-KICKSTARTER: DREAMFORCE GAMES

Nuevo Kickstarter en este caso de Dreamforce-Games, una empresa dedicada a sacar leviatanes








Welcome to our Kickstarter! If you happen to be at Gencon, drop by the Wargames Factory booth to have a look at the Crusader…


How to pledge for multiple rewards:


To pledge for multiple rewards, simply add the totals together for all rewards you would like to participate in, increase your pledge to cover all rewards you wish to back. When the project ends, you will be sent a survey, Just list the reward levels and quantity you pledged for.


Who is DreamForge-Games?


Dreamforge-Games, a small company located in California, produces resin and pewter miniatures for the tabletop gaming community and for miniature collectors around the world. We have delivered our miniatures and models to hundreds of customers and pride ourselves on the quality and creative design of our products. Although our miniatures fit into many 28mm game systems, we have been working hard to complete the Iron-Core Universe and game system to support our wonderful products. One of our largest stumbling blocks has been keeping up with customer demand for our resin kits. We have found it increasingly difficult to produce our large kits in a quality, quantity and price point to meet my high standards. The constant search for a suitable service provider and manufacturing method for our resin kits has stifled design and production, taking me away from the important work of product design and game development.


Several months ago, I started searching for a way to improve the quality, lower the price and bump the production level to meet my customers’ expectations. I am happy to say that I have met and exceeded these goals. The Leviathan Crusader has made it to the pre-production phase (mold draft and parting line establishment for metal tooling) and is ready to become a plastic injected model kit. Not Resin, not Restic, not some soft plastic hybrid, but injected high impact polystyrene. The same kind of model kit you will find in any hobby store.


Here we see a Crusader with faction colors:


The pilot’s coat of arms on the right shoulder, the parent faction’s arms on the left shoulder and the Households emblem on the shield of the sword arm.

(From the Iron-Core game system)

Crusader (VR5-2 Variant)


The Crusader was developed to fill a need for a more heavily armored Leviathan. What was produced is widely regarded as the most balanced and finest design possible. Possessing remarkable speed and survivability while not sacrificing offensive capability, it is often compared to its 20th century counterpart the Panzerkampfwagen V (Panther tank). It holds the distinction of being the most widely produced VR5 Leviathan in existence. The Crusader can be found in every faction’s arsenal. At 160 years old, the design is still considered innovative.


Independent households often barter away vast planetary resources to acquire a Crusader as these Leviathans lend credibility and prestige to the households standing within its parent faction. A faction ruler knows that when the household is called upon to fight they will answer with a very capable force.


Eisenkern uses this Leviathan as a powerful bartering chit with the Brotherhood. Tithing ten per year to the order, they have managed to make themselves indispensable. The Brotherhood, by its charter, cannot maintain Leviathan manufacturing capability. This often gains Eisenkern an unfair advantage in dispute resolution with other factions.


Armed with the Executioners Blade and the massive Vulkan Cannon the Crusader can own its corner of the battlefield. The supplementary armor adds considerable weight to the design but the twin Maybach reactors are still able to handle the extra load. Equipped with oil stacks the Crusader can overcharge its reactor and deliver a withering close combat attack as it channels power to the plasma blade. There has been some recent debate about replacing the oil stacks with capacitor coolers but most pilots are unwilling to give up the combat edge, although that view has changed with the adoption of the Excalibur weapons system. Vehicles equipped with this combination run hot and clean with no loss of close combat potential.

Here is an example of a wonderfully painted Crusader.

Another incredible example.

Leviathan model at Wargames Factory Gencon booth?

The quest to produce a quality product at an affordable price led me to talks with Wargames Factory LLC and its parent company. If you have your eyes on recent events in the gaming world, you will have noticed Wargames Factory’s most recent kits and the attention they are receiving for detail and quality. Wargames Factory’s parent company is also responsible for the sculpting and manufacturing of the new plastic Malifaux line by Wyrd Miniatures. If you’re attending Gencon this year you will see firsthand what I am talking about, one word, AMAZING!


Why did we bring this project to Kickstarter?


A great deal of time and effort has been invested preparing this model for hard tooling. Issues such as undercuts could be ignored when we were using soft tooling (rubber molds), however this was not an option when moving to metal tooling. In order to preserve the details you have seen in the resin kit, it was necessary to utilize Slide Core Tooling, a very impressive and expensive form of metal tooling that allows the mold to open in four directions, up and down as well as side to side. This will allow for details in multiple directions of pull!






As you can imagine, the initial startup costs involved with this production method are substantial. The tooling costs for this kit will exceed $100k, but moving in this direction is the best and most logical choice not only for my company but for my customers. We are offering this project in order to pay for the tooling, an expense far outside the ability for most small companies (such as DreamForge-Games) to absorb. With all this in mind, you can see why the starting pledge is higher than you may be accustomed to in a Kickstarter.


