Battle Systems Terrain Kickstarter - Updates thread

Forum adverts like this one are shown to any user who is not logged in. Join us by filling out a tiny 3 field form and you will get your own, free, dakka user account which gives a good range of benefits to you:

No adverts like this in the forums anymore.
Times and dates in your local timezone.
Full tracking of what you have read so you can skip to your first unread post, easily see what has changed since you last logged in, and easily see what is new at a glance.
Email notifications for threads you want to watch closely.
Being a part of the oldest wargaming community on the net.

If you are already a member then feel free to login now.

**GrimDork**

Glad to hear they got you sorted out

Still gotta figure out what I'm doing

**DaveC**

new update

Important bit

It is likely that not all these add ons will be available as a full on purchasable product after May. We are not sure how we are going to release the retail versions, but Hulk, Infested Walls, Clean Walls were all KS requests. We may or may not have these in the future.

Project Update #42: White Copies...
Posted by Battle Systems Ltd ♥ Like

Happy New year to all and...

...You may dispense with the pleasantries commander, I'm here to put you back on schedule

Oh, ok then )

White Copies

So it's back to work for us (in fact work started again boxing day night. lol.) As promised this update will focus on the start of the manufacturing and pre-tool tests.

Before we make the now extensive range of tools required to cut your sets we have made a couple of test tools. These tools test that we can cut everything we want. The KS was moving pretty fast and we were pumping out the designs to meet the weekly update deadline we had set as a bar as we worked through it. To test the tooling we chose two tools to be manufactured in full. The main 'Walls' sheet as this would be the core of the product and so need to be bullet proof. Also the 'Room items' sheet as not only is this also a core sheet in the set, but one of the most complicated and hard to make.

Although we already had test tools made in April last year (we hurled at them our most complex tool at the time) we are always nervous when producing tools. We can confirm that apart from some minor adjustments the tools were exactly as we expected. )

Here are the two tools 'Walls' and 'Room Items'

The above picture shows both these test tools and you can see they are unprinted as we are just testing the fit... and it costs lots of money to set up the printing plates ;o) These sheets are set so that we can deliver what is needed in the right ratios for the KS, but also for the retail product when we get these to your local games shop D

Apology accepted Captain Needa...

The tool drawings are made by us and these are drawn by me (Colin, AKA "The Ginger Claw") then they are overlayed and checked by Wayne (AKA, many things), then sent back to me for checking before uploading to China for production. I used a slightly earlier version of the tool drawing when doing this for the Room Items and so one of the pieces was wrong... the Transfer Conduit... basically the top part was too long as it was based on an earlier design compared to the sides. See below pic... lol.

The top far end of this conduit should be bigger so that the slots are long enough to sit flush when assembled.

This is why we have the tools made and before we go to the full production run to fulfil all your lovely sets we will have tested every tool and even have a fully printed finished production set sent to us so we can basically play with it for a few days and test it works just fine... then we hit the print button.

All the parts slotted together )

Above a pic of some of the parts slotted together and in the tub (on the left) some fully printed versions from April last year.

Standard door

Up close and personal... V-Console

Top of the V-Consoles before they are pushed out of the sheet

Fit of the pieces...

The Walls sheet was fine and everything slotted together fine. The room items was nearly perfect except for a few alterations we need to make. Some of the slots were slightly smaller. This was not actually and issue and you can always make a slot bigger, but we will always go for perfection first... shoot for the stars and you get the clouds thrown in. ;o) All the parts slotted together fine and so we are confident as always.

Up close and personal - Cargo Crate

On the sheet...

When these sheets arrive to you they will be packed tightly together. All the components will be held in place by location 'nick cuts'. These cuts serve a few functions. First at the factory in China. When handing hundreds of thousands of sheets having bits drop out on every sheet is a nightmare and will cause massive delays as well as damaged sheets as they are not sitting flat when wrapped. Second there is no issue of parts falling out in transit from China to us and then onto you. What this means is that when you receive the sheets they will be in tip top condition and ready to pop out. For best results you can use a hobby knife and just let it cut the 'Nick' It's basically just like cutting your miniatures off the sprue... except there is no horrible flashing to clean up ;o) (Cool)

Post print and pre-cut drying...

Our manufactures are one of the best when it comes to printing and die-cutting. Early in the procurement phase we quizzed then about how they combat warping of the boards while shipping. They are experts in the industry and have a full post print and dehumidification process to prepare the sheets ready for stamping and also for shipping. This was just one of the factors that pushed us to pick them, even though they were not the best price we received. Hopefully we have done everything we can to combat this )

And so we push on...

