getting for WoK - this is good in the long run for the longevity of the game and also of course the amount of stretch goodies that all of you are getting has put more strain on the factory than they anticipated.
So, where does that leave us?
In an attempt to be as clear as possible, we’re going to give you the same schedule we're working from. As of April 21st, we have an estimated date of completed production in 60 days. So production should be done by June 21st.
After production has completed we have 14 to 21 days for the plastics to be organized, sorted, and put into boxes. This “assembly” step should be done by July 14.
At this point in time, the factory will begin packing Asia Pacific and EU pledges. The Asia Pacific pledges should ship out as soon as they are packed and ready. EU pledges will all ship in one large group to our EU shipping partner. These packages will ship in a container similar to how we’ve done Rivet Wars and Zombicide Wave 2.
America will be shipped a container once assembly is complete and then pledges will be packed by the American warehouse team here. Again, this is how we handled Zombicide Wave 2 and Rivet Wars.
This shipment from our factory should take about 5 weeks from departure to delivery. This means America should receive the container sometime between mid and late August.
For backers, this results in Asia Pacific getting their rewards first and then EU and America getting their rewards around the same time.
We didn't want to post an update until we had a solid confirmation from our factory of where production stood and were given a clear time table. Obviously this is a larger delay than we would like, and we're sorry for the additional wait.
As we move forward we will keep you updated with the current process of the final steps of production. We’ll let you know as each step comes to a close and adjust the estimated delivery date accordingly. We really appreciate your feedback, support and patience throughout this project and truly believe that the quality of the final product will be well worth this delay.
Gah, guess they didn't give me the full message at Pax. Ah well, I'll be at Gencon and given the listed timeframe, I'm betting will be able to pick it up there.
My guess is that this ends up shipping 3-4 months late. Which really isn't too bad.
Well, as I said before, 3-4 months isn't horrible, and it would have been a much bigger surprise if they had actually shipped on time.
I am concerned about the weapon thickness on some of those long spears, they look prone to breakage. Hopefully the ABS plastic has a fair amount of give to it.
Apr 22 2014
Kingdom Death Twilight Knight Crossover 3D file received!
2 comments
7 likes
Good news, Wrath of Kings backers!
We just received the 3D files of the Twilight Knight Crossover from Adam at Kingdom Death. Adam has done several crossover with various other projects. And from looking at the comments, not all of them always capture the feel of the Kingdom Death line. So in order to make sure that our backers will receive the best possible product that not just reflect the look and feel but the mood of Kingdom Death, we asked Adam to personally commission and art directed this piece with his own all star team of artists. We are super pleased with the result. This will be going to his personal printer soon to ensure the highest quality master and we will post another round of pics before going to mold making.
Just to be clear, the Twilight Knight Crossover will be produced in resin, so it will not impact plastic production or cause any additional delays.
As always, we are doing our very best to ensure the highest quality products that you will enjoy. Other updates will follow as we receive them. Thank you for your understanding and patience. If you have any questions, please email support@cmon.com
Hulksmash wrote: I actually really like her and feel both the wok feel and the kingdom death feel from her.
Thats pretty much why I don't like the model. If I wanted to see a scantaly clad women with an artificial body I could head over to a strip club.... But to each their own.
Hulksmash wrote: I actually really like her and feel both the wok feel and the kingdom death feel from her.
Thats pretty much why I don't like the model. If I wanted to see a scantaly clad women with an artificial body I could head over to a strip club.... But to each their own.
Sex sells, as it seems.
My opinion about bikini armor and the like, is that if it does not fit the fictional culture of the people is that I prefer it to be a alternate model, sort of a pin up. As a figurine that is t be designed to be outfitted for war she should look like her male counter parts. Not a white knight nor offended as the idea of near nude models.
I'm just a little OCD and like things to be a bit more uniformed with the factions.
I hope the WoK team will have more to show us soon. We haven't even seen masters for some of the infantry out there. (Ravenscar mercs are what I'm most interested in).
I like the look of the Twilight Knight for this game - I think she fits in with the aesthetic for WoK while at the same time staying true to the KD look as well...
cincydooley wrote: You guys do realize the twilight knight simply has tight pants on right? She isn't pant less.
Sure she does... You'll forgive me if I don't belive you 100%.
It's pretty clear when you look at her from behind. Any and every KD mini that is wearing a thong is wearing a visible thong. To make the assumption she just isn't wearing pants at all is a bit silly.
Wehrkind wrote: Allow me to make a counter argument Cincy. The following is a highly accurate and scientific Venn Diagram relating to the KD product line:
Ha ha ha ha ha! That was good man.
I'm sorry, but I think it is pretty clear she isn't wearing any pants. I think it is only a matter of time until KD simply gives up the charade and straight out produces a HIPS version of the Twilight Knight doing the deed with an overweight "survivor."
cincydooley wrote: Heh. The only thing I'd argue is that perhaps your circle with "KD models with pants" is a bit large .
Imma try and put this to rest and go to the source.
Hehe yea, I was tempted to make the "KD models pants" circle a little brown circle inside the thong circle, but I couldn't figure out what to do with the other circle then.
I actually put a fair bit of thought and time into that!
I was referring to when a woman pulls on yoga pants and they get stretched such that the thread pattern begins to resemble fishnets. Those would be women who shouldn't be wearing stretch pants.
Wehrkind wrote: I was referring to when a woman pulls on yoga pants and they get stretched such that the thread pattern begins to resemble fishnets. Those would be women who shouldn't be wearing stretch pants.
Ah yes. Those are the pants issued to certain women that work at the TSA, no?
At least when you can see every nook and cranny of their cottage cheese like flesh you know they are not smuggling! Stickin it to the terrorists!
Ugh... actually I had forgotten how terrible my last flight out of Philly was. Or how much I hate all the stuff on either side of the actual flying in general.
I really wish they would have left the steampunk bits and bobs off of most of the sculpts. It just doesn't really make any sense, and looks very "tacked on" in many cases.
It is kind of disheartening to see this campaign ship late. It seems like the dev team did lots of work upfront, and they already had production miniatures ready for several units during the KS and sculpts done for many more.
I think one of the other KS projects was a pet project for the primary design team and they ended up prioritizing some of those things over the resculpts of the blood dancers.
Art looks cool. They are probably just new units. I can't see them introducing a new faction so soon and the look is very Teknes. Oh, and I'll take a few month delay for the resculpted Blood Dancers. I dislike the originals quite a bit.
Checking the Deviant Art page, it does list them as Teknes units.
Reason I mentioned new faction was there was mention of an independent city state/ island that existed within the WoK world, home to a lot of mercenaries (If I remember correctly).
Ah, makes sense. I'm sure at some point we'll get another faction but right now I'll be happy if the game is balanced for the 5 armies that all have 4 Core units and 3 specialists not counting unique ones, and a plethora of leaders and unique units.
I'm still impatiently waiting to see all those shark men sculpts. Would love to see them posed next to other WoK figures too to get a good sense of scale.
If a company isn't going to offer awesome looking lizard men, the least they can do towards placating my own selfish desires is make awesome looking shark men.
cincydooley wrote: If we still haven't seen any by CMoN expo, I'll see if I can snag some there.
If you see any of the Ravenscar mercs, I'd like to see a photo of those. The one photo they posted of the leader was small and hard to make out details, and I'm very curious to see how the regulars look.
And dangit...I just realized I've got 332 models coming from this kickstarter at basically $2 per model...And that's including 17 of the larger monsters (I was only gonna get two of each, but then realized that for $20 more I could get two more!!!!!).
I'm glad I went heavy on Teknes for this kickstarter. I would have loved to go as nuts as you Hulksmash, but three armies will take me 30 years to paint, let alone 332 models and 17 monsters!
Plan is to get starter forces painted up for all 5 factions so I can demo for people locally. Hopefully it takes off but if it doesn't I still get a plethora of pretty models.
And I don't plan on having all of the models painted anytime soon. Or if I'm honest with myself ever
We've actually seen a few of the art only stuff and have seen 1/5 of the third troop units (the teknes ones from the last update). And I'm sure we're going to be seeing the rest here shortly. But yeah, no Zombicide characters yet.
May 11 2014
The Mother of all updates on Mother's Day!!!
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Well, I am just kidding of course. It is kind of hard to top Mr. Black's last update, filled with some very exciting information about the new units. BUT... I do have a ton of production plastic pics AND a new studio paint job by none other than our resident paintrix Jen Haley! Obviously, Jen's pics first We present you - Red Willow!
And now onto the plastics. A lot of backers had questions about what part of the models will be in styrene with quite a few of our past updates, so we decided that we will use a totally different color for our samples, so that there can be no confusion. Of course the final production products will be all one color.
