Twisted is an immersive new tabletop skirmish game for 2 or more players, with a world-class range of 32mm miniatures representing your characters.
Set in an uniquely interesting steampunk universe, Twisted’s absorbing gameplay and linked story-driven missions create a real emotional connection between you and your characters on the tabletop. Every character has an original backstory and distinctive role within the Twisted universe: guiding them through our richly-developed environments and exciting encounters will have you on the edge of your seat and wanting more!
But beware the power of the Engine! The ever-present influence of the mysterious steampunk Engine pervades the world of Twisted. What makes playing Twisted excitingly unique is that the Engine itself brings a new and intriguing element to every encounter: the Eye of the Engine card deck and the unique ‘Favour of the Engine’ game mechanic give the Engine an active role in the actual gameplay.
Maintain the favour of the Engine to enjoy rich rewards, or tempt fate and risk it all!
The Engine is the hidden source of steampunk power permeating the world Twisted. But it is more than just a god-like machine: it has a selfish consciousness seeking to transform the world according to its own designs, and a jealous ego unwilling to share this power!
Rumours of the Engine’s influence are spreading throughout the world of Twisted, and competing factions have emerged seeking to discover the secret access points to the Engine’s power: the Nodes.
The first faction to stumble upon one of these Nodes is the Dickensians: their discovery of an Engine Node hidden deep beneath the darkest sewers of London triggers an explosion of raw steampunk power as the Engine – sensing danger – fights back by summoning the Servants of the Engine!
Twisted's beautiful miniatures are all individual works of art, designed by us and sculpted by hand, before being reproduced for sale using the finest possible hard resin or pewter metal. Quality is of prime importance to Twisted, and our casting process captures the detail of the sculpted figures almost perfectly. You'll really see the difference in Twisted's world-class miniatures!
Our resin miniatures are absolute premium quality, but thanks to the skill of our metal caster Eureka Miniatures, the metal production miniature are so good that they're almost indistinguishable from resin!
You can see below a comparison image of one of our production metal cast miniatures next to one of our limited edition resin pieces. Every detail is captured almost perfectly – there is only the smallest of differences.
We’re thrilled to have partnered with CNC workshop to create some absolutely fantastic Twisted themed terrain! This incredibly detailed and beautiful MDF terrain is available through pledge level LAUNCELOT and above, or as optional Add-ons that can be added to your pledge!
The back alleyways, serpentine passages and hidden chambers of the Twisted world are an important part of the interactive feel of the game. Characters can climb, jump (and even fall!) so inventive, creative terrain adds to the narrative flavour of a game.
See the Add-ons section below for more details of this fantastic and characterful terrain!
We - Peter and Sebastian - have been working hard to develop Twisted for over two years, and now we need you to pledge your support to help us launch our exciting ruleset and world-class miniature range!
Your pledge will go towards:
Finishing the production moulds for the metal miniatures
Sculpting the remaining Characters for the Dickensians and Servants of the Engine
Finalising the artwork for the Twisted Rulebook
Funding a print run for the Twisted Rulebook (a major cost!)
If we are able to reach and exceed our funding goal with your support, we are ready to use any extra funding to:
Upgrade the Twisted Rulebook with extra missions and cards
Continue concept design and sculpting work for the next two factions: the Egyptians and Atlanteans
Sculpt additional Characters for the Dickensians and Servants of the Engine
Develop extra terrain for your games
Expand the Twisted universe with more stories, missions, artwork and in many other ways!
Automatically Appended Next Post: UPDATE #7
Scale of Twisted Miniatures
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Hi all!
There have been some questions asked regarding the size of Twisted Miniatures.
Here is a scale shot showing Launcelot (a tall fellow) and Dodger (a short, but nimble chap!) against a couple of reference minis from popular ranges.
You'll have to excuse the base on the Marine - I painted that MANY years ago when basing wasn't really a 'thing'. The Ariadna Girl is WIP on my painting bench so her base is currently underway (that's just her handling base she's on).
If you have a particular range you want to match our Miniatures to please let us know and we'll arrange something for you if we can!
The detail is incredible, but maybe some of the minis are a little... busy?
The space marine in your size comparison looks great so I know the painter is good but (assuming the same painter did all the models) the Twisted minis aren't near as eye catching. My eye glazes over them because it's not sure where it's supposed to be drawn to. Take, for example, Launcelot. His "face" kind of blends into the rest of his head and the rest of his coat/gear is all industrial colors so I'm just kind of stuck staring at his purple doublet. The Dodger has a similar issue but for a different reason. The unicycle is cool and dynamic so it draws my eye, but the gun and head are pointed one direction while the other arm is thrown out in the opposite direction and appears to be pointing rather than for balance. Combined with the model's off-center center of mass/gravity and I'm just not sure what I should be looking at to give it that "pop" that the other two minis in the comparison have.
I by no means think they are bad. Like I said, the level of detail is amazing. But maybe a different way to give that cluttered steampunk atmosphere is in order? Something that doesn't muddle a beautiful mini and a great paintjob?
Hi guys, Sebastian here from Twisted - I was just about to start a new 'official' thread for our Kickstarter but you've beaten me to it!
Good idea for us to stop hijacking Craig's CNC thread
Thanks for the comments so far - glad you're liking the look of the Kickstarter! It was absolutely incredible to fund so quickly, we are blown away by the speed of the support so far and really thrilled and excited! It's going to let us add a LOT more cool stuff to Twisted, now
Twisted is an immersive new tabletop skirmish game for 2 or more players, with a world-class range of 32mm miniatures representing your characters.
Set in an uniquely interesting steampunk universe, Twisted’s absorbing gameplay and linked story-driven missions create a real emotional connection between you and your characters on the tabletop.
But beware the power of the Engine! The ever-present influence of the mysterious steampunk Engine pervades the world of Twisted.
I thought I might spam this topic with some more pics, if that's cool. If you've got any questions of comments I'm happy to answer them!
This is a thumbnail of our 'mega mini pic' - it shows all the core miniatures from our Kickstarter, from the Dickensians and Servants of the Engine factions (although now there are a bunch of extra new ones that have already been added through Stretch Goals!!)
About 1/3 of these minis have been seen before, and the others are brand new for the Kickstarter (though some of you might recognise a few of the new figures from Cancon!)
Click this small image for the UBER sized version:
Then if you've seen our Kickstarter page recently, you'll know that we've also unlocked 7 Stretch Goals already, including some great new miniatures. And if we can continue driving through the Stretch Goals, then there are plenty more where they came from! :
Pretty sure a lot of you have already seen Craig's (Mousemuffins) INCREDIBLE terrain pieces he designed especially for Twisted - they are so fantastic, Craig is a genius with MDF!
HUGE thanks again to any of you who've already back Twisted!
Love the miniatures and terrain, but unfortunately I'm just not after another game right now. Wish you guys luck with this though, it looks like a cracking game.
Thanks for the comments - no worries Liki, no pressure to pledge! You can just look
Alpharius, great to know you're liking the look of the terrain! We are really pleased with what Mousemuffins has designed for us
On shipping, here's a copy and paste from our FAQ:
Shipping is not included in your pledge and will need to be added after the conclusion of the campaign. We will provide you with full instructions at the end, through the pledge manager.
International rewards will be shipped to fulfilment centres in the UK and USA, so there will be no VAT, tax or import charges of any kind to the UK, EU or USA. We’ll handle all that!
We’re still finalising the exact shipping costs but to give you a rough idea here are a couple of preliminary estimates:
● Medium sized pledge (LAUNCELOT level): AUD$28 (equivalent to USD $20 or GBP £14) to ship to the USA or UK.
● Large sized pledge (THE ENGINE): AUD$40 (equivalent to USD $28 or GBP £19) to ship to the USA or UK.
● Extra large sized pledge (THE ENGINE + lots of Add-ons): AUD$50 (equivalent to USD $35 or GBP £25) to ship to the USA or UK.
These estimates might increase if you add a lot of Add-ons to your core pledge. The MDF terrain is quite heavy and is the main thing driving up shipping costs, but we are doing our best to find the most economical and reliable solution possible.
The final shipping cost is subject to change, and will be based on your location and specific rewards.
I am very tempted, however, to go for backer + deluxe terrain pack, as I want the terrain for Malifaux and that looks like plenty to fill a 3'x3'. What sort of discount is that pack over expected retail? Or is it pretty much just bundling it together as an advance order?
Thanks guys! Glad you're interested. As I noted, obviously those are only shipping estimates at this stage and they might vary a little - we won't know the final amount till we see how many pledges we get! But based on the current quotes and calculations I'm hoping those shipping values should be pretty close.
-Loki- wrote: I am very tempted, however, to go for backer + deluxe terrain pack, as I want the terrain for Malifaux and that looks like plenty to fill a 3'x3'. What sort of discount is that pack over expected retail? Or is it pretty much just bundling it together as an advance order?
The miniatures in the Kickstarter have a very healthy discount - somewhere between 12-20% off RRP depending on the combination of pledge. The terrain doesn't have quite so much of a discount because it's a special situation, in that CNC Miniature Scenery are the company technically 'producing' the terrain. This means that we don't have the same sort of margins to play with, and can't quite offer the same sort of discount. However, we are able to make up for that through the shipping! Because we'll be shipping all of our stuff in bulk lots, it means you'll effectively get quite a significant discount on the terrain if bought through the Kickstarter because the shipping cost will be a LOT less than usual! I hope that makes sense - it sounds a bit confusing but I hope you understand what I mean
-Loki- wrote: I am very tempted, however, to go for backer + deluxe terrain pack, as I want the terrain for Malifaux and that looks like plenty to fill a 3'x3'. What sort of discount is that pack over expected retail? Or is it pretty much just bundling it together as an advance order?
The miniatures in the Kickstarter have a very healthy discount - somewhere between 12-20% off RRP depending on the combination of pledge. The terrain doesn't have quite so much of a discount because it's a special situation, in that CNC Miniature Scenery are the company technically 'producing' the terrain. This means that we don't have the same sort of margins to play with, and can't quite offer the same sort of discount. However, we are able to make up for that through the shipping! Because we'll be shipping all of our stuff in bulk lots, it means you'll effectively get quite a significant discount on the terrain if bought through the Kickstarter because the shipping cost will be a LOT less than usual! I hope that makes sense - it sounds a bit confusing but I hope you understand what I mean
Fair enough.
I think I'll keep an eye on this for the exclusive models. I really like the Monkey King. Do you anticipate you'll do more kickstarter exclusive models?
Lots of neat stuff there. Unfortunately, its the usual kickstarter issue - too many miniatures I don't want with any option that gets me the miniatures I do want, and thus too expensive. Although, the savings are considerable compared to their web pages, where figs go for $20 each.
kestral wrote: Although, the savings are considerable compared to their web pages, where figs go for $20 each.
If I'm remembering correctly the minis on their website are some kind of super dooper resin and are mroe collectors peices than the metal ones being funded in the KS, and so may get cheaper after the KS. If someone else knows better feel free to correct me.
kestral wrote: Although, the savings are considerable compared to their web pages, where figs go for $20 each.
If I'm remembering correctly the minis on their website are some kind of super dooper resin and are mroe collectors peices than the metal ones being funded in the KS, and so may get cheaper after the KS. If someone else knows better feel free to correct me.
I believe that's correct. Their existing range is resin but they are offering metal versions (as well as resin) in the KS.
kestral wrote: Although, the savings are considerable compared to their web pages, where figs go for $20 each.
If I'm remembering correctly the minis on their website are some kind of super dooper resin and are mroe collectors peices than the metal ones being funded in the KS, and so may get cheaper after the KS. If someone else knows better feel free to correct me.
They are resin.
The Guild of Harmony metals are equally fantastic, however. I can't imagine you're going to see much difference in detail once the products are in hand.
Yes (almost) all of the Twisted miniatures will be available both in Collectors Edition premium resin, and Gamers Edition metal versions. The resin is a real premium product and has super sharp detail definition, but the metals cast by Eureka here in Australia are almost as good - in fact the difference is so slight that they are almost indistinguishable when undercoated/primed. Check out this comparison pic:
The Kickstarter campaign is going REALLY well thanks to everyone's great support! We've already unlocked the first 8 Stretch Goals, and I thought you might like to see what we're currently gunning for:
Unlocking at $80k are FREE terrain stair step-ups, allowing based miniatures to 'stand' easily and safely on terrain stairs. If we reach the stretch goal, these will be added as a free bonus to any pledge over $100 containing terrain.
If we can make it to $85k, a brand new miniature will unlock! Peter has a brilliant concept for 'Steampunk Vinnie', a tough individual armed with the twin shotguns 'Hatchet and Ritchie'. If we can reach this stretch goal, we'll be able to produce this miniature and it'll be available as part of this Kickstarter campaign!
There is LOADS more cool stuff to come, too, if we can reach a few more goals. If we can cross some major funding thresholds we'll be able to put some super cool stuff into production and offer it as part of the Kickstarter campaign So we'd love your help in spreading the word and helping us expand Twisted!
Just a tip - if anyone wants Nightingale as a gaming peice, go with the metal. The resin is stunning, but the wings will not hold up to gameplay. I usually don't say this, as I treat my models well on the table, but those wings are so fragile. The wing arms are about 1mm thick, and the feathers are less than 0.5mm thick. They're actually semi translucent if you hold them to the light. I broke a feather just getting it off its tab.
I'm definitely in this for gaming, so metal it is.
Of course it helps that the metals look near identical to the superb resins!
Vinnie (add on) is almost unlocked, and there's a nice unlock (add-on) at $90K too:
And - a curse upon the OP for not keeping this thread up to date!
May the Engine's power desert him!!!
The latest update:
Update #12
Feb 19 2016
An in-depth look at the Dragoon and Flower Seller
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Thanks so much for all your wonderful comments and support so far! It’s so exciting to be able to launch Twisted in such a positive way, we’re really thrilled. The more funding we receive in this campaign, the more we’re able to expand the world of Twisted and add to the miniatures and terrain available. That’s the direct, tangible result of your pledges!
We’d like to give you a closer look at two of the brand new characters for Twisted that have been unveiled in this Kickstarter campaign: the Urkin Dragoon, and the Gentlefolk Flower Seller.
The Urkin Dragoon is a special fast attack character for the Dickensians faction, to bring extra speed and flexibility to your faction. The Dragoon miniature is part of the Dickensians Expansion Faction Box, or individually in resin.
This wonderful concept was developed in conjunction with the artist Macs Gallo. We took our inspiration for the design from the real uniforms of mounted Dragoons from the Victorian era – but as an urkin character, we had to put our own Twisted spin on things, of course! So Peter came up with the idea to have the Dragoon riding a child’s hobby horse.
Stéphane Camosseto has done an incredible job with the Dragoon sculpt, and has captured the character perfectly! It’s a really fun concept and the whimsical nature of the character has translated to the miniature very well. Check out all the tiny details: the steampunk horse head, the little decorative swirls on the helmet and sleeves, the long tails on the coat...Stéphane has created a really marvellous addition to the Twisted range of miniatures!
The Gentlefolk Flower Seller brings a softer feminine side to the Servants of the Engine – but of course every rose has its thorn, and the Flower Seller brings some very interesting special abilities to support the Servants faction! She is available in the Servants Expansion Faction Box, or individually in resin.
The beautiful concept art was developed by Owen Aurelio, a very talented artist who has contributed a lot to Twisted over the past two years and deserves special thanks. The Flower Seller has quite an unusual, non-combative pose for a miniature: it’s quite an emotionally appealing pose, we think. The intricate flower-petal inspired costuming was something we were very keen to develop as a motif carried throughout the miniature.
Twisted’s own Sebastian Archer took on the job of sculpting the Gentlefolk Flower Seller miniature! It’s a tricky task trying to achieve the sculpted appearance of the soft flower petals that make up the Flower Seller’s dress – especially at 32mm scale – but Sebastian has captured the spirit of the concept perfectly. Little details on the mechanical arms and the tiny bird feeding from the flower in her outstretched hand make this miniature a really interesting and unique one, and another beautiful addition to Twisted!
Sebastian also painted up a quick version of the Flower Seller which we think shows off the flower petal motif even better!
Mutter wrote: Why do lasercut-card inlays cost TWICE as much as detailed resin bases? O.o And at a Kickstarter (therefor discounted, one assumes)!
The base inserts are made by CNC workshop, not Demented. Can't comment on the price, they do seem a tad pricey for laser cut card, but on the no discount, see earlier about my question about the terrain. CNC workshop are putting the stuff up for the kickstarter at essentially retail price. It's not their kickstarter, afterall. They're just making it available in packages for backers.
I think -Loki- has the right of it - these are 'convenience' add-ons from CNC, so the 'discount', if any, will be smaller and perhaps mostly consist of getting it shipped easier/cheaper?
Anyway, update time!
Update #13
Feb 20 2016
The Engine - The Power Behind Twisted
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The Engine is a mysterious, ancient entity that attempts to control and influence the world of Twisted. Some scholars posit that it has always been; others suggest it is the creation of a civilisation that ruled the world many aeons ago.
One thing is sure, however: the Engine has power to effect great change in the world. It has an intellect both selfish and capricious. Its designs are difficult to discern: at times the Engine can appear to favour those who work against it, only to reveal an overarching plan which sees them fall to ruin at a later date.
Knowledge of the Engine remained lost for millennia, until a musty tome in the Great Library of London was discovered alluding to a hidden power. Scholars raced to uncover a series of linked texts revealing the mysteries of Alchemancy – a kind of steampunk magic that draws on the latent power of the Engine itself to invoke strange and powerful effects.
The latest discovery is the existence of the Engine Nodes: secret access points to the Engine’s power hidden beneath major cities and landmarks throughout the world, used by the Engine to spread its influence. Now competing factions rush to discover and exploit the power of these hidden Nodes!
Feygin and the Dickensians stumbled across one of these Nodes buried deep beneath the sewers of London. Their attempt to abuse the Node caused an explosion of raw Engine power which wrought great and ruinous changes among the Dickensians, their bodies and minds warping into steampunk form. But more importantly, it alerted the Engine to the fact that it has been discovered!
The Engine has now summoned its Servants in an attempt to prevent further intrusion into its secrets. But what it could not foresee is that the influence of the Node has brought the Dickensians great power and influence of their own...
The Engine plays an integral part in the game of Twisted. This is one of the features that makes Twisted unique – a force that neither player has full control over yet it has an influence on how events play out on the tabletop!
In Twisted, the Engine is represented by two different game mechanics: the Favour of the Engine, and the Eye of the Engine/Tempt Fate cards.
These give life to the Engine in Twisted and show it taking an active role in shaping the way things play out in the world it wishes to create.
The Favour of the Engine is useful yet fickle, and can be lost at any moment if not managed carefully. The Eye of the Engine cards are drawn at the start of each turn and can be played to aid in your objectives or confound your foes.
Tempting Fate is risky and can be done at various opportunities during the turn. It can bring you a great boost if the Engine deems so, but if you attract the wrong kind of attention from the Engine it can end poorly!
Favour of the Engine
The Favour of the Engine is held by one Company or another when playing Twisted. It shows which of the competing Companies is currently viewed by the Engine as best suiting its needs. The Company that currently holds the Favour of the Engine gains a number of advantages:
The Engine's Blessing: The player may re-roll any one dice roll during the turn, The results of the second roll must be taken, however. Do not fail the Engine, should you seek to use its Favour!
The Engine's Aid: The player with the Favour of the Engine gets to draw an additional Eye of the Engine card at the start of each turn and choose which of the two cards to keep. An advantage that should not be taken lightly!
The Engine's Intervention: Any situations which result in a tied roll between the players are resolved in the favour of the Company that holds the Favour of the Engine. This can affect Close Combat where an Attack Roll and Defence Roll may be equal, or the Priority rules which decide which Company acts first in a turn.
The Favour of the Engine is unpredictable however, and is liable to change at any moment! There are a number of ways you can fall out of Favour with the Engine...
Failed Re-roll: Should you choose to re-roll a dice and the result is worse than your first roll, or if the re-roll results in you still failing in the task in hand, the Favour of the Engine immediately swaps to your opponent.
Tempting Fate once too often!: If you Tempt Fate and draw a card with a red Engine Eyecon on it (see details below) you immediately lose the Favour of the Engine to your opponent.
The Eye is Elsewhere: Any time this Eye of the Engine card is played by your opponent, they immediately gain the Favour of the Engine and any Eye of the Engine card you may have played is nullified!
The Eye of the Engine card deck
These cards are manifestations of the will of the Engine in games of Twisted.
At the start of each turn 1 card is drawn by each Company and may be played during the turn. The Company which holds the Favour of the Engine may draw 2 cards and choose which to keep.
The Eye of the Engine card shows details about the effect and gives the phase of the turn in which it is played. Some cards are played at the start of the turn before Characters activate, some are played as Characters activate, and a few are played at the end of the turn in the Maintenance Phase. Cards that are played during the Activation Phase normally affect the Character that caused them to be played, unless otherwise noted.
You can see an Eye is Elsewhere card above. This is listed as ‘Special’ next to its phase in that it can be played immediately in response to an opponent's card, or at any time during the turn.
The effects caused by an Eye of The Engine card are also shown and these come into play immediately. They supersede all other rules of Twisted – the will of The Engine is indomitable!
With your help through this Kickstarter this deck has now been upgraded, increasing to 40 cards!
A well played Eye of The Engine card can greatly bolster your chances of success in a mission, or make your opponent's life much more difficult!
Tempting Fate
All Characters in Twisted are somehow closely linked to the Engine. They either serve it directly, or seek its power and have knowledge of its presence. The Engine has great interest in your Character’s deeds and their actions feature prominently in its plans.
Tempting Fate represents the Character attempting to attract the attention of the Engine deliberately – quite a gamble! The Engine, being capricious, inscrutable and oft-times malicious, cannot be guaranteed to favour those who attract its gaze. Sometimes you fit into its plans – and sometimes you don’t! If you’re lucky then the Engine may assist you greatly, but woe betide those for whom it currently has no use.
At the bottom of each Eye of the Engine card is a different effect, listed under the Tempt Fate heading.
A Character may Tempt Fate at any time when they are involved in the turn. For example, you may Tempt Fate during your activation, when you are attacked by an opponent’s Character, or affected by an Alchemantic Invocation - as long as the Character is somehow involved in the turn at that point in the game they may Tempt Fate.
When you want to Tempt Fate, simply draw the top card from the deck of Eye of The Engine cards and its Tempt Fate effects come into play immediately. You should take care when Tempting Fate if you currently hold the Favour of the Engine!
Remember, if you draw a card that has a red Eyecon on it you will immediately lose the Favour of The Engine to your opponent!
Hopefully that gives you an idea of how one of the key mechanics of Twisted works! Stay tuned for more rules examples to come in future updates!
This thread put me in the mood, so I built Nancy and started building Nightingale. I'll leave her wings off until she's painted.
Speaking of painting, I paint Infinity minis and these scare the living gak out of me. Detail doesn't even begin to describe it. Not GW style clutter either, just well thought out, sharp details. Like the etching on Nightingales wings, or the subtle folds and intricate lace patterns in Nancys dress.
Vinnie, a rogue and general street thug has arrived in the world of Twisted!
This hard man works for the highest bidder and will put his guns and penchant for surprisingly efficient violence to work for any who have the coin (or other negotiable goods) to hire his services!
As a mercenary, part of The Guild of Harmony, he may be taken in Twisted by any faction - wielding his pipe to do 'orrible things to those his employer wants to be given "a good seeing to".
As we have had quite a number of requests for Vinnie in resin we have decided to make him a Kickstarter Exclusive model (Resin version only). The Metal one will be a general release later on, but still available early through the Kickstarter!
If you have already pledged add Vinnie in and if you haven't please do so (or we might send Vinnie 'round)
For any of you who have backed us - thanks you so much - it means a great deal to us both!
-Loki- wrote: Can't comment on the price, they do seem a tad pricey for laser cut card, ...
Yeah, but even still, without a KS-discount, it's insanely expensive.
Again - it's not their kickstarter. The terrain is by another company altogether. They're making licensed terrain, but they're (presumably) not getting money from this. They're still a business that wants to remain in business. Giving discounts during a kickstarter is a calculated risk you make knowing costs compared to what you hope to make in backing funds, which CNC aren't getting.
They're simply letting Demented also put their terrain in kickstarter packages, but still need their RRP on the items because that's the only way they're getting their money. The only way CNC could afford discounts is if Demented offered to reimburse through backer funds, which I'm assuming they aren't doing because they're putting all the money back into game and miniature development, which is what the kickstarter is for.
Mutter wrote: Look at what (really elaborate and good-looking) resin bases cost, and compare that to the price of card-inlays.
If I were actually interested in buying base detail made by someone else, I'd happily pay more for something that results in the bases not having a flat bottom that doesn't stand properly on uneven terrain. Resin bases look pretty for display, but are a pain to actually game with.
Mutter wrote: Again - this isn't about it being a KS. Did you read what I wrote?
I'd be flabbergasted by that price in a normal shop, too.
Look at what (really elaborate and good-looking) resin bases cost, and compare that to the price of card-inlays.
Sorry ...
Not defending the price at all, but it really does cost more to produce stuff in Australia. That's why so many Australian companies get their production done overseas.
This wonderful set of miniatures includes the imposing and powerful Avatar of Set along with a couple of brand new Characters for Twisted who's design will remain secret for the moment! It also includes three more Guardians of Set to bolster your Egyptian force!
We have spent a great deal of time reading the comments of our backers, pondering and doing the sums and we have now decided to listen to what you want and make the Egyptian Boxed Sets both official Faction Boxes in terms of the Kickstarter Campaign!
This means you can select them as Faction Boxes for any of the main Pledge Levels along with the Dickensians and the Servants of The Engine!
Please be aware though that as of today only Carter is sculpted so these sets won't ship for an estimated 3 to 6 months after the main pledges go out.
We will work as hard and fast as we can on them and the fantastic support we have had so far will go a long way to speeding things up but quality takes time and there is one thing we will never compromise on at Demented Games and that is quality!
So encourage your friends to join in and we can unlock this fantastic set faster and reveal the really great stuff that is coming behind it! Spread the news!
The Egyptians are coming!
For more information check out the main Kickstarter page!
Twisted kickstarter
Demented Games is knocking it out of the park with this one. Bloody amazing characters and world on offer here, and from what we've heard of the gameplay (more coming soon) it sounds very interesting to play as well.
Demented Games is knocking it out of the park with this one. Bloody amazing characters and world on offer here, and from what we've heard of the gameplay (more coming soon) it sounds very interesting to play as well.
Couldn't agree more!
New update!
Update #16
Feb 22 2016
The Gamekeeper Takes Shape!
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Thanks to your fantastic support we’ve been able to schedule a bunch of new Characters for sculpting!
We thought you might like to see some of the sculpting work currently in progress for Twisted. Production is well underway for the remaining miniatures in the Faction Box sets: Stéphane Camosseto is currently working on the Gentlefolk Gamekeeper, David Ayral (Anakron) is in the process of sculpting the Gentlefolk Teacher, and Sebastian Archer himself has already started work on the Gentlefolk Lancer!
We’ll start with the Gentlefolk Gamekeeper. First, here’s a shot of the final concept artwork developed by Macs Gallo. Peter came up with the original idea for the Gamekeeper and did some initial sketching, and then after 4 or 5 draft stages we came up with this final concept artwork. Another brilliant, fun Character for Twisted!
Now let’s take a look at the sculpting progress on the Gamekeeper miniature, being hand-sculpted by the very talented Stéphane Camosseto.
The first image below shows the early stages of sculpting work for the Gamekeeper: you can see the wire armature Stéphane has created to build around. Then in the image on the right, you can see the early progress as the rough forms of the miniature have been filled out.
This next image shows the Gamekeeper at a more advanced stage in the sculpting process – he is currently around ¾ complete. It’s really starting to take shape: look at the amazing filigree details Stéphane has added to the legs, the sharpness of the face and other details – it’s going to be another amazing miniature when it’s finished!
Next update we will focus more on the rules for Twisted. We'll be starting with an overview of the turn sequence and discussing the Character Activation system! Stay tuned!
Y'know, the game almost had me until I saw the "$1,000 for a 35mm mini paint job" level. It actually really turned me off. Felt ego-tripping enough that I decided I didn't need another steampunk game.
Well, that's still 'only' $851US, and it includes everything at the "Launcelot" level, which is a $135US pledge, so I guess that's, again, 'only' $716US for a mini painted by Sebastian Archer (I'll admit I don't know who he is).
And it is limited to 2 backers - and they're both already taken.
Seems like an odd thing to get upset about, but yeah, different strokes and all that!
Alpharius wrote: for a mini painted by Sebastian Archer (I'll admit I don't know who he is).
Sebastian Archer is one of the co creators of the game and one of the sculptors. He's also a great painter, and I assume the one that paints the studio minis.
SC is right though - $1000au is pretty steep for a single 35mm model.
Alpharius wrote: for a mini painted by Sebastian Archer (I'll admit I don't know who he is).
Sebastian Archer is one of the co creators of the game and one of the sculptors. He's also a great painter, and I assume the one that paints the studio minis.
SC is right though - $1000au is pretty steep for a single 35mm model.
It certainly is, but so are a lot of other expensive things I can't afford!
Alpharius wrote: for a mini painted by Sebastian Archer (I'll admit I don't know who he is).
Sebastian Archer is one of the co creators of the game and one of the sculptors. He's also a great painter, and I assume the one that paints the studio minis.
SC is right though - $1000au is pretty steep for a single 35mm model.
It certainly is, but so are a lot of other expensive things I can't afford!
I'm certainly not begrudging them having the option there. If someone wants to pay a grand to have a model professionally painted, go nuts. Just saying that looking at the market rate for an infantry sized model painted to a commision painters top quality, the price is absurd. But people have found worth int it since two people have taken it, so more power to them.
-Loki- wrote: looking at the market rate[...] the price is absurd. But people have found worth int it since two people have taken it, so more power to them.
My old home town's gotten known for $5 toast, and in new york there's a trend of $10-ish for a cup of soup broth... separating idiots from their money just frustrates me, not because of the idiots losing their money, but those taking it exploiting their idiocy...
To be fair I wasn't looking at people who have won global painting competitions like Golden Daemon for commission prices, so if those guys charge up there, then pay me no mind.
Sounds a lot like Malifaux, just swapping drawing a hand for drawing Engine cards and deciding the entire lists activation order in advance but unknown to the other player.
-Loki- wrote: Sounds a lot like Malifaux, just swapping drawing a hand for drawing Engine cards and deciding the entire lists activation order in advance but unknown to the other player.
More like Wolsung, given Wolsung uses dice with card 'boosts'.
I like the idea of the set activation. Adds an extra layer of anticipation to tactical decisions.
I was talking about the phase set up only. Granted, the activation order system sounds pretty unique - the idea that your opponent can get multiple activations in a row if they time their kills right could really swing a game.
-Loki- wrote: looking at the market rate[...] the price is absurd. But people have found worth int it since two people have taken it, so more power to them.