Right now we are finalising the tools and finishing the artwork, soon China will have the tools and start construction. We actually tired to get you some pictures of the tools, but the method they use is quite secret and they did not want us to publish them publicly. lol

BackerKit...

By now you should all have your BackerKit invites. We had a few issue of people not getting theirs so check the junk mail folders (many found them in there) and just let us know if you have not received it. We are getting lots of orders of additional items, so grab them while you can. It is likely that not all these add ons will be available as a full on purchasable product after May. We are not sure how we are going to release the retail versions, but Hulk, Infested Walls, Clean Walls were all KS requests. We may or may not have these in the future.

Next major update...

We may well post small updates regarding BackerKit or general communications but the next major update planned so far will be - Clean and infested walls, as I should have them finished by then! ) This will be before we close the BackerKit so you can make an informed decision on what you are buying. This will be the same for the Bunker hopefully too )

Over and out for now

Colin & Wayne

**GrimDork**

Crap now I have to think even harder about what to order!

**RiTides**

Not me- apparently Hulk, Infested Walls, and Clean Walls were "KS requests" and may not be offered in the future... so that makes it easy for me to stick with my Hulk selection for my pledge

to make sure I get it while it's available.

**GrimDork**

I was going to get 1 of everything up to the clean/infested walls and then there was the bunker. So I've got to scrape together funds to make the bunker walls happen and then see what I'm looking at. I wasn't planning on doubling up anything as it was so now I've got to do some thinking =/

**Snrub**

I was sorely tempted to get some of the clean walls so I could make a medic station. The only thing that put me off was that I wouldn't know quite how many of those walls I'd need.

I'll probably end up picking some up when/if they go public and I have a better idea of how many I want.

**GrimDork**

The last update suggests they may not. Gonna have to look into a few.

**Snrub**

Hmm. That's disappointing.

**GrimDork**

Yeah survey is at a bad time for me gonna have to make a call though.

**DaveC**

Infested Walls sneak peek - there should be full update tomorrow

these are just the first run, the walls will have some damage too. ) already done some minor roughing up on some of the others.

If the infested walls ever make it to the shops we would look at the floors too. For now the plan is KS only, but if they do well we could expand

I have a version with the green secretion (shown) but also a more brown secretion too, not sure which direction it will go... but it will hit me in a day or two

just been doing some more touching up on these. Decaying the under wall a bit more and for some of the walls adding some more infestation.

Monday (KS Update) night I'll post all pics and you'll see that the infestation looks just about right. You can clearly tell the difference, but also it blends in well so you can have different areas blended in with infestation, or and entire area of your set up. Also the trick is to make the infestation work well with a multitude of different games, AvP or SWBA etc etc.

Then before the end of Jan (before we close the BK) We will also show more of the bunker set, as so far you have only seen part of what is included in the set. Also a video to explain the finer point of the main set, like what ramps are included in the additional ramps sheets and other info.

**GrimDork**

Makes me want to move some things around to afford at least a few of those walls..

**DaveC**

I guess no ones posted this due to the huge amount of pictures to link to

Update #43

Jan 13, 2014
Infested Walls... Yeah Baby!!!

"What the hell is this stuff?"

How we approached the design...

Born out of requests while the KS was running the Infested Walls are now done.

While designing the Battle Systems terrain we talked about many directions we could take and one of the ideas was to do some alien infested walls. It was something we thought we would get round to later in retail if there was any demand. After a few days into the KS though it was clear that it was something that everyone wanted.

The trick with infested walls is to draw them right. Too much in one style and it can limit the range of games they can be used for, too vague in style and they just don't look right. So a few sketches and concepts later we had the design.

Next was the texture. We wanted them to stand out so they had to be bold, but too bright or too much colour and they will look cartoonish. Too realistic looking and it would pull you out of the immersion of the game. We want to escape real life ;o) Also we wanted them to blend nicely with the walls so that you could have a few infested areas here and there, but also bold enough that it would look good if you covered half your base with them.

We decided that it would be best to have the infestation on every side of each wall. This allows you to really infest your base set without having to buy up large amounts of the wall sheets. We will most likely show this in a later update as part of a video. As you will be aware we also have a Clean Walls set, but these walls are quite different and so we will approach these in a different way. We will have some of the walls textures Clean one side, Standard original on the other. This will allow you to isolate the Clean textures into a room to a certain extent. More on this later. )

And the finished walls are...

