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That pirate ship is very, very cool.

Looking forward to seeing more of the terrain.

 DaveC wrote:
AMA #37 21st December

- HoMM wargame will be 32mm scaled rank and file, so minis are not compatible with the board game which is 24mm. New minis in HIPS will be made in house. Modular dragons mentioned - optional heads, wings etc.
- Shipping from China is taking 15 days longer due to route changes - containers have more than doubled in price adding an extra $100k in shipping costs which Archon will absorb for now but there is a limit to what they can cover. (China shipping is for HoMM - 24 containers needed).
- Deuslair delivery may include prepainted samples.
- MoTU - King Hiss to get a plastic redesign and rerelease, Wave 7 - Q1 2024, Q2 - KS for worldwide rerelease of Battleground - not 2nd edition but will include more new waves - can get new stuff only no need to get game again.
- Caves - Minotaur mini for returning backers
- a few more concepts shown see images

Excited about the new stuff (especially the MoTU kickstarter and the pre-painted terrain) but a HoMM rank and file wargame seems such a bad move.

Sasorijap wrote:

Excited about the new stuff (especially the MoTU kickstarter and the pre-painted terrain) but a HoMM rank and file wargame seems such a bad move.

Why do you think a HoMM Rank & File wargame is a bad idea?

If anyone wants to do rank and flank, late this year will be the optimal time for it as The Old World introduces the concept to the current generation of wargamers but ends up being too deep and clunky for many of them.

Rank and file seems actually a good idea. HoMM‘s unit Stacks are an representation of multiples of the same troop type as well, although a very abstract one. So parallels are there. Also Archon can only profit if people like to use some HoMM sculpts for ToW or AoS so 32mm is neat.

HoMM offers a very good baseline: 9+ Factions, established IP, 7-14 Units for each Faction, Named Heroes, war machines and so on. Considering Sieges are a main part of the HoMM Gameplay I would be curious if it would see a good adaptation, so far many have dreamt of but few have managed to implement it.

Archon has also shown that they can do plastic well and each new wave showed further improvement to details. While the current plastic used is now flawless, it is still a good material to work with (although I wish it would be a bit softer). Also recent kickstarters have shown that they get more and more familiar with the creation of dynamic poses and unit variants by changes in subcomponents of models. Also their prices are just competitive.

 lord_blackfang wrote:
If anyone wants to do rank and flank, late this year will be the optimal time for it as The Old World introduces the concept to the current generation of wargamers but ends up being too deep and clunky for many of them.

You might be right, I've been a long time fan of WH in general but I've always really hated how the wargames GW makes feel clunky and unintuitive. I think they do a good job at creating faction identity (at the cost of balance), but that alone doesn't create a good game. I tend to personally enjoy card-based mechanics a lot more because it means that there are usually fewer rules in the rulebook and more stuff actually on the table, although these are just my personal tastes as an (admittedly) young adult.

Szymon_Archon wrote:

Sasorijap wrote:

Excited about the new stuff (especially the MoTU kickstarter and the pre-painted terrain) but a HoMM rank and file wargame seems such a bad move.

Why do you think a HoMM Rank & File wargame is a bad idea?

Because rank and file wargames need a lot of focus for them to work. It is a different story with Board Games and smaller Skirmish games like the MotU Battlegrounds. Apart from the game having competition with the Old World, Conquest, Kings of War and Song of Ice and Fire you can't get away with "just okay" rules and balance. It is a game category that requires a lot of commitment from the players so they tend to be more critical of it. Also the scale of choice seems weird imo.

Sasorijap wrote:

Because rank and file wargames need a lot of focus for them to work. It is a different story with Board Games and smaller Skirmish games like the MotU Battlegrounds. Apart from the game having competition with the Old World, Conquest, Kings of War and Song of Ice and Fire you can't get away with "just okay" rules and balance. It is a game category that requires a lot of commitment from the players so they tend to be more critical of it. Also the scale of choice seems weird imo.

Oh, for sure. I'm aware of the fact that pretty much any game where it's normal to paint your miniatures attracts players who are a lot more invested and dedicated, although I'm not sure how that would make it a bad idea to make a wargame set in the M&M universe. We'll be paying a lot of attention to make sure the rules and balance are good, while also adding mechanics that are fun/unique.

I have no idea if R&F is a good option but I will for sure be happy with good, full of options, hard plastic miniatures for M&M, as they will be 100% usable for most fantasy games.

Szymon_Archon wrote:

Sasorijap wrote:

Because rank and file wargames need a lot of focus for them to work. It is a different story with Board Games and smaller Skirmish games like the MotU Battlegrounds. Apart from the game having competition with the Old World, Conquest, Kings of War and Song of Ice and Fire you can't get away with "just okay" rules and balance. It is a game category that requires a lot of commitment from the players so they tend to be more critical of it. Also the scale of choice seems weird imo.

