Mantic Mars Attacks Kickstarter - Completed! - $558,076 final total.

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**CptJake**

Probably just me, but those ants look bad. I know they are 'mutated' but they look more like some sea creature/lobster critter than ants. Giant ants would be okay. These things? Not sure one would be too bad, but I sure do not feel like buying multiples.

If we got info about their use in the game making multiples the way to go, I suspect I would just skip out on them and not feel bad. The design just doesn't do it for me. Maybe they look like that in the comic or movie (neither of which I have seem yet).*

*I suspect I'll be in the minority, and that the super MA fans will tell me why I'm wrong.

**scarletsquig**

Interestingly, Flying Frog Productions (the makers of that Cthulu cowboy game that is apparently all the rage right now) already made a Mars Attacks knock-off board game, one of the minis is shown on the ks page:

Complete with clear helmets:

**highlord tamburlaine**

Invasion from Outer Space is a cool game. You've got the circus versus aliens!

It plays pretty similar to Last Night on Earth (Flying Frog's zombie game), and they're both interchangeable. You could have a 3 way with Invaders vs Humans vs Zombies too!

I wouldn't be surprised if my IfOS guys give the MA Martians a bit of fire support.

**Azazelx**

SoB is doing well right now, but there's a bit of a controversy about their all-in-one level. Anyway, thread for that one is over here:
http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/559369.page

**overtyrant**

Wow, those martians from FFG are horrendous!

**highlord tamburlaine**

Eh, they aren't that bad in person. They're single mold plastic figures. They look like toys more than anything else in my opinion.

Also bear in mind they're made by a board game company, not a minis manufacturer. Hell, the zombie in that shot looks worse than the Martian.

If Mantic put stuff like that out then yeah, we'd most certainly have a problem.

Still not understanding the mass exodus of money. We're starting to see some THON like backsliding!

Hopefully they all come back in the end- THON too!

**BobtheInquisitor**

You guys all realize that Prodos just announced their Aliens VS Predator Kickstarter, right? It's going to start soon, and the images they've posted make Mars Attacks look like...well, that Flying Frog game. That's probably where the money's going.

Either that or a lot of people just received their Men at Arms and metal Dreadball teams.

**Azazelx**

That makes sense. I didn't realise they were moving to market so quickly. I started following the AVP thread initially, but then I went to bed and it was up to 6 pages, then got back from work and it was 36 pages...

**Joyboozer**

Azazelx wrote:
That makes sense. I didn't realise they were moving to market so quickly. I started following the AVP thread initially, but then I went to bed and it was up to 6 pages, then got back from work and it was 36 pages...

Apparently there's a risk they'll use the wrong alien! We could could end up with ET vs Predator or something!

Speaking of which, those ants have too many legs. Deal breaker!

**Riquende**

Blimey, every time I look at it it's gone down another $1000. What happens? The stretch goals get un-stretched?

I've been planning to drop down about $100 but now I'd feel bad about contributing to the decline...

**scarletsquig**

BobtheInquisitor wrote:
You guys all realize that Prodos just announced their Aliens VS Predator Kickstarter, right? It's going to start soon, and the images they've posted make Mars Attacks look like...well, that Flying Frog game. That's probably where the money's going.

Ah, you mean that thread where you've just spent the best part of 30 pages complaining about the sculpts?

**OrlandotheTechnicoloured**

Riquende wrote:
Blimey, every time I look at it it's gone down another $1000. What happens? The stretch goals get un-stretched?

I've been planning to drop down about $100 but now I'd feel bad about contributing to the decline...

1. It seems like lots of people have been camping on multiple pledges (not too surprising with such a confused campaign in terms of what level will give best value)

and now they're dropping their extras

2. Growing worry about quality with Mantic unwilling/unable to show Deadzone retail sculpts (as opposed to resin masters) after deserved criticism over KoW and Dreadball

3. The (possible) scenery which was apparently a big draw has turned out to be disappointing/not as usefull in other games/not as varied as expected

4. It's the new KS way, all the recent campaigns big and small (Darklands 2, Shadowseas, Impact Asian Chibis etc) I've followed have had far more drop outs than earlier

5. This has been a really long campaign (45 days?) , more time for people to realise they've been carried away

**CptJake**

In regards to your third point, I really don't think Mantic put much effort into showing off the terrain or explaining what you are actually getting. It seems it was an afterthought. Heck, there is a $5 'urban accessory' set (also included in the game box I think) for which the contents areTo Be Determined. What you can and cannot make with a set of the ruins or the (I think still locked) not ruined sets is really an unknown.

Hard to get excited and want to throw money at terrain from what we know.

**Aeneades**

I think the BOB pledge level really damaged this campaign. It's down to around $476.5k now. Don't think I have ever seen a kickstarter project have such a bad stagnation in the middle leading to a massive decline. Where as shadows of brimstone has suffered a little slowdown but still increasing at a nice rate each day even though it uses a similar funding system for the higher pledges.

