2015.... how was it for you?

Welcome back to Purgatory and a Happy New Year from the team. We hope that 2016 is a successful one for you and that all of your hopes and aspirations are achieved. Go get 'em tiger.

So, it's been a while right? You probably thought we had deserted you right? Nope. You could not be more wrong on that front. In actual fact, I have moved house and well, that kinda strangles things with Christmas coming at the same time. Carnage.

But a lot has happened in the world of Purgatory, let's bring you up to speed:

• Salute is 4 months away and we are in full on planning mode. We have the backing poster, it's a 6 x 4 beast of one of our most iconic images! We will have the book of cohorts and hosts as well as some great artwork and 5 models!!! Yep you read that right, Death and St Peter will be joined by Keysha in late January and in March Hannibal and Bobby B will be landing just in time for Salute with Lux being the provider! We can't wait!
• The game is 96% done, I say 96% as a deliberate point to say, it's literally on the cusp. We almost alpha tested on Saturday just past but it was just shy, so e hope by next week this first battle in the #warforheaven will commence!
• We have found our third sculptor and with that our plans for the models after Salute are in place, Erishkigal will be making an entrance. This important host from the world of Purgatory will be making her arrival known and this has been a long wait but we are excited!
• The first 50 of Peter didn't quite sell out immediately but it wasn't far off, we have around 6 left and will be ordering the next batch in the coming weeks. Come get your copy!
• Gift of the Gods cards are in development...

2015 saw the start of the #warforheaven. It's the year it all 'began' from a business point of view and let's look back at how it's fared.

Starting something like this is not easy. When you first start up you convince yourself you can do this quite comfortably. You would be wrong lol. However, that is not a bad thing, you become swamped and entrenched by it, but you live it and much like the astronomican there is a light pulling, guiding and dragging you in the right direction. That light is delivering something really cool. A range of models that are unique and diverse and we think we are making serious headway with that.

Looking back I could never conceive that I would have a 50 page set of rules in my hand, ready to play an actual game.

I never thought I would work with talented people and I will name them all:

Lux, Lorinda, Ania, Dario, Sarana, Nicholas, Fancagne and more to come in 2016

You plan for it for, you almost dream it, but little compares to the moment when you sell your first model. That someone pics your model and says "hey, I would like to paint this" but here comes the best bit of the year for me. It wasn't:

• Receiving the email with the finished Death sculpt
• Selling the first model
• Setting up the company
• Launching some of the artwork
• Making a rulebook

No. The honour goes to a chap called Alex Barkley. Other than the Purgatory team, he was the first person to paint Death and showcase her. There is quite simply no words to describe the feeling when someone puts their time and effort into something you have created. The moment it came through, we were hyped and proud in equal measure. We had achieved some degree of success.

Second only to that was a chap called Norm. He sent me a picture of a diorama base that he was making for St. Peter. The model (Peter) was not even finished yet and Norm had created this fantastic scene ready to plonk him straight in the middle. It was made in anticipation, the pride swells (though we are mindful of the dark side, don't fear)

So no matter how many spreadsheets I run or receipts I cross check and store it's moments like that made 2015 a year, that no matter what happens with Purgatory going forward, it was one of the greatest achievements most certainly of my life. (and I got married in 2015!!! shh don't tell the wife ;) )

For that we thank you.

So where does that leave us as we plough through the rainwater and dirge that el nino has brought us at the start of 2016?

It leaves us hungry, keen and more focused than ever. We have increased from a team of two to three and Joe comes on board as of today and we welcome him, his creativity and passion to the fold.

The #warforheaven is only beginning my friends and soon, so very soon, you will be able to choose, are you a Refugee of Religion? Do you have soul running through your veins and choose the Soul Train? Are you a Gangbanger and hang around seedy nightclubs doing the dirty work of St. Peter? Or is magic and science your thing as you perform some Parlour Tricks?

Get ready for some alpha testing in the next month, grab some dice, a template or two and brush down your favourite tape measure because Purgatory is coming to life!

Fresher than Daisies

 

Welcome back to Purgatory!

