Today we released the printed version of our free downloadable Marple Syrup Campaign.

If you missed that link you can CLICK HERE to buy it!

Marple Syrup is one of our just-for-the-LOLs mini campaigns, which means that we're too cheap and lazy make miniatures for it, so you'll have to get your own.

HOWEVER!

If any of you are as big a fan of Goonies as you are of Exiles, you can win a FREE set of our recommended Marple Syrup miniatures!



The Marple Syrup campaign contains a ridiculously gratuitous number of Goonies references. Whoever guesses the correct number of individual Goonies references in the campaign (cards and character sheet included) will be eligible to win these totally awesome miniatures!

I'm assuming there's definitely more than one Goonies super-fan amongst our intrepid Exiles gamers, so we're going to randomly select a winner from all those who submit correct answers.

If all of you suck hard, we'll randomly select from whoever guessed closest, but you'll have to do the truffle shuffle if you want to get your prize!

Take a look at the downloadable campaign materials here, or Hell, buy the damn thing, and email your guess to benson@mindwormgames.com.

A winner will be chosen on Monday, December, 19, so get crackin'!



Follow us on Facebook

Our Instagram usually has some surprises

We reserve the Twitter feed for our weirdest bs!

Interesting you're avoiding Kickstarter.

Any particular reasons?

Huh, interesting. Side note.. the logo looks a bit like a brain poo.

I'll be watching to see what you guys are about


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Also, you don't have any connections with Tony Reidy that we should no about do you?

 Sinful Hero wrote:
Interesting you're avoiding Kickstarter.

Any particular reasons?

There are lots of reasons we are avoiding Kickstarter, but mostly it's just something that we aren't excited about doing.

Kickstarter provides many advantages, though in the final analysis we don't need to crowdfund, and we personally feel that the customer is better served by a more traditional retail release.

When we put something up for sale, we want to be damn sure that we can make it, that we are satisfied with it as a product, that it meets our personal standards for quality, and that we can deliver it to customers in a timely manner. And we absolutely want customers to know what they are getting.

Most of the fun crowdfunding shenanigans are going to happen in our forthcoming promotional campaign anyhow, so folks won't miss out on much. We have lots of cool gak planned!

For example, y'all are going to see these products come to life over the next few months. Most of our models are still being sculpted, and only a few have been mastered and put into production. You'll see us unpack our prints, lay out, cook, and cut our molds, spin out the models, and assemble the final products.

In short, anybody who buys our products will have the opportunity to know exactly what they are getting. On top of that, we are going to do our damnedest to arm you with the skills to put your own products into production!

For us, that is way more satisfying than a splashy crowdfunding campaign.


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 MLaw wrote:
Huh, interesting. Side note.. the logo looks a bit like a brain poo.

Lol, you should have seen the first comps! We really wanted to make a spoof twitter account called head games, but wouldn't you know, it was already taken, in several derivations.

What we like best about the logo is that it is sort of a rorschach test. Some people see a pile of , some folks see a prehensile , and one guy thought it looked like a steaming , groping blind for .

Fun times! There was some debate about whether to put a lil' hat on brain worm/ /prehensile , but we couldn't come together on exactly what kind of hat it should be. It got so heated we eventually had to add a clause about it to our operating agreement.

I'll mark you down in our records as seeing "brain poo." Who knows, maybe we'll do a special promo just for our 'brain poo' fans!

I'm not exactly sure what's going on in this thread, but I'm very interested to see what comes next

It's really awesome that you're going to have a presence at GenCon, that is so hard to do! That says to me you must have been planning and preparing this behind the scenes for some time, which is great

 RiTides wrote:
I'm not exactly sure what's going on in this thread, but I'm very interested to see what comes next

It's really awesome that you're going to have a presence at GenCon, that is so hard to do! That says to me you must have been planning and preparing this behind the scenes for some time, which is great

We submitted our Gen Con Exhibitor Application last Thursday, and we have high hopes of securing a booth in Entrepreneurs Avenue. I mean, why wouldn't Gen Con want us to have a booth, 'brain poop' logo notwithstanding.

You can check out the basic booth setup on our Facebook page.

We're gonna fancy it up a whole lot more for the show, but we built the actual furniture for the application so the Gen Con folks know we're not full of gak.

Booth or not, we will be running an exclusive Exiles campaign at Gen Con, details of which will drop closer to the show. We plan to make this an annual thing as well. Our goal is to have folks bring their Exiles characters to play in the Gen Con campaign. There will not only be a fun story and great games, but also some exclusive loot (and surprise goodies) for players to acquire during the games.

For those of you who may be interested, here's a detail shot of our prospective Gen Con booth setup. The pale wooden boxes are our product boxes. These are samples, and we obviously haven't burned in the Exiles brand yet, mostly because I totally fethed up the first branding iron!

We expect our bulk shipment of these babies to arrive via sea freight in the next few days. In fact, I need to call our customs broker right now!

Always good to see new blood out there in the business, but if you really want to drum up interest, I suggest fewer pics of bottles of booze and empty wooden shelves, and more pics of miniatures and other gaming products. My unsolicited 2 cents.

-C6

 MindwormGames wrote:
The pale wooden boxes are our product boxes. These are samples, and we obviously haven't burned in the Exiles brand yet, mostly because I totally up the first branding iron!

I strongly recommend that you do not use wood as your default packaging material without first talking to someone who knows about import/export biosecurity. Cardboard boxes printed to look like wooden boxes might not be as fancy, but they also don't risk pissing off customs.

 MindwormGames wrote:
We submitted our Gen Con Exhibitor Application last Thursday, and we have high hopes of securing a booth in Entrepreneurs Avenue. I mean, why wouldn't Gen Con want us to have a booth, 'brain poop' logo notwithstanding.

Are you guys driving the materials for the booth in or having them shipped? Unless you are bringing your own UHaul style truck to bring equipment in, Drayage is going to be a pain in the rear for GenCon. Just a bit of a warning and heads up. If you plan to do Origins and GenCon, then you'll want to see about getting on the Catalyst Caravan as that can save quite a bit for transport/storage between the two conventions.

 catharsix wrote:
Always good to see new blood out there in the business, but if you really want to drum up interest, I suggest fewer pics of bottles of booze and empty wooden shelves, and more pics of miniatures and other gaming products. My unsolicited 2 cents.

-C6

We're not the kind of guys who pull our out on the first date.

It may be old-fashioned, but we'd like you to get to know us a bit before we bump uglies . But here's a lil' tease just for you!



If you want anything more than that for two cents, you're going to have to see Stinky Johnson out by the latrine ditch. His hands are rough, but we hear he's real enthusastic!

DarkSeverance and Alex, great questions!

We are working with trusted vendors, and we have a mold certificate. That said, we will be happy to provide alternative packaging for customers upon request.

In terms of Gen Con, we have it all worked out. There was a bs load of planning involved in this. We will be renting a UHaul, and we have family/friends all around Indy and C-Bus. Transportation, storage, room, and board are not concerns of ours.

 MindwormGames wrote:

 catharsix wrote:
Always good to see new blood out there in the business, but if you really want to drum up interest, I suggest fewer pics of bottles of booze and empty wooden shelves, and more pics of miniatures and other gaming products. My unsolicited 2 cents.

-C6

We're not the kind of guys who pull our out on the first date.

It may be old-fashioned, but we'd like you to get to know us a bit before we bump uglies . But here's a lil' tease just for you!

All the same, when I click on a thread with a new company, I immediately scan it through for pics. If I don't see miniatures or at least pics of game product, i don't even bother reading. And I very likely will not click on the thread again in the future. Not everyone is like me, but many are, and you're basically losing that entire slice of Dakka users. This is intended as friendly advice, not me being a pissy grouch, but I'm just telling it like I think it is, because I like independent companies, and I'd rather see y'all (and other smaller folks) do well.

-C6

We understand where you're coming from Catharsix.

We could flood the thread right now with a bunch of renders, game materials, and even some production casts. It's early yet.

You might be right. This thread here might be the death rattle of Mindworm Games.

If it is, we're gonna rattle all the way to Gen Con and then some, and it'll be a load of fun all the way there!

You're welcome to come along for the ride.

MindwormGames I like the cut of your jib.

Looking forward to seeing some minis--renders or production casts, it doesn't matter!

 DarkTraveler777 wrote:
MindwormGames I like the cut of your jib.

Looking forward to seeing some minis--renders or production casts, it doesn't matter!

We love the word jib! Let's be besties!

We don't show renders as a matter of policy. Greens we'll show all day, but our artist, Marco Sano, works digitally.

Showing a render is like a Craigslist date, and we've rarely had a good experience on a Craigslist date.

Tell you what, we'll head over to the workshop and snap a couple of crappy photos of a model or two. We're still working on how to ink them correctly, which is like some damn form of wizardy. But we'll slut it up a bit, just for you.

Edit: After this, no means no!

For a moment... I was confused. What are the odds of a company posting pictures of equipment on Dakka called Mindworm Games. And then another company posting a miniature picture on Dakka called Mindwork Games. It is literally one letter difference, that my mind couldn't process they were two different companies.

 MindwormGames wrote:


We don't show renders as a matter of policy. Greens we'll show all day, but our artist, Marco Sano, works digitally.

Showing a render is like a Craigslist date, and we've rarely had a good experience on a Craigslist date.

Personally I like the companies that show me renders, especially when it is in the creation stage.
Mainly as it means it hasn't been committed to creation yet and feedback *MAY* lead to a better mini.
Sometimes it works, sometimes you end up with a mess as a chorus of voices try to drown each other out. (something comes to mind "A camel is a horse designed by committee.")

Plus if I can compare a render with a finished mini I can judge how accurately a company can get it.

But if you want to make it your thing, and only show the stuff you are happy with, then go for it!
It is your company so more power to you.

 Dark Severance wrote:
For a moment... I was confused. What are the odds of a company posting pictures of equipment on Dakka called Mindworm Games. And then another company posting a miniature picture on Dakka called Mindwork Games. It is literally one letter difference, that my mind couldn't process they were two different companies.

You not the only one

 Vain wrote:


Personally I like the companies that show me renders, especially when it is in the creation stage.
...

But if you want to make it your thing, and only show the stuff you are happy with, then go for it!
It is your company so more power to you.

Thanks Vain! We appreciate the sentiment.

Yes, we do love to make our own thing. That said, there are plenty of folks who weigh in on a model. You keep sweet talkin' us and maybe you'll find a render in your inbox one day .

We don't like renders because they are inherently misleading, and we vehemently dislike misleading our customers. To understand the connection between a render and a final deliverable, you've got to know all of the steps betwixt and between.

We had to learn the foibles and peculiarities of not only the particular printing process used by Knuckleduster Miniatures, but also the impact of Forrest's own way of setting up and executing a print. Nowadays we can look at Marco's work and have a pretty good idea about what it will look like after being printed, mastered, and put into production, but it took a lot of hard work to get to that point.

Above all, we want customers to know what they are getting, and a render is not what you are getting. We will absolutely be pleased to show renders in the context of a final product, and it sounds like that is something you might be interested in.

As for community input, we absolutely love feedback, and we'll be glad to hear whatever feedback you have about the models. The nice thing about doing all the manufacturing ourselves is that it doesn't cost much of anything to change things after the fact.

It's pretty cool, actually.


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Tsilber wrote:

 Dark Severance wrote:
For a moment... I was confused. What are the odds of a company posting pictures of equipment on Dakka called Mindworm Games. And then another company posting a miniature picture on Dakka called Mindwork Games. It is literally one letter difference, that my mind couldn't process they were two different companies.

You not the only one

Wait, what? Who are these villains!

Man...awesome miniatures (and almost 2,000+ Facebook likes!)...but...but...how did we miss that? Oh well, what is done is done. The only thing to do now is embrace it.

Thank God our logo looks like bran poo.

What a bunch of a-holes.

My kind of a-holes. *raises glass* Craft on good sirs, I look forward to your releases.

For every "Gaming Is Srs Bsnss" type you lose, you'll get the interest of someone who games purely for fun, and enjoys This Sort of Thing.

I'm just glad you have stuff almost ready - I've been following 'Mythos' for a few months, and outside of some concept art and a mini, there's not much information AT ALL. I'm hoping I'm still interested when they finally go to KS in 2Q 2016.

Anyways, you clearly have your eyes on the prize. Best of luck, I am incredibly intrigued!

You guys seem really unprofessional.

I like you.

I'd be more interested in the miniatures than the marketing speel.

What's differant here from the existing few dozen pulp miniature companies other than the unnecessarily poncey boxes they come in.

 notprop wrote:
I'd be more interested in the miniatures than the marketing speel.

What's differant here from the existing few dozen pulp miniature companies other than the unnecessarily poncey boxes they come in.

They aren't taking your kickstarter money, waiting two years, and then delivering half of the fething robots you ordered?

maceria wrote:

 notprop wrote:
I'd be more interested in the miniatures than the marketing speel.

What's differant here from the existing few dozen pulp miniature companies other than the unnecessarily poncey boxes they come in.

They aren't taking your kickstarter money, waiting two years, and then delivering half of the fething robots you ordered?

Not sure what Palladium has to do with his comment- they are far from a pulp miniatures company.

Although I think I understand your point; how they're not Kickstarting their project. Honestly though, they're showing barely more than Palladium has on wave 2.


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No wait, I think Palladium showed some renders from Ninja Division months ago.

So Palladium 1, Mindworm 0

Given that they're not at the "asking for money" stage, MWG isn't morally obligated to tell us what they're up to yet. It's still foolish not to. The reason I gave this thread a second look is because the founder contacted me personally via PM to tell me about it - it would be better if the thread itself gave people that reason to come back, and you do that by making a good first impression with some interesting concept art, renders or at least a fleshed-out description of what "Wild West fantasy" means.