I can only really justify backing one large project at the moment and unfortunately Shadows of Brimstone is more appealing to me especially as a completist (Getting enough vehicles for mars attacks was going to end up costing a small fortune where as my pledge with SOB is all inclusive).

Will be interesting to see what effect Aliens v Predator has on both campaigns if it launches in the coming week as it offers both a skirmish game and single player board game. If it launches the same day as Mars Attacks ends I can see it causing a lot of damage to this campaign.

**CptJake**

Aeneades wrote:
(Getting enough vehicles for mars attacks was going to end up costing a small fortune where as my pledge with SOB is all inclusive).

That is an interesting statement. I am not sure what forces are good/necessary/legal/fun for Mars Attacks. I have no clue how many trucks or saucers will be reasonable to field, or how many squads or the composition of the types of squads will be good.

That I think is part of the problem. Mantic is trying to sell large quantities of 'Stuff' in the pre-made add-on sets without letting us know the in game justification for the contents.

**Aeneades**

CptJake wrote:
Aeneades wrote:
(Getting enough vehicles for mars attacks was going to end up costing a small fortune where as my pledge with SOB is all inclusive).

That is an interesting statement. I am not sure what forces are good/necessary/legal/fun for Mars Attacks. I have no clue how many trucks or saucers will be reasonable to field, or how many squads or the composition of the types of squads will be good.

That I think is part of the problem. Mantic is trying to sell large quantities of 'Stuff' in the pre-made add-on sets without letting us know the in game justification for the contents.

We did ask Mantic to clarify how many we would need but they haven't yet. They mentioned some missions using up to 5 saucers so my thinking was that I would need 6 (5 for the Martians and 1 for Joe). I was going to go for 3 trucks and 3 robots (2 for the Martians, 1 for Joe). Mantic wouldn't confirm whether the weapons / vehicle modifications were interchangeable or if they would have to be glued which worried me quite a bit, as that would mean fewer options when playing.

I think just a little more information is required. With Deadzone it was much clearer until the very last day wen the last minute rush made things a little less transparent but until then Mantic really made the different addons understandable.

**Herzlos**

That's a fair point; I have no idea what the in-game utility of any of the stuff I'm (currently pledging for) as I was assuming the base box would be sufficient for gaming, and any extra pieces would be cool for other stuff (mostly the trucks).

**scarletsquig**

CptJake wrote:
Aeneades wrote:
(Getting enough vehicles for mars attacks was going to end up costing a small fortune where as my pledge with SOB is all inclusive).

That is an interesting statement. I am not sure what forces are good/necessary/legal/fun for Mars Attacks. I have no clue how many trucks or saucers will be reasonable to field, or how many squads or the composition of the types of squads will be good.

That I think is part of the problem. Mantic is trying to sell large quantities of 'Stuff' in the pre-made add-on sets without letting us know the in game justification for the contents.

Draft points values are now up on quirkworthy:

http://quirkworthy.com/2013/11/05/mars-attacks-draft-points-values/

So, Humanity’s noble defenders first:

9-man US Army squad (includes Sergeant and 2 SAWs): 6
Missile launcher: 3
Patriot (MG): 3
Patriot (ray): 5
6-man Novas Vira squad: 9
Heroes: 2-5 each (priced individually)

And the Martian invaders:

General Tor: 5
10-man Martian grunt squad: 10 (includes unit commander and freeze ray)
5-man Martian marines squad: 9
5-man Stealth Troops squad: 9
Saucer: 5
Robot: 10

**BobtheInquisitor**

scarletsquig wrote:
BobtheInquisitor wrote:
You guys all realize that Prodos just announced their Aliens VS Predator Kickstarter, right? It's going to start soon, and the images they've posted make Mars Attacks look like...well, that Flying Frog game. That's probably where the money's going.

Ah, you mean that thread where you've just spent the best part of 30 pages complaining about the sculpts?

I was complaining about people being mean to people complaining about the sculpts.

To be fair, the complaints were mostly not about the quality of the sculpts but about Prodos choosing the genegeneered alien-human clones from the worst film in the franchise, mostly, but I don't want to get into that in this thread.

**Black Nexus**

You guys all realize that Prodos just announced their Aliens VS Predator Kickstarter, right? It's going to start soon, and the images they've posted make Mars Attacks look like...well, that Flying Frog game. That's probably where the money's going.

They look like dross when compared to this...

**Aeneades**

That ant has too many legs!

**CptJake**

Aeneades wrote:
That ant has too many legs!

Add a better tail and call it a mutant lobster.

**Earth Dragon**

It also has claws.....what is your point? I don't think it is a true ant

**scarletsquig**

I think they called it a "Bug" specifically to avoid this debate. :p

Either way, very cool new update and addition to the $500k stretch goal, wasn't expecting the giant bug to be a freebie, will be very useful since the core game has a bug attack card.

