Forum adverts like this one are shown to any user who is not logged in. Join us by filling out a tiny 3 field form and you will get your own, free, dakka user account which gives a good range of benefits to you: No adverts like this in the forums anymore. Times and dates in your local timezone. Full tracking of what you have read so you can skip to your first unread post, easily see what has changed since you last logged in, and easily see what is new at a glance. Email notifications for threads you want to watch closely. Being a part of the oldest wargaming community on the net. If you are already a member then feel free to login now.

NewTruthNeomaxim wrote:

 JoshInJapan wrote:

 Xeno wrote:
I just saw this linked over on TMP and it looks like it'd be perfeft for Deadzone, aesthetics-wise.

Those a pretty nice, and with international shipping at no additional cost. I'm in for a Bioprocessing pack.

Those do look really cool... but i'm still counting on Mantic to come up with something special terrain-wise. If I can throw another $100 at Mantic, and get enough modular terrain to cover a modest gaming table, and it looks 90% awesome, or pay $75ish for one small, one-floor building that looks 100% awesome... i'm going to have to go with Mantic.

Today's terrain blowout should be very revealing.

I already put down $300 for my EB Strike Team, knowing that I would make up the rest with terrain. I just wanted a little variety on the tabletop as well.

New article from Jake Thornton about force selection:

http://quirkworthy.com/2013/05/08/deadzone-force-selection/

The forces are broken down into 3 sections: Leader, Specialist, and Trooper.

The type of leader(s) you pick determines how many duplicates of each of models in the other the other two categories you can have.

So, a leader with the "Elite" rule allows you to spam more of the specialists, and a leader with the "Legion" rule lets you focus more on spamming basic grunts.

It also seems that, similar to dreadball, you don't field all of your models every game, but instead select the ones you want to take on a mission out of the pool of minis you have available to you (after you've hired them etc.), using their points values to determine how much they are worth.

So, you can take different specialists (and leaders) on different missions, it seems, leaving others to sit the battle out. A larger roster and more minis troops hired gives you added flexibility in the same way that it does with Dreadball.

So, you might want one "build" for one mission (say, lots of assault troopers for a capture mission), and a different build for another.

Quite liking the sound of this, adding a points value on top of the roster means things won't get too unbalanced like the ridiculous "30 skilled minis vs. 8 newbie minis" games that can occur with Necromunda or Mordheim... I kept retiring warbands in Mordheim since they just got too powerful and started becoming unbeatable, it made the game boring.

With this it's better since while you might have 30 max-skilled uber enforcers of doom hired on your roster, if the mission points value only lets you pick 8 of those, then that's all that's going on the table,not the entire lot!

So basically what that's saying is that we should all pledge for double strike team, since we want of the basic troopers and 4 of each elite?


edit: Also, looks like additional leader options will come around at some point. I think rather than 1-2 of each race like they did for dreadball, they're going to stick to the races that come in your set for Deadzone (not 1-2 random sculpts from each additional race). If another race is added, it will likely only be a $35 add-on, and you'll get everything that's unlocked for that race.

^ If you take more than one leader, then there's even room for up to 8 of each specialist! I'd imagine the leaders are quite expensive in points though, so you'd be paying the price for such a spammy build.

Double strike team would be a good way to fill out all 4 factions though. Or if you have a favourite faction, adding another $35 to bump them up is a solid choice.

I haven't seen any actual upper limit on the amount of models that you can have, only the amount that you can field in a given mission.

Think of the mini collection as like a CCG collection that you can make different decks out of to try new strategies or tailor your build for specific missions.

They seem to be going with a warmachine-style setup here, only with the experience and skills thing on top, which opens up a lot of extra possibilities to slowly tailor a model in your roster towards being good at a specific mission as it gains xp and you pick new skills for it.

I think it's going to be really interesting to see how they balance the campaign system. Simply because the two coolest attempts at something like this previously, in the form of Necromunda and Mordheim, got broken and abused quite quickly!

