Hysterical Games News

Sunday, 6 December 2015

Post-Kickstarter Update IV: Zombi, Commando, Dwarves and Dice

We've had a busy week here at Hysterical Games; but actual progress pales in comparison to the past two weeks. This may happen now and again, but we expect better progress in the short future.

Artwork

We have had more artwork done, however, we are keen to keep some of this as a surprise for the rulebooks you have pledged for. Trust us, there will be some lovely scenes, landscapes and portraits.

3D Sculpting

Sadly, we've not had the progress we would have liked in this part. We discovered the Deathless Zombi Elves were carrying Dwarf heads that were out of scale from the Dwarf Grenadier models, so we have had to do some jiggery-pokery to fix that. We've also not had any progress since last week regarding the Panzerbär, but trust me, I am on the sculptor's case!

The edited Zombi. Dwarves have big heads!

Mouldmaking and Casting

This week we were unable to do quite as much as we usually would. Due to a huge mishap with the mould on one of our buildings, we sadly cannot share that just yet. However, next week, we expect we will show this building at the very least.

We did make a mould of the 3D prints for the Dwarf Command Set, sadly, they are not quite up to standard, so the printer is now looking at solving that for us. It's a step backwards, and a little irksome, but that's all part of the learning curve. Here's what they came out like.

A mixed bag, some are shiny, some details have not printed correctly, yet one or two are perfect!

We also managed to cast up the missing part from the Orc Commandos, which I can show you here!

Accessories!

We did make some progress here! We have received and packed all of the Dice we need for the Kickstarter and then some. Here is a quick snap-shot of the Printed D6 that many of you will be receiving.

We have also taken shipment of a whole load of bases in a variety of sizes (20mm, 25mm, 40mm, 50mm and 60mm to be precise). Having looked at our figures, we decided to include 50mm (not shown in the photograph) as well, especially for the Gnome Weapon Teams.

So, ultimately, the good news is that we have packed all the dice! That's one product range entirely sorted and ready to ship already! Not much, but we have to celebrate the little wins!

Orcs in the Webbe Advent Calendar!

Craig has been a busy bee, updating Orcs in the Webbe with community driven articles for Panzerfäuste and other Historo-Fantasy wargames. Please do check it out! There are already a number of Panzerfäuste articles there.

Mushroom Turrets

Irek Zielinski Interview

There will be many more this month, so do keep an eye out. We'd also like to hear any questions you have for Rob, from , regarding our project, what it has been to do it, what we will be doing and what plans we have. Simply email Craig at: craig@orcsinthewebbe.co.uk

Saturday, 28 November 2015

Post-Kickstarter Update III: Commandos, Snail House, Gebirgsjäger and Gorale

Just a quick one to sum up the past week at Hysterical Games - what we've been up to and anything else we can share at this stage!

It's still early days - however, the great news is that we have had the funds come in from Kickstarter (your pledges!) and we have finally started being able to really invest. Firstly, we've paid off for all the work done prior to the Kickstarter; and we have been buying the equipment we're going to need to manufacture everything. We have also ordered all of the Dice we will need and the first batch of bases (we expect we will need to order more once the Pledge Manager comes through and we know what you all want!).

The unfortunate news is that the supplier of our Pressure Tanks had only one in stock! They expect to have more available towards the 3rd week of December, at which point, we will be ordering them!

Oh and we have started booking some shows. Once the Pledge Manager goes live and we have explained our plans, we will announce the shows we are going to (UK only (and possibly Belgium...), we are afraid, due to tight purse-strings - if you want to help us get closer to you, please let us know!).

Right then, now for the interesting stuff!

3D Printing

We've made good progress this week. Both the Orc Command Set and the Dwarf Command Set have been printed. The Dwarf Command Set is in my hands right now, having travelled from Sweden and will go into Moulds early next week - after which, I will share whether I am happy with the quality or not. The Orcs are on their way from Prodos in Poland.

Some of the Orc Command Team that Prodos has printed for us

Sample of 3D printed Dwarf Command

Sculpting

This has been painfully slow this week, but we have organised a few things. Firstly, the Bear's basic anatomy is now done. This took a lot of tweaking and deciding how 'strong' we wanted the fur effect to be. We decided, in the end, that the more detail the better, so asked for quite an 'aggressive' fur detail (this will look beautiful with washes and dry brushes).

Panzerbär doesn't much like being called fluffy...

We've been assured that sculpting on the armoured sections will begin very soon!

On another note, we have commissioned the Troglodyte Support Set. We have not been able to do this until now, due to the sculptor just being totally overburdened. We hope to share progress next week, but more likely the week following.

Casting Models

I've been a busy bee this week making moulds and casting models in between organising *stuff*.

First up, the Orc Commandos!

