Update 36a: Pledge Manager Closes Tomorrow at Midnight (CST)!
7 months ago – Tue, Feb 28, 2023 at 02:14:27 PM

Hey everyone, we just wanted to send out a quick update as a reminder that the Pledge Manager closes tomorrow at 11:59 PM CST!  Be sure your survey is completed with your current address and credit card info, and make any final changes you want before that time.  After that we will lock pledges. Then, over the next couple of days (March 2nd and 3rd), we will run credit cards for any outstanding balances (shipping, plus anything added during the pledge manager, including pre-orders).  

If you have any questions or issues, please reach out to us at [email protected]. That is the fastest way to get any issues resolved, rather than posting in the comments, so please use the email :)

We'll be back next month with updates on production, more pictures of the masters, and a focus on the final Operative that we haven't covered: Victoria Usman!

Until next time, watch your six!

Update 36: Reminder to complete your surveys, new master pics, and final version of the rulebook!
7 months ago – Wed, Feb 22, 2023 at 01:26:42 PM

Pledge Manger Closing!

Hello everyone, this is a quick update to remind everyone that the Pledge Manager closes on March 1st, so be sure your survey is up to date, and anything you want to add to your pledge has been added. Credit cards will be charged on March 1st for shipping (and VAT), as well as any items you added to your survey after the campaign ended. We will also charge cards for all pre-orders (late pledges).  After March 1st, we will lock all orders, so adding or removing items will no longer be possible. If you have trouble finding or locating your survey, or have any issues or questions, reach out to us at [email protected] (this is the best way to reach us for issues with your survey/pledge instead of the comments section).

Production

Not much has changed on the production front.  LongPack is still working on the molds, and we have one master that is still being tweaked (the Mind Killer).  

Masters

Here are some additional pictures of the masters. This time we are going to show you the Token Upgrade add on and the 3D Terrain add on in case you were still on the fence about whether or not to get them.

Token Upgrade Pack

The token upgrade pack allows you to upgrade your Technician and Soldier tokens into miniatures.  The pack comes with four of each figure.

Technicians are present on many, many maps, usually in the form of Enemies that are watching the cameras your team is trying to avoid.  After seeing these minis, I wanted to add an attack to the Technicians named "Throw Hot Coffee", but it didn't really fit the purpose of the figure.  It would have been funny though! :)

Soldiers represent basic grunts from the ranks of AEGIS that can show up in certain missions to help secure the mission.  They can also appear if you have upgraded your Training Ground on the Base Record Sheet which gives access to the Exit Strategy card.  Among other benefits, The Exit Strategy card gives  the Secured EVAC ability, which places two soldiers into an Extraction Point if the alarm gets triggered. Nothing like a pair of soldiers holding down the exit while your team fights their way to the Extraction:

3D Terrain Set

This add on takes your game to a new level, giving it an impressive table presence.  The set comes with 18 Standard Doors, 4 Security Doors, 4 Defense Turrets, and 6 Portals (note: this set was originally listed as having 20 standard doors and 2 security doors, but it turned out that 20 standard doors was more than  you'd ever need, and 2 security doors wasn't enough for some mission designs we wanted to do, therefore we removed 2 standard doors and added 2 security doors)

Final Version of the Rules

Below you’ll find a link to the “final” version of the rules. Final is in quotes because we will still be doing grammar editing and small format changes before the book goes to print. We’ve done two proofreading passes already, but we’ll do additional ones before manufacturing to find anything we missed. So while the rules themselves are final, there will likely be small editing corrections that you may or may not notice. If you do catch anything that stands out, feel free to reach out to us at [email protected].

