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So I eagerly downloaded the rulebook PDF, skimmed through the various rules and started looking through the two army lists and noticed the lack of point costs. It seems strange to me to have a page in the rulebook listing the model's stats, and its options, but not include the point costs for the model or those options.

It may sound silly, but if the information on the cards is necessary to actually make an army list (and it currently is, because the point values for the models and the unit options is on the cards), can that information be added to the rulebook? I mean, Wyrd just straight out puts the model's cards in their rulebooks accompanying the the background text for the models, so the direct approach is commercially viable.

Obviously I can't speak for SAS on your question, but here's the link to the unit cards on their website, with all the points.

 solkan wrote:
So I eagerly downloaded the rulebook PDF, skimmed through the various rules and started looking through the two army lists and noticed the lack of point costs. It seems strange to me to have a page in the rulebook listing the model's stats, and its options, but not include the point costs for the model or those options.

It may sound silly, but if the information on the cards is necessary to actually make an army list (and it currently is, because the point values for the models and the unit options is on the cards), can that information be added to the rulebook? I mean, Wyrd just straight out puts the model's cards in their rulebooks accompanying the the background text for the models, so the direct approach is commercially viable.

It was a very tough decision to make, as clearly a lot of people (myself included) like to have all the points and options in one central place that can be easily perused in a sitting.

However, by not putting those points costs and options into the book, it leaves us the flexibility in the future to add or change stuff to units as needed, and simply re-issue the cards for an absolute minimum cost to any players (plus offering a print-and-play free download of them from the website). Obviously we don't intend to change unit cards very often, but to be 100% honest, we are a brand-spanking new game company, and as awesome as the group of playtesters we got were, there is always the chance of stuff not really being noticed until the rules start getting used/played by a much wider audience.

That flexibility allows us to potentially fix/improve parts of the game without suddenly creating an outdated rulebook that contains faulty/bad info that new players picking up the game may then not be aware exists.

For getting ahold of the card info right now, as Sgt Oddball linked to, we do have the cards up on our website already. The full set of unit cards will obviously be included in every Battle for Zycanthus boxed set and each unit's card will also be included along with the models themselves (if you're buying them separately).

Hopefully that decision makes some sense. Again, it was a tough choice and I know it is not the optimal way for some people to ingest their rules (myself included), but I do think the positives we gain in using this method outweighs any negatives by a wide margin.

I think it's far better as it is.

The unit cards being separate is great for when new stuff comes out, it means books don't become outdated and new stuff can just slot into place.

As an aside - I am loving this rulebook!
I've been waiting on full background fluff since the campaign began, stories are all well and good but background fluff is my thing!

The rule book is great. Love the design work, the layout and the old school pen and ink vignette art. Skimmed the background sections and liked what I saw (waiting on the hard copy for a proper reading), but I really hope the story advances to a more positive place overall in regards to the Maelstrom.

The novels are better than I expected from the excerpts released during the campaign. I'm not finished yet, but the pacing is good, the reading is smooth and the characters have distinct voices. Even he different POV scenes have unique tones. Quite enjoyable.

Just two questions about the novels so far:
1. Who did the cover art? I didn't see a credit given on the copyright page or the back cover. (Hope the next books include that credit.)

2. Why is there a barcode sticker on the back over the ISBN space? That struck me as odd for POD books.

Thanks, and we are glad you are enjoying the novels too!

In response to your questions:
1. Our artwork is usually done by a group of artists. One will start, another will tweak and another will polish which is why it will (with a handful of exceptions) not match any artists you might recognise. The artists are not linked together, it is just whoever we feel most suited to the role/requirements at the time for the images in question. For the book covers alone, 7 artists were involved, excluding reviewing contributors.

2. They are not PoD books, we printed them in a traditional manner. The space for the barcode/ISBN is there for whichever distributor they go through. Those we sell at conventions typically dont have anything there, those that are pushed through our warehouse have the internal inventory barcode applied to stop them getting lost and ensure the right ones are loaded up at the right time.

Glad you are enjoying everything