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 JonWebb wrote:

There is some work going on at present (you'll see the first examples with New Vegas and Commonwealth on that front) to try to lighten the card load.

For both practical and production reasons, its something that's been on our mind for a while.

I'm honestly very glad to hear that. I think I see where you were going with the cards and it sounds good on paper, but now that we're five waves, an RPG, and a random scenario generator in, the cards have become a bit of a hassle.

 Psychopomp wrote:

 JonWebb wrote:

There is some work going on at present (you'll see the first examples with New Vegas and Commonwealth on that front) to try to lighten the card load.

For both practical and production reasons, its something that's been on our mind for a while.

I'm honestly very glad to hear that. I think I see where you were going with the cards and it sounds good on paper, but now that we're five waves, an RPG, and a random scenario generator in, the cards have become a bit of a hassle.

The card plan was really good on paper (boom boom), but I think the plan had never quite envisioned how big the range would go (and will continue to grow).

If it had been a different sale model (core box plus larger expansions like Star Wars: Imperial Assault) I think it would have remained manageable, but that's not where we ended up.

Cards will remain an option for those who want them, but we are thinking of other approaches for sure.

I personally really like most of the use of cards though I do agree that seeing how Into the Dark generated stuff that dice would have worked best for most of Into the Wasteland. Cards would only make sense if you wanted to expand upon things to provide more options or custom decks an example would Environment cards as you can add more (having a blank template would be nice for that purpose as well) as different factions come out.

I think my issue really is force building with cards takes forever in Fallout so I've just had to have pre-generated ones in binder pagers that fallout unit and equipment cards slot into with the caps total written on it. I know the app solves that problem but I feel I don't play enough, maybe once a month, to justify the extra cost.

So question: Can I just make a dwemmar force? Love the Centurion and would love to ruin about the board with mechanical wonders of an age gone by.

My understanding is yes they'll have faction rules but you'll have a lot of repeat models as there's not a lot of variety with this release.

Morning folks.

Another Friday release (sorry, I finished for the day before these posted!) has come and gone, so here is what dropped for March.

Dragon Priest - https://www.modiphius.net/collections/the-elder-scrolls-call-to-arms/products/the-elder-scrolls-call-to-arms-dragon-priest
Ancient servants of the Dragons, the Dragon Priests enforced the will of their Masters. Cursed to eternal servitude, the return of the Dragons has brought their powerful servants back into the world once more.

Word Wall - https://www.modiphius.net/collections/the-elder-scrolls-call-to-arms/products/the-elder-scrolls-call-to-arms-word-wall
Ancient carvings etched into stones raised in ages past, Word Walls are mysterious structures found throughout Skyrim. Ancient Nords raised them, perhaps to honour their Dragon overlords, perhaps to commemorate their dead. The markings that cover their surfaces are carved to resemble the clawed language of the Dovah and hold the ancient power of The Voice - Thu'um

Plus, if you fancy both, there is a nice bundle that also includes some of the Draugr scatter for that lived in tomb feel .
https://www.modiphius.net/collections/the-elder-scrolls-call-to-arms/products/the-elder-scrolls-call-to-arms-domain-of-the-dragon-priest

Till next time.

Wow!

That Dragon Priest looks especially great!

A request from Gavin (Elder Scrolls ancient one) regarding Dragon playtesting.

"Just a heads up, those of you that have access to the playtest forum may want to login and have a look at what's just been posted
Those of you that are not signed up but want to help us test;

1. Sign this digital Non Disclosure Agreement with your full name, valid email and home address - https://www.modiphius.com/tts-nda.html


2. Sign up to our forums, this is where we post our manuscripts for testing and collate feedback - https://forums.modiphius.com/


3. Email me at playtesting@modiphius.com using the email you completed the NDA, using the subject TES PLAYTESTING including the following information; your full name and your Modiphius Forum username."

We are always looking for new playtesters for Fallout, Elder Scrolls plus anything else we might be working on, so if you fancy getting involved, please do drop us a line.

Found some images of the upcoming Dark Brotherhood. They look cool, although a little disappointed with the lack of racial diversity of the aspirants.