Arkanthesh
Blind Hakar
Fellhammer
Hong Yao
Black Lotus
Iron Lotus Warrior
Madam Mui
Shadrus
As you can see, the plastics are coming out fantastic! The details are coming through nicely from the sculpts And we are going at a good pace to get everything done. We are at the final stretch, we are almost there.
Last but not least, CMON_Derek did a wonderful job at showing off some of the plastics in his YouTube channel. For those of you interested here is a link:
Well, Happy Mother's Day! and hopefully these updates will give you a sense of how things are progressing behind the scenes. We are expecting more production samples in the upcoming weeks, so stay tuned! We thank you for your support and your patience, so that we can do our job and get you a quality final product that you and truly enjoy.
For those of you that can get away for a few day, come hang out with us and play some Wrath Of Kings at CMON Expo. All the designers and creative directors will be on hand to answer your questions. Here are the info:
I swear I saw a female linemen defender in that video they linked.
Still not entirely sold on Shael Han's steam packs. They look like there isn't enough detail, especially the bald hoochie wolverine lady.
Red Willow's backpack is a bit better, but I've always been fond of her design. Quite tempted to ask for my pledge to be reopened and grab a Shael Han set, at least for her, and Hong Yao (whose pack does have more surface details on it), and the children.
Still not entirely sold on Shael Han's steam packs. They look like there isn't enough detail, especially the bald hoochie wolverine lady.
Red Willow's backpack is a bit better, but I've always been fond of her design. Quite tempted to ask for my pledge to be reopened and grab a Shael Han set, at least for her, and Hong Yao (whose pack does have more surface details on it), and the children.
Tempting....
the backpacks are rather awkward, they seemed liked they ran out of time and just through something together and slapped it on. In all honesty they would look better without them.
The detail seems to be a bit more crisp on the larger minis.
Backers! Mr. Black here, and I've brought you some lovely Nasier and Shael Han treats this Friday!
First up we have a Shael Han preview: Hong Yao, the Red Demon, freshly painted up by our own Jen Haley!
Next up we have some more spoilers from Development, namely the Nasier Fel Warriors!
Specializing in overwhelming crushing power we have the Fel Hammers! These guys hit like a truck... A truck covered in boxing gloves... Wearing a yellow Bruce Lee jumpsuit...
... I am not good at analogies...
Focusing on the Nasier tactics of "All-in" offense we have a unit who already hits hard and can take some big risks to hit even harder! There is a very big risk/reward system here with the Fel Warriors, namely in their Unleash Fury special ability, which allows them to gain some truly monstrous offensive power at the cost of personal safety (Namely in that they just might explode after using it!). The savvy player must learn when best to use this ability, and the savvy opponent must know how to bog these guys down in low-ranking Infantry and targets in order to wear them thin.
When dealing (and playing) with the Fel Hammers understand that they are a ticking time bomb, growing strongest just before their explosive end, and just like a bomb, they can be a terrifyingly efficient tool to use, but should the opponent know how to work around them they might very well find a way to make that bomb detonate pre-maturely, which holds nothing good for the other nearby Nasier troops!
Leading the Fel Hammers we have their Rank 1 leader, The Unmasked. She carries much the same abilities as the Fel Hammers with the added ability of Master of Deception, which will allow her to react both offensively and defensively against enemy movement. On the defense she can dart away from an oncoming threat, and on the offensive she can use the same trick to launch herself into the enemy back-ranks (hopefully near some high-value targets, such as Leaders or Specialists)- just be sure you have a way out should you choose this all in approach... sacrificing a Leader is rarely worth it and can really come back to bite you in the end.
One thing to note is that, while the Unmasked truly is one of the better combat Leaders in the game she also carries the risks of Unleash Fury, so, once again, careless plays will end up only forcing a loss for both her and the Fel Hammers under her care!
Of course, being a Leader, she naturally Inspires the troops around her, and her Inspire is particularly useful for the Fel Hammers- basically making it so that high risk/reward move of activating Unleash Fury becomes all the more tempting...
Last, but not least, we have the Rank 2 leader for the Fel Warriors, Arkan Thesh. Sure, he may look just like a big Fel Warrior, but looking at his abilities we see he is anything but.
First and foremost, we see he does not have Unleash Fury. No, his aspect is much... darker... Arkhan Thesh is host to two fighting spirits, and this is represented by his Dual Possession ability, which on a successful Will Check rewards him with the benefits of Elemental Fury (sans the exploding aspect!)... On a failure, however, not only is he taking a nasty hit, but so is everyone near him, friend and foe a like!
... Of course there is nothing saying you couldn't just fly him into the center of the enemy army and hope for the best, but I really expect you to make better use of a Rank 2 Leader than that!
Looking at his Inspire, he only moves to push the Fel Hammers to higher extremes, gifting them with additional attacks for the drawback of an even higher chance of killing themselves! I hope you understand by now that if you are a big risk-taker then the Fel Hammers were built specifically for you!
Of course, Arkhan's Training works to counteract the negatives his dual nature bestows on the troops around him (or accentuates it if you want to see more explosions!) It's a tricky tool, and it will take some hard tactical choices to determine whether saving your troops via the enhanced Will is the better move... or sacrificing them to an exploding death to harm any nearby enemies is the way to go!
Overall, the Fel Warriors represent the basic tenants of the Nasier army: Achieve victory at all costs. They present the option to really hammer (pun!) their way through even the toughest enemy army, but everything comes at a price, and its knowing when to pay this price that will separate the good generals from the bad!
That's all for this week, dear players! I'll check back with you all soon with some more goodies, and I'm sure we'll keep the flow of model pictures coming as well!
The styrene parts look quite good... but it almost makes the PVC parts stand out more, as you can see what a hard / sharp edge would really look like.
Excellent painting makes up for that, as seen on the amazing ones they've shown here... but for average painters, I wish the regular model's edges were sharper.
As Orlando says, also looks like a lot of cleanup required. Just the nature of the beast with PVC...
I really want to see bald lady Mui painted up, and see if she looks any better.
Oni guy looks pretty rocking, and thanks to the fact that none of this stuff is exclusive, I'm sure I'll be hunting down individual blisters or piece meal sets with him and the Children later on down the line.
Shael Han was the faction I was most interested in prior to the campaign, but the one that left me feeling the most disappointed when all was said and done. I was expecting more 3 Kingdoms era looking guys in big armor with big guan daos, not dudes in bathrobes and respirators with knives.
Shael Han was the faction I was most interested in prior to the campaign, but the one that left me feeling the most disappointed when all was said and done. I was expecting more 3 Kingdoms era looking guys in big armor with big guan daos, not dudes in bathrobes and respirators with knives.
Asthma strikes at the most inconvenient times.
At least Shael Han gets respirators. All of the Teknes linemen look like they've got their something else's in a steamer.
RiTides wrote: The styrene parts look quite good... but it almost makes the PVC parts stand out more, as you can see what a hard / sharp edge would really look like.
Excellent painting makes up for that, as seen on the amazing ones they've shown here... but for average painters, I wish the regular model's edges were sharper.
As Orlando says, also looks like a lot of cleanup required. Just the nature of the beast with PVC...
AGREED!
I think this one will be the last "PVC" based Kickstarter I will ever take part in...
To be fair, while I'm superstoked at the items I seem to be getting on this one and the clean-up didn't look to bad on the videos that were previously put up, I tend to avoid "pcv" plastic KS's now too.
I means I'm likely not going to be adding anything to Mercs either as I don't wanna deal with the hassle. They got me on that one. Dang thing got to good to pass up.
We just received the dashboards and plastics for the 2 Zombicide crossovers - Alyana Heska and Union Worker #42, enjoy!
Everything else is moving along swimmingly...In fact, we're supposed to be receiving another package from the factory very shortly... But I've been told it's a bit fishy, so I hope that doesn't dampen your enthusiasm.
In fact, you could say... Hmm, my pun quality is sinking, so I'll just close by saying tune in next week when Mr. Black will be spoiling some new units!
Ah. Excellent. The Zombicide items were the reason I went into this KS. Good to see them done (even if the second one's Zombivor model doesn't really look as torn up/rotted as it could).
The zombicide figures look fine for board game pieces. I'm looking forward to seeing the next update. We still haven't even seen sculpts for everything yet, not to mention production test runs.
While Mr. Black is busy preparing the big Hadross update, here is a little update on the Kingdom Death Twilight Knight crossover.
We just received pics from Adam, and she looks awesome! The grey putty is just there to hold the sculpt together for the photo. The shield is missing from the pic and we are aware, but it will be there for the final product.
