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Interview with Craig & Dale of Critical Mass Games

By Tom Crandall (MiniatureReview.com)

7-20-2010

With your one year anniversary coming up in August, do you have anything special planned?

Dale: I hadn't realized it had been a year, it's gone very fast and most of the time I am that busy I don't even know what day it is. The best I can manage these days is whether it's day or night. As for doing anything special, well a day off and lie in would be nice.

Craig: Throughout August I will be going through the store and adding platoon deals to the website to support the Critical Mass Rules. This will give people instant access to the miniatures they require for complete units in the game.

Critical Mass Games will also be adding mix & match platoons for items such as combat walkers and Protolene Marroks making it easier for people to collect the miniatures they want at a better price.

Has anything really funny happened during the run-up to your anniversary that you would like to share? Are there any regrets?

Dale: I'm not sure if any of it was funny, my first draft of the games back-story was funny but that was mainly due to me writing it in a very flippant style rather than its content, I suppose the original name was also funny but completely unmarketable.

Craig: Yes the original name was fun, but by no way marketable and Dale and I ended up with a list of around 200 names from which Critical Mass Games eventually emerged.

Dale: Regrets aren't really my thing, we have made mistakes, sometimes costly ones, in the early days before we new how to best organize figure placement on production molds and the like, but that's all part of the learning curve all you can do is 'suck it up' fix it, move on and get it right next time.

Quite a few companies now offer 15mm buildings, but there seems to be a real lack of alien looking buildings. Do you plan on adding alien oriented buildings to the lineup?

Craig: Our plan is to offer a building range for every miniature range we release. The next set of buildings we have planned is for the Protolene, after that we will move on to the Kaamados. Each race will have an architectural style of their own and this will be reflected the buildings.

Dale: Our initial rulebook will contain four distinct alien races as well as the mercenary faction. It would be remiss of us to not supply ranges of buildings for them. We are aiming to provide our customers with a complete, well thought out and full supported gaming universe, we are determined not to go down that route of just putting out a series of seemingly random releases of a few figures here and a few there, never finishing or rounding off a race.

I haven't seen much in the way of fluff for the various races in the Critical Mass Games world. Is there a plan to release background fluff?

Craig: Background with miniatures is awkward, we have had a background planned out since the inception of the four miniature ranges for Critical Mass however we did not want this to direct people’s use of the miniatures.

No miniature in existence has to be used for a specific thing, yet tying miniatures with background does sometimes have that result. As such we took the decision early on not burden people with this and instead let them to make there own mind up on what they should be used for.

The flip side of that are the Critical Mass rules, which are being written with the miniatures ranges specifically in mind. In order to give the miniatures meaning within the Critical Mass rules background is very important. Whilst bits of background information may go out with some of the miniatures as they are released the overall background will be one for the final rulebook release.

Are all the races enemies of each other?

Dale: Nothing is every that simple, like the real world the Critical Mass universe isn't black and white, none of our races in the rule book are inherently evil, they all have their own motivations and reasons for engaging in battle. All will be made clear.

The Arc Fleet was formed after a betrayal on earth of some sort. Is there a plan to release some human arch enemy of the Arc Fleet that caused the betrayal? How did the humans/Arc Fleet encounter the first aliens? What exactly happened?

Craig: The Praesentia made first contact with earth, but they are not the Arch enemy. So no spoilers you will have to wait for the rules.

Having mercenaries is a winning concept in my opinion. It allows you to add figures that aren't attached to any one alien race. When I was younger, much younger I purchased a bunch of figures for the Galacta 25 game. Many of the main characters were armed with various light sabers/power swords. Any plans on coming out with some type of figures like that? How about droid type figures?

Craig: This type of figure may have a place in the Mercenaries line up at some point, we will have to wait and see what the designers come up with in the future. As for droids…..yes is the simple answer.

I have been really happy being a beta tester for the Critical Mass Games rule set. Has there been any talk about making a skirmish edition?