 

 

 

Again, it’s all go at  Purgatory at the moment as we work super hard to deliver a number of items for the project, let’s break these down for you:

• Murder Inc is done. The characters have basic ‘alpha’ rules ready for testing alongside stat lines
• Refugees of Religion are in progress. Gought and Choirboy are on the drawing desk as we speak. Abilities are ready for these guys alongside stat lines.
• St Peter arrived and has been packed up and shipped out! This guy is a fantastic sculpt done by Lux Thantor and looks great fun to paint
• The core rule set is in first draft: (the following are all drafted and typed)
  • Contingency creation
  • Tomes (picking your Contingent)
  • Scenarios
  • Scenery
  • Board
  • Gift of the Gods
    
    

• Salute banners have arrived as we look to the expo next year and art for the limited edition model is in progress!
• Keysha is being sculpted by the talented Fancagne Didier, we have seen the first WIP! Exciting!
• The 4^th model in the range is ready and prepped ready to go. The sooner you buy the models, the quicker he’ll be out! Lol

Often when you sit back you look at things, how did it go? Could that have been better? What could you change?

To refer back to the sculpting article that we done early in our project, now that we have St Peter we can really talk about the process having now been through it twice. This time around our focus was tighter and we had a great deal more understanding of the sculptor’s needs, what could be considered and what would make it difficult. It allowed us to pay a lot of attention to the detail in particular, adding those little items that would really stand the model out and make it fun to paint.

 

There are loads of little details on Peter ranging from cufflinks so sandals, ID badge on the arm to the spikes on the bat, toe nails to keys on the wings it’s all there and this was born from a better understanding of what we wanted from the sculptor.

 

It helps that we have a great relationship with the sculptor as well, he is exceptionally understanding and as each fresh model comes off the slab so to speak there is a greater awareness of what each other is trying to achieve and this certainly happened.

 

And yes, we will be going back for more and he knows this.

 

Well that gives you a little update on where we are, I’m now off to finish some more rules ready for testing, time for movement, shooting and casting to be fleshed J

Enjoy

 

We're the hot stepper... murderer!

Hello and welcome back to Purgatory! It's all go in our world at the moment and here's a quick round up of what we have been up to since we last came to these shores!

• St. Peter is done! Yes and boy oh boy does he look cool! The model as sculpted by GRX will be available in the first 2 weeks of November. We, as privileged folk have our first copy and the cast is excellent. He's up for pre order but there are only 10 remaining, so if you don't have your copy move fast!
• Murder Inc. are complete! Last time we spoke to you they were on the drawing board, now Hannibal, Bunny Boiler, Traci and co are ready for action and join the Soul Train as our second completed faction.
• Keysha is next up. Fancagne Didier will be sculpting one of the leading ladies from the Soul Train. Following in the footsteps of Lux Thantor and his excellent job of St. Peter, Fancagne joins the team to bring our pin up to life!
• The Refugees of Religion are off to the artist, having been fleshed out some time ago, these guys are ready to be realised. Watch out for Bridezilla, Mother T and Faith in the coming weeks on our newsfeeds.
• Gangsters (a name yet to be selected) and S n' M are in the final stages of being finalised. This means that we have over 50 characters ready for rules, with well over half of these having basic rules assigned. #motoring

So much has occurred as you can see. For those of you subscribed to our newsletter, look out for the next instalment which will be distributed today. Within this issue we talk about the design process, characters and even show some unrevealed as to yet artwork! If you have not subscribed, head to the website: www.purgatory-miniatures.co.uk or drop us an email at purgatoryenquiries@gmail.com you won't be disappointed.


We also talk a little bit about the game in our latest edition, which is rattling along at a steady pace. In fact, the starting sections listed below have been formalised and well truth be told, they just need to be typed up:

• Backstory
• Determining Scenery
• Selecting a Scenario
• The game turn
• Gifts of the God's

It's all very much a go in Purgatory and well we couldn't be happier.


Over the coming weeks we will be looking for people to play test our alpha rules and we will be making 'paper dolls' available for people to use as proxy for models yet unreleased. If you are interested in playing the game earlier than anyone else, get in touch and let us know.


