A story-based solo/cooperative RPG board game for 1-4 players with stunning miniatures, an epic adventure and exciting combat.
Latest Updates from Our Project:
Master Redux and Essen Spiel
over 1 year ago
– Sat, Oct 22, 2022 at 07:26:33 AM
Hello, folks!
It’s been a while and we’re due for sharing some Stormsunder news, so let’s get into it!
A Tale of Twelve Masters
Last update we told you we were down to three masters for Wave 1. Well, it turns out there were issues with Florian Roth and the female Tarpitt civilian (and General Jatif was just MIA), which is why we did not receive them with the last batch. Roth and Jatiff will be mailed to us next week and the Tarpitt civilian should be ready to be sent shortly after. We hope to be able to show you all three by the next update.
We actually have another nine masters that will be ready next week that we will be approving via photo as we have already seen masters for them. This includes three terrain pieces from the HoR terrain box that needed some extra love and Elise who, while looking amazing, had a technical issue that needed to be corrected. There are also 5 SG minis that are getting updates, mostly minor fixes except for Vacrem who will be supporting a more “Faceless” visage to match the render we originally showed for him:
Vacrem nose how to fight and win.
Aside from the minor alterations listed above, LongPack has assured us that PVC work for the rest of the wave 1 minis for Stormsunder has begun, so we look forward to showing them off as soon as we receive them.
As for the other half of the coin (the printed components), the time since the last update has been focused on testing, editing and filling in missing art. Speaking of missing art, next update we should be able to show you something that we’ve pushed off revealing for a while that helped make the maps in Heirs of Ruin feel more dynamic and allow us to design encounters in a lot of different ways that we hadn’t originally expected to be able to do given the limitations we had with the map tiles. Aside from showing exactly how civilians will work (which was more of an intentional oversight on my part for spoiler reasons), this is probably the only part of Stormsunder’s design we haven’t showed off in an update. I’m probably making this sound a lot cooler than it actually is (it’s pretty mundane, honestly), but it’s exciting for me, soooo…. Anyway, be prepared to say, “really, that was it?” in the comments next update. Moving right along.
The obvious question (or at least, the question I'll get in the comments even if I answer it here) is "are we on time for fulfillment to begin in April 2023" and the short answer is I'm not sure. We're cutting it incredibly close on PVC and probably closer than we should on everything else (and the Chinese New Year holiday looms over everything). I'm also terrible at predicting this sort of thing (see the just-before-fulfillment updates of the original Wild Assent campaign), so I'm hesitant to just flat-out say we're good because something always seems to come up. All that said, we're so close to victory I'm hoping the finish line matters less in the plus or minus and more that we finally crossed it.
Essen Spiel 2022
A large chunk of the team journeyed to far away Germany for Essen Spiel for meetings and merriment (and ended up having a lot more of both than I had expected). We met with several manufacturers, including LongPack, who sadly ran afoul of customs (a common issue, apparently) with their Stormsunder display miniatures unable to attend. There was a secret way to see some Stormsunder (and Stormbrush) goodness, however, as the clear star of their sample-filled Designer Pack was Lord Darijus (Stomrbrushed Edition) and everyone’s favorite “hero,” Aleksander. If you’re ever at a con and want to see some Stormsunder PVC, head over to LongPack’s booth:
Vanessa's two favorite people.
The trip was great for me as it allowed me to meet meet people I had never been able to poke in the physical realm before, like Milos (one of the original designers of Wild Assent), Cedric (a myth more than a man) and Gustavo, our lead sculptor and digital artist behind Faeyra, all the terrain, almost all of Heirs of Ruin, the Faceless and who knows how much else (certainly not me). Here's the people that could attend (minus me... since I took the picture):
From left to right: Nikola, Milos, some Canadian (Dave from MiniWarGaming), Igor (project manager and in-house painter/giant), Gustavo and Voodoo (game tester and thief of our hearts).
And because Nikola said the above picture was lame because I wasn't in it, here's me standing next to Igor:
Did I mention I'm 6'1"? Because I am.