Racial diversity means something completely different in a fantasy game as when I first looked at the image on my phone I was like "they don't look all white" until I realized what you actually meant.

It wouldn't surprise me that they stick with humans in the core set units like aspirants as people could want to buy multiples. In fallout they're starting to do multi part build options and I can see ES follow. Having beast races or elves with different proportions could cause issues. Especially with head swaps. Then they can do the non-humans in the support/leader set.

Happy Friday folks, time for a new round of Elder Scrolls releases.

It seems we have come to the end of chapter one and now peer into the murky Steam and Shadows as chapter two arrives.

Once again there is a chapter card pack containing all the cards you will need to field the next block of releases, as well as lots of tasty new resin to expand your options and add new foes to your delves.

We are launching with several bundles, including a half Chapter big bundle, and two smaller factional bundles (Dark Brotherhood or Adversaries).
Check them out on the store, pre-ordering now. https://www.modiphius.net/collections/the-elder-scrolls-call-to-arms/elder-scrolls_bundles?page=1&sort_by=created-descending

Also dropping alongside the bundles are the first solo releases for those without the septims or who prefer a more focussed approach to their collections.

These include the Dwemer Spheres and Spiders, Dwemer Centurion and Ballistas and the Frostbite Spiders.

We've also briefly jumped eras to launch the first of the Elder Scrolls Online characters sets, with the three heroes familiar to anyone who has watched the trailers (you have seen them right?) as well as long standing series villain Mannimarco.

Finally, there is a new competition for you all. The Tale of the Dragonborn encourages you to model and paint your Dragonborn and show it off with a chance to win store credit and maybe even see your character immortalised in the range in the future.
Check out the details here: https://www.modiphius.net/blogs/news/elder-scrolls-call-to-arms-tale-of-the-dragonborn

That's it for now (and what a lot it is).

Till next month.

The Dwemer constructs do look great and adding in, from the looks of it, a screenshot from the game as a background works since there's a lot of terrain behind them. Helps place them in a much bigger ruin and makes me really want them for Into the Dark.

For those wondering they are not a stand alone faction right now but summons. I know there was some discussion earlier about that here.

Been a long time since there was any good updates for ES:CTA and today we got some good stuff.

First the Drauger Faction has gone print and play which creates a ElderScrolls download page for free stuff (groovy) but, it's hidden with no front page links to it and it's not even on the same website as fallout's either. Right now you can only get the link via the blog post.

https://www.modiphius.net/pages/the-elder-scrolls-call-to-arms-downloads

People already struggle to find Fallout's 2 download pages even with links in a drop down menu (that's only one one of their 2 sites) but this is even worse. For such a small company I would figure that it would be easier to get stuff like links to our free download pages on the store (especially when the link is a static page on the store's domain). Stuff like this is a pet peeve of mine, I use to do it for a living.

That being said, the dragur stuff is awesome and a welcome addition to the game making it more what it needs to be where you can play any faction.

Now for the blog:
https://www.modiphius.net/blogs/news/chapter-2-update-3-war-is-coming

We've got July releases:

Imperial Vanguards


Storm Cloak Shield Breakers


Also releasing next month is the long expected campaign Stormcloak Rebellion which appears to be getting a print.

To go along with those sets we also have the release of the first of our Histories of the Empire thematic storyline books. Histories of the Empire Volume 1: The Stormcloak Rebellion is a narrative driven expansion to The Elder Scroll: Call to Arms. Enabling its players to take part in pivotal events such as the search for the Jagged Crown and the Battle for Whiterun, culminating with the final push on the capitals of Solitude or Windhelm.

It includes a three-part campaign detailing the rise or fall of the Stormcloak Rebellion in their fight against the Imperial Legion. The first act details the skirmishes and rising tensions that lead to the Battle for Whiterun. The second places the player in command of their chosen faction, allowing them to tactically decide which holds to attack and gradually push their front lines toward the enemy’s capital. The third and final act entirely focuses on the siege of a faction’s capital, moving from the walls into the city itself and culminating in the hero’s facing each other for a final confrontation that will decide the fate of Skyrim.

