The two mound beetles in that host will both be NEW (variants?) versions of the existing mound beetle...
Are they variants? Rob said two new ones, but, to be fair, it would made sense as they are bugs. Though, I think the two extra scorps for the Byzantii unit are fairly different from the first.
I CAN'T BELIEVE THESE HAVEN'T BEEN POSTED HERE YET!!!!
/WTFZED!
ALL YOU HIGHLORDS OUT THERE...
LET'S GET READY TO HIGHLORD IT UP!!!
Update #15
Jun 6 2017
£17,500 - Crushers, Krokokh Unit
It's the last day and we've just about unlocked Armoured Gaarwäg, so let's give you something amazing to aim for. If we can get to £17,500, you'll get the Crushers, Krokokh Unit!
The Crushers are enormous, incredibly powerful creatures of scale and tooth and claw and an anvil upon which enemy armies are crushed. Comprising two new warriors - Srann the champion and Vultta - to complement the awesome, already sculpted Aggrakk, the Crushers is a fantastic addition to any Khthones host!
You can pledge for the two new ones if you already have Aggrakk, or you can pledge for all three of them as a unit, or even Aggrakk on his own!
Increase your pledge by £100 ($130) to purchase three Krokokha; £70 ($91) to purchase two Krokokha; or £36 ($47) to purchase a single Krokokh.
Also:
Update #16
Jun 6 2017
£13,500 - Raad's Mob, Two Club Ograx Reiver Unit
Here's a lovely little update for fans of the Ograx Reivers... now you can field them with two clubs, thanks to the Raad's Mob, Two Club Ograx Reiver Unit - set at £13,500 to unlock!
The Ograx Reivers are currently being sculpted by Yannick Fusier, of course, so these guys will eventually be converted by him later on this year; suffice to say, they're going to be incredibly good! Note that the banner bearer / herald will be slightly changed to reflect their two club mates.
Increase your pledge by £75 to purchase a unit of five Ograx Reivers; £100 to purchase a unit of five Ograx Reivers with the two alternate Ograx Reivers; or £37 to purchase the two alternate Ograx Reivers on their own.
Watch out for more stretch goals shortly!
And:
Update #17
Jun 6 2017
£16,250 - Jötunn of Utgard, Felljötunn Unit
There's been loads of requests for Norse during this project, so let's endeavour to give that superb kindred something... and what a mighty something, with two new giants to join the Jötunn of Utgard, Felljötunn Unit at £16,250!
These superb monsters have been drawn by Des Hanley and will be sculpted by Ernst Veingart, as of course he did the original Felljötunn, Stígr. The Jötunn of Utgard are enormous, incredibly powerful giants from the mountains and are armed with two mighty warhammers and wear light armour. Comprising two new warriors - Válig and Baldr - to complement the awesome, already sculpted Stígr, the Jötunn of Utgard are a fantastic addition to any Norse host!
You can pledge for the two new ones if you already have Stígr, or you can pledge for all three of them as a unit, or even Stígr on his own!
Increase your pledge by £125 ($165) to purchase three Felljötnar; £80 ($105) to purchase two Felljötnar; or £45 ($60) to purchase a single Felljötunn.
Crushers are tempting, but it's not like I've even come close to finishing any of my Krokodar yet.
Actually I take that back. Aggrakk is pretty far along, it's all his smaller 60mm brethren I have barely touched.
I'm actually looking forward to all these new ogres like Haakon, and the eventual release of the Ghouls for the Jutes.
What Xet said to God when his Name Wasn't Found in the Book of Life...
...is unprintable, to be honest.
Welcome to this, the second update for Darklands: Savage Hordes III - and it's an absolutely wonderful one! We predict much falling off of chairs and that, so make sure your perch is secure...
Here we go...
There are no words. Here's something for the Infernii from Dan Cockersell...
Sometimes the old proverb "pictures are worth a thousand words" come true; this is one of those times. Here's Xet...
Here's a few close-ups to get your teeth into the details.
Here's some scale shots, too!
That's Malacant's body...
He'll sit on an 80mm base. Just!
We reckon this guy could be a Wave 18 shipment... so we're going to do it. We've decided to get him out there as soon as we can, rather than wait until Wave 20 - so that'll be around August time... if you've bought him. If you haven't bought him, why on earth haven't you? Get buying him now, because his price won't stay at £40 for long...
