Crocodile Games (maker of Wargods) Olympus Kickstarter

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**kenshin620**

Hmm interesting tidbit I've found on their FB page

We are working on WarGods kickstarter for June and Chris has already finished a dozen new Trojan and Amazon miniatures. We are not going to show off pictures until we are a little closer to the launch date!

I think this is a bit of a good move for Crocodile. Honestly if you check the Crocodile site, its pretty much dead. While their range is actually quite sizable, the past year or so has seen very small updates. Not to mention beyond people looking for some type of Tomb King proxy, I havent seen much actual playing of the games. Maybe a KS is what they need to get back in the (war) game!

Edit: Heres the info on the KS

Seems to primarily be focused on Olympus

Things have been a little quiet here on the Croc page for last few months, as we have been working behind-the-scenes on something big: the WarGods Kickstarter!

We are putting the final touches to a Kickstarter project that will launch at the beginning of June and run throughout that month. The goal will be to fund the production and printing of the WarGods of Olympus rulebook, and to get the latest miniatures into production, including new Demigods, Trojans, Amazons -- and possibly much more if the campaign is successful!

So how can you help? Apart from backing the project, we need help spreading the word. The more people we can get to tell their friends, their family, their gaming group, the better chance that we’ll be able to meet our target goal and get the book printed and the miniatures produced. The more success we have with this Kickstarter, the better we’ll be able to make the final product, but we can’t do it without your help. We would appreciate you forwarding these updates to your friends via social media like Facebook, twitter or blogs, miniature websites and forums that you are a part of, email, word of mouth, smoke signals, every little bit will help!

Chris & Debs FitzPatrick Crocodile Games

So without further ado, here is a sneak peak of the first of the miniatures to be featured in the Kickstarter project… the Trojans! Swiped from Fitz’ sculpting desk while he was not looking! There were lots more in progress as well, watch out for more photos here between now and the beginning of June!

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1820979427/wargods-of-olympus-mythology-miniature-battle-game?ref=category

**cincydooley**

Now if only this was a move to plastic or restic.....

**kenshin620**

cincydooley wrote:
Now if only this was a move to plastic or restic.....

I suppose thats the $100,000 (if not more

) question or stretchgoal

Though I never actually played Wargods I admit, just how big of a game is that size wise? Is there a need for at least +50 figures?

**jah-joshua**

the units are pretty much in blocks of ten, so that would make a good single sprue, or five on each...
the pewter is really hard, so the minis are a bitch to prep...
the sculpts are great though...

Fitz has a lot of talent, and his other sculptors are pretty good, too...
i hope this works out, as the Croc crew are all great people and artists...
the background is fun and unique, and Olympus and Hyperboria are cool settings as well...
a Croc resurgence would be awesome...

cheers
jah

**RatBot**

I'm looking forward to this. I love Chris Fitzpatrick's miniatures and I love mythology. I bought the Wargods of Aegyptus rulebook when it was on sale for 10 dollars. It's definitely not a super-competitive, tight ruleset, but it's got a lot of RPG flavoring and looks like a lot of fun.

It's rather unfortunate that they're not more popular. I'm pretty sure Fitz runs the entire shebang (well, except casting and printing, probably) out of his own house.

It's my full intention to spend an irresponsibly large amount of money with them when I graduate and get a job.

As for the size of the game, the minimum size army they recommend for demo games is 1200 pts, and that would include roughly 40-50 models.

**Piston Honda**

I thought they died ages ago.

**Kalamadea**

Nearly did. As it was, they burned the retailers that originally carried em pretty badly, something about after the initial release they were refusing to sell wholesale to stores while offering discounts to people who bought directly from their website. Think the 40k debacle with the internet-only flyer book only on a smaller (but more personal) scale. Burned the owner of my FLGS bad enough he'd deliberately cause a scene and call the owner out on it at any convention that Crocodile showed up at.

