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Hey all,

Spiral Arm is a new company and I'm sure they would love some info on how we feel about their product, so let's do so. Try and include both things you do and don't like but lets keep it polite!

So far I've assembled a few drones, minnows, engineers and bot handlers, but have looked over the sprues for all the units.

+ Model's are very detailed, this says a lot about the design and production!
+ Model's went together well, very little cleanup and no awkward fitting's I've experienced with other recent kick starers. it's really awesome to not be frustrated when assembling!
+ Some unit's like the bot handlers have lots of fun bits to make customization easy.
+ Rulebook is a great size, looks good and feels put together well. I've also found it easy to find what I'm looking for in it.
+Unit cards are nice and handy as well, though I do wish this information was in the rulebook.
=maybe personal preference so listing as neutral but not a big fan of the cardboard tokens, hopefully we can get an optional upgrade at some point?
-lack of options both in game and modelwise for some units (looking at you mature angel )
-need more spare heads
-The cardboard box looks nice, but is not particularly sturdy and probably won't be useful for storage.
-the flying bases are a little scratched, looks like this happens to them easily.


Thanks for an awesome set! I can't wait to assemble some of the more posable robot models and actually play a game

I second the box being flimsy. Mine had one crumpled corner and a crease in the lid when it arrived.

The rulebook is also not very sturdy
I do admire the formatting, font, layout, appendices and art though. It looks amazing. I've only narrowly avoided tearing pages a few times

I haven't had a chance to really start modeling and assembling and painting the models but they are very high quality and I'm very impressed.

Tokens I also have not had a chance to really play with yet, they seem to be of adequate thickness though
Acrylic tokens and alternate art unit cards as promo items in tournament host packages (ala X-Wing) would be frikkin sweet but I predict that is far in the future

I have played two games of the card game included in the set. It's interesting. Im excited for a possible expansion as the "core" cards make for a somewhat short experience. It's still pretty satisfying though and the endings have been pretty climactic (mostly due to Third Action, winning the game for whoever held it in both games )

I'm super excited to get this tabletop ready and introduce it to the gaming club at the next monthly event.
Thanks SAS for a great product!

Thanks for all the kind words. To address a few of the things you flagged for our attention:

Lack of options/parts for the angels: Unfortunately we had very limited sprue space available for these, and had to go with what we did. By normal standards there is a lot going on, but compared to the other models which have piles and piles of spare parts it is a notable difference. Thankfully, we are free to add supplementary sprues in the future all things permitting (such is the joy of plastics and consistent part scaling!)

More spare heads is always good! There are lots of aftermarket options at least, and we've got at least one or two spare heads on most sprues. Certainly something we are looking in to more though.

Our next box print run will be on a thicker box. We are new to manufacturing as a whole, and as such did test things fairly comprehensively, but there's always room for improvement. All future boxes are shipping in double walled parcels as well which will prevent them getting bumped around in transport.

The flying bases (when unpainted) do pick up scratches quite easily, which is why we've shown them painted pretty much all the time in an attempt to make that the standard for Maelstrom's Edge. The flying bases are 3rd party, and as such we are tied in to their tool and materials and dont have much flexibility to change them. The rods are strong and dont get scratches easily, and when painted, the lower bases match the rest of your forces nicely.

The rulebook is a touch more delicate than we'd have liked in an ideal situation, but is meant to be a very portable version so we had to watch the weight and thickness to make that work. We are eyeing up making an A4 hardback version and there is the digital version which looks great on ipad/tablet as well.

Cardboard was a difficult one to go with as we'd loved to have done everything on full plastic sprues, but it was just not viable at this stage. When assembled and edged with a black pen, the cardboard does look really nice on the table at least, especially when compared to us going with some cheaper looking laser-cut acrylic or lumpy plastic.

Thanks for the feedback and support!

I've been frantically building my set since I got it a few days ago. Even got my first game in yesterday!

I love how much stuff comes in the box. The tokens are a really nice addition, especially the suppression 'blasts' which are surprisingly cinematic, along with the double-sided templates, I love em. The models are great overall, they go together nicely, they look terrific and I can't wait to get them painted. The terrain sprues are also fantastic, really great idea.

