Kickstarter overload?

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**Buttery Commissar**

I've stopped backing. Why? These are the game or nerdy things I backed for:

KOBOLDS ATE MY BABY! IN COLOR!!! - THE ENDLESS BUFFET Reward Pack! - Delivered roughly on time, with updates every fortnight.
Cthulhu Wars - Cultist - Early Bird 1 - Estimated delivery: Dec 2013 - We got the core game late, and I backed for things like shirts, dice, tokens, etc. that I no longer even care about.
Goblins: Alternate Realities - Goblin War Camp Adventurers: Core Game - Estimated delivery: Dec 2013 - Game studio ran off with the money raised, leaving the artist SOL.
Reaper Miniatures Bones II: The Return Of Mr Bones! - CORE SET - Estimated delivery: Nov 2014 - Over-ran but lots of explanations as to why.
The Evil Ponies - Miniature ponies for table-top gaming - DOCTOR PONES - Estimated delivery: Aug 2014 - has sent out backer survey this week
D6xD6 CORE Role-Playing Game - PAPER PAL: Both an ebook and signed print book - Estimated delivery: Dec 2014 - Running late but updating us weekly, adding tons of stretch goals, etc. Upgraded the book to full colour using their own funding.
Mouse Guard: Swords & Strongholds - One copy of Swords & Strongholds plus $40 int. shipping - Estimated delivery: Jan 2015
SCAPULA: World's Worst Villain - BIG BAD BRAWLER Level: The book, digital copy, donor cred… - Actually on time (to the week)! Delivered!
Arcana Playing Cards- 1 deck of Arcana Playing Cards - Actually on time!
There's also Deluxe Tunnels and Trolls - due in May 2013 - I got my pledge because I paid for artwork, but the book is yet unfinished. the crew behind it have been in full contact the entire time.

** Piece de resistance **
ALAS VEGAS: an RPG of bad memories, bad luck & bad blood - LIMITED-EDITION HARDCOVER. - Estimated delivery: Jun 2013
Still supposedly happening, previews promised for various Gen Cons, no PDFs, sporadic updates. Handled by James Wallis, who was part of the recent Paranoia RPG relaunch whilst this is still unresolved.
Bonus fun: The Paranoia RPG sees James teaming up with with Mongoose Publishing who ran this gak-fest that is also still partly unresolved: Judge Dredd Miniatures Game: Block War - Estimated delivery: Dec 2012

I simply don't have disposable income to gamble on whether I ever fething receive anything. At least with stores or eBay I can put things in my hands and not feel I've been taken advantage of.

**Sining**

Somewhat burned out. I'm pretty much only backing established companies on KS now because I'm sick of asking "where's my pledge?" and having people tell me that the creators have no obligation to produce anything.

This kind of contradicts the spirit of KS because I'm pretty much foregoing all the smaller, indie developers. But that's the kind of atmosphere KS fosters imo with their refusal to take any responsibility into their hands or hold their creators to any accountability.

As for my own project list...

DFG - 3 years late, lost interest in wh40k in between when I backed it and when I got the minis. Sold them all
Bones 1-2. Kept the miniatures. Would be intr in a bones terrain KS
Mantic stuff - would still back if the KS interested me
Battlecon - Seems reliable enough. Produces intr board games.
CMON - Backed quite a few of their stuff until z3 where they told me my shipping to SG was 90 USD. On a 100+ USD pledge. At this point, I'll wait for their games to go on amazon prime and order it from them since 125usd and above orders on amazon ship free to SG.
Myth & Mercs : Didn't back Myth2 cause of how horrible the rules for Myth1 were.
RRT - Given up all hope on this I have
Cthulhu wars - Mixed feelings about this. Nice miniatures, average gameplay, long delays. Then there's the creators constant spamming of other KS on the KS updates and their 'we're just a small company' excuse every single time
Pulp city - Kinda regret backing this, mostly because my intr died by the time I received it.
Sodapop - Seems fairly reliable when not teamed up with CMON.
Mantis Storage - so much trouble with this. Supposed to ship out in October but the creator has run out of money.
Happy Seppuku stamps - I use their base stamps fairly often so I'm happy enough with that. Their first KS was on time, early even. Their 2nd KS however is late by 1 month + at this juncture.