My old home town's gotten known for $5 toast, and in new york there's a trend of $10-ish for a cup of soup broth... separating idiots from their money just frustrates me, not because of the idiots losing their money, but those taking it exploiting their idiocy...
i'm not seeing the issue as you present it here...
are you saying that one of the best painters in the world is exploiting someone by being paid for their hard work, and hard-earned skills???
it also seems like your comment about "market rate" means that every painter, regardless of their skill and reputation should all be paid the same as the Average Joe who charges $5 a model...
there is a huge difference between one of Automaton's paint jobs, and the average tabletop quality mini you see at the local shop...
this really isn't the same as $5 toast...
not only does it take a lot of time and effort to develop painting skills, but it also takes a unique imagination to stand out from the crowd...
saying the price is absurd, in your opinion is fair enough, but acting like this is exploitation is a bit much...
should all artists have to take day jobs to survive, because art should be cheap???
back on topic: these minis are amazing!!!
Seb has really developed into one hell of a sculptor, and the addition of the Egyptian theme is really new and fresh in the Steampunk genre...
only Smart Max has done it before, and getting some of ther OOP sculpts will cost you an arm and a leg...
nice to see the theme alive and well in 28mm scale...
jah-joshua wrote: should all artists have to take day jobs to survive, because art should be cheap???
I'm about the last person you'd hear that from, I just find those prices completely unreasonable.
like i said, i find that statement completely reasonable...
it's the idea that a person charging about $700usd to paint a miniature to a world-class level is equal to exploiting people that i find disturbing...
also, the idea that there should me a "market rate" for miniature painting, when people's skill level is all over the map in this market, begs the question, what is the point of developing the skills to be considered one of the world's best painters if you cannot be paid more money for your effort???
point being, there is a very visible difference between a stunning paint job, and an average paint job, so it's not like someone is going to be taken advantage of or exploited...
i'm just sorry to hear that a top-painter charging top-dollar for his time and effort strikes you as arrogant, and has put you off...
Seb is a really good grass-roots guy, who has done a lot for the painting community over the years, and has been making the hard slog of learning to sculpt and developing a miniature company with great, unique sculpts...
he has gone from one single mini five years ago, to an entire setting and game...
his hard work should be rewarded, and his company should be supported, in my humble opinion...
It's also rather churlish to call anyone willing to pay those prices an "idiot". People can spend their money on whatever they like. Just because you may not see it as worthwhile doesn't mean that someone else cannot find value in it.
Imma copy a post from the Twisted guys from Wargamerau here. Got some interesting info in it:
"Initially the main book was to just feature the Dickensians and The Servants of The Engine. Given the astounding success of the Kickstarter we may well include the Egyptians in the Main Book. That does still need some thought as our initial plan was to release a second book later with them and the next Faction.
In any event the Miniatures come with cards that give you all the rules you need so we don't actually have to publish an "army book" as such although it would be better so you guys can have all the backstories, art and whatnot."
Feb 24 2016
Twisted Terrain - A closer look at The Old Corner Shop!
At Demented Games we realised early on in development that interesting Terrain would help enhance the gameplay of Twisted a great deal.
We set out to find just the right people to help us an we were lucky enough to be able to partner with the awesome guys at CNC Workshop to produce some absolutely stunning laser cut MDF buildings that will really make your Twisted table stand out!
In this update we'll take a closer look at the structure we call “The Old Corner Shop”. Please bear in mind this is a painted example of the first test cut we did so some improvements to certain areas have been made since this version!
The Old Corner Shop shown in these images also uses the optional add on Roof Tiles. See our Add-ons section of the main page for more details.
Front View
Here you can see a pretty much dead on front shot of the Shop. Gretel and the Urkin are having some kind of disagreement (apparently about Cake) whilst those inside keep an eye on proceedings from above!
The wee Steampunk camera is a simply stunning use of laser cut card and shows of the kind of cunning devil that Craig from CNC workshop is – such detail and finesse from a flat sheet of card! The Old Corner Shop is quite a large building – something you may not have picked up well from the renders we have shown previously and it is brimming with Art Nouveau style sweeping shapes and obscure steampunk devices (what DOES that machine on the wall do exactly!).
The Alley Balcony
You can see as we turn the building that a small balcony is attached by a doorway in the side of the Shop. This will comfortably hold a miniature, even a couple of them! This structure need not be glued in place – it will stay put on its own and this is useful as The Old Corner Shop has been designed in such as way that more than one of them can be butted up to form a larger building or the archway can be popped between two of them.
The door's height also matches that of the Walkways we have designed! We are aiming to keep some consistency in the dimensions of our terrain so Walkways always meet doors and buildings will fit together in a cohesive table where stuff just works!
You will also note that the Urkin has made a rather risky climb and now perches high up on a ledge, awaiting the opportunity to dive down and do 'orrible things to a passer by! Although The Old Cake Shop doesn't have a useable interior it has plenty of levels and perches for your Characters to get around on, fight from and, if you are unlucky, fall off!
The "Other" Side
This is the plainer side of the building. There are some really cool little details here but this side is fairly simple. We hope to be able to offer you some sheets of Steampunk and Twisted style details that you can use to personalise this kind of flat area should you wish. Some posters or other details would also make this wall come to life! Craig's excellent weathered paint effect does a cracking job though and we think it looks just fine as it is!
Here's a view that shows the roof. You can have your Characters clamber up there and fire down on their foes! The chimney isn't locked into any particular position so you can move it about, change it for a different one or even leave it off if you fancy!
That's it for now. More pics and details to come soon!
For more information on the other awesome creations of CNC Workshop check out their website: https://www.miniaturescenery.com/index.asp you can also find them on Facebook!
I was drawn into this campaign by the miniatures, but the terrain helped 'seal the deal' for me too.
And once I learned a bit more about the rules - well that was just the cherry on top!
Update #19
Feb 25 2016
Concept Development - The Guardians of Set
With the Egyptian Expansion getting close to unlocking we thought you might appreciate a bit more of a detailed look at the work that went into the development of the foot soldiers of the Faction – the Guardians of Set.
The first stage in the development of a Character in Twisted starts with an idea of what we want to achieve. I the case of the Guardians of Set we wanted basic troops to fill a Company that kept the character and feel of Ancient Egypt yet could be rooted in our alternate 19th Century world.
We settled on the idea of Bedouin workers from Carter's archaeological dig, twisted by the influence of the uncovered node of The Engine. These workers now worship the Avatar of Set and have taken to wearing masks that indicate their fealty to this dark and dangerous being.
Once we have the idea down Peter does a quick sketch (or a series of them) so we have a visual guide and can better define what we want to the concept artist. This makes the process much smoother as the artist already has a starting point from which to work.
We also source reference pics – these are usually fairly general but each one will contain elements we like and wish to see translated into the Characters. On top of that we will provide a written brief that gives the artist an idea of how the miniatures are intended to play in the game and some key points we want to see in the drawings.
From this point we await the first pass of sketches. In this case we decided to focus on the heads initially as the Set like masks would really define the character of these miniatures.
The talented Nicolas Amoroso was given the job to design the Guardians of Set and his first sketch, whilst really cool, had strayed a little into the monstrous! We had initially told him that some Guardians would be humans in masks and some would have been warped into Set like beasts so although he had followed our instructions he'd gone just a whisker too far.
Although this direction was a bit off it was very useful in that it defined to us that masks were a better way to proceed. We redirected Nicolas and his next sketch was perfect! Just what we wanted!
Having absolutely nailed the heads Nicolas proceeded to explore some variations in weaponry and pose. Here's an example of one of the sheets of sketches we were sent.
The feel of the Guardians is really starting to take shape here! We are starting to get the poses down and you can really begin to see what the miniatures might look like. There is already the mix of static and very dynamic poses that we went with in the end. We felt mixing the two really gave the group as a whole lots of character and it allowed us to explore some interesting design options.
The Bows didn't make it past this stage. We'd firmed up how we wanted the Guardians to run in a game of Twisted and we had decided to use two base profiles for them, one more Close Combat oriented and one focusing on Ranged Combat. It's a similar pattern to the Urkin but each kind of Guardian is a better all-rounder than the small demented lads!
From these base sketches we selected 6 for development further and they then go through several stages that better define the exact look we want, each sketch building on the last.
Here are two of the final concepts for the Guardians of Set. You will note that one includes the Hound of Set – an awesome little add-on that Nicolas came up with that has now become its very own miniature! This is an example of the concept artist being creative and coming up with absolutely brilliant ideas that we can then run with.
That's it for this update. More to come as the campaign progresses!
We hope this short update gave you a better idea on how we go about developing Characters and Concepts for Twisted! It is an absolute pleasure to be showing these off to everyone and, with your fantastic support, we can go on producing many more lovely miniatures for you!
I'm really liking the Egyptians so far - pretty much a guaranteed pick up for me.
I wonder if they're doing 'split shipping' here? Waves?
Because they've mentioned that the Egyptians will be 'later', so I wonder if you order them, will your whole pledge be delayed until they're ready?
Update #20
Feb 25 2016
Twisted in Figure Painter Magazine!
The excellent folk at Figure Painter Magazine have done a company profile on Demented Games in Issue 34!
It includes a brand new sneak peek at the WIP sculpt of Set! - never before seen (apart from by us of course)!
We love Figure Painter Magazine - it is a fantastic resource for painters, gamers and hobbyists alike!
Grab all the back issues if you haven't seen them - it's absolutely the best value you will find!
Looks good!
I also know that my work will never be featured in Figure Painter Magazine, and I haven't seen an issue of Figure Hoarder Magazine on the racks in a while...
Update #21
Feb 26 2016
Friday night news!
Hello to all our wonderful backers!
I know I've said this lots but thank you so much for your support! Sebastian and I and really proud and humbled that you all like our project enough to invest your hard earned money into it!
Today has been a very cool day on the Twisted front with brand new concept art coming in from Owen Aurelio! Owen is working on one of the two "hidden" Characters for the Egyptian Expansion and I will be able to tell (and show) you lots more about that tomorrow!. This new art is being developed as a direct result of your support so, in as much as this is our project, it is now officially yours as well!
He is also working on art for our next Stretch Goal so that is something to look forward to as well!
I have a big weekend! Updates to write, video shoots for Dungeon Fodder and demo games at Gatekeeper Games here in Melbourne on Sunday (from 5pm to whenever we finish!)
If any of our Melbourne backers want to call by and say hi I'd be more than happy to shake your hand and run you through a game of Twisted!
Having got past all that I thought you might like to see the very first piece of art that was done for Twisted!
This was done the day after our initial meeting when we decided that the creation of Twisted was to be our goal. I flew home from Sydney, bought a brand new sketch pad and got to work!
This sketch is the very first iteration of Feygin. You can see that although he went through some changes, in essence, the miniature we ended up creating was very much in keeping with the first drawing that was ever done for Twisted!
This sketch, and many more like it, will feature in the electronic art book that comes in the Pledges of Launcelot level and above! We have created lots of really brilliant stuff (if we do say so ourselves) and we can't wait to show you just how much effort and work has gone into getting Twisted into the fantastic position we are in now!
Again - thank you all so much!
You have made it all worthwhile!
Cheers
Peter
Early art - cool! And shows how far they've come since then!
Update #22
Feb 26 2016
Character Design Focus - Indie
As the Egyptian Expansion is so close we have started work on the concept art for the two missing Characters from that set. Your incredible support is allowing all of this new work to happen!
This material is literally only days old! The newest sketches are shown here hours after that have been submitted for our review! We will keep posting updates on Indie as the concept art develops – you will be able to track along with us and see a Twisted Character come to life!
First up we have begun to develop Indie into her final form with the help of our most excellent artist Owen Aurelio. She's a rough and tumble Character, full of energy with a quick wit and a certain rugged charm, yet more than able to take care of herself should push come to shove!
First up here is my initial sketch. This is what the silhouette in the Stretch Goal is based on. This was only a very quick drawing so please excuse the slightly funky anatomy!
As we closed on the Stretch Goal I briefed Owen quickly on what we wanted. Owen has been working on Twisted now for over 2 years so he knows what we like and it was a really loose brief! His first sketches show the pose that the miniature is likely to end up in. None of this is final yet – the pose might evolve but this is the starting point and we are pretty happy with it.
From here we being to develop the details. You can see how Owen has taken the rough draft and pushed the Egyptian feel to be closer to the rest of the range. He has changed her coat slightly to be more like the character that inspired her. You can also see a canopic jar illustrated that will hand at her waist (along with the iconic satchel which has yet to be added).
There is a reason most of the Characters in our Egyptian Range carry canopic jars! The Engine node that Carter discovered was considered sacred by the ancient Egyptians and they placed hundreds of mummies and canopic jars around to to be blessed by its power in the afterlife.
The canopic jars and mummies became infused with the power of The Engine and have developed a kind of sentience and a close link to The Engine. They now have the ability to bond with a host, melding the personality of that host with that of the ancient Egyptian the jar represents. The eternal life they were promised has become a reality!
I hope you enjoyed this update. As Owen submits more art I'll keep showing it off. This way you can see exactly the process we go through to bring you the fantastic Twisted range of miniatures.
I had to drop all my backed projects due to some unforseen expenses. I'm most sad about having to let this one go. It's such an amazing setting with beautiful miniatures and scenery. I hope the lads do really well with it!
After reading the combat example, I'm liking this one EVEN more!
Update #23
Feb 27 2016
Rules Update - Combat in Twisted!
The Urkin peered over the railing of the staircase. Below him, in the dank square, stood the armoured form of Launcelot. He motioned to his companion who slipped through the railings and dropped to the wet cobblestones below.
Both lads knew this would be a challenge that could result in a short and bloody end for them but if they could manage to take down the knight then wouldn’t Bill be pleased!
Quietly they prepared their weapons, such as they were, and positioned themselves to attack!
This update is designed to show you some of the combat mechanics of Twisted and give you a much better idea of how the game plays. We’ll cover movement to some extent, Ranged Combat and Close Combat. You will also see how the Eye of The Engine cards interact with the Characters during the turn.
We start with two Urkin facing off against Launcelot. This is a most uneven fight with the Urkin being 25 points in total against Launcelot’s 49 points. If they can manage to beat him (and in Twisted it is always a possibility) it would be a marvellous effort indeed!
The skirmish starts with the Urkin holding Priority and the Favour of The Engine (see the previous updates). The Favour of The Engine allows them to draw two Eye of The Engine cards and choose which to keep. They draw Leaden Feet which would slow Launcelot down and Might of The Engine that makes one of them stronger. They decide to keep Might of The Engine as the range at which the fight is occurring means that slowing Launcelot down won’t help too much and they are really keen to kill him if they can!
Launcelot draws It’s not your time which can heal him. As he doesn’t have Favour of The Engine he only gets to draw the one card. Luckily for him it may prove handy!
The Urkin sort their Activation Cards (see previous update - The Turn Structure of Twisted), deciding that the Shooter should go first. Launcelot is likely to want to get into Close Combat as quickly as he can and firing into Close Combat is tricky so the Shooter wants to get his shots in first!
The Urkin loads a round into his ramshackle gun and takes aim. He has two Actions and has decided to use both of them in shooting at the heavily armoured knight.
Combat in Twisted is resolved by an Opposed Roll between the foes. Each rolls a 20 sided dice and adds the relevant Attack and Defence modifiers (see the "A Look at a Character Card from Twisted" Update). The highest number is successful - remember in the case of a tie the player with the Favour of The Engine will be considered the winner!
The Urkin’s first shot is shown below:
Taken by surprise Launcelot fails to dodge quickly enough and the shot hits home but is deflected by the his heavy armour. In a panic, and wondering if his gun is powerful enough, the Urkin quickly loads again and fires once more...
This time the shot misses, whether Launcelot was fast enough to avoid the whizzing bullet or whether, in his panic the Urkin simply missed is unknown!
Launcelot now Activates and Charges the Urkin Slasher in front of him He will deal with the somewhat annoying attentions of the Shooter later. He moves into contact and brings his long, lethal blade to bear...
Charging, which is a double move Action, gives Launcelot +1 to hit and damage for this round of Close Combat but causes his Defence to be at -1 until the Maintenance Phase of the turn. A Charge move must be a straight line - you can't run (which is a normal pair of move actions that can include corners) and engage in Close Combat.
Knowing that his chances are slim the Urkin decides to Tempt Fate and is lucky enough to draw “Body of Iron”. This increases his armour by +3 for this round of Combat and will certainly help him survive! Additionally this card has a green Eyecon on it so the Urkin keep the Favour of The Engine for the moment.
The Urkin tried, as best he could, to defend himself but the skill of the knight proved too great and the blade bit deeply, even with the aid of The Engine the Urkin very nearly ends up in the Wounded state.
When a Character is Twisted reaches the wounds marked in red on their card they become Wounded and all their statistics, with the exception of Armour, drop by 2 until they are either healed or taken out of action.
Causing at least 1 wound to a foe also gains Launcelot 1 priority counter which will go towards determining who will act first next turn.
In addition Launcelot’s sword is extremely sharp and can cause Characters he wounds to begin to Bleed. This means that they lose 2 more wounds in the Maintenance Phase of each turn. The check to avoid this is a Finesse Check at 10 plus the damage dealt.
The Urkin Rolls a 15 plus his Finesse of 3 for a total of 18, passes the check and is alright although quite seriously bloodied.
Having survived the Urkin then has his options limited. He can either stay and fight or try and Disengage. He decides to stay and try to hurt Launcelot, bringing his heavy axe down hard!
The Eye of The Engine card - The Engine's Might is played on the Slasher as he Activates. This increases his Strength by 3 for the remainder of the turn!
Remarkably he lands a blow and manages to find a weak spot in Launcelot’s steel coat, wounding the knight! This gives him 1 Priority counter too and ends the Activation Phase.
Launcelot still holds the "It's Not Your Time" Eye of The Engine card but as that card can only be played when you Activate he is unable to heal himself.
In the Maintenance Phase both Companies add up their Priority Counters to see who will have Priority the next turn. In this case each Company has 1 counter, as this is a draw it is resolved in the favour of the Urkin who hold the Favour of The Engine.
All Eye of The Engine Cards return to the deck and a new turn begins with drawing fresh ones!
The Urkin again draw two as they still hold the Favour of The Engine. This time they keep Deadly Destiny which turns all hits for one Activating Character into Critical Hits! Fantastic against the heavily armoured knight.
Launcelot draws The Eye is Elsewhere - a very handy card indeed as it cancels your opponent's Eye of The Engine card and changes the Favour of The Engine to you!
A Critical hit is normally a roll of 20 on the 20 sided dice when attacking. Your opponent cannot Defend against the hit and their Armour is halved against the damage done. In Close Combat these hits also have the possibility to stun your foe!
Again the Shooter Activates first. The Slasher is stuck in Close Combat so the Shooter needs to go first so he can engage before Launcelot kills the Slasher! He Could shoot into combat but it’s at -4 if he wants to avoid any chance of hitting his ally!
As he Activates the Deadly Destiny card is played on him. Launcelot’s player immediately counters by playing The Eye is Elsewhere. The cancels out Deadly Destiny and switches the Favour of The Engine to Launcelot!
He moves down the stairs and attacks Launcelot from the rear! Having done this Launcelot is now Outnumbered as there are more Urkin in the fight than he has allies. He is also Flanked as the Urkin are directly opposite one another. In addition the Shooter gains an extra +1 to hit for this round of Combat only for attacking from the back!
The Shooter tries his best but at the last moment loses his grip on his knife and the blade slides off the knight’s back!
The two rolls ended up a draw - as Launcelot has just received the Favour of The Engine the draw is resolved in as a win for him so the Urkin misses!
Taking a firm grip on his blade and ignoring the Urkin Shooter again, Launcelot attacks the bloodied Slasher.
The Urkin throws up a feeble defence and the knight’s razor sharp blade sends the foul creature slumping to the cobblestones with a groan. This gains Launcelot 3 Priority Counters for taking a foe out of action!
Launcelot has a Special Ability called Determined. When he takes an opponent out of action he may immediately make an extra attack against an adjacent foe.
Turning around Launcelot draws back his sword and attacks the Shooter...
It’s a Critical hit and the Shooter is despatched in one quick (and rather messy) strike! The battle is over with Launcelot a touch battered but now in possession of an impressive 6 Priority Counters!
He’d be in a great position to go first next turn if any foes still survived!
Launcelot sheathed his sword and regarded the small corpses arrayed at his feet. As his mind cleared from the influence of The Engine he had a pang of regret. These were no more than children. They deserved a better death than this - no he thought - they deserved a better life...
He turned and walked away. More determined than ever to find Bill Psyches and put an end to his particularly foetid form of evil.
I hope this gave you a good idea of how Combat works in Twisted! If you have any questions please feel free to ask them below!
The next rules update will cover Alchemancy - the magic system of Twisted!
We have had LOTS of you fine Backers wanting to ensure you get a copy of the Resin Monkey King. We expected him to be popular but not quite this popular - so a huge thank you!
To help alleviate this problem we have decided, after much deliberation, to remove the limitation of 250 copies and make him purely a Kickstarter Exclusive!
He will be sold in Resin only through the Kickstarter. We will produce to order and then no more resins will be made.
He will be available later as a general release in metal however.
I picked up a set from of the laser cut bases from Craig at CNC Workshop the other day and finally got around to taking a decent photo!
Here they are in all their glory!
Don't they look fantastic painted up! I'm a big fan of the depth he has managed to work into them and they will look fantastic with a mini on top! Look at the way he has cunningly cut the cobblestones so they look uneven and natural - I tell you the man is a genius!
If you haven't checked it out yet I encourage you to do so!
On a separate note I spent this evening out at Gatekeeper Games running Demo games of Twisted! I was blown away by the positive reactions to both the miniatures and the rules and it was fantastic to be able to meet some of our Backers in person!
Here's a quick shot I took of the demo table. You can see #42 Carver Lane, The Old Corner Shop and the two Walkway kits being used alongside the terrain I hand built for Cancon (a local Aussie convention 2 years ago).
The play mat is the normal 3' x 3' area for Twisted but I didn't fill it as I was only running a small, short game to show off the mechanics.
Hope you all have had as good a weekend as I have had!
Cheers
Pete
I do like the bases, even at those prices, and I'll probably pick up a pack or two.
I thought you might like to read one of the backstories we have developed in support of Twisted. These short tales serve to illustrate the personality of our Characters and go towards building a more immersive experience for our players and collectors!
Read on and experience the rich world we are creating for you!
“This is...it?”
Bill Psyches glanced at Feygin menacingly, hefting his cudgel with the implicit menace of a painful reproach.
“Yes, Bill my darling, this is the device — the Engine Node, if you will.” The decrepit pickpocket crept back a pace, just beyond Bill’s reach. “The book I pilfered says it ‘as great power. Imagine what we could do with such power, Bill... just imagine it!”
Behind Feygin, Oliver, Dodger and the lads chattered excitedly, keen to explore the uncharted tunnels down which their old teacher had lead them. Beside them Nancy, thoughtful as ever, kept a careful eye on Oliver. The lad was delicate, without the stomach for Feygin’s shady endeavours, let alone the more visceral work in which Bill delighted.
“But ’ow does it work, you old fool?”
Feygin’s small manipulator arms twitched nervously. The mechanical harness had been very handy: the arms were stronger, faster than his own, responding deftly to his slightest thought. He was almost the skilful cutpurse he’d been in his youth. When he’d found the strange harness and the tome he somehow knew his life would never be the same. And now he hoped desperately that he’d read the instructions properly and that the change would be for the better.
“It’s this knob ‘ere, Bill!” Feygin indicated a large filigreed dial surrounded by intricate markings. “I’m sure it’s just a matter of getting a good ‘ead of steam up an’ ‘aving a fiddle.”
“If this don’t work, Feygin, I’ll be givin’ you a bloody good fiddle.” Bill moved closer to the Node, peering suspiciously at its arcane markings. At a nod from Feygin, Dodger moved to the boiler and shut the furnace door. He released the main valve and a steady rising note emanated from the assembly. The room started rattling as pipes and valves began opening and closing. With a hiss and a sputter, a small green light blinked to life on what Feygin took to be the main control panel. The old man approached the machine and, for a chilling moment, had the feeling the contraption was... watching him.
“It’s just a machine,” he told himself, but he couldn’t shake the uneasy sense of silent vigilance. With a hand that shook a little more than the pickpocket was accustomed to, Feygin reached for the dial he hoped was the control. “Gawd — let me be right”, he thought. “Bill will ‘ave me ‘ide if I’m wrong.”
But before he could touch the control his mechanical arms of the harness took on a life of their own, turning dials and pushing buttons faster than Feygin could follow. The chamber filled with an indescribable noise as the Node seemed to grow and fill the room, and yet simultaneously — somehow — remain precisely the size it had started. Feygin staggered back, diving behind a brickwork bastion as rays streamed from hidden portals around the chamber, great slashes of piercing light cutting through the shadows.
Abruptly silence and darkness returned to the room, broken only by a sputtering lantern Dodger had dropped in the chaos. Feygin tentatively emerged from his hiding place, stepping over his fallen lads to recover the lamp. He held it up and surveyed the room, the narrow yellow beam falling on a familiar face — that of young Oliver.
“Yer alive, me boy! Thank ‘eavens!” Feygin exclaimed. But the words died in his mouth as his relief turned to horror. What had once been Oliver — meek, delicate Oliver — reared itself up on two huge arms, roaring an inhuman cry. The mild young boy had been transfigured, transformed, into… Ollyver, a misshapen terror which now stormed towards Feygin with murderous rage!
The old man stumbled backwards, madly scrambling over the wet stone. He noticed, almost idly, that one of his manipulator arms waved a hitherto unknown knife at the thundering Ollyver, almost of its own volition. But Feygin had no time to muse over whence the knife had come, as the berserk monstrosity leaped, smashing aside stone and iron pipework in its fury.
Just as he closed his eyes, expecting a swift, bloody demise, there came a great shout. A monstrous cudgel crashed into Ollyver’s chest, knocking him into the far wall. “’e’s not dying ‘less I kill ‘im!” hissed Bill, his voice lower, even more diabolical, than it had been before. He stalked across the chamber in two great strides of what appeared to be metal, hoofed legs. Bill had been dangerous before: now he looked like an incarnation of the devil himself.
Feygin knew something had gone wrong. Terribly wrong.
All around Feygin the lads were recovering from the blast. But they were different, somehow... twisted. “Nancy,” Feygin thought. “Nancy’ll know what to do.” His old eyes found her form slowly rising from a darkened recess. A metallic tentacle made a chilling sound as it rasped in a gentle, almost loving, caress across a fallen lad’s face...but only cold emanated from the shadows. Feygin’s eyes widened in fear as her sinister new form was revealed by the lantern’s light.
“Nancy....!”
Update #27
Feb 29 2016
Tinker Unlocked!
Tinkerbelle Unlocked
Hi to all our illustrious backers!
Tinker is now officially unlocked. We know we aren't exactly there but we are so close and you guys have all been really patient and supportive so we thought we would just give you all this little freebie a whisker early as a small token of our appreciation!
Now the push to that Egyptian Expansion and beyond! You guys have all been awesome so far - continue to spread the word as much as you can so we can bring you more wonderful stuff from the world of Twisted!
Cheers
- Sebastian and Pete
Really liking The Guild of Harmony stuff a lot too!
This is a really lovely KS, the miniatures and the terrain both being fantastic looking! The rules look pretty cool too. I unfortunately do not want to afford this right now, but I am going to remember it for when I have a better income stream in the future!
Here is today's update and we'll focus on the Twisted Walkways.
These fantastic MDF kits make some extremely characterful walkways to add to your table when playing Twisted! Remember Characters in Twisted can jump, climb and fall so the more levels and interesting areas your table has the more options the game opens up!
You can also leap into Close Combat if you are above a foe! This gives you an added bonus for the first round of fighting but if you fail to land safely you may end up in a very precarious position indeed - lying prone at your opponent's feet!
Here's a shot of the two of the kits together. As you cans see the steps have been designed so a miniature's base can hook between them if the basing is relatively flat. There is around 1-2mm play in the gap.
If you prefer more impressive basing then simply use the stair steppers we have designed to support your miniatures on the appropriate step.
The Walkway
The Walkway is a fairly good size piece at 150mm long and 80mm to the deck of the upper layer. To the top of the sunshade (which doubles as handy cover to ranged attacks from above) it is around 160mm. The deck of the Walkway is 45mm wide so a miniature on a 40mm base will fit comfortably along it.
What we like most about this piece is the way Craig from CNC Workshop has linked it to the other buildings in our range with the intricate Art Nouveau curves combined with the more traditional Steampunk motifs.
The Steps
The Steps are a lovely add-on for the Walkways and really add an extra element of interest to your games. We've already seen some wonderful fights occur in and around these at the demo days we have run recently! They match the dimensions of the Walkway precisely and also can be butted up against our other terrain where Craig has cleverly kept the key dimensions the same so everything matches perfectly!
You can build the steps with the lower flight facing, left, right or straight ahead to add even more variety to your board. Once again the Staircase also features the same unique design as the rest of the buildings in Twisted.
Remember these are available in the Terrain Pack add-ons or as part of Pledge Levels Ollyver, Tesla, Nouveau and The Engine.
To see more of CNC Workshop's excellent products check out their website:
Piston Honda wrote: Have the rules changed a lot from the beta rules a year ago?
That's a good question!
Unfortunately, I only first heard of TWISTED with the launch of this Kickstarter!
Good news is the creators are VERY active in the comments section there - so if you ask, they'll answer!
MORE Updates!
Update #29
Mar 2 2016
Concept Development - The Avatar of Set
Hi all,
As we close in on the Egyptian Expansion we thought you might like to see how the deadly and impressive Avatar of Set was developed.
This update will give you a better idea of the kind of process we go through to develop the Characters and Miniatures that go to making up the world of Twisted!
As per usual we begin with an idea. We wanted Set to be large and imposing – a true beast of a miniature, full of threat and intensity.
Peter first did a quick sketch just for firm up some of our ideas and help guide the concept artists. In the initial version Set is quite metallic and hard edged with a huge sentient canopic jar forming his torso.
After pondering this for a while we decided that the basic direction was good and we passed it on firstly to Owen Aurelio who did a slew of development sketches that helped us to design the Faction as a whole and give us a basis of forms and ideas on which to work.
Included in these first batch of drawings was Owen's idea of the Avatar. It was super cool!
We particularly liked the leg treatment on his right leg and there were some beautiful shapes in the concept. It was around this point, as we began to close on the Kickstarter that we needed to get a move on with the work on the Egyptians so they were very nearly all concepted for the campaign. We still didn't quite make two of them but, as you know Indigo Ford is well underway and nearing completion and Horace is up next!
In light of the pace needed we decided to leave Owen on the side of the Faction that represented Carter and his associates and pass off the Guardians of Set and Set himself to Nicholas Amoroso. This seemed a natural split as the two sides of the Faction would end up with slightly different feels yet be close enough, and share a common ancestry, so they gelled as a group.