So here they are. Rather than just draw and texture one side and then flip the image to the other side it became clear that organic life will need more variety. Space station walls need uniform designs and repetitive patterns otherwise it looks messy (we know we tried it), however repetitive organic stuff looks odd when it should be chaotic while it randomly works it way across the walls. So we put different arrangements of infestation on each side of the walls. This means that in one sheet of walls (3 Walls, 1 Door Wall and 1 Blast Door) you actually get a total of eight different infestation patterns. This is done on the ramps too. We have put different levels of infestation on the walls as well, only subtle, but we think it helps to break up the uniformity and so help the immersion.

Here are the pictures of the eight different arrangements of infestation.

So with infestation on both sides you can immerse yourself and have massive areas of your set up infested. Maybe you could have infested lower levels and the upper levels clean so you start your game on level 3 and have to work your way down.. into the lair )

Here are some pics of the walls in action. We only have time to prototype a small amount of walls so the shots are up close and personal. )

Clearly it all started from this clone chamber...

Ok so there you have it... Infested Walls. We will most likely not be manufacturing more of these as part of the first production run so grab them while you can.

BackerKit

About 70% of the backers who supported us have now logged into backer kit and confirmed their pledges, Add-ons, address details etc. If you have not done so yet (regardless of whether you want to add new items) you will need to log in and confirm your orders. Even if you just picked a Stronghold and want nothing else, you'll need to at least confirm your shipping address. So jump in have a look whats there and confirm whats needed )

PayPal

For those few that had pre-arranged to pay via PayPal (you know who you are), assuming you emailed us, we have your orders and will send out a PayPal invoice soon. Once we have done this and you have paid, we will update your BackerKit for you. )

Thats if for now, over the next few updates we will bring you - Clean Walls and what sides will be textured - The Bunker and what you can do with the ratios as the only set up photo we have showed you so far is not using all of what you get in the pack - A video explaining a few of the finer aspects of the set (like what you actually get in the additional ramps) so you know what and how many additional items to pick up before we close the BackerKit.

So thats it for now, hope you are all recovering nicely from the festive fun.

Over and out for now

Colin & Wayne

**GrimDork**

It looks damned good. I pretty much ave to get those now. Gotta finish my survey thingie, but I had to decide how much to spend, think I've about got it figured out now. Going to be so happy when this awesome stuff comes in

**Gerinako**

Nailed it down to 1 Hulk & 1 Stronghold, nearly bailed entirely as I need to buy a house this year. But I know it'll bring some good gaming, can use Deadzone rules for it etc and they only cost $10. & use existing mini's I own.

Be worth it.

Plus getting paid for unused holiday days so that'll pay for it nicely.

Think I'm going to get some large plastic containers to store them in from B&Q/DIY Shop

**GrimDork**

Finalizing my pledge, how long are the normal walls? Trying to decide how big of a room I can make pending how many clean/infested walls I get. Ehh figured it out well enough, looks something like 4 inches or 10cm based roughly on the floor tile size. Good enough.

I've locked down the following:
Stronghold x1
add-on 6: window wall, converter, elevator x1
add-on 7: medibay etc x1
add-on 10: lockers, beds, double door x2
add-on 12: airlock, detention, etc x2
add-on 13: docking bay x1
add-on 14: clean walls x2
add-on 16: bunker base set x1
add-on 18: infested walls x4

I figure I'll probably run out of floor tiles for the extra clean and infested walls, unless I build pretty high up. The bunker base probably won't be able to cover everything either, but it should still do a lot. Otherwise I went with one of everything and what I figured would constitute a small-medium clean room, and enough infested wall sections to spruce up at least a good 1x1' corner (not cover it, just make the presence known) or to make a smaller area very infested. The bunker should help integrate the interiors into exterior boards (tying them in to wargame boards or deadzone/infinity).

And now that it's done, I can not wait to get my goodies

**RiTides**

GrimDork- Wow, with all those add-ons, you didn't just want to go Stronghold x 2?

I'm at a Hulk with just one add-on, and I'm sticking to it!

**GrimDork**

But if I did 2x stronghold I'd be missing out on the cool extras like the docking bay and room contents. And the 40 squigly lines for the bunker set basically doubles the versatility of the set by allowing you to put discrete interiors into a larger exterior area. I considered it briefly, but I wanted to go with a quality ~2x2' set over a quantity. I'd love to have a 4x4' set-up for an all interior Infinity board, but I couldn't go in that heavily. The bunker walls let me do it in part by spreading out smaller buildings, and hopefully integrating with my deadzone stuff.

