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Not sure if going the way of Mars Attacks is a bad thing.

Mars Attacks made a ton of money and got such good press that it became Mantic's #1 selling game before it's release based on distributor orders alone. It's something like an initial print run of 50,000 copies, right? Dreadball's only into it's 30,000's after 18 months or so.

Hell, Mantic's going for a complete all in one boardgame solution like Mars Attacks was and this will definitely materialize and not be Spain-restricted like HeroQuest 25, I'm pretty certain they'll get 50,000 distributor preorders for this too.

Corridors with 1 square of 25mm and monsters like troll with 40mm base, nobody has seen it in mantic headquarter?

guru wrote:
Corridors with 1 square of 25mm and monsters like troll with 40mm base, nobody has seen it in mantic headquarter?

are they on 40mm bases?

 Da Boss wrote:
Good point. Can you see what I'm getting at though?

I do. And I've backed a few non-game related projects for similar reasons. I'm pretty much a What is in it for ME! type when it comes to the gaming projects though.

 judgedoug wrote:

guru wrote:
Corridors with 1 square of 25mm and monsters like troll with 40mm base, nobody has seen it in mantic headquarter?

are they on 40mm bases?

on the comments of Kickstarter have said the minions base like skeleton, heros are 25mm base

but if you look the bases of other models...



are the same size of ogres and troll of King of war (40mm)

Yep they've said the big based figures can't use the one square corridors (first thing I asked!)

They will probably be on 50mm bases if the others are on 25mm......

And the trolls are 50mm based I believe.

Dungeon design will be important for trolls, since there's a lot of 1 wide corridors included from the screenshots.

 edlowe wrote:
Yep they've said the big based figures can't use the one square corridors (first thing I asked!)

lol, monsters locked in their lairs, unable to leave to beat the heros in corridors xD

I think a very poor solution to a flaw design :(

That'll happen if it's random dungeons, but pre-set dungeons can just avoid trolls in 1-wide corridors, which makes sense (the bigger trolls hang around in areas they can move more freely about).

decker_cky wrote:
That'll happen if it's random dungeons, but pre-set dungeons can just avoid trolls in 1-wide corridors, which makes sense (the bigger trolls hang around in areas they can move more freely about).

Was what I was thinking also. And who didn't play DnD back in the day to find a freaking dragon in a room with only 1 entrance with a small door anyway? Maybe they got in there as small trolls and grew into bigger ones eating silly adventurers.

Or the trolls were killed, chopped up, dragged in, sewn together, then reanimated.

Or more simply they can get through the narrow corridors, but only with difficulty

in the way human cavers can squeeze through narrow passages you'd never allow an adventurer to use in a game on this time scale (they'd be really slow and sitting ducks if any combat happened)

 DaveC wrote:
So Beasts of War have the extended interview with Ronnie up -
First Expansion - Orcs and Goblins includes new tiles and rulebook and rules for the current KoW Orc and Goblin range
Second Expansion - Abyssal Dwarfs

Are these expansions planned as part of this Kickstarter? Or actual literal expansions down the line? - probably with additional KS campaigns. Often boardgames run an additional expansion as part of a KS (Zombicide, SDE, etc, but Mantic seems to run some of them as additional KS (DBX)

And thanks Krinsath - you get my point exactly. I don't for a moment think that the final offering won't be worth my $100 or that it will be a meager number of models, but that's because I'm now familiar with the way these guys run their campaigns.

Let's be real though - GoA had a wealth of other problems.

 tgmoore wrote:

So my question, are other Kickstarter campaign threads on Dakka usually this negative?

Let us know when it becomes Shamefully Negative. That's an important metric around here.

They'll be expansions, done as part of the existing kickstarter.

Dreadball Extreme was not really an Expansion - it is more like your Gorkamorka compared to your Necromunda. - A separate standalone game, with the same main mechanics but with its own twist on aspects of the rules.

The crossover part of it is like playing a game with your Ork gangs against a Necromunda one, except with official rules.

I suppose a good similarity would be the Deadzone expansions. - Incursion with multi table games, then the Zombie coop games with the next book. - Both of these were funded in the original kickstarter.

 OrlandotheTechnicoloured wrote:
Or more simply they can get through the narrow corridors, but only with difficulty

in the way human cavers can squeeze through narrow passages you'd never allow an adventurer to use in a game on this time scale (they'd be really slow and sitting ducks if any combat happened)

I almost prefer the solution of the big based figures can not use the one square corridors, though limits the actions of the enemy player.

a big base miniature, exceding a small board tile is something I'd rather avoid in my games

I would have preferred that all corridors are double square, and not to use so similar boards with the old Dwarf King Hold :(

decker_cky wrote:
Or the trolls were killed, chopped up, dragged in, sewn together, then reanimated.

That's awesome. Mantic please add stitch lines to collaborate with this theory.

 Da Boss wrote:
It all depends on how you see KS though, I don't really see it as "getting value", I see it as a way to encourage development of products I might like.

I pledge sparingly, but it's always because I want something made and I think the creator in question can do it, not because I'm particularly fishing for value. Though of course it is a consideration.

Without getting into the "what kickstarter is really meant for" bs, I see projects generally being in one of two streams. There's the big advanced pre-order type, like these or CMONs projects - which granted do need the money to actually produce the products as shown - but would otherwise probably be able to produce something, albeit it something less ambitious. and then there's the much smaller, garage-type projects that simply can't afford any freebies - or scant few. Stuff like RBG, Impact, etc.

