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Kickstarter has some interesting dynamics, I think that more than a few people will write Phd papers on the subject over the coming years. I find Kickstarter fascinating, personally I invest a fixed budget and rarely increase unless a considerably better deal appears later into the Kickstarter.

Online shopping has made consumers more price aware so even the feeling of being done over by something, even when it is completely unjustified as in this case, can lead to a negative perception.

Personally I hate with a passion early bird deals based on total number as somebody always misses out, I much prefer time limited ones that span at least 24 hours so everybody in all time zones gets a fair shot. With Kickstarter not charging you until the end you aren't committing anything until then so you can't use the excuse of lack of funds at that moment, you'll either have the funds at the end or if you don't you can cancel on the last day.

Granted mass cancellation of pledges can mess with unlockable goals, Mars Attacks suffered from this at a few points, and needs careful handling by the company.

Enough out of RiTides!

Concept time!

Angelcynn concept: Geoguth Fane Bearer:

Yeah, I seem to be on the unpopular side of some debates recently

Someone might want to edit the OP, it has no kickstarter link and is full of broken pic links! Mierce has control of it but I guess they haven't noticed.

Campaign linkage:
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/mierceminiatures/darklands-first-edition-ii

I regularly update the title, but I leave the actual body of the first post to Mierce Proper.

I'm down to a quid token pledge. I'm hoping Mierce will have information on entry products into the wargame.

Not sure what that means Zond? Starter sets?

Update 13 (https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/mierceminiatures/darklands-first-edition-ii/posts/791017) gave a bunch of suggested gold spot purchases for playable 500 gold sized lists if that's what you're after

Entry products into the wargame is covered by hosts from the previous kickstarter, which are available if you pledge gold.

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/mierceminiatures/darklands-first-edition

There was encounter hosts at £80-£90, and skirmish hosts at £150ish.

Here's the encounter hosts that were available:
https://s3.amazonaws.com/ksr/assets/001/186/251/0d940ca69d20a755a42168a51201cf14_large.jpg

https://s3.amazonaws.com/ksr/assets/001/160/163/21ea3083de80de805042af6fc8e8408f_large.jpg

For £200, you get £220 in credit, which would let you get a good start to a force with the rules, a mounted and foot general, an encounter host, then a few other supporting units (maybe 5 more infantry from the new ones, which comes with a free character, and a medium sized monster in the £35-40 range).

Which miniatures really catch your eye? People here could give you pointers on what's a smart buy from that starting point.

Unfortunately, the Sweet Spot is one of the few KS2 items that isn't available in KS2.5. Though there's nothing stopping you getting one of the hosts and the rules for your gold pledge.

Ahhh, could've sworn that Rob said that was allowed at one point. Edited my previous post..

This KS is looking like it'll be a perfect way to start an Albainn.

Oghu Guardians + Skyclad Ciniod for £80
Oghu Keepers + Skyclad Itaina for £64

Then MM just revealed art for an upcoming infantry sized Albainn unit, which should follow the pricing of other infantry + free character for £28 (5) or £52 (10).

Getting 10 infantry gets you up to 196, leaving you £24 for shipping and whatever else in a £200 pledge (rulebook is £30).

That maximizes the free stuff you get, but misses out on the big stuff.

For roughly £200 of Albainn, I'd probably start with Gomagg (£80), Oghu Keepers + Skyclad Itaina (£64), 10 Infantry guys + free stretch if released (£52), Bagseg (£30) and international shipping (£10) for £236 - £20 free = £216.

Only 6 backers to go to unlock the free Sáthach miniature for "GOLD SPOT" pledges and higher.

This campaign got there much quicker than I thought it would!

By starter sets I mean a retail product on shelves. Picking up deals on kickstarter is great but not if it costs £200 for a minimum sized army and a rulebook. I was hoping more information would come from Salute. I love pretty models, and painting, but sometimes I need to play with my resin toys.

Minimum sized army and a rulebook would be rulebook + encounter host, which is about £110. Those £200 bundles I discussed were generally providing options at 1000 gold sized games (pretty sure).

400 backers reached - Sáthach is in!