But you see, they're so edgy.

Watch out notprop! Incoming marketing spiel. Boy, you are gonna fething hate this! (We'll take care of you soon...There's gonna be more models and game info in your face than you want come January)



Exiles is a fast-paced, frenetic, buzzword-filled game of gritty Wild West adventure.

Exiles is what we call a miniatures role-playing game because the game runs like an RPG, but plays like a skirmish wargame.

In classic RPG style, a group of bad characters work cooperatively to kick the out of a bunch of dudes controlled by a game master. -kicking is done using an innovative system of simultaneous play that sucks you into the game and doesn’t let up until the last roll of the dice.



Exiles has a modular campaign system that lets you play what you want, when you want without having to do a bunch of fething work.

GMing is both intuitive and fungible, so you don’t have to worry about sucking hind tit every time you play. GMs are expected to have their own characters and get the opportunity to earn bonus loot and exclusive items none of those other a-holes get to have.

So drop your dick and play the gack out of Fallout 4 while you can, because Exiles is coming your way August 2016!

See, we said you'd hate it.

What's with the swearing? I don't mind if someone says feth a few times, but this is just ridiculous.

They're so edgy you see.

It's a marketing spiel that may appeal to the kiddies, but I find it off-putting personally. Then again I don't like Will Ferrell movies so what do I know.

I'm also put off by the edge but I'll come back when there's something to see, for sure.

Well I'm intrigued. And I think that showing a company actually has people willing to talk to the community is a very good way to introduce themselves.
Being chatty is a great way to woo my wallet, though I'm guessing being over in Europe, it may have to be a LDR of candid selfies.

My two cat hairs: this topic does lack a little focus for the casual wanderer. And I've had to fish through people starting to bitch to find the main meal. Maybe edit up your first post with a couple shiny links to your later info posts.

The gruff and tuff attitude with lots of pseudo-swearing starts to wear thin after awhile, especially with nothing to back it up.


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What material will these miniatures be? I saw spin-cast mentioned, so I assume resin?

Is this trying to emulate Deadwood or something with all the swearing?

It's called style over substance.

 Buttery Commissar wrote:
My two cat hairs: this topic does lack a little focus for the casual wanderer. And I've had to fish through people starting to bitch to find the main meal. Maybe edit up your first post with a couple shiny links to your later info posts.

We'll be updating the first post once we have something worth updating the first post for. We only just started this thread .

Apologies for those who do not appreciate the language. We had lots of rounds about this back when we decided to drop an inordinate amount of money on a game company.

Benson swears like a sailor in everyday speech. We're pretty sure the word cloud on his personal FB page had feth front and center. It was either be real careful and develop a marketing-speak voice that we could all affect consistently, or just have fun and not worry about it.

On top of that, Exiles is a raunchy game. It's raunchieness has always touched our hearts, and it has been a huge part of the charm that has made the universe such a big part of our lives. We absolutely love it, and we wouldn't have it any other way.

There's something oddly liberating about it. The universe is grim, horridly grim, and there's a lot of serious gack going on. It is called Exiles, for example, because the only people on the Frontier are those who have nowhere else to go. But man, what a Debbie Downer that would be without a little humor.

Exiles takes that grim horribleness and mixies it with a carefree, irreverent attitude that forces you to lighten up a bit and get some of your own raunchiness out of your system. It's an environment where it's okay to giggle at a dick joke while you're surrounded by poverty, violence, and the hopeless futility of life.

Of course, for the purposes of 'analytics', our social media manager doesn't let us say feth on our Facebook page. Some sacrifices must be made...

 Sinful Hero wrote:
What material will these miniatures be? I saw spin-cast mentioned, so I assume resin?

I believe they are doing spin cast metal. The spin caster was bought from another company that used them for miniatures that were metal. And according to their blog it talks about spin casting metal miniatures.

 Sinful Hero wrote:

Spoiler:

Also Taaka, Southern Comfort, and Wild Irish Rose? Y'all need to find something better to drink than that.

Dude, check our Twitter. The Mindworm Games bar is in really bad shape. We are down to the dregs.

All of that liquor is left over from a housewarming party...7 years ago...at Benson's first house. None of which he bought, and which hasn't been touched since. All the good stuff is gone...or got lost in the move. Rebuilding a bar from scratch is an epic undertaking.


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 Dark Severance wrote:

 Sinful Hero wrote:
What material will these miniatures be? I saw spin-cast mentioned, so I assume resin?

I believe they are doing spin cast metal. The spin caster was bought from another company that used them for miniatures that were metal. And according to their blog it talks about spin casting metal miniatures.

Bingo!

We are doing spin cast pewter. We are shooting for lead free pewter, but we are also fiddling with various alloys before putting in a bulk order for materials.

Spin cast pewter provides maximum flexibility for a small manufacturer. Plus, we really hate working with resin. We'll be posting up some minis in the next couple of days, with some comparison shots and all that jazz, just for y'all.

 MindwormGames wrote:
Bingo!

We are doing spin cast pewter. We are shooting for lead free pewter, but we are also fiddling with various alloys before putting in a bulk order for materials.

Spin cast pewter provides maximum flexibility for a small manufacturer. Plus, we really hate working with resin. We'll be posting up some minis in the next couple of days, with some comparison shots and all that jazz, just for y'all.

I am loving this new venture even more! Metal is by far my favorite miniature material. Looking forward to seeing more when you guys are ready to show. Don't let the negativity on here get to you. Dakka's community is spikey and pissy at times, but show the goods and they'll get behind you like the short-termed-memory lemmings we all ultimately are.

There appears to be a few miniatures to be made out here-

[nothing to see here]

Uh yeah, the girl with the crossbow and stake is from Hasslefree games.

I think it's more the use of the muttering Ork that is making people eye roll.

We can swear here, the forum just changes it slightly. It's still very clear what was being said originally.



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 BrookM wrote:
Uh yeah, the girl with the crossbow and stake is from Hasslefree games.

The comments do say they're recasts, quite likely testing the process.

Ah, burned the link then. No point in showing that.

 Buttery Commissar wrote:
The comments do say they're recasts, quite likely testing the process.

Yup. The only way to learn how to make molds is to make molds. And nobody wants to put priceless greens into a mold before you know what you are doing.

We've shamelessly recasted LOTS of models. HFM do a lot of production with Griffin Moulds. If you want to see if your mold-making is up to snuff, recast something produced by Griffin! Hence we recast lots of Hasslefree models. We also really like Kev White's work, so it is a great excuse to pick up more Kev sculpts on the company dime.

Of course, it all goes back into the melt pot eventually...we promise. Don't you dare ask us how we got such a large army of Red Box Games dwarves! Don't you dare!


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 Sinful Hero wrote:
Ah, burned the link then. No point in showing that.

But you can show THIS link!

It's...uhhhh...blurry on purpose.

Looks like...a woman...with a machete...and either a pistol or a super long finger flipping the bird. Could go either way at this point.

 Sinful Hero wrote:
Looks like...a woman...with a machete...and either a pistol or a super long finger flipping the bird. Could go either way at this point.

NEITHER! Wait until Friday to find out.

At first I found the spiel endearing. Now it's getting annoying and still nothing of substance has been shown.

Still. You got me to comment and I'll probably stay around until I see what this is all about so, I guess it's working.

I can get behind a company that wants to give itself personality, and even a company that works blue. What I can't forgive is metal.


EDIT: The personality schtick might be less grating if you weren't putting down so many other companies without showing any of your own work yet.

 BobtheInquisitor wrote:


EDIT: The personality schtick might be less grating if you weren't putting down so many other companies without showing any of your own work yet.

I am hesitant to even ask this because I don't want this thread to go off topic, but where did Mindworm Games insult other companies?

I just went through their posts in this thread and didn't see anything negative about another company, and instead saw glowing praise for Mindwork Games and Hasslefree Miniatures.

So... source of this abuse?

 BobtheInquisitor wrote:
The personality schtick might be less grating if you weren't putting down so many other companies without showing any of your own work yet.

We are huge fans of table top gaming, and for the most part we don't have a cross word to say about someone putting new games and modes out into the world.

Just because we personally prefer not to use crowdfunding doesn't mean we're trashing companies that do. Many of our favorite companies use crowdfunding from Kingdom Death to Red Box Games to ZombieSmith to Mantic Games, 'The Home of Gaming'. Our game room has every edition on Zombicide we can get our hands on, we're eagerly awaiting our Blood Rage box, and Benson's kids are going to have their minds BLOWN when Reaper Bones 3.0 shows up on the doorstep!

Not using crowdfunding simply means that you get benefits as a consumer that you don't get with a Kickstarter campaign. That's a fact.

It doesn't mean companies that use Kickstarter are trying to screw you. And it doesn't mean that we think any company using crowdfunding is full of spankers. And as many have pointed out, not using Kickstarter means we are going to miss out on a lot of good stuff.

We are 100% excited about all of the great things we are equipped to offer when it comes time to put our products on the market. And when we do, Exiles will be in fething amazing company.

This is an exciting time in table top gaming!

EDIT: Wow, this Dakka profanity filter is really cool. Rest assured, we did not write "spankers" in that post. Man, that's what you get when you try to tone down the language. We'll try to stick to American profanity from now on.

EDIT EDIT: We took out most of the bleep orkmoticons from the posts, since y'all seem to dislike them. Easier to let Dakka's filter grab stuff anyway (copy/paste FTW), but we were nervous that something would slip through, you know. It's one thing to use crass language, it's another thing to be disrespectful.

 DarkTraveler777 wrote:

 BobtheInquisitor wrote:


EDIT: The personality schtick might be less grating if you weren't putting down so many other companies without showing any of your own work yet.

I am hesitant to even ask this because I don't want this thread to go off topic, but where did Mindworm Games insult other companies?

I just went through their posts in this thread and didn't see anything negative about another company, and instead saw glowing praise for Mindwork Games and Hasslefree Miniatures.

So... source of this abuse?

Not a specific company, but stuff like "Not your daddy's wargame", "drop your dick and play Fallout 4 now", the general anti-KS hipster crap and stuff like that give a real "Play like you have a pair" vibe. Not a direct insult to other companies, but definitely a case of building themselves up by putting others (in general) down.

I worded my statement poorly,but trust me, they are coming across a little strong.

MaxT wrote:
They're so edgy you see.

"Edgy?" I see "Juvenile." "Childish." "Gratuitous." Not "edgy".

Are there any functional adults involved in the marketing and/or management? This whole thing is rather shameful.

I poke my head in to see if this new independent miniature maker is worth my time and money and all I see are an abundance of emoticons and no substance.
And dear god ... did you really use "Rules are made to be broken" as a slogan? Please tell me that was an attempt at some form of irony. You can't have seriously thought that that would make you sound 'edgy'.

I'll have another look when you've got some substance to make up for your lack of style.

 Henry wrote:
I poke my head in to see if this new independent miniature maker is worth my time and money and all I see are an abundance of emoticons and no substance.
And dear god ... did you really use "Rules are made to be broken" as a slogan? Please tell me that was an attempt at some form of irony. You can't have seriously thought that that would make you sound 'edgy'.

I'll have another look when you've got some substance to make up for your lack of style.

I think/hope that the poo-brain logo guy is talking about the setting, being about wild west outlaws.

For the records the language gimmick doesn't bother me.

 JohnHwangDD wrote:

MaxT wrote:
They're so edgy you see.

"Edgy?" I see "Juvenile." "Childish." "Gratuitous." Not "edgy".

Are there any functional adults involved in the marketing and/or management? This whole thing is rather shameful.

There sure is! Two, as a matter of fact: Benson and Jesse. Three if you count our social media manager, who has been immensely helpful getting us set up. But don't blame her for the content!

We'd like to think both of us are functional adults. Benson even has kids!


He isn't so cute when he smashing your painted models!

In fact, being functional adults is what gives us the ability to run Mindworm Games the way we want to. At this point we are entirely self-funded. We are debt-free and own all of our equipment and materials outright, so we're not likely to come crashing down to earth anytime soon!

Of course, we feel that this gives us a responsibility to share the knowledge and skills we have thus far acquired with others. We are very excited about kicking off our spin casting tutorials, for example, and we are happy to answer any and all questions about the process that folks have.

We got a great deal of help from some fantastic folks in this industry when we were first getting started and we are eager to pay it forward! So stay tuned.

The biggest holdup at this point is pictures...ZOMG you've gotta have pictures. And video. We've shot lots of video, but we need to edit that crap, and the little Macbook Pro is not up to the task. Benson bought Mindworm Games a HOT new iMac with 32 gigs of RAM for Christmas, so we should be cooking with gas on the video front come January!

I am glad to see a company eschewing Kickstarter. KS has become a pit of lies and disappointment. I hope more companies decide to go this route even if it means fewer companies, because getting the capital together to start a business without debt is a major obstacle to sleaze balls.

We're just curious, but do we have any nosy fethers yet?

You know who you are.

 MindwormGames wrote:
We're just curious, but do we have any nosy fethers yet?

You know who you are.

Yeah, it's Friday in Japan so are you going to show that miniature in non-blurry form yet?

 MindwormGames wrote:
We're just curious, but do we have any nosy fethers yet?

You know who you are.

I'm interested, but you haven't gotten me to "nosy" yet.
But I am sure if we work hard together that might happen.

 Sinful Hero wrote:

 MindwormGames wrote:
We're just curious, but do we have any nosy fethers yet?

You know who you are.

Yeah, it's Friday in Japan so are you going to show that miniature in non-blurry form yet?

