Here is a preview of the latest update on Dawn straight from the KS page. We would love your support to get towards our last few exciting Stretch Goals, so please go and check it out and consider supporting us by backing the project.

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/2002188924/dawn-rise-of-the-occulites-0

Before we jump into details about our tasty treats the Nymphlets, I received an email from Bob Olley that had some quick photos of a couple of new figures… that’s right, we have images of both the Puscual green and the Nymphlet green that will be turned into plastic figures when we hit $65K for the Puscual and $75K for the Nymphlets.

I’ve asked him if he could send me some images of the figures next to an Occulite and when I hear back from him I’ll post them too.

Puscual – 30mm tall, bulky. Tree trunk just fits in a board space.

Nymphlet – Smaller and mounted on a tree branch with reeds down the bottom of it. Total size from bottom to top of branch 25mm. So Nymphlet is roughly Luftle length.

Well? What do you think? I love them and think that they fit right into the Occulite world. I know that I’m looking forward to using them in the game. The Nymphlets (if we hit our target) will actually be cast in 6 different colours to match the tokens and the painted ones will look spectacular. The Puscuals will undoubtedly look fantastic painted up as well. I intend to paint some up in their most common colour scheme – the olive green, with brighter green patches. But then, I have some other cool ideas too.

Nymphlets

“The sun had slowly been sinking beneath the horizon for several days now. The sky was painted a splash of purples and blues, with tiny, white shining lights dotting the canvas. It was becoming Dusk and I had seen the Occulites slow down their exploration. They were mainly gathering plants, food and the last of the easy to get Sungems and bringing them back to their caves. They were preparing for something, but this was the first time in all the time I have watched them, that the sky had darkened. If indeed their night was coming as ours does, then I might not see them for a time. So I watched intently.

Moving my hands slightly, the sound of Crepusculum came flooding back, filling my ears with the sound of the wildlife. A soft breeze blew through the Lumino Trees, the occasional deep croak of a Palaudis and the constant chirping and buzzing of the insect life. Chirping and buzzing that became louder and louder. Looking around the landscape with a crinkled forehead I can see Occulites of all known species gathering. Not fighting, but waiting separately in their Tribes like something was about to happen. Was it going to be a battle?

The answer quickly came to me as a smallish dragonfly-like creature dashed into view, followed by another, and another. Soon the air was filled with them, darting to and fro, dancing through the air. It was then that the commotion started. The Occulites scattered across the landscape, grabbing and jumping at the creatures. Snatching them from the air… some had crude nets, others were using their hands, some stuffed the creatures into kangaroo-like pouches and others devoured theirs on the spot. This was no battle… this was a feast! A feast like no other…”
A passage from Darwin’s Diaries.

These dragonfly-like creatures are now known as Nymphlets and late in each season, as the sun goes down and the sky turns purple, they gather on mass to spawn. The Occulites, being incredibly resourceful use this opportunity as a last ditch effort to put on body fat so they can hibernate during the Long Dark.

All Occulite Tribes find Nymphlets incredibly delicious and an excellent source of slow burning energy. They snack on them throughout the season, but when Dusk comes, they are able to indulge and for some Tribes, this can save their whole season.

The Nimbus Tribe rarely eat theirs straight away, but instead capture them to help pollinate the flowers and plants high up in the mountainous regions where it is too cold for most insects of their ilk. Being primarily herbivorous, the Nimbus could not survive high up in the mountains without their flora and so they rely on the Nymphlets to help them etch out their niche in the environment, despite how tough it is.

In Game Rules

Nymphlets in game, are controlled by the game mechanics, but you have some control over how this plays out. At the start of each round, the players take it in turns to place the coloured Nymphlet wedges onto the directional hex on the edge of the board. Then each Nymphlet moves it’s Speed (5 spaces) in the relevant direction.

Where the wedges are placed will determine which direction each Nymphlet flies. In the above example, the Blue Nymphlet moves 5 spaces in the direction indicated. Nymphlets ignore all terrain and figures when flying, but cannot end their movement on a space with a figure (except another Nymphlet). If this happens, they move an extra space until they hit an empty one.

Nymphlets can be caught by moving into their space and defeating them in Combat. Since Nymphlets have a Defense of 6, that is not always easy. Nymphlets never attack other figures, but if one successfully defends against a catch attempt, for each success in excess of it’s attacker’s successes, it will move one space in its indicated direction away from the attacker.

When you take into account its Innate Abilities below, especially Tricky, they do become very difficult to catch.

Invulnerable
Any damage caused to a Nymphlet for any reason is always cancelled.

Tricky
When defending, a Nymphlet gains rerolls equal to the number of spaces the figure had to Move to Attack it.

Nymphlets are a fun Creature to use in Scenarios and add another Challenge to the palette of options that Dawn – Rise of the Occulites has. We really hope that you can help spread the word about the game so that we can hit our stretch goals and get these figures produced so they don’t just stay as flat tokens.

All the best,
Cheers,
Ben.