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2023/04/11 04:32:44
Subject: Re:Archon Studios News and Rumours - MoTU wave 5 preview, D&L 5 World of Deuslair KS 11th April
Set your clock for TOMORROW 11 AM PST/ 2 PM EST... Dungeons & Lasers ® V: World of Deuslair 5E is LAUNCHING! ?
Don't miss your chance to pledge early! All backers in the first 48 hours (starting from the Novice pledge) get an Owlbear Family mini as an Early Bird bonus reward!
Might as well add that I crunched some numbers on the Reaper forums, and found the Novice pledge best if you only want the SG's, and Adept if you want SG's and SSG's.
fwiw, the Reaper Bones Dragon Turtle sold for $15, as did their Kraken (full model underwater).
This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2023/04/11 04:33:58
2023/04/12 16:13:15
Subject: Re:Archon Studios News and Rumours - MoTU wave 5 preview, D&L 5 World of Deuslair KS 11th April
Update mentions that "One last thing, Lord Bulbolder will now be available to previous backers of ALL of our campaigns, not just D&L Backers. If you’re here from HoMM or MOTU: Fields of Eternia, then we’ll do our best to accommodate you ?"
Last few hours for the owlbear!
Spoiler:
This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2023/04/12 16:13:33
2023/04/24 14:35:29
Subject: Re:Archon Studios News and Rumours - D&L 5 World of Deuslair KS live until 26th April
Picked up Five Leagues from the Borderland and the fey ice queen faction looks like a good overlap with the Deuslair miniatures. Elven Woods fits on a 2x2 table, and has mini's for the Camp location as well.
D&L4 backers received the Deuslair Sample Pack, so I did a quick paintjob. The harder plastic is easier to work with (eg. filing off mold lines) than the soft boardgame and Mantic plastic.
No idea why the pic is upside-down. Click on it to see the picture right-side up. Will link to a pic later today.
This message was edited 3 times. Last update was at 2023/04/24 14:38:37
2023/04/25 01:36:55
Subject: Re:Archon Studios News and Rumours - D&L 5 World of Deuslair KS live until 26th April
Archon's push for an entire "non-generic fantasy" RPG world *is* a risk, and, since they're also offering the "generic fantasy" terrain from D&L4 in the KS, I think it's a mistake for them to not allow backers to exchange the Desulair-specific core set for an add-on. At least, during the previews, they went from making the RPG Bestiary hardcover a required item, to an add-on. With three factions, Archon should have made the focus a wargame, rather than RPG, or perhaps both. I think they should have at least given a shot (if they didn't) to work with a smaller wargames ruleset company (eg. Song of Blades and Heroes) for Archon to create a supplement or something. Myself, I picked up "Five Leagues from the Borderlands", a narrative solo/coop miniatures skirmish game, and noticed that the core set and other sets fit nicely with 5L's unseelie Ice Queen faction, as well as ferals and birdfolk for player warband characters. The Elven Woods set, btw, has a campsite for the Camp locations. Anecdotally, most of the popular miniatures, except for the giant unseelie fae queen, have been for the "generic fantasy" figures.
Well, there's always D&L6: Caves later this year. But you'll miss the duck.
I've suggested the Archon website eventually lets you "buy by the sprue", but they're not up to that point.
Anyway, John from the comments: "Add your estimated shipping cost as BONUS! Szymon from Archon confirmed this is ok in s previous comment - we can use those bonus funds for shipping! If all of us do this, we will get to that glorious Turtle! ?
D&L6 should be caves, so save up!
2023/05/14 09:14:27
Subject: Re:Archon Studios News and Rumours - D&L 5 World of Deuslair
No, Mantic does not changed the material, but they changed the company making them, again.
By now there were 3 different ones in the past and now is is the 4th.
First models were made by Renedra in England (Undead, Dwarfs and Elves which
ave a design problem, not a quality one), but because they have limited capacity and their main customer is Perry Miniatures, Mantic switched to a Chinese one
That worked for a while but had long delivery times (which messed up first Basilea run as they could not wait for pre-production samples) hence they switched to another Chinese one who turned out to be not reliable with quality (Goblins, Basilea and Halflings were fine, Riftforge Orcs, EoD and Ratkin not so much)
So they changed to a european one again, Archon in Poland, who made the new Ogres
given that Archon by now has a good track record, the upcoming Mantic Models should be more reliable in quality and because they are in europe delivered faster.
So there is a difference in quality, depending on which company made the models, which in general means all the older ones and the very new ones.
Abyssals are from the old ones and given that they are already old, good models
PS: making a general statement that all mantic plastics are bad is a tricky one, you may not like the design of all of them, but those that were made by the same company making the Perry or the Conquest models, are the same quality as those.