Yea, but we're American.

It's past 7 where we are, and Benson's got kids...who are hyped up on Christmas chocolate. On the plus side, he wakes up bright and early!

The marketing style is a bit campy, but I have to admit that it's fun to read through your posts. What would make me more excited to see your product is some concept art and maybe some fluff. As you've said, renders can be deceiving, but effective concept art could be used to convey the aesthetic and quality of the miniatures without necessarily creating unrealistic expectations. I'm eager to see what you've come up with so far, and I'm hoping that you'll keep us updated as you keep working.

 MindwormGames wrote:
We're just curious, but do we have any nosy fethers yet?

You know who you are.

Pics or it didn't happen. Wait... what?

YouIdiotKid - For fluff, we invite you to take a gander at

WHEN YOUR LUCK RUNS OUT: A True Account of Troy Hatcher, Famous Outlaw of the West, Had Firsthand from a Survivor of the Renowned Caine County Massacre and Bank Robbery

You might also have fun jawin' with Jamie.

He's a moron, but you can always trust him to be an idiot. As Mr. Payton Cole says, "Jamie is the only man I trust in Devil's Perch. He's too damn stupid to cheat you on purpose."

And here's some miniatures, as promised. Forgive the picture quality, Benson was too lazy to break out the photo booth.





And here's a comparison shot:



From left to right - Reaper, Knuckleduster, Wyrd, Exiles, Exiles, Black Scorpion, Hasslefree, Great Escape Games

Oh dear, well that wasn't worth the wait.

I think the model on the left looks pretty sweet, personally. Not necessarily my genre but looks well done from here!

The pose on the right model is a little lacking, but the sculpt looks fine. Would be interesting to see with a light coat of primer.

Is that guy one-armed or did he stick the other arm behind his back or something?

 BrookM wrote:
Is that guy one-armed or did he stick the other arm behind his back or something?

That's Father Mallory. He's got one arm. His sleeve is pinned to the front of his coat, which is how folks with one arm used to do it.

Mallory is being reprinted after some tweaks to the sculpt.


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 RiTides wrote:
Would be interesting to see with a light coat of primer.

Absolutely! We are working on an inking method, which is really what you need when photographing bare metal models.

Photography is on that long list of skills one needs to perfect when operating a table top game company. It is crazy how many skills you need to pick up, especially when you are doing most everything in house.

We certainly haven't perfected our photography yet. First, manufacture a quality product, then take good pictures of it .

You could always check in with Sally from Hasslefree, she's done a tutorial before on how to best prep unpainted metals for photography using various washes and whatnot.

I'm all about the old/weird west so I'm most likely in for the minis at least but I think your coming in a little too tall. If your taller than Black Scorpion (which are already much taller than Artizan, Foundry & a lot of other popular old west lines) I think you could come down a few MM. Wouldn't keep me away all together but would probably make me more of a cherry picker.

 Goon3423 wrote:
I'm all about the old/weird west so I'm most likely in for the minis at least but I think your coming in a little too tall. If your taller than Black Scorpion (which are already much taller than Artizan, Foundry & a lot of other popular old west lines) I think you could come down a few MM. Wouldn't keep me away all together but would probably make me more of a cherry picker.

Thanks for the feedback! Scale/size/proportion is always a tough question. But I think we are about on par with what you are looking for. Mallory is a particularly tall model for our range. Charlotte is on the shorter end. That gives you a natural variability right around the size you are talking about.

Now, our models are more true to scale than many of the other Wild West models on the market, so they are going to look a little bit different, and they will probably feel a little shorter than they actually are. Plus, the models will come on full round integral bases that pop right into the top of a round lipped base. You can always leave them off of a round lipped base to make them seem a little shorter on the table top.

That said, we think they gel pretty well on the table. Obviously, our models will look great together, but we anticipate that folks will want to use models from other manufacturers when playing Exiles, whether it's because you want to make your own unique character, or write your own scenarios.

Using models from other manufacturers is something that we encourage. We have even developed game rules that you will be able to use with products from other manufacturers, and of course these will be available for free download.

There are so many great products out in the market today that you shouldn't feel constrained about using products from a variety of manufacturers in your games!

I appreciate the fact that the pistol is pretty close to in scale with the person holding it. Guns the size of a thigh are something I want to see the industry get away from.

Both seem to be faIdly interesting models.

@Mindstorm
We'll get more info on the game in January you said?

 Wehrkind wrote:
I appreciate the fact that the pistol is pretty close to in scale with the person holding it. Guns the size of a thigh are something I want to see the industry get away from.

That's great to hear, because we worked very hard on this.

Mallory's gun is actually ginormous, but you're dealing with a lot of practical considerations when it comes to making a table top gaming model. We tried our double best to get the guns down to the smallest possible size that was still large enough to be manufactured, to hold up against rough handling, and to have enough details to identify the firearm.

Marco did a great job! If we were being picky, the grip is too large, but at some point you have to stop sweating the small stuff.


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 Sinful Hero wrote:
Both seem to be faIdly interesting models.

@Mindstorm
We'll get more info on the game in January you said?

Yea, lots more info in January. December is sort of a 'soft release' month. We are a month off from our projected social media launch (it was a rough year), and we are informed that December is not a particularly active time when it comes to the internets. Plus, we need to work out the kinks...like making sure Benson doesn't post crummy workbench photos...

There's a few more marketing spiel posts to go up this month, some LOLs Christmas images, and such like. January and onward will be comparatively bustling with content.

In terms of the game, we're gonna ease y'all into it, like a latex gimp suit (we prefer corn starch). We will have some gameplay videos up once we get the hang of editing videos, and for those of you who like reading gak we will be walking you through the various features of the actual game in a series of TLDR blog posts.

Play testing has been going very well, which is a huge relief because the game is...well...it is atypical. The game has been in development for a long time now, but feedback has been consistently positive for long enough that we are all sleeping a great deal better!

We are still nibbling around the edges of the rules, tweaking prices, point costs, jimmying the odd skill, but the fundamentals have proven to be resoundingly solid!

 MindwormGames wrote:
Plus, the models will come on full round integral bases that pop right into the top of a round lipped base. You can always leave them off of a round lipped base to make them seem a little shorter on the table top.

I sincerely hope you reconsider integral bases. Your "marketing " (which puts me off) notwithstanding,the models DO look like something I would be interested in. Integral bases will completely kill that interest for me.

Just my two cents.

~Eric

 Taarnak wrote:

 MindwormGames wrote:
Plus, the models will come on full round integral bases that pop right into the top of a round lipped base. You can always leave them off of a round lipped base to make them seem a little shorter on the table top.

I sincerely hope you reconsider integral bases. Your "marketing " (which puts me off) notwithstanding,the models DO look like something I would be interested in. Integral bases will completely kill that interest for me.

Just my two cents.

~Eric

We very much appreciate that Eric. We are going to do our level best to put these babies on full size integral bases.

BUT, the great thing about manufacturing in house is that we can be very flexible. We can make production molds without integral bases, and provide that as an option if there's enough interest in it. Heck, it's cheaper to produce too!

And even if you are the only one who wants them babies without integral bases, you ask us real nice and we might just hook you up anyway . It never hurts to make more molds, and we have 100 blanks calling our name!

Yea, bases attached to feet can be a real problem. We were talking/arguing about this in another thread, and if there are concerns about attaching the model to a base securely, as is often the case with little metal feet, the best bet might be to put a little base under each foot, such that they don't touch each other. That way there is a bigger connection point but you can remove the base without buggering up the ankles/legs in the process.

I'd have to go no on the integral bases as well, they're a pain to remove and I hate having to work around them. Slotta bases all the way (or the tabs or what have you).

Is that a card in the woman's hand?

I like the looks of those figures, the one-armed guy's pinned sleeve is a nice detail. Could always use more unconventional humans in my Wreck-Age games.

 DarkTraveler777 wrote:
Is that a card in the woman's hand?

I like the looks of those figures, the one-armed guy's pinned sleeve is a nice detail. Could always use more unconventional humans in my Wreck-Age games.

I think it's a knife.

 Goon3423 wrote:

 DarkTraveler777 wrote:
Is that a card in the woman's hand?

I like the looks of those figures, the one-armed guy's pinned sleeve is a nice detail. Could always use more unconventional humans in my Wreck-Age games.

I think it's a knife.

Affirmative. It's actually a pair of throwing knives. Hard to see from that angle, but they came out well, despite being so dainty.

The Exiles branding iron was a resounding success!

Do you have any info you'd be willing to share on how you're going to sell your miniatures?

Starter sets of X miniatures, singles, something else? I assume with the wooden boxes multiple figures per box.

Can you share anything about the price range?

 Sinful Hero wrote:
Do you have any info you'd be willing to share on how you're going to sell your miniatures?

Starter sets of X miniatures, singles, something else? I assume with the wooden boxes multiple figures per box.

Can you share anything about the price range?

We have tons of info we are willing to share!

We have several scheduled posts that answer all of your questions in more detail than you probably want . Except for prices. We have planned prices, but if Mars saw us posting prices it would be a very scary Christmas!

There's practical reasons for that, of course. We don't want to pull the rug out from under you, and there are a lot of things that could change between now and August. That said, we think you'll find that you get a lot of cool stuff, and plenty of gameplay value, in each of our products.

We are on the road today, but we will give you a little more detail on product format later tonight.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
Here's a brief overview of the product format:

That box in my earlier post is primarily for our Persona Packs.

A Persona Pack gives you all the materials you need to play a character of a particular Persona, which is sorta like a character class. You get two minis representing iconic characters. Father Mallory up there is one of our Doctors, and Charlotte is one of our Trappers.

You also get a gakload of cards: Character and Sidekick cards for both characters, quick reference character sheets, a passel of item cards, and cards with rules for special Persona skills. Lastly, you get a bunch of wooden tokens. All boxed up in a wooden box with internal dividers and plenty of room for extra stuff.

The other major product type is the Campaign Set.

A Campaign Set comes with all of the bs you need to play a predesigned campaign featuring a particular bundle of bad guys. For example, our first campaign features Troy Hatcher and the Scarbelly Gang.

You get minis for your bad guys. Boss (Troy Hatcher), Henchmen ("Big Pisser" Johnson and "Ol' One-eye" Johnson), and five Outlaw Toadies. You get stat cards for all of those folks, special rules cards, cards for any special scenario rules that come up during the campaign, new item cards, and a bunch of wooden tokens. Lastly, you get a Dime Novel featuring some nifty fluff and rules for the campaign scenarios.

We will also have Encounter Packs which modify your scenarios, such as the Filthy Whores, Dr. Dreyfus Shipman (a new Outlaw Boss), or Ol' Efrim, the mythical one-eyed grizzly.

We will be offering a Starter Set that will include the Troy Hatcher and the Scarbelly campaign, plus four stripped down Persona Packs. You'll get four characters and enough materials to get them going on the table (1 Gunslinger, 1 Trapper, 1 Doctor, and 1 Gentleman). Consequently, the set starter will allow up to five players, and of course you can always just download the cards you want and use whatever models you like if you want to have a bigger game.

Now, that’s an interesting question, friend. Naw, I don’t rightly know how Devil’s Perch come to get the name. And I ought to knowed ‘cause I been in these parts since goddamn creation!

Yessir, I prolly been here the damn longest outta anybody around, except maybe ol’ Mr. Cole…excuse me, Governor Cole, Governor Montgomery Cole, to be exact. Ya see, this whole place used to be a penal logging camp for the Territorial Government, which was owned by Montgomery Cole at the time, lock, stock, and barrel. The gov'ment, that is. All this used to be Federal land till Montgomery bought it up and made it over into an organized territory. But that's another story.



What was I sayin'? Oh, yea, that's right. Cole, Montgomery Cole that is, hired me in my shirtsleeves to run the camp’s provisions. There weren't much out here back then 'sides tents and daub cabins. You see where that feller yonder is havin' his way with a lady? No, no, the other one. He's fethin' right on the spot where the prisoners used to line up fer their whiskey ration.

It was rough livin’ then, and you can be damn sure 'bout that. Weren't so nice as it is now, what with the gold and the railroad and all. Weren't a woman for fifty miles neither!

Anyway, the Gov’nor weren't makin' much money off the camp, even with all the boys workin' real cheap, as it were. Wasn't too many folks about as needed lumber, and it all had to be took out by freight. It were ‘bout a year on when the Gov’nor’s cousin, Payton, come out west lookin’ fer a bill o’ goods. Monty figured he'd get shed o' the aggravation and sold Payton a contract to run the camp for the gov’ment.



Mr. Payton was good enough to keep me on to run the company store. It was simple enough work 'cause everythin’ were done with vouchers back then. The men got paid in vouchers, and I sold eveythin’ on vouchers too, so it were real easy to keep accounts squared up. We only had so many o’ them paper vouchers, you know, and they went ‘round and ‘round and back again, sometimes more'n once a day. I remember there was one o' them vouchers with a picture of a pecker drawed on. There was one time that lil' pecker voucher was good for a plug o’ tobacco, a pot o' hot coffee, and a dram o’ whiskey, all 'fore supper time!

But listen to me jawin’ on… Come on back later and I’ll tells you what happened when Payton bought the whole place and in...incor...incorp'ated, as it were. They turned out all the prisoners at the time, and I remember Mr. Devereux had to hang a few fellers…maybe that’s where the name come from.

This here's my favorite true story o' Troy Hatcher, you knows, the famous outlaw. Demond only puts it at six killed in the Cain County robbery, but the Simpson Brothers number a baker's dozen among the dead, includin' the widow Shipman and her baby girl. They got's the right of it, if you ask me.

