Manufacturing Underway

We hope you have had an enjoyable festive period, we certainly have! 

Apologies for the relative silence, we decided to take a well earned break and are due back in the office on the 3rd of January. Regardless of that, we thought it would be a great opportunity to get in touch with you all and let you know the progress of our project! 

Manufacturing Progress

So all of the figures for our first wave (the Starter Set and all unlocked freebies that come with that set) are 3D rendered, 3D printed and have made their way into Master Moulds. The next step will be to start making Production moulds and casting the miniatures to fulfil the first wave of shipments. 

Worth pointing out that we played around with the Wings on the Wyverns and we think they better represent their historical counterparts! 

Please also be advised that these are master castings, which we will use to make production moulds. There may be some variation in terms of placement of the supporting rods, to aid better casting, etc. 

Orc Spitfyre

Orc HurriKane

Dwarf Kampfkondor Bomber

Close up of the Kondor's Bombs

A feat of digital sculpting ingenuity! The Dwarf crew of the Kampfkondor!

Having finished the first wave of sculpts, Darko is now back to sculpting the last few units and characters for our Panzerfäuste Kickstarter before resuming work on this one. Any backers for Panzerfäuste should be prepared to see some more visual progress on that project too! 

...No Battle Plan ever survives contact with the Enemy...

...and I don't mean the Coventry-based popular music group... Sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but there has been a little stumbling point beyond our control and, in the interest of open and honest communication, we thought we should tell you. Dice.co.uk are the UK and Europe’s main supplier of gaming components, including many of the plastic bases you will get from other manufacturers. They have been supplying flyings stands for a good number of years and well, sadly, their mould tool for the Flying Stands has broken and they have been out of stock for quite some time now. We have calculated that we’ll need roughly 10,000 flying stands, so we have been added to their queue of people waiting to get them. 

I cannot stress enough that we have costed the Kickstarter around these particular bases, at a price previously agreed with them so, although we would appreciate any suggestions you may have, please understand there may well be other reasons than ‘we don’t like them’ that we decide to not go with your suggestion. 

We will, of course, keep you in the loop with this. If it's clear the original plan has completely fallen on it's face, then we will absolutely make sure to find another solution.

Pledge Manager

We have been promising you that for some time and I am very pleased to announce that we have finally signed an agreement with Crowdox after a shining review of their service from our good industry friends, Warploque Miniatures. Given that both Steve and Rob have used Crowdox before, we both believe it is a very smooth and simple service that will make it very easy to see what options will be available. Right now, we are working on populating the Pledge Manager with products, getting the images sorted and making sure all is well. 

Der Hogsnachtswatchmann

We currently have a deal on our webstore that, if you spend over £25.00, you get the Hogsnachtswatchmann Dwarf (an £8.00 model) totally free! 

This is available until the 31st of January. If you have yet to explore the world of Panzerfäuste, this might just be the way to do it. Visit the Hysterical Games Webstore for more information!

Spitfyre Funded and More!

Well, that's it folks. Spitfyre is completely funded, the Kickstarter has been a massive success!

Just how much of a success has it been?

Well. 

You guys loved the project so much, that we made ELEVEN TIMES our target goal. 

We have MORE BACKERS than our original Panzerfäuste project, to all of our new supporters, welcome to our little corner of madness!

We need to manufacture at least 1,032 Resin Dwarf War Eagles (eek!)

We need to manufacture roughly 4,734 Airbeasts in total (eeeek!)

We are massively pleased with how quickly support for Spitfyre has come about. In all honesty, we designed this, initially, to be a spin-off and one-off release. Now we have a whole bunch of different Airbeast models, an expansion pack and plans to release a whole lot more stuff on-going. 

Speaking of which...

Rob and Steve are going to start working on the Pledge Manager fairly soon (please bear with us, Pledge Managers are actually one of the hardest parts to handle for a Kickstarter project! Right now we don't know our timeline for it!). We received a few messages from folk saying that they would really like to have hit our final £12,000 stretch goal. Well, if we get another 10 Pilot Pledges to upgrade to Ace Pledges, then we will unlock the £12,000 Storch freebie model. We'll keep you up to date with whether this will be happening!

We are also still busy behind the scenes. Our, very talented and absolutely awesome, sculptor, Darko, has been working on the last few 3D models for the Starter Box and all associated Stretch Goals, which are coming along wonderfully. The Kampfkondor is a real treat, but we'll hold fire for now until we've pinned it down. Hopefully you'll see that soon. 