 Earth Under Siege: Flashpoint Rulebook v8 (English) 

Focus on Cain

There are still two Operatives from the Operative Expansion pack that we haven’t done a spotlight on, so without further ado, we present Cain, the angriest man you’ll ever meet:

Cain focuses on getting up close with his opponents and dealing with them with any means at his disposal, including his bare hands. Mechanically, Cain has a few different gameplay elements that you can focus on when building up his Tactics deck. Firstly, Cain focuses on engaging in combat with Enemies at point blank range (never be afraid to just shove your gun down a bad guy’s throat, that's Cain’s motto). However, Cain is not subtle, which can be a draw back for a covert team. But what he lacks in stealth, he more than makes up for in damage dealing ability:

Another aspect of Cain’s gameplay is to tank for his team, drawing attacks to himself and capitalizing on that aggression. Cain has multiple ways of forcing attacks and effects to target him, and he has several ways to gain Armor tokens to help mitigate damage coming his way.

Speaking of Armor tokens, Cain doesn’t just use them to protect himself, he also has options to use those Armor tokens offensively if you choose to build his deck around that:

 That's it for this update, be sure to finalize your survey's if you haven't yet!

Until next time, watch your six!

Update 35: Shipping rates, closing the PM, images of the masters, and more!
8 months ago – Tue, Jan 31, 2023 at 01:09:29 PM

First, let me say that we wanted this update out a couple of weeks ago, but we just didn’t have everything in place to post it. The main hang up was the shipping rates, which took us far longer to get finished than anticipated. This was due to a few reasons, such as holidays, some of our contacts being on vacation, COVID issues in China, etc. But the largest factor was that we were getting multiple quotes from several different companies so we could get the most competitive rate possible, and with so many different companies involved, it took quite a while to get it all in and compile everything. But, finally, it is done!

We have lots to go over in this update, including the closing date of the PM, pics of some of the masters, new tile art, and more! Here we go!

Shipping Rates

After a lot of work to get the best quotes possible, we finally have shipping rates uploaded into the pledge manager! Please be sure to log into your survey and make sure everything looks correct, and make sure all of your info is up to date (address, credit card number, etc).  If you can't find your survey, you can request BackerKit to resend it to you on their login page. 

While we don’t believe we made any mistakes uploading the shipping numbers, there’s always a chance we might have entered something incorrectly since this is our first project. If anything seems wrong, or if you have any questions, please email us at [email protected] .

Closing the Pledge Manager

We will be closing the pledge manger March 1st. That will be the final date that you can make changes to your pledge, add any additional items, or request a refund. As mentioned above, please be sure to log into your account and make sure all of your info is correct (address, credit card, etc). If you have any issues please contact us at the email address above.

 Important Info Regarding Charging Cards

As mentioned in previous updates, we have NOT charged anyone for items added to pledges in the pledge manager, or for late pledges. When the pledge manager closes on March 1st, we will charge everyone for shipping and any outstanding balances (you can see what is unpaid by logging into your survey). Since it has been nearly a year since the campaign, please be sure your address and payment method is up to date!

Masters!

We received the masters a couple of weeks ago and they look fantastic! We spent a few days going over everything in detail to check for things that needed corrections, and we’re happy to say that the number of figures that need adjustments are very few (only five). That is good news, and will help keep things moving forward. For those that don’t know, the masters are what the factory use to make the molds for the miniatures, and I’m happy to say the process of creating those molds is already underway!

Only one of the figures requires any significant rework, and that is the Mind Killer from the core box. That one definitely didn’t turn out as well as we’d like, so we are working with LongPack to get it up to our expectations. The main issue with it was that it was too "flat", especially his left arm and cape. We should have a revised figure for approval in the beginning of February as the team at LongPack comes back from Chinese New Year. We’ll share new images of the Mind Killer when we get it, but for now, here are some images of the masters we received, starting with the Operatives in the core box:

Here are the bosses from the core box:

In the next update we’ll share more images of the masters!

