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Our goal with Ex illis was to design a more accessible Miniature Wargame by making a software to handle the rules instead of the players, and still offering great depht of play because of the software calculation capacities obviously (available on PC/MAC/iOS). "Easy to learn, hard to master!"

The electronic version of the game is still supported, but the game will now also be available in a classical version with a standard rulebook, playing with dices.

We currently have a Kickstarter to finance and publish this project :
http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/672225583/ex-illis

Key selling points:
- Easy to learn;
- Less expensive alternative to other Miniature Wargames;
- No mesuring tapes : zones, initiative and action systems offer a very unique and varied gameplay experience.


THE GAME (more details)

Ex illis is a miniature wargame set in a pseudo-historic fantasy world populated by the historic figures of the 13th century, that also includes mythological and biblical figures from medieval Europe. Angels, demons, witches, fairies and imps fight alongside different human factions for the dominance over Europe, or to strengthen the evil grip of the Infernal army.

The rulebook game will feature:
- Epic, large scale combat between the forces of different lands and factions helped by demonic, angelic and magical allies;
- Zone based movement (no rulers needed);
- Management of Fatigue and Hit points, your forces' key ressources;
- A unique Morale system based on synergies built into your army list;
- Soft factions to allow units to be fielded with any army... for a cost;
- Unit specialisation and progression system (leveling, talents spec etc.);
- Gorgeous illustrations and historic research to accompany the game;
- Highly detailed miniatures;
- Compatibility with the original digitally enhanced version of Ex illis on PC / Mac.

During this Kickstarter campaign, we are seeking support to create and publish a complete hard copy rule set of Ex illis.

The hardcover rulebook will include:
- Original full color art and concept drawings;
- The immersive background, history and timeline of the Ex illis world;
- A traditional version of the Ex illis ruleset that captures the feel of the original digitally assisted game;
- History, statistics and gameplay tips for all the heroes and units in the base game;
- Tips for modelling and customizing your miniatures;
- Sample Army Sheet, Unit cards and blank copies.


US (the team)

We are the artist, game designer, writer, programmer and project manager that made the whole Ex illis world alive back in 2009. All of us are gamers. We play Card Games, Board Games, Video Games and of course Miniature Wargames. We are experienced and savvy in the world of gaming (most of us work in the video game industry) and we love sharing our passion with other people. We started Chinchilla games and this project to ensure our dreams and our efforts would continue to live on.

Our objective is to bring back people around a table with games that are fun, enjoyable and accessible to everyone (like our kids, girlfriends, etc.) but also to old school, hardcore gamers like us.

Please share the Kickstarter on Facebook

You might want to move this to News and Rumors, which gets far more traffic than Misc Games.

The question everybody has with any sort of minis game is "what are the minis made of?" I read your KS quickly, and couldn't answer that. They look like prepainted pastics, but it's not clear.

It's an interested idea, and with tablets and smart phones, the computer aspect should be a lot more organic. Good luck!

Thx for the feedback Polonius !

We are adressing this (making it more obvious).

That's a good suggestion Polonius, I couldn't tell that at first glance either.

Was there another Ex Illlis kickstarter previously, or am I imagining it? I couldn't find one by searching KS but I feel like there was...

I think they started Ex Illis before KS really caught on, can't remember though.

Nice to see it back in action, hope it does well. Always liked the models. I won't be able to get in on this one though with AVP about to happen.

I'm glad that you're offering a classic version of the game that ditches video-game DRM for the minis that were previously forced upon players. The minis were decent but frankly the attitude of the company really soured me on anything they had to offer. Here's a link to the previous premiere on dakka...

http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/0/308394.page

edit: And, yes, Alpharius... I agree that my previous writing style that eschewed capitalization was indeed annoying. I see that now.

This is the first time we actually are on Kickstarter indeed !

We want to give the most freedom to our players, wheter it be about DRM, or the way they want to play our game (Software or not) !

I put in for the plastic board. Not entirely thrilled about the dimensions for 40k but Malifaux is played on a 3' x 3' board so these should fit the bill nicely for that at least.

I'm curious what the plan is to do things differently this time around?

I remember thinking that Ex Illis was interesting the first time around, and had some nice looking minis.

But the game kinda floundered, in part (imo) due to GW-level pricing on units. Looking at the KS - I seem the same miniatures, and same high prices as last time around.

