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Made in us
The Last Chancer Who Survived





Norristown, PA

Hey folks!

So I plan to keep this post running as my ongoing kind-of-blog with what’s planned for Mechadrome. Most of these things won’t be happening till 2016 as I'm really busy with Blackwater Gulch at the moment, but the gears are starting to turn now

First, we’re going to be restructuring how the Mechs are listed. Right now we have expensive light mechs (who are supposed to make up the bulk of your team), expensiver Medium Mechs who are supposed to be like elite troops, and no heavy mechs at all which would likely be really expensive.

To make the game more affordable overall, we’re going to create all new light mechs that are more like a guy in a heavy power suit, kinda like the size of a GW 40K Terminator, on a 40mm base. Then, our current light mechs will become the medium mechs, and our current medium mechs will become heavy mechs. What we had planned for the heavy mechs will become Super Heavies, but they are a long long way off.

We’ll be shrinking our Drone minis down and they can be added to your team in squadrons of up to 3. I also plan to make squads of Rookies who will also come in 3’s, they’ll be lightly armored guys with just 1 weapon, basically the same stats as the drones with a few small changes.

So now the good stuff I just got the concept art for the new Terran Light Mech, here it is!



What do you think?

 
   
Made in us
[DCM]
Dankhold Troggoth






Shadeglass Maze

I love the concept art! I thought the medium mechs were by far the most awesome, so I like this idea . I think you showed art for a trooper before (with rifle) that I loved, so if those became the lights, it'd be awesome.

Let me know when you get more arms / weapons in stock, and really looking forward to seeing more on this!

This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2015/09/07 18:03:05


 
   
Made in us
The Last Chancer Who Survived





Norristown, PA

Yep I'll get some more guns cast up again soon.

I think we'll probably start sculpting this new light mech around Decemberish. That other art from before was for the rookies, we'll be doing them too soon. I'll probably get new art though.

Right now I'm planning rookies to have railguns, plasmaguns or chainguns.. trying to decide if I want to make each one have a different uniform/armor .. or do it more like the bodies are all the same but you glue on the weapon(s) you want. The latter will be easier and cheaper to make, but it might be cool if each type looked unique.

also planning pit crew models for melee guys that will have either Buzzsaws, jackhammers or siege drills.

 
   
Made in us
[DCM]
Dankhold Troggoth






Shadeglass Maze

What's the likely timeline on those guns, just out of curiosity? I'll be jumping on them when you get them cast!
   
Made in us
The Last Chancer Who Survived





Norristown, PA

I was gonna wait till I get the new minis sculpted and then make a new order for all those missing parts. But .. rather than waiting I'll take a look at what parts I need to reorder and get a few of them, then I'll have a few on hand for when I start repackaging stuff later on I'll see if I can get them added into the shipment for all the BWG beast stuff.

 
   
Made in us
[DCM]
Dankhold Troggoth






Shadeglass Maze

Fantastic, thank you! I really think your medium mechs are absolutely ace sculpts - pairing them with a new light mech and that armored "infantry" teaser you showed would be amazing.

Just went and found that, here it is:



Honestly, the medium mech is big enough that I don't think you really need the heavy so much. You could even call the above picture (which you were preliminarily calling a "rookie") the light mech, and bump up the names of the other two sculpts to medium and heavy. The current "medium" is much bigger than a GW dreadnought (in a good way) . More like a Contemptor in size - so could definitely pass for a "heavy" mech at 28mm.

This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2015/09/24 16:20:22


 
   
Made in us
The Last Chancer Who Survived





Norristown, PA

Yep that's what I'm doing The current medium mechs will become the Heavy mech, the current lights will become mediums. Then, the brand new art I had done will be the new light mechs.

They'll all be sold as an assault or support variety. So, Terran Heavy Support Mech would be the current medium mech body with 2 missile pods, left & 2 chainguns, 1 railgun and 1 Plasmagun. The Terran Heavy Assualt Mech will be the same, just with melee weapons and 2 blaster turrets. Same deal for the mediums and lights.

Heavies will have 4 total weapons (2 turrets and 2 arms) and come on a 60mm base, Mediums will have 3 weapons (1 turret and 2 arms) on a 50mm base, lights will have just the 2 arm weapons on a 40mm base.

