February update (just when you thought there would not be one!)
about 4 years ago
– Fri, Feb 28, 2020 at 12:39:20 AM
Hi guys!
Apologies for the slight delay in posting the update, we had a convention to attend last weekend in Milan, the major Italian appointment of the year, so we've been busy getting everything ready... then with my typical luck, the evening before the show news about the coronavirus outbreak in Italy went on national TV and thus basically nobody showed up... anyway not a big deal, just a lot of work wasted!
back to us, ACHTUNG PANZER! the supplement including all the rules required for dealing with heavy weapons and vehicles has completed proofreading and is now going to print. Let me remind you that everyone who included bazooka and/or MG teams in their pledge will get this 64 pages volume added free to their wave 2 shipment, you don't need to do anything about it. Also this will finally unblock the weapon teams models which are going to be published right after the rule is out, so if you are still waiting for these then rejoice, they are finally coming! :)
Unfortunately we have been notified by the Chinese manufacturer that they are not able to make the dice for the upcoming US infantry starter pack (last one missing) at the moment, again due to the coronavirus outbreak there, so there may be a small delay for it, we will see... in the meantime we are moving ahead with everything else so any eventual delay will be minimized. Let's hope to get all over this ASAP!
This would be about it for this update, but I want to spend some time explaining more in details what is happening with the cards only mini-campaign that was planned for this week but had to be shuffled forward to the first week or March because projects reviews on kickstarter now take 8 days... if you are not interested in that you can stop reading here, because I'm afraid I got a bit carried away and it is rather long... :)
Thank you and stay safe guys!
If you want to know more about the cards only mini-campaign then please read on!
As mentioned last time we are doing this very small (1 week) mini test campaign on Kickstarter, specifically to try some new concepts, so after repeating an assurance that this will not cause any further delay in wave 2 development and shipment, please let me clarify what are our plans for the future and how all this fits into it...
First of all, once all the wave 2 remaining pledges have shipped, we are going to do a full size KS campaign (currently planned for May) to fund adding British airborne (and possibly also British infantry and Commandos) to the game, with their own starter sets and individual miniatures expansions, exactly as the ones we have done so far.
However we have had a ton of request for doing lots of other factions as well: US Marines, Soviets, Italians, you name it... all of which we will certainly also do, BUT as you well know it takes a very long time to make miniatures with the level of detail and quality that we do, so unfortunately it will be literally years before we can make all of these...
Meanwhile we have also received a lot of feedback from people who play 1-48TACTIC with 28mm figures and are keen on getting more cards to play much larger games, but understandably do not want to buy all the figures just for getting the cards.
Hence came the idea that we may release Character's cards only first, to allow people to play with their favorite faction immediately, without waiting for us to make the figures first. We would do this specifically to support playing larger games than what is possible with the figures we currently produce. This does not mean that we are not going to make the figures any more of course! Only that, since it take us very long to make them, we are thinking why not let people play with what they have now, without waiting for us...
At the same time, we are going to introduce two new type of cards that give extra flexibility to the game system:
1) Weapon cards that allow you to re-equip your Characters the way you want;
2) Upgrade cards that allow to improve your Character's stats.
This was part of the development path we envisioned for the game from the beginning, but because of the above we are now thinking to add some character cards as well to the mix.
These are going to be mostly unnamed character’s stat cards that represent average troopers with no particularly interesting traits and who basically are meant to be the sidekicks as opposed to the named characters who are the real protagonists of the action. One would be able to field as many as he likes as part of his force. There will be a few named characters added in as well, mostly for color, but never the exact same as the ones for which we already do the figures for, of course! The main objective in doing this is to allow playing games with up to 24-48 figures per side.
So we are now considering to merge all these things together, and to spice things up even more we may mix them in randomly assorted booster packs, with common, uncommon and rare ones!
Don’t panic, I understand how this may sound and that could raise some concern, but fear not!
First of all I think it's important to point out that the typical CCG mechanic where you have to buy lots of packs to get the cards you want is NOT the business model we are going for (I never liked that myself).
Please let me explain why: yes, you will do get random cards in sealed booster packs, and yes there are some common and some rarer ones, but this is not the case where you "need" to get the rare ones, as they are not necessarily better than the others: a card's rarity only reflects the fact that it's of a type of which you need (and you could use) less.
