Something to consider

[edonil]

How are you intending to incorporate the CCG? Are you thinking something like Magic the Gathering with booster packs, or more of a Living Card game like Fantasy Flight, where everyone has the same cards and builds their decks out of that?

[dgraz]

On their main website there was a video (maybe it was the Indigogo video) where they said that it wouldn't be a total crap-shoot for the CCG aspect of it. There would be decks that were designed for certain things (heavy summoning, or heavy magic, or heavy buffing, etc) and you would just buy the deck that you wanted. He may have mentioned whether you could mix and match the decks to create your starter deck but I don't recall.

I hate, hate, hate any kind of random buying thing (like Magic) but what was said on that video assuaged my fear of that. To the point that I'm still interested in the game. My only reason for not committing to this game would be local concerns..........with the GW/Privateer love-fest at my LGS, I can't imagine gaining enough players to really make it fun. I've been fighting for Mali for a couple years now and still haven't gotten above ten players at any one time (and it's usually more like 5-6).

What I don't understand is; why is Mike's post count always 0?

[Hoyled]

Downloaded the 2.0 quickstart rules. Looks interesting as a rough dsraft. Some interesting mechanis to be sure. Summoning requiring a terrian feature is pretty cool. Constitution checks feel like a lot of random paper work. The one odd thing is that the version I downloaded doesn't tell you how to get the mana to cast cards.

[Overread]

Hey guys - I've been poking around the Drake game for a while myself and just dropped back in to the site (first time in a long while) to give a few details from what I can recall being mentioned.

The card aspect as explained thus far is that its being sold in an open deck method - so the opening pack(s) will have a clear list of what card are in each pack. In addition cousins and warriors will have their own stat/summoning card sold with them in their product pack.

The random and collecting element appear to be a little up for debate - I'm not sure how strong the random element will be, but from what I can gather I don't think they are approaching the full "collectible card game" concept (and I've heard tell that this feature might be "dropped" from being mentioned as its not exactly what the game is going for). I suspect we'll see more open decks released in expansions and with new releases - and considering the nature of balance in wargames I wouldn't expect these on anything like the scale of a true collecting card game.

As for the mana from what I recall of reading an earlier rules document each turn the casters would get a fixed amount of "mana" based upon their chant score (or it was fix I can't recall now). That said a lot of the rules are up for debate and thus far we've only seen quickstart rules not an in-depth rules version.

That said they've shifted a fair bit and changed, for the better, since an earlier draft (in that flight allowed a model to leave the table and then return next turn to any point upon the table - quite amazingly powerful!) Though of course rules are hard to debate without also seeing the monsters and spells that go hand in hand with them.

On the getting others into the game front - I've heard tale that there is a 2player starter pack in development (unknown if its just for the KS or not) so that should help encourage people a little into joint pledging or at least giving single people a chance to get enough to field 2 forces to do trial games with. Also its a game where everyone gets a big dragon to play with - where isn't the interest in that

ps remember I'm just another fan so I could get some info wrong - best place to ask is on the Drake forums where there has been good and frequent responses by the games head (although a little less now as they are gearing up for the KS)

Edited January 23, 2013 by Overread

[lagomorph]

Very cool idea and beautiful models.

The theme seems somewhat "vanilla" high fantasy to me. One reason I was attracted to Malifaux was the very creative and very different designs.

[mikenunez]

Different poisons for different moods....

[Overread]

Very cool idea and beautiful models.

The theme seems somewhat "vanilla" high fantasy to me. One reason I was attracted to Malifaux was the very creative and very different designs.

High fantasy would be a kind of good general description to give the overall theme from how I understand it. That said the design team is also trying to avoid orcs and elves appearing (in fact one news blurb states that the world itself hasn't got either faction present). So there is some determination to shift away from some heavy Tolkien inspired high fantasy and get some of their own ideas on the table.

[dgraz]

I am appreciative that dragons are center stage. The true bad asses of the world. As they should be in my opinion. I always hated the ones where the dragon is just some big lizard with varying degrees of cunning animal instinct. Something to be tamed and ridden like nothing better than a flying horse. Or the old-school D&D where your party of 10th level adventurers go in and subdue an ancient red dragon while he was sleeping.

Not in my D&D campaigns. If you made the mistake of telling me you wanted to go dragon hunting you were in for a long day.

[Overread]

Killing a dragon whilst its sleeping should come with an instant level penalty score - and any paladins should be stricken from their order for dishonourable battle methods.

[mikenunez]

Drake will be displaying both, completed painted and unpainted models, completed 3D renders, as well as a few silhouettes during the campaign. Rish you will not see until a bit into the campaign but Saan Dragon and Garrick Dragon should be printed and painted along with a few others. Many, Many more sculpts are on their way to the printers and it will probably be 2 weeks into the campaign before they are ready to be displayed. We have so much to show, in total we are reaching close to 50 models in production and hopefully most of them will be printed and displayed during the campaign

So as you folks can see the Drake KS will have a lot to display for your consideration! Come check it out on KS starting the first week of February!

CHEERS

Michael

Just have an update regarding the pending Drake KS:

[mikenunez]

All,

The game of DRAKE combines elements of CCG’s (Collectible Card Game’s) with high quality white metal miniatures of beautiful Dragons and their deadly minions. Each force has their own separate deck of spell cards, many of which can be played to interrupt the actions of opponents. Creation and Construction cards allow you to “Summon” warrior beasts, flying enchanted creatures, and powerful energy nexus’ as you need them on the battlefield. Enhancement cards give you many options to “Beef up” your troops with deadly ability bonuses. Human servants as well as the great Dragons smaller minions called “Cousins” form the starting tabletop troops of your force. Everything else is called forth as you need it!

