Drakerys : A new High fantasy miniature game, NOW on Kickstarter !

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**Alpharius**

How much are you thinking of dropping on it?

**Nostromodamus**

I dropped my Element 555 pledge after seeing the gameplay and realizing this wasn't the skirmish game they advertised. Also, the rules really weren't to my liking at all.

When I confronted them about it they said it never was a skirmish game, but rather a "mid-size game", despite their project page labeling it as a skirmish game.

If you don't know what your game is, I'm not backing it...

Anyway, for the sake of those who did back it, I hope Don't Panic games don't give you a reason to panic.

**Alpharius**

I certainly panicked - no clear indication of the material or how it will perform 'in production' means I can't up my pledge from the $1 Placeholder.

I'd love to - the sculpts look great - clearly lots of Rackham inspiration.

But after Sedition Wars and Mantic's Various Restics, I can't commit to any more PVC campaigns. At least not it high numbers...

**RivenSkull**

If they can show finished models like Journey: Wrath of Demons and the PVC of that game, I'm willing to drop some money just for some of the models for my D&D mini's

I keep going to the KS page to see if there have been any final mini examples.

**Alpharius**

RivenSkull wrote:
If they can show finished models like Journey: Wrath of Demons and the PVC of that game, I'm willing to drop some money just for some of the models for my D&D mini's

I keep going to the KS page to see if there have been any final mini examples.

That's the big "IF" here, isn't it?

**Bioptic**

Journey uses a substantially larger scale though - as does Arcadia Quest, another recent PVC game with surprisingly sharp detail on the models. Although I'm pretty happy with Mantic's recent Mars Attacks & Dreadball Xtreme stuff as well. All of this is 'Boardgame plastic', but seems actually to work better than the normal 'restic' being advertised by Drakerys.

I do feel like a bit of a chump for adding on an Elves starter in the pledge manager though - £40 ($60) for 15 models, in the worst material going! As a project, I really like the models and concepts (except the Dwarves), I just feel that it struggles to have its own identity as a games system.

If they are going to charge $80 for a starter box at retail, and this game isn't skirmish, then it may simply be too expensive for many people to get into.

**RivenSkull**

Any news emerge yet on finished models?

**Dark Severance**

RivenSkull wrote:
Any news emerge yet on finished models?

They have some images in their updates.

Spoiler:

**RivenSkull**

Dark Severance wrote:
RivenSkull wrote:
Any news emerge yet on finished models?
They have some images in their updates.

Spoiler:

Those all seem to be pre-production resin masters:

- Robh asked to see actual production castings and we think that you should all get a chance to see this. We understand that you want to have a look at what you will really be getting before completing the pledge manager. We are not able to fulfil this wish for now, as the production process is still starting up however we want to be as open about this procedure as possible and will be more than happy to share pictures of the castings as soon as they are available!

**Alpharius**

Yeah, I don't think those are "PVC Production Minis" - because if they are, then they're the ones to have finally 'solved' the "PVC Problem"!

**RivenSkull**

Alpharius wrote:
Yeah, I don't think those are "PVC Production Minis" - because if they are, then they're the ones to have finally 'solved' the "PVC Problem"!

Yep they confirmed on their FB page those are masters.

Lets see if they post an update today, and if it has any PVC models

**Alpharius**

That would be nice.

It is also necessary before I send them more than $1...

**Bioptic**

News! Which essentially amount to a colossal delay - they are now expecting to deliver in December. And we all know what that means for postal services!

Hello, dear backers!

We received a few inquiries about Drakerys’ progress upon completion. Some answers were given in comments, not as precise as we all wanted.

First of all, please accept our apologies for being unusually silent. We were waiting to have the needed information, and solve the issues we faced.

-

WHAT HAPPENED?

(1) Unlocking the Aurium Dwarves was a calculated risk. At the end of the Kickstarter, we had to decide about unlocking this fourth army despite being under the 200K stretch goal we originally planned for it. They were unlocked at 185K, as we were planning a nice final impulse. Unfortunately, it did not happen. Nevertheless, we decided to maintain the Aurium Dwarves, even as the funding went below 185K in the last moments of the Kickstarter. This decision added quite some time for creation process, and the corresponding pack of molds to the production fee. The issue is solved: the Aurium Dwarves are still planned and will be produced.

(2) Delays with sculpture. As we realized the budget was tighter than expected, we decided to reduce the freelance artists’ pool and asked Mohand to sculpt as many miniatures as possible. It was a lot of work for a single man, but he achieved it. The issue is 99% solved: except for Isha The Dark Mother, all miniatures were studied by our Chinese manufacturers for quotations and molds. The good news is basically that our top sculptor made almost the whole range!

(3) Delays with factories and quotations. Some sculpts were not fit for plastic production, and details had to be corrected in order to reach an agreement and get mutually satisfying quotations. Going back and forth with China on the subject took six precious weeks. The delays with the sculpture process didn’t help either, as they had us crash on the Chinese New Year. In the meantime, our manufacturers’ order books were filled. The miniature production for the four armies will go from the early days of June to the end of August.

Please note we are still studying quotations for Playing Mats, specifically. A decision will be taken on the subject by April the 15th at the latest.

