The Walking Dead: All Out War – Its Alive!

Hi, Ronnie here.

The response to the news about The Walking Dead Miniatures game has been astounding. Thanks for the messages you have been sending through.

Over the coming days we will dive into the rules and show off the great range of miniatures we have for you, but before that I just wanted to take five to talk through a few of the decisions we have made, and why we have made them.

I think it is pretty clear how excited we are bringing this game to the tabletop; the team have worked hard to bring the unique feel of the comic into the game – (before the end of the campaign there will be a rules set available for you to have a play through). It has taken us a lot of late nights to create a game that did justice to the comics. We persevered because we knew this was an opportunity to bring something new to the wargames table. The aim is that the game play will encompass both the desperate fight for scarce resources, but also create a PvP game where the Walkers pose just as much threat as the player opposite you. A kind of 3 way situation – where lots of death is going to happen!

We expect the Kickstarter will create a huge amount of noise and excitement, ahead of the retail launch of 'ALL OUT WAR'. Mantic is not a huge company (yet! - fingers crossed) and so the excitement of a campaign is always a great way for us to, well – kickstart a new range. It’s been said that Mantic KS’s are entertainment in their own right, and we want this to be the most memorable of them all!

This campaign is not only a celebration of the launch, it is also a big thank you to those fans that have supported us in the past, and those that love the comics. We know many Mantic fans want to get behind a project early, and to be part of the whole development process; from playing the early alpha rules, to giving us feedback on the models, and then running demos to convert other club members once the game arrives. We hope some of the comic fans will want to be involved in that exciting process too. Those are the hard core fans that make our games flourish. This is a 'thanks' for you before this hits the retail shelves in October. As a reward to all those who jump on before that official launch you’ll get some very cool, exclusive KS extras, lots more models to build your groups with, and everything you need to get started – all in a limited edition Collector’s Edition box.

That said - we have also learnt from previous Kickstarters that if we offer too many different options we can struggle to cope with all the permutations. So this time we have decided to keep it really easy – to maximize what the backers get - and to ensure every pack is as accurate as it can possibly be. There is 1 pledge level for everyone that wants to get on the KS (with a few early birds for the super hard core!). This will get you the base game and the first major expansion – Atlanta Camp – plus some exclusives. Then we will keep adding in items to the pledge until the box is bursting! If the campaign goes crazy big we will open up 1 or 2 other waves for unlocking as add-ons – but again there will be just 1 add-on to keep it simple and accurate. But be warned, once everything is unlocked we will not make any more pledges available so if you want one please do jump on early.

This Walking Dead range is designed to sell in comic and game stores around the world for years to come. The aim is for it to appeal to fun casual gaming and a recognized tournament system. With that in mind we have designed 'All Out War' to be engaging to play, supported with a full range of fantastic minis, and at great prices to encourage regular additions to your group. And that’s why with just a $50/£35 MSRP for the base game we are happy to know some people will wait for the retail release.We want the shops to enjoy the release of this – just like they have with Dungeon Saga. The game will be in stores by October, along with the first wave of releases.

To further support the game stores, every wave has a number of lines that are saved for the retail launch – creating a great reason to pop into your local gaming store, (or jump online) to pick them up. We even have a pledge dedicated to Stores – giving them access to the game – and the exclusives – again as a thank you for supporting the game early. We don’t believe any miniature game campaign has done as much for the local gaming store – we want to do it because that’s where we see the long term potential for this range. Hopefully you can see where we are coming from, and the support we are trying to give to local gaming stores through this approach. Our belief is that it will benefit the game and the community in the long term.

Skybound have been hugely supportive of Mantic by granting us this license, and as I said we want to leave plenty of people wanting to pick up the game at their local store...but for the hard core we have the pledge, and the plan is to make it a big, huge box of cool as a big thank you for your wonderful support.

Best wishes, and keep…..not being bitten! ;)

Ronnie

The Walking Dead: All Out War is live on Kickstarter right now! Go and check it out!