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Any model may be a commander but only commanders can take CMD gears. The Recon models in the North are so good that they have no need for dedicated command variants!

Cheers!
Dave

 DP9Dave wrote:
Any model may be a commander but only commanders can take CMD gears. The Recon models in the North are so good that they have no need for dedicated command variants!

Cheers!
Dave

In that case, I found a mistake.

Each Primary unit must have one commander model identified as the Combat Group Leader (CGL). Only variant models with the CMD
attribute may be selected as a commander.

pg 56, 18.4, third bullet.

That bolded part should be reversed (only commanders may select variant models with the CMD attribute) or alternately change "as" to " only by" if you get rid of the first only.

Noted in the errata section, thanks! It is correct on the previous page but what should have been reinforcement got it backwards. This will be fixed in a quickupdate when the last of the fluff is added in the next month or two.

Cheers!
Dave

Thanks for the update. Is the post campaign funding period still ending in a few days? If so, are there any updates to the sculpts? Have we seen any new model renders, sprue layout pics, etc since the campaign finished 3 months ago? The only pic with renders that I can recall seeing is the cover to the beta rules update but I don't think there were any new models there.

The Caprice Ammon Mount has been added to the starter set. $170K achieved in post KS crowdfunding! Congratulations dp9!

So the dollar's crap again (as god intended, apparently ), and getting crappier.

Where does that put this?

I'm not sure what you're asking here.

1 US Dollar = 1.27 Canadian Dollars right now.

So...?

 Alpharius wrote:
I'm not sure what you're asking here.

1 US Dollar = 1.27 Canadian Dollars right now.

So...?

While I haven't checked recently, the first time it came up in the thread I peeked at the relative difference in the conversion rates to USD. The $130 CAD when the kickstarter ended costed $115 USD for pledgers. Getting in a few weeks ago due to the exchange rate changes cost $102 IIRC. DP9's buying power (if they kept the money in CAD) dropped almost 10% since their manufacturer was stated as being in the US.

Right - and that certainly hasn't changed!

Hopefully (!) they've 'locked in' whatever manufacturing costs they could, as soon as they could...

I've both purchased, and had purchased, many molds cross-border. That's not how it works. The price is locked in when you pay for it. Before that point, currency fluctuations are your problem as a purchaser. This may be complicated by the purchase being broken into progress payments, and final payment being made on final product approval. Currency fluctuations are going to be a significant headache for Dream Pod 9.

I have to assume they did the smart thing, and converted everything to US$ immediately after the KS ended.
Otherwise... They're in trouble, yeah.

 HudsonD wrote:
I have to assume they did the smart thing, and converted everything to US$ immediately after the KS ended.

That would demonstrate forethought. Hopefully for them (and the backers), they had it.

 Albertorius wrote:

 HudsonD wrote:
I have to assume they did the smart thing, and converted everything to US$ immediately after the KS ended.

That would demonstrate forethought. Hopefully for them (and the backers), they had it.

Better hope so.

 Albertorius wrote:

 HudsonD wrote:
I have to assume they did the smart thing, and converted everything to US$ immediately after the KS ended.

That would demonstrate forethought. Hopefully for them (and the backers), they had it.

Actually, they had to deal with this issue for the entire existence of the company. At this point, until I see proof of the opposite, I would assume that most of their income get converted to USD ASAP.

 HudsonD wrote:
I have to assume they did the smart thing, and converted everything to US$ immediately after the KS ended.
Otherwise... They're in trouble, yeah.

That was my hope too...

 Albertorius wrote:

 HudsonD wrote:
I have to assume they did the smart thing, and converted everything to US$ immediately after the KS ended.

That would demonstrate forethought. Hopefully for them (and the backers), they had it.

Given that the Pod failed to consider that some backers payment would not go through, I'm not sure the Pod would have actually hedged ForEx for a drop in CAD vs USD.

mrondeau wrote:

 Albertorius wrote:

 HudsonD wrote:
I have to assume they did the smart thing, and converted everything to US$ immediately after the KS ended.

That would demonstrate forethought. Hopefully for them (and the backers), they had it.

Actually, they had to deal with this issue for the entire existence of the company. At this point, until I see proof of the opposite, I would assume that most of their income get converted to USD ASAP.

A very good point.


Automatically Appended Next Post:

 JohnHwangDD wrote:

 Albertorius wrote:

 HudsonD wrote:
I have to assume they did the smart thing, and converted everything to US$ immediately after the KS ended.

That would demonstrate forethought. Hopefully for them (and the backers), they had it.

Given that the Pod failed to consider that some backers payment would not go through, I'm not sure the Pod would have actually hedged ForEx for a drop in CAD vs USD.

Wow, let's hope not. That would be... huh.

I worked at a company that should have known better, but got clobbered anyway. That was a toolshop that had been doing cross-border business for a decade at that point (and for far larger sums than the Pod is handling). I've seen others make similar mistakes. That's not to say anything about the Pod's situation, specifically, only that things like, "Actually, they had to deal with this issue for the entire existence of the company..." doesn't mean that the Pod did what you or I think would've been the smart thing with the benefit of hindsight (i.e. knowing how much the $CDN has fallen since the end of the Kickstarter). I think mrondeau's point of waiting for some evidence of a problem is fair. I know I'm sounding like a broken record, but if it were a company other than Dream Pod 9...well, you know where that sentence is going.

mrondeau wrote:
At this point, until I see proof of the opposite, I would assume that most of their income get converted to USD ASAP.

