"Dragon War- Riders of Ashara" Topic

Hi, Everyone. I've been a member of TMP for a long time now and I've begun my own project that I haven't shown or announced anywhere else. I thought I'd bring it here first to the TMP membership as a bit of a pre-announcement of the project. I'm not quite ready to go live yet, and I'd like feedback on the idea.

You see, I've always been a huge fan of the Wings of War/Glory series. I made my own alternate X-Wings of War that I ran at Little Wars back in 2005- years before the X-Wing game ever came around. Not long after that, I started noodling with the concept of a Dragon Riding Game that would be in the same vein as Wings of War/Glory. I played with different ideas and came up with something I really liked.

However, life intervened. My day job is in the video games industry, and I work very long hours. In 2008, just after I finished my first prototype of the game, I got a job as the Director of Development for Irrational Studios working on BioShock Infinite. I became Studio Director as well and it consumed my days for the next several years, so while I played the prototype with my family, who really enjoyed it, the game languished.

So cut to March of this year. I decided that the time had come for me to embark on my own personal project and while I have lots of projects that are in various stages of completion, I felt that starting with 'the dragon game' would be the logical first step. I assembled a group to work on the game with me and make something really cool. We began to work on it and almost literally within a week of our first completed model, WizKids announced Dungeons and Dragons Attack Wing.

I was honestly a bit crushed. Here I was, finally delivering this project I had literally been working on since 2006 and after committing to making it a viable product, the big daddy gorilla of dragon games comes stomping into the playground.

I thought it over, looked at what they had (and knowing what I know of X-Wing and Star Trek Attack Wing) decided that my game was different enough that the hobby could support two dragon games.

So here I am, getting ready to announce a kickstarter in the near future, and having evolved the world and game dynamics for- Dragon War- Riders of Ashara.

"In this, the 248th year of the Falcon, the year 2898, the world of Ashara is at war. Nation battles nation for conquest, glory, and power. Great Dragon Riders, highly trained warriors and the pride of their nations climb atop powerful dragons to do battle with one another in the skies over Ashara. Dragons fight with tooth, claw and their mighty breath- be it of fire, ice, lightning, poison, acid, wind or the mysterious life stealing power of The Rend. Choose your dragon and your faction and take up the fight from the back of a young and agile drake or an ancient and powerful wyrm as you prove your might. Or choose to register as one of the many mercenary wings, small bands of dragon riders fighting for the highest bidder or some personal crusade. The time has come for heroes and their mighty steeds to take to the skies. This is the age of the Riders of Ashara."

Here are shots of the first 4 dragons and riders-

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I'll have much more coming as I proceed- a website, facebook page, twitter and full tumbler site that will go into all aspects of the game, but as I said, I've been a member here for ages and wanted to bring it here first for feedback and reactions.

Key Features of Dragon War-

Dragons and Riders are key components to the game. These are dragons as steeds, not D&D dragons that talk and cast spells. Rider and Dragon work together to fight.

There are multiple factions in a world that is more Game of Thrones than Lord of the Rings. There are 9 initial factions all human- no dwarves, elves or gnomes.

Dragons are a universal myth. All cultures have had stories of great serpents that take to the sky and Dragon War is no different, drawing influence from the mythology of the entire world. Right from the start you will see Asian inspired dragons, European inspired dragons, Coatl from South America and dragons influenced by the cultures of India, Africa, Korea, China, Vietnam, Cambodia, Turkey, Europe, Norway and more.

Both tournament and scenario based play will be included. This isn't just a tournament game, but is intended for group cooperative play as well. Cooperative missions against giant flying leviathans, airships and ground armies or the terrifying titans and elite titans (really big giants made of stone who raid from the mountains to consume all flesh in the lands of man) will be also a focus.

All dragons and riders are scaled to 15mm. Ground units will be a different scale.

There's much more to discuss down the road, but I wanted to preview this here. I'd love to hear what you, the TMP community think.

Very exciting stuff, and a promising concept. I'd be interested in hearing more.

-Will

Cool!

There was a dragon riders game released by Grenadier Models in 1993 that was a 6mm "scale" game. This appears to be quite different and I would be interested in hearing more as this project develops.

Also interested, this is a concept that occasionally flits across my radar, but there isn't anything available for it, barring the OOP Grenadier stuff Cyrus mentioned.

I hadn't heard of the D&D Attack Wing, but I'm not big on those sorts of things, I'm more DIY.

I really love the multicultural approach, that's a big winner for me.

With 15mm, how big are we looking at for a typical dragon? 3-4" long? Bigger?

Also, will the dragons and riders be mix-and-match (at least within a faction) or come as a pair?

Sorry for all the questions, just one more – are the rules "build your own" or sort of pre-statted?

Looks good though, definitely excited here. Like I said, the idea has run across my mind a few times.

Sounds like a good concept, and will appeal to younger players, especially with the popularity of the recent "How to Train Your Dragon" films.
Personally I'm not that keen on most of the sculpts. I like the first dragon and the last dragon rider. I prefer more conventional looking dragons. And I would think riders should either be armed with long lances, missile weapons or some sort of magic ability or weaponry.

Some good questions and feedback. Let me add some key info.

