Welcome to the first-ever Blog Post for Clone-a-Saurus: The Miniatures Game! I am very excited to share the development of Clone-a-Saurus through our "Developer's Chat" or "Dev Chat" blog posts! Through these posts, readers will embark on a journey that will delve into the behind-the-scenes of our skirmish game where we explore the game design process as well as introduce newcomers to the world of Miniature Tabletop Games.
Today, we are going to be exploring the inception of Clone-a-Saurus! To break it all down, we are going to tackle this like an old book report; we are going to dive into the Who, What, When, Where, and Why of Clone-a-Saurus!
WHO?
Clone-a-Saurus was first envisioned and crafted by Paolo D (the author of these blog posts).
The gameplay and its narrative were inspired by some of my favorite Paleo Media growing up and into my adult life, such as the Jurassic Park/Jurassic World series, the Carnosaur movies and novel, Capcom's Dino Crisis 1 & 2, and Primal Carnage, among many other mediums.
The Official Miniatures for the game were brought to life by the skillful artistry of RodsRandomWorks, and they are printed and distributed by the excellent 3DPrintDen.
The foundation for the story of Clone-a-Saurus was a collaborative effort between myself and my wonderful team at Fantasm Publications as well as help from many great friends. Each one of them helped guide me in fleshing out the world and helped me find the story that I wanted to tell.
WHAT?
Clone-a-Saurus is a Skirmish Game that pits Dinosaurs and Humans in Prehistoric combat! The stage is set for the three main factions of the game to duke it out for control over Petrel's Paradise. Who are they? Well, we have the formidable and cunning Carnivores, the resilient and tough Herbivores, and the versatile and opportunistic humans. Within the Human faction are six distinct "sub-factions":
BioGen: An American Genetic company driven by the altruistic goal of saving the planet from Global Warming through the power of cloning!
GeneTech: A South African Genetic company who only cares about their bottom line and disregards the lives of the people they screw over and scam.
Pharma Synthetics: A British Pharmaceutical company with a dark history that wants to unlock the secrets of human biology in order to save humanity.
Penward Global: A British Financing firm with a history of lucrative military contracts and at the forefront of technological innovation.
Great North Engineering: A Canadian Tech & Engineering company that is tasked with collecting Dinosaurs for a future theme park attraction!
Survivors: A group of people marooned on Petrel's Paradise who are trying to defy the odds and survive on the island!
Players take control of their characters and dinosaurs in the form of miniature figurines. They choose where to move them, which enemies to attack, which objectives to complete (and in what order), etc. Each game has players going through a scenario that helps tell one of the many tales that transpired on that remote island!
Clone-a-Saurus has its own dedicated line of Dinosaur Miniatures, as we felt it was important to support our game and vision. As of the publishing of this post, Clone-a-Saurus does not have a dedicated line of Human Miniatures. With that said players are encouraged to use whatever Dinosaur or Human models that they see fit. This is because our game is considered to be "Miniatures Agnostic". In essence, a Minis Agnostic Game is made of a self-contained rulebook to guide the players, however, they are expected to source their own Miniatures and other components that they would like to use for gameplay. These can be miniatures made for the various popular Minis and RPG games such as Dungeons and Dragons, and Pathfinder, or models designed by independent artists. The intended scale of the game is around 28mm to 32mm.
Eventually, we're going to compile a list of compatible Miniatures for the game from a variety of different sources! Stay tuned for that!
The stage is set on the island of "Petrel's Paradise", a tropical island paradise off the coast of Brazil. This secluded island is home to de-extinct prehistoric animals, brought back via cloning through the efforts of the enigmatic Dr. Albert Crane! His experiments were funded by five companies, as they had plans to use the resurrected animals for their own financial gain. Unfortunately for them, the island was abandoned.
Three years later, the five companies have returned to wage war against each other and reclaim the island! Little do they know, the island's new inhabitants do not take kindly to these human intruders.
WHEN?