The entire project is taking shape and we are pleased with the results. As soon as Mr. Black is ready, there will be another update this week showing you how much we have done with Hadross. Until then, if you have any questions, please email support@cmon.com
Hadross time (not my thing, but I know a lot of backers though this was the faction to choose)
Update #82 Jun 2 2014
It's Not Safe To Go In The Water...
Hello backers! Mr. Black here, and this time I'm bringing you a fishy update today...
Ok, we used up all the water and fish puns last time, and frankly I'm not a very punny person, so let's just get on with the update and show off some cool stuff:
First up we have the full gambit of pictures showcasing the lovely Carcharian models, plus some added fun in Ephrimaki and Ilva.
Behold! The Carcharian Frenzies! The astute reader out there might notice we did a slight name change on these guys (formally Deepmen Frenzies). Well we did that to avoid confusion on the tabletop as these guys very specifically do not have the Deepman trait. Wanted it to be nice and clear, hence the change!
The mighty Frenzy Charger!
Gar, the Gladiator! Scion of the Voice!
Ephrimaki! The Deepcaller Lord!
Ilva, the Syren of Sysor Strait!
Pretty cool, huh? I'm a huge Hadross fan (as not to say I'm not a huge fan of all factions!) and the Sharks here are just some of the coolest models I have seen in my time. Ephrimaki and ilva came out great as well, and can be used as super distinct centerpieces to any army.
But this update way only halfway about awesome sculpts, dear backers, we're also here to look at the stats of some of the above fishies and give a brief overview of their role in the Hadrossian Military! So without further adieu, let's get on with the show!
Rank 2 infantry, two wounds, five Mobility, five Willpower, no Over results- Those are the important details looking at the front of the Frenzies' card. What does this all mean? Well Hadross likes to outlast their opponent; in the Deepmen this is represented by Defensive Expertise, in the Sevridan its shown via a Resilience of 2, and here we have it in the fact the Frenzies have 2 wounds and heal themselves when they kill a model (CHOMP!).
No Over result means that opponents cant hope for a lucky 10 to remove one of these guys from the table- nope, they'll have to handle them the old fashioned way... Which is a pretty terrifying place to me. I mean, I wouldn't want to have to tackle a shark (especially the front!) and wrangle it down that way, and that's pretty much what an opponent has to do to get rid of these guys!
Looking on the back we see that, arguably, the Carcharian are the most offensive oriented of the Hadross units, boasting two attack dice base with the ability to increase that to a staggering three dice against models with Resonate. And if they're damaged? Well then they can fall back on their Feeding Frenzy attack to heal themselves up! Resiliency through killing, I love it!
Speaking of Resonate, however, we see they also carry two interesting abilities: Scent of Prey and Whispers of the Voice. These abilities work in conjunction to not only allow the Carcharians to Mark enemies with Resonate (OM NOM NOM NOM!) but also grants them a mobility boost in the process. It's only reliable 50% of the time, however, as it requires a successful Will Check upon activation (so don't grow overly reliant on it!) but the benefits are fantastic... Again just don't come to rely on it always going off, least you find yourself dead in the water when you need it most (Well... I made it about halfway through without a water pun... Not bad!)
So looking at the Charger, we see he's similar to the Frenzies. His stat-line is similar, his stats are similar, just a slight Leader boost... Except Mobility, which is explained via his abilities (which we'll get too).
Attacks? Bloodtide is just like Blood in the Water, with the added bonus of 2 inch reach. Feeding Frenzy is the same as it is on the Frenzies. So what makes this guy unique? Well its in his Resonating Fury ability, as well as his Inspire/Training!
Looking at Resonating Fury, we see a similar version of the Frenzy's ability, except he just radiates it off of a passed Will Check. He won't be marking as many as the Frenzies (possibly) but the added bonus he gives is pretty cool on its own, and that bonus is his Inspire.
basically, it makes it so the Carcharian's Feeding Frenzy becomes a mini AoE effect, targeting all enemies within 1 inch with Resonate, rather than just 1. More attacks = more killing = more NOMs = more healing. Once again we see the basic anti-Hadross tactic of "Don't get marked, least ye wind up in the bellow of sharks".
The training here is fun as well, giving the entire Hadross army a boost in mobility (which some would call much needed!). We understand Hadross is a slow faction- that's their thing, slow and steady bash your face in... or something to that effect anyway, so here we give them a counter to armies that would bog them down with troops- just walk (Slither? Swim?) away. Like most training, its uses are situational, but that's the benefit of choosing them before each game: having a variety of them allows for greater tactical diversity against many foes.
Lastly, we're going to take a look at the Rank 2 Character Leader for the Carcharians: GAR, THE GLADIATOR!
This guy has a special place for me, dear backers, as Gar is just one of my favorite characters from both a rules standpoint as well as a narrative one. He's like Gladiator mixed with... Well, a shark, and if you don't think that's awesome then I just don't have any words for you.
Stat-wise Gar is ab absolute beast- of course he is, he has had to survive as a Hadrossian gladiator! That instantly makes him like the scariest guy around! Resilience: 2, Wounds: 3- he isn't going down without a fight. If all that wasn't enough, let's take a look at his attacks and abilities:
Tribute to the Voice, Gar's signature attack. It's not terrible at 3 dice- able to take a sizable chunk out of most Leaders and hard targets, but what really sells it is it's ability: Anytime that attack kills an enemy Leader or Specialist, the enemy loses 1 additional morale. Basically Gar is a giant showstopper, boasting to The Voice and offering the Deep Gods tribute anytime he slays something worthy... And in this case the Voice listens, and the enemy knows it.
It's a bit demoralizing when not only are you fighting your enemy, but you know for a fact their god is on their side!
In addition to this we see that Gar is the Arena Champion, which carries with it its own unique powers and benefits: Anytime Gar is fighting an enemy character (say, most of the Rank 2 Leaders, for example) or a bunch of inferior opponents try to test his might, Gar will let loose the full fury of the Arena, putting all his prowess and fury on display and gaining Offensive Expertise(2)! Not only this, but looking at Gar's Inspire we see that if the enemy is Resonated then he'll also throw on some Precision for good measure.
All this cumulates into the fact that Gar is one of the nastiest one-man-wrecking-balls in the entire game! Of course, all this comes at a bit of a trade-off, as he is very greedy in his abilities and selective buffs- Gar is a pit-fighter first and foremost, and while many other Leaders can push their troops to far greater effect than they normally could, Gar is mainly a power unto himself. He trades the tactical ability and support most other leaders offer their troops for his own capabilities and skills.
Well, dear backers, that about sums up our offerings this update. Of course, stay tuned for more in the coming time, as we still have plenty more to show you. All good things come to those who wait, and you never know just what we'll reveal to you next time!
Contact them and re-open it. I did that already with the Hadroos actually. And I'm tempted to open it one more time for one more unit of sharkmen but I'll probably hold out. I got enough stuff coming
Models look awesome though. And the rules look fun.
BobtheInquisitor wrote: You guys please let me know how those hadross guys turn out in restic, with the bending and the mold lines, and I'll see about buying them at retail.
They look like they'll come out...
Seditious.
Hadross was the only faction I picked up because I didn't want to nose dive into another disaster. And second, I've always loved anything involving the sea.
Update time, and these greens (whatever their colour) look mighty fine
Update #83 Jun 13 2014
Mercenary Spoilers! Plus Something New...
Backers! Mr. Black here with another fun Friday filled with some Wrath of Kings spoilers!
I have three to bring you today. You know the drill, so let's get right down to it:
So what are "Mercenaries"? Well they're the models that are not aligned with any one nation, and will fight for whichever side pays them- basically they're a super cool Character anyone can field.
Currently we have three of them:
Ironeyes, the main focal point of the first Wrath of Kings novel! This deadly lady is an assassin extreme, reflecting in her rules by her Backstab, Precision(3), and From the Shadows abilities. Of course she is nimble as well, and reflects this via the use of Hit and Run... And of course she is "Ironeyes" after all, so what sense would it be if she couldn't stare-down any threat that approached her? To show this we've also given her Strong Will.
It's important to note that Ironeyes is not a butcher's cleaver, no no. You'll need to treat her more like a surgeon's scalpel to use her effectively- Wait for your forced to get into position, secure the kill of an enemy model, and let Ironeyes pop out (hopefully to later activate and then go kill an enemy Leader or other high-priority target). She's nice, but she's also expensive, being a Rank 2 Specialist- Don't rush her into combats, least you know she can secure the kill and get out, otherwise you'll be wasting the gifts of this nasty assassin!
Next up...
