Robotech Kickstarter Funded at $1.44 Million!

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**Mike1975**

I finished up a skirmish to write up. Should finish this week.
https://drive.google.com/folderview?id=0B0VSNzmthd1vV05jTTFGc2s1cms&usp=sharing

**warboss**

Thanks for the review, Mike. I'll have to take a look at it tomorrow.

I just got my end of a Robotech minis trade today and I think we will have a problem when it comes to those really thin limb sections on zentraedi models. I'm not sure how the strength of resin compares to their plastic but I had two very well packaged and padded Miriya minis sent to me including one that was assembled. The assembled one arrived with BOTH arms broken at the elbow and those limbs from the pics look to be about the same size if not a tiny bit bigger than the Glaug arms. I'll have to take a look on the sprue pics and see if the glaug arms are hollow to make matters even worse (not sure... but the resin though was solid and still snapped).

**Mike1975**

I've uploaded a bit more, I hope to finish during the week.

**warboss**

Any chance you can do squeeze in some Qraus? Also, I hate to keep harping on hover...

"hover allows units to ignore rough terrain as they move over it"

If a hover unit ENDS its movement in rough terrain that grants cover (which it ignored due to the above for its own movmement), does it get the benefit both the hover and cover penalty to hit it? If so, I guess it is considered to have effectively "landed" after its move. An example of the type of rough cover would be dense rubble punctuated be the occasional broken wall partly remaining upright that is tall enough to grant the cover.

**Mike1975**

here is a list of scenarios and units that we created on the facebook page the other day

1. VF vs Attack
80 Points
VF Squadron with Nose Lasers 79 pts
vs
Attack Squadron 80 pts

2. Armored VT's vs Attrtition
Armored Vt Squadron 90 pts
vs
Attritions Squadron and Glaug 99 pts

3. Gnerls vs Ghosts and Lancers
Gnerl Attack Squadrons x2 140 pts
vs
Ghost Squadron and Lancer Squadron 135 pts

4. Brawler vs Zen Infantry
Brawler and Super Vt Squadrons 280 pts
vs
Zen Light and Heavy Infantry Squadrons 284 pts
2 Artillery Support Squadrons
AttritionsSquadron
Glaug

5. YF-4 vs FPA
YF-4 Squadron 110 pts
vs
FPA Sqaudron 105 pts

6. Jotuns vs MPA
Jotun Squadron 105 pts
vs
MPA Squadron and MPA Squad support 105 pts

7. Super vs Arty Pods
Super Vt Squadron 110 pts
vs
Arty Pods Squadron and Scout and Glaug 109 pts

**Forar**

Those are indeed a variety of numbers that vaguely line up.

Why not work in the multiples of 150 that Palladium seems to expect, with the whole "must have 1 card per 150 points" rule?

150 points, 300 points ("roughly an hour long game), 450, 600 (a much longer afternoon long epic), etc?

Obviously the high levels become more and more uncertain as character and unit upgrades probably become more important and are lesser known, but 150/300 seem like good things to get comfortable sorting out.

**warboss**

Just in case Mike missed it on his mobile device, any word on the hover/cover interaction question I posted above?

**vitae_drinker**

Just in case people hadn't seen it, here's an article regarding an attorney general's office going after a Kickstarter that reneged on delivery.

http://www.geekwire.com/2014/attorney-general-asylum-playing-cards-crowdfunded-project/

**Mike1975**

warboss wrote:
Just in case Mike missed it on his mobile device, any word on the hover/cover interaction question I posted above?

I will check, I know I asked for clarification, or it might already be in the rules.

Automatically Appended Next Post:

Forar wrote:
Those are indeed a variety of numbers that vaguely line up.

Why not work in the multiples of 150 that Palladium seems to expect, with the whole "must have 1 card per 150 points" rule?

150 points, 300 points ("roughly an hour long game), 450, 600 (a much longer afternoon long epic), etc?

Obviously the high levels become more and more uncertain as character and unit upgrades probably become more important and are lesser known, but 150/300 seem like good things to get comfortable sorting out.

Point is to do a few games and show the units off. That is why there is such a variety. 150 points even would add a squad or two and make the playthroughs take longer. Maybe after I get through these.

Note rules say at least one Force Card/Squadron per 150 points. You can do a single squadron for 60 points or one for 200 if you beef it up with squads and specials. Rules do not say you have to use exaclty 150 points. I beleive that the idea is to not permit 2 super Squadrons that add up to 450 points on the table.

Per the Preview rules

Minimum Requirements

To prevent a player from fielding a single, incredibly huge and unbalanced squadron as his entire army there are two simple requirements that must be followed when putting together an army for Robotech® RPG Tactics™ beyond the point limit.