That Demon Dungeon looks great. Should make a terrific boss room for the end of a campaign. I have the old Terraclips Hell Prison set, and it worked out well for the final battle against the boss half-demon. The Dwarven Forge first KS had a demonic room set, that was just the same tiles in the KS painted red. Sure came a long way!
The Beast tiles remind me of the lowest levels of the DOOM PC game. Of course, neither Demon nor Beast will be as commonly used as the Caves, but that won't keep me from picking them up!
I'm currently painting the Fantasy Core Set, and Archon has come a *long* way since then. The sculpts are much better (and I've used the Elven Woods several times in my Five Leagues from the Borderlands campaign). I'm wondering if they'll put out a better dungeon set sometime, particularly one that has functional doors included.
Might as well show off some D&L4 : Encounters : Land of Giants...
Spoiler:
End of a Contract
A third ride. A third battle. The lord is indeed working us hard for his gold. The adventurers last sent to investigate these ruins and fend off the bandits have not returned. Rumors we have gathered persist that the dead are slowly taking over. Bandits alongside undead suggests more than mere bandits. And rumors also hold of enemy plans or other evidence that will aid us (or at least a more heroic "us") to take down the threats of this valley.
Map by Loke Battle Mats, Wilderness Map book and Big Book of Battle Mats. VTT mega-map KS coming.
Ruins terrain by Archon, Lands of Giants. Bridge from the Mines half-wall set, and Fantasy Dungeon terrain. Cathedral from Cursed Cathedral and Stretch Goals II sets.
"Squealers" miniatures by RBJ Games
Corpses are "Tiny Furniture's Harvest of War" miniatures. Sequel campaign coming!
Stone walls by Acheson Creations. May be OOP.
Red-grey ruins by Secret Weapon Miniatures. OOP.
Heroes and Skeletons by Reaper, Bones.
This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2023/06/19 03:02:13
If you're otherwise interested in the core and SG's, the Archon PM has opened and may be accepting late pledges.
Otherwise, your patience should pay off, since even the Archon website is offering free shipping (over 150EU) to many areas, although retail prices should be higher.
Trees are stable enough. The trees actually have stumps that you can permanently or temporarily attach the rest of the tree on.
fwiw, Deuslair should still have Late Pledges available, but you must order the core set. Check the prices if it's better to buy through the campaign (must pay shipping) or website ("free" shipping over 150EU or something). Campaign's Rapid Shipping window has passed, I think.
> Maybe they should try partnering with GW for DL5? :p
Well, they do miniatures for other companies, though Mantic's the only one I'm aware of. I'm curious what other companies use them.
> Otherwise, they could do a lot of humans-with-animal-heads or humans-with-bumpy-foreheads or humans-with-pointed-ears sort of take on things.
That reminds me -- Osprey Games works closely with Northstar miniatures for their Frostgrave / Stargrave game line, including swappable heads. Five Parsecs and Five Leagues from the Borderlands doesn't have a miniature game line... (;
> Got my Elven Woods from the local retailer, and I really like the kit.
EW is my most played terrain set. Lots of detail, yet very generic. Would prefer bare rocks that stacked for more versatility. Archon also sells the trees as a ten-pack, if you already have rocks...
Might as well show a pic!
* Archon Elven Woods set, Torture Room set, D&L stretch goals including bridge
* Loke Battlemats Box of Adventure: Valley of Peril, and RPG Toolkit: The Long Road
* Tiny Furniture trees
* Secret Weapon OOP ruins
* Mantic Terrain Crate trees, Mantic skeletons
* Reaper miniatures
Miniature Market has a sale, including an Army Painter GM Character Paint Set, $30 for 20 paints and 5 figures.
Note that each paint is only 12ml compared to 17ml standard. 9 sets left. Sale ends Monday.
https://www.miniaturemarket.com/amygm1004.html
Shadow Walker wrote: @Archon Studio - please consider an animal pack that would give players more than the current 3 miniatures per species. Most games, be it RPG or skirmish/wargame, require usually 5+ of the common animal threats so for example 3 giant wasps are not enough. It would be nice to have an animal pack that would give a player most commonly encountered animal foes in good numbers, like 6+ wolves, 8+ giant rats, 10+ swarms (whatever species) etc. etc.
Good point. I know other backers who say this. Even if you hypothetically bought multiple sprues from Archon for a creature, Archon puts sorta-themed other stuff on the sprue, so you'd get critters you may not want. Unfortunately, Archon seems to be leaning towards the "display" hobbyists (eg. the harpy attacking a pig and wyrm eating a human is fine for display, but having three of them looks redundant) while trying to cover as many different things as possible. At best, you'd want to use the Archon miniature as an elite mini, and look for companies (eg. boardgames) that put out multiples of the same sculpt.