Sadly, I misplaced one of the parts - having forgotten that I had placed it to one side to protect it. That was the (super fragile) rope and grappling hook for the Back-Right Orc. I will make a separate mould for that part this week coming! Whoops! Keep in mind, all of the moulds are hand-prepared and this is an example of a small human error. It happens!

Next up - Snail Shell House!

Tony has done a fantastic job creating this lovely Gnomish hovel. This week, we cast it up in Resin! The resin we are using is different to our miniatures. It's lightweight, yet very hard, so easy to file down and fix. These pieces should have no airbubbles but may feature one or two minor ones (refer to the Chimney in these pictures). That's the only bubble on the whole piece!

Ant, who has painted some of the other scenery for Panzerfäuste for Hysterical Games has kindly agreed to paint this piece too. Tony, who sculpted the piece, will be receiving his soon as well. I pulled these out of the mould today though - so he'll have to wait a little longer!

Artwork

We are continuing to get Artwork made for the project, but much of it can't be shared right now. It's mostly to do with our 6th faction, which we hope to unveil independently of Kickstarter and sell on our website and at the first few shows we attend. Full rules for this faction should also come within the Rulebooks we made available on this Kickstarter! More about that when we have plenty of cool stuff to share!

Sort of related to that, Gregor has still been working on finishing some of the older art pieces he rushed out for the Kickstarter. He's spent a bit of time on the Dwarf Gebirgsjäger - even though he has actually really damaged his hand, he just won't take no for an answer! Keen lad! :)

Gregor's Gebirgsjäger!

Oh, and because we do spoil you... Well, actually, because Will spoils all of us...

He sent us a surprise! I rather LOVE it.

Troglodyte Gorale!

Lots of funky little details that we will bring to the miniatures! I'm very excited for these!
Right - well that's a wrap for this week! We'll keep you posted!

Friday, 20 November 2015

Post-Kickstarter Update II: Gnome Miniatures, Swarog, Koschei and Dwarf Uhlan

I was going to wait until tomorrow to post this Update, but I have all the information I want to publish available now, so figured why not update you all as soon as possible!

Miniatures

So what's happened this week? I spent a bit of time mouldmaking this week. Sadly, not having my own space to do it set up yet, I haven't got loads done; but the Gnome Voltigeurs have their first mould made. Here's the resultant casts (Note: The Grenade Launcher snapped off in the mould, but this is fine now).

Apologies for the poor photo quality! I'm not a photographer at all! A 'proper' photographer will get the photos sorted as soon as, but I built these (rather excitedly) this morning and *had* to get a photo.

I'm going to get them painted up in WW2 French Infantryman colours, though they would work in WW1 Horizon Blue, or even the WW2 Chasseurs a'Pied colour scheme with Dark Blue trousers... Or you could, of course, make it up! But I'm a purist!

Artwork

Gregor has been busy finishing off various bits of artwork and throwing some colours on them.

Battle-Lord Swarog got coloured in a bit (it's unfinished!) and he has given Koschei the Deathless a body!

This week also saw the return of Piotr, one of our original Illustrators, to the fore. He was away having eye-surgery and I want to give him a warm welcome once again as his artwork is bloomin' beautiful! I can't show his new piece, as it shows our elusive 6th faction off... ...ahhhhh bugger it, go on then. (Carefully cropped...)

3D Printing

We've also made some progress with 3D printing. Prodos have completed the Orc Command Team, which are currently being cleaned up before shipping over. I should have photos early next week if all goes to plan. A good friend of mine is studying 3D Printing in Stockholm, so has offered to help with some printing as well. He is working his way through the Dwarf Command, which are almost complete. We're hoping they will be printed by the end of next week. Once these all arrive, I'll be sticking them in moulds, getting them built and getting them painted too! This side of Christmas will be spent getting as many of the Wave 1 items sorted; then, in the new year, I'll be casting like a mad-man! 3D Sculpting We've had some progress with the Panzerbär! Of course, it's just the bear (without his fur coat!), but still pretty cool to see.

Saturday, 14 November 2015

Post-Kickstarter Update I

Payment issues

We've got quite a few backers who's payments have been declined for one reason or another. We *must* ask that you guys check this out. If this is the case, you have been alerted to the issue via PM. Otherwise, no need to worry. Please keep in mind that this project is helping fund a small, growing company. Every penny really does count and, sadly, some of the larger pledges are ones which have not gone through. This would ultimately leave us no choice but to backtrack on a few of the stretch goals. Of course, no doom or gloom yet, I have every faith that we will get it sorted!

Progress

It's been a hectic week, but we don't have all that much to show for it just yet. The funds from Kickstarter do not come in immediately, but instead after a week or so - so that has sort of put a halt to the progress on some of the work. However, we have got the ball rolling elsewhere. 3D Printing We have approached 4 companies, sadly, 1 company has said that our miniatures are simply too complex to print and would not be worth their time to fix them up. On the otherhand, 2 others are moving forwards with printing for us. The plan is to get the following pieces printed in the immediate future (their print queues allowing).

