Thankyou all SO MUCH - I asked Alysha to doodle up a little Kindred to celebrate, and it captures our feelings well. This project means a lot to us, it is extremely humbling and exciting to see not only how much you want to support Tabletop Time to continue as a youtube channel, but also how enthused you are for our ideas, miniatures and upcoming world on its own merit.

It is easy to feel isolated, unsure and not know if what you're doing really is as cool as you think it is - But you've all proven beyond a shadow of a doubt that you want to see the Kindred. 1876 Backers is HUGE - This is a success beyond our wildest imagining . We are alight with enthusiasm for what to come, and we wont let you down.

THE PLAN:

Over the next week, I will be setting up pledge manager, so we can begin the process of getting the initial file offering out to all backers. From there, Alysha will continue to to create art, while Jackson commences the first unit (We've chosen the Submersible Crab-walker as our first unit to complete) - I will continue to use my time on the project to manage it and guide the final concept art development and the direction of the sculpts, bust and cutaway art - which we can now confidently commission. Once all of this is underway, I can move on to working on the lore elements for the kindred as we put together our lore and art PDF. 

As sculpts begin to be completed, Jennifer, Murray and Myself will commence the process of developing some core paint schemes, in much the same was as Games Workshop represents its factions with several major in universe sub-factions. We will also choose one of these schemes to become the primary 'Studio Army' and paint that up, ensuring we have great units for product photography as well as example photos for our lore doc. 

At the same time as these goals are completed, we will be uploading them and making them available for download, we are optimistically hoping for roughly 1 stretch goal per month, however that will wax and wane slightly as Jacksons workload with Marcher fluctuates throughout the year. He is extremely busy, and we are grateful for his time on the project!

Our next update will be soon, covering the pledge manager, so stay tuned over the next week for that. Thankyou one more time for your support - This has been such a joy, and we are beyond excited to bring the Kindred to you in ALL their glory. 

ITS ALMOST OVER!

Thats right, the campaign is nearly done, its been an exciting ride - But really, it means the journey is just beginning. Thanks to all of your support, the Kindred are going to become a fully fledged faction, everything we need for our mystery game system. A lot of people have pondered what kind of game its going to be, with the main question being "Full Wargame" or "Skirmish Game" - We cant give away much yet, and a lot is subject to change, but the simplest answer, which will also explain the scope of units in this campaign is "Somewhere inbetween"

We strive to create a game with a little bit more complexity, uniqueness and depth within its units, more reminiscent of classic Warhammer, however at a scope and scale that is manageable to build, collect and importantly, play. In house, I (Dave) have been referring to it as "Platoon Scale" - The forces at work in our universe rarely muster in large armies, and are more focused as raiding warbands. The presence of vehicles alone should suggest this will not be a 6-10 model skirmish game.

We have just revealed our final bonus stretch goals - However, we consider all of these a blessing and a boon - We had optimistically planned on our original 55k final stretch goal as being 'everything we need to make what we want' - And now we are in a victory lap of making things we want, but we didn't necessarily need. Cutaway art, An Artist Bust, conversion parts for darker more religious toned bitz for using our models in other games - Its fun stuff that is as much for us as you - And every single one we hit is just an awesome bonus.

We've Been Busy
While for the duration of the campaign we are limited in our capacity to push forward with the project (The point of crowdfunding is to raise the funds to do just that) we have given Alysha the go ahead to start working on some art, and we wanted to share some Bingi with you today. What is a Bingi? What is a Bingus Boy? What is this goal we unlocked?

Exactly.

Its time to find out, while we share in development concept art, through to a completed work done by Alysha Lowery.

So heres the scoop - The Bingus Boys started as a joke, an in house comment when I (Dave) was riffing to Vaughn and Alysha about characters for the game and what we should name the faction. A fan of ranting about nonsense, I threw the name "The Bingus Boys" into the mix, as an absolute joke. (Thats right, the Kindred of the Abyss started their life in production as The Bingus Boys.) However the name stuck, people liked it, we laughed about it, and eventually it created its own kind of reality. We imagined what Bingus Boys could possibly be, could we include this production in house joke in the faction and not destroy the integrity of the project? Of course we could.

We conceptualized the idea of a duo, brothers in the Kindred, and imagined them being troublemakers, with Kindred shaking their fist shouting "THOSE DANG BINGUS BOYS" as they caused some new mayhem. Like a dirty foul underwater Dukes of Hazzard, the Bingus boys slowly developed an identity.

We wanted to create a dynamic of a weaselly Kindred Reaver, the older brother who manipulates his Malformed brother into all kinds of heinous tasks. The simpler brother being somewhat like Lenny from of mice and men, not knowing of his own strength and compromised of intelligence.

We went through multiple iterations, playing with this idea of Nascar drivers, hillbilly stereotypes, dodgy gamblers, truckers, moving through various incarnations and never landing on something solid. Ultimately, we decided the boys were just too silly to fit in the setting, as models, as gameplay pieces in the faction. So we decided to adapt them.

The Bingus boys of old still exist, we imagine their distraught neighbors shouting after them as kids and teenagers, getting up to mischief and misadventure, but those days are gone. Now the boys are reavers, leading a particularly savage raiding band of some renown, known as being some of the most wild and vicious Kindred out there. Gus, the big lad, wields a Harpoon cannon usually mounted on ships and submarines, whereas Ben, the cruel older brother, has a penchant for hunting targets from afar. The annoyed cries of Ben and Gus eventually contracting into Bengus, then Bingus, and with some nice art, great models and a paintjob, the Bingus Boyz will be wreaking havoc on your tabletops soon.