After that we'll have the rookies as regular armored guys, each carrying 1 heavy weapon. They'll come in squads of 3 all armed the same, and in the updated rules they can combine their shots against the same target to get extra hit dice and damage.. same deal with squads of drones. Those will all be on 30mm bases.

I'm getting new art done now for the first rookie type. There will be Railgun, Plasmagun and Chaingun types. One thing I'm not sure of is if each type should get all different armor? That will be more expensive to produce, it might be easier to have 3 different body poses and you just swap out the gun bits.. but I'm also thinking it might be cooler to go the expensive route and give each type a unique look & pose... won't be so bad if I can do the sculpting for those but I want to have Dave still handle the mechs


Automatically Appended Next Post:
Oh and also, I plan to relaunch with 2 new team starter packs. Terran Titans will be 1 Light Support Mech and a squad of 3 railgunners. Team Bushido will be 1 light assault mech and a squad of 3 chaingunners.. and it’ll be a little cheaper to buy the starter versus if you bought a mech and squad pack separately.

This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2015/09/24 20:05:48


 
   
Made in us
[DCM]
Dankhold Troggoth






Shadeglass Maze

Regarding the current light mechs - would it be possible to just replace these with the new art you have? I think the current mediums, and both of these new pieces of art (the light and the rookie) are incredible!! The current lights I'm not a huge fan of - easy for me to just buy the others but thought it worth mentioning that. They just don't have the awesome proportions of the medium mech.

Looking forward to these new ones
   
Made in us
The Last Chancer Who Survived





Norristown, PA

I like the lights I wouldn’t mind updating them though a little, but I don’t know if funds would allow. I think I’d be better off trying to get more races done first so there’s a lot more variety. Even with these new minis and squads and all, at the end of the day, there’s still just 1 whole faction to choose from. Even though you can build your own team and all, I think that’s how it will look to someone new. I’d like to get the Terrans done first since they’re the primary race, and then a light, medium and heavy + drone or rookie squad for each of the 4 races as soon as I can.

What I was planning to do is get all 4 races done, then make some unique free agent mechs (I want an ED209), and then go back and redo the terrans and make them posable and have clear / removable cockpits and all that with a little guy inside. But that’s most likely gonna take several years to get there. I’d love to be able to make them hard plastic model kits but that’s mostly just a dream though at this point...

 
   
Made in us
[DCM]
Dankhold Troggoth






Shadeglass Maze

Yeah it makes sense to focus on new sculpts, and the concept art is great. Looking forward to seeing things develop: nod:
   
Made in us
[DCM]
Dankhold Troggoth






Shadeglass Maze

Just ordered some gun bits on the weekend when they came back in stock on the mechadrome site, and received them already!

Very pleased that they're resin, is that true of all the bits now? My prior arms were metal, I think. There are some bubbles / small air pockets on the back of the guns, but they will be easy to patch - just noting it for reference / future improvement! These are great though
   
Made in us
The Last Chancer Who Survived





Norristown, PA

No most of the metal bits from before are still metal. Next year when I start getting the new models done I'm also planning to resinfy more of the bigger pieces. right now the resin bits are all done by iron wind, so it's convieniet and I can just order new parts when I need them

I'm hoping to eventually learn how to make my own molds and get a pressure caster bucket thingy and then do my own resin stuff. Problem is I'm in such a small apt and pressed for space as it is with boxes of empty clamshells and minis and everything all over the place, no basement or garage or any space where I could set it all up :(

 
   
Made in us
Sneaky Lictor




Sacramento, CA

I like the concept art. I'm thinking of picking this up, or at least the rulebook to check it out. It seems affordable enough for me to get 2 small armies to demo around w/ friends.

currently playing: Warhammer 40k: Kill Team

other favorites:
FO:WW | RUMBLESLAM | WarmaHordes | Carnevale | Infinity | Warcry | Wrath of Kings

DQ:80S+G+M----B--IPwhfb11#--D++A++/wWD362R++T(S)DM+ 
   
Made in us
The Last Chancer Who Survived





Norristown, PA

Thanks

It might be a little while till I can get around to the new models I wanted to do, currently focusing on Fantasy. But they are on the list and of course you can also use just about any mech models you want.