Nicholas set to work (see what we did there...) and came back with a sheet of pose ideas. By this stage the Guardians had been designed and it seemed only natural that Set should take cues from them so he looked like the figure they worshiped!
After choosing a pose and a few more development sketches we ended up with this stunning piece of concept art!
The final concept was just what we wanted – full of details and looking really glorious and imposing. The canopic jar from the very first sketch survived, albeit moved to his back, and the melding together of a Steampunk aesthetic with a real ancient Egyptian feel is just fantastic! The reference to the pose you often see Pharaohs in with the crook and flail was Nicholas' idea and we loved it!
Having settled on a concept it was now time to find a suitably talented sculptor to handle one of the cornerstone pieces in the Egyptian range. Valentin Zac, one of the world's finest sculptors, was available and we jumped at the opportunity to get him on the job!
Below you can see two of his work in progress shots and we are sure that you will agree this is going to be a superb addition to the Twisted range!
He has captured the pose beautifully and the musculature on the smaller arms is simply stunning! From the front you can see what a grand piece this will be on the table or simply painted up and placed in your cabinet!
In case you didn't see this in Figure Painter Magazine it was featured in Issue 24 along with a Company Profile on Demented Games that you might find interesting reading!
ONLY $510AUD away from unlocking the Egyptians - that update ought to do the trick!
Update #30
Mar 2 2016
Terrain Housekeeping
Requested Images
Hi all,
We have had a couple of particular images requested recently.
Jean-Paul wanted to see the Ultimate Terrain Pack on a 3' x 3' board. You can see it below. The terrain is probably a little sparse for a really good game. Ideally you should aim to cover about half the available table area in terrain with some different levels if you can. If you add a some bits and pieces of scatter terrain along with some smaller buildings in to this mix you will be able to have a more than satisfying game though!
Of course other configurations of layout are possible using Ultimate Terrain Pack as the two Old Corner Shops and the Archway could be used separately from one another and the steps and walkways could be separated.
Craig at CNC is currently working on some smaller buildings that will be fantastic table fillers and cheaper than either of the current options. I will add images of those when we have them!
Speaking of Craig's work here is the latest creation! It's a set of fencing that can be used to block routes across the table and makes excellent cover for your Characters! Also attached to it you can see one of the WIP signs we are doing. The intention is to do a sheet full of signs and we are tossing up whether to engrave the names on them or offer a downloadable sheet of signs you can print out and glue on yourselves.
Neither of these have been test cut yet so I don't have a definite price on them yet but as soon as I have more info it will be given to you!
Much earlier in the campaign we had a request for a shot of #42 Carver Lane "au natural" - sorry - I can't remember who asked. I dug about my archives and could only find one that was the current version. You'll have to excuse my shady photoshop work (and the mess!)
It actually looks kind of cool without paint I think :-)
Hope that helps!
Cheers
Pete
Automatically Appended Next Post: $100KAUD reached - The Egyptians are in!
With your support both the Egyptian Sets have now unlocked and they are available for selection as the "Faction Box" sets in the main Pledge levels.
These fantastic sets form the basis of the third Faction for Twisted. The Egyptians - an interesting mix of Characters someseeking knowledge and some seeking power!
Please be aware though that there is lots of sculpting work to happen with these sets yet so they, in all likelihood, won't ship with the main Pledges. We will work on them as quickly as we can but if you want to get playing fast you'll need to choose a Dickensians or Servants of The Engine set as they are both just about ready to go into production.
We can't express enough how appreciative we are of your support! This is amazing and, as the name suggests, this has given the world of Twisted a real Kickstart!
We have so many plans for the future of Twisted and you all have assured that these ideas, and many more, will come to fruition. We are amazed and humbled by your generosity and kind backing.
Along with the Egyptian sets becoming Faction Boxes this has also allowed us to release the Egyptians as Resin Add-on minis. These are the highest quality we can produce and are a wonderful canvas for painters and collectors alike.
You can now add these to your Pledges. As we said earlier please bear in mind these will probably form a second wave delivery as much of the sculpting is yet to be done.
Again - thank you for your amazing support!
- Sebastian & Peter
From what we've seen so far, the Egyptians and the Guild of Harmony are fast becoming my two favorite factions!
(Though I'm still quite partial to The Servants. And the Dickensians!)
Mar 3 2016
Character Design Focus - "Indie" Part 2
Hi all,
Here is the second part of the design process on the Egyptian Character Indigo Ford (known to her friends as Indie).
After getting the costume basically finished in the last update - barring a few tinkers here an there Owen moved on to the pistol that Indigo wields. We wanted a simple pistol yet one that looked like it packed a real punch!
Here's what Owen came back with:
a was a bit simple yet it had some really cool details. c was also mighty impressive but perhaps a bit to 'florid' and fancy so it rather clashed with the tough and no-nonsense feel we wanted for Indigo.
In the end we selected b. It has many of the details of a but the heavy underbarrel piece and short scope give it a real impression that this is a gun that will so serious damage should a shot hit home!
Whilst working on the Pistol Owen also tackled Indigo's whip
a was a fantastic idea - right out of left field! The concept of having the whip made of small scarab like shapes was brilliant! The problem we foresaw was managing to successfully translate this intricate design into a 32mm miniature and still have it 'readable'. The linked scarabs might also make the whip weak and prone to breakage in a rough and tumble wargaming environment.
We decided that a simple leather style whip with a nice Egyptian style tip would be the way to go - a simple, workmanlike whip also fitted better with the vision we have for Indigo's personality! She doesn't mess about when things get tough!
Owen also sketched a number of beautiful handles for the whip. All of them are excellent and that decision may end up being made at sculpting when we see how the mini comes together and whether a bit more detail or a bit less detail is needed to make the miniature shine.
Having completed all that was necessary to go on and finish the concept Owen started on the final, posed concept. Here you can see a work in progress sketch.
The final concept will be in full glorious colour and will also feature a leather satchel!
Indigo is shaping up to be a truly excellent addition to the Twisted range and one that Owen should be justly proud of!
She is available in metal as part of the Egyptian Expansion box or as a Resin add-on to your pledge!
The final concept will be shown to you all soon!
We hope you enjoyed looking at Owen's beautiful work.
- Sebastian and Peter
and:
Creator Demented Games about 2 hours ago
@ Peter - The Altanteans probably won't make much an appearance in the kickstarter unfortunately. They are the next faction to be developed but we don't have enough done to to be able to say too much about them at this point.
We want to focus on getting the Egyptians Sculpted and while that is happening we'll start on the concept process for the Atlanteans. Of course we will keep all you good folk in the loop as it happens!
Everyone's amazing support through this Kickstarter will allow work to begin on them much more quickly than they otherwise would have though!
HR puff n stuff is on my "Notepad O' Nifty Backer Ideas" and we will have a think about that post KS!
Do you know what might be the best part of this KS? Not the super dogwood models (of which I already have a few), not the great communication, not the good amount of already prepared material. Nope.
It's the very minor discount on the early birds. No one is complaining about missing out.
drazz wrote: Do you know what might be the best part of this KS? Not the super dogwood models (of which I already have a few), not the great communication, not the good amount of already prepared material. Nope.
It's the very minor discount on the early birds. No one is complaining about missing out.
Most of us never listen to those complainers anyway. Because they're complainers.
I think that even if you up to that amount in the PM you'll qualify for stretches - but worth condemning!
The Update in Question:
Update #33
Mar 4 2016
Next Stretch Goal Up!
Bastion the Crab & Ariel
The Guild of Harmony is bolstered by the addition of Bastion the Crab and Ariel.
Bastion is a Crab full of bad attitude and a penchant for clipping small appendages off people with his newfound brass claw!
Bastion is a resin Kickstater Exclusive Minitaure and will not be available outside of this campaign!
Ariel is a pure delight to be with until you annoy her then you find that she is not so much an Angel Fish as a Tiger Shark. Woe betide you if you cause any harm to her friend and companion Bastion the Crab!
Her harpoon gun fires deadly long barbed shafts that can pip opposing Characters to terrain elements! Be very careful where you stand when Ariel is angry with you!
Ariel is a Metal Miniature and is not Kickstarter Exclusive. She will be available as an Add-on soon and in our store post Kickstarter.
Cheers
- Sebastian and Pete
Did that just make me up my pledge to $250AUD?
Maybe!
Update #34
Mar 4 2016
Who might this be...
Here's something to keep you guessing!
The image below is a tinkered with version of a brand new concept for a Guild of Harmony Character that will be coming to Twisted soon!
Really, really love that Ariel model. Very tempted to jump in at a Urkin level to get access to add ons to grab her. I mean I could grab her later but, well, I am impatient. Plus I can grab the Monkey King and Vinny.
-Loki- wrote: Really, really love that Ariel model. Very tempted to jump in at a Urkin level to get access to add ons to grab her. I mean I could grab her later but, well, I am impatient. Plus I can grab the Monkey King and Vinny.
That Ariel miniature is indeed quite awesome... Hopefully, Sebastian will continue to sculpt for the Twisted range as I am a big fan of his personal sculpting style. A Sebastian-sculpted Monkey King would be epic.
Mr Morden wrote: I already have the ariel model - she is beautiful
Might need to takwe another look at this kickstarter
You might take another look here?!?
Alpharius about 10 hours ago
Has the Monkey King in metal been confirmed...or denied...yet?
Creator Demented Games about 10 hours ago
@ Alpharius - Yes - he will be available in Metal but post Kickstarter as a general release.
Automatically Appended Next Post:
Update #35
Mar 5 2016
Production Update - Casting the Metals
Metal Miniature Production at Eureka
Peter and I have been working really hard at Twisted HQ to set up a good reliable chain of production for pledge rewards, and we wanted to give you an insight into our metal production partner for the miniatures.
Twisted’s metal casting is being handled by Eureka Miniatures here in Australia, one of the best professional metal casters in the world with decades of experience. We went to visit the head of Eureka – Nic Robson – at the Eureka workroom, and you can see him in the photos below preparing production moulds for our metal miniatures.
Each production mould is hand-made by Nic, using his vast experience and hands-on knowledge to make sure we get the best quality metal miniature casts possible for Twisted. We have a great working relationship with Nic and have known him personally for years, so we have a simple, effective and professional chain of production in place, ready and able to fulfil your Kickstarter pledge rewards.
This green low temperature mould is used to make masters from the resin copies of the orginal sculpts. The normal black vulcanised moulds each only hold one or two kinds of miniatures - this one has Ollyver, Nancy, Nightingale and Nouveau on it! Once Nic casts the masters they are sent back to us for checking and final cleanup prior to making the production mould.
The metal miniatures produced by Eureka are of the highest quality – I don’t think I’ve seen better metal miniatures. I have been using Eureka as the metal caster for the Guild of Harmony range for almost 8 years, and have regularly received fantastic feedback concerning the quality of the figures. So this great standard of quality will be carried through to the metal miniatures for Twisted.
Below you can see a comparison shot of a metal Eureka production cast of Nouveau, next to a resin version of the same figure. On the right of image both of these miniatures have been primed with grey undercoat spray, and you can see how close the metal comes to matching the resin in terms of detail, sharpness and overall quality!
You can click on the images for higher resolution versions.
Production of your Pledge miniatures has begun with the first actual production spins of the moulds due to happen this week!
You can also check out Eureka's own range of miniatures on their site:
What a busy weekend! I spent Friday night running demo games at Mind Games here in Melbourne.
Saturday I went and caught up with Nic at Eureka Miniatures to get the first batch of metal minis for the Faction Boxes underway. It's great to be able to make a start on production even before the Kickstarter ends!
Today I spent the afternoon running more Demo Games at House of War! I must say the reaction of the players to the game has been very positive and that is really rewarding! It's lovely to see people enjoying the game you have designed!
Owen sent through the final version of Bastion the Crab today:
How cool does he look now! I love the claw and the small details on the helmet. This little guy will be a really great little miniature I think!
Craig from CNC Workshop has also been busy finalising the design for the fences and doing more work on a new building.
These new, smaller buildings (seen here next to #42), will be made to be cheap so you can fill your table with them, using #42 Carver Lane and the Old Corner Shop as centrepiece terrain elements. This one isn't finished yet and needs more windows and doors and generally cool bits.
The Fences got a bit taller and they will be great for helping define areas of your board when you play. Once the designs are finalised Craig will do a test cut to work out how much these will cost and we'll then be able to let you know!
Have a lovely Sunday (or Sunday night depending on where you are!)
Whumbachumba wrote: I'm liking the model designs. Curious as to their scale compared to Malifaux models though. Many of them would make great proxies.
From what I recall of the ones I've seen, fairly similar in scale, although not quite as stylised as Malifaux. But yeah, a lot of them would fit in quite well, I think.
Whumbachumba wrote: I'm liking the model designs. Curious as to their scale compared to Malifaux models though. Many of them would make great proxies.
I've got Malifaux and Twisted models on my desk right now. They're the same scale. As insaniak said, Malifaux models are a bit more stylised, and being plastic they don't have the detail, but they're the same scale. However, I see Nancy as a frequent proxy for Anna Lovelace from Shifting Loyalties, because her mechanical tentacled dress fits with Annas Clockwork dress. And Anna has a poisoned knife, and Nancy has a knife. And because Nancy is a gorgeous model and why not use it?
Personally I'm planning on using Nancy as a proxy for Jacob Lynch, because I really just don't like his model. I also have Nightingale but she won't be hitting the table as I have the resin, and her wings are super duper fragile.
I plan on using these fine models for games of...Twisted!
Update!
Update #37
Mar 7 2016
Egyptian Work In Progress
Hi all,
Here's another update on the work that's going into the Egyptian Faction at the moment!
Inidgo Ford – Final Concept
First up here is the final concept art for Indigo Ford!
Doesn't she look brilliant in glorious colour! As is ever the way some small things will change at the sculpt stage as we see how the art translates into a physical miniature. Owen has done a cracking job and I'm sure she will be a fantastic addition to our range.
More work on Set
The extremely talented Valentin Zak has sent through some new WIP shots of Set. My goodness – what a piece he will be when complete! Even at this stage you can see the brilliant musculature and fine detail he has worked into the piece
Look at that loin cloth – the work on the Egyptian style jewelry there is just stunning.
The legs of Set are brimming with detail and style – he is truly worthy of his status as a true centrepiece of the Twisted range!
The back of Set shows off the lovely, delicate work Valentin has put into the folds of Set's Shendyt (what the Egyptians called those kilt things so I believe) He has captured the volume and feel of the cloth perfectly. The muscles on his back will be a joy to paint – I can tell that even now.
As you can tell I'm a bit excited by the way Set is coming along and I hope you will be too!
Owen has now started on the concept work for Horace de Havilland – the last of the Egyptians that currently need developing. So stay tuned for more on him in the coming days.
After Horace is done it might be time to explore some of the other ideas we have for the Egyptians... Your astounding support through this Kickstarter has allowed us to expand the scope of Twisted so the game is growing even now thanks to you all!
Whumbachumba wrote: I'm liking the model designs. Curious as to their scale compared to Malifaux models though. Many of them would make great proxies.
I've got Malifaux and Twisted models on my desk right now. They're the same scale. As insaniak said, Malifaux models are a bit more stylised, and being plastic they don't have the detail, but they're the same scale. However, I see Nancy as a frequent proxy for Anna Lovelace from Shifting Loyalties, because her mechanical tentacled dress fits with Annas Clockwork dress. And Anna has a poisoned knife, and Nancy has a knife. And because Nancy is a gorgeous model and why not use it?
Personally I'm planning on using Nancy as a proxy for Jacob Lynch, because I really just don't like his model. I also have Nightingale but she won't be hitting the table as I have the resin, and her wings are super duper fragile.
Thanks! I was looking at the Ariel sculpt on the kickstarter and felt it would be a good Hans proxy for an all female crew.
I love the level of communication in this campaign - both via updates and in the comments section.
Having said that...
...Update Time!
Update #38
Mar 8 2016
The Gamekeeper - more work done!
The Gamekeeper is very close to completion!
We only received these new shots a few days ago and we are so pleased with the work Stéphane Camosseto has done on the Gamekeeper!
There are some amazing details being worked into this miniature - just look at that filigree and the fine work Stéphane has done on his hands.
The rear view shows more of the fantastic filigree and you can see some of the work that has gone into making his legs look elegant yet practical. Stéphane has really captured the pose perfectly!
We are particularly taken with his delicate deer like hooves and the fine detailing work that shows the internal gears and whatnot in his legs.
Slung off his baldric you can see the spare shells for his gun. He has one held in his hand - ready to load.
Here you can see his backpack. It fits in those three indentations in his back. There is a little more work to go here yet - more game and traps to be added and other small details. We are sure you will find this miniature a joy to paint - every detail is there for you!
These are WIP photos so some minor details might change yet but he's really close! We are looking forward to seeing what Stéphane can do with the next Character for Twisted!
Mar 9 2016
Character Design Focus - Horace de Havilland
Hi all,
For today's update we will focus on the design of the next Character for the Egyptian Faction - the foppish and slightly cowardly Horace de Havilland! Some of these drawings are only hours old! You, our esteemed backers, are amongst the first in the world to see them!
Once again Owen Aurelio is doing some sterling work on this Character. As usual we started with the idea of an English nobleman, the son of a Lord who has always had his way paid for him and has ended up whiling away his days on Carter's Egyptian dig dirnking local liquor and spending inordinate amounts of time with local ladies.
I drew a quick sketch of what we wanted Horace to look like so Owen had something to work from. We wanted that real 19thC gentleman feel combined with Egyptian elements and a strange, steampunk mechanical hawk!
Owen took the starting sketch and began by developing his clothing and general design first. We wanted the shapes of his clothes to reflect the kind of shapes that were common in ancient Egypt and also to reflect the shapes that exist in a bird's feathers and wings.
Here is his first batch of drawings.
There is quite a military feel to some of these and we kind of liked that. D was our favourite though!
By the second pass we had discarded concept F and focused on the other two. At this stage we were undecided and wanted to see how each developed before making a firm decision.
This design won out and we developed it further. Opening up the sleeve "slits" and refining the way the Canopic Jar, common to all the Egyptian Characters sat. We really like the way his pauldron piece reflects the design of the Pharaoh crowns of ancient Egypt!
Having decided on the clothing Owen moved onto the pose for Horace. He has a real feel of haughty derision and looks absolutely the part for a noble fop, far too proud for his own good!
We are pushing ahead with pose A. The arm is slightly lower and the overall feel is just a bit nicer.
From here we start to develop Horace's pistol. We wanted a long jezzail like gun that we imagine Horace has purchased (with his father's money) from the finest gunsmith in Cairo! More work remains on this element so look our for the next update for that!
It is likely at this stage that Horace will come with both the pointing hand and a holstered gun and a hand that is holding the pistol. We aren't 100% certain on that but it is the plan at the moment.
More updates to come as Owen sends more sketches through!
Cheers
Pete
I really do enjoy the 'evolution of design' stuff they've shown us for various models!
Update #40
Mar 9 2016
Only 1 Week to go!
Thanks to all our Backers!
A huge thank you from both of us at Demented Games for your absolutely amazing support! We couldn't have hoped for a better result and, with you alongside us, Twisted will grow and expand into an amazing range of miniatures and a game we are sure you will all love!
As we head into the last week of the Campaign we want to take a moment to tell you that we really do appreciate the faith and trust you have put in us! You are all fantastic and we are so very grateful to each and every one of you!
- Sebastian and Pete
(P.S. Feel free to share this image with all and sundry! )
We broke through the $110,000 barrier today! Thanks to you all again for Pledging to support our project!
This has unlocked Shrike to add to your Dickensians Company.
Shrike is fast and dangerous with a long reach from his wicked rat spear! He is unusual for an Urkin in that he has some staying power on the tabletop and can cause real problems for those unprepared for his sudden strikes!
Along with Shirke we are also pleased to announce the arrival on the scene of Pigsty!
This chap is rather hard to finish off on the tabletop! He is tough to wound and has a devastating, albeit short ranged attack thanks to his rake cannon! The Kickstarter Exclusive Resin miniature will be sure to be a real collectors item!
He will be come later as a general release in Metal.
Along with the Monkey King and all the other members of the Guild of Harmony he can be taken as part of a Company composed only of Guild of Harmony Characters or he can be selected to fight alongside your Dickensians, Servants of The Engine or Egyptians!
Once again thank you all for your support of Twisted!
There's no doubt we'll get Bastion and Ariel unlocked - and then some!
I mean, we're just about at $114K AUD right now!
Update #42
Mar 11 2016
Character Design Focus - Agatha & Hercule
Hi all!
Here is another in our series of Character design updates. This time we focus on Agatha and Hercule from the Egyptian Faction.
As usual we start the process by deciding which characters we want to design. Given we were in Egypt Agatha Christie seemed an obvious choice. Not only did she spend some time in Egypt but she wrote a rather famous book based there!
Here's a picture of her actually in Egypt!
We really liked the slightly posh look of her amongst the locals and we decided that was the angle to pursue! As usual I did a quick sketch just to drive the work of the concept artist.
We passed her on to the inestimable Owen Aurelio again - he has become rather our 'specialst' for the Egyptian Characters from Carter's side of the Faction.
The first two sketches we got back were quite a surprise. We do allow all our artists a measure of creativity. There is no point in employing a creative and allowing them no room to explore some options!
They were both really cool but neither really hit the mark so we redirected Owen back to our original sketch. Having said that the backpack idea was a winner and we were keen to keep that!
Owen's next pair of drawings were much closer to our vision. The large hat that is so distinctive in the reference image is back and the prim and proper 'lady' (with an enormous Elephant Gun) spirit is well and truly captured
Both had their merits but we decided that A was really what we were after. We really wanted that feel of a lady who brooks no nonsense!
This next iteration is very close to completion! We explored the large gun and made her a bit older. With some final adjustments we arrived at the brilliant concept that is Agatha!
You can see the way Owen has caught the character of Agatha from the reference photo and managed to make her look both a bit stern and quite tough at the same time!
It's always interesting to see what carries from sketch to sketch. Look, for instance, at the decoration on her hat and you can see how it slowly came together over a few versions.
Hercule - Agatha's small robotic companion and servant was a much shorter process.
Owen started with this sketch that was quite close to my original.
There were some really nice details in there but Sebastian and I both felt that the spring waist would be far to difficult to carry into a miniature.
The next version of Heercule was nailed by Owen and we proceeded straight to the final concept.
This one we loved. It captured everything we wanted and was a perfect match to the casual elegance of Agatha! It also captures so much of what makes the character of Hercule stand out - I particularly like his moustache and eyebrows for some reason!
As with all these concept drawings please bear in mind the miniature might be slightly different in some ways. There are certain things that work well in a sketch that don't translate into the miniature and some things that will just cause production issues like mould tearing.
We want to ensure you get the absolute best miniatures we can produce every time so making sure the Character will cast well as reliably as possible is vital! Be assured though that we will always stick as closely as we can to the concept!
I hope you enjoyed this update. I have some more planned for over the last weekend of the campaign so keep an eye out!
Nancy moved quickly towards the darkened alley. She knew the Servants of The Engine were abroad and that time was short if she were to escape a fight for which she was not prepared.
She stepped into the darkness, her iron tentacles whispering quietly over the wet cobblestones
Suddenly, out of the shadows emerged the tall, elegant form of Launcelot, his long blade leveled and ready. Nancy reacted quickly, snatching a small, dark globe from her belt.
With a word she threw the delicate glass bauble and it struck the knight full in the chest, shattering and releasing the Elemental Essences enclosed within.
In an instant Launcelot staggered, his senses reeling as the Alchemantic Invocation took hold of him. Nancy took her opportunity, slipping past the knight as he slumped against the wall of the alley.
“That was too close” she thought. Her investigations into the Node were not yet complete and, once they were even the mighty Launcelot would prove no obstacle to her rise – let alone that fool Psyches...
Alchemancy is the system of Magic used in Twisted. It relies on the Alchemancer's use of Elemental Essences to harness the latent power of The Engine to bring forth great and sometimes devastating effects. Whilst these Invocations can be powerful they are not without risk and sometimes things can go terribly wrong!
There are 40 Alchemantic Invocation cards in the Alchemancy Deck that comes with the boxed rules. These are divided into four Schools of Alchemancy:
Fire: Alchemancers who have this School are able to cause great destruction and on the counter it allows the Alchemancer to make others more powerful by enhancing their abilities.
Earth: Proponents of the Earth School are said to have power of life and death. They can also call forth beings from Elemental Regions beyond the reality of the Twisted World.
Air: Typically the Air based Alchemancer works to protect others, sometimes at his or her own expense. They are also known for being able to travel where others cannot, flying, passing through walls or moving at great speed.
Water: These Alchemancers specialise in Healing and can take the most seriously wounded person from Death’s very doorstep. They also have the ability to weaken and confound their foes. The phrase “gone to water” has never been quite so appropriate...
Some Alchemancers can draw on all four Schools. Some only have one or two areas of specialty however.
Not all Characters in Twisted can call Alchemantic Invocations. Any Character with an Alchemancy (Alc) bonus of 0 can never call an Invocation unless it's via an Eye of The Engine or Tempt Fate card.
Shown below is an image of two Character cards, Nancy and Nouveau. Both have Alchemantic ability but Nancy is much more powerful.
Nancy’s Alchemancy Bonus is higher than Nouveau’s (7 v 4) and she has many more Essences to start the game. What this means in game terms is that Nancy will generally start with a wider selection of Alchemantic Invocations (or more powerful ones) and that she will have a better chance of success when calling them into being.
The Essences are represented by a series of small boxes next to the name of the Schools each Alchemancer possesses. Essences can take the form of small vials of liquid or gas, small crystals or even intricate metal containers that glow with the powers of the Elements trapped within.
These Essences are used up when generating Alchemical Effects and may be replenished when the Alchemancer recovers from his or her efforts. The more Essences a Character starts the game with the more Invocations they can call before running low and needing to recover.
An Alchemancer starts the game with a number of Invocations that you preselect from the Alchemancy Deck before the game. These may not be changed once the game has commenced under normal circumstances. Each Alchemancer can take Invocations who's Power rating adds up to 1.5 times his or her Alchemancy Bonus (rounded up). Nancy has an Alchemancy Bonus of 7 – she may therefore take Invocations that add up to 11 Power.
Her selection for a game might look like this:
On each card you will see a few statistics for the Invocation and some notes about its effect.
Name: What the Effect is commonly called by Alchemancers.
School Symbol: To which School of Alchemancy it is tied most strongly.. Some Invocations or other effects can enhance or protect against certain Schools of Alchemancy in general. For example a “Hades Amulet” gives an Alchemancer a bonus to call “Fire” Invocations.
Power: This is the value used when selecting which Alchemantic Invocations to take at the start of each game. An Alchemancer can select Invocations up to 1.5 times his or her Alchemancy bonus in Power (rounded up) so Nancy can take Invocations that add up to 11 Power (7 x 1.5 = 10.5 rounded up to 11)
Action: How many actions the Invocation uses up. Most Invocations are a single Action. They can be called multiple times in a turn given sufficient Essences. Some of the more powerful ones use 2 Actions to Call. An Alchemancer can use two Actions to call a single Action Invocation, this is called a “focused Invocation” and they get +4 on their Alchemancy bonus to successfully call the effect into being.
Difficulty: How difficult the Invocation is to bring into being. This number is the target the Alchemancer must achieve on a D20 plus Alchemancy Bonus roll. If he or she passes this roll then the number of Essences used are marked off the Character’s card. If the roll fails half the number of Essences required (rounded down to a minimum of 1).
Breaking: For Invocations that have a duration this is the number that needs to be achieved by the target of the Invocation and the relevant bonus to be applied in order to end the effect of the Invocation. This occurs in the Maintenance Phase of the Turn.
Elements: Which Essences are required and how many of each are consumed to generate the Invocation. When an Alchemancer begins to run low on Essences he or she may spend a single Action to regenerate half the Essences used so far (rounded up) or 2 Actions to regenerate all of them. The Alchemancer may choose which Essences he or she regenerates.
Nancy has called Fire Burst and Bolster over previous turns and so has used 3 Fire Essences, 2 Air Essences and 1 Water Essence. As she has used 6 Essences she can restore 3 of them. She may choose to restore all 3 Fire Essences, all the Water and Air Essences or 1 of each kind. It is up to her. Which element you choose affects what Alchemical Invocations you will be able to generate next turn so think carefully!
Range: How far away from the Alchemancer the Invocation may be called into being. This range is in inches. Some Invocations require the Alchemancer to touch the target and may only be used in Close Combat.
Area: Details the area affected by the Invocation. For Invocations that have a template Characters that are partially under the template can try and make Finesse Check to leap clear and avoid the area. You don’t want to be trapped in a corner though...
Invocation that have an area marked "Personal" affect only the target on which they are called.
Duration: How long the Invocation lasts not including the turn in which it is called.
Effect: What the Alchemical Invocation actually does.
Backfire: What happens if you fail your Alchemancy Check badly. When you roll a 1 on your Alchemancy Check the Invocation goes badly wrong! These effects are applied immediately. In addition this will attract The Engine’s attention so a Tempt Fate draw occurs immediately for the Alchemancer who tried to call the Invocation.
Nancy wants to call “Fire Burst” during her Activation to scorch a couple of impertinent Servants of The Engine.
Nancy is successful and the small 2” Template is placed at any point she wishes within range of the Invocation.
She has sufficient Essences to call it one more time before she might need to pause and regenerate more of them. Alternatively she could just use another Invocation that she still has Essences for!
Alchemancers in Twisted are quite powerful Characters when used wisely as they can buff or heal your own Characters or weaken and damage your foes! Take care with them though as they tend to be quite weak in Combat and things can go very poorly for them should they get engaged by a tough opponent.
This isn’t always true however, Nouveau, as shown above is a bit of an all-rounder he can fight and shoot rather well and has reasonable Alchemantic abilities too! Having said that he is expensive to field in your Company and this can bring its own set of problems...
I hope you enjoyed this update! Here’s to the last few days of the Campaign and thanks again for your support of Twisted!
Cheers
Pete
I really like this system - it should be loads of fun!
PREVIEWS?!?
Update #44
Mar 12 2016
The Madness of Craig...
Craig - our Scenery designer has a strange, and slightly disturbing habit, of coming up with all sorts of random ideas for Twisted. These are a few of them...
Please Note: These are very rough ideas - some may make it into production - some may not but in all cases they will be developed further if we proceed!
This big fellow is an idea Craig had for a Dickensians "big guy". We like it a great deal and it is now in our thinking for the future... We can see him stomping across your tabletop, flinging iron sewer lids at his foes...
Bobbies
These little chaps might form a low points cost option for the Servants of The Engine! Now you can see where Dodger might have gotten his wheel!
Bolivar
Anyone read any Harry Harrison lately? :-) A possible member of the Guild of Harmony!
Did anyone say Hammer Horror?
Sewer Golem
A classic reimagined for Twisted! This might fit with a Faction we have in mind for the future...