That’s all for now! We’ll be back next month to show off that final piece of the Stormsunder puzzle and any and all news we have about production, design and fulfillment. Until then, we'll see you in the Storm (look for Igor's head above the swirling sands... it worked great in the wall of people at Essen).
- LSG
Only 3 Masters to Go, the Other Chart and Card Charging/PM News
over 1 year ago
– Sat, Sep 03, 2022 at 05:12:03 AM
Hello, folks!
We’re back with another juicy update filled with little resin people. We’ve made some huge strides since last we spoke masters-wise and we can’t wait to show them off. The chart also makes a return (the other one), but first this needs to be at the top, so everyone sees it:
Another Round of Credit Card Charging the Week of September 26th!
We’ll be doing another round of card charging the last week of September. If you don’t recall the last time we did this, it basically means we will push the button for all folks who have finalized their pledge. If you haven’t finalized your pledge (entered your mailing address, etc), nothing will happen. You do have a deadline for that now, though, as we go to…
Pledge Manager Close
We’re setting firm pledge manager close dates for all our projects (as everyone has definitely been asking for it). This also means we won’t make the awful mistake of picking the same week. Anyway, Stormsunder’s PM for Wave 1 will close the week of January 30th. This will be your last chance to upgrade your pledge, add addons or jump ship and ask for a refund.
The Chart (OG)
Without further ado, I present the Chart:
Cards
There wasn’t much to finish here from last time’s 99%. We have made more of the Wrath cards, with just a small number left to be worked on. There’s still lots of editing and testing going on in this section, but those two points are covered in the Campaign Book(s) section.
Miniatures
We are down to just 3 masters for Wave 1, all from the first Villains & Civilians box: Florian Roth, the female vampire civilian and General Jatif. PVC should (needs to) start picking up as all the masters we’ve received (18) have already been approved.
Campaign Book(s)
We’ve made modest gains here and while going has been slow, it’s definitely been worth it. The Heirs of Ruin campaign (as well as the SG book) have definitely benefited from the extra time we’ve been putting in. I absolutely hate this part of the chart, however, as everything here is estimates based more on feeling rather than math (versus the hard numbers = percentages of the miniatures section, for example).
Other Components
Nothing to see here; the rulebook can’t be 100% until everything else is and the rest was already complete.
So, are we on schedule? The short answer is yes, though I certainly have my concerns. Stormsunder has never been closer to reality than it is now… We just need to push to get it across the finish line.
New Masters
Check out the latest masters from LongPack; now with lots more villains…
Laz'lek is looking sharp and he even has a present for you (it's rude not to accept).
Lord Matic is freaking huge. That is all.
The faerie dragon is totes adorbs and I don't care who knows about it.
The Unsated Alpha, seen here totally not being a beta.
Zil'krag the Destroyer has the best shield (and the best taste in music... he's a big fan of drums).
Awww... Can we keep him?
Lady Nadja looks incredible in person. FYI.
Emilija is just doing some comps. Don't worry about it.
Belar is hunting something here... I wonder what that could be...
Oh, it's her. Run and hope the players aren't evil!
She looks ready to put a number on a spider-based hero.
So majestic... so deadly.
This guy is feeling a little blue (don't worry, his PVC won't be).
Still dapper as ever, I see.
Taumet drank his milk when he was growing up, but it looks like his headdress drank more.
I present to you the terror of Fex'ilar, Ja'ja the Ravenous.
The council is now complete....
Did I save the best for last? Yes, yes I did.
Stormbrush
We’ve also received some Stormbrush samples that we haven’t seen before. Enjoy!
More eyes than he knows what to do with.
Zahra got a little sand on her everywhere.
Fancy as fancy gets.
Stormbrush just brings the crap out of the details on this guy. Does that make sense?
Aleksandra looks so good, I'm wondering if I photoshopped my basement.
Yeah, I kind of gave up on the "head on" look for miniatures like this. Still looks awesome, though.
I both like and don't like how much the Stormbrush highlighted Davor's bald head.
Lord Rihard, ready to sack a kingdom or three.
Capac who is all about that base (I'm told).
You wouldn't like him when he's angry. I'm not sure when he *isn't* angry, just saying.
