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Agree to disagree, I think the veermyn tunnel runners *are* nice. Of course they're just concept art at the moment, but if I end up getting the other two veermyn battlegroups (looking more and more likely unless they give in and do battlegroups for stuff like Mules), I'll definitely want a set to round out my force. Always liked bike/buggy sized vehicles, for some reason.

New goal has been hit, with an Asterian Black talon unit with special character as the $435k goal.

After that it looks like the Forgefathers might get another light vehicle, followed by the HIPS Hornet.

That wraps up pretty much everything in the alpha lists, other than plague murderbirds and blasters (and GCPS tanks).

Also, if we get 3000 backers, everyone gets a free book.

I think at this point, already having a substantial Enforcer army and a good number of corporation troopers, I'm looking to get. - Corporation battlegroup, Plague Battlegroup, interceptors battlegroup. Although, I'm half tempted to drop the plague battlegroup in favour of the 20 plague troopers for 20 minis deal, which opens up another battlegroup choice if anything particularly appeals to me in the final stages.

Yeah the Asterians are getting the short end of the stick again, just like in Deadzone. They're an incomplete army, while the Enforcers and Plague keep getting more and more. Not really any point in getting an Asterian battlegroup until they take them seriously.

Asterian BG is quite bit off retail. I think I had it tabbed up to at least 100-110 buying the restic now with a 20/20 infantry bundle during the KS. Three more cyphers is even better. I realize they have no big unit but that sounds kind of like a design choice ATM.

Autocannon suggests FF? What about a GCPS sprue upgrade?

 GrimDork wrote:
Asterian BG is quite bit off retail. I think I had it tabbed up to at least 100-110 buying the restic now with a 20/20 infantry bundle during the KS. Three more cyphers is even better. I realize they have no big unit but that sounds kind of like a design choice ATM.

There's a difference between not opting to go with large units, and not having units at all - Asterians have a distinct lack of choice compared to other armies.

And passing on the Asterian battlegroup is nothing to do with the value for money, and everything to do with the Asterians being badly undersupported by Mantic for three KS projects in a row. If they're going to deprive the army of the unit support it needs in favour of dogpiling ever more Enforcer and Plague stuff, then there's no point in selecting it until they take them seriously. Even the rats are feeling it a little, they're not hugely well off for selections either.

I haven't been paying that close of attention to the alpha rules but if you're seeing a problem I won't contradict you.

The human and once human armies have some kits in common which certainly helps a bit.

Total moving but not as rapidly as it does sometimes. Either we get an extra big push at the end or we won't be getting too terribly much further. As long as they do the hornet I'll be pleased with the progress.

Had a look through the Firefight draft rules, really good stuff.

Broadly very similar to Warpath (Alternate Activation, Orders, Shooting/Melee/Suppression etc.), but with more in common with 40k or the previous version of Warpath in terms of the way units move, army lists are formed, proper per-model interaction and individual model removal. Similar mechanics, re-tooled for individual models in a proper fashion.

Teams/ Hubs are gone completely from both rulesets. Warpath is strict multibase, Firefight is strict individual model.

I know some of you were waiting on Firefight rules before deciding to pledge. Hopefully Mantic can put them up soon, but if not, I'd just like to reassure everyone that they're good.

 Vermis wrote:

 Taaloc wrote:
The other two concepts were far better and not doomwheely

The sketches on the previous page here, or something else? If the former, I know the monowheel vehicle is a popular thing in sci-fi and even some potential real world imaginings... but even the other designs, applied to space rodents, that are clearly based on GW's fantasy rodents who have their own highly distinctive and notorious hamster-wheel vehicle...?

but apparently the doomwheel is the one the community wanted when asked to vote via the comments on the ks. The cynic in me reckons they would have picked the doomwheel one anyway, but who knows.

I'll guess this why Ronnie or whoever allegedly feels confident in throwing anything out. (Honestly, a choice between these concepts is basically a choice between hamster wheels and hamster balls)

This is why we can't have nice things.

Or... This is why the vocal folks in this Dakka thread do not represent the actual target audience of the Warpath KS?

 scarletsquig wrote:
Had a look through the Firefight draft rules, really good stuff.

Broadly very similar to Warpath (Alternate Activation, Orders, Shooting/Melee/Suppression etc.), but with more in common with 40k or the previous version of Warpath in terms of the way units move, army lists are formed, proper per-model interaction and individual model removal. Similar mechanics, re-tooled for individual models in a proper fashion.

Teams/ Hubs are gone completely from both rulesets. Warpath is strict multibase, Firefight is strict individual model.

I know some of you were waiting on Firefight rules before deciding to pledge. Hopefully Mantic can put them up soon, but if not, I'd just like to reassure everyone that they're good.

that sounds reassuring (although I could have lived with no more than one hub per unit)

 scarletsquig wrote:
Had a look through the Firefight draft rules, really good stuff.

Broadly very similar to Warpath (Alternate Activation, Orders, Shooting/Melee/Suppression etc.), but with more in common with 40k or the previous version of Warpath in terms of the way units move, army lists are formed, proper per-model interaction and individual model removal. Similar mechanics, re-tooled for individual models in a proper fashion.

Teams/ Hubs are gone completely from both rulesets. Warpath is strict multibase, Firefight is strict individual model.

I know some of you were waiting on Firefight rules before deciding to pledge. Hopefully Mantic can put them up soon, but if not, I'd just like to reassure everyone that they're good.

Sounds perfect to me. Thanks for the reassurance.