Really those games relied a bit on player moderation to keep them balanced and fun - Jake isn't going to be able to make that assumption, and the game will get lambasted by players if there are too many exploitable loopholes left in the game ('2 single-handed mace' or 'slings' combos, to use Mordheim parlance for instance).

 Alpharius wrote:
Your pledge, or the Kickstarter total?!?

Haha yes, very good question!

375k hit. Bracing for impact of next stretch

"One-click" bundles... really? There's another famous miniatures company that looooooves to fill my inbox with these

Yeah, but these ones actually look to save you money and clicks.

 scarletsquig wrote:

Do it! It's definitely the standout deal at the moment if you've got $450 to put on the table. Four small armies, plus 4x4 mat and enough terrain to cram it full really is the complete package, both for deadzone and as a means of getting a serious headstart on Warpath.

At the moment, Suppression Team gives you $900 of stuff for $430, that is likely to rise to $1500+ of stuff by the time this is over. Mantic is only just getting warmed up as far as freebies go, don't be surprised to see another 50 or so minis find their way into Strike Team, it happened with Dreadball.

Having the money isn't so much the issue as having the "Am I insane enough to add 160 models + terrain to the backlog" (the consensus of my friends is "probably" so far). I'd also likely go for the 3 pack of mats for a total of $485 for 6'x4' area. While it might not be "crammed full of terrain" if I use all the mats, I think it would still be pretty covered.

Having a headstart on WarPath 2.0 is a nice thing, as the Enforcers are very interesting to me and likely the faction I'd take up. I've shied away from getting them before now based on others mentioning the models are somewhat difficult to work with as hybrid material models and some minor cosmetic concerns (legs, etc), but the consensus seems to be these new sculpts will have fixed most of those problems.

The only thing that I dislike about the new models is the Captain; it might just be the photograph but I can't warm up to that model to the point that I'm put off of the faction. I'd understand if they didn't but I really wish it was an option to trade the Warpath one for the one included in the Starter. I know it seems like a dumb thing to get hung up on when discussing everything else, but crazy people get hung up on crazy things. That's why we're crazy!

 Ronin_eX wrote:
Yeah, but these ones actually look to save you money and clicks.

Oho, I stand corrected . Still could use with a name that's different from "the other guys", I think, though!

I'm surprised that this hasn't been posted yet...

Wahey! That’s a new Core Worlds Building sprue added to every pledge of Recon ($100), Strike Team ($150), Captain ($500) and up – get in!

Note - the new scenery sprue is not included with the One-Click scenery pledge levels.

That’s an extra 6 tiles making for a total of 5 sprues in Recon (4 Building Sprues + 1 Accessory Sprue) and 7 at Strike Team (6 Building Sprues + 1 Accessory Sprue) – PLUS the connectors will now be getting their own sprues so we’ll be throwing in 2 Connector Sprues into every pledge of Recon and up.

Thank you so much for supporting us on Kickstarter!

Next up, our scenery spectacular continues with…

$400,000 – Battlezone: Landing Pad

//91-Urilla on starting drop run.
//Eyes-on landing zone.
//Anti-air units sighted.
//Requesting instructions.
\\91-Urilla: Re-route to Outpost Epsilon.
\\Advance units secured an operational landing pad.
\\Drop at Epsilon and advance on foot.
//Acknowledged, command.
//91-Urilla out.

If we hit this goal we will be able to tool the Landing Pad BattleZone, unlocking it as one of your choices in the Urban Battlefield ($100) and Urban Wargames Tables ($285) scenery-only Pledge Levels or the Urban Skirmish ($50), Urban Battle ($95) and Urban Scenery ($185) Add-ons.

This brand new BattleZone contains all of the bits you need to build the Landing Pad, plus loads of cool extra engineering bits like 135-degree connectors, triangular walls and deflectors.

These new components are fully compatible with your Core Worlds BattleZone, allowing you to customize them to an even greater degree.