Archangels are nearly the same $6 a mini of the Witch Elves everyone complains about. And that's KS pricing! And the rulebook is again a pretty crazy $70.

The boxed set and army sets are reasonable prices, but everything else is on the pricey side, yeah. The art samples are gorgeous, but $70 is still pretty steep for a rulebook...

To answer Schmapdi, and perhaps many others:
The major difference being that the first time around, we had a software to develop, a company structure to put into place and had a much bigger team to sustain. Now that the product already exists, we can focus on a smaller amount of production and the distribution. We are a group of 4 very devoted people (the ones who stayed to take the flag after all this time) who aim at nothing less than hitting the market as hard as they can with a top-notch product.

About the prices:
Our product are still less expensive than most miniature wargame out there, offering boxed sets around 25-35$ each. Players can start playing with as little as a 55$ starter set. With a 100-150$ investment, you already have a pretty decent army (tournament viable). More than that is considered scaling up. Ok, to be fair, what I just described didn't include the Rulebook... but the rulebook will be a full colour, hardback, illustration-abundant, story-heavy, filled with miniature picts, double-paged for each unit, having skills and equipment lists and with a progression system for your campaigns. We are confident producing something that is worth the 70$ we ask for

Which box sets are $25?

I bought the angels and Emissarius the last time they came out because I really liked them, but I couldn't get past the prices on anything else. The price of the box might sound decent until one notices that there are less than 10 minis in it.

 BobtheInquisitor wrote:
Which box sets are $25?

According to the project page, a box of two heroes is $25 (though it looks like 3 models).

The major difference being that the first time around, we had a software to develop, a company structure to put into place and had a much bigger team to sustain.

Surely if there are fewer overheads this time around you can come to the market with more competitive pricing?

Our product are still less expensive than most miniature wargame out there,

Citation needed.

but the rulebook will be a full colour, hardback, illustration-abundant, story-heavy, filled with miniature picts, double-paged for each unit, having skills and equipment lists and with a progression system for your campaigns. We are confident producing something that is worth the 70$ we ask for

£40ish is more than I'd spend on a rulebook without knowing more about the game, regardless of how nice it is to look at. Do you have some sort of free starter rules in pdf form?

 Riquende wrote:
£40ish is more than I'd spend on a rulebook without knowing more about the game, regardless of how nice it is to look at. Do you have some sort of free starter rules in pdf form?

Yes, any other pledge grants you a PDF-format, digital copy of the Rulebook !

As seen on our Kickstarter page: http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/672225583/ex-illis

 Ork-Rock wrote:

 Riquende wrote:
£40ish is more than I'd spend on a rulebook without knowing more about the game, regardless of how nice it is to look at. Do you have some sort of free starter rules in pdf form?

Yes, any other pledge grants you a PDF-format, digital copy of the Rulebook !

As seen on our Kickstarter page: http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/672225583/ex-illis

I think he was asking about a preview/beta PDF to get a sense of the game?

Was Ork-Rock previously MadNes from the other post? Same Avatar and writing style.

I got some of the Ex-Illis models on Clearance. They're pretty great.

I really hop the kick-starter is a success. But considering that you can get similar models/sets on clearance for half the kickstarter price, I'm sort of pessimistic.

So you're sticking with the zone-based movement, despite it being an artifact of the hybrid gameplay that is worse than computer games or manual gameplay are capable of alone?

 Thatguyoverthere wrote:
I got some of the Ex-Illis models on Clearance. They're pretty great.

I really hop the kick-starter is a success. But considering that you can get similar models/sets on clearance for half the kickstarter price, I'm sort of pessimistic.

That clearance is kind of over everywhere, now.
I'd love to find more than the two Mendicum boxes I have (don't ask) but it's not really that easy atm. Figure I might recast a bunch of the legs, at least that way I more or less get 16 monks out of a box - but I'd like some of those for potential future projects, so as soon as that stretch is hit I'll probably pledge. That, or wait for retail - it's the only thing I want so pledging if the stretch isn't made doesn't make sense, and pledging instead of waiting for retail doesn't either... Still, there's a few sets for which demand is much greater than for others (I'd much rather get perry or fireforge infantry - and cavalry, for that matter - than EI's, in my opinion, mediocre sculpts) but the little devils are awesome, the mendicum is great, especially for the price, and the archangels are kind of a crowd favorite as well. the winged hero in the, I believe, fleaudian reinforcements box is awesome too, btw. Just a shame that that one, and the devils are great while the big things look like half-finished lumps of putty with no poseability whatsoever :(

