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^^ Yeah I'm actually seeing some noise that it won't be kickstarted now. I don't know for definite mind, so please no-one come back if they do KS and say "ahhh but Nick you said..."

 Da Boss wrote:


Who wrote the game out of interest?

I can't remember. It wasn't a "big" name at any rate or not one I recognised, but the mechanics were perfectly sound. There were some clunky bits to work out (turn phases could do with some trimming and there was debate about how quickly/slowly the escalation meter should fill) but the core base was great.

 Daedleh wrote:
Yeah I'm actually seeing some noise that it won't be kickstarted now.

Truly, we are living in the end times

Seriously, if Mantic can bring this around without using KS, that's a great step for them.

I'd be way more likely to pick this up if it's non KS. If not, I will wait til retail.

I'm all Kickstarter'd out.. passing on this one unless there's something I really really really want.

In like the proverbial Flynn. And now I'm kicking myself that I didn't get any of the post apocalyptic card scenery kick starter. The two would be awesome together.

 .Mikes. wrote:
In like the proverbial Flynn. And now I'm kicking myself that I didn't get any of the post apocalyptic card scenery kick starter. The two would be awesome together.

Worry not, 4ground are bringing out suitable terrain is year, and Plasticraft already have some stuff out.

 .Mikes. wrote:
In like the proverbial Flynn. And now I'm kicking myself that I didn't get any of the post apocalyptic card scenery kick starter. The two would be awesome together.

I am a bit more intrigued thanks to Daedleh's quick run down. I did get in on that wonderful Battlesystems PostApoc terrain and have plenty of zombies /survivors. So honestly my interest is only flagging due to the fact that I do not have need for much more than rules.

It sounds really good, very promising

Thanks Daedleh and Aeneades for the infos & link

When it comes to factions there are a number of possibilities.

For named groups:

Rick's group
Governor's Group
Terminus Group (it would be nice to have a cannibal rule for them)
The Claimed Gang
Negan's group
Wolves


As for "generic" Groups
Inner city gangs
Local town survivors
Biker Gangs (it would be cool to have mounted guys. They would be fast, but noisy as heck and few in number)
Militia groups
Army groups

When we first found out that it was going to be a postapocalyptic licensed game I said The Walking Dead was the worst of the suggestions, and I stand by that now. Even if you want to make another entry in this overbloated genre, you don't need to pay whatever hack owns TWD to do it.

So we all get to see more cartoony , none true scale miniatures then?

Cool idea, and mantic are great with their community, but Mantic is the last company I can think of that should produce a game for a more serious gritty setting. Like what other people have said I doubt this is going to go very well, mantic are great for younger audiences but they really are lacking
in their art department when it comes to creating a much more serious well focused miniatures and setting. lets see what happens but the minis already have that "heroic look" and the zombies are not nearly as nasty as the ones in the show are.

We will of course know tomorrow hopefully with the first official newsletter for the game, but I'm uncertain now if it is a KS. I thought not because it didn't say KS, post said had lisence to make, not KS, and interviewed Ronnie two weeks back and got the strong impression it would be normal release.

However, it is a Mantic product and gut reaction to new product news day a send a lot of minds directly to KS as a default see what tomorrow brings.

 AlexHolker wrote:
When we first found out that it was going to be a postapocalyptic licensed game I said The Walking Dead was the worst of the suggestions, and I stand by that now. Even if you want to make another entry in this overbloated genre, you don't need to pay whatever hack owns TWD to do it.

I object to you calling Kirkman a hack! Invincible is an awesome series. The Walking Dead was too depressing for me to stick with, but it's damn good. (Haven't watched the show, talking about the comics)

 AlexHolker wrote:
When we first found out that it was going to be a postapocalyptic licensed game I said The Walking Dead was the worst of the suggestions, and I stand by that now. Even if you want to make another entry in this overbloated genre, you don't need to pay whatever hack owns TWD to do it.

awwww and there he goes

 Alex C wrote:

 .Mikes. wrote:
In like the proverbial Flynn. And now I'm kicking myself that I didn't get any of the post apocalyptic card scenery kick starter. The two would be awesome together.

Worry not, 4ground are bringing out suitable terrain is year, and Plasticraft already have some stuff out.

I love 4ground, but their stuff is so expensive. It's worth it, but for the price of two or three (admittedly great) 4ground buildings I could have a full postapoc table from Battlesystems.

Anyway, this is all moot until I get my hands on the game. I'm glad I got so many urban scenery packs from the MA KS now. Also there's a local MDF buildings maker in Melbourne (literally just down the road from me) who's started making some great looking, no frills modern urban buildings (Knights of Dice for anyone who's interested). Looks like I'm going to become a customer of theirs.

this is a great opportunity for mantic, but no kickstarter please. just believe in your product and let it do its thing.

Sounds like Deadzone 1.0, crates on the board for "loot", build your own group, campaign rules, etc.

 cuda1179 wrote:
When it comes to factions there are a number of possibilities.

