Bastion Studios… Join the Revolution!
February 2, 2011 by lloyd
UPDATE 11:00am 2nd Feb: Word on the Ex-Illis forums is that an announcement on the future of Ex-Illis could be due around the 12th Feb. Now I agree there's not really much point in us posting and update announcing an announcement, but we also wanted to embed the above video made by Youtube User RabbitMiniatures and brought to our attention by community member @cwilliams who's been doing his bit to try and drum up a bit of support for the Bastion Team.
Word from our sources are that Bastion Studios makers of the hybrid wargame Ex-Illis have gone bust.
UPDATE 2:00pm 18th Jan: Here's the official statement
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Hello everyone,
Right after the holidays, a series of event led us to the conclusion that a shutdown of operations, at least a temporary one, was needed. While sales are on the rise, communities are growing and our distribution network is improving everyday, it became apparent that we couldn’t continue with our current financial structure. The staff working at Bastion, myself included, has been let go, but it remains our collective aim to work together again once more on Ex illis with a new financial partner. Efforts are being made on that front, but as you can imagine, we are not in a position where we can freely discuss these things yet.
Despite this news, the servers will continue to stay up for the time being. This, and the fate of the Demon Horde box set, is of course intimately related to the arrival of new financial partners. While the future as a company is still uncertain, we have pledged to the player community that the servers would stay up and running and we intend to keep this promise.
This has been an emotional time for all of us at Bastion. We have been working hard over the last three years to create a game we are truly proud of, working hard in the past few months to avoid this situation, and now that it became unavoidable, we are still working hard to set it straight. You are welcome to write us at[email protected], but I apologize in advance if we do not have the time to answer to them individually.
Friedrich
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Like them or not, this is a real pity for the industry, as we would like to see more risk-taking like this, not less. My gut tells me that it could be a while before we see a similar conjunction of talents and skills, have a crack at something like this again.
So what went wrong?
Well we can only speculate, until we hear official word. However my gut tells me that in trying to make a war-game that was more accessible, they made a war game that was in many ways just as inaccessible. Unfortunately they just haven't had the time or budget to bridge the gap, and with the talent on the team we have do doubt they would have.
The software system was a fantastic idea and we fully expect to see this rear it's head again in some guise. However this implementation was perhaps a little too cumbersome to really achieve that pickup and play feeling we were hoping for.
The game itself with it's alternate medieval (Eurocentric) setting appealed to the central Europeans in a big way. However its survival depended more on the lucrative UK and US markets and it may well have been just to High Brow, to make the jump into the more 'classical' fantasy minds of the Brits and Yanks.
Lets be honest with ourselves, we are more into the kind of 'Saturday morning cartoon' fantasy! 😉
It was a very bold move by the team at Bastion studios to have a crack at this. The product was slowly gaining some traction with vastly improved miniatures, appearing over the last few months.
It's too early to say whether they will be considered pioneers or not. However I can't help but feel that they were onto something when they decided that a rulebook could be a game, rather than just a set of rules.
Although for all it's promise the execution just hasn't hit the mark this time.
Coming hot on the heels of the news of the takeover of Wargames Factory (which doesn't sound too healthy either, with a public bitching session to rival that of Macca and the One Legged Bandit), this is another blow for an industry that was showing so much promise only 12 months ago, with lots of new starts and innovation everywhere.
It leaves me wondering what the financial state of the industry is as a whole. It's too easy to forget the high sums of money involved in starting up in this industry...
We can blame it on the old guard, who don't want to try anything new, or the vocal minority who pour scorn on everything not released by a few select Messiahs. The reality is if something is innovative and remarkable in it's execution and creativity, it can make waves, other than that we can just blame it on the boogie!
No word yet on what's going to happen to the assets at Bastion, but if your a fan and want to have your 2c, post a comment below and we'll try to get some official word and background in the mean time.
All-in-all it's a real shame and we hope the team at Bastion keep their chins up and take some pride in a bold attempt.
Much respect from the team here at BoW and we hope you guys have another crack at this sometime!
UPDATE 8:53pm: We're hearing down the grapevine that discussions on the future are afoot, so if you wanted to show your support for Bastion and what they have tried to create, now is probably the time.
