Ask Kraken Editions: the answers
Last week we asked you for your questions for the team at Kraken Editions regarding their new Alkemy fantasy skirmish game. And we have received the answers. Many thanks to Manuel and Grégoire at Kraken Editions for taking the time to answer these and thanks to Mathieu Thérézien for translating the questions and the answers for us all.
What does your game offer that other games in the same category do not?
Since Alkemy is a game, lets talk about the rules first.
Alkemy introduces several features unique in miniature gaming:
- First of all, the special dice determines in one roll the success of a test, the number of wounds inflicted, and the wound penalty.
- Then the combat cards provide with a new way to envision combat by making the player take into account the reaction of his opponent during a melee fight.
- The action points system makes you think completely differently than in other miniature games. Indeed, if a model used all its action points it will not be able to react when it is attacked and therefore becomes an easy prey. Thus the player has to carefully think the order they activate their miniatures out. This system emphasizes tactics without being overly clunky or complex. The action points system is also a different way to manage your miniatures: a model with four action points will be able to attack four times, move four times, or shoot four times. This really gives heros and elite models the value they deserve on the battlefield.
- Finally Alkemy focuses on scenarios. It is specifically designed such that the player playing the scenario and having good tactics will always win over the one systematically going for the kill.
We may also add that the game system is simple and intuitive. It was designed with efficiency in mind, trying to avoid exceptions and special cases as much as possible. For example cover against a ranged weapon is determined the same way whether it is provided by scenery or by other models. As another example Alkemy has a relatively low number of special abilities compared to other games in the same category.
Rules aren’t everything though. We hope people will enjoy the universe as much as we do. That universe is very deep and doesn’t use yet again the archetypal fantasy races (Elves, Dwarves). Instead it focuses on original peoples inspired from historical civilizations from our world. For now you guys have very little to chew on because of the limited space we had in the booklets of the starter boxes. But you’ll soon learn that our four people have a very rich history.
Finally a word on the miniatures. Allan (note: one of the sculptors/game creators) has a recognizable style, and he has been very keen on offering creative models that avoid clichés and respect the logic of the world of Alkemy.
How is it that you are able to afford to produce plastic miniatures?
Do not believe everything that is claimed to justify outrageously pricey miniatures. There are many different plastics out there, and the production methods have evolved a lot since the GW sprues. Moreover, with Kraken you pay for the production process, not for a brand.
What languages will Alkemy be available in and what is the release schedule like for any other languages that you plan to support?
The starter boxes will first release in French, the rules and cards will be downloadable for free on our website in English and German (those files are actually available as we speak). The reinforcement waves are already planned in French and English, these boxes will contain both French cards and English cards.
As soon as we have a distributor in the US, all the boxes (including the starter sets) sold there will be available in English. In addition we are seriously considering to have the boxes content translated in German and Spanish in a near future.
How will you be handling distribution in North America and the UK?
Upon gamers and retailers requests, we’re working on partnerships with distribution networks all around North America and Europe in order to get Alkemy products on the shelves of your favorite store ASAP, in the US, Canada, UK, but also Germany and Spain. The product will be available in English for sure, and we’re working on German and Spanish versions.
Rogue: Some games, such as Confrontation 3, suffered from a lack of an overall balance for each faction as new individual characters were released. Are there going to be army lists for Alkemy to help balance each force?
We have a long term view on the Alkemy range. The profiles of all the releases for the first year are currently in beta-test phase. Moreover we plan on releasing a book that’ll contain the profiles of all the releases for the first two years (among other things), à la Warmachine or Hell Dorado.
Quirkworthy: Some of the best models in the range are the convention exclusive models. For most of the world they are effectively impossible to obtain. Will you be releasing the convention models in a wider context?
Special editions will be available through Galleon, the part of Kraken dedicated to organized play, events, and contacts with local stores and the community. We’ll install a local branch of Galleon in each and every country where Alkemy is distributed, and there will be many occasions to obtain those special editions (in Conventions, during tournaments or painting contests, through online contests, and other ways we are working on defining).
By the way, those special edition miniatures are not limited editions! They will always be available through Galleon in order to limit speculation.
Finally, we plan on releasing all the special edition characters again in the standard plastic range, albeit with a different pose so that the special editions remain special.
