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An Interview with.....Jervis Johnson | |
| Foreword Due to my dictaphone glitching earlier in the day, I wasn't able to record the interview as was originally planned. Instead, notes had to be taken, and what is presented here is the notes I took of Jervis' answers, written up as close as I can to what was said. Hopefully, if/when I get chance to do another interview, the dictaphone will do it's job and I'll just have to transcribe. But anyway, on to the interview.... NecromundaWill there be any new Escher models coming in the future?In the long run, yes. The general plan is to do resculpts of all the gangs, starting with the Outlanders, then working on to themain gangs. For instance, the new Ratskins have been being worked on recently, along with the Spyrer Matriarch and Patriarch. In the long run, Jake Thornton (who has taken over the work that was done by Steve Hambrook) will be going deeper into the background of the Underhive for new material to work from. This doesn't, however, mean that we'll be making the old models obesolete, far from it - they'll still be available from Mail order, in the Archive. The idea is that the new models aren't a replacement for the old models, but are meant to show a different style of gang - still from the same House, but with a different take on the traditional style. So, basically, the rescuplts will be done, but in the very long run. Do you have any idea what the timeframe is likely to be for recreating the Outlander gangs? We're looking at publishing a year or so of Outlander material at the moment. We've had to muddle on at Fanatic since Steve Hambrook died, so not much new work has been conducted. Now we've pulled Jake Thornton into the team to take over Steve's jobs, he is coming up with a strategy plan of where we're going with Necromunda, but epect Outlanders to be done within a year to a year and a half. The Necromunda website will be being redesigned next month, to include a forum and vault for experimental/trial rules. THis format will be being adopted by all the websites, starting with Mordheim, and they should all be ready by April or May. Will it be possible to buy the Cyber-Mastiff as an individual miniature? That's more of a question for Mail Order than for Specialist Games. While there will be a Specialist games catalogue released in the summer, covering the various ranges, it isn;t always up to us how products are packaged - for example, Warmaster units being a full unit to a blister, while Mordheim figures can be ordered individually. The success of a gang seems heavily tied in to luck (territories, injuries, advances). Why wasn't the Redux launch used to reduce the impact of dice luck in the campaign setting of the game? To be honest, we didn't think it was a problem. WHile it is always possible to tinker with a game, in this case we just wanted to get the game back into production. We had to make some changes, like sustained fire dice, for necessity, but mostly we left the game as it was. The campaign system itself is actually based off the Blood Bowl campaign system, as is the Mordheim campaign system. I recognise there's a balance issue within campaigns that can make it impossible for new teams to compete with established teams, and this filters through to Necromunda and Mordheim. If we can fix the Blood Bowl system, and create what I call the "perpetual league", then we can fix Necromunda and Mordheim. What I envisage is there being a fairly steep advance curve to begin with, plateauing after a while as advances are balanced in other ways. Hopefully this means that, while a new gang will have a very tough game against an experienced gang, they will still have a slim chance of winning. We'll be using the Vaults to test this in the various game systems, so keep an eye on them. Epic: ArmageddonAre Harlequins likely to appear in the Eldar list, or in a list of their own?Harlequins are already in the Eldar list. With units like the Harlequins, we need to work with the main Design Studio and Forge World to make sure that new material we create fits with plans they may have. Will there be some form of army list for Squats, so those with a Squat army can use the models already released - even if this just means putting an official seal on a fan list and dumping it in the Vault. I don't like rules that stop players being able to use their models. Having said that, we've also got to go by what has been said by the Studio, so an official list, with points values, is pretty much out of the question. However, if someone wants to write a "Counts As" list, possibly based off Imperial Guard or Orks, and write up some datasheets in a similar manner to the collector's models in the back of the book, then I would consider printing such a proxy list. This does not mean create new units, vehicles or super-heavies, just the units they have back in Space Marine/Titan Legions - one of the problems with most lists on