Compel wrote:
My mailman really did look tired with my Dreadball delivery today. - I went with cheerleader, so he had 2 pretty damn huge boxes, filled up with around 50 odd bags of resin minis, plus a whole bunch of metal ones too.

And I live on the top floor of a flat.

 Alpharius wrote:
Careful - you might bite into metal minis!

I've tempered my enthusiasm here due to some of the recent Dreadball Season 3 stuff.

I'm still looking forward to this one - just with a little more trepidation now...

Update #117

Oct 30, 2013
News, gossip and freebies!
Comment

Hi there,

It’s Ronnie here! I know everyone has been waiting for some information of where we're up to with Deadzone - so here we are with a monster update!



As you would expect the biggest Kickstarter we have ever done has thrown us a whole new set of challenges, but so far we look to be wrestling all of them down to the ground, putting our Peacekeeper armoured foot on their throats and firing some slugs into their heads!

First up, my apologies to those of you whose questions we’ve missed over the past few weeks. We were holding out for the results of some of our tooling and shipping info before I could give definitive answers. That info has now arrived, boats are loaded with 5 containers of plastics and boxes - and we can now give a clear update on where we are, and what will be happening.

So, let’s start with what we can’t do!

A while after the Kickstarter ended we looked at converting the resin plastic Enforcers into hard plastic, yet at the moment we can’t do that to a quality I am happy with. We have been working non-stop at making hard plastic organics at a standard that can compete (and beat) the best out there. Over the summer I tooled a hard plastic set and, whilst it was a step forward in quality, it was not up to where I want it to be. We have since then been working with a new technique – and we are very optimistic, but we have been optimistic before and we fell just short!

During the Kickstarter we said the zombies were going to be on sprues, in hard plastic. We have been using them as the test case and the early progress looks really encouraging. If we’re not happy with the results, we’ve got some time to get them fixed – and we will remake the tool – so we can look at alternative methods before sending them out in wave two. That said, we’re quietly confident.

Work-in-progress Zombie



If the method works well on the zombies I will ensure everyone gets all of the Enforcers they ordered in their second shipment, along with the Forge Fathers and the Asterians in hard plastic. If it is not up to the quality we expect, I will keep all those kits in resin plastic as was originally planned in the Kickstarter, and we will put the Peacekeepers into Resin Plastic as well. If anyone has added extras because they were hard plastic we will of course offer the option of exchanging those for other items or a refund. I don't expect any of that will be the case, but I just want to cover all the bases.

So what does that mean? Well it means I wasn’t ready to commit the finest troops in the entire Corporation to an unproven tooling method, and possibly have quality issues.

In Update 103 the plan was to take the basic troops for the Enforcers - Rifles, Assault Blades and Heavy Weapons – from the Enforcer Faction Starter and tool them as a multi-part hard plastic kit instead of resin plastic. This new kit would have still made the same models, but would have used the different plastic. As we are still waiting on the results of the zombie tooling, we are now past the point where we can get this tooled in time for the initial launch.



However, we don’t want to have to delay the launch for not having the basic Enforcer troops, so to replace the four models that would have come in the original promise (the three figures with heavy rifles and one of the figures with an assault blade) I am going to add a free pack of 5 resin-plastic Enforcers to every Kickstarter Enforcer Faction Starter (including the Faction Starter included with the pledge levels) allowing you to get on with playing the game immediately without having to wait for the new sprued plastic figures to arrive.



These figures include components for heavy rifles, an assault blade and a burst laser heavy weapon. They are totally free and in addition to whatever you have ordered. The hard plastic Enforcer sprues will be sent along with your second delivery when they are ready and a standard you can all be proud of.

A small minority of people who have selected individual figures may be affected by these changes and we will drop an email to anyone who is, and see what they want to do. This also applies to anyone who has paid for shipping on their second shipment – as you’ll now be getting one regardless due to the extra Enforcers, so we will be in touch to discuss how it affects you – you might be able to add for more minis instead!
So – if the bad news is more free figures, the good news must be really great!

Let’s cover that now…

The Marauders

We have added a Marauder Pyro to every Kickstarter faction starter free of charge.

