The recent release of the Sultanate ORBAT marks a huge milestone for Armoured Clash - all eight ORBATs have now found their way into the world!
From the armoured columns of the Crown to the artisanally clad infantry blocks of the Empire, the dynamic forces of the Union and the dazzlingly unpredictable war engines of the Enlightened. Then on to the indomitable strength of the Imperium, to the feints and counterfeints of the Commonwealth and its subterranean vehicles, the tactical expertise of the Alliance and, finally, onto the technological mastery of the Sultanate.
Designing the Factions
There’s been a lot going on over the last 18 months since the launch of Armoured Clash, to make sure every Faction is done justice! Behind the scenes the narrative directors, sculptors, rules writers, and editors have worked flat out to craft unique fighting forces, further expanding the personalities that the Dystopian Age setting has already established for these Great Powers.
Launching a completely new miniatures game is a daunting task. Each force has to have enough miniatures on its release to play a satisfying game at multiple scales. Also, those play experiences need to feel distinct, not only from other Factions but also within each Faction, to facilitate players playing the same Faction. The key here is to offer interesting but difficult choices to the player. “I could take this, but then I can’t have that”. The tension then means that folks tend to focus on a theme, story or strategy that gives their specific force a personality of its own. We’ve learnt a lot about the game as we’ve been writing it, really digging into how to create a bespoke gameplay experience for each Faction and even each Battlegroup within that Faction.
We’ve also learnt from our mistakes, listening to the community and communicating clearly when we make changes and update the rules. If you do want to give us feedback, great! Feel free to complete our feedback form. We love hearing your thoughts!
At the core of it all, we’ve kept to our guiding principle. Play games. No, more than that. Play it again. Tweak something. Play it again with other people. And on and on. We’ve done our best to keep fun, engaging games at the core of everything we’ve done, and we believe we have achieved this through our iterative playtesting.
But now that we’ve released all of the Factions, what next? Well, I assure you, we’re not done. In fact, this is where the fun starts!
On the Horizon
More behemoths. More infantry. More transports. More of it all! You’ll see more niche roles coming to the fore: units that perform well in specific roles, or specific types of games. These may require more nuanced playstyles, or have more punishing consequences if you get them wrong, but will offer engaging battlefield decisions for the General in question. Both in force selection and during gameplay.
Most importantly, you’ll be seeing a lot more of the Dystopian Age. As the game expands, so too will your insights into the activities of the Great Powers. Not everything is what it seems, with shadowy cabals and secret societies lurking at the sidelines and major players concealing their own dark agendas. There’s so much more to explore and uncover. What does an Aethernautical Explorer do? Well, you’ll have to keep watching to find out!
Lastly, I want to thank you, the players. It’s a cliche (though a cliche only becomes a cliche by being true!), but the game wouldn’t be what it is now if not for our awesome community. You. Building, painting, playing, telling us what you do and don’t like, pointing out those typos and embracing Armoured Clash like the heroes you are. You are the best, and we can’t wait to show you where this all leads!