New World Killer Expansion Tiles

We received the new art for the outdoor tile set found in the World Killer expansion. These tiles open up new gameplay, such as fighting outdoors, guard towers, and even driving a truck! And not only do the tiles provide a new environment and new twists on gameplay, but they look amazing! Have a look at a few of the maps you’ll be running missions on in the expansion:

Rulebook Update

We are almost done with the final revision of the rulebook. It’s currently going through a few editing passes to check for mistakes, and we are still finishing the list of components section. We will share the final version with everyone in the next update. There has been a lot of streamlining done since the Kickstarter and the game plays smoother than ever, while still maintaining the tactical gameplay we were striving for.  We will be sharing various rules updates as we move forward to show the changes and streamlining we've made. For today, we wanted to share our changes to the Squad Member system.

Squad Members

For those that don’t know, when playing with less than four players, Squad Members may be used on missions to help fill out the team. This is not necessary, and you can run a mission with less than four Operatives (the game difficulty adjusts based on Operative count), but some players may want to have some extra teammates with them to help round out the team’s skillset. To this end, each Operative’s dashboard in the game has a Squad Member side. Squad Members are designed to be easier to play than a full Operative because they do not have a deck, so you don’t have to play 2, 3, or 4 handed if you don’t want to (although you can play that way if you want).

To make up for their lack of a Tactics deck, Squad Members have a few bonuses available to them. First, each Squad Member has a passive skill printed on their Dashboard, and an extra starting focus, as seen here:

Secondly, each Squad Member has a unique Support card that gives them access to abilities based on your HQ level (your HQ level increases at specified points throughout the campaign). Each Support ability is activated by discarding a Focus token, and can be used multiple times per round unless stated otherwise. 

Also, during mission setup, the players gain one All Clear token for each Squad Member on the team. All Clear tokens can be discarded to cancel any Threat card or Spawn Event. This is a powerful effect, and should be used wisely!  Here is an example of a Support card and an All Clear token:

All in all, Squad Members have been the toughest things to balance and get right. They were often getting outclassed and felt a bit useless during the later parts of the campaign under the old systems. However, this newest system seems to be working at all levels of the campaign.

Timeframe

Things are going well, although we are still a bit behind on the writing and balancing side, but not so bad that it’s going to keep us from delivering this year. The main issue is making sure the missions are balanced and fun. There are also a lot of Operatives in the game, each with a lot of cards, so making sure those are balanced (and fun) is another top priority.  Now that we have the shipping rates worked out, the PM set to close, the new art tiles finished, and the review of the masters complete, we can really buckle down and just test, test, test. Being able to focus almost exclusively on testing will make the process go much faster from here on out.

Currently we are planning on fulfillment in the fall, although we’ll have a more exact date once the molds are done (miniatures are the most time-consuming part of manufacturing).

German Rulebook

Speaking of rulebooks, last time I prematurely posted the German translation of the rulebook and had to take it down. You can follow the link below to find the edited and proofread translation. Keep in mind that this version of the rules isn’t 100% up to date because we’ve made a few more changes since then, but most of the changes are small, and mostly resolve around trimming text, removing unnecessary rules, and rearranging some things. We haven’t sent the latest version to our translators yet because we want to make sure we are 100% done with it, and make sure that the next version will be the final version. As mentioned above, we are going through some editing passes to make sure everything is good, and we're finishing the list of components section (with images). Once that is done, we’ll have our translators update the rulebook one more time. In the meantime, all four of our translation teams are hard at work on the many cards in the game.

Link to the German rulebook:

German Translation of the Rulebook 

Okay, that’s enough for this update! We’ll have another update in a few weeks reminding everyone about the closing of the PM, more images of the masters, and more gameplay details! Stay tuned!

Until next time, watch your six!

Update 34: Happy Holidays! Larger update coming soon!
9 months ago – Sat, Dec 24, 2022 at 03:56:11 AM

Hey everyone, we aren't quite ready for our next regular update, but we wanted to reach out and wish everyone Happy Holidays!  We hope you all are doing well and having a good end to your year!

We will have our regular, larger, update coming very soon (hopefully next week).  We are waiting on a few things so we can put them in the update, such as:  

Masters: The master miniatures are on their way and we should have them very soon.  Once we have those we will take some quality pictures and share them with you all.