 
   
Made in us
The Last Chancer Who Survived





Norristown, PA

So.. after the Blackwater Gulch kickstarter is all finished up, we are going to start working on Mechadrome 2nd Edition! Or would that be season 2?

The plan will be to give it the same treatment as BWG, with a deluxe boxed ruleset and all new models. Will likely be a kickstarter, but I don't expect that to happen until very late this year or around this time next year.

We'll be getting the starter sets sculpted this summer & fall for 4 different teams. I'm thinking about changing up the format a bit, so I wanted to see what you all think. Always open to suggestions.

Originally the plan was to basically just have light, medium and heavy mechs for a variety of different races. But, it was really expensive to produce just the terran mechs we have now with all of those separate pieces weapons and stuff. What I am thinking about now is to basically copy off of Titanfall.

Each team is made up of regular men, women and aliens on foot. Standard rookies with guns, heavy armored guys in battlesuits and heroic types that point and yell. This keeps the costs of the starter sets manageable, and rules wise it will play just like Blackwater Gulch. But adding Mechs will give it a whole new dimension.

Mechs will be treated like vehicles, any character on your team can pilot one, and basically the better the pilot, the better the mech will perform. They will cost quite a few points to add to your teams, so I expect an average game would probably have like 1-3 mechs and 5-8 men on foot.

There will be a variety of mechs that are available to any team, and each mech has a specific armament. But, I am hoping to have a pretty wide variety of mechs to choose from. I'd like each one to have it's own unique look & feel, and a cool pose too. But, we'll still keep the original terran mechs around for folks that want to build their own custom mechs.

So that's the plan so far. Of course, it's just going to be in the idea stage for the next few months while we finish up BWG. But, I'm always open to suggestions if anyone has anything cool they'd like to see.

 
   
Made in us
[DCM]
Dankhold Troggoth






Shadeglass Maze

I'll definitely be backing when the time comes, and happy to give feedback on anything leading up to it. Your larger Mechadrome mechs are some really incredible models, and I'm looking forward to seeing more!

However, I would be a little hesitant to go the Titanfall route with infantry (even if they're acting as Titanfall pilots). That seems to dilute the theme a bit. Just my take, but I'd prefer a streamlined game with just mechs on each side, like the new Adeptus Titanicus that is about to be teased by Forge World! But as a boxed game, you'll have a bit of a different audience... lots you can glean from what FW does, though

Particularly, if only going with mechs you'd need a means to keep the player who first loses some from falling too far behind / being unable to compete in the game. This could be objectives, or some sort of bonus ability that kicks in, etc... but something to think about.

Looking forward to anything you do on the Mechadrome side

This message was edited 2 times. Last update was at 2017/01/30 12:09:10


 
   
Made in us
The Last Chancer Who Survived





Norristown, PA

Well as far as pilots go, first time around there were lots of pricing issues and at the end of the day, a full team of mechs is just way too expensive. I don't think too many would want to play if a starter set costs $200

So this way we can have team starter sets that come with men on foot at a more normal price.. but it's not a unit vs unit kind of game like 40K. Men are all in heavy armor carrying heavy weapons. No pistol/sword combos or anything like that. I'd like each starter set to have 1 medium mech, 1 light mech guy in a battlesuit, and a team of 3 heavy gunners.

What I meant by Titanfall though was instead of different teams/factions having own mechs like warmachine, there would be a set number of mechs each with a different armament and different look. These are the mechs that are approved by the Mechadrome league for use in official matches. So like Titanfall has I think 6 different mechs to choose from.. we'd do the same thing here.. maybe start with 6 and keep expanding and adding new ones. Then, each pilot will have their own special skills that get added in too and you can make your mechs more unique that way. But I don't think I want pilots to hop in and out of mechs, that will just slow the game down and complicate things.

 
   
Made in us
[DCM]
Dankhold Troggoth






Shadeglass Maze

What about just scaling things down so that it fits in the needed price point? Again I'm thinking of Adeptus Mechanicus, but I think there's a real opportunity in that kind of niche if the game is fun
   
Made in us
The Last Chancer Who Survived





Norristown, PA

Well, my original plan for the game was to have everything 15mm scale. So, a 15mm mech would be basically the same size as an average 30mm figure, and then the rules all scaled perfectly with BWG. But I made the original KS campaign and there was such a big demand for bigger models, I guess because folks wanted them for other games (I'm even using them as not-sentinels for my genestealer cult ).