- Orc Command Set
- Orc Support Set
- Dwarf Command Set
- Dwarf Support Set (Pending finalising of sculpts, no aesthetic changes)
- Dwarf Grenadiers (Resized to be slightly bigger)
- Gnome Command (Pending finalising of sculpts, no aesthetic changes)
- Gnome Support (Pending finalising of sculpts, no aesthetic changes)
- Orc Matilda I War-Wyrm (Pending finalising of sculpt)

We have the following units already printed:

- Orc Commandos
- Orc Infantry
- Gnome Voltigeurs
- Dwarf Grenadiers (Rejected models, not being used)

Which leads me onto...

Mouldmaking/Casting

Most of you are aware that we will be handling the Mouldmaking and Casting for this project ourselves. This means that we will be able to create products of a fantastic quality, as well as provide the best service we can when it comes to replacement parts. In the long run, it will allow us to provide all manner of special services too. A local company has kindly allowed me access to their equipment from time to time until I get fully set up. With that in mind, tomorrow, I intend to put all of the models, that I can, into moulds. This process takes around 24 hours (pouring, waiting for it to set and cutting); but I will keep you up to date on that. In terms of materials we're using, I got rather excited yesterday when a large box of samples arrived from one of the suppliers! I've got lots of new products to test out. If it doesn't work, I'll go to the reliable materials that I am already aware of.

Sculpting

We currently have sculptors working on the following items:

- Orc Matilda War Wyrm (Alternate Head, Optional Tank Commander and slight resize)
- Bogglez-Wurf (Guest miniature by Patrick Keith of Bombshell Miniatures (we expect a short delay on this))
- Dwarf Panzerbär (Seeing as the cost has been covered, we figured it was important!)
- The Kaiser's Cat (Sculpted by Alex Huntley of Warploque Miniatures)

Playtest Rules

The team are currently working on finalising a few things, specifically, the way Magick Cards and Shared Magick (Now 'Theatre of War' Cards) work in the Mass Battle game. We are going to run a few test sessions and then will upload a printer friendly version of the game. We have decided that there is no point doing the layout in InDesign until the rules for both systems really are fine tuned.

Pledge Manager

We've already had a couple of requests for the Pledge Manager! Please keep calm, we are waiting until early next year (probably end of January) for this, as we understand that the Holiday Period is coming up and that is a tough time for everyone's wallets!

Wave Shipping

Our aim is still to offer Wave Shipping in 3 waves. However, we (Hysterical Games) need to meet up to discuss the details of what we plan to include in each wave. Of course, the intention is that once a wave is shipped, any items that were sent in that wave and are not exclusive to Kickstarter will be available to purchase from our website. Stretch Goals in the Pledge Manager? We hope to do this too! However, straight from the off, there might be a few little surprises. Nothing huge, just some cool bits and pieces we have thought of.

Now then, I'm pretty sure that covers just about everything... If you have any questions, please shoot them our way!

Sunday, 8 November 2015

Thank You...

We'd just like to thank all 270 backers who pledged on the Kickstarter and got us to 623% over target!

We have a lot of work to do now, but it will be fun...

Dwarf Gebirgsjäger Section Funded!

The Dwarf Gebirgsjäger section has been funded and is now unlocked on the Kickstarter...

Deathless Zombi Dwarf Section Funded!

The Deathless Zombi Dwarf section has been funded and is now unlocked on the Kickstarter...

Deathless Kazak Funded!

The Deathless Kazak troop has been funded and is now unlocked on the Kickstarter...

Gnome FT-17 Char D'Escargot Funded!

The Gnome Light Snail tanks have been funded and is now unlocked on the Kickstarter...

Gnome Buildings Funded!

The Gnome buildings have been funded and is now unlocked on the Kickstarter...

Friday, 6 November 2015

Troglodyte Ułani Cavalry Funded!

The Troglodyte Ułani troop has been funded and is now unlocked on the Kickstarter...

Wednesday, 4 November 2015

Dwarf Panzerbär Funded!

Following a generous donation by The Anarchy of Anton! blog, the Dwarf army's Panzerbär has been funded and is now available as an add-on at a special price on the Kickstarter...

It is likely that he will come with one bare head and one helmeted head. There will also be two turret options.

Tuesday, 3 November 2015

Gnome Bakery Funded!

Our first piece of Panzerfäuste scenery, the Gnome Bakery sculpted by Tony Harwood, has been funded and is now unlocked on the Kickstarter...

Orc Matilda I War Wyrm Funded!

Following a generous donation by a member of the Panzerfäuste community, the Orc army's War Beast has been funded and is now available as an add-on at a special price on the Kickstarter...