Raging Heroes [official] Toughest Girls of the Galaxy Kickstarter - $698,548 Finish!

Forum adverts like this one are shown to any user who is not logged in. Join us by filling out a tiny 3 field form and you will get your own, free, dakka user account which gives a good range of benefits to you:

No adverts like this in the forums anymore.
Times and dates in your local timezone.
Full tracking of what you have read so you can skip to your first unread post, easily see what has changed since you last logged in, and easily see what is new at a glance.
Email notifications for threads you want to watch closely.
Being a part of the oldest wargaming community on the net.

If you are already a member then feel free to login now.

**BrookM**

As they said, they're going to ease back on the updates so we can focus on giving them more pledgers.

But yeah, right now for me, half of the minis I want and why I'm in on this are still locked away with no idea on when they'll be unlocked.

**HisDivineShadow**

Look, its not like I don't want things unlocked, I'm just pointing out that having Stretch Goals, while ubiquitous, isn't Law. Its not required by KS or Country. Feeling "cheated" is too common in our "I'm entitled" cultural mindset.

Minis Kick starters just seem to have a much more "throw a tantrum if I'm not getting the free stuff I want and quit" atmosphere than any other genre.

**Makaleth**

Just a note guys:

LnR from yesterday: "Hello! We've been quite silent since late yesterday, and that was not entirely due to careful planning. While we intended to spend quite the many hours working on external communications for the KS, Benoit's body decided to take a break: he threw his back so bad he could barely walk, and when he did, he had to be completely bent at the waist... Lucky for us, he saw an excellent chiropractor today who set the articulation back, but the inflammation is still high, so when I say he's now flat on his back, well, ... he is ;-) So, in a way, it's just as well that the KS is moving more slowly for the moment, we'll be back with a vengeance in no time :-) Also there's a good chance of our unveiling quite a few stretch goals at once, which will be an opportunity to discover and share new images, instead of staring at the silhouettes. As soon as I can get my man back on Photoshop, we'll make that happen!"

This may have been posted before, but just a reminder to be patient... these things happen

**Buzzsaw**

BrookM wrote:
As they said, they're going to ease back on the updates so we can focus on giving them more pledgers.

But yeah, right now for me, half of the minis I want and why I'm in on this are still locked away with no idea on when they'll be unlocked.

That's the thing, that makes no sense whatsoever to me. Quiet from the campaign directors does not, in my experience, increase numbers of backers nor does it increase excitement. Cthulhu Wars has been pelting us with updates and it seems to have had no negative effect on their pledges; generally my observation is that greater interaction with the project creator is a plus.

I had presumed that their statements about trying to gather new backers would be accompanied by a push: advertising, organizing the current campaign in a fashion that makes the benefits of pledging obvious, doing interviews...

Are they doing any of those things? Serious question, I have no knowledge that they are, but I may be missing it.

Because if the intention is that the backers are giving the hard sell to their friends, well...

Spoiler:

**AlexHolker**

HisDivineShadow wrote:
Look, its not like I don't want things unlocked, I'm just pointing out that having Stretch Goals, while ubiquitous, isn't Law. Its not required by KS or Country. Feeling "cheated" is too common in our "I'm entitled" cultural mindset.

Minis Kick starters just seem to have a much more "throw a tantrum if I'm not getting the free stuff I want and quit" atmosphere than any other genre.

These aren't freebies. The stretch goals that Raging Heroes was dragging its feet over were products that people wanted to buy.

**Mathieu Raymond**

... it's like they're playing hard to get. Isn't it? It works in relationships... but it tends to make investors and customers a bit jittery.

**MajorWesJanson**

Eh. Finally decided to pledge. I plan to use them for 40K guard, as vets and stormtroopers alongside my Elysians. The scale will hopefully be closeish. Looking forward to seeing what more freebies come along. First kickstart for me.

AT

Buzzsaw wrote:

Because if the intention is that the backers are giving the hard sell to their friends, well...