Dame Allison, the Twilight Knight
Our cross-over miniature from the guys over at Kingdom Death (specifically Monster), we see that Dame Allison doesn't much care for the big scary guys- Suppose that's to be expected, she is from the world of Monster, after all, where all the terrifying creatures of nightmare not only exist, but regularly hunt the remnants of mankind.
Few can stand against such horrors, but Dame Allison was one of them, and now, shipwrecked and stranded in Arikania, she has put her skills to good use via monster-hunting. Her weapon, the legendary Quicksilver Blade, focuses her fury and grants her additional attack dice against models that are larger than her. Couple this with her unique Slayer of Monsters ability and we have a Rank 2 Specialist that seems to exist to... Well hunt Rank 2 Specialists (namely the Monsters of the various armies).
The last item in her armory is the unique Armor of Twilight, another gift from her homeland across the sea. Using this legendary shroud Dame Allison is able to nimbly dodge most incoming attacks- so well, in fact, that any Dodge result against her allows her to perform a free Sprint Action, ignoring disengage penalties along the way, thus keeping her mobile.
Remember her specialty and don't waste her against the normal rank-and-file troops of the enemy- this girl was made to kill the stuff that instills fear into others, that's where she thrives, and that's where she should be!
Last, but certainly not least... A special surprise...
So we told you up front that The Ancient King would not have any rules, but you'd get a card for him anyway... And I was happy to keep it like that. I mean, we're talking about the being who shaped the world into the state it is today... Single-handedly.
But you guys requested it, kept asking for us to stat him out... I said over and over it was a bad idea, but alas, I'll always try to give you guys what you want!
So, let's take a look at the non-sense that is the Ancient King's stats.
First, he has no Strike results and no Over results, because you can't touch the Ancient King.
Next, he has Resilience: 20... If you were to somehow penetrate that then he still has 20 Wounds.
Movement 10, because he is very spry.
Willpower 20, because you really think your head-games are going to effect the Ancient King? Seriously?
Looking at his attacks, he has two forms of "I'm Better Than You", the first being his melee attack, Strike of the True King. It kills a wave of guys instantly... Because again, this is the guy who single-handedly shaped the world to his will. His next attack is Wrath of the True King, because he shouldn't be forced to engage you in melee to outright kill you.
Next, let's check out his abilities:
Awe of the True King makes it so no enemy can actually target him with an attack or ability, because they know immediately that it's a complete waste of their time and power. And even if they did attack him (Those poor fools...) then you really think it would have an effect? This is the TRUE KING OF ARIKANIA we're talking about!
Ironically, that's also the name of his last ability- it causes each opponent to lose 20 morale a turn- because I want you to imagine you're an army commander, standing in front of your troops... You look across the battle-lines at the enemy and see, oh snap, it's the Ancient King himself standing there... Well, pack everything up and go home, we ain't winning this war today! Nope, nope, nope!
Of course, to field the Ancient King all you have to do is pay his cost of being a Rank 20 Specialist.
... If you guys haven't figured it out yet, we don't intend for you to actually field this guy in games
Well, that's our update for this week, dear backers!
Join is next time when we'll be showing off one of the remaining Third Infantry Types!
... Hmm, I don't know if I'd rather show some Goritsi Ravenscar fun, or the lovely Shael Han ladies of the Iron Lotus School... Which would you guys prefer?
Yeah, the cards are of no real interest to me until I get the models in hand. I don't have the time or inclination to print out the cards and do a dry run of the game with substitutes or anything.
I really want to see the Ravenscar mercs, and hopefully some more production plastics soon.
Well production plastics are looking pretty good so far. Many of these also seem to have the advantage of being designed for PVC with large contact points for gluing (or one piece sculpts) and the more fiddly bits being done in polystyrene.
@CincyDooley High stakes man, those are high stakes!
Oops MR Black gets a bit sarky with one of the backers in the comments from this update (the backer is being a bit of an idiot though)
anyway on to the good stuff
Update #84 Jun 27 2014
Everybody Was Kung Fu Fighting.
Greetings Backers! Mr. Black here, and I've been waiting to make that joke for... Way too long now...
This week we're going to be checking out the lovely ladies of the Shael Han Lotus School, the Iron Lotus Warriors, the Black Lotus, and Madam Mui!
You know the drill, so let's dive right in:
Following the usual Shael Han doctrine, the Iron Lotus Warriors have a minimal amount of abilities, which is offset by their use of Enlightenment. What sets these lovely ladies apart from the rest of the army is their use of mobility tactics (which we'll see expanded on when we look at the Black Lotus). They have the standard attack rating of 1 and Follow-Through, giving them a nice push against Nasier and the other Parry-heavy factions, as well as having the [Reaction] Sidestep (Dodge) ability. What this does for them is if an enemy attacks them and generates a Dodge result the girls will get to make a Sprint action (ignoring disengage).
This means that, unless killed, the ladies will usually be able to get where you want them to go, and seldom will they be tied down by the enemy.
Of course, like most Shael Han troops, they heavily rely on their leader to make really make them shine, and for the Iron Lotus Warriors the leader is the deadly Black Lotus:
Looking over this deadly lady we first see her War Fan attack, which, following the mobility theme of the ladies, allows her to kill an enemy then immediately move into contact with another enemy within 2", following that up with another War Fan attack. Note that this ability allows her to be placed anywhere in contactwith an enemy within 2", meaning against larger-sized models she could actually clear quite the bit of distance. Combine this with the fact she also has [Reaction] Sidestep (Dodge) and she can get where she needs to be fairly easily!
Looking at her Insight we see Channeling the Winds of Sorrow, which forces a Will Check on a slain enemy- should they fail you may move any model within 2" up to 2"- A few uses for this. You could use it to simply move your own model around, you could use it to pull enemies closer to you, or to disrupt the enemy lines... Or to set up a nasty combo using the Black Lotus' Inspire ability:
"If this model is not part of a combined attack, the first time it attacks and fails to hit an enemy it may perform a [1][RATE] melee attack on an enemy within 2" of the target."
This represents the Iron Lotus' ability to strike at enemies while feigning an attack on a secondary target. More so, it gives them a super long reach as well (2" from the target means on the standard 30mm model you could actually hit something 3" from the Lotus, meaning few models will be safe from their volley). This trick is nice for wailing on an enemy leader who thought they would be safe posted in the rear of a group of models!
But wait! The mobility doesn't end there! Looking at her Training we see yet even more mobility shenanigans!!
"At the end of this model's activation, if it killed an enemy this turn, it may move up to 2""
This, like all Training Abilities, carries across all models in your army, meaning every single guy in your force becomes like the wind- able to alpha strike then clear some safety distance to avoid blowback... Or to get even further up into the enemies face (as I would do with, say, The Wrath).
Madam Mui, the Rank 2 Character Leader of the Iron Lotus Warriors... and my my, is she deadly.
Let's begin by looking at her attack, the Dance of Scything Death. On first glance, it doesn't look that impressive, as it's only 1 attack die. If that's what you think then shame on you for not reading card text!! Looking over her text we see she gets to make this 1 die attack a staggering six times during her one attack action. Not only that, but she gets to move a full 2" every time she does it... Damn, this girl can get where she needs to go... And that place is usually enemy leaders! Granted, she won't pose much of a threat to anything with high Resilience, but you have workarounds for that. I mean, volume of attacks will eventually cause an OVER result, right? And she's throwing plenty of dice!
Speaking of Over results, however, we see that her Insight, Unleashing the Soul Storm, triggers specifically on Over results, forcing Will Checks to all enemies within 2" of the target, least they suffer a hit. Tactics wise? Madam Mui dancing straight into the center of a large group of enemies and goes for the Over result, looking to kick her Insight on and killing a whole bunch of guys. Sadly, most models only have 1 Over, so you're looking at a mere 10% chance of triggering this insane destruction.
Ha ha, just kidding, she has an Inspire that gives her Critical Blow(+1), so she's going to double her chance of scoring that much-sought-after Over result! As you've seen by now, the Lotus Warriors are all about getting where they need to go and hitting just what they need to hit, so giving them all an extra 10% Over chance isn't something to take lightly! Enemies will learn to fear you... Or they'll be dead... One of the two.
The icing on the Madam Mui cake is her Training, which once again is targeting those tasty tasty Over results by now allowing an additional melee attack to be performed should you score an Over on a target (which, again, her Inspire doubles the chances of in most cases). Combine this with Unleashing the Soul Storm and you can literally have a whirling hurricane of death in the form the ladies of the Lotus School!
Well, that's it for this Update, dear backers, we're approaching the end of the new troop spoilers, only one type left to give away. So tune in next time for the Ravenscar Mercenaries!
Until then!