I'm curious about this last part. Maybe I'm just misunderstanding you. What do you mean? The Pod is a Canadian company, operating in Canada, and manufacturing in Canada. Why would they regularly be converting most of their money to $USD? The bulk of their costs are probably being paid in $CDN. Were you referring to the Kickstarter funds? My understanding is that these plastic miniatures are their first major foray into US production...

The Pod is manufacturing the KS product by an American company in the US, and they are not going to accept non-American money. They will expect to be paid in US Dollars.

Most of their income is in USD, the printing is in USD, and as far as I know, the shipping is done from the US, in USD.
I would not be surprised if the metal for the minis is bought in USD.
In the past, miniatures were priced in USD, except when the CAD reached parity. Canadian employees must be paid in CAD, as well as rent and taxes, but having most of the costs in USD is not new for DP9.

Oh, and for the record, I'm more pessimistic than you about DP9. I just don't think they made that particular mistake.

JohnHwangDD wrote:The Pod is manufacturing the KS product by an American company in the US, and they are not going to accept non-American money. They will expect to be paid in US Dollars.

I understand all that. I'm not talking about the KS, although that may have been what mrondeau was referring to... that's what I was trying to clarify.

mrondeau wrote:Most of their income is in USD, the printing is in USD, and as far as I know, the shipping is done from the US, in USD.
I would not be surprised if the metal for the minis is bought in USD.
In the past, miniatures were priced in USD, except when the CAD reached parity. Canadian employees must be paid in CAD, as well as rent and taxes, but having most of the costs in USD is not new for DP9.

Oh, and for the record, I'm more pessimistic than you about DP9. I just don't think they made that particular mistake.

I didn't know that shipping was from the US. Are we talking specifically for US orders (the border is a short drive)? Their casting is in Montréal, is it not?

My guess is that the metal (and resin) for casting is likely bought from a local supplier in $CDN (assuming casting is done in Montréal). I didn't have any of their recent books handy to check where they're currently doing printing, but considering how often they've printed books recently, I'm not sure this is a major component of their operating costs.

Casting is done in Montréal. I would not call the drive to the border "short", but yes, my understanding is that the US shipping, and possibly international, was done in the US.

I want to stress, here, that I don't know what I'm talking about. It's just stuff I recall hearing over the years from DP9's employees and the owner.

mrondeau wrote:
Casting is done in Montréal. I would not call the drive to the border "short", but yes, my understanding is that the US shipping, and possibly international, was done in the US.

Way shorter than here! It's about 45 minutes from the island to the border last time I did it. That'd be worth it for a decent size shipment. Especially if you fill up on gas in the US!

mrondeau wrote:
I want to stress, here, that I don't know what I'm talking about. It's just stuff I recall hearing over the years from DP9's employees and the owner.

No worries! I obviously know nothing of the inside workings of Dream Pod 9, either. It's all speculation for now.

mrondeau wrote:
Casting is done in Montréal. I would not call the drive to the border "short", but yes, my understanding is that the US shipping, and possibly international, was done in the US.

I can attest international shipping is sent with USPS.

So Dakka's got a game now. With plastics. And a 7-man team.

http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/644194.page

"We started this project before Kickstarter took off in the wargaming world and based on the strength of the team alone we were able to secure enough funding to create an entire starter box set in real plastic."

Maybe this isn't really relevant to the Heavy Gear discussion, I just.... I just wonder, at the differences, I guess.

???

What differences? Setting, scale, gameplay?

I am honestly lost understanding your topic in the HG context.

I believe Firebreak is pointing out the amount of work a green team is able to put in a new project these days, and comparing it to the "20 years of experience" DP9 team.

I read Firebreak's comment somewhat differently. The quote refers to the 'strength of the team' allowing them to secure the funding to create a plastic starter set. People and banks are not in the business of handing out money even if people are good game designers. I suspect that the principles had a good amount of cash or collateral and thus were 'strong'.

In terms of the differences, I would assume that Firebeak is referring to the way in which the project is approached. The Dakka team kept the project secret (very much like another large company who shall remain nameless) They then opted for a press blitz creating buzz. In terms of the project itself, they put a great amount of effort into the fluff, hiring authors to write books. This shows that they believe the fluff is very important to the game. Again, another large company does similar things. Lastly, they decided to go plastic at great expense. Other companies have opted for different routes, such as Prodos. However, even companies that have gone plastic have had issues, see Robotech and All Quiet on the Martian Front. So plastic is not a sure fire win.

We shall see how DP9s effort goes. There is some ill will amongst fans. However, some companies manage to succeed inspite of this, such as GW and Spartan Games.

I'm rather curious to see how the Dakka KS goes. I think there is every chance they outfund and outdeliver DP9, simply because their team understands KS better - learning from others' mistakes, if you will.

 JohnHwangDD wrote:
I'm rather curious to see how the Dakka KS goes. I think there is every chance they outfund and outdeliver DP9, simply because their team understands KS better - learning from others' mistakes, if you will.

Indeed, I think it is an advantage in this case to be coming later to the table. While there is a lot of junk on Kickstarter these days now, with everyone and their uncle trying to sell a miniatures game, there has been ample time for the Maelstrom's Edge team to see, and not repeat the mistakes others have made. Be interesting to see how it goes...