This week, with so much going on, this won't be a long winded one. Instead, we hope that next week's entry will have a great deal more information for you as things begin to firm up.


Until then, enjoy the Halloween festivities and watch out for our 'Trick or Treat' offer on www.facebook.com/purgatoryminiatures


All the very best


Team Purgatory

Rules are there to be Broken and Welcome Back!

Welcome back!

It’s been a long time. Don’t worry, we haven’t deserted you, we are still here. In fact if you follow the Facebook page you will see that A LOT has happened in the last few weeks. However, the main reason for being absent from these hallowed halls is that one of us got married and went away. How dare we? I hear you cry…

“Well now were back, from out of space, don’t turn around now….” Err hang on, ‘stay on target’… We are indeed back and we have a lot to tell you about! So what has happened in Purgatory: 

• Saint Peter is in the final stages and will be available by the second week of November! Exciting times!
• We have had 2 articles on www.beastsofwar.com they are well worth a read
• The third and fourth model are scheduled, yep, third and fourth. Keys and Barry will be following St Peter and joining us is Fancagne Didier who will be sculpting Keys for us!
• We are also in talks to bring a limited edition ‘event only’ model along to salute
• Murder Inc, the 3^rd faction is complete from a rules perspective and is ½ complete in the art department
• 20 characters have rules and abilities as we prepare to Alpha test!

As you can see from the above, we are motoring along quite nicely. In fact, we are really quite pleased that we are making strides forward in games terms as well as in our range.

Development:

We are working so very hard to do as much as we can. What is important is not to lose sight of the

fact that we are a fledgling company who are self-funding the entire project. We also have day jobs which are pesky and interfere with our ability to do more. (we love our jobs really) The core focus of the two of us is to bring something of substance into existence at the earliest possible time. This will mean a number of things, firstly, that we might not be as polished in our appearance as others. (for example, our website was done for free by a friend) However, it’s worth letting you guys know exactly what we are doing right now so that you know and understand what’s coming soon:

• Revised website. We have taken on board comments of many people. It is hard to please all. However some truly valid points have been put across and primary amongst them is functionality. We are currently exploring the possibility of switching to a ‘wordpress’ or ‘opencart’ where there is shop function that supports what we are doing.
• Factions specific rules. With Murder Inc. and Soul Train now having basic abilities assigned, we are now switching our attention to ‘refugees’ and an as yet unnamed faction that work directly for Harut (more on this below)
• Salute stand, the design of this has started to come together as we bring together art to show case
• Models, with Peter almost ready, Keys and Barry will be in the making to be ready for Salute. This will mean we have 4 or 5 models available for Salute to showcase and demonstrate
• Rulebook – core rules to play Purgatory are firmly in the making (more below)
• Artwork – full colour art and line art is being devised so that each faction has a visual identity

Rules are there to be Broken:

We have over 20 characters which now have starting abilities. By this, they have names and rules by which we propose they will be used in game. We have deliberately approached this in such a way that we are creating the characters first. Once we have a character and an identity we are looking at what words, moves or historical events you can associate to that individual. As an example, our take on Jack the Ripper has a move called “Whitechappel Whirl”.

By approaching it in this way we are aiming to prevent ourselves from limiting the scope of the game. If we set the rules first all we will do is shoe horn characters or rules into a pre determined list and therefore limit the potential for fresh and innovative ideas.

The rules are fun. Each person we have shown written notes, scribbles or typed up versions has at some point chuckled, either at the name or at the ability itself. It has caused mirth and banter and actually people have wanted to perform certain moves just for the sheer audacity of it. It’s what we are aiming for.

We suppose the next sentence will get gears and cogs whirring in the minds of any gamers that follow this BLOG. Our game is based on a D6 system.

 ………. Let that sink in for a moment………

Ok, are you ready?