Also included within this book are new rules for setting your battles within any of the nine Holds of Skyrim. From Haafingar with its soaring peaks to The Rift and its many beast nests, these new Hold rules allow players to further expand on the environment mechanics presented in the core rules and experience more thematic battlefields.

Building and expanding on the existing rules for Elder Scrolls: Call to Arms, this book offers new and exciting experiences for fighting in Tamriel. Adding extra effects to environments, altering what equipment each faction can take and offering thematic bonuses based on the holds the player controls, these expanded rules add a new depth to the game so the player can truly control how their faction handles the war.

Finally, we have also included rules for an entirely new faction - Hold Guards. Included are Heroes, Followers and Adversary cards that can be used as allies or enemies in your struggle for dominance.

Excited about the whole thing especially the Hold Guards. I'm going to go on a limb and guess this is going to be printed like the New Vegas Expansion with Die Cut stuff. I'm actually surprised the Draguer weren't this as well, maybe later on in the year they'll get a release.

Now we're just left with Dragon rules (still in playtesting, 6 months at least so far) and Settlement rules that have been announced but not released.

Well that’s confusing.

What happened to the plastic Stormcloak Skirmishers and Imperial Reinforcements?

I pre-ordered those nearly a year ago.

It was announced a year ago that plastic was on hold indefinitely due to covid.

https://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/150/775687.page#10867909

Pretty wack.

 Manchu wrote:
Pretty wack.

Launching a new game is always a tough one, launching it into a pandemic... I don’t recommend as you can’t hit the store/con scene to show it off.

Plastics are a huge gamble/risk so we decided not to pursue it further post launch (it’s why I try to control announcements from the company before ink has dried on contracts to avoid disappointment).

We are talking to several new plastics options as it needs to happen to grow our games (Yes we want plastics for fallout too) but without a certain size playerbase it’s not viable.

Plus there are losses as well as gains in the shift to plastic.

We’ll get there in the end, the best way to help that is to showcase the game and help recruit new players.

 JonWebb wrote:
the best way to help that is to showcase the game and help recruit new players

I dunno. What I am hearing here is that the publisher is not confident about investing more money in producing the product. Fair enough, it doesn’t make sense to throw good money after bad if that’s how things stand. Maybe there is a more specific concern here, as anecdotally I have seen pretty mixed reactions to the launch plastics. But, as your customer, I have already bought everything for this game available at retail. I have already preordered items which may never materialize (and it sounds like I‘d be wise to cancel those preorders). I’m not thrilled about being asked to do unpaid labor and leverage my friend network and much less so if the publisher itself is wary of continuing support for the product. As it stands, I have already talked the game up across social media and within my in-person game group. I’ve given Modiphius what can be reasonably expected. In turn, I appreciate the transparent communication about plastics being off the table for now.

Some nice new releases coming out for the game.
I totally understand the plastics situation.As you have mentioned the cost of getting moulds done for them is very high and needs lots of sales to make money back before being in profit.
The show's not being on is hitting the gaming scene in a very big way.Lots of traders will be struggling with getting sales coming in.
Like most new games people want certain factions before jumping in on the game.That is another hard thing to do with any new game.
Having a slow and steady release will keep the game moving forward i am sure.

But people who pre-ordered the things are getting their money back for the things that might never arrive right?

Right?

 Manchu wrote:

 JonWebb wrote:
the best way to help that is to showcase the game and help recruit new players

I dunno. What I am hearing here is that the publisher is not confident about investing more money in producing the product. Fair enough, it doesn’t make sense to throw good money after bad if that’s how things stand. Maybe there is a more specific concern here, as anecdotally I have seen pretty mixed reactions to the launch plastics. But, as your customer, I have already bought everything for this game available at retail. I have already preordered items which may never materialize (and it sounds like I‘d be wise to cancel those preorders). I’m not thrilled about being asked to do unpaid labor and leverage my friend network and much less so if the publisher itself is wary of continuing support for the product. As it stands, I have already talked the game up across social media and within my in-person game group. I’ve given Modiphius what can be reasonably expected. In turn, I appreciate the transparent communication about plastics being off the table for now.

I’d like to hear a bit more about who/where you preordered from.

