Mini-Wargamer 8 Tile Sets
Update #63 · Jul 3, 2013 · 20 comments

This is the last piece of the puzzle that we need to put together before I can finalize the Pledge Manager and get this locked down. These are the 8 tile "Mini-Wargamer" tile sets.

Although we have finished, or in progress renders for some of these tiles we're using the sketch so that it's the same style when you're looking at the options we've selected.

Based on your feedback there is a focus on the foundation/ground tiles for each theme. In the sketches only one foundation/ground style is shown, but the actual tiles will include a mix -- such as the small squares foundation, and park square foundation for Urban Streets.









While these selections represent the "Mini-Wargamer" expansion sets they are likely to influence our choices for the future 8 tile expansion sets.

The final selection may vary as we finalize the renders, and any changes will be communicated as they're made.

Thank you all for your feedback -- you've helped to make this a stronger product!

Justin "misterjustin" McCoy

New Renders, and an update...

Before I say anything else, here's an updated render for the Ruined Temple amphitheater tile --



Ah, dirt. Glorious dirt! This is the same dirt mapping texture we're using on all of the other tiles (where dirt is present, of course) so that it will be easy to mix-and-match. You will also find dirt on most of the Ruined Temple tiles to some degree, so that we can break up the stone pattern, and make it visually more appealing by itself, and when combined with other sets.

For those wanting to use multiple amphitheater tiles to make a small arena, you can also paint this dirt in a sand color... and you're good to go!

BUT WAIT! THERE'S MORE!



I am happy to announce that Raffaele Picca, of Pixelgod and Massive Voodoo fame, is now engaged on the project to help with the fortifications and scatter terrain. This is the nearly finished fortifications set for Rolling Fields.


Pledge Manage.... soon!

The pledge manager is still holding for the display board border. I need to get pricing on that before I can launch -- or I have to launch without it and make a lot of people cry.

BUT! I have heard from the factory and they hope to have pricing to me shortly. I had to answer some engineering questions, and finalize some measurements, but that's done and they're cranking away on a finished piece.

The pledge manager will launch as soon as I have that final piece of information.

I apologize for the delay on this, but I'd rather make sure we had everything in place than move too quickly -- especially as we still have plenty of time before the first wave ships.


Scrap Yard - Still Milling



With the tiles well underway we now know that each mold takes approximately 5 days to mill. That's 5 days PER MOLD. Fortunately the factory has two machines dedicated entirely to this project, but it still represents 40 days of milling to complete a set of tiles.

BUT! They have all 16 of the Scrap Yard files, and several have already been tooled. They also have 5 of the Urban Streets tiles (3 clean/2 damaged) so that we can get test shots of those. We'll send the first Rolling Fields and Ruined Temple tiles as soon as they're finalized as well.

Stay tuned for more updates....

 DaveC wrote:
Yeah I'll have to get 3 more amphitheaters at some point when they are available separately. You'll probably need 9 tiles for an Arena Rex arena as they are 1 foot x 1 foot and the suggested size for AR is about 3x3, 2x2 might be a bit small. I'll put 1 amphitheater on each corner and 5 others to fill in the Arena and then just make some simple boundary markers with low walls and wedding cake columns (I have some in a drawer waiting to go) a bit God of War combat arenas style.

SO CLOSE!
Update #65 · Jul 26, 2013 · 3 comments
Pledge Manager Update

I signed off on the initial Display Board frame design this morning, and I'm happy to say that it's going to be expandable! You will now be able to frame your 2x2' Display Board, or pick up expansion sets to completely frame any size table you'd like!

Once we have the final price/cost for the frame I'll get the Pledge Manager finalized, and send out your surveys. This should happen by or before mid-August.

That OTHER Project....

Anyone watching the general comments will have noticed vague references to another project - and another Kickstarter campaign. This seems like the most appropriate venue to make the first official announcement --

On Monday 29-July I will launch a 20 day Kickstarter campaign to fund my first dice and token game release. The campaign will be under the Secret Weapon banner, but the game will officially launch as an Iron Box Games product. You will be able to see more information later today and this weekend on the official IBG Facebook page

https://www.facebook.com/IronBoxGames

HAVE NO FEAR! This game has been finished for more than a year now, and I put off its launch until I was sure that the Tablescapes Tiles were on track. This new campaign will have no impact on THIS campaign, or general Secret Weapon operations.
More soon!

I'm expecting another update from Wargames Factory at the top of next week -- so you should have another update shortly. There might even be new renders....

Thank you all again for your continued support -- and I hope you'll check out IBG and our first game launch next week too!

Justin "misterjustin" McCoy

Angry Sheep!
Update #66 · Jul 29, 2013 · 5 comments
Factory Update

Before I jump in and tell you about my new project, I want to say that word from the factory is that I should have a quote on the frame "shortly," now that I've approved the design. They're still milling the "Scrap Yard" tiles and now have 5 of the "Urban Streets" (3 clean/2 damaged) in the queue for testing.

We'll have the COMPLETE "Scrap Yard" table to show you before the end of August - RIGHT ON SCHEDULE! That's right... we're still on schedule for our October delivery of the "Scrap Yard" tables.

Iron Box Games & "Angry Sheep"



And because I'm not one to spend my down time idle, I'm happy to unveil my next project -- Iron Box Games -- and my first game title, "Angry Sheep!"