They say Troy took a bullet in his wrist cuttin' his way outta that scrape, and it's a proved fact he left his nephew Frankie Lawson dead in the street. Got clean away with more'n two thousand in cash, though I'll call you liar if you say he taken any man's watch.



If Judge Clarkson hadn't been so fired up 'bout Hatcher, wouldn't have been no massacre. Troy's bullets only took the laws, and they had it commin'. More'n a dozen dead and they lay it all at Hatcher's feet like they aint got no part in it.

Demond is a great one for dressing up his accounts, but you can bet yer boots they come from eyewitness statements. Read this'n here and you can tell it weren't Hatcher filled that bank full o' corpses.

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 Henry wrote:

And dear god ... did you really use "Rules are made to be broken" as a slogan? Please tell me that was an attempt at some form of irony. You can't have seriously thought that that would make you sound 'edgy'.

We've been sitting around over the holidays drinking egg nog and chatting about Henry's comment here, and we figured Henry deserves a response.

You're damn right, Henry! Rules are meant to be broken.

Rules provide a framework that facilitates a gameplay experience. In our view, rules should serve that experience, and when they don't, you should totally break them.

Some folks might say that if you have to break the rules then the rules are poorly written, and that may be true when you have to create new rules to fix problems or patch holes in a ruleset. But that's not what we are talking about when we say 'rules are meant to be broken'.

What we mean when we say that rules are meant to be broken is that gameplay experience should have priority over rigid adherence to the rules as written. In other words, we believe that playing games is about having fun, not about following the rules.

In Exiles, we not only encourage players to break the rules, we expect players to break the rules on a regular basis.

This doesn't mean that we can't write a tight ruleset, far from it. We think Exiles is a fantastic and well-written set of rules.

Like many well-designed games, Exiles has a very particular order of operations, and for very important reasons. But rigid adherence to this order of operations just because 'it's the rules' is stupid, especially when doing so gets in the way of fun and convenience.

In Exiles, we created a flexible system of simultaneous resolution that gives you the freedom to break the rules in the interest of having a fun, fast game. Gale force Nine does the same thing in one of their flagship products, Firefly: The Game, one of our very favorite board games.

It is important for Exiles players to understand the order of operations, not so you can properly execute it every single game turn, but so you know when to stick to it, and when to go ahead and get on with what you are doing.

So you could say, Henry, that the rules have been carefully, explicitly designed so that you can break them without breaking the game.

You need five basic elements to spin cast metal miniatures:

Rubber
Metal
Heat
Pressure
Centrifugal Force



I have a bad feeling about this...

You need rubber to create your mold cavities, and metal to fill those cavities. Heat and pressure makes your mold. Pressure, heat, and centrifugal force allows you to get your metal into the mold cavities.

Most tabletop games miniatures are made with pewter and organic rubber molds.


Your basic organic rubber mold blank. They smell lovely, especially when you cook 'em!

Rubber mold blanks are placed into a frame that maintains the shape of the mold and allows you to apply heat and pressure. The rubber melts, flows around the miniatures, and then hardens. A layer of mold release keeps the two halves from sticking together so you can pull the mold apart and remove your casts.


The rubber starts out fairly pliable, so if you're feeling lazy you can cram a mini right into it!

A hole in the top half of the mold allows you to pour molten metal into the mold while it is being spun, and the centrifugal force of the spinning causes the molten metal to flow from the center of the mold into the cavities. As the metal cools, it solidifies, and you have new miniatures.


Yea, put it in my hole, baby! Fill me up with your hot, molten...that's it, I'm out.

That’s basically it. You can get a lot of fancy equipment to do all of that, but you can also get it done with most anything that can apply the appropriate forces. You need about 2,000 pounds of pressure on a mold and 250-350 degrees Fahrenheit to cook it properly. Your pewter needs to be at about 500 degrees for casting, the mold should have anywhere from 10 to 30 pounds of pressure on it to keep the two halves from separating, and it needs to spin at upwards of 500 RPMs.


This lovely hunk of metal maintains the shape of your mold whilst it's being squished and melted.

Josh Qualtieri (ZombieSmith Studios), for example, scratch built his first spin caster out of old washing machine parts, and vulcanized molds in his oven with a scrap metal frame and some clamps. That said, $3,000 will get you a second hand professional setup, you can get a spiffy new one for as little as $6,000, and you can drop more than $10,000 on a high-end basic setup if you've got way more money than you need.


Mold goes into the caster, plate goes on top, piston presses it together, and the electric motor spins it real fast. It's basically rocket science.

Over the next few months we will walk you through the spin casting process end to end, in more detail that you probably give a gak about. We’ll have plenty videos as well, for those of you who prefer to watch crap on Youtube. But the new computer isn’t in yet, and I don’t have time to wait 6 hours for a video to render on my laptop, so you've gotta wait, okay.


For all you sick fetishists, this is what she looks like on the inside!

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How it's made: belligerent edition!

That's pretty neat you're showing you're showing your workflow to interested parties. Also neat that your models are made - literally - in house.

Nice little mini tutorial! Thanks for posting that up guys!

maceria wrote:
How it's made: belligerent edition!

That's pretty neat you're showing you're showing your workflow to interested parties. Also neat that your models are made - literally - in house.

It's always something we were interesting in seeing, and of course we became so interested in it that we just hauled off and started doing it ourselves!

We also feel that it is important to share skills and experience with the community. We got plenty of help when we were first starting out, and lots of help from Josh (which is why we love to shamelessly plug ZombieSmith!).

But it was hard to find good resources, and we want to do our level best to provide a comprehensive, easily-accessible set of resources for anyone interested in learning more about the way miniatures are made, or those looking to start producing their own models. And of course we are always available to chat. Hell, if you're in the NOLA area, we'll be happy to walk you through our workshop!

The workshop is, indeed, litterally at Benson's house, but it's in a detached garage, which is critical. Benson burns himself enough that we all felt his wife and kids would feel safer with the dangerous equipment under a different roof.

That was really excellent, thank you very much for sharing it!

 RiTides wrote:
That was really excellent, thank you very much for sharing it!

Well gak, tides, if you thought that was excellent, just wait! It'll blow your mind when we start posting video tutorials on how to vent a mold.

Although we're quite sure many experienced mold makers will be shaking their heads at our technique. Nevertheless, y'all will be able to judge by the end results.

Incidentally, we are also looking into setting up a periscope in the workshop, so you can watch Benson spin out your miniatures in his jammie pants at 2 AM.

This is also what Reaper does for metals.
They use a mostly white metal mix, and that needs to be higher temp to melt.
I thought they had videos up showing the process

 skrulnik wrote:
This is also what Reaper does for metals.
They use a mostly white metal mix, and that needs to be higher temp to melt.
I thought they had videos up showing the process

Well, we're not metallurgists by any stretch. About 500 degrees F seems to work with most alloys we've used. Roto Metals, for example, recommends 500 degrees for their R98 alloy.

Tin has a melt point of 450 degrees, although Bismuth and Lead both have higher melt points, at 520 and 620 respectively. Nevertheless, you can get low melt alloys that are primarily composed of Tin, Bismuth, and Lead that melt at temps as low as 212 degrees.

From what we have seen and heard from others, you're talking about shades of grey when it comes to various pewter alloys. Those shades can be very important depending on application, but when it comes to table top gaming models, the differences are minor.

Pewter is always at least 90% Tin by statute, at least in the US. Plus 'other metals appropriate for pewter'. 'White metal' normally denotes lead free, which is really lead very, very minimal, because you're going to find lead traces in most alloys. It might also be used to denote 'not-legally-pewter' if there's less Tin content than required to be marked as "pewter." In any case, lead content in pewter is low anyway, because the vast bulk of pewter/white metal is Tin.

According to Conquest Industries, the "International Standard" for lead free pewter is 92% Tin, 7.75% Antimony, and 0.25% Copper. It doesn't have the toxic lead and cadmium of more traditional pewter alloys. The 98% Tin alloys tend to use Bismuth instead of Antimony.

So really you're talking about Lead vs Antimony vs Bismuth when it comes to making miniatures. The variations are rather subtle. Contenti, for example, includes 0.25% Copper and 0.25% Silver instead of 0.5% Copper in its 98% Tin 1.5% Bismuth alloy. But then we're also talking about alloys that are used for jewelry making as well as other applications, and not just for making miniatures. Some alloys are formulated to facilitate polishing, because obviously folks are not going to hand-paint their pewter necklace or cup.

So just what the feth is Wild West fantasy?

We mean exactly that. Exiles is a fantasy world. We made all this gak up. It never existed.

Exiles isn’t alternate history and it aint historical fiction. There was never an Abraham Lincoln, vampire hunter or not. You can’t cross the Rocky Mountains, steam down the mighty Mississippi, flee to Texas, or punch cattle on the Chisholm Trail. There’s no place for that bs in Exiles.



We love you, Ax Lincoln and Old Cowboy Ford, but ya aint Exiles!

What you will find is every damn thing you need for a proper Wild West game and then some!

The Exiles frontier is packed to the rafters with crooked politicians, evil cattle barons, nefarious outlaws, conniving whores, ruthless banditos, and martially skilled railroad laborers. There are cattle drives, gold rushes, bounty hunts, blood feuds, bank robberies, and bar fights around every corner.

In short, Exiles has every trope, cliché, and archetype that makes the Wild West the most awesome place you never wanted to live. All of it half-digested in our unique blend of It's on you to police your posts for swear words that slip past the filter, not ours. motyak and hacked up for you to enjoy. This makes Exiles a special brand of awesome for two reasons:



He's a Johnson, which means he's a giant dick!

First, we get to turn this gak up to 11. Exiles isn’t held back by bs drawn on any map or writ in any history book. This means we get to have all of the fun with none of the responsibility. In other words, Exiles is the Wild West genre’s Plan B.

Second, Exiles is always a new experience. The world of Exiles is at once instantly familiar, disarmingly bizarre, and terrifyingly mysterious. Like a Craigslist date.

When you immerse yourself in the world of Exiles, you will know exactly where you are but have no fething clue how you got there. And isn’t that the best way to start a Saturday night?



If Sean Penn was my brother, I'd shoot him too.

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I missed all of MindwormGames' posts over the last two weeks but finally caught up. With what has been shown so far I am super excited for Exiles and can't wait to be able to explore the setting.

Hurry up and release it already!

 DarkTraveler777 wrote:

I missed all of MindwormGames' posts over the last two weeks but finally caught up. With what has been shown so far I am super excited for Exiles and can't wait to be able to explore the setting.

Hurry up and release it already!

We are extremely glad to hear that DarkTraveler777! Thanks so much for your support and encouragement.

We are hard at work right now getting a bunch of content ready for release, so keep a weather eye!

Benson took meticulous photos whilst prepping a mold last night, so we will have another tutorial up in a couple of days. We have also about wrestled down inking our models properly, so expect to see some more product info in due course.

Here's a little teaser of one of our 3D prints.

And why the heck not? Here's the whole model.

We figured it made sense to snap some photos before we crushed her in a mold.



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It's time for another Mindworm Games workshop tutorial!

Today we are going to tell you a little bit about how we prepare a mold. This tutorial will take us through the process until just before we pre-heat the mold and add the keys/lock nuts that will keep the mold aligned during casting.

We also want to thank Slow Death Games, most especially because we didn't ask permission to use their fine Wild in the Streets miniatures for this tutorial. Thanks CK!

Now, all of you should know that we here at Mindworm Games are relatively new at this whole spin casting business. There are doubtless folks in the biz who would shake their heads at the way do things, and we'll probably make a few (more) mistakes here and there. But these methods have worked pretty well so far.

And of course a good way to get the best information is to tell everyone what you know. If you see us doing something profoundly stupid, feel free to correct us!


It follows me no matter where I move...

Here we have a basic organic rubber mold blank. As you can see in the pic above, the top half has a pre-cut hole in it. The first thing to do when prepping a mold is tear out this plug!


A little foreplay is a vital part of the process

It can sometimes take a little elbow grease to rip out the plug, but afterwards you have a convenient hole in the dead center of your mold.


That's some smokin' hot ladies right there, and you made fun of goths...

Here we have the miniatures we are going to be making a mold of.

We have two sets each of the Slow Death Goth Gang Starter and Murder Cult Girls Starter. These lovely models were cast by Valiant Enterprises Ltd, a US company which provides top notch contract casting services, if you're looking.

Normally one wouldn't (A) make a production mold from production casts or (B) make a family mold of two different product codes, but this is just for the LOLs.


GET TO THE TUTORIAL ALREADY!

Okay, so the first step is to lay out your mold. The idea here is to figure out where the individual models are going to be located. You want the mold to be well balanced, have plenty of space for keys/locator nuts, and you want to leave room for your gates/vents, i.e. the way metal gets into a cavity and the way air gets out of its way.

In the center of mold blank is our plug/gate form. Normally these two things are separate pieces (see below), but we have created a time-saving agglomeration of the two.


Give my creation LIFE!

The center plug maintains that all too critical hole in the top half of your mold, and the gate form keeps you from having to hand cut a ton of gates. It can also improve the flow of metal. Reaper, for example, uses a gate form with a spiral shape to it. The one above is a crappy Tekcast product (that cracked after like two molds).

The next thing to do is decide how you want to orient each model in the mold. You not only want to be careful about where the part lines end up (where the two halves of the mold meet), but you need to watch out for undercuts too.

Undercuts shouldn't be a problem if the model has been designed well, but you want to keep part lines in easy to clean areas, or at least we like to!


It beats me where that blue color came from on her arms. Aliens, maybe...

