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 IceRaptor wrote:

I hear there's a support group forming :(

Hello, my name is Warboss and it has been five months since my last Blitz game...

Thanks to Infinity, it has been significantly longer than 5 months for me.

I'm not kidding.
The first time I tried to quit HG (LnL), the closest thing to a common sci-fi game based on range was 40K. That ended pulling me back when HG looked slightly more ranged than 40K again (~Field Manual).
With Infinity, I have a sci-fi game based on range and reactions, and good rules and not-completely-off balance. The temptation to play HG is completely gone.

mrondeau wrote:
[...] the closest thing to a common sci-fi game based on range was [...]

Which I think could easily be one of the most frustrating things about HG and the Pod.

Just looking at the numbers for the poll here, and the level of response to alternative fan rulesets tried for HG in the past (at least 5 that I know of offhand, one of which got turned into the Alpha), I'm not even sure a company with a proven track record could create a new title for the same niche without seeing it quickly fail. I have no idea if this has to do with the mindset of players looking for that type of game, the apparently quite small interest group, or some other factor. Plus obviously that the Pod is almost always doing their very best to try and turn HG into something else entirely, until the inevitable "vision" change every few years, all the while utterly ignoring the issues they caused along the way. All that just doesn't provide a very good benchmark to judge anything else against really.

I know for myself personally that once I got fed up with Battletech's endless power creep and complexity cycle there was not another sci-fi game that caught my eye. And even if anyone local played something like Infinity or 40K I would have zero interest in it. I did play some form of 40k a few times back in the early 90s, but swords or melee weapons, while sometimes fitting into the Cyberpunk genre, are a total turnoff for me in a mechanized battlefield wargame.

Of course, if I merely wanted to game with historical or contemporary models there are already plenty of rulesets out there. But not, unfortunately, one comparable to the reasonably realistic HG setting.

 warboss wrote:
Hello, my name is Warboss and it has been five months since my last Blitz game...

I'm reasonably sure my last session with HGB! was a Paxton test game on VASSAL against either you or Beerninja before he deployed. My interest has waned considerably since then to say the least.

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I'm pretty sure my last game was during the FiF playtest...

EDIT: My last Blitz game, that is. I've played 2nd edition some times since. And the Alpha... well, some of the attitudes during this alpha kinda sucked off my interest to play, and I ended learning FoW instead (of course, the fact that I could buy a whole FoW army for the cost of like, a squadron and a half of gears, did help).

mrondeau wrote:
With Infinity, I have a sci-fi game based on range and reactions, and good rules and not-completely-off balance.

I'm generally a fan of Infinity, and think the ARO mechanic is mostly(*) positive, but it still doesn't scratch the same itch. I'd like a slightly simpler Infinity for giant robots, that might happen to have big tanks, that would meet that mecha need myself.

I'd like for Infinity to have unit names that don't require me to have a Google Translate window open to use (as well as occasionally the rules themselves in the older versions!).

 Smilodon_UP wrote:
Just looking at the numbers for the poll here, and the level of response to alternative fan rulesets tried for HG in the past (at least 5 that I know of offhand, one of which got turned into the Alpha), I'm not even sure a company with a proven track record could create a new title for the same niche without seeing it quickly fail. I have no idea if this has to do with the mindset of players looking for that type of game, the apparently quite small interest group, or some other factor.

Mecha-as-the-focus is in general a more niche group than people + machines; you attract a broader audience when you have identifiable people plus iconic machines, such as Warmachine, 40k or Infinity provides. When you're primarily focusing on giant robots, you don't get power armor, catgirls or other elements that help broaden your appeal - that's part of the reason why 28mm is popular, you have a fairly broad market to draw upon, whereas 15mm and below tends to focus on either armies as whole -or- machines only, which narrows the fanbase. That's why Heavy Gear, Dropzone Commander, Robotech Tactics and Battletech will tend to struggle to maintain relevance year over year; the focus is too narrow. RTT and BT are helped significantly by both the nostalgia factor and the fact that they have or were multi channel products. HG was multi-channel, but the video games and TV series had narrow adoption, limiting it's ability to draw upon that already 'pollinated' field. Robotech was a major cartoon in the 80s, while BT spawned a very successful series of VGs - both gives them a ready-made population to sell to. X-Wing minis is another example of a product that needed the cross-pollination to really hit it big, and they did so in spades. So from that perspective, HG never really had a change to be viable, especially once they let the RPG crowd influence (perhaps unduly) the product for the miniatures channel.