**Guildsman**

I've only backed a couple, but no serious bad experiences yet. I backed the first Bombshell kickstarter, which went fine, and I'm still waiting on Kingdom Death, of course. Beyond that, I've backed a couple small campaigns outside of miniatures. All of them have gone fairly smoothly.

Two things are holding me back from pledging more often. First, I rarely have enough cash on hand at the time of a campaign to make it worthwhile. Sometimes it's nice to purchase in increments rather than dropping $150 in one go. Second, it's becoming increasingly difficult to find campaigns that I trust enough to pledge on. So many projects have gone pear-shaped, or at least poorly-handled, even from companies that should know better. There is an inherent risk in Kickstarter, and I doubt that I'm the only one who's a little more discerning in which projects I back these days.

**Nostromodamus**

I'll be backing 12 Realms: Bedtime Stories and Warpath, then I'm done with KS.

Good savings to be had, but too much stress and hassle.

**cincydooley**

agnosto wrote:
I'm not going to list the Kickstarters here that I've backed because I'd look like an addict or something; let's just say that my wife had to stage an intervention.

I'll drop the bomb first, agnosto. Then you can follow if you chose.

Okay then.....

Spoiler:

So...there's that.

I'm a little pickier these days, but I'm a sucker to support a project that's run by people I know personally or that looks unique.

Most of my hobby spending goes to KS now if it doesn't have a Star or Wars on it

**And yes, I have this all entered in an excel doc with it programmed to tell me when something is late, how much I spent on it, how much I made selling pieces of it, etc. With the pieces I've sold, I'm actually not far from being in the black.....

**Tannhauser42**

Let's just say I've backed enough projects that I easily qualified for the Backer Club website. 2/3 were gaming related, computer and tabletop. The rest assorted among food, clothes, and tech. Edit: just looked it up, backed 92 successful projects, and an additional 17 that I backed out of, were unsuccessful, or were cancelled by the creator.

I've backed far less projects in the past several months than I used to, but that's largely because less and less projects interest me. It's as if the majority of the really good ideas have already come and gone.

**JohnHwangDD**

Buttery Commissar wrote:I've stopped backing. Why? These are the game or nerdy things I backed for:

I simply don't have disposable income to gamble on whether I ever fething receive anything. At least with stores or eBay I can put things in my hands and not feel I've been taken advantage of.

Whoa, that is a very unlucky selection of KS to have backed. I don't blame you for quitting. I'd be mad, too.
____

Sining wrote:Somewhat burned out. I'm pretty much only backing established companies on KS now because I'm sick of asking "where's my pledge?" and having people tell me that the creators have no obligation to produce anything.

This kind of contradicts the spirit of KS because I'm pretty much foregoing all the smaller, indie developers. But that's the kind of atmosphere KS fosters imo with their refusal to take any responsibility into their hands or hold their creators to any accountability.

Yeah, I'm of a similar mind to focus on actual companies with some kind of track record to deliver things. Then I see how KD is super late with minimal Updates... *grumble*

While I like the idea of indie companies getting off the ground, the real small guys (e.g. KD, DFG) are so challenged to keep things moving professionally. Or they're bunch of half-wit feth-ups (e.g. Steve Jackson, Palladium, Dream Pod 9). I totally get the disillusionment.
____

Tannhauser42 wrote:Let's just say I've backed enough projects that I easily qualified for the Backer Club website. 2/3 were gaming related, computer and tabletop. The rest assorted among food, clothes, and tech. Edit: just looked it up, backed 92 successful projects, and an additional 17 that I backed out of, were unsuccessful, or were cancelled by the creator.

I've backed far less projects in the past several months than I used to, but that's largely because less and less projects interest me. It's as if the majority of the really good ideas have already come and gone.

Wait, there's a super secret club that you need to back 100+ projects?

As my closet fills, I agree the bar for something interesting raises higher. Things that I would have backed in 2012 / 2013 just aren't as compelling in 2015 (Ninja All-Stars is in this category).

**Cyporiean**

Hey Cincy, Miasma War shipped early.

**cincydooley**

Cyporiean wrote:
Hey Cincy, Miasma War shipped early.

Oh gak, did it?

I'll be honest, it was one that I wasn't really worried about getting, so I wasn't really paying attention! Lemme fix!

FYI, when does the next one start?