The other thing you need to pay attention to is where the pressure is going to be applied when you cook the mold. Your mold will be nice and pliable if you pre-heat it properly, but you don't want to wind up cracking a fragile original or deforming a master.

With the miniature in the pic above, we decided to place her face down in the mold, and also remove material from the bottom half of the blank in order to take the pressure off of her arms. Otherwise, the highest point on the model would be that oh-so-bendy left arm, and it is liable to get bent out of shape.

Let's take a look at how we did this:

First, we marked an outline of the model by scratching the surface of the mold blank.


We only use the highest quality tools

Next, we pressed the model into the mold to create an impression.


You can't see it, but that is a HUSKY brand razor blade. Very fancy!

Finally, we cut into the surface of the mold with a razor blade and removed enough material to sit the model into the mold with all her parts more or less supported.

You can do this the quick and dirty way with any sort of prodding implement, like a screw driver. Here we have created some indentations to hold the model's toes and elbow so she will sit nice, flat, and well-supported in the mold.


Screw that!

All of this prep work is one area where we are likely going to get some disagreement with various professional mold makers.

There's many schools of thought and lots of strange proclivities out in the world when it comes to making molds, and as much habit, guestimation, and ritual as objective methodology.

Josh Qualtieri (ZombieSmith), for example, cuts all his gates and vents with a safety razor!

Forrest Harris (Knuckleduster) says we do 'too much work', and that all one really needs to do is pre-heat the mold and then allow it to 'find its center'. For his part, Josh will jab holes with a screw driver, but he doesn't cut into the mold, and neither he nor Forrest build up the surface of the mold, which is something other mold makers will often do.


Phew! Now it's ready for heating and lock nuts.

And that's it!

All of the miniatures are comfortably arranged, aligned, and supported to our satisfaction. Now it is time to stick this baby in our mold frame that has been pre-heating this whole time and get read to crush it under 2,000 pounds of pressure!

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Nice little tutorial! Really enjoying these, gives some nice insight into the process (and often the best teachers are those who only just figured out how to do stuff).

Dear Mindworm Games,

Will you make ass-kicking saloon whore models? I would really like to see those come to life. The ones Malufaux makes are okay, but they are holding birds and umbrellas.

Please provide me with a saloon girl holding a giant sledgehammer/shotgun or straddling a cannon or doing a karate move.

 Thunderfrog wrote:
Dear Mindworm Games,

Will you make ass-kicking saloon whore models? I would really like to see those come to life. The ones Malufaux makes are okay, but they are holding birds and umbrellas.

Please provide me with a saloon girl holding a giant sledgehammer/shotgun or straddling a cannon or doing a karate move.

Ass-kicking saloon whores?

Well...we have a 'Filthy Whores' Encounter Pack planned, but they aren't really ass-kicking. They mostly hang around and rob you when you're helpless, or stab you when you're not looking.

It seems like you want some armed and vengeful painted cats.

We shall give your request serious consideration. Please continue to bother us about it. That's the best way to get us to do it.

@Mods: "ass" is not getting caught by the profanity filter. Does that mean it's okay, or should we all be self-censoring?


Automatically Appended Next Post:

 Wehrkind wrote:
Nice little tutorial! Really enjoying these, gives some nice insight into the process (and often the best teachers are those who only just figured out how to do stuff).

You are very welcome, Wehrkind. We appreciate the support and encouragement.

It takes a deceptively significant amount of effort to do tutorials like this, and we are very glad to hear that folks are getting some value out of it.

Mold making is a strange art. It seems to be three parts craft, two parts science, and one part voodoo.

Obviously, we have consumed whatever materials we can on making molds, and we have gotten plenty of help from some awesome people in the biz (not the least of whom are ZombieSmith Studios and Knuckleduster Miniatures.

We have found that there are many strange and conflicting habits, proclivities, and methodologies at work.

We realize tis post is a bit otiose on a wargaming forum, but what the heck!

I don't play those games, so why the feth would I play Exiles?

Why wouldn’t you play Exiles?

Exiles has engaging characters, gripping stories, and a disturbingly addictive game world.

On top of this, Exiles offers a fast-paced, modular game system that makes it exceedingly simple to organize a campaign.



Games require minimal setup, only take about 45 minutes to play, and can be played comfortably with as little as three people. At the same time, the system is robust enough to handle a large number of players without slowing down or falling apart.

And the best part of all is that GMing is utterly fungible. Not only can you play a character and GM in the same campaign, but GMing also gives you the opportunity to get extra experience and acquire unique gear for your character.


You won't get stuck GMing this time, we promise!

Campaigns unfold along an ambiguous timescale, which gives you the flexibility to play what you want, when you want without screwing up the story. You can splice scenarios together, mix up published campaigns, and insert side treks whenever you please.

Exiles can also be played as trim on story or as deep into the narrative weeds as you want.


We don't need no stinking story!

Campaign scenarios give you the basic structure of a coherent story arc, with built-in decision points and opportunities to explore the narrative while the accompanying Dime Novels offer a wealth of rich, characterful details that can be used to truly bring your campaign to life!

In short, Exiles is robust enough to hold your attention as a full-on RPG, but it also makes a great side game.

Exiles is perfect for a quick gaming fix without all the hassle of organizing a full-on campaign.

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The terrain shown so far looks nice too - is that something you'll also be producing and selling or is it from somewhere else?

Love the tutorials, thank you for posting them

 Alpharius wrote:
The terrain shown so far looks nice too - is that something you'll also be producing and selling or is it from somewhere else?

Thanks Alph!

The buildings are almost all from the Dead Man's Hand range by 4Ground.

We love 4Ground buildings! We will be doing lots of 4Ground tutorials and product reviews down the line, and we would love to retail some 4Ground products eventually.

Those ones in the pics are 'just out of the box', i.e. glued together and otherwise untouched. We are going to be mucking them up for Exiles, but that's not high on the current to-do list.

The mat in some of our pics is a F.A.T. Mat by Frontline Gaming. Otherwise it's Benson's sectional desert table.

F.A.T. Mats are fantastic! There's little better when it comes to photos and videos. I was skeptical at first, but I have been converted. The only problem with F.A.T. Mats is that they need to have more Exiles-ish mats in 3'x3'. And the Western Waste 3'x3' is sold out. Dammit Frontline! Don't you know we have a game coming out in a few months!

At some point were are going to work on designing our own Exiles plywood terrain for production on our sic little CNC mill. Our goal will be to produce decrepit, sagging, frontier buildings of the type you can't really find around anywhere. But that's a whole other set of skills to learn. For now we'll stick to getting our tokens milled.

Still loving everything I am seeing here. As the guy who usually gets stuck being the GM I like that you can play and run the game without being confined to one role.

 DarkTraveler777 wrote:
Still loving everything I am seeing here. As the guy who usually gets stuck being the GM I like that you can play and run the game without being confined to one role.

Technically you can do that in any game, but most formats are not conducive to it.

We spent a good deal of time figuring out how to create a system that naturally encourages swapping out the GM role.

First, GMing has to be easy, so you don't need to acquire much, if any, specialized knowledge to run a game. If the game needs a GM, it's going to require some specialized knowledge, but we have kept this to a minimum in Exiles, and provided lots of convenient guideposts and frameworks to work with.

Second, GMing has to be fun. It can't be an onerous chore, or nobody will want to do it.

Lastly, you need an incentive, something to give you an excuse to run a game, something that makes you WANT to run a game, that is unrelated to the experience itself.

Apart from the simple structure of an Exiles game, and the trim rules, we get a lot of mileage out of our "Betterments" system.

Every game has a set of "Betterments," usually three, which are optional objectives for the GM to achieve. The GM normally chooses two of these objectives prior to the start of the game.

Now, these objectives are related to the STORY of the game, and are not just about steamrolling the players. In fact, some Betterments make the bad guys far less efficient than they might otherwise be. We also try to make Betterments funny whenever we can.

For example, in one of our scenarios the players are trying to capture a bad guy henchman, hogtie him, and drag him off the table. One of the Betterments is called "Inchworm," and the objective is to have the Henchman crawl as far as possible while tied up.

Every Betterment comes with a bonus, and the Inchworm betterment pays you a certain amount of money for every inch the henchman crawls during the game (Crawl moves you 1 inch, btw).

So as the GM, if you choose this betterment you WANT the players to capture and hogtie the henchman, but then you want the players to drop him, and to keep them away from the henchman for as long as possible while he slowly inches his way around the table.

So how the Hell does Exiles actually work?

Exiles uses movement, terrain, combat, and dice mechanics similar to a skirmish wargame, combined with a streamlined character creation system and robust equipment rules that will keep your characters evolving game after game after game.

The system is based on an innovative simultaneous play mechanic that keeps the game moving at a lighting quick pace and allows for large numbers of players without slowing down or falling apart.



YOU GOT 'EM CLEM! I'll...cover you from these here rocks.

Exiles is designed to minimize rules interaction and maximize player interaction.

Players declare actions in whatever order they please and everything happens at the same time. In other words, you get to resolve your own actions without waiting on somebody to pull their head out of their ass. This frees up players to worry about important things, like why Carl is still running in the wrong direction!


These guys are prototypes for play testing. The actual product cards will have a more refined layout...and prices!

Exiles uses ten-sided dice and a simple roll-under mechanic with minimal modifiers. Roll equal to or less than your target number and you succeed. Target numbers are on the cards right in front of you, so you don’t have to worry about looking things up in the middle of a game.


The two D10 icons are your target numbers, one for short range and one for long range.

All of this rulesy crap allows Exiles to compress hours of gameplay into a raucous 45-minute thrill ride. The rules are simple, you don't need to look anything up, and you don't even have to wait for the other players to get their gak together! Exiles handles multiple players like a champ too. Add a fifth, sixth, or even a seventh player to a game and Exiles will barely feel it.

Exiles is basically the Valeria Messalina of miniatures gaming


Our fellow history nerds know what we're talkin' 'bout!

Not only that, but the fast, frenetic, nature of the game creates an intense, immersive experience whether you are looking for a tactical challenge or a great story to tell.

Although honestly, the biggest the tactical challenge is figuring out how to get Carl to pay attention for the 20 seconds you have to coordinate actions. God. Dammit. Carl...

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That's a damn good question!

The Exiles product line is based on variations of three basic products: Personas, Campaigns, and Encounters.

Personas are the basic building blocks of an Exiles character. Every Persona represents a particular archetype, such as the Gunslinger, the Doctor, or the man-eating Wendigo. Choosing a Persona gives your character a set of starting attributes and a skill list that tells you what abilities your character can learn, and how much it costs to learn them.

A Persona Pack product gives you everything you need to play a character from a certain Persona.


This here is a prototype, for picturin' purposes. Lots of arts is still cookin'!

The product comes with:

Two pewter miniatures representing iconic characters from the Persona

Character and Sidekick cards for each

Skill cards with the rules for any unique special abilities

Item cards with which you can equip your characters

Wooden tokens that you can use to handle any bs during a game

All of it packed up nicely in a specially designed wooden box that you can use to carry around all your awesome stuff, with plenty of room for all the extra crap you pick up along the way!

A Campaign Set includes everything you need to play through a campaign featuring a bunch of new bad guys to kick the gak out of.


Marco is still sculpting Troy Hatcher and the Scarcely Gang, so just use your imagination. And imagine the proper tokens are in there...and that the Dime Novel is in there...Whatever, you'll get about this much STUFF, plus a few special trinkets.

The product comes with:

A set of pewter miniatures representing the various bad guys featured in the campaign

Stat cards for all of these SOBs

Scenario cards describing any special rules you need for the campaign

A set of badass new item cards

A Plethora of wooden tokens to handle any special crap that happens in the campaign

A printed dime novel with rules and nifty, world-building stories

All this stuff is packaged up in a beautiful wooden box that we will lovingly feth up to give it that real Exiles flavor.



You only get two kinds of boxes! Two. One for lots of stuff and one for not as much stuff.

Encounter Packs let you modify a Campaign.

Each encounter pack features a new Boss that will change up the rules for a particular type of bad guy, or just something super cool you can add to a campaign, like the Crusty Whores, the Occupied gak, or Ol’ Efrim, the legendary one-eyed grizzly! And of course you get a bunch of new scenario rules, sweet new items, a whole mess of tokens, and a nice wooden box to keep it all in.

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This is all starting to look really good guys, keep it up!

Simultaneous rounds? Sounds interesting. Is there an open beta version for playtesting?

Anything on pricing yet?

 smiler wrote:
This is all starting to look really good guys, keep it up!

Thanks Smiler! We absolutely appreciate the support and encouragement!



Automatically Appended Next Post:

 Hanskrampf wrote:
Simultaneous rounds? Sounds interesting. Is there an open beta version for playtesting?

Anything on pricing yet?

We are considering an open beta for the rules, but we would like to let our play test campaigns run for a bit more to see how they continue to play out.

With any game that has campaign play, you really need to watch multiple campaigns to unfold organically. Certain issues will only surface in an extended campaign, so we want to let it ride for a bit longer to see if anything pops up before opening up the system to a less structured, broad base style of community feedback.

We are told that we should keep pricing info under our hats until the products 'hit the streets', and there's lots of good reasons for that. Being a both brand new and small company, we need to work the kinks out of the production process. How much wastage is there in full scale production? Is there a cost we we forgot to factor in? How do our actual operating expenses match up with cost projections? And such boring nonsense like that.

That said, we have a price point in mind, and we think our products will provide a great deal of value for the price.

For example, with a Persona Pack product (see my post below) you will get everything you need to participate in an Exiles campaign for dozens and dozens of games. You will get a plethora of items that will have your character's billfold empty and your character reasonably equipped until you die a horridly bloody frontier death.

