Industry Talk: Adam Poots

Well a fair few months ago now I decided to try and turn my interviews into a semi-regular basis and call them Industry Talk. I'm still not sure I whether I'll be able to turn this into a sort of regular series of articles? Do I know enough people I could harass into doing these interviews? Honestly, I don't rightly know right. But, I've been more than willing to find out. When I first started asking around for potential victims Adam Poots of Kingdom Death fame was one of the first people to respond in the affirmative. For some reason though it has taken us an absolute age to get round to doing this interview, however I hope it was worth the wait...

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Industry Talk: Hendrik Mell Freebooter Miniatures

Right then, given as though the last month has been a pretty busy time for the chaps and chapesses at Freebooter Miniatures and their game Freebooter's Fate I thought I'd try to get to interview one of them. I tried for Werner at first, but apparently he really is kept chained to a desk... although whether this has anything to do with his working practices or just for fun was never actually fully explained... any way... moving on, Hendrik Mell decided to step into the breach, or was more likely volunteered because he forgot to turn up to an office meeting or something. So I put my questions about Freebooter's Fate, The Cult (not the band but the faction) and their Indiegogo campaign to him, and he was nice enough to give me some answers...
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Industry talk: Rob Butler Ill Gotten Games (Z War One)

A few weeks back now I was treated to a one on one intro game of Z War One, a new zombie game, by the games creator Rob Butler. I first stumbled across this product at the UK Games Expo 2012 in Birmingham. There I had a brief chat with Rob about the game and what it was, he showed me some mock up board tiles and spoke about character progression and a narrative driven game, with the plot delivered by comics. I'll be honest I was interested at the premise and a bit wary given the fact that it is yet another zombie game. Since then of course we've had Zpocalypse and Zombicide to add to my current zombie stalwart's of Zombies!!! and Last Night on Earth. Once more the marketplace is looking rather crowded again, so I arranged for Rob to pop down from his Sheffield based fortified zombie resistant bunker, to visit me at Zmbie Defence HQ in Birmingham... trust me we're well prepared for Z-day round these parts.

Two of Rob's demo mini's. I'm sure he won't mind me saying they're not quite up to Golem Studio standards.

The first game I played was the common all garden this is how the game works and this is how you shoot zombies. It worked pretty well as an introduction to the Z War One universe and how the game plays. Honestly, there wasn't anything really remarkable about the mission, it's simply get to point A and them explore points B and C and get the hell out of there. It did though allow me to see exactly what the games primary influence was, and that's survival horror games. Primarily the Resident Evil games, with an emphasis placed on limited ammo and medpacks. Every turn you spawn more and more zombies as you go, and it's a question of avoiding them if you can, and shooting them if you can't. It's a tidy resource mechanic at the heart of the game, which is subtly different to many recent zombie games out there that place the emphasis on butchering vast swathes of the undead. The game still feels like it needs some more refinement and polish, but I'm glad to report that Rob confirmed he felt the same and was still working on perfecting his formula, but more importantly despite this the game was still fun to play and the underlying mechanics seem sound.
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Industry Talk: Emily Fontana, On the Lamb Games

Well today I've managed to nab some time off of the exceedingly busy Emily Fontana from On the Lamb Games, who currently have a Kickstart campaign going for their JRPG inspired Endless Fantasy Tactics. I actually quite like the look of the game from a thematic point of view as I was a bit a JRPG nerd... OK, I'm still a bit of a JRPG nerd, but you get what I mean. So without further ado I give you the interview...
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Industry Talk: Rob Lane Mierce Miniatures

Well a few months back now I interviewed Rob Lane, then of BaneLegions, about their miniature line and tried teasing a few tidbits of information out of him. It was a fairly long interview, but people seemed to enjoy it and it certainly got a fair few hits. So when I heard that things were all change at BaneLegions, Templars Forge and Maelstrom Games I decided to ask him a few more questions, to see if I could clear up what is going on for you all.

FrontLine Gamer: So then, the times they are a changing at Templars Forge, Maelstrom Games and BaneLegions, or according to your press release they are! There are a number of new names to get used to, most notably Mierce Miniatures. Can you talk us through the logic of starting up Mierce Miniatures as a separate entity from Maelstrom Games?

Rob Lane: Mierce Miniatures the company is the end result of thoughts we had when Maelstrom Games first started to produce miniatures, but it has really been kick-started by the available space - there isn't enough, we're growing so fast - and the environmental conditions we've had to work in, which have been awful, frankly. Producing polyurethane resin miniatures has to be done in a well-ventilated space with an even temperature, and only by moving somewhere suitable could that happen, and we felt that having another property in the possession of Maelstrom Games simply wasn't the best way to go.

Additionally, having Mierce Miniatures separate from Maelstrom Games makes things a lot neater for myself as Managing Director of both companies and enables us to pursue funding for Mierce Miniatures as a creative new manufacturer, rather than part of an older retail company.
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Industry Talk: Jake Thornton and DreadBall

Right with Mantics successful Kickstarter winding down to a close over the next few days of so I decided I'd try to badger the games designer with a few questions about the game, and how the campaign has gone. Luckily for me Jake Thornton is an affable fellow who was more than happy to answer my inane and asinine questions! So here's my questions and his answers:
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Industry Talk: Ronnie Renton Mantic Games

The eagle eyed amongst you will have noticed that I've posted some rather swanky looking page buttons at the top of the page. Clicking on those page buttons takes you to a bit of background information about me, this Blog... and yeah OK, my bloody cats. Because we all know you only come here for the cats! However, if you've clicked on the about page you'll have noticed that I've listed lot's and lots of different articles that you might not have seen before on these very pages. That's because I haven't really started those article series's yet. Today that's sort of changing, here we have my first ever 'Industry Talk' article, where I'm chatting with Ronnie Renton from Mantic Games. Obviously I've interviewed people in the past, but now I'm aiming to be a bit more structured about it and a bit more regular. So read on and here what Ronnie's got to say for himself...
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Interview with Rob Lane of BaneLegions

I thought I'd start with this impressive beast! Krull, Servile Lord of Dis.

