PA Update

Been a while since I updated this thing. I have given sculpting a rest for the past month or so, and I'm just waiting for recasts of the Masters Of Unlife Abyssal Drone and Cascadian infantry so I can get back into it and get more units done, this is one of the main reasons I've given things a rest since I can't make much more progress until I get those recasts. 

I have however made significant progress with the Seeker Drone for the Masters Of unlife, so I thought id post a few pictures here and share the current state of this model.

It still needs quite a bit more work. It's been one of the more challenging models I've made - but I'm fairly happy with how it is looking so far.

The Primeval FAQ

FAQ :

The models look pretty fragile, will they stand up to tabletop gaming?
They should do! Trollcast plastic is pretty tough and strong as you can see from videos that Ed has posted. If they do break, teh breaks are very clean so it shouldnt be too difficult to fix. I'll probably do some experimentation with this to get a better answer though!

Some of these things look weird for weird sake, what gives?
Blame "The Doctor who monster book" I saw as a 4 year old kid. As I grew up Hard sci-fi authors like Robert L Forward and Olaf Stapledon became bigger inspirations. I'm also obsessed with deep sea life. I don't think my stuff is really that unique/original when you take all that in mind, it's just fairly uncommon in larger skirmish games. If I had to explain it, it's the appeal of the sillohettes - I really prefer them to more common designs. In Short? I love squiggly things!

Do you expect to make a living from this stuff?
Not really. I'm more than aware this is a very small niche and it's more of a personal hobby - and I have fairly low expectations for future sales. I'd just like to give the tabletop gaming world some unique and cool aliens.

What will the prices be like?
For starters I'm no Bob Naismith or Jes Goodwin and while I am happy with what I make I know my skills don't measure up to those sculpting giants and nor do I have the ability to create those high quality multi-part kits. The prices reflect this, you'll be able to get about 22-30 models for about £35 and that's the standard size of a game of PA.

When is your game coming out?
I really have no idea to be honest! Theres so much work ahead of me and it's all so new. The goal is to make 40 kits, that's 10 per faction. It's already taken nearly 2 years and I am just over halfway. Beyond that, I am working on the rules and I need to get artwork, and then these kits need to be moulded and cast up. I'd like to say give it another year or so but I can't give any guarantees.

How many Factions will there be?
I'd like as many as possible and have ideas for as many as 21 but I'd like to focus on the first four to begin with, if those go well and they sell then I will expand as much as I can. I would like a minimal of 10 and that's what I will try to achieve.

Some of the races sound more "Pulpy"?
Yep! I love my pulp sci-fi cheese. There is a race of alien plants because I was a huge fan of Day of the Triffids and always thought killer plants needed more exposure. Is an army of killer plants considered a garden though? There is a faction of giant disembodied brains inspired from those old 50's killer brain films as well as more recent stuff like Super metroid and Doom. There are a few other pulp style factions too but those are the two I really want to get made.

What are your biggest influences?
Classic Dr who episodes, 50's b-movies, hard sci-fi writers and deep sea documentaries that I watch when I should probably be sleeping.

What about the Tolathian sci-fi web show?
Like the miniatures-game, I always wanted to make my own sci-fi show since I was a kid - this will take years and years most likely. I'll post updates when I have them, but I'm starting right at the bottom and need to work myself up. In short : A very long time.

What are your favourite sci-fi aliens?
 From Dr who I would say the Gel-Guards and Krynoids. In general? Triffids, the Crystaline entity from Star trek, the Vorlons from Babylon5.

Primeval Abyssian - Masters Of Unlife Seeker model

Heres something for the Masters Of Unlife, this is the Work In Progress "Seeker" :

These large bio-mechanical worm-like drones do what they say on the tin, they fly ahead of the other drone types - seeking out the best places to hit and run to soften the enemy down until the main drone-army can get there.

It still need tons of work before it's finished, but I wanted to show one of the things I've been doing this month :)

Primeval Abyssian - Cascadian Time-Warden Sculpt finished

Finally finished the Cascadian master-sculpt, and managed to get better photos of it.

This is the finished model I'll be sending off soon.

Here is a slightly older version of it (before i finished the pistol) but I wanted to post it too as it had some different angles of the model :

And finally a Biography to see what all those weird bits actually do :

I'll be sending this model off to Troll Forged next week to get the recasts I need to make the majority of the Cascadian units. Really can't wait to get to work on this faction as they are one of my own personal favourites.

