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I always feel a bit sorry for the Angels. Natively they are happily suckling off tiny cybel ruptures way out of the reach of civilisation, turned into huge, ravenously hungry half berserk killing machines by the Karists.

Love those models - they look crisp, clean and very futuristic while maintaining realism with the weapons and armour design.

 Stormphoenix wrote:
I always feel a bit sorry for the Angels. Natively they are happily suckling off tiny cybel ruptures way out of the reach of civilisation, turned into huge, ravenously hungry half berserk killing machines by the Karists.

That was my reaction too. Call the RSPCA for Angel cruelty!!

Was great to meet and chat to some of you earlier and thanks for the sneak peeks at the larger models... Sooooo nice! For those that didn't make it today, you are going to love these. The sprues are also pieces of genius, you have to really hunt for casting lines on the plastics, even on the rough draft of the baby Angels! I can also happily say that the models look significantly better in person, some of those photos do not do them justice. The camera decided to play up, so I don't think I got any photos :(

Not really my cup of tea this, but I will pass the word on to those I know that may be interested.
Good luck with it !!

I am hoping to see pics eventually, but can people without cameras at least let us know what models are on display? Just the adult angels, or some robots as well?

And from what I understand so far, the Karists look pretty villainous for a "grey" faction. Bringing the Maelstrom closer to an inhabited world, corrupting innocent alien wildlife, forcibly converting people by the sword? I still like them best; villains are fun, after all. But the fact that they're the ones bringing the Maelstrom to Zycanthus ahead of schedule doesn't put them in a very ambiguous light.

Sure, you can argue that from their perspective they're saving souls, but from the Empire's perspective, the average stormtrooper thought he was maintaining order in the galaxy, and they still played the evil music whenever they showed up.

Well, the corporation is practically outting workers indeptured servitude and promising them a way of the planet to escape the Maelstrom and then they just pack up and leave those same workers stranded on the planet to die because profit is more important than a planet up of people that couldn't afford a ticket. Why transport people if you could transport cargo!

At least the Karists kill you because they care about you!

There were some human sized drones (Scarecrows) and some larger ones. Having a brain fail at the moment though and have forgotten the names. The Scarecrow models were very delicate.

As for the karists. The priests want to enlighten people in a peaceful way and save as many people as possible. The military wing is... Well. More military

Likewise, as D-USA mentioned, not all of the Epirians are quite as nice as the contractors in the second book.

 Stormphoenix wrote:
I always feel a bit sorry for the Angels. Natively they are happily suckling off tiny cybel ruptures way out of the reach of civilisation, turned into huge, ravenously hungry half berserk killing machines by the Karists.

I dunno man, training them to be vicious space attack bats doesn't necessarily make them any less cute and cuddly. I'm sure they get 3 square meals a day now and learn fun Karist games like "Fetch the Epirian Contractors leg", "Catch the Epirian gun-drone", and "Roll over." Plus I'm sure they're adorable once they learn the "sit" command and have to balance a contractor on their nose. "Who's a cute wittle guy, yes you are wittle minnow."

BoW video chat

Very nice, I think I will be buying the first book today and start to get a feel for the universe...

I am almost certain I will pledge but then again, I feel a bit burnt by the Prodos KS.

Well, this one is all ready to go and has no licenses attached, so should be very straight forward.

Enjoy the book!

Whew, all finished! Man that was a long, long day.

Thanks to every Dakka user who stopped by and said hi. Also hello to anyone (hopefully) finding this thread now after seeing the models for the first time. Time for a stiff drink and a good night's sleep.

Epirian Scarecrows are briefly visible on the BOW video above, but I couldn't see them well enough to tell if I liked them or not. No sign of the adult Angels or Hunters yet, as far as I could tell. Too bad BOW didn't zoom in on the minnows, at least. They were present, but never in focus. (I've seen the official release photos of them, but more views are always better.)

I was wondering if the Scarecrows will be added as a stretch goal?

 d-usa wrote:
Well, the corporation is practically outting workers indeptured servitude and promising them a way of the planet to escape the Maelstrom and then they just pack up and leave those same workers stranded on the planet to die because profit is more important than a planet up of people that couldn't afford a ticket. Why transport people if you could transport cargo!