I think a new company could probably find a niche in the market, though it will be difficult. They would need to cross multiple 'giant robot' types, to try to draw upon as many different themes as possible. 'Real Robot' can be a theme, sure - but it should be one of several, to appeal to different audiences. It would need to be somewhat similar to what was tried with Monsterpocalypse, by bringing multiple elements into a single product. And the focus would need to be on smaller gameplay, more similar to the Gruntz model, which focuses on 5-6 models per 'faction' to start and then expand from there. But you wouldn't base the entire theme around infantry + vehicles in 15mm - that simply doesn't give you enough room to maneuver.

HG's origin as an RPG poisoned it's ability to be an effective miniatures game. The intentional 'sameness' of the models - which makes sense in a hard-ish RPG - makes creating faction identity harder, which is a very valuable asset when you're talking wargames. So while new rules can 'help' HG restart, in the sense that it can lower the barriers to entry, the point that continues to be missed is that without adding new giant robots, which are what drives new sales, you probably won't be viable. I hope they prove me wrong, but adding new APCs and VTOLs in a game that stars giant robots is pretty much the definition of missing the forest for the trees.

 IceRaptor wrote:
HG's origin as an RPG poisoned it's ability to be an effective miniatures game. The intentional 'sameness' of the models - which makes sense in a hard-ish RPG - makes creating faction identity harder, which is a very valuable asset when you're talking wargames. So while new rules can 'help' HG restart, in the sense that it can lower the barriers to entry, the point that continues to be missed is that without adding new giant robots, which are what drives new sales, you probably won't be viable. I hope they prove me wrong, but adding new APCs and VTOLs in a game that stars giant robots is pretty much the definition of missing the forest for the trees.

I feel like Dave had some good ideas for this: some of the earliest stuff I heard for what became the Alpha was to try and break up the 'North vs. South' by focusing more on Northern GP vs. Southern Paratrooper. I still think this would be a good idea.

As to the need to keep adding more Gears, I'm not so sure. A lot of people get drawn to the game because of the tank designs. Partially it may be the scale: a Gear looks like a large-ish Space Marine in many ways, while the tanks are distinctive. And the new Peace River APC sculpt replaced an older design that was really disliked.

The VTOLs are an interesting change and were something of a surprise to me. I like the concept, although my concern is it will follow the established wargame premise that every faction gets one (Or at least the limited list of factions as of the Alpha). Adding them int he Alpha means that they are part of the core rules, not an ugly add-on, which I like.

That's the funny thing. I want to like the Alpha. I have no issues with Dave as a person, although I do feel he is not aware of the larger issues.

 Balance wrote:
As to the need to keep adding more Gears, I'm not so sure. A lot of people get drawn to the game because of the tank designs. Partially it may be the scale: a Gear looks like a large-ish Space Marine in many ways, while the tanks are distinctive. And the new Peace River APC sculpt replaced an older design that was really disliked.

I'm not saying that have no place - simply that they are best thought of as accents, and should be released as such. A tank like an Aller is a centerpiece, sure - but an APC like the hoplite has a horrible cost/utility ratio and doesn't have as much 'wow' factor as the new Gears for Paxton would have. I think it would have been 'better' to have spent the money on a single new Gear, rather than a resculpt of an APC, because the Gears are the star and the APC isn't. IMO.

I would agree it wasn't a huge priority, and tanks/striders/vtols as 'army centerpieces' do seem like a good way to put it.

heh one of the things that has kept me from playing Infinity is the overly nutty range of figures. Werewolves wearing kilts?
(Though fairly recently Heavy Gear added tanks with arms, so I'm not sure I should count that anymore...)