I'd love to go back to that format, but i think it's too late now.. I can't really change it to a 15mm game since it exists as a 30mm game now. I wouldn't want players who bought into the original game suddenly feel like their models are obsolete.

Another idea I had though was to have the 15mm scale game as something more along the lines of Dropzone Commander with more of an army / war theme.. and keep Mechadrome as the 30mm game .. so 2 different games with 2 themes, but the same universe. Knowing how much it costs to make stuff though, I don't think I'd be able to pull that off without winning the lottery first

 
   
Made in us
[DCM]
Dankhold Troggoth






Shadeglass Maze

Well, my take is folks who wanted the models the first time around for other things (myself included!) won't mind it being 15mm and honestly, if it's an awesome second edition, sometimes scales change. Given the number of backers, I really think you should make the choice that is best for the game, not necessarily tied to the first edition. The scale is just too large for an affordable boxed game of awesome mech-on-mech combat, and a game called "Mechadrome" really needs that!

Just my take, but I think it would let you stand out a bit more . Although something to keep an eye on is the reception this game gets:

https://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/715251.page#9168239

I like the look of your stuff better, but given the scale and type of game they're doing, you can probably learn a lot from how it is received!
   
Made in us
The Last Chancer Who Survived





Norristown, PA

Good point. I'll think it over .. and I could always switch things around and have the small minis for mechadrome and large ones for the wargame, which I guess would end up being more like a sci fi Warmachine. And still keep the models I have so far for collectors for now.

maybe I'll do an update on the KS page and see if anyone has any feedback

 
   
Made in us
[MOD]
Solahma






RVA

I am a big fan of the existing Mechadrome sculpts and the proud owner of a whole mess of 'em!

While I absolutely love the minis in the existing sizes, Mechadrome in 15mm would still be "relevant to my interests," as they say. I'm less excited about (a) focusing on infantry rather than mechs and (b) aliens.

To me, the heart of the concept is a dryly satirical game about this over-the-top dystopian blood sport spectacle and NOT yet another a sci fi military-themed game. If Mechadrome were to be a movie, I'd want Paul Verhoeven to direct. With Michael Ironsides and Clancy Brown as supportung cast and maybe a cameo by Peter Weller.

One of the reasons I love the existing models so much is they look more like fancy sports equipment (the slang for mechs in Mechadrome should be "jerseys") than strictly practical combat vehicles. I know we have talked about potential customers expecting radically different-looking faction aesthetics ... but that may be because they are not really cluing in to the sports angle. No one expects NASCAR stock cars to all look like different models or that NFL teams will be like, here's the guys who are all skinny versus these other guys who are mostly short guys but a few really big guys.

The Blood & Plunder KS proved that you can do factions mostly via peripherals: themed dice and cards, etc. At the end of the day, the English pirates and the French pirates are all just pirates. But backers really bought into them being different because one had red dice while the other had yellow dice.

   
Made in us
[DCM]
Dankhold Troggoth






Shadeglass Maze

I think continuing to sell the larger sculpts you have in the store, even if you go down in scale for the next edition, makes complete sense! Many companies do this, Hawk Wargames in particular.

Unlike Manchu, I'd love some alien mechs but really love the vibe of your medium mechs now, too. Not so much the lights though, and this is the benefit of going down in scale - now the mediums could even be lights, if needed!

Overall, really looking forward to seeing where you take it, but keep the MECH in Mechadrome, please
   
Made in us
The Last Chancer Who Survived





Norristown, PA

Well, the light mechs were supposed to be like the regular foot troops, mediums would be like your elite guys and heavies would be the super cool heroes. And then super heavies would be even super cooler and heroicer. So that's why the lights were a little more plain so to speak.

But yeah I was kind of thinking of the mechs like cars in a way.. Like, Terran mechs will always have a similar look, the same way BMWs all have the same front grill. There might be sedans, SUVs and funky electric cars, but you still know it's a BMW when it passes by.

So then I would probably want to change the starter sets up then and have maybe 3 lights and 2 mediums. heavy mechs would probably be like 40k dreadnought sized so they might be too expensive to include in a starter.