Great, but what about the kit?


The Leviathan Crusader is 8 .5” tall (215mm) assembled at the top of its shoulders. 1/56 scale (28mm gaming scale)


We have taken great care with the reworking of the Leviathan Crusader, improving the engineering of the components while staying true to the appearance and scale of the resin kit you know and love.


What I am referring to when I speak of “engineering” is working hydraulics, tight fitting ball joints and tolerances far tighter than I could ever hope to achieve in a resin kit and an overall repeatable quality that is sure to amaze. This is all made possible through top quality machining on granite bed CnC mills. When all is said and done it might be possible to assemble the kit, pose it and then use superglue to lock all of the components into a pose. A huge improvement over cutting hydraulics to length and trimming away any resin vents and gates.


If you have ever looked at this model and thought “that’s a great kit, but the price….” Or“’Cool, but its resin, I hate resin…” Here is your chance to purchase a much improved version in durable plastic at less than one quarter or even one fifth the price of the resin kits.


Kit features:


Working hydraulics and ball joints allow for an amazing range of motion and pose options, ensuring no two Leviathans will be identical.


Even after you have chosen your final pose, the arms will remain movable!


Simple twist on and off arms allow for easy main weapon swaps with all future Leviathan releases.

What can I expect from DreamForge in the future?


Words cannot express how exited I am about this, our second Kickstarter project, and what doors this will open for future releases.


Plastic Eisenkern Stormtroopers? Yes.


More vehicles, Tanks, APC’s etc.? Yes.


More factions for the Iron-Core universe? Yes.


More Leviathan variants? Yes.


Optional arms for your Leviathans? Yes.


15mm scale kits? Yes.


All in plastic? Yes, yes and YES!


Many of these are in the pre-production phase (mold drafting and part line establishment for metal tooling) Many units for other factions and the Iron-Core game system to support them are in the design phase and all can see the light of day, with your help. It is my hope that I can release at least one new box set each month until we have all the factions core sets, infantry and vehicles ready for your gaming enjoyment.


On to the good stuff, your rewards for participation:


Just a reminder, shipping is free within the USA, international orders must add the listed discounted shipping charges to their pledge amount.
A Kickstarter Exclusive!


Wai Kee Hui, the owner of WGF and manufacturer, is as excited about this project as I am. He has graciously offered to produce a Kickstarter special item as a way to say thank you to the supporters. All backers at the $20.00 level or above will receive an Exclusive 28mm figure of a Feral Shadokesh and handler.





The Shadokesh are the mortal enemies of the Eisenkern faction. The Shadokesh have no conscience, no ability to empathize with the world around them. The Shadokesh only understand what they want or need and are oblivious to joy or suffering. Shodokesh possess an immense curiosity and a love for new experiences; they will twist the knife in your belly just to study the look on your face.





































FAQ: To pledge for multiple rewards, simply add the totals together for all rewards you would like to participate in and increase your pledge. When the project ends, you will be sent a survey, just list the reward levels and quantity you pledged for.

FAQ: As we hit the stretch goals, you will receive the appropriate reward for each Crusader model in your pledge. Pledge for 10 Crusaders and you get 10 each of the stretch goals that have been reached! A one-for-one “bling” for your crusader.

At $40,000, all contributors who funded a Crusader kit will receive a free optional set of plastic Capacitor Coolers, an optional tech item that will replace the cooling stacks on the back of the Leviathan.


(From the Iron-Core game system)


Capacitor Coolers: A more recent design development is the capacitor cooler, it was designed to allow the capacitors to fully utilize the power output generated by the Eisenkern Maybach reactor and eliminate the danger of capacitor overload found in the miss matched mating of the Maybach reactor to the Krupp capacitor. The coolers cannot handle the heat generated by an overloaded reactor but will allow for a stronger and cleaner power flow to all systems on a continuous basis. Currently found on the Leviathan Gabriel, its wide spread adoption is inevitable by all vehicles and factions.

click for larger pics

At $45,000, all contributors who funded a twenty man stormtrooper trooper kit will receive a free optional set of plastic accessories for each box set of the Stormtroopers pledged.


Stormtrooper Accessory Pack.


This pack will allow you to customize your troopers in ways unimaginable with most miniature lines. Let your imagination run wild, build vignettes, dioramas; tell a story with your imagination as the only limit!


If you’re like me, you love the ability to customize your minis so that no two look alike. The combinations you can achieve are staggering. This pack includes multiple arm and hands, heads, weapons, pouches and other accessories of war.


We would also like to introduce you to the Cargo Mule, a semi-autonomous mechanical beast of burden. No longer do you need to tie up valuable fighting forces, hauling supplies, ammunition and light support weapons from one end of a battlefield to the other. The (HHM) Hammer Head Mule is capable of following simple commands such as, follow, return to depot and move to that objective. The other option is to utilize the (CCM) Central Command Mule, controlled by your command detachment via a coms link routed back to the Communications Officer. This allows your command squad to control the Mule’s mission, freeing your troopers for the fight.


