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I don't know anything about it, but it looks interesting. I've never really enjoyed miniatures game or historically-set stuff, but I like some of the concepts/ideas they have here.
However, on the sixth page of the 'game' information, it says, "for the first time ever in a collectable game, players will be able to design their own tournament-legal game elements."
While interesting that they're offering this ability, it is not a true statement. The City of Heroes card game offered(-s?) this function as well. Click here for their 'hero builder'. They need to change their claim to "first time ever in a collectable MINITATURES game".
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First of all, my name is Mark Chase and I worked at WotC for 5+ years on MTG and Duelmasters (Japan). I recently started working with some old friends, the original founders of WizKids.
Their new company is called Wells Expeditions, and their first major release is called Arcane Legions. It will be on store shelves in September.
Arcane Legions is a mass-action miniatures game that allows players to simulate large scale combat with fast game play, customized units and intuitive mechanics in a mysterious alternate history.
We were at the GAMA Trade Show a week ago in Las Vegas showing a prototype version of the game to retailers and distributors, and everyone who looked at it was very impressed with the detail of the figures (25mm), the game mechanics and movement tool (there are no codecs or any bookkeeping), the cool tournament legal customizing you can do, and the price.
Take a minute to check it out, and join our group if you like. The game is awesome, and is going to be getting a lot of attention in the next few months - for good reason!
Let me know if you have any questions. You can ask them here, or on the Facebook page.
However, on the sixth page of the 'game' information, it says, "for the first time ever in a collectable game, players will be able to design their own tournament-legal game elements."
Quote:
Originally Posted by fissionessence
While interesting that they're offering this ability, it is not a true statement. The City of Heroes card game offered(-s?) this function as well. Click here for their 'hero builder'. They need to change their claim to "first time ever in a collectable MINITATURES game".~
Very astute - correction made!
Technically, you are correct. Though in actuality our's is much more involved and by comparison we're turning over way more of the game engine to the consumer.
Good call though - thanks
Mark Chase | Online Marketing Manager - Wells Expeditions
I'm definitely interested but the choice of factions seems a bit...odd.
Roman and Egyptian doesnt really strike me as unusual, but then we get the Chinese added. Be interesting to see how they end up close enough to actually fight it out in the fluff.
I'm guessing they've already got other factions waiting in the wings if this takes off.
Couple of questions:
a) Scale: "true" 25mm or closer to 28mm like most of the industry?
b) I understand the starter/infantry/cav boxes, but I'm less clear on how a booster works. How many figs are typically in a booster, and how many are painted?
c) It seems like the feel of the game is similar to "Age of Mythology", where you have human cultures and the monsters of their myths fighting alongside each other. What sort of creatures do the Han get? After dragons, I sort of run out of possibilities...
c) It seems like the feel of the game is similar to "Age of Mythology", where you have human cultures and the monsters of their myths fighting alongside each other. What sort of creatures do the Han get? After dragons, I sort of run out of possibilities...
That was the impression I was getting, too, particularly from the convention pictures.
Couple of questions:
a) Scale: "true" 25mm or closer to 28mm like most of the industry?
b) I understand the starter/infantry/cav boxes, but I'm less clear on how a booster works. How many figs are typically in a booster, and how many are painted?
c) It seems like the feel of the game is similar to "Age of Mythology", where you have human cultures and the monsters of their myths fighting alongside each other. What sort of creatures do the Han get? After dragons, I sort of run out of possibilities...
Sorry it's taken me a while to get back to you. In answer to some questions:
a) True 25mm (human height)
b) Booster Packs will contain between 5-10 fully painted figures (depending on the size)
c) Here are just a few:
Jorogumo
Yeti
Harionago
Hundun
WuTouGui
There are also mercenary figs that will fight with any faction.
We've got some paint samples in, and I'll post up some pics shortly.
Here is a shot of painted figures on demo bases that we took for some print advertising. Most of the common figures in this photo have been painted, though they will come unpainted (with deco prints on shields and banners) in the Army Packs. The other figures are the actual paint quality you will see in Booster Packs.
Mark Chase | Online Marketing Manager - Wells Expeditions
Somehow I want to call you "The Chase", you almost appearing to be the Wells Expedition equivalent to WotC Brand Manager Scott Rouse on this board. But maybe that's just me.
Thoughts of the Arch Chancellor - My weblog on EN World - containing game related material, like: house rules, design theories, reviews, play reports, adventure ideas
Secret Member of <Think we would just hide our secret with a spoiler tag, eh?>
Somehow I want to call you "The Chase", you almost appearing to be the Wells Expedition equivalent to WotC Brand Manager Scott Rouse on this board. But maybe that's just me.
What do you call Scott??
