D.E.I. - Divide et Impera

Meeples Time!
over 2 years ago – Wed, Aug 04, 2021 at 11:40:09 PM

Hello Survivors!

as promised by this update we will take a more detailed look at the final version of all the Divide et Impera meeples!

Between the Core box, and the various expansions we really have a lot of material to show you, as for the miniatures we will use more than one Update to show them all in order to give the right space to these fantastic game elements!

Let's start with the Core Box Meeples with an overview of the 4 main Factions!

In each pic, we show you the 15 Scrappers (in the Ground Region), and their Leader (on the Roof Region), who stands out from the Scrappers for a different shape and a larger size, moreover each faction is distinguished by a different color.

In orange, the Ravagers, led by their most experienced leader Abraham, are ready to scour the snowy streets!

Black as the night, the ambiguous Auxilia plot behind the other factions to ingratiate themselves with the Pure caste. Their leader Neena is ready for anything!

Colored in purple, Refuge 42's Scrappers and their leader Aria will use their technological skills to secure the best supplies in Old London.

Finally, the greys scientists from Farm-Z, led by the Brutal Z-13, are looking for knowledge as well as supplies to survive the freezing city.

We conclude this roundup with the most important pieces of D.E.I., the technologically advanced Purebreds Drones.

Each of these 4 Drones can be used by all factions in the game to carry out their strategies, using their powerful abilities wisely will be the key to winning the game!

The Drones are distinguished not only by the red color (the Purebred's color) but also by their large size, and as for all the other meeples, their shapes closely follow their artwork.

If you are wondering the size of all this nice stuff here is a nice photo where our trusted hand model (cit.) lends us his hand, to give you an idea of the scale of all meeples of the Core Box.

That's all for today! In the next update we will return to the miniatures since today we finally received the last PU sample from the factory, the model we were waiting for, as it is one of the models that has been more complicated to make: The Idol of Gaea!

See you in the next Update!

For the Awakening!

Did you say miniature?
almost 3 years ago – Fri, Jul 02, 2021 at 01:06:47 AM

Hello Survivors!

Welcome to a very special update!

In fact, we have just received the samples of all the D.E.I. miniatures and obviously, we can't wait to show them to you!

In the following images we have collected a selection of some of the miniatures, we cannot show them all in a single update (there are really a lot of models!) And therefore we will show them a little at a time in the next updates.

Pay attention that these samples were not created with the factions' colors  (as they will be in the final version) since their purpose is to let us check details and dimensions and then proceed with the final mass production.

For the same reason, the bases of Drones and War Machines are also not transparent, but they will be in the final version of the game.

We really hope that the pics will give you an idea of ​​the great result we have achieved with miniatures of such a small size by LMS standards. We were truly amazed by the level of detail we were able to obtain and we are sure that you too will appreciate the quality of the final product.

But let's go with the pictures!

In the next updates, we will show you the rest of these amazing miniatures!

And for Meeple lovers? Well, we have quite a few things to show them too, but for the moment we leave you with a fairly clear spoiler image.

As for the production, everything is going well (finally) and we are trying to recover the delay accumulated due to Covid-19, at the moment it remains confirmed with our strong intention to start fulfillment by the end of summer 2021.

The only unknown factor in this objective is the current, disastrous situation of sea transport from China, which you have surely heard about. There are a few months to go,  so we expect the situation will be more stable and will not cause us problems. Of course, we will keep you updated!

That's all for today!

For the Awakening!

In the Name of Gaea!
almost 3 years ago – Fri, May 28, 2021 at 06:57:23 AM

Hello Survivors!

Welcome back to Old London! in today's update we will get to know a new survivor's faction, the mysterious and fierce Fauns!

This new faction, like the others contained in the White Death Box (Psionics and Wild), will be highly Asymmetrical compared to those of the Core box, and will therefore bring a series of special rules that will make its mechanics unique!

A small note on the concept of Asymmetry that we have applied to these  DEI factions. An asymmetrical faction will not be stronger than those of the core game, but will simply have a series of rules that will characterize them a lot and that will make their gameplay really different from the usual, so we recommend using it once you have played a few games with the standard Factions.

After this important clarification, let's take a look at the Fauns!

A question of survival

In the years preceding the White Death, non-human people had revealed themselves to the world after centuries of living in the shadows to avoid contact with humans. Taking advantage of an era in which integration was the basis of every society, all the races defined as mythical by legends and tales were able to coexist with humans.

But the White Death and the subsequent rise of the Pure plunged the survivors back into fear and the mythical races returned to be feared and hunted. The coniferous forests were devoured by the White Death and the Fauns also lost their natural habitat. Now the Fauns blindly follow their primeval deity Gaea who asks her children to make extreme sacrifices to ensure the tribe's survival. The time has come for them to act or die out.