Oh, for sure. I'm aware of the fact that pretty much any game where it's normal to paint your miniatures attracts players who are a lot more invested and dedicated, although I'm not sure how that would make it a bad idea to make a wargame set in the M&M universe. We'll be paying a lot of attention to make sure the rules and balance are good, while also adding mechanics that are fun/unique.

I am sure you will do a good job, i am just saying that is a very risky and resource demanding move compared to what you are already doing (which seems to work).

Sasorijap wrote:

I am sure you will do a good job, i am just saying that is a very risky and resource demanding move compared to what you are already doing (which seems to work).

Yep! This is the main reason why we haven't released a proper Wargame yet. It's very risky and demands a lot of resources, but with our more recent successes and having a stable foundation to stand on (Manufacturing for others + Retail) we're able to take risks that wouldn't jeopardize the company but have a massive potential payoff. The CEO in general is in favor of slow and stable expansion, right now we're seeing mass layoffs in a lot of tech firms because they employed and expanded too much during the pandemic and it's something we want to avoid at all costs as they destroy company culture and morale (might sound a bit corporate but it's true).

I really do think we've built something special here, and I don't think we'd still be in business if we took the approach that most people have in the industry. Almost all studios that only publish board games via Kickstarter will eventually collapse under their own weight, as it's not a sustainable model. Delays and unexpected costs are inevitable, and you need a different income source to stay afloat when things get rough. CMON has a very large retail presence, while Awaken Realms owns Gamefound. Even most recently, CMON had a major issue with their tokens for their Dune game, but they're able to offer replacements because they're a large company that has multiple sources of income and can allocate resources where necessary.

Sasorijap wrote:
Because rank and file wargames need a lot of focus for them to work. It is a different story with Board Games and smaller Skirmish games like the MotU Battlegrounds. Apart from the game having competition with the Old World, Conquest, Kings of War and Song of Ice and Fire you can't get away with "just okay" rules and balance. It is a game category that requires a lot of commitment from the players so they tend to be more critical of it. Also the scale of choice seems weird imo.

Lifestyle games. Once you hit "rank and flank", you're asking customers to dedicate hundreds of dollars and hours to a single game system. Moreover, you need a "critical mass" of customers for the game. In comparison, with a boardgame, you only need one guy to buy the game, and it's not more of a commitment than buying the base game. Boardgamers are a wider audience than miniature wargamers. As an erstwhile card flopper (: CCG's had their (first of many) gluts decades ago. As the market matured, the market got to the point where you *had* to attach an IP to a new CCG to attract attention. CMON's "Song of Ice and Fire" is doing well, and has an IP. Mantic's rereleasing "Walking Dead", and it has an IP. FFG's "Runewars" flopped, no IP.

Anyway, wanted to mention the obvious that HoMM scenarios should involve the Archon Encounter sets, and (at least some) HoMM figures should be usable in other game systems, including miniature skirmish games and RPG's.

The HoMM miniatures shouldn't be too "weird" as everything would have to be approved by Ubisoft first, so I could see the miniatures being usable in other game systems.

If you fancy a stronghold

Caves date confirmed for 5th March

And here’s the pledge levels

Surveyor €92 - 1 Core, 1 SG
Miner €140 - 1 Core, 1 SG, 1 SSG
Prospector €180 - 2 Core, 1 SG, 1 SSG
Dwarven Sapper €214 - 3 Core, 1 SG, 1SSG
King of the Mountain €294 - 3 Core, 3 SSG, 1 SG

6 months Stretch pay available on all pledges

Mrs. GG and I used Dwarven Forge for our cavern needs. We tried the Archon D&L Dwarven Mines set and it just did not do it for us. So we did not expect this campaign to be for us as well. However, I have to admit Archon has me interested in at least considering it now. That surprises me.

Painted most of my Archon sci-fi tiles last year and realized painting terrain is not really fun to me and the pile is big enough. Prepainted is interesting to me, will have to see what's actually in the Core set. Daemonic caves combined with my Sci-fi tiles could make for nice space hulk vibes.

 Grumpy Gnome wrote:
Mrs. GG and I used Dwarven Forge for our cavern needs. We tried the Archon D&L Dwarven Mines set and it just did not do it for us. So we did not expect this campaign to be for us as well. However, I have to admit Archon has me interested in at least considering it now. That surprises me.

I skipped the DM set because it looked more like a Disneyland darkride than mines. However, I've seen some very good use of the floors for beaches, marshes, and other land terrain with water. Still not worth buying the entire set.

IMO, The Caves *are* greatly improved, so I'll be buying something!