**Cyporiean**

cincydooley wrote:
Cyporiean wrote:
Hey Cincy, Miasma War shipped early.

Oh gak, did it?

I'll be honest, it was one that I wasn't really worried about getting, so I wasn't really paying attention! Lemme fix!

FYI, when does the next one start?

Yeah, due date was April and we shipped almost everything in March.

Only thing left is printed copies of the campaign book for the handful of backers that ordered it, which we announced would be late back after the campaign ended and we got hit with a bunch of failed pledges. We're just waiting on the art to be finished and then printing, so estimate is Mid-to-Late June.

EFT: Gaiden is going to be May 22nd-June 20th.

**Elemental**

Sining wrote:
Somewhat burned out. I'm pretty much only backing established companies on KS now because I'm sick of asking "where's my pledge?" and having people tell me that the creators have no obligation to produce anything.

If I hear "Kickstarter is not a pre-order!" one more time, I may headbutt my monitor.

Malifaux RPG: Arrived about a year late, poor communication, but they did include a free box of miniatures as thanks for waiting.
Primeval Thule RPG: Arrived over a year late, poor communication.
Space: 1889 RPG: Arrived over a year late, poor communication.
Exalted 3E RPG: Close to two years late, appalling communication (including an unpleasant incident where the devs called out fans as being "toxic" for wanting more information, but turned a blind eye to the white knights being just as toxic).
Hell Dorado: Inferno: About six months late, I think, never really checked for communication.
Kingdom Death: Close to two years late, decent communication.
Relic Knights: Gave up on this one and got my pledge back after (you guessed it) over a year of waiting and poor communication.
Mierce (3 different KS's): Good communication, seemed to realise that the due date has to mean something long ago, but now they're doing the same schedule slips as everyone else, so I probably won't back any future ones.
Warmachine Tactics: Good communication, on time, but clearly rushed.
Ambient Environment: Soundtracks: A mere month late, good communication.
Raging Heroes: TGITG: Over a year late, RH-level communication, not so bad because I just ordered one mini.

So quite jaded at this point. Creators seem consistently incapable of realising that the "delivery estimate" entry should MEAN SOMETHING, and that maybe just maybe they should allow themselves a little slack in case something unexpected happens. I'm also sick of projects which are super chatty when they're collecting money and then go into communications blackout once they've got it.

Right now, I mentally add a year onto the date of every KS I back and then ask myself if I still want it. I have no expectations.

**Krinsath**

I'm backing comparatively fewer KS anymore, and at much lower levels of participation. It's not so much dissatisfaction as it is I realized that buying things that I'd receive in 18-36 months didn't stop me from buying other things in the interim. This becomes a problem when I say "Oh! Let's buy <new army> for <game X>!" and then I think "I have 50 pounds of plastic coming from KD:M still..."

The campaigns become something of the Sword of Damocles at that point, as each delay increases the amount of other shiny things I want.

My hit list:

Spoiler:

DFG Metal Eisenkern - Backed this for a decent chunk of metal. Product shipped a little late, minor casting hiccup, overall satisfied.
DFG Plastic Eisenkern - Backed for a large amount. Incredibly late and past useful for what I wanted the models for. However, they're great models and I'm keeping every one of them. No real regrets.
DreadBall - Backed for everything just about. Actually enjoy the game, would do it again.
KD:M - Backed enough to get a WHFB army going. Very late, but still excited for the project.
DeadZone - Believe this ended up being my biggest spend. Haven't played a game yet, but I have a tub-full of modular scenery now and that was my main focus. Might not go as crazy for it now, but still not miffed about anything. Think across the three waves it was about 80 pounds of plastic/restic (mostly plastic).
Bones 2 - Sweet spot + couple addons. Not sure why I backed this honestly, but it gives me a stable of "throwaway" miniatures if I wanted to teach someone to paint. Plus Dragons Don't Share is pretty cool. Might not back it today, but that's just because of usefulness vs. space consumed.
Mars Attacks! - Mainly backed for the DB and DZ content, and the game was only $15 more at that point. Not something I was massively interested in otherwise, but it's a neat little deal.
DreadBall Extreme - Completionist pledge - Still in progress. I like DreadBall, so I'd keep this one still even though the value was iffier.
SDE: TFK - Another completionist pledge - Fulfillment late but in progress. Overall happy with what was received.
Dungeon Saga - Jerk pledge - Ended up passing because between Descent and Imperial Assault, FFG had that genre covered in my gaming library.
DeadZone Infestation - Jerk pledge - wanting to see more before I plunk down money for something being delivered in 8 months or so. This is me getting a bit jaded on spend. Chances are that will end up being a 3-figure amount by the end though as there is a lot of things I like, just not enough for sight-unseen.
Maelstrom's Edge - It's run by these guys who seem reeeeeeeeeeeeally shady, but I think I'll give them a shot.

