(KICKSTARTER) Anvil Industry: Afterlife

[tnjrp]

They just keep on piling up on the 28mm scifi minis these days, don't they? The newest project that I know of comes from Anvil Industries, best known for its "slightly" Games Workshop inspired Exo-Lords minis line:
http://www.afterlifevolumes.com/

The game is some sort of narrative type thingy with various "Volumes" that apparently move the back story forward in a "player driven and interactive" manner. Sorta like what Corvus Belli is doing with Infinity, one supposes, except that there seems to be some sort of conclusion to this project.

The almost inevitable KickStarter is in the works.

[Inso]

Am I allowed to say that I quite like the look of that trooper they are showing off?

[AKULA]

Two things put me off....

1) Kickstarter
2) "plastics is something we are considering"

 

[Commander Vyper]

Asking for contributor artwork and narrative.  Didn't someone try this sort of thing earlier this year? Pillars of something or other.

Anyway moving on.....

[Cosmotiger]

While their early not-Marines were dire, they've improved a lot.  I like the look of the big power armored fellow as well.

Couldn't give a fuck about their amazing new revolution in rules, though.

[Elbows]

Two things put me off....

1) Kickstarter
2) "plastics is something we are considering"

 

Alright...I have to ask, why does everyone seem to hate Kickstarter?  There are some people who are vehemently against the stuff, and criticize companies for using it.  I can't for the life of me figure out why.  Can someone elaborate? 

PS: Not a huge fan of the images from the site, so nothing really intriguing here.

[tnjrp]

Hardly everyone hates KS, never mind the industry which still looks to positively love putting up KS projects. A lot of the minis related projects are still running just fine after all. I'm fairly sure people wouldn't pledge if they hated the idea so much.

[manatic]

Looks interesting. As long as the plastic isn't the spin cast variety - which it likely will be. I love the conversion potential of hard styrene.

[Vermis]

Didn't someone try this sort of thing earlier this year? Pillars of something or other.

Gates of Antares? That was a clattering mess. I have respect for Rick Priestly, but I can understand when people declare that the wargaming sun doesn't shine out his backside.

'Contributer artwork and narrative' waves a red flag for me. I haven't read the page, but that single statement makes me think they're trying to get the 'public' to do some work for them, instead of paying proper artists and writers. Would the future kickstarter help with that?

Second, remembering some of the initial concepts waved about for GoA, I hope Anvil've got more stringent selection standards.

[Anvil Industry]

Hey Guys,

Joel here from Anvil Industry, to clarify a few things -

We will be using Kickstarter initially but with the exception of a few exclusive miniatures, the entire range will be available for direct and trade sales as soon as KS backers all have their stuff.

The Miniatures will either be hand cast resin (not spin). If and when we are able to get plastic kits done they will be proper plastic, the same stuff as GW kits.

There are similarities to be drawn between our project and Gates of Antares, but our player feedback mechanism will be simpler and have probably less effect.

I can confirm that we will be predominantly hiring professional artists and writers for this project and ensuring the quality of work produced and released is of extremely high quality, We'd of course love it our player base would make additional contributions.

Cheers,

Joel

[rwwin]

Alright...I have to ask, why does everyone seem to hate Kickstarter?  There are some people who are vehemently against the stuff, and criticize companies for using it.  I can't for the life of me figure out why.  Can someone elaborate? 

Not to derail the thread, but as Tnjrp stated it's not "everybody" that hate kickstarter, only a vocal few.  There are however a significant number who like kickstarter, but dislike is what they see as an abuse of it.  They believe (with some justification) that better established companies such as CMON and Mantic use Kickstarter as a pre-order system for projects they could afford themselves.  They believe it shifts too much risk from the company to the consumer.

I don't think it's worth getting bent out of shape over, as until Mantic and/or CMON have a project that fails to fund, kickstarter will be the norm, not the exception.

[Whitwort Stormbringer]

The IP isn't something that I'm immediately drawn in by, but I do really like the concept of a wargame being released in volumes - seems like a cool and very consumer-friendly way of getting into a game.  Presumably Vol.1 will only require relatively few minis to play, and lay down the basics of gameplay with a few accompanying scenarios that serve to both establish the current setting of the narrative and familiarize players with the rules.

From there, further volumes can introduce new units, advanced rules, and have accompanying miniature releases allowing players to build up their collection and learn new rules piecemeal, escalating from small skirmishes to larger battles without having to make the up-front investment in a 40+ model army.

It's obviously contingent upon the volumes being released at fairly regular intervals, and being reasonably priced, as I imagine people wouldn't want to pay more (at least not significantly more) for multiple volumes that will, in the end, basically amount to a rule book + scenario source book.  Anyways, I guess the point is that the idea seems interesting and it could be fun for players to follow along.  Reminds me of both Medieval Tales and Space Vixens from Mars, and it seems like kind of a cool idea that could easily be introduced to almost any existing game.

[rwwin]

Having dealt with the volume idea with Dust Warfare, I'm not a big fan.  Inevitably you end up with volumes you just want the  rules for just one unit or scenario or whatever, but you don't want to shell out $30 for a book mostly full of things you don't need.  I'm more of a fan of releasing information model kit by model kit with the price of development wrapped up in the cost of production, then you are only paying for what you want.

[manatic]

Hey Guys,

Joel here from Anvil Industry, to clarify a few things -

Lovely post Joel, significantly increased my interest in your KS

[Dentatus]

Don't need another new set of rules or to invest time/energy in a game IP, but I'll always buy cool minis.