1. You must field a minimum of two core force cards for a standard game.
2. For every 150 points you field, you must include at least one core force card.
Note: That the minimum two core force cards in a standard game are included in this calculation, so a 450 point game would require three core force cards total.

Automatically Appended Next Post:

vitae_drinker wrote:
Just in case people hadn't seen it, here's an article regarding an attorney general's office going after a Kickstarter that reneged on delivery.

http://www.geekwire.com/2014/attorney-general-asylum-playing-cards-crowdfunded-project/

We may get there but right now we are far from a refusal to deliver product.

**Platuan4th**

Morgan Vening wrote:
Platuan4th wrote:
Ah, ok.

Well, we'll see in 100(though I don't have faith in their ability from the past).

And if they do, you've got to be concerned too.

For the most part, the deadline pushbacks have been "We want to assure quality*, even if it takes longer". Now it's "It'll be at GenCon, guaranteed!**". It's two contradictory design principles, and given the status of the Valkyrie (as of the last update, they still hadn't SEEN the Pre Production Prototype, but it's already in sprue layout. Even if they approve it immediately***, and the mold is milled immediately***, and the test sprues are pressed immediately***, and shipped immediately***, and approved again, immediately*** (and that's assuming Harmony Gold don't need/want/require to stick their beaks in), that still puts middle of May beyond reach, unless they're willing to start the molding before everything to be molded is properly approved. So barring a horrific issue (like missing a leg), it's likely going to get rubberstamped because a delay here would be problematic.

* Quality is arguable. I don't mind the Regult Pods for the most part, though some of the parts seem excessive. But the RDF stuff looks gak so far.
** Not actually guaranteed.
*** For any defined value of immediately. Given that "immediately" in PB-speak doesn't correlate to general usage.

Remember, they've had the Artillery Pod for over a week already, and apparently haven't assembled it to test fits of the various components. Screw it actually be put together properly, making sure the pegs on the torso fit into the holes in the legs so we don't have a crapload of models that can't be put together. Given it's a single figure, it should have been fit-assembled, put together, and frikkin painted in a week, along with photos of the journey. PB have a timetable that most (including themselves) aren't taking seriously.

Glad to see my money's in such good hands. Wish it wasn't.

Sooo many Asterisks...

Yeah, I see your point. I've basically written off the money(sad) because I don't plan on seeing it in any time frame where I'd actually be able to work on it, much less play it. I forsee it sitting around unassembled like my Sedition Wars Lights Out clear and glowy figs(I'm not gonna assemble them until I start painting everything and thus their bases, which looks like it's never gonna happen).

**Forar**

... please tell me you were laying that out for the rest of the readers again, Mike. I'm well aware of the "1 card per 150, but not necessarily exactly 150 per card" aspect.

**warboss**

Mike1975 wrote:

To prevent a player from fielding a single, incredibly huge and unbalanced squadron as his entire army there are two simple requirements that must be followed when putting together an army for Robotech® RPG Tactics™ beyond the point limit.

Is that copy pasted from the rules, Mike? or have you been replaced by the overzealousR podTM people?!?

**Mike1975**

That was copied and pasted from the Beta rules they released during the KS.

**Forar**

It'll be interesting to see how popular it is to hit the 'breakpoints', or go above/below them.

Like, does 150/300 become the 'standard', or is it more popular to use off set numbers like 225 or 325 or 295, etc. Obviously this'll shift from group to group, probably with local metas developing, but IF (I know, big if) there's a tournament scene in any real sense, it wouldn't surprise me if that began to settle into some kind of pattern.

**Mike1975**

https://drive.google.com/folderview?id=0B0VSNzmthd1vV05jTTFGc2s1cms&usp=sharing

**fruitlewps**

From Kevin's most recent update:

UPDATE: Penguicon

I think Penguicon was more fun than any of us anticipated. Sales were decent, my panel talks were all filled to capacity, and people loved the previews of Rifts® Northern Gun™ Two and Robotech® RPG Tactics™. Penguicon is a unique event as it started out as a Linux/computer oriented convention that has grown to include science fiction, gaming and other elements. It’s a pretty nice event, and I was honored to be a featured guest. (I was a Guest of Honor 10 or 12 years ago, so it has been a while since I last attended the convention.) Jeff Burke, Chuck Walton and I were at Penguicon all three days. Alex helped out Saturday afternoon and evening. All four of my panel talks went well and people seemed to enjoy themselves.