Okay, I'm drifting off course here, but the point is: there are several boxes for which demand seems, from what sold out at clearance first, to be much greater than the mediocre quasimedieval stuff I'm sure you're referring to which is still on clearance everywhere and I'm sure those will sell quickly. Kind of a shame though that with the usual business acumen to be expected in connection with ex illis, those are either stretch goals, hidden in a starter and unavailable separately, or conspicuously pricy compared both to old retail and addon pricing.
Oh well.

I'd have to back, just for patriotic pride, but they're from Quebec City... intercity rivalry saves me!

Why are the English readily associated with demons in the starter armies? I know we have, shall we say, a propensity to see them as the evil ones around here... but really?

Isn't the zone movement the same as for the upcoming Deadzone?

Deadzone uses 3x3 'zones' , EI if I'm not mistaken uses 9x9. The difference in granularity is significant

Quite aside from that, DZ is shooting-heavy, and uses TLOS around scenery for cover, IIRC. Therefore, 'actual' as opposed to 'zoned' placement is quite important.

Ah, I see. I had assumed that the tiles were 9" x 9" because they were sub-divided into 9 square inches squares (couldn't find the "squared" on the Mac).

Then I agree, it is quite important.

 Mr. Burning wrote:
Was Ork-Rock previously MadNes from the other post? Same Avatar and writing style.

Nope, Mad Nes was simply one of our biggest fan defending the project while I am one of the 2 game designers. Nes even asked me to take this avatar when he did because it always was associated with me on our own forums.

 AlexHolker wrote:
So you're sticking with the zone-based movement, despite it being an artifact of the hybrid gameplay that is worse than computer games or manual gameplay are capable of alone?

Being a Warhammer player for 14 years now, and still playing, I have to admit that even I wasn't convince about doing a tile-system game at first. But designing it and playing with it for nearly 4 years now was a blast (game designers are players too you know) and quite frankly, I am very confident about the solidity of our game system! The tile system, combined with the fact that units in the same zone can perform a variety of actions that work well together really creates a UNIQUE experience.

What makes Ex illis viable on the current market is the fact that it is different!

- The Initiative system, maiking players alternate turns to play their units make less combinatory situations;
- The Zone system simulates units with different weaponry working in formation and combining arms and fighting techniques;
- The Action system makes your choice really matter. Doing a special attack, or adopting a stance have drastically different effects on your match's outcome.

The figs are a nice hard plastic and have a nice amount of detail. The background was rather interested but no one around me was ever interested in playing.

I have an Ex Illis Intergral box set and William Wallace figure that Id sell/trade if anyone is interested. Shoot me an IM and lets talk.

So having to register ever miniature purchase on line is now out?

What is "a zone system"?

 fullheadofhair wrote:
So having to register ever miniature purchase on line is now out?

Yes, you can add any units to your account now !

 Ouze wrote:
What is "a zone system"?

In Ex illis, units move around on tiles named "zones" (multiple units can be in the same zone). Units in the same zone can work together better and share skills such as healing, bonuses, morale, etc. On top of this, it dilutes attacks sent towards them between those units. The risk is they become a more easy target for enemy shooting (it is easier to hit a big crowd).

Combined with fight directions/flanking, a great number of different actions you can perform in each given situation, a progressive morale and fatigue system, the gameplay is still very rich, but easy to understand because of the tile-system

 Ork-Rock wrote:

 fullheadofhair wrote:
So having to register ever miniature purchase on line is now out?

Yes, you can add any units to your account now !

Add to your account? So still need to put them online just not with a DRM code that you were trying last time?

Btw, your avatar still bites despite not having seen it for a few years - still don't like it.

Indeed. I don't care if it's a fictional pope in your universe it's offensive to see a murdered religious figure as the "signature" picture of a company. I suggest you try it with a fictional Ayatolla and see how far you get/live... but I guess it's ok to insult Catholics with the whole turn the other cheek thing.

Oh, I thought he was some sort of scary zombie or otherwise supernatural pope. Yeah, just-plain-stabbied pope is a little tasteless, though it's a nice pic.