[New Company] Mindworm Games - Who the F are These Guys?

Exiles plays a lot like a skirmish wargame on the tabletop, but it’s really an RPG at heart.

It’s important to keep that in mind when you’re the Governor because, just like in any RPG, you can always kill the players.

https://mindwormgames.files.wordpres...characters.jpg
Thanks a lot, Carl. We're all having a REALLY good time!

Exiles isn’t [url=http://sodapopminiatures.com/game-super-dungeon-explore/]Super Dungeon Explore[/url]. It isn’t an adversarial game designed to pit the skill of the GM against the players in a no-holds-barred death match.

The Governor can always steamroll the players because Exiles is an RPG.

As the Governor, it’s not your job to kill the players. It’s not even your job to win. Your job is to support the story and keep the game moving at a brisk pace.

https://mindwormgames.files.wordpres.../09/zargon.jpg
"Think of yourself more like Zargon, the Evil Sorcerer of Hero Quest." - in bed?

The good news is that Exiles makes this painfully easy for you. As the Governor, you don’t even have to spend a lot of time trying to figure out what the story is supposed to be!

Every Exiles Scenario starts with a brief summery of what the heck is going on and a little story for you to read to the players.

Each Event in a Scenario also has a trio of Betterments, which are objectives the Governor should be trying to achieve during the game. Yea, yea, that sounds cool and all, but what do Betterments have to do with the story?

Everything.

https://mindwormgames.files.wordpres...-and-intro.jpg
You can tell how important Betterments are by the extremely mature names we give them.

Not only are Betterments never about murder-facing the players, they’re also closely tied to the story of the game. Most Betterments force the Bad Guys to do **** that would be really stupid if your only goal was to kill all the players, but which make a crapload of sense if you think about the story.

So remember, if you’re the Governor, it’s not your job to kill all the players. Focus on achieving your Betterments and things will be hunky-dory

Next time we’ll take a look at game balance.

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You need five basic elements to spin cast metal miniatures:

Rubber
Metal
Heat
Pressure
Centrifugal Force


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I have a bad feeling about this...

You need rubber to create your mold cavities, and metal to fill those cavities. Heat and pressure makes your mold. Pressure, heat, and centrifugal force allows you to get your metal into the mold cavities.

Most tabletop games miniatures are made with pewter and organic rubber molds.

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Your basic organic rubber mold blank. They smell lovely, especially when you cook 'em!

Rubber mold blanks are placed into a frame that maintains the shape of the mold and allows you to apply heat and pressure. The rubber melts, flows around the miniatures, and then hardens. A layer of mold release keeps the two halves from sticking together so you can pull the mold apart and remove your casts.

https://mindwormgames.files.wordpres...lank-w-pen.jpg
The rubber starts out fairly pliable, so if you're feeling lazy you can cram a mini right into it!

A hole in the top half of the mold allows you to pour molten metal into the mold while it is being spun, and the centrifugal force of the spinning causes the molten metal to flow from the center of the mold into the cavities. As the metal cools, it solidifies, and you have new miniatures.

https://mindwormgames.files.wordpres...old-closed.jpg
Yea, put it in my hole, baby! Fill me up with your hot, molten...that's it, I'm out.

That’s basically it. You can get a lot of fancy equipment to do all of that, but you can also get it done with most anything that can apply the appropriate forces. You need about 2,000 pounds of pressure on a mold and 250-350 degrees Fahrenheit to cook it properly. Your pewter needs to be at about 500 degrees for casting, the mold should have anywhere from 10 to 30 pounds of pressure on it to keep the two halves from separating, and it needs to spin at upwards of 500 RPMs.

https://mindwormgames.files.wordpres...frame-open.jpg
This lovely hunk of metal maintains the shape of your mold whilst it's being squished and melted.

Josh Qualtieri ([url=http://www.zombiesmith.com]ZombieSmith Studios[/url]), for example, scratch built his first spin caster out of [url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IYVIVzCmH10]old washing machine parts[/url], and [url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=70QGqNMPZJw]vulcanized molds in his oven[/url] with a scrap metal frame and some clamps. That said, $3,000 will get you a second hand professional setup, you can get a spiffy new one for as little as $6,000, and you can drop more than $10,000 on a high-end basic setup if you've got way more money than you need.

https://mindwormgames.files.wordpres...-in-caster.jpg
Mold goes into the caster, plate goes on top, piston presses it together, and the electric motor spins it real fast. It's basically rocket science.

Over the next few months we will walk you through the spin casting process end to end, in more detail that you probably give a **** about. We’ll have plenty videos as well, for those of you who prefer to watch crap on Youtube. But the new computer isn’t in yet, and I don’t have time to wait 6 hours for a video to render on my laptop, so you've gotta wait, okay.

https://mindwormgames.files.wordpres...-mold-open.jpg
For all you sick fetishists, this is what she looks like on the inside!