Here’s why……

Our game is designed to be fun. It will hopefully challenge the tried and tested to add some more flavour. But it should also be simple, easy to pick up and effective. Painters want to paint, they want to pick a model up with a good cast, clean (briefly) prime and be underway. Gamers want to read and understand swiftly, or learn on the job. It has to be simple, it has to be fun, otherwise we will have failed. That is why it will be D6 based with a flavour of other bits along the way, cards, D8, direction etc.

In the current market place everyone is trying to out-do everyone else, coming up with innovative rules is difficult and requires a great deal of testing. It also means there is a high likelihood of things falling down the back of the sofa and overpowered individuals, gangs or armies coming to the fore. This requires correction, new versions and regular updates. This can be off putting.

Instead, it’s the fun interactive aspect or essence that we are trying to distil. Let’s give you a game which you can pick up, understand and play quickly and have a bucket tonne of laughs along the way as you declare that you are going to get Moloch to throw your model across the board, or better still into a building. Splat. Take that.

So yes, we have placed our token on the roulette table on number ‘6’, though we won’t lie, there are other side bets kicking around the table which will add to the flavour.

Thanks for reading and thanks for supporting Purgatory.

Team Purgatory

 What did you think? Let us know by comment or at purgatoryenquiries@gmail.com

That MF is Crazy!!!

Welcome back to Purgatory!

This week in our BLOG we talk about some rules, making something different and the challenges of making something innovative. So what has occurred?

• Purgatory reached its 20^th Sale of Death in the first 2 weeks!
• Murder Inc. (that’s what we are calling them right now) is on the drawing table. This is our 3^rd faction of the initial 4 starter factions
• The painting competition is in full flow. We visited WAMP at their painting day on the 29^th August and gave away some goodies to the participants. Free Deaths all round!
• WAMP is now selling Purgatory models!
• St Peter is on the block
• Our first alpha test took place with Stevie facing off against Barry!
• The first Purgatory News went out

I think it is important to quickly point out that I get married in 2 days. ‘Eeek’ and I go away for 3 whole weeks touring the states! Fun times ahead. Don’t panic however, the company is in good hands as my partner will have the reigns. It might be however that the BLOG is not as frequent as it has been of late. Don’t fear, it’s just holiday time at Purgatory.

It’s been a whirlwind few weeks since Death went on sale. It was received really well and we are on course for our initial sales projection. It’s great that so many people have supported our work and its only going to get better. As you will see from the bullet points above, St Peter is in the making and the sculptor started a few days ago on our next model. We are aiming to have the model available for purchase in the first 2 weeks of October. As a treat to newsletter subscribers you will get a first glimpse of this....

The website is up and we have received some nice comments. As time goes on a shop will appear on the site so that you can purchase the model through a shopping cart facility. Holidays and weddings have prevented this being in place now as our website developer is on his honeymoon right now!

With the characters decided for the first 4 angels alongside the factions that will be available we have instructed the artists to proceed and crack on. Now however we have firmly switched our attention to the game of Purgatory that will be released alongside our range of models.

Alpha testing is fun but not for the feint hearted.

When Barry charged Stevie, we expected more damage, however what with Stevie invoking “The power of sight compels me”, Barry was not so confident after all. It literally went like that.

Rules are rules, a lot of them need to be the same or similar to other mechanics out there. They are present in the market place for a reason, that reason predominately being because they work well already and people have responded well to them. So what is the concern you ask?

Purgatory have some great ideas, we have some unique scenarios that see friend and foe ally for a common cause. We have unique mechanics for determining the game type and an approach to our roster that allows a multitude of opportunities to be considered or applied. Couple that with the card element that will follow and we have some great stuff. However….

Currently we are looking at something quite dramatic. Something that sits alongside the typical ‘weapon skill’, ‘intellect’ and ‘magic/mana’ stats that are the staple of what we enjoy playing and here in lies the challenge, though we feel we may have cracked it.

On my return form holiday we will be ramping up the gaming aspect of Purgatory and we will be releasing very early alpha testing to try and see how well our mechanics work. If this is something that interests you, sign up to the newsletter on the Purgatory website where we will be publishing details on how you can get involved. It will be limited in numbers and we will require feedback from you alongside an NCR disclaimer.