As I said - none of these have been definitely approved as yet. Having said that there are some cracking ideas here and we will pursue at least a some of them!
Cheers
Pete
I'd bet that most of these eventually become miniatures!
UNLOCKS!
Update #45
Mar 12 2016
Bastion and Ariel Unlocked!
The two new FREE miniatures for Twisted have unlocked!
Pledges over $150 now also get a free Bastion the Crab miniature and pledges over $250 also get the superb Ariel Miniature for free!
More cool stuff to come so keep your eye out for new stretch goals tomorrow!
This disparate band of heroes form the mysterious Guild of Harmony. No one know for sure who leads them and their goals are unclear. What is certain is that they work to ensure that balance is maintained in the streets of Twisted London.
They can be seen working with the various Factions vying for control of The Engine's nodes - sometimes favouring one or the other and sometimes fighting as an independent force of their own to achieve one of their hidden goals.
They have even been known to fight against one another for reasons only truly understood by their masters who seek balance but choose to remain hidden.
Whatever their reasons for joining in the fray the Guild of Harmony should not be underestimated as their assistance can sometimes mean victory!
The Box set of The Guild of Harmony and Pigsty will soon unlock!
There are also the following Characters currently available to backers as either add-ons or free Kickstarter bonuses!
Ariel and Tinker will be available to add to your pledge later during the Pledge Manager if you don't reach the Pledge amount to get them free. They will all be available as a general retail release in metal later on.
With four Factions to choose from now Twisted has really grown and it is due to the fantastic support of our backers that this has been able to happen!
The Urkin forces of the Dickensians are bolstered again by the arrival of Ratcatcha!
This mean little fellow sneaks around the sewers taking rats and other "edible" things for the Urkin dinner tables! He's also adept at lurking in the streets an alleys above and grabbing more waifs for Nancy to turn into Urkin!
For those of you who are Servants of The Engine fans - never fear - the Gentlefolk will receive reinforcements too in the fullness of time!
Whumbachumba wrote: I wish Ariel was an option for an add-on. I guess I will just have to wait until it's available for general release.
She is - and you can!
Bert Kleyn 1 day ago
Hi, can I as a backer under 250, ad Ariel to my pledge or is she only for 250 Pledgers and above,
Long question sort can I buy her on this kickstarter, or later in retail
Creator Demented Games about 20 hours ago
@ Bert - She will be available as an add on in the Pledge Manager to those below $250 :-)
Those bobbies have to get done. So much love for them.
That sewer golem looks great, but I do have to say it's almost exactly the golem from Smog 1888. I know steampunk can be limiting, but that caught my eye and I hope the future development of it will make it more distinct.
Yeah, Wonderlands are currently selling, and still producing (I think?) the Mauser Earth figures.
Smart Max is dead, as is Smog 1888 sadly.
I was really looking forward to this KS, but now that it's here I just can't get excited about it. If it had more of a horror slant to it like Smog then I would have been all over it.
Miniatures are great.
But i must add that i sometimes just buy a few nice looking models, but i only start a new game if i have at least one other player.
But above all i love the scenery!
That i want to have completely independent of of i will or will not play the game.
Valentin Zak has been doing an absolutely amazing job sculpting the Avatar of Set for the Egyptian faction, and these latest WIP pictures are so incredible that we had to share them with all of you! We only received these today so they are absolutely 'fresh of the press'. Only a few more areas to finish - he's almost done!
The amount of detail Valentin has managed to capture is incredible. The arms, hands and forearm bracers are outstanding in sharpness and clarity, as is the work around the large canopic jars plugging into Set's back complete with tube attachments. Very creepy and sinister, in a steampunk kind of way! The jaw, face and head are also shaping up to be very menacing and characterful.
The Avatar of Set is certainly going to be one of the most outstanding pieces in the entire Twisted range, and a worthy centrepiece for the Egyptians faction! Many thanks to Valentin for the superb work so far.
The actual words from the update to go along with that picture:
Update #50
Mar 14 2016
48 Hours to go!
There are only 48 hours left to go in the Twisted campaign - wow, this month has flown by so quickly! We want to say another huge 'thank you' to all of our backers, we literally could not be doing any of this without you and we are so excited to have your wonderful support in making Twisted an amazing universe, game and product. Well done and bravo to all of you!
With only 48 hours remaining it's time to get the rest of the stragglers and fences-sitters involved, especially in order to take advantage of the Kickstarter Exclusives! We're going to do our best to entice some more last-minute support with a few final surprises in store, and we'd love your help to get the most out of the final hours of this campaign. You've done amazing well backing our project and any more support we can generate now will only help to enrich Twisted even further, and make Twisted an even better experience for all of our backers.
So please share the news and let's see if together we can rope in a few more last-minute backers for Twisted! We are all in this together at this point - and it's an exciting ride to be sharing with you!
-Pete and Seb
It's always nice to be appreciated!
At $128K AUD currently - looks like a fair few more stretches will be reached and unlocked.
Some interesting tidbits from the comments section:
Creator Demented Games about 3 hours ago
@Howard, Alpharius and others: have no fear, we are planning to keep the pledge manager open for at least a month after the campaign ends
@Ukko: I'm afraid we've been so busy working on content for this Kickstarter that we couldn't quite manage to get the video finished in time for the end of this campaign. Post production takes a while to complete and we want any video we publish to be clear, polished and cool. So we thought we'd rather take our time and publish something more professional as a post-campaign update, rather than rush to finish something that might not be up to our high standards.
-sebastian
Creator Demented Games about 7 hours ago
@ Horselover & Ludvig - Yes - we could do that if you want. We'll run up some estimates of shipping for just those two sets so you can make an informed decision.
@ Alpharius & Phillip - New terrain will likely appear in the Pledge Manager at this stage. Once Craig has done test cuts we can get the prices sorted out and let you guys know! @ Nostromodamus - We aced that then! :-)
@ Paul - Yes - the cards will be available separately so you can run your existing GoH models in Twisted.
@ Joey - Yes - you will be able to up your Pledge in the Pledge Manager. We hope to have it open shortly after the Campaign ends and it will stay open for at least a month.
We've got quite a bit of news in this update, as we enter the last 42 hours of the Twisted Kickstarter campaign!
First up we've added a brand new Stretch Goal: this time it's a double whammy featuring both a new miniature - Tzandi - and also a painting guide by Sebastian that will be absolutely free to all backers if we can reach $135k!
Tzandi (or Sandy to those who know her well!) is a gender-swapped version of Sha Wujing, the 3rd hero in the Monkey King's entourage. Tzandi is a water monster and will feature a lot of water symbolism in her design, as well as being a potent water-based alchemancer for your games of Twisted!
The sketch of Tzandi you can see below is absolutely brand new - our brilliant artist Nicolas Amoroso only sent this through a few hours ago! It's the very first rough sketch for Tzandi so it is simply exploring some initial ideas - we have a long way to go to develop the concept and refine the character, but we think we're off to a fantastic start with this one!
But that's not all: if we can reach this Stretch Goal it will also unlock a free painting guide written by Sebastian! Sebastian - also known as automaton on CoolMiniOrNot - is a multi-award winning painter (as well as our lead sculptor, of course!) and is responsible for most of the painted Twisted miniatures you can see in this Kickstarter. If we reach the $135k mark Sebastian will write some painting guides detailing lots of techniques, tips and tricks for painting your Twisted miniatures, with step-by-step photos showing the painting process. This will be a fantastic addition and a cool little free bonus for everyone who backs Twisted.
The others news of course is that thanks to your help and a surge of new pledges, we have unlocked the Guild of Harmony box set! It's now available to be added to your pledge
and
Update #52
Mar 15 2016
Dawg and Flea unveiled, FREE extra Dice, plus a Playtester Review of the Twisted Game!
We're down to only 33 hours left in the Twisted campaign, and there is plenty more news to share in this update!
First up, the urkin Dawg and Flea have been unveiled in the next Stretch Goal! This is a quirky character Peter came up with: a small urkin riding on the back of a large, dog-like companion, 'Flea' lobbing grenades left and right from the shoulders of 'Dawg'! You can see Peter's initial sketch below. This is simply a rough first sketch and the character has a lot of development to go through, but it's enough to show you our idea
The second part of this stretch goal is another FREE upgrade to the game box: if we reach $140k we will be able to add a 2nd set of dice to the box, so that both you and your opponent can have a complete set each. A very cool and convenient little bonus!
Game Review:
We received this review of the Twisted Game from one of our independent playtesters tonight, and we thought we'd share it with you. This playtester has no affiliation at all with Twisted or Demented Games, so it's great to have an unbiased perspective to share with you:
It's amazing to have such a wonderful review to share with you - we hope you all enjoy the game just as much when you receive your copy.
Mar 15 2016
24 hours left - and Horace de Havilland final artwork!
0 Comments
11 likes
We are now inside the final 24 hours of the Twisted Kickstarter campaign! It is so exciting for Peter and I to know that we've received such support from all of you, our wonderful backers - thank you all for making Twisted such a success! It is such a huge boost it is for a small start-up company like us, and it is so very much appreciated. We will are forever grateful to you all.
Let's go for a final push over the last 24 hours and see if we can add some icing to the cake by reaching a few more Stretch Goals and unlocking more upgrades, Add-ons and free stuff for you. We don't want anyone to miss out on those Kickstarter Exclusives, either!
We've received the final concept artwork for Horace de Havilland, from our amazingly talented artist Owen Aurelio! Owen has done such a fantastic job capturing the haughty, high-handed attitude of Horace - what another excellent addition to the Egyptians faction for Twisted!
Horace will come with the both the pointing left hand and the pistol, so it will be your choice how to equip him for your games of Twisted.
We hope you've enjoyed seeing how the Horace concept has developed! This is the typical process we go through with all of our Twisted characters. We feel it is worth this extra effort to make sure our characters are developed fully, and designed properly to create the most interesting and excellent miniatures possible for Twisted
Another Stretch Goal down - 2 new Stretch Goals revealed!
WOW, you guys are too good at blasting through these Stretch Goals! Thanks once again for all of your amazing support - this is turning out to be a very exciting last 24 hours as we get an influx of late pledges! Awesome stuff, we are so thrilled by the way this Kickstarter has unfolded, and it's all because of your generous support.
We've rocketed through the $135k Stretch Goal, so Tzandi and the FREE painting guide are officially unlocked. Well done, everyone!
I've just put up 2 brand new Stretch Goals - surely you guys can't reach these two by the end?? The challenge is on!
At $145k we have the final member of the Monkey King's party: Tricia Harker! This is another double Stretch Goal as it also includes a FREE 'Trevor the Rat' KS Exclusive mini game campaign for our backers. Another cool little bonus for you!
The $150k Stretch Goal is a big one (literally!): if we reach it Sebastian will sculpt an alternate 54mm version of Launcelot, one of our most popular flagship characters for Twisted (the standard version is 32mm size). This will be a painter's dream at the larger scale in resin! If the 54mm Launcelot is added to you pledge, you'll also receive a Kickstarter Exclusive signed artwork to go with the miniature that's only available to Twisted Kickstarter backers. But of course, it'll only happen if we can unlock the Stretch Goal!
Well I waited till the end but finally decided to go for it. Minis look great. I'm gonna go for the 2 gang starter and probably do the egyptians and (bruce) dickensons
Or would they let you 1 gang with the starter + expansion pack instead of 2 different gangs? Looks like the same amount of minis in either kind of pack
You can choose any type and combination of starter and expansion packs.
So if you have a pledge with 4 choices, you could choose the starter for all 4 factions, starter and expansion for 2 factions, or whatever combination you desire.
These miniatures are exquisite... some of the best I've ever seen. Shame it's another small-scale skirmish game in an already oversaturated market, and one that I have 0% chance of getting anyone at my club to play :(
I've found when it comes to skirmish games where you just need a few minis to play, the best way to go is to start with 2 different gangs and show your buddies how to play with your own stuff. If they like it, it's a usually small investment for them to pick up their own, not like building a big army first. And since you already have the rules they won't feel like they need to buy that too.
Glad to see someone else FINALLY updating this thread too!
Of course it took getting to the LAST day for it to happen!
I'm still worried about tdwg83 though - the search parties we sent out haven't found anything yet...
Here's the complete update!
With some cool art!
Update #55
Mar 16 2016
Only 8 hours to go – and one last Stretch Goal unveiled!
This is it: we are entering the last 8 hours of the Twisted Kickstarter campaign, currently closing in on 600% of our original funding goal! It’s our last chance to get a few more people on board and grab those Kickstarter Exclusives before time runs out!
This Kickstarter is the culmination of years of hard work, not only by Peter and I but also by many talented artists that have contributed to Twisted in countless amazing ways. It is absolutely thrilling to be running such a successful Kickstarter to launch Twisted, but more importantly we’ve been blown away by such a positive and enthusiastic reception by all of you, our wonderful backers! Thank you all for continuing to make the Twisted Kickstarter such a positive campaign
We’ve just added one last Stretch Goal: Craig’s Steampunk Bobby ‘Sgt Clark’ joins the Servants of the Engine, with a Kickstarter Exclusive mini campaign!
Let’s have one last push for the finish line, together!
Mar 16 2016
Twisted has funded over 600%! Thank you, to all of our generous backers!
3 Comments
14 likes
Wow – well done everyone, together WE’VE DONE IT! Not only has the Twisted Kickstarter been a massive success, but we reached over 600% of our funding goal! Bravo to all of our backers, you’ve helped us turn our dream into a reality!
Thanks to your tremendous support Twisted has already grown far beyond our expectations, with a bunch of incredible new miniatures to be sculpted, upgrades and enhancements to the Rulebook Box Set, and special Kickstarter Exclusive bonus missions! What an amazing result – so much better than we ever dreamed! With such a fantastic ‘kick start’ we are going to be able to do really wonderful things with the world of Twisted and enrich the whole universe. It is a very exciting time for Twisted!
And it’s all thanks to you – our generous backers – that we’ll be able to spend the time improving, expanding and enriching the world of Twisted. So THANK YOU EVERYONE – we are sincerely humbled and grateful for all of the positivity, support and encouragement you’ve shown us over the last month.
Cheers to an absolutely amazing Kickstarter campaign! We can’t wait to get really stuck in to our work, now!
We’re going to immediately start setting up the Pledge Manager so we’ll keep you posted with regular updates with information on how this will work.
We’ll also be posting regular progress updates keeping you informed as we travel the road towards fulfilment, as well as showing more sculpting and artwork WIPs, of course! So remember to check in now and then for the latest news.
@demented games Whilst not from London perhaps the plague doctor could form part of a Venetian Carnival faction? After all Venice is only a few days carriage ride away.
Creator Demented Games about 7 hours ago
@ Alexander - a very interesting thought. Noted for future reference :-)
The last thing I need here is another faction to buy - but I think I'd buy that, especially given how great everything looks so far!
Andrew P about 7 hours ago
Hi DG are all the wave 1 releases (I hope) included in the rulebook? i.e. dickensains, guild of harmony and servants of the engine
Creator Demented Games about 7 hours ago
Hi Andrew, Definitely the Servants and Dickensians in the main book. The guild we be covered in some fashion but the exact form of their information is yet to be decided for sure. Rest assured whatever we do we will make sure you will have all the info you need to run them as your faction when you get them :-)
Cheers
Pete
And the Egyptians too, I hope!
Automatically Appended Next Post: And then, of course, there was an Update!
Update #57
Mar 20 2016
Kickstarter payments, Pledge Manager info, GF Lancer WIPs 1 Comment
1 like
Hi again everyone! The dust from our amazing campaign has settled, Peter and I have caught up on all of our lost sleep, and we have launched ourselves into working hard on Twisted!
What happens now?
By now, your credit card should have been charged by Kickstarter.
If there was any problem with your payment, please contact us and we can organise payment via Paypal - no problem! You will still have access to the Pledge Manager.
We should receive the funding money in around 10 days from now (it takes some time for Kickstarter to process the payment and deposit it into our account).
Please contact us at via PM here on Kickstarter or email to sales@dementedgames.com if you have any problems or questions about paying for your pledge.
When will the Pledge Manager open?
We are working right now to set up the Pledge Manager, and hopefully it should be ready to launch in 10-14 days.
We cannot launch the Pledge Manager until we receive the funding money from Kickstarter, which should be approximately 10 days from now - so sit tight and please be patient, and we'll organise it as quickly as possible!
If you pay us via Paypal you will still be included in the Pledge Manager - we can add you manually.
We will post a full instructions for the Pledge Manager when it is time to launch! We will clearly explain how it works. It should be easy to use, and enable you to select the exact rewards you want to receive in return for your pledge, as well as adding extra to your pledge should you desire. More info will come soon!
Gentlefolk Lancer Early WIP
Here are some photos to make this update a bit more visually interesting!
I've started work on the Gentlefolk Lancer miniature, and these are some early WIP photos of the rough shape for the figure. I have decided to change the pose from the concept art, because I think this 'rearing up' pose will both make the miniature look more dynamic, strong and cool, and also because it will create a stronger 'contact point' with the base so that it is more stable.
I'm really looking forward to continuing work on this one! It's quite a challenging shape for a miniature, so with a bit of luck hopefully I can pull it off and it'll be another interesting addition to the Servants of the Engine.
Mar 25 2016
Sculpting news, and more Gentlefolk Lancer WIPs!
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Hi everyone - a few bits of current news:
By now, your payment should have been processed by Kickstarter. Please contact us if you have any problem at all you can pay via Paypal instead - no problem!
Peter and I are working hard to set up the Pledge Manager, and we'll have it up and running as soon as we can. This will allow you to customise your pledge and choose the exact rewards you want!
You'll be able to modify or add to your pledge as often as you like while the Pledge Manager is open. We have some new products (especially terrain!) that we are planning to release as bonus Add-ons while the Pledge Manager is active.
The Pledge Manager will be open for a decent length of time - at some point we'll need to close it and finalise production numbers but it will be open for at least a month, if not longer.
Sculpting News
That's the dry stuff out of the way: in more exciting news, all of our sculptors (including me!) are working hard on new Twisted miniatures. Stephane Camosseto has started work on the Gentlefolk Sailor, we've got Olivier Bouchet scheduled to start work on 3 miniatures next month, and Valentin Zak has finished the Avatar of Set sculpt! (I'll share photos soon)
As for me: I'm continuing to work on the Gentlefolk Lancer sculpt whenever I've got a free moment in between other Twisted jobs! Here are the second stage of Work-In-Progress photos for the Lancer.
I have decided to do a little re-designing of the mechanical legs compared to the concept art, for a few different reasons. First, I wanted them to look a little more Art-Nouveau-ish and steampunky in shape - a little more low-tech, a bit less futuristic/sci-fi. I also wanted to carry over the mechanical style I used for other Gentlefolk such as the Flower Seller, Blacksmith and Highwaywoman, so that there is more continuity in design between the miniatures. Peter also thinks it looks more industrial and mass-produced this way, too, which fits the idea of the Gentlefolk.
Everything is still very rough at this point - I'm simply trying to get the basic shapes in place before I start concentrating on refining the details.
I had a few questions last time about sculpting material: I normally use Super Sculpey Firm, but lately I have been experimenting with BeeSPutty Plastic (Firm). These are both over-bake synthetic clays and are quite similar, but the BeeSPutty is slightly more elastic/sticky and I find it to be less brittle after baking (which is good when you need to chop up a sculpt for mould-making!). This Gentlefolk Lancer is being sculpted with a 50:50 mix of Super Sculpey Firm and BeeSPutty Plastic (Firm).
Before we get to the exciting pictures, here's a bit of housekeeping news:
Peter and I are still working hard to set up the Pledge Manager - we realise it is taking a little longer than we originally said it would, but this is partly because (thanks to you unlocking so many Stretch Goals!) there are lots and lots of different products and combinations that need to be created. We are hoping to make the Pledge Manager comprehensive and also very clear to understand, rather than launch prematurely - so this is the reason for the delay. But it will be launching soon!
The great news is that we have finally received the funds from Kickstarter - hooray! That is one piece of the puzzle that has now fallen into place, so we are now ready to go full steam ahead
The other good news is that things are rolling along well on the production front for the miniatures themselves: we've made a great start preparing the metal miniatures for production. I'll post more news about that in future updates.
Avatar of Set
Ok, here it is - the final sculpt for the Avatar of Set! This amazing miniature was sculpted by the supremely talented Valentin Zak, who has truly outdone himself with this figure! The complexity of detail is absolutely amazing - I think this miniature is an instant classic and certainly one of the centrepieces of the Twisted range of miniatures!
I want to also thank Nicolas Amoroso for the amazing concept artwork: without Nicolas' talent in developing the concept, this miniature never could had been created. So a big WELL DONE
to both Nicolas and Valentin for creating such an incredible piece of miniature art!
Apr 12 2016
Faction Box Review - The Dickensians Starter
Hi all,
This is the first in a series of updates that will focus on the Characters from each Faction Box and give you a guide to their personalities and how they play in Twisted.
We figured, with the Pledge Manager opening soon, that you might like some more detailed information to help you make your choices when it comes to the Faction Boxes you want.
Please bear in mind the example rules and abilities might change a bit during playtesting and final development but we will try and keep to the spirit of what is noted here. First up we will deal with the cunning and shifty Dickensians.
Faction Play Style:
The Dickensians are what could be called a ‘swarm’ faction. You have a good number of Named Characters such as Bill and Dodger but the particular feature of the Dickensians are the lowly (and cheap) Urkin. These demented maniacs roam the tabletop causing no end of headaches for your foe.
The Dickensians will more often than not outnumber their opponents and these numbers can be used to great advantage. It means you will often lose the initial Priority roll of a game but you should have a good number of extra activations after your opponent has activated all his or her characters to give you a tactical advantage. Remember that the Favour of The Engine changes throughout the game so even if you don’t start with it you may well gain it very soon and Priority changes with your successes after the first turn so that is up to how well you go during the game. What doesn’t change (unless things go badly for you) is your numerical superiority!
The Starter Set has a good balance of combat ability and a modicum of Alchemancy. Bill will be your mainstay in Close Combat along with the Bloodrage Achemancer whilst Dodger will take care of your Ranged Combat (mind you Bill is no slouch in this either). Sowerberry will tend to play a bit of supporting role, weakening your foes and being a general pain for your opponent whilst the Urkin skitter about the table making what mischief they can!
Bill Psyches
Personality: Bill is a thug, plain and simple. He is concerned with nothing but the accumulation of wealth and power and he cares not how he gains one or the other. He uses threats and intimidation to keep his allies in line and control the streets above his sewer lair and he is not averse to giving those who annoy him a short lifespan indeed. Since “The Twisting” that Feygin initiated he has become convinced that he is beset by demons that guide his actions. This is simply The Engine using him as a pawn in its machinations...
In Game: Bill is one of the hardest hitting Dickensians, second only to the terrifying Ollyver, but much more reliable. He has a large number of wounds and his armour value is high, making him a real tank. He fights very well in Close Combat and, when combined with a decent Ranged Attack statistic, this makes Bill a very dangerous proposition for your opponent.
On the special ability front Bill can swap the ammunition in his gun to suit his needs and can Threaten his foes, making them move away from him. He can also attempt to charge through other opposing models to get at those he desires to hurt. A good, solid blow from Bill can Stun those he hits leaving them open to being finished off by even a lowly Urkin!
Sowerberry
Personality: Once an Undertaker, known for disposing of “troublesome” corpses for Bill Psyches on occasion, Sowerberry has been transformed into a strange, wraith like entity. The result of experimentation by Nancy in creating a larger, tougher adult Urkin Sowerberry now exists in a kind of half life, roaming the alleys of London gathering more fodder for Nancy’s foul work. His insubstantial form allows him to glide silently through the streets, taking young waifs to meet their unfortunate destinies as part of Bill’s army of Urkin.
In Game: Sowerberry in pure statistics looks quite weak. He is quite slow and his strength is not great. He also has little armour and no ranged attack statistic. This is somewhat misleading as his ghostly form gives him a number of advantages. His Close Combat attack, whilst weak, ignores the armour of the target and he has a chance to ignore damage from any physical attack (i.e. a bullet or knife). He can also move through some terrain and can glide up to the rooftops with ease making him rather more mobile than his statistics might suggest. He has some Alchemantic ability and also exudes an Aura of Death that affects his opponents in Close Combat so attacking Sowerberry can be more difficult than it seems at first glance. His Eyebite gaze attack has a range of 4 inches and, whilst not terribly damaging, can cause his foe to be drawn into the realm of death temporarily, losing them their Activation!
Dodger
Personality: Dodger is the most skillful of Feygin’s gang of pickpockets. Terribly injured in the events of “The Twisting” Dodger now gets about on a monowheel pilfered from one of London’s mechanical Bobbies. If anything, this change of mobility has made Dodger even better at his work as he has become even faster and more agile than before.
Dodger is rather keen on money but for a very different reason to Bill. He would like to get out from under the thrall of the Psychotic thug and views the garnering of wealth as the best way to do this. Even better, as far as Dodger is concerned, if he can take his master Feygin and his friend Ollyver with him. Dodger views the world very differently to Bill for him money is a means to an end, not an end in itself. He is no Robin Hood but he is not averse to flicking a poor washerwoman a gold grown as he zips by - he prefers to gain influence in the streets by favour, not fear. Dodger and Feygin want desperately to get Ollyver back to normal and, whilst they find Nancy’s work distasteful they will try to keep in her favour until such time as they can figure out how to restore Ollyver.
In Game: Dodger is one of the fastest moving Characters in Twisted with a Speed of 7! His Finesse score is also 7 meaning he can interact easily many objects and can jump gaps really well. He cannot, however, climb!
His “Archer” long revolver is equipped with a scope that allows him to expend extra actions to reduce range penalties on his shots and he also has the “Sniper” ability that means Characters cannot claim cover from other Characters against his ranged attacks. His “Scout” ability allows him to take a Ranged Attack Action at any point during his move so he can whip out of cover, fire off a shot, and zoom away before his foe can react. As you would imagine he also has the ability to steal some objects off other Characters so take care with your stuff when Dodger is about!
Bullsye
Personality: Bill’s faithful dog Bullseye is only concerned with one thing... protecting his master!
In Game: Bullseye is quite fast and nimble and reasonably hard to hit in ranged combat. His bite can be quite nasty but his main ability is that when he bites he tends to “Latch On”. This hampers the movement of his foe and causes automatic damage each turn. If Bill is engaged in Close Combat before Bullseye he must move to assist his master. When in a Melee in which Bill is involved Bullseye may take any hit directed at his master - a kind of Canine ablative armour for Bill if you will!
Urkin Alchemancer
Personality: Nancy is constantly experimenting in various base and disturbing ways - ever keen to produce a better, stronger, more resilient breed of Urkin, much like the immensely powerful Ollyver! One of her successes, albiet accidental to some extent is the Urkin Alchemancer.
In trying to produce a more powerful Urkin by imbuing more of The Engine’s essence in she inadvertently created an Urkin with a modicum of Alchemantic power. This small, evil minded lad, now serves as Nancy’s assistant, fetching and carrying vials of the foul essences she needs to drive her research on. He is often dispatched to the streets above to aid in one task or another as his greater intellect make him a useful tool.
A side effect of his creation is that he intermittently turns into that which Nancy was actually trying to achieve - an uber Urkin if you will. He has little control over this transformation and it can come as rather a shock to his foes when they assume they will be fighting a small, weak Urkin and end up facing a raging beast!
In Game: The Urkin Alchemancer is very unusual for an Urkin. Firstly his statistics are, in general, much better and you may also select only one Urkin Alchemancer in any Company you build. He has a reasonable Alchemantic ability but his Schools of knowledge are somewhat limited.
When he transforms however it is an entirely different story. He loses all Alchemantic ability but becomes a Close Combat Powerhouse! If you can get him into a fight in this state it will, in all likelihood, end poorly for your opponent. You do need to take care though as he is likely to change back into his smaller, weaker form at any moment!
Urkin Slashers & Shooters
Personality: These demented little thugs are the mainstay of Bill’s stange army of twisted wee lads and lasses. The Slashers, as they are known, are the dullest and least intelligent of the Urkin, suited only to the simplest tasks and base street robbery. The Shooters are slightly cleverer and more self aware. They can be entrusted, to some extent, with firearms!
Urkin delight in making their own weapons from scraps they find and the more strange and deadly they are the more value the Urkin hold them in. This does tend to result in weaponry of dubious quality however! Urkin are numerous though and engaging one in a fight will likely draw many more of his skittering and shrieking friends to assist!
In Game: Possibly the cheapest models to field in Twisted the Urkin Slashers weigh in at 11 points each. Their statistics are, at best, average and they don’t have a lot of wounds to spare should they get attacked. They have no ranged attack with the exception of a single grenade that they can lob at their foe. These grenades have a random effect when they explode from a squib that simply fails to go off to a mighty explosion worthy of a skilled Alchemancer! The do like things that go bang! They are just a bit rubbish at making them!
Urkin Shooters are a touch more expensive at 14 points but they do carry a ranged weapon. This weapon is also a jury-rigged affair and can explode in their hands or perform beyond all expectations! It is short ranged however so they do need to close with their foes to fire. The Shooters can fight in Close Combat but they aren’t great at it.
All Urkin share a couple of abilities that make them more useful! They can, as an Action, choose to “Lurk” which makes them impossible to target at ranges greater than 3”. They also have the ability to “Reinforce” which means that when an Urkin is killed there is a 50% chance of him being replaced and a 1 in 6 chance of him being replaced by two Urkin! These nasty wee psychopaths have a habit of popping out of the sewers when their foes least expect it!
We hope you found this update useful. Next up we will focus on the Dickensians Expansion Set Faction Box which contains the mighty Ollyver!
Cheers
Pete
I was initially rather sour on the Dickensians, seeing them as The Baddies but...I kinda like them now!
Apr 13 2016
Pledge Manager coming soon, and Metal Production Update
Hi everyone,
We’ve got some good bits of news to go through today!
First we’ll start with the Pledge Manager. We are still waiting for the final Twisted Pledge Manager page to be finalised – Peter and I would like to apologise for the delay. I know we told you that the Pledge Manager should be up and running within a week or two, but we didn’t realise how much time it would take to build the page properly. We are currently working together with the professional team from Kicktraq/PledgeManager to create the page. Part of the reason it’s taking so long is that there are so many different rewards and combinations to create! So we thought it would be better to take the extra time and make sure everything is clear and correct, rather than rush through a dodgy version.
The good news is that this Pledge Manager delay has no impact at all on us moving towards actual fulfilment! It isn’t delaying our production in any way, and we have already made some great progress in that direction. For example, we’ve already started making the production moulds for our metal Twisted miniatures!
Metal Production Update
We had some cool stuff arrive in the mail, and I wanted to share it with you all! Take a look at these photos: these are metal masters we received recently from Valiant Enterprises, one of our casting production partners in the USA.
What you can see here are metal master casts of 7 of our new miniature for Twisted. My job now is to take these masters and clean them up to start making the next of our production moulds for Twisted!