Spoiler:

Well, the original goal was for $12k. It's possible that they are perfectly happy with adding on another $5k/day for the rest of the campaign.

None of this explains the odd radio silence, but... hey! It is France, after all! They have a strict 25 hour work week over there, or something, right?

**BrookM**

Well, it's a three-person operation right? With the brains out of commission due to a thrown back, I guess things can grind to a halt, half a year of prepping or not.

**Mathieu Raymond**

In all fairness, no, closer to 35. But the job situation has just been terrible. These guys are actually in a better position since they essentially created their own work.

But most of the country shuts down for August for vacation. And please, not trying to start a flame war, it is a useful, if a tad simplistic, generalization. I bet these guys probably won't shut down for that long if it's their money on the line.

Automatically Appended Next Post:
For example, Quebec has the same thing, except it's only 2 weeks and it's end of July/beginning of August. We pester the hell out of New England during those two weeks generally.

**deleted20250424**

It makes me laugh anytime someone says "Well, the original goal was for $12k." Hur hur hur..... like that was ever their actual goal.

Then of course the ever present "I'm entitled/spoiled first world brats" argument gets rolled out.

It's like this thread goes in circles every few days.

It's flat out stupid to say; "Hey, we're not going to update our KS until you guys get us more pledgers!"

That should really drag the Backers to this project.

Buzz has made very well thought out comments that, people in general and RH, should listen to seriously.

AT

TalonZahn wrote:
It makes me laugh anytime someone says "Well, the original goal was for $12k." Hur hur hur..... like that was ever their actual goal.

Well, let's at least agree that it's indicative of their actual goal, which was likely much much less than where they are now.

If you put the initial funding goal at $10k and you think you've got a good thing going, you've probably planned stretch goals up to $100k or so.

If you think you can hit $500k or $1M, you're not going to start at $10k.

**deleted20250424**

I disagree completely.

The ramp up and the groundwork they did before this KS ever started indicated they had much, much higher targets in mind. Let alone 12k or anything around it.

It also gave them the opportunity to roll out that nice little graphic at the beginning showing alllllll that stuff we unlocked right off the bat.

**BaronIveagh**

I'll admit that now that the CHS thing is more or less settled, I'm looking hard at a minis kickstarter to the tune of, say, 20-30k to get the machinery and materials. Remember that most kickstarters are not THIS successful and a lot of them aim low to ensure that the project gets at least minimal funding.

**deleted20250424**

BaronIveagh wrote:
Remember that most kickstarters are not THIS successful and a lot of them aim low to ensure that the project gets at least minimal funding.

This man speaks the truth.

Plus, they can yell to the world their KS was funded in 30 seconds.....

**WolfStark**

Next Stretch Goals: http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/loudnraging/raging-heroes-the-toughest-girls-of-the-galaxy/posts

Also about shipping:

Shipping costs

Wolfwings asked me a question on Facebook a while back, and I thought I'd share my reply with you all:

THE QUESTION: "How does the drop point affects postage?" and "Is it possible to take multiple pledges at one address to save the postage? Cause you know, Major and Lt. postage rate is the same and we hate the post..."

OUR ANSWER: “The drop ship programme does NOT impact or lower postage. The drop points will mean that people can get their rewards in several waves, instead of waiting for everything to be ready at once.

As for combining pledges to a single address, we cannot discount the shipping costs on that for a simple reason. Right now, we barely break even on shipping for pledges up to about 350 Euros or so. Anything more expensive than that means that we are paying the extra postage ourselves.

Please keep in mind that high pledges mean heavy packages. Our regular shipping cost for our online shop is 9.90 Euros for Shipping with Tracking, which is over $13. But that's for orders that are usually under $150, and where we already actually subsidize a good chunk of the shipping costs.

But in the Kickstarter, the pledges will often be for much higher than 150$ and because all the minis in the KS are discounted, that does not leave us any room to pay for the extra shipping costs ourselves, or subsidize them beyond what we are already doing.

Also, we spoke to many other Kickstarter project creators who ALL told us they lose A LOT of money because of underestimated shipping costs. So we have to be very careful with that.