-Mr. Black
Automatically Appended Next Post: They look to be a force that will be really tricky to play well, but if you can the opposition will really need to watch out
(also my biggest worry in terms of the material handling the sculpts, but fingers crossed)
The best course when confronted by prickly backers is to kill them with kindness, and if you can't do that, simply state the facts, and nothing but the facts!
spiralingcadaver wrote: Those lotus warriors are some of the most impressive female casts I've seen in PVC, but tempered by CMoN's typical lack of taste...
I believe those are just the resin masters we saw a month or two ago. Nothing new here except maybe the card.
spiralingcadaver wrote: Those lotus warriors are some of the most impressive female casts I've seen in PVC, but tempered by CMoN's typical lack of taste...
I believe those are just the resin masters we saw a month or two ago. Nothing new here except maybe the card.
Oh, that's too bad, then. Started to get hopeful that people were getting substantially better with the material.
This "PVC" is supposed to be the latest, best and most expensive version.
Combined with the harder material (ABS?) for the weapons and such, and WoK *should* be substantially better than any other PVC KS to date.
As I am now scraping away at C'MoN's last greatest experiment in PVC (Relic Knights), the amount of "supposed" and "should" above fills me with apprehension.
While I don't doubt that the technology will get better and better, I can't help but think that in a few years, PVC will be relegated to board game miniatures and plumbing fixtures.
Yeah, I think that when this finally delivers, it will likely seal the fate of the material (PVC) in the hobby. Either it will be acceptable and we will see more companies using it in various forms, or it will make most of the big KS spenders swear it off for good, and its place in the hobby will be marginalized.
I'll let you all know what Alpharius already does: the models from WoK are coming from a different factory then the ones from sedition wars and Relic knights.
It's a factory that has a lot of experience with 28mm minis in non-polystyrene materials.
cincydooley wrote: I'll let you all know what Alpharius already does: the models from WoK are coming from a different factory then the ones from sedition wars and Relic knights.
It's a factory that has a lot of experience with 28mm minis in non-polystyrene materials.
Prob all I can say though.
So if this factory makes loads of high quality PVC type minis, how come we've never seen a high quality PVC type mini in the wild, ever?
I could use this figure! Hope it turns out well . If they do ship in time for GenCon, I'll be looking for a ninja shopper for just this model, if available.
cincydooley wrote: the models from WoK are coming from a different factory then the ones from sedition wars and Relic knights.
It's a factory that has a lot of experience with 28mm minis in non-polystyrene materials.
Prob all I can say though.
That is good to hear. I had no faith at all that the cheapo factory PP / CMON / Mantic were using for PVC could somehow wave a magic wand and start getting better results just due to the supposed "mix". Mold line placement and quality control are as much or more of an issue. Here's hoping this product is better...
I agree with others that if it isn't, PVC being relegated to board games (and privateer press at nearly the cost their metals!) is a distinct possibility. I've certainly stopped buying almost anything in the material. Some people's large scale pledges for this stuff sight unseen have been disastrous... But I'm open to that beautiful image above and am eager to see if they are good enough not to put a mold line on his face, etc
cincydooley wrote: I'll let you all know what Alpharius already does: the models from WoK are coming from a different factory then the ones from sedition wars and Relic knights.
It's a factory that has a lot of experience with 28mm minis in non-polystyrene materials.
Prob all I can say though.
So if this factory makes loads of high quality PVC type minis, how come we've never seen a high quality PVC type mini in the wild, ever?
Alpharius wrote: That Hadross Deepcaller Lord wasn't a 'production' model, was it?
I'm pretty sure that is a resin master.
I remain very optimistic about the quality of final models that CMON will deliver with this kickstarter. Everything that CincyDooley has said makes me very optimistic. Thanks for all the info CincyDooley.
They just assumed they were the resin masters we'd seen earlier. I'm still super pumped for this. Just gotta paint up a few forces and start getting people into it locally. I think it's gonna be great.
They do state these are the resin masters but we should see the production plastics here in the next little bit. I like masters quite a bit. With the change to the blood dancers (or whatever they are called now) and these Goritsi went from one of my least favorite factions to one of my favorite.
Also Kudos to CMoN on communication. I sent an email asking for them to change my address and to see if I could open my pledge one last time to get the zombicide exclusives since I'm finally going to dive into zombicide and got a response the same day.
I don't many doubts on the looks of the pvc minis. These to be designed for the material. Thus far all the pvc miniatures seem to be quite good for what they are.
The problem is and always has been
Will clean up be as annoying and difficult as other PVC miniatures?
They've got some amazing painters working on these things...
I do want to be clear that I have modestly high hopes for these in PVC. These will basically decide whether or not PVC has any place in my miniature horde. PVC or not, I am very excited to get my hands on the new Wolfen sculpts.
Alpharius wrote: I wish they would have, you know, taken the production model out of the bag and assembled it!
We showed that model out of bag and assembled Eight Updates ago (No. 78)
And now onto the plastics. A lot of backers had questions about what part of the models will be in styrene with quite a few of our past updates, so we decided that we will use a totally different color for our samples, so that there can be no confusion. Of course the final production products will be all one color.
My apologies then - and yes, it does in fact look nice!
It seems as if the 'new formula' PVC does work better than other 'blends', though I'd like to see how it looks on the smaller scale, more 'human' sized figures too.
Alpharius wrote: My apologies then - and yes, it does in fact look nice!
It seems as if the 'new formula' PVC does work better than other 'blends', though I'd like to see how it looks on the smaller scale, more 'human' sized figures too.
Yep, just contact the customer service and they'll open it back up. I've had mine opened twice. The second time was kinda accidental since I probably could have changed my shipping info without it but I'm taking advantage to grab some of the zombicide special figs.
That shows a bunch of out of stock limited edition models with this description on each: "high quality preview resin model for the upcoming Wrath of Kings miniatures game! Available now in limited quantities until Wrath of King launches."
I don't see Ephrimaki listed, even as an out of stock item, and googling his name gives like two results... one of which is this thread . So, just wondering where this project is at, as I definitely am interested in picking up that model
Edit: They made this comment two weeks ago:
Creator CoolMiniOrNot on July 7
Ship date is still the same as it's been. Scheduled for August/September. We'll update if anything changes.
That shows a bunch of out of stock limited edition models with this description on each: "high quality preview resin model for the upcoming Wrath of Kings miniatures game! Available now in limited quantities until Wrath of King launches."
I don't see Ephrimaki listed, even as an out of stock item, and googling his name gives like two results... one of which is this thread . So, just wondering where this project is at, as I definitely am interested in picking up that model
Edit: They made this comment two weeks ago:
Creator CoolMiniOrNot on July 7
Ship date is still the same as it's been. Scheduled for August/September. We'll update if anything changes.
I think they're going to try and have some previews of the production plastics.
I'm going to try my darndest to take some home with me...
Jul 23 2014
More Painted Miniatures and Spoilers!
6 comments
20 likes
Backers! Mr. Black here, and we've completed our spoils of all the additional Infantry + Leaders so I figure it's time we move on to showing you some Specialists.
Well... We'll get to that in a moment, but first, just to give you an update on production: Things are still on trek for August/September. I will alert you with any additional information as it becomes available.
Alright! Onto the spoilers!... Wellll, before we do... Let me take a moment to show you some newly painted miniatures, brought to you by our world-class painter Jen Haley:
LORD HOB (Goritsi)
TIMOSHKIN (Teknes)
DEEPMEN GUARDIANS (Hadross)
In addition to that I've got two spoilers for you today:
THE DRAGONSLAYER (Goritsi Rank 2 Specialist)
And DUKE ANTON DON GENORIA (Goritsi)
Nice looking stuff!
It has been a long time since I looked at the WoK rules, but these two Goritsi models seem suitably awesome...
Dang thing is basically going to run around 18 pounds (3 for funding, 3 for shipping, and 12 for the mini). The shipping rate is low enough that it probably wouldn't be much cheaper to have someone add on once you have them ship it to you.
Though if we get enough people it might be cheaper to get it all sent to one location in the US and that person ship it out. Anybody in here interested?
If you can't find a US based backer who'll get one for you I could add one or more on in the pledge manager, though as Hulksmash says it might be just as cheap to back and that way you'd get access to the living rulebook
(PM me towards the end if you still need me to get one for either or both of you)
If we can find at least one more person it'd shave $5 or so each off when all is said and done. It goes from 18 pounds per model to 12.66 pounds + US Shipping. So $9 cheaper with the current exchange rate and US shipping is normally only going to run $2-$3 for a single mini.
If we found 15 people it'd be pretty perfect. Then it drops to 10 pounds per model but I don't expect that to happen. Or if there is a US backer doing over 150 pounds and we could add on.