The production process works like this: the sculpted miniature is sent to a caster, who makes a mould to create the first copies of the miniatures. These first copies/casts are called the ‘masters’. Multiples of these masters can then be cleaned up and used to make a production mould: for example, we might want to make a production mould with 5 ‘Gentlefolk Blacksmith’ miniatures on it.
I took a photo to show you the ‘clean-up’ process for a Gentlefolk Blacksmith: on the right is a master cast straight from the mould, and on the left is a cast I have cleaned and prepped for production moulding. You can see that the cleaned version is much more 'shiny'.
In order to prepare the miniature for production moulding, I examine the figure to make sure it has cast properly, make sure to clean any existing mould lines, and then brush the surface with a copper-bristled brush to make sure there is no residue so that the figure is as clean as possible. This process takes some time but I think it is important in order to make the best quality production mould, to make sure the Twisted miniatures are the the highest quality possible!
Apr 17 2016
Faction Box Review - The Dickensians Expansion
Hi all,
After the last update dealt with the Dickensians Starter we will now take a look at the Characters included in the Dickensians Expansion Faction Box. Expansion Box is actually a bit of a misnomer really. The Expansion Box can act as a standalone Company for Twisted. It just plays differently with Alchemancy more to the fore and one of the biggest hitters in the game in the mighty Ollyver!
As before please bear in mind the example rules an abilities might change a bit during playtesting and final development but we will try and keep to the spirit of what is noted here.
Faction Play Style:
See the previous update for an overview of the play style of the Dickensians.
The Expansion Set will see Ollyver taking the brunt of any Close Combat. Both Feygin and Nancy can fight but are best kept out of hand to hand if at all possible. The Urkin Dragoon is a handy Close Combat Character and is quite quick with it whilst the other Urkin play their usual role of being a thorn in your opponent’s side if left unattended to!
Ollyver:
Personality: Once a sweet and shy young lad, Ollyver was transformed by the power of The Engine during “The Twisting”. He is now a raging monstrosity with little self awareness and a propensity to kill anything that comes too close if he is in a bad mood. Feygin and Dodger have worked out how to control him to some extent but he is still unpredictable and, given an unfortunate set of circumstances, can be as much of a threat to his allies as he is to his enemies!
In Game: Ollyver is a beast of a Character on the tabletop! With a whopping 30 Wounds and 8 Armour he will be a hard job for your opponent to take out of action. His Strength of 8 and Close Combat Attack score of 8 make him quite likely to tear even the best fighters limb from limb! His Defence in Close Combat is pretty good but he is rather susceptible to being taken out with Ranged Attacks if you don’t keep him in cover.
In terms of Special Abilities he is a bit of a double edged sword! He can perform a “Furious Charge” moving at triple speed and getting a bonus to Attack. If his opponent rolls poorly on their Defence he can also “Rend” them which causes significant damage as his mighty iron fist comes into play! As an alternative to “Furious Charge” Ollyver may “Plough Through” opposing Characters to charge those behind them and can even Charge through terrain to some extent, smashing his way through houses and walls! He is also “Unthinking” which means he cannot interact with any objects other than doors so no fiddling with dainty chest locks for Olly!
Beware Ollyver when he is Wounded though! He then becomes “Berserk”, increasing his Strength and Speed but in this state he will attack the nearest Character, friend or foe, with the exception of Dodger!
Feygin:
Personality: This wily old fellow used to control his gang of young pickpockets and had accumulated quite significant wealth and power prior to The Twisting. His exploration of the Sewer system below the streets lead him to find not only the curious armed harness he wears but one of the secret chambers that concealed a Node of The Engine. A lesser rogue may well have missed the cunningly concealed chamber but little of value escapes the eye of Feygin! His meddling in that which he did not understand lead to great and ruinous changes in his companions however.
His life now changed he works to try and figure a way out of his current situation with his skin intact (along with Dodger and Ollyver if possible). He fears Bill - he always did - but it is the once kind Nancy than now terrifies him. Should she gain the power she seeks he know it will spell his doom as his usefulness expires. In the meantime he has control of the Urkin and a measure of power in the gang and, even though he regrets the changes they have endured, he recognises that the Urkin are bringing in much more money than the young pickpockets they once were ever did!
In Game: Feygin’s Statistics are solid but not outstanding with the exception of his Finesse score of 8 - the highest currently in Twisted! He has some Alchemantic ability although he is somewhat limited in Schools (Fire and Earth only).
His gun, a “Biggin and Weller Arc Gun” fires bolts of electricity (that he often uses on a low setting to shock disobedient Urkin) that can arc to more than one target. On occasion is has been known to malfunction and fire off a random bolt to quite some distance! Feygin, using his “C’mere Lads” ability can attempt to call more Urkin to his side, adding to the Dickensians numbers. He is also clever enough to know when not to fight and may “Bow Out” of Close Combat without needing to test. His special Harness is somehow linked to The Engine and has a mind of its own to some extent. It defends Feygin even when he doesn’t see the attack coming and hence the old reprobate cannot be flanked or outnumbered in Close Combat!
Nancy
Personality: Nancy is evil, pure and simple. Once a kind a caring woman she was transformed during “The Twisting” and the effects were not only physical.
She is now concerned only with gaining power and controlling The Engine node is her doorway into a world of unimagined dominion over the physical world which treated her so poorly before she became what she is today.
Nancy delights in pain and suffering with little or no thought given to those under her “tender mercies”. She finds the process of creating Urkin fascinating and constantly experiments to create ever more powerful and psychopathic servants.
Through her research she has gained a great deal of knowledge of the arts of Alchemancy and is a force to be feared should she be set against you.
She currently obeys Bill Psyches but only until such time as she feels she no longer has a use for his more visceral kind of power. When she attains the power she so desires it may end very poorly for her current allies indeed.
In Game: Nancy is one of the most powerful Alchemancers in Twisted. Her Combat statistics are average but her Armour is quite low so if she finds herself locked in Close Combat or under serious fire at a distance she may well come off second best.
She has access to all four Schools of Alchemancy and an Alchemancy bonus of 7 so most Invocations are no problem for her and she can take an impressive 11 Power of Invocations giving her great flexibility!
She carries a brace of small throwing knives as her ranged weapons. These won’t do much to heavily armoured foes but she has plenty of other, more damaging, options in her Alchemantic arsenal. She also uses a long, bladed “Whip Shawl” in Close Combat and, if she rolls well on her attacks she can entangle her opponent.
On the Special Ability front she is “Disturbing”, an aura that unsettles her opponents, making Close Combat attacks against her more difficult and disrupts enemy Alchemancers who may be nearby.
Her studies of The Engine node make her an “Engine Mistress” which allows her to redraw any Tempt Fate Card she draws. Nancy delights in pain and has worked out many ways to maximise the agony her blades cause. Her “Murderous” ability causes extra damage on a Critical Hit in addition to the usual halving of a foe’s Armour as she drives her blades in more deeply with a bloodthirsty grin...
Urkin Dragoon
Personality: Whilst most Urkin are maniacs who lack much in the way of intelligence but have plenty of low cunning this is not true of all of them. Some retain a good measure of their intellect and are suited to the more difficult tasks that require a measure of independent action and thought.
The Urkin Dragoon is an example of one of these lads. He retains his love for the soldiery of England and has modeled his equipment on that of the Dragoons he so loved to watch ride by before Nancy changed him.
Urkin of this type are given tasks that will require them to act independently and make their own decisions. They act as messengers and runners for Bill, often carrying his threats to those above his sewer lair or controlling other Urkin on somewhat ‘delicate’ tasks.
These Urkin are also Feygin’s favoured lads as they remind him of the old days and the old man can often be found in the company of one or two of them.
In Game: The Urkin Dragoon is quite fast for an Urkin. He is capable of nipping around the table and positioning himself to flank and outnumber your foes. His statistics are better than a regular Urkin Slasher, with whom he is most closely aligned, and he has more Wounds so staying power isn’t such an issue.
His sabre can inflict a nasty wound and he also carries a small pistol which increases his usefulness.
The Dragoon loses the “Lurk” and “Reinforce” abilities but has much more flexibility with ““Retreat” and “Assault”. “Retreat” allows him to leave Close Combat without a test and “Assault” gives him a free Ranged Attack if he charges into combat (albeit at a hefty penalty).
Urkin Slashers & Shooters
Personality: These demented little thugs are the mainstay of Bill’s stange army of twisted wee lads and lasses. The Slashers, as they are known, are the dullest and least intelligent of the Urkin, suited only to the simplest tasks and base street robbery.
The Shooters are slightly cleverer and more self aware. They can be entrusted, to some extent, with firearms!
Urkin delight in making their own weapons from scraps they find and the more strange and deadly they are the more value the Urkin hold them in. This does tend to result in weaponry of dubious quality however!
Urkin are numerous though and engaging one in a fight will likely draw many more of his skittering and shrieking friends to assist!
In Game: Possibly the cheapest models to field in Twisted the Urkin Slashers weigh in at 11 points each. Their statistics are, at best, average and they don’t have a lot of wounds to spare should they get attacked.
They have no ranged attack with the exception of a single grenade that they can lob at their foe. These grenades have a random effect when they explode from a squib that simply fails to go off to a mighty explosion worthy of a skilled Alchemancer! The do like things that go bang! They are just a bit rubbish at making them! Urkin Shooters are a touch more expensive at 14 points but they do carry a ranged weapon. This weapon is also a jury-rigged affair and can explode in their hands or perform beyond all expectations! It is short ranged however so they do need to close with their foes to fire. The Shooters can fight in Close Combat but they aren’t great at it. All Urkin share a couple of abilities that make them more useful!
They can, as an Action, choose to “Lurk” which makes them impossible to target at ranges greater than 3”. They also have the ability to “Reinforce” which means that when an Urkin is killed there is a 50% chance of him being replaced and a 1 in 6 chance of him being replaced by two Urkin! These nasty wee psychopaths have a habit of popping out of the sewers when their foes least expect it!
That's it for this update! Next up we'll take a closer look at The Servants of The Engine Starter Set and we'll see how they stack up against the sly Dickensians.
May 1 2016
Faction Box Review - The Servants of The Engine Starter
Before we get started on the review of the Box contents for The Servants of The Engine starter here's some housekeeping:
Pledge Manager update:
Thanks to all of you for being so patient while we wait for the Pledge Manager to be launched. We realise it is taking a lot longer than we originally indicated. This is because we are working with a third party (Pledge Manager, run by the team behind Kicktraq) in order to create the Twisted page, and it requires some new coding to be done. This is the cause of the delay, while we are waiting for this to be completed.
However, the good news is that this is not causing any delay to the actual production fulfilment for the Twisted Kickstarter, as Seb and I are moving along well with that side of things! Our resin caster (Valiant Enterprises) has been casting up a storm of all the figures we currently have sculpted, and our metal caster (Eureka Miniatures) has already made the first few production moulds for some of the metal miniatures to be included in the faction boxes. I have also been working hard on finalising missions for the rulebook, which are coming along very nicely! Plus Craig at CNC workshop has been his usually busy self, and we will have some more new terrain additions to reveal when the Pledge Manager does finally launch.
Anyway, thanks to everyone for being patient so far - we'll get there eventually!
Nouveau
Personality: Nominally the leader of the Servants of The Engine Nouveau has a direct connection to The Engine and it can perceive the world through a series of small lenses he wears. He has little regard for those he leads and views them as truly Servants of The Engine to be used as he sees fit.
He is not beyond putting their lives in danger if it furthers The Engine’s desires and, whilst not wasteful of those that serve under him he does pay their safety scant regard.
This leads him into conflict with some members of The Servants of The Engine, most notably Gretel who’s strong instincts for independence and self-preservation rankle him greatly.
In Game: Nouveau is a good all-rounder. His combat statistics are good and he is reasonably quick to move around the tabletop. He also has a decent Alchemantic ability and, whilst his access to Elements is a little limited he can call some fairly powerful Invocations. His armour score is also rather good at 7 and this can see him sustain some quite nasty hits before succumbing to injury.
He carries a wicked Sabre that can do significant damage in Close Combat and his “Controller” Riot Pistol is accurate up to quite a long range. It can also fire both barrels at once as “Dual Fire” attack that does 2 lots of damage on a single attack roll however this does come with extra penalties to hit and cannot be done more than once a turn.
His status as “Servant of The Engine” allows him to take two Cards if he chooses to Tempt Fate and he may choose which to keep. In addition a Company he is part of may draw a third Eye of The Engine card if they hold priority however this third card must be taken.
He is also blessed with “Supernatural Speed” that allows him to reroll failed Defence checks against Ranged Attacks and he may also reroll failed Finesse checks to avoid area effects. His “Servant’s Step” ability allows him to spend an Action in Close Combat to move to any free position around his opponent – very useful for outflanking unwary foes!
Tesla
Personality: A brilliant scientist, Tesla was instrumental in the development of the Gentlefolk by the Reichenbach Stahlwerk Co.
He has an overarching curiosity and love of all things technical, some suggest that this verges on madness as very often his devices are beautiful, brilliant and deadly all at the same time. He views the world through a prism of a deep desire to understand how everything works and he has a strong desire to find out more about The Engine and learn it’s secrets. This is not from a sense of wishing to control The Engine but rather harness it’s power to better perfect his craft.
His relations with the rest of The Servants of The Engine could be characterised through more a curiosity to see how events will unfold rather than a deeper sense of loyalty. By no means a heartless man – Tesla cares deeply about those he likes but his insatiable desire to learn more about The Engine can often lead them into some risky scrapes indeed.
In Game: Tesla’s statistics are solid. He’s not a Close Combat monster in his regular state but his Finesse is a very respectable 6 and his Armour of 8 (thanks to his powered suit “Edison”) is really quite impressive. He can increase his statistics by “Overcharging” Edison but this comes with its own set of risks. It increases his Speed, Strength and Close Combat Attacks but reduces his Finesse and Defence scores.
In addition if Tesla rolls a 1 at any time whilst Overcharged Edison will being to Overload! This causes it to give off bolts of electricity that harm anyone nearby and, if the suit is not shut down (by an ally hitting the emergency stop button on Tesla’s back) it explodes and that is very bad for anyone nearby, especially Tesla himself!
He carries a “Plasma Staff” which can be used in both Ranged and Close Combat. He also carries a batch of Grenades of his own design, especially designed to make impressive and rather damaging explosions!
His “Curious Tinkerer” ability allows him to re-roll failed Finesse checks when interacting with items and it also allows him to heal damage on Gentlefolk, something Alchemantic Healing won’t do.
Telsa if often accompanied by a small flock of his own cunningly designed robotic “Interfering Pigeons” and these small birds have a tendency to flap about him and become a distraction for his opponents when they try to land a blow.
Nightingale
Personality: Nightingale is a consummate healer, both kind and gentle. She tries her best to avoid harming others but when her friends are threatened she is willing to get involved in a fight to help them out.
She views the world very differently to Nouveau and sees The Engine as a force for good, a source of power that carefully harnessed could even undo the ruinous changes that have been wrought over the hapless Urkin!
She sees the thrall that The Engine and Nouveau have over Launcelot and knows that the carnage he commits when controlled by them is slowly driving the honourable knight to the edge of madness. She works quietly to figure out a way to break this control and restore to Launcelot the free will to do what he sees as right. She trusts that this aligns with the overall goals of The Engine but that remains to be seen…
In game: Nightingale is not a Combat oriented Character. She can fight but her best statistics are her Defence and Alchemancy scores. She is reasonably fast but lightly armoured and will suffer badly if engaged in any prolonged melee or firefight.
Her Alchemancy score is a solid 6 and she has access to all Elements bar Fire. Her primary access is to Water and Air so she can heal and allow your other Characters to move around the board more quickly.
She carries a Surgical Knife which whilst not terribly damaging has the property of being able to slip between the armoured areas of a foe if they fail to Defend themselves well, adding to its lethality. Her Ladies Pistol has a reasonable range but again does a bit less damage than the larger, heftier weapons carried by her companions.
As an “Elemental Healer” Nightingale can exchange any Elemental Essence for any other in order to call an Invocation that heals so her usefulness in keeping your Company fighting cannot be underestimated. She also carries her famous lamp and with her “Lamplight” ability she can dazzle nearby foes or help her companions target enemies concealed by smoke or other non-physical obstructions to Ranged line of sight. Finally, and not least, her wings give her the ability to “Flit” twice a game which allows her to take a double move as a single action over intervening objects or Characters and even fly up to the rooftops to a place of safety from where she can work her Alchemancy, away from the “attentions” of her foes.
Gentlefolk
First developed by the Reichenbach Stahlwerk Co. of Prussia the “Selbstgesteuerter Dampfdiener” or Self Controlled Steam Servant was first sold to the public at the great Steam Expo in Hammersmith.
Initially the Steam Servants were simply robots who were built to serve a purpose - more animated machines than anything else.
The Engine, discerning that some scholars had found references to its nodes, decided that these new machines would make an excellent force with which to defend itself. It was concerned that if humanity could control the nodes it would begin to lose its control over the world and, to The Engine, control is everything!
The Engine’s first action was to use its powers to influence Tesla. Giving the already brilliant man incredible insights into the secrets of steam technology. The Engine gave its new servant the task of improving the design of the machines to a point where they became useful servants.
Tesla set to work and within a year the simple, lumpen machines had become elegant works of art, mirroring the human form but unique and built to suit their purpose perfectly.
First adopted by the rich and powerful as household servants and a means to show their copious wealth and avoid the rather tedious matter of dealing with actual human staff, the “Gentlefolk” as they came to be called in England, were soon adopted by industry and the military where they truly began to prove their worth as a tireless and fearless force of workers.
Some Gentlefolk simply human shaped automatons whilst others sport specially designed parts to carry out their tasks with great efficiency. Some have elongated legs, some centaur like forms and some are stocky and squat with great steam driven muscles that have many times the power of a human being. They are as varied as the tasks which they are required to perform. A perfect example of form following function.
Humans are still employed in many areas that Gentlefolk work but there are entire companies of miners and whole regiments of troops made up of the steam powered automatons.
The first generation of Gentlefolk were little more than pre programmed machines, suited only to a dozen or so relatively simple tasks. The newer models are fully capable of learning and to some extent reasoning, better able to respond to their masters wishes and more able to operate independently.
This increase in independence has lead to some interesting and unexpected quandaries. In some cases the Gentlefolk have developed enough independence to actually leave their employment and strike out on their own. This is rare but not so uncommon that in some areas of London you’ll see the elaborate steel constructs selling flowers on street corners or working as labourers. There are even instances of Gentlefolk becoming higwaymen or robbers to make their living.
These “free” Gentlefolk are arrested and reprogrammed when they can be caught but the strength and speed of even the cheapest models makes this a difficult task for the Peelers.
Most Gentlefolk are adorned with items of normal clothing that make their owners feel more at ease with them. This is usually a simple hat, scarf or other clothing associated with their trade, sometimes the livery of a butler or other servant.
The “Free” gentlefolk tend to wear more human clothing to help conceal their true nature but remain fiercely proud of their steel heritage will always allow some of their mechanical bodies to show.
In the 25 years since they were first developed the Gentlefolk are now a common sight throughout England and Europe. They work in all manner of tasks and their presence in almost any situation raises barely an eyebrow these days.
Since the discovery of the Engine nodes there has been a great rise in the number of Gentlefolk “going rogue” as the Engine’s plan comes to fruition and it takes control of ever increasing numbers of them.
The Engine, knowing it has been discovered, has called it’s Servants but the creation of these heroes has put a great burden on it’s resources. This would normally not be a problem but the rise, worldwide, of groups seeking to uncover and control the Nodes has meant The Engine now needs an army to defend itself. A few champions, no matter how powerful, just won’t keep the never ending tide of those who seek it’s secrets at bay.
The Gentlefolk, developed under Tesla, proved to be just what The Engine desired. A band of fearless and tough servants who will unquestioningly do its bidding.
Controlling the Gentlefolk is much less of a drain than calling and keeping a human champion in line.
The Gentlefolk, however, cannot be healed by normal means, Even most Alchemantic Invocations won’t heal them. Tesla, however, has a special affinity for his creations and is able to repair even the most badly damaged ones given time.
Where ever a challenger appears to be closing on a Node The Engine will take control of a number of the automata nearby and bring a Servant or two to defend itself.
Mechanical: All Gentlefolk are “Mechanical”. This means that they are unable to be healed by Alchemantic Invocations. If damaged they need to be repaired. This is a Finesse Check by another Character against a target number based on the level of Damage. Tesla is by far the best at this and has a substantial bonus to his chances of success.
Gentlefolk Highwaywoman
The highwaywoman is an example of one of the “Free” Gentlefolk. She was once a servant in a grand country manor. When the house was destroyed in a fire she survived and, purloining a brace of pistols from the ruins took to the roads and highways of England, robbing to survive.
In Game: The Highwaywoman is reasonably fast moving with a speed of 5 and quite a good shot. She is a little less powerful in Close Combat but she can hold her own unless her opponent is rather skilled. Her Finesse is also solid at 4 so she can avoid area effects and jump rather well.
She has a pair of very well crafted dueling pistols which allow her to make accurate ranged attacks using her “Aim” ability should she not move in her Activation. She also has the ability “Stand and Deliver” that allows her to make a single Ranged Attack, albeit with a penalty, in her opponent's turn should she be charged or engaged in Close Combat from within her line of sight.
She is also “Shifty” and this allows her to leave Close Combat without an opposed check should she not be the only Character from her Company engaged in the melee.
Gentlefolk Blackmsith
The Blacksmith is an example of one of the more specialised Gentlefolk. He is built with one purpose – to hammer steel all day long without tiring! He carries his own furnace and this model of Gentlefolk is found in many foundries and smaller ironworking establishments throughout London.
In Game: The blacksmith is rather slow in terms of movement. He lumbers around the tabletop attempting to bring his great strength to bear in Close Combat which is his forte.
His Strength of 5, combined with the high basic damage of his hammer makes him a threat to even the most heavily armoured foe! His own armour is a respectable 6 and he has a good number of wounds so he can fight on for quite some time. His Finesse and Defence scores are on the low side however so he can find himself in some trouble if caught in a fusillade of gunfire or attacked by a skilled Alchemancer.
The Blacksmith has the ability “Knockback” which represents his heavy blow sending his opponent flying if he does sufficient damage.
He can also emit “Smoke” to cover himself and others from ranged attacks but adding a few oily rags into his furnace. His only ranged attack is to reach into his burning belly and fling hot coals at his foes. These don't do a great deal of damage and have a short range but they do bypass armour so their usefulness cannot be underestimated.
The immense power of the Blacksmith's blows can be used to “Shatter” objects on the tabletop giving him a bonus to open doors or barrels and allowing him to easily ruin objectives that take damage to destroy.
Gentlefolk Lancer
This fellow is a military model of the Gentlefolk. There are entire regiments of Gentlefolk cavalry and soldiers and The Engine finds them particularly useful additions to it's fighting forces. Their uniforms are usually reminiscent of their human equivalents but on occasion they are enamelled in their unit colours. Often the military Gentlefolk have heavy leather covers that are used to protect them from the elements whilst on the march.
In Game: The Lancer, as one would expect, is a very fast moving Character. He is not terribly strong but makes up for this with his “Run Through” and “Thundering Charge” abilities which add to his damage when he charges and can render opponents prone as he moves through them!
He carries a pistol which is very useful although not terribly accurate at long ranges. His primary weapon is his long lance which gives him the “Reach” ability allowing him to attack in Close Combat from a base width away from his target without actually locking himself into the fight. This means he can become a kind of 'second rank' in a fight if one of your other Characters is involved!
The next update - coming soon - will focus in the Servants of The Engine Expansion.
Thanks for all the updates Alpharius. I cant decide if I want an Ollyver or a gentlefolk blacksmith for my Vostroyans to proxy as a Nork Deddog. And those buildings looks awesome, with so much personality.
May 6 2016
Gentlefolk Lancer sculpting WIPs - almost finished!
Hi everyone,
It's been a while since we showed the first WIP pics of the Gentlefolk Lancer, so here are some more stages in the progress series.
This miniature is being sculpted by me (Sebastian), and here we can see stages 2 - 7 of the sculpting process. I thought it might be interesting to show you a series of photos taken from the same angle, so you can easily see how the sculpting develops at each stage.
My method of sculpting is to create the general form all over the miniature, then gradually refine each area in stages, before finalising the fine detail work at the end of the process. The missing parts - the spear/lance, gun and tail - would get in the way if attached earlier, so they are sculpted separately and aren't added until near the end of the sculpting (you can see them roughly tacked in place in the last WIP photo)
The primary sculpting material being used is Super Sculpey Firm, mixed with BeeSPutty Plastic (both grey oven-bake polymer clays). The more bone-coloured parts have been mixed with Tamiya Quick Type, a two-part epoxy putty. Sometimes it is easier to use epoxy putty for certain details so that they harden quickly, while the clay around them remains 'wet' until baked.
Photos of the finished miniature will be coming soon!
p.s. Thanks again to everyone for being so patient while we wait for the Pledge Manager coding to be finalised. We'll be sure to let you all know as soon as it's ready - and we'll have some nice new terrain to debut, too!
Faction Box Review - The Servants of The Engine Expansion
Hi all,
In this second update we will cover the characters who make up the Servants of The Engine Expansion set.
Firstly though there is a wee bit of housekeeping to get through:
Pledge Manager: We aren't far off now! We are down to the last few tweaks and we do hope to launch it very soon. We are just wanting to ensure it is easy for you all to work with as our Kickstarter has a large number of options so we felt it better to get it right rather than do it quickly and have it harder to work with.
We thank you for your patience! We also wish to say again that the delay with the pledge manager has no bearing on the progress of the project - a lot is happening behind the scenes!
What else is happening?: At the moment we have Mitchell Nolte working away at the art for the box set sleeves - it's looking awesome (I'll show you some of the illustrations soon!). Lily McDonnell is working away on a shiny new Logo for Twisted too, giving our current one a bit of spit and polish.
We also have the talented Owen Aurelio working on the concept for the Gentlefolk Miner whilst Nicolas Amoroso is doing some work that will remain secret for the moment!
On the sculpting front Sebastian has finished the Gentlefolk Lancer and we'll show him off once we have good photos taken. He has now moved on to the Guardians of Set from the Egyptian sets. We also have the Gentlefolk Sailor and the couple of remaining Urkin being done.
We have the masters for Set and the Bloodrage Alchemancer from Stephane in hand now too and, if I do say so myself, they are fantastic. The photos we have don't do them justice! They will soon go off for mastering with Valiant in the USA.
Nic at Eureka has completed a bunch of production moulds and metal models will soon be pouring out of his forge and we will begin packing them in anticipation of getting the box sets ready to ship to you all.
Now on with the Faction Set update as promised.
First up though here is some information I probably should have covered last time!
The Servants Faction Play Style:
The Servants tend to be a fairly elite Faction.
By and large their Characters are more expensive than the Dickensians and the Gentlefolk that make up the ‘grunts’ of the Servants Companies are around twice as expensive in points as the Urkin.
This means that, in general, The Servants of The Engine will be outnumbered but certainly not outgunned! Careful play in the early stages of the game will be important to ensure you can whittle down the weaker Dickensians before driving home your advantage in skills and power at the point of a well honed blade! Both the starter and the Expansion are fairly good Companies for games of Twisted.
The Starter is possibly more defensive in nature and some care will have to be taken to keep Nightingale safe but the Lancer and Blacksmith can take the brunt of the Close Combat for you.
The Expansion suits a more aggressive play style with the mighty Launcelot backed up by the Alchemantic powerhouse that is M’Dusa. The Sailor is no slouch in ranged combat whilst the Flower seller can be a very nasty (and bloody) surprise for your opponent!
Launcelot:
Personality: Launcelot is The Engine’s greatest weapon. His skills in combat are unmatched and he is capable of taking on, and defeating, even the most worth fighters in all of London. As one might expect he is brave and honourable, at least when he is in control of himself...
Carried on Launcelot’s hip is a device known as “The List”. This is a direct link to The Engine, given to him by Nouveau who was fully aware of it’s real purpose.
The List can take control of Launcelot and direct his actions to some extent. When a name prints out of the device there is nothing that will stand in Launcelot’s way in killing the so named person. Even innocent bystanders who are seen to interfere will be slaughtered mercilessly, no act is beyond Launcelot when he is under the thrall of The List!
He remains aware of his actions but cannot stop himself. This is slowly driving him closer to madness as his essentially honorable nature wrestles with the despicable acts his is sometimes forced to perform.
He knows that Bill Psyches and the Dickensians must be stopped from getting more control of The Engine’s node but he desperately wishes that he could be free to tackle the task his way.
In Game: Launcelot is possibly one of the best all round fighters in Twisted. At 49 points he is an expensive Character to field but with a +7 bonus to attack in Close Combat and +6 in Ranged Combat he is worth every point! His Strength of 6 along with his wickedly sharp sword means he can deal large amounts of damage quickly, in addition it can cause his opponent to “Bleed” which means when they have a chance of taking further damage each maintenance phase with every wounding hit.
Defensively he has 10 armour so he can also withstand almost the strongest of blows before taking any harm. His Close Combat defence is a respectable 5 but he can he at risk from ranged attacks and his movement is average so care must be taken not to leave him exposed.
In addition he carries a great rifle known as “The Lance”. This long ranged weapon has the ability to target a point on the table rather than an enemy Character. Any Character, friend or foe, between Launcelot and this point has a chance of being wounded as the great, rocket powered, shell whizzes across the tabletop!
On the special abilities front The List is represented by the “By The Engine’s Will” ability. This gives Launcelot a +2 bonus on all attacks against an opposing Character who is nominated randomly at the start of the game. For some reason The Engine wants that Character dead and it is Launcelot’s job to see it done!
He also has the ability “Determined” that allows him to make and additional free attack against any Character in contact with him should he reduce any other Character he is in Close combat with to 0 wounds.
His final ability is “Challenge” which, if successful, forces an opposing Character to move towards Launcelot and ensures that Launcelot may only attack that foe until he or she is dead.
Gretel:
Personality: Gretel is a fiercely independent woman. She has been summoned to aid The Servants but does so in her own way. She is accompanied at all times by Hansel - a small monkey she named in honour of her brother who was killed by a rogue Alchemancer some years ago.
She holds great disdain for Alchemancers, considering them dangerous and untrustworthy in general. She carries with her several wands that she has taken from Alchemancers she has defeated, all of whom were fond of the more distasteful kind of “experimentation” that is sometimes carried out.
This kind of work required her to become an expert shot and an agile and skillful rogue. She was lucky enough to find a pair of gauntlets in the abode of one “Ezrail Willis” an Alchemancer with a penchant for animating corpses, particularly those of children. This pair of linked arm coverings has allowed her to link her movements with those of Hansel, increasing her ability to break in anywhere due to the agility of her pet.
She distrusts and dislikes Nouveau. She knows he is truly a Servant of The Engine and is aware that all the other Servants are viewed by him as mere pawns. This is not something she will tolerate lightly. She will follow his commands as long as his goals align with hers. Currently she has a great desire to see the foul work Nancy is engaged in ended and this must, for the moment, override her distaste for Nouveau...