Primeval Abyssian - Tolathian vehicle (Work In Progress)

Here are a few shot's of the WIP Tolathian vehicle, working title "Lightning bolt". It still need's a lightning gun mounted on the rectangular area on the front Pillar. Quite happy with how it's turning out.

The Cloud part of the vehicle is made from expanding foam, the foam gives a nice cloud-like appearance as it slowly expands and gets more "bubbly". I had to do several versions before I got one that I was happy with. The pillars themselves look a bit rough at the moment, So I need to sand the sides down to get a smoother surface.

Primeval Abyssian - The Cascadians

First post of the new year and I have a special preview of one of the new races - the Cascadians. They are perhaps one of the most abstract/weirdest designs I've come up with but still in my "style" of thin and wirey asymmetrical sillohettes! I am really happy with it though. For those that do not know about the Cascadians, they a type of sentient/intelligent anti-body created by the Time vortex within the Ether itself - so I guess they are like cooler versions of Time Lords.

End of year post!

I guess this is the final blog i'll make this year. This blog is about two years old at this point and it's strange to see how much i've accomplished over the past few years - so I am looking forward to 2013 and hoping to push on and complete more sculpts and hopefully, finally get my Wargame out! 

Of course my wargame isn't the only thing I want to make within the PA setting - there is the sci-fi web show too! Progress on that is extremely slow for a number of reasons,  but I finally got a camcorder for christmas (thanks to my very awesome Dad for believing in me!) so it isn't much but I spent some time with it to see how the prototype Tolathian puppet looks on-screen under different light-levels. Here are some pictures I screencapped from the footage to show you :

Next year I'll be sculpting more miniatures (this is the priority) but I'll also be slowly working on a modular set system I can use to create the Tolathian Outpost in the sci-fi web series I hope to make. My goal for next year however will be to get some of the set moulds ready and perhaps do a very simple/basic 5-10 minute short-film to get to grips with film. It won't be anything amazing or special and will be more to get experience and working in the world of film but I'll probably post it on here for opinions anyway!

Anyway. Hope everyone had a good xmas, I will wish everyone a good new year and thank you for all reading my blog and the nice and supportive comments I got! it's very appreciated!

To the people that ask me about Kickstarter

I've had several people ask me or recomend me to do a Kickstarter, so I thought I would talk about this here.

The truth is I have definitly been thinking about kickstarter and I have been watching kickstarters over the past year or so that have both been successes and ones that have been failures - basicly I've been taking notes and seeing what made certain ones suceed and others fail.

I definitly wouldnt be able to do this kind of project on my own, that's for sure and I would definitly only do a kickstarter if I knew for 100% that I could get people the rewards they pledge for, to do otherwise would feel completely wrong, unfair and I am not the kind of person who wants to cheat people out of their hard earned money! So better to not do it all than do a half assed job of it where I can't fullfill promises. Maybe a year or so down the line I will be in the position to plan for one and have the help to make it work.

Of course hypothetically - if I did use it, I have had various ideas in my head such as using it to fund my Sci-fi web show and have miniatures as rewards, maybe even full size hard plastic Tolathian Puppets the same as the ones i intend to use to film to with myself. I think I can do my miniatures without a KS - but the option could be the potential way to get the funds to film my sci-fi.

If you havent read about my sci-fi web show, it's something I have wanted to do for years now and it does indeed take place in the Primeval Abyssian setting, allthough it is not based around battles and war (that's what the tabletop game is for!) it is more inspired by hard sci-fi writers such as Olaf Stapledon, Robert L Forward, Arthur C Clarke and Hal Clement to name a few. The premise revolves around a Tolathian research outpost in an area of the Ether that is teeming with spacial anomolies that they research. I am working on this project more on the side since it involves so much work (on different frontiers as well).

Anyhow, this is just what has been on my mind with the subject, and I thought I'd share it since people have asked about it and I havent really been able to properly give them an answer, so I hope that clears things up.

Primeval Abyssian - Masters Of Unlife

Here is the WIP "new" Master of Unlife :

The old one felt more like one of the Masters "pets" than a Master itself, so it has been repurposed as as "Guardian" instead.

Primeval Abyssian - A Painted Luuran!

Some people have asked about what some of my models look like painted, while others have said they feel they'd "get" what I'm trying to get across better with some painted examples - so during the sculpting of the Luuran range I was happy to find I had one left that was spare so I've painted it up to show you.