I'll repost here my thoughts about the hoppers rules, in case they also get deleted for being overly negative:

Funny things I've noticed about the hoppers and their payload, comparing them with the original ones:

1) Firstly... they look very similar. Like very, very similar. Which is funny, because they were quite different originally.

2) The weapons payload seem... different, to say something. For starters, the ACs have gone waay up, seeing as the Dragonfly originally had a MAC and the Varis a LAC. The Dragonfly has also lost its MG, for some reason, but has kept its SAM and ATM (only the SAM is now light instead of medium, don't know why). All in all, the Dragonfly had a very multirole weapon mix, did a bit of everything and even could shoot at enemy fighters and the like (but it wasn't one, let's keep that in mind). And then there's the Varis, which has gone from a LAC+AGM weapons combo to HAC+LSAM+LATM. Which makes me go... huh, holy upgunning, Batman.

3) Then there's the rest of the stats. From the books I have, the Dragonfly was a beast, all in all. Same Armor as the Varis (10), but almost double the speed (7/13 instead of 4/8), better sensors, better comms (+1 instead of +0 in both counts, although with shorter range), same Acc bonus (+2! in both cases! whoah), and waaaaay more menuverable than the Varis (+1 vs. -2, that's gotta hurt). Now we go to the current stats and... theyre exactly the same. For some reason. Same armor, speed, gunnery, pilot... they're basically the same frakking hopper. Oh, well, the Dragonfly has EW 5+ and ECM +1d6. Again, just because (it certainly didn't have anything like that before, but hey, Paxton! Only it should be Paxton/North).

4) They also have Fragile: Move. Which is really weird, you know, because they are not helicopters. That's the whole point of hoppers, FFS. They are like helis, but without fragile movement systems! Only now they aren't, because....?

5) The hover mode weird me out, big time. IMHO, it doesn't map out in any form the way hoppers/helis work.

So yeah, not really a fan, all told. And even less of a fan of the way the stats are interchangeable between both hoppers. Why the hell? Didn't you want to make the different factions different by making their stuff more distinctive? If so, hey, good job! You guys took two completely different vehicles that worked completely different, and cloned them between factions >_>

Sorry to be all negative about them, but this is the time to get them right, and really, I think they need a lot of work.

Out of curiosity, I noticed that Robert mentioned doing the layout himself. Is that something he used to do in the 1990s? Didn't Mason used to do that kind of stuff previously? If so, I guess now that the rpg is its own thing he doesn't have the time or inclination to work on the tabletop side of the IP and I can't say that I blame him if it is the case.

 warboss wrote:
Out of curiosity, I noticed that Robert mentioned doing the layout himself. Is that something he used to do in the 1990s? Didn't Mason used to do that kind of stuff previously? If so, I guess now that the rpg is its own thing he doesn't have the time or inclination to work on the tabletop side of the IP and I can't say that I blame him if it is the case.

IIRC, back in the 90s Robert was only the PR guy, so I don't think so. Back around that time the Pod was the real Pod, and had a lot of talents, so I don't really think he did anything in that venues.

As to Mason, I can't say I blame him either. But it will certainly impact on the quality of the HGB books.

That's how I understand it. The PDF field guides are definitely being produced on limited resources. I am hopeful that the Alpha will get layer out by someone with more experience. The last PDF is usable, but very plain... There's also room to improve usability from the Perfect Storm books, I think.

Given the last two books, I would be really surprised if anyone else ended up doing the v5 Rules book(s) for Gencon or etc.
Then again if a Beta booklet is already being worked up, there might just be time before Gencon to get it done.

Although, that could be a reason the North PDF has lingered in production over a month plus given how Blood Debt got hammered out in only a few weeks - kind of hard to do two projects at once.
The only other thing I can think of to hold up the works so badly is that significant changes are being inflicted, or that beyond the few samples the testers got shown there isn't much any art.
Although, lack of art didn't stop Blood Debt from getting published, so I guess we're back to changes.