Never affected my opinion of the game itself terribly much though, that was all industry-insider drama. I was more put off because it was unit-based instead of a skirmish game than I was by any problem the LGS owner had with the company. Made it a bit too expensive for a game I wasn't sure would last and would have trouble finding people to play it with. Also, while I've always thought they made really nice figs, they just seem to take forever to release anything. If they go plastic/resin, color me interested.

**Commander Cain**

If they did a ks to make all their current stuff resin or plastic I would be all over it. I have often wanted to make a Thousand Sons allied daemon force with all that Egyptian themed goodness...

**spaceelf**

I think that Crocodile games has just gotten a bit lost in the crowd of alternate games that are on the market. Also, Fantasy is also not as popular as Sci Fi. They may have been hurt that Warhammer Fantasy is not doing as well, as people are not using their models as proxys.

Given that their stuff is all metal, it is not that expensive. You get 10 man squads for 36 bucks. This is less than goldswords, and they are plastic.

**kenshin620**

Piston Honda wrote:
I thought they died ages ago.

Well they're pretty much dead at the moment. They only had a few sporadic releases over the least year

Isnt another attributed cause to their downfall is the rapid expansion of their games? They have 3 whole books, though I'm not sure the hyperborean one is as fleshed out as their aegyptus

**Ahtman**

kenshin620 wrote:
They have 3 whole books

They have one whole book, one playtest book they have brought to GenCon for many many years, and minis for the other but no real book, playtest or otherwise, for it. I think they may have some art assets for it they have shown, but that is about it. I check the booth every year at GenCon and it hasn't changed in 4 years at least.

**kenshin620**

Ah my mistake. They have do only have full 1 book. I thought they had a book for each of their wargods line

AT

Aegyptus was a fun game, I really enjoyed it. We usually it as a diversion when we got sick of 40k or something, but it was always a fun time.

Assumed they were dead and gone, but apparently just dormant! A quick googling finds their Kickstarter News forum, which has a distinct absence of news: https://www.crocodilegames.com/forum/board.cfm?boardID=40

**Darth Bob**

I'd totally be game for a Crocodile Games kickstarter. I love their range and Aegyptus is super fun, but the lack of updates is killing me! Excited to see what they're going to put out.

**silent25**

kenshin620 wrote:
Piston Honda wrote:
I thought they died ages ago.

Well they're pretty much dead at the moment. They only had a few sporadic releases over the least year

Isnt another attributed cause to their downfall is the rapid expansion of their games? They have 3 whole books, though I'm not sure the hyperborean one is as fleshed out as their aegyptus

Their downfall/dead period was due to Chris Fitzpatrick trying to play games with the US and UK government over taxes, aka not paying them. Stems from his time when he was working in the UK for GW.. The IRS caught up with a few years ago and he has been trying get out from underneath it. Chris mentioned it in the New Years 2012 post on the CG forum that he was having tax problems and several of the guys who play the game at my FLGS and know him personally clarified it.

Sounded like he was almost out of the woods and trying to rev things back up.

*edit* just to clarify before GW bashers jump in. GW had zero involvement in this. It was Chris failing to report income to the IRS by saying he was working in the UK and paying taxes to to the UK.

**Gamingdog**

silent25 wrote:
kenshin620 wrote:
Piston Honda wrote:
I thought they died ages ago.

Well they're pretty much dead at the moment. They only had a few sporadic releases over the least year

Isnt another attributed cause to their downfall is the rapid expansion of their games? They have 3 whole books, though I'm not sure the hyperborean one is as fleshed out as their aegyptus

Their downfall/dead period was due to Chris Fitzpatrick trying to play games with the US and UK government over taxes, aka not paying them.

wow that's pretty damning. I heard he had some tax problems but I had no idea he maliciously and willfully didn't pay his taxes. I has assumed it was some kind of clerical error where he dutifully paid his taxes but later found out the amount paid was wrong. The government(s) can be hard nosed and unforgiving about fines and penaltys if they feel payments are in error. when it comes to taxes what the government says goes and individuals have little recourse

back to the op

I hope this kickstarter is successful. hopefully it gets him out of trouble with the feds and the game generates more interest and I hope plastics are involved too.