The rulebook is very clear and concise. I like how easily I've been able to find answers to the occasionally complicated questions that crop up during play. Only criticism for the rulebook is a lack of a unified table for weapons stats... having to flip back and forth through the army lists at the back of the book is a pain. I've taken to writing them down but a cheat sheet of some kind would be a huge help.

It's a really great boxed set, and I'm already starting to see a lot of interest from the friends I've shown it to. Very excited to see what comes next.

 Jambles wrote:
The rulebook is very clear and concise. I like how easily I've been able to find answers to the occasionally complicated questions that crop up during play. Only criticism for the rulebook is a lack of a unified table for weapons stats... having to flip back and forth through the army lists at the back of the book is a pain. I've taken to writing them down but a cheat sheet of some kind would be a huge help.

It sounds like you haven't printed out our faction summaries yet, correct?

Hopefully that should solve a little bit of that pain...and we have a general play summary in the works as well right now (coming soon).

 yakface wrote:

It sounds like you haven't printed out our faction summaries yet, correct?

Hopefully that should solve a little bit of that pain...and we have a general play summary in the works as well right now (coming soon).

There's no link on the website to the faction summaries - the only way to get them up to now was to find the link in one of the other posts on the forum here (may have been in a KS update too, I don't remember).

I'm looking forward to a play summary because it's one of the only things I felt was missing in the box.

Positives
- Professional presentation, artwork and production values
- Picture-perfect Kickstarter delivery with none of the broken promises and poor communication nonsense of other Kickstarters I've been unfortunate enough to buy into
- Excellent quality plastics that go together well and need minimal clean up
- Great range of options on the plastic kits that make me feel I got "more" (I got extra legs for a conversion) rather than feeling I got "less" (I'm short a head for an extra model)
- Creative and immersive world-building
- Smart rules that make sense but more importantly are a lot of fun. Especially all the mission/objective elements
- Unit cards for quick reference
- Handy rulebook (I don't feel it's flimsy)
- Good pricing on sprues and generous shipping for ROW backers (I'm sure you guys took a hit shipping to people like me - but I don't know if you've got the volumes to consider a HK/SZ shipping hub)

Negatives
- Rulebook feels "dense". I second the "flipping back and forth" - part of it is surely my own limited brainpower but there might be some way to streamline these rules so they flow better. The turn/play summary will help with this - please include page references on it!
- The arms on some of the models (Contractors, Tempest Elites, Karist Troopers). This is probably my only peeve with the game (and has been from the start) though fortunately I have the freedom of "correcting" them all given the material properties. FWIW I don't like the bulkiness of the Contractor arms, I don't like the unnatural angles of the Karist wrists, and I really don't like the anatomically improbable way the Elite arms aren't actually attached to their bodies (they've got "space marine terminator syndrome"). This is a sculptor/style issue so maybe it's more personal to me than the general public, but I still wanted to give this feedback.
- Unit cards have blank space that could have been used for more (e.g. writing out the special rules rather than leaving me to go back to the rulebook for the reference).

Neutrals
- Box thickness/condition after shipping. I used to care more about these things but now I just view the box as a container for getting stuff to my door in one piece. Anything getting shipped to me from overseas will get knocked about anyway.
- I'm shocked you guys got tooling made for the little stand for the Epirian objective. I hope it was a stock item at your supplier and you didn't need to pay much for it because I imagine it's not that important to many of us.

Overall, I'm really impressed by the entire project. I work with Asian vendors for a European company (not in plastics though), so I'm well aware of the challenges you face managing suppliers over an extended supply chain like this. You've done a terrific job and I'm really impressed you did it all on time.

I'm all over this game right now. I became a bit disillusioned with miniature gaming in general over the years. This is the first game that has had me excited about gaming in a really long time.