I have some of the same issues with some of the specialized terrain pieces in the SG sets. I like their iron bar door, but my dungeon's going to need more than one! I also remember backers wanting many more torches than the SG's had to offer.
This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2023/08/19 23:52:14
I didn't like the Warlock's Altar set. The bookshelves looked 2D, and you had those magic stars EVERYWHERE. Would have just liked some summoning circles, as either floor tiles or round discs you painted.
Szymon_Archon wrote: Also, I feel like I'm aware of what generic monsters people would want, but I don't think that everyone is on board a lot of the time. Well, it's always something that I will push for. While I'm a big fan of Dark Fantasy series like Berserk, I still really like High Fantasy and it's just much easier to sell as you don't need to build an entire world around it. I think I'm gonna need to prepare some examples to show to the team, something that comes to mind is an amazing mod for Europa Universalis IV - Anbennar. It's as generic as you can get but it still has tons of lore and is overall a really fun experience.
I would "partner" with a company with an established generic fantasy miniatures agnostic ruleset (that's a lot of words), with an owner who's easy to work with.
Ganesha Games, located closer to yourselves in Poland that myself in the USA, has (at least) two such rulesets, Advanced Song of Blade and Heroes, and Sellswords and Spellslingers. ASoBH has army lists of several different races, so you would design the miniatures around them. S&S, a solo miniatures game, also has a beastiary, so you know what miniatures the game would need for the core book. How many is a different answer, but the game designer, Andrea Sfiligoi, is easy to work with. GG does have an existing metal miniatures partner, but I would contact them, anyway. Additionally, ASoBH has a "make your own army unit" webpage, so you can create ASoBH stats for your existing Deuslair and Woodhaven miniatures. Andrea is active on the various FB fan pages for his games.
Five Leagues from the Borderlands is another popular ruleset, licensed from Nordic Weasel Productions to Modiphius Entertainment. While ME has miniatures for its own wargames, 5L does not have an official line. I've written a list of miniatures recommended for the game on the 5L fan FB page. Each enemy type has up to two or so of each of three different elites (sergeant, lieutenant, captain), so there's room for elite sculpts as well as minions (I'm currently recommending the Oathmark sets for minions). Enemies are divided into melee and ranged (specifically slings, bows, and crossbow). Ivan, the game designer, is active on the FB fan page.
While I still need to play them, One Page Rules might be another company to check out. They have rules for multiple genres, including SF. They do have .stl's for their various genres, so I don't know how much opportunity there is with them. But they've been around as a free ruleset, and now are popular enough to have paid content.
Honorable mention for Savage Worlds, which heavily supports miniatures. However, their most popular genre is Deadlands, a wild west horror RPG. It started as a miniatures skirmish game, but I doubt if there's much interest in wild west horror. Frostgrave is also popular, but is partnered with North Star Games (Osprey miniatures?).
This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2023/09/07 12:12:18
+1 Ruins. I know D&L has some ruins terrain accessories (painting the horse head now!) but I'd like enough to cover a good portion of the board. Standalone wall pieces would be preferable to the walls attached to a game tile floor, so I can see the battle board artwork.
Glad to see Mantic's plastic improving through Archon! Although I'll wait and see about the sculpt quality and pricing.
No interest in Archon's boardgames since way back with LOAD and I have a backlog of games to play an mini's to paint (including Archon . You can review for yourself the BGG comments on their games.
Heroes of Might and Magic, another 4x game, had positive reviews.
Astra newsletter link : https://masteroforionadastra.com/
> Easy to modify to fit a number of different settings, games, eras, IP‘s with just a little customer modification.
What I particularly like about Oathmark sets is that you can choose which weapons you want for your models. So, if I'm playing a solo miniatures game, I can find distinguish the ranged units from the melee ones. Likewise, I can equip my hero with what's on the character sheet, not what model that's "close". Archon is already doing this with their Deuslair PC set.
Although I could just drill holes in foamcore strips I'd like to see some bits that let you make freestanding walls. I have some 2D battlefields and dungeon maps that I'd like to add walls to, but not floors.
2023/10/06 09:51:14
Subject: Archon Studios News and Rumours - D&L 6 Caves - Master of Orion: Ad Astra 4X game KS 2024
Archon could always do both. Archon's "cool" figures could focus on leader units, player characters, and solos, which you wouldn't want more than one figure for. Generics would be for gamers who want more than one figure. Generics might be easier to assemble and have less minute detail (I'd still want different weapons), while solos would have more options. I've been on KS since Bones I, so already have plenty of generics (yet never enough of something unusual, like five kobold archers...). I'm always looking for uncommon and unusual miniatures, myself.