Aside from bunkers and the clean/infested walls, I just got one of everything exclusive to stronghold. And they might not end up doing the clean/infested walls at retail so I wanted a few just in case

**Slinky**

I ended up with 2 x stronghold as I jumped on an EB. Would like bunker walls, but can't spend that cash right now, hopefully they will be available at retail later...

**RiTides**

My solution for not being able to afford bunker walls for everything- just have the whole thing in an "indoor" environment. I'm planning to use this on top of the Anime Wars boards from Games & Gears, so exterior bunker walls shouldn't be as needed... as the whole environment can look like a space station.

**DaveC**

Project Update #47: VIDEO UPDATE!!!
Posted by Battle Systems Ltd ♥ Like

BACKERKIT CLOSES - last chance to finish your orders...

This is it, the final update before we close the BackerKit, if you have not confirmed what you want then now is the time. Make sure your addresses are correct, your add ons are correct... damn... make sure it's all just perfect as it's time for the fun to start D

Ultimately if you have not updated and allocated your funds to what you want we will not be able to send you your lovely goodies, so make sure you check in and check out! If you have not received your link or don't know what to do, just send us a direct email to info@battlesystems.co.uk

As it's now the weekend we can't actually speak to our distributors and manufacturers until Monday so we will leave the BackerKit open until late Sunday night/early Monday (UK time). This will also allow you time to watch the video and make your final choice.

(Note: when the Lock down happens your debit/credit card will then be charged accordingly via STRIPE. Some backers will be charged on Saturday, others on Monday depending on when your own BK was locked down. - Wayne.)

BackerKit has been massively active every day right from it's launch on the 1st of Jan. Just like a mini KickStarter it has slowly grown and in the last 24 hours its been receiving at least double the normal activity, which was already massive. We've had great feedback about how easy it is to use and navigate. It cost a small fortune, but clearly it's made your and our lives a lot easier, so I suspect we will be using it again... Thank you for the positive feedback.

Video...

Ok, so if you like to listen to a virtually un-edited me (Colin) chat about some of the finer points of the set then this is the video for you. Here is what is covered in the video... more or less.

What do you get on a wall sheet
What can the wall sheet make as far as rooms go
What do you get on the Ramp sheet, what the ramps are for... and something extra
How do the bunker walls connect to your normal walls
Infested walls (infested both sides?)
Clean walls (Clean both sides)

What happens next...

Once we close the BackerKit we have to count the orders. This is a long task that we need to get right. When you manufacture you don't just make sets. It would be great if we could ask for "3000 Strongholds please", we have to talk in "moulds, Kinds, Sheets, Prints, Stamp Sides, Runs"... and so on. This means that just a single sheet is made up of a Stamp side and a Reverse side, plus a mould (Die-cut tool), so you can imagine what a Stronghold is made up of.

This will take some time and as soon as this is done we will pass the count to the manufactures ready for the final costings. At the same time they will be making all the tools we require... in total there are nearly double the amount we started the KS with, which is great )

After this we have a full white copy test product made (basically a finished cut set with no printed image on it) and this will be sent to us for testing. Then, providing no adjustments are needed we will get a fully printed set. Finally, we make adjustments and then we hit full production and the waiting game starts.

We will keep you up to date along the way as always and make sure you know what is going on.

That's about it for now so jump on BackerKit and make your final orders.

Over and out for now.

Colin & Wayne

**GrimDork**

Thanks for dumping that, time to watch the video!

Automatically Appended Next Post:
The ginger claw may well have sold me on some extra ramps... curses!

**DaveC**

Well he sold me on the clean walls and didn't even show them!

From the video

the clean walls will have 2 of the 3 walls with the clean pattern on one side and the regular pattern on the other so they blend in when next to other rooms the 3rd wall will be clean both sides as will the doorway wall.

Infested walss will have 1 of the walls with infested pattern one side and regular on the other the rest are infested both sides.

Also the med bay will have a power cell/cryotube on it now so if you got 4 airlocks/power cells so as to have the 4 power cells and you got a med bay it might be worhwhile dropping to 3 airlocks as you'll still have 4 power cells (unless you want more airlocks).

The bunker wall sheets have some spare space so they are doing some window surrounds as an optional extra to give them more depth these need to be glued in place if you want to use them.

**GrimDork**

I'm a bit concerned that two clean wall sheets may end up awkward but it'll probably work out. I kind of want to throw on aset of extra rramps but I'm not sure there is time.

**judgedoug**

Anybody else having problems with backerkit charging a Discover card?

**Snrub**