EVERYONE loved the Robotech® RPG Tactics™ prototype game pieces and painted game pieces on display. Jeff ran a few demos and seemed to be enjoying himself doing so. The next day he mentioned to me that he forgot how much fun people have playing the game. We all forgot to take photographs, because we were too busy talking with fans. I think it was a very nice change of pace for all of us, and especially fun to see so much enthusiasm and appreciation for the Robotech® game pieces. “Amazing,” was the most common refrain, along with many comments about the detail and quality. My personal favorite comment was, “Perfect. They are absolutely perfect.” I don’t know if I’d go so far as to call them perfect, but they are damn gorgeous. The Ninja Division sculptors did an outstanding job capturing the mecha from the show, and the Ninjas are making sure the manufacturer holds the detail and makes these Robotech® game pieces the detailed and accurate pieces we’ve promised. I was surprised by the number of Kickstarter backers who stopped by to see and praise the pieces on display and flip through the rule book. All walked away smiling and happy. It was very gratifying, and I was pleased to be able to thank them in person for their support.

And:

UPDATE: Robotech® RPG Tactics™

Things continue to move forward on Wave One going into manufacturing as we nail down final details and await final sprues and samples for our inspection and approval. We’ve just received photos from China of the long awaited Valkyrie game pieces and should get prototypes by the end of next week. When we do, we’ll take photos and post them.

As noted above, I am happy to report that people who saw the game pieces at Penguicon were delighted with them. I was especially pleased by the positive response by the couple of dozen Robotech® RPG Tactics™ Kickstarter Backers, all of whom were very happy with what they saw. It was fun and rewarding to see people so happy with everything, though the Defender, Phalanx, Monster, Zentraedi Recovery Pod, Fighter Pod and Female Power Armor appeared to be the crowd-pleasers among the Penguicon crowd. Even one of the other vendors who knew nothing about Robotech® thought the game pieces looked great and said he was going to buy a Monster when they became available in the stores. Funny.

There's a whole lot of "OMG EVERYONE THOUGHT THEY WERE SOOOOO PERFECT AND AWESOME!!" and not ONE pic, or proof of anyone actually saying any of this. You would think with all the negativity they've been getting with this lately that they would take some pics of how "perfect" they are looking.

**warboss**

There are some pics posted earlier in the thread but I agree that the circus barker "step right up" routine rings quite hollow. Every loved it and it was going swimmingly all last year right up until they started to push back the delivery date repeatedly. It's a good thing that they went to a con for Linux users but skipped the biggest tabletop only con for the year that Robotech's debut was a big part of last year. It's quite telling how much the reception has changed from last year when ND showed off the minis at GAMA and Adepticon to this year's palladium effort of couldn't be bothered to care minis presentations at GAMA and Penguincon.

**Triple9**

Everything Kevin writes rings of overcompensation and a feeling that if he repeats something often enough, it will make it true. If he just replaced Everyone with most or quite a few or something that encompass 100%, I could take him more seriously.

**Mike1975**

Game 1 basically compete

https://drive.google.com/folderview?id=0B0VSNzmthd1vV05jTTFGc2s1cms&usp=sharing

Game 2
2. Armored VT's vs Attrtition
Armored Vt Squadron 90 pts
vs
Attritions Squadron and Glaug 99 pts

Then
3. Gnerls vs Ghosts and Lancers
Gnerl Attack Squadrons x2 140 pts
vs
Ghost Squadron and Lancer Squadron 135 pts

4. Brawler vs Zen Infantry
Brawler and Super Vt Squadrons 280 pts
vs
Zen Light and Heavy Infantry Squadrons 284 pts
2 Artillery Support Squadrons
AttritionsSquadron
Glaug

5. YF-4 vs FPA
YF-4 Squadron 110 pts
vs
FPA Sqaudron 105 pts

6. Jotuns vs MPA
Jotun Squadron 105 pts
vs
MPA Squadron and MPA Squad support 105 pts

7. Super vs Arty Pods
Super Vt Squadron 110 pts
vs
Arty Pods Squadron and Scout and Glaug 109 pts

**Alpharius**

Well, after the reaction to photographs the last time around, I have to say the whole "We all forgot to take photographs" line this time doesn't quite seem...right?

**jacobus**

From the latest Palladium update:

"Gen Con Indy is going to be the premier convention event for Palladium Books this year. A large booth, special display, a ton of product including Robotech® RPG Tactics™, and all our role-playing games and sourcebooks, art prints, original art, and all kinds of good stuff. There will also be many Palladium creators available at the booth throughout the convention to chat and sign autographs, including writers Brandon Aten, Matthew Clements, Carl Gleba, Carmen Bellaire, Mark Oberle (tentative), me (Kevin Siembieda), Palladium staffers like Wayne Smith and Jeff Burke, and artists including Nick Bradshaw, Mike Leonard, Chuck Walton, and others. And it looks like there will be 50+ Palladium Books RPG events in the official Gen Con program. My heartfelt thanks to the Megaversal Ambassadors spearheading this project, as well as the Game Masters volunteering to run so many events for our many game lines. Awesome.