Quell is the best, no foolin'.
That’s all for now! We’ll be back next month with more production info and hopefully plenty of PVC. Until then, we’ll see you in the Storm (where all the charts have no name).
- LSG
The Chart
over 1 year ago
– Thu, Jul 28, 2022 at 04:16:38 AM
Hello, folks!
Today we’re going to look at how Stormsunder handles your decisions (and victories/defeats) with a spoiler-free flow chart. First, though, let’s talk about the game’s progress.
Much of the time spent on Stormsunder since our last update has been testing the integration of several of the story quests of the stretch goal wayward heroes into the main campaign. Specifically, the ones that can show up in the first three Acts. Heirs of Ruin has a level cap of 6, so we’re not too worried about heroes out-leveling content at the end of the campaign, but more about how it affects the other 3/4 of encounters.
On the miniature front, we approved all the masters we had except for six, which required modifications and need new masters made (which we’ll be approving via photos, rather than waiting for them to be mailed, etc). We’re still waiting on the Villains & Civilians masters, of which 14/18 are ready. Masters for the Ice Golem and Faerie Dragon from the stretch goals are also ready to be shipped, as is the master for Faeyra.
The Madness Within
From the story side of things, Stormsunder is meant to play out like the books I used to read as a kid, where you had a choice to run to the barn or the woods and I would choose the barn and there would be wolves there and I would die. Okay, well, maybe not *exactly* like those books, but you get the idea. We’ve had requests before to show off a flow chart of how the story progresses and I’ve always said “no, that would take forever” because of the sheer number of “nodes” that exist. Nikola has pushed for it almost every update since and he finally won this time because I don’t like posting updates without pictures and I kind of don’t want to post anymore actual campaign book related stuff because I want people experience to it on the table and not here on Kickstarter.
Anyway, Nikola won via compromise; this is not an exact recreation of the nodes. It was created from my memory of how *most* of Act 1 goes. Not having to verify each little node (and not doing all five acts) made the whole thing a lot more palatable. As I said earlier, it’s completely spoiler free. The text is complete (but entertaining) nonsense and it’s extremely unlikely you’d gleam anything from the flow chart story-wise except maybe after you’ve finished Act 1. Anyway, Lazy Squire Games is proud to present The Chart (a full-sized file is available here):
As you can see, there’s a lot of variability depending on the results of tests and whether you win a particular encounter, etc. Some paths converge (they all do, in the end… though the titles you earn along the way affect the story later). At a birds-eye view it’s kind of a glorious mess, honestly, and I wouldn’t have it any other way.
That’s all for now! We’ll be back next month with more minis and whatever else Nikola convinces me we should do. Until then, we’ll see you in the Storm (it’s best if you go with the flow).
-LSG
State of the Game, More Minis and the Chart
almost 2 years ago
– Wed, Jun 15, 2022 at 06:53:13 AM
Hello, folks!
People have been requesting information about the status on exactly where we are at with, well, everything involved with making Stormsunder, so this is that update. We also received another 19 masters and 14 PVC minis, so we’ll be looking at those (plus, by popular demand, “The Chart” has returned).
Before we get to any of that though, as some of you have publicly guessed and I’m sure others have privately assumed, we have no choice but to delay the game yet again. We’ve looked at the time we have until October, what needs to be done by us and by our manufacturer (and translation partners) and it’s difficult to remain optimistic. We’re setting the new fulfillment month to be April 2023.
This isn’t the first time we’ve delayed a project (it’s not even the first time we’ve delayed *this* project), but it doesn’t get any easier. I don’t expect (or deserve) any mercy in the comments, but I hope you understand despite everything that has happened since we funded back in 2020, Stormsunder is not only still coming, but it will also be worth the wait.
State of the Game and the Chart
So, with the bad news out of the way, let’s talk about the progress we have made since we last looked and where we sit today with making Stormsunder a reality. Here’s the chart:
Cards
Not a lot of progress has been made on cards since we last saw the chart, mostly because we were pretty far along to begin with. There’s still some Wrath event cards that need to be finished (some design, some art), but cards are by and large complete aside from editing (which is found in the Campaign Book section) and translations (more on that below).
