Well that was a very pleasant surprise!
Deadzone went live this afternoon and hit its funding target of $50K in just 33 minutes!
Standing in the office, watching the numbers tick up, was mesmerising. We had a little sweepstake among the staff for how much the total would be on monday morning at 9am and it’s already past my guess and heading fast for more than the top one.
And it’s only been live for two hours.
Wow.
Thanks guys. This is going to be awesome.
To give folk an idea of scale I’ve taken a couple of shots with oddments that were lying about. I’ve not got any Battletech or Heavy Gear mechs so these will have to do. A few people tell me that they thought it would look good with those ranges, so I know it’s a consideration.
Stunt models include some GW Epic land raiders (of 2 vintages), an old rhino, a 40K Space Marine and a 15/18mm AB british Napoleonic line infantryman.
The DzC building is wonky because I’ve not stuck it together yet – it’s just folded into place. The shot below is more of a normal angle to view these things from.
Hope that helps.
You may remember me mentioning a package I had coming from La Belle France the other day. Well, it’s been here a while, but what with Salute, Deadzone and whatnot I’d not really looked at it. Anyway, I gave myself a moment to admire the contents and thought I’d show you what it was. I’ll come back to the copies of Ravage another time. For the moment I’d like to focus on…
…Alkemy.
What? Never heard of it? Well I can’t say I’m terribly surprised. It appeared, shone all too briefly and then sank again below the waves. Kraken Editions was a fitting name for a company that seemed to be swallowed up by sea monsters. However, I was rather fond of it, and being the stubborn and somewhat perverse chap I sometimes am I’ve been collecting all the bits they produced for the game. Above you see the French edition of the main rules (the English version was done and released as a pdf, but never printed), together with two of the boxes I’d missed and a mass of little grey resin figures. You see, even though Kraken have died, Alkemy lives on after a fashion.
Studio 38 now own the license and have continued to produce miniatures for it as a sort of collectors and painters range. They have always been very high quality, and though not all masterworks there were certainly some among the range that deserve that description. Studio 38’s range has allowed me to grab all of the show-only resins that Kraken made as well as a host of new models, some of which I understand to have been sculpted before Kraken died, and others since. I’ve also gone from 2 factions to all 4 as I see no reason to bound my silliness with any attempt at restraint. Anyway, I’m most of the way there now.
I’ll eventually get round to covering the game and reviewing the models individually or as small sets. Either way they deserve some close attention as there are some gorgeous, inventive and unusual models in those ranges.
Salute, of course.
Every year at Salute, people ask why it’s only a one-day show and not the whole weekend. It’s one of those age-old questions that seems to have no answer. This year the mutterings seemed to be particularly strident, and over the last few days I’ve heard this question from many gamers and quite a few traders too. So, I’ve been thinking; would it actually be an improvement, and is it possible anyway?
Firstly, is it possible? Whilst I don’t know the exact sums involved, I do know that it’s not going to be cheap to run the event for another day. However, the traders and customers already manage to cover those costs for one and a half days (including friday set up time), so it doesn’t sound too implausible. In fact, the actual cost is immaterial. What really matters is whether enough gamers would go (back) on the sunday and spend their pennies with the traders to make the traders want to invest their pennies in being there in the first place. I think they would.
The reason why I would be fairly confident is mainly down to the size of the thing, but also to the fact that not everyone can get there on saturday. Being open another day accesses a group of potential gamers who otherwise could not go or think it too far for a one day event. On exactly that theme it might also encourage more continental gamers to make the trip as it would be more of an occasion.
To go back to the size of the event, it is so big that most attendees don’t manage to see everything in one day. People tend to go with some particular companies, games or events in mind and focus on them. I suspect that the smaller and less well known traders in particular suffer for this reason because they are less likely to be something you’re going to see specifically, and more likely to be that hidden gem, suddenly discovered. If the event was open for two days then visitors would be able to see what they came for and still have time explore the rest of the demo games and stands at their leisure. At present, if you take part in a participation game or two you’ll almost certainly not see half the hall.
I’ll be the first to admit that this is conjecture based on scuttlebutt and cogitation rather than hard facts, so if anyone has some actual evidence either way I’d be intrigued to hear it. I’ve spoken to some of you offline on this topic and haven’t wanted to put words into your mouths, but feel free to comment as always.
