rebases some old soldiers.
We have no exact date for our Martian Front Kickstarter yet. The response has been so strong that we are now scrambling to make the initial line launch bigger: more product and more reveals. Please bear with us. Your response has been inspiring, and we want to get this as right as we can. More information can always be found at a website we created just for All Quiet on the Martian Front: martianfront.com.
Why Are We Doing a Kickstarter?
We are doing a Kickstarter so we can put the models and game we are showing you into production, and we need to raise cash to do that. It's pretty straightforward, really. The models we are showing you are all pre-production. We chose to do these models rather than just drawings to help us in the design process to get sizes right, think about mold direction, model components, and cost per item, as well as showing you "real" models. We feel this is better than just drawings or computer renderings, and has really helped us in the process of designing the game and its mechanics. During this process, some of the components have been mastered and spun out of metal. This is also true with some of the resin components. In the end, we will sharpen the designs even further before starting production. There have been a few folks out there thinking that by showing you models we must be "in production." Not so, but the good news is we are well on our way.
The assault tripods will be plastic. You need quite a few of those for this game, and the spindlyiness of their construction makes this the best possible route. Now, tooling molds to make plastic models is expensive. Very. The larger ones and the scouts will be resin, with metal legs for durability. We would like to do the scouts in plastic, too, but the Kickstarter would have to get pretty big for that.
There have been a lot of conversations in the last few years about resin versus metal miniatures. Here is our take: Resin provides the ability to do large and thick parts. It can be crisper in detail, but only marginally so, and that detail is often offset by molding and excessive venting necessary to get the models to cast. Resin is also very fragile. We feel it's too fragile for thin parts, especially for some of the All Quiet models. We use metal for small parts and for some of the tripod legs, where we need strength and thin cross-sections. We are also casting the infantry in metal, so the little fellas don't snap off at the ankles or have their weapons break. Now I know there are some excellent all-resin models out there, and the same is true of metal, too. Our philosophy is to use the best material for strength, manufacturability and appearance per part. We aren't married to any one material. Oh, and we are paying attention to ease of assembly.
The huge Land Ironclad is no mere weapon of war… it is a potent symbol of human ingenuity and American industrial might! These towering vessels were first built in the Norfolk Naval Shipyard in Virginia, utilizing the methods and skills employed in ship construction to produce what many have dubbed 'land battleships'. The popular press have so far been denied access to complete details of the Land Ironclad's armament and defensive systems, but such information as has been revealed speaks of a weapon as superior to the existing steam tanks as those mighty machines are superior to a mere infantryman. Owing to the use of naval facilities and personnel, it became a matter of some controversy whether the new Land Ironclads would fall under the command of the Army or Navy. As the first machines were built with watertight hulls, the Navy considered them to be ships. Sea trials indicated that, though capable of transport by water, lacking a proper keel, the Land Ironclads were unstable in anything but the calmest waters. The first ironclads were delivered to the U.S. Army, and were still officially undergoing land trials when they encountered tripod raiders in western Tennessee. On that occasion, a flotilla of three ironclads was about to steam for home, having completed a test of its primary gunnery systems, when it ran upon a force of more than a dozen tripods. The tripods swept the vessels with their heat rays, causing only superficial damage, thanks to the dense asbestos plates that shield the ironclad's metal armor. The ironclads responded by laying steam as a precautionary defense, and engaging the tripods with their 6-inch guns. Four tripods were destroyed or crippled with the first salvo, and the remainder quickly withdrew, leaving the ironclads very much the victors of the first encounter in this new War of the Machines.
NEW YORK TIMES – Saturday 6th June 1914
LATEST DREADNOUGHT ENTERS IMPERIAL SERVICE
The British Expeditionary Force took delivery today of the first batch of 'General Benedict Arnold' dreadnoughts, as these gigantic American Land Ironclads are to be known in British service. Lord Haig of Kabul received the vessels at the official handing-over ceremony at the British army base of Franklin, just outside Milwaukee. In service with U.S. and Canadian forces for over a month now, the Land Ironclad (MIL1914) has already proven its worth during engagements against tripod raiders in western Tennessee, where it not only overcame the enemy with its massed firepower, but was seen to be largely resistant to the Martian Heat Ray thanks to its innovative 'steam venting' defense system. Amongst the many detailed modifications made to meet British operational requirements are provisions for a separate senior and junior officers' mess, space for additional catering staff and servants, interior and exterior tea urns, and a modified cabin to allow plenty of headroom for be-turbaned Sikh crews in Indian service. British officers had requested the installation of stabling, many continuing to pursue their favorite sport of foxhunting at every opportunity; sometimes even during the height of Martian attacks. Sadly, this proved impossible without removing a good portion of the dreadnought's armament, a modification that was felt too great a compromise even by the British.
Flivers are light Model-T Ford, Diamond, and other manufacturer's trucks with gasoline- or ethanol-fueled combustion engines. They are used as transports by all kinds of units, and many are employed as ambulances, supply trucks, and even as mounts for machineguns and light artillery pieces. They are very flimsy vehicles and utterly useless over difficult terrain, but tremendously valuable when it comes to ferrying men and materials to the battlefront. Many cars and trucks now carry additional machineguns as defense against zombie attack. Now being manufactured in the thousands, these vehicles come in many variants and forms, and are crucial to the war effort, even if not terribly effective in a direct assault against tripods.
You can get involved now:
We have finished the alpha-testing on the game play, and it's now in beta-testing but we are encouraging an open discussion of the game, the miniatures, etc., so you get a chance to shape it. The playtesters are on our forum, too, and it will be interesting to see the ebb and flow as we finalize the game! You can do this on our forums here.
We will be listening…
You can find more work-in-progress shots here, and we plan to update every week: MartianFront.com.