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 Alpharius wrote:
I don't think the Pledge Manager for this campaign has even launched yet, has it?

In the New Years update they stated they wanted all the freebies done before launching the pledge manager. They are still working on Sister Ardanna. Unfortunately there is no 3D model even yet for her.

 Mathieu Raymond wrote:
I think it'll launch when we near page 150. So, BrookM, be a dear and load the thread with delicious gifs, k?

I don't really have a horse in this race, plus I'd rather not end up on the "to brutally murder" list of more forum members.

This will be an excellent exercise to see whether or not they've learned from the first KS though.

As it stands on the KS page itself, they list the shipping date of the mini's as March 2016.

So, didi mau, place bets!

Well, in all fairness, no one gets into KS anymore and not expect at least a 6 months delay. So let's move those goalposts to September 2016.

Even that seems incredibly optimistic. And when do we consider the line crossed? They did stipulate that as soon as minis are available, if you want to cash out, you can. So that makes for a very fluid definition of "Mission Accomplished."

Actually, was there any word on this being released in fluid waves or not?

From what's been said they'll roll out the PM when they have the first batch of completed casts (?)

and you'll be able to pay shipping for finished stuff whenever you want

(potentially expensive, but the temptation to take advantage of this to add to the mound of stuff needing painting will be high)

Update #35 Mar 5 2016

UPDATE#35 - Production Update and Other News

Hello dear Backers,

(Note: Some email providers truncate the end of long messages, so please be aware that this Update ends with a Special Deal).

Firstly, thank you for all the positive comments on the last update: not knowing which miniatures to choose because they’re all so awesome is exactly the kind of problem we like to create :-)

We’ve got some important info for you, so let’s get started.

Things are moving along swiftly, and a first wave of shipments should happen as early as April. This means that the Pledge Manager will soon be live!!! For more details, keep right on reading.

Indeed, in terms of sculpting, we are nearly there:
•All of the Freebie models are sculpted, printed and cast, except for Xarsiss who is already at the foundry and ready for casting, and Ardanna who is about to leave for 3D printing and will be shown in our next Update;
•Almost all of the Heroines are sculpted and many are ready for 3D printing or casting;
•Work on the Troops is greatly accelerating (see details below), with the sculpting of up to 75% finished before the end of March and the remaining ones in April!



That being said, when this Kickstarter began, we were hoping to deliver at the end of March, but sadly, it will not happen this month, although you can expect the first wave to start shipping in April!

We wish there hadn’t been any delays, but there were. We hate letting you down and we owe you an apology. From the bottom of our heart, please know that we are sorry, and that we are tirelessly working to catch up.

As you know, we're constantly obsessed with the quality of the minis you will receive, and that's what these delays have been about.

We went overseas twice for a total of over a month to visit the foundry and, together, improved and streamlined many processes. We also helped them recruit new staff, to better handle the TGG2 production. On their end, they completely upgraded their manufacturing processes to achieve an even higher quality level. We also recruited and trained more than 10 3D sculptors during this project, and only kept a few of the very best from that pool. We think that the result of this really shows in the quality of the sculpts, which we feel are even a step up from the TGG1 models.



Upcoming Renders

The next batch of renders are almost ready for processing, so you’ll be getting a massive slew of them in our update at the end of the month! I'd have liked to have shown them in this post, but creating them not only takes a lot of time, it also stops the rest of the work and we have to balance content for Updates with getting things finished. Since we’re so close to finishing the troops, we thought it was best to knuckle down, head for the finish line and give you a big Update next time!

I mentioned an Update at the end of this month? That’s right, and if you thought the last one was huge, wait till you see what’s coming… you'll be seeing renders for:
•Dark Elves (F) - Halberdiers Command and Troops
•Dark Elves (F) - Spearmen Command and Troops
•Dark Elves (F) - Swordsmen Command and Troops
•Dark Elves (F) - Crossbowmen Command and Troops
•Lust Elves (SF) - Skinners Command and Troops
•Lust Elves (F) - Flesh Eaters Command and Troops
•Sisters of Eternal Mercy (SF) - Regular Command and Troops
•Sisters of Eternal Mercy (SF) - Icariates Command and Troops
•Sisters of The Orphanage (F) - Regular Command and Troops
•Sisters of The Orphanage (F) - Angels Command and Troops

AND with many more Command and Troops to follow just a month after!

These have all come about so fast because the workflows we talked about before are picking up speed. The initial stages were the most delicate and took almost 3 months to setup, which was in part responsible for the delays. But now they’re in place, we are flying through the other steps!

The first units we worked on were the Dark Elf Halberdiers which, after a few tweaks, were finished super-fast and so I’ve managed to sneak a sample out to show you:





Pledge Manager

All of the progress mentioned above means that the Pledge Manager is almost ready to be released!!!

