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Kickstarter is live!

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/privateerpress/warcaster-neo-mechanika/description

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https://home.privateerpress.com/warcaster/?fbclid=IwAR1tAV7rknbgQNPFwVJEzoR0JF0rn02WkG2WkF76r01M--LqWCIU0MfuNHg

Looks like Privateer Press is trying to capitalize on the Infinity/40K crowds.

Oh goodie, another card deck game, forks sake Dice or Cards you don't need both...(was sort of keen prior as a leaner WMH had some appeal)

Interesting to see an established player like PP using Kickstarter mind

Interesting look to the minis. I might back the KS depending on what material they're using.

Now featuring Neo-Tau!

Definitely trying to mimic Infinity with those sculpts.

Fluff for the fluff gods:

Architects, Keepers, 1000 Worlds. Low grade stuff that's indistinguishable from a doormat.

Arcanessence. Seriously, this makes me wretch a little bit. Four paragraphs later its simply 'Arc.' Better, but that's actually a real word with an unrelated meaning. Why are you so bad at this?

Racks. C&C module for warcasters who... are in space now, while their units are planetside. The rack is also a card deck for 'spell-like' cyphers (call them spells, OK?) that's built pre-game.

So really boring generic terms, and pointless technobabble terms, and game terms that don't mean what the words actually mean. Exciting.


Cyriss is now the entire galaxy. And the galaxy is being killed by harvesting Arc to fight and travel and stuff. Yeesh.

The inhabitants of the galaxy are trapped in a cycle of consuming Arc to fight for the ability to harvest more Arc.

OK, setting premise is everyone is a gibbering moron. Thanks.

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Alternate activation, round trackers (yay, more crap on the table) that 'governs scoring opportunities.' Yay, a score based game. Exciting.

Casualties respawn as reserves. Could be good or bad, but given the emphasis on scoring and targeting 1-1.5 hour games, this sounds like padding so the game doesn't just end when someone's winning.

Both squads mostly have guns, but the Infinity Paladins squad has a sword-and-shield guy, and both squads have 'dude with staff' which is a bit puzzling if the warcasters are sending mana from above.

Bonus point for the paladin mech not having PP leg syndrome

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Negative one thousand points for the use of stupid icons to delineate game size and scale. PP overuses icons already.

20-30 models, 35mm scale (why?) 2 players ~1.5 hours, 4'x'4' table.


This functionally sounds like everything I hate in modern game design wrapped around an uninspired setting. Pass

No denying, I like the models. Curious to see what medium they'll be made in.

Interesting to see it's going to Kickstarter.

Last time I saw an established company try to come to KS for a mass combat game was Wyrd's "The Other Side." That didn't exactly set the tabletop world on fire, despite having some cool systems in place (which we're still waiting for a supposed 2 player starter set to actually materialize for).

Worst case if buy-in isn't too bad I'll get them and put them to use elsewhere. Or wait for the inevitable PP clearance if I can stomach the patience.

The models look nice, very nice even. Very mid00s anime, and not as liefeldian as warmachine. No gonna KS it, but mainly because I don't KS stuff on principle- I will gladly check it out once it's in general circulation.

uhhh... not my thing. Neat idea, but infinity is a game I've hard passed on this whole time, so, this one is a pass for me too. Good luck PP!!!

The new Mecha/jacks are kinda cool. But I'm not really seeing the draw. Probably just not my type of game.

I really hope this does well for PP and I do like the look of the models. Fingers sort of crossed that they bring some mech-beasties in for a "future hordes" style alongside.

I think PP is doing a good move by moving on from Warmachine, but this preview does not inspire joy.

Well, that truly is a monkey's paw WRT the whole "customisable warcaster" thing that was promised...

Yup, they are custom insofar as their spell decks. No model at all, all you have is mooks. Hard pass ATM. I was expecting "evolved" forms of the Warmachine armies, so we have Cygnar, in spirit, but now having expanded out beyond the stars, same goes for Khador (Khador is not a place! It's a people!) with them aggressively expanding heir new interplanetary empire with Karchev and Butcher both having been soul transferred as the Motherland will not let them die.