 Compel wrote:
They'll be expansions, done as part of the existing kickstarter.

Thanks for the info - I guess there's our main two $50 add-ons, with associated stretch goals to fill them out properly.

 judgedoug wrote:
Not sure if going the way of Mars Attacks is a bad thing.

Mars Attacks made a ton of money and got such good press that it became Mantic's #1 selling game before it's release based on distributor orders alone. It's something like an initial print run of 50,000 copies, right? Dreadball's only into it's 30,000's after 18 months or so.

Hell, Mantic's going for a complete all in one boardgame solution like Mars Attacks was and this will definitely materialize and not be Spain-restricted like HeroQuest 25, I'm pretty certain they'll get 50,000 distributor preorders for this too.

We're talking about the KS campaign though - not the subsequent success.

I doubt it will do anywhere near MA numbers initially either. This is a generic fantasy product. Mars Attacks has a reasonably well-known licence attached, with an IP owner who is actively trying to re-promote the brand.... This certainly has a lot of potential, but that will only be on the back of re-orders and good sales. Not upfront orders of 50k based on the nerd-nostalgic value of 25-year-old HeroQuest.

Oh man, I hope they have the kinds of stretch goal add-ons that require further stretch goals to fulfill them. That would be almost orgasmantic.

guru wrote:

 edlowe wrote:
Yep they've said the big based figures can't use the one square corridors (first thing I asked!)

lol, monsters locked in their lairs, unable to leave to beat the heros in corridors xD

I think a very poor solution to a flaw design :(

I'm having flashbacks to playing random Warhammer Quest dungeons where rolling a "1" for the wizard's power level would generate random monsters and a few bad rolls in a row and you were facing literally corridors and rooms full of dozens and dozens of orcs goblins spiders bats rats minotaurs oh dear god the pain

 judgedoug wrote:

guru wrote:

 edlowe wrote:
Yep they've said the big based figures can't use the one square corridors (first thing I asked!)

lol, monsters locked in their lairs, unable to leave to beat the heros in corridors xD

I think a very poor solution to a flaw design :(

I'm having flashbacks to playing random Warhammer Quest dungeons where rolling a "1" for the wizard's power level would generate random monsters and a few bad rolls in a row and you were facing literally corridors and rooms full of dozens and dozens of orcs goblins spiders bats rats minotaurs oh dear god the pain

the mitical "roll a 1 phase" of warhammer quest... moments of bad luck, turning the dungeons in a blood and guts festival for monsters. xD

 Azazelx wrote:

 DaveC wrote:
So Beasts of War have the extended interview with Ronnie up -
First Expansion - Orcs and Goblins includes new tiles and rulebook and rules for the current KoW Orc and Goblin range
Second Expansion - Abyssal Dwarfs

Are these expansions planned as part of this Kickstarter? Or actual literal expansions down the line? - probably with additional KS campaigns. Often boardgames run an additional expansion as part of a KS (Zombicide, SDE, etc, but Mantic seems to run some of them as additional KS (DBX)

Hopefully they'll be part of this KS and the reason for the 1 year development is to have 2 or more waves due to 1 or more large expansions that will be done after the base game which will ship a lot earlier.

guru wrote:


I would have preferred that all corridors are double square, and not to use so similar boards with the old Dwarf King Hold :(

For DKH that was a vital part of the tactics. Seems that is being retained while the game itself changes a bit...

Zombie trolls having a hard time with one square corridors? Could be hilarious! I'm thinking cave troll in Moria antics!

On the subject of expansions, I think that the Mantica lore would benefit from one set in the Abyss - lots of lava and caves and a real Mount Doom vibe. Plus Mantic get to have a go with some Abyssal sculpts.

Two LOTR references in one post? Yeah, that's right, I did it...

One does not simply reference LotR twice in one post!

 Yonan wrote:

Hopefully they'll be part of this KS and the reason for the 1 year development is to have 2 or more waves due to 1 or more large expansions that will be done after the base game which will ship a lot earlier.

That's something I'd certainly like to see...

My spidey senses detect a faint whiff of skepticism! ; p

Actually, I was being geniune that time.

 BobtheInquisitor wrote:
Oh man, I hope they have the kinds of stretch goal add-ons that require further stretch goals to fulfill them.

Isn't this part of the regular Mantic KS Playbook, and as such, practically a guarantee?

 BobtheInquisitor wrote:
That would be almost orgasmantic.

Er, thanks for the warning?

 Azazelx wrote:

 Yonan wrote:

Hopefully they'll be part of this KS and the reason for the 1 year development is to have 2 or more waves due to 1 or more large expansions that will be done after the base game which will ship a lot earlier.

That's something I'd certainly like to see...

Well to quote the Kickstarter itself:

The other challenge is delays from the manufacturer – something that has meant we’ve gone down to the wire on a number of occasions with sculpting deadlines and delivery to our warehouse. We’ve deliberately added a couple of extra months to our shipping date to cater for this, meaning we can work on checking the quality of everything that comes through.

Knowing Mantic they'll ship early, but it really looks like they've taken the KoW/Dreadball quality complaints to heart and padded the ship date with a few months in case they need models to be redone. So, good for them!

Perhaps the Mantic rallying cry will change from Mantic... almost! to Mantic... alright! haha.