Clone-a-Saurus started as an idea in late 2022. It began development in early 2023 after the unfortunate loss of the Jurassic World Roleplaying Game (and the Jurassic World Miniatures Game). We are hoping to release the Core Rulebook sometime in 2024 as we want to ensure the game is well-balanced and as fun and exciting as it can be! Don't worry, 2024 is just around the corner!
As for the setting of the game, Clone--a-Saurus: The Miniatures Game takes place in 1991. This only represents "Phase 1" of the overall story, as we plan on expanding the world and story of Clone-a-Saurus beyond just the Tabletop.
WHERE?
Clone-a-Saurus will be released as a Rulebook for sale on our website while our Miniatures will be available through our website and our distribution partner, 3DPrintDen! We plan to have the Rulebook available through Amazon as well as limited releases in physical retailers! Stay tuned for more information on that!
Clone-a-Saurus: The Miniatures Game takes place on the fictional island of "Petrel's Paradise". It is the centermost island in a small Archipelago called “Orion’s Eye”. Nestled in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean some 2,000 miles off the coast of Brazil, the island was formerly a Pirate stronghold for the infamous Captain Orion Crowe. After a civil war erupted, the island was left in ruins and abandoned. It was eventually acquired by the Brazilian Government and then sold to the five companies for Project Clone-a-Saurus. The island remained active for approximately 12 years until its abandonment in 1988. Seeing the animals flourishing in the wild, and a new ecosystem establishing itself, the five companies returned to Petrel’s Paradise and waged war to claim the island and its residents for themselves!
WHY?
Why did we make Clone-a-Saurus? It's no secret that the team and I love Dinosaurs, and this love was destined to find its way to the Tabletop. Yet, there is a little more to the story of Clone-a-Saurus than just a passion for Dinosaurs;
A Response to Loss: The void left by the Jurassic World Miniatures Game and RPG drove the team and I to create this game.
Wanting to break into the Tabletop Game Industry: I wanted to craft a game from the ground up and use it as a means to break into the tabletop games industry.
Wanting to create my own story: As the game took shape, an exciting story was forming in my mind and I wanted to be able to tell it!
For as long as I was into Tabletop Games, I had always wanted to have a game that featured Dinosaurs in all their prehistoric glory. I played a lot of games over the years, but none of them scratched that itch I had; to have a Tyrannosaurus just wreck everything in its path, Raptors stalking the jungles, or Mercs trying to steal eggs from an angry Hadrosaur! I wanted to recreate scenes from my favorite movies, books, and games but I had no way to do so!
Now, this is where the story gets a little interesting. Sometime in 2019, the board game company Exod launched a Kickstarter for Jurassic World: The Miniatures Game. Effectively, it was a part Deck-Building and part Miniatures Wargame that was set in the Jurassic Park/Jurassic World universe. I backed it because I couldn’t pass up the opportunity to have a Jurassic Park-themed Minis Game! In anticipation of the game, I designed and published a homebrew Jurassic Park RPG online using the D6 system. Eventually, the game got recognized by Exod, and I received the amazing opportunity to work on an official RPG for them. Alas, it never came to be… but luckily for me, I took the work I did and put it towards developing my own games!
I love Wargames, I love Board Games, and I love Roleplaying Games! In the past, I had made small homebrew expansions that ranged from custom cards and items to additional playable characters to even new game modes such as a “Ground Assault” expansion for the X-Wing Miniatures Game. The Jurassic Park RPG was my first big project, however, it didn’t go beyond a pdf rulebook because I was in and out of the hospital at the time and I had to balance school.
Finally, while developing the game, I had originally intended it to be just a generic narrative that simply exists to push the game, future expansions, etc. The absolute minimum amount of story. However, as I was developing the game, a story and world were coming together in my mind and it was one that I really wanted to sink my teeth into (Pun intended).
And that is the Who, What, When, Where, and Why of Clone-a-Saurus! If you like what you read here, and are excited to hear more, keep an eye out on Social Media, particularly our Instagram Page @DinoIslandMinis or on Twitter @CloneasaurusMG for the next Blog Post as well as keep an eye out on the website for updates! We have a lot of fun stuff planned that you definitely do not want to miss out on!