Another important aspect is that you will be able to choose packs of the faction you want and these will include ONLY cards relevant to that faction.
Let me make an example to explain things better, look at the US airborne T/O&E as of 16 December 1944 (for a 12 men squad):
1 x Staff-Sergeant Squad Leader w/M1 .30cal Rifle
1 x Sergeant Assistant Squad Leader (also serves as Demolitions NCO) w/M1 .30cal Rifle
1 x Private Machine Gunner w/.30cal M1919A6 LMG and M1A3 .30cal Carbine
1 x Private Assistant Machine Gunner w/M1A3 .30cal Carbine
7 x Private Rifleman w/M1 .30cal Rifle
1 x Private Ammunition Bearer w/M1 .30cal Rifle
- each Squad carries an extra .30cal M1918A2 BAR for optional use
As you can see nearly everyone is armed with the excellent M1 g Garand, hence an average stats unnamed trooper armed with a Garand will be a common card. Two in a squad of twelve however would be assigned to a LMG and armed with a carbine, and one could have a BAR instead. Some soldiers were issued with or anyway manage to get sub-machine guns, and some were promoted to NCO, so these would be uncommon or rare cards. The same is true for weapons, so M1s will be common, BAR and Thompson smg or grease guns uncommon and rare.
Now let’s say you’ll buy ten packs of random US infantry cards, you’ll end up with enough cards to play with a couple of squads, lots of private riflemen with M1 .30cal Garand Rifle, a few Mgs, BAR and carbines and maybe a couple of smg which is pretty much exactly what you need… you will also get extra weapons cards, so you can re-arm some of these as you like. You will also get upgrade cards that will let you field a couple of better than average shooters, some tough hand to hand fighters and maybe a particularly fast guy… You don't really need that many NCOs, and fielding a squad of 12 riflemen armed with BAR would not be very historical nor practical, because the AP cost would be so high that your opponent would be able to field twice as many average troops and take the upper hand thanks to superior numbers… so you do not NEED any more rare cards than the one you will get, and you’ll be able to use pretty much ALL the cards you get. The random content in this case only ensure that not two people will get the exact same mix... because that is fun! :)
As you can see there is a lot of new stuff cooking, so this is why we are doing this mini test campaign in preparation for the big one in May, mainly to give you the opportunity to try and give us feedback on all of this. We have decided that we will use the opportunity to try to release cards-only booster packs for the upcoming US infantry faction, since those have been left for last until now...
Assuming this small 1 week test campaign is a success and proves there is enough interest in the concept, we will add also cards only pledges for many other factions to the May campaign, which means that you could be playing Soviets, DAK, Italians, Imperial Japanese Special Naval Landing Force, US Marines and Partisans within a couple of moths after it!
Now please let me address immediately a few other points I think may raise concerns:
To begin with, please rest assured you are not loosing anything from any of all this, you only get more: more options, more choice and more fun… instead then only getting all the miniatures we can make, you will basically get as many miniatures as we can make, plus lots more cards to play and other factions for which we have not made figures yet (but we will do ASAP!).
Next, please let me stress that you don’t “need“ any of this. The game does not change at all and you can simply ignore all of this if you are not interested in it and just keep playing exactly as if it did not exist. You may enjoy adding the new cards to the game, but this depends entirely on how you like to play the game, if 4 to 12 soldiers is your scale of game then you probably won’t have much use for it. If you want to try to play an afternoon long game at platoon level on the other hand, this could be just the thing for you!
Another important thing, I already had someone asking "if one can get the cards only, why buy the 1/48 scale figures any more?" Well, on one side, as the sculptor, I hope that you like my figures... :) but also our Characters are and remain the "stars" of the story, everything else is a side dish really, so while yes, one technically can play without the main Characters, there will always be some extra kick in playing with the cards that comes with the miniatures, after all they are the real heroes!