I would like each team to have their own mechs though. So the current ones would be for the Terran Titans. Team Bushido would get redone into a kind of gundam / anime style. I would get new designs done for the nexus, martian and aphid biomechs too.

If I'm going to be starting over from scratch in a smaller scale.. what would be better? 15mm? Or 10mm like DZC? Is that the same as Epic, or is that even smaller? Just thinking about what scales has the best options for terrain out there...

I definitely do need to get Michael Ironsides and Clancy Brown in the movie. I wouldn't mind Michael Behn too, and bruce campbell for the 1-liners. Morgan Freeman would have to be in there somewhere too, so he can explain everything when the story gets too confusing.

 
   
Made in us
[DCM]
Dankhold Troggoth






Shadeglass Maze

Old epic was 6mm, new Adeptus Titanicus is rumored to be 8mm. But for Epic, dreadnoughts were tiny little things! Since dreadnoughts seem to be between the size of your lights and mediums, I think 15mm will work well.

You could look at 10mm, but again look how small the cockpits are in Dropzone Commander. And anything in between the two of 10 and 15 is just kind of a weird scale to choose.

15mm would reduce your current sizes by 40%. But it's flexible, maybe you could make it 50%. Seems like a nice size to me

This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2017/02/02 22:17:49


 
   
Made in us
[MOD]
Solahma






RVA

The BMW example is a good one - that is definitely is a feature I love about the existing Mech designs. The technology is the same, sure - but more importantly, the medium and heavy mechs are clearly designed and manufactured by the same corporation. To me, this implies that a corporation bid for and won the rights to create official, league-approved mechs.

If this is a sports game, it's important to keep in mind that it should not be a test of technology. Sports aren't about who can build the best piece of technology. Instead, the relevant issues are skill and talent: who has the quickest reflexes, the soundest judgment, the most intuition? The competition is between the players, not the equipment.

Agree with RiTides that scale is flexible here - you are dealing with imaginary machines, they just have to look about right.

This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2017/02/02 22:39:45


   
Made in us
The Last Chancer Who Survived





Norristown, PA

Actually, the current resin mechs are just the same exact sculpts as the original 15mm ones, I just had my 3D printer guy enlarge everything 200% and that was it turns out there was a lot of little detail in those sculpts that was mostly lost on the 15mm ones, but really popped on the big ones.

I like having all 1 mech like nascar, but at the same time, it's a miniatures game and for it to thrive and make money you need to have new minis. Some folks might "get it", but I feel the majority won't. So that's kinda why I wanted each official team to have their own look & feel, that way it can be like each team is sponsored by a certain megacorp or planetary government, and those companies want to show off their latest and greatest gadgets.

Maybe what we could do is have some with a similar look, but different details and stuff... kinda like how space wolves and black templars are both in power armor, but you can still tell them apart.

I was also thinking it might be cool if everything could be sculpted in a way where the weapons are always the same pieces, but different teams just have different bodies, so you can mix & match the different weapons and everyone will always know what they are. that would mean less pieces & molds overall. Wish I could afford to do multipart plastic kits :(

 
   
Made in us
[DCM]
Dankhold Troggoth






Shadeglass Maze

I think as long as it looks cool people will be all over it . There's a lot of options on how you could do it, but I do think you need some distinct sculpts to sell. Looking forward to whatever you do with it and happy to give feedback / etc!
   
Made in us
[DCM]
Dankhold Troggoth






Shadeglass Maze

With the Adeptus Titanicus rumors really swirling strongly now, have you thought about whether it would be beneficial (or not) to make your stuff in a compatible scale? If you end up making any scenery, that would be a big market for it!

You might be aiming at a different target audience anyway, but just wanted to ask about it
   
Made in us
The Last Chancer Who Survived





Norristown, PA

I thought about that actually, but with my luck GW would probably pull the plug again as soon as I launch it

I think it might be a little too small though. I want your average light mech to be around 10 feet tall IRL, so those would be kind of tiny in Epic scale.. in the game I want lights to be around the same size as an average 30mm scale mini..

planning to have the light mechs on our usual warmachine style 30mm bases, mediums on 40mm and heavies on 50mm. Those are the only 3 sizes you can get for the warmachine bases without having to do something custom, and then that can start getting real expensive real fast.

 
   
 
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