International Shipping: Please add $2.00 for each accessory pack being shipped.


If you would like additional accessory packs, simply add $10.00 to your pledge plus the additional shipping.

At $50,000 we will introduce the Eisenkern Support Weapons set an available item for pledge.


*The details will need to be worked out with the manufacturer and the expected wait time for delivery as well as any additional costs to add these items.

At $60,000, all contributors who funded a Crusader kit will receive a free optional replacement sword Excalibur! This component, besides looking cool, will provide your Leviathan true game world advantage in the Iron-Core Universe.


(From the Iron-Core game system)


Close Combat Weapons: It may seem counter intuitive to equip such a large target with a weapon that requires you to close with your opponent before you can begin your offence, but nothing destroys modern armor better than a finely tuned plasma stream. Advanced armor is defenseless against such weapons; the focused heat from the blade destroys the tight molecular bond that gives armor its strength. Only the mass properties of more primitive armors will slow the plasma stream of the Reaper Scythe or the Executioners blade. The panicle of such weaponry is Excalibur. Featuring improved plasma emitters and blade capacitors, its destructive power is unequaled. No armor or fortification is safe from its destructive force.

15mm scale 4.5" tall

At $80,000, with the Leviathan is nearly paid for, we can start producing further products to compliment the Iron-Core universe. We are shooting at releasing the 15mm scale Leviathan Crusader!


*The details will need to be worked out with the manufacturer and the expected wait time for delivery as well as any additional costs to add these items. Any additions to your pledges will be steeply discounted from retail prices.


Here is a great video made by one of my customers of the 5.5” tall 15mm scale Leviathan.


These were mostly fixed pose and an inch taller than the plastic kits will be but it’s well worth a look! Great job on the video, thank you :) (Disclaimer this is a customer made video and all references regarding GW and 40k are not challenges to the copyright holder)

Shown with a lovely MERC’s miniature for scale comparisons.

At $90,000 we will introduce the 28mm scale 8.5” tall Leviathan Mortis as a stretch goal!


(From the Iron-Core game system)


(Mortis VR5) aka Totenköpfe or Deaths head.


Grandfather of all Leviathans, the Mortis in its purest form is outfitted with two close combat weapons, one energy enhanced scythe and a massive claw with no additional armor; this allows the Leviathan the fastest possible movement and a vicious close combat capability.


Without the creation of the Mortis it is unlikely that Eisenkern could have withstood the onslaught of the last 200 years. The decision to style the head after the Totenköpfe skull was mainly nostalgic and a matter of national pride as this symbol had been used throughout Germanic history all the way back to the Hussar Prussian army in 1744. It was thought that the pilots and troops would need every moral advantage when facing the Shadokesh. The design or frame of the Leviathan was designated VR5 for Frederick the greats 5th Regiment commanded by Colonel von Ruesch who first adopted the symbol.


*The details will need to be worked out with the manufacturer and the expected wait time for delivery as well as any additional costs to add these items. Any additions to your pledges will be steeply discounted from retail prices.

More amazing work!

At $100,000, all contributors who funded a Crusader kit will receive a free optional replacement arm, a left handed Vulkan Cannon that replaces the sword arm and allows for withering long range capability.


Double-gunning at its finest

100k....Congratulations! Your support has paid for the Crusader molds and will now allow us to get to work on the next kit release and stretch goal.


Currently on tap for production:


· Eisenkern Command squads set


· Eisenkern Heavy weapons set


· Eisenkern Heavy troopers


· APC for Eisenkern faction


· Small walker for Eisenkern faction


· Other Leviathan variants


· Weapon upgrades for Leviathan kits


*The details will need to be worked out with the manufacturer and the expected wait time for delivery as well as any additional costs to add these items. Any additions to your pledges will be steeply discounted from retail prices. We anticipate offering additional goals as yet not determined with each $25k increment.




























What is Iron-Core?


Iron-Core has been designed to be modular and infinitely expandable, so whether you’re a beer-n-nuts casual gamer or a micro-managing shell counter, your play style and time limitations can shape the game you decide to play.


The game system, Iron-Core has many of the “bones” of the core system rules completed but still needs polishing, illustration and play testing. All those who contribute will be invited to the development group, where your participation will directly affect the final product. Those who contribute at the “Armored Lance” or “All your bases are ours level” will also receive a free PDF of the completed and illustrated Iron-Core game system, which you the gaming community helped to create.





This is your chance to help Kickstart not only this project but many others. If you enjoy our products, and our vision, please vote with your wallets and help this become a reality.


I sincerely thank you for your time and your support.


Mark Mondragon


DreamForge-Games.





I thought I should share some video form Gencon. Daisy at WGF was kind enough to cross promote this project.