At least the Karists kill you because they care about you!

Man, that's unfortunate. I find it a bit of a turn off in Sci Fi when everyone's an donkey-cave.

I think its more of a turnoff when one particular faction is the good guys. No particular group can be completely made of good guys.

Besides, you could just have your Franchise be made of nice guys who actually want to save people.

 BobtheInquisitor wrote:

 d-usa wrote:
Well, the corporation is practically outting workers indeptured servitude and promising them a way of the planet to escape the Maelstrom and then they just pack up and leave those same workers stranded on the planet to die because profit is more important than a planet up of people that couldn't afford a ticket. Why transport people if you could transport cargo!

At least the Karists kill you because they care about you!

Man, that's unfortunate. I find it a bit of a turn off in Sci Fi when everyone's an donkey-cave.

Actually I think that's the best part. The whole point of having armies with alot of leeway within their own factions is having a reason for internal conflict. I see this as a win storywise. If I wanna play my faction of the Epirians as a group who are disenfranchised with the overall group and think they aren't getting a ticket off planet, that works perfectly to fight other Epirians who have in turn been promised a ticket out if they just defend the corporation from the traitors.

No one is particularly a bad guy in that scenario (maybe the corporation if they don't keep their word), but the point is that a story can be generated without one group necessarily being the "white knights of virtue and all things good" while the other team can only be labeled as despicable. If I decide I "do" wanna play my guys as very bad men, then fine, but I'm not obligated to see it that way.

Ok, so I did get one photo for the day that showcases the Scarecrows really nicely



It is unlikely anyone will have photos of the two larger models though as they were in a carry case under the table

Nice shot,

now I've got to decide if I like them

 endtransmission wrote:
Ok, so I did get one photo for the day that showcases the Scarecrows really nicely



It is unlikely anyone will have photos of the two larger models though as they were in a carry case under the table

I do like this scarecrows!!!!

 ProtoClone wrote:

 Medium of Death wrote:
So if this is "hard sci-fi" we aren't going to see Lovecraftian horrors from beyond the dark edge of the Maelstrom?.

In a way I think they have shown some Lovecraftian elements with the Angels. Yeah, maybe not from beyond the edge of the maelstrom, but they still have that cosmic nightmare look.

True.

Hopefully anything else we see any other aliens in the future they will be just as "alien" as what we've seen.

I like the lankiness and shape of the scarecrows, I think they could also serve well in a different scale, maybe 6/10/15mm since the 'face' could double up as a larger mech's cockpit in a smaller scale.

A neat size too, bigger than infantry but not up to that terminator size band, largeish infantry rather than big

I'm not sure if we'll have a lot of option as to what we get in the kickstarter, but I could certainly see myself using that MEdge subscription for 10% off to pick up some more bots in the future, or miniature market or whatever.


*edit*

As for aliens, in the books we've heard of a pretty wide range. Some kind of 2-3 foot furry ball thing with 6 prehensile tails, a couple of different locations had some aliens with triple jointed arms and split pelvises whose faces involved six eyes and those terrifying pointy-toothed round mouths.

This came to mind...

I find the scarecrows a bit dull, to be honest, as I do the entire Epirian faction so far. But in this case I don't think that's a bad thing. Human security forces that look more workmanlike / lowtech / etc. are very useful in sci fi settings and narratives, particularly when they find themselves in way over their heads due to a sudden xeno incursion, mutant viral outbreak, etc. (ala Aliens, Deadspace, etc.) I don't own the kind of basic sci fi security force a company might use on an isolated outpost; mostly I've got a bunch of fearless, genhanced super-soldiers outfitted with super-tech. Basically the kind of guys you call in during chapter 2 or a sequel, after a situation has spun out of control and the original population is already decimated. The Epirians strike me much more as your standard "Chapter 1" guys, who think they're well-equipped but are caught off guard when the $hit first hits the fan, and that's often the best part of the story.