/shrug
I do know though that at least one of the devs that was only involved with creating source material had questions as to how things eventually turned out.


But yeah, what is left of the Pod has to be running purely on fumes. Most people aren't going to work up art or material just for products, and to be fair, I would be doubtful the Pod is Robert's full time employment.

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@Balance: I actually like the stripped down versions of the PDF and wish that DP9 had done them for TPS and FIF as a download option for older devices. I don't have a no name knock of tablet or phone but I don't have a top of the line model either (kindle Fire HD)... and it stutters on the PDFs when I change pages at a quick pace. Obviously the Blood Debt PDF is a different story as it was redundant before it was announced effectively and produced on a shoe string budget (don't get me started on the "balance" of its entries!). Even if the Northern pdf is even less fancy (like using only existing art) for the initial release with newer art (if any) added in later as an updated version, I'd prefer that to waiting additional weeks or more likely months.

@Smilodon: I agree that likely at this point the beta PDF creation is the top priority and the northern PDF is a "when I get the chance" type of thing. Maybe the sales of the paxton release were so poor to as not even cover production costs and make the type of project worthwhile? I have no idea but they seem to be making progress on getting the beta out as well as new models that are compliant or soon will be in the beta. At this point, Robert is no longer is back to work at his business so the months of mourning isn't the issue anymore. It could just be that supporting the last edition of blitz with a whimper (let alone a last hurrah) isn't high on the list of things to do.

I know I strongly suggested the North and PRDF get some updates, even if in PDF, because I feel it is the customer-friendly way to close out an edition. Would've liked to see CEF and the Colonies get the same treatment, but they're not nearly as bad off as the North, which has been a struggle since L&L (if not before) because the Northern leagues don't have a lot of 'positive' rules to theme around (WFPA excepted).

Smilodon_UP wrote:Most people aren't going to work up art or material just for products, and to be fair, I would be doubtful the Pod is Robert's full time employment.

That last part would surprise me but I'm pretty far out of the loop. I just gnash my teeth and wail in my sackcloth barely within earshot of the inner circle.

Balance wrote:I know I strongly suggested the North and PRDF get some updates, even if in PDF, because I feel it is the customer-friendly way to close out an edition. Would've liked to see CEF and the Colonies get the same treatment, but they're not nearly as bad off as the North, which has been a struggle since L&L (if not before) because the Northern leagues don't have a lot of 'positive' rules to theme around (WFPA excepted).

Strange... the common "complaint" seems to be that CEF and Colonies were less viable than the north (even when you took away MBzk spam). Did the pretty significant TV reductions they got fix that significantly?

 Balance wrote:
I feel it is the customer-friendly way to close out an edition. [..] the Northern leagues don't have a lot of 'positive' rules to theme around (WFPA excepted).

Aside from trying to assign models in a more fluffy manner, yes, not really. But it seems like the Pod's "go-to" solution in that case is always the addition of more special rules for a primary faction and/or sub-faction. I was able to kibosh a few or otherwise stall long enough to kill several ideas, but most took on a life of their own once proposed, as per usual, with no recourse but to try and make them work reasonably well without being an "I win" addition.

 warboss wrote:
Strange... the common "complaint" seems to be that CEF and Colonies were less viable than the north (even when you took away MBZK spam). Did the pretty significant TV reductions they got fix that significantly?

I was surprised that anyone even responded to the FSG release thread after so long. I did a few formatting nudges here and there after all that GU material got tacked on after the Medical units but didn't actually do any cost checking of the CEF or Colonial models so I honestly don't know if it was calculated or arbitrary.

And the Pod most assuredly missed getting some badly needed income by releasing nothing through the last two sales, Xmas and March, beyond some WIP shots.