- The model quality is fantastic.
- The production quality of everything else is great.
- I feel the rulebook is actually pretty sturdy as I'm comparing it to a lot of other 'pocket' rulebooks. I have to page around in it a LOT and it hasn't shown the slightest sign of the spine coming loose or anything like that.
- The fluff is well thought out and engaging. I was honestly expecting something akin to fan-fiction, but it's really high quality writing. The story is cohesive, believable and really entertaining.
- The rules. Man.. I love the rules. Several years ago I got more and more disillusioned with GW's simplified rules. Pointless bookkeeping and clunkiness were everywhere. Other companies weren't a whole lot better. Nobody was making anything that had a 'modern' game design approach. Where was the reaction fire? Interleaved turns? MEANINGFUL player choices? Calling in re-reinforcements so your models spent more time on the table and less time sitting on the bench. Suppression, freaking EPIC had suppression back in the paleolithic age! Where did it go? This is the game I always wanted. It takes everything we've learned about game design in the last 20 years and the best elements of game design and 'gaming psychology' and puts them into a near flawless game. It's deep, there are constantly meaningful options for players. You constantly feel like there is something you can do, even though everything is on a knife edge. I simply can't gush enough about how good these rules are.
- Missions have a lot of variety and bring a lot of thought to the game.
- Narrative missions vs. competitive missions are an ingenious idea. Love it.

Negatives
- Lots of paging around. I'd like all the special rules for a model listed next to it instead of having to page to 3 different parts of the book. Not a big deal honestly though. Something that can be cleaned up by cheat sheets and experience.
- I feel the unit cards could have had more stuff on them to be useful. Like at least the weapon stats.

Yeah, that's kinda it for negatives for me really.

I want to see this game go big. Really big. People need to be playing this game and having fun with it all over the world. This is a game that can kick things into gear again. Can't wait to see what else is coming with it.

The print and play summaries (to avoid paging) are listed under the 'rulebook' file in your 'my files' section of the maelstrom's edge website. If you own the rulebook and are signed in on the website, here's a direct link to the page:

https://www.maelstromsedge.com/medge/file.jsp?fid=9

and here's a direct link to the file (you have to be signed in at the medge website to view) :
https://www.maelstromsedge.com/medge/download?file=Maelstrom%27s%20Edge%20-%20Printable%20Rules%20Summary.pdf

Thanks again for all the kind words!

legoburner wrote:The print and play summaries (to avoid paging) are listed under the 'rulebook' file in your 'my files' section of the maelstrom's edge website. If you own the rulebook and are signed in on the website, here's a direct link to the page:

https://www.maelstromsedge.com/medge/file.jsp?fid=9

and here's a direct link to the file (you have to be signed in at the medge website to view) :
https://www.maelstromsedge.com/medge/download?file=Maelstrom%27s%20Edge%20-%20Printable%20Rules%20Summary.pdf

Thanks again for all the kind words!

yakface wrote:

 Jambles wrote:
The rulebook is very clear and concise. I like how easily I've been able to find answers to the occasionally complicated questions that crop up during play. Only criticism for the rulebook is a lack of a unified table for weapons stats... having to flip back and forth through the army lists at the back of the book is a pain. I've taken to writing them down but a cheat sheet of some kind would be a huge help.

It sounds like you haven't printed out our faction summaries yet, correct?

Hopefully that should solve a little bit of that pain...and we have a general play summary in the works as well right now (coming soon).

That's exactly what I needed, thanks! Didn't notice that link in the digital downloads.

I think they need their own category, rather than being lumped in with Rulebook (in fairness, we could all be forgiven for thinking that the link labeled Rulebook linked only to the Rulebook, and there'd be no need to check it again if we'd already downloaded it).

They will be moved out in the near future as they are certainly hard to spot there!

Still very early in my work on the models, but will throw out some quick opening thoughts:

On the one hand, the model assembling is not very intuitive. The necessity of the detailed assembly guides (which I appreciate), can be a bit of a headache, but it's workable.

However, I will say I greatly enjoy the plethora of extra parts, and the plastic itself seems to take well to minor conversions, cutting, etc. Early test models WIP pictured below, but simple tasks like change the Shadow Walker's stance, or using the Kaddar's leftover robe as a shoulder cloak are quite easy.

Overall, I'm liking the set, and I'm looking forward to getting more into it.

 TheEyeOfNight wrote:
...or using the Kaddar's leftover robe as a shoulder cloak ...

