All Quiet on the Martian Front is a new miniature wargame currently in Kickstarter status, en route from Alien Dungeon. This game brings back together the colossal dream team think tank of Ernie Baker, Alessio Cavatore, and Rick Priestly- who collectively are responsible for more productions in wargaming than I can reasonably list. Here comes a new game, in (for some) a new scale, with some new twists on an old idea.
With ten days left in its Kickstarter bid, All Quiet on the Martian Front is steadily and slowly gaining momentum. It has surpassed its funding target by 300$, and collected nearly 700 backers. Now, like I discussed here for Prodos, that backer number is actually pretty important. See, since this isn't a "28mm clone game," there's not a lot of other games you could possibly be using these models for. Now add to that the fact that every pledge that gets you models gets you what two people need to play the game, and how many of those pledges do you think represent a pair of players pledging together? Maybe even clubs going in together at the larger pledges? There's no "buying these for my other more mainstream 15mm turn-of-the-century scifi game." Everyone that is buying these are looking to play this game with them.
Now, I know what you're thinking- you don't have any 15mm terrain. Well, your table by itself is probably pretty unscaled. Most "landscape terrain" is going to be as well, so that just leaves you a need for buildings and whatnot. Fortunately, 15mm is also actually a train scale, so getting a hold of table scatter and buildings isn't going to be much of a problem. There is a "trial size" of the rules up on the Kickstarter as well, which for me is always a make-or-break for a new property. After all, what good is having beautiful soldierdolls if I can't stand the clunky rules needed to use them? Never fear, these rules aren't clunky. Go take a look and download them for yourself.
One of my concerns for this project was "how are they going to make a War of the Worlds setting more interesting?" Well, Alien Dungeon have done just that. From interesting spins on real-world history, to creating a psychopathic Martian Tripod, to now preparing to introduce both British and Venusian forces into the mix, there's a lot of room to grow with this property, and a lot of variety on the horizon. Personally, I'm waiting to see if they leave the setting "static", or slowly advance it through years... maybe to a WWII setting where one of the extra terrestrial Overlords contacts an Earth dictator to begin a major war to rob the planet of defenders before the initial invasion fleet arrives? (Oh, and if they go that way, my money's on Flash Gordon winning.)
This kickstarter has not disappointed in the giveaways either. While true, this isn't a fill your bag with freebies "pre-order style" kickstarter, it is doing exactly what it said on the tin- launching an entirely new IP into the market. Depending on what level you are pledging at, there's a good span on free stuff to choose from. Still not convinced? Have Questions? Well, Ernie Baker himself will be doing two Q&A sessions on Saturday May 25th, on the nines. (That's 9am and 9pm EST.) Drop in and ask him a thing or two- tell him LXG sent ya!
You should certainly head over to their kickstarter page and take a look. I know Belgarath97 and I are looking forward to cracking this one open. My only concern is how to put PoweredPlay light kits into 15mm Martian Walkers... because that must happen...
The Second Class Elitist