I have been following this for quite some time. Never invested in the kickstarter... I think my money was tied up in Warzone or Star Citizen at the time, but I sure wish I did!
I will very likely start collecting this range soon.
I had two thoughts:
1) The comparison he does between painted resins and painted production plastics gives me very high hopes for the quality of models to come out of this KS.
2) I need those Teknes pigs. I need them bad. Unfortunately I'm not a fan of the rest of the Teknes aesthetic, so an add on box may be in my future.
Hopefully we will have more to discuss in this thread soon.
I wish there was some resource that had all of the most up to date pics of the sculpts for each faction all together. It is a bit of a pain having to wade through a number of updates to find the production plastics for Goritsi so I can drool over them. I just want to do all my drooling in one place.
Gallahad wrote: Hopefully we will have more to discuss in this thread soon.
I wish there was some resource that had all of the most up to date pics of the sculpts for each faction all together. It is a bit of a pain having to wade through a number of updates to find the production plastics for Goritsi so I can drool over them. I just want to do all my drooling in one place.
Now that is a good idea - I hope someone at CMON makes that happen!
Hello everyone! Mr. Black here! And I have some important updates for everyone! We'll start with the mundane bits first and work our way down:
First thing up is GENCON. As you may know (Well, as the US backers may know) GenCon is the largest gaming convention in the US and it's happening next week. While we will not have product for sale at GenCon we will have the full run of our painted miniatures, many, many of the production plastics to see, and will be running full demos and events throughout the entire of the convention. I'll also be there so feel free to stop by the CoolMiniOrNot booth and say hello to myself and the development team!
Secondly, I have a meeting with our production manager on Monday and afterwards will have some more concrete information in regards to our shipping timetables and just what to expect in the coming weeks and whatnot. Overall he said he is very pleased with how things are moving, but did express some concerns in production regarding some of our printed materials. At this time he said he does not believe any of said concerns will effect our timetables but he is overseeing it through the weekend and will brief me come our meeting on Monday. I'll update everyone Tuesday about the results and hopefully I'll have some concrete information to share. The excitement is building though, as personally, the production plastics that have been sent to us for inspection over the last bit of time have been phenomenal and I'm super proud of them, and I'm also very satisfied with how our packaging has come out (the boxes are very pretty ), as well as the quality of the rulebook.
Speaking of the rulebook, I've gotten our Graphics team to compile a Web-Friendly version of the new WoK rulebook, complete with Eric Kelly's novel. You'll notice some rules tweaks since the last released version as myself and the rest of the dev team continued to streamline things- Don't worry, we didn't reinvent the wheel here, just tightened some mechanics and wording
Now, note that unfortunately I was just informed that this Web version is not the 100% final print one (mainly art assets and some typo corrections), it seems in my rush to get you guys this Friday update I goofed and got an older file version- All the rules are correct however, but there may still be some little errors- I assure you they arent in the final printed version.
I see it, but to be honest that's not a huge issue to me. Plenty of miniatures in resin have similar places that require green stuff. Could it be better? Sure. To me it isn't a deal breaker by any stretch.
cincydooley wrote: I see it, but to be honest that's not a huge issue to me. Plenty of miniatures in resin have similar places that require green stuff. Could it be better? Sure. To me it isn't a deal breaker by any stretch.
I agree. I fully expect there to be some joints/joins that require greenstuff, but for not much more than $1 per mini (including the big guys) I think that is acceptable quality. The detail still seems decently sharp, and unlike many PVC miniatures, these can apparently be put together out of the bag without the significant hot water treatments that other efforts have required.
Aug 12 2014 Production Update (8-12-14) 23 comments 10 likes
Hello everyone, Mr. Black here, and as stated on Friday I have another production update for you.
So over the weekend I spoke with our production manager and got some hard data and numbers in dealing with where everything is with the project. My role, being Lead Developer, is pretty much handle the rules and content and then roll it out to production, who takes it from there and gets the manufacturing done. That's how it usually goes anyway. With this project I've been a bit more hands on with the whole process as I've wanted to keep all our backers in the loop and maintain a personal voice to you all, letting each of you know just where we are as soon as I myself know it.
That being said, our production manager has been on top of everything and was able to give me pretty much every bit of information I wanted when speaking to him... Unfortunately not all that information was good. I've never been great and giving out bad news (I have a habit of making it sound worse than it is, apparently...) so I'll just explain everything piece by piece.
Everything was supposed to be ready to be shipped out Late August/ Late September (with the more likely being September), and we were pretty much on course for that to happen- As I'm sure everyone is already aware we experienced a 3 month delay in the tooling process and the creation of the new molds for all the Stretch Goals unlocked. I'm happy to say that right now all the model production is DONE, aka all the plastic/polystyrene components are good and ready to go (you can see some additional production pictures in the previous update)...
...Unfortunately, we hit an unexpected issue that came out of left field. When we were moving onto final checks and preparation for our printed materials it was unfortunately discovered that many of them contained old art assets- meaning that many of the production cards and boxes were utilizing outdated materials (items which we had redesigned, recolored, etc etc). How exactly this came to be is as of yet unknown, as we have various proofing and checking stages for all printed materials- it seems at the moment that somehow outdated files got moved into a final production folder/someone at the end of the line overwrote something they shouldn't have/ etc etc... There are a ton of things that could have happened. The important thing is they were caught. The issue is they were caught this late in the process, which means all those outdated/incorrect items have to be reprinted and replaced.
As such, we're now experiencing a delay. According to the production side of things, fixing these print materials will take an estimated six to eight weeks- time composed of processing the correct files, getting the factory set up, actual printing, cutting, drying, etc etc...
It personally brings me down as of all the things involved in this project- tooling, molding, sculpting, manufacturing the plastics, assembling the packages, everything... Printing is what is causing this issue. It doesn't make me happy to say that, it really doesn't, but at the bottom line there isn't anything we can do except fix the issue, get the correct items printed and packaged, and move forward.
CoolMiniOrNot, and me personally, want Wrath of Kings to be the absolute best product it can be, and we're making the correct fixes and taking the actions needed to get it to you guys as fast, and in the highest quality, we can.
We're sorry for the further delay, and I will keep you posted as soon as we get additional information or when things move along in the printing process.
So given that they're now.admitting that late August was a pipe dream anyway and that late September was much more likely, and another 2 months on top takes us to late November... Also known as December or January.... Or after CNY...
Well that is extremely disappointing. Just another nail in the coffin for supporting Kickstarters for me. They just make me unhappy.
The "Yay awesome new miniatures" to "I will never have these in hand" roller coaster kills all the joy for me. I tend to flit between projects fairly quickly and any enthusiasm I may have had for a project gets murdered when I have to further delay beginning it.
I think it is unlikely that they do. With these sort of packing operations, I think they prefer to do all of one game/campaign at a time as it simplifies the logistics of sending out orders.
It would be great if there was some kind of goodwill gesture from CMON on this one, but I think that is also unlikely.
They'd also upset a whole bunch of backers who had backed for WoK stuff, but not the zombicide add ons who would see stuff getting shipped but not to them
not rational, but there you go, just check a KS comments section once folk start getting stuff, lots of others start panicing that they've been forgotten/left out, forgetting that even a well run dispatch process can take a couple of weeks, and large complex ones (or solo operations) can take longer
How come there's so much surface detail on this guy, where as those poor Shael Han's gear is all smooth and blank? Poor baldy Lady Miu in particular...
Really happy with this guy. Can't wait to get him. Looks like he should be quite a large figure- the bald lady is to his left, and the rather large Great Horn to the right, and he seems to fit in pretty nicely between the two of them.
The more I think about this the more upset it makes me. I will give the CMON people working on this the benefit of the doubt, but not double or triple checking what exactly is getting printed seems like a poor way to handle backers' money. I am getting the sense that this game isn't really a priority for CMON.
I think it was just a silly human error, but I would really like to see photos of the print run of "wrong art" stuff, and at least see some sort of gesture made from CMON.
I understand the reason why they wouldn't announce this problem until now, but I think it is a bit hard to believe that the WoK team is so cut off from the production side of things that they just barely learned that "Oops! We printed all the wrong stuff" that seems like the sort of thing that a production manager could manage to yell across the hallway or write an email about.
Nothing to be done about it now, but you won't catch me backing any Kickstarters in the future!
Have they got any new actual estimates that aren't tinged with bs? (as in that "late September was more likely than late August anyway, soz!) Or should we just assume 2015 after CNY plus another 3-4 months for actual shipping and arrival?