The Gunslinger Persona Pack will come with crappy, middling, and and high quality pistols at a variety of price points, for example, plus multiples of every type of firearm. You'll get cards for all of the ammo types, and at least one weapon of every type the Gunslinger can use. Plus some fun useful items like cartridge belts and holsters.

You might eventually want an even cooler gun or a better fightin' weapon, and that would be the time to pick up or engage with another product, or just print out the PDFs of the cards and use whatever you like!


Automatically Appended Next Post:


Choosing a Persona is the most important thing about making an Exiles character.

A Persona tells you what kind of character you’ve got, whether it’s a fancy Gentleman, swarthy Gunslinger, hardass Trapper, or even something fethed up and weird like a skeletal Scarecrow or disease-riddled Buzzard.


I like the look of your box...

Your Persona tells you what special abilities and whatnot you start with, and it also gives you a handy list of skills you can buy with your Learnin’. But that’s all the boring game gak. The Persona Pack product gives you so much more!

A Persona Pack gives you everything you need to create and play a character from a particular Persona.

First, you get two pewter miniatures representing iconic characters from the Persona.

Every miniature is hand-made by us in our snazzy workshop. Exiles models are single piece casts, so you don’t have to mess with assembly. Any and all bits are designed to be entirely optional, so you can jazz up your little dudes if you like, or take them as they come.



You get Character and Sidekick cards for both models which means you can not only play either model as a proper character, you can also hire them as a sidekick when gak gets hairy!

You also get a set of handy quick reference Skill cards so you can put all the special rules for your Persona right in front of you during a game.

Each Persona Pack comes with a set of wooden tokens to handle all of your bs during a game. You get tokens for all of the common actions, like Haul Ass, Reload, and Yee-Haw!, plus tokens for all of your cool Persona skills.


These are Benson's gakky prototypes. Adam Burnier is MUCH better at photoshop, don't worry.

More importantly, your Persona Pack comes with a set of Item cards you can use to equip your character. You’ll get plenty of cheap, gakky equipment suitable for a brand new character, some better gear that’ll come in handy when you’re flush with cash, and badass items for each character.

All of this awesome stuff comes packed in a genuine wooden box with a slide out tray and internal dividers to keep everything organized. You’ll find plenty of extra room in this here box for additional gear, game materials, or other bs you happen to pick up along the way.


Look at all that fun gak!

And that’s it! Everything you need to play your favorite Persona.

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Let’s take a quick look at the Exiles turn structure.

The game turn has a pretty basic structure. It goes like this:

Animals and Idiots
Movin’
Doin’
Roundup

The Movin’ and Doin’ phases have their own declare/resolve sub-phases.

Animals and Idiots



The Animals and Idiots phase is for doing whatever needs to be done with any animal or idiot models on the table. Some scenarios will have a few special rules for animals and/or idiots, but most of the time you can ignore them.

Animals and Idiots is also when the Governor puts new bad guys on the table, and that’s what you’ll use it for most of the time.

Movin’


NOOOOOOO! I'm not even holding my gun!

The most important thing about the Movin’ phase is that it’s timed.

The Governor should start every Movin’ phase by activating a timer, which should be about 20 seconds.

Once the timer starts, players have to do their Movin' before the timer runs out!

When time is up, STOP!

If you dithered too long, declared the wrong action, or didn’t finish moving a model, well that sucks for you. Leave your model where it is, don’t touch that token on the table, and deal with it.

After the players finish Movin' their gak, the Governor does all the bad guy stuff.

Finally, all declared actions get resolved before the Doin' phase.

Doin’


A little too much Doin' last night, eh? We've all been there.

The Doin’ phase is like the Movin’ phase, except it isn’t timed, and now you can kill somebody!

Just like Movin’ phase, players do their stuff first, then all the bad guys.

Effects apply as soon as they hit the table, but any mooks you shade normally get a change to hit you back before they leave the table.

Roundup


What, you don't have 100 cow models? Weirdo...

The Roundup phase is for resolving any lingering bs that happened in the game turn.

When everything is buttoned up, the Governor takes a few seconds to fiddle with models in the Animals and Idiots phase then starts a new Movin’ timer.

Rinse and repeat.

Game turns take about 90 to 180 seconds, which means you can normally play more than 20 game turns in a 45 minute game. Whoa doggie! That’s fast!

More game turns means you have plenty of time to make up for mistakes, so it doesn't much matter if you screw up. This is the secret sauce that makes Exiles so awesome.

There's so much playing going on that it does't matter if you make a stupid mistake!

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MMM... You a fine-lookin' man, Mr. Hiscock.

 Sinful Hero wrote:
Interesting you're avoiding Kickstarter.

Any particular reasons?

Fascinating. Kickstarter has become such a retail tool that customers are surprised when you don't use it.

I'm not totally against it, and may try it myself some day, but it seems like it allows manufacturers to deliver substandard final parts, deliver them incredibly late, or even not deliver them at all, and people love it. All because of the excitement of making it happen and stretch goals and all that? Really?

 khurasan_miniatures wrote:

 Sinful Hero wrote:
Interesting you're avoiding Kickstarter.

Any particular reasons?

Fascinating. Kickstarter has become such a retail tool that customers are surprised when you don't use it.

I'm not totally against it, and may try it myself some day, but it seems like it allows manufacturers to deliver substandard final parts, deliver them incredibly late, or even not deliver them at all, and people love it. All because of the excitement of making it happen and stretch goals and all that? Really?

YAY! Khurasan Miniatures! I love your models.

EVERYBODY! These guys are awesome, check out the Khurasan website.

I vehemently agree that many customers have come to expect a Kickstarter campaign. The number one question we get asked is 'When does your Kickstarter launch'.

A segment of the market has effectively migrated to Kickstarter, although it is also fair to say that Kickstarter is a marketplace where you get exposure to a broader audience, and Kickstarter has certainly helped to expand the market. So it's both good and bad.

In general, we are not terribly comfortable making promises or commitments until we are satisfied that we can meet our obligations, and I suspect that's where you are coming from as well.

For us, that means having products in hand, sitting on the shelf, ready to go before we offer them for sale. Ironically, that's how lots of Kickstarter campaigns from small minis companies do it these days.

I was talking to someone the other day who mentioned that with Kickstarter you can get six months of sales in three weeks, which is true. But the way I look at it is that I would then have to spend six months sorting everything out and getting the orders filled.

I would rather get six months of orders over six months, if only because our customers would get the satisfaction of having their products in hand in the time it takes a package to make it from my house to theirs.

Hoo-dogie! You can tie me up anytime Mr. Hiscock!

We figure it's appropriate to start introducing y'all to Mr. Hiscock since Valentine's Day is comin' on and all.

Mr. Hiscock features in a heartfelt tale of frontier love that we'll share with you on Sunday.

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HEY! Benson was on a podcast!

"This was my first podcasting experience. I was real nervous, you know. It's a big deal. You only get one 'first'. But Paul Murphy was great. He was gentle and supportive, and he made me feel so special."

You can check out the podcast here.

Shut yer pokehole Carla-Jean! A gal can dream cain’t she?

Don’t you pay that old slag no mind. Her damn prannie’s so dusty a feller wouldn’t drygulch her fer a nickel.


You handle Jackie right and that’s just how he’ll treat you, like a fine, clean woman who aint had her belly filled half a dozen times ‘fore breakfast. You hustle Jackie like trade and he aint never gonna give you so much as a sidelong glance again.



Carla-Jean’s got all that sand up her Not remotely appropriate. She hadn’t so much as tickled Jackie’s trousers ‘fore he grabbed her wrist so hard it marked her up good. Jackie up and left on the spot too, which put the rest of us in a lurch on account o’ how Jackie likes to make sure we’re all took care of. More’n a few of us girls had been countin’ on Jackie fer a warm meal, and a lil’ help makin’ ends meet.

Jackie aint so nice to Carla-Jean no more neither, but she aint gon’ cause anymore trouble. We got together that night and mixed a whole mess o’ pepper in her liniment; had that heifer’s Not remotely appropriate burnin’ like Hellfire fer a fornight!

Head thisaway if you'd like to hear the whole story



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WHOOPS! Looks like I got a mod warning.

I done said the profanity filter was going to miss some stuff . Sorry about that.

We will endeavor to be more careful about sanitizing our posts before we throw them on Dakka. Of course you can always get the full show on our website!

 khurasan_miniatures wrote:

 Sinful Hero wrote:
Interesting you're avoiding Kickstarter.

Any particular reasons?

Fascinating. Kickstarter has become such a retail tool that customers are surprised when you don't use it.

I'm not totally against it, and may try it myself some day, but it seems like it allows manufacturers to deliver substandard final parts, deliver them incredibly late, or even not deliver them at all, and people love it. All because of the excitement of making it happen and stretch goals and all that? Really?

It allows some manufacturers to make the choice to produce substandard miniatures/games/panties/music yes, and there are also quite a few folks out there who have used Kickstarter to deliver great quality whatevers. I just found it odd a miniature/game maker would choose not to use Kickstarter, and I was curious as to the reasons why.

 Sinful Hero wrote:

It allows some manufacturers to make the choice to produce substandard miniatures/games/panties/music yes, and there are also quite a few folks out there who have used Kickstarter to deliver great quality whatevers. I just found it odd a miniature/game maker would choose not to use Kickstarter, and I was curious as to the reasons why.

To me, the fact that it seems odd on it's face to not use crowdfunding is interesting. And I think that is partly what Khurasan is picking up on.

In a short span of time we've gone from no crowdfunding to a prevalent expectation that companies, especially new companies, will fund products through Kickstarter. This leaves companies wondering if they are missing out on something if they don't use Kickstarter.

Am I missing out on sales, potential customers, exposure? I think the answer in all three cases is probably "Yes."

But the real question is whether the potential benefits are worth it when it comes to the long-term health of your business. That's normally not an easy question to answer, but it is for us at Mindworm Games.

It's an easy question for us because we are considering much more than pure return on investment.

Frankly speaking, I don't want the stress of a Kickstarter campaign, including the campaign itself and the subsequent fulfillment process.

I don't want the stress of putting all our eggs into one, big basket. I also don't want the daily stress of wondering whether we really can deliver on our promises. Whether we are going to meet projected deadlines. Whether we are going to meet commitments we have made according to expectations that we have set in the minds of our customers by taking their money.

I want to build a product that I am personally happy with, hold it in my hands, and know that I have made a fantastic product that meets or exceeds our rigorous quality standards, and then offer it for sale. That is as much for my own peace of mind as it is for the customer.

I also want to give every customer as much individual attention as we can. That takes time. I want to allow time for those relationships to develop, and I want those relationships to be built on trust, quality, and consistency.

We also have a hard production cap in terms of the volume we can manufacture with our own two hands. Every single product we sell has to be crafted, inspected, assembled, packed, and shipped in house by us. I would rather sell a smaller volume reliably and at a higher quality than bite off more than we can chew and rush production, outsource, or watch our quality degreade.

Sure, it costs more to operate Mindworm Games this way, and we lose out on some benefits we can only get through crowdfunding. But my worksop will be a happier place, my home will be a happier place, and I think our customers will reap the benefits along with us.

Appreciate the informative reply Mindworm.

 Sinful Hero wrote:
Appreciate the informative reply Mindworm.

No problem-O. Always happy to answer questions!

Dice mechanics in Exiles are as simple as can be!

Exiles uses ten-sided dice (1-10) and a simple roll-under mechanic.

When you roll a die, you are trying to roll equal to or less than a particular number. We call this a “target number,” and it represents your percentage chance of success.



If your target number is 4, you have a 40% chance of success, because you succeed on a die roll of 1, 2, 3, or 4. A die roll of 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, or 10 means you failed.

No target number can be bigger than 9, because otherwise you wouldn’t need to roll a die, now would you? No target number can be less than 1 for the same reason.

Sometimes gak will modify a target number, either before or after you roll the die, but not very often.

If you need an extra edge you can break out the +1 tokens and Cheatin’ tokens.

+1 Tokens



You can take the Yee-Haw! action to place a +1 token on yourself or any friendly model.

Once you have a +1 token, you can discard it to increase your target number after you see the result of your roll, but only token per roll.

So if you miss your target number by 1, you can discard a +1 token to turn your failure into a success!

Cheatin’ Tokens



Every character gets at least one Cheatin’ token per game, and you can learn the Cheatin’ and Lyin’ skill to get more.

Cheatin’ tokens are mostly used to re-roll a die, but you can also use them to discard multiple +1 tokens on a roll.

Any character can, at any time, allow a friendly model to use one of their Cheatin’ tokens.

But what the feth does this mean?

It means that players who want to succeed better damn well work together! Players can give each other +1 tokens during a turn, and Cheatin' tokens are a powerful but limited pool of resources accessible to every player at the table.

This isn't just for LOLs either. Managing these resources effectively will often make the difference between glorious success and catastrophic failure. Exiles is an intensely cooperative game in which you have to think quickly, act quickly, and above all work together!

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I want to have Pam's babies!

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Pamela is amazing.

 Thunderfrog wrote:
Pamela is amazing.

Hehehe... Thanks!

I'm particularly fond of Pam. We'll have her background story posted up in a few days. Lemme check...Next Tuesday, looks like.

Here's a sneak peek:

Donno quite where Pam come from, that’s fer sure. But wherever it is, they come big. They say Pam were born big as o’ full grow’d hog, and that she suckled from a sow on account o’ her mamma dyin’ from the birth. She got’s ten brothers, all bigger’n her, and each one of ‘em drunk a whole pail o’ milk fer breakfast since they was babes. They say Pam can milk a cow in two minutes flat on account o’ that, one in each hand, and that she can pull down a steer with her teeth. She can drink a whole keg of whiskey in a sittin’ too, or I’m a darn liar, and she pisses so fethin’ much we call the latrine ditch out back “Lake Sandwina.”