It's all but impossible to see right off what a house of cards these field guides are in actuality. Even with North having been my third project, and being the poor slob writing/editing it into a workable whole, it's hard to notice all the little things that creep in unless somebody questions them and gets answered. Which is not on the testers, but on the Pod, for demanding so much legacy concepts get carried over while still trying to make a "new" product. It's basically an unrealizable goal. Sometimes it seemed more like the testers were just there to rubber-stamp everything, yet at the same time ignore the obviously broken or completely mistaken concepts the management folks send out with each project. TPTB just didn't always "get it" about the intricacy of the format they created, as their ideas were largely focused on only one or a few models and combat groups at a time without looking at things like the chain reaction inserting [X] would cause to all the swap costs they somehow expect to stay averaged and relatively legal. Or that adding back a particular loadout would completely negate the point of trying to differentiate the combat groups in the first place.

Legacy is important, but really only so that folks aren't out $$$ on things they've previously purchased. At some point there has to be a break from the previous material for the sake of internal coherency. And it's quite strange they so stubbornly clung to this idea for so long given how badly that all got butchered in the Alpha lists of the v5 rules. The only thing I think they did right was lose the convoluted model/variant/loadout swaps that took so much effort to try and get working together, which was accomplished by going an utterly bland route.


On another note, we'll likely never know all the particulars of the falling-out the production folks had in the Spring of last year after FiF's release that led to there being no production staff and almost no developers.

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 Smilodon_UP wrote:

On another note, we'll likely never know all the particulars of the falling-out the production folks had in the Spring of last year after FiF's release that led to there being no production staff and almost no developers.

Production staff falling out? I never heard about that. Who is even considered production staff? Xactoboy/Phil, Mason, and Dave are the only two that come to mind with everyone else being a developer.


Automatically Appended Next Post:

 Smilodon_UP wrote:
Legacy is important, but really only so that folks aren't out $$$ on things they've previously purchased. At some point there has to be a break from the previous material for the sake of internal coherency.

I'll fully admit that it is a minefield and I definitely don't think they've cleared the right path just yet. I expected some model variants to become useless but not that entire chassis' would disappear from my list and only half the figs I own would be usable in an army with the "first draft" of the FIF rules... and I didn't even ultimately have it the worst. I'm not kidding when I say that I've had more invalidated in my 40 gear southern army than with the past 5 warhammer 40k army releases combined (with a total of more than 400 fig in them).

 warboss wrote:
Production staff falling out? I never heard about that. Who is even considered production staff? Xactoboy/Phil, Mason, and Dave are the only two that come to mind with everyone else being a developer.

Dunno. I've only heard things, never talked directly with any of those folks. But from the looks of things now there is no production staff, or staff period really. All you ever hear about is just Robert, Dave, and a few on commission folks for sculpts, art, and 3D modeling.

Jason (Autel), the line editor after J. Buckmaster, and Greg (Mason), the art & layout guy, had no part in either Blood Debt or Lion's Wrath. They've moved on to Arkrite.

Daniel Hinds-Bond, "007design", the layout guy for ODBD, was already not in the credits for TPS.

Gareth Lazelle and Nick Pilon were editors for L&L.

James Paquette is noted as a full time Podder and assistant layout in GU5 after joining in GU4, but nowhere else I've seen since.

Jacinthe Boisvert-Gauthier is noted as a Pod intern and assistant layout in GU6 (the HG Assault promo issue), but not credited in any of the main books.

Saleem was also the only dev to have any part in the last two field guides beyond source material. Brad Bellows, "Gambit," was involved with FiF, and Michael Onsrud was a dev for TPS and FiF. I also see a Dan Strother listed as a dev in FiF, but anything I ever sent up the line came back answered by Gambit.

The last I saw Paul Nemeth, "Attila of Terra" as contributor or adviser to anything was the WfTN books. Doc & Kris were the advisers for ODBD, which seems the last time anybody contributed anything towards military aspects.

Paul Workoff, "EvilMonkey," was the guy doing terrain and whatnot for the GU emagazines, and last active on the forums in December.


While apparently not as many folks as during the 90s when the Pod started up, it's still a pretty significant number to no longer have working on anything when even a year ago many were. Not to mention that it doesn't look good, at all, when folks ask these kind of questions.
I also saw the name Jason English listed as a writer for the 1e Equipment catalog, who may or may not be "Banzai" on the forums. Not sure.

 warboss wrote:

 Smilodon_UP wrote:
Legacy is important, but really only so that folks aren't out $$$ on things they've previously purchased. At some point there has to be a break from the previous material for the sake of internal coherency.