They run a forum somewhere I heard.

I've not hit all the big successes, but I think I've managed to avoid the worst of the failures overall. I'm rapidly running out of space in which to live though, so...yeah...the spend is down compared to the heady days of 2012 or 2013.

**Baragash**

I don't have a "back less" or "back more" strategy, if stuff I like comes up I'll find the £ to jump in.

Delivered Stuff

Kings of War I - Backed it for an Orc army, which was mostly existing plastic so didn't suffer from "WTF is this gak?" with the restic stuff or new plastic sculpts as much as others may have.
Sedition Wars - Massive buyer's remorse. Had inside recommendation from a playtester I know well, even he was like "what the hell have they released" when the final rules came out.
Dreadball - Loved it initially but lack of balance, support and oh gawd the restic has got me considering liquidating it.
Kingdom Death Monster - Still excited, but oh gawd the wait! This has to be one of the best lessons in "just keep to a tight selection of items you want to produce".
Loka - No complaints.
Hell Dorado: Inferno - Happy with what I got, but sad that the delays may have done serious harm to the game, though apparently there's a podcast this week saying there's still more stuff coming.
MYTH - Buyer's remorse.
Deadzone - If I didn't view this as some sort of development pre-cursor to Warpath (in terms of fluff and models) I'd definitely be sorry. Fortunately everything but the game rules saves this.
Oathsworn: Heroes of the Dwarfs - Lovely set of Dwarf models, on time, great communication, the gold standard of Kickstarters, even if it was a small one.
Oathsworn: Heroes - Everything I said directly above!
Darklands: First Edition - Great models, great communication, shame about the rulebook, but given my above experiences with Dreadball/Deadzone/Sedition Wars/MYTH, I'm not actually upset at the delay.
Mars Attacks - Just backed this for the Dreadball team (pre-epiphany) and the exclusives in case I wanted to pick it up later, which I probably will.
Tarot of Loka - No complaints.
Dreadball Xtreme - Small backing prior to becoming disillusioned with Dreadball.
Mercs: Recon - Backed this for the MYTH bits prior to making a decision on MYTH.
Darklands: First Edition II - See previous DL comments.
Dragon Slayer - Simple dice game, delivered quickly.
Darklands: Monstrous Mounts - See previous DL comments.
Darklands: New Kindreds - See previous DL comments.

Also Indigogo:
Freebooter's Fate: Legends - excellently run.

Outstanding Stuff

Dungeon Saga: Dwarf King's Quest - I have my reservations about whether Mantic can deliver a worthy set of advanced rules given their previous track record on league systems.
Basius 2 - Didn't back their previous KS so no experience, communication has been reasonable so far.
Norsgard - Nothing to form an opinion on yet, communication has been reasonable so far.
Kings of War II - No opinion yet.
Exploding Kittens - Nothing to form an opinion on yet, communication has been reasonable so far.
The Edge - Didn't like this enough to put money in yet other than the £1, KS exclusive game content irritates me so this may well stay as a lost £1.
Deadzone Infestation - Backing this for Warpath, so hopefully plastic sprues continue at recent quality.
GameFindr App - Nothing to form an opinion on yet, communication has been reasonable so far.
Maelstrom's Edge - Nothing to form an opinion on yet, but only backing for the rules.
Open Combat - Is just a set of rules so should be straight forward.
MYTH: Journeymen - for the low price I thought I may as well get the revised rules.

**Rayvon**

I invested in two, both are still yet to deliver, I have waited two years for the raging heroes TGG one and I must admit, my experiences with these two companies have put me off using kickstarter again.

I would have probably invested in more if there were not so many "early bird" deals that I miss out on also, I always hate that part.