I can't believe that this hasn't been posted yet!!!111!~~!!
[/trollzed]
METAL AGE
Update #75
Jun 16 2017
Egaendr
Rejoice, people... this project is almost complete, for the very last miniature from this project is In Progress... we're nearly there, finally!
This week we have:
sculpt work in progress updates from Tim Prow;
Egaendr is a Gríthír, a Griffin if you will, a mighty conversion of Ungefelic the Mantichora. He'll be using Hrókr's wings, but the entire front half of the manticore will be sculpted anew... It's early days, but you can see the shape - Tim's getting into the swing of things!
Darkholds Dungeon Crawler is getting closer. Mierce have posted this mockup that they are working on:
Also, here's some of the previosuly posted material:
Spoiler:
And finally, here's what it's all about:
Darkholds is a dungeon crawler boardgame - think Space Hulk crossed with Zombicide - containing lots of undead (including Wihtgar, Wihtboga, Wihtax, Gasts, Dreaguth and Tomb Spider) and six heroes, all in plastic. It's heroes versus the game. The heroes are Carrowek, Penda, Nerys, Gnith and Sáthach, plus a special KS only miniature that you can ONLY get if you purchase the boardgame, Morag of Mann. You can't get her separately and she will only be available during the Kickstarter. The retail version won't include her. The heroes are infiltrating a Jute barrow, in order to learn the secret of un-life... and get some treasure along the way.
Automatically Appended Next Post: Some more snippets:
For this one, there'll be ten levels in three "acts"; the first act is caverns, the second caverns/barrows, the third barrows/halls of the dead. So there'll be a fair bit of variety.
If it goes well there'll be expansions of course, one I'm keen to do is travelling deep into snowy forests to take on the Gabrax and steal the treasure gathered around their darkstones... but that's for another day.
Heroes (and their henchmen) have the chance to "trade" inbetween levels, to purchase items with the treasure they've found and various other shenanigans. One-off levels don't have that of course, but you can pick a winner by the treasure they've got
And more!
It's heroes vs the game; enemies are AI driven. The tiles can be placed in different configurations of course, and new tiles, monsters and heroes can be added
Automatically Appended Next Post: Managed to coax another concept out. This time for Carrowek
DARKHOLD could be just the thing Mierce needs to kick everything to the next level.
Plus, it will certainly 'encourage' people to buy models from Kindreds that they don't collect for Darklands in order to get more 'enemies' for the boardgame.
Needless to say, I'm *very* interested in this one!
Mierceday! And New Kindreds is drawing to a close:
More Alternates!
Here's another update for Darklands: New Kindreds, and I think we can definitely say that we're almost there with this project... finally!
Here we go...
Quite a few alternates to show you this time, courtesy of Tim Prow (Byzantii and Khthones) and Yannick Hennebo (Ysians).
Just the one Dromedus left to do for this unit, thanks to Tim Prow!
It's the alternate of the banner bearer, Bakr!
That completes the Dromedus unit of course, and he should be a Wave 18 shipment...
Those of a nervous disposition, look away now: or, alternatively, use a mirrored shield to defeat Tim Prow's work on Archer Sthena...
NSFW
Spoiler:
She should be a Wave 18 shipment...
The lovely Thelliatiss gets a snarlier version in Vengeful Thelliatiss, now wielding two nasty-looking sword-cleaver things...
Again, a Wave 18 shipment, she should be.
It's been a long time since we've seen any new Warriors of Khthon, but here's Tim Prow to save the day...
Ssithi is the alternate of the banner bearer, Issithill...
This one is a particular favourite of ours - possibly our favourite Gorgonar, actually!
Just the tail changed for Iiss, from the original herald Mneriiss...
These two should be Wave 18 shipments.
To say we've been waiting for these for a while would be an understatement; here's the last two Swords of Ys from Yannick Hennebo!
NSFW
Spoiler:
Cassa is the alternate of the banner bearer and is a lovely miniature.
Yannick's always good at women! Although technically these aren't women... they just look like women. Er.
The alternate of the herald is Sylde...
These girls, er, Melusines, will be Wave 18 shipments, we hope...