We worked hard to find the best possible options for everyone, and we were able to drop our shipping costs by half compared to our initial estimates. Also, for anybody outside the US, our shipping costs are quite competitive with other KS (and often downright better). Usually, US shipping costs are actually built into the price of the rewards, but we chose to be transparent and not to proceed this way.

The other thing that has to be factored in is the picking and packing costs. If we were actually able to save a few pennies on shipping, this would go towards picking and packing because right now, given the many different miniatures that will be included in each pledge, and given that pledges are all going to be different, it's going to be a very labour-intensive job to prepare them. And since we're keeping the production in Europe and the US, then the labour costs are significant...

Furthermore, on packing, we do extensive quality control, and we are known for packing our minis very carefully to avoid breakage... And that also has a cost...
I hope this helps :-)”

This Q&A was reposted on several forums, and I was happy to read this post by Azazelx on DakkaDakka (scroll down, it's the second point that he makes that refers to it) which (very kindly) confirms the quality of our packing/shipping operation. Thanks Azazelx!

ANOTHER QUESTION WE SAW COME UP: “I don't want to wait and I'm living far away from a Drop Ship Point. What can I do?”

OUR ANSWER: “There are a couple of options.

First, it is possible that a closer Drop Ship location becomes a reality by the time we are ready for the first wave of minis, as we are getting new partners just about every day. And of course, you can help us with this by going to your friendly local gaming store and telling them about the Drop Ship Programme.
Should they be interested, they can fill this form to sign up.

Second, it will be possible, for those who do not wish to wait, to choose to receive their shipment in several waves. There will be additional shipping costs for that, but if it's something you want, we'll make sure to make that option available to you, probably at Survey time, possibly before.”

**Widdershinz**

I love those snipers. My command squads will now have nothing but snipers!

**KalashnikovMarine**

Woo! Kruganova snipers!

**-iPaint-**

Ugh...the Kurganova concept art just looks too cool....curse my lack of funds to get everything I want from this KS right now!

Still in for mostly Jailbirds and Iron Empire at the moment, with a few Kurganova heroines.

~iPaint

**somewheresomehow**

The entirety of that shipping discussion is just a repost of a comment they made a couple of days back, on the kickstarter.

Doesn't help us understand what benefits the stores get, and why they would be willing to waste stocking area to hold onto a batch of minis that gives them no monetary value whereas the space being taken up is money being lost.

The Heavy trooper box upgrade is the same upgrade the normal troopers get.

And sadly, I was looking forward to the kurganova snipers, and now, since only one of them looks decent (to me,) I won't be getting them. At least we can see them now though!

**Breotan**

somewheresomehow wrote:
Doesn't help us understand what benefits the stores get, and why they would be willing to waste stocking area to hold onto a batch of minis that gives them no monetary value whereas the space being taken up is money being lost.

Other customers see you picking up your order and ask you about it? You decide to start building in the store and other customers see you and ask the owner about it? You decide that you want something that you missed out on during the kickstarter and buy it while you're there? You start giving the store your business because they're doing you a solid?

**Darkness**

I am just itching to drop $600+ on this kickstarter, but until I see some 3D renderings of the jailbirds, I can't in good conscience

**somewheresomehow**

Breotan wrote:
somewheresomehow wrote:
Doesn't help us understand what benefits the stores get, and why they would be willing to waste stocking area to hold onto a batch of minis that gives them no monetary value whereas the space being taken up is money being lost.
Other customers see you picking up your order and ask you about it? You decide to start building in the store and other customers see you and ask the owner about it? You decide that you want something that you missed out on during the kickstarter and buy it while you're there? You start giving the store your business because they're doing you a solid?