That's brilliant. And looks great in your pic... I think I'm going to have to steal that idea...

 insaniak wrote:
I think I'm going to have to steal that idea...

You're welcome to it, been fun to mess around with new miniatures and sets. Will post up a WIP blog once I get off my and resume painting

 yakface wrote:

 Jambles wrote:
The rulebook is very clear and concise. I like how easily I've been able to find answers to the occasionally complicated questions that crop up during play. Only criticism for the rulebook is a lack of a unified table for weapons stats... having to flip back and forth through the army lists at the back of the book is a pain. I've taken to writing them down but a cheat sheet of some kind would be a huge help.

It sounds like you haven't printed out our faction summaries yet, correct?

Hopefully that should solve a little bit of that pain...and we have a general play summary in the works as well right now (coming soon).

Whoa, those summaries are super useful!!

Maybe they should get a sticky in this forum? I feel like I kind of just chanced on them in this feedback thread, and they should be front and center as they're excellent!

Well. My initial gut feeling about the rulebook was correct. I think I am the first person in history to have pages fall out of their Maelstrom's Edge Rulebook. Do I get a prize for that? Like maybe a new rulebook?

I guess I should have spent more time flipping through the PDFs instead of paging through my physical copy. I wasn't particularly rough with it, but I didn't think it needed to be put in a glass case.

I would say it's a well-read copy (as I have been reading it a lot) but I haven't even got to read all the objectives and scenarios yet. I've just been going from unit entries to armories to special rules and back to the core rules occasionally and plop, out came like 10 pages from the end of the book. 123 (shadow walker unit entry) to 134 (advanced rules appendix, which I've consulted like once)

The rules are rock-solid from my readings. But it'd be even better if the book they came in was too.

Not to end on a sour note, I have primed and begun assembling my models and they are fantastic. Lots of cursing on my end because I'm stupid and I don't really have the time to pin things. The pieces fit together really well and it's not hard to figure out what goes where. I had my biggest frustrations trying to do minor conversions to pose things differently than the way they came. (and I'll probably have more when I get to my bot handlers and contractors) When I built the kits as intended it was easy and they look great.

This is neither here nor there, but I think it needs to be said how much I'm loving this game. This is the first time for me to really get absorbed in the hobby of it. Reading the fiction, building units from brand new sprues with my own hands, painting and basing them, and finally getting to bring them to life on the tabletop with a ruleset that makes every individual count. Something severely lacking from 40k where squads are just wound counters for special weapons held by faceless mooks. I'll have enjoyed countless hours of painstakingly modeling these miniatures by the time they're ready to do battle on Zycanthus. That's a feeling that a lot of veteran 40k players describe and I finally "get it" with Maelstrom's Edge.

The only thing I wish I had was more time to devote to this hobby.

This goes without saying, please for the love of God don't ever discontinue this game you can have my money as often as there is new stuff to buy (or whenever I just need one more of *those* things, whatever that happens to be at the time).

I think I've rambled enough. I probably missed a lot but I hope this "feedback" helps.

Hi bocatt, there is a chance you got a defective rulebook. Can you please take a load of photos of the damage from different angles, as well as a photo of how you typically use the book when reading it, and send it to support@maelstromsedge.com. I'm fairly certain you'll be able to get a free replacement sent to you if the product is at fault.

Thank you for all the kind words - our entire goal was to make a cohesive universe which could absorb people in every aspect, so it is a delight to hear that it is doing just that for you

You definitely dont have to worry about us discontinuing the game - we are financially sound, are selling at good pace and are well into the development of our next ranges of models (though it is a very slow, drawn-out process when working in HIPS plastic!) The entire team loves the ability to build on and expand our universe and we've got a lot of fun stuff in the pipeline.

Thanks!

I was pretty rough with my rulebook during a flight and it doesn't look like it's going to fall apart.

Mines got a bit of warping at the bottom (my fault, I dropped it...), but it's holding together just fine.

I'm still holding out hope for an 80$ 250-page full-colour hardcover rulebook. I won't be satisfied unless at least half of it is pictures of studio models

 Jambles wrote:
Mines got a bit of warping at the bottom (my fault, I dropped it...), but it's holding together just fine.