You can track the progress of this Kickstarter project - in terms of sculpts outstanding and fulfilment of orders - on our forums, in the Kickstarter subforum: Darklands: New Kindreds - fulfilment
Automatically Appended Next Post: Metal age completed!
The End
Well here we are: the lovely quirky project that has been Darklands: Metal Age has now reached its end. The Drinking Companions have now been produced in metal and will be sent as part of Wave 18!
That draws Darklands: Metal Age to a close, and we'd like to thank each and every backer for their funds and their forbearance, because this project has taken a little longer than we'd hoped to finish. We're there now though!
This week we have:
[*]metal samples of the Drinking Companions;[*]a reminder of the change to the way these updates work;[*]...and anything else you can expect from us over the next few months.
Here we go...
There's just the Drinking Companions left, and they're now in metal...
The ten Drinking Companions - Drunkard Ciniod, Quaffing Timoth (otherwise known as Ten O'Clock Timmy) Bleary Hektor, Sozzled Caedoc, Sipping Agathae, Bladdered Cormac, Swigging Mananaan, Guzzling Ætulla, Boozing Rollo and Slurping Zethag - are done, and in metal.
These guys will be in production shortly and will be sent during Wave 18, in August, as long as you have a Metal Age shipment item, of course.
If you reserved your drinking companions during the project, have no fear - we'll be adding them to your orders later on this month, ready for shipment as part of Wave 18.
Here we have another lovely update for Darklands: Savage Hordes, for this week we have some war engine work and some metals and some characters. All good stuff, basically!
Here we go...
We have metals for the Jutes, war engines for the Byzantii and a lady for the Norse. Wowser!
Mr Bob Płociennik has been working hard on the Ballista and has come up trumps yet again, having completed the non-organic bits.
The Ballista and ammunition types are now done, plus two types of brazier. Aren't you lot lucky! Garric is there for size comparison purposes.
from left to right: Murus (rocks), Shot (lead shot), braziers for Malleolus (fire bolts)
Sagittae (bolts) on the far left
We're hoping this will be a Wave 18 shipment, but with printing necessary and the crew not yet done, it's likely this will be a Wave 19...
Here we have Eormanræd in metal... finally!
He'll be a Wave 18 shipment.
Heldred has also got the metal treatment, bless him...
Once again, he'll be a Wave 18 shipment.
It's taken its sweet time to arrive, but the Wihtboga are finally in metal... and you can see Archer Mildryth in there, too.
They will be a Wave 18 shipment!
Along with the Wihtboga come the Wihtax, and they are looking very spiffing in the flesh... or the metal, we should say...
Again, they will be a Wave 18 shipment.
Next up for metals from this project are the Elbharu and the Oghurithne Hunters... plus associated Albainn nobles...
Martin Lavat has worked his magic upon Archer Birna, for she is looking superb...
She should be a Wave 18 shipment, although the quiver needs doing of course...
You can track the progress of this Kickstarter project - in terms of sculpts outstanding and fulfilment of orders - on our forums, in the Kickstarter subforum: Darklands: Savage Hordes - fulfilment
Automatically Appended Next Post: And more updates!
Death, Sickle and Death
We have yet another update for Darklands: Savage Hordes II, and all that that entails. It's turned into a beautiful day, thankfully, and we've some beautiful sculpts to show!
Let's make a start!
We've one miniature in metal to show this time, for the Jutes; and three for the Ysians...
It's took a while to get Auga into metal, but here he is in all his glory...
He should be a Wave 18 shipment.
A cracking little alternate of Hedroc from Martin Lavat, is Sickle-Hedroc... that blade looks very nasty!
He should be a Wave 18 shipment...
Yannick Hennebo has continued his work on the Melusines by altering The Rose of Ker-Ys to become Sairen Rose...
Definitely deserves it's own thread for the life of the Kickstarter, then we'll just fold it into this thread when that is completed - thanks for running the other one in the meantime though - much appreciated!
Alpharius wrote:Definitely deserves it's own thread for the life of the Kickstarter, then we'll just fold it into this thread when that is completed - thanks for running the other one in the meantime though - much appreciated!
grefven wrote:To be fair, Darkholds is a different product from Darklands, so it deserves to be a seperate thread. Just like GWs40k, AoS, Bloodbowl, etc.