There’s more…

We want Purgatory to be for ADULTS.

Purgatory will have an adult theme, one of murder, lust, swearing and fun. It will be dark, moody and a little edgy so that in our dark little caves we can chuckle at an inappropriate event of series of circumstances. It sounds a bit sinister, but it’s not. Instead it’s exactly what we think when a beardy so and so on the other side of the table unleashes the combination of destiny on your hapless models.

Some of the mechanisms within the game will have a light hearted feel. I’ll leave on an example…

Whereas in other games you might be considered ‘stubborn’ or ‘fearless’ by passing a break test in the face or horror, terror or fear. In Purgatory quite simply, “That, Mofo is Crazy”….

Enjoy and see you on the flip side.

Purgatory

..... and on the roll of 2D6 it was Easter Monday! Huh, What?!!?

Hello everyone!

Welcome back to Purgatory! We hope you are well and that you have been following our exploits of late on our various pages? It’s been quite busy but we are not stopping there. Oh No. So “did I miss anything?” I hear you ask, let’s run through what has occurred: 

• Website went live! We like it, we hope you do too. Please, please give us some thoughts on the site, is there anything missing?
• 15 sold and counting! Not bad for week one. Death has started to hit the shelves and the response has been pleasing
• St Peter is being sculpted. Yep, the brief for St Pete is complete and we are ramping up the second model
• Painting Competition. It’s really worthwhile grabbing the model, at a reduced rate, painting her and entering our comp. you can win a free St Peter and discount from WAMP!
• Newsletter. Some of you may have seen the newsletter. If you haven’t head to www.purgatory-miniatures.co.uk and sign up for news and updates

And breathe. In truth progress is coming along nicely. We have had some great articles done by Beasts of War, Table Top Gaming News, WAMP and more. That people are beginning to hear about us is great news and we hope that this positive upturn in followers, likes and subscriptions will lead to bigger and better things.

In the coming weeks we encounter a holiday. One of us gets married and has a 3 week honeymoon. But updates will continue and soon, certain snippets of information will only be made available via these mediums so be sure to sign up and find out everything we are up to!

At the moment we are heading into the dark realms of game design, with Death on the shelf and stock available to go to anyone who wants her and with Peter heading to the forge, we now switch our attentions to game mechanics and testing to see just how the game plays out.

Something that is quite key to the process for us, specifically in our world, is that we are able to create a balance. Not only between angels, but also for the main component of the game, which is the human element. Humans in Purgatory are Grots, well to pretty much anything else. And we all know just how rubbish a grot is, though if you have 100 of them, then things just got that bit more serious. Alas however with angels being the paragon of power, skill and general all round awesomeness it is key that a human can inflict damage to any of the angels. We don’t want angels running around killing everyone and then having a giant death match at the end.

That is why the mechanics are important but also the objectives that we design. In purgatory, cats get skinned in a multitude of ways, so the I’ve got the biggest monster, smash, will only carry you so far. In fact, probably not very far at all. Furthermore there will be random events that may very well determine what happens in that battle. For example:

Being from a holy set of text, we figured why not add some variables. In the scenario we now list we figured it would be great to mix up the set up phase. In the example used we are playing ‘general assassination’ where each players primary goal is to take out the angel at all costs, but just not your own angel.

So we come to the day. A D8 is rolled. 1 = Monday, 2 = Tuesday, etc with 7 being a Sunday. Different days have different buffs. However if an 8 is rolled you grab 2d6 and consult the chart. In the example we are going to ‘selectively roll’ say a 7, the chart says it is “Easter Monday – The first model on each side to die, will rise from the dead automatically from the place that it died”. So therefore, pouring all of your attacks into the angel turn 1 may not be a very wise move. It adds a unique dynamic to the game which can change natural or tactical behaviours towards models or characters which we hope you will like.

Anyway, we need to leave something for you testers so we won’t say much more. But hopefully you can see from the little bit above that thinking outside the box (grrr corporate speech) is something that we are striving for. Bringing a freshness to table top gaming is one of our key objectives.

