Journal #13 - oh, those beautiful new tiles!

Much is happening in Pedion-verse, which I would really like to share! But what I really want to do with this blog post is to show off -without a shred of shame- the newly created beautiful pictures of Tile Types unlocked as Stretch Goals during the Kickstarter. But some business first...

No, this is not a real Greek beach, is Pedion Coastline tile... more below ;)

Pledge Manager (and extra pre-orders) are Live; lock your stuff!

You will pleased to know that the pledge management system is up and running, and all backers have received an invite to lock their pledges. Almost half of them have actually gone and finalized their rewards already, so we are moving on! The Pledge Manager is set-up as part of the Pedion e-shop. This has another advantage: not only can backers add more last minute stuff to their pledges, but people who missed the Kickstarter have their (last) chance to pre-order Pedion Battlefield Sets! The Pledge manager will be open up to the end of the month, so not much time left to take advantage of Kickstarter prices and shipping.

New, Unlocked versions of Tile Types

As many may know, we unlocked an awful large number of new themes, tile types and combinations during the Kickstarter Campaign. Because of the hectic rhythm of those days, we managed to create prototypes for only a few of them -those of the first Stretch Goals reached- like Green Grass Ponds, Craters etc. However, there were a LOT more stuff made available, mostly as extra options to the existing tile types, which we did not manage to show during the campaign but only to describe it.

While we were mass-preparing tiles for the backers' orders, we also made sure that these unlocked options were implemented. We wanted to have a picture of at least some of the new options available for the Pledge Manager, so the backers could have a better idea and base their choice in what they saw and not what they read.

Another cool fact about the tiles/add-ons you will see below is that they are not mock-ups or prototypes - they are backer stuff. So, here are some images to see for yourselves, and we are very proud of how they are turning out!

Frozen option for the "Pond" tile: a special liquid glass option for the Winter themed boards with a pond included. The pond is complete cast in epoxy resin.

The Frozen Pond tile (winter theme, liquid glass)

River with floating ice pieces: Staying in the Winter theme, another option of displaying the river surface was to add floating ice pieces. The idea is not to have a completely frozen river, but to show how cold it is, and perhaps assign some wargame attribute to the ice pieces (perhaps making the river passable?). Notice the darker blue/black of the winter water.

The ice floating pieces are cast in white/blue transparent resin

Two river tiles joined. The upper tile represents a "Ford" tile, with a winter dirt road reaching the riversides. The "square" shapes showing on the river banks are magnetic hardoints for trees, walls, bridges, buildings etc

Now, to our pride and joy, the Coastline tile types. Coastline/Riversides were requested by the backers and unlocked close to the end. The Straight, Concave and Convex tiles will be of two types (2 different molds). The delta and the open water of one type (molds in progress). The tiles you see below are cast in resin or resin and liquid glass for the respective version. Also, the "water" tile sides also connect magnetically (we did not want to have to apply constant pressure on the tile corner by clipping velcro). Also, ALL the sloped beach part is Magnetic, so players can snap walls, bunkers, artillery or anything else on them.

Coast tile, Straight beach, type I, Green theme, Painted Version

Coast tile, Concave beach, type I, Green theme, Painted Version

The straight and concave tiles connected

Coast tile, Convex beach, type II, Green theme, Liquid Glass Version

another view of the beautiful liquid glass version

Urban Road Tiles: about midway during the campaign, a stretch goal unlocked which is a personal favorite. Now you can get a series of tiles to create a board of an urban environment, ready for man-made structures like buildings, ruins, factories, sandbags etc. Skirmish games become more and more popular and with urban tile options you could get the basis for a neighborhood, be it a fantasy village, a modern town or a futuristic off-planet settlement. Backers had already seen our cobblestone/dirt road version, now we present two variations of the many available: a scifi straight road tile, and a 28mm modern crossroads tile.

Urban Straight road tile: 7cm, light blue "plastisteel" surface, Caution line sides, light grey "plastisteel" tile texture, FULLY magnetic

X Crossroads Urban tile, 14cm road, Asphalt, 28mm scale pedestrian stripes, Magnetic sidewalks, Sandstone tile texture

Variant River Flows: Along with the more exotic, scifi themes for our boards, unlocked two new "river" flows, lava and green toxic... stuff! These fillings can also be applied to fill craters, ponds or even "seas"/"lakes". Check them on Grey waste and Red planet tiles. The Red planet tile has a more alien look with special minerals. Again, the square shapes are actual magnetic hardpoints.