I'll fully admit that it is a minefield and I definitely don't think they've cleared the right path just yet. I expected some model variants to become useless but not that entire chassis' would disappear

Yeah, there is likely to be some of that whenever North gets released and I'm not looking forward to it because I will still share some blame even without having been a dev. Hopefully a lot less, ideally none, but it simply isn't possible to catch everything just because of how open force construction got with L&L being appended in Gear-Up, subsequent books, the occasional errata page, internal memos devoured by weasels, and etc while at the same time trying to implement the field guide format.

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If their production staff has been lessened as you said, another interesting tidbit will be to see who is working the booth at gencon. I believe Balance said he wasn't able to attend this year from a thread months ago and I'm not sure if IceRaptor will be either. If Mason and Jason (lol, they sound like Double Dragon twins!) go, they may or may not share the same booth since they'd likely be focused on a related but not intrinsic to DP9 product. I'm not sure if it was Ghostrider or Paradox (or someone else?) but IIRC one pulled some serious hours at the booth but it didn't sound like they'd be doing the same again.

Maybe as a newly minted game writer, our BrandonKF will make his gencon debut!??! Trust me, Brandon, pressing the flesh with the best and worst of your fellow gamers at the biggest RPG con is a life altering experience.

In a nod to the original content of this thread, another decisive display of leadership;

Sweet but where does the sensor boom go? - Saleem

Sensor Boom was not on the artwork and should not have been on the datacard, I'm not sure how it got there and it will be removed on the next update of the Blood Debt Peace River Army List ebook and new edition rules, case closed. - Robert

Odd, my PRDF test documents from as far back as March 2013 show for the Greyhound "AUX; BACKUP COMMS, ECM 3, ECCM 3, SATELLITE UPLINK, SENSOR BOOM" and aside from BU Comms & Sensor Boom being on the wrong line they are present.
The Greyhound preview image I notice only dates back to May, 2013 on my PC. But it wouldn't be the first, nor likely to be the last, time an image or physical sculpt doesn't match the stat card.
So what is even the big deal to go all executive fiat over, amusingly enough because the machine pistol is an acceptable addition.

I guess the artist never got clued in on the datacards though, so now Blood Debt has to get yet another "update" to cover the Pod's ass because somebody has their head stuck in the sand again.

I notice in the last Blood Debt update I just downloaded, apparently only to put in the new Hoplite sculpt, there is still no art for the Bison (originally named the Jackal) Tankstrider.
IME that would have been more of an attention and $$$ getter than the APC revamp, and why bother to redraw the Cata yet not do up a prototype sometime over the past year?
Because in comparison the Drake, Salamander, Barnaby, Fer De Lance, and Pack Lizard platoon all came out in a relatively short time-span, along with other releases.

"..still a lot of work to do before it comes out later in May."
"..still a few weeks of work left on it."

Wonder if this new "Spring" promotion will actually see the Northern ebook come out, or if it'll be one more missed opportunity for revenue beyond serving as another attempted fire sale. I found the "to get players into Heavy Gear Blitz" bit highly amusing.

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Yeah, the "case closed" part was perhaps a tad too much. Eh, like you said, it won't be the first time something didn't match up visually with the rules. The late may/still a few weeks duo of comments reinforces the above that the project just doesn't seem like a priority for the pod even now months later when Robert has returned. It's a quick PDF that, if it resembles the Paxton one, only needs a few weeks of effort if that by one person to get out assuming reused artwork and yet still needs a few weeks.

Had to go take a look at the quotes you posted. Is it just me or is the satellite dish a bit warped?




Automatically Appended Next Post:
Just in case my two posts get Dubois'ed...