Playing with the Fauns will put you at the helm of a faction that more than the others will have to fight for its own survival since it will not be able to count on some factors common to other factions.

We will see in detail these limitations in the next update but for now, we can anticipate that for example the Fauns will not be able to make purchases at the Market or solve the Purebreed Missions, but they will have their own mechanics to make up for these differences.

In general, the Fauns will be a destructive element on the field. Many of their mechanics to make the sacrifices required by Gaea, will tend to remove elements from the map (such as Outposts and Structures) and to "Raid" Market cards.

Let's take a look at the units available to the Fauns

These Faction Scrappers (with a really cool look) are the only element in common with the most standard survivor groups and behave very similar to the normal Scrappers. The only real difference is in the way they are deployed. Since this Faction cannot use Neutral Refuge (but they will be able to use Neutral Bridges and Elevators normally), to be deployed they must take advantage of special tokens called Lair, which can be placed by the player during the game and which will function as exclusive Refuges for this Faction.

The Fauns also cannot use the Purebreed Drones but have a special unit called Gaea's Idol.

When activated, the Idol moves up to two Regions and then can perform an Action of your choice between Collect or Enlist.

The Gaea's Idol does not need a majority to move in a Region, but it cannot use Bridges or Elevators, not even Neutral ones, and will count 1 for the purposes of the majority for Fauns in its Region. During a game, the Gaea's Idol can be enhanced by using the Growth Feat, the unique Faun Feat, which, based on the number of Outpost cubes collected by the faction, will enhance the effects of this unit.

Finally, the fierce leader of the Fauns, Lilith, will contribute to wreaking havoc on the streets of Old London, thanks to her ability "Messenger of Gaea", with which, at the end of her movement, she will be able to place a Lair in a Region containing an Outpost. Also, Enlist's actions in a Region where she is present will be more effective than normal.

You can rest assured that playing with and against the Fauns will prove to be a fantastic challenge for all DEI players, furthermore, we remind you that the Fauns are also the "Automa" Faction of DEI and that therefore they will have a specific set of rules for solo games, or if you want to try the experience of a game with an Automa player, managed by the diabolical system created by Tommaso Battista.

Don't worry, these rules will also be spoiled properly in the next updates!

Before saying goodbye, the usual appointment with the production chart!

The development phase is practically completed, also thanks to the end of the major restrictions due to Covid in Italy and the use of TTS we have been able to give a strong acceleration to the final tests before the layout work for cards and rulebooks begins.

In the meantime, the production of miniatures and Meeples continues in China without any particular problems and we hope to receive the first samples in our studio soon so that we can share some pics with you!

The timelines for the end of production and the start of shipments still remain valid, with our firm intention to begin fulfillment by the end of summer 2021.

That's all for today! See you in the next update!

For the awakening!

Psionic Awakening!
about 3 years ago – Tue, Apr 27, 2021 at 04:17:43 AM

Hello Survivors!

Today's update will close the series dedicated to the Psionic faction! After Willow and Vladimir, met in Update #31, today we are going to take a look at the other 3 members of the group.

Let's not waste time and let's get to know these 3 strange guys (and girls)!

Keith the Mentalist

Young Keith was only a child when the White Death arrived and it was on the very worst day of his life that he discovered that he possessed Psionic abilities. Thanks to his powers he managed to survive the terrible days after the apocalypse but he would certainly have died if he had not met the powerful Psionic Jukas on his way. The mysterious survivor took young Keith under his protection and train him how to control his powers and use them to survive in this deadly new world.

After years of apprenticeship and friendship the couple broke up and both went their separate ways, and Keith continued to develop his skills by specializing in mind control.

When Keith is in play, he can use his mental powers to control opposing units as if they were units of this Faction. Using Keith's "Mind Control" ability, the Psionic Player will be able to use all "Enlist" actions to make any opponent Scrapper or Leader perform a "Move" or "Collect" action, which for that action will be treated as a unit belonging to the Psionic faction.

This powerful ability can be used in a multitude of ways by the Psionic player, to achieve surprising control of the field. You will be able to experiment with many creative tactics when Keith is on the pitch... one more reason not to let him enter the field too late.

Kar'rà, the Witch

The mysterious woman behind this name is feared and known throughout Old London. People call her "Witch", as her presence in an area creates discomfort and fear.

Her close bond with her Echo allows her to evoke disturbing presences and instill fear in the minds of men who are unfortunate enough to be in her way.

Before joining this faction she worked as a mercenary and not infrequently found herself alongside Purebreed, which made her hated by every survivor of Old London. Even her new companions do not completely trust her and fear her terrible powers, yet her true purposes remain a mystery.

Kar'rà adds to this faction more tools to maintain control of the field.