Yet for the majority of the stores, currently, it would be people coming in regionally, and not staying for long. You assume everyone is just going to the absolutely local FLGS. You assume that people are going to care about the profit margins of the FLGS that is not their FLGS, or even if they use FLGSes. So I pick up my box of minis, that are seperated from everyone else, and aren't supposed to be outside of the box they were seperated into. And if they are shipped in a single lump sum, then the store has to spend time seperating and grouping them for everyone (because I doubt it would be 1 or 2 minis only, would be a drastic drain on RH's funds), and then either they contact the person, or RH does, which is more time, which is, literally, money, if it is a 3 man operation... oh wait, they are in France, so more than likely, it won't be RH. The costs to the FLGS actually are quite high for this sort of thing, so there has to be another benefit, because really, yours, Breotan, are altruistic based ones that you HOPE the people who use the dropship program, would do, but may or may not do.

And, if they are selling minis, before everyone in the KS gets their orders, I think people will have a very hard time supporting RH. If we, as backers, are the ones currently supporting their product, and they are focusing on keeping stores stocked with the "first wave" or whatever you want to call the first batch of minis sent for Dropship programs, and it delays the release of minis to those who can't get to a Dropship program, then we as backers, have been effectively lied to, because we are supposed to get the product before it reaches retail, or at the same time. If the product is released, in waves, then to retail at the same time, what point is there to supporting the kickstarter now, minus the freebies, which we can buy, at retail?

**KalashnikovMarine**

double, please delete

**Lansirill**

I'm curious to see how things break out by wave, and how much they'll charge for shipping each wave. It could be good, could be bad. I think my plan with this KS is to keep my lieutenant pledge, possibly do a little bit of add-ons (maybe $50, tops,) and then just be patient. I'm fully expecting delays, waves or no waves, and I don't want to tie up more money than I can happily ignore.

Also, is there anyone in the DC/MD/VA area that might want to see if we can get a friendly local to act as a drop ship? I think I'm going to ask at Drop Zone the next time I'm up that way.

**somewheresomehow**

Lansirill wrote:
I'm curious to see how things break out by wave, and how much they'll charge for shipping each wave.

They aren't going to charge kickstarter backers more for the use of a dropship store. This is one of the reasons there is a bit of a strange feeling for some of us, because this comes directly out of pocket from RH, and has no other benefit than being awesome and altruistic for those who can do it.

**Mathieu Raymond**

somewheresomehow wrote:

And, if they are selling minis, before everyone in the KS gets their orders, I think people will have a very hard time supporting RH. If we, as backers, are the ones currently supporting their product, and they are focusing on keeping stores stocked with the "first wave" or whatever you want to call the first batch of minis sent for Dropship programs, and it delays the release of minis to those who can't get to a Dropship program, then we as backers, have been effectively lied to, because we are supposed to get the product before it reaches retail, or at the same time. If the product is released, in waves, then to retail at the same time, what point is there to supporting the kickstarter now, minus the freebies, which we can buy, at retail?

I'm also hung up on this one. Hence my asking this: can we get a semi-solid breakdown of the shipping waves so we can, if need be, get most of our KS stuff in wave 1?

**Fafnir**

Darkness wrote:
I am just itching to drop $600+ on this kickstarter, but until I see some 3D renderings of the jailbirds, I can't in good conscience

While I've already put money into the KS, I am operating on a similar stance. If I don't see 3D renders of the models I want before the kickstarter ends, I'm withdrawing my funds.

**Breotan**

somewheresomehow wrote:
Breotan wrote:
somewheresomehow wrote:
Doesn't help us understand what benefits the stores get, and why they would be willing to waste stocking area to hold onto a batch of minis that gives them no monetary value whereas the space being taken up is money being lost.
Other customers see you picking up your order and ask you about it? You decide to start building in the store and other customers see you and ask the owner about it? You decide that you want something that you missed out on during the kickstarter and buy it while you're there? You start giving the store your business because they're doing you a solid?
Yet for the majority of the stores, currently, it would be people coming in regionally, and not staying for long. You assume everyone is just going to the absolutely local FLGS. You assume that people are going to care about the profit margins of the FLGS that is not their FLGS, or even if they use FLGSes. So I pick up my box of minis, that are seperated from everyone else, and aren't supposed to be outside of the box they were seperated into. And if they are shipped in a single lump sum, then the store has to spend time seperating and grouping them for everyone (because I doubt it would be 1 or 2 minis only, would be a drastic drain on RH's funds), and then either they contact the person, or RH does, which is more time, which is, literally, money, if it is a 3 man operation... oh wait, they are in France, so more than likely, it won't be RH. The costs to the FLGS actually are quite high for this sort of thing, so there has to be another benefit, because really, yours, Breotan, are altruistic based ones that you HOPE the people who use the dropship program, would do, but may or may not do.

