Update 38: Quick update, more to come this month!
over 1 year ago – Thu, May 04, 2023 at 09:11:26 AM

Hey all, we're a bit late on getting this out (we wanted it out end of April), but we've been waiting on info from the factory to give a proper update on the state of things.  We didn't want to keep you backers wondering what was going on though, so I thought I'd throw out a quick update just to let you all know what's happening.  We'll post a more in-depth update towards the end of the month when we have further details, but for now, read below for where things stand!

Miniature Production

On the miniature front, LongPack is still working on the molds.  They had hoped to have them complete and have the plastic samples shipped to us no later than this week, but we were informed that some of the molds had issues and needed to be reworked.  We weren't given details on exactly which molds or how many, but the updated timeline from the factory is that they are HOPING to have the plastic samples sent out by the end of this month.  So, a set back of at least 3 weeks, which is a bummer, but these things happen.  We were sent pictures from our rep of the current plastic samples, and so far they look really good, but we'll know for sure when we can examine them in hand. 

Once we have the plastic samples, we need to check them for any corrections, which we are assuming there will be at least a few, but based on the quality of the masters, we are hoping there won't be many.  Once they adjust the molds based on our feedback, the miniatures will go into mass production.  According to our rep at the factory, manufacturing the minis should take about 40 days, give or take. 

Here are some of the pictures we were sent of the plastic samples:

Written Material

We are still wrapping up the campaign books and tweaking various cards and sections of the rulebook based on playtesting.  Things are getting close for finishing the written material, but the testing is ongoing.  There are still a few missions that we are tweaking to avoid weird edge cases, or balancing issues.  We will be testing right up until the last possible minute, but the progress has been good and we should be able to coincide finishing up the written material with the completion of the miniatures so the manufacturing process is uninterrupted. 

Translations

Translations of the written material has been going well.  Our German and French translations are very far along, which is good, because those need to coincide with printing of the English material. The Spanish and Italian translations have more time to be completed, since they will only be released as PDF's, so they do not need to be finished until fulfillment time. 

Okay, that's it for now, we'll post again towards the end of the month once we have updates from LongPack.  We should also have some renders to show of the final GameTrayz add on, which have been reworked a bit and we think everyone will really like how they turned out, so stay tuned!

Until next time, watch your six!

Update 37: More masters and updates!
over 1 year ago – Fri, Mar 31, 2023 at 01:29:17 PM

Hey everyone, time for another update! Lots to discuss, so let’s get into it!

Pledge Manager

Pledges are now locked, but if you have any remaining issues please reach out to us at [email protected] and we’ll see what we can do to help. There are still a decent number of failed card charges, so if you need to update your payment method, please do, we cannot deliver your game if your survey is not completed!

Production Update

Not a lot has changed since last months update regarding production. LongPack is still in the process of making the molds for the miniatures, which we’ve been told should be done mid-April. Once that is done, they will create some samples and we will look them over for any final changes. There are often small differences between the 3D sample prints and the molds, so we will need to look them over in fine detail to see if there are any tweaks that need to be made. We will update everyone on the status of that next month.

Masters

Speaking of miniatures, here’s some more pics of the masters, this time, the core box Basic Enemies, which includes stretch goals!

Printed Components

On the non-miniature front, all components except the campaign books are 99% complete. When I say “99%”, what I mean is that all cards, tokens, dashboards, etc., are all created, but we are still doing proofreading for grammar and tweaking based on playtesting. So, while everything is 'finished', getting that last 1% complete is a bit of a moving target because we will probably be tweaking and editing right up until the files get sent to print (there’s always room for improvement). As an example of this, we tweaked the Rulebook a bit since it was posted in the last update due to proofreading feedback from some of our translators as well as one of our backers who volunteered to help out on that front (thanks Paulie!).

While they are making the molds, we had LongPack look over our card files to make sure our formatting meets their requirements (it does), so once we've made the final tweaks to the cards and books, we’ll be ready to upload the files quickly now that we know we have the formatting correct.

Campaign Books

The only components not at 99% are the two Campaign Books (core and expansion). While all missions are written, we are still doing testing on many of them to make sure they are fun and balanced. Playtesting these is more involved than just running through a mission once or twice due to the sheer number of possible combinations of game elements. Not only are there 12 Operatives, each with different builds they can be played with and different upgrade options they have access to, but each mission can also be played with 3 different Strategy cards, which changes the way the mission gets played. We are testing as many different combinations as possible, looking for imbalance and edge cases that need to be addressed.

So, with all that being said, I would peg the Campaign Books at being about 70% complete. The writing is more or less done, but with testing we are still tweaking many things. We are also still doing formatting and layout on those books as well.

The goal is to have both books finished around the same time the miniature making process is complete so we can go straight into full production. We’ll keep you posted on the progress!

Focus on Dr. Victoria Usman

The last Operative we haven’t done a spotlight on yet is Dr. Victoria Usman, a specialist in nano-technology.  Like Mama Bear, Victoria has a unique mechanic centered around Ongoingcards, but in her case, Victoria’s Ongoing cards have the “Enhancement” trait. Enhancement cards are unique in that not only can they be played on Victoria herself, but she can also play them on OTHER Operatives. What’s more, Enhancement cards do not count against the maximum number of Ongoing cards an Operative can have in play at once (normally 2), so you can either spread the love around the table, or you can pile them all up on one Operative to create a huge powerhouse...for a time.

However, these Enhancements come at a price. At the end of the round, when Ongoing cards are discarded from play, each Operative with any Enhancements must make an Overcharge check by rolling a d6 and adding the number of Enhancements they discarded. On the result of 6+ that Operative suffers 1 damage. Of course, the good doctor has a few cards that can help mitigate these Overcharge checks, and a few cards that allow Operatives to get even more boosts based on the number of Enhancements they have in play.

But Enhancements are not Victoria’s only focus. She also has access to cards that let her take advantage of her bionic arm.

Victoria is an interesting Operative to play, requiring the player to carefully balance how to distribute her Enhancement cards, and how to make sure the team stays healthy while enjoying the fruit of her labors.

Next update we’ll take a deeper look at the campaign mission chains and special ops, as well as pictures of the core box Elite Enemies!

Until next time, watch your six!

Update 36a: Pledge Manager Closes Tomorrow at Midnight (CST)!
almost 2 years 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!
almost 2 years 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!
almost 2 years 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!