Right well a few weeks back now I did an introduction article for the BaneLegions range, I don't mind admitting it was slightly out of of date, as it had some how got lost in my Blogger draft edits pile. Thankfully though Rob Lane of BaneLegions offered to bring me up to speed on what exactly is going on, and where the product range is heading. What follows is a *ahem* not so *ahem* brief discussion I had with him about a few things. Don't worry I've cut out all the chat about man flu, getting old and what brand of thermal socks are best (it has to be Thinsulate, right?). I've even managed to wrangle a bit of information out of him with regards time scales he's been so reluctant to be pinned down to and three sexy concept sketches I'll be showing you. So read on, there might even be a prize in it for you at the end, but I couldn't say for sure...

Frontline Gamer: Firstly thanks for agreeing to let me badger you with my questions! Before we start on the �real� questions can you tell us all a bit about yourself, your staff and your company, and how you got yourselves into the industry? And why?

Rob Lane: Well, both Tim and I have been playing wargames for over twenty years, and it was a natural progression that � after having numerous �normal� jobs � we would decide to pursue something to do with wargaming. I began Maelstrom Games back in 2001, after becoming very tired of commuting to an IT job, and I recruited Tim (who I had known for years as part of my local wargaming club, the Dragon Slayers) to be my studio director in 2008, a job he fulfils today - which includes looking after sculptors as well as making moulds and casting the miniatures - after having to make the tea for two years. As well as Tim there's our photographer Stuart White, ex-Games Workshop; and Jamie Wright and Niall McWalter, who cast our miniatures along with Tim. Lastly, but certainly not leastly, there's Dan Melia, who cleans up and packs the miniatures into their boxes, amongst other jobs I give him.
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Interview: Steve Cummings Sarissa Precision

Yes that's the Warehouse. Yes that's a Guija TAG. Yes it's that big!!!

Right yesterday I blew your socks off with a World Exclusive (let me have my moment of glory) and today I'm bringing you all a brief interview with one of the guys behind Sarissa Precision, Steve Cummings. Hopefully you'll find it illuminating and hopefully you might also get to see some more concept pics of the stuff I teased you about yesterday. Reviews following shortly.

Frontline Gamer: I think the first question many people will want an answer too is when will this stuff be available to buy? Will it all be available at the same time or will some of it be staggered over a period of time?

Steve Cummings: It will be available on January 2nd, most of the range will be available right away. There are some ideas that we haven�t done anything with yet or are still testing. We will do some variations of some items as well. The range will expand, but I think there is enough choice to keep people happy for quite some time.

Yep this is the 'small' Pod, and yes that's still a Guija!

FG: That's cool, so there's more yet to come. The second most important question I guess will be how much is this stuff going to cost

SC: We think it�s very well priced as a guide, the 3 Standard Pod variants will be priced as follows -

Habitation Pod Explorer will be �12.00
Habitation Pod Settler �16.00
Habitation Pod Family �20.00

Accessories and upgrades �2.50 - �10.00

All the extras which make the range what it is will be available in a pick�n�mix style. This is so you can create the table you want and don�t have to buy things you don�t need. We�ll also have some special offers and bundle deals as well up on the web store.
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HoP Idol: Interview with Lauby

Well this is my entry in week 3 of the HoP Idol contest. I actually found it quite fun doing an interview, and it's certainly something I might actually try out in the future. That's if anyone is willing to be interviewed by me after they read this!!!

Well this week we've been given the task of interviewing one of the current International House of Paincakes writers. I got one of the big ones... Lauby, who co-founded the International House of Paincakes with Dethtron. Sadly though for him he'd drawn me has his interviewer and I'd personally like to say thanks to him for putting up with my erratic ways of late, as I've got a lot going on in my personal life right now and he was a pleasure to interview and very understanding. I've dropped 4 pictures of Lauby's lovely painting in here as well. So here it is...

Frontline Gamer: Hello. I'm going to be honest and say I have absolutely no idea where to start this interview. I'd ask for some hints and tips but I'm getting pressed for time now so I'm going to go with the obvious question. Why the hell did you decide to start the international House of Paincakes (HoP) with Dethtron in the first place? And as a follow up question, and are you utterly mad?

Lauby: Like so many 'Good' ideas throughout, history the whole idea started in a bar while Dethtron and I were working on a special kind of drunk - expensive beer drunk. At that point in our e-live we were both struggling to get readers for our own blogs and we just couldn't get things going to the extent we wanted. Commenting on other people's blogs and exchanging links only gets you so far, and is tedious, tedious work. Obviously the solution to that was to 'join a blogging network'. But the ones that existed at the time didn't have a lot to offer us or had a bunch of bullshit requirements we didn't much care for.

Obviously, I'm talking about FTW and I'd be flat out lying if I said the 'no swearing' policy wasn't a big driver for the HoP. I don't usually bring it up directly because I never feel like admitting that fact, it's the kind of thing that will not go over well in the public given the sterling reputation, much deserved, that Ron has. But there you have it. We wanted to be able to swear. We had a lot of e-buddies who wanted the same thing and wouldn't or couldn't change to make the cut. Granted, we had other options, but it was either networks nobody really saw or things that always came off as 'after the fact' kind of ancillary projects with piss poor promotion. You know, things that wouldn't 'really' help us. So the drunken path that was clearly laid out in front of us was 'start your own'.

Utterly mad? Yeah.
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