(4) Delays with rules. No mystery here: the core rules were lengthened and needed some serious editing. The Ashral Orcs and Irosia Paladinate armies were ready. We underestimated the time needed to create and balance the game profiles for the Avaren Elves and Aurium Dwarves, as well as the Valgar campaign scenarios.

-

WHAT ABOUT DELIVERY?

The original delivery was planned for March, then delayed to June. Considering the decisions we took, delivery will happen in December. We are fully aware of the most needed improvements, and chose quality over punctuality. Please accept our apologies.

-

RULES
•The French core rules are written. The layout process is about to begin.
•The French campaign rules were delivered last week, and are being revised.
•Once everything is done, we will start translation to English, which will be a much faster process.
•We will be happy to share these files as soon as we are satisfied with the result.

MORE DWARVES AND ELVES

Thanks to mold optimization, we are happy to announce the following changes:
•Avaren Crows Unit Box: 6 Crow miniatures (instead of the planned 5).
•Avaren Elves Army Box: 12 Avaren Crows (instead of 10).
•Aurium Soldiers Unit Box: 6 Soldier miniatures (instead of 5).
•Aurium Dwarves Army Box: 12 Aurium Soldiers (instead of 10).

All changes have been taken into account for the gameplay. Game balance is kept.

-

Overall, the work is progressing at a slow but sure pace. Though we are taking longer than expected, we receive positive feedback from players and miniature collectors. We hope it will be the same for you.

Thank you, once again, for backing Drakerys.

They have some sculpts of the beefy Elves and Dwarves, too:

**Nostromodamus**

So glad I bailed on this.

Company name gets funnier all the time...

**Thraxas Of Turai**

It...lives.

Some pictures of mould tests:

For those of you still waiting on this you have the patience of a Saint.

**Alpharius**

Patience is a ~~virtue~~ MUST if you're in the Kickstarter game!

**rox**

So Don't Panic Games had a booth at gen con this year and showcased Drakerys. While I was not a backer for the same reasons I saw here, I was impressed with the short game play demo as well as the model quality. While not perfect, ithe plastic used appears to hold detail fairly well. I picked up the elemental heralds to check out when I made it back home. I'm much happier with the results compared to pretty much anything mantic or the fiasco of sedition wars. I'm actually hoping to find some of the Kickstarter exclusives from someone who is trying to get out. Overall liked the model quality.

I should point out that the demo game only went one turn, and only used a starter set worth of models. I don't know about larger games or a more complete reading of the rules. Liked the turn sequence and the d10 usage more than anything else, not so much the charts that are required.

Forgot to add that the terrain looked excellent, and the dragon is very nice!

**MrDwhitey**

Amusingly after never hearing about this and only seeing it now due to that post, I went and watched a video of it being played and it interested me.

I'm tempted to buy a starter set now, on the condition they actually have one to ship.

**rox**

Thought I'd add a bit to the last post I made. I have had a chance to play with these models a little, and while they are nicely detailed, I don't know that I would put them up for any awards. I would start off by showing the models in bare plastic.

You may notice the bases are already nicely textured, and that they are very well detailed. This picture however doesn't show the mold lines to the extent they actually found on the model, nor the fact that the models came glued together, and already attached to the base. There is also a slight issue with space around the tab. This wouldn't be a problem if I wanted to start playing, but it made it difficult to clean mold lines before painting. I ended up breaking the arms off the earth herald so I could properly clean up the mold lines on the spear and around the shield. Another slight problem that presented itself which I decided wasn't really fixable (mainly didn't want to boil water!) was a slight twist in the spear and an overall lean in the earth herald. I also needed to do a small amount of green stuff work on the earth herald where the ground is coming up to meet the spear and shield. If it was on a regular flat base there probably wouldn't have been a problem, but because the base is more elaborate there was no connection to the base itself. To fix it I just green stuffed in some crystals.

On the air herald the curves and slight twists on the models make it look extremely nice, but very difficult to get all the mold lines.

Paintwise I believe the models do look very good, and for the two that I have finished, a very simple paintjob make them look quite nice.

Overall, I like the models, and I don't even mind the material for the most part, as I have only worked with these four models. If I have too much of it, I may get burned out on cleaning mold lines. In addition, using the same plastic for the weapons wasn't the greatest idea. I am personally partial to Wrath of Kings, and their use of hard plastic to make weapons sturdier. So overall, nice models, I may try getting a few more later on if/when they go to retail, but not that many.

**Wehrkind**

I like the look of the heralds, and almost backed this for them. I might have to pick them up at retail or ebay if possible. I wonder if soaking them in Simple Green or other paint remover would pop off their glue.

Thanks for the review!

**rox**

Wehrkind wrote:
I like the look of the heralds, and almost backed this for them. I might have to pick them up at retail or ebay if possible. I wonder if soaking them in Simple Green or other paint remover would pop off their glue.

Thanks for the review!

I imagine it would. I popped the arms off the earth herald by prying with some clippers and an exacto. Didn't take much effort. Didn't try with the base though. Should point out that the arms had keyed holes, so it didn't take much to make sure the orientation was set correctly after pulling them apart.

**Wehrkind**

Good to know. That's probably a pretty good compromise when making "pre-built" models for board games that want to be used for wargames too. Some light tack to hold the keyed parts together that can still be popped apart pretty easily with a little work.