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More Iron Ancestors is always a good thing, and the new Strider variant looks pretty cool to me...

I do think we will see some Plague/Asterian grumbles though. One of the problems with basically 5 armies on the go is that people are going to have reason to complain with every update.

A week to go and I have no real idea of the kind of total funding this will end up with.

Are there any swappable parts on the Iron Ancestors or will they all be exactly the same?

Not sure about the Grav-ram weapon I might get one but it can wait for the PM. It also depends if they do it in resin or metal - metal would cause a lot of weight and connection issues.

As for the final total KoW2 did $130k in it's last week and WP has always been a bit ahead of it so this one seems to be in $500k range depending on the last 48 hours which for KoW2 was good but not stellar.

RoninXiC wrote:
Are there any swappable parts on the Iron Ancestors or will they all be exactly the same?

The Urban Pattern Iron Ancestor has a different backpack, a different gun, and a claw hand instead of a hammer, and the rules have weapon swaps for double melee and double range weapons. They already make a hailstorm autocannon right arm for the Doomstorm, I presume they'll start making a left melee arm for the Thor.

I wonder if The Thor Pattern will get a variant as the DBX version pretty much fits the look of the Assault Weapon only Thor pattern. It's a good stand in for now anyway. I was hoping to rekit the DBX one but he arms are welded on tight.

http://www.manticgames.com/mantic-shop/dreadball/giants/product/iron-ancestor-dreadball-giant.html

 plastictrees wrote:
I think it's weird that people are seeing it as a mold line.
I also think it's weird that the sculptor carried the angled panels across the whole upper portion. The ridged section at the back could have stayed flat.

It looks like a seam. Like the seam where the two halves are glued together. If it's not, it's a really poor design choice to have it run the entire length of the model, since it makes it look like the seam down the middle of the two halves that you might find on a cheap toy. And even modern toys tend to avoid things like seam lines right down the middle.


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 GrimDork wrote:
So. It's a little ridge. I'm assuming if we don't like it on our own personal models we could fairly easily scrape or file it away (y'know, hard plastic and all)?
I mean I get it that some of you will consider it a design flaw and that you don't buy models to change them to your liking but, meh, certainly doesn't seem like something I'll be concerned over. The real question is can I get by with just one...

Having it as a ridge means that the two "sides" aren't flat, so it'll never look "right" even if you scrape it off. Like a child's drawing of the roof of a house - though at a much less extreme angle. But still, you can scrape the "line" off, but then you end up with an awkwardly "rounded off" piece instead of a flat one.

Pretty stoked about the siege strider.

To be honest, I haven't seen all that many aircraft with a flat roof.

I like the new Stider variations, it's a lovely model as well.

A massive shield on a strider? Yes please! The group looks good but you only get one upgrade kit and doesn't say what material the upgrades are made from.

The scenery add-ons are more expensive than direct from mantic's store (and are available from third parties for cheaper still). Bold strategy there

 Bull0 wrote:
The scenery add-ons are more expensive than direct from mantic's store (and are available from third parties for cheaper still). Bold strategy there

The general trend here to peddle so much of existing/previously funded stuff through Kickstarter is gonna be a major blow to any future retailer-strategy by Mantic.

Funding stuff with Kickstarter, later to be sold through retail, is one thing (though not entirely without drawbacks, given retailers miss the "new & shiny" phase of any new product).

The prospect of having Mantic-stock sitting in your store, while Mantic themselves are selling it again through Kickstarter, bundled along with the new & shiny, will make many LFGS think twice before taking up Mantic.

Wonderwolf wrote:

 Bull0 wrote:
The scenery add-ons are more expensive than direct from mantic's store (and are available from third parties for cheaper still). Bold strategy there

The general trend here to peddle so much of existing/previously funded stuff through Kickstarter is gonna be a major blow to any future retailer-strategy by Mantic.

Funding stuff with Kickstarter, later to be sold through retail, is one thing (though not entirely without drawbacks, given retailers miss the "new & shiny" phase of any new product).

The prospect of having Mantic-stock sitting in your store, while Mantic themselves are selling it again through Kickstarter, bundled along with the new & shiny, will make many LFGS think twice before taking up Mantic.

The existing product like battlezones are priced higher in the project than they are on a regular retail discount, plus at retail you get them now, rather than 6 months from now. Mantic has put the items in the project because so many people have demanded them, but at a price and delay that should be saying "be smarter about this, backer".

Mantic has been on a pro-retailer drive since Dungeon Saga with their retail exclusives, you sound like you haven't really been following much lately.