Most of those who find themselves on the Republican frontier have nowhere else to go, and are ready to kill to protect what they have. Within this realm of violence and conflict, blood is often the most valuable currency and the gun is the surest way to cash in. Gunslingers are those who make a living wielding this power, be they freedom fighters, soldiers, lawmen, or outlaws. But these distinctions are often arbitrary, for whatever his motivations may be; in the end a Gunslinger’s only trade is death.


Jesus..that’s fethin’ grim. But Gunslingers are pretty grim folk. The Persona is all about murdering things, and quickly, though not always efficiently.

As the name implies, Gunslingers have a lot of skills related to firearms. For starters, Gunslingers are one of the three Regular Personas that can use every type of gun, and they buy their gun skills cheaper than anybody else.

Gunslingers can learn the one-shot-one-kill skill, The Dead Eye, which makes them fethin’ deadly with a shootin’ iron. Gunslingers also shoot farther and faster than any other Persona, which is damn useful in a powder burnin’ contest.



But Gunslingers aren’t just about guns. At the end of the day, Gunslingers are butt-kickers whether you’re talkin’ about hot lead or cold steel. They’re one of the tougher Personas, and they buy all their combat skills at bargain rates.

If you’re lookin’ put notches on yer belt, Gunslinger is the Persona for you. But watch yer step. The loudest gun tends to draw the most fire.

Gunslingers are obviously the best and most bad--- Persona. Everybody should play Gunslingers, all the time. Feth all the other Personas. Even Cactus Man. Feth you Cactus Man, Gunslingers are the best! - Benson

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She can drink a whole keg of whiskey in a sittin’ too, or I’m a damn liar, and she pisses so fething much we call the latrine ditch out back Lake Sandwina!

He come on like a freight train and drove his shoulder right into that woman’s gut. Hit Pam so damn hard she went clear off her feet and smashed through one of them tables yonder. We all knowed Bart for a fighter, and back then we didn’t know Pam from Johnson, so we figured that was all she wrote, ‘cause even Bart weren’t likely to keep goin’ after takin’ a hit like that. But then Pam starts laughin’. Laughin’, right there on the damn floor. And up she pops with Bart danglin’ by his fething shirt collar!



She’s got Bart hangin’ from one o’ them meathooks she calls hands and she’s poundin’ the other into his face like a damn piston. Bam! Bam! Bam! So smooth you couldda set yer damn watch. It was all Bart could do to put one foot steady ‘fore he passed out. And when the poor sumb---- finally goes limp, Pam drops him like a ragdoll, pops open his mouth, and plucks out three of his fething teeth! That dumb sonofab---- had bet his gold teeth Pam couldn’t whup him in a fight!

Head thisaway if you'd like to hear the whole story



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Pam Sandwina is freaking awesome.

Is her back skin exposed due to the overalls? I'd love to add a tattoo to the figure's back. Something like: "For the Angel of Death spread his wings on the blast, And breathed in the face of the foe as he passed: And the eyes of the sleepers waxed deadly and chill, And their hearts but once heaved, and for ever grew still!"

 DarkTraveler777 wrote:
Pam Sandwina is freaking awesome.

Is her back skin exposed due to the overalls? I'd love to add a tattoo to the figure's back. Something like: "For the Angel of Death spread his wings on the blast, And breathed in the face of the foe as he passed: And the eyes of the sleepers waxed deadly and chill, And their hearts but once heaved, and for ever grew still!"

Lol. I personally made sure that Marco left her back good and clear in the sculpt. I even had him raise the ponytail a bit to give better access with a brush.

We don't normally show renders as a matter of policy, but I got excited a little while ago and posted a bit of the Pam sculpt on my Twitter.

Enjoy.

Now who the Hell would shoot a priest?

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Whether a professional boxer, a local enforcer, or a town tough, a Rowdy is built for a fight. Rowdies are harsh, brutal souls who live to throw their weight around and are always ready to back up their words with a fist. For a Rowdy, fighting is about more than killing; it is a way of life, a philosophy. Whatever their motivations may be, Rowdies are the bedfellows of violence. There is ever a place for such individuals out on the Republican frontier, because on the ragged edges of civilization there will always come a time when words are not enough.

That sounds deep, but Rowdies aren’t deep. Rowdies are simple, direct, and efficient. Rowdies excel at hand-to-hand combat above all else, and this makes them truly the most effective combatants of any Persona.

Exiles is just as much about knives and axe handles as it is about six-guns and sawed-offs. But guns are exceedingly simple to use. Just about any fool can buy a man’s chips with the pull of a trigger, and Colonel Patterson is the great equalizer. This means Rowdies are good as anyone other than a Gunslinger with a shootin’ iron, but aint nobody can come within twenty miles of a Rowdy in a fight.



Rowdies buy all the fightin’ skills for dirt-cheap, and they can use more weapons than any other Persona. Rowdies also have the grit to stick it through a fight, and the skills to put ‘em on top of anybody dumb enough to come to grips with ‘em.

A Rowdy’s bad--- skills at hand-to-hand fightin’ are especially important because just about every other Persona is going to be a fething pushover when it comes to tradin’ blows. Without a Rowdy around to back you up, one bad move can leave everybody with stove in skulls, busted limbs, and wide-open bellies.

If you want to be an unstoppable engine of destruction and a vital part of any well-conceived scheme, then Rowdy is the Persona for you!

Rowdy is the best Persona. Hands down. If you think Exiles is all about gunfights, you’ll change your tune once a Rowdy gets hold of you. These guys are beasts, an the most brutally efficient killing machines of all the Personas. - Jesse

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"A fancy rig draws attention away from your " - Johnny Jones

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"A pistol is like your . Keepin' it fully loaded is just askin' for trouble." - Johnny Jones

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We had a great time talking with the guys of the War Council podcast about casting models in the age of 3D printing, and Exiles! Give it a listen...

Benson's interview starts at about 25:30.

The White Metal Games blog also has a text interview with Benson that covers some different topics than the podcast. Check it out!

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The word “coward” lands on every man in the room like a slap in the face. Jeb’s callin’ for blood, and he’ll find it, sooner or later.

It’s Saturday night and the Blue Cactus Saloon is stuffed to the gills, filled with a town full of folks scratchin’ at a fresh layer of sawdust and pretending to ignore the scent of last night’s vomit. It’ll be scripture come mornin’ to lift their spirits, but tonight they’ll drown their sorrows in it. In the midst of this sad tapestry, one surly puncher is talkin’ himself into an even earlier grave.

“Johnny Jones is a sonofab--.”



Blood. There ain’t no other way this plays out. Maybe Johnny Jones is a coward. Maybe he ain’t. Maybe he gunned down Ned Bonnet in cold blood. Maybe he was justified. Maybe it was a fair fight. Maybe it wasn’t. It don’t matter now, not with the way Bonnet’s runnin’ his mouth.

“Fethin’ wh---!” Jeb roars, knocking over his stool. “You know who’s the fethin’ wh---, don’cha, Walt? Johnny Jones is the fethin’ wh---!”

But Walt Hendershod isn’t paying attention.

The bartender is clutching his broom with white knuckled fingers, the color draining from his face.

The Blue Cactus has gone silent as a tomb, save for the familiar creaking of the saloon doors. A slim figure, long and lean as a mountain cat, stands silhouetted in the open doorway.

Johnny Jones tips up his bowler and a cold smile spreads across his face.

“gak.” Jeb whispers.

Head thisaway if you'd like to hear the whole story



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Out on the Republican frontier you need to make do with whatever passes for medical expertise, be it a dentist, a veterinarian, a particularly skilled butcher, or even just someone with a sharp knife and a strong stomach. Very few frontier “doctors” are formally trained, but they know enough to bandage a wound, splint a broken limb, or hack off a gangrenous appendage. Whatever their formal qualifications may be, Doctors have a healing hand and are consequently an invaluable asset to their amigos.

Yea, sure, a healing hand…and a murderous instinct! Doctors can heal up your hurts better than anyone, and they’re Johnny on the spot with a prescription for most any malady, but that gak cuts both ways. Make sure to be real cozy with the local sawbones, because you wouldn’t want to wake up in Serape short a leg or two!

First and foremost, Doctors are the only Persona what’s got any skills to heal your wounds. Sure, a Gentleman or a Bandit can keep you alive, but a Doctor can make you fit as a fiddle before you can say “Dickens!” And speaking of Dickens, Doctors are just about as good at causing wounds as fixing them.



Doctors aren’t combat monsters like the Gunslinger or the Rowdy, and they’ve got a mean glass jaw. But Doctors have more than a few tricks up their sleeve. They’re damn good at making up poisons, they’re fething surgeons when it comes to knife work, and most competent doctors know a good knock on the noggin’ is better than a strong whiff of ether, and cheaper too!

If you want to be an invaluable asset to your hombres, and have power to decide which a-hole gets to keep breathing, then Doctor is the Persona for you!

Who wants to be the healer, right? Wrong! Doctors are mean little vipers, and they’re hard as feth to kill. Nobody want’s the Doctor getting shot, first off, but those fethers always have a few bandages hid where the sun don't shine for when things go to gak! – Benson

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Hey there everybody!

It's been a while since we posted anything, which sucks. We've been wicked busy getting our products into production, and haven't had much spare time to repost stuff on forums.

But if anybody is interested, Benson is going to be live on Facebook in about ten minutes (9AM CST) opening a production old he cooked last night.

Short notice, I know. But y'all are welcome to come by and have a look!

Check it out!

Edit: Arrrrrg! We're gonna take a mulligan on that. The mold was screwed up for reasons I cannot yet fathom, and the video caught some colorful expletives, which I can't trim out thanks to the way Facebook Live works.

I cooked another mold last night that is still cooling off. I'll have another go at this at 1:00 PM CST today. Hopefully that mold comes out fine.

Achievement Unlocked: Gen Con

We've had our head's up our... well, we've been incredibly busy for a long while.

Delays and production issues, and all kinds of crap nobody cares about.

BUT, I am happy to say that not only did we meet all of our Gen Con 2016 production goals, we made it to the con and had an amazing show!







And now we FINALLY have the webstore up and running!

Check it out!



We also have an awesome deal going on right now!

Until the end of the week we are extending the Gen Con sale price on our All the Stuff bundle.

That gets you $220 of stuff for $180, plus free shipping if you live in the lower 48.

Sorry about everybody else... International shipping blows. We're working on solutions for that.

And now that we're past all this BS, we'll get back to stuffing our social media with fresh content, and maybe even updating this thread on a regular basis!

Ohohoho, $63,72 - $82,14 in shipping?

feth no.

 BrookM wrote:
Ohohoho, $63,72 - $82,14 in shipping?

feth no.

I know, right?!? It's fething bullgack!

Those are "carrier calculated shipping" rates too. That's what it freaking costs.

BUT, Brook, we offer free shipping in the lower 48, SO, I'm happy to work a deal with international customers. If you'd like to buy something, shoot me an email (benson@mindwormgames.com) and we can see about making an arrangement that works for you.

We can eat part of the shipping cost for you.

We could work that out as a direct invoice to you via email with an upcharge to cover your part of the shipping, or you can place the order through the webstore and we can process a refund for the bit we're covering.

How's that sound?

So excited to see the game finally available for sale.

All the Stuff!! will be mine in a week!

 DarkTraveler777 wrote:
So excited to see the game finally available for sale.

All the Stuff!! will be mine in a week!

Awesome! Thanks for all the support!

It feels like it has been a loooooooong road, but when I look back, feth, I didn't even have a spin caster two years ago. This whole thing came together pretty damn quickly considering that we started from nothing and learned how to do most of this crap by hand, and with our own funding too.

I should take a moment to thank folks like Josh Qualtieri from ZombieSmith, and Forrest Harris from Knuckleduster. These guys, among many other great people, we such a huge help in making Exiles possible. But for them I probably would have torn all my hair out and smashed my spin caster to gangster rap like an old office printer.

There's a ton of just absolutely fantastic people in this industry, always ready to lend a hand or offer advice. Honestly, meeting people like Josh and Forrest has been the best part of this whole experience.

Let me know how the campaign turns out. We've play tested plenty, but it's always nice to hear stories from the wild.

There's a few bits in the Troy Hatcher campaign that I'm eager to see how consistently they play out the way we intended. WHAT'S IN THE BOX?!?

Hehehehehehe...


Automatically Appended Next Post:
By the way, if any of y'all are going to be at Dragon Con, there will be some folks kicking around the con with a bunch of Exiles gear looking to get some games going.

In fact, I think my business partner might be going. I'm still recovering from Gen Con, but then it was ME who put the entire workshop back together single-handedly!





What a freaking MESS!

It's beautiful now though

What is on fire, I don't even understand

That is a really impressive looking GenCon booth, too!

 RiTides wrote:
What is on fire, I don't even understand

That is a really impressive looking GenCon booth, too!

What's on fire?

An old desk that was eating up too much space. Wastage from the last production run of Exiles tokens, the giant boxes my Uline shipping boxes came in, and all manner of flammable bullgack cluttering up the workshop.

Our booth did look awesome! It looked so damn good I'm not ashamed to pat myself on the back about it. We done good. One of the best booths at the show. Just wait till next year!

If you'd like to see us at Gen Con 2017, head over to the webstore and check out our stuff .

By the way, folks can download the rulebooks for free and in October we will be releasing the rules and fluff from our Gen Con 2016 Exiles campaign, Ticking Around, for free download.