I will not be using kickstarter again, I will stick to retail and let my friends and acquaintances test the kickstarter water in the future, I just can not justify a two year plus wait for some minis.

**agnosto**

cincydooley wrote:
agnosto wrote:
I'm not going to list the Kickstarters here that I've backed because I'd look like an addict or something; let's just say that my wife had to stage an intervention.

I'll drop the bomb first, agnosto. Then you can follow if you chose.

Ok, several of you have me beat by a long shot.

I have to say that I've been pretty lucky in that I've only been burned once to the tune of $100 by "The Mini Box" tool who took the money and product and ran; he even had the gall to ask for help to ship stuff out and bilked people out of more money that way. Anywho, I figured out how to hide my addiction from the wife and it was just a switch to computer games, this stopped the comments about boxes on the front porch.

Here's my list but it's going to be anti-climatic next to Cincy and others'...

Spoiler:

So, relatively minor compared to you other people.

**angelofvengeance**

If it's nice and pretty reasonable VfM(Value for Money) and I like the stuff/need it I'll back it.

Delivered Stuff:

Starscapes- Backed it for a Space themed mat and was late by a little bit but otherwise EXCELLENT when received!

Deadzone- Backed it because holy gak- lots of terrain to play with and shiny new dollies. Nice game too (still not finished assembling it/painting it all) Wasn't particularly impressed with Restic though.

Frontline- Amazing mats but a little expensive. Use them a lot though!

Games&Gears- Needed some badass paintbrushes and holy gak are they ever?! Best £77 I've spent (2 sets of brushes+ freehand and paint rack)

Reaper Bones II- Excellent stuff. Fleshed out my Beastmen army very nicely with that lot!

Mars Attacks!- Another Mantic one. Wasn't interested in the game so much as the various giant bugs they were offering. Plus more scenery (damn you, willpower!)

Battle Systems Sci Fi terrain- Very happy with it, sadly not put much of it together though!

Infinite Crypt- Nice laser cut stuff. Not really good VfM though, plus there were no instructions on how to build the various stuff. He thought it'd be funny if people sussed it out for themselves...Needless to say, I won't be backing anything else of his.

Outstanding stuff:

Alien Vs Predator- Ughhhh!!! Don't get me started! Thankfully we appear to be nearing the light at the end of the tunnel. Plus the pics from Salute this year are amazing. Can't wait to get my hands on it!

Creature Caster- Again.. Pretty late at the moment, but we are (very slowly) seeing some updates from Jeremy Glen. Now he's finished mucking about with his Yoga crap that is.

Heresy Miniatures- A Dungeon's Worth of Monsters pledge. Running a little late, but then I've waited 4 years for his frankly, fething amazing dragon!(Which I now have!!!) Plus he sends sweets with his stuff lol.

Dungeon Saga- Went in pretty heavy for this, mainly cause the models look brilliant for the most part. No issues yet.

Kings of War- Went for the God of War pledge to get 2 starter armies for my brother and I. No issues yet.

Minion Miniatures- May is on the horizon and should be getting stuff shortly I hope. No issues yet.

**H.B.M.C.**

Somewhere between less and stopped. I have enough.

**sockwithaticket**

I've only backed 2, the Dreamforge one for some plastic Eisenkern and the recent Anvil one.

I am cognisant of not going all out on stuff that looks cool because I don't want to be one of those people who has more unbuilt/unpainted stuff than they could conceivably deal with in a lifetime. I've already got a good few years worth of stuff to paint (assuming my current rate of productivity stays consistent),and am in no rush to add to it unless the project is exceptional, as the above two were.

**Some Good 15mm Uhlans?**

Never backed a project, but that may well change with the upcoming Secrets of the Third Reich one. Very excited about that.

**durecellrabbit**

I'm still waiting for my first projects to arrive but I've not backed much stuff.

Yatagarasu Attack on Cataclysm (Computer Game) - is over a year overdue but at least they gave us alpha and beta access.

Everything else hasn't reached it's delivery date yet but I only got back into miniature games last August so I've only backed a few recent projects. If Kings of War 2 and The Great War work out well then I'll keep backing if the stuff interest me but I think I'm rapidly reaching my limit on the amount of stuff I have time to paint.