On that note, we will leave you and hope this triggers some enthusiasm or even some curiosity in what we are designing.

If you have any questions then please, please get in touch, say “Hi” and let us know what you are thinking.

All the very best

Team Purgatory

Two multiplied by 10 plus 1 - Death Done!

Today’s post is full of joy, when we posted last week we talked about where we were, the exciting things that had occurred and what might be next for everyone at Purgatory. Well, the boxes arriving, the website going live, a few pre orders trickling in all contributed towards what happened yesterday.

Yesterday, the stock arrived. And a few words spring to mind. Success. Culmination. Fruition. Finishing Line.

It was great to receive some of the stock yesterday, that we had the boxes ready with all of the inserts was great news but to then have the models arrive and be individually boxed was great because it represented a successful conclusion to that particular stage of the project. In fact, it was the completion of the first stage, which let’s face it offers the greatest potential for pitfall. 

So how does it feel?

Brilliant. This project is being run by two people. One of which is a hobby enthusiast of old, you know, the good old times when models were lead. Having won a silver demon, achieved a few finalists at Games Days and Salute 2015, as well as being an avid gamer back in the day at good old GW (First Winner of the Kill Team event) this represented a new milestone in my hobby. To have thought, designed, created, produced and sold a model from end to finish is a fantastic feeling. My partner who is not from the world we all live in and ‘love’ has similar sense of achievement, that we have been able to bring this project to life has galvanised us and well we just want to bring more out!

Any Highlights?

Yes. Seeing thoughts come alive on paper is phenomenal. Watching the barest concept transform over a series of updates is inspiring to say the least. That a whole world or domain can come to life from the fragments of an imagination is quite awe inspiring. I realise I sound a bit grandiose however it’s really how we feel. We had favourite concepts and ideas and to see them walk onto a page is well, just brilliant.

I would be remiss not mention the sculpting process. Watching the character walk off the page, onto an armature and grow is great fun. It helped that the sculptor made it a straight forward process.

Working with friends is great. You can be creative without limitation. Doing something with a close friend has its risks however much with anything if you go about something in the right way, in an open and transparent approach then the process is twice the fun. The laughter generated by creating unique, weird and wonderful characters has been great. It has been tempered with hard work, commitment and no small amount of Madras curry to ease the process. But the balance has been right and we attribute this to our success.

Any Lows?

Yes of course but nothing like I had expected. When you go into something like this you will wander past some naysayers. A piece of advice I’d give is don’t ignore them. Listen actually but most importantly make your own mind up. Everyone in life has a different level of tolerance when it comes to risk, you will find yours along the way, so embrace the idea you have and give it the attention your risk level will allow. You never know, you might end up with something quite special. We think we have.

Delays is the big thing, we are slightly old school in our approach and well, we feel it is important to achieve what we say, when we say it. Shifting dates around can often send out the wrong message. Fortunately for us, this has not happened a great deal and whilst this was a small low, it is something learnt from and in the grand scheme of things is greatly outweighed by the positives.

So what happens next?

The model is on sale. You can but the model by emailing us at purgatoryenquiries@gmail.com pending some sales, we will be asking the sculptor to create St Peter so look out for artwork on him in the coming days. We will also be showcasing our first faction in the coming weeks so that you can see a bit more on the expanded part of the world.

Now we work hard to continue the good work and keep you guys up to date with what is going on. Bringing new art, characters and scenes to life so that we can realise our vision of bringing Purgatory to life.

One other thing that we are going to do is a painting competition. As big advocates of the painting and gaming community we will be running painting competition for each model that we release. Each time we do, we will pick our favourite models from the submissions and those winners will receive a free copy of the next model. Its that simple. You support us and we will reward you. Furthermore, we will be showcasing the painted models on our website for you to show off to the world. How’s about that?

Look out for this, it will be coming out in the next week or so, so grab a copy and get planning.

Until next time, we will bid you farewell. It would have been remiss not to put a phase one post completion take on things, so hopefully having read about the journey you have enjoyed this read and will follow our steps as we march forward.

Thank you for taking the time to read this and see you on the flip side.

Purgatory