In Game: Gretel is fast and agile with a Speed of 6 and Finesse of an impressive 7. This is backed up by her “Nimble” ability which means she can re-roll failed Finesse checks to avoid area affects and gains an extra +1 to her Defence against ranged attacks for cover.
Her attack statistics are fairly solid with an emphasis on ranged combat. Her Dueling Pistol has a good range and the damage is also rather good.
Her Close Combat weapon is her gauntlet “The Hand of Hansel” with which she can inflict a solid blow. This wondrous item also allows her a couple of other abilities.
The first of these is “Thrust” which can push an opponent away from Gretel. This is very useful for avoiding Close Combat or for shoving foes off ledges and balconies!
Secondly she has “Linked Finesse” with Hansel and this means she can interact with objects up to 6” from her, sending the small monkey scuttling away to pick locks and open crates using her own movements and Finesse.
She is also a skilled “Witch Hunter” which means she is +2 on all attacks against Characters with some Alchemantic Ability. In addition any damage she causes drains some Elemental Essences from her foe.
Finally she carries with her a small brace of “Wands” she has taken from the Alchemancers she has defeated. At the start of a game of Twisted 3 random Alchemantic Invocation cards are drawn and Gretel may use each of these only once per game.
M’Dusa:
Personality: M’Dusa is a very powerful Alchemancer. She is proud and elegant with a strong sense of justice. Curiously, and as many do not realise, M’Dusa is not a humanoid at all.
M’Dusa herself is a construct of indeterminate origin. The body of M’Dusa is the cowl form that rests over the head of her current host body, linked by spinal and cranial probes.
The cowl also holds a pair of “Seeker Snakes” that are normally curled inside it but can emerge and move independently of M’Dusa.
Her preference of host is normally those that do not deserve an independent life. Murderers and street thugs that would otherwise make the life of the good people of London a misery.
Regardless of the real phyisical appearance of the host M’dusa always chooses to appear as a beautiful and poised woman clad in fine, if somewhat unusual garb. This is perhaps a reference to the origins of M’Dusa but none can say for sure.
M’Dusa, much like Nightingale, would like to see Launcelot freed from The List but has a different motivation. M’Dusa believes the knight would be more effective if given free reign and she believes that Nouveau is being wasteful of this great and powerful resource.
She wishes to see Bill Psyches brought down and the balance of The Engine restored so a modicum of peace might once again be brought to the streets of London.
In Game: M’Dusa is an Alchemantic powerhouse, rivaled only by Nancy. She is reasonably fast with a Speed of 5 however her Strength and Close Combat statistics are average. She is quite a good shot with “The Serpent”, her crossbow and this is coupled with the "Deadeye” ability which reduces the penalty for firing safely into Close Combat where an ally is involved.
Her “Seeker Snakes” in her cowl can be sent out independently and she may use them as channels for her Alchemancy, calculating the range and line of sight from their position rather than hers.
The Seekers also form her close combat attack and although the damage they do is not great their venom can weaken a foe.
The myriad of small snakes on her cowl keep a watch for her and this “Awareness” means she may not be flanked in Close Combat, nor is there a bonus for attacking her from the rear.
When M’Dusa reaches the Wounded state her statics change, representing her host body being killed. If she then manages to have an opponent reduced to 0 wounds in a melee in which she is involved she may possess the new body, healing herself and becoming fully effective again. She may not be healed in any other manner whilst in this state however but normal Alchemantic healing is effective as long as she is not in the Wounded state.
Gentlefolk:
As noted in the last update The Engine uses Gentlefolk, semi sentient automatons as it’s expendable fighting force. This set contains four of them. As previously mentioned they all share the Mechanical property that means they cannot be healed by normal Alchemantic Invocations but rely on Finesse checks from their allies to repair them.
Gentlefolk Sailor
Personality: Another example of a military model Gentlefolk the sailor is a model used widely by the Royal Navy to bolster its ranks. Rather than send press gangs out into the inns and taverns of the docks it’s simpler and more efficient to simply build the crew one needs to keep Britain’s great navy running.
This particular example has been fitted with a cannon and is what is known by the human sailors with whom he serves as a ‘deck clearer’.
In Game: The Sailor is quite slow. These Gentlefolk aren’t designed for speed as they are meant to serve in the close confines of naval vessels.
His combat statistics are solid but not awesome. He can hold his own in Close Combat but should not be left unattended against a skilled foe. His cutlass can cause quite it bit of damage to lightly armoured enemies though!
His primary use is as a mobile firebase for your Company where he can bring the great cannon he carries to bear, wreaking havoc amongst your enemies.
The Cannon can fire two types of shot, shell and cannister. Shell has a better range and explodes at the end of its flight. This makes it quite deadly against tightly packed foes. Cannister uses a template and requires no roll to hit but is is very short ranged - perfect for clearing alleys however! The cannon is, however, a slow weapon and this means it may only fire once a turn.
The Sailor also has an ability called “Arr me hearties” which allows him to make a special consolidation move in addition to his normal movement. When using this ability he must end up closer to his allies than when he started.
Gentlefolk Gamekeeper
Personality: These types of Gentlefolk are purchased and kept primarily by the landed gentry and the ownership of one of the better models is a badge of prestige!
They are designed to be fast and agile to keep up with game and poachers!
In Game: The Gamekeeper has a good Speed of 5 as befits his hunting tasks. The rest of his statistics are solid making him a reliable addition to your Company.
His primary weapon is a large shotgun that uses a blast template when firing. This means he need not roll to hit when close enough to his opponents. He can use his “Ammunition” ability to swap out the Bird Shot for Deer Slugs which gives him much greater range but does require the usual rolls to hit.
He also has an ability called “Run ‘Em Down” which allows him to make an extra 2” move if this will put his shotgun in range of an opponent.
His most interesting ability is “Trapsetter” which allows him to lay traps as an Action which are then triggered if an opponent gets too close. The type of trap is random and is generated when the trap is triggered. This is very useful for controlling the movements of your opponent and protecting objectives!
Gentlefolk Flower Seller
Personality: Much like the Highway woman this character is an example of a “free” Gentlefolk. In this case she has escaped her servitude and now makes a living selling flowers on the streets of London.
This is not without risk and the sharp blades, no doubt part of her previous task perhaps in a wool mill or leather tannery, serve her well in both cutting flowers and defending herself on the sometimes dangerous byways of the less salubrious areas of her patch.
In Game: The Flowerseller is exclusively a Close Combat focused character. She has no ranged attacks whatsoever! She makes up for this with a better than average Close Combat attack statistic and some really handy close combat abilities.
Firstly her Pruning Blades (the ones on her arm) are Razor Sharp and will score a Critical hit on a 19 0r a 20 rather than just a 20. The upper blades known as Scorpion Shears allow her to make an immediate attack, albeit at a penalty, against any foe who attacks her from the rear.
Having the two sets of blades also gives her the "Multi Strike" ability which means she gets two Close Combat attacks per round and can choose to attack two different foes or she can direct both attacks at a single opponent.
She is also adept at blending into a crowd and has the "Inconspicuous" ability. This means she may not be targeted with a ranged attack unless her opponent wins an opposed Finesse check to spot that she is not what she seems. She can spend an Action to give herself a +4 bonus on this check until her next Activation.
Once she is engaged in Close Combat her opponents quickly realise how deadly she is however and can target her normally.
Gentlefolk Teacher
Personality: In some of Britain’s better schools Gentlefolk are employed as staff, both janitorial and teaching. The Teacher is an example of one such automaton.
Renowned for their adherence to rules and encyclopedic knowledge they are valued additions to any good school and are among the most expensive Gentlefolk to purchase so only the very finest institutions can afford them,
In Game: The Teacher is an interesting Character to run. Her combat statistics are only average but she is very tough and hard wearing as befits a Gentlefolk that had to face up to the “attentions” of unruly schoolboys.
Her primary close combat weapon is her Switch which whilst not terribly damaging has a chance to stun her foe with it’s whip like pain. In terms of ranged attacks she carries a number of darts taken from children who most certainly “should know better” but can be put to good use at reasonably close range.
Her abilities are more about weakening your foes resolve rather than damaging anyone. "Stop it you naughty boy!" means that any Character wishing to attack her mist first pass a Finesse Check based on her current Life total
Her "Stern" ability gives her the ability to shrug off some wounds if she can make a check against the damage dealt, increasing her longevity and making her a real roadblock in some circumstances.
She can also "Lecture" her foes which means that her foe is cowed and may not act in their activation as she gives them a “jolly good telling off” if they fail an opposed check against her.
As you can see she is an unusual Character for a wargame in that she really doesn’t have much of a combat role but is more a foil for you to use to blunt your opponent’s plans.
That's it for now - next up I'll go through the Characters included in the Egyptian Starter set!
Cheers
Pete
Good stuff in there, and really looking forward to more info on the Egyptians next time around...
Stephane is working on the Gentlefolk Sailor for us. I mistakenly said he'd shipped the Set and Bloodrage Alchemancer to us when in fact that was Valentin Zak!
May 28 2016
Egyptian Desert Guardians sculpting WIPs - making good progress!
Hi Everyone,
First up: we are very close to launching the Pledge Manager, the extra coding is all complete so all we need to do are the final checks to make sure it's working properly before we go live. Stay tuned for news and we'll make sure we explain everything clearly when it's time to launch! Thanks again to all of you for being so patient.
While we've been waiting, you'll be pleased to hear that Sebastian has been keeping busy by making a strong start on sculpting the Egyptians! Here are some WIP photos of the first two Desert Guardians of Set, which come in the Egyptian Starter and Expansion faction boxes.
In these photos the sculpts are about 75% complete: the main things remaining are the weapons, some extra detailing, and of course the 'Set helmets/masks' that are the iconic and most characterful part of these Desert Guardian concepts. It looks like Sebastian has made a really great start on these first Egyptians, and he's been having a lot of fun working on them!
As usual, Sebastian has been using a mix of Super Sculpey Firm and BeeSPutty Plastic (firm) polymer clays for the sculpting, along with Tamiya Quick Type epoxy putty for some detail parts (the bone-coloured bits). For those of you who are new to miniatures, these figures are sculpted by hand at 1:1 scale, so the sculpted originals are 32mm sized, the same as the final production retail casts.
Jun 2 2016
Faction Box Review: The Egyptians Starter
Hi all,
In this update I will be giving you an idea of how the Egyptians will play. Please bear in mind these guys are still in development at this stage so some of the abilities might change and some new ones might be added.You will also find much more developed backstories in the final rules when published.
This should, however, give you an idea as to how we are thinking and I’m fairly certain that although the specifics might change a wee bit the general feel of the Faction won’t.
Basic Faction information:
The activation of the London Node by Feygin caused all the other Nodes in the world to spring to life as The Engine became wary of further interlopers.
The strange effects of the Node in Egypt, beneath the ancient temples of Sepermeru, piqued Carter’s curiosity and, after months of investigation and digging he, and his force of local workers uncovered the central Node Chamber.
This cavernous space was filled with devotional canopic jars, placed there thousands of years earlier surrounding the strange golden plinth that forms the Node. As Carter and his team worked the jars, having become partly sentient due to their proximity to the Node for an extended period began to work their influence.
One by one the Carter and his companions were overcome with a desire to possess one of these jars and, upon picking a jar up each of them became bonded with the memories and influence of the ancient Egyptian who’s remains the jar contained.
The Engine, perceiving this unexpected turn of events called forth the Avatar of Set to kill Carter and his team however the Archaeologist, well schooled in Ancient Egyptian rites and, to no small measure, Alchemancy was able to first hold the Avatar at bay. His bonded canopic jar, the remains of a High Priest, then sprung to life and allowed him to dominate it, bending it to his will for the moment.
The Engine’s plans had gone awry.
The local workers now regard both Carter and Set as deities and have formed a cult, the Guardians of Set, to defend them and carry out their wishes.
Carters companions, each of them bonded with a canopic jar, also work to help him in his work but their methods and motivations vary as ancient rivalries, brought from the grave after thousands of years come to the fore.
Carter has now left Egypt on a Steamer bound for London to try and seize control of the revered “Starting Node” that is present in that great city. In the hold of the ship are his followers - London has not seen their like before and blood is sure to follow them...
Faction Play Style:
The Egyptians have some very hard hitters in their ranks - Set in particular. They do rely on some level of synergy between Characters to be truly successful though.
They won’t be as numerous as the Dickensians but will likely outnumber The Servants of The Engine slightly.
In general terms they will be “swift but squishy” so care will need to be taken not to engage very tough opponents lightly.
Canopic Jars: Most Characters in the Egyptian Faction have a bonded canopic Jar. These jars contain the essence of an ancient Egyptian. The Characters can try and access the essences in the jars to enhance their abilities during the game. The type of benefit is determined by the personality of the essence. For example a great warrior's essence might increase close combat attacks and that of a great strategist might increase close combat defence.
Activating these will be a test of some sort and things may not go well if the test is failed badly.
The Characters
Carter:
Personality: Carter is first and foremost an archaeologist. His thirst for knowledge is unquenchable and it is this very desire to seek the mysteries of the world that has lead him into the situation he now finds himself in.
He is not an evil man, just thoughtless and relentless in his pursuit of knowledge. He believes that whatever must be done to gain a greater understanding of the world is necessary and that the ends fully justify the means.
Little does he realise his domination of Set is not total and that the influence of this malign deity is slowly corrupting him...
In Game: Carter will likely be the Alchemantic mainstay of the Egyptians. He is intended to be quite powerful in this regard but will be reasonably weak should come under sustained attack.
His base statistics will be average but the canopic jar will be able to be used to enhance a couple of his statistics for a short while each game or add a special ability temporarily. This effect will be common to most, if not all of the Egyptian Characters.
He will have a decent ranged attack but his close combat ability will only be moderate.
Agatha:
Personality: Employed initially to record Carter’s exploits Agatha comes from a wealthy, although middle class, background.
Her father, a rising industrialist, sent her to the finest schools and it was there, amongst the truly rich and powerful that she developed her love of hunting.
On arriving in Egypt she purchased the finest elephant gun she could afford, which, with her payment from Carter and her father’s wealth was very fine indeed! The rise in social standing from being in association with a man such as Carter has given Agatha a taste for the good life and she intends to make the most of this opportunity.
During her time in Egypt she managed to bag nearly every type of big game available and the loud report of her gun is heard at both dusk and dawn as she roams the countryside, constantly searching for bigger and better trophies.
She now serves as Carter’s chief tactician as her bonded canopic jar contains the remains of a long dead Egyptian general. Her own intellect, combined with the brilliance of the general makes her a very useful addition to Carter’s entourage indeed.
In Game: Agatha will primarily be a ranged combat Character. Her elephant gun will be capable of causing great damage to even the most heavily armoured opponent.
In close combat she will likely be less impressive and she will be relatively slow and, as is common to most Egyptians, fairly lightly armoured.
She will be able to boost her defences using her canopic jar and will have some abilities to help the Egyptians control the pace of the battle.
Hercule
Personality: Hercule is a Gentlefolk automaton of Belgian manufacture. He was designed specially for Carter’s expedition as a kind of diary keeper and general servant. His programming allows him a good measure of independence and he has, over time, developed quite a pronounced personality of his own.
His powers of observation are unmatched as he has been built to notice the smallest detail that needs attention and he can often be seen attending to the upkeep of the expeditions equipment and generally keeping an eye on the local workforce.
When anything is misplaced Hercule can be guaranteed to locate it within moments and return it polished and immaculate to it’s owner.
He is usually seen in the company of Agatha for whom he has been a useful addition to her own record keeping and the two of them have developed a bond that, whilst sometimes fractious, is quite close.
They are sometimes heard to argue in the tongue of ancient Egypt and it entirely possible that the canopc jars they possess were rivals in a previous life. How this plays out in this world is uncertain...
In Game: Hercule is moderate in all respects in combat. He can fight and shoot (using his pistol) but it is not his forte.
He is best used as a “spotter” for Agatha and he can enhance her ability to hit a target by getting line of sight himself. When he is close to her he also allows her to change the ammunition in her gun as he carries a good selection of specialty rounds with him at all times.
He is also particularly useful in missions where something must be found or spotted as his powers of observation are quite astounding.
Houd of Set
Personality: Imagine a very ill tempered Hyena and you will pretty much be spot on for the Hounds of Set. Once dogs kept by Carter’s team these animals have been twisted by the power of the Node into fearsome and lithe hunting beasts.
They are used to run down foes and hunt out spies, their sense of smell and hearing is unmatched and their bite is both nasty and possibly tainted with the dust of ancient graves.
In Game: The Hounds are fast, very fast. They can whip across the tabletop bringing ruin to your opponents plans in moments.
Having said that they are not tough and won’t withstand a decent blow from a skilled opponent.
Their bite, whilst not terribly damaging, can cause a very nasty form of grave rot that drains life from those unfortunate enough not to be able to resist the infection.
They also have the ability to bring down foes in true hunting dog style and in a pack they can make a real mess of any Character unfortunate enough to be their target.
Having said this they are cowardly and are likely to retreat if their opponent puts up too much of a fight...
Guardians of Set
Personality: The Guardians of Set are the local workers and their families, drawn to the worship of both Carter and the Avatar. The now dress in garb that reflects the great deity’s appearance and they work tirelessly and fearlessly to achieve the goals they are given.
They wield a variety of weapons, some modern firearms and some more traditional weapons. They can be relied upon to take the fight to those who challenge their dual masters with all the fierce and fanatical energy they can muster.
In Game: The Guardians of Set are quite quick with a Speed of somewhere around 5. Their combat statistics are solid and, much like the Urkin there will be two profiles, one ranged and one more close combat focused.
In general terms their armour won’t be great and they will be somewhat limited in Life so, whilst they can cause a good deal of damage they won’t last long in a pitched battle so choosing where you fight will be important.
They too have canpoic jars but it is yet to be decided whether they will share a common bonus for the two profiles or a random table when they access the jar.
It is also possible that each miniature may have a different jar so, in effect, whilst the two profiles are standard the bonuses from the jars will, in effect, give you 6 different profiles.
I am working on this soon and will let you know what the decision is before too long!
In the next update I will cover the Egyptian Expansion set and, as this includes the awesome Avatar of Set you should find it interesting!
In the meantime here is a piece of art that the talented Mitchell Nolte has done for us that will form the front of the box set when it is produced!
He has really captured the bright light and heat of Egypt and the feel of the piece is really great. Mitchell has a wonderful impressionistic style that both Sebastian and I love so we are very pleased we have him on board to do the art for all the box set covers.
I can’t wait to see the final packaging once the headers and other bits are all in place.
I hope you enjoyed this update and stay tuned for the next one coming soon!
If you have any questions please ask away and I shall do my very best to answer.
Alpharius wrote: I'm guessing you haven't seen the Avatar of Set yet then?
And the female Indiana Jones homage?
There are some really nice ones in there!
That is true, The Avatar is nice and the She-diana Jones is solid, but the hound of Set looks goofy and I find most of the rest of the original starter set blah. The robot is odd looking and the main heroes are very blah. The line troopers could be excellent, though I'm not sure how.
Of course this is all my opinion, I love the Egyptian theme, I just wish they were executed differently.
Jun 14 2016
Faction Box Review: The Egyptians Expansion
Hi all,
Here is the next update on the Faction Box Sets. This one covers the Egyptian Expansion box with contains the awesome Avatar of Set!
This set is an interesting one in that it contains the diametrically opposed Characters in Horace and Set. Horace is the epitomy of a Character unsuited to Close Combat whereas Set is amongst the strongest and most damaging Characters available to date in Twisted.
First up a wee reminder about the Canopic Jars.
Canopic Jars: Most Characters in the Egyptian Faction have a bonded canopic Jar. These jars contain the essence of an ancient Egyptian. The Characters can try and access the essences in the jars to enhance their abilities during the game. The type of benefit is determined by the personality of the essence. For example a great warrior might increase close combat attacks and a great strategist might increase close combat defence.
This will be a test of some sort and things may not go well if the test is failed badly.
Horace de Havilland:
Personality: Horace is true British nobility. From a very wealthy and landed family he has been sent along with Carter to see the world and, his father hopes, to come back with a good deal more strength of character than he left with.
Indolent and spoiled, Horace likes nothing better than a good long lounge about with a fine brandy and an even finer “Lady of negotiable affection”. He has accompanied Carter under threats of being disinherited and the long journey has changed him though some might think not for the better.
The long steamer voyage found the surprisingly intelligent Horace cloistered with the volumes of Egyptian history and lore that Carter brought along. He also studied the volumes of Alchemantic treatises and picked up a measure of skill in that area too.
If anything his arrogance and overbearing personality grew as he became more skilled in manipulating the world around him. It reinforced his view that those beneath him were not his equals and in no way should they be treated as such.
On more than one occasion it was only in intervention of Carter that stopped the haughty and proud Horace being forceably ejected from the ship into the embrace of the Mediterranean by an angry sailor he has insulted.
Horace has bonded with the jar of an Egyptian Priest of Horus. This personality increased his Alchemantic powers to new heights but it also means he suffers from the ancient and deep enmity for Set that the Priest once held. Horace actively works to undermine Set’s works while at the same time supporting Carter who he realises is his best chance at survival and, more importantly, his ticket home to England where he can fully stretch his wings and show his father who is now the Lord of the manor...
In Game: Horace, as is common for the Egyptians is quite fast however his Close Combat Statistics are barely much better than that of an Urkin.
He is quite a skilled shot however and his “Hispano Long Pistol” is often put to good use. It has a good range and can deliver quite a punch. It doubles as his Close Combat weapon with a wickedly sharp blade slung under the long, finely crafted barrel.
Horace also owns a particularly fine mechanical hawk, purchased for a king’s ransom from a Persian dealer in mysterious antiquities. It is likely quite ancient, yet it appears as though it were manufactured only weeks ago.
He can use this to effectively initiate Close Combat from a distance, sending his Hawk to do the dangerous work whilst Horace stays safely out of harms way. Controlling the Hawk does take some concentration though so it rather limits the Actions Horace can take whilst it is engaging a foe.
Horace is a fairly good Alchemancer with a specialty in Air and Fire so he can lend support when needed, aiding those he feels worthy and weakening those who he feels are “lesser” men.
He is, however, quite cowardly and can’t be relied upon if things take a turn for the worse...
Indigo Ford:
Personality: Born in Africa, Indigo, spent her youth working amongst the local tribes and hunting with her father, learning the skills needed to survive in the harsh desert environments.
Carter employed the young woman when he found her engaged in a rather raucous bar fight in Cairo. He needed a skilled guide who could understood the “natives”, as Carter called them. Someone who could take care of the workforce whilst Carter concentrated on his research.
Indigo fit the bill perfectly.
She is a rough and tumble woman, equally at home in a seedy dive as she is in a steaming jungle or the terror of a desert storm. Almost preternaturally agile she has long ago learned that keeping on the move in a fight is important if one is to avoid swinging fists and, perhaps more importantly, knives.
The local workers quickly learned that trying to challenge Indigo’s orders quickly lead to a swift and painful boot to the nether regions followed by some strong Arabic Liquor to get the offender back on his feet. Indigo doesn’t hold a grudge - once a matter is dealt with it is over.
Always keen for a bit of adventure, especially when it paid as well as Carter was offering she has developed a keen eye for valuable antiquities and has amassed quite a collection of “ill gotten gains” to keep her quite comfortable for a good long while.
Indigo is intensely practical and it is under her watch that many of the over zealous excesses the Guardians of Set might engage in have been thwarted. She knows that her best interests are served by Carter’s continued success but there are ways to do that which do not cause undue chaos and more importantly bring unwanted attention. Having said that if someone needs shooting Indigo won’t hesitate...
Her Canopic jar contains the spirit of an extremely skilled female Charioteer and she can benefit from her agility and surefootedness in times of extreme need.
In Game: Indigo is quite skilled in both Close Combat and Ranged Combat. She can hold her own with the best fighters for a short time but, if trapped in prolonged combat with a heavily armoured foe she might suffer somewhat.
Her Finesse is very high - probably around 7 so she can leap about the table with some measure of surety and is quite likely to avoid the worst effects of template weapons unless she cannot get clear.
She carries a .50 calibre “Webley Culervin” revolver which is more than capable of punching through steel plate and flesh alike.
Her secondary weapon is a long whip with a wickedly sharp golden tip which she wields with great skill. This is generally used to get the attention of her workers rather than belabour them and Indigo is very skilled at using it to restrain rather than harm. It can be used to great effect to cause damage when she desires however.
Indigo has a few special abilities that are of note.
She can use her whip to swing from one building to another with great agility she also has the ability to avoid any traps or ensnarements she comes across.
She also has the “Lucky” ability that gives her a number of re-rolls per game which she can use as she sees fit.
Of most interest is her ability to try and ensnare the weapon hand of an opponent with her whip which not only gives them a penalty on Close Combat but allows her to take a free shot at them with her pistol!
The Avatar of Set:
Personality: The Avatar of Set is an ancient god incarnate. He is both evil and cunning.
Whilst he has been cowed somewhat by Carter he knows that his malign influence will soon take effect and, when the time is right, he will take control and the world will learn to fear him.
He wants the nodes for he knows truly what they represent and that to control them is to control the world. Once he has that control there will be nothing beyond him and a great darkness shall come.
For the moment he is content to bide his time. For a being as ancient as Set a year or two is but the blink of an eye...
In Game: Set is truly a powerhouse in Close Combat and is no slouch on the Alchemantic front either.
Speed wise he is slower than most of the Eqyptians but he can use bursts of “Supernatural Speed” to close rapidly with his foes when needed.
The Avatar of Set has plenty of Life and no Wounded state so he takes a lot of punishment before being banished.
He will be able to emit a “Howl of the Desert” that weakens the resolve of his opponents.
One thing to be aware of with the Avatar though is that he is at his most powerful when surrounded by worshippers. Should he be separated from his followers he begins to weaken so whilst he is the most powerful Character available to the Egyptians he does rather work against their greatest asset - their mobility.
Used carefully and wisely though he is likely to make your Company a very tough proposition for any foe.
Guardians of Set
These guys were covered in the last update but I will repeat this here for the sake of completeness.
Personality: The Guardians of Set are the local workers and their families, drawn to the worship of both Carter and the Avatar. The now dress in garb that reflects the great deity’s appearance and they work tirelessly and fearlessly to achieve the goals they are given.
They wield a variety of weapons, some modern firearms and some more traditional weapons. They can be relied upon to take the fight to those who challenge their dual masters with all the fierce and fanatical energy they can muster.
In Game: The Guardians of Set are quite quick with a Speed of somewhere around 5. Their combat statistics are solid and, much like the Urkin there will be two profiles, one ranged and one more close combat focused.
In general terms their armour won’t be great and they will be somewhat limited in Life so, whilst they can cause a good deal of damage they won’t last long in a pitched battle so choosing where you fight will be important.
They too have canpoic jars but it is yet to be decided whether they will share a common bonus for the two profiles or a random table when they access the jar.
It is also possible that each miniature may have a different jar so, in effect, whilst the two profiles are standard the bonuses from the jars will, in effect, give you 6 different profiles.
I am working on this soon and will let you know what the decision is before too long!
Here is the fantastic box art by Mitchell Nolte.
I particularly like Horace in this image but Mitchell has really managed to capture the dynamic feel of the Egyptians again!
There is but one Faction Box left to cover and that is the Guild of Harmony. I hope to be able to bring that to you soon but in the meantime it’s back onto the rules for me.
Everyone who backed the Twisted Kickstarter should now have received their email invitation to join the Pledge Manager (or you will receive it very soon!). Now it is time to select your rewards!
PLEDGE MANAGER
In the Twisted Pledge Manager you can also increase your pledge total to add more rewards, and update your shipping address details.
The Twisted Pledge Manager will be open for around 2 months. We will be sure to notify you well before it closes so that you can make any last minute additions to your rewards!
What if I don't see the email yet?
Check your spam folder. If you use Gmail, sometimes your invite will go to your "Promotions" tab. If you still can't find it, search your inbox for "PledgeManager".
If that doesn't work:
•1.Click - https://dementedgames.pledgemanager.com/projects/twisted-steampunk •2.Click "Request New Invite"
•3.Enter your email address (the one you pledged with)
•4.Wait at least 10 minutes - then go to your email, open the invite, and click the giant button to confirm all your goodies.
Shipping has now been added and will appear in your shopping cart in the Pledge Manager.
We want to be up-front about shipping costs, so we have included shipping automatically in your shopping cart rather than adding it at a later screen. We think this is a fairer up-front system, rather than asking for an additional surprise shipping payment at the end of the process. This way you can keep a running total of your total pledge as you purchase any extra Add-ons.
This also means that shipping has already been deducted from any extra credit in your pledge total. So be sure to remember to include all the optional Add-Ons you want to come with your pledge rewards!
If you have one of the base level Pledges and don't want any additional Add-Ons, you will just be asked to pay the shipping when you finalise your order.
How is shipping calculated?
Shipping cost is calculated based on your location and the weight of your rewards.
Due to the very heavy Twisted Rulebook and MDF terrain pieces, most average boxes will weigh at least 3-4kgs (7-9 lbs) or even more - an ENGINE level box will weigh over 6kgs! (13lbs!). They will be very heavy boxes! Because of this, we've done a lot of research and tried our best to keep the shipping costs as low as we possibly can while still using a reliable, track-able service.
We won't make any profit on shipping - in most cases we have charged less than the actual cost of shipping and are absorbing the extra cost ourselves, to try to keep things as fair as possible for all of our backers.
Remember that if you’re in the UK, EU or USA, there will be no additional import taxes or duties – everything will already be covered! It’s all included in the shipping cost.
What if I need to change my shipping address?
As long as your items have not been shipped, you can always change your address. Just simply log back in to PledgeManager and make the appropriate change. However, if you change your country, additional shipping costs may apply.
What is Wave 1 and Wave 2 shipping?
Each Add-On in the Twisted Pledge Manager is marked ‘Wave 1’ or ‘Wave 2’. You can see this on the Add-On page, underneath the ‘Add to Cart’ button.
Most products included in the core pledge levels are considered Wave 1 and will ship along with the Twisted Rulebook Box Set.
Wave 2 will ship 3-6 months later (Most of the products in Wave 2 have not yet been sculpted, so they will take longer to complete)
Please note that ALL of the ‘Egyptians’ faction are Wave 2.
Gentlefolk Lancer
New Terrain
To celebrate the launch of the Twisted Pledge Manager, we have 2 brand new laser-cut buildings available: 'Abbott & Gillard - Moneylenders', plus 'The Assay Office'. As usual these have been masterfully designed by the creative maestro Craig Clarke at CNC Workshop! These new terrain pieces can be added to your pledge for AUD$20 each.
Automatically Appended Next Post: Well that's the PM out,
shipping seems to have skyrocketed from what was originally estimated unless something has gone wonky in my PM (at least at the lower levels). I've asked but I suspect it's real especially as the call out about it in the update but don't actually provide numbers
not quite sure why I'm so fed up about this one as I normally shrug off such rises, especially from first projects, perhaps because they seemed so sure about their estimates during the campaign?