I do hope that the Northern PDF gets released before yet another sale ends. I can't speak for others but I've put my purchases on hold since December to make sure that I don't buy something that I end up not being able to use like so many things with the FIF Southern Army Guide release. It would be a real shame if Northern players took advantage of the sale only to have their purchases made illegal weeks later.

Is it just me or is the satellite dish miscast and warped? I hope that DP9 doesn't send that exact mini out to get professionally painted if one of the centerpiece parts of it is misshapen. I do like the sculpt overall though so nice job Xactoboy!

I don't think either is inflammatory but obviously they may deal with topics DP9 might rather prefer left not discussed...

 warboss wrote:

Automatically Appended Next Post:
Just in case my two posts get Dubois'ed...

I do hope that the Northern PDF gets released before yet another sale ends. I can't speak for others but I've put my purchases on hold since December to make sure that I don't buy something that I end up not being able to use like so many things with the FIF Southern Army Guide release. It would be a real shame if Northern players took advantage of the sale only to have their purchases made illegal weeks later.

I don't think either is inflammatory but obviously they may deal with topics DP9 might rather prefer left not discussed...

Or, he apparently can just deal with the situation by imposing his own reality once again.....

You don't have to worry, as the basic squads included in the task forces will still be legal when the new Northern Armylist is released, you'll just have a few more choices than before.

Because it's always OK for players to buy things they aren't sure work in a particular regiment type, where they don't even know what combat groups have which organizational slot in that regiment, not to mention they also don't know what models they already own might be able to get swapped in for their chosen sub-faction, nor even be able to completely put together any new models because they won't know the equipment options either.

It seems he is seriously suggesting it's acceptable for folks to possibly need to rip things apart just after they buy them, once the book gets released. Or to just buy everything, if they haven't already done so during another sale.

Just, wow.

Re-rereading the OP about the task force deals, I think the Pod stance is that this is purely intended for the v5 Alpha lists, so the missing book is essentially irrelevant. Which still doesn't make a lot of sense, given how in flux those lists are as yet.


But, to keep the conversation moving rather than just gnashing teeth over Robert's cryptic oddities, Dave's reply to my asking if force construction is going to remain in it's current bland state would seem to indicate "Yes."

I notice though that even at 40% discount the Spring task force promotion still runs $150 USD, down from $250, for (24) Northern models. Which at a single action for an average of around 10 TV each, and attaching full RSUs, could yield roughly one 180 TV force comprised of (2) nine model combat groups. One of which will need to be Recon to use the Ferrets unless they can be in an RSU for a GP, FS, or Dragoon combat group.

The planning standard for the field guides was 1,000 TV and three combat groups. It's quite a change, but how does the force $$$ cost compare in reality to other games y'all have played or demoed? The Pod reminds me of a car dealership or electronics outlet where they have high markup so they can slash "costs" dramatically to promote sales events.

Something else that hit me as I was editing this, based on Dave's reply to force construction and loadouts, is the possibility they are intentionally sitting on the Northern ebook so as to not have to change anything they've already decided is finalized or have planned for the sub-faction lists. I know that when dealing with people one should always assume incompetence before ascribing malicious intent, but things do seem a little fishy when factoring in that reply and how long they've had the completed material.
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warboss wrote:Yeah, the "case closed" part was perhaps a tad too much. Eh, like you said, it won't be the first time something didn't match up visually with the rules. The late may/still a few weeks duo of comments reinforces the above that the project just doesn't seem like a priority for the pod even now months later when Robert has returned. It's a quick PDF that, if it resembles the Paxton one, only needs a few weeks of effort if that by one person to get out assuming reused artwork and yet still needs a few weeks.

Had to go take a look at the quotes you posted. Is it just me or is the satellite dish a bit warped?




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Just in case my two posts get Dubois'ed...

I do hope that the Northern PDF gets released before yet another sale ends. I can't speak for others but I've put my purchases on hold since December to make sure that I don't buy something that I end up not being able to use like so many things with the FIF Southern Army Guide release. It would be a real shame if Northern players took advantage of the sale only to have their purchases made illegal weeks later.