One last point: our long term plan is to eventually release enough figures to allow everybody to play with at least a couple of squads per side for all factions, and there will also be officers and rules designed for the game at the larger scale. That does not by any way means you should feel obliged to get them all and play larger games all the time! I’ve been playing for years, I have all the figures we have ever made, including more than a dozen unreleased ones, and while I do enjoy some larger games sometime, my preferred scale of play is 10-12 figures per side max. Other people in the beta testing group, despite having access to all of it, very rarely play with more than 5 or 6... and the same is true for vehicles and heavy weapons, as you gave seen there are rules for those which are going in print now, but it does not means you have to rush to buy tanks or you won’t be able to play any longer! You will just have the option to try and mix some of that in your games, if and when you like.
I can assure you we do balance very carefully the point cost of all cards in relation to their effectiveness on table. You can have super good characters, or super powerful tanks, but those are going to be super expensive too, and for the same point you can get as many more “normal” ones as it takes to kill them off. It’s just a matter of preference. 1-48TACTIC has never been and will never be a pay per win game, I can promise you that! :)
I’ve tried my best to explain it all, but I understand it’s a lot of stuff to digest, so if you still have doubts please just speak up! I’m incredibly grateful for all your support so far and value highly all feedback and criticism anyway!
Thank you for all your support and for speaking your mind!
NEW YEAR status update!
over 4 years ago
– Sat, Jan 25, 2020 at 01:36:53 PM
Hi all and welcome to 2020!
First update of the year and boy do I have a lot to tell you! :)
So, first of all, the Fallschirmjägers starter pack has finally started shipping to retailers and of course to all those who where only waiting that for their wave 2 shipment!
Now for the first big one: 1-48TACTIC now has an official YouTube channel!
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCOIX3byzWsI3SZJ5D09ceVA
this is a great way to send out news about all the wonderful things that are coming, so please don’t only watch the videos, hit the SUBSCRIBE button, so you can keep in touch even after the last 2nd wave has shipped!
And if that is not enough to rock your chair, we’ve also just officially started the 1-48TACTIC ORGANIZED PLAY program, introducing a Demo and Tournament support scheme! If you are interested in helping a gaming community starting up and developing in your area, this will give you access to super discounted demo kits, including: starter packs, rulebooks, individual figures and lots of freebies and exclusive stuff, plus discount vouchers you can use to help your friends getting into the game big style! Just drop a line to [email protected] to get started!
Next, Tom Sheridan (the Character armed with a shotgun) as you may recall he has been made a special limited edition Character, so it won’t be for sale and will only be available as a prize for tournaments and to supporters. Including, of course, all those of you who backed this!
He is in production now, so if you did order it is going in your weave 2 shipment and you don’t need to do anything. If you did not pre-order it but have changed your mind now, just drop me a line.
Also the “ACHTUNG, PANZER!” rulebook supplement (vehicles+Heavy Weapons) had a couple of minor last moment revisions, mainly some rewording following feedback from proofreaders and the addition of some info for a second theater: Operation Market Garden. Should go to print in the next couple of weeks now...
But that’s still not all!
By the end of February we hope to be able to run a mini campaign here on Kickstarter to start with the new idea I mentioned last time, a new set of cards only, designed to be use with Tamiya US infantry plastic figures or any other figure you may already have. With that there will be also two new types of cards: weapons and upgrades. Weapon cards can be used to re-equip any of your characters with a second weapon, allowing you to reconfigure your teams as you prefer, including using captured enemy weapons! Upgrade cards are similar and can be used to boost a specific trait of one of your Characters, thus making him faster, stronger, better at shooting, etc. All of this comes at a price of course, so the more you upgrade and equip your soldiers the more they will cost in terms of Army Points, keeping things balanced, but adding even more scope for making your force more unique and tuned for your own style of play!
None of this does require any 3D modeling work, so it will take very little of my time, and will last only a week, after which I’ll be back to finish off the last few remaining 2ndwave items.
It will also serve as a test bench for a much larger campaign we will be running in May, after all remaining 2ndwave pledges have shipped, but I’ll have to leave that for next month update...
Last but not least, two new characters are in production as I type:
48112 Chester Brooks – US 101stAirborne DivisionMarksman with M1903 Springfield + sniper scope
48212 Gerhart Kegler – German 26thVolksgrenadier Division Gefreiter with Stg44
Will be painting up the samples next week and should have the cards back from the printer’s early next month…
that'll be all for now, thank you again for your support and have a great time!
Cheers,
Claudio