UPDATE 10:00pm: A thread probably worth following has been started by community members here: http://forum.ex-illis.com/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=3362
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How reliable is the source on this? It seemed to be gaining ground fast in the US (where most of the ‘active community’ is based) The game was fairly accessible- all you needed was laptop and minis, you could of course get into more and more detail in terms of rules, maths, history etc as you wanted, but there was nothing more cerebral or highbrow to it than to other games and systems I’ve tried- everyone had to learn about the warhammer worlds sometime, or the warmachine or know history for FOW or what have ya, so I don’t see… Read more »
This’ll be a shame if it’s true, I’ve never like ‘by the numbers’ or pure fantasy, and what I read about Ex-Illis’s setting made me want to give it a go at some point (fluff plays a big part for me)
Thats a the giant quadrant spanning demon kit didn’t hurt matters 😛
It’s sad news indeed. I have never played Ex-Illis, so I will not venture any criticism of the game itself… Perhaps their game just hasn’t found its public. Or maybe it just didn’t have time to find it, due to the economy, and many other wargame and miniature companies starting up in Europe around the same time… The gamers purse isn’t big enough for everyone, and there’s now a plethora of smaller Internet-based businesses selling their miniature range and making their own skirmish game or wargame, that didn’t exist a mere five years ago. Perhaps the GW drop in business… Read more »
Very well said indeed El !!
I’d say a lot of it comes down to not havin the global acces needed, though as anyone playin the game will agree, the studio team are fantastic in terms of their feedback & communication with players
Ah crap, just imported a load of models! I hope if it’s gone down the shitter the software and upload system still works or I’ve just blown a load of money for some nice, but useless models. On another note it’s a damn shame as I’ve really gotten into this lately as it’s a fantastic game.
The ex-illis stuff make excellent proxies for Warhammer Fantasy, for Bretonnians and Empire that look more historical and realistic… I think a fallen angel might even make for a good demon ! Of course it’s another take on the demon genre than the psychedelic things that GW puts out. Perhaps you could use some for conversions. Also, you could use those minis to make terrain (they make great statues, or even corpses), or for any paper and pen RPG that requires miniatures… D&D isn’t the only one. But don’t give up hope, Ex-Illis might live on ! As a proof,… Read more »
Know how ya feel, spent the week making terrain to fir 9X9 squares, and now painting me Baneret !!
Bad news all round. They were onto something with ex-illis.
They really were, the game plays well and when I introduced it to my friends we picked it up within two practices and could have a battle in less than half an hour. Taking all the rule nit picking and single dice rolling out makes the game both quicker and more fun. Maybe bastion might be saved, but if not I do hope another company may take the reins as it would be a huge shame to loose this system
Strangely, the forums over at ex-illis.com and general web buzz doesnt tie with whats here and and at TGN. For all the right reasons, I really hope BoW is wrong on this one, but time will tell, BoW is usually spot on, and in the wake of WGFgate we need more good news.
Yeah, I’ve seen some of the Bastion team been online over at their fourm and not a word on it- even though I posted a shock/dismay/anger thread 😛
I have a feeling that Ex-Illis was a little too forward thinking in their idea. And it’s not the fault of Bastion, I think that wargamers aren’t thrilled with the idea of change. they like the idea of models, dice and counters. Throw a laptop in there and it complicates matters. It’s too bad, I think Ex-Illis had a great concept and I have a feeling that there will be another company down the road that will come up with a similar system. I have a feeling that computers will find their way into the wargaming world, it’s just a… Read more »
Yeah it’s a shame the preception that removing the need for dice and encyclopedic knowledge ‘complicates’ things 😛
Until their is evidence i ent believing it ;P every one on the exillis forums thought bastion was out of business over Christmas but they just forgot to say they were on holiday? if your business is going bust ? why take a holiday? and further more? why the hell bring out a new model? It sounds like Bow might have seen some our the forums worry’s and with no reply jumped the gun like we did, the gaming is booming in the US so it seems, it’s just the UK market, which to be honest only a hand full… Read more »
Oh I gotta disagree with ya there man, not enough hysteria and desire for vengance in your attitude at alls 😛
‘s also irresponsible journalism on behalf of BoW to post something like this then just P off and not have any more to do with the discussion or even elabourate on what they said.