Yes, already duly noted?
Post Kickstarter, Darkholds news will end up getting reported here, in the General Mierce News and Rumors thread.
Anyway...
...I'll also admit to being a bit concerned over the transition to PVC one piece and/or preassembled miniatures here...
If you missed the KS you have a chance to pick up the left over LE drinking companions
Remember, these guys and gals are only available on a first come, first served basis, so get your skates on!
If you can't see the Kickstarter categories, ask for access!
You will only see the Darklands: Metal Age category on our webstore if you have backed it or have been given access previously; but if you do wish to grab these Drinking Companions, or indeed to purchase anything from that project or any other, simply reply to this e-mail requesting access and we'll sort it for you.
We have a mighty update for Darklands: New Kindreds today, in which almost all of the miniatures left to convert on this project are, finally, converted. We have just five conversions left, and we expect those to be done very quickly, too!
Here we go...
In total there's fourteen conversions to show today, for various kindreds - Anglecynn, Brythoniaid, Érainn, Khthones and the Ysians!
Wulfskull Cynemon, lovingly converted by Yannick Hennebo, is looking excellent!
He should have a bit of hair on his head so when Yannick's sorted that he should be a Wave 19 shipment.
The sceop - or storyteller - that is Aldhelm has dropped his musical instrument and joins the fray with an axe and a sword to become Warrior Aldhelm, courtesy of Yannick Hennebo. Can't fault him!
He should be a Wave 19 shipment.
Yannick Hennebo has worked wonders on Warrior Hywel, too - he's looking lovely!
He should be a Wave 19 shipment!
The Érainn for this project are now done, thanks to Tim Prow's work on Grisly Araigh! He loves his Gabrax trophies, does this tree!
He should be a Wave 19 shipment.
Now then. We are loving Helmed Ophios - Tim Prow has added a cracking Corinthian-style helmet to make him look very mean indeed!
He'll be a Wave 19 shipment...
We are also loving Tim's work on Magma Svrill, the alternate of the original Svrill. He looks fantastic, in fact!
He should indeed be a Wave 19 shipment!
Finally, finally, the Dawn of Khthon - the cracking Gorgórar Unit originally sculpted by Hector Móran - are complete, with the alternate warriors of the banner bearer and herald sorted by Tim Prow (not digitally!). We've also go Tim to re-work the tails of Syntyss and Phylidii to make them all fit on 50mm bases - which means they'll change in the game, too.
Syntyss is the banner bearer, and her tail has been reworked to fit on a 50mm base.
She'll be Wave 19.
A warrior of the unit, Phylidii, has also been reworked to fit on a 50mm base.
Another Wave 19...
The alternate warrior of Syntyss is Tyssia and she's looking great!
Wave 19 again...
The alternate of the rattle-tail herald, Thillia, is Lithil...
The changed unit as a whole will be ready for Wave 19...
Tim Prow has also completed work on Claw-Seza, the alternate of the original Seza. Not only has he added the giant claw and the mighty glaive, he's also sorted out Seza's boobs. Well, she was once a Melusine...!
NSFW
Spoiler:
She'll be a Wave 19 shipment!
Andrew May is back on form with the alternates of the original Abhorrents, so that you can field a unit of them with Great Clubs (the Murderous) and a unit of them with Two Clubs (the Ruinous)!
The alternate of the two-club Kell is Pokell, and she looks absolutely disgusting.
A Wave 19, we hope...
Gussug is the alternate of Rulguss, and whilst it's early days he's looking great so far.
He should be a Wave 19 shipment.
The Ruinous Abhorrents, as aforementioned, are the Abhorrents with two clubs...
The champion of these guys and gals is Grozo and he comes complete with two hammers, the better to knock your block off with.
We're very much hoping all these guys will be Wave 19 shipments!
Automatically Appended Next Post: More:
Wizards and Archers
Here's another update for Darklands: Savage Hordes II, and what a cracker it is... two lovely miniatures to show off!
Let's make a start!
Just the two miniatures this week, but they're lovely all the same - for the Atalantes and the Ysians!
Jin Wei has begun work on the Atalantes for this project, starting with the excellent Thaumaturgos, Baltazar!
We're hoping he'll be Wave 19...