We'll also have a selection of printable cards up for free download real soon as well.

I'm thinking the 'mess' and/or 'unwanted' stuff in the previous 2 pictures is what's 'on fire'.

I guess we need an 'after' shot of the studio/workspace too though?

 Alpharius wrote:
I'm thinking the 'mess' and/or 'unwanted' stuff in the previous 2 pictures is what's 'on fire'.

I guess we need an 'after' shot of the studio/workspace too though?

Absolutely you do!

I did a Facebook Live just for you Alph!

It evolved into a show and tell for how we pack our products for shipping, and then into a general Q&A, then into random bullgacking. But the first part, that's just for you, Alph!

Ha!

Very nice - and I got a shout out as well - nice!

 Alpharius wrote:
Ha!

Very nice - and I got a shout out as well - nice!

You're welcome Alph.

And anybody that has a question, wants to see how something works, needs advice, or just wants to chat, I'm always happy to fire up the Facebook Live!

Just let me know.


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The professional stuff you're doing like the step-by-step for a mold is great, and your illustrations are fun, but really not excited by the attitude- Privateer Press had a similar (though less swear-y) sensibility when they came on the market, and while they've obviously become fairly big, the created a very competitive and somewhat toxic community that they've been trying to backpedal on in each edition since. Just sayin'.

 spiralingcadaver wrote:
The professional stuff you're doing like the step-by-step for a mold is great, and your illustrations are fun, but really not excited by the attitude- Privateer Press had a similar (though less swear-y) sensibility when they came on the market, and while they've obviously become fairly big, the created a very competitive and somewhat toxic community that they've been trying to backpedal on in each edition since. Just sayin'.

I appreciate the feedback SpiralingCadaver. Thanks man!

One of the things that's great about the way we're doing Mindworm Games is that because we're self-funded and doing just about everything in-house, we get to do things the way we like. I know it's not everybody's cup of tea, but I try not to take my gaming too seriously, and I try to be myself.

I think we've got a great game that I am very proud of, and I'm am very happy that you've enjoyed seeing how we do things behind-the-scenes!

I love learning new things, and I really enjoy sharing what I've learned. If you have any questions, or if there's anything you'd like to see, just let me know.

Colorful language aside, one of our goals with Mindworm Games is helping to build a community of empowered gamers who have the tools and support to bring their own creative visions to life.

As we work on spooling back up our social media content I'll make sure we devote some time to putting out more manufacturing tutorials.

And like I said, if there's something specific you want to see, please let me know.

P.S. My son, Ieuan, insists that I tell you, "I like daddy's games too!" And now I better open our new Zombicide box or some gack is gonna go down in the workshop!

All talk of salty language aside I have found Mindworm games and Benson to be a joy to interact with! He always replies quickly to FAQs and such for his game and his customer service is second to none!

While some people may be put off by the language or the rough edges of the game I will say this..try it! one of the things Mindworm games has said is that it's YOUR game he just designed the rules..don't like the salty language..don't use it..don't like the explosive rules..don't use them..want rules for horses make them.

The game is very strategic despite it's loose veneer and the game play is solid. It might not be everyone's cuppa but for a lover of skirmish games such as myself it is right within my wheelhouse.

Socko wrote:
All talk of salty language aside I have found Mindworm games and Benson to be a joy to interact with! He always replies quickly to FAQs and such for his game and his customer service is second to none!

While some people may be put off by the language or the rough edges of the game I will say this..try it! one of the things Mindworm games has said is that it's YOUR game he just designed the rules..don't like the salty language..don't use it..don't like the explosive rules..don't use them..want rules for horses make them.

The game is very strategic despite it's loose veneer and the game play is solid. It might not be everyone's cuppa but for a lover of skirmish games such as myself it is right within my wheelhouse.

Thanks for the kind words, Josh!

Josh has become sort of an unofficial 'asker of questions' on our Facebook page, lol.

We are always happy to answer any questions folks have, even when you drunk message us in the middle of the night. Thanks David!

Exiles plays a lot like a skirmish wargame on the tabletop, but it’s really an RPG at heart.

It’s important to keep that in mind when you’re the Governor because, just like in any RPG, you can always kill the players.


Thanks a lot, Carl. We're all having a REALLY good time!

Exiles isn’t Super Dungeon Explore. It isn’t an adversarial game designed to pit the skill of the GM against the players in a no-holds-barred death match.

The Governor can always steamroll the players because Exiles is an RPG.

As the Governor, it’s not your job to kill the players. It’s not even your job to win. Your job is to support the story and keep the game moving at a brisk pace.


"Think of yourself more like Zargon, the Evil Sorcerer of Hero Quest." - in bed?

The good news is that Exiles makes this painfully easy for you. As the Governor, you don’t even have to spend a lot of time trying to figure out what the story is supposed to be!

Every Exiles Scenario starts with a brief summery of what the heck is going on and a little story for you to read to the players.

Each Event in a Scenario also has a trio of Betterments, which are objectives the Governor should be trying to achieve during the game. Yea, yea, that sounds cool and all, but what do Betterments have to do with the story?

Everything.


You can tell how important Betterments are by the extremely mature names we give them.

Not only are Betterments never about murder-facing the players, they’re also closely tied to the story of the game. Most Betterments force the Bad Guys to do gak that would be really stupid if your only goal was to kill all the players, but which make a crapload of sense if you think about the story.

So remember, if you’re the Governor, it’s not your job to kill all the players. Focus on achieving your Betterments and things will be hunky-dory

Next time we’ll take a look at game balance.

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Great news!

You'll be glad to hear we have finally reached feth it!

I'm sick of dealing with shipping rates, so now everything in the Mindworm Games online store ships for free!

If you're in the continental US... (Sorry ROW, we're working on it).

We adjusted the price of our Persona Packs and Campaign Set so we don't, like, lose our gack on shipping. (We're not running a charity here!)

BUT all of the little stuff has the same great prices. Token sets, character sheets, rulebooks, dice, etc.

AND we left the Starter Set at $100! Feth it, why not. If you haven't picked up a Starter Set, well now it's 10 bucks cheaper!

AND AND the All the Regular Persona Packs and the All the Stuff deals are the same great price they always were... because you used to free shipping on those anyways.

Eat it, shipping calculator! What you see is what you get!



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We had a really fun interview on the Skirmish Supremacy podcast recently.

Tim and Nick were awesome. I had such a great time recording this show! It's got everything from hamster -phalli- (I guess that's kosher for Dakka) to Cannibal the Musical to game design and even some info about the new Exiles releases we have planned.

Seriously, check it out!


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I just did another vendor spotlight on the Forge The Narrative podcast!

We had a really fun time recording this. Paul has a great podcast if you're into 40K, and even if you're not, his special episodes (like this one) are a fantastic look into our weird little industry!

We have a terrible Black Friday promotion. So terrible, in fact, that I can't post anything about it without pissing all over Dakka's forum rules.

Which is good, because you don't want anything to do with this.

I don't even know why I'm posting about it, except maybe in the hope that you won't accidentally wind up on our Facebook page this week.

A few misguided people seem to be really excited about this Black Friday thing we're doing, and I'll be spending all week trying to explain to them exactly why they should not be excited about this!

So do yourself a favor and stay away. For the love of God, stay away, because I already have enough of a problem on my hands.

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 MindwormGames wrote:


We have a terrible Black Friday promotion. So terrible, in fact, that I can't post anything about it without pissing all over Dakka's forum rules.

Which is good, because you don't want anything to do with this.

I don't even know why I'm posting about it, except maybe in the hope that you won't accidentally wind up on our Facebook page this week.

A few misguided people seem to be really excited about this Black Friday thing we're doing, and I'll be spending all week trying to explain to them exactly why they should not be excited about this!

So do yourself a favor and stay away. For the love of God, stay away, because I already have enough of a problem on my hands.

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Damn it! I am so torn, do I want to follow your warnings, or ignore them and get the gakky exclusives?

Cool promotion. Reminds me of Cards Against Humanity's promotion of offering a box of literal bullgak to customers. Great stuff!

 DarkTraveler777 wrote:

Damn it! I am so torn, do I want to follow your warnings, or ignore them and get the gakky exclusives?

Cool promotion. Reminds me of Cards Against Humanity's promotion of offering a box of literal bullgak to customers. Great stuff!

Please just ignore it. It's shameful, a blight on all of Exiles that will haunt the game for years to come.

I'm already having nightmares about someone showing up to our Gen Con 2017 events with a Disturbingly Huge Collection of Penis Probes!

And this could last for years! These things could turn up in Exiles games all over the world. For decades! I... I... I feel I may have created a monster.

Look, if you are AT ALL concerned that you MAY be interested in this, please take a serious look at our Facebook page this week. I'm sure after you've seen even half of what comes in the Worst Cards Ever you'll be gleefully tuning in to watch me burn these horrid things after Cyber Monday.

 MindwormGames wrote:
I'm already having nightmares about someone showing up to our Gen Con 2017 events with a Disturbingly Huge Collection of Penis Probes!

Sounds like a typical Saturday night for me, but I understand your trepidation.

 DarkTraveler777 wrote:

 MindwormGames wrote:
I'm already having nightmares about someone showing up to our Gen Con 2017 events with a Disturbingly Huge Collection of Penis Probes!

Sounds like a typical Saturday night for me, but I understand your trepidation.

Hey, I love a good probing every now and again. Doesn't everybody? But you can take anything too far.

And those probes aren't the half of it. Hell, they're just the tip. I've seen all of these cards, man.

I've SEEN them, and I have to live with that for the rest of my life. Don't make the same mistakes I have.

This... this is about as much I can show here with propriety.

And there's really not much propriety at that...

If you want to see exactly why you shouldn't buy the Worst Cards Ever, check look no further than the Dead Horse.

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I can't even post an image of the card we're showing today, but I know, in my heart that none of our fine, beloved Exiles players are such huge pieces of gack that they’d want to use this item.

Even though it technically IS pretty damn useful...

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Yes, this is a real thing. Yes, you could actually buy it for $4 from Montgomery Ward. No, this doesn’t mean it isn’t the worst.

I can't exactly explain why here, but I expect you can imagine... If you can't imagine it (or don't want to) you can find out exactly why you DO NOT want this, or any of these other cards.


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Okay, I can post this here, but just... just don't look any lower...

And whatever you do, definitely do NOT buy the Worst Cards Ever!

In fact, don't even go to the product page! There's a picture of every card on there, and you do not want to see that!


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Okay, if this doesn’t turn you off of the Worst Cards Ever, I don’t know what will.

Although apparently it definitely turns ON a certain type of person…

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Look at that snuggly-wuggly face! Look at those precious little toes! Look at those vicious little teeth! Look at that disgusting rat tail, that mangy fur, those soulless corpse-like eyes!

Designer note: I think this marks the first time, in more than 300 unique cards, that we have referenced an internet meme.

Past, meet future. Fantasy, meet horrifying reality.

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This is your last opportunity to purchase the Worst Cards Ever, a thankfully once-in-a-lifetime set of incredibly horrible Exiles cards.

If you haven't bought a set, then good for you. These cards are the worst.

If you have, then I know who isn't on my Christmas list...

Yippee ki-yay motherfethers!

It's Seasons Times!

Being as how this is the season for giving, I thought I'd give you an idea about what the feth we're planning to release throughout the rest of the year.

First, if you haven't picked it up yet, the Ticking Around mini campaign is up for sale in the webstore.

And speaking about mini campaigns, this coming Monday you can get your very own printed copy of the Marple Syrup mini campaign!

If that's not enough, the week after that we are releasing the Cooper's Provender Purveyor card deck.

This bountiful 54 card deck comes packed with duplicates of all kinds of gear you definitely want more than one copy of!

Jamie Cooper's general store comes fully stocked with commonly available guns, ammo, clubs, knives, and all manner of useful sundries, plus a handy selection of brand new items including such beauties as:

Dr. Pennyfarthing's Bracing Bitters...



...the illegally imported Cigarillos Rojas



...and a damn fine Silver Tea Tray!



And last, but not least, we are striving to have the Walburn Persona pack released before Christmas! Mati Zander is slaving away on the sculpts as we speak, and we will be working around the clock to get this fantastic new Tier 1 Persona into your hands in time to cause all your nieces and nephews to start asking awkward questions Christmas morning...



We'll be shoveling out tons more info about this glorious new Persona throughout the month, so keep an eye on our Facebook page!

And if we can't manage to squeeze out the Walburns before you're squeezing out the Yule logs, then we'll be putting out a special set of awesome upgrade tokens instead!


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Today we released the printed version of our free downloadable Marple Syrup Campaign.

If you missed that link you can CLICK HERE to buy it!

Marple Syrup is one of our just-for-the-LOLs mini campaigns, which means that we're too cheap and lazy make miniatures for it, so you'll have to get your own.

HOWEVER!

If any of you are as big a fan of Goonies as you are of Exiles, you can win a FREE set of our recommended Marple Syrup miniatures!



The Marple Syrup campaign contains a ridiculously gratuitous number of Goonies references. Whoever guesses the correct number of individual Goonies references in the campaign (cards and character sheet included) will be eligible to win these totally awesome miniatures!

I'm assuming there's definitely more than one Goonies super-fan amongst our intrepid Exiles gamers, so we're going to randomly select a winner from all those who submit correct answers.

If all of you suck hard, we'll randomly select from whoever guessed closest, but you'll have to do the truffle shuffle if you want to get your prize!

Take a look at the downloadable campaign materials here, or Hell, buy the damn thing, and email your guess to benson@mindwormgames.com.

A winner will be chosen on Monday, December, 19, so get crackin'!



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