New Mechadrome Kickstarter Launched!

[Necros]

The new Mechadrome Kickstarter is live now!

In this new revised campaign we will be focusing on getting the game up and running with a full color rulebook, and starting out with 28mm scale Terran mechs. Here is the URL for the campaign page:

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/gangfightgames/mechadrome

Head on over to learn more about the game and see what we're offering, and pledge your support! You can also visit our website at Mechadrome.com to for more info and to download the free playtest rules.

Thanks for checking us out!

 

[Necros]

The campaign has been funded!

Next stretch goal will be $7000, and will unlock 3 new poses for the Terran Light Mechs. Since there are 4 light mechs per team, this will give each mech their own unique pose.

 

[Necros]

Here's today's weekly update! I'm going to plan to do an update every Monday going forward, now and after the camapign, with everything that's been happening lately.

We've had quite the week here being funded so quick and lots of things in development. This coming week should be pretty productive too! Tomorrow I'm expecting the medium mech samples to show up. I'm going to build them right away and get some photos so we'll finally have real-world comparison shots of the 2 different Terran models. Then I'll dive into painting and I should have the terran mediums painted up this weekend, with Team Bushido a few days later. I probably won't have enough sample pieces for bodies for every mech, so I'm going to magnetize the arms and use the same bodies for each photo for now.

Jonathan Peace just finished writing the bios for each pilot, so I will be posting that soon. I want to get the models painted first and then I'll do an update with all of the bios and photos I have. I'm also going to hold off on posting the pilot card PDFs till I get the new models painted up. Don't want to just update the PDF a week later and make people feel like they have to print them twice.

I mentioned before that I ordered up prints of the other 3 light mech poses and the hazards that were going to be for the next 2 stretch goals. I decided I may as well just get the molds and everything all done anyway since I'm getting the prints done. So, when I have a chance to update the menus later I'm going to be removing the goals for the alt poses and hazards. The $10k goal for free hazard models will stay though. So the Arena Hazards will be add-on items, $10 each for a pair of hazards or objective markers, and then the first stretch goal will be the $10k free hazards goal. Unfortunately I just can't afford to lower that goal as much as I'd like to.

So that's it for now. I'll have those sample model pics of the medium mech tomorrow night

 

[Necros]

The Medium Mech samples showed up today, and here are the photos as promised! These are metal master samples, and were pretty heavy and tough to work with, but I managed to file down the very few spots of flash. I attached the arms with poster putty and they were too heavy and kept falling off. I'll glue them on when I paint them. Of course none of that matters since the final models will be resin and very light and easy to work with!

So, from left to right, we have Buzzkill, Disorder, Makuzo and Tusragowa.. and the obligatory space marine for size comparison. Over on the campaign page I have some close up shots and rear views, check em out!

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/gangfightgames/mechadrome/posts/873121

 

[Necros]

The prints for the arena hazards and alt light mech poses have arrived, and here they are! Sorry if the details are tough to see, the material was transparent this time, so it doesn't all show up as well as the blue color the other prints had. I stuck the medium mech bodies in there just for scale.

Some backers have been asking for photos of the weapon pieces, so here they are! We have the light weapons followed by the mediums. The mediums have less pieces overall since most weapons are just the forearm while the light mechs have whole left & right arms.

From left to right we have Railguns, Chainguns, Blasters & Plasmaguns. Then Jackhammers, Crusherfists, Siege Drills & Buzzsaws. On the bottom there's booster jets, shoulder armor plates and a missile pod.

Here we have Left & Right Chainguns, a Plasmagun and Railgun (for either arm). Next is the Jackhammer, Left & Right Crusherfists, Wrecking Ball and Siege Drill. On the bottom there's a Blaster turret, booster jets and missile pod.

That's all for now. I'm going to start painting up the first medium mech sample now and should have him done in a few days. We're about halfway through the campaign now and things are going well

 

[Necros]

Over the next couple of weeks I'm going to be posting individual pilot bios along with a sample of their pilot card art, one each day or so. At first I was going to do one large update with each team, but I thought 1 pilot a day would be more fun So, here is Buzzkill, and you can find more on the campaign page. The next one will go up tomorrow



Buzzkill's famous career began in the dark period when Mechadrome was more violent than the wars it was designed to replace. Discovered in one of the many thousands of scrap-settlements, foraging off discarded military hardware and selling what she found for food, Buzzkill was quickly signed by the Terran talent scout Hamazdian Cole. Impressed by her natural tactical presence of mind that allowed her to evade capture for several days, Cole immediately started her on a rough regime of Mech combat drills, arena awareness and team tactics.

Kitted out with both close and ranged weaponry, Buzzkill delights in distract and hold tactics, keeping opponents either hunkered down under a deluge of missile strikes while other team mates flank them, or grappling up close with her buzzsaw, before falling back for more powerfully armed Mechs to finish them off.

 

[Necros]

Raking the ground with blaster fire, Tsuragowa roars from the sky riding twin contrails of booster jet flame right into the heart of the opposing team. Landing amongst them, shrouded by the dirt and debris kicked up by his weapons fire, ‘Rag grabs hold of the nearest enemy Mech, gripping tight and laying in with some close quarters fire. If he can, he uses his boosters to keep them off-balance, jinking one way then the next, long enough for their systems to start to power down due to overload. And then he’s off to the next engagement, just another prime example of Team Bushido’s infamous hit/run tactics.

