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Posts Tagged ‘Echelon Software’

_Echelon Software Announces Three New Additions to the Black Powder Red Earth Series

Saturday, October 6th, 2018

October 4, 2018 – New York, New York – _Echelon Software today announces three new additions to the Black Powder Red Earth® series.

First, is Echelon’s first step into miniature wargaming. Partnering with Spectre Miniatures, the _Echelon team has specced a chalk of Cold Harbor Assaulters for play in the Spectre Operations tabletop modern war game. These 28mm miniatures are based on Ember QRF teams depicted in Black Powder Red Earth Yemen and have been modeled to the exact specs of these assaulters. The anticipated release date of the set is Black Friday, 2018.

Steve May, of Spectre said, “We are very excited to be part of bringing BPRE into the world of tabletop gaming.” _Echelon could ask for no better partner than Spectre, who’s miniatures we’ve used in play since the brand launched in 2014.

Continuing with this thread, the _Echelon team is now designing a co-operative PVE board game focused on the application of small unit tactics in asymmetric urban warfare. With a campaign and rule system built from the ground up as an analog for small units working in non-permissive urban settings, the game is laser focused on creating opportunities for meaningful decisions employing cutting-edge weapons, set in real-world locations with real-world challenges as seen in the Black Powder Red Earth graphic novels and mini-series. Spectre will be developing the miniature component of the game as well as advising on creating a frictionless and natural game flow.

Finally, _Echelon has begun development of a Black Powder Red Earth animated mini-series. Conceived of as a 3 episode animated piece, series creator Jon Chang has been researching + developing the scenario since August 2017 with SME’s from US Army Special Operations. As with all BPRE projects, series creators work to insure the missions, tactics and equipment are all kept authentic and that the opponents tactics are accurately reflected.

Screen writing began with purpose in August 2018, with storyboarding set to begin in October in anticipation of a trip to Tokyo in January 2019 where the team will be selected to create this next endeavor. “As life long anime fans, dating back to series like Space Cruiser Yamato(StarBlazers), Macross, Akira, Gunbuster and Area 88 – it has been a dream to take the BPRE story from the page to the moving picture.”

Learn more and directly support these endeavors by supporting Black Powder Red Earth on patreon at www.patreon.com/blackpowderredearth

For more on Spectre Miniatures visit www.spectreminiatures.com or email info@spectreminiatures.com

For further information on these projects contact blackpowderredearth@echelon-software.com

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Black Powder Red Earth Vol 3

Friday, May 25th, 2012

Volume 3 of the groundbreaking graphic novel series “Black Powder, Red Earth” is now available. The story follows several factions and their hired guns in a near future Iraq, dominated by foreign intrigue. An amazing amount of research went into the development of this story and the future it takes place in.

Get yours at Amazon.com.

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Black Powder Red Earth 2 available on Amazon

Thursday, March 8th, 2012

Volume 2 of Black Powder Red Earth is out and available on Amazon.com. As we’ve reported before, BPRE has been described as “Syriana meets Blackhawk Down”, though you won’t really get the full effect of that until the series is complete. (It was written and plotted in a cinematic fashion, so each successive issue will be faster paced and more dynamic than the one before.)

Jon Chang of Echelon Software is one of the creators of BPRE, and helped design the Facebook game of the same name. “The Facebook game was the first project, then the graphic novel,” he advises. “What’s interesting is that a lot of what you see in those first installments, events we wrote as likely, has occurred. It was originally projected theoretically, now it’s really happened. This is hard military fiction…there’s no overtly heroic actions or larger than life stuff, it’s as close as we can get to the complexities of what day to day operations are like in southern Iraq. So there’s a really realistic angle, it’s a compelling piece of work because it’s so believable and so accurate..”

The writing and artwork are excellent. You should consider checking it out.

You can check up on BPRE developments on their Facebook page or watch their homepage if you’d like.
-DR

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Black Powder Red Earth: Part 1

Tuesday, June 28th, 2011

Originally posted on Tactical Fanboy, this new graphic novel from Echelon Software looks awesome. I can’t wait for it to be released.

I just got a hold of an advanced review copy of the new ‘Black Powder Red Earth’ graphic novel. Since I enjoyed the Facebook game, I was eager to read through it and see how good it actually was. I’m happy to say it does the property justice.

“Black Powder Red Earth: Part 1” by Jon Chang, Kane Smith and Josh Taylor takes place in a near future Iraq, 2019 to be exact. The story follows the actions of a PMC operating in the area of New Basrah, Basran. Their actions primarily include the capturing of high-value targets, negotiations with government officials, and information gathering. Showing the wide range of operations undertaken by these individuals definitely adds to the believability of the story. From earlier dealings with Echelon Software, I know a good amount of research and cooperation with actual operators went into making the story closer to reality then most other fiction dealing with this subject matter, and it shows.

Complementing the story is the art, which is done in a somewhat gritty style that matches the setting and mood perfectly. The coloring, to be expected considering the setting, is heavy in earthy tones. Variants of brown and tan are found in almost every panel, although more vibrant colors are also represented from clothing, cars, vegetation, and of course people. Characters are also outlined with a fairly thick border, which gives them a more pronounced appearance. There is also plenty of detail to be found, especially in the background of many panels. No scene feels lacking visually.

In short, I recommend giving this graphic novel a look. It’s a fine addition to the Black Powder Red Earth universe, and I’m eagerly awaiting the next installment to see how the story develops. It’s definitely one of the better new IPs to come out as of late.

The hardcover of “Black Powder Red Earth: Part 1” will be available later this year.

Echelon Software

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