The article is being updated as we hear anything.
Thanks!! I retract my criticism! 😀
No Problem. We simply don’t want to add anything to this unless it’s reliable. We heard the story and added our own speculative analysis, but like i said in the article only Bastion know the full story. Its terrible news and not the kind of news we want to report, but this is an important event as Bastion were not just a mom and pop outfit. They have incredibly clever minds in there, so the ripples of this will be felt I’m sure.
Really bad news… Let’s hope the best, but to be honest, it would not surprise me if the news were true… The tabletop market is a bitch sometimes…
could we know the source? Cos i find it weird that some players that have been with exillis since before the beta didn’t hear anything about that
It’s more than likely internal- that fairly common in industrial relation situations like this.
Remember that the people in contact with the players aren’t nesseccarily the people holding the purse strings and so may have no idea what was happening- and if their boss says “off the forum chaps, keep this in house” then you listen to them in this situation!!! 😀
I’m not sure if this game lacked appeal to people outside of the continent. The game looks amazing, but I think the “online” component really drags the game down quite a bit. Good idea, wrong time…needing a computer really limts where and how people can play ex-Illis. Yes, you can use a laptop…but honestly, it just seems like too much bother. At the end of the day, Wargaming has a certain “analog” charm to it. I like having a rulebook, where I can tinker with stuff…know the game inside out and taylor my army accordingly. Ex-Illis, although arguably a much… Read more »
The game is actually bigger in the states than anywhere! when you say it seems too much bother, would you rather take your laptop or ipad to a game than dozens of dice,counters,rulebooks,charts,templates and all the other things other systems use? (not that i don’t love dice,counters etc etc :D)
I#m not looking to convert ya but you make a point that the non-players come up with often so I’m curious 🙂
It’s always good to open up constructive debate. I’m just kinda “on the fence” when it comes to this game. Maybe i’m just old-school, but the tech aspect of this game just seems like a double-edged sword. I applaud the risk. I mean, I could totaly see this game being a lot of fun to play around the house as an alternative to board games, but it just seems like Ex-Illis is trying to do something that both TT games and computer games are able to do better. If the game had some innovation that really gave the game an… Read more »
Okay, so according to the forums they got a distributor in the UK, and have something planned for Germany and other countries. Something seems to be going on, but if things fail servers and stuff will stay up and Ex Illis won’t break. There was a brief moment when this could be read (it came as a PM from a guy called Wallace) – it’s deleted now.
He also said they can’t talk about it on the forums, because of NDAs they all signed when they applied for the job.
Got some words from Bastion on their fourm
http://forum.ex-illis.com/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=3362&p=21366#p21366
IF it is true, it is horrid news. I honestly hope your sources are incorrect.
From what we gather, it’s some forum of lie.
I’d say misunderstanding, could be very easy done if it was talk of market expansion, merger, re-structure, sale, etc etc, BoW source could easily have been a disgruntles employee or someone who got the wrong end of the stick!
If the company is still going to be around they’re being awfully quiet about it. That’s not a secret worth keeping. I had a suspicion this was going to happen, but of course, they’ll still want to sell off their remaining stock (if any) so they won’t want to confirm.
I don’t know what’s going on. Giancarlo hasn’t responded to any of my emails in quite a while, one of their game designers left the team to go to South America… Who knows what’s going on but them? I for one don’t see the point in hanging on to the plastic.
they have several distrivutors and i find it extremely weird to get a new distribution line so near closing the shop. I too think it is just a restructuration, but an official post would be nice
Well as was mentioned on the fourm- talks are taking place, and no company on the planet makes any kind of statement when negociating with creditors, distributors etc- plus as i said and ‘sources’ confirmed the employees cannot confirm or deny anything owing to non-disclosure clauses !
I couldn’t see it ever working. In theory the game could tap into two markets, the Wargame and the computer game but wargamers need to roll dice or similar to make them feel they are in command, this is taken away by the PC. Computer gamers like to spend hours upon hours sat at their PC, they can’t be bothered to stop and shove a few models across the board as it adds nothing to their gaming experience. It is a shame though.
that’s nonsense.