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[url=https://www.instagram.com/mindwormgames/]Our Instagram usually has some surprises[/url]

[url=https://twitter.com/mindwormgames]We reserve the Twitter feed for our weirdest bull****![/url]

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Choosing a Persona is the most important thing about making an [url=http://mindwormgames.com/about/exiles-2/]Exiles[/url] character.

A Persona tells you what kind of character you’ve got, whether it’s a fancy Gentleman, swarthy Gunslinger, hardass Trapper, or even something ****ed up and weird like a skeletal Scarecrow or disease-riddled Buzzard.

https://mindwormgames.files.wordpres...ndcontents.jpg
I like the look of your box...

Your Persona tells you what special abilities and whatnot you start with, and it also gives you a handy list of skills you can buy with your Learnin’. But that’s all the boring game ****. The Persona Pack product gives you so much more!

A Persona Pack gives you everything you need to create and play a character from a particular Persona.

First, you get two pewter miniatures representing iconic characters from the Persona.

Every miniature is hand-made by us in our [url=http://mindwormgames.com/about/exiles-2/]snazzy workshop[/url]. Exiles models are single piece casts, so you don’t have to mess with assembly. Any and all bits are designed to be entirely optional, so you can jazz up your little dudes if you like, or take them as they come.

https://mindwormgames.files.wordpres...characters.jpg

You get Character and Sidekick cards for both models which means you can not only play either model as a proper character, you can also hire them as a sidekick when **** gets hairy!

You also get a set of handy quick reference Skill cards so you can put all the special rules for your Persona right in front of you during a game.

Each Persona Pack comes with a set of wooden tokens to handle all of your bull**** during a game. You get tokens for all of the common actions, like Haul ***, Reload, and Yee-Haw!, plus tokens for all of your cool Persona skills.

https://mindwormgames.files.wordpres...pack-cards.jpg
These are Benson's ****ty prototypes. Adam Burnier is MUCH better at photoshop, don't worry.

More importantly, your Persona Pack comes with a set of Item cards you can use to equip your character. You’ll get plenty of cheap, ****ty equipment suitable for a brand new character, some better gear that’ll come in handy when you’re flush with cash, and badass items for each character.

All of this awesome stuff comes packed in a genuine wooden box with a slide out tray and internal dividers to keep everything organized. You’ll find plenty of extra room in this here box for additional gear, game materials, or other bull**** you happen to pick up along the way.

https://mindwormgames.files.wordpres...ngtogether.jpg
Look at all that fun ****!

And that’s it! Everything you need to play your favorite Persona.

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[url=https://www.instagram.com/mindwormgames/]Our Instagram usually has some surprises[/url]

[url=https://twitter.com/mindwormgames]We reserve the Twitter feed for our weirdest bull****![/url]

https://mindwormgames.files.wordpres...urn-header.jpg

Let’s take a quick look at the [url=http://mindwormgames.com/about/exiles-2/]Exiles[/url] turn structure.

The game turn has a pretty basic structure. It goes like this:

Animals and Idiots
Movin’
Doin’
Roundup

The Movin’ and Doin’ phases have their own declare/resolve sub-phases.

Animals and Idiots

https://mindwormgames.files.wordpres...ecd54689dd.jpg

The Animals and Idiots phase is for doing whatever needs to be done with any animal or idiot models on the table. Some scenarios will have a few special rules for animals and/or idiots, but most of the time you can ignore them.

Animals and Idiots is also when the Governor puts new bad guys on the table, and that’s what you’ll use it for most of the time.

Movin’

https://mindwormgames.files.wordpres...enson-time.jpg
NOOOOOOO! I'm not even holding my gun!

The most important thing about the Movin’ phase is that it’s timed.

The Governor should start every Movin’ phase by activating a timer, which should be about 20 seconds.

Once the timer starts, players have to do their Movin' before the timer runs out!

When time is up, STOP!

If you dithered too long, declared the wrong action, or didn’t finish moving a model, well that sucks for you. Leave your model where it is, don’t touch that token on the table, and deal with it.

After the players finish Movin' their ****, the Governor does all the bad guy stuff.

Finally, all declared actions get resolved before the Doin' phase.

Doin’

https://mindwormgames.files.wordpres...enson-dead.jpg
A little too much Doin' last night, eh? We've all been there.

The Doin’ phase is like the Movin’ phase, except it isn’t timed, and now you can kill somebody!

Just like Movin’ phase, players do their stuff first, then all the bad guys.

Effects apply as soon as they hit the table, but any mooks you shade normally get a change to hit you back before they leave the table.

Roundup

https://mindwormgames.files.wordpres...rn-roundup.jpg
What, you don't have 100 cow models? Weirdo...

The Roundup phase is for resolving any lingering bull**** that happened in the game turn.