the internet is that people want to give the Squats new units; we won't be printing a list that does this. Once we know where the Studio and Forge World are thinking of taking the Demiurg, we may consider doing something for them. Are Sisters of Battle and other Inquisitorial forces likely to appear? Potentially, yes. I've had a list for Sisters of Battle sent in to me that might just see the light of day in the Vault. I've passed it to Tony Cottrell, so there may end up being Epic Sisters of Battle in resin, but probably not in metal - our current production schedule is full up to 2008, which is the first time we'd be able to do anything in metal for them. With regards to Grey Knights and Deathwatch, FW is keen to do some models for them (Editor's Note: At this point I pointed out I remembered seeing Will Hayes with something looking suspiciously like a WIP Epic Grey Knight Terminator) For now, we would have them work with the "Counts As" rule, but we wouldn't do a new list for them for some time. Will Imperial forces see the Knight Households again, possibly in a Tech-Guard style list? The Adeptus Mechanicus is a list we're considering doing in the future, with the Tech-Guard and all the Titans and other vehicles you might expect. If we were to redo the Knight Households, then it would be then. Will Tau gain any war machines other than the Manta? Yes, they will, but we don't know what yet. What War Engines and/or Aircraft will the Necrons have? Yes, they will get War Machines. However, no-one knows if the Necrons have aircraft yet. We need to collaborate with the Studio on this so as not to interfere with their plans. How come the SG Epic models are more expensive than comparative models from Forge World? In this case, we can blame the sales and marketing departments. We only make the range of models, we don;t have control over the prices. I believe we and Forge World have differnt pricing structures, which may help to explain this. Battlefleet GothicWhat's going on with the seemingly competitive Forge World Tau fleet being released alongside the Specialist Games Tau fleet?Basically, it boils down to bad communications. Warwick Kinkrade has come up with background and rules for them now, but no points costs, for the same reasons we gave in Epic: Armageddon (Editor's Note: Basically, Jervis feels it is unfair that some people may have access to units (be they archive models or Forge World models) that others don't. By using counts as, he can incorporate them into the main list, while supplying datasheetsfor the unit to be used in scenario play.) Any news of potential changes in BFG 2nd Ed? Andy Chambers and Matt Keefe are working on it. AS far as I'm aware there are no major changes to the game, though there will be some changes. I believe they're looking to incorporate new fleets with the core fleets. Matt needs to figure out a strategy plan for Battlefleet Gothic. Any word on what is likely to be different in the Craftworld Eldar fleet list, compared to the current Eldar fleet list? As far as I know, it's mainly to do with which ships they have access to, but I'm not sure. I do know that the material should be appearing in Fanatic Magazine #3, around September time. Also, keep an eye on the Battlefleet Gothic vault when it's site is redone, as they are likely to show up there for playtesting. Now they are primarily a Chamber Militant, will the SoB get their own ship(s), in the same manner as GK? We don't know yet, to be honest. We'd have to check we're not changing any current background be producing a ship if we did, but if it produces a nice new model, then I'm all for it. We'll see later. When will BFG Armada be being released? It's going through repro now. Expect to see it around April-May. MordheimWould there be a possibility of a release of the early Town Cryer issues (ie, those from WD) in a compendium format, as there currently is quite a difficulty in getting hold of them.Those issues should already be in print, in a compendium called "The Best of Town Cryer". Try asking Mail Order for it. Would it be possible to release some wyrdstone shards, and other bits 'n' pieces players are likely to find? In principle, then yes. However, in practise, probably not - they'd be too specialised a piece for general production. Forge World could do it, but given the chance to sculpt a new tank or some wyrdstone shards, which do you think is liable toget done first? Will there be a Mordheim Annual 2003? Probably not. We're restructuring the Annual format, and this is going to prevent us from producing an Annual. However, the material will appear in the archive on the website, after it's ben overhauled. Blood BowlWith 4th Ed, the intent seemed to be to make a 120-point team more competitive with a 200-point team. But, instead, with the aging it hurts elves a little, and hurts everyone else a lot. Every tried to replace a 51 SPP long beard? I know they revisit the rules annually, but will they try to just let