At the end of the day the Warlords run a great event and it’s down to them to organise it as they see fit. I just think that their very success at this argues for an extra day so that we can appreciate the fruits of all their hard work.
I’m going to hold off major discussions of this for a while, despite the urge to write screeds. The Kickstarter is live this Friday, at 1.30pm Blighty time to be precise, so you’ll hear all you want soon enough.
You can potter over to deadzonethegame.com to watch the thing count down and also see a very brief teaser if you like. Make sure you don’t go to deadzone.com though, because that just redirects you to a travel agency.
Strange, but true.
All safely returned from Salute now. Thought I’d post up a few thoughts and thanks while it was fresh in my mind. I didn’t have a camera, and rather than just nick photos I’ll point you at: this as a starting point. I’m sure your Google-fu can conjure up plenty more. Also, keep an eye on Beasts of War, and an ear on Meeples & Miniatures 🙂
Firstly, a big thanks to all the Mantic Pathfinders who helped to make the Mantic stand so much of a success. With those guys running demos and helping customers out I was free to talk to people about DreadBall, Deadzone and DKH4 – and that’s what I was really there for. Couldn’t have done it without them.
I’d also like to congratulate the Warlords on a great show. This year there was a really happy and positive atmosphere from everyone I spoke to, both trade and customer alike. That made the whole thing far more fun for me personally. I’ve been to other shows in the past where all the traders are glum and the customers are bored. They’re no fun to be at. Salute 2013 was hectic, but chilled and happy, which was heartening.
There also seemed to be a load of new stuff, even more so than usual, and a really creative and inventive sense to what was going on. Laser cutting is still growing as are other intriguing options, but there were also just loads of new models and games. Even things like Da Clash were there, with their staff dressed like Nacho Libre, even though their Indiegogo campaign is still running. Their video is amusing even if you don’t pledge 🙂
I spent most of my time around the Mantic stand, explaining the current state of Deadzone, how the rules worked (and why), what would be in the box, how the 3D terrain system fitted together, and so on. However, I did also get a chance to run about a little. Said hi to Ian at Fenris Games who’s been brilliant helping me out with my obscure requests for clear bases. I could only stop for a moment, but their stand had a load of figures on. I never realised they made so many and will have to look at their site again. I spotted at least one figure I might need.
I also…
Yes, I had a busy day.
I’m at Salute today and so my trusty bot has posted for me. Wouldn’t want to miss that one post a day thing 😉
Mind you, I expect that everyone is either reading the news or watching the streaming reports from Adepticon and Salute so nobody’s going to read this. So, I’ll just show you my new business cards. Knocked them up for Salute so I have something to give people when they ask (which they always do when I have none on me). Now I’ve got some I’m sure they’ll not be needed 🙂
Pretty though.
Just got myself a copy of the new card city board terrain from Hawk Wargames. It’s a much bigger box than I was expecting and quite heavy.
You can see how big it is from the grey 25mm slotta base I’ve conveniently left on the right, for scale. Yes, you get everything you see on the front in a single box. That’s a 6×4 table in the cover shot.
There’s loads of buildings and base sections inside, just as advertised, and they easily fold up into the buildings. You’ll see them in my next battle report. Note that the buildings are all pre-cut and scored so they fold up easily and quickly. I’ll be using double sided tape to fix mine, but you could at a pinch leave them unglued so they folded flat again after a game.
The summary is that it’s a great deal for a table full of scenery. If you play the game (and haven’t won the lottery to buy the resin equivalent) then this is a really good investment and will get you a great looking table to play on with a fraction of the cost in time and effort of either the print and play or resin options. If you haven’t already got an alternative and want to play just go and get it. You won’t find a cheaper alternative of this quality for the price.
A very good move from Hawk.
So after having a refresher game of HoMachine the other day, I’ve decided to give myself one last try at it. If I can get back into playing it properly then great. If I get to the end of 6 months, or perhaps let’s say the end of the year, and I’m still looking at no real progress then it’s not working and it can all go. There are too many games I want to play and I know I won’t play them all.