Well quite a few extras were added to the pledges via SG, so the shipping was bound to go up a little bit. I ended up with a AUD$60 shipping fee for my Engine pledge, Ultimate Terrain Pack, 4 extra buildings, 7 roof tile packs and 1 of pretty much every other add on, which I thought was rather fair considering the weight and travel distance.
Nostromodamus wrote: Well quite a few extras were added to the pledges via SG, so the shipping was bound to go up a little bit. I ended up with a AUD$60 shipping fee for my Engine pledge, Ultimate Terrain Pack, 4 extra buildings, 7 roof tile packs and 1 of pretty much every other add on, which I thought was rather fair considering the weight and travel distance.
$60 for you too ($60 for a Nancy to the UK for me), I wonder if they just got a flat worldwide rate?
Orlando - I understand it's fair bit more than we estimated but on the plus side, should you wish to order some extra, heavier stuff it won't increase at all.
As Seb mentioned in the update we, rather foolishly, forgot about the taxes in that FAQ entry.
We have done our best to keep these costs as low as we can and bear in mind there will be no extra taxes at your end once it arrives.
fair enough (and it does sound like flat rate shipping), so I shall have to see if I can stretch to adding some extra stuff before it closes to make the value better
An update, in which many PM/Bug-related questions are answered...
Update #72
Jul 3 2016
Bugs in the System
4 Comments
1 like
Hi all,
As you are all no doubt now aware the Pledge Manager is up and running.
We have been made aware of a few little bugs in the system that will be attended to very soon. Many apologies - we thought we'd sorted them all out but with so many options it was a tricky process.
Anyway - these are what have been found:
1. No. 42 Carver not in "The Engine" pledge.
This will be added in - don't worry it was always included - it just somehow slipped through the net.
2. Metal Vinnie
To be honest we just missed this option. We'll have him added shortly. If you have checked out and you want one just log back in and unlock your order to add him (or anything else in fact!)
There is a big red button at the bottom of the first page you see when you log back in that unlocks you again.
3. Early Bird Option B Pledges
It seems that at least Ollyver and Tesla level pledges are missing option B from the Early Bird pledges. These will be added in shortly too.
4. Free Stuff
We didn't quite find a really satisfactory way to display these clearly in the Pledge Manager. We will work something out but please be assured that once your total spend hits the values as shown below you will be entitled to, and will receive, the free miniatures and other goodies.
5. Weight Brackets
We are fixing an issue where the "4 minis Free Shipping" option didn't work. It's just an adjustment to the minimum weight setting. There is also a problem where shipping is maxing out a bit quickly, particularly for the UK. We are adjusting that too so that some of the cheaper pledges don't get stung with undue shipping.
Thanks again for your patience whilst waiting for the Pledge Manager.
Just bear with us as we get these few bugs fixed up.
If you find any more bugs please let us know. We want to ensure you get the best service we can offer and if anything is a bit iffy we really want to attend to it.
We will send out another update when these issues are fixed in case you prefer to wait before finalising your Pledge.
Egyptian Desert Guardians - and PledgeManager bugs fixed (at last!)
Great news, everyone: most of the minor bugs in the Twisted PledgeManager have now been fixed! Thank you very much for your patience, and for all the extra Add-Ons you've made so far. We're getting a real boost from the Twisted PledgeManager!
'No. 42 Carver Lane (Deluxe)' now appears correctly in all ENGINE level pledges
'Vinnie' now appears in both METAL and RESIN versions, in the Guild of Harmony faction Add-Ons section
'Earlybird' backers wishing to take pledge level Option B: we have a special coupon which will allow you to do this. Please contact us via KS message or email at sales@dementedgames.com and we'll tell you what to do.
Shipping cost has been corrected for small (light weight) pledges
Also note that ALL the Freebies offered in the Twisted Kickstarter campaign will be included in all pledges that cross the relevant spending thresholds ($100/$150/$250). See the image below for a reminder on Freebies available!
Thanks again for your patience in this matter, we appreciate it. If you find any other bugs, please let us know and we'll do our best to get them fixed.
'Egyptians' faction Desert Guardians
In other news, we thought you might like to see photos of the first two Egyptian Desert Guardians that have been finished by Sebastian! These two miniatures are available to Add-On individually in resin, or in metal as part of the Egyptians Starter/Expansion Faction Sets!
Necros wrote: Glad I picked both egyptian packs for my pledge
yeah, i'll be spending a fair bit on the Egyptians when they hit retail...
i really like the look of these guys...
it's like a Fantasy version of Stargate
love 'em!!!
Jul 30 2016
Production Update - Casting, The Box, Cards and Terrain
Hi all,
With the Pledge Manager all sorted now it's time to get back to some other interesting updates for all of you good backers.
Things proceed apace here at Demented HQ with all sorts of irons in the fire as you might expect with a successful Kickstarter.
Let's have a look at a few of the things that are going on:
Casting Production
Nic at Eureka is madly casting away at the metal miniatures for the Faction Boxes. We are super pleased with the results so far and we have a great big pile of finished miniatures to show for his efforts.
This over 1,000 miniatures! The quality is fantastic and we are sure you will all be impressed with the results when you finally get them onto your painting desks.
Here are the components for Feygin, Gretel and Ollyver. You can see the detail of the masters has translated almost perfectly into the metals - thanks in large part to the skills of Nic. On Olly's right leg you can see in this image what looks like a nasty mould line. It's not - it's just the seam of his pants catching the light. I was actually hard pressed to even find a mould line and those that were present will just require the lightest of scrapes with a knife to remove.
More miniatures are currently being mastered and will the subjected to Nic's skilled attentions very soon. We also have new sculpts underway and we'll feature some of the new ones in a coming update.
The Game Box
Just yesterday we recieved the blank white sample of the Twisted Book and box from our printers. These have been made so we can check the quality and finish of the book and box and ensure that everything is as we want it.
Here is the box as it appears when closed:
It's a really sturdy box and very well made.
When you open it up this is what you will find:
You can see the hard cover book and the insert that holds the cards firmly in place so everything arrives to you undamaged. There are a few small issues that need attending to but then that is exactly why these dummies are made.
Those of you that are observant may notice that there are three decks of cards - not two as we originally said. The two outer decks will the The Eye of The Engine cards and the Alchemancy Deck. The centre one is a new deck of cards for Twisted that have been developed - The Tarot of Taxing Tasks!
The huge support we got from all of you has allowed us to expand the game even further than we intended and this new deck of 20 cards adds to the gameplay of Twisted. The objectives contained in the Tarot of Taxing Tasks are small sub-objectives that both you and your opponent draw and keep secret from one another. You are both fighting over the main mission but if you achieve your Tarot objectives you gain bonus Victory Points.
Here are a couple of example cards:
As you can see they are simple little missions that can be reasonably easily achieved whilst concentrating on the main goal for the game. The Tarot is undergoing playtesting at the moment along with the last few Characters that needed their rules done.
Speaking of Characters and cards we have redesigned the Character cards slightly. Just a freshen and brush up more than a full on makeover.
Everything is a bit brighter and lighter with increased clarity for ease of use. We've also added some rich gold bits to the header to make the cards look a bit nicer in general.
Terrain News
Craig has been keeping busy working on getting everything produced that you have all purchased. In his spare moments he is also working on a few new buildings and other bits for the terrain.
One way we thought would good to approach the new designs was to make a demo board for Twisted that we can use at conventions and shows.
This isn't just to amuse ourselves - working on a useable table for Twisted helps us focus on what is required to make the terrain work as a gaming space. It tells us what needs designing to fill the gaps on the table.
Here is a render of the design as it stands:
This layout uses multiple Carver Lanes and Corner Shops along with the new Assay Office and Abbott and Gillard buildings. The Twisted Walkways are used along with some newly designed bits. The clocktower you can see is an add-on to Carver Lane we are working on. It's still WIP in this image but you get the idea.
From above you can see the street layout (there are a couple of weird bits that don't quite fit yet but, as I said this is WIP). You can see in the centre of the table a cluster of 3 copies of The Olde Corner Shop. Between two of them is a new building that is designed to make a cool little walkway through them and lead up to the roof.
Here is a front view of the building. It still needs some work to make it all fit together properly but it does work exceedingly well we feel.
Here is a rear view of the same building. You can see how the walkway behind it is designed to fit with the Twisted Staircase and there is a wee ladder that goes up to the roof giving more access for your Characters to the higher reaches of the terrain.
Here is a street level view of the board looking along the back road section. It shows a walkway with extended legs and gives you an idea of the height the clocktower will be.
That's it for now. I hope you enjoyed this update!
Remember that the Twisted Pledge Manager is now accepting late pledges so if you want to convince any of your friends to join in then now is the time.
4 each of the corner shop and 42 Carver lane,
3 each of the two newer buildings,
1 archway.
2 or three sets of wall/fences (available soonish...)
lots of walkways.
1 set of streetlamps.
..and a handful of as yet unreleased extras...
Mind you, I've already started casting cobblestones for the project.
And here I was, thinking of waiting until the metal version of the Monkey King was released!
Maybe not now!
Update #75
Aug 10 2016
Twisted Monkey King sculpt photos!
Hi again everyone,
It's time for another update! The focus today is the Twisted Monkey King: Sebastian has finished sculpting the miniature, so we'd love to share some photos with you.
But first, some Twisted PledgeManager housekeeping:
Thanks for all of your extra contributions and support, it's really fantastic and very much appreciated! Things are going smoothly now that we have ironed out those earlier bugs in the system. If you do have any problem at all, then please do not hesitate to contact us at sales@dementedgames.com (or via Kickstarter message) and one of us will reply as quickly as possible.
Unlocking orders: remember that even if you've finalised your order, you can easily unlock it at any time if you want to add more stuff! Simply click the big red 'Unlock My Order' button at the bottom of the first page you see when you log back in to the Twisted PledgeManager.
We also have a late-backer participation page now running. You can convince your friends to join in on the action and support Twisted while the great Kickstarter discounts and bundle deals are still available!
Here are the final photos! Sebastian has done a really brilliant sculpting job to capture this character. The vaguely simian yet pensive face fits his travelling character perfectly, and details such as the mechanical steampunk leg, expressive hands and the traveller's map plus compass make this miniature a real classic - a worthy addition to the Guild of Harmony faction and the Monkey King troupe!
Everyone involved in the Twisted PledgeManager is now able to include the Twisted Monkey King as a resin Add-on!
Sep 20 2016
Wave 1 sculpting now complete! Gentlefolk Sailor and Teacher
Hello everyone, it's time for another miniatures sculpting update!
All the Wave 1 miniatures have now been finished (see photos below) and are in the production queue, so we are making really great progress (and we've already made a good dent into Wave 2!)
In other exciting news - this is big (literally) - the hard-copy printed Twisted Rulebook has GROWN by almost 50%, and is now up to 144 pages! The rulebook is going to be filled with extra artwork, sketches, character profiles, alchemantic spells, character stories and lots of other cool stuff, and we're really excited about it. If it isn't already part of your pledge, you should consider adding it because it's really going to be great! Peter has been doing an absolutely amazing job coordinating the rulebook as well as being the main brains behind the rules system, and he is working very hard to finalise things so we can start the printing run. Exciting times!
The Twisted Pledge Manager will be open for a little while longer, but we are now starting to wind down. So if you haven't yet taken a look, it might be a good time to start working out your final order. We'll be sure to let everyone know the closure date well beforehand so that you have time to finalise your pledge rewards.
Having said that, we WILL have a few extra terrain surprises for you to add before the Pledge Manager closes - stay tuned! (If you've already completed your order it's very easy to re-open it, if you want to add anything extra before the end).
Friends can still join the Pledge Manager party via this link (or via email):
And remember you can always email Peter or me (Sebastian) at sales@dementedgames.com if you have any questions or queries about the Pledge Manager. You can also make any payments via Paypal - just let us know via email and we'll organise it.
-----------------------
Here are the final 2 miniatures from Wave 1: The Gentlefolk Teacher, and Gentlefolk Sailor, both from the Servants of the Engine faction.
Gentlefolk Sailor
Stéphane Camosseto has smashed out another tricky character with this wonderful Gentlefolk Sailor sculpt! This is such a wonderfully characterful piece: it's a bizarrely steampunk-ish idea to have a robot automaton firing a cannon on his shoulder, but Stéphane has captured the comical yet dynamic aspect very well. Really cool little details with the little pulleys and mechanical components, plus I love the way the anchor has turned out - it makes for a very memorable miniature with a lot of modelling and painting possibilities!
The Gentlefolk Sailor is now available in metal in the Servants Expansion Faction Box, or as an individual Add-On in resin.
Gentlefolk Teacher
Luc (Lux Thantor) has nailed it again with another solid sculpt for Twisted! The Gentlefolk Teacher has always been one of our more playful concepts, and I think Luc has captured this 'classroom humour' perfectly. After all, who better to patiently impose order in a rowdy classroom than one of the Gentlefolk robotic automatons? The detail work is amazing: the little 'confiscated' teddy bear, the books and writing slate, the darts thrown by naughty students, as well as all the filigree decoration - Luc has really done a great job on this one. I can't wait to see what he does next!
The Gentlefolk Teacher is now available in metal in the Servants Expansion Faction Box, or as an individual Add-On in resin.
I hope you've enjoyed seeing some more sculpting progress. Stay tuned for some more terrain news coming soon - some new pieces to add to the Pledge Manager before it closes!
-sebastian
I'm a bit nervous to read that the PM will be closing 'soon' - I still need time to save up more money for this one - there's too much that I want to get!
Nov 1 2016
Fulfilment pushed back - new FREE figure - Tzandi sculpt - general production update
Hi everyone,
November is upon us, and you may have realised that we are running a little behind schedule with fulfilment for Wave 1. As it stands, we need to push back the fulfilment date by a few months. We are now planning to have all of Wave 1 shipped in the first part of 2017, with Wave 2 following later in 2017.
Peter and I are very sorry to keep you waiting, and we are working very hard to have everything finished as soon as we can. Thank you for bearing with us, your support has been absolutely incredible so far and it is deeply appreciated. Peter and I would never have been able to get here without your help! We have created a special free miniature for you to apologise for the delay, and to thank you all for your generous support (Steam Imp - see details below!).
Production Progress Update:
Here is a breakdown of where we currently stand with production for the Twisted Kickstarter:
Rules: The Rulebook has grown 50% and is now up to 150 pages! Thanks to all of your support we have been able to enhance the Rulebook with lots of extra bonus stuff, and we're very proud of it. We want to make sure the rules are the best they can possibly be before we have the book printed, so we are taking some extra time to make sure everything is finalised properly. We're almost there, and we are confident that you'll love the Twisted Rulebook.
Miniatures: ALL the Wave 1 miniatures have been sculpted, and are now in production! We are currently having metal masters cast so that we can continue making the metal production moulds for the 'Faction Sets'. For Wave 2, about 30% of the miniatures have been sculpted so far, and we are working well towards completing the rest. (Wave 2 includes the Egyptians, Monkey King's party, and other assorted special characters not included in the core Faction Sets)
Terrain: Our production partner Miniature Scenery is hard at work and laser cutting is currently in progress for all the terrain involved in the Twisted Kickstarter! That is great news and all the terrain should be ready to ship with Wave 1. Craig Clark is also busily designing more Twisted terrain as we speak, so we hope to have regular terrain released for Twisted to keep things interesting!
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Pledge Manager
Due to the delay, we are able to leave the Pledge Manager open for a while longer for your convenience. So there is still plenty of time to finalise your pledge, and hopefully we may still have some extra goodies to add before the Pledge Manager closes for good!
Remember if you have any queries or questions at all, or wish to add to your pledge via Paypal, simply email us at sales@dementedgames.com and Peter or I will help you out as soon as possible.
It's not too late to invite friends to join the Twisted Pledge Manager and get in on the Kickstarter deals! Simply email us or join in using the following Participation Page:
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New FREE miniature for all backers - the Steam Imp!
To apologise for the Twisted fulfilment delay, we have created a new character that will be FREE to all backers who are receiving a physical shipment of any kind from Twisted! You will receive the Steam Imp miniature along with the other freebies in your Wave 1 shipment.
The Steam Imp is not bound to any faction, but rather can be called into this plane of existence by a special alchemantic invocation - Instant Imp - in order to receive special bonuses! (check out the game card below)
The awesome concept art was developed by our wonderful artist Nicolas Amoroso. Thanks again for another fantastic concept, Nicolas - you're a genius!
Tzandi Miniature
I've finished sculpting the second member of the Monkey King's party: this is Tzandi, the river-demon (our Twisted steampunk female version!). She accompanies Monkey on his travels and adds some alchemantic power to the troupe of travellers. Sculpts for Pigsty and Tricia Harker are coming soon to complete the set!
Thanks again for your support everyone, and sincere apologies again for the fulfilment delay. Thanks for bearing with us, and we'll work as fast as we can to get everything finalised and shipped to you.
-Peter and Sebastian
A free mini for our 'troubles' and the delay?
OK by me!
I actually like hearing about delays in closing the PM, as I literally want everything, and need more time to save up - so the longer it takes them to lock it up, the more I'll spend with them!
Update #81
Nov 14 2016
A mid month miscellany!
Greetings Esteemed Backers!
Time for another update. Everything is proceeding well so I thought it might be time to share with you some of the new developments that are happening with the Twisted production.
Vinnie - The Hard Man
Owen has now finished with the final concept for Vinnie and I'm sure you will all love him just as much as I do.
Vinne hasn't changed all that much from my initial sketch that we showed during the Kickstarter. He's kind of a special baby of mine (albeit a violent, thuggish baby who you'd not want to meet in a dark alley - or any alley at all come to think of it...) so I was keen to keep true to the spirit of the character who inspired him, right down to that iconic pose.
Owen has come up with some really nifty ideas though and I am particularly taken with the selection of rather nasty looking weapons he has hanging at the back of his belt. The rules for Vinnie haven't been properly developed yet but I'm thinking of giving him a choice of Close Combat attacks that you can swap between ingame as needs arise. Vinnie is an experienced street fighter and he's not likely to be caught short in any situation.
I'd be interested to hear what you all think of that idea. Perhaps the cricket bat has a chance to stun a foe, the spiky club reduces their Armour, the pipe does more damage - that kind of thing. It might make for an interesting character I think.
Vinnie is available in the Pledge Manager in Kickstarter exclusive resin for $25.00 and in general release metal for $15.00. Make sure to add him in if you want to add some punch (or perhaps more correctly pipe, or bat, or spiked club...) to your Company for Twisted!
New Artwork
All our Illustrators are beavering away like madmen finishing the final few images we need to fill the rulebook and working on other pieces for packaging and whatnot.
Mitchell Nolte, a talented man if ever there were one, has just completed this piece.
This is the box art for the Starter box for The Servants of The Engine. Seb and I both really pleased with it. Once again Mitchell has captured the Twisted world perfectly and his rather painterly style is unique and I think it suits our material really well.
You can see quite a large area at the top of the image that hasn't got much going on. That's to allow for all the header, logos and type that the box needs.
Terrain Packaging
Speaking of packaging, the guys at Miniature Scenery are cutting away like madmen, working their way through great stacks of MDF and turning it into the fantastic Twisted Terrain you all know and love.
As they are now well advanced in the process it has become time to get the packaging for the terrain done. The MDF sheets get shrink wrapped with a single sheet insert that shows an image of the finished piece.
Our local printer ran the first 500 Carver Lane sleeves out and we couldn't be happier with the result. They look great. Here they are - "hot off the press" as the saying goes.
Bases - LOTS of Bases!
Ever wondered what 22,500 bases look like?
Wonder no longer.
These large bags contain enough bases to fill all the box sets needed for your Pledges and then some! These arrived from our supplier recently and will soon be packed into the boxes along with your minis.
It's rather exciting to see this kind of thing happening. I know it's a bit weird getting excited about bases (he says eyeing off his collection of plinths) but it is kind of cool to see things coming together.
Anyway that's all for now.
I hope you enjoyed this update and, as ever, if you have any comments or questions please post them below. You can also contact us directly: sales@dementedgames.com or message us here if you have any matters you'd like us to attend to for you.
We are always available for contact (unless it's the middle of the night here) and we will get back to you if you ask us anything just as quickly as we can.
That's true, I was kinda meh on the Egyptians too when they were just concept art (the cultists looked very samey IMO), and now I have both sets coming.
But Vinnie just looks too normal compared to the rest of the Twisted universe.
Sebastian and I hope you all had a great Christmas and a fun New Year.
I certainly enjoyed myself and partook in a good selection of some of Australia's finest Craft Beer whilst eating myself silly :-)
Whilst this is a busy time of year things still proceed well on the Twisted front.
Rules Away!
A couple of days ago the final files for the Twisted Rulebook text was sent to our printers and the artwork has now been checked over by them and approved for printing! This is a big milestone which we are both really excited to have achieved and a little terrified by at the same time. It's rather more nerve wracking than I expected when you have to finally declare everything done but I'm confident that the game, as it stands, is fantastic. It's been a long road and lots of work but now we have arrived at this point it's all been worth it.
This could not have been achieved without your support so, again, thank you all so much!
Here's a photo of all the iterations of the rules I have on hand. There are more versions than this but these 11 represent much of the work that has happened since the Kickstarter. You can clearly see the difference between the 40 page Beta v2 from April and the 150 page monster the book has now become.
The book is now 50% longer than we expected when we started. It contains all the rules needed to play Twisted (obviously) along with a host of options for you to play the game. There are 10 different Deployment options, 20 base Missions and 20 sub Missions in the form of the Tarot of Taxing Tasks (a set of cards that you draw and keep secret from your opponent). You also have Master Kirkwood's Fascinating Features, a set of 20 weird and interesting effects you can apply to your gaming table to add to the chaos and fun.
On top of this there is a 10 Mission Campaign that can be run as linked Missions where the results of the previous games affect the following Missions. It is divided into three sub campaigns of three missions each and one final mission. You can also just play a sub campaign or even just pluck one mission out of the Campaign to play as a standalone game.
The Book contains plenty of backstories and art, each helping to build the Twisted world. I've jammed in small snippets of story wherever I can, each helping to build the overall picture. Much of this art would not have been possible without the generosity of you, our backers.
Here is a photo of a the latest white dummy I received from our printer.
It is missing one set of dice but you can see the spot where they go. The dice aren't the right dice either, it's a dummy set I sent them some time ago - the ones you get will be a set each of Black and White dice.
The three decks of cards at the bottom are the Alchemancy Deck (40 cards), the Eye of The Engine Deck (44 cards), the Tarot of Taxing Tasks (20 cards), Pass Cards (4 cards), and cards for the Rat Swarm, Catch Wagon, Spy and Sewer Slime that you use in some missions or Fascinating Features.
Counters and Templates
One of the Stretch Goals we achieved was to put card sheets of Counters and Templates in the box. We originally intended this to be just a single sheet but as the game grew in scope we quickly realised we needed more!
There are now three sheets of Counters and Templates - as seems to be the way Twisted expanded a wee bit more than we expected.
Here are some images of the fantastic sheets. Much of this art was done by Lily McDonnell, the talented lady responsible for the shiny new Twisted Logo, with one or two by Konrad Langa and Mitchell Nolte who both contributed a host of great illustrations for the book.
These aren't quite finalised as yet. Our printer is checking the layout is OK for them to work with and we are going through them one last time to check every measurement matches the rulebook.
The Green lines you can see don't actually print. These are an indication of the dieline for the printer to make the cutting forme that punches the shapes from the card.
You can see a host of State Counters used to track common effects on Characters, Elemental Essence counters used when some missions allow these to be found and a whole bunch of markers for the Fascinating Features of one kind or another. You also have the usual Blast and Jet Templates as well as a Grenade Scatter template and the Favour of The Engine and Priority counters.
In the third image (bottom left) you can see a little 1" measuring widget that is used to determine the Threatened Area if you try and move past an opponent too closely.
Most of the smaller circular counters are 22mm. This will allow you to mount them in the bases we use for Twisted if you want. Where base size might be important, such as the Spy and M'Dusa's Seeker Snakes, we have included one that fits in a base and one that is the size of the base so you can use either.
You can also see counters for the Sewer Slime, Catch Wagon and Rat Swarm. These guys are wonderful fun and I hope you find them as entertaining as I do!
That's it for now. We'll have another update for you soon that may show off some of the shiny new models you haven't seen yet and perhaps some other cool stuff.
Sebastian and I will be deciding in the coming week or so what date to close the Pledge Manager. We'll be sure to give you plenty of notice so you can add in any last minute purchases.
Don't forget you can always contact us if you have any problems or questions: sales@dementedgames.com or message us on Facebook.
Here's to a Twisted 2017!
Cheers
Pete
I hope the PM doesn't close until the end of January - I'm going to need those 2 pay periods to save up in order to get everything I want!
Hi all,
Just thought I'd pop by and say thanks for keeping this thread updated! We really appreciate your support!
If I can answer any questions you might have I'll be more than happy to help.
Cheers
Pete
I reckon that will be OK. We do have some plans afoot for an event here in Australia, Cancon, that we might need to close it off for but that's not until the 27th January anyway.
I'll chat to Seb shortly and we'll decide a date.
Cheers
Pete
Cool. We shall try and accommodate you then :-)
Even if we close earlier for some reason I'm sure we can arrange for you to add to your pledge outside of the manager.
We are trying but it may not quite make it. The guys at Miniature Scenery are flat out manufacturing and I don't want to make their lives any more difficult. I will chat to Craig soon though.
Even if we don't quite make it for PM closing we will try and work out a way to add it to your pledges if it becomes available after that but before shipping.
It's time for another update on our progress fulfilling your Kickstarter rewards, as well as some new sculpted miniatures and an outline of the plan for Twisted in 2017! Although (as you know) we are running a little behind schedule, the good news is that absolutely all the actual 'content' is completely finished for Wave 1, and everything is well into the production phase.
Once again, thank you all for being so patient with Peter and I as we're working hard towards fulfilling your Kickstarter rewards. We understand that delays are always frustrating but we're working as hard as we can to get things delivered as soon as possible without compromising quality. The good news is that everything is going really well with no major problems (other than us being a bit over-ambitious with our initial timelines!). Peter and I are brand new to this as our first big project, so thank you for being so understanding while we work things through. Due to your very generous support as Kickstarter backers, we are very confident that we'll be delivering something absolutely fantastic to you all very soon - even better than we hoped at the start of this journey!
Pledge Manager Closing Soon!
The Pledge Manager is scheduled to close on February 3. We are closing the Pledge Manager at this time so that we can finalise exactly what rewards everyone should receive, so that we can prepare to pack all of your reward boxes.
Get in fast - this will be your last chance to grab Twisted miniatures and terrain at the special Kickstarter discount prices!
Last minute newcomers and friends can still join in via this page:
Or join in simply by emailing us directly (sales@dementedgames.com). We are very happy to accept Paypal payments if you don't have access to a credit card - lots of people have already taken this option, it's no trouble at all and we will add you straight into the Pledge Manager with credit to your account.
Production Progress Update
The Miniatures: all the sculpting of the Wave 1 miniatures is long-since complete and our production partners at Eureka Miniatures here in Australia (for the metal Faction Box miniatures) and Valiant in the USA (for the resin miniatures) have been madly working away, casting up a storm! We are deep into production for the miniatures with about half of the casting complete - I think there is over 50kgs of metal sitting at Peter's house waiting to be packed! We're about to start preliminary packing of miniatures for the Faction Boxes and individual blister-packed miniatures.
The Terrain: all the fabulous terrain designed by Craig Clarke at Miniature Scenery is in the process of being laser cut. We got word a few nights ago that ALL the 'Carver Lanes' are already complete, so we are on schedule for ALL of the terrain in to ship out with Wave 1 as planned. Great news!
The Rulebook: after a huge effort from Peter the Twisted Rulebook is complete and in the first stages of printing! Very exciting news - I am so excited about the Twisted Rulebook, I think you are all going to be really impressed with the final product (fingers crossed, of course!). Check out the Rulebook cover below Once the printing is complete we will have a more precise date for Wave 1 fulfilment. This delay has actually meant a massive improvement to the Twisted Rulebook: as well as the extra Stretch Goal enhancements that occurred during the KS campaign (expanding the card decks, adding the sheet of counters and templates, adding the extra set of dice etc) the rulebook has grown by a huge amount - over 50% larger than originally planned, with an extra 52 pages full of extra artwork, missions, and other goodies! But most importantly the rules themselves have been very thoroughly analysed, re-written, edited and fine-tuned so that we have an amazing ruleset designed to last the distance (as well as being great fun to play of course!) We plan for Twisted to be played for years to come so it was worth the extra effort to make sure we have a great set of rules to back up our brilliant miniatures and rich universe.
The Plan for Twisted in 2017
Aside from Kickstarter fulfilment - which is our absolute #1 priority at this time - Peter and I also have big plans for continuing to develop Twisted through 2017. In a nutshell this means more characters, more miniatures, more terrain and more campaign scenarios for Twisted, as well as a few surprises! In addition to finishing the Wave 2 Egyptians sculpting, we have already developed some new character concepts for the Egyptians (do steampunk mummies sound interesting to anyone?!). We've also created (and are currently developing more!) new characters for the Dickensians and the Servants of the Engine, to flesh out their factions and keep things interesting. We intend to continue supporting all of our existing factions with new releases as time goes on, to make sure games of Twisted stay fresh and to keep your opponents on their toes.
Once the Twisted game rules are released with Wave 1, the Twisted universe will grow organically with your help as skirmishes between the factions of Twisted start taking place all over the world! We're very excited to see where your participation and involvement takes the Twisted universe, and are eagerly working to expand into new characters and factions plus new terrain for the different settings of the world of Twisted. It should be a wild ride - we really hope you enjoy Twisted as much as we've enjoyed developing it!
Peter and I will be doing our best to promote Twisted as a growing game, miniature range and fun, immersive world through 2017. Hopefully we can count on your help as our esteemed Kickstarter backers who've made all of this possible! We can't thank you all enough for helping us make this dream into a reality. Thank to your generous support you guys share a real ownership over Twisted!
Gentlefolk Miner and Urkin Ratcatcha
Time to see some new miniatures (always my favourite part!). We've got 2 new characters to show: the Gentlefolk Miner as a solid pick for the Servants of the Engine (love the little canary perched on the lantern), and the Urkin Ratcatcha wading his way through the sewers to join the Dickensians (snaring more than a few rats along the way!).
Both of these fantastic new miniatures were sculpted by the very talented Lux Thantor - merci beaucoup, Luc. Luc's sculpting has been a wonderful addition to Twisted and we are really thrilled with everything he has created so far. He's done an excellent job capturing the spirit of both of these characters, which will fit perfectly into their respective factions. And what's more, they both look like they'll be a blast to paint! Bravo, Luc.
That's it for today. Thanks again for your support, everyone!
