Questions and Answers

Poor old Lines. He is ever so keen and has been asking his DB questions for a while. All answered now on the FAQ. However, it does bring up a worthwhile point about how long it takes me to answer all your comments.

Firstly, let me assure you that I do read everything. My trouble comes when I need to find the time to reply to them all properly. If I’ve not been working on a game for a couple of months then I’m very likely to be less than 100% certain on the answer, and I’d rather be right than wrong. This means that I often need to spend quite a while checking references before I can write the few lines of reply. Remember that I don’t just know the final printed version of the rules as you do, but every iteration that preceded them. I’ve also generally done the same with one, two or more games since, and so things can easily get muddled.

Also remember that this site is done for my amusement in my spare time rather than as part of my job. Certainly, if it was part of my job then I’d need paying for the many hours it takes up. As it stands, I am reorganising my time to hopefully allow me to catch up with the backlog of comments (for which I apologise) and then stay on top of things. At least, that’s the plan. We’ll have to see how that pans out.

So what am I’m saying here?

I suppose I’m asking for you to keep posting your comments and joining in the discussions. I will get back to you as fast as I can. I fully intend to carry on posting new stuff (every day if possible) and trying to keep up with all the interesting debates that do continue in some of the older threads. Those discussions are what makes this entertaining for me too 🙂

So stay tuned. It’s only going to get better!

 

Posted in DreadBall - The Futuristic Sports Game, Random Thoughts | 9 Comments

Big, Bigger, Biggest?

I’ve been showing off a few of the new Mantic DreadBall and Deadzone figures, but even the biggest of them isn’t that large.

I’ve been writing an article about scale in figures and thought it might be my turn to ask you a question. So today, instead of just admiring the shiny toys, I’d like you to help me out.

What’s the biggest scale you’ve ever gamed in?

I’m not thinking about a single giant in a game of Warhammer or anything like that. What I’m referring to is the scale for normal humans. Was it…

  • 1/48th?
  • 40mm?
  • 54mm?
  • Bigger?

Please let me know in the comments below.

Posted in Random Thoughts | 50 Comments

DreadBall Tentacle Time

As we all know, you can’t have too many tentacles.

This is another of the pre-production models I’ve ended up with, and he’s a striking fellow indeed.

This early test shot does need a bit of a clean up, but I’m sure you can see past all that. As with all these pictures, they’re larger than the model itself who stands about 44mm to the top of his right shoulder pad (which is higher than his head).

Enjoy 🙂

tentacle front

tentacle face

 

tentacle top

tentacle back

 

 

tentacle low

tentacle right

Posted in DreadBall - The Futuristic Sports Game | 11 Comments

DreadBall Monkey Business!

Moving swiftly on from aliens with odd limbs we come to the big furry guy. He stands on two feet and a fist and is 49mm or so to the top of his head. As with the others, this is a pre-production version of the model.

To the photos!

Ape front

 

Ape reach

Ape left

Ape back

Ape right

An imposing chap (or should that be chimp?).

Posted in DreadBall - The Futuristic Sports Game | 11 Comments

Deadzone Sorak Close Ups

Another one of the teases the other day was a Sorak. These are another of the fun aliens that make up the Rebel faction and can best be described as foot soldiers.

Sorry.

Anyway, like the Orc Commander, you may not have seen this lovely little model from more than one angle, so here he is. Note that this is a pre-production resin and is shown at lots larger than real size (which is 29mm to the top of his head) without having been cleaned up first. You should ignore any blemishes as any mould lines on the final version will be in a different place anyway as the production models use a completely different mould and process.

And in case you are confused: yes he is walking on his hands and holding the rifle in his feet. Because he can.

Feet front

Feet left

Feet back

 

Feet top

 

This is another model I’m very pleased with. Originally the concept came up for DreradBall though he hasn’t yet made it into that game. Nice to see him making an appearance here.

The tricky part now is deciding what colour he should be.

 

Posted in Deadzone | 25 Comments

Did They Deserve To Die?

Today I’ve been murdering a lot of darlings, or at least I think I have. What’s perhaps more interesting than the details is a question I posed myself after a bit of pondering:

How can you tell the difference between murdering a darling and editing out anything else? Do darlings squeal more?

Posted in Game Design Theory | 9 Comments

Deadzone Marauder Orx Commander

One of the models I showed a little of yesterday was the Orx Commander, or at least the first one – I’m sure we’ll do more.

You’ve seen this picture on the Kickstarter and the mantic blog.

Orx Commander

So you know what he looks like assembled and you can see the arms and head fairly clearly in the pic above. The following are a load of close ups of the body without the arms in the way. The pictures can speak for themselves.

OC sideOC front 2OC backOC topPersonally I really like him. Lots of detail to make him stand out from the troopers with his epaulets and tassels to denote his standing.

His pose is a nice change from the frothing loony combat monster Orx of which we have seen many versions. Plenty of time to revisit that meme in an exo-suit later 🙂

Posted in Deadzone | 8 Comments

Stuff On My Desk

Whilst I was at the Mantic office I noticed that Stew had far too many interesting things on his desk for one chap to cope with, so I helped him out by sharing some of the burden. Now some of the goodies are on my desk instead 🙂

Stuff

It’s too dark and my lighting setup too mono-directional to get a really good set of pictures, so for the moment I’ll just tease a bit. You’ve seen most of these before, perhaps from a single angle, but it might be nice to take a closer look. There may be some that you haven’t seen up close at all.

Posted in Random Thoughts | 10 Comments

Slight Technical Hitch

Having technical issues today I’m afraid. Normal service should be resumed tomorrow – with any luck.

Posted in Random Thoughts | 3 Comments

Zombies Are Naughty

I’ve lost count how many zombies I’ve killed today. They are a pesky lot, either dying too fast or not fast enough. Still, “dying” is an odd thing for a zombie to do at all.

Yes, I’ve been tinkering with the zombie rules for Deadzone and they’re coming along quite well. At present they still take a bit too long to play through and need more trimming. I think I’ve worked out how to fix that, but I’ll need to play it out a bit more tomorrow to be sure. Sometimes ideas seem really good in theory and fall apart really quickly in practice. Best to try it for real.

Note that these are slow zombies (and they’re not really zombies anyway). If you’re brain’s been mushed by an alien mutagen then I’m thinking that you’ll not be as spry as you might be. Of course, there are up-sides. You’re not bothered by little things like being shot at or injured….

Posted in Deadzone | 11 Comments