It's a small world.
I know Scott quite well.
I have worked with him, and actually FOR him for a brief time.
Though we live 500 miles apart he has stopped by my house en route to hunting fields in Eastern Montana.
The whole game manufacturing business can be pretty incestuous
If you are interested in playing the demo game contact your LGS and have them request a free copy of the Arcane Legions demo from their distributor.
We are now getting ready for GenCon, where we will debut the finished product and have a limited quantity for sale. The actual release date is September 30th.
What type of collectibility are we looking at? Something like ole Mage Knight with high levels of variety or something simple like WoTC?
In some ways, as a miniature collector first, the size baffles me. 25mm, while not 'dead', is not the standard used by most companies which are going larger, 28-32. Not a huge problem with the monsters in most cases but...
Well, I guess I'm having a 'flashback' to Dreamblade where WotC essentially spit in the face of the D&D players who might have wanted to use the miniatures with their D&D games by making the figures somewhat incompatible in scale and massively incompatible with the bases which required too much work from the typical buyer.
Not saying that this game will suffer that effect but if one of the periphial miniature buyers you're looking for is the casual gamer, I'm not seeing 25mm as the way to go these days.
Last edited by JoeGKushner; 16th July 2009 at 10:41 PM..
We are now getting ready for GenCon, where we will debut the finished product and have a limited quantity for sale. The actual release date is September 30th.
In some ways, as a miniature collector first, the size baffles me. 25mm, while not 'dead', is not the standard used by most companies which are going larger, 28-32. Not a huge problem with the monsters in most cases but...
Well, I guess I'm having a 'flashback' to MageKnight where WotC essentially spit in the face of the D&D players who might have wanted to use the miniatures with their D&D games by making the figures somewhat incompatible in scale and massively incompatible with the bases which required too much work from the typical buyer.
I think you meant "WizKids", not WotC, as WizKids made Mage Knight.
Question: weren't Mage Knight (and HeroClix) larger scale, something in the 28-32mm scale you mentioned as being the standard? In other words, I think MK was in the scale you're suggesting in one paragraph, but then you bash them for that in the next.
WizKids' bases were indeed too large to fit in a 1" square, however, which does make them tougher to use with such a grid.
I think more of a problem with using MK figures for D&D is that MK figs didn't really match the look of D&D characters, races, or monsters, in many cases (based on the MK figures I have, anyways). There are a few that fit, but MK figures seem more . . . baroque to me.
Edit: BTW, I look forward to checking out Arcane Legions when it gets to FLGS. (No Gen Con for me this year.)
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Last edited by coyote6; 16th July 2009 at 06:28 PM..
I meant Dreamblade from WoTC, which is a 28+ size fig on essentially large sized bases. The. Size of the figs id good but the bases make them near useless fpor casual buyers.
What type of collectibility are we looking at? Something like ole Mage Knight with high levels of variety or something simple like WoTC?
In some ways, as a miniature collector first, the size baffles me. 25mm, while not 'dead', is not the standard used by most companies which are going larger, 28-32. Not a huge problem with the monsters in most cases but...
Well, I guess I'm having a 'flashback' to Dreamblade where WotC essentially spit in the face of the D&D players who might have wanted to use the miniatures with their D&D games by making the figures somewhat incompatible in scale and massively incompatible with the bases which required too much work from the typical buyer.
Not saying that this game will suffer that effect but if one of the periphial miniature buyers you're looking for is the casual gamer, I'm not seeing 25mm as the way to go these days.
Hi Joe,
Going with 25mm figures is one of the mechanisms by which we are able to reduce the cost to the consumer. If we were at 35mm there would either be fewer minis or a much higher price point.
25mm also makes a mass action game more manageable. Smaller figures means more models on a standard table – if we were at 35mm, the unit trays would have to be almost half again as big just to account for the figure size, and an army of 100 figures would be very difficult to fit on a table.
With regards to the games "compatability" with other systems: We designed Arcane Legions to be a game first and foremost - not a hobby. We are not looking to convert existing miniature players. We are looking to increase the miniature player base by producing a product and play experience that is more suitable to the masses addressing costs, ease of play, and time commitments. Although some miniature players will play simply because it’s miniatures, the bulk of our player base is anticipated to be casual, all around, hobby gamers. Arcane Legions is a great playing game. It’s easy to learn but has all the depth of strategy required by the most sophisticated gamers.
There are a lot of answered questions on our Facebook page as well if you care to check that out : Arcane Legions | Facebook
I hope this addresses some of your concerns.
If anyone is interested, we are looking for volunteers to help run demo games at GenCon. You could get yourself a free admission badge and some product for helping out. E-mail me at mark@wells-expeditions.com for more info.
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