With the "Ghost Army" ability, each "Enlist" action can be used to place an Echo token on Kar'rà's card and to increase her Majority value in the areas she moves into. Her other ability, "Fear", will allow the psionic player to use "Enlist" actions to drive opposing units out of her region.

We can say that if you like to control the field, Kar'rà is the Psionic for you!

Elle, the Experiment

The young Elle has lived most of her life locked up in a Purebreed laboratory, where the best scientists have subjected her to all kinds of experiments. Their project was to create a human-machine psionic connection to develop new drone models that can be piloted telepathically. What they did not expect, is that little Elle connected so deeply with the laboratory's Drones, to use them to escape. Now Elle has put her abilities at the disposal of her companions but the flame of hatred for Purebreed is more and more alive in her!

Her psionic ability to connect to Drones is translated into a game by her ability "Psionic Pulse". Using it with an "Enlist" action you can place an Echo token on any Drone card available in the Markets or on any Faction Pad to use that card as if it had been played by the Psyker player.

A very useful skill that will allow Psykers to use Drones in a massive way while not having any Drone Cards at the beginning of the game.

And with Elle, this long insight on the faction of the Psykers ends, in the next update we will take a look at the Faun faction rules and on the long-waited Automa rules, that you can play thanks to this particular faction!

That's it for this update! We greet you leaving you with the production chart updated to the last weeks of work

The miniatures pre-production has finished and mass production will begin in the coming days and we can't wait to show you the first photos of the final models, both miniatures and Meeple!

See you next update!

For the (Psionic) Awakening!

A Frozen Easter
about 3 years ago – Fri, Apr 02, 2021 at 12:28:47 AM

Hello Scrappers!

Easter is upon us and it is an excellent opportunity to wish you happy holidays and update you by continuing the Psionic Faction spoilers!

As we have already seen in Update # 30  with this Faction we will have a group of survivors very different from the others, with 5 powerful Leaders ready to wreak havoc on the cold streets of Old London.

In addition to taking advantage of their Action Cards and powerful Psionic Presence Tokens (which from now on will be called Echo tokens), each Psionic will have a very powerful set of paranormal abilities at their disposal.

Their deployment will also be really different from the usual: the player who controls them will start the game with only two Psionics on the field, one of his choice and one randomly selected from the 5 available.

Starting from the second round of the game, you will be able to bring in a Psionic of your choice among those still out of the game, up to the 4th Round to be able to exploit the full power of the team as a whole.

This system will allow the player who controls them to adapt his strategy according to the game situation, deploying the Leader who can be most useful to him for the current turn. Since every Psionic is highly specialized in exploiting a particular aspect of the game, choosing the right Leader at the right time will be crucial to achieving victory with this Faction!

But what are these fantastic powers? Today we're going to take a look at two of these powerful characters, Vladimir and Willow!

Vladimir, the Echo Traveler

The bulking Vladimir is one of the Psykers who escaped from the Purebreds labs and his superhuman size is probably one of the experiment's effects had on his metabolism.

During his detention he honed his skills, using his mind to explore and manipulate the astral plane called Echo, becoming a master at using it at will.

His "Echo Manipulation" ability allows him to use Enlist actions, to place an Echo token in his Region or in an adjacent Region.

It is therefore clear that if your plan is to control the game map from the first turns, obtaining majorities in the most important Regions,  you will have to deploy Vladimir as soon as possible!

Even his 3 personal Missions are focused on the presence of the Echo tokens and on the control of the Regions ... ready to unleash the Echo?

Willow, The telekinetic fury

Willow belongs to a non-human species, one of the many that arrived on our planet in ancient times.

But unlike ordinary members of his species (characterized by a very short stature but very high longevity), Willow has developed powerful telekinetic powers.

Nobody knows where he comes from and how old he is but many believe that she has been around for quite a while, perhaps for centuries, and the fact that someone hears him mention the Black Rose could confirm this theory.

During a  game, Willow is a master of movement, thanks to his "Levitation" power he can move freely in any Region of the Map without having to use the Elevators. With "Telekinesis"  using the Enlist actions he can move the Echo Tokens from one region to an adjacent one, finally thanks to "Teleportation"

he can move any Psionic from his region to any Region that contains at least one Echo Token.

Willow then provides utility skills to his team primarily to increase the movement potential of this faction.

What do you think of the first two Psionics? We are sure that your mind is already thinking about how to exploit these fantastic characters, remember the power is in your mind!

Before saying goodbye, let's take a quick look at the state of production using the now usual Production Chart.

As you can see we have permanently closed the rules of all the expansions, there is only a little refinement to the campaign mode in the Old London Expansion to end definitely the work on the rules.

That's all for today! All the LMS staff wish you and your families a happy and safe Easter!

For the Awakening!