I was assured directly in the KS messager that suppression will factor in less to Firefight as there is less emphasis on psychology. I was also told Forgefather's new light vehicle will be similar in size to the Mule.

After those messages I can also tell you that the very vocal part of this thread is exactly Mantic's target audience. That has been thoroughly impressed upon me.

Total is molasses today. They're gonna have to do something or be content with a lower total. Hopefully last day shenanigans and the Hornet have enough of an impact to get the hornet locked. I think all that artificial scarcity/pledge pressure pulled money in that usually shows up on the last days.

 MLaw wrote:
After those messages I can also tell you that the very vocal part of this thread is exactly Mantic's target audience. That has been thoroughly impressed upon me.

I'm not sure I follow your meaning. What is the very vocal part of this thread? The people who are most critical? Everyone here? Whatever demographic Dakka represents?

Wouldn't be surprised if they took one look at this thread then wandered off. Seems like it was a response that you get from automated messages, 'please hold your call is important to us'....

 Vermonter wrote:

 MLaw wrote:
After those messages I can also tell you that the very vocal part of this thread is exactly Mantic's target audience. That has been thoroughly impressed upon me.

I'm not sure I follow your meaning. What is the very vocal part of this thread? The people who are most critical? Everyone here? Whatever demographic Dakka represents?

The people who have offered criticism. It has been expressed to me that a lot of the concerns are being addressed (fairly specifically) and those are in line with the things I've heard voiced here. For gameplay the biggest thing I've heard is people looking for FIrefight and they are hearing that and it's reflecting that the expectations for FF are in fact leaning towards a similar experience to a more classical 40k match. Criticisms from here about the Mule, materials used, purchasing options, etc are also all being heard. They added the breacher add-on after people requested it, they've taken in other feedback. Obviously they can't give everyone everything they want..that's just not feasible.

On a more personal level, they saw my specific complaints and communicated with me personally to try to understand where I was coming from. Even if they don't meet the exact expectations I was hoping for, the fact that they're willing to reach more than their immediate diehards is reassuring. It denotes to me that the underpinnings of a gamer company do in fact still exist.

I'm glad to hear that Mantic is willing to listen to the undecideds. Will the new Forgefather vehicle be a flyer or skimmer? Will Blaine be in resin?

overtyrant wrote:
Wouldn't be surprised if they took one look at this thread then wandered off. Seems like it was a response that you get from automated messages, 'please hold your call is important to us'....

Are you saying this thread is particularly negative or difficult for a professional business to deal with? If so, have you ever worked with the public before?


Apparently I know 4th graders who could put Mantic into a nervous breakdown.

Also, it was not explicitly said or even implied (directly) but I believe that we will see both the light FF vehicle and the GCPS flyer unlocked regardless of the total. That's really just a hunch but I would plan accordingly. I would also anticipate the FF vehicle having the same price point as the mule and the Hornet the same as the Interceptor.

The new Forgefather light vehicle is probably the trike that's been mentioned by Ronnie in the Facebook chat apparently it's Mule sized.

 DaveC wrote:
The new Forgefather light vehicle is probably the trike that's been mentioned by Ronnie in the Facebook chat apparently it's Mule sized.

....of course it's a trike....

Why a trike? Why not the halftrack from the rules? Ugh.

Also, they've added the graphic for the Sturmhammer twin magma cannon turret to the battlegroups image already, probably an accidental early release.

Yep confirmed that it's the Magma Cannon Turret added to the image early by accident.

I guess it could be a half track trike

On another note, they mention a backer stretch goal to hire a professional writer to write a Deadzone novel. That's pretty exciting for me. Hope they don't hire Alastair Reynolds, though; that would be super awkward.

If Mantic is reading this, I hope they choose an established tie-in fiction writer who can handle the background while moving the story. James Luceno, David Mack, Aaron Dembski Bowden, Drew Karpyshyn, brian Daley, James Swallow, or Timothy Zahn would be a coup for them. Graham McNail or Christopher Bennett would be great for compiling and adding elegance to the background. If Mantic hires Karen Traviss, there will be much suffering.

Hasn't Guy Haley written for mantic a few times?

 DaveC wrote:
Yep confirmed that it's the Magma Cannon Turret added to the image early by accident.

I guess it could be a half track trike

If it was like, a stylised Kettenkrad sort of vehicle it'd be cool. I just don't see the need for a trike when we already have biker gang brokkrs, it's not something that seems to need doubling down on.

Sounds familiar?

I guess the total isn't terribly slow today, just not exploding. Probably more tomorrow. Mantic around to field questions seems to help not insignificantly.

20 minis for $20 for the add on packs sounds almost too good to be true. Are mantis models super low detail/crappy? KS pics look nice, and at that rate I would like to stock up.

 Compel wrote:
Hasn't Guy Haley written for mantic a few times?

Guy Haley was editor of the Mantic Journal and wrote for them in 2011 or so. I don't think he wrote for them since switching to GW.

grumpy_newenglander wrote:
20 minis for $20 for the add on packs sounds almost too good to be true. Are mantis models super low detail/crappy? KS pics look nice, and at that rate I would like to stock up.

All of the new hard plastic sprues from Mantic are really good, and getting better with each new attempt

e: Mantic could hire Dan Abnett to write it, I hear GW are having real trouble getting him to write anything for them anymore

Its just a really good price, they get more expensive at retail. I have the latest released HP kits, the enforcers, peacekeepers, zombies, and forge guard. They may not be quite up to the nicer gw kits but they're very usable and paint up fine.