I'm still holding out hope for an 80$ 250-page full-colour hardcover rulebook. I won't be satisfied unless at least half of it is pictures of studio models

Nah. You want the $140 slipcase edition with a few artwork postcards.

I must add that while I didn't purchase the main game, I was very pleased with the terrain sprues I received. Detail was high, variety was there. I've just got to find a place to use those awesome large doors!

This was the first Kickstarter I'd ever backed and I'm so glad I did. Keep it up, Spiral Arm.

FM Argos

New box arrived today. The rulebook was wrapped in bubble wrap and protected perfectly from the sprues (some of which also had bubble wrap around them.

The double shipping box protected the main box, but as I've said elsewhere (on the KS, I think), it's a bit of a waste for you guys. Good for me though - I need large boxes!

Here's my impression:

It took me over 2 weeks to build all the models and I loved every minute! The ROBOTS ARE FRICKIN' COOOOOL!

I love the quality of the models and the quantity of models and tokens in the "Zycanthus" box set is fantastic! I wish there were more model heads, but I look to the future for that. I hope there will be more poses for the mature angels in the future too! They flying models (Fireflys and Minnows) look AWESOME on the table top! I haven't painted any models yet.

When building the Karist Temple Elites I found it best to start at the gun, glue on the hands/forearms, then the upper arms then the shoulder pads. Doing that they look fine. The 1 model where I did it in the reverse required Green Stuff to repair.

I love the rules. They are dense, and specific (thank you, John!) and numerous! I love the tactical options and reactions. It is probably the best, most modern rule-set I've read. Prior to this my favorite rule set was DUST Warfare. I also love some of the simpler game rule sets (Judge Dredd for example) but these rules are the tippy top. With my limited experience I've done a lot of page flipping but I foresee that as being MUCH reduced due to the faction summaries (see my comments below).

I carried the book with me to work and everywhere for about 10 days, reading it cover to cover then flipping around to refresh rules. It started falling apart about 2 weeks ago. I took it to Staples to have in put on a spiral binder (they didn't have a Spiral Arm binder :-D). The margins toward the center of the book were too narrow for them to cut and punch. Sadly I'm carrying around a falling-apart book. That being said, I LOVE HAVING the portable sized rule book.

I downloaded the faction rule summaries and weapon sheets. I did 2-sided printing and it is perfect!! I have a single page (2-sided) for each faction! AWESOME! That will speed up my game play tremendously and I expect it will extend the life of my rulebook.

The box is a box. It's purpose is to get the stuff to my house. Mission accomplished. In miniatures gaming if you care about your miniatures and their paint jobs, you MUST upgrade to a decent transportation system. There are many out there. I don't mind the thickness of the box. My models will be stored and transported in foam.

I'm thrilled that the company is solvent and moving forward. Bravo! Keep it up!! I'm finding the gaming to be very receptive to new games right now. This will pick up traction once the models end up on tables in game stores and clubhouses!

I have only assembled a couple epirian contractors, two drones, and one mature angel so far. I really like the scale of the guns on the contractors and especially the trigger fingers. The angel went together quickly. Too quickly. The next one will have to be converted to make it last longer. The drones are a little fiddly and delicate, so I'm going to get magnets for the others. I don't see that as a bad thing.

What sold me on this game was the terrain sprues though. I can't wait to start putting them to use, but they are so nice I'm half afraid of using them.

Everything arrived in perfect condition.

Alright, so I'm a decent way through assembling the models and reading through the book, so here is some feedback on my experience so far. So I'm going to be a bit critical, but I should qualify this by saying I am generally really impressed, and totally looking forward to both playing the game, and seeing where the future of the game goes. Can't wait to see what you have planned for the other factions too (particularly excited to see where the Remnant Fleet goes. Their gladiator knights sounds like power armour to me, so hoping for essentially a true scale/movie Marine)!

The fluff is awesome. Really like how you've created your own grimdark but in a more reasoned and hard sci-fi way, where the various factions appear to be acting in understandable human ways as reactions to their circumstances. Bravo!