So, this stretch seems to be for terrain packages only. Is it me or does this seem like it might be very divisive between people who want the game vs people who just want terrain? You'll have one half yelling for more scenery for their pledge and the other half yelling for more minis for their pledge. This is either dumb or incredibly brilliant on Mantic's part.

I suppose the line between those two things is often blurred At least they are still giving the options for 'terrain only', you have the option of taking that route although considering the price I'm sure a lot of people will be going for the game boxsets anyway.

Curses, just bought an HDF landing pad from another company this evening.. ah well, would have had to wait till the end of the year for this one..

Think I'm going to have to use some of those open X frames as a base for this and raised it up off the ground.

 squall018 wrote:
So, this stretch seems to be for terrain packages only. Is it me or does this seem like it might be very divisive between people who want the game vs people who just want terrain? You'll have one half yelling for more scenery for their pledge and the other half yelling for more minis for their pledge. This is either dumb or incredibly brilliant on Mantic's part.

We had two $50k terrain-only stretches right at the start of the campaign... and that was long before the terrain add-ons existed.

If you pledge an extra $50, then all of a sudden it does become relevant and useful. People who "just want the game" also want terrain, it's kind of a requirement as far as this game goes and ideally you want a good amount of it, even if the 2x2 board doesn't require it.

 scarletsquig wrote:

 squall018 wrote:
So, this stretch seems to be for terrain packages only. Is it me or does this seem like it might be very divisive between people who want the game vs people who just want terrain? You'll have one half yelling for more scenery for their pledge and the other half yelling for more minis for their pledge. This is either dumb or incredibly brilliant on Mantic's part.

We had two $50k terrain-only stretches right at the start of the campaign... and that was long before the terrain add-ons existed.

If you pledge an extra $50, then all of a sudden it does become relevant and useful. People who "just want the game" also want terrain, it's kind of a requirement as far as this game goes and ideally you want a good amount of it, even if the 2x2 board doesn't require it.

The two stretches at the start of the campaign applied to the game packages though, this only applies to the terrain only pledges. I'm not saying its the end of the world, but it definitely creates a divide in the pledgers and this is the first time I've seen anything quite like this done in a KS. That being said, I've obviously not followed every KS ever.

 squall018 wrote:
You'll have one half yelling for more scenery for their pledge and the other half yelling for more minis for their pledge.

As opposed to what? It's a Kickstarter. People are going to be yelling in comments anyway, and what they're yelling about is often secondary.

@squall - how are any of the terrain goals JUST for terrain only guys. That's like saying Forge Fathers are for Forge Father only guys. It still expands the game as a whole.

So, as a "core game" backer, I'm glad they are pushing the terrain for a bit. I doubt the next stretch will be for terrain as well.

Earth Dragon wrote:
@squall - how are any of the terrain goals JUST for terrain only guys. That's like saying Forge Fathers are for Forge Father only guys. It still expands the game as a whole.

So, as a "core game" backer, I'm glad they are pushing the terrain for a bit. I doubt the next stretch will be for terrain as well.

You can be as glad as you want. I'm just pointing it out. I said it wasn't the end of the world, but I also think its a point of discussion.

I wouldn't be surprised if in the survey they let you pick your sprues from the battlezone sets in some fashion. A bit like how in Dreadballs 'Striker' you could pick what kind of big-dude you wanted.

 Compel wrote:
I wouldn't be surprised if in the survey they let you pick your sprues from the battlezone sets in some fashion. A bit like how in Dreadballs 'Striker' you could pick what kind of big-dude you wanted.

That's a great idea, and would solve the "problem" that I was bringing up.

I'm currently backing the core game at Strike Team level, but I'm holding off adding anything additional for a while yet.

Peredyne wrote:
I'm currently backing the core game at Strike Team level, but I'm holding off adding anything additional for a while yet.

Well shoot. Most of the SGs have straight improved something or given you something. So not too much of a reason. It's why I think new factions aren't too far away.