Some of the marginal costs...
* 1.00000 EUR = 1.07545 USD

Surveyor €92 - 1 Core, 1 SG
Miner €140 - 1 Core, 1 SG, 1 SSG
* 1 SSG = €48 = $51.774

Miner €140 - 1 Core, 1 SG, 1 SSG
Prospector €180 - 2 Core, 1 SG, 1 SSG
* 1 Core = €40 = $43.141

Prospector €180 - 2 Core, 1 SG, 1 SSG
Dwarven Sapper €214 - 3 Core, 1 SG, 1SSG
* 1 Core = €34 = $36.67 = $7 less

Dwarven Sapper €214 - 3 Core, 1 SG, 1SSG
King of the Mountain €294 - 3 Core, 3 SSG, 1 SG
* 2 SSG = €80 = $86.281
- 1 SSG = €40 = $43

I doubt that you'd equate a Core with a SG with a SSG, but each whatever is €48 based on Surveyor.
Each pledge level except King adds one whatever.
Only based on this, the Dwarven Sapper and King are where you're "saving" money, so if you're getting a Prospector, might as well get a Sapper?
Of course, some whatever have more stuff than others.
* Surveyor: €48 x 2 = €92
* Miner: €48 x 3 = €144 vs €140
* Prospector: €48 x 4 = €192 vs €180
* Dwarven Sapper: €48 x 5 = €240 vs €214
* King of the Mountain: €48 x 7 = €336 vs €294

The SSG's are actually different "encounter sets" at 3 sets per SSG. So you could get multiple SSG's without duplicates.

Anyway, this post is just for fun (yes, I think you have to disclaim that sort of thing on the internet) and we won't know how much actual stuff you'll get until the campaign.
I'll probably just get a Miner, since the standard Caves will be used the most. Other cores still look good!

Sticker price is high, but I think they said the packs would be larger, too. I have a truckload of the dungeons and sewers and they're great stuff, will probably pledge here too.

The one worry is that the inflexible numbers of core vs stretch goal vs super stretch goal "slots" might lead to not being able to get enough of something specific you want.

Prismacast blog post

https://archon-studio.com/blog/prismacast-a-revelation-in-rpg-terrain-market

AMA #40 8th February

- Deuslair shipping starts on the 16th - 1 damaged tool needs fixing
- pdf Deuslair book due next week once they figure out how to issue it to backers only.
- Caves - US taxes (where applicable) not included in prices and will be collected at checkout/PM
- Airship kit has 2 middle sections (in 4 parts) on the sprue - previous examples in the KS update showed 3 while the box art has 1 and it's caused confusion.
- Caves Prepaints - injection points only on bottom of pieces to avoid clipping points on visible details. Old sets aren't done that way as they are already tooled but base sprue colour should hide it somewhat.
- Prepaint colours still WIP. Only 1 colour design per set for now as adding alternates gets too unwieldy.
- Legacy prepaints - Torture Chamber, Hall of Heroes, Wooden Cottage, Tudor Mansion, Fantasy Core.
- Use superglue on prepaints as plastic glue won't work with the paint layer.
- Considering bigger pledge for "all in" (over King of the Mountain)
- SSGs theme sets available as adds on as well.
- Stretch pay up to 6 instalments but sounds like you can pick less than 6.
- Prepaint minis might start with the dragons to see how that works out.

- Dwarven Mine prepaint - direct to retail in March - £69
https://www.waylandgames.co.uk/dwarven-mine-dungeons-lasers-dnl0078?___store=default&refSrc=196594&nosto=productpage-nosto-4

- Retail March - Entrances, Land of the Giants, Lava, Under City Hideout, Ygrid, Urban Bases

- MoTU wave 7 - 15th March release date
- Q2 Gamefound for MoTU RoW rerelease will include new stuff. Crowdfunding is a requirement of the new deal with Mattel.

- pics added for prepaints but you're better off watching the stream to actually see them properly the pictures wash out the details.

Core set contents

Damn, they all fine sets.

Not the sort of thing i'm after, but they do look decent

Those look great! I'm hoping the painted upcharge won't be too outrageous. It would be nice to just get some stuff table ready.

 Bossk_Hogg wrote:
Those look great! I'm hoping the painted upcharge won't be too outrageous. It would be nice to just get some stuff table ready.

Around 50-60% more than unpainted

We're hoping that the cost for the pre-painted sets isn't too high when taking into account the time and cost of regular painting :p

I thought for sure that I would be in for a Demonic Cave (because.. Diablo) but holy cow that Rocky Cave set looks amazing! It really makes me wish my Abomination Vault and Dwarven Mine sets had some rounded corners like that!

Rocky caves look the best IMO.

Belly of the Beast is the most interesting for me. Also interested in prepainted, but need to see if it's going to be all blood and guts or if it’s compatible with Nurgle

 Siygess wrote:
(because.. Diablo)

This!