people build good teams and not worry about 120-point teams getting killed by 200-point teams?It's something I worry about a lot, to be honest. Blood Bowl is a good game, but at the moment the league system doesn't work. Hopefully, when I manage to fix it, uber teams will be a thing of the past. While I understand that players like having such a strong team, I'm not so sure they're good for the game. It's a case of "Monty Haul Syndrome", except expressed in the strength of the team. InquisitorWill there be any more Eldar releases, such as an Aspect Warrior or a Warlock?No, at least not in those forms. The list given is interesting, as it's one of the things we want to avoid in Inquisitor. We don't just want to be producing Warhsmmer 40,000 armies in 54mm scale - so you won;t see things like Terminators, Dreadnoughts or Aspect Warriors. We are, through Inquisitor, looking at producing things that aren;t normally seen in Warhammer 40,000. WarmasterAre Dogs of War liable to come out in strength/at all for Warmaster?We have no plans to at present. We might produce them as alternative units to ones that are already out there, but a list is not planned at present. Fanatic MagazineWhat print run are they looking at for the first few issues of their new magazine? Does this mean that they will lose their occasional slot in White Dwarf?We're starting with a low run to begin with, as we don;t want to end up with lots of stock lying around. That was one of the things that nearly killed Fanatic in the beginning, in that we over-estimated how much we'd sell, so had lots of items sat around in the warehouse. With Fanatic Magazine, we'll try not to be so "gung-ho" in the production levels, so as to prevent the warehousing issues. Basically, if you see Fanatic Magazine, get it while you can, or even better, get a subscription! Even if you miss an issue, you can still get all the material as it'll be going on the various vaults around the time the magazine is released. Is the new fanatic mag just as spiffy as everyone at SG says it's going to be? Yes - I'm very proud of it. Hopefully people will be very impressed when issue #1 is released in May. For the first three issues it will be released bi-monthly, then monthly after that. It gives us chance to get ahead with writing material, so, at the point Fanatic Magazine goes monthly, we should be 5 months ahead with the material. GeneralWhat is your opinion in the ongoing debate of slippers vs loafers?I'm sorry, but this one has passed me by. Personally, I go bare-footed. Have you ever beaten Andy Chambers in a game, after the series of WD battle reports? Yes, I have, but Andy is a better player so it generally happens when he wants me to win. Will Fanatic take ownership of WFRP? No. WFRP will be back, but not through Fanatic. Has Rick Priestly been abducted by aliens, and if not, what's he working on these days? Rick is an alien. Seriously, he's been helping work on Warhammer Online, and occasionally contributing material for Warmaster. Does he think the tournament scene (GT's, RTT's) has improved the hobby (all aspects - painting, modelling, playing, friendship), or made it worse? I think the tournament scene has hugely improved the hobby, and it's one of the things I'm most proud of - I wrote the rules by which the first Grand Tournament was run, after all. On the other hand, tournaments aren;t for everyone, and some players do need to realise that tournaments aren;t the be-all and end-all of the hobby. Will you be designing any of the codexes for 4th Ed 40k? No, I won't be. I've left Warhammer and Warhammer 40,00 far behind now, though I'll still stick my oar in occasionally. Are we ever likely to see anything done with the Horus Heresy other than the Sabretooth card game? For example a return to the roots of Epic with a Heresy source/scenario book? There are no plans to do anything with it for the forseeable future. The Horus HEresy is now Sabretooth's to work on/with. With the popularity of Epic's online pre-launch and play testing army, are they going to do something similar next time one of the games goes under serious re-working? Nothing else in the range is in need of such a serious reworking as Epic was, so not to that extent. However, the Vault/forum system used during the development of Epic will be being used by all the games we produce from when the appropriate site receives the update to the new version. I can see forums being very important in the future for the development of our products. Afterword I'd just like to take this opportunity to thank Jervis for taking the time out of his Sunday to interview me, especially as when he showed up I was sat in the first of two seminars, and had to be called out to conduct the interview. As he had his two children in tow as well, I'm even more grateful he took the time to do this, when even his colleagues (Mark Bedford being an example) didn't know he was coming in. | |
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