Is it just me or is the satellite dish miscast and warped? I hope that DP9 doesn't send that exact mini out to get professionally painted if one of the centerpiece parts of it is misshapen. I do like the sculpt overall though so nice job Xactoboy!

I don't think either is inflammatory but obviously they may deal with topics DP9 might rather prefer left not discussed...

He responded: "The dish must of got bent a bit when I removed it from the parts sprue and I didn't notice it before gluing all the parts together, priming it and taking the photo. Its a very thin piece of metal and can easily be bent back flat."

warboss wrote:If their production staff has been lessened as you said, another interesting tidbit will be to see who is working the booth at gencon. I believe Balance said he wasn't able to attend this year from a thread months ago and I'm not sure if IceRaptor will be either. If Mason and Jason (lol, they sound like Double Dragon twins!) go, they may or may not share the same booth since they'd likely be focused on a related but not intrinsic to DP9 product. I'm not sure if it was Ghostrider or Paradox (or someone else?) but IIRC one pulled some serious hours at the booth but it didn't sound like they'd be doing the same again.

Maybe as a newly minted game writer, our BrandonKF will make his gencon debut!??! Trust me, Brandon, pressing the flesh with the best and worst of your fellow gamers at the biggest RPG con is a life altering experience.

A case could be made for that, I suppose. I wouldn't mind meeting a few of the ladies and the gentlemen I've been chatting up since I left for Iraq the first time.

Whether I do or not, though, isn't really a question of whether Jason or Greg decide to come. I'm just a freelancer at this point in time, not staff. That, combined with my situation on personal funds makes it a big question mark.

Would I enjoy meeting everyone? Absolutely. For now, I'm just your local White Cat EWH, jamming out on every frequency I can find for the roleplaying game.

I recently posted up an update for the newest Arkana blog on my own personal blog, concerning the new rules redux that Jason and Greg are discussing with the fans. I already see a couple of the faces here have taken up on listing their own possibilities, and I'm happy to read up on them.

-Brandon F.

 warboss wrote:
I'm not sure if IceRaptor will be either.

I won't be at Gencon this year, I don't believe. Even if I am able to secure housing, I won't be hanging out at the booth this year, though I will probably swing by to check in and see how things are going.

BrandonKF wrote:
He responded: "The dish must of got bent a bit when I removed it from the parts sprue and I didn't notice it before gluing all the parts together, priming it and taking the photo. Its a very thin piece of metal and can easily be bent back flat."

I find you an interesting and friendly enough Gearhead acquaintance Kris, but Robert doesn't need an apologist or an enabler IMO, he needs counseling, badly. If everyone else is to be held responsible for their behavior and actions in this life or a next, fools and miscreants should be accountable as well.

 IceRaptor wrote:

 warboss wrote:
I'm not sure if IceRaptor will be either.

I won't be at Gencon this year, I don't believe. Even if I am able to secure housing, I won't be hanging out at the booth this year, though I will probably swing by to check in and see how things are going.

I wonder that no one has ever tried to punch the daylights out of Robert, or at least take a healthy swing at him off the floors, because if ever anyone deserved it that man absolutely does. If folks wonder why nothing ever comes out on time from the Pod or they keep being unable to use miniatures they've previously paid for, look no further than the man who doesn't trust that the workers and freelancers creating material, and the players who sign up to test those products, are adults capable of any competence at all.

Which is as polite as I can manage here today about why the book isn't done.

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What happened? Can you link the image or is it behind a "friend"wall on facebook?

edit: Never mind... I found it with my antisocial media skills.




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I do like the continuation of the leaner visual format for both aesthetic and technical reasons. I realize it isn't a conscious voluntary choice but rather likely made out of necessity (the fancy layout guy left and isn't working on it) but it is one of the things I'll likely enjoy most about the final two blitz products.

@Smilodon: Eh, just think of it this way... we have proof of life of the northern pdf now. It may come out long after most people stopped caring but at least they worked on 1 page of it which is an improvement over the last 5 months! Also, I'm impressed that the Mammoth didn't get stealth buffed again by Robert to be faster than all the fire support gears.