**JohnHwangDD**

I appreciate the lists and the comments. I feel a lot more sane about how much (or little?) I've spent via KS, and also about how well (or poorly!!!) various creators are doing against their estimated delivery dates.

**marv335**

I've backed a few,
The worst one is Rogue Trooper from Mongoose, It was my first and I'm still waiting.
I think it's a couple of years overdue now.
AVP,
Maelstroms Edge,
Spectrum Bluetooth keyboard
Pebble time
Lithiumcard
exploding kittens
Kobolds Ate My Baby
Gravity Hook, Titanium grappling hook
Shadowrun hong kong
AKO Dice
Dice Chest
Tablescapes games board
Augie and the green knight book
Exo Skeletons assault squad
Armymals.
De La Soul album project

I back stuff that lookks interesting.
It'll turn up eventually.
The only thing I'm really excited to get is the Pebble Time, and it's due in the next month or so so I'm not too worried.
Everything else will get here when it gets here.

**Buttery Commissar**

JohnHwangDD wrote:
Buttery Commissar wrote:I've stopped backing. Why? These are the game or nerdy things I backed for:

I simply don't have disposable income to gamble on whether I ever fething receive anything. At least with stores or eBay I can put things in my hands and not feel I've been taken advantage of.

Whoa, that is a very unlucky selection of KS to have backed. I don't blame you for quitting. I'd be mad, too.

I was unemployed when I backed a couple of those (Goblins Alternative Realities I remember specifically), and thought they'd be a lovely treat for when I was back on my feet later.

**kronk**

I can count on one hand the kickstarters I've backed. Each was something I really liked, from people that I trust, for a price that was more than reasonable.

If the product doesn't have those three things, they can feth off.

**RivenSkull**

Last summer I banked a fair amount of spare cash, much of which went into far too many Kickstarters, and a few Indiegogo's. Since then only 2 have delivered, while several are too soon from their funding date to get any real gauge. Most are on progress with a few hiccups , and overall the majority are looking to complete roughly on schedule.

Delivered:
Corvus Corax Miniatures - Dakka's own Grefven's Kickstarter. Only 1 mini got unlocked, but the mini design and the casting were spectacular.
Figopedia - A pretty good painting book. Definitely worth it, and the 2 included mini's were pretty good as well.

Troll Outpost - Initially supposed to have been shipped in December, and judging by the KS comments, the majority of backers have yet to receive anything. The figures were for the most part old designs they had done, mixed with new sculpts. Even now, there is still a digital render that has yet to be printed. Poor communication, repeatedly saying that things have been shipped, but then saying that the shipped miniatures were the "non delayed" figures. Rapidly losing any belief I will ever receive anything. UPDATE: My pledge came in today. I'll look over everything tonight but is seems that the mini's are pretty good.

Recently Funded - No signs of worry thus far:
Blood Rage - Aside from the recent shipping increase, that while annoying, hasn't put a damper on things.
The Edge - Beautiful mini's, excited to see how things turn out with this. This one has potential to go late, but with so many of the mini's being prototyped already, it shouldn't be too bad.
Conan: Hyborian Quests - The recent funds issues and some of the sculptor concerns point to this being a late delivery. Not the end of the world, as I'm sure this will deliver even if late, but there are some small flags that have been raised.
Horde Invasion - An IndieGoGo campaign, this is some Russian 3d modeler's pet project. Lots of updates on progress, even if they are only stating that more models have been printed. Could still go either way, but so far the high level of communication has given good signs.
Exception: Toughest Girls in the Galaxy - They say it will be delivered in a year. Bull

I'm sure I'll get them, eventually. Potential to lose interest by the time they arrive.

