48 hrs left! New Fleet Add-on Available : The Sylwarin + Unlocked Stretch Goals
almost 4 years ago – Wed, Jul 08, 2020 at 10:54:14 AM

We still have many awesome stretch goals on the horizon in the last few days, but to make sure we offer you the option to get as many ships as humanly possible, I have added a fourth fleet to the project - this one also available as a $6 addon, just like the Hive Fleet. 

For clarity, the first 2 full fleets (The Alliance and the Oq'uiar) are included with the core STL pledges, along with all the unlocked stretch goals. To get either, or both, of the 2 other fleets, you will update your pledge by $6 per additional fleet in Kickstarter. Then, once the KS is concluded, you will be able to select the specific fleet(s) you wanted in the BackerKit link I send out a few weeks after the campaign ends.  You can always purchase these add-ons later when you finalize your pledge too, but if you add them to your KS pledge now you'll help unlock more stretch goals during the final days of the campaign!

Here's the new fleet in all it's glory:

We've been chugging away at stretch goals, with many more (some of the coolest ones!) still to come if the campaign keeps climbing. These last 48 hrs are huge, and very critical to the campaign, so please help by tweeting, sharing, etc anywhere you think folks might enjoy seeing the campaign and joining in on the fun!

New Fleet Add-on Available : The Hive
almost 4 years ago – Mon, Jul 06, 2020 at 10:17:47 AM

Per my last few updates, to make sure we get through all planned stretch goals, I separated a (new) full fleet into an add-on you can add to your pledge. I was initially planning on $5 for a 6-8 ship fleet, but it ended up being an 11 ship fleet (including a mega cruiser!) so I bumped it up a measly $1 for $6 total. 

To get this add-on, just update your pledge by $6, and you'll select the add-on in the pledge manager after the campaign concludes. Thanks, and hope you dig the fleet!

More Stretch Goals + Paint Scheme
almost 4 years ago – Mon, Jul 06, 2020 at 10:17:14 AM

Happy Monday folks! Man this project seems like it's going *fast*, but this is the first Ks I have don for 21 days (vs 30). We still have great traction and time for more unlocks!

Unlocked Stuff

First is what I'm calling an "Unknown Alien Vessel" - this ship doesn't fit with the other fleets or anything, but can be used as a 1-off style ship and is very loosely inspired by "The Borg" from star trek. We have the first 4 (or 8 planned) wreck/debris pieces, which have some damage on them and can be painted to look wrecked any number of ways. These will be great to make a big scrap field or have a few floating wreck pieces for any number of reasons. Also added the second space whale (one of my fave models so far). Then, the most epic ship in the campaign to date, the "Mega cruiser" for the Oq'uiar fleet. This behemoth looks awesome on the table and I spent a bunch of time making it support-optimized for super simple support placement and minimal support scarring/removal needed.

Look for a mega cruiser for The Alliance soon too, and one fo the soon-to-be-revealed  for "The Hive" fleet add-on (more on that below). If you know of any places where other folks might be interested in this campaign for forums or communities across the web, please help us unlock more stretch goals by sharing where you think is appropriate!

Add-on Coming - "The Hive"

Per my idea, and your feedback on the last update, to make sure we get all possible content in this KS I'll be including a new add-on option soon for the 3rd fleet (total ship count 8-10, TBD) for "The Hive" - another alien race. You'll be able to add it to your pledge for $5, which will also help unlock additional stretch goals.  I hope to have the add-on info live on the page in the next day or two. Here's a small preview of the art for some of the ships:

Paint Stream on Thu!

My friend and collaborator Ryan over @ Cephalopod Studios - an awesome painter with a line of hand-made paints mixed up right here in the USA - is going to be doing a stream on Thu where he paints up the free ships from this campaign. Ryan is a wealth of info on mini painting and the streams are always a great watch. I'll be jumping in there after my weekly DND game too.

The stream starts @ 7pm CST - this coming Thu, July 2nd on his Twitch stream HERE. As a reminder, all backers will be getting a 15% coupon code for their Cuddlefish Colors line of paint.

New stretch goals + some painted photos
almost 4 years ago – Sun, Jun 28, 2020 at 08:32:47 PM

Hi folks! Still going strong, and have some new stretch goals to share!

Newly unlocked since the last update we have the Ring Station (which is LARGE, as can be seen from the photo below), a set of 4 satellites and beacons, the space manta (one of my favorite models in the campaign), and then the first of 2 defense guns. I made an asteroid version of the gun for deep space, and then a version that can be on a planet's surface too

You can see a few files in action below, including the mining compound and ring station (which I printed in FDM) and then the space manta and a few other items (including a few upcoming stretch goal items).

I was looking through all the models I have planned for the rest of the KS and there are A LOT. This is the first KS I have done for a shorter time frame (21 days vs 30 days), in an effort to keep energy going the whole time and not have a big lull in the middle, and also setup stretch goals to unlock more frequently.

Thoughts on "The Hive" Fleet

I want to make sure we get everything unlocked, and I'm doing my part by advertising, promoting, and trying to make stuff look as cool as I can. To that end though, I honestly don't think we'll get everything unlocked simply because of the massive amount of planned content (there's 2 more full factions, more terrain, stations, creatures, and updates for existing factions). I am considering adding the 3rd faction - the Hive - as an optional $5 add-on, to allow us to (1) push stretch goals forward more by adding additional pledge dollars and (2) take all the Hive stuff out of the stretch goals to keep pushing forward with all the other stuff. Curious if you folks have an opinion? Would another full fleet option (6-10 ships of various sizes in a unique alien style) be of interest to you on top of the other stretch goals planned, or should I leave it all together, knowing we might not unlock everything? LET ME KNOW!

First day update! SO MANY unlocks
almost 4 years ago – Fri, Jun 19, 2020 at 04:26:26 PM

Hello all you beautiful people! I hope all is well. I'm thrilled to be posting this first update. We blasted to the funding goal of $5k in under 1 hr after launch yesterday, and proceeded to keep climbing! I don't post stretch goals until post funding, to give myself a (small) 24 hr window to catch my breath after the late, late nights prepping before launch. So it's always exciting to reveal the first couple after day 1, and set a cadence for unlocks.

Well, this KS is different than all my previous ones so I decided to keep a bit of a faster, more fun unlock cadence. I'm goin to be adding 1 new item (a ship, small set of terrain, creature, or who-knows-what) for every $500 we hit - starting at the the $5k funding goal! Some of these unlocks will be larger than others but they'll come together to make one hell of a fun - and HUGE - project.

If you did any quick math there, you will realize that since we hit $5k yesterday and are up to ~$11.5k, that equates to THIRTEEN stretch goals. And, here you can see em all below! I focused on getting some of the 'unaffiliated' and civilian ships out there, a few more for the Alliance fleet, some installations/bases, and a small taste of more of the creature's we'll encounter on this journey. There is much, much more to come (Including EPIc sized cruisers for each faction, and at least one more entire new faction).  I have most stretch goals planned, but - as usual - I love to hear all your input/ideas, and even if they don't make it into this KS they could surface in a future project. Or, I might have already planned/made your idea and you'll be thrilled to see it unlocked in a future stretch goal - so toss em in the comments below, and let me know what you think of these new items!