(KICKSTARTER) Deadzone Kickstarter - Funding Successful

[Dentatus]

At this stage in hobby-related life, the idea of a reasonably-priced, self-contained skirmish game with mat, terrain, figs, fast-play rules is very attractive. This looks like it will fill the niche.   

[Giger]

It certainly does and the modular terrain alone is a winner, I'll be adding on plenty more when they become available.  The only other thing I am waiting for is the appearance of the Forge Fathers.

The OP has also been updated with the next stretch goal!

[kalamadea]

These enforcers are supposed to be in hard plastic, not restic. Went in for the $150 level. Messaged some friends about going in with me for the other non-enforcer factions, but if I get stuck with all 4 I won't lose much sleep over it. Actually, the biggest problem might be the rebels, they are looknig freaking AWESOME! I thought for sure one buddy would go orks, but he might not be able to resist the siren call of the human scum/alien hodgepodge. Which will be a problem since I feel the call as well...

[tnjrp]

These enforcers are supposed to be in hard plastic, not restic

The sculpter of the original Enforcers does say so in his blog but I'd strongly doubt this unless/until it's put up on the KS page.

[cheetor]

The Enforcers are digitally sculpted and I expect that they will be made available in injection moulded polystyrene (GW plastic) as the KS progresses, like what happened in the Warzone KS.  I guess that Remy (the sculptor) probably wasnt supposed to let it slip that the Enforcers would end up in "proper" plastic.

The "restic" material used for the SW: BfA figures and a lot of Mantics output isnt the best to work with, but it can be brought to a satisfactory tabletop level (link to my painted DreadBall stuff).  The low cost of those figures (quadruply so when picked up via a Mantic Kickstarter) makes it worthwhile to me as I have limited hobby spend these days.  The payoff is worth it... to me at least.

At this stage in hobby-related life, the idea of a reasonably-priced, self-contained skirmish game with mat, terrain, figs, fast-play rules is very attractive. This looks like it will fill the niche.   

Yep, thats a huge draw for me too.  DreadBall is a great rule set, so the fact that Deadzone is written by the same guy is very promising.  That Deadzone is played on a grid rather than using tape measures also appeals to me a lot: its cuts out a lot of the wooliness inherent in wargames and allows for easy to run day long tournaments at my club (I would never try to do that with a game that uses tape measures). 

With the inclusion of non-gothic injection molded polystyrene sci-fi scenery pieces Deadzone is pretty much all good news as far as I am concerned.

[Dentatus]

Yep - modular, skull-less, scenery pushed me over the edge too.

[rwwin]

I threw in a $1 place holder pledge as this seems to have potential but I'm still dubious of this at the moment. I dislike the marketing strategy of the up front undersell with items they intended to include all along to get "unlocked" along the way.  I know it's worked for them and CMON in the past, but it's still annoying to me.

One thing I'm curious about is why many seem to be excited about the modular terrain.  From the sketches and pictures of the prototype terrain, it seems to be a direct analog to the Technolog (Pegasus) "Platformer" and "Hexagon" terrain kits. 

I have several of them and love them.  Those sets are already available, modular, injection molded plastic and fairly cheap.  I'm all for variety, but these kits (assuming they live up to Mantic's hype) wouldn't be all that groundbreaking.  What's the appeal of these over the Technolog kits?

[Dr.Falkenhayn]

One thing I'm curious about is why many seem to be excited about the modular terrain.  From the sketches and pictures of the prototype terrain, it seems to be a direct analog to the Technolog (Pegasus) "Platformer" and "Hexagon" terrain kits.  

Hah,exactly my Thoughts.I dont like the "Platformer" Aesthetic to be honest,not to mention the 100+ Tiles necessary to build the Stuff shown in the Teaser Video-12 or 16 Tiles alone for a Techy Tunnel   still cheaper than Sarissa System Pods though but not as cool   
I wonder what Game they bring us next,a Space Combat Game set in the Warpath Universe perhaps?  
i think i'm purchasing some of the Plaque Guys when they're available and a Bunch of the new Enforcers  

[Giger]

New starter add-ons now available for those who want more or just the miniatures along with a sneak peak at two future stretch goals, the upgraded mat and a possible Forge Father:
http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1744629938/deadzone-the-sci-fi-miniatures-board-game/posts/467737

[kalamadea]

I threw in a $1 place holder pledge as this seems to have potential but I'm still dubious of this at the moment. I dislike the marketing strategy of the up front undersell with items they intended to include all along to get "unlocked" along the way.

Those are actually my favorite stretches, the ones that improve the base product for everyone, including the people that buy it retail later on! For me, that's the real purpose of Kiskstarter, not simply getting lots of free stuff (although that is cool) but actually bringing a product to market and making a mediocre product into something of much, much higher quality.