Lava flow on regular Grey Wastes theme, painted version

Green toxic river, painted version

Sci-Fi Crystal Formations: even better than minerals, backers can now order MAGNETIC crystals which give a very scifi look on their boards. If they look realistic, it's because they are fully based on real Jade formations. They are cast in transparent coloured resin, at various shapes.

purple crystal

green crystal

"clear" crystal

cobalt blue crystal

I have even more stuff to show you, especially the new Elevation change System we developed; but it will have to wait till my next blog post. If you liked the new stuff and the images, please share the word with people interested and -of course- get yourselves some in the eshop!

Good gaming all,

George

Journal #10 - the post-Kickstarter Effect, and how you can still pre-order!

Wow. What An Adventure!
It took me some time to return to this blog - and this was due to the many things to be done after the end of Kickstarter . Also, I guess that you may have already seen that the Kickstarter Campaign was a huge success: 267% Funded, 185 Backers, all Stretch Goals unlocked! However, I would like to express some of the things I felt, and give you a glimpse in what is happening in Pedion-verse.

A dream come true

Pedion was never an "arts and crafts" project; from the first moment I dared to hope that lots of people may be interested in trying my idea for a battlefield terrain system. I commenced the Kickstarter campaign with a relatively modest goal, representing a production level of multiple terrain boards. The original goal would allow me to be sure that there was something worth going after. But the final sum, over 35K British pounds, is a different level all-together. It represents a dream I did not dare speak aloud: that Pedion can actually enter the market and stay for a long while. And I cannot express my gratitude and joy that people are giving me this chance.
My wonderful backers helped make true a dream, and I feel humbled from their trust and support, as well as from the responsibility this entails.

Also, people may have notices that I was (and am) a very active Kickstarter backer. But the thrill and the community feeling when you are the creator has stunned me; I feel I have made friendships that will last the rest of my natural life, and all because of this...

Missed the Kickstarter? You can still pre-order through PayPal till the 21st of August

Lots of people got to our campaign late, or not in time at all, and have asked for a chance to pre-order a Pedion set. Though the ability to add things will be available on the final Pledge Management system, I took the time and installed a full pre-order service running on our e-shop. Not every option you have had during Kickstarter is there yet, but I'll try and include as many as possible.

You can still be a Kickstarter backer, through PayPal or Wire Transfer, at http://pedion.ecwid.com

There you can choose rewards, add-ons and upgrades in the same prices and spirit as if the Kickstarter campaign was still on, and you just add them to your order, paying by PayPal. This will be available only for a limited time, only until the 21st of August 2015, since we must close all orders and start final production. Therefore, in case you want to add something or upgrade your rewards, try http://pedion.ecwid.com/

The pre-order system is not meant to substitute the Kickstarter; its purpose is for any last minute add-ons, or for people who missed the Kickstarter for a few days. There is also another purpose for it: the recent troubles of capital controls in Greece did not allow any of our Greek backers to pay (their credit cards were locked for buying abroad). But things are looking good now, and I wanted to give  people in Greece the chance to finally pledge by wire tranfer. However, I have to be fair to the original backers, so it is less than a month left for pre-orders to stop.

And the real work starts

We did not take any days off after the Kickstarter ended, so the project is already underway. Right now we are transferring materials and equipment to the production site. New equipment is being ordered and employees' selection is finalized. The last two weeks we are conducting a full renovation on the 75 sq.m. (750 sq.ft.) space that will act as our main production workshop - flooring, wall selves, work benches, tools, appliances are now in place. On the same time, the first materials are pouring in, like polystyrene, magnets and model trees. Though not very complimenting, here are two snapshots of two of the rooms with workbenches:

Can you see those bags of model trees on the high self?

We also installed a professional air-pump for two-person simultaneous spray painting. For the modelers among you, think "airbrush" but for mass production. So I had to carry the monster below for two floors to faster and better basecoat the tiles :)

Wouldn't you love such an airbrush?

On the same time, I am setting-up the production procedures. In reference to the preliminary order spreadsheets I am getting from the backers, I'll check the feasibility of mold methods again, and start designing them.

Pedion at Claymore 2015

For those of you planning to visit Scotland's premier wargaming event in Edinburgh next weekend, there will be some Pedion presence! There will not be an actual booth; I am too busy setting up things here. However, we have the pleasure of providing a huge (12'x4') Space Gaming Mat (modular of course!) to no other space fleet battle than the one demonstrating the latest SciFi Wargame, HALO! Yes, the new, exciting game from Spartan in the Halo Universe, called HALO Fleet Battles, will be exhibited in Claymore, and we will be providing the scifi PrintTiles for the epic board.

Check it out, and have a chat with +David Yeomans, who will be providing the excellent terrain like asteroids and Gas clouds. In case you have not seen out PrintTiles, you can check them out here: https://pedion.ecwid.com/#!/Pedion-PrintTiles/c/13054089/offset=0&sort=normal

As you can see, everything is moving along! So have a great summer, and a wonderful GenCon (for those attending it!). Good gaming all!

George