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wrong topic

They had some of the new Epic Warpath minis on display at Salute over the weekend - really neat looking and definitely comparable to Legions I would say. For those concerned about scale of the infantry (and them being too big at 10mm scale) I would say looking at them in person will allay those fears - these things are still bloody tiny.

The Mantic guy I spoke to said the vehicles they had there will probably be slightly larger than the prototypes I saw - apparently they are going to put them on a larger sprue and are putting them in bigger boxes than usual to accommodate. Also they will be a lot less parts than the GW equivalents (which must be a response to a common complaint about the kits for that game). Idea is you get them out and on the tabletop quickly.

Also said they had about 140 people playtesting the game! (Although he didn't say how many actually enjoyed it ) I should have quipped that is probably 138 more than Legions had..

I would say if not every playtester liked what they have seen, it would benefit the game much more than if everyone of those is happy

for updates, new concepts art and renders

They still haven't posted a faction breakdown for nameless

If their scout units aren't called "Squidwards" I'm handing in my Mantic Points.

We've had about 100 playtest battles submitted in the first round of testing. There will be at least four rounds, probably five. The overall impression is extremely positive and everyone has found the game really fun and easy to play. I've still made tons of changes and edits based on all the feedback though for the things that were wrong, felt off, pointed wrong, confusing in the rules etc.

The next stage of testing begins this weekend and the focus is on the scenarios and the components that feed into them).

 mattjgilbert wrote:
We've had about 100 playtest battles submitted in the first round of testing. There will be at least four rounds, probably five. The overall impression is extremely positive and everyone has found the game really fun and easy to play. I've still made tons of changes and edits based on all the feedback though for the things that were wrong, felt off, pointed wrong, confusing in the rules etc.

The next stage of testing begins this weekend and the focus is on the scenarios and the components that feed into them).

Will future rounds open to more/new playtesters?

Only if I have some drop-outs I think. Managing 140 people isn't easy!

I like that fighter. Will there be fighters for other factions?

There are different fliers for other factions.

I'm one of the playtesters, and have enjoyed the games I've been involved in so far. All 8 factions have lists, but the first four (Enforcers, Forge Fathers, Asterians, and Plague) have had a little more playtesting than the "new" four that were unlocked in the KS campaign (GCPS, Marauders/orx, Veermyn, and Nameless).

The rules are all broadly speaking available online in the various websites and videos that Mantic has put out; no major changes there.

Very broadly speaking, it's excellent. It's fast, which I absolutely love - I played a 1250-point game (about 8-10 units plus 1-2 leaders each side) in about 2.5 hours and it was our first game. It was streamlined, but not in a way that felt hampered my ability to exploit tactics and make meaningful decisions. There's a fair bit of fine-tuning and tinkering to do left, but by and large it feels nearly done. Extra bonus: I get to use all my old wizkids mechwarrior clicky models, especially the piles of infantry units that never got any play, lol!

And I like to think I keep Matt on his toes, with lots of questions and pestering.

Which begs the question...

What sorts of things did you have questions about, and which topics required pestering?

Answering that would probably be breaking NDA

What if they're in Pig Latin?

 lord_blackfang wrote:
Answering that would probably be breaking NDA

I didn't put anyone under NDA. It didn't seem worth it given that we'd covered a lot of the rules publicly already.

Plus I was too lazy to do all the admin :p

Here's to lazy admin!

You'd never know it with how you're managing the playtesting... You've got like 37 gazillion threads all under control.

With regards to discussions and "issues", sometimes it's unclear (to us) wording, but frequently that's just because I read it too quickly. A few things are taking time to understand, like blast templates, indirect fire, chaining barrages, etc. But I think that might be more a "me" issue than a "game" issue.

We've had a few issues like "unit X is way to OP!" or "unit Y is worthless, why would I ever taken it when I have unit Z as an option"?

From stage 1 to 2 of the playtesting (there are 5 stages planned, each lasting about a month) I do see some things were tweaked on the force lists. I haven't gone over stage 2 rules, but I understand a few things changed there too. I only got in one game in Stage 1, and (fingers crossed) I hope to get in more than one in stage 2...!

Warpath PM is open at https://pledge.manticgames.com/

Official emails haven’t gone out but I could login and see my pledge.

No new images yet and the gallery is missing details.