Dale: Craig and I have discussed several ideas with regard to other games, some set in the CM universe, others not. It would be far too early to give out any firm details about anything at this point but as far. I can recall we haven't definitively ruled out anything at this point.

Craig: We have other game ideas being bandied about all the time, once Critical Mass is released we will sit down and have a development meeting to decide which idea is next. We have a couple of miniatures board game ideas being passed around at the moment.

It seems every race that you release is quite different from each other. Can you share anything coming up for the Praesentia?

Dale: The Praesentia are vastly different again from the other races. I think we could tell you that the Praesentia are very old and have long ago mastered the disciplines of science and technology finding them to be limited in their scope and ultimately intellectual and evolutionary dead ends, also they no longer age as the rest of the races do being almost immortal in fact they.... That's enough of that we don't want to give it all away ;)

Craig: The Praesentia have undergone a redesign from there initial concepts that where done in 2008, we have decided to make them slightly less tall and have re-conceptualized some of the troops and their look. The main reason for this change is that we wanted the Praesentia to be believable as scaled 15mm miniatures, not 20-25mm miniatures being used in 15mm game. This is a compromise that is currently working well and will result is some exciting miniatures.

Is there a plan to introduce a race that is more close combat oriented, like some sort of alien bugs?

Craig: Close Combat oriented race, yes, bugs, maybe, but perhaps not what people are used to.

How do you plan on promoting Critical Mass Games? Now that you have attended a few conventions, do you have any plans to have tournaments, painting competitions, demo programs.....?

Craig: Once the rules are ready to go we will be introducing the Augment Program, which will best be likened to Privateer’s Press Ganger initiative. Those people willing to support Critical Mass running participation and demo games at conventions and stores will be reimbursed with points, which can be redeemed against product and merchandise.

Is there any plan to start selling to distributors?

Craig: After metal miniature production is brought in house and packaging supplies have be secured we will being looking seriously at this option.

Going forward for 2011, is there anything you would like to share?

Craig: We have another four races lined up and will start to release these in 2011 after the rules have been released.