I come up with that time frame since they're now saying that it's 6-8 weeks to "fix" the printing stuff, products then need to be boxed, and I assume shipped from China, then unpacked, shipped to us, etc etc.
cincydooley wrote: I mean, I have for a while but I'll leave it to someone else to comment because mine will be more of the same.
Do you have any of the Wolfen? If you could share pics, I would really appreciate it. Would you say there is a drastic difference between the quality of these miniatures and other PVC efforts? Is this really the magic mix in your eyes?
I really appreciate all of your info and perspective on this being somehow or another close to the source.
Sep 4 2014
A Look Into The Armies: Hadross
Comment
Backers! Mr. Black here, and finally convention season has drawn to an end. We here at CMoN do the full gambit of them and the last few have been the biggest (Namely GenCon and DragonCon). We had a lot of people stop by to chat Wrath of Kings at both conventions, and it was a good time meeting the backers and fans. Now that the season has winded down (only BoardGameGeekCon in November left!) I'm taking the time to do something I've been wanting to do for a bit, and give some tactical talks about the various factions and the units within.
As you know, I've been trying to keep you updated with this project in anyway I can- whether it be models, rules, production, logistics, etc etc, but my title is Lead Developer, and this area is where I'm happiest, so taking some time to just talk strategy is welcome
Today we're going to be looking at Hadross, which, I will admit, is my favorite faction ascetically. Play-style wise... Well I won't say who my favorite is, as every army has a certain appeal to me, but when it comes to looks Hadross wins for me (with Nasier coming in second). As with every faction, the first thing involved was creating the "faction identity"- basically what the central ideology of the faction is, which in turn will develop its play-style.
FACTION BASICS
With Hadross the central theme is outlasting any and all threats to them, and punishing enemies for attacking them. The other mechanic unique to Hadross is "Resonating" enemies- basically the have several effects that will "Mark" a model with Resonate, and the units that do such each have different effects based on that fact- we'll get into those more with the specific unit discussions.
Overall these two factors combine to create an army that will make basically any play risky for the opponent- Hadross is already one of the "tankier" factions, but combine that with the Resonate mechanic and your opponent will never know just what is a good time to go "all in" and what isn't, A smart Hadross player will know what units are safe and when they can afford to throw them into harms way.
DEEPMEN GUARDIANS
I have a feeling a lot of people are going to underestimate these guys. They aren't super flashy, they don't have any insane ability to deal damage, and compared to a lot of the stranger looking Hadross units these guys aren't visually terrifying.
And I think that will cause them to be sorely underestimated.
Deepmen Guardians are arguably the single hardest Infantry in the game to kill- their Defense Chart only has them being damaged 30% of the time (versus the standard 40%), and that 10% will make a difference in the end. Combine this with their "Mark" mechanic, which gives them Defensive Expertise(x) equal to the number of Resonated targets in contact (Defensive Expertise forcing attacks to be re-rolled) and you have a super hearty Infantry that will stress your opponent out trying to kill.
When playing these guys I would suggest using that tankiness to your advantage. A lot of players might want to play passively with the Guardians, but their natural ability to take a hit means you can afford to be a bit reckless with them- Use them to herd your opponent's forces, making them move around them to find better targets or engage them and hope they don't spend too much time trying to kill them. Remember, even though they don't have a huge damage output, their opponent will usually be a softer target than them, and thus will lose the prolonged fight.
SEVRIDAN GUTTERS
Carrying much the same appeal as the Guardians, the Sevridan are the first of Hadross' Rank 2 Infantry. The big difference here is while the Deepmen Guardian's tankiness comes from their Mark mechanic the Gutter's comes from their own innate Resilience: 2.
While many will look at the two units and think they serve the same purpose (and they do, to an extent) I think if you look further you see the Sevridans form a much different function. As I said before, I dont feel bad throwing Deepmen into the fray- even if they go down, they're still Rank 1 Infantry and the most plentiful thing in my army. The Sevridan, on the other hand, are a bit more valuable, and should be treated as such.
The real purpose of the Sevridan, to me anyway, is battlefield control- The Deepmen can take a hit and thus can form a wall or obstacle around an area, giving my opponent some tough choices as how to deal with them, but with the Sevridan I'm taking that choice out of my opponent's hands. This is done via the Paralytic Presence ability of the Sevridan, which makes it so enemies cannot disengage, aka it roots them to the Sevridan. The Sevridan can then use their Gelatinous Shift ability to move around, pulling all those enemies with them-
This can be used to great effect if you manage to snare an enemy Leader, shifting them from Sevridan to Sevridan until they are incredibly displaced (or killed), thus breaking any nearby Infantry- Infantry that usually will not be able to harm Sevridan (remember, Resilience: 2) without a Leader nearby to issue a Combined Attack order.
Again, I feel people will initially use these guys as a wall- something for the enemy to just slam into (if they feel like it), but I think the Sevridan's battlefield control will truly shine in the hands of a learned player.
CARCHARIAN FRENZIESThe "offensive" branch of the Hadross army, the Carcharians are Rank 2 Infantry, fast, and deadly. The least "defensive" of the three base Hadross Infantry types, the Carcharians have given up a decent amount of survivability for raw killing power. Of the three types, they have the highest base damage output and speed- of course this comes at a cost. While they have the ability to heal if they kill a model, a savvy opponent will know to focus a Carcharian until it is fully dead- the issue will come in making sure to do so before the rest of the shark-swarm are upon you.
The other trade-off is one a lot of people probably wont consider. Right now, Hadross is the slow-grind: they will outlast you in a fight, and that's their key. The Carcharians go against that tactic by throwing large offense into the mix. While this can be a good tactical tool for a lot of players, it's also a trap as an overeager player may throw a large wave of Carcharians at a target in hopes of taking them down, all the while ignoring the setup of their defensive troops. Should the full offensive fall the player will find their main offensive punch dead and the rest of their army sorely out of position, making it easy disassembly for their opponent.
In the right hands the Carcharian can be a great tool to supplement the Hadross army, but they're a lot like having a rabid dog on a leash- you need to know the best time to let them loose and not just throw them at the first enemy in sight.
THE SPECIALISTS
DEEP CALLER
A solid support piece, the Deep Caller is one of the only sources of ranged Resonate in the entire Hadross army. He also packs a decent ranged punch in The Voice Demands. Overall I view him as harassment piece- He sets up the enemy with Resonate to allow the other elements of your army to make the best use of their own abilities. In addition he also packs natural board control via his Icy Depths ability. Run a few of these guys, spread out, and you'll have a wall of Rough terrain to slow the enemies advance, making up for the natural speed issues that Hadross tends to have.
CALITH REAVER
A big walking crab. Must I say more?
Alright, fine. The Reaver is the tank of the Hadross specialists (and that is saying something). Being the only Rank 1 Specialist in the game to have 2 HP and Resilience 2. This guy is solid all around, he has a decent attack that only gets better when attacking Resonated targets, he is pretty beefy for his Rank, and best of all he makes the rest of the army faster.
I never like models that are "auto-include" in an army, and that sentiment carries over into Wrath of Kings. Sure, the Calith, with his Hitching a Ride ability allows you to make the rest of your army faster, something Hadross definitely has issues with, but it also makes your forces very predictable- Your opponent always knows that you're going to have guys clustering around the Calith Reaver, and that can be a bit problem in some cases.
Overall, I feel newer players will jump on this guy (JOKE! HAR HAR HAR!) immediately and take him every time, but I think after time you will see less and less of him- Not that he isn't worth it, by no means am I saying that, but the "trick" will have run its course and opponents will know how to counter it.
Of course, once again in the hands of a seasoned player, he will see more purpose- Don't limit him to being a giant mobile taxi- he is built for more than that. Nothing will surprise an opponent more than your Calith suddenly charging off after a target and throwing down a Rate[4] Melee Attack with Sundering(2).
In short, feel free to treat him like a taxi early game, but remember that he can also randomly charge off at something and run it down... Sort of like a real taxi I suppose?
THE ORACLE OF ULLOTH
The first of our Rank 2 Character Specialists, the Oracle punishes opponents for being Resonated near him. This brings up another strategy that you'll see emerging amongst the Hadross- they have a surprisingly large amount of battlefield control across their units. This helps to mitigate the overall lack of speed in the army, With the Oracle he has Demands of the Voice, which causes a large AoE of damage against Resonated units (oh, and of course with Fear of the Deep he makes it easier for them to be wounded...So there's that).
The other main effect is that Hadross by and by have a lot of Will Attacks that do direct damage. This means that they can get past high Resilience armies with some ease (well... they have an easier time, anyway). The funny thing is that Hadross have a harder time against mass amounts of Rank 1 Infantry- where a bulk of attacks will get past their defense. Luckily, they have units like The Oracle to help that out.
