Bastion’s Ex illis Brings Medieval Times to Life
With Exquisitely Detailed Miniatures Made Using SensAble's FreeForm

Designed and Manufactured 100 Miniatures in Record Time
By Leveraging an All Digital Workflow

WOBURN, MA  November 13, 2009  -- SensAble Technologies, Inc®, a leading provider of 3D modeling solutions and haptic devices, announced that its customer, Bastion, based in Québec City, debuted its Ex illis™ medieval history fantasy wargame today – on time and on budget – in large part by making SensAble’s FreeForm® 3D modeling system the centerpiece of its all-digital miniatures production.  The game marks a milestone in new technologically-enabled wargames – and an all-digital production process that efficiently created a large number of small-scale, highly detailed miniatures that look exactly like their digital counterparts. 

Ex illis is a hybrid game that combines a tabletop wargame that targets millions of battlefield board game enthusiasts worldwide with technology enhancements that make the game both easier to learn and harder to master.  It includes a game mat and a set of between 70 to 100 miniature game pieces, as well as a technological component that is displayed on devices such as an iPod Touch, iPhone or a laptop computer.  The exquisitely detailed miniatures are assembled and then painted by the hobbyist, who then uses the characters to play strategy games. The mat allows the player to have a global view of battlefield play and decide where to move the game pieces, while the digital device keeps score, applies rules and communicates moves among players – eliminating the need to roll the dice, or carry large cumbersome rulebooks.

With Friday the 13th set as the target launch date,  SensAble’s FreeForm modeling system helped Bastion’s team design all 100 of its miniatures with unprecedented speed to meet an aggressive production timetable – shaving weeks off traditional modeling approaches. Additionally, FreeForm enabled Bastion to deliver digital files that streamlined the miniature’s manufacturing a continent away – in support of delivering the company’s first product on this auspicious date.

“There’s no question we worked far more efficiently and productively by basing our design and manufacturing processes around FreeForm,” said Frederic Forest, president of Bastion. 
“Detail is what sells wargame enthusiasts – detail they paint, admire or just enjoy.  By designing digitally, we can sculpt the miniatures at 3 or 4-inches high, and then precisely reduce them to their 32-millimeter finished size, while retaining intricate detail in facial expressions, textures, clothing and weapons that spells realism and authenticity for our market.”   

“FreeForm is a powerful tool, not only for fast 3D design but also for efficiently preparing detailed models for manufacturing, which is helping Bastion become one of the best miniatures-making companies in the industry,” Forest said.

With Ex illis, FreeForm’s digital clay modeling paradigm provided unlimited creative freedom so the team could quickly create exact replicas of each character from the physical game for the electronic component.  Design-for-manufacturability became a far simpler task, allowing the team to adjust undercuts and improve the parts in real time, so that the model obeyed the physical laws of injection molding.  Because FreeForm allowed the ready creation of parts with very complex parting lines – the line along which a plastic injection mold separates – Bastion’s team was able to make sure that complex dynamic shapes they created to convey action could be successfully removed from the mold. Other features in FreeForm helped Bastion to evaluate the volume of pieces, to save material and control manufacturing costs.

When output as digital files for manufacturing, FreeForm continued to save time with files that required only minimal adjustments downstream to create spot-on manufacturing molds – further assuring on-time production.   With manufacturing of the miniatures proceeding smoothly on schedule, Bastion’s team was free to focus on other aspects of the game’s design.

“The launch of the Ex illis miniatures typifies the time- and cost-saving value that FreeForm can bring to savvy manufacturers,” said Joan Lockhart, vice president of sales and marketing at SensAble.  “By adopting an all digital workflow from design through manufacturing, upstart firms like Bastion are able to streamline the entire process and get high-quality products to market faster.  SensAble is proud that Bastion based their business on our FreeForm modeling system, and we are as excited as they are about the release of their first product within their first year of business.”

Ex Illis is available starting today at www.ex-illis.com and through select game dealers in the US, Canada, United Kingdom and France.

About Bastion

Bastion is a tabletop games company that uses the power of technology to improve gameplay, making it more accessible to beginners and to provide a rich, constantly evolving experience for veteran players.    In addition to improving gameplay experience, Bastion’s use of technology allows it to offer its partners a unique, innovative business model, part of the truly revolutionary philosophy that supports the company’s mission and vision. Henceforth, under Bastion’s business partnership model, running a game store will no longer be synonymous with excessive risks and the cumbersome management of room and heavy inventory.  The company is based in Québec, Canada.  For more information on Ex Illis, visit http://ex-illis.com or email contactus@bastionstudio.com.

About SensAble Technologies

Founded in 1993, SensAble Technologies is the leading developer of 3D touch-enabled (force feedback) solutions and technology that allow users to not only see and hear an on-screen computer application, but to actually “feel” it.  With 41 patents granted and over 7,000 systems installed worldwide, SensAble Technologies' haptic technology is being used in applications ranging from designing toys and footwear, to surgical simulation and stroke rehabilitation, to dental restorations, as well as a range of research and robotic applications.  The company markets its own 3D modeling solutions as well as its haptic devices and developer toolkits to medical, dental, design, and manufacturing companies; educational and research institutions; and OEMs. SensAble products are available through direct and reseller channels worldwide.  www.sensable.com.

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