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Yes, I hope so too!

I can't get past the first page using Safari, which is all I have on the computer I'm using right now. I click the darned 'continue' button and I swear I hear my computer laughing at me each time.

 JoshInJapan wrote:
I re-re-submitted my survey to get back down to the amount I originally pledged for, as part of my new, financially-responsible attitude toward gaming.

You guys put me to shame. I narrowed mine down to $20 over my original pledge and thought I was doing pretty good.

I really turned around completely on this one. I had no interest, then was interested only for the Deadzone stuff, then ended up getting a full Martian faction to use in Deadzone, and am now excited to get the final product.

I like the look of those production photos, but what I really want to see are the bugs.

Bugs, and giant stompy robot

Vermonter wrote:

I like the look of those production photos, but what I really want to see are the bugs.

GrimDork wrote:Bugs, and giant stompy robot

Oh come on now. Where is your sense of adventure? Pledge for a bunch of each of those sight unseen. What could possibly go wrong?

Oh I wasn't talking about quality concerns myself, I just wanted to see pictures so I can continue to be enthusiastic about them We've seen a decent chunk of the robot design, I just kind of wanted to see one printed out/produced and towering over everything else

Things are looking good! I'm glad I went in on this for ~1/3 of my Deadzone pledge (still a good amount heh), my ~7 yr old niece likes painting with me and the martians should tickle her fancy. Also nice and simple wargame to start her off with, she likes barebones dreadball too.

 Alpharius wrote:
I really should have done an "Azazelx" on this one.

And by that I mean "Pledge for a dollar to get access to the Pledge Manager Just In Case" and not the "Original Azazelx" of "Rage Pull My Pledge"!

Heh. I was in for the Comic-Con $300 deal here actually. - for scenery! I ended up mightily tempted by the $300 bundle though - and was seriously considering going for that PLUS a giant pile of terrain. As I wrote earlier tonight:

I finally worked out my pledge yesterday. I really didn't want to go much over my $300 pledge with $325 worth of stuff, so I decided to price out my scenery and then decide.My terrain wants - plus shipping - came to $185 over my already-paid pledge. So if I'd gone for the full MA experience, it'd have been a bill for $485. So in the end I decided I was better off to ditch the $300 1-click in the end and just go for scenery. $300 is a pretty hefty spend on an unplayed, untested boardgame based on an IP I'm not actually interested in at all (never liked MA), and with Mantic's ...uneven track record on the model side, it was too much to gamble on.

Now I need to work out what to do with DeadZone's final survey and DBX...

I forgot to talk to my better half on my pledge, and never actually submitted it.... oops

Submit it as soon as you can, I don't think it should be an issue.

I just got a confirmation email. However, I must say that the format is really annoying.

^Extremely. I'm kind of flabbergasted honestly. I realize they're growing, probably faster than previously possible thanks to kickstarter... but if Battle Systems ltd could spring for backerkit at a bit over half of what MA got to... I dunno how Mantic couldn't. BakerKit was like an online shopping cart with quantity boxes, a total that increased when you added stuff... so easy and crystal clear comparatively. I mean it's just a day or two of confusion and extra work to finish a survey, but 'twould be nice to avoid such a headache.

Pretty sure Mantic said they've developed their own in house one now, which they'll be using for DBX. As a web dev, I'm confident that it shouldn't be that costly to do, and since Mantic is a "KS company", well worth the up front cost to do so.

When will we be asked for payment if we submitted a pledge manager for more than the pledge total already paid?

 RiTides wrote:
When will we be asked for payment if we submitted a pledge manager for more than the pledge total already paid?

2 weeks later and still no word on this, right?

Edit: Just received this:

Mantic Games says:
Hi,

Sorry for the delay in getting back to you.

Invoices will be sent out in the middle of April.

Thanks for your support,

Chris!

I wonder if they're reading this thread . Either way, good to know, now I can plan for when the money will need to come out.

Even the way Mierce do it with store credit into their existing online store is a vast improvement over a google doc survey from Mantic. If their web developer tells them that it is hard to make a decent system then they need a new web developer.

When do people think we will actually see the KS start shipping? Trying to plan out my hobby workload for the next few months.

I imagine it'll ship in August and no earlier.

Thanks, that's a two month window I can use to fit something else in!