Check out the Kickstart campaign starting the first week of February!

[mikenunez]

Hey folks,

Hello everybody. Production is coming along well and we are excited with what we've got for you. We have been working hard to make the game world feel alive. There have also been a lot of logistical and technical aspects that we have been working on.Today we had a look at one of our dragons at the casting and sculpting workshop. The detail is unbelievable. The design is so intricate that the workshop has had to invent new ways to do the job. Producing this project is a lot of fun for us, but we want to make sure that we can deliver the game as promised and we want to avoid some of the problems that plague many Kickstarters - especially the successful ones*so the start date for kickstart campaign could be moved between 8 Feb - 15 Feb 201 what can I say the people at Drake want this to be a top shelf production.

We are receiving a lot of messages from people all over the world, telling us how much they are looking forward to wielding armies led by mystical dragons. It's a thrilling project to be a part of and we are as excited as the rest of you to see it all come to life. The wait will not be a long one. Remember to check out the forum at action games miniatures.

Cheers

Michael

[mikenunez]

Hello Folks,

Just wanted to let everyone know that things are moving along smoothly in terms of model design and production. Keep your eyes and ears open for the Drake KS campaign. Here are some words from our great dragon lord Ben:

"Models, rules, updates, new website, stretch goals, new resin castings, new video, plenty of new releases, better staff structure, better contingency, better marketing plan."

As you can see things are coming together for a great kickstart campaign! Remember you can always check things out at actiongamesminiatures.com

Cheers

Mike

[Overread]

Click for Hot dragon action picture

edit - top picture is a normal sized version, lower one is a fullsize (ie very big photo and takes a while to load - both are the same picture).

http://actiongamesminiatures.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/Dragon.jpg

http://actiongamesminiatures.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/ubb6c-Dragon.jpg

*yeah getting this in before mike does because the poor guy needs a break*

http://actiongamesminiatures.com/an-awesome-shoot-the-first-of-many/

Edit - small version now added - also link to their news with yet more photos of the dragon and also a few other models

Edited February 10, 2013 by Overread

[mikenunez]

Hello All,

Here is new pic for your enjoyment:

This model is called the "Hoarding Beast"!!

Here are some words from our Dragon Lord Ben:

We have created our cute little American Company and as soon as its “Birth Certificate” arrives in the mail off we go to the wild land of Seattle (2.5 hr drive) to get a bank account for which we need to finalize our KS account. THEN WE LAUNCH THIS DAMN THING…!!!!!!!

So as you can we are almost there!! Keep your eyes open....

Cheers

Mike

[Overread]

Just to let any watching know (since Mike appears missing) the Kickstarter Launch date is firmly set on this coming Friday - March 8th!

I'm not sure what specific time but I suspect any point after 9am in Canada will see the KS leap into action!

Also an early slip of info is that they do have a 2 player starting box for those interested in getting all you'd need in a single box to play with.

[i_was_like_you]

Is it still going to be white metal? The red versions of the models just look so eye catching, like somethin from a curio shop.

[Overread]

Unless things have changed the last I recall is that the dragons will be resin and the other models white metal. I don't think they have plans for plastics in the range. I would also assume that they'll likely use resin for other larger models in the range as well.

There was a post on the forums about this but I can't seem to find it and it was posted a fair while back so some production factors might have shifted their methods behind the scenes.

Hopefully more clarification on this will come out with the big info burst when the KS launches.

[Overread]

I was right - plasticised resin for the dragons and other big miniatures (as yet only the dragons in the KS others to come) and the rest in white metal. The Kickstarter is now launched as well Head over to KS to find Drake the Dragon Wargame

[Overread]

Mike appears to have gone awol! And its been quite a bit of time sooo:

Drake is on KS - running live with over $47K already raised and nearing its next goal at $50K which is unleashing some big monsters for the table (including the amazingly detailed hoarding beast which has stood high on the front page of their KS since the start)

They've also had a slew of big news events these last few days including;

Increased rewards based on pledge amount not just selection. So now people paying $85, $150 and $240 will get the same reward and unlocked stretch goals as the pledge levels that correspond to those amounts. So you can get similar rewards to things like their Ultimate edition (at the $240 level) without having to limit yourself to the 3 army pack options that the Ultimate edition gives.

Of course there are also now added rewards for those fixed price point pledges too - Ultimate edition specifically getting the new $20 KS unique model release in the form of a mercenary warrior for hire - a monster of a bonded half-dragon man dead set on his bloodthirsty path!

In addition they've released a video showing 2 of their freshly cast metal miniatures from the range. They've another model coming up today/tomorrow with another warrior model to showcase in metal. In addition they are going to post some photos so that that they can really show off the detail far more than youtube can (although it does a very good job already - plus it also clearly helps to show the truescale design that they've gone for in model design).

Their updates also have a several interviews up to listen to and also a podcast reading of part of the story and background to their most recently unlocked monster the Oolen.

[Overread]

Just thought I'd drop in and let people know that 4pm Vancouver time (12pm GMT) this evening (sunday) Benij (head of AGM/Drake) will be doing a live chat with fans; more details closer to the time on the KS updates.

Also the Ks is now at nearly $70K with the hardback rulebook unlocked!