Funded, progressing without worry:
ATER - A nice horror themed set of 54mm figures. Several good for alt models, including Necron C'tan. Still looking forward to these.
Fireteam Zero - All I got were the models to be used in RPGs, wasn't that interested in the game. Things are progressing well, and if it ends up a little late, that fine for me.
Kings of War 2nd Edition - I had really hoped that the demon line wouldn't look cheesy. I was disappointed and just got a bunch of Undead instead. No worry about receiving as everything I got is already on retail.
Dungeon Saga - Mantic hasn't been the best at communicating, but it is still several months prior to estimated delivery. I only got a few figures from this, so I'm not heavily invested in this, so it will most likely show up one day and I'll be surprised about a package.
Minion Miniatures Monsters - It's taking a bit longer than estimated, but with 50% of figures in resin, this will potentially be a month or two late. Models look gorgeous and I can't wait for my package and the next KS.
Twisting Catacombs - Progressing. Looking good. Waiting for more renders and prints to fill PM.
Basius 2 - Massive delay after a massive success. Quickly after funding, they announced that due to the massive KS success, the sheer number of orders would drive the delivery back into May. Good news is they should be meeting the May delivery. Really disappointed as to not have had them delivered in Feb, but oh well.
Battlesystems Fantasy - Seems to be moving on schedule. We'll see how the final product turns out. I recall a number of people having some buyers remorse with the Sci-fi if only due to the amount of material prep and lack of use. May end up being a resell.
Demigods: Rising - With the recent

storm with Titan Forge shown here and here, they are going to have a secondary, smaller kickstarter to fund new resin versions of the game. As much as I do like the new versions and the Prodos resin, this does mildly worry me. Delayed to December delivery on the game. Some worry here.
Trollforged Alien Host - I ended up buying another person's pledge for this, so my waiting meter for it is very low. I'll get it when I get it. Only danger will be if I still have interest when it happens.
Kingdom Death - My other buy in. I feel that even if I had joined during the campaign, I'd still be as excited for this as I am.

Worry:
All things Mierce: So far I've backed 3 Mierce KSs: I went large in both Monstrous Mounts and New Kindreds. I also dropped the minimum on Bane Beasts Mighty Monsters to access to a cheaper Krull. But with so many funded sculpts so far behind schedule, and Mierce continuing with more kickstarters, mixed with the company's history, has really got me feeling nervous about the eventual delivery.

Awww crap:
Drakerys - I went in with paypal post KS, so I still have a full 70 days to initiate a refund with Paypal. That aside, the game is going to be delayed massively, and production miniatures have not been revealed. If they are not revealed before the paypal date, I'll be disputing it to get my money back.

**Kilkrazy**

Kickstarters and Indiegogos what I have backed:

OGRE
Failure. I backed it early and the massive expansion of the concept once the Kickstarter became popular put the final game beyond my financial reach, due to shipping costs, so I scaled back to a PDF of the rules, which I have never received.

Flame Wars
Complete success. I could wish the cards were printed on better quality stock, but I put all my card game cards in sleeves anyway.

Super Dungeon Explore
A complete success as far as I am concerned. I got two copies and gave one to my brother in return for shipping the second one over to the UK for me.

Bug-A-Salt
Success, except that one of my guns broke soon after starting to use it. Even though it's a cheap plastic gun it ought to last more than a couple of dozen shots. This didn't encourage me to use the other one. However the concept was proved and the company is now doing a V2 gun.

Haafu
Complete success. The film took a long time to be finished but the team did keep people informed with email so it was not a disappointment.

Elite
Success. The game was finished more or less on time and has got good reviews. There was a last minute hassle about off-line mode. I don't have a PC and backed this project for nostalgia, having hugely enjoyed the original BBC version in the early 80s.

Tentacle Bento
Complete success. This was the game that got kicked off Kickstarter after Kotaku started their Tentacle Grape campaign. Like Flame Wars, I wish the cards were printed on better quality stock.

Mobile Frame Zero
Complete success. I got my rulebook and stickers on time and the quality is great.

I have always approached Kickstarters on the basis of backing a possibly risky project. It goes wrong if you think of it as a pre-order system, because too many people running projects don't have the resources to make the thing work.

I think the projects that work best are the ones with a well defined, relatively limited object without heaps of stretch goals. It obviously helps if the people running it are experience and trained too, but that is no guarantee.

**weeble1000**

So far I have backed (not counting $1 pledges):

Blood Rage
RBG Barbarian Hordes
Portaball 15mm Fantasy Football
RBG Heroic Fantasy Miniatures
Tac-Tiles: Modular Wet and Dry Erase Gaming Surface
WOLSUNG
RBG Barbarian Horde Miniatures
Mecha Front
Aetherium
RBG Norse Warrior Miniatures
Reaper Bones II (small pledge)
RBG Dwarves, Goblins, and Orcs, Oh MY!
RBG Fantasy Miniatures

The list only looks somewhat long because I back all of the Red Box Games campaigns.