Martin Lavat continues to astound with the superb conversion of Annik. Here she is as Bow-Annik!
She should be a Wave 19 shipment.
Automatically Appended Next Post: Even more!
Beweaponed Wyvern
We have a ber-illiant update for Darklands: Mighty Monsters this time around, with hopefully many more to come over the next few weeks...
Time to start...
Just the one monster this week, but it's a superb conversion of an existing one for the Brythoniaid...
We love Martin Lavat's monster work, and Gahwn is a perfect example of what he can do - and possibly our favourite one he's done so far!
A conversion of Typhaggahw, the superb Gwyfern from yonks ago (but still awesome), Gahwn has ditched his wings and grown some arms to become a Cawrgwyfern, an Ogre-Wyvern if you will...
He should be a Wave 19 shipment!
Automatically Appended Next Post: Last one for today
Angry Ottaa
Another update for Darklands: Mighty Monsters Part Deux, and it's another Ograx from the mighty sword-like-sculpting-tool of Yannick Fusier...
Let us begin...
Just the one miniature this week, but it's a cracker for the Fomoraic...
Konraad's Mob gains a warrior of the unit in the rather angry shape of Ottaa... courtesy of Yannick Fusier of course!
Ottaa is a real basher of enemies, if we're being honest: he's a no-nonsense, no messing about with stove your head in type of Ograx. That's you warned!
We're hoping he, and the rest of his unit, will be a Wave 19 shipment...
Neither seemed quite right (the savrar seemed like their bodies had different proportions than the original ones and the salamander's head was too big IMO)
I still have hopes that Roberto Chaudon will be assigned the lizardmen again. He did some truly amazing stuff with the concepts he was given. Some of the best figures of the entire range, in my opinion.
Oh man, that ogre and ogre-dragon are looking amazing.
What's up with the hilarious football boobs though? Is there a lore reason, are they actually putting something in there? Serious question because it's obviously done on purpose for some reason.
grefven wrote: I still have hopes that Roberto Chaudon will be assigned the lizardmen again. He did some truly amazing stuff with the concepts he was given. Some of the best figures of the entire range, in my opinion.
Yeah I'm glad I didn't end up jumping for the unit, given the delay on it and not knowing who's doing it still...
But Chaudon's Savrar are some of my favorite sculpts for sure
Mymearan wrote: Oh man, that ogre and ogre-dragon are looking amazing.
What's up with the hilarious football boobs though? Is there a lore reason, are they actually putting something in there? Serious question because it's obviously done on purpose for some reason.
Euryalia is the leader of the Ysian Kindred, she's "a goddess, of sin and depravity maybe but a goddess nonetheless, a goddess that will enforce the degenerate truths of her city upon the kingdoms of man",
and some of her favoured female warriors become Melusines, hyper sexualised female warriors with all their attributes turned up to 11 (hence the huge artificial breasts)
Seza was apparently one of the Melusines before she died and was rebuilt by the Ysian fleshsmiths into the creature she is now, so she needs the huge comedy breasts too
Mymearan wrote: Oh man, that ogre and ogre-dragon are looking amazing.
What's up with the hilarious football boobs though? Is there a lore reason, are they actually putting something in there? Serious question because it's obviously done on purpose for some reason.
Euryalia is the leader of the Ysian Kindred, she's "a goddess, of sin and depravity maybe but a goddess nonetheless, a goddess that will enforce the degenerate truths of her city upon the kingdoms of man",
and some of her favoured female warriors become Melusines, hyper sexualised female warriors with all their attributes turned up to 11 (hence the huge artificial breasts)
Seza was apparently one of the Melusines before she died and was rebuilt by the Ysian fleshsmiths into the creature she is now, so she needs the huge comedy breasts too
Almost went with the Fomoraic, but I've already got most of that stuff. The Erainn one is 400g, so I am looking forward to see what I score from that (please be lots of Treemen types)
New releases from August so if you missed them on KS (or don't do KS) you can get them now
We're keeping up the release frequency with another thirteen of them for Darklands in August - but that's a bit misleading, as there's actually thirty-three different items you can buy from this load of new stuff, including monsters, infantry units, starter hosts and nobles!
The Atalantes gain an arcane metalsmith this month in the rather glorious shape of Hektor, superbly sculpted by Jin Wei from the