Just like with our previous Kickstarter, we chose to delay opening the Pledge Manager until we had as many renders as possible to show you when it opens.

The Pledge Manager will follow the same format as the previous one, which is basically a very intuitive and easy-to-use online shop. Here's a screen grab for the TGG KS Pledge Manager:



Please note that you WILL be able to add more funds directly into the Pledge Manager.

However, you WON’T be able to JUMP UP to a higher Pledge Level once the Pledge Manager has launched.

If you wish to jump to a higher pledge level, you need to do it as soon as possible:
•Go to this page http://bit.ly/TGG2-Paypal and add the necessary funds to get to where you want to be. You don't need to pick a specific Pledge Level, just do the maths between what you've pledged and the Pledge Level you want to go to.
•Then, send us an email at RagingHeroesTeam@gmail.com to tell us to which Pledge Level you are going to, and what your Kickstarter email address is, so that we can combine both pledges.
•If you have an Early Bird, don’t worry - you can keep it and still jump to a higher Pledge Level without losing your bonus. If you need any help, send us a message at RagingHeroesTeam@gmail.com or via Kickstarter and we’ll get things sorted.

What's in the First Wave of Shipments?

Our goal is to ship a First Wave of TGG2 minis shortly after the Pledge Manager closes.

This will include
•All the Freebies (these are available to Lieutenant Box Pledges and higher)
•Many Heroines (a precise list to come with the Pledge Manager)
•Several Troops/Command (list to come with the Pledge Manager too)

The foundry has already begun casting most of those.

Here are photos of casts and new prototypes that we are regularly receiving from the foundry.



















Feeling Left Out?

We're working hard to make the best minis of the galaxy, and perhaps there are those of you who would like to hear from us more often. And yet, preparing Updates is a much longer and challenging endeavour than anyone could imagine, so we can't always do them as often as we'd all like :(

Nevertheless, we've got your back and you're in good hands with this project. So whenever you have questions / concerns / comments / or even kudos about the TGG2 project, get in touch directly!

Just type into our Live Chat window at http://www.ragingheroes.com, or send us an email at RagingHeroesTeam@gmail.com ora message via Kickstarter. In virtually all cases, we respond in less than 24 hours during the working week.



Tobias Is Out There…

----- Tobias has nuclear potential as a weapon of war. Look at what rabbits did to US (dust bowl / great depression) and what rabbits have done and are doing to Australia. Rabbits breed quickly. Millions of them can wipe out a nation’s food supply. Winged rabbits are much more difficult to contain and can attack on different fronts. Tobias is by far the most deadly bioweapon every produced -----
... message ends with the sound of glass smashing, followed by a high pitched squealing, the patter of small furry feet and then… silence -----



This was a recording we were asked to collect at midnight from a nearby phone box. It is from a mysterious stranger, referred to only as Bill (and which was later re-copied on the TGG2 message thread by said Bill).

We thought it might be important to share this with you and if you unleash Tobias on your collection, we can’t be held responsible for the consequences...

And a Special Deal Just for You…

Like all the best acts… we like to end with an encore, so how about a backer-only discount code as a small token of our appreciation to you, our backers!

DISCOUNT CODE: BestBackerEver10 But hurry, this offer expires next Friday March 11.

This code gives you 10% off across our entire store, including on our latest releases, such as the uber-popular Nepharya!



To use it, simply visit our webshop as normal and enter the code in the Discount box during checkout.

That’s all for now, thanks for reading and brace yourself for the next update; it will be another render-heavy one!

If you haven’t already, why not like us on Facebook for other news and events...

Guess its time to bump up my pledge. Undecided if I should go to Captain or Major level, which depends on whether I want the avatar and spider mother models or not.

I think I'll just leave my pledge at Commander rather than upgrading to Captain. It's only a $10 savings in the grand scheme of things, and I'll have more money when the pledge manager opens than I do now.

chaos0xomega wrote:
Guess its time to bump up my pledge.

I refuse to give another penny until they fulfill the their first KS.

Are people still waiting on stuff then? I thought it was all dead and done by now?

yeah..what is left on their first ks? I got all my stuff and it was alot....

I think there's still a pdf art book to come at some point,

but as far as I know all the minis should have shipped by now (even the 54mm collectors pieces)

The artbook won't be released until all miniatures are up for sale, which may take some time, as they only go up for sale when they're all painted up by their artist of choice and have boxes and whatnot.

Is their idea of game development also permanently dead? Their new motto seems a bit defeatist, if you ask me. Sure, everyone *is* using them as proxies... but that forever makes you dependent on others for your minis to have any appeal as an army, rather than set pieces.