Thanks guys! The concept of the Miner we used for the Kickstarter was my base working sketch. We do these prior to getting a concept artist involved so we are happy with the basic form of the Character and the artist has a better guide to go by. We provide them with lots of other reference and let the use their skills to polish my rough ideas into something really cool.
Here's my sketch as seen on the Kickstarter:
It was passed on to Owen Aurelio who did a terrific job and turned him into this:
Of course then Luc played his part and made Owen's concept into the mini you see above.
If you guys would be interested I could post more of the development sketches so you can get an idea of the process.
Is your U.S. resin caster Valiant Enterprises? Mind if I ask why you picked them? I couldn't find any other noteworthy games they've done besides their own stuff.
And yes please share more sketches/info on the process! Very cool to see behind-the-scenes.
Hi Clanan,
We tried around 4 different casters before settling on Valiant. All produced great stuff but Valiant had quality, communication and speed all going for them. This isn't to say the others lacked in any particular area but it just seemed that Valiant was the better fit for us.
It's also helpful that they can do the metal masters for Eureka to cast from too. That saves us some time in back and forth later on.
Valiant have been using a new resin for our minis lately - it's excellent stuff. It holds the detail really well and is slightly flexible so things don't break quite as easily.
The fragility of resin is why I prefer metal (I'm old school) but this new material addresses that concern somewhat.
Cheers
Pete
If I'm not mistaken I think Valiant might have done minis for Soda Pop and a few others before. I'm going to be using them for one of my larger resin monsters that was part of my KS and some building kits if I can get them going. They seem to be good people
Hi RiTides,
General release will happen as soon as most Backers get their stuff. I would look for general release probably April or May given shipping from Australia to backers might take a little while.
We'll have minis as general release in both Resin and Metal. Resin in blisters only and Metal in the Faction Boxes and individual Blisters.
Some minis - like Ratcatcha aren't in a Faction box yet but will only be blisters for the moment.
RiTides wrote:Wow, I love that Urkin Ratcatcha! How far is this from fulfillment and beginning general sale, most likely?
Twisted wrote:Hi RiTides,
General release will happen as soon as most Backers get their stuff. I would look for general release probably April or May given shipping from Australia to backers might take a little while.
We'll have minis as general release in both Resin and Metal. Resin in blisters only and Metal in the Faction Boxes and individual Blisters.
Some minis - like Ratcatcha aren't in a Faction box yet but will only be blisters for the moment.
RiTides wrote:I'll definitely be looking to pick it up in resin then . Thanks so much for the detailed info!
As long as I get my stuff before RiTides, I'll be happy!
Quick reminder - the pledge manager closes on February 3rd!
I know - I was just having a laugh at RiTides' expense - it's too easy not too most times!
Update time!
Update #86
Jan 24 2017
A quick but handy update!
Greetings Backers!
Things are moving ahead as usual here at Demented Games.
Printing Moves Ahead!
The digital Epson Proofs of all the material for the main game box arrived on my doorstep on Friday. Sebastian and I will be at Cancon in Canberra here in Australia this weekend and will check them over. They then get signed and returned to our printer and then the printing begins! It's rather exciting - let me tell you!
Here's a photo of some of them you can see cards, a bit of the box cover and some other stuff including pages from the book. Sorry for the slightly ratty photo - the proofs are a bit shiny and wherever I stood I got reflections!
If you are a Backer and you are going to Cancon make sure you come and say hi - we'd love to meet you and you can see some soft cover versions of the book I had made to show off for the event along with the resin versions of almost all the wave 1 stuff (and some of the Egyptians!).
Pledge Manager
As we said last update the Pledge Manager will close on the 3rd February. To help you in your final deliberations we have put together a pdf checklist that shows everything available so you can make sure you didn't miss out on anything you might want.
Just because it wouldn't be a Twisted update without some kind of cool art here's a little something to whet your appetite (inspired by a comment Phillip S left).
This is an exploratory drawing we had Nicolas Amoroso do of an Egyptian scene. These illustrations help define the world in which our Characters exist and inspire the folks at Miniature Scenery to come up with more fantastic terrain for us (and by extension you guys!).
We love the statues with the Set heads and current thinking at our end is that the statues are ancient but the followers of Set have added shiny new brass and gold Set heads to them to show their devotion.
We love this image and can't wait to explore this part of the Twisted world more fully.
That's it for now.
Keep an eye on our Facebook pages for pictures from Cancon and we'll be back on deck on Monday.
An Intelligent And Most Likely Also A Handsome Individual wrote:
Any chance that we'll see Avatars for different Egyptian Gods too?
Anubis has always been a favorite of mine, though he's somewhat similar looking to Set.
And I wouldn't mind seeing Set's rival, Horus, make an appearance too.
Demented Games Creator wrote:
@ An Intelligent And Most Likely Also A Handsome Individual: It has been discussed :-) The problem with too many Avatars is largely that of balance. The Avatar of Set will be a tough nut for your opponent to crack, let alone were you able to field two of them! The idea is so attractive though that it may have to be done and we'll just work out the issue.
Many of the gods despised one another if my memory serves - that may be a good source of a solution - select Avatars that simply would not get on (e.g. Set and Horus). Hmmm.... he says, thinking aloud, perhaps the selection of the Avatar could change the way the faction plays...
Cheers
Pete
An Intelligent And Most Likely Also A Handsome Individual wrote:
That sounds good - and you really could also go with 'only one Avatar per army' - and this would make for a good background reason for two groups of Egyptians battling it out!
Now I find myself debating adding a terrain pack...
Automatically Appended Next Post: Was there a post somewhere at some point that demonstrated how much area of a board the buildings cover, or am I totally delusional?
Now I find myself debating adding a terrain pack...
Automatically Appended Next Post: Was there a post somewhere at some point that demonstrated how much area of a board the buildings cover, or am I totally delusional?
With little over a week to go until the Pledge Manager closes, I'm glad you guys were able to jump on board!
I know the feeling there - but payday was today for me, so I was able to complete it well in advance of the deadline so as not to get distracted a week from now and get caught out!
Hi all,
Thanks for sharing the pics fleegle! Much appreciated.
I'm now back from Canberra (and I've had a nap and time to recover). We had a great weekend and it was awesome to meet so many of our local backers. We'd love to meet all of you and may well do so at whatever shows we can make it to.
All of the top shelf of stuff you can see are production resins and represent all Wave 1 minis from the Kickstarter.
Nic at Eureka is going hell for leather on the metal versions of the same minis (see the ones at the back of the 2nd shelf).
The Egyptian minis on the 2nd shelf are first sample casts from Valiant in the USA. All pretty well perfect with the exception of Set who needs a wee bit of work.
We want to thicken his ankles slightly as they are a bit too thin as it turns out.
The wagon on top of the case is a prototype laser cut card model from the guys at Miniature Scenery - it was just done as a surprise for us! We are currently working on a way to simplify it a little to shorten the cutting time and make it more affordable without compromising the design.
In regards to the earlier comment regarding Ratcatcha - he's not a resin option in the Kickstarter but will be released in resin very soon after the fulfillment shipping. If you really want a resin one I'm sure we could arrange it. Just pop an email through to sales@dementedgames.com :-)
Cheers
Pete
Yeah I know - it's really rather cool!
Interestingly there is a very even split between Dickensian sets sold and Servants sets sold.
Current totals are 439 Dickensians and 472 Servants of The Engine.
Eygptians 236 sets all up and 85 Guild of Harmony :-)
Guild have probably been affected by the fact most of those minis are old from Sebastian's range and lots of people just want the cards :-)
Once their rules hit though I'm sure they'll sell better :-) Especially when some of the Egyptian stuff we haven't shown yet is finally revealed :-)
I (late) pledged for both Dickensian boxes and both Servants boxes. I'm trying to resist opening the Pledge Manager to add the Guild of Harmony box. Is that shipping in Wave 1?
Hi Ubik!
Thanks for the pledge! Much appreciated!
The Guild of Harmony are likely to be Wave 2. There is a chance they'll make wave 1 though. The only hold up would be developing their Character Cards and backstories quickly enough. The miniatures are all done and can be cast now.
My focus at the moment is the Egyptians who need some fairly serious rules thought :-)
Cheers
Pete
24 hours before Pledge Manager CLOSES! Plus sculpts for Pigsty, Indigo Ford, and new 54mm Launcelot artwork
Hi everyone,
This is it: the Twisted Pledge Manager is officially closing in about 24 hours! This is your last chance to finalise your rewards and include any last minute Add-Ons you want. Don't forget to make sure your shipping address details are correct!
While we're officially ending the Twisted Pledge Manager on Friday February 3rd (midnight USA Pacific time), the system may remain open for a day or two extra while we sort out all the admin before locking it down. But don't leave it too late!
No need to panic if anything goes wrong or if you miss the deadline: after the Pledge Manager closes, you'll still be able to contact us via email (sales@dementedgames.com) to make any changes to your rewards, update your address, etc. No worries
Don't forget last minute friends or backers can still join in to grab the Kickstarter discounts via this link or via email (sales@dementedgames.com):
Thank you once more - you, our amazingly generous backers - for all of your wonderful positive support through both the Twisted Kickstarter campaign and within the Twisted Pledge Manager! Twisted has become a real success thanks for your help, and Peter and I can't wait to start shipping all the goodies out to you all.
New Miniature sculpts and artwork
Ok, now we have some really cool last minute stuff to show you!
Pigsty:
Valentin Zak has finished sculpting Pigsty, and the miniature looks absolutely magnificent! I am really blown away by this one. Valentin's details work is so crisp and sharp - check out the rake cannon and kegs on Pigsty's back, as well as those tiny voodoo dolls hanging from the belt - and he achieves such beautiful shapes with his anatomy and clothing folds. Beautiful shapes and open spaces for painting - this mini looks like an amazing canvas for a painter!
Remember, the resin Pigsty is ONLY AVAILABLE through the Kickstarter/Pledge Manager, so this is your LAST CHANCE to get the resin version! (He'll see general release in metal at a later date). The same applies for the Monkey King - this is the last chance to get the resin version through the Pledge manager, so you'd better jump in quick on these two miniatures if you want the resins!
Indigo Ford:
Another amazing miniature: Indigo Ford has been sculpted by Patrick Masson and Peter and I think it is another masterpiece! Patrick has absolutely nailed this sculpt, and captured Owen Aurelio's beautiful concept perfectly. It's a very dramatic miniature with the whip circling around it, and check out all the cool little Egyptian details (check out her intricate right shin greave, scarab ornament on her hat and the canopic jar on her back!).
I've also included a photo of a resin production sample cast at the end. This is what the resin Twisted miniatures look like (I have assembled Indigo for this photo, she comes in several separate parts). As you can see, the resin casts are coming out really well and capturing all the detail pretty much perfectly - we are really pleased with the quality!
Here's the resin production sample cast:
54mm Launcelot:
Lastly, an artwork I think is SUPER COOL by Owen Aurelio: the 54mm version of Launcelot! We wanted to re-imagine the Launcelot character rather than just make a bigger version of 32mm mini, so Owen, Peter and I worked through a new concept process and pose to generate a with a whole new artwork and vision for the figure. I think this is a really characterful new version of Launcelot and it will make a brilliant and impressive 54mm miniature - I can't wait to sculpt it!
Giving Back (or how to increase your gaming karma...)
Hi to all our good backers!
I'm a firm believer in gaming karma. Whenever you help another gamer your chances of rolling a 20 in the next vital D&D encounter (or Twisted skirmish) increase dramatically! I'm also a huge gaming nerd and love to see new projects and games coming to life.
Here at Demented Games we have been fortunate enough to receive such awesome support from all of you that we only thought it fair to try and give back a little to another project we think is well deserving.
With this in mind I present:
IN TENEBRIS LUX
Owen Aurelio, whose name you might well recognise from previous updates, is one of the talented artists who has helped bring Twisted to life. He is responsible for a good number of the fantastic concepts we have turned into the miniatures for our project and has been a great supporter of us here at Demented Games from the earliest days of the project.
He recently launched his own Kickstarter for an absolutely beautiful Victorian Horror themed card game and we thought it only fair that we show him a measure of the same support he has given us.
We are sure you will be impressed with the quality of the project (we are!) and hope you can find a way to offer him and his partners some measure of the fantastic support you all showed us. Just take a look and ogle at the artwork anyway :-)
Here are some of the beautiful cards for the game:
Stunning aren't they!
Check it out and see if it's up your alley gaming wise. I'm sure it will be a fun and exciting game to play and I really look forward to getting my copy.
The project is now funded and is beginning to burn through stretch goals - personally, as a painter, I want to get the busts unlocked!
Anyway - take a look. You'll be impressed.
Back to our usual Transmission...
Things proceed well on the Twisted front. Now we are back and settled from Cancon we have begun to focus on getting the last few things nailed down for fulfillment of your pledges. It was fantastic to meet so many backers during the event and showing off the proofs of the book and box was a highlight for me. Everyone seemed very impressed.
Here's what the front of the box looks like:
Sebastian is madly cleaning up the last of the Wave 1 masters for Nic at Eureka to begin casting the last mould or two worth of miniatures. All Wave 1 minis are now mastered and the resin casts are beginning production on the few we don't have good stocks of already.
The rules box including cards, counters and of course the book itself is at the printers. All proofs have been approved and printing is beginning in earnest.
On the Wave 2 front we have a good number of the miniatures sculpted with more underway as we speak. We'll show more of the Egyptian stuff very soon!
The Electronic version of the rulebook should be available very soon. Sorry for the delay - I've been kept very busy doing art for the Faction Boxes, Terrain packing Sleeves and working on the rules for the Egyptians. I hope to have the files ready shortly.
Now onto the more interesting stuff...
Bastion the Crab
Bastion the Crab - the Kickstarter Exclusive mini - is now done and has also been mastered. I have one sitting on my painting desk and he's the cutest miniature ever (if rather pointy and ill-tempered).
For those of you interested there are some design cues given here to the next faction coming for Twisted - the Atlanteans. We can't say too much just yet as they are still in development but some of the elements that are seen here will be appearing in those designs.
He's free to backers who spent over $150 and if you happen to have spent over $250 you will also be receiving Ariel.
I intend for there to be some synergies rule-wise for these two but if you didn't quite make the dollar value to get a free Ariel never fear - she'll be available separately after the Kickstarter in metal.
If you missed out getting Bastion you may be able to beg one out of us at a Trade Show sometime if we have casts left after all Backers have theirs.
Launcelot goes LARGE!
One of the stretch goals we achieved was the 54mm scale Launcelot. We are excited to do this miniature as it will be Twisted's first foray into a scale above 32mm.
We were keen not to just redo the 32mm gaming version bigger and we wanted to explore a very different feel for this piece as it's a display piece and painter's model rather than a gaming miniature.
Again we went back to the inestimable Owen Aurelio who designed the initial Launcelot and had him reinterpret the concept in a much more haughty and proud pose.
Here is what he came up with:
It will be a delight to paint when it is sculpted and personally I can't wait to get my hands on one!
I think it displays the slight arrogance of the knight and it's nice to finally put a face to the name as he holds his helmet in his hand now.
It will be really fun to be able to lavish more details on this model than the smaller one and we will make sure he is a piece that will excite even the most jaded painter and collector.
That's it for now. We'll have another update very soon and will be sure to keep you all informed as things progress.
Thanks again for all your support and comments - keep them coming - we love to hear from you.
Don't forget if you ever have a problem you can shoot us an email to: sales@dementedgames.com and we'll get back to you as soon as we can.
Do you think the Pledge Manager will be reopened prior to wave 2 shipping. I imagine many of us have gone hard on the items that will be available in wave 1 and the option to pick up wave 2 stuff prior to shipping would be a great enticement and give us longer to save up
Hi Fleegle,
That may well be an option. We are discussing it with the guys at Pledge Manager and will work something out between now and the 2nd wave.
If it can't be done through the Pledge Manager for some techincal reason we can always take manual orders :-)
Cheers
Pete
Hi Drazz,
The Pledge Manager is locked now but will open up again later on when wave 2 is ready. If you want to add him it would be awesome!
Thanks again to all here for your support - it's a privileged to see people chatting about Twisted :-)
Cheers
Pete
Caseys,
If you want to jump in now we'd be happy to hook you up manually. If you shoot and email through to sales@dementedgames.com we can organise it for you.
Either that or wait for wave 2 :-)
Cheers
Pete
I've got too many outgoings right now but I'd be interested in jumping in when the second wave comes around. I'll keep this thread subscribed so I can jump on it when the time comes, thanks.
Twisted wrote: Caseys,
If you want to jump in now we'd be happy to hook you up manually. If you shoot and email through to sales@dementedgames.com we can organise it for you.
Either that or wait for wave 2 :-)
Cheers
Pete
Is this open to anyone? I'm a very sad panda I didn't spot this in time to pledge for the monkey king and friends
Hi Nate,
The electronic book should be finished this week I hope. The printers are working on the main rulebook - that should be finished in the coming weeks.
Sorry for the delay - so many things to work on at once at the moment - it's like herding Urkin :-)
Cheers
Pete
Hi Fleegle,
We are just waiting on a final date from our printers for completion of the books. Once we have that we can work out a better timeframe.
It shouldn't be too long now :-)
We do appreciate that delays are annoying and we are really trying to do everything just as quickly as we can without compromising quality.
Cheers
Pete
Still some incomplete Kickstarter orders - new box cover and terrain packing pics - general progress update
Hi again everyone,
There are still some incomplete Kickstarter orders so we have re-opened the Twisted Pledge Manager again for a couple of days to give you a last chance to finalise your rewards. If you haven't already done so, please complete your orders as soon as possible so that we can ship your rewards!
Access the Pledge Manager via your email link or here:
Ok, on to other news! Check out the front and rear cover of the Servants Starter Box, one of the metal-miniature Faction Boxes from the campaign (I know many of you will be receiving this one!). I love the front cover - our artist Mitchell Nolte absolutely nailed it, it looks fantastic if I do say so myself!
Here's a photo of a fully packed and shrink-wrapped No. 42 Carver Lane terrain piece. This is how the terrain will be packed and presented. I think it looks very cool, it's great to see how the final product will look.
Peter and I are working away very hard to finalise all the production of the Wave 1 rewards, we are almost there: I have been cleaning metal masters for moulding like crazy and we are just about to make the last of the production moulds at Eureka. All the earlier moulds have already been heavily in production and we have thousands of metal miniatures ready to be packed into the Faction Box sets! We also have all the stock of resin in from Valiant for Wave 1, so we are just about ready to pack the Wave 1 miniatures - that's great news!
Terrain is also on track with the laser cutters working day and night at Miniature Scenery - everything is proceeding at a steady pace and is on track for completion soon. Miniature Scenery is packing/shrink-wrapping the terrain for us so all we need to do it put it into the rewards box.
The third piece of the puzzle is the rulebook printing, which is in progress as we speak! Everything is on track, printing is going well and on schedule.
It will be a very big job to pack up all of your rewards for shipping but we are going to throw ourselves into it soon, and get it nailed as soon as possible. Thank you all for your patience, as well as your very generous support. We are sure that you're going to be thrilled with what we've been able to produce with your help!
We'll keep everyone updated with progress reports along the way, and don't forget that you can always contact us via email at sales@dementedgames.com
I was reminded, just yesterday, by Kickstarter that it's now the first anniversary of Twisted being funded! Again let me say how much Sebastian and I appreciate the support of each and every one of you.
Lots has happened in the last twelve months and we have both learned a great deal about the excitement, fun (and indeed stress) of bringing a product from a successfully funded Kickstarter into a real, living game!
In this update we will cover where we are at with all the elements of the game and we'll also show another awesome concept for the doughty Sgt Clark!
Production Progress
We appreciate your understanding of us running a bit behind our initially stated delivery date. As I think we have said before - nothing has actually gone wrong at any stage to speak of, it's just that things seem to take a bit longer than we estimated initially and some of these have knock on effects that hold other things up slightly.
Everything is now starting to resolve though and many things are now coming to completion. Sebastian and I thank you all for your patience and suppport!
Right - on with the stuff we are sure you all want to hear about...
Rulebooks - Physical
Printing is all but complete. I am expecting our printer to ship the first finished samples to me mid next week. This includes the Rulebook, the three decks of cards, the box, the counters, playsheets and everything!
I am terribly excited to get my hands on a copy of the final book (and a little terrified). Everyone involved in Twisted has worked really hard on it and we are truly proud of what we have achieved. We really hope you all find as much fun in playing Twisted as we had writing it!
They will be boxing everything up soon and we shall have it shipped to us so we can pack it in your pledges.
I'll be sure to post pics (maybe an unboxing video if I can organise it) when I have the samples in hand.
Rulebooks - Electronic
I know many of you have been waiting for this - many apologies for how long it has taken.
I really wanted to go through the pdf file and index it with lots of clickable links so you can just click on a reference and jump right to the relevant rule. There are lots of them in the book (and the index) so it took me quite a while.
The good news is the files are all done now - just a few small edits to make to some links - and we should release them soon (see below).
Forum
Related to the above we are having our IT guys set up a dedicated Twisted Forum where we can all hang out and chat. It's due to be ready next week then I need to just make it pretty and add in the starting topic areas and we'll go live.
I'd like to coincide the launch of the Forum with the release of the Electronic Rules. The main reason for this is so that we can keep discussion and questions regarding the rules in a more useable form than the rolling thread that is the KS comments section. It will allow us to track discussions more easily and keep things relevant to topic etc. Also the Forum will keep discussions cleaner and neater and you good folk can make more sense of it and find answers more easily too.
Miniatures - Metal
Every Wave 1 miniature is sculpted and has had the masters made. I was just at Eureka last night checking the layout of the next three moulds. Here's a photo of them:
These have Urkin, Trevor the Rat, the Steam Imp, Bill Psyches, Bullseye, Sowerberry, the Gentlefolk Teacher and the Gentlefolk Sailor on them. Nic should start casting these in the next week so we can approve the first run of models.
Here's one he prepared earlier - the mould with the Gamekeeper and Flower Seller on it:
He has just about finished the initial run of this mould and I should be picking them up soon for packing.
Speaking of Packing - Sebastian and I are now popping the models into wee zip-lock bags for insertion into the box sets. It's a big job but we are making good progress!
This is how the minis come back from Eureka:
We get bags of each component which we then need to pack together. This particular box has Bloodrage Urkin, Urkin Alchemancers and a few of the other Urkin in it. There are 300 of each here!
To pack them in the bags we sort the parts out into small handing containers so we can ensure all parts go into each bag.
Here you can see the Urkin Alchemancer being bagged up.
Once bagged each model is placed in a larger box for sorting into box sets.
The sleeves for the boxes are nearly complete and will be printed shortly. Each box will have a sleeve that shows the contents of it and features some awesome art by Mitchell Nolte on the front. Here's a pic of a flat sleeve for one of the Dickensians Sets.
Character Cards
Related to the discussion of box sets - printing of the Character Cards is very nearly complete too! After this is done they go off to be cut with round corners and then they will be collated and packed to go in the boxes with your miniatures.
Miniatures - Resin
Valiant are working away at casting the resin editions of all the miniatures for those of you that have ordered them. We have quite a number of these complete now and, as you saw from the Cancon pics, they have moved on to some of the Wave 2 stuff as we get masters to them.
It's only one or two of the Wave 1 minis we are waiting for stock on but that is happening as I write so it won't be long before that component of the project is complete.
Wave 2 Stuff
Once we complete the Wave 1 work then casting will begin on the Wave 2 stuff.
We have masters and resins for quite a few of the Wave 2 minis already and there are a bunch more out with sculptors at the moment.
Here is a WIP photo of Rozzer the Urkin.
Lux Thantor is doing this one for us and he is looking fantastic as usual! Lux has really captured the chaotic Urkin feel and the distinct character of this pair of demented young lads particularly. We'll post larger, clearer images once he is finished :-)
There are also more Egyptian pieces being worked on and we shall have pictures of them to show you very soon.
I am working now on the Character Cards and rules for the Wave 2 stuff. There is still a lot to do but they will add a lot to the gameplay of Twisted with both the Guild of Harmony and Egyptians playing very differently to the Servants and Dickensians.
Here's one of the early drafts of the Character Card for the Guardians of Set:
This is still very much WIP so don't bank on any characteristic or ability being the same by the time I'm done :-) No points value has been assigned yet either but I'm working towards a range between 17 and 19 points so they fit somewhere between an Urkin (12-14 points) and the Gentlefolk (19-29 points).
The Characteristics in brackets represent my current thinking regarding the Canopic Jars but I have to better define and test those ideas as yet.
I think that's it for the moment on the production front. It won't be long now until we can finally pack all your pledges and have them on their way to you!
Sgt Clark
One of the Characters I was rather excited to see funded in the Kickstarter was Sgt Clark - the gentlefolk Bobby.
Nicolas Amoroso has done a cracking job taking Craig's rough sketch into a finished concept ready for sculpting!
He looks suitably terse and stern. You might note he has a handful of cash - perhaps the good Sergeant isn't as incorruptible as he might, at first, appear!
The rules for Sgt Clark will be fun and I have a bunch of ideas for the mini campaign he comes with. There are more Bobbies in the works too along with some other stuff that should allow you to run an all Bobbies Company if you want. It might take a little while for this to come to fruition though :-)
That's it for now. I hope you found this update interesting and informative. If you have any questions feel free to ask and we shall endeavour to answer as quickly as we can.
If you have any problem in particular feel free to email us: sales@dementedgames.com and we will certainly do our very best to help.
It's a big day today! The first two copies of the Twisted Game Box arrived from our printers! I've opened it up and had a peek - let me tell you that was a nervous moment!
It all looks great and I'm really happy with the way it has turned out.
I'll get some decent photos taken in the next few days and give you a proper update about it but I'm so excited I had to share!
It will probably be early next week for the proper update - I have some cleanup to do on the first samples of the Steam Imps and Trevor the Rats so we can get them into the last of the moulds that need to be made and, as much as I'd love to show stuff now, production has to take precedence!
I'll also have more news on the Forum and Electronic Files then too. The IT guys setting it up are taking a bit longer than they said...
Backer (X) 5 days ago
Things are looking great! Any update on the PDF rules and boards?
Thanks!
Demented Games Creator 4 days ago
Hi Nate (and everyone else),
Sorry for the delay on the electronic files. We are just waiting for our IT guys to get everything set up. They did have one forum up earlier this week but I wasn't happy with it so we are trying again with different software. Shouldn't be long now.
The only reason we want to wait to release the files is so that we can get discussion and questions in a place we can easily track and answer queries and comments with the slightly ephemeral nature of the rolling comments here. It also will allow us to give "official answers" and then find what our ruling was again without scrolling through a list of comments we can't just search for certain terms.
I hope this is OK. Many apologies.
cheers
Pete
Demented Games Creator 4 days ago
Sorry - double post there and a typo! I meant "without the ephemeral nature of comments here"
As the KS interface just rolls down I worry that we'll miss stuff and it will be hard to find responses later on and you guys won't be able to search out answers either.
Cheers
Pete
Demented Games Creator 3 days ago
Hi all,
Not quite worthy of an update but the base forum is up now. I just need to make it look nicer and add in base forum topics and we are off and running.
Won't be too far off :-)
Cheers
Pete
Thanks! Even closer now :-)
Just the last touches to do so it looks nice and then we are off!
It, unfortunately, took much longer than we got told initially :-(
Still - on the upside it came up a treat!
Twisted Forum now active, and Twisted Digital Rulebook revealed!
Twisted Forum now active!
Finally, after much wrangling of code, our dedicated Twisted Forum is up and running! We still have a few tweaks to make in terms of style but it's functioning now and that's the important bit.
We'd love you all to sign up and join us there for discussion of Twisted! You'll have to answer a simple question to sign up (we are trying to keep spammers out) but it shouldn't be a tough question for any of you.
Twisted Digital Rulebook available now through the Twisted Forum!
Look in the Twisted News section of the forum for the link to download the Twisted Digital Rulebook!
The Twisted Rulebook file has lots of clickable links in the index that will take you straight to the correct page reference, and the card files have been set up so that they can be printed double sided and cut out if you want.
We have dedicated sections on the forum for chatting about the Twisted rules. It would be great if we could move all discussion of the rules to the Twisted Forum, so that we can keep track of all your questions and provide proper responses.
There are also forum sections for talking about your Twisted painted miniatures, terrain, and also a section to discuss other games should you wish. While we want to keep it mostly Twisted based we recognise that most of you will also play other games, and we want to make our forum a really good hub for all things hobby related.
We are really excited to be able to chat with all of you on the Twisted Forum. I'm PeteDG on the forum and Sebastian is SebDG, so if you see comments from those users it's us!
It's important to both Sebastian and I that we engage with our community and keep excellent lines of communication open so we really look forward to meeting up with you all online at our forum.
Printed Rulebook
We've received the first printed samples of the Twisted Rulebook Box back from our printer, and here are some better photos to show you the fantastic result. We are really pleased with them, the quality is outstanding! Even better than we hoped - we are really proud of it and can't wait to share it with you!
The Twisted Rulebook Box
The Box itself is lovely! Good and strong it protects your rulebook and cards. It's a big unit at around 45cm long, 30cm wide and 3cm deep. It has a really nice glossy finish and our printers went the extra mile to make the inside of the box black, making it just that little bit more elegant.
Once you open the box you'll find your rulebook, dice, Eye of The Engine, Alchemancy and other Cards all nestled nicely in a secure card insert. On top of that sit the two laminated play reference cards and the sheets of counters, ready to be popped out and used.
Here's an image of the contents of the box minus the book. You can see the Eye of The Engine Cards, The Alchemancy Deck, The Tarot of Taxing Tasks, the Pass Cards, the Play Sheets, Counter Sheets, dice and the four Character Cards that relate to missions in the book. These are the Catch Wagon, The Spy, The Sewer Slime and the Rat Swarm.
All the cards are UV coated so they are reasonably hard wearing and feel nice in your hand. The counters are gloss laminated (plastic coated) so they are extremely tough and the play sheets are matt laminated so they are also tough but easy on the eye when reading them.
Here's a photo of the rulebook. It's full colour and case bound with a hard cover so it won't fall to bits even with heavy usage. I'm super happy with the quality of the printing and our friends at SC International did a fantastic job!
Here is an photo of the internal pages of the book. As you can see it opens nice and flat in general - obviously some pages are better at this than others but the extra bit of spine width we had build in helps and will also increase the longevity of the book.
Overall both Sebastian and I are extremely happy with the quality of the rules and, even to us, somehow Twisted feels more real now that the rules are actually in hand. It's been a long road to get here but I'm awfully excited (and a little bit proud) to have produced something that now is a "proper game".
I hope this update makes you all happy with our progress! We are working as hard as we can to get everything to you as quickly as we can without compromising the quality of the project. We should be able to lock down a shipping date very soon and we'll be sure to keep you updated both here on Facebook and on the forum as we progress.
Cheers
Pete
Wow - everything looks great!
I cannot wait to get all of this in hand - it is all going right to the top of my build/paint/play queue!