For named groups:

Rick's group
Governor's Group
Terminus Group (it would be nice to have a cannibal rule for them)
The Claimed Gang
Negan's group
Wolves


As for "generic" Groups
Inner city gangs
Local town survivors
Biker Gangs (it would be cool to have mounted guys. They would be fast, but noisy as heck and few in number)
Militia groups
Army groups

Don't forget the whisperers ! The box game will come with 3 gangs if you use them ...

 AlexHolker wrote:
When we first found out that it was going to be a postapocalyptic licensed game I said The Walking Dead was the worst of the suggestions, and I stand by that now. Even if you want to make another entry in this overbloated genre, you don't need to pay whatever hack owns TWD to do it.

I don't remember you coming out against The Walking Dead. In fact, I don't remember anyone mentioning The Walking Dead when we were speculating on what relevant, post apocalyptic license Mantic had won. Fallout, Mad Max, I am Legend and Independence Day were titles people thought might live up to the million dollar KS speculation, back when there was some excitement. The Walking Dead? Uh, sure.



One thing I can't wait to see: people fielding 28mm sections of coral. Coral!

 Daedleh wrote:

 AlexHolker wrote:
When we first found out that it was going to be a postapocalyptic licensed game I said The Walking Dead was the worst of the suggestions, and I stand by that now. Even if you want to make another entry in this overbloated genre, you don't need to pay whatever hack owns TWD to do it.

awwww and there he goes

He kind of has a point. Because it's licenced, it'll be more expensive/you'll get less product per $ in the same way that FFG's X-Wing ships ain't cheap. OTOH, the licence sounds like the only real USP that is has in its favour, and will no doubt be able to get it into more retail locations than a more generic, un-licenced product.

Your write-up made it sound fun, but then anything played with friends and enthusiasm is going to be fun. I doubt I'd be able to find time to play something like this since I barely find time to play any of the million other things I own - and more zombies (as nice as the models look) and survivors isn't a big selling point. I'm quite glad it's not Mad Max or Fallout, because either of those would have sorely tested my will. If it's a KS, I'll go in for a token dollar, and if it's a retail release - which I hope it is - I can pretty much ignore it safely until after release and reviews. And probably afterwards, if Alessio's Terminator game is any indication. Supposed to be a great game (well, according to Doug, anyway), but rules and 26 figures for AU$140-180 depending on where you buy it? No thanks - easy pass.

In short, I'm quite happy about this. I want to reduce my buying this year by a significant amount, and this is just what the doctor ordered!

 CURNOW wrote:

 cuda1179 wrote:
When it comes to factions there are a number of possibilities.

For named groups:

Rick's group
Governor's Group
Terminus Group (it would be nice to have a cannibal rule for them)
The Claimed Gang
Negan's group
Wolves


As for "generic" Groups
Inner city gangs
Local town survivors
Biker Gangs (it would be cool to have mounted guys. They would be fast, but noisy as heck and few in number)
Militia groups
Army groups

Don't forget the whisperers ! The box game will come with 3 gangs if you use them ...

or
the hill top group led by Jesus
the Kingdom, I'd love to see a lion in miniature form

after all TWD "all out war" comic story line has all four groups, the Hilltop, the Kingdom, the Saviour's, & Alexandrians (Ricks group)

but yea I'd love to see some whisperes too

I'm glad Mantic is once again doing well, especially without a kickstarter. I don't always appreciate their sculpting prowess but it does seem to be improving and their original zombie offerings were fantastic.

The downside is I couldn't be more uninterested in a zombie game, especially one in The Walking Dead setting. Almost every game has some flavour of undead to play, usually with multiple variations. Admittedly in TWD the zombies become mostly inconsequential set pieces or terrain roadblocks. However what we're left with then is a game about skirmish with mostly modern day weaponry. It has none of the appeal if the comics / TV show which is ultimately about people with strong moral compasses (for the most part) being forced to make massive decisions and ultimately compromise in the face of a new brutal world, and living with their choices. I can't really think of many visually distinct groups. Everyone is again mostly in plain clothes and falls into the untrained, trained or have now survived the zombie apocalypse so have training camps.

Again I'm sure it will do fantastic and I'm sure Mantic will do well with it. It just doesn't seem to be all that appealing to myself unless it was a Dead of Winter style boardgame or an RPG scenario.

 Daedleh wrote:

 AlexHolker wrote:
When we first found out that it was going to be a postapocalyptic licensed game I said The Walking Dead was the worst of the suggestions, and I stand by that now. Even if you want to make another entry in this overbloated genre, you don't need to pay whatever hack owns TWD to do it.

awwww and there he goes

Meh, I wouldn't be too worried. He's had maybe one post in his entire time here that wasn't pointless and worth ignoring.

I've got friends who are cautiously optimistic about Mantic, but have the biggest hard-on for TWD possible. This should be an easy sell.

Excited for any terrain bits created for the game. I also think the zombies are pretty cool. Not sure I need new zombie rules as it's a pretty tight market, but agree there will be a net positive effect from the game.

I wouldn't be surprised if there's no associated terrain. Ronnie said in a recent release that the Battlezone scenery wasn't selling as well an anticipated, and there are already companies making very good post apoc and modern urban terrain.