Miniatures
There are 102 unique sculpts in Wave 1 of Stormsunder and of the three things I worry about most (timewise), they have remained steady at number 1. That said, we’ve seen an incredible amount of progress on finalizing the miniatures this year, with optimization (file enhancements) going from 44% all the way to 100%. Longpack has also been pumping out masters and we now have 81 in-hand. We are only missing Faeyra, the Ice Golem and the Faerie Dragon, as well as the entire Villains & Civilians I box. Faeyra has required a lot of back and forth, but I believe her master is finally in the works while I think most of the V&C I box masters are ready (or almost ready), we just haven’t received them yet.
Molds (and the resulting final PVC) is the last step in the process, so it’s the least far along. Still, we now have all 46 sculpts of the core (Heirs of Ruin) box complete and in-hand:
Making the molds for the rest of the miniatures is a process that can’t be rushed, unfortunately, but we are much closer than we’ve ever been (by a large margin) to reaching the finish line.
Campaign Book(s)
We’ve made a lot of progress on the campaign books, especially on testing and editing (both very slow for a project so massive). The sheer number of hero (and story) combinations is staggering, and our testers are trying their best to break the game so you all don’t have the opportunity. The stretch goal book has been a difficult slog as we try to integrate what are essentially side stories for the Wayward heroes, etc in ways that both make sense and are rewarding but don’t throw the main campaign out of balance if you choose to experience them. There’s been a learning curve for sure, but the process will not only make Stormsunder more polished but also make future related expansions (such as the Faceless) a little easier to wrap our heads around. Unfortunately, translations can’t begin until we’re completely done with testing, which is another reason we no longer see October as possible.
Other Components
Not much movement on this part of the chart as it was and still is almost completely done (with the finishing touches on the Rulebook needing to be performed dead last before translations).
Heirs of Ruin PVC
As I said above, we are finally finished with the miniatures for the Heirs of Ruin box. Below are the 14 we were waiting for, which includes some minis that had masters approved ages ago but were mired in limbo as their mold-mates were not quite ready.
He's small enough to be considered "cute" but disturbing enough that you might want to put down the rolled up magazine and call pest control... or an exorcist.
Nefetet does not disappoint.
Poor Makatti Brute. He was picked last in dodgeball.
Nikola wanted to make mounted versions of all the heroes, once upon a time. Nikola is nuts.
Final (final) Capac is just flat out better than the original sample we had for him so many moons ago (and those samples were awesome).
The catalyst of Heirs of Ruin's story and the first hero you meet, it's kind of ironic Adina has shown up at the last minute.
PVC Aleksandra was busy until now. Probably best you don't ask what she was doing.
I hear a wizard is never late. Well, an undead sorceress is never early.
Ho-Tem Ra walks the sands of Inali once more...
Final (final) Lady Renata is much like original PVC Lady Renata: a sight to behold.
Lord Rihard is ready for a fight. Or he's at a crosswalk signaling the car can go first. Hard to tell.
Ah, Davor. You look too good considering what a little bastard you are.
The Artist Formerly Known as Rose looks so good, you can literally read her book over her shoulder.
I hope your PVC lust has been sated. If not, well, then it's Unsated. That's just math.
SG & HoR Terrain Masters
Below we have the final two masters for the Heirs of Ruin Terrain box, Elise and all but two of the stretch goal box minis (and definitely not in any order).
It takes a special kind of person to be able to survive in the Storm. It takes something else altogether to thrive within it.
Elise isn't lost anymore. I hear she got Pegasus GPS.
I'm calling it right here: All the companion captions should just be "dawwww."
Fantasy Dave, I mean Drustan, is looking sharp today.
He's still alive... Can you save him?
Dawwwwww!!!
One of my favorite terrain pieces. It's so swirly!
Rask, looking for the one rock that got away.
I know it's just because of where the light is coming from, but his eyes and mouth are abyss-worthy dark.
Awww, he's going ready to get all stabby-stabby...
You can just tell of all the companions, he's definitely teacher's pet.
