Bastion/Ex Illis BUST!

[precinctomega Find all posts View Profile Close precinctomega]

http://www.beastsofwar.com/ex-illis/...-studios-bust/

No one is too surprised. As a gamer I'm sad to see a great idea's survival threatened, but it throws the whole concept into a stark light. With the gamers rule book effectively kept on the company servers, why play a game which the owners can switch off whenever they like? If I wanted that sort of uncertainty, I'd play an MMO!

R.

[Undave Find all posts View Profile Close Undave]

Oh dear. Not a good week for mini companies what with Wargames Factory going down the tubes as well.

The game itself with it’s alternate medieval (Eurocentric) setting appealed to the central Europeans in a big way. However its survival depended more on the lucrative UK and US markets and it may well have been just to High Brow, to make the jump into the more ‘classical’ fantasy minds of the Brits and Yanks

See, now that's just bollocks as the profusion of RPGs and films on pretty much the same subject as Ex Illis clearly shows. Beasts of War don't half spout some crap sometimes which is why I routinely ignore them. In fact the whole mediaeval versus angels and demons was about the only thing about the game which did appeal to me.

[Darklord Find all posts View Profile Close Darklord]

no point finishing this review then!

[Captain Sprout Find all posts View Profile Close Captain Sprout]

it may well have been just to High Brow, to make the jump into the more ‘classical’ fantasy minds of the Brits and Yanks.

If they were bothered about commenting on being high brow, it would actually be 'too' high brow, not 'to' high brow.

I think its real mistake to blame failure of any new concept on people being too old fashioned to like it. I don't think they look great minis but was waiting for DL to post up some pictures etc. Can't comment on the gaming but I think these days a mini line to lead a game and not the other way round is a good idea.

[knott47 Find all posts View Profile Close knott47]

no point finishing this review then!

Suppose not really, although you could present in a Bullseye fashion "Let's have a look at what you could of won" type of thing, though if that happens do we get bendy bully's?

On a more serious note, the Christmas period for a lot of companies seems to of been quite difficult all round, low sales - close in January? A shame on both accounts with this and WGF to.

[Noddwyr Find all posts View Profile Close Noddwyr]

. Can't comment on the gaming but I think these days a mini line to lead a game and not the other way round is a good idea.

Have to agree with you there CS.

[TheBugKing Find all posts View Profile Close TheBugKing]

The leading with a mini line before a game certainly seems to have worked really well for Wyrd. Smog seems to be going the same rout.

With money tight and a lot of good game mechanics out there the look of the figures carries a lot more weight then it used to. I do think that the entire package makes or breaks a game company though. Good PR, good customer service, attention to the fans, good solid mechanics and a great mini line are what is needed any more. At least until you reach PP's size. <wink>

[precinctomega Find all posts View Profile Close precinctomega]

First of all, I'd say not to count Ex Illis out yet. Word is that they've already found a new financial partner. The servers are staying up and shipping of existing orders is proceeding as planned. The design team, however, are temporarily jobless while a new management and marketing strategy are worked out with the investors (i.e. Friedrich persuades them that Ex Illis is a good bet).

As for development strategy, it could be argued that Wyrd might have sold more minis earlier if a game had always been planned. The key lesson that I took from this and other ventures like WGF and I-Kore is to make sure you don't become substantially dependent upon an entity you can't control.

R.

[Undave Find all posts View Profile Close Undave]

I think the figures leading the game system only really works if it's a skirmish type game with individual models rather than one involving units, like both of the examples Bug makes. The single models appeal more to collectors than a bunch of similar models would allowing the company to start off as a boutique concern. Also in this case the game and the models are integrally linked as you need the models to activate your account and create your characters so they can level up after each game etc. It's a bit like Mageknight, nobody would buy the crappy minis unless there was a game to use them in and nobody would buy the game if there weren't minis for it.

[Iacton Find all posts View Profile Close Iacton]

Problem also is that they used plastic models, so the tooling and mould making costs are again so high at the front end.

Stale old cookie for anyone who can guess which company produced the minis....

[Malebolgia Find all posts View Profile Close Malebolgia]

TBH, doesn't surprise me at all. The whole concept of the game baffled me. Seemed lame and pointless. Miniature gamers in general are not interested in the type of game they released. It made the whole miniatures concept redundant (they could have used pawns for the same results). In addition, a lot of the sculpts were really subpar. The giant model they pre-released at Gencon was a prime example...I think one of the ugliest sculpts released in 2010.

[precinctomega Find all posts View Profile Close precinctomega]

The minis of theirs that I saw in person were rather nice, I thought (although I didn't really fancy the Emissary, myself - prefer my version!).

The game itself was fine, I think. But, of course, the joy of paper rules is that you can dispense with them when appropriate, adjust them to suit your needs or amend them to perform differently. With the rulebook installed on a distant server, the player delegates control to the owners. Would we really like to be forced to play 40k, for example, in only the way that GW tells us to?

R.

[Darklord Find all posts View Profile Close Darklord]

I don't think they look great minis but was waiting for DL to post up some pictures etc.

Well as it seems the review is defunct now I will say that the minis were hit and miss for me. They were sculpted by computer by the looks of it - the straight edge details were fantastic and detailed but the organic surfaces let them down a lot. The worst for me were the horses, little muscle details and the bottom of the hooves were round. The actual casting was pretty good, up there with GW's plastics. As the scaling was aimed at realistic proportions they actually looked kind of wierd when your used to 'heroic'! The thiness on some of the swords is amaxine - the thinnnest plastics i have seen
I wouldn't buy the minis just to paint as there are better options out there I think but for gaming minis they are fine.
The gaming side I actually liked. I'm not a gamer so to have something I could just set up and play without knowing tons of rules is great. I really like the concept and its a shame it hasnt worked. I think these projects will resurface from somewhere, things like Ipads will become common elements of wargamingin the futre. Heck you could already have an easy to access rulebook/wiki on one already. Actually helping with the gaming side is just the next step.
Overall I would have probably rated ex illis at 7-8/10 though die hard gamers would probably go for a lower score

[EFSmick Find all posts View Profile Close EFSmick]

I recall here the US the game made the cover of Greater Games Industry catalog and a huge spread about the game..always thought it could be great or a total flop..this is about the time the new D&D electronic game table came out and was hailed a stunning success by the big wigs in the RPG community so I thought it could be good..the minis I saw were good but like someone else stated I think most people like to game with minis in person..I hate to see the company go under..it had alot of promise.

[shanerozzell Banned Find all posts View Profile Close shanerozzell]

I thought the concept of the game as a whole looked pretty good as it switched the focus on the battle rather than the rules. I was disappointed with what I saw of the mini's, like DL said, hit and miss but one thing that bothered me was, as has already been written above, the link between the mini's and game. I think for a new game system to survive in a world dominated by GW they have to adopt a more open handed approach and at least give the ability to add different models from other manufacturers, especially as theirs are not every bodies cup-of-tea. This would or could be a lifeline for them as the games system and setting appeal to me a lot but the mini's don't.