Shipping and the PM: We are still planning on closing the pledge manager at the end of January, and we are working hard at getting our shipping quotes updated from various shipping partners and to get the best rates possible.  We should have that wrapped up by the next update and we'll be plugging those numbers into the pledge manager very soon.

New Tile Art: We're also hoping we'll have some of the finished art for the new World Killer tiles received by then so we can share those as well.

We'll post that update as soon as we have those elements in place (at least the masters and the shipping).  Until then, we wish everyone Happy Holidays!

Until next time, watch your six!

Update 33: Big update, feedback needed!
11 months ago – Fri, Nov 11, 2022 at 06:17:24 PM

Hey everyone, we have a big update for you! We wanted this to come out a couple of weeks ago but we’ve been waiting on some things to fall into place before posting. We're also looking for feedback on the pledge manager and one of the stretch goals, so make sure you read through this update and give us your thoughts. Without further ado, here we go!

Closing of the Pledge Manager

First and foremost, let’s talk about the closing of the pledge manager. We had originally planned to have this closed in October, but obviously that didn’t happen. Why the delay? Well, the short answer is that we are still working towards getting updated shipping rates. The largest holdup there is getting updated box sizes and weights. LongPack has been waiting to give updated info on the boxes until all miniatures and component counts were finalized (which makes sense). The good news is that miniatures were recently finalized (more on that below) and we've been working with LongPack to see the most efficient way to combine the components to reduce shipping.

Once we have the final box sizes and weights we can get an updated shipping quote and plug them into the Pledge Manager. Unfortunately, this process is taking longer than we’d hoped, mostly due to the length of time it took to finalize the miniatures (again, more on that below). We should have updated shipping rates in the next week or so, but because we need to give everyone at least a month’s notice before closing the pledge manager, that would mean closing it down sometime in December which isn’t ideal. Remember, we haven’t actually charged anyone for late pledges or any items added during the pledge manager because we've been waiting for the final shipping rates before doing so. Closing the pledge manager and charging people’s cards around the holiday’s generally isn’t the best idea for the sake of the backers pocketbooks.

With that in mind, at this point, we are thinking that closing the pledge manager in late sometime in January would probably be best so that we don't charge anyone’s cards before the holidays. This wouldn’t delay production. Waiting until January would also allow us to get even more accurate shipping rates. 

We’re interested in hearing your thoughts on this. Would you rather us close the pledge manager and charge cards mid-December, or is waiting until mid to late January okay with everyone? We want to do what is best for the backers and not be an additional expense on anyone during the holiday season if that would be a burden. Let us know your thoughts in the comments!

Stretch Goal Box

One of the things that backers unlocked during the campaign is a special box to hold all add ons. We’ve been working with LongPack on options for how the components of the game are boxed so that we can be as efficient as possible when it comes to shipping. We have a few options in regards to this unlocked storage box that we’d love your feedback on. The first option is to create the box as originally planned and have it designed to just hold the add ons. The other option is to alter the size and design of the box so that it serves as a new, larger, core box that can accommodate the core box contents and all stretch goals (including the Operative stretch goal pack).

We feel that a box that holds the core box plus all stretch goals has much more utility and makes much more sense since ALL backers are receiving stretch goals, while not everyone purchased add ons (or purchased the same number of add ons). The redesigned box to hold the core contents and stretch goals would look something like this:

What are your thoughts on the matter? Would you rather have a box that stores the core box and all stretch goals? Or a box designed only for add ons? Let us know in the comments!