I made no assumptions of any kind. I merely offered reasons that a store would possibly benefit from being in the program. You, on the other hand, offered a whole lot of assumptions on why it would fail. If my reasons for being in the program have no merit then neither do your arguments against them as everything is pure conjecture at this point. You want specifics about why a store would participate? Ask the owner of one who is.

somewheresomehow wrote:
And, if they are selling minis, before everyone in the KS gets their orders, I think people will have a very hard time supporting RH. <snip> then we as backers, have been effectively lied to, because we are supposed to get the product before it reaches retail, or at the same time.

Did I miss something? Was this specifically promised as part of the kickstarter program? I thought the only thing "promised" was that you'd get the product you pay for at the end of the kickstarter - assuming they don't just run off to Spain with the money (which usually doesn't happen). Given the stories I've seen posted about how LFGS are anti-kickstarter, promising them first shipments would be a possible way to get them to stock the product. In fact, I'm suprised more projects don't do this very thing.

Personally, I don't care if I get my product earlier or later than the stores, as long as the guys at RH are honest and up front about everything and there isn't too long of a lag between the two.

**Jimsolo**

Mathieu Raymond wrote:

I'm also hung up on this one. Hence my asking this: can we get a semi-solid breakdown of the shipping waves so we can, if need be, get most of our KS stuff in wave 1?

This is actually a really reasonable request. I think that it might help if we could come up with a list of the things we want to see out of the Kickstarter team. The team has been amazing at listening to community feedback, they're far more receptive than I would ever have imagined, and I think that coming up with a 'list of demands,' so to speak, might be helpful.

It might help to clarify which desires from the community are actually wanted and which ones are just one or two people repeating themselves over and over again.

I personally would like to see:

1. Greater clarity about the Drop Ship program(me). Will there be any kind of benefit to the store, other than community interest? If I'm going to pitch this to the proprietor of my local game store, are there any salient selling points I can use?
2. A clear map of the shipping waves. Which models will be shipping when?
3. A longer roadmap of stretch goals.

As a side note, I had another question, since I think it's unlikely my local proprietor will be interested in the Drop Ship program. I know that if you aren't signed up for the drop program, then you will only receive your order when they are all finished. So, what if all of your minis would be finished by the third wave of production? (As a hypothetical.) Would you receive them once your minis are done, or would your order not ship until the entire Kickstarter range has been produced?

I would still like clarity about the webinars, too. Specifically, language concerns. I don't mean to be rude, but I would be interested to know what languages the presentation will be given in, and how fluent of a speaker the presenter will be in the language(s) used. I've had Skype conversations overseas that were very pleasant (one with Oded Adomi Leshem, actually) and easy to follow, and some where the presenter had such a thick accent that it was nearly impossible to follow. I'm not throwing rocks at anyone for their inability to know every language on earth, but I think the webinar would be a bigger selling point if there was a little bit of assurance that we would be able to understand the presenter, and they were able to understand us. In addition, given that there is some international interest in this KS, will the webinar be presented to people of multiple linguistic origins? That could slow it down, resulting in less time to devote to the subject at hand.

Those are just the things that are concerning me, although nothing to a great degree. Still really, really excited by all this. I had a lovely financial windfall that means I'll be able to afford my EB box after all, so my interest has been redoubled. (I didn't realize other people beyond my wife were going to give me gifts for my first father's day. Unexpected, but certainly not unappreciated!)