Speaking of set pieces, I wonder what Jah Joshua thinks of the minis.

 Breotan wrote:

chaos0xomega wrote:
Guess its time to bump up my pledge.

I refuse to give another penny until they fulfill the their first KS.

What still needs to be released? the art book is the only thing i can think off

I have all of my models. The only thing I'm missing is the art book.

Every model from the first KS is done, they are now slowly integrated into their on-line store, a few releases at a time as they wait for painted minis to show up that they can use for box / blister card art.

Once those are all done they'll be integrated into the art book, IIRC. At the current rate, two or so boxed sets and a few blisters per release wave, it should all be up for sale around the end of the year at the latest.

Sister Ardanna, Pillar of the Faith

So finally, here she is!







With Ardanna now finished, we now have 52 out of 63 Heroines whose sculpting is complete! And out of the remaining 11, the majority are almost done.

Furthermore, you probably also know that Sister Ardanna was the last remaining Freebie to be sculpted.

This is very good news, because it now means that all the Freebies are now done, and they will be included in with your first TGG2 shipment, if you're at Lieutenant Box Pledge Level or above!

In our eyes, this set of 16 TGG2 Freebies is really special. Indeed, the fact that a mini is also a Freebie does not translate into a quick and dirty job. On the contrary, we designed and crafted each Freebie with the same loving attention as any other sculpts of this Kickstarter. In fact, we think that characters like Sister Ardanna, Lady Melith, or Xarsiss, are among the very strong characters of the TGG line.

And as you know, we are currently working on a TGG game, and the Freebies will be as important as the other characters in the gameplay!





Upcoming Renders

Earlier today, on the Comments thread, Lwarren posted this:
"How funny would it be if they update later today (April fools day), with 150 broken links to pictures, complete with descriptions of how awesome the models we can't see are. Now that would be a good prank "

That could have been tempting... If a tiny bit sadistic... However, while, in the last Update, we told you that we should have a lot of renders of the Troops for you in this Update, as it turned out, our new Troops workflow actually got in the way.

But in a good way, though.

Usually, what we do is that we make a sculpt, then we do a 3D render that we share with you in Updates. Then and only then, after you've seen it, do we prepare the 3D sculpt for 3D printing. This means that the sculpts go to the 3D printer 2 to 4 weeks AFTER you've seen the render.

But our Troops workflow is so radical that the 3D print preparation is now incorporated directly into the sculpting process. So that means that the renders that we will be showing you now come in the very last stage.

This means that, unfortunately, the renders have been slightly delayed. But looking at where we're at today, we should be showing you a first series of Troops renders them later next week. And another good chunk of Troops renders just a few days after that, even though renders are so time-consuming to create and prepare.

AND the very good news is that when you see those renders, it will mean that the sculpts will already be in the 3D printing queue at the 3D printer shop!

So, while we all wait for those Troops renders, I thought that you might have a use for these cool DE and Fantasy Sisters wallpapers.







Shipping and the Pledge Manager

Speaking of the Pledge Manager, this may seem surprising, but setting up an effective Pledge Manager platform is an incredibly complex task because the various logistical needs it has to address are unusual, and simple off-the-shelf solutions don't actually exist. So we have to twist and tweak what does exist to achieve our ends.





We were pretty happy with the system we had for TGG1. And yet, it required a massive amount of manual and non-automated work, and you can bet that we'd rather spend it on creating gorgeous minis and new projects instead. So for TGG2, we've been working on making the new Pledge Manager more efficient.

Yet right now, we still have problems setting up the shipping exactly as we had planned. As you know, we did not collect the shipping fees during the Kickstarter, because we wanted to use a weight-based system and the option for you to get as many shipments as you wanted as often as you wanted.



So, we still have to collect your shipping costs. But after very long conversations, back and forth, and lots of hair pulling with various commercial platforms we've been working with, it appears that something that looks so simple is in fact hindered by many technical considerations for which, at this point in time, there are no workarounds. In this digital age, it seems rather crazy that this cannot be done but, right now, this is where we're at.

So, unless there's a breakthrough with one of our vendors, we may have to devise another approach for shipping than what we originally had in mind.



To make up for this, I am studying the possibility of getting you 2 shipments for the price of one. This way, you'd be able to quickly get your hands on all the Freebies together with everything else that's already available in Wave 1, and you'd get a second shipment when the rest of your Rewards Selection is ready.

And of course, I would try and include an option to add more shipments later if that's what you'd want.

So that's where I'm at right now. There's still a bit of smoke coming out of my ears, but the doctor said it should get better in time... I'll be able to share more in the next Update.

In case you missed it, there is more info on the Pledge Manager in Update #35.