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Dale: I hadn't realized it had been a year, it's gone very fast and most of the time I am that busy I don't even know what day it is. The best I can manage these days is whether it's day or night. As for doing anything special, well a day off and lie in would be nice. Craig: Throughout August I will be going through the store and adding platoon deals to the website to support the Critical Mass Rules. This will give people instant access to the miniatures they require for complete units in the game. Critical Mass Games will also be adding mix & match platoons for items such as combat walkers and Protolene Marroks making it easier for people to collect the miniatures they want at a better price. Has anything really funny happened during the run-up to your anniversary that you would like to share? Are there any regrets? Dale: I'm not sure if any of it was funny, my first draft of the games back-story was funny but that was mainly due to me writing it in a very flippant style rather than its content, I suppose the original name was also funny but completely unmarketable. Craig: Yes the original name was fun, but by no way marketable and Dale and I ended up with a list of around 200 names from which Critical Mass Games eventually emerged. Dale: Regrets aren't really my thing, we have made mistakes, sometimes costly ones, in the early days before we new how to best organize figure placement on production molds and the like, but that's all part of the learning curve all you can do is 'suck it up' fix it, move on and get it right next time. Quite a few companies now offer 15mm buildings, but there seems to be a real lack of alien looking buildings. Do you plan on adding alien oriented buildings to the lineup? Craig: Our plan is to offer a building range for every miniature range we release. The next set of buildings we have planned is for the Protolene, after that we will move on to the Kaamados. Each race will have an architectural style of their own and this will be reflected the buildings. Dale: Our initial rulebook will contain four distinct alien races as well as the mercenary faction. It would be remiss of us to not supply ranges of buildings for them. We are aiming to provide our customers with a complete, well thought out and full supported gaming universe, we are determined not to go down that route of just putting out a series of seemingly random releases of a few figures here and a few there, never finishing or rounding off a race. I haven't seen much in the way of fluff for the various races in the Critical Mass Games world. Is there a plan to release background fluff? Craig: Background with miniatures is awkward, we have had a background planned out since the inception of the four miniature ranges for Critical Mass however we did not want this to direct people’s use of the miniatures. No miniature in existence has to be used for a specific thing, yet tying miniatures with background does sometimes have that result. As such we took the decision early on not burden people with this and instead let them to make there own mind up on what they should be used for. The flip side of that are the Critical Mass rules, which are being written with the miniatures ranges specifically in mind. In order to give the miniatures meaning within the Critical Mass rules background is very important. Whilst bits of background information may go out with some of the miniatures as they are released the overall background will be one for the final rulebook release. Are all the races enemies of each other? Dale: Nothing is every that simple, like the real world the Critical Mass universe isn't black and white, none of our races in the rule book are inherently evil, they all have their own motivations and reasons for engaging in battle. All will be made clear. The Arc Fleet was formed after a betrayal on earth of some sort. Is there a plan to release some human arch enemy of the Arc Fleet that caused the betrayal? How did the humans/Arc Fleet encounter the first aliens? What exactly happened? Craig: The Praesentia made first contact with earth, but they are not the Arch enemy. So no spoilers you will have to wait for the rules. Having mercenaries is a winning concept in my opinion. It allows you to add figures that aren't attached to any one alien race. When I was younger, much younger I purchased a bunch of figures for the Galacta 25 game. Many of the main characters were armed with various light sabers/power swords. Any plans on coming out with some type of figures like that? How about droid type figures? Craig: This type of figure may have a place in the Mercenaries line up at some point, we will have to wait and see what the designers come up with in the future. As for droids…..yes is the simple answer. I have been really happy being a beta tester for the Critical Mass Games rule set. Has there been any talk about making a skirmish edition? Dale: Craig and I have discussed several ideas with regard to other games, some set in the CM universe, others not. It would be far too early to give out any firm details about anything at this point but as far. I can recall we haven't definitively ruled out anything at this point. Craig: We have other game ideas being bandied about all the time, once Critical Mass is released we will sit down and have a development meeting to decide which idea is next. We have a couple of miniatures board game ideas being passed around at the moment. It seems every race that you release is quite different from each other. Can you share anything coming up for the Praesentia? Dale: The Praesentia are vastly different again from the other races. I think we could tell you that the Praesentia are very old and have long ago mastered the disciplines of science and technology finding them to be limited in their scope and ultimately intellectual and evolutionary dead ends, also they no longer age as the rest of the races do being almost immortal in fact they.... That's enough of that we don't want to give it all away ;) Craig: The Praesentia have undergone a redesign from there initial concepts that where done in 2008, we have decided to make them slightly less tall and have re-conceptualized some of the troops and their look. The main reason for this change is that we wanted the Praesentia to be believable as scaled 15mm miniatures, not 20-25mm miniatures being used in 15mm game. This is a compromise that is currently working well and will result is some exciting miniatures. Is there a plan to introduce a race that is more close combat oriented, like some sort of alien bugs? Craig: Close Combat oriented race, yes, bugs, maybe, but perhaps not what people are used to. How do you plan on promoting Critical Mass Games? Now that you have attended a few conventions, do you have any plans to have tournaments, painting competitions, demo programs.....? Craig: Once the rules are ready to go we will be introducing the Augment Program, which will best be likened to Privateer’s Press Ganger initiative. Those people willing to support Critical Mass running participation and demo games at conventions and stores will be reimbursed with points, which can be redeemed against product and merchandise. Is there any plan to start selling to distributors? Craig: After metal miniature production is brought in house and packaging supplies have be secured we will being looking seriously at this option. Going forward for 2011, is there anything you would like to share? Craig: We have another four races lined up and will start to release these in 2011 after the rules have been released.