I'm in the process of making 4 2x2 modular urban sf tiles for Infinity. I reckon I'll tone down the futuriness i them so they be adapted to post apoc now. Plenty of .ore uses then.

I'm hoping Mantic scales the models better than Mars Attacks - their humans were incredibly small and the detail suffered for it. I really think CMON hit the proper scale for detailing single piece miniatures (which I assume these will be for ease of play to compete ith any other miniature board game offering).

That said, even if they are a bit smaller, I might jump in. I have TWD graphic novels and started reading the first, but fell off after a a couple dozen pages one night. So really, I don't care all that much about the TWD world (though Telltale did a nice job in their games, and I'd pick up those characters in a heart beat), so if they can't bring me in on minis, maybe terrain will do it. Rules maybe, too.

Lord knows I have enough zombie apoc minis as is....

 .Mikes. wrote:
I wouldn't be surprised if there's no associated terrain. Ronnie said in a recent release that the Battlezone scenery wasn't selling as well an anticipated, and there are already companies making very good post apoc and modern urban terrain.

I'm in the process of making 4 2x2 modular urban sf tiles for Infinity. I reckon I'll tone down the futuriness i them so they be adapted to post apoc now. Plenty of .ore uses then.

I think the Mars Attacks battle ground sets could have worked if they decided not to follow that bizarre 3x3 grid and peg system, and instead just did modular pieces in 4", 6", etc sections with vertical dividers and corner pieces to fit it all together neatly, kind of like how DUST tactics did their building kit.

~iPaint

Ehh - I'm not a fan of the show or anything - but it also looks like yet another zombie game.

Zombies are like sooo done by now aren't they? It seems pretty hard to get excited about a zombie game. So many people make zombie minis and whatnot too. I don't see what will make it stand out.

 .Mikes. wrote:
I wouldn't be surprised if there's no associated terrain. Ronnie said in a recent release that the Battlezone scenery wasn't selling as well an anticipated, and there are already companies making very good post apoc and modern urban terrain.
I'm in the process of making 4 2x2 modular urban sf tiles for Infinity. I reckon I'll tone down the futuriness i them so they be adapted to post apoc now. Plenty of .ore uses then.

I think one reason the Battlezones haven't sold as well as expected is because they sold so much of in their KS campaigns. I've got way more than I'll ever need, and I doubt I'm anywhere near alone.

Slightly more generic scenery is often preferable to overly-specific scenery. Add "flavour" pieces of scatter terrain, etc, for specificity while keeping the big pieces generic is the way to go. (When I get them done) my Tablescapes roads won't have aquilas stencilled on them, and so they'll be able to be used for 40k, WW2, post-apoc, and so forth easily.

It's not hard to get excited by a zombie game if your a zombie enthusiast.

The Walking Dead has a viewership of 10 Million +

If even 1% buy the game that is HUGE.

 -iPaint- wrote:
I'm hoping Mantic scales the models better than Mars Attacks - their humans were incredibly small and the detail suffered for it. I really think CMON hit the proper scale for detailing single piece miniatures (which I assume these will be for ease of play to compete ith any other miniature board game offering).

Mantic's scale is all over the shop - very inconsistent. The Dungeon Saga miniatures aren't to scale with their KoW equivalents and their WarPath Orx etc are even worse.. It's one of the reasons I keep saying that they need an art director.

I think the Mars Attacks battle ground sets could have worked if they decided not to follow that bizarre 3x3 grid and peg system, and instead just did modular pieces in 4", 6", etc sections with vertical dividers and corner pieces to fit it all together neatly, kind of like how DUST tactics did their building kit.

That's a very good point as well. They were designed very much for DeadZone at their core, and don't really feel like anything in particular.


Automatically Appended Next Post:

 adamsouza wrote:
It's not hard to get excited by a zombie game if your a zombie enthusiast.

The Walking Dead has a viewership of 10 Million +

If even 1% buy the game that is HUGE.

I enjoy zombies, but the gamespace we're in is flooded by them. That affects us as active gamers more than the general public, though. The drawback to the game is that it's a tabletop miniatures game with a campaign system - which is all very "gamer" as opposed to a pick-up-and-play. For true mass market appeal you basically need a boardgame that can be played in discrete sessions without needing to worry about tape measures, inches or campaign systems. The template that Zombicide, Zombies!!! and probably a few others already sit comfortably in. It's a great licence for mainstream appeal, but I don't think that aiming it at us (Wargamers) is the best move - particularly when a mass-market boardgame would appeal to far more people out there.

Suggesting that 1% of TWD's (or any mainstream television show's) viewership is likely to buy a tabletop miniatures game is lollerskates, though. May as well make a Minecraft app and hope that 1% of all the minecraft fans in the world buy it for $2 and GET RICH (an actual "idea" floated by a friend ) The viewship numbers are way too large to hope for 1% to buy this particular piece of licenced merchandise - or indeed any specific SKU of licenced merchandise. Do you expect that 1% of Star Wars fans bought either of these?