When everything is buttoned up, the Governor takes a few seconds to fiddle with models in the Animals and Idiots phase then starts a new Movin’ timer.

Rinse and repeat.

Game turns take about 90 to 180 seconds, which means you can normally play more than 20 game turns in a 45 minute game. Whoa doggie! That’s fast!

More game turns means you have plenty of time to make up for mistakes, so it doesn't much matter if you screw up. This is the secret sauce that makes Exiles so awesome.

There's so much playing going on that it does't matter if you make a stupid mistake!

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[url=https://www.instagram.com/mindwormgames/]Our Instagram usually has some surprises[/url]

[url=https://twitter.com/mindwormgames]We reserve the Twitter feed for our weirdest bull****![/url]

https://mindwormgames.files.wordpres...ie-hiscock.jpg

Hoo-dogie! You can tie me up anytime Mr. Hiscock!

We figure it's appropriate to start introducing y'all to Mr. Hiscock since Valentine's Day is comin' on and all.

Mr. Hiscock features in a heartfelt tale of frontier love that we'll share with you on Sunday.

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[url=https://www.instagram.com/mindwormgames/]Our Instagram usually has some surprises[/url]

[url=https://twitter.com/mindwormgames]We reserve the Twitter feed for our weirdest bull****![/url]

We've had our head's up our... well, we've been incredibly busy for a long while.

Delays and production issues, and all kinds of crap nobody cares about.

BUT, I am happy to say that not only did we meet all of our Gen Con 2016 production goals, we made it to the con and had an amazing show!

https://mindwormgames.files.wordpres...1973959605.jpg

https://mindwormgames.files.wordpres...1974278959.jpg

https://mindwormgames.files.wordpres...1974370814.jpg

[url=http://mindwormgames.myshopify.com]And now we FINALLY have the webstore up and running![/url]

[url=http://mindwormgames.myshopify.com]Check it out![/url]

[url=https://mindwormgames.files.wordpress.com/2016/08/starter_set_2_1024x10241-e1471974555303.jpg]https://mindwormgames.files.wordpres...1974555303.jpg[/url]

[url=http://mindwormgames.myshopify.com/products/all-the-stuff-1]We also have an awesome deal going on right now![/url]

Until the end of the week we are extending the Gen Con sale price on our [url=http://mindwormgames.myshopify.com/products/all-the-stuff-1]All the Stuff bundle[/url].

That gets you $220 of stuff for $180, plus free shipping if you live in the lower 48.

Sorry about everybody else... International shipping blows. We're working on solutions for that.

And now that we're past all this BS, we'll get back to stuffing our social media with fresh content, and maybe even updating this thread on a regular basis!

Exiles plays a lot like a skirmish wargame on the tabletop, but it’s really an RPG at heart.

It’s important to keep that in mind when you’re the Governor because, just like in any RPG, you can always kill the players.

https://mindwormgames.files.wordpres...characters.jpg
Thanks a lot, Carl. We're all having a REALLY good time!

Exiles isn’t [url=http://sodapopminiatures.com/game-super-dungeon-explore/]Super Dungeon Explore[/url]. It isn’t an adversarial game designed to pit the skill of the GM against the players in a no-holds-barred death match.

The Governor can always steamroll the players because Exiles is an RPG.

As the Governor, it’s not your job to kill the players. It’s not even your job to win. Your job is to support the story and keep the game moving at a brisk pace.

https://mindwormgames.files.wordpres.../09/zargon.jpg
"Think of yourself more like Zargon, the Evil Sorcerer of Hero Quest." - in bed?

The good news is that Exiles makes this painfully easy for you. As the Governor, you don’t even have to spend a lot of time trying to figure out what the story is supposed to be!

Every Exiles Scenario starts with a brief summery of what the heck is going on and a little story for you to read to the players.

Each Event in a Scenario also has a trio of Betterments, which are objectives the Governor should be trying to achieve during the game. Yea, yea, that sounds cool and all, but what do Betterments have to do with the story?

Everything.

https://mindwormgames.files.wordpres...-and-intro.jpg
You can tell how important Betterments are by the extremely mature names we give them.

Not only are Betterments never about murder-facing the players, they’re also closely tied to the story of the game. Most Betterments force the Bad Guys to do **** that would be really stupid if your only goal was to kill all the players, but which make a crapload of sense if you think about the story.

So remember, if you’re the Governor, it’s not your job to kill all the players. Focus on achieving your Betterments and things will be hunky-dory

Next time we’ll take a look at game balance.

[url=https://www.facebook.com/mindwormgames]Follow us on Facebook[/url]

[url=https://www.instagram.com/mindwormgames/]Our Instagram usually has some surprises[/url]

[url=https://twitter.com/mindwormgames]We reserve the Twitter feed for our weirdest bull****![/url]