Maelstrom’s Edge: Kickstarter läuft

Die Kickstarterkampagne von Spiral Arm Studio zur Finanzierung von Maelstrom’s Edge ist sehr erfolgreich gestartet.

Fight for survival among the stars in this next generation tabletop wargame from the team behind dakkadakka.com

Real quick, Maelstrom’s Edge is:

• A ’slow apocalypse‘ sci-fi universe supported by years of writing and published novels.

• A squad-based tabletop wargame with excellent rules.

• A boxed set featuring extremely detailed state-of-the-art multi-part and multi-pose HIPS plastic models.

• A complete package of rules, dice, templates, and tokens – everything you need to play out of the box.

Maelstrom’s Edge is a next generation, squad based tabletop wargame set in a gritty science fiction universe of desperate survival. Players will be thrust into a fast, tactical game full of action and consequence, where every moment counts, and where there is always a way to change the game. No game is complete without a compelling setting, and we’ve worked hard to create a detailed and original universe for our players to explore, with deep worldbuilding and exciting, professionally written fiction.

This Kickstarter will allow us to raise the funds to finish and optimise the first Maelstrom’s Edge boxed set: Battle for Zycanthus. Our team of game designers, writers and artists have been working hard for the past three years to develop a universe, range of models and ruleset of the highest quality, and we are extremely close to accomplishing our goal.

In the Battle for Zycanthus boxed set, we’ll provide everything you need to play the Maelstrom’s Edge tabletop game, in which physical plastic models are moved around a table to simulate a battle. As well as the rules, dice, templates and tokens required for playing our innovative new ruleset, backers will receive two armies in detailed, multipart HIPS plastic for the Karist Enclave and Epirian Foundation factions. The models are provided as plastic sprues and you get to assemble and paint them, customising your forces to your own preferences and battle plans.

$10: Rules Please!

A digital download copy of the finished rulebook will be given to you at the time it is completed.

$30: Rules and a little bit more

At least 2 years of VIP status on the Maelstrom’s Edge website from the public release date of the boxed set and everything in the ‚Rules Please‘ tier. VIP status gives a number of benefits:

A 10% discount on anything bought direct in our webstore (from retail release onwards).
2 weeks early access to new releases on our webstore compared to the general public.
Exclusive short stories for your kindle/ipad/kobo/pc/other digital reader (exclusive for 1 year).
Additional free digital content such as audiobooks, new missions, etc.
Beta access to the rules as soon as they are ready, should you wish to help us playtest the game prior to release.
$50: Everything but the models

A physical printed copy of the rulebook, 8 Dice, Plastic Bases, Unit cards, Suppression Tokens, Flame and Blast templates. This allows you to use existing models you might already have. Also includes everything in the ‚Rules and a little bit more‘ level.

$60: A handful of plastic

6x Karist Enclave Troopers (2 sprues), 4x Karist Enclave Tempest Elites (2 sprues), 6x Epirian Contractor Engineers (2 sprues), 4x Epirian drones (2 sprues, builds either type) and associated bases for the models. These models will be shipped at the same time as the general boxed set to keep our logistics straightforward.

$90: The Maelstrom Rises

Our sweet spot pledge – a copy of the boxed set – Printed A5 Rulebook, Unit Cards, Mission Cards, 8 Dice, Bases, Suppression Tokens, Flame and Blast templates, 6x Karist Enclave Troopers (2 sprues), 4x Karist Enclave Tempests (2 sprues), 1x Karist Enclave Shadow Walker (1 sprue), 4x Karist Angel Minnows (2 sprues), 6x Epirian Contractor Engineers (2 sprues), 4x Epirian Firefly Drones (2 sprues), 4x Epirian Spider Drones (2 sprues), 1x Epirian Bot Handler (1 sprue) and everything in the ‚Rules and a little bit more‘ level. Stretch goals apply to this level.

$180: The Maelstrom Erupts

Double everything in ‚The Maelstrom Rises‘ level. Double of any applicable stretch goals as well, though still 2 years of VIP status on the Maelstrom’s Edge website.

$500: The Maelstrom Collector

We’ll send you 2 copies of every sprue on immediate completion of each, so you get them very quickly, along with a full ‚The Maelstrom Erupts‘ level but with priority shipping included. We’ll cover all shipping on this level as well.

$520: The Maelstrom Overlord

6 copies of ‚The Maelstrom Rises‘ level, recommended for gaming groups. 6x any applicable stretch goals as well, though still 2 years of VIP status on the Maelstrom’s Edge website.

$1000: Maelstrom Immortality

Everything in ‚The Maelstrom Collector‘ and a character named after you in the background.