Either, neither or both of those displayed factions could be them, but there is nothing to indicate that that I can see, nothing there to hook the existing WMH player with signifiers to show this is "your" faction that you are familiar with.

I feel it's going to suffer from the same problem AoS had on launch. Too many things that are unfamiliar and the playerbase trying to rationalise them knowing that this is the future timeline of their previous game.

Eh I don't think its as bad as AoS since PP isn't going to destroy the old game. If anything this could be the fresh breath that PP needs to focus on whilst letting warmachine and hordes tick over for a while. Perhaps letting them focus on updating old sculpts in that line rather than pushing for new stuff all the time.

Meanwhile giving them a new game with smaller and fewer armies to let people sink their teeth into something fresh without the rules and model bloat.

Not a fan of the miniatures and kickstarter will keep people away. It was my understanding that this was supposed to be the next main game for them but instead looks like another small side game that will fade away like riot quest. If it wasn't for the wm ip this would be completely dead on arrival.

 Overread wrote:
Eh I don't think its as bad as AoS since PP isn't going to destroy the old game. If anything this could be the fresh breath that PP needs to focus on whilst letting warmachine and hordes tick over for a while. Perhaps letting them focus on updating old sculpts in that line rather than pushing for new stuff all the time.

Meanwhile giving them a new game with smaller and fewer armies to let people sink their teeth into something fresh without the rules and model bloat.

But... PP IS destroying their old game. The Oblivion campaign setting sees the Infernals come out and [spoiler alert] kill, like, everyone. Warcaster: Neo-Mechanika is literally the Iron Kingdoms timelined forward.

As for whether or not PP will keep producing for WarmaHordes.... <shrug> Who knows?

 Overread wrote:
Eh I don't think its as bad as AoS since PP isn't going to destroy the old game. If anything this could be the fresh breath that PP needs to focus on whilst letting warmachine and hordes tick over for a while. Perhaps letting them focus on updating old sculpts in that line rather than pushing for new stuff all the time.

Meanwhile giving them a new game with smaller and fewer armies to let people sink their teeth into something fresh without the rules and model bloat.

Sorry, I didn't mean in the vein of destroying the world. I mean like HH to 40k. Just reading a few posts on Reddit etc. people are already asking "Where's me Khador" (or words to that effect) upon seeing the factions. From what we have seen so far, there is nothing that is familiar, save some terms like "Warcaster" and "Cyriss". Just like with AoS when it launched, there was so much unfamiliarity and uncertainty that was juxtaposed with what little there was for background and players desperately trying to find a foothold with "their" factions.

I see the same happening here, as I already said, from what we can see there is nothing to indicate what factions (in spirit) these two are. Nothing that an existing player can point to and go "Oh, that's future Cygnar!" which immediately gives existing players a visual "hook" to draw from, now this is exacerbated by the lack of physical models for the Warcasters; who are the literal figureheads of the armies. Now, very few of these will make it over; given it is set 5000 years in the future of the timeline but it would be nice to have a visual link to the genesis game.

Lotta hate here (I presume former players of warmachine?)

From someone who never played, so I have absolutely no pre-existing bias, this looks interesting. Only thing I don't like is the scale being 35mm, but it's really not a big deal if the models are nice.

I like the aesthetic--it's a bit like Tau meets Infinity. I also like the emphasis on alternating activation and fast play time, and the size of the play area. I love Kill Team, but just wish it was a 3x3 play area as standard.

I will be following this to see how it develops.

That opening flavor blurb made me laugh. I don’t know whether they are self-aware or super serious. I’m interested to see how the fluff is developed.

 ScarletRose wrote:
Interesting look to the minis. I might back the KS depending on what material they're using.

Those minis look exactly like what I’d want for far future sci fi...so I’m worried they’ll be resin/metal hybrids and overly expensive.

Quasistellar wrote:
Lotta hate here (I presume former players of warmachine?).

Okay, I'll call your bluff- where's this so-called "hate"?

All I see is people expressing opinions on what little has been announced and not throwing around internet buzzwordery.