The general level of detail of the models is fantastic, and I love the general aesthetics: the armour and weapon design, the creatures and robots.

I'm not a fan of the proportions of the humans. You've gone for something akin to 40k proportions, where humans are much more square-shaped. I would have preferred more realistic proportions, but oh well, I'll get over it.

Most of the posing is really modular, which is appreciated, and for the most part relatively straight forward to assemble and well executed.

A big exception for me is the Mature Angel. I love the art design of these creatures, but the pose looks really static. Almost like it is standing to attention. Particularly for something which in the fluff is fairly amorphous and fluid in their shape, I'm not sure why they weren't given a more dynamic pose - aside from it simply being more difficult to sculpt it/get it on to a sprue. For something I see as becoming so iconic for the game it just feels like a bit of a missed opportunity.

There is a similar gripe I have for the Spider Drones - I would have preferred the legs to be more posable, or the 2 sets of legs to be posed differently - but this is less significant to me compared to the Angel as they are robots and when firing it would possibly make sense for them to lock their legs in to that position, and because they are sort of rank and file. When the Scarecrows and Hunters are so heavily posable it just feels a bit odd. The other robots are lovely models though!

The Shadow Walker I found very difficult to pose in a way that didn't look pretty awkward/dumb. It does warn in the assembly instructions that this could be an issue, but it just feels like a strange sculpt. Also it's been addressed elsewhere, but everything appearing twice on the sprue except for the head is just pretty weird. We have 2 spare Karist Trooper heads in the box of course, so I guess I and everyone else can use them and have 4 Shadow Walkers each anyway... I might use the bald heads actually, so there's no incongruous helmet difference.

I just want to reiterate that while that all might come across as a bit negative, I am REALLY happy with the set overall and thrilled to be along for the ride as this game develops and grows.

I won't comment too much on the rules as I haven't played a game yet, but I've read most of the book and on paper it looks fantastic. It appears that units will generally be a lot hardier than they might be in 40k, which gives more emphasis on suppressing units and facings and other tactical facets rather than simply removing enemy models from the table with weight of dice. Alternating activations, no locked in CQ engagement, no maximum range for most weapons... it's all stuff I'm totally on board with, can't wait to get a game in!

I've had a great time building the kits so far, and I'm really loving the angel, or at least once some converting is done. The pose does seem, as said by others, a bit static. Here's some (excellent quality, obviously) pictures:

Very nice is that grey stuff sculpting or did you just twist the plastic parts on those mature angels?

A lot of complex design decisions had to go into the Angel which forced our hand but seeing the flexibility of the kit and the amazing conversions people have done is really awesome!

The Angel on the box cover is actually based on the original model design we made for it, but we simply could not fit wings of that size on the sprue with everything else! We sculpted about 8 different Angels, each of which got hit by some manufacturing limitation, but gives us a lot of scope for adding bits and options in the future thankfully!

Thanks for sharing!

Totally understandable!

For the record, my feedback above was by no means a complaint, more stating the areas where the set isnt totally perfect. No product is totally perfect, and for a first release I think this is bloody phenomenal!

Very nice is that grey stuff sculpting or did you just twist the plastic parts on those mature angels?

Thanks! And yes, the parts have been placed in near-boiling water for a minute or so and bent. My sculpting is nowhere near up-to-scratch, and I didn't want to ruin lovely models like these.

The Angel on the box cover is actually based on the original model design we made for it, but we simply could not fit wings of that size on the sprue with everything else! We sculpted about 8 different Angels, each of which got hit by some manufacturing limitation, but gives us a lot of scope for adding bits and options in the future thankfully!

*Rubs hands gleefully*
Perhaps a new Angel model sometime in the future?...

 SexierThanYou13 wrote:

*Rubs hands gleefully*
Perhaps a new Angel model sometime in the future?...

new Angels later!
Broken, Remnant, Kaigus Pact, Tragunite Host, Comms Guild, bigga stompas and killy wagons now! I'd also like a jet with lots o dakka for Christmas and it oughta be painted red sos it goes fasta!

I haven't forgotten about the offer to get my rulebook replaced, just been so busy it's hard to get around to taking pictures and composing emails.