Take everything not nailed down and come back with a crowbar for whatever's left.
We could make a kid's game using just the companions (maybe leave out the Fire Spirits).
Here's a weapon rack that you'll search over and over again and yet sometimes never actually find a weapon. It's a magic-rack.
We were going to sculpt him flying, but figured players wouldn't want to always have to hold him over the board (while making "whoosh" noises, of course).
Vacrem, seen here having absolutely nothing whatsoever to do with cheese.
A Horned Golem is bad enough, but an armored Horn Golem? Time to move back to the city.
Keep your hand on the Wire Road or you might wind up in a completely different post-apocalyptical environment... Like an 8-year-old's birthday party.
I'll be honest, I was shocked when I unwrapped Liora's master. The 3D render didn't do the sculpt justice.
That’s all for now! Thank you for sticking with us as we slowly make our way to the finish line. Until then we’ll see you in the Storm (where walking slow is a good way to be a meal).
- LSG
Heirs of Ruin Terrain Box Masters
almost 2 years ago
– Tue, May 17, 2022 at 01:16:05 AM
Hello, folks!
We're back with a continuation of the theme from the last update, as we're finally starting to see some real (and consistent) progress on the miniatures side of Stormsunder. We have 16 new masters, the entire Heirs of Ruin terrain box, minus 2 (sorry, Discord, I misread the list). In addition, we should be receiving 6 molds worth of PVC in a week or two, which will finish off the Heirs of Ruin core box. We also received the Stormbrush samples for the last batch of PVC; you can find pictures of those at the very bottom of this update. Without further ado, let's look at some masters...
Heirs of Ruin Terrain Box Masters
You know at least one of those bottles has grape soda in it. Maybe all of them.
It contains great treasure... or nothing. There's a lot of "Nothing" loot cards, after all.
What happens when you put gold in a chest after midnight.
Leaning tower of some guy you didn't know.
This altar has 360 degrees of Skull'O'Vision.
It'll either heal you or kill you. Who's thirsty?
This really makes me want to design a capture the flag mode for Stormsunder.
There's a secret cache behind this giant head, ruined by the spear poking out. Stupid spear.
This is how my wife stores all her jewelry. There's really no space to walk in our house.
Just a scrappy little obelisk, doing obelisk things.
You know budget cuts have hit the Tarpitt guardsmen hard when they use their own shields as barricades.
They thought it was an ancient magical tome, but it's really just a bunch of homemade pie recipes.
Random pillar in Tarpitt, seen here shortly before Lady Renata landed on it.
In ancient Mokatta, pots look into you.
I have bracers, but no arms to wear them.
This the last terrain picture. You might say we're about to switch it up.
Stormbrush Samples
In case you forgot how great Stormbrush looks, here's the latest samples from LongPack:
Be a responsible pet owner: spay or neuter your undead puppy.
A desert stalker, seen here shortly after one of his friends tried to explain the stock market to him.
"You have my khopesh! I mean, I have it, of course. It's here in my hand. But, I'm pointing it upward because I too would like to go to Applebee's."
He's yawning. Now try to not yawn yourself.
It's raining outside. Speaking of water, I left a Stormbrush'd mini in a cup of water for a bit and the paint didn't come off. Now you know.
Butt in the air, just don't care.
Legend says he's still in the middle of the desert, waiting for someone to fist bump with.
Bet you've never fought an undead soldier with a seeing eye shield, have you?
He wanted to look tan for the first day of summer, but he may have used a little too much bronzer.
Still the best mini (Stormbrush edition).
Fear of scorpions falls under arachnophobia. Fear of Witchblood Scorpions falls under common sense.
From a technical perspective this is probably our best mini, but he has a face for radio.
Dude may look a little murderous, but you just know that's because he's seen some stuff.
He just wanted a good paint job. His desires have been sated.
Oh I just can't wait till my dad dies.......
Ho-Tem Ra's folks are not known for their subtlety.
That's all for now! We'll be back next month with more minis as well as news on production and whatever else is going on. Until then, we'll see you in the Storm (be sure to stay close to your shield).