I'm guessing by the end of the kickstarter, Strike Team will have:

6 factions made up of, on average, 15 guys per faction
10 scenery sprues
1 walker / big monster / gribbly
3 mercs / special characters
Plastic kickstarter exclusive counters
The premium mat

Sound about right? It's a bit more than Dreadball but not massively more.

They won't be adding any more factions to Strike Team you'll have to buy any new ones they add the rest looks very possible.

If they follow the DreadBall pattern, you might get some of the basic troops from a new faction, but I'd highly doubt you will get the whole faction starter. They will, however, probably offer them as fairly cheap addons (for certain pledge levels) such as a BOGOF offer once there's more than 2 added.

That's another part of my leeriness on pledging for Suppression as suggested; I don't want to be locked into 3 sets of the 4 initial factions and not have any room left over for new factions. At the same time, I don't want to drop the other goodies that come with Strike Team. This is why KS is bad for me; I'm terrible at making decisions.

^ Wouldn't be so sure about no new free factions, don't forget, this one is only going to roll with 6 factions (starting four + forgefathers and asterians), maybe 8 max, but they're not sure about that. The Corporation, Veer-myn and Zz'or are not going to be making an appearance in this one.

Dreadball gave away tons of MVPs, so far this one looks like it will not give away free mercenaries and instead focus on the factions. It's likely that mechs etc. and other big stuff will be add-ons.

It looks like the starting 4 factions are filled out at this point, and there's still only 47 minis at the $150 level. Dreadball finished with 103 minis, so there's a long way to go with this one!

They said in a comment on the 4th of May that BOGOFs are very unlikely this time.

 scarletsquig wrote:

Do it! It's definitely the standout deal at the moment if you've got $450 to put on the table. Four small armies, plus 4x4 mat and enough terrain to cram it full really is the complete package, both for deadzone and as a means of getting a serious headstart on Warpath.

At the moment, Suppression Team gives you $900 of stuff for $430, that is likely to rise to $1500+ of stuff by the time this is over. Mantic is only just getting warmed up as far as freebies go, don't be surprised to see another 50 or so minis find their way into Strike Team, it happened with Dreadball.

And yeah, they offered me a free KS exclusive skeledog on KoW since I didn't have the cash to put a large pledge down at the time.

I now do, and will be dropping another $185 on that when the survey comes out, so I'll get it regardless, but the offer was nice anyway.

The problem with these 'value' figues you proclaim is that hardly anyone pays full price for Mantic... ever. Even before the bulk discounts on existing products in their last two KS campaigns their sales model has been based around heavy holiday (any holiday you can think of) promotions, Crazy Christmas Bags/Boxes etc, almost a rolling sale. Then there's the other retailers shifting Mantic stock at heavy discount because they've found it doesn't move at RRP - personally I've picked up Mantic stuff from DarkSphere, Hobbycraft, LudikBazaar - at prices that suggest they got their fingers badly burned. So the notional values that you and Mantic ascribe to these products are a bit tenuous.

As far as this KS goes I'm still on the fence - the models look good, the rules seem fun - but the terrain reveals have been a real damp squib. This latest update (launchpad) looks like Hexagon set 2.0! "135-degree connectors, triangular walls" - yep had those a while thanks. And the price isn't even that good, for $100 (£64) you can get just as much of the Micro Arts Studio HDF Infinity stuff* which is less flexible but far prettier. So for me the terrain needs to get much better value.


*eg:
http://www.darksphere.co.uk/pgspecial.php#Micro Art HDF Terrain

(2x L shape apartment, 1x 3 storey apartment, 1x catwalks = £62.80 and larger than Urban Battle)

Loving the look of the landing pad. Bring it on!

However, I'd like to know how many sprues to make that first one they showed. 2, awesome. 3, crap. I also hope that whatever pieces they're using to boost it off the ground are sturdy, as that raised walkway is awesome, and I want the sprues to make a good stretch of them.