 Grimtuff wrote:

Quasistellar wrote:
Lotta hate here (I presume former players of warmachine?).

Okay, I'll call your bluff- where's this so-called "hate"?

All I see is people expressing opinions on what little has been announced and not throwing around internet buzzwordery.

To be fair when I started that post (I had to come back to finish it--I'm at work ) there were only a few responses and half of them were pretty. . . severe.

Also don't forget we've only a few marketing photos - no 3D surrounds - no on the table shots etc... There's a lot of material still to be seen and explained.


Also PP's last KS for an artbook has gone well (got mine and its great).

Hmm ... models look decent, if a not terribly original.

Unfortunately, it's alternative-activation. Hard pass.

 Octopoid wrote:
https://home.privateerpress.com/warcaster/?fbclid=IwAR1tAV7rknbgQNPFwVJEzoR0JF0rn02WkG2WkF76r01M--LqWCIU0MfuNHg

Looks like Privateer Press is trying to capitalize on the Infinity/40K crowds.

Honestly, it feels more akin to Destiny to me.

Interesting...I will need to see if they offer Sci-Fi versions of Skorne or Menoth before I bite, but that likelihood is probably pretty great.

I don't... need this. The models look great; a style I desperately want more of in tabletop gaming, but also similar enough to Infinity that I can happily pass. I'm curious if some of that is just the factions shown and if a later one will appeal to me more. Mostly though, it'll be a question of gameplay. Interesting enough to give it a try, but it's got a lot of competition.

 Overread wrote:
Eh I don't think its as bad as AoS since PP isn't going to destroy the old game. If anything this could be the fresh breath that PP needs to focus on whilst letting warmachine and hordes tick over for a while. Perhaps letting them focus on updating old sculpts in that line rather than pushing for new stuff all the time.

Meanwhile giving them a new game with smaller and fewer armies to let people sink their teeth into something fresh without the rules and model bloat.

I dunno. Personally, I think pp is far closer to doing a 'warhammer fantasy battle' on the WMH setting than people want to realise, and this is their AoS.


My thoughts on this game.

Its interesting...

Immediate take aways: alternative activation. The warcaster themself is also not a model, or fielded on the board. They're seemingly a rack (sorry, deck of cards) and they hide on a space ship and direct from there. Interesting take on the classic idea of a warnoun though I have images in my head from the yu-gi-oh cartoon. Customised models/builds. Scale is 20-30 models, for now. Gates/Reserves concept is interesting. So seemingly skirmish plus, rather than pseudo-army. 'High speed' - maybe implies warcry/shadespire level/style gameplay rather than highly involved WMH style or infinity as suggested earlier? Played with dice and cards supports this, potentially. Not necessarily a bad thing, but I hope for more than just a clone if true. Also kickstarter. Remembering Spartan financing 'new' projects this way. Not necessarily a good thing...

Very Nice models too. Wasn't sure what to expect. No idea on materials yet.

I am intrigued and I've subscribed to the newsletter.

We shall see.

Miniatures look fine so far. I agree they feel a lot like generic anime SF soldiers.

I guess the two factions presented are intended to be both starters.

35 mm scale. It keeps increasing...also it certainly means the prices will be as high.

Using Kickstarter is a good way to check the popularity of this new game. On the other side...it means waiting, and at the time it's finally out, the retailers may have already drop the ball for the new shiny game that will come out meanwhile.

Curious on the material used too.

Interesting - I Like the look. But if it's not a decent material I have no interest.

35mm means cheap soft plastic, most likely the same as their awful battle boxes. If so, that means I'm out! The main reason to increase size is that the cheap stuff only works at larger scales.

The mushy or bulbous details on a bunch of their miniatures also indicates cheap plastic.

If it's easy to work with, I don't care. I'm kinda over hyperdetailed stuff, I don't have the patience anymore.

As for the AoS/Killing off Warmahordes, I was under the impression that thing was almost dead anyway? As long as they don't pull an actual End Times and rub the existing player's faces into it, they might get away without rousing the angry grogs, and hopefully they can focus on marketing towards other groups of players, without, finally, the legacy of Page 5 cringe.