Havoc joined the Titan's mid season '16, replacing StrikeZone who fell to a vicious Jackhammer and siege drill assault by Bushido members Makuzo and Kessen. Taken from the training pool of would be Titans, Havoc quickly became known for using his missile pod as a distraction and then nimbly shifting positions to spray the area with twin chainguns.

And he's no shrinking violet either. Despite receiving warnings from Titans management, Havoc can always be found on a vid-cast both before and after a match, holding interviews and flirting with the audience. He's also the only Titan to actively encourage sponsorship - his Mech is often decorated with advertising holoscreens or simple posters - yet another thorn in Titan owners sides. But the crowd love him, and pay to see him and so, for now, he stays.

(Final card will have a model photo when it's done )

 

[Necros]

The baby of the team, Kodachi has still to prove himself in the arenas. Taking over the coveted spot from Jakumota “The Flying Devil” Cannut following their violent retirement when his Mech imploded thanks to a faulty experimental grenade. In the six games Kodachi has taken part, his performance has been “variable” as Team Ace Yari commented in the post match interview with Station 27.

“He’s young but needs to learn respect for those that came before him. He has 2 attributed kills but they were lucky, almost fluke take-downs. And he doesn’t stick to the match plans, plans we have spent years perfecting. But he is eager and I too remember those first days. He will learn. He will grow. Or he will die.”

 

[Necros]

There is no separation of this psychotic pair of aeronautical experts. In their former lives they were cargo-pilots for Sienko Industries, flying freighter ships between the planets of the Galactic Council. Some held supplies - food, medical and much needed tech - while others were nameless containers and sealed orders. A destination and a timelog were all they were given, but the financial rewards they received for these type of assignments more than made up for the hazardous conditions they flew in.

However their luck ran out when transporting a sealed container to the Mankali Research Planetoid. A sudden meteor shower tore through their guidance systems forcing them away from their destination to the nearer moon of Salin IV. A pleasure colony for the super rich, the moon was a resort that catered to every desire. With engines on fire and bleeding atmosphere, the duo somehow managed to pilot the freighter away from the habited zone, crashing into the surface and spilling the contents across a vast area of dense forest. In horror, the two discovered their cargo was not medical instruments or supplies but instead twenty-seven humans infected with bionic-tech.

What happened next became known on Tri-Vids across the Galactic Council worlds as the “Massacre Of Salin IV”. Thunderstrike and Lightfoot became wanted men and had to flee into the shadows, pursued by agents of the Council. MechaDrome became their new home and the anonymity their Mechs provide, a new uniform. Kitted out with booster jets, the pair swoop around the arenas, letting loose a torrent of destruction from above, earning their crowd pleasing tactic the nickname: “Death from the skies”.

 

[Necros]

Another fast attack expert, Soto stands waiting for the signal to attack. Shadows are his friend and he barely registers on the heat-tracker systems used by Arena cameras to stream vid of the match. Heaven knows how opponents are supposed to keep a bead on this formidable close quarter specialist. Once a target has been established, usually by being knocked out into the open by heavy fire from a teammate, Soto powers up the twin siege drills affixed at the end of each arm. Once the target corridor has been established, a quick flick of a button and the booster jets are fired up, launching Soto straight at the unfortunate Mech.

Seeing the debris clouds of metal and poly-heated plastic explode around the doomed opponent and you know there are only moments left before another Kill is knocked up for Soto whose attack/kill ratio is riding high at the top of every league.

(Tomorrow I'll finally have one of the medium mechs painted up, so Disorder will be up next!)

 

[Necros]

“...and here she comes again! There’s no stopping the fury of Disorder tonight. Look at that – her buzzsaw just sliced right through Rampage’s plasmagun, releasing the energy in an expansive plasma cloud that took out three utility buildings! You’re listening to it first here on KLMD-2.4, the only registered radioband for Mechadrome games way-out here in the Galactic South Sector!”

To say Disorder has issues is an extreme understatement. Even the Team psychologist has given up on getting to the root of her issues, having way too many broken bones and bruises from their therapy sessions. Whatever the cause may be, that Disorder is armed to the teeth with a dangerous buzzsaw/railgun combo backed up with twin missile pods is welcomed by the crowds that pack the arena viewing hubs every time she strides out.

========

And, there's some bigger photos on the campaign page

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/gangfightgames/mechadrome/posts/891559

 

[Necros]

The Mechadrome Kickstarter Campaign will be ending tonight, July 1 at 10:00 PM EDT. Thanks to our awesome backers we are funded and can't wait to start making our Mechs! If you would like to join in, now is the time!

Our Light and Medium Terran Mechs are funded, and in our casting company's production queue. We are promising delivery in December, but we expect that to be much sooner, hopefully late October or early November. The retail release probably won't be until some time in 2015, so if you want to get the models ahead of time, and discounted prices, you'll have to join the Kickstarter before it's too late!

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/gangfightgames/mechadrome

Thanks again to everyone for all your help!