Will Beck, equally awesome and talented, has come back to us today with the initial concept sketches for the Kriegadler 110 War-Eagle and the Trog Bats which you will receive in the Torg-Baraz Expansion Set. 

Thank you all again for your support. From the depths of our hearts, it means everything to us to see people band together and bang the drum for projects like this one. We'll be back soon with more updates once the dust settles. 

Spitfyre: Troglodyte Mara 23 Bat Light Bomber

Your relentless hunting down of stretch goals shows no sign of stopping, thank you for all your support. The latest Stretch Goal to fall was the Troglodyte Mara 23 Bat Light Bomber - all ACE pledgers will now receive on free in their rewards!

Troglodyte Mara 23 - one free to all Aces!

Whilst the Trogs use the Mara for both bombing and reconnaissance missions, the Dwarves utilise giant storks for the latter, with their ability to fly extremely slowly and land/take-off in extremely short distances. The Dwarves have found that their Storch 156 not only ideal for reconnaissance but also great for inserting spies behind enemy lines, anti-partisan missions against the Troglodytes and even rescuing imprisoned rat dictators! Whilst the Storch 156 is not going to shoot down many enemy air beasts, it opens up a whole world of scenario and mission ideas for Spitfyre gamers...

Dwarf Storch 156 - the next Stretch Goal!

If we manage to reach £12,000 by the close of the Kickstarter this evening, all ACE pledgers will have one free Storch 156 added to their rewards along with all the other freeebies...

Spitfyre: Dwarf KampfKondor 52 funded!

The Dwarf KampfKondor 52 transport Stretch Goal was unlocked this morning and all ACE pledgers will have one included into their reward - the largest model in the range to date!

KampfKondor 52 funded - one free to all Aces!

So what next? Well there have been a number of requests for another airbeast for the Troglogytes so if we can reach £11,000 in funding in the next day and a half we will include one Mara 23 Bat Light Bomber in every ACE pledge.

The next Ace stretch goal - the Mara 23 light bomber!

We were discussing the Tôrg Baraz campaign at the Warfare show yesterday and the air battles fought in the huge caverns under the Tôrg Mountains, and we will be including rules for obstacles (like cavern walls, stalagmites and stalactites) and what happens if you don't manage to fly around them!

Warsongs

As we are in that "phoney war" middle period of a Kickstarter when it goes a little bit quiet as we make slow but steady progress towards the next stretch goal, we thought you might like to know that the electronic music that plays with the Kickstarter video was recorded by Steve's son and is available to stream or download for free here.

Spitfyre: Gnome Pigeon de Guerre funded!

Well that's the Gnome Pigeon de Guerre caught and one will be sent to all Ace pledgers for free!

Pigeon de Guerre - one free to all Aces!

Next up something special, the big cousin of the KampfKondor 111 bomber, the KampfKondor 52 with its impressive 15cm wingspan, used by the Dwarves in all theatres of the Great Dwarven War to transport Fallschirmjäger troops into battle, most famously against the Gnome fortress at Edam Emmental...

The giant KampfKondor 52...

The model will come complete with a section of Fallschirmjäger mounted on its back ready to deploy into battle against the Kaiser's enemies, providing you successfully escort it through the enemies fighter defences!

All Ace pledgers will receive one massive KampfKondor 52 for free if we reach £10,000 in pledges. The rules will also be extended to include the huge beast and how to land it amongst the enemy!

Spitfyre: Orc Defier Wyvern Funded...

Well that was an exciting day! You funded the first Spitfyre supplement Bats over Tôrg Baraz, the KriegAdler 110 Doppelmesser heavy fighters  and P11 War-Bat fighters that come with it and also the Defier Wyvern fighter with its unique rear facing weaponry - and one Defier will now be included for FREE in all ACE pledges!

Orc Defier fighter - now funded!

So what next, well it's back to the Gnomes Aéronautique de Oiseuax Militaire and their frontline, but rather slow and obselete, Pigeon de Guerre bomber, whose brave crew flew missions in both the Tôrg Baraz and Branzhûm air campaigns as well as in defence of their homeland.

Gnome Pigeon de Guerre bomber

If we can reach £8,000 in pledges we will include one Pigeon de Guerre bomber for FREE in each ACE pledge. Sacre bleu!

Spitfyre: Bats Over Tôrg Baraz Funded!