Faction specific Pro Acyrl paint sets (4 paints £17 or 6 for £25) have been added but seem to lack colour contents. These normally retail for £4.25 before discounts so no real saving there.

I’m sure they are still working on it and the update will cover more.

I hope this is open at least a month. I don't get paid again till the 29th, and I really want to add the unlocked armies and their add-ons!

Easily my most anticipated game across the entire industry right now.

I got in a second playtest game, and already the rules and factions (that we played - GCPS and Marauders) felt much tighter. The game was really fun.

I'm guessing that the PM will be open for a long time. It's going to be months and months before they can even think about shipping stuff.... And there are so many previews left to share, before giving folks enough info to make informed choices about what to get.

 pancakeonions wrote:
I got in a second playtest game, and already the rules and factions (that we played - GCPS and Marauders) felt much tighter. The game was really fun.

Do the factions feel distinct? One thing I was a little concerned about during the campaign was that all the factions seemed roughly equivalent in composition.

Updated my order. Can't wait to play. Alesso Cavatore will attend a famous Italian fair (Play): hope to ask him, if possible, something about the game.

Pledge Manager closes late July, at the earliest.

 Zethnar wrote:

 pancakeonions wrote:
I got in a second playtest game, and already the rules and factions (that we played - GCPS and Marauders) felt much tighter. The game was really fun.

Do the factions feel distinct? One thing I was a little concerned about during the campaign was that all the factions seemed roughly equivalent in composition.

I haven't played them all, but the concensus across the playtest groups seems yes so far. A big drawn for me was that this was not a "space marine vs. space marine" game, and that we had a diverse array of factions to choose from.

I've played GCPS vs. Nameless, and GCPS vs. Marauders. Each army has a set of special rules and strategic orders at their service that also helps to differentiate the factions, and each faction has access to two "superheavies" which are very distinct from each other. These are big, tough units (think of the smaller titans, perhaps, from LI - not indestructible, but certainly formidable)

Matt G, you'll forgive me for falling back on the tropes but... The GCPS feels very much like the Imperial Guard from 40K. Lots of mediocre foot soldiers who aren't great at anything (and some are actually pretty poor at most stuff...), but access to a diverse array of tools to get the job done. You can't field just foot soldiers if you're playing GCPS, you'll need your Heavy Weapons Teams with their options against armored and flying enemies. You'll need to pick up some armor, to counter enemy units that are armored, and they have a variety of tank that's particularly good against un-armored "softer" targets (i.e., lower armor). You can choose some interesting fliers to either move troops quickly around the board, or destroy softer targets. They have access to different types of Striders, each of which is better against certain targets; but all can do OK against anything. They have an artillery unit, and a fast set of bikes that can zip around the board (if they don't get chewed up by enemy fire!).

The Marauders don't feel much like 40K orks at all. They're more elite mercenaries. Their troops tend to be more expensive than those at the GCPS, and better too. They have a few more faster options, but have access to similar tanks and fliers to the GCPS (in terms of background, they share the same technology base and industrial source as the GCPS, and buy from the same sellers, so some of the units are the same - but there's lots of unique variety too.)

The Nameless were fun. They're totally different from the above two factions (and I really like how their art direction is going), and you might not be too far off if you think of them like Tyranyds. Big ol' monster things. Tended to have better armor, smaller units in terms of bases but more "health" (called resilience in EW), but tended to have worse nerve. This meant that they were hard to kill, but you could often "nerf" them at least a little by pinning them (e.g., firing on them with a pinning weapon) as they often had difficulty shaking off the pin markers. Even things that acted similarly in game were thematically different - "indirect fire" for one of their units was a psychic attack for example. They were cool.

I'm hoping to get more battles in soon, and want to try the Forge Fathers, Plague, and Veer-Myn (ratmen). There's also the Asterians (space elfs) and enforcers (space marines), that hold very loosely to those GW tropes, but with lots of Mantic flavor tossed in.

Got the pledge manager finished. Tried to keep it simple and had the two starter army pledge and just added the smaller terrain set and 4x4 neoprene mat. Seemed an easy way to test the game before adding reinforcements and super heavies. Ended up going with GCPS and Nameless.

In for £1.
So will decide down the line what I am actually doing.
Let them update it and such. Hopefully more info as they work on sculpts and pictures and whatever else.
Probably decide ready for July’s payslip 😁