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Now, that, I might back. Though it would be expensive to get the DS game AND 200something dollars of sweet spot battle systems pledge. Or whatever it was, it was not-insignificant.

DKH is my stand by game. We love it. My concern with this game is that as a co-op it won't have the finely crafted scenarios that years on I am still enjoying and playing.

The biggest negative though was the card terrain - very poor. I am on the verge of making some permanent maps for each scenario.

It is very different to descent. 2 player game, one person running scenario, the other paying against it - initially with the stock force, later expansion allowed a bidding system to take it on with less. Mechanics were opposed dice rolls, pairing highest with highest and so on down, only the active model can cause damage (so not a case of getting to attack and kill yourself). Best described as a tactical squad game where model placement, choices between movement and attacking, less activations than the models you have, bottlenecks, etc were all important.

Grab an electronic copy of the rules (dwarfs and undead are simplest and fastest, orcs and elves game is more complex and challenging), use your existing stuff, but match the maps in the book and have a go. Some scenarios seem very unbalanced until you crack a counter tactic, which leads to other tactics etc.

I would have loved a deluxe DKH box, the three games rolled into one, single piece mini's for all, decent map tiles etc. As that was somewhat unrealistic I hope this campaign goes far enough so it can include the DKH stuff as an integral addon.

Detail is a bit soft but I like the Dwarf and the Barbarian. The Ranger and the Wizard have weird proportions or posing going on.

I'm not going to complain too much about slightly soft-appearing details on boardgame plastic figures that have been blown up to 4x their actual size.

 Azazelx wrote:
I'm not going to complain too much about slightly soft-appearing details on boardgame plastic figures that have been blown up to 4x their actual size.

Mantic really does have a habit of releasing giant pics of figures that are only an inch tall but display as ten inches tall on my giant monitor.

That figure looks like he's got a hangnail on his pinkie finger, I'm not sure I can back a Kickstarter for heroes that don't practice proper cuticle maintenance. Plus the detail looks really soft on their eyelashes.

It's hardly a complaint, it's an observation. Or in Mantic games case a feature. :-P Although there are many comparable high quality board game pieces out there that aren't as soft. Anyway it will be auto funded in minutes so no need to wish them luck. :-)

About 11 hours til this one is funded...

Exciting!

Hahah always fun riding a Mantic kickstarter. Bets on this one being smaller than usual? Doesn't seem like there'd be much reason to go deep. I guess they could package kings of war armies with it for use as grooblies ; )

I dunno. Plenty of enemies, heroes, tiles, quests and such to add on.

I'm sure Mantic will find a way to throw all sorts of goodies at us.

Damn, you're right. Bastards!

I think they had said it was meant to be a smaller kick starter... but I kind oof wonder if it really will. Its a proper board game, if they present it right... won't need deep pockets, there will be more backers than usual.

Wasn't Dreadball Extreme supposedly a "small" kickstarter?

I agree. This has potential to bring backer volume in rather than big pledgers if they have all the boardgamer's criteria checked off prior to starting.

Edit- So here's that ninja photo I remembered seeing. Any further word on where this came from? It was posted around the same time as the Open Day stuff, in the Mantic thread, by Scarlet Squig no less.



That is NOT a halfling, and I am NOT crazy for having thought there was a Mantic ninja floating around out there.

Crazy for other things... sure. But not for Mantic ninjas.

That looks pretty sweet. Like an elven assassin or something. Loads of neat little details like the ninja throwing knives and the little bottle on his belt/sash.

The fact of the matter is it's a ninja made by Mantic and it wasn't a figment of my imagination.



I had been starting to doubt myself in the fact that I had seen it. Damned mysterious ninja!

 highlord tamburlaine wrote:
I agree. This has potential to bring backer volume in rather than big pledgers if they have all the boardgamer's criteria checked off prior to starting.

Take a look at DKH on BGG, and you'll find very few posts, less than three pages for the three DKH products. Compare this to 40+ pages for Super Dungeon Explore before their Forgotten Kings KS.

Mantic's including EB's, so I'm already hearing the BGG rallying cry of "I'll wait until retail". If Mantic sticks to their add-on laden miniatures-oriented KS, rather than use a more boardgame one (eg. FK or Z3), they're going to attract miniature gamers, rather than boardgamers. How much do miniature gamers want integrated miniatures? Will Mantic offer their existing sprues as cheap add-ons?

The teaser campaign has been ridiculously uninformative. Pictures of miniatures and tiles do not equate to gameplay. Why should I pick up this dungeoncrawler when I'm already sunk into Descent and Super Dungeon Explore? Tell me that, Mantic.