Well that didn't take you long! It seems you are batty for Bats Over Tôrg Baraz! Thank you for your support. The supplement and its seven miniatures will be included alongside Spitfyre and the eleven miniatures that come with that for all Ace level pledgers!

Ok, so what's next? Well following the Dwarf invasion of Tôrg Baraz a "volunteer" force of Orc Air Force pilots flew to the Troglodyte realm to help fight the invading Dwarves. Alongside the Spitfyres and HurriKanes that headed north were a number of Defier wyverns, a rather unique air-beast with, literally, a sting its tail!

Rough concept sketch of Orc Defier wyvern

Noting this particular wyverns unique hunting habit of flying ahead of its prey and attacking with its venomous tail, the Orcs came up with the idea of incorporating the breed in the Orc Air Force, supplementing the wyverns natural weapon with a rear gunner firing four machine-guns. 

Defier tactics are to fly ahead of enemy bombers and then attack them in their typically unarmed front arc with their own rear facing weaponry. How successful was the Defier in combat? Well you'll have to wait and see...

Every Ace level pledger will receive one Defier wyvern and flying base for free if we reach £7000 in pledges...

Spitfyre: New Pledge Level and Supplement Announced

As promised here is details of the first Spitfyre supplement - Bats Over Tôrg Baraz!

The core of the supplement will be a set of campaign rules along with a scenario generator, but we will also look at the air campaign over, and under(!) the mountains of the Troglodyte homeland of Tôrg Baraz.

Like the basic game this will come with seven models - a flight of three KriegAdler 110 Doppelmesser heavy fighters (that have a two man crew allowing forward and rear firing) and a flight of four P11 War-Bat fighters manned by the Troglodytes. (please note the artwork is placement art and will be changed once our concept artists catch up with your enthusiasm!) 

After that we have three planned stretch goals for more free models that will ONLY included in the ACE pledge level.

The models from this supplement AND in the Pilot pledge can be used in both the Tôrg Baraz and Branzhûm air campaigns.

As we hadn't planned the first Spitfyre supplement until later next year, we will be unable to ship this until later in the year and are looking at a June fulfilment date.

Spitfyre: Towards New Skies...

When we came up with the idea for this year’s beer ’n’ pretzels Panzerfäuste game - an air combat game with dragons and war-eagles, we thought it was pretty cool. Initially the idea was to do something like Futbowel, a small set of rules with some miniatures - a flight of dragons and a flight of eagles.

We then thought, hey if we use Kickstarter we might be able to expand the range sightly with a few more cool models like the vulture dive bomber. So we drew up a list with four stretch goals that we thought, if we were lucky, we might just get through in a two week period - but as long as we got the vulture hey?

In just two and a half days you guys have blown us away with your enthusiasm and pledges and have funded all the planned stretch goals, thank you all so much.

So what are we going to do for the next eleven and a half days? 

Well, we’re going to head off for new skies and unveil the first planned Spitfyre supplement six months early! 

This will have to be an add-on (the current Pilot pledge gets over £60 of product for just £25), but the idea is that we will do the same approach again, a £25 set with three free model stretch goal add-ons (including the biggest model yet).

We’ll announce the details later and a new £50 pledge level for both the basic game set and the new supplement (and all stretch goals from both), hopefully giving Will a chance to do some sketches for it!

Once again, many, many thanks, you lot are brilliant…

Spitfyre Dogfight Released!

Ok, Steve has stripped down the rules to the core basics taking out a lot of cool stuff like handler abilities, flaws and advantages, additional damage, additional manoeuvres, ground attack, ack-ack fire, additional airbeast stats etc etc, leaving you with a very stripped down set of rules to have a play with - Spitfyre Dogfight, which you can download for free from Wargame Vault right HERE!

 Have fun...

Spitfyre: Dwarf Kampfkondor 111 Funded!

Another Stretch Goal passed! That was a slightly bigger leap, because it's a slightly bigger freebie!

Here's Will's fantastic concept art, until Darko manages to complete the 3D sculpt!

Kampfkondor 111 Condor Bomber

So all Pilot backers are now going to receive a Kampfkondor 111 miniature with their pledge for FREE!

Steve has worked out that you are now getting £60 worth of kit for a mere £25! 

So, what's up next? Well, some of you have asked about Gnomes, and here they are!

The Gnome Hawk Fighter will be unlocked if we hit £5000.