Project Update #34: £102,500 - Forwyn Carys
Posted by Mierce Miniatures ♥ Like
It's been an amazing day of pledging - easily the best since the first couple of days of this project - and so we've battered down £92,500 to get Skyclad Itaina. That means we get to unveil another stretch goal!

Forwyn Carys is free to anybody who has purchased the Warriors of Dyngonwy unit (whichever way you've bought it). Otherwise, she's £15 regardless of the reward!
Additionally, she's a project exclusive; she will never, ever be released to the general public, although we do reserve the right to produce her for sale at shows and events.
Please note, the free Forwyn Carys is limited to one per backer, but of course you can purchase additional Forwyn Carys miniatures within this project.
No Exchanges!
Note that we will not exchange Forwyn Carys for any other miniature, so please don't ask! She is tied to her unit.
The reason for doing this is simple - logistically it's a nightmare to exchange miniatures and will lead to errors when we get to packing your orders. Of course, we are very sure that other backers will help out with exchanges, and our forums are the perfect place to do so!

I thought I was going to be able to resist the mustachioed Warriors of Dyngonwy.

Apparently not!

How much are you dropping here, Alph? Half of an "All The Units" pledge?

Yes, I am splitting that with cincy, and then trying hard to limit everything else to a £100 'GOLD SPOT' pledge for myself too...

Going by the rrp of the encounter hosts from First Edition it's going to cost someone getting into the game about 150ish. Not exactly an easy sell if they don't jump in on a kickstarter.

But then a smallish 40k force is pretty spendy these days.

It is, but comparing anything to GW price wise to come off better isn't exactly saying much.

 Slinky wrote:
But then a smallish 40k force is pretty spendy these days.

Especially once you factor in the rules and codex (and any extras like dataslates, Escalation, etc), whereas here you can get the beta version for free.

I don't know about that. Yes, Mierce sits squarely at the high end of the price range; however, the quality of the models justifies that (and makes such pricing choices more or less inevitable). Showing that it's still not more expensive than what is, frankly, not exactly a high-end product nowadays is a pretty strong argument.

And I'm afraid those on a really tight budget will just have to skip darklands; not something to be happy about, but it's the market segment the game fits in and the models justify that.

That's the line, btw: hey, it's not exactly more expensive to play, and look how much better the models are.

Mierce isn't going for the budget gaming option; might as well own up to that, since in this case it's pretty well justified.

They're certainly not cheap,

but then they're using the most expensive casting method there is, hand cast resin

(resin is expensive and they don't use fillers to bulk it out, moulds for resin wear out much quicker, and lots labour is needed and it's relatively slow)

so Mierce have a good reason for their costs, GW does not

Zond - Mierce stuff is never going to be cheap (though KS1 was an amazing deal), but you're paying for quality. Pretty much evert MM mini I've gotten has been spectacular.

I'm not disputing the quality is there or suggesting they're charging outrageous price values. I'm suggesting that as a line of miniatures for a collector to paint they're fantastic, as a game I have my doubts due to what my gaming group is telling me. Happy to Kickstart, not enthused by rrp.

It really depends where the 'fun' gold value ends up being for game playing.
I mean, its never going to be X-Wing (obviously), but it's not bizarrely far from Warmachine or whatever. Especially once people have a better handle on musters you'll be removing the 'must buy everything!' element which is probably turning some people off.

It's really easy for me, I don't play any of these games.
I just pick the minis I like.
And Mierce have produced the finest quality products, and have unusual, non-cliched designs, Blood-Maw for example, that you just don't see anywhere else.

I think Mierce would be smart to keep the rules free if they want to encourage the game. I'm willing to pick up minis I love, and to add a few minis here and there to fill in a force and test out the game if it's free, but I don't really have the inclination to spend $80 CAD on the rulebook for a game I may not find opponents for.

But I'm still in for pretty minis (particularly where I can easily fit them into my Beastmen army), and have picked up a ton that at this point aren't really practical for me, and am willing to test some games when I can find opponents.

 Alpharius wrote:
Yes, I am splitting that with cincy, and then trying hard to limit everything else to a £100 'GOLD SPOT' pledge for myself too...

Yeah. This could end up getting pricey. That new unit of wolves makes me salivate. The mustachioed men look solid.

And then eventually the Atlantean and Eirann will be coming out. Eff my couch.