Finished Art

Since our last update, all art for the game has been completed! We received the last of it a few weeks ago and have imported all of the images onto the cards. The only additional art we will likely add is for additional tiles for the World Killer expansion (more on that below). Here are some samples of the new gear card art we received:

Miniatures

We just recently finished the final tweaks to the miniature files last week! This took a little bit longer than we planned, but it is a very important process to get right, so rushing it was not an option. There was a lot of communication and requests for changes between us and LongPack, and each request and tweak would take 2-3 days due to LongPack being very busy with many projects and the time zone difference. However, we’re very happy with the results and the minis should turn out amazing! Most of the miniatures have stayed true to their original design, with only slight modifications to certain details or limb position, but there were a couple that were a bit problematic to mold and needed to be tweaked to accommodate the miniature creation process. As an example of this process, we can show you the evolution of the Marauder figure. In the original sculpt, the figure was in a crouching position and had his fingers spread out touching the base, as seen here:

The splayed fingers proved to be a bit of a problem for creating the mold (this was actually alluded to by the King of Average in his unboxing video). The first solution LongPack proposed was to fill in the gaps with plastic, but we didn’t like the way this looked, as seen here:

After discussing things with LongPack we came up with an alternate solution that looks much better, but required altering the hand position altogether, as seen here:

While not quite as cool as the splayed fingers, we felt this looked much better than filling the gap with plastic and we’re still very happy with the overall miniature. 

The next step for LongPack is to create the masters, and from there, the molds. As soon as we have pictures of the masters, we will be sharing them as we get them!

Tiles for the World Killer expansion

As mentioned in our last update, we made some changes to the components for the World Killer expansion, including the reduction in the number of tiles and an increase to the number of miniatures. However, many of our backers commented that they really, really wanted some additional tiles for the expansion to increase variety in the setting. We took that feedback very seriously and have been exploring our options, including reaching out to the artist, Henning Ludvigsen, to check his schedule (he's available!). We've decided to go ahead and add six large 9"x 9" double sided tiles to the expansion to increase the diversity of the environments (that will bring the total in the expansion to eight large 9" x 9" double sided tiles).  These new tiles will feature an outdoor environment which will put a new spin on many aspects of the game, such as performing roadside ambushes of enemy vehicles; deploying your Operatives into the water for a beachside infiltration; and even driving a truck into the heart of an enemy base while disguising yourself as lowly thralls!  We hope everyone is happy that we'll be adding these tiles back to the expansion!

We should have the art for these new tiles to show in the next update!

Language Translations

Some of our backers wanted us to check if having the language translations as an actual separate printed pack was an option (meaning they would get both an English and a translated copy of all cards and books). We spoke with LongPack about it and unfortunately, it’s just not really an option due to the small number that would be printed. Doing a print run of less than 200 copies of a separate translation pack would be far, far too expensive. So, with that info in mind, the translations will be as originally outlined in previous updates, with German and French backers who purchase the translation add-on getting a copy translated in their language, and Italian and Spanish backers getting an English copy with a translated PDF of all cards and books.  An English PDF will also be given to all German and French backers in case they want a copy in English as well.

Also, some backers have expressed concern over the quality of the translations, which is completely understandable, so we’ve got links below to the rulebooks translated into German, French, Italian, and Spanish. Keep in mind, these are still a work in progress and will have additional changes made before the final versions as we tweak rules and continue to edit. If you have any feedback, or catch any mistakes on these translations, please share your feedback by emailing us at [email protected]. Remember, if you want your game translated into German or French, you need to purchase the translation option in the pledge manager.

 Rulebook in German 

Rulebook in French 

Rulebook in Spanish 

Rulebook in Italian 

Projected Timeline

Things are still moving along nicely, especially since the art is finished and miniature tweaks have been finalized.  The biggest hurdle still remains the testing and tweaking of the rules and later missions.  We are really striving to balance the game so that there is a good mix of challenge and fun, but that takes time, especially since each mission can be approached with a different strategy card and a different mix of operatives.  Still, things are coming along well and we're still hopeful for delivery to begin in May/June.  We'll have a better idea as things go forward and we'll be sure to share the current status in each update!

Whew, that was a lot of info!  

Please share your feedback in the comments below on the closing of the pledge manager and the box design as described above.

Until next time, watch your six!