**silent25**

Gamingdog wrote:

wow that's pretty damning. I heard he had some tax problems but I had no idea he maliciously and willfully didn't pay his taxes. I has assumed it was some kind of clerical error where he dutifully paid his taxes but later found out the amount paid was wrong. The government(s) can be hard nosed and unforgiving about fines and penaltys if they feel payments are in error. when it comes to taxes what the government says goes and individuals have little recourse

back to the op

I hope this kickstarter is successful. hopefully it gets him out of trouble with the feds and the game generates more interest and I hope plastics are involved too.

He tired to be an international accountant and play the two codes off each other and minimize his taxes. When the IRS called him on it several years later, it went south. Didn't sound malicious, just more poorly thought out.

Realize my initial post sounds more accusatory than it should be.

**cincydooley**

spaceelf wrote:
.

Given that their stuff is all metal, it is not that expensive. You get 10 man squads for 36 bucks. This is less than goldswords, and they are plastic.

For me it isn't the expense. It's simply not wanting to deal with metal anymore. :-)

**RatBot**

Yeah, I would absolutely love to see Wargods stuff in plastic, especially because pretty much every non-specialist model in-game can take any weapon or armor in the rulebook. So while the rules encourage customization, it's a pain to actually do it with metal.

**cybogoblin**

If the Kickstarter involves re-releasing the existing range in plastic or restic, I'll find it very hard to resist. I've been tempted by this game for a while now, but having to carry around so much metal really put me off.

**kenshin620**

Updated top post with info

cybogoblin wrote:
If the Kickstarter involves re-releasing the existing range in plastic or restic, I'll find it very hard to resist. I've been tempted by this game for a while now, but having to carry around so much metal really put me off.

Their post didnt seem to indicate any remaking. Just new stuff

**jah-joshua**

the Trojan looks great...
i have a bunch of their Spartans and Myceneans, and they are awesome sculpts...
as much as i like the Egyptian influence, it's the Greeks that make me want to paint...

best of luck to the Croc crew on this project...

cheers
jah

**deleted20250424**

Commander Cain wrote:
If they did a ks to make all their current stuff resin or plastic I would be all over it. I have often wanted to make a Thousand Sons allied daemon force with all that Egyptian themed goodness...

I did this years ago, only it was my Tomb Kings army.

They make really nice stuff.

**silent25**

Talking with my source close to Crocodile, Fitzpatrick is going to be coming out both guns blazing. Don't expect any of this "here are some concepts" stuff most the KS are doing. He has a large number of greens already done and sounds like they are putting his old stuff to shame.

**Commander Cain**

So no new Aegyptus stuff then? Shame, Trojan looks great though!

**AlexHolker**

Amazons would be nice, but not in metal.

**Vertrucio**

To be honest, it'll take more than a kickstarter to revive the game. Can't really get in to a game that no one plays, and everyone thinks is dead.

Consolidate the damn books into 1 volume, get some more variety in units than weapon swaps.

Oh and get the long ago promised skirmish version out.

**Rayvon**

Quite a fan olf these chaps, I would be up for it if its decent.

**jgemrich**

New minis and a rule book...no thanks.

I think this KS is missing the mark. They should look to convert the existing range to a cheaper (relative) to produce and easier to consume material. The KS should build infrastructure for this possibility. Give PDF of old rules with KS as bonus. New rule and units could be a second KS in 12 months. Just my opinion. Love the sculpts and own a couple but I'd never buy into the game. All metal skirmish games is sooo 2004 (looking at you too dark age).. All metal battle games? Only in 15mm thank you.

**tre manor**

Guys I really don;t think ti is fair to speculate as to whether or not Fitz purposely tried to cheat on his taxes. For all you know he did in fact follow the codes top the best of his ability. People make honest tax mistakes all the time.

I am REALLY glad top see this happenign as War Gods was the second big attraction to Miniatures after Celtos for me. If that sculpt is any indication fo what he has in store then I am REALLY lookign forward to the WG KS!!

Rock on Fitz!