 NTRabbit wrote:

Wonderwolf wrote:

 Bull0 wrote:
The scenery add-ons are more expensive than direct from mantic's store (and are available from third parties for cheaper still). Bold strategy there

The general trend here to peddle so much of existing/previously funded stuff through Kickstarter is gonna be a major blow to any future retailer-strategy by Mantic.

Funding stuff with Kickstarter, later to be sold through retail, is one thing (though not entirely without drawbacks, given retailers miss the "new & shiny" phase of any new product).

The prospect of having Mantic-stock sitting in your store, while Mantic themselves are selling it again through Kickstarter, bundled along with the new & shiny, will make many LFGS think twice before taking up Mantic.

The existing product like battlezones are priced higher in the project than they are on a regular retail discount, plus at retail you get them now, rather than 6 months from now. Mantic has put the items in the project because so many people have demanded them, but at a price and delay that should be saying "be smarter about this, backer".

Mantic has been on a pro-retailer drive since Dungeon Saga with their retail exclusives, you sound like you haven't really been following much lately.

Nope. I haven't been following this much lately. Should I, to make sense of this? Should a retailer? I doubt most store-owners have time to calculate things like this through, assuming your account of things is right.

They see the very same stuff the sales-guy is trying to get them to stock on the kickstarter page, likely without in-depth knowledge of the fictional background, the company-history or a detailed price-comparison calculation (and no reason to start one), and thus (likely) decide to invest in M:tG or X-Wing stock instead.

If, what you say is true, it's laudable, but unlikely to register with people having to make the decision, unless they also have a personal strong commitment/interest in Mantic-stuff that makes them "follow stuff closely".

The ajax strider looks pretty nice, but the weapon loadout is waaay too 40K for my tastes.

Actually, it's waaay too WM/H for my tastes too.

Haha he does look a bit like a warjack with that gear. Maybe I'm glad I saw this before I tried to give one a sword lol.

It's a short goal, some seem to like it, still moving along well enough.

Just saw in the KS comments that the Mantic Studio Forge Fathers were painted using GW paints, is that enough for a cease and desist?

 Thraxas Of Turai wrote:
Just saw in the KS comments that the Mantic Studio Forge Fathers were painted using GW paints, is that enough for a cease and desist?

Lol. Don't think so. The majority of shots for Kings of War 2nd Ed. Kickstarter was done on Citadel Realm of Battle boards.

Any thoughts on what a GCPS battlegroup is likely to contain?

There really isn't much to draw on. Partially for that reason, I'm inclined to think the group would have 40 hard plastic soldiers, like the Plague group. Maybe even 60 if they're really short of things to put in.

Then there's whatever extra might come on the sprue, along the lines of the enforcer dog, plague dog, mortar, asterian drone thing, etc.

Then probably 2 striders. 2 because there's not much else to put in. If they're really desperate for stuff to stock the battlegroup with, maybe that'll be their answer: 60 hard plastic troopers, three striders, and a metal character.

I hope not, though. I have too many striders as it is. One would be plenty for me.

Then what?

They can't use the old PVC troopers since the hard plastic guys are replacing them.

They used to sell some large Corp. guns with a crew. The don't sell those anymore on their website, but if they reserved their remaining stock for the KS, maybe? On the other hand, if they're phasing them out, not much point in getting new Corp players started with them. And would they really want to do them all in metal, since resin isn't something they're comfortable with, and they don't use PVC anymore? Maybe. A lot of the larger Veer-myn units were done in metal. I don't see that competing very well with hard plastic alternatives readily available already, though. Guns with crews are pretty easy to find, unlike Veer-myn brood mothers.

There's a metal GCPS commander, but a KS-exclusive new character would have a lot more appeal.

???

There is a Corp Heavy weapon in the Veterans 10 pack:

http://www.manticgames.com/mantic-shop/warpath/corporation/product/corporation-veterans-section-10-figures.html

And Element claim to have the Corp heavy weapons teams available to ship in a few days:

http://elementgames.co.uk/wargames-and-miniatures/sci-fi-miniatures-games/warpath/corporation/corporation-heavy-weapon-teams

If they go for hard plastic troopers they can have added options, and stretch goals, for Corp Rangers, Marines and Veterans. and heavy weapons teams 60 of them, a character, some striders and a new HIPS Corporation tank and the battlegroup would be good to go.

 Thraxas Of Turai wrote:
If they go for hard plastic troopers they can have added options, and stretch goals, for Corp Rangers, Marines and Veterans. and heavy weapons teams 60 of them, a character, some striders and a new HIPS Corporation tank and the battlegroup would be good to go.

