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 Welcome to EMBER! EMBER - Obsidian Protocol is a science fiction miniatures wargame by Queti Tectonics. Landing on Kickstarter (Uh Oh) a good few years ago, this was originally expected to ship late 2020. Of course, COVID and inevitable delays happened. The first wave product is now in the hands of the Chinese audience, with the international translated products set to arrive by November 2023. From the KS: quote:Obsidian Protocol is a squad-based, mecha-themed tactical miniature wargame set in the near future. Players assume the role of squad commanders, leading powerful mechs and drones into 1v1 battles and multiplayer skirmishes. All mech components are modular, granting players unparalleled flexibility in designing the perfect squad for the mission at hand. Thanks to an innovative initiative system, combat in Obsidian Protocol is fast-paced and brutal, and every turn offers new tactical choices on the path to victory. HOW DOES IT PLAY? Players create their Mechs (MAPs) pre-game using magnetised components, each part has its own stat card and assigned points value, played at a predetermined game size - 180pts is considered entry level, with 300pts being the standard. A game is split into 5 turns, each representing seconds of real-life time, representing an extremely fast paced mecha game.  Each MAP is constructed from a Torso, Chassis, Left Arm, Right Arm & Backpack. Each is represented by a card containing the stats and abilities of each part. Each MAP must also be piloted, either by a character or one of the generic pilots. Each turn is split into a series of phases, with MAPs activating in a phase depending on which action they wish to perform. IE, A Move action would be in the Movement Phase. At the beginning of the turn, each MAP secretly declares an action by setting their pilot dial to the phase they wish to activate in. The Phases are divided as follows: Swift, Melee, Projectile, Firing, Move, Tactical. Each Pilot has a numbered attribute for each phase, with the lower number activating first. Each action also has a type, Short Actions, Standard Actions and Long Actions. A MAP may perform a variety of actions depending on their cards, but they must perform their primary action in their selected phase and then any additional actions in further phases if applicable.  An example of MAP construction with cards featured, the lower card (3) represents a card for a MAP discarding their weapon. You can also deploy Drones (4) and have projectiles/munitions represented in flight (5).  An example of pilot dials and link dials. Dial represents the connection to the MAP, if this hits zero, your MAP shuts down and needs to reboot!    THE SETTING quote:The story of Obsidian Protocol begins at the end of the 22nd century, when the first remnants of an ancient civilization – and the mysterious "Black Box" artefacts within – were discovered deep beneath the far side of Earth's moon. These alien treasures didn't simply trigger a golden age of technological innovation; they shattered old alliances and nations, and the uneasy coalitions that emerged threw vast quantities of money, resources, and blood into the excavation and exploitation of alien relics. Yet for all the upheaval and competition of the Moonrise Era, an uneasy peace prevailed.  WHAT'S IN THE BOX?  There's a lot in this game. THE MINIATURES    The miniatures for this game are excellent, each has individual articulation and is designed to be magnetised which are fully supplied. Allowing you to customise each MAP for each game from the components provided. https://twitter.com/ObsidianProtoc1/status/1544273869585858560 As said, each model has articulated parts - which makes them closer to something like gunpla than your usual wargaming miniatures. HOW DO I GET IT? This game is not out yet and is being shipped in waves via Kickstarter. Wave 1 includes the RDL Faction with both of its expansion boxes. Wave 2 is the UN faction with expansions, with the full rulebook and game board. Wave 3 will be the GOF faction with expansions. Once each wave has shipped it will be available for the public to purchase online. The first of theses should be Q1 2024. I'm posting this thread to create some more interest around the game - but most of the activity takes place on the official Discord which is linked below. I'll be updating the thread in future as needed. Currently the game is playable via the Tabletop Sim mod which I highly recommend. As of writing, we are expecting the 1.0 Translated Rules to hit in PDF form as the printed rulebook will not be published until Wave 2 ships. The current EN rules are a bit of a translation in process and unfinished - we're awaiting for them to be finalised and published, but the game is playable. It's fast paced, decisive and fun. RESOURCES KICKSTARTER PAGE: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/obsidian-protocol/obsidian-protocol-mecha-miniature-wargame DISCORD: https://discord.gg/RMzjuJtF TWITTER: https://twitter.com/obsidianprotoc1?lang=en TABLETOP SIM: https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2935581987
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Sep 2, 2023 23:50
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| # ? May 6, 2024 01:44 |
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I backed this, purely on the strength of the models and I'm constantly surprised how disruptions that'd sink smaller-scale projects have been weathered by the devs - on that basis alone I hope it does well. That said, I never actually played the game - aside from customisability, what're the games' strengths? It looks kinda complicated!
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Sep 3, 2023 16:06
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The closest would probably be X-Wing x Armored Core but it's not really close to X Wing either. The game is fast and decisive. Generally speaking if a shot goes through - that's the part destroyed and a MAP is totalled if the Torso goes or has less than three parts at the end of a turn. Each part has an armour value which is the number of dice rolled in defence whilst torso and chassis (mostly) have a second structure value, giving them a sort of 2HP. The rules themselves are actually pretty straight forward, the depth comes from the customisation and different options between the parts and the factions. Some videos I'll add to the OP later on: A quick how to play, in Chinese but has subtitles. https://youtu.be/jz0-eV7YkEg?si=oGZzlthcF1Rj9F1w Unboxing RDL: https://youtu.be/Q1MZy-v7Mzw?si=FzUVJ4j80Rom7R2j Build impressions: https://youtu.be/4EASL432V-s?si=UXNGDuBx3REHG_YX
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Sep 4, 2023 10:08
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I backed this on Kickstarter and I've been following along with the development and I'm thrilled that the developers have managed to survive both the normal calamities involved with setting up physical product and the emergence of Covid. I've gotten a handful of virtual games in via Tabletop Simulator and it's a very interesting game. There's a lot of oddities and little problems, but the tempo of the game and the interplay keep it moving.spectralent posted:I backed this, purely on the strength of the models and I'm constantly surprised how disruptions that'd sink smaller-scale projects have been weathered by the devs - on that basis alone I hope it does well. I'd say that the game's biggest strength is its focus on planning out your turn, trying to divine what your opponent is likely to do, and foiling their plans. In the last game I played it genuinely came down to the bottom of the last turn to see if I could secure a win. (Unfortunately, my opponent was able to exploit my over-extension on exploiting their over-extension and I couldn't land a sufficiently decisive blow on any of their mechs.) If you ever played Frozen Synapse, the feeling of "simultaneous planning pileups" is pretty close to the way this game feels when it's being played. e: also the plastic kits look really good Wales Grey fucked around with this message at 18:31 on Sep 4, 2023 |
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Sep 4, 2023 17:24
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It looks extremely cool and will have to check it out on TTS
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Sep 5, 2023 03:46
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| # ? May 6, 2024 01:44 |
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I'm all over the mech designs and the transhumanist themes of the lore. The mechs/MAPs are around 28mm or 1:50 scale, so they're only around 4 meters tall and house an instance of the digitized consciousness of the pilot rather than a physical body. (or a brain in a jar for an upcoming faction that is opposed to digitizing minds) The rules have come quite a long way since the earliest playtests and look pretty promising, though i've not had much chance to test out the latest version yet. Back in 2018 had the chance to paint up a 3d printed prototype for the kickstarter campaing. So while i can't vouch for the quality of the plastic kits yet, the combination of scale and detail level made for a fun experience, good mix of fine detail and larger areas: https://i.imgur.com/Xd5LDLM.mp4  More photos here: https://imgur.com/a/qT6HFgF
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Sep 6, 2023 17:53
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