As far as I am aware (bearing in mind Fallout is my line and Gavin looks after ES) we never solicited any plastics beyond the first three (apologies if that’s not the case), so any store offering anything beyond that may have jumped the gun (possibly based on incorrect information from us of course).

I would suggest cancelling any pre orders for plastics as there is nothing in the pipe/production on that front.

We are fully committed to supporting the product, just in resin which is a much lower risk and has a much faster turnaround.


Automatically Appended Next Post:

 Wha-Mu-077 wrote:
But people who pre-ordered the things are getting their money back for the things that might never arrive right?

Right?

That’s between them and who they preordered from, but I’d hope so.

If it was us... well i need to have a chat with sales it seems...

John I will PM you the details to avoid derailing the thread about X retailer. They did (and still do) have pics up for the plastic Legion Reinforcements and Stormcloak Skirmishers guys — no idea what the origin was for those. I would think the picture/product name combo would mean it was based on distributor soliciations.

UPDATE:

Looking into this further, I see the real issue is the retailer erroneously listed everything previous to Steam and Shadow as being in plastic. Although the Imperial Legion Reinforcement and Stormcloak Skirmisher sets have been available through direct for some time, they have yet to make it to retail. So I was still under the impression, because of the retailer’s listing, that the figures would be in plastic. Reading back over this thread, it seems like this was actually never the case!

My apologies for assuming the retailer info was correct even despite every product I have received since the launch wave has been in resin rather than HIPS.

 Manchu wrote:
John I will PM you the details to avoid derailing the thread about X retailer. They did (and still do) have pics up for the plastic Legion Reinforcements and Stormcloak Skirmishers guys — no idea what the origin was for those. I would think the picture/product name combo would mean it was based on distributor soliciations.

UPDATE:

Looking into this further, I see the real issue is the retailer erroneously listed everything previous to Steam and Shadow as being in plastic. Although the Imperial Legion Reinforcement and Stormcloak Skirmisher sets have been available through direct for some time, they have yet to make it to retail. So I was still under the impression, because of the retailer’s listing, that the figures would be in plastic. Reading back over this thread, it seems like this was actually never the case!

My apologies for assuming the retailer info was correct even despite every product I have received since the launch wave has been in resin rather than HIPS.

Ok, good to hear (we’ll, not good to hear, I wish we could have got plastic for you).

Maybe solicitation was sent out waaaay back in the day but I honestly don’t know and certainly we are a year later so if it was it should have been updated.

Once we tighten up a few bits on the plastic front (most of the kits are decent but I know the Dragonborn and a few others had more parts than is ideal and that Dragonborn leg is a puzzle at first) we’ll see what we can do to get that back on track.

But it’s all resin for the foreseeable.

I just realized that the Shield Breakers is the only storm cloak with a shield released so far as I was going to ask about the potential for various Norn faction decals -- which seams pretty moot when they'd only be for the pretty much non-existent shields. Hopefully if/when plastic gets on track again and if modular Stormscloak soldiers decals might also be an option.

Sadly I haven't played much recently do to the lack of Hero variety. My group enjoys the game but finds it baffling that an Elder Scroll game focused on Solo/co-op doesn't have custom characters (no one wants to play as random character from the game you may never even talk to) and what is in the chapter 1 pack didn't add as wide of options to the game we were hoping for. Hopefully once I can get the Chapter 2 packs and get some time to make some Into the Dark tiles (too busy with Fallout and painting ridiculously large Mierce Monster atm) I can get in some games this summer.

There is a second stormcloak with a shield (in the skirmishes set).

Second the need for custom character rules, along with proper experience and advancement rules. Now the delve rules are out these rules should be a priority really.

I’ve only played solo so far but I think the game is great.

Theyredeaddave wrote:
There is a second stormcloak with a shield (in the skirmishes set).

Thanks, I had missed that. Still, 2 isn't enough to justify decals for.

Second the need for custom character rules, along with proper experience and advancement rules. Now the delve rules are out these rules should be a priority really.