Anyway, the first step is to try to focus on a single faction to start with. Partly because of my nature and partly because of what I do for a living I am something of an omnivore when it comes to factions. I like to have them all. However, this really isn’t a good start point, and I do envy those folk who can focus on a single faction (let alone on a single game) and get really good with it.
Need to focus.
However, as I’ve decided to give the HoMachine a stay of execution I’ll stick the ones I don’t immediately need in holding rather than on eBay. Knowing what I’m like, if I do get back into it then I won’t stop at one army…
So, as I said before, let’s go through the list of considerations I put up yesterday and see how the theory applies. I’ll take them in a slightly different order.
This isn’t much of an issue in this particular case and doesn’t really help me choose any given faction. I’ll be starting fairly small and for all but the most obscure factions PP sells a good value entry-level starter set (assuming I don’t have the models already). If I’m getting into the game then I’m happy to spend some more adding to this, and I could always fund it with some of the things I clear out onto eBay 🙂
Actually, it’d be silly to buy more when I’ve already got loads lying about. I should at least start with something I have a few models for. That’s a good way to limit me and limiting is helpful at this juncture. So what’s lurking in the piles?
Menoth, Cryx, Cygnar: nada.
Khador: pButcher¹. I’d cleaned up the model and green-stuffed some extra fur to hide a nasty infill on his back. I put it down when I couldn’t find a new haft for the friday afternoon job they’d done on Lola. Never went back to it, but because I was looking forward to painting him I kept him when I sold the rest of the army.
Retribution: heavy myrmidon, sentinels, Vyros, Kaelissa, chimera, gorgon, Garryth, arcanist, ghost sniper, Eiryss. I also have the army book for this lot – the only MkII faction book I have. I do have the Hordes Primal MkII though, so I’ve got stats for the basic models for those 4 factions too.
Circle: nowt.
Skorne: old metal warpack, bronzeback, rhinodon, beastmasters, extra brute. All still in boxes/blisters which is why I know their names 😉
Everblight: metal warpack, Thagrosh, seraph, deathstalker. Found the old cards for their names.
Trollbloods: probably two metal warpacks, mauler, bouncer, doomshaper, krielstone, thumper, earthborn, bunch more I don’t know the names of. I’ve got more of this than anything else as I got an army off eBay on top of the few boxes and blisters I had to start with. I just don’t remember what it’s all called.
Mercs & Minions: a couple of solos that go with factions. No jacks. Not an army.
So, ignoring a lone caster and a few solos that leaves me with Retribution, Skorne, Everblight & Trolls to pick from.
The local gamers play quite a bit of this which is why playing it myself is a good plan – plenty of opponents who already know the rules.
This is one that was suggested by CrazyZip in the comments for part 1, and it’s well worth adding to the mix. However, in my case these last three are all equally appealing in different ways. Sneaky elves out to save their god, S&M lunatics driving their monstrous armies from the East or the poor old trolls who just want a quiet life. I like them all.
This is a bit like the background for me: I find all of them appealing in different ways. Perhaps the Retribution slightly less, but that’s mainly down to what I think is poor model painting by the PP studio. It’s really because of the lighting which forms an integral part of the art and which was always going to be a nightmare to paint, however good you are. I don’t think anyone’s found a real way round this yet, and that spoils the visuals for the Retribution. But they have such potential…
Re-reading this I’ve talked myself out of starting with Scyrah. Too many ifs and buts for that lot to start with. This leaves me with the difficult choice between Trolls and Skorne. If I was starting from scratch I think I’d probably choose Skorne, but as I’ve already got a bunch of Trolls assembled they’re the better option. I can at least put the models on the tabletop without any delay.
When I started to look again at the PP site in preparation for the game the other day, I saw that they were adding a new faction. The Convergence of Cyriss is looking very tempting, and from the early commentary it sounds as if it would suit my play style. Luckily they aren’t out till July (at current guess). If I’ve done nothing in the interim that’s a good sign I should be saving my money.
1: Actually, while I was looking at the Skorne models I found the 2010 version of pButcher too, so I’ve got 2 versions of the same caster 🙂
2: My local games club is blessed with a superabundance of Richards.
Quirkworthy 