Casts and Stocks

Sprinkled throughout this Update are the latest production casts that we received from the foundry.



Indeed, while we are working like crazy to finish the sculpts, the foundry is not slacking off either, and the team is committed to produce as many models as possible with Wave 1. We've already received massive boxes full of minis. Most of them are already stacked on our shelves patiently waiting for the next step.

For example, as soon as we have received all the Freebies, we'll gather the whole team and have a beer and pizza (well, this being France, it might be wine and cheese) packing week-end to put together all 16 Freebie models in over 2500 individual little plastic bags.



We had a banker visit our stock room last week, and he very innocently asked where our minis where packaged before shipment. We could not decide if he were impressed or thought us crazy when we told him it was done in our offices, and not by little hands in faraway countries... But you won't be surprised when we tell you that one of the reasons why we do this ourselves is also because it gives us one more chance to quality control the minis before they get into your hands.



And here's the beautiful Manticore we talk to you about, now in its cast version





Wish Nope and Beedle could help out with the packing, too...



Base size and shape

This question was posted on the Comments thread by Jonathan Holt:
"It will be unfortunate if these models don't fit on 20mm square bases. LnR said that these models are supposed to be proxies for different games but when the models don't fit for the more obvious choices for games to proxy (KoW/WH)...that is a problem. I am obviously speaking from the Fantasy side of things. These may work fine for Warpath/40k."

I was going to prepare a reply for this, but John Wolf jumped in and did it extremely well, so it made more sense to simply quote him:
John Wolf: "You are thinking about the numbers wrong. A 20mm square base is only smaller then a 25mm round base when compared to the 20mm side. The diagonal is a pinch over 28mm. The problem with basing on squares is not whether the feet will fit, but how the arms and weapons interact. One way to limit this is by making something similar to the 80mm x 20mm bases GW made (for four models a cross). The models can still mess with the placement in front of and behind them but each rank is uniform. You still use single bases in the last rank, to make "change" as your troops are taken off (Yes, you will be removing models... If you don't want your troops to die, you shouldn't be playing war...)"

I would also add that by doing what John Wolf talks about and putting them in a line-up on a larger base, you get the best possible effect of what we're trying to do, which is to aim at making each unit look like a small diorama.

(update also has 'new releases from the webstore for TTG1 mins and discount codes so have a look if you're thinking of shopping)

I find this thread's lack of vitriol surprising.

As a rule, was there little overlap in pledgers from the previous campaign, or did people just pledge with a cooler head?

 Mathieu Raymond wrote:
I find this thread's lack of vitriol surprising.

As a rule, was there little overlap in pledgers from the previous campaign, or did people just pledge with a cooler head?

I think people pledged with cooler heads this time around. I didn't pledge fore the first one, but having seen everything that went on with thew delays, I pledged for this one knowing it would be at least a year over the estimate.

Pledged with a mate in the middle of Japan, don't mind the waiting game

I pledged on both TGG1 and 2.

Yeah I pledged for both...I had an awareness that this would take a while. Complaining about them didn't really help in the TGG1 thread either.....

Plus there communication is much improved.

 Mathieu Raymond wrote:
I find this thread's lack of vitriol surprising.

As a rule, was there little overlap in pledgers from the previous campaign, or did people just pledge with a cooler head?

I think at this point people know what to expect.

 Mathieu Raymond wrote:
I find this thread's lack of vitriol surprising.

As a rule, was there little overlap in pledgers from the previous campaign, or did people just pledge with a cooler head?

Raging Heroes pulled their finger out, and they've done it in style.

 Mathieu Raymond wrote:
I find this thread's lack of vitriol surprising.

As a rule, was there little overlap in pledgers from the previous campaign, or did people just pledge with a cooler head?

This one is running pretty smoothly,

stuffs getting done (rather than junked and redone repeatedly),

we're getting regular updates (rather than promises of updates that don't hit for months)

It's not late

and backers from the last one will have had their minis so know that they'll be worth waiting for

It is late.
But everyone was expecting it to be late.
Compared to last time, they actually have I proved by a lot

Pledged for both TGG 1 and 2. Did invest a lot less than the first, though, so I'm not in a hurry.

The fact I took the pledge for TGG 2 for something else than a GW proxy army is also helping.

Otherwise, when you see the actual prices for retail and the price you paid for TGG 1 in the highest pledges, well...it's really worth it. And since the quality is real...

I actually pledged a lot more this time around. It definitely seems like it's going faster (and smoother) this time.

It does seem to be going faster... or we're a lot older and times just flies by.

I don't think we've seen many troops, yet, and that is where the first KS was meh, imho. The heroines, very happy. They have character and a nice flow, but the troops were a bit disappointing in execution (bits being too chunky, mostly)