Still, if they resort to the tried-and-true tactic of ZOMG FREE MINIATURES, like Myth, Zombicide, and other KS I've fallen for, easily 1M there. And who knows if the HeroQuest 25th edition campaign set up interest in an entry-level dungeoncrawler.

They get no more money from me until their previous KS are fulfilled.

Thats a twilight kin assassin.

It's a heroquest style game from a company 99.9% likely to fulfill! Unlike hq25.

That's one reason. Rules? Didn't hurt Kingdom Death. KS management? Again, lateness us not rare but the openness mantic shows with that is - and they usually compensate in other ways like enhance value e. G Mars Attacks saw the first 2500 get Tiger Corps free, 5 minis, which has turned into 10 post KS, plus more scenery than promised and Novas Virae set has more in it that promised as well.

 Breotan wrote:
They get no more money from me until their previous KS are fulfilled.

Which KS (goodies) exactly are you waiting for? And how late is Mantic when it comes to fulfilling their KSs?

PS. I have no doubt this will fund very quickly today, but them losing potential backers for such reasons draws a question mark for future campaigns...

They haven't fulfilled Dreadball Xtreme but then again it hasn't hit the estimated date of fulfillment yet. They said they're shipping Mars attack this month which is on time in terms of the estimated date on KS. They haven't finished fulfilling Deadzone but that one was split into waves which I think was made clear to backers during the KS itself.

I think bringing out a solid boardgame that just gets mini gamers backing would be ideal for Mantic.

They want a) community of interest, b) lots of stuff on interwebs in terms of variants, painting guides, etc - wargamers are great at this and c) retail sales.

Most specialist retailers don't want to touch KS gear with a long stick for fear they have no remaining market. Enough interest to show a market, lots of content creation and evidence of demand would be fantastic for both parties.

Mantic should really use this to de-risk the creation of a top class product that they can shift in places like initially games shops till the kinks are gone and then Argos.

Mortibris

The way the stones around the skeleton are rising up, it makes me wonder if they really are going to have integrated bases with the stones moulded in?

 TwilightSparkles wrote:
It's a heroquest style game from a company 99.9% likely to fulfill! Unlike hq25.

That does nothing to answer the question, which was

ced1106 wrote:
Why should I pick up this dungeoncrawler when I'm already sunk into Descent and Super Dungeon Explore? Tell me that, Mantic.

No one doubted they would fulfill pledges. The issue is Why THIS game over or in addition to others in the genre?

1.5-2 hours to go until project launch?

tabletop games by launch date should get it as soon as it launches I imagine.

 Breotan wrote:
They get no more money from me until their previous KS are fulfilled.

Dreadball - fulfilled on time
Kings of War - fulfilled on time
Deadzone - Wave 1 fulfilled on time, Wave 2 shipping now (about a month delay), small number of models (<5% delayed) until October acter taming on feedback from backers
Mars Attacks - due August, on schedule to start shipping at the end of the month
Dreadball Extreme - due November, last update is that it's on schedule

There's lots of things you can say about Mantic, but not fulfilling is definitely not one of them. They've got the best record of any kickstarter miniatures company i can think of by far. On many other kickstarters it seems like 6 to 12 month delay is normal - that's simply not the case with Mantic.

Deadzone Wave 2 is itself split up into multiple waves, and only the first is going out now.

 CptJake wrote:

 TwilightSparkles wrote:
It's a heroquest style game from a company 99.9% likely to fulfill! Unlike hq25.

That does nothing to answer the question, which was

ced1106 wrote:
Why should I pick up this dungeoncrawler when I'm already sunk into Descent and Super Dungeon Explore? Tell me that, Mantic.

No one doubted they would fulfill pledges. The issue is Why THIS game over or in addition to others in the genre?

In fairness, the campaign hasn't even started yet. You'll see what the deal is, what the models, tiles, rules etc are like in a few hours. Then you can decide.

In fairness, they could have showcased some rules mechanisms or game play features along with the minis in the teasers.

And in fairness, the question asked is what they really do need to answer, it has been asked a few times. Hopefully Mantic does really show why This Game is the one to get or is worth getting in addition to the others.

Those that have said why should I buy? are right.

But... does Mantic need to get them onboard? Selling to the fanatics now, combined with Mantics excellent policy of not having a wall of exclusive models that stuff players getting in later ( I hate that...), means it could be more accessible later with reviews and played examples knocking around web, and you have an easier time than releasing half finished rules now and engaging in endless debate.

I think with this product Mantic really want retail sales as I reckon the end result is a viable cheap to produce box set, not an Ogre like monstrosity or a code-tastic dreadball situation (I know retailers who can't face the number of SKU's for that game and won't stock it).