Our plan is to go with a similar model of sale to X-Wing or Wings of Glory, with a starter set and individual boxes with updates coming down the line. Our current plan is to sell them as pre-painted so as to make them ready to play or customizable for people who want to paint their own. We may look at other options as well, but that's our primary plan.

At 15mm scale, the dragons vary in size, but all fit within a 90mm x 90mm x 90mm cube (which is 3.54" cubed). Most will be smaller than that, but they all fit within that space. There will be figures larger than that, but they will be specials.

The dragons in the above example are all in the starter set, so you get a good sampling of 4 different dragons and factions. There are currently 9 full factions or you can be a mercenary unit and fight for who you want. Each faction has a real world vibe and mythology that influences them. Expansion units would be sold as a pair- rider and dragon, though all riders can be put on all dragons, so you can mix them up.

The rules are currently pre-statted, but with levels that you can either point spend in a tournament or grow through in a campaign. That means you can start with a young dragon- a drake, and a lower level rider, or spend up to a full wyrm and a higher level rider. There's also equipment you can point buy to put on your dragon or your rider to buff them.

One major element I neglected to mention is that the riders are all class based. At present we have warrior, who specializes in melee combat, a ranger type who specialized in ranged attacks, a priest class who can cast spells of healing and hindrance, and a mage class who can cast area of effect and single target spells.

The combat supports both ranged and melee combat between dragons, and you can basically end up grappled and crash to the ground if you aren't careful (though that is survivable depending on how damaged your dragon is). Some dragons are better equipped for this type of combat, while others do passing rakes or stick to breath attacks.

The game is based heavily on factions, but dragons and riders can move from location to location. (Like in Battletech each house prefers a specific mech but you can find sample mechs of nearly any type in nearly any house or clan).

The above dragons and riders are from the following factions:

Desert Zahak – Battuk- Cashtun- Which has a sort of "What if the Ottoman Empire conquered Medici Florence?" vibe to it. Battuk is a warrior, who starts with a spear, while the Zahak is a fire breather.

Broadwing – Adrian- League of Free States- This faction has a German Free Imperial Cities meets Attack on Titan vibe with Merchant Warriors holding off hordes of gigantic creatures made of living rock that raid their territory to consume everything organic in their path. Adrian is a young priest while the Broadwing is a furred white dragon from the frozen north and a bony tail that he uses as a club and frost breath.

Night Feather – Silver Moon- Clans of Ghendri- This faction has a 'Viking Settlements In the New World' feel to it with a blend of Algonquin and Viking influences and dragons from the Mayan tradition. Silver Moon is an archer (ranger) who excels with a bow. The Night Feather is a Coatl- a serpent dragon who has lightning breath.

Horned Soft Scale – Lanhua – Shen Empire- This faction is made up of seven kingdoms within a single empire, each kingdom with individual influences from China, Korea, India, Tibet, Cambodia, Vietnam, and Mongolia. Standing apart from them is the last unconquered kingdom, Sidon, with Japanese influences. Lanhua is a sorceress with several spells she can cast while the Horned Soft Scale is a Chinese influenced dragon.

Other factions include-

Khorem- a desert kingdom with Egyptian influences.
The Waste Barons- refugees from Khorem and Cashtun who have created a state based on powerful criminal trade houses.

Anselem- a proud warrior nation with strong influences from Central and West Africa.

Sarai- a kingdom of the cursed where bodies may die but greedy souls seek to inhabit them after death. This is the land of The Rend and has strong influences from Mayan Culture and the South American Tradition of The Day of The Dead.

Pirate Lords of the Blood Isles- a pirate kingdom!

These are just the starting primary factions with more to come. The idea is to expand with lots of different dragons and adding some wild new designs that aren't really from any existing influence. I intend to eventually add sea combat and sea dragons, as well as introduce new factions beyond the initial nine.

Marshall, it sounds like you prefer traditional dragons, and there will be many of those. You will likely find the dragons of Cashtun and the League of Free States most to your liking?

I forgot to mention the whole class thing (and that melee combat is possibility in this game). Hopefully the above tells you more about how the riders work.

Cool, thanks for the update and answering the questions. I hereby dedicate myself to the Shen Empire :-) Though Khorem and Sarai sound neat too.

Came up with another Q – What do you think the low-end of the age range for the rules might be? Given they're pre-paints, these could be good gateways games for kids (I have a few young nephews I'm working on as painters and gamers).

Any dragons carry multiple riders?

Boy wundyr x- the rules are meant to be accessible and are fit somewhere between X-wing and Wings of Glory as far as complexity. The age range will be determined by the new consumer safety laws, which I believe will require 12 and up, but it will be kid friendly in terms of complexity.

Deltapax1- At the moment they only carry 1 each, but that's an interesting idea for later on.

Terrement- we didn't go 28mm as we felt the dragons would either be too large or look to small compared to the rider. 15mm seemed to fit the bill.

I wish you good luck. For me an important part is miniatures quality, that is the reason why I like x-wing but not attack wing, even though attack wing really has great rules.. I just don't like the minis and that is why I'm skeptical about the wiz kids attack wing dragons..

All the best..
Francisco

Thanks for all the great feedback, everyone! Incidently, I will be playing a demo all afternoon and evening at What Khan on November 8 in Rockford, Ill, and should have samples by then to play with.