EPHRAMAKIIIIIIIIII!!!!!!!
I really don't know why I like shouting his name like that...
EPHRAMAKIIIIIIIIII!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Ok, I'm done. So what we have here is a Character Deep Caller, except that all his abilities have been TURBO-CHARGED! EPHRAMAKI has the same Calling of the Voice ability the Deep Callers have (albeit a higher Willpower) but also has Wall of Water, an improved version of the Deep Caller's area control in that this one creates Rough(2) terrain. Not only that, but he has a new ability, Crushing Waves, that can put some serious hurt on all models around him.
Not only this, but his basic attack has been replaced with Hydro Blast, which is basically a stream version of the basic Deep Caller attack. Overall, EPHRAMAKI is actually one of the easier to wound Hadross units- the main issue is that devoting the resources to damaging him can come back to bite your opponent as he likewise has some of the highest potential damage output of the entire Hadross army. Use him much like you would a Deep Caller- a board control model that dishes out Resonate to whatever targets you need dead. Should the opponent go after the kill I wouldn't worry too much, as EPHRAMAKI can hold his own against most threats.
.... .... .... EPHRAMAKIIIII!!!!!
ILVA
Here we have a unique entry into the Hadross army. Of all the Rank 2 Character Specialists Ilva is the most unique addition to Hadross. Not particularly resilient, not particularly damaging, Ilva exists in a middle-ground where her abilities are the primary thing that makes her great.
Starting off she has Syren Wail, which in of itself is a decent, albeit short ranged attack. This is mainly a defensive ability and if you're having to use it it means that she has been clustered on by the enemy- not a place she wants to be. It can be effective, but it's by no means her primary skill.
Next up she has Syren Call, which is the first of her primary uses. Basically she works to control the movement of the enemy forces and, again, mitigate the lack of speed that most Hadross units have (I know, it's weird, it's like we're seeing a theme here or something). This attack can really surprise a careless opponent when they suddenly find their Leader model moving out in front of the rest of their troops by 9".
Lastly, she also has the Syren of the Deep ability, which basically lets her act as a control nod for your Leaders, extending their range by 6". This is particularly useful as (I know I keep saying it) Hadross has movement issues- Should you lose a Leader that was keeping a flank together it can cause some major disruptions in your forces. Ilva helps that problem in allowing you to more quickly fill in that gap with another Leader. Should your forces never lose a Leader she still allows you to spread everyone out a bit more with her ability, allowing for greater tactical maneuverability.
ORSUND CAVALIER
The last item we're talking about today are the Orsund Cavaliers, the big monster Rank 2 Specialist of Hadross. Ok, so these guys are big and nasty, but what makes them good?
Well, size is actually a thing here- being that big means they have a large footprint, and that means more space taken up by your own troops, and thus less for your opponent. Sure, they have a scary Rate[4] Melee Attack in Rip and Tear, but for me the main benefit of these guys is their Tentacle Grab, which ca straight up move an enemy up to 8". Even if that attack deals no damage you're still pulling someone (Leader, or other juicy target) right into the thick of your troops.
Want to piss off an opponent? Have your Orsund Cavalier use Tentacle Grab to move someone into the middle of a swarm of Sevridan Gutters, then have those Gutters start using Gelatinous Shift to move the target even more. By the end you might have a flank completely devoid of Combined Actions as their Leader is now in the back of your line, far, far away from any Infantry to order and no real means of escape.
CLOSING
I hope you have a better understanding of Hadross now, both playing with them as well as preparing to play against them. Remember that, while Hadross is the lowest of all the factions, they make up for it in raw board control and resilience. If you let Hadross play their game they will end up beating you in the long run. The important thing to remember is not to allow them to bully you and take control of the battlefield. Focus on Motivations and Objectives when playing against them, as usually its going to require a frustratingly large amount of resources to remove their units from the battlefield.
Capitalize on their lack of speed, don't get caught playing their game (Smashing your head against a bunch of rocks in the hope you'll win eventually) and play to your Motivation. Do this and you should fair a good chance against Hadross... Hadross players? Well, after reading everything posted, you should now understand how scary you can be. Trap your opponent, force them into no-win situations, and dont be afraid to be a bully!
And that concludes our overview on Hadross, dear backers. We'll take a look at another faction next time, or perhaps some other bit of tactical talk on Motivations.
Until then!
-Mr. Black
Not what I was hoping for in an update, though I do plan on picking up a bunch of Hadross stuff eventually!
I added some stuff.about a month ago. Just email them at the email provided a number of updates back. I think it's support@cmon but I may be wrong. Sorry can't check easily on my crappy phone.
Greetings, backers, Jen Haley here. I finally have been given the Power of Updating! Muahahaha...watch out, Mr. Black!
Today we have photos of the Nasier Ashmen alternate sculpts, painted by Elizabeth Beckley. These guys add a nice bit of variety to the unit. I like the one with his hood thrown back to show the skin tone of the Empowered mask wearer.
Ashman 4
Ashman 4
Ashman 5
Ashman 5
Ashman 6
Ashman 6
We also have some photos of the Shael Han FuLung Devourer assembled with the alternate parts (different tail, rider, and 'whiskers'). This is a randomly chosen production plastic, held together with tacky putty. Some of the mold lines look a bit harsh, but the ridges are paper-thin and very trimmable, with no mold offset as in many resin and metal figures. The studio model of the original Devourer which I painted was a PVC/styrene model just like this, and you can see from its photos on the home page how clean it looked after priming and painting.
He is on an 80mm base, and I've included a photo with a ruler for scale. This is a big boy!
And here is a photo of the Shael Han Iron Lotus unit, with all three figures together. Natalya Melnik (AlexiZ) currently is painting these up for us, and I'm looking forward to getting some studio photos of them for you.
More photos of painted models, plus shots of plastic models we haven't had a chance to show you yet, coming soon!
Hello guys, Mr. Black here, and it seems there has been some confusion here- and I want to nip this immediately before anyone gets any wrong ideas or whatnot.
As Jen said, she was in the charge of checking over the models as they were completed so assure that everything was right (Like the left arm fit into the left arm slot, the head wasn't loose, etc etc). What she received recently was the final production sample batches from all the minis.
Basically, when we finished the production of everything (and all non-print components *are* complete- just in case anyone wants to hear that sentence specifically) a set of 1 of everything was gathered and sent to her. This is for our local catalogs so we can keep a final sample here at the company as well as the ones that China keeps. Jen, being the diligent person she is, began proofing these in the same manor as every other piece that comes to her before they were sent to The Vault where they will live in case of emergency (You know, like the Coca Cola recipe or the fabled "7th Zombicide Season 1 Survivor").
Do not read this as to assume there is some additional check before "final production" (That happened a long... long, time ago)- frankly, if the models hadn't been produced already then we'd be looking at something like four-six *months* until delivery, which is obviously not the case. Reading what she said, I can obviously see how someone can read that and go "THE MODELS AREN'T PRODUCED YET!!!!". She's clarified that was not her intent, and I'm here as well stating it once more in case anyone still has any lingering doubts.
Right now all we're waiting for is the print files to be completed (Which, frankly, I will note, I still view as a very crappy reason for a delay and something I am not happy about. If I was going to have to announce a delay like I did, I would have *MUCH* rather it been model related, as that's something that happens... The delay having to be over print material still irks me :\ )
So, end of story- people misspeak, she's apologized and clarified, I've done the same. I hope that clears up any confusion people had.
-Mr. Black
so basically it's done bar (re)printing the stuff that got messed up, so late September (prior ship prediction) + 6-8 weeks = November some time ?
So Dec or more likely, Jan-Feb, being realistic - allowing for another delay because reasons (shipping the boxes, putting things into boxes, solar flares, etc) and given how long it takes CMON to ship a KS.
At best, the first few boxes out the door will be late Nov. But they can't ship almost 4k boxes in a week, so it would be well into December at best. It might depend on how committed to retail for this Christmas they are.
Regardless, I'm turning my own internal timetable to February, and if it magically arrives sooner than that, great.
so basically it's done bar (re)printing the stuff that got messed up, so late September (prior ship prediction) + 6-8 weeks = November some time ?
Remember, that was "Late August-September" followed by "we really meant late September", so I'd cross off any chance of 6 weeks, and go with 8+ weeks. At best.
This is one time being in the UK for a CMON KS may be of benefit
Their German shipper got all the Relic Knights out the door within a couple of days of the container coming in
so as long as there is not the same messing about in china on the packing (and they should now know how to do it) we might well end up getting our stuff before at least some of the US backers
(although I'd agree very late November edging into December is probably the most realistic guess)
(who am I kidding, right? you're probably in perpetual class then 
)