CCotD: How scalable will Alkemy be? Will it be playable with a large number of figures or is the game intended to be played with a small number of figures?
Official tournaments will be played with 300AP armies, which is between 10 and 15 miniatures depending on the people you play. In friendly games, you may decide on the army sizes as you please. Alkemy’s system works as well with tiny bands (from 5 to 10 minis) as with larger forces (15-20 miniatures in each army). However the system is not designed to resolve large battles, and we consider it to be optimal for games between 200 and 300 AP per player.
Amikulaschek: What is the current plan for releases? Will there be regular releases for all factions on a periodic basis?
Every new reinforcement wave will bring each people a new release. The waves will come every one to two months depending on the time of the year. Every time an important event justifies it (release of the starter boxes, of an expansion,…), the waves will come as fast as possible to quickly provide players with variety. Then the rhythm will be slower during the rest of the year.
tyfighter77: Are there any plans for another faction? Perhaps the reptilian Naashti colonies or even a Mercenary faction?
As above mentioned, we have long term development plans for Alkemy. This is true for the background as well, we have the basis on how Mornea will be evolving. This evolution includes the introduction of future new peoples. But for now it is important for us to focus on the first four of them to ensure they are properly balanced, not only as far as the fluff is concerned, but also in terms of the playable miniatures and profiles.
As for a mercenary faction, we do not believe that creating an army within which every other one can pick models is a good idea. It leads to backwards situations where each faction can get troops that will counterbalance its intended weaknesses (shooters for armies with poor ranged abilities, many cheap models for armies traditionally outnumbered,…). We think it is better that each people have its specific play style, with its strength and its weaknesses.
Nevertheless, if we do not want every army to be able to recruit troops from a mercenary faction, we like the idea of troops that can be recruited flexibly. You may have noticed that some recruitment cards have several faction symbols. These models may be used by all the corresponding factions while keeping the game balanced, or may form sub-factions (you will learn more about sub-factions as soon as wave 2 releases).
goblyn13: Why did you decide to use custom dice? Are there any plans on releasing the dice on their own?
We wanted to offer a fluid game system that would avoid some of the old, clunky mechanisms you find in pretty much every miniature game:
- How to handle a wound system that inflict penalties to model as they take more and more damages without having to performing tedious calculations?
- How can we manage efficient damage dealing without the usual and complicated Strength - Resilience - Armor + Dice roll = input for a damage table?
This led us to efficient and logical solutions that use special dice with several pieces of information on each side.
We are currently considering the different ways to release those dice separately. Six per box? Twelve per box? Coming with measuring tape in inches? With Jin posts? As you see this is in the work, we only need some more information to decide of the packaging.
Duck21: What made you choose plastic over metal ?
We considered several points. First we wanted to offer starter sets that would not only include miniatures but also everything one needs to play (dice, measuring tape, cards, tokens, and rule booklet), while keeping a low price tag. This wasn’t currently feasible with metal or resin miniatures.
Then the methods we are using (you will see that the plastic we use is slightly different from the one you might be used to) allow us to get models with many advantages over the other materials:
- No bubbles, no shifting nor warping, and minimal mould lines while maintaining a good reproduction of the details.
- We can process finer details than with ABS (used for traditional plastic sprues), with less mould lines and more undercuts (or more convoluted volumes if you will).
- Assembling these miniatures is far simpler than what is currently available on the market (no pinning required, no preparation, you just plug the pieces in place).
- The material is stiff enough to be cut accurately with a blade, to be sandpapered, and to not ‘feel’ soft. On the other hand though, the smaller elements are slightly flexible, making it harder for them to break accidentally. Once glued, the miniatures are almost unbreakable.
- Paint holds much better on plastic than on metal and is less likely to chip.
Aegir: What will Alkemy eventually become? A fast paced skirmish game or will it evolve into a larger scale game (like Warmashine/Hordes) with units?
We don’t plan on turning Alkemy into anything else than a skirmish game, the optimal size for an army will remain 300AP. As a game editor we plan on designing new games and universes in the future, though. Certainly the World of Alkemy is rich enough for other kind of games (board games, RPG, larger scale wargames), but it is way too early to talk about future projects as our game is only on the verge of being launched.
Manuel and Grégoire for Kraken Editions