It took a few years for fallout to get it but I think ES needs it more as character customization is much more a part of Elder Scrolls then fallout (where you don't get as much). Right now Modiphius alternating new rules releases between solo/co-op (into the dark) and at least stuff Battle mode can use in addition to solo (Storm Cloak rebellion) is probably the best way to get some interested going now with COVID restrictions going away. That being said I'm hoping there is design work going on right now for ES:CTA RPG or similar and that Gavin, the line manager, is just obfuscating when he says he has no plans for introducing custom characters to ES:CTA as it's difficult to do right (all the while Fallout having it) and instead just providing a Dragonborn box set with different Dragonborn archtypes (archer, mage, and so on) as I don't want to make or play Dragonborns as they're currently presented as massive skill dumps that do everything.

The FWW:RPG (which adds limited character creation) is an interesting thing in the wargaming sphere as I don't think I've ever seen a wargame get an expansion that lets you run it like an RPG with a GM and everything. Then allow the GM to also play in combat, if the GM wants, via AI cards for the enemies. The character creation is limited, as I mentioned, as you just pick an archtype with starting stats and skills but you can build it from there and the system ensures a well built character so you'll at least have a decent chance of surviving combat as the game is still a wargame where balance is more of a thing then D&D and other traditional RPG.

I’ve only played solo so far but I think the game is great.

I've really come to like it as a co-op game. I have a ban on Dragonborn (except with playing with one specific person who just has to) as that character is way to strong and it's impossible for any of the other Heroes to get near it in point cost which really skews difficulty. A bunch of 75 septium heroes and like a 130+ septium Dragonborn. It will be too hard for the normal heroes or too easy for the dragonborn.

The CtA Discord actually has some updates on the plastic front btw: Apparently, discussions are planned in the not-to-distant future about wether plastic kits may be viable. Though even then, itd just be for line units - no characters in plastic just yet. And Gav *has* noted that hed like a build-your-own dragonborn set, though itd be far more difficult than something for Fallout.
Mind, none if this is an actual plan, just ideas, but interesting ones nonetheless.

I don't follow the discord as much as I use to so it's good to know some discussions are going on (though Jon did kind of allude to that in his post the other day). I don't think anyone really expects character packs in plastic either but having a lot of good options for line units would be good.

Doing a plastic build your own dragonborn kit is going to be near impossible due to all the options players have in the game and that everyone is going to want to make their favorite race, weapon and armor combo which just is un-realistic as 2 of those races aren't even a simple head swap.

I'd probably do one that excludes Kajiit and Argonians and have a different kit for them (either through generic troops that can be mixed with the DB set or a beast race build your own). They'll not be able to make everyone happy but it's probably the best way.

Then there's the sort of goofy way they all look once built as I have Kingdom Deaths build your own sets and they always look a bit goofy (and I know Jon has those and I'm cure that's a concern of theirs).

The best way, though, to solve the problem and what I'd do if I was king of Modiphius would be to set up a deal with one of the 3d print character designers (Heroforge, Eldritch foundry, or DesktopHero) and have them set up a special Elderscroll/Fallout version of the app that allowed for ordering prints (probably even disable stl download no matter how much that might annoy people to protect unit sales) where everyone gets their cut of the sale. There's enough ES fans that would by custom minis for the RPG games that I think it could easily be worth the effory.

DesktopHero is the closest to the scale and art style of the Modiphius games as the other too are a over exaggerated as an art style. They could add, for fallout, a build your own robot too as the rules for it are in the game but hard to replicate via the resin models atm.

Looking great so far but we need Khajit trying to sell us Skooma.

While this is a news and rumor's thread I don't have enough ES stuff planned atm to justify a thread down in other fantasy games and I wanted to show off how well Mirmulnir paints up and it's totally worth the money if you want a nice resin dragon.

Was able to get some time this past holiday weekend to paint some stuff and I got Mirmulnir done. I was trying to stick pretty close to the studio paint job but since I was using instant paints from Scale Color I had to go more into a stronger purple brown for the top scales due to how the paints work. Not 100% happy with some parts of the wings (and think they don't look that great with the green blobs but the scales in the studio are freehand and I really don't want to do that) and probably will do a little touch ups later on but overall I think it came out pretty good for like 4 or so hours of work.