Palladium Books Gen Con Highlights:

50+ RPG gaming events in a dedicated area. More than 3x the number of games ever at a Gen Con. Sign up when you can and make us look good.
Large exhibitor booth and special display.
Robotech® RPG Tactics™ products and demos.
Role-playing game products galore: Rifts®, Robotech®, Splicers®, Palladium Fantasy®, Heroes Unlimited™, Nightbane®, Dead Reign™, Beyond the Supernatural™, Ninjas and Superspies™, After the Bomb® and all the rest.
Special edition books, prints and original artwork.
Get autographs, chat and have a blast.
Palladium creators already committed to appear: Kevin Siembieda, Wayne Smith (editor), Jeff Burke (artist & staffer), Chuck Walton (artist), Nick Bradshaw (artist), Mike Leonard (artist), Brandon Aten (writer), Matthew Clements (writer), Carl Gleba (writer), NMI (online admin and MA), Gary Miller (MA Coordinator and the Palladium Onsite Gaming Event Coordinator at Gen Con), and others may be added; subject to changes and addition. "

So is Kevin basically saying they're screwing their backers, or is he doing the jazz hands thing again?

**Mike1975**

I doubt the basic box set will be good to go. More likely they will have some more minis to sell off. Possibly the Zentraedi command box with the Glaug, Scout, and Recovery Pod or some Destroids or Battlepods

**Forar**

That'd be like FFG selling X-Wings and TIE Fighters but not the core box.

It's possible they'll follow that route, but I'd be surprised. They aren't just selling models, they're trying to entice people into the game overall. Not having the rules, or having all the pieces only for sale separately and no core box would be weird.

... which is kind of PB's MO, so maybe there's something to that after all.

I highly doubt nearly as many people are going to pay nearly $40 for a box of miniatures without any manner of actually playing the game, and if they have the wave one expansions there but no core boxes (and maybe the rules for sale, as WRRD alluded to), then they're just hoping to sucker people in on strictly the expensive stuff.

**Krinsath**

At the same time, nostalgia is a powerful seller and some people might pick up the models without regard for the rules.

It's not a smart idea to sell without the core box, but Palladium isn't known for being that bright.

**Mike1975**

A mini starter box, rules, some Destroids and Pods. Call it a GenCon exclusive look, voila

**warboss**

Mike1975 wrote:
A mini starter box, rules, some Destroids and Pods. Call it a GenCon exclusive look, voila

Don't they already have a name for that?

Pledge $80 or more

 102 backers

FIRST CONTACT: All First Contact backers receive a copy of the Robotech® RPG Tactics™ boxed game.
Estimated delivery: Dec 2013
Add $30 USD to ship outside the US

**Mike1975**

The starter box has Veritechs and more. I'm thinking more like 6+ Battlepods, one Glaug, and some Destroids since the Veritechs appear to not be ready yet. I could be wrong though. That would at least give people something to buy and chew on until the rest is done and make PB some $. Have 6 Battlepods (3 Sprues), a Glaug and Scout (1 Sprue, I think) and that would be an Attack Squadron with a Scout or about 95 points and then 6 Destroids (3 Sprues) or 2 Tomahawks, 2 Defenders, and 2 Spartans or 95 points and you'd have enough for a small battle and it's be something to get attention or as a teaser until the rest is ready.

**Forar**

Point of order; Battlepods are 3 to a sprue.

Banking on nostalgia and not having VTs would probably be a mistake.

Also, really transparent on the "hope the Battletech fans bail us out".

**Mike1975**

7 Total Sprues
Faction Cards x2 Zen and UEDF
Rules
Force Cards=Attack Squadron, Scout, Area Denial or Brawler, Defender Squad or Spartan Squad = 4+
4 or 8 Dice half for each faction
Small enough that Command Tokens can be left out and Blast markers too.

Automatically Appended Next Post:
Just an idea, somehow I think rumors in the KS comments and elsewhere that the Veritech is not ready yet may be the key to this all.

**Bob the Accountant**

I'm so sick of PB and and their gak. My 12 year old nephew has more character than these guys. The second my stuff actually arrives it's getting sold to the owner of my FLGS. I can't help but get angry every time I look at one of their updates.