If it's still in production, the PVC heavy weapon would be a good choice.

I think if it's just Corp troopers, a strider or two, and a metal character, I'll pick up some 20/$20 sets of the sprues instead of the battle group. I have enough striders.

That awesome concept art they put up was a Ranger, actually.

Hopefully the sprue makes enough variants to warrant 40-60 models in the battlegroup.

Wonderwolf wrote:

Nope. I haven't been following this much lately. Should I, to make sense of this? Should a retailer? I doubt most store-owners have time to calculate things like this through, assuming your account of things is right.

They see the very same stuff the sales-guy is trying to get them to stock on the kickstarter page, likely without in-depth knowledge of the fictional background, the company-history or a detailed price-comparison calculation (and no reason to start one), and thus (likely) decide to invest in M:tG or X-Wing stock instead.

If, what you say is true, it's laudable, but unlikely to register with people having to make the decision, unless they also have a personal strong commitment/interest in Mantic-stuff that makes them "follow stuff closely".

If a retailer looks at that KS and can't immediately tell that the existing product is being sold for much higher than the stock on their shelves, they probably shouldn't be running a small business. No fictional knowledge required.

You're clutching at straws here.

 NTRabbit wrote:

Wonderwolf wrote:

Nope. I haven't been following this much lately. Should I, to make sense of this? Should a retailer? I doubt most store-owners have time to calculate things like this through, assuming your account of things is right.

They see the very same stuff the sales-guy is trying to get them to stock on the kickstarter page, likely without in-depth knowledge of the fictional background, the company-history or a detailed price-comparison calculation (and no reason to start one), and thus (likely) decide to invest in M:tG or X-Wing stock instead.

If, what you say is true, it's laudable, but unlikely to register with people having to make the decision, unless they also have a personal strong commitment/interest in Mantic-stuff that makes them "follow stuff closely".

If a retailer looks at that KS and can't immediately tell that the existing product is being sold for much higher than the stock on their shelves, they probably shouldn't be running a small business. No fictional knowledge required.

You're clutching at straws here.

I don't think so. The individually priced add-ons are at the very bottom of the page. Lots of the existing stuff is wrapped up in bundles and deals of the pledges (say, the existing Enforcer-stuff, which for the most isn't actually cheaper than store-stuff, now that I DID do the calculation (so the very claim this is intentionally overpriced is wrong anyhow). In addition, it's all in a wierd ex-Colonial currency ( ) .

I think you're over-estimating the time people running a small business would sink into this for what would only ever be a supplementary stock to carry. If a store-owner goes through all the effort for Mantic-stock kudos to them. 99% simply will not.

The GCPS heavy weapons guys are identical to the rest though. Just different arms. If they're replacing that line (did they ever actually confirm that?) Then using the existing HWTs would be... I dunno backwards?

Definitely curious to see what they come up with. I want some tanky battle drones lugging the heavier weapons. We talk about GCPS having combat robots, own up to it and include some!

Think I'll settle for triple TW pledge with this in the end (during the pledge manager).

5 batttlegroups (everything except Corporation, got plenty of infantry already)
- 4 vehicle battlegroups (Enforcers, Veer-myn, Asterians, GCPS)
- Pick 3 forgefather tanks as TW freebies.

.. then add some extras to finish. Striders look like a good buy, as do the jetbikes. Will probably grab a few GCPS rangers as well since I'm not too keen on the current ones.

Still sitting on my EB AW for now, just in case some other stuff gets added to it.

 lord_blackfang wrote:
To be honest, I haven't seen all that many aircraft with a flat roof.

How many aircraft have you seen made of flat planes and sharp angles?



As for the Ajax strider, I think the spear gun is awesome, but I'm really hoping to be able to arm one with a boomerang or slingshot by the time I reach the bridge level.

I've no problem with sharp angles. (F-117 Nighthawk)
The Dropship reminds me a little of the Bell AH-1 Cobra
Attack helicopter. I like the current model.

 BobtheInquisitor wrote:

 lord_blackfang wrote:
To be honest, I haven't seen all that many aircraft with a flat roof.

How many aircraft have you seen made of flat planes and sharp angles?

Besides practically every modern fighter plus an oldie or two heavily incorporating their use for stealth?

I snagged one of the Tyrant pledges... but I am wondering if I shouldn't just switch to two TW pledges instead.

Sure, it's an extra $45, but that gets me extra dice, extra counters, and an extra set of books to loan out or sell. Or am I missing something?