Calling all £2 Pledges! Add On Pledge Level Now Live!
over 6 years ago – Wed, Sep 27, 2017 at 08:15:51 PM

Hey folks! 

So, as I mentioned over the weekend we had a slight difficulty in applying postage to anyone at the £2 pledge level who added extra credit to their order, and wanted to buy add-ons only, rather than upgrade to one of the existing levels. 

That's now resolved, and there's a new pledge level for you guys, so that you can buy add ons only, applying any credit you added in Kickstarter, or add new credit if you choose. 

How Do I do that?

Great question! Lets get started. First, log in to your survey. If you've lost the email you can go to this link and retrieve it with your email address: https://tde.backerkit.com/

Once you're logged in you'll see the following screen. You just need to hit the "change my pledge level" link indicated: 

That'll take you to this page, and again, follow the pink arrow! The £0 "add on" pledge level is what you want.

 That'll take you through the add on process. 

Sorry this has taken a little longer than I was anticipating. However, you should now all be set. 

Pledge Manager Live, plus a Wayfarers Reveal!
over 6 years ago – Sat, Sep 23, 2017 at 02:29:15 PM

Good morning folks! 

 I'll get back to the Wayfarers in a moment, but first, pledge manager stuff! 

Backerkit Surveys have Been Sent

The title says it all really, but there are a few important points I need to mention. 

• Please let me know if your survey didn't arrive, and I'll get it sent out again.
• If you do so please let me have your current preferred email address.
• Please note that you can upgrade your pledge level to a higher tier if you wish. The option is there when you log in to the survey.
• We are accepting paypal payments in Backerkit. 
• If your friends regret not backing they can use the pre-order store here: https://tde.backerkit.com/hosted_preorders to take advantage of the pre-retail prices.  

The surveys will be open for the rest of the year, so if you decide later down the line you just can't live without a box of yuttaraptors in your life (and frankly, I understand!) then you'll be able to add them. I'll give plenty of notice before locking down the orders. 

I hope that covers everything. Backerkit customer support are there to help if you're having issues with the system or have any questions. 

I pledged at the £2 level and want to add on items. 

So a few of you have been asking about this. Here's what you need to do. When you log in to the survey you'll see an initial screen greeting you, and asking you to begin the survey. Click through to the first survey page, which will look like this: 

You need to click this link to take you through to the add on store. Clicking "Next, Add Ons" won't do it. Unfortunately Backerkit will charge ALL £2 pledge level backers postage if I enable the option to just access add ons from the survey. Crazy, I know, but that's the system! Anyway, here's where you will find the link: 

The Wayfarers Faction Box special add on price

So I've been asked by a number of people if the Wayfarers box is included in the Master Builder pledge level. The answer is no- that pledge level was for everything unlocked during the Kickstarter. 

However, if you backed the project for Ankle Deep or above you can add the Wayfarers to your order for just £29! (expected retail at the moment is around £45-48). I expect a few of you at least will want to do that, because remember they are both a faction in their own right and Mercenaries that can be hired by other factions!

I've had huge fun with the Gene Splicer pledge levels developing the Wayfarers, and I'm hoping to get their bios in to the rulebook alongside the other characters (although no promises at this stage). 

If you're wondering more about the Wayfarers you can read about them and the list building opportunities they bring to the table in three Blog Articles here:

• Mercenaries and Hired Guns: Who Are the Wayfarers?
• Wayfarers Tactica 1
• Wayfarers Tactica 2

I'll be updating the website with a couple of dinosaur tactica articles over the next week or so, and a more general list building article a little bit after that. 

What Else?

I think that's more than enough for one update! However, I'll be making a more general production update before the end of the month. Everything is going smoothly so far (famous last words!), but I'll update with some more details soon. 

In the meantime, lets have another look at those Wayfarer renders shall we?

August Update: Dice Samples, Rulebook Preview and TOYS!!!
over 6 years ago – Wed, Aug 30, 2017 at 03:59:35 PM

Hello again folks- we're pushing the end of August, and so it's time for me to fill all you fine people in on the progress we've been making! 

The Rulebook 

Things have been super busy. I've finished the "World Guide" section of the rulebook, and that is now being proof read. It's approximately 30,000 words of Ulaya goodness- everything from a guide to the economy and environment of Ulaya to the makeup of species, and a guide to some of the important regions of Northern Ulaya. 

The subject is way too large to cover the entire continent in one book, so I've limited myself to writing about the Great Lagoon Network- a large area approximately one quarter of the landmass of the continent. 
That said, I've briefly scanned the rest of the continent as well, but decided it was more fun to go in to depth in a single place than cover the entire thing very broadly. 

So expect future releases to contain descriptions of the other parts of Ulaya!