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1084069684/angry-sheep-a-dice-and-token-game-by-iron-box-game

This is a dice and token game that was developed in cooperation with Blackball Games, and with a fair amount of support from the folks behind other big name projects. I have an established factory standing by, and an anticipated 80-90 day delivery once it's funded.

With the Tablescapes Tiles progressing on schedule, neither project will impact the other. In the unlikely event that something goes wrong with either, I have support standing by.
... NEW Tablescapes?

And now that you know about this AWESOME game, I want to leave you with one fresh teaser -- we've started concept work on two new Tablescapes Tiles themes for 2014. WOO HOO!

Finished Renders - Clean Urban Streets
Update #67 · Aug 2, 2013 · 10 comments

Ladies and gentlemen... CLEAN URBAN STREETS!










And now... some possible improvements!

I've sent the Security Barrier tile to the factory for review -- because I'd like to make it workable! This would become a three part tile -- the base, and then a top/bottom portion for the barrier so you could raise and lower it. I don't know that we'll be able to pull this off, or make it cost effective, but I wanted to let you know it's something we're looking at while the Scrap Yard tiles are still milling.
Pledge Manager Update

Word from the factory is that I will have the final per-shot price on the Display Board frame at the top of next week. That's all we're waiting on to launch the pledge manager -- which means we SHOULD have the surveys out in the next two weeks, and we'll use that to populate the pledge manager. We need to get it wrapped up by the end of September to stay on track, so stay tuned!

 Snrub wrote:
1st world problems aye?

Display Board - Frame Renders
Update #69 · Aug 11, 2013 · 5 comments
WE HAVE A DISPLAY BOARD FRAME!





As always, you can view the images directly to see them in all their glory -- and this is glorious!

The factory has integrated the tabs to make the entire piece more durable -- AND they've made it into separate corner and straight pieces so that those of you who want to frame a full 4x4', 4x6', or 4x8' table can do so with a few expansion packs.

One straight piece also includes a recessed spot to add an army placard, because we're classy like that!

AND THE PLEDGE MANAGER?!!?

Don't worry, I'm emailing the pledge manager folks right after I post this update. My plan is to have the pledge manager live the week following GenCon, as this week is going to be a whirlwind of crazy madness for me.

Pledge Manager Update & GenCon
Update #70 · Aug 13, 2013 · 4 comments
TABLESCAPES AT GENCON

Thanks to the incredible team at On The Lamb Games, the two finished "Scrap Yard" tiles will be on display at GenCon. You will find them in a 2x2' Display Board setup at booth # 652. Stop by, say hello to the crew, enjoy a demo, and give the tiles a good poke.

I will be doing weathering demos all day in the vendor hall with Cool Mini Or Not at booth # 1627 -- and showing off some of our other great Secret Weapon products. Please stop by and say hello!
PLEDGE MANAGER UPDATE

I approved the survey questions this morning, and I'm scheduled to review the add-on catalog later today. I hope to have all of this wrapped up before I leave for GenCon as this will let us have the surveys out this week or next.

We are really rolling out!

Surveys!
Update #71 · Aug 19, 2013 · 3 comments

Just a quick note to let folks know that I have synced the BackerKit account and begun working on the surveys. We are moving forward with the pledge manager even as I type!

That's all for now....

 Snrub wrote:
Yeah that's my problem. I really want a city board but the ruined temple just looks too tempting to pass up.

August Madness
Update #72 · Aug 21, 2013 · comment

A couple of quick updates for you before I put my head back down and focus my efforts on surviving August.
PLEDGE MANAGER

I am finalizing the survey questions in another window as I type this update. It turns out that this is time consuming. Who knew? The good news is that BackerKit assures me we should be good to go by Friday. This pleases me.

EDIT: The survey questions are finished and have been submitted for review - just in case I missed anything.
MESSAGES

There are 8 unread messages in my in-box, and if you're one of those waiting on a reply you have my sincere apologies. August is made of madness, and I'm actually only at my desk for nine days. During those nine days I scramble to catch-up on everything I can't do while I'm away at events, and now that I'm trying to get the pledge manager finished at the same time... something had to give. I will get all of those messages answered the week of 2-September, when I return from my list trip of the season.
NOVA OPEN

The next big event for me is NOVA Open, and I fly out this Sunday. Unfortunately I won't have the boards with me for this one. I will, however, be teaching 13 classes over the course of 3 days, because August is made of madness like that.
MILLING AND DELIVERY

I met the rep from Wargames Factory at GenCon and he assured me that milling is well underway for the Tablescapes Tiles. They were held up with the GenCon deliveries, but now it's all hands on deck for this project. I will continue to harass them for photos so that we can all see what's going on.

As of today we are on track for the containers to arrive in their respective shipping countries in October. This also pleases me.
FUTURE STUFF

I have already authorized the next three designs for the Tablescapes Tiles. This will include the Lost Desert set, and two others that have not been named yet, and won't be previewed until I have renders. None of these releases will hit until the end of 2014 when the other themes have been delivered. But we are still moving forward!

So what about Trench Works? At this point I can't tell you how happy I am that this didn't fund -- because the more we look at it the bigger it gets. We're probably going to do a campaign just for the Trench Works boards, because we're going to include a LOT of additional, and very necessary, additions to the set. Stay tuned for this, but don't look for it until Ruined Temple is in boxes and on the way.
BACK TO WORK!

And now I'll get back to work on the survey questions. They need to be finished tonight...