Kickstarter seems to be all the rage at the moment for launching new things with the pledge support of backers. However it seems it is also being used to expand upon existing ranges... and this is the plan Westwind Productions have to expand upon their Empire of the Dead, Gothic Horrior/Steampunk skirmish game.
I have dipped my toe thoroughly in this game and find it whole heartedly enjoyable. I have collected starting factions for the Gentlemans club including Zendarians (by chance!) and the Vampire Faction! I have only played a handful of games on a simple rural hamlet terrain setting but these have been immensely fun and the idea of embarking on a decent size campaign certainly appeals.
The only problems I had really were first finding some suitable urban terrain (hopefully more in the pipeline of the self build scratchbuild side of things)... and extra models to add to the existing factions to grow your factions accordingly. I didn't really want to buy duplicate sets as that would be a bit dull, so new models are in demand, and this seems on the horizon, in the form of the Kickstarter, due to go live February 14th...
As yet I have yet to back a kickstarter but I will be giving serious consideration to this one...
Over to Westwind:
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WEST WIND PRODUCTIONS KICKSTARTER
Empire of the Dead – Requiem – Proposed Miniatures Release
Q&A
What’s it all about?
Requiem is West Wind’s huge
miniatures release for its acclaimed Gothic Horror / Steampunk skirmish game,
Empire of the Dead.
If
we are successful, we plan to make over 80 New miniatures, plus 12 New Victorian
machines, carriages, steam powered walkers and Time machines, etc.
What scale are the miniatures?
28mm
pewter miniatures, on a 30mm round bevelled base. The carriages will be resin
and white metal.
What made you choose the Victorian
period and Gothic Horror/ Steampunk ?
We
have a long history of games and miniatures based in this period, Vampire Wars
was our first Victorian game and Empire of the Dead has its roots in this game.
What kind of miniatures can we expect?
If
you love the fictional world of the Gothic novel then you will be very familiar
with a lot of the characters we have planned for Requiem; ranging from Vampire
Counts to Great Detectives, we have them all, plus more ideas too….......
Tell us more about the Victorian
Machines.
Victorian
streets were filled with people and machines, in fact if you look at old photos
of London
around the 1880’s, you can’t move for horse drawn vehicles! You can expect a London Omnibus, a Hansom Cab,
a Victorian horse drawn Fire Engine and a lot more……….
What about the Steampunk stuff?
We
have an ingenious Time Machine, ala H.G. Wells, a Steam Powered Exo-skeleton, a
Spirit Canon, a steam powered Gyro-copter and many more……...
Why have you gone to Kickstarter?
Its
fairly simple, you have to keep up with the times. We want to fund the out sourcing of our mould
making. Currently Andy Cooper splits his time between mould making and
sculpting. This is really slowing us down and we need to find a different way
to bring our products to market in a more timely manner.
What can we expect from West Wind in
the future?
As
far as Empire of the Dead is concerned, we have a third part planned. We think
it’s a great twist on the traditional Steampunk background but you will have to
wait and see.
Can we expect to see Requiem releases
in the game stores?
Yes,
we are planning on having six new boxed sets on release this summer. However,
you will not see any new stuff in shops before we fulfil the pledges to our
backers made on Kickstarter.
So is every model made?
No
absolutely not, the range is about 40% done. You will see a lot of concept
stuff on the Kickstarter. We will be posting up some video updates on where the
newest sculpts are up to, and if we achieve our funding, Andy will be freed up
to get on and sculpt the rest of the range.
West Wind Contact Details
Please
feel free to ask us any questions throughout the Kickstarter, or indeed, if you
have any ideas of your own to help things along, we would love to hear about
them. If you need to contact us, please
do so via email to mail@westwindproductions.co.uk
or phone on 01457 879330.
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So Gothic Horror, Steampunk fans I hope that has wet your appetites at little, at the new wholesome goodness due to come from Westwind. I also hope this means we will get rules for horses and the carriages they propose in the kickstarter!
regards
Scott
[update - KICKSTARTER link here: http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/832150598/empire-of-the-dead-requiem-0?ref=live ]
[another update - another batch of early bird deals were added to the kickstarter a couple of days after the launch as the first batch was sold out so quickly as US customers had lost the chance to grab these - so have another look for current deals!]