Master Moulds and Miniatures!

Indeed, the time has come! You don't want to read about this, you want pictures! More will follow over the next few weeks, but I'll limit these to the Facebook Group rather than clog up people's inboxes with updates here. 

 So, as you can see, the prints are now coming through and we're getting the models mastered. This means that towards the end of the year we will begin full-scale production, which should be around the same time the rulebooks are being printed. 

Wayfarers!!!

But that's not all! I have the first two of the Wayfarer sculpts through now- the others will be following very shortly, so keep your eyes on social media for the others!

What's next? Well, the pledge manager should be up in the next couple of weeks, at which stage you guys will be able to add postage to your orders and add anything else you wish you'd got during the Kickstarter itself - Including the "Wayfarers" faction, which can be used together or broken up and used as mercenaries with other factions, in order to give you more list building options and strategies! Playtesting these guys has been a lot of fun. 

Anyway folks- things are hotting up, and so next month I expect we'll have more than one update. Keep your eyes peeled!

Wayfarers Update!
almost 7 years ago – Sat, Jun 24, 2017 at 10:27:52 PM

Hey guys. So, brief progress update!

Things have been progressing nicely of late, but I wanted to wait till I had some pretty pictures to show you all before sending out this update. More on that later. 


1. 3/4 of the miniatures are now cut for printing and the printing process has begun. This means I'll get a steady drip feed of printed models now over the next six to ten weeks, and I'll be sure to throw you a few pictures when I have some to show! On that note: 

 2. I'm off for a few days to see the caster next week to discuss the nitty gritty of production. I'll be sure to take a few snaps!

3. The dice have been ordered and I'm waiting on prototypes. The colours will match the rulebook (and website!)

4. Fluff writing has begun in earnest, and I'm about 1/4 of the way through the fluff chapters. Of course the writing is only part of the work. We also then need to typeset, proof read and.. well.. proof read a lot more!

5. Beta testing has begun too. When we are a bit closer to final versions I'm actually going to throw the beta profiles out there for you all to look at, and give me some feedback. Currently I'm really enjoying the dinosaurs. They are a lot of fun!

6. Pledge Manager is coming soon... I've hit a little bit of a chicane with this, mostly to do with weights and postage prices, but I'm getting on top of deals with fulfilment companies, so will be able to send out surveys as soon as I've got the postage prices finalised. I don't have an exact ETA yet, but it shouldn't be too much longer. In any case there'll be plenty of time between the surveys and late pledge store opening and us closing it for delivery, so don't worry. 
More on this in a later update. 

7. The wayfarers art is in! Super exciting! Here are our motley crew, all of whom can be used with any other faction, or form a faction of their own. Again, more about them in a future update, but for now have a look at these fantastic concepts, devised by the Gene Splicer pledge levels, and soon in the hands of the sculptors!
Yes, I know what you're wondering- you will be able to add this faction to your order in Backerkit, giving extra list building possibilities right off the bat :D. 

 That's all for this update folks. Next time I hope to be able to show you a few more printed models!

Species and Scenario Competition Winners!
almost 7 years ago – Sat, May 27, 2017 at 08:25:48 PM

Hey folks! So, we come to the last couple of competition announcements. First off:

Scenario Idea

This was really difficult to judge. I had to balance practicality and model/scenery requirements, coolness of concept and of course, fairness. 

A lot of really cool ideas just required too much specific scenery, and although I think such "high concept" scenarios is something I'd love to promote, I want the scenarios in the rulebook to be as accessible as possible. 

A lot of people wanted their scenarios to include dinosaurs too. I decided not to include an A.I. deck as a stretch goal because I felt the development workload full, but that's something we will definitely be seeing after the Kickstarter. 

So in the end I decided on two winners, both of whom came up with similar ideas. I liked elements from both and will combine them in to a single scenario: Dino Hunt!

Well done Catlion and LePsycho for your ideas!

And lastly

Species Concept

I feel a bit emotional as we close in on the last competition! Again, there were a lot of really fun and interesting ideas here. I was looking for something that fitted the world well, and I'm afraid not just a few of you created ideas which are similar to things already in existence! In the end I decided to go for Niel HHP's poisonous frog men- I instantly got a great vision of communities of these deadly little guys living out in the swamps and rainforests. Cool!

Closing words

I just want to say thanks for everyone who participated in the competitions. I had a lot of fun reading through the ideas and concepts, and I hope you guys did too!

I expect to have a very small production update for you next week. On the back end things are progressing nicely- beta testing has begun, sculpts are being cut for printing, and all is running within schedule... for now! Hah!

Anyway, I like updates to have pictures, so expect the next update to be something I can actually show you :D.