Aetherium delivered well, RBG always delivers well these days, Tac-Tiles delivered well, Mecha Front delivered well, Portaball delivered well, Reaper Bones delivered well, and WOLSUNG delivered, but I am still waiting on my Ninja Cats.

In general, I don't really like what Kickstarter is doing to the market. I'm actually rather pleased to see some folks expressing Kickstarter fatigue/burnout.

I have seen lots of companies talk about the perceived need to use Kickstarter. At the same time, I know of very few small companies that have described Kickstarter as a positive experience. I have heard about campaigns losing money, breaking even, and being a major hassle over releasing via traditional retail. I have even heard highly qualified comments about campaigns that go reasonably well and make a bit of profit.

That just doesn't square with me. Money is pouring into Kickstarter, but apparently it isn't doing a lot of businesses much good. In a cruel twist of intent, Kickstarter actually serves to magnify risk for small businesses, and it is very difficult to be successful on Kickstarter without having an established market presence.

Kickstarter has value, certainly, but it seems to me that lots of folks are going to Kickstarter because they feel that it is necessary to remain competitive, rather than because they want to take advantage of the benefits Kickstarter can provide to their business. When I look at Kickstarter from the perspective of a new business owner, all I see is a marketing platform. That's what you get with Kickstarter. But using that marketing platform is fraught with risk and requires a significant investment of capital if you want to use it effectively.

Can you get that benefit for equal or less cost/risk in other ways? Can you operate a profitable table top games company without using Kickstarter?

**Sigvatr**

Trondheim wrote:
Why anyone is willing to just throw money at these tings is beyound me.

Kickstarter allows for projects that would never see the light via classic distribution as it allows indie / smaller companies to get the budget they need without having to make (huge) amendments to a publisher or another 3rd party. Pillars of Eternity, for example, would have never been released without Kickstarter as it's too complex for the modern mainstream market but thanks to us backers, we now hae the best game of at least one decade delivered to us.

**BeAfraid**

For what it is worth, Entreprenuerial and Venture Capitalist professional Journals rate Kickstarter, overall, as being overrated.

They say that for known companies funding vanity or boutique projects, it can hardly be beat (which is what Game Companies are).

But for unknown ventures, less than 18% of all Campaigns get funding, and a HUGE proportions of those never deceiver (over 80%) on their claimed investments.

So... Gaming is well ahead of the curve, and Kickstarter seems tailor made for this sort of venture (what Enterprise and Ventue Capitalists term "Boutique" industries, catering to hobbyists and collectors).

MB

Automatically Appended Next Post:

Sigvatr wrote:
Trondheim wrote:
Why anyone is willing to just throw money at these tings is beyound me.

Kickstarter allows for projects that would never see the light via classic distribution as it allows indie / smaller companies to get the budget they need without having to make (huge) amendments to a publisher or another 3rd party. Pillars of Eternity, for example, would have never been released without Kickstarter as it's too complex for the modern mainstream market but thanks to us backers, we now hae the best game of at least one decade delivered to us.

This was explicitly mentioned by the VC Journal I read.

They said that niche industries, with an established customer base, yet a company within that base without notoriety, is the key customer of kickstarter.

If they are capable of delivering on their first funded KS, then they are (overall - as a statistical grouping) hundreds of times more likely to be successful on a second round of fundraising.

And, that having successful kickstarter campaigns brings an increased likelihood of the company or venture being able to seek out more traditional (and thus stable) sources of funding in the future.

For the gaming industry, though... It is likely that KS is all most will ever need.

MB

**weeble1000**

That article lines up pretty well with my personal observations.

The catch is that for a company "within that base without notoriety," Kickstarter is a very real bet-the-company proposition.

A failed campaign is a great way to seriously tarnish your company's image.

I think this is why we are beginning to see new ventures build up a small retail presence and customer base prior to launching a modest campaign with a low funding goal.

You need a base of customers that you can count on to back your campaign, and you need your first campaign to be successful.

That said, another thing that the article doesn't seem to mention is that funding does not necessarily equal profit. I haven't read it, so the article might mention this.

Even if you are likely to get funding a second time, you might wind up 'chasing your tail', so to speak, launching back to back campaigns that ultimately put you deeper and deeper into the red.