Mantic Games wrote:
Update #59

Nov 5, 2013
Att-ack, Att-ack, Att-ack
17 comments
5 likes

We are really excited about the final run in – but after a great weekend we are having a tough time! Well sometimes you just have to man up – and at Mantic we are never frightened of honest feedback!

At Mantic we listen – and while we cannot always do exactly what everyone wants, we try and do the best we can in the circumstances. With this in mind we have added to the $500,000 stretch goal and we are going to bring the Bug and handler to the Kickstarter.

This means that at $500,000 we will tool the Giant Bugs – and to celebrate this huge milestone we will:

- Add 1 at The Invaders Arrive.

AND

- Add 3 to the Alien Abduction and BLOODSHED ON THE BATTLEFIELD, by including them in the Apocalypse Bundle.

You can then add 1 more for $10 or 3 for $20, and we'll unlock one in the Martian Attack Force.

We will still add the alternate Supreme Regent (Ambassador) model to all the pledges of $100 and up, and the alternative Martian Banner Bearer in all pledges of $300 and up – both of which will come with their own unique mission.

We have also reviewed the 1-click pledge for $300 level and we are able to add lots of extras to it.

On top of the contents of The Invaders Arrive we’d added in the Attack from Space figures, the burning cattle, Pilot Joe, the civilians and all the troops you need to build both your armies up to play full 4x4 battles – and at $500,000 you’ll get the 3 bugs! We will get a graphic up asap to show it all off.

We have been asked to make sure the next few stretch goals are really clear, allowing new backers to see how their pledge will help. From $500,000 through $550,000 we will add a heavy weapon option to the Novas Vira (they need something to kill those darn bugs) and more free figures to bulk out the units. If we are lucky enough to carry on further you’ll also get robot and bug variants!

We also received the render of the first Novas Vira today – we think he looks great – what do you think?

We have also got a new update from Jake about the rules and the point systems – here it is! You can read more and leave comments on his blog…

I hope the above helps bring on board many new backers over the coming days – and keeps everyone all ready with us involved.

Thanks for backing us, the journey so far has been incredible. Here’s to finishing it in style.

The anal probe martian that goes with it is rather nice too.

**RiTides**

When is that bug projected to ship? August like everything else, or later?

It's tempting for me to go in for $1 to order a 3-pack of them for $20.

However, I think I'll hold off and hope to see an actual cast of it before the pledge managers close, and get someone to add it on for me next year when I actually know if it turns out any good

. This worked out extremely well for me with KoW (thanks, timetowaste!) whereas with Dreadball when I got someone to add on for me immediately, I'm still not sure if the results will be worth it. Better to see the actual casts with Mantic, I think...

But man, the render is cool!

**scarletsquig**

Everything is scheduled for August, and that's a cautious estimate, they hope to beat it by a couple of months but are saying August 2014 to make sure they have time to sort out any problems that arise.

Worth noting that they *are* improving their processes. Even with the great sculptor they have on board currently (I really want to find out who this is, they're amazing), the first novas vira test sculpt was rejected and sent back for a resculpt.

**Thraxas Of Turai**

Ouch, currently at £472,000 and still dropping in spite of todays update. I don't doubt that the £500,000 will be broken, probably smashed come sunday, but the loss of funds is a bit weird. I am personally not going to back this, the IP is just not for me but in terms of concepts and renders I think this is Mantic's best work yet. I just hope they can meet the expectations (or at least the reasonable ones) of those that back this.

**highlord tamburlaine**

I can get a lot of game out of those bugcrabants.

Make good nasties for DeepWars.

Extra critters for Hadross forces in Wrath of Kings.

Send them after Marauders and Enforcers in Deadzone.

Use them as encounters for just about any RPG too.

Nice.

Will hopefully be able to get a few provided people stop pulling their pledges out.

**Taarnak**

scarletsquig wrote:

We also received the render of the first Novas Vira today – we think he looks great – what do you think?

Well, that's me out. I hate models that have scenery attached to them. With a passion. Kneeling would have looked good and would not have required the stupid concrete pillar to make the pose work.

I'll stay at $1 and cherry-pick a few things in the pledge manager, but the bulk of my cash will go the the aforementioned AvP Kickstarter.

~Eric

**CptJake**

It would be cool if they also made some about 1/3 to 1/2 that size to use as horde critters along side their bigger relatives.

Not sure if that would fit into the official Mars Attacks universe but it would look cool on the gaming table.

Automatically Appended Next Post:

Taarnak wrote:
scarletsquig wrote:

We also received the render of the first Novas Vira today – we think he looks great – what do you think?

Well, that's me out. I hate models that have scenery attached to them. With a passion. Kneeling would have looked good and would not have required the stupid concrete pillar to make the pose work.

I'll stay at $1 and cherry-pick a few things in the pledge manager, but the bulk of my cash will go the the aforementioned AvP Kickstarter.

~Eric

I agree about scenery and figures 100%

Just don't criticize that figure in the comments section...