Hmm.. anyone know when Mars Attacks was planned for (webstore) release? I didn't go for the KS but was planning to get some when it officially launches.

 prowla wrote:
Hmm.. anyone know when Mars Attacks was planned for (webstore) release? I didn't go for the KS but was planning to get some when it officially launches.

The KS backers are supposed to get it in August 2014. Mantic is usually pretty good about being on time with their Kickstarters. They also have a track record of getting stuff to retail a week or so after the KS backers get theirs.

So, late August, early September. If you want it soonest, look for the pre-order on Mantic's site in August.

October is the official retail launch.

Some sites already have it for pre-order.

Got my Paypal invoice just now only owed $15 so it was a pretty straight forward order they've said it will take another week to get them all out

Got and paid my extra 30 bucks.

Then again I put a ton into the actual campaign, so it was nice to get a small survey invoice for once.

Kids and I are really looking forward to this one.

Game report it's in German but there are pictures including a few of the plastic scenery bits not not seen yet - there's a trolley in there, and cardboard boxes with baked bean cans

http://www.brueckenkopf-online.com/?p=106235

game pieces hmm pretty noticeable mold lines on the bases

Hoo boy...

I've been planning to paint them so I've always known I'd have to trim off any mold lines. Those are certainly noticeable but not monstrous.

The good news is, if they are anything like the mold lines on FFG's Gears of War figures, these will come off easily.

Here's a translation of what the author of the article said in the comments section about removing mold lines:


"I just trimmed my first model. This is very easy to do with a sharp knife, because it passes through the material like butter. However, scraping or scratching does not work; the material is too soft for that."


That matches my experience of trimming mold lines off of the Gears of War figures exactly.

The brain detail looks very soft to me. I think a lot of companies still haven't figured out how to communicate with sculptors the changes that need to happen when you move from digital to 1/56 scale stuff.

Boy, those German hobbyists are helpful!

The same author (Christian) has now posted a close consideration of the detailing on the Martian model. Let's get to it:

The original article in German (with good pictures): http://www.brueckenkopf-online.com/?p=106330

A loose English translation, with only a few pictures (I'd like to give the man credit and give his website some traffic):

Short Review of Mars Attacks Martians

Since some readers expressed doubt yesterday about the quality of the Mars Attacks Martian figures, we decided to put it to the test by painting one of the models.

The painting process proceeded normally. First, the test model was trimmed with a sharp cutter; you have to cut, as filing does not really work on this soft material . The cutting goes quickly and easily.

Trimming was followed by a layer of black lava paste on the base and a coating of white primer.



We used a thin coat of primer as we were concerned about washing out any details, but in fact the GW primer spray worked fine and we didn't have any problems. After that came the base coat, and then the washes. We used Badab Black on most of the figure, Sepia on the head, and Trakka Green on the head, boots, and gloves. Then we applied simple highlights with the base colors and slightly brighter versions.



When we finished, the model looked like this:



Overall, the painting took very little time to complete, and the whole thing was done quickly and without any problems. The limited details remind you of the design's comic book origins, but essentially there were no problems with details being too washed out. The head looks worse in the pictures than it does in person; here I would apply another wash.

And of course there is also a size comparison :



As you can see the Martian is slightly smaller than the other models, but it should still be useful for many settings.

Conclusion:

Overall, our conclusion is significantly more positive than originally expected. The details, which looked quite soft and washed out on the bare models, came out fine when painted, and the final model is very good for a board game and at least solid for a tabletop game.

(The article ends with a statement that they intend to conduct a similar paint test on the marines and heroes, but that this may take a while.)

They picked my least favorite Martian model to use as their example - I'm not a fan of the pose or the slack-jawed, goofy expression - and their final paint job on the brain and head, not to mention the poor placement of the helmet, don't do the model any favors. However, I am very encouraged by the detail evident in the picture of the figure after it's been ink washed.

Although the Martian is small relative to most of the other figures in the comparison shot, it scales reasonably well with the Sedition Wars soldier, and the Sedition Wars soldiers scale perfectly with Deadzone's human Rebs. The Martians are supposed to be about the same height as the human forces in Mars Attacks (although their alien proportions are deliberately different with longer legs, higher waist ,etc.) so if this picture is representative, it looks like Mars Attacks and Deadzone's humanoid figures should scale fairly well. Good news for those like me who plan to field Martian forces in DZ.

I can understand why some might not like what they see above - particularly the slipshod painted head and brain in the final image - but overall, it makes me hopeful.

Looks good to me

Thanks for sharing the article!