$2500: Maelstrom Eternal

Everything in ‚The Maelstrom Collector‘ and a 3d model of your head made for a future model – beards, glasses and hair might be modified as well as any other facial elements that might not be possible to produce in a 2 part plastic tool. You’ll need to provide front/rear/side head photos for us to be able to get the sculpting done.

$5000: Rally The Troops

Everything in ‚The Maelstrom Collector‘, a 3d model of your head made for a future model, a character named after you in the background and sponsor a unit – your name and (if you want) your photo on a unit box set saying ‚this boxed set was made possible by X‘ so that everyone who ever buys that unit learns about your generosity and support for the Maelstrom’s Edge universe.

 

Our models are some of the most detailed ever to be made. We are exclusively working in the best possible material – injection moulded High Impact Polystyrene (HIPS) plastic, at 28-32mm (~1:56) scale. Every model is made in multiple parts with multiple variable poses, additional weapons and choices to allow you to pose and customize your forces exactly as you like.

All the photos of models you see on this Kickstarter are of the final production figures, so what you see is exactly what you will receive. We’ve spent a long time getting the art, design, digital sculpting and most of the mould creation completed in advance of the Kickstarter, to eliminate many of the delays and risks usually involved in HIPS production.

6x Epirian Contractor Engineers – enough for 2 squads, with optional grenade launchers and pistols. Part soldier, part maintenance worker – a mainstay of Foundation defense forces.

4x Epirian Spider Drones with multiple weapon options. A Spider Drone’s low-profile and unique leg design makes them nigh impossible to shake from a defensive position.

4x Epirian Firefly Drones with multiple weapon options. Retrofitted crop-dusters, Fireflies provide invaluable targeting data while carrying a lethal payload of clingfire.

1x Epirian Bot Handler – Plastic still in development, the sprue can build a standard handler who leads a squad of Spider Drones, or can build a journeyman handler who can call in deadly micro drone strikes. A Handler’s neural interface grants unparalleled access to tactical information and the ability to remotely control bots.

6x Karist Enclave Troopers – The core of the Karist military caste – highly adaptable and utterly devoted to the ultimate goal. Four weapon options on each sprue.

4x Karist Tempest Elites – the heavy warriors of the Karist Enclave, with two weapon options. Only the most veteran Karist soldiers earn the right to wear the powerful and deadly Tempest armor.

4x Angel Minnows, deadly, fearsome and fast, Angel Minnows open up a whole host of tactical options for a Karist commander. Driven mad by the Maelstrom, in large enough packs Minnows can be nearly as dangerous as their adult kin.

1x Karist Shadow Walker – Plastic still in development. A Karist assassin with the capability to rift (teleport) over short distances. Rifting allows these mysterious agents to infiltrate governments and battlefields alike.

2 Victory Point Trackers, 2 double sided blast templates, 1 double sided flame template, 1 Epirian objective, 1 Karist objective, 8 six-sided dice, 40 double sided tokens and markers, and 26 suppression tokens of various sizes.

The above suppression tokens are prototypes – the final versions will be printed with a higher quality process.

In addition to the pictured items, the boxed set will also include: 8 white six-sided dice with black spots; an A5 sized copy of the Maelstrom’s Edge rulebook; a card detailing the statistics for each unit; a range of mission cards allowing variable and entertaining missions to be played out, keeping each game unique and unpredictable; and enough plastic bases for every standard infantry model and every airborne model in the set.

Terrain Sprue – Just $12 Each

Containing: 1x Large Door, 2x Small Door, 1x Light Fitting, 2x Microwave Projectors/Antennas, 4x Corner Caps, 1x Small Pipe Fitting (fits a standard drinking straw), 1x Large Pipe Fitting, 2x Computer Panels, 1x Trapdoor, 2x Shuttered Windows, 2x Fascias, 2x Tessellating Trapezoid Windows, 1x Ladder/Walkway, 2x Tech Edge Pieces, 8x Modular Edge Pieces.

Our terrain sprue is HUGE and perfectly scaled to work with all 28mm-32mm games. The design is simple – get a box, or some cardboard, cut some holes in it and stick in our doors and windows and add edge pieces, then paint it and you have terrain unique to your table but still thematically linked to any other pieces you make with a minimum of effort. You can also use all of our fully plastic terrain elements to spruce up any other terrain kits you might have, with it adding especially great detailing to MDF and wood terrain kits. Even fantasy buildings can be turned completely sci-fi with the addition of our doors, pipe fittings and computer panels.

Please note that SHIPPING COST IS NOT INCLUDED in the pledge levels. Separating our shipping from the pledges will allow us to ship the product as efficiently as possible, so if we get a high volume of orders, we can pass the shipping savings directly on to our backers. Assuming that there are no unforeseen circumstances in production, we are aiming to cap shipping costs at $20 globally. Shipping costs will be taken by separate payment at the time of shipment, and we will issue no questions asked refunds if you have any concerns at that time. Shipping costs are per-pledge rather than per-set, so multiple boxed set pledges will get see some good savings.