Post-Kickstarter Update XXXVIII: Dwarf Schweinhundereite II

Now if you were worried that all the Hysterical love was going in the way of those little airbeasts don't fret, here are the remaining three Dwarf Schweinhundereite sculpted by Herb...

Next up, let's get him working on that Troglodyte mole tank eh?

Spitfyre: Orc HurriKane Fighter Funded!

Second Stretch Goal down! All Pilot backers in the Spitfyre Kickstarter will now get a FREE Orc HurriKane wyvern fighter and the rules expanded to include it!

Spitfyre: Dwarf KampfGeier Dive Bomber Funded!

Funded and first Stretch Goal down! All Pilot backers in the Spitfyre Kickstarter will now get a FREE Dwarf Vulture Dive Bomber and the rules expanded to include dive bombing!

Spitfyre Kickstarter Launched...

The Kickstarter for Spitfyre is now underway here...

(update: and funded! Thanks everyone!)

Spitfyre: Dwarf Vulture Dive Bomber

The feared dive bomber of the Dwarf air force - the KampfGrier 87 vulture dive bomber...

Spitfyre: Dwarf War-Eagle

The main fighter of the Dwarf air force - the KriegAdler 109 "Messer" war eagle...

Spitfyre Set For Take-Off!

As you may have seen on social media, our next, much teased, project is Spitfyre!

What is Spitfyre?

Spitfyre is an air wargame set in the world of Panzerfäuste. It features Dwarf piloted war-eagles and dive bomber vultures against the Orc piloted fighter wyverns. Typical games will see a player control one or two flights of air beasts, a flight normally consisting of three or four models.

What scale is it?

Unlike Panzerfäuste which is 28mm scale, we will be producing the Spitfyre miniatures in 10mm scale (1/200th). The wingspan of a fighter air beast is typically between 5 and 6cm across in this scale.

Why 10mm?

Two reasons, first off whilst 28mm scale models whilst looking visually impressive would cost a small fortune and you would need a very large playing area so that was not a practical solution.

Second, at some time in the future we would like to do an “epic” size Panzerfäuste game and felt that 10mm, given some races are smaller than a human (the 10mm measure) that it was a better around choice than 6mm (1/300th) - can you imagine a 6mm scale Gnome? Making the Spitfyre models the same scale as the future “epic” game was a logical decision so the models could be used in both.

Why are you running a Kickstarter for Spitfyre?

We didn’t plan to initially. The original idea was that we would release Spitfyre as our second annual “beer & pretzels” game in the Panzerfäuste universe, with a flight of three Orc Spitfyre dragons and a flight of four Dwarf War-Eagles and a small set of rules for them. However we got really excited about the idea and wanted to include some more of the ideas and designs that are in the Panzerfäuste background in this set, like the Dwarf Vulture dive bomber, so we thought a small Kickstarter would help see if our enthusiasm for the idea was shared by other gamers.

Additionally, for good or bad, Kickstarter is now the best way to launch a product, no matter how small. We didn’t use Kickstarter as a launch platform for Futbowel last year and despite it being a great game, popular with those who play it, it wasn’t as successful as we had hoped.

When does the Spitfyre Kickstarter start?

Spitfyre takes to the skies on Kickstarter on the evening of Monday 6th November for two weeks.

Post-Kickstarter Update XXXVII: Dwarf Schweinhundereite

It may seem all quiet on the Hysterical front but in the trenches the fight goes on. 

Steve's focus is currently on the skirmish rules, he's just waiting on some final feedback from our playtesting group then can get the writing finished. On the sculpting front Herb has managed to finish the Dwarf Schweinhundereite Uhlans. Unfortunately he had to rush out before he could send through pictures of all four of the sculpts, but here is the one he did send through to whet your appetite...

As soon as we get the others we will let you see them.

Now you may have seen on the Hysterical Facebook page references to our new annual beer 'n' pretzels game release aka #secretproject - the big reveal on exactly what this is and what it is about etc will be next Friday, so keep your eyes peeled for that...

Post-Kickstarter Update XXXVI: Dwarf Fallschirmjäger

Dropping into action behind enemy lines, on the backs of huge KampfKondor, come the Dwarf airborne troops - the Fallschirmjäger!

These were the most popular "add-on" Kickstarter unit and we are really pleased with the job Darko has done on them.

He's now working on something for the Gnomes and our new top secret beer 'n' pretzels game which should be out for Hognachtswatch!