This message was edited 2 times. Last update was at 2023/10/07 10:25:53
2023/10/12 08:42:47
Subject: Archon Studios News and Rumours - D&L 6 Caves - Master of Orion: Ad Astra 4X game KS 2024
> I will say that it kind of sucks that we're in competition against GW,
Well, not in the generic fantasy department!
So far, most of the mini's are best suited for the "one cool mini" in the RPG department. Reaper and WizKids are the competition there, but they're selling premade soft-plastic, sold individually, for the non-painters. Since Archon is "sell by the sprue", they could sell sprues that just happen to have the mini's needed for popular WotC adventures. Frankly, it's a PITA to find miniatures from different companies for the NPCs and monsters in an encounter, although 5e moves towardds miniature-free "theatre of the mind". Archon, of course, has made their own with the Deuslair campaign, and they can look at their sales to see if that worked.
Then there're miniature skirmish games. Song of Blades and Heroes, and Five Leagues from the Borderlands are popular miniature skirmish games, or Archon could create one for their Deuslair line.
Wandered off a bit. When will D&L: Ruins come out?
2023/10/12 23:59:40
Subject: Re:Archon Studios News and Rumours - D&L 6 Caves - Master of Orion: Ad Astra 4X game KS 2024
> Does the idea of specific encounters with some props sound appealing?
Sounds great. At least for generic fantasy, review the D&D Starters and any popular adventures, and make encounter sets for them.
Also include at least one freebie scenario for a side quest. Have these scenarios link together to form a campaign. Then write more scenarios that use these encounter sets with your other Archon products (eg. Elven Woods). And, of course, create scenarios for miniature skirmish games that use the encounter sets.
I know Reaper had some encounter sets during their Bones KS, more as set pieces. Steamforged Games has their Epic Encounters, but I think they're overpriced. WizKids is doing some hybrid of 2D acrylic standees and 3D prepaints.
Also: Need "corner clips" so those dang wall corners don't separate and leave a gap between them! :/
Also: Those six trees in the "Elven Woods" and "Trees Pack" are the best generic fantasy terrain ever. Most often used and not too demanding to paint.
Also: I don't know why I have so many ritual-themed miniature skirmish game scenarios, but I have them. This will certainly come in handy. A "circle on the floor" piece also appreciated.
This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2023/10/13 00:17:20
2023/10/15 03:16:46
Subject: Re:Archon Studios News and Rumours - D&L 6 Caves - Master of Orion: Ad Astra 4X game KS 2024
> The central issue we're pondering is whether it makes sense to proceed with two mass miniature wargames set in IP settings
No way. Market's crowded with "lifestyle" games as it is. FFG's even entered the chat room and has enough money to fund then drop a game -- then release another.
> for, it just wasn't Warzone. As far as this was concerned I was an old grognard who didn't want a new game,
> currently you rely a lot on a loyal, repeat customer base of D&L, mostly RPG players. I would not try to push them into two big alternative products at the same time.
Agreed. FWIW, Myself, as a collector of generic fantasy, I'm looking at solo miniature skirmish games for narrative and combat. I rotate among different solo miniature skirmish games and should actually play some of my solo boardgames. While I'm hesitant to buy an entirely new set of miniatures for a new mass combat game, it's easier for me to buy generic terrain and figures I can use for games I already play.
I think Osprey Games / Nick's Miniatures has *a* right formula:
* Multiple miniature agnostic rulesets, take your choice.
* You already have miniatures to play the game.
* You don't need to buy miniatures made only by one company.
* You don't need many miniatures to play.
* BUT if you want more stuff, the company that sold you the rules has miniatures you can use.theirs.
Anecdotally, I remember the *trees* being Archon's most popular offering during D&L4 (with requests starting at D&L3) so start your scenarios there. I would start with stealing ideas from Lasting Tales, a miniature skirmish game that lets you build your opponent forces from *your* supply of miniatures, and Song of Blade and Heroes, which allows you to build a warband based on special abilities, so, again, you can use your own supply of miniatures. Yet, at the same time, both games encourage you to BUY MOAR STUFF by providing miniature stats for miniatures you don't have in your collection.
2023/11/02 03:52:30
Subject: Archon Studios News and Rumours - D&L 6 Caves KS Q1 2024, Titanomachy, Master of Orion KS Q3 2024
Does Archon have those painted pics on their website? I prefer to steal other's paint schemes, so I don't paint myself into a corner (eg. too many dark colors on a miniature).