Spiral Arm Studios have bases in the US and UK and will be shipping from distribution points in both the UK and USA.

In all tabletop miniature kickstarters, the first question asked is usually „what scale are the models?“ We have designed all our models to be in the 28-32mm scale standard to most modern wargames. To demonstrate what the finished models look like, the above image shows our standard Epirian Contractor, Karist Trooper and Karist Tempest models next to a ruler.

 

Our models are some of the most detailed ever to be made. We are exclusively working in the best possible material – injection moulded High Impact Polystyrene (HIPS) plastic, at 28-32mm (~1:56) scale. Every model is made in multiple parts with multiple variable poses, additional weapons and choices to allow you to pose and customize your forces exactly as you like.

All the photos of models you see on this Kickstarter are of the final production figures, so what you see is exactly what you will receive. We’ve spent a long time getting the art, design, digital sculpting and most of the mould creation completed in advance of the Kickstarter, to eliminate many of the delays and risks usually involved in HIPS production.

Maelstrom’s Edge is a squad-based skirmish level game which is optimised at a scale of approximately 20-30 models per side and will play perfectly well with the contents of the boxed set. The game features dozens of unique and inspired mechanisms, from multi-unit alternate activation to our iconic suppression tokens, which add a strong cinematic style to the battlefield.

The ruleset for the Maelstrom’s Edge tabletop game has been written from scratch by one of the world’s leading authorities on tabletop wargaming: Jon Regul (yakface) of Dakka Dakka. For over a decade Jon has fixed other people’s rulesets for tournaments, and all this time has been developing a ruleset of his own. This ruleset now exists in the form of Maelstrom’s Edge, and is everything we as gamers felt was missing from what’s out there today.

In the far future, a golden age of exploration and progress has been shattered. Humanity and alien alike are on the very edge of annihilation. A gigantic apocalyptic explosion of dark energy known as the Maelstrom is rapidly expanding out from the heart of the galaxy, destroying everything it touches. As worlds and stars on the Maelstrom’s Edge are obliterated, those who have the means flee towards deep space, while those left behind fight for the chance to escape.

For millennia before this catastrophe, humanity spread across the galaxy at sub-light speed, painstakingly eking out an existence in space and on barely habitable worlds. Then the cybel network was discovered. A gossamer web of dark energy threads stretching between every star, the cybel network allowed humanity to colonise thousands of worlds across the galaxy’s spiral arm. All the progress that the cybel network brought, the Maelstrom took away. The Maelstrom erupted from the centre of humanity’s worlds a millennium ago, racing down the cybel tunnels, splitting them apart and spilling their destructive energy out into real space.

The Edge is a stormfront, light years wide, where real space meets the Maelstrom’s tide of roiling, coruscating energy. The apocalypse is coming inexorably to every planet on the Edge. From ancient space habitats to luscious terraformed worlds, everyone in the path of the Maelstrom must make a choice. Unite or divide, give or take, fight or die. Those living on the edge are not bulletproof or elite. They are ordinary people caught up in a bewildering cataclysm, their only goal to survive as best they can.

The destructive power of the Maelstrom is threatening worlds across the spiral arm of the galaxy, forcing those in its path into conflict over the resources to escape and survive. In our first box set, we focus on the Epirian Foundation world of Zycanthus, a few light years away from the Maelstrom’s Edge, which the Karist Enclave has determined is ripe for conversion to their cause.

The Epirian Foundation have spent centuries using their robotic technologies to terraform and colonise new worlds. Now, as the Maelstrom threatens everything they’ve worked so hard to build, they are determined to save as many resources as they can before their worlds are destroyed forever.

The Epirian army in the box set includes a unit of Contractor Engineers, who work to maintain the Foundation’s robots, as well as fighting on the front line. Alongside them will be the scuttling Spider Drones and the flying recon Firefly drones, along with a bot Handler to give support and buffs to the robots on the battlefield.

The Karist Enclave are a secretive religious group that views the Maelstrom very differently. They believe that when the energy of the Maelstrom washes over followers of the Karist way, they will ascend to a higher plane of being. The Karists have come to Zycanthus to convert the planet’s citizens to their way of life – through any means necessary.

In the box set, backers will receive a unit of Karist Troopers, the iconic armoured soldiers that lead the Karist mission, as well as the heavier armed Tempest Elite. A pack of alien Angel Minnows provides the fast moving element of the force, whilst the mysterious Shadow Walker can use his Rift teleportation technology to outwit the Enclave’s enemies.

Link: Maelstrom’s Edge Kickstarter