This balanced the game better (and gave away another cool models) and gave a more rounded force for the Marauders. In relation to this, the faction starter lost the duplicate arms for the Ripper Suits. This was both to make room on the tool and because it added little during final testing. It turned out that the Marauders got some pretty hefty pieces of extra kit anyway – you won’t be disappointed when you see the finished Hulk and Goblin Guntrack!



Limited Edition Alternate Survivor

We are making a metal limited edition of the Survivor model in a new pose available as an exclusive pre-release model for the launch through our trade partners. He will not be available to buy separately – except of course to Kickstarter backers ☺ If you want him then he can be added in the second survey which will be with you around March-April next year, along with anything else that gets added to the range.

Shipping Update

The vast majority of the models are now on their way to us, and they’re looking fantastic. We were not happy with some of the first batch, so we reworked the mould and ran it again. We’ve seen the results and we're very happy with them. We haven’t had a chance to get any photos just yet, but we are flying in some of the production pieces and will get images out as soon as we receive them. In the meantime you can check out our recent DreadBall releases for an idea of the quality you’ll be getting – it’s the same material that we’re using for the Deadzone figures.



DreadBall Big Mech



DreadBall Alpha Simian

Now, no matter how many models we have, everyone always wants more, so how about a couple of new factions?

Head on over to the Mars Attacks Kickstarter a little later, where you’ll find that we’ve now unlocked a set of faction decks to use the Martian and Human forces in Deadzone. Want to play Enforcers against Martians? Now you can! We have set it up so if you just want the Deadzone bits you can pledge for those with the models without having to buy the game (but why would you!).

If you are into DreadBall you could pick up a team too! Exciting - and a bit random! So if you feel like popping on over and supporting us we'd be real appreciative.
But what about the Scenery?

And now onto more things to make you happy – scenery! It’s not been an easy journey, but as you’ll see from the video below, this scenery works better than I’d ever dreamed it would. The building tiles look amazing and we have had a few pre-production copies in the office to paint up. In final testing they have clipped together wonderfully. We’ve pushed really hard to get a push-fit connector system. This involved reworking all of the scenery tools, and completely remaking the connector mould three times! However, we’re now there, we believe this scenery is going to be a massive part of our sci-fi range, and many people’s gaming tables for years to come. Thank you for helping make it possible!

We now have the final tiles for the scenery - but instead of us writing about it, just watch




Once we have enough scenery sprues we’ll get our resident hobby guru Dave to put some together so you can see some examples of the incredible kits you’ll be able to build.

Back in the office and away from the tooling, we’ve been having plenty of fun with the rest of Deadzone. Jake has been pulling together a tight set of rules for multi-mat and multiplayer games ready for next year’s compendium (in between his work on Mars Attacks), and the sculptors are working on the last few bits for the second shipment! It’s all things Forge Fathers this week – the Brokkrs are all done and ready to be sent over from the sculptor – we’ll sort some pics when they get here – and everyone’s favourite, the Iron Ancestor, is getting an upgrade…



From the painting table...

Our talented painters has been slaving away too – look what he’s been up to…

Blaine



Helfather



Nastanza



Doctor Simmonds



Wrath



Recon Unit



The Survivor



And finally...

We are now pulling out all the stops and aiming to start shipping Deadzone in the first days of December. For any of you that are UK based (or further afield if you are being brave) you could come to the Open Day and collect your pledge personally and be one of the first to have it. Your backer ticket gives you free entry to the Open Day, so make a day of it and get a Deadzone demo too! Also anyone who paid for Courier shipping will be the first pledges to be despatched, and then we will quickly roll through the rest of the orders.

There’s plenty more information to come in the next few weeks, so please keep an eye on your inboxes. As always, drop your comments and questions below and let us know what you think!

Thanks for supporting us, best wishes,

Ronnie

PS - And if all that wasn't exciting enough, digital PDFs of the Deadzone Rulebook will be with you next week.

Earth Dragon wrote:
Well, unfortunately, the mods are participating in the complaining and arguing at times in the news threads. It's hard for those guys to find the right balance of enforcement and participation and they probably choose to go the less hypocritical route.