I KNOW those are not fake stretch goals when Mantic does them. Not because I have any faith in Mantic in this regard, but because they have released mediocre products before. Dwarf Kings Hold and Project Pandora. They're as expensive as anything that Fantasy Flight games releases, but the components are pretty poor. The boxes are the thin cardboard that model kits come in and not board game boxes, the dungeon tiles are thin cardstock, small black and white rules booklet. Only the figures are any good and they're just the same sprues as the normal box sets Mantic does.

Remember, the entire run for board games must be paid for before they're ever printed, and the more you have made at the same time the better the deal a company gets from the manufacturer. Games are always a balance of what money you have on hand to pay for the up-front printing/sculpting/manufacturing costs vs how many units you know you'll be able to move to recoup those costs and then turn a profit. So in a very, very real way the kickstarters ARE improving the box games. These are not at all "fake" goals, they absolutely would not happen without the money from the kickstarter.  Kickstarter is a double-whammy for board games, it servers as an indicator of interest AND it gives you the money up-front before the game is made. Without that extra money, even a company like Mantic will make (and has made) a mediocre product. With that money, a company like Mantic will produce a game like Dreadball. Dreadball without a kickstarter would be on cheap cardboard with no figures or bases or counters and all the expansion teams would be metal (and cost twice as much). The difference is having the money AND knowing how popular a game will be before it's made.

[Kitsune]

Those are actually my favorite stretches, the ones that improve the base product for everyone, including the people that buy it retail later on! For me, that's the real purpose of Kiskstarter, not simply getting lots of free stuff (although that is cool) but actually bringing a product to market and making a mediocre product into something of much, much higher quality

Mantic would have produced this game without Kickstarter. The KS is just a glorified preorder system in this case.

[spacecowsmith]

Hi!

I must admit that this is the first of Mantics kickstarters that's really interested me and while I agree that they would have released it anyway, it does look like with the aid of all the funding, the end product is going to be very much better than if they hadn't gone down the kickstarter route.

Another real plus is the fact it doesn't need huge amounts of space or figures to play, which for someone with a very small gaming space and glacial painting speed is great. Coupled with the rather snazzy figures and scenery, its a very tempting prospect indeed!

I'm not sure why mantic seems to get so much stick, they produce affordable figures which look good once painted and have even moved away from copying GW so much and are moving from the whole mass battle thing into these more niche small games which is really great!

All the best!

[Giger]

Mantic would have produced this game without Kickstarter. The KS is just a glorified preorder system in this case.

They may well have done but it wouldn't be half the game it will be because of it.  Take DKH as kalamadea said, the game is great and I really enjoy playing it however the materials used for the boards and markers are pretty basic along with a b&w booklet.  Now if Deadzone had just been a straight release I imagine that we would have gotten something similar for it due to monetary constraints but instead if the stretch goals are met we're going to end up with a fantastic amount of things added to the base game as well as having the materials used improved.
I know some people are dubious about these Kickstarter campaigns but in an age where one bad release can mean a company closing doors it makes sense to put a product up on Kickstarter and say this is what we want to release and if it doesn't get funded they can learn from their mistake without it being a disaster for the company yet if it is successful then not only does it get funded it often gets improved over what would have been possible without Kickstarter.  Well that's two shillings on that one anyway.

On the topic of mass battle games I'd expect to see a Warpath Kickstarter next year, probably to cover new units like tanks etc.

[rwwin]

Sure the original funding goal of $50,000 wouldn't have gotten them the game the plan on producing (and have since the start).  That's what's dishonest about it. 

They should have included the so called "extras" from the start with a realistic funding goal of $250,000 or $300,000.

Oh yeah, but then there's no excitement as they blow past their funding goal in one day!  Woo hoo we've smashed another goal and you get something else shiny!

I know I'm more cynical than the average but the fact that people not only buy into this kind of marketing, but get excited about it just makes me shake my head.

[Kitsune]

Sure the original funding goal of $50,000 wouldn't have gotten them the game the plan on producing (and have since the start).  That's what's dishonest about it.  

They should have included the so called "extras" from the start with a realistic funding goal of $250,000 or $300,000.

Oh yeah, but then there's no excitement as they blow past their funding goal in one day!  Woo hoo we've smashed another goal and you get something else shiny!

I know I'm more cynical than the average but the fact that people not only buy into this kind of marketing, but get excited about it just makes me shake my head.

My thoughts exactly. Its hollow sensationalism really.

I was tempted by the KS at first, but Martian Front looks more appealing at present.