GW's imperial guard have been around forever, I know, but I've never liked their sculpts or Gothic leanings much. These Epirians don't blow me away with raw visual coolness, but they and their drones look down-to-earth and, as I've said before, extremely useful and easy to slot in to a variety of scenarios. With the Karists being my primary draw, the Epirians as the faction I "have to take" to buy in aren't bad at all.

So back to the scarecrows . . . I'll need to see more of them, but I might want to remove / mod their shoulder guns, as they potentially look awkward. Otherwise they look workable and plausible, and likely of middling effectiveness on the battlefield rather than ultimate killing machines, all of which suits me fine.

I like them, although I think they could use some bulking up in the hip area. They seem a little top heavy.

this video actually changed my mind a bit on the contractors, they look a lot better when they aren't all wearing the caps in my opinion. The scarecrows look nice i admit when i first saw the video i thought the scarecrows had a "hooked beak/nose" head and i thought well thats different. But the picture now show me its a shoulder mounted weapon lol

i know its really early to ask but is it possible to convert models with 3rd party bits if we were to attend a tournament or something of the sort?

 Vermonter wrote:
I find the scarecrows a bit dull, to be honest, as I do the entire Epirian faction so far. But in this case I don't think that's a bad thing. Human security forces that look more workmanlike / lowtech / etc. are very useful in sci fi settings and narratives, particularly when they find themselves in way over their heads due to a sudden xeno incursion, mutant viral outbreak, etc. (ala Aliens, Deadspace, etc.) I don't own the kind of basic sci fi security force a company might use on an isolated outpost; mostly I've got a bunch of fearless, genhanced super-soldiers outfitted with super-tech. Basically the kind of guys you call in during chapter 2 or a sequel, after a situation has spun out of control and the original population is already decimated. The Epirians strike me much more as your standard "Chapter 1" guys, who think they're well-equipped but are caught off guard when the $hit first hits the fan, and that's often the best part of the story.

GW's imperial guard have been around forever, I know, but I've never liked their sculpts or Gothic leanings much. These Epirians don't blow me away with raw visual coolness, but they and their drones look down-to-earth and, as I've said before, extremely useful and easy to slot in to a variety of scenarios. With the Karists being my primary draw, the Epirians as the faction I "have to take" to buy in aren't bad at all.

This is how I feel too. While the Epirians didn't initially knock my socks off (and there are a few issues with the design I'm not in love with, like the kneepads), for my money they're still probably the best generic sci-fi troopers I've seen yet, especially in hard plastic. For many years GW's Cadians were the gold standard for my money, but when you see them side by side it's clear to me that the Epirians are better proportioned and more realistic, while still maintaining enough heroic proportion that I think I'll be comfortable painting them and they'll look good on the tabletop; not just in close-ups painted by experts, like I think a lot of other sculpts (many of Rackham's old ones, or Infinity's current ones) have been over the years. I'm getting genuinely excited to build and paint some.

 Mannahnin wrote:
for my money they're still probably the best generic sci-fi troopers I've seen yet, .

I'm curious how you're defining "generic."

What disqualifies the Sedition Wars Vanguard Samaritans or the Mantic Enforcers from being "generic sci-fi." Or the Dreamforge stuff?

Maybe he means near-future or unarmored? But then they are up against the UAMC, the Corporation Marines, DUST troops, and the upcoming plastic Terminator Genysis Resistance.

That all leaves out AT-43, which has heroic scale and plastic going for it, along with vehicles.

 cincydooley wrote:

 Mannahnin wrote:
for my money they're still probably the best generic sci-fi troopers I've seen yet, .

I'm curious how you're defining "generic."

What disqualifies the Sedition Wars Vanguard Samaritans or the Mantic Enforcers from being "generic sci-fi." Or the Dreamforge stuff?

He said "best", not "only".

The generic nature is putting me off though. I want flavor and uniqueness. The Scarecrows look like old Battletech minis, which is not a good thing imho.

As it is I've dropped my pledge. Maybe I'll get into the game as more diversity is introduced. As it stands, it's a bit bland for me.

Any word on whether some beta/trial/prelim rulebooks are at salute for games to peruse?