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Have to say, I am getting a strong Zombicide vibe from these "survivors." Come on, Mantic -- stick to the cards!

The new Mantic newsletter has given the start time (maybe the OP could update the title?)

Don’t miss the start of the Mars Attacks Kickstarter on the 4th October at 13:30pm BST/05:30 PST/08:30 EST.

We’ll have specially discounted pledge levels for our early backers on launch, in highly limited quantities only -

you won't want to miss out, bookmark www.marsattacksthegame.com now!

I like the woodland scenics tree kits. Its plastic I think wrapped around wire so you can pose them. Then you spray them with glue and dunk into their clump foliage. Looks good and they're quick... foliage falls off sometimes but you can save that to make bushes

These look fun, hopefully they have a bunch of scenarios for their characters.

Looks like the sweet spot pledge level this time around will be called "Invasion".

Same format as Deadzone as far as Early Birds go.

I can definitely see myself playing some Deadzone survival games using these civvies and the plethora of zombies I got from the Deadzone KS. These new civillian characters are really giving me more of a Left 4 Dead vibe than an alien invasion vibe.

You can already do that, if you like, with Zombicide miniatures. They're practically the same aesthetically. :(

Breaking the NPCs into "survivors" does have a zombie game feel. I personally don't care as I do not own any such games myself. Maybe they'll have a normal, boring guy as a stretch goal? Kind of surprised by how many there are, actually... even before we've started and begun crushing stretch goals. Again, doesn't matter to me, I could use some contemporary civilians.

I'm fine with contemporary civilians -- I don't want them armed with crossbows, however.

Hrmmm. That *is* a good point. Where did the kid even get a crossbow, wasn't he tagging some building before he got pulled in by the police woman? Hrmmm. Oh well, it raises an eyebrow but I can live with it for now.

 GrimDork wrote:
Where did the kid even get a crossbow, wasn't he tagging some building before he got pulled in by the police woman? Hrmmm. Oh well, it raises an eyebrow but I can live with it for now.

What's a deadly projectile weapon you can go into a sporting goods store and buy without any kind of waiting period? Yup, it's a crossbow.

I can't tell if this is childish or clever.

I'm gonna go with funny. Not sure if it quite ranks clever, but it is definitely funny.

Also nice to finally see a picture of the backs of the figures.

~Eric

Can't blame the Martians for being thorough. It's like they're all stopping to admire their handiwork.

Storefront is too large for a current GW store though.

Haha, that's awesome.

Too funny!

Love it!

Brilliant if you ask me

 MasterSlowPoke wrote:
I can't tell if this is childish or clever.

Well, they had it coming.

 Black Nexus wrote:
New pic from the FB page



one week to go...

That shot looks like the best promo image that Mantic have ever released. Everything looks exceedingly well done, from the sculpts to the paint to the layout and lighting. Shows what a licencor looking over your shoulder can do for Quality Control.

Almost enough to get me interested. But no Mars Attacks for me.

Too bad the game mat won't have that sweet texture, but they did do a really good job

 highlord tamburlaine wrote:

Cute. And actually an idea I'll probably steal if I ever make a bunch of modern urban buildings/ruins. All you need is the sign fragment, really...

Hahaha <3 Mantic, that's great. Getting more tempted to go in for a basic set of this despite not being a huge thing for me.

Another painted mini:

Yeah... mine won't look half that good, its really nicely done. The model under the paint looks pretty good on its own merits too though.

They "survivors" really are giving off a Zombicide vibe though, aren't they?

Instead of being attacked by zombies, they're being attacked by Martians

Zombies that shoot rainbow colored death rays though.

I wonder if the Martians will get access to their drill armed mutants at some point. Some of those guys in the cards would make for some great servitor proxies.

We still haven't seen any giant bugs, robots, or dinosaurs... and you know all that's coming down the road.

Wasn't there also mention of some shadowy secret government organization dedicated to fighting the Martians a la X-Com?

wilycoyote wrote:

I think it might be just a blatant use of a KS to get pre orders . Mantic paid for a licence from Topps and need a KS to use that to produce product, surely they had to demonstrate and show examples of what they were intending to get the contract? The KS will probably pile on extra minis etc - what price giant insects? - but this is basically funding a free no risk ride for Mantic.

Plastic miniatures have a high overhead cost for their metal molds, and Reaper said that the traditional three-tier system of retailer - distributor - manufacturer did not provide the overhead cash flow necessary to make them, so they turned to KS. KS lowers the barrier and risks of these overhead costs, so why not use it?

Also, distributors expect around 40% off MSRP, and there's no guarantee that they'll carry the game and all the miniatures made for the game. With KS, the number of units sold is guaranteed, with the KS and Amazon fees being 10%, plus shipping costs. KS certainly does put much much more risk onto the consumer than, say, an OLGS purchase, but, in return, the product is sold to the consumer at a discounted rate.

What I do find interesting about Mantic's use of KS is to put out miniature skirmish *base* games and expansions. AFAIK, In the past, the miniature skirmish strategy was to put all of the company's resources behind one system (cf. Warhammer 40K), and each company only had one or two such systems. Mantic and CMON are pretty much pumping out one game system after another. I do know that the number of game designs is in far excess of the number of published games, so maybe all these game systems are just a more accurate reflection of how many game systems designers *want* to put on the market, vs. the conventional three-tier which reflects how many game systems companies are *able* to put on the market.

Reaper's gonna take all my money (again) but I'd like to see the MA boardgame version!

 Azazelx wrote:
They "survivors" really are giving off a Zombicide vibe though, aren't they?

Absolutely yes! This will be a plus for Zombicide fans, of course, but I don't think it does much for the Mars Attacks property. I would have liked to see some more "square" looking civvies, a la the cards (even the new cars, apparently).

I'm almost going from uninterested in this completely, to interested in getting the survivors to proxy into Zombicide...

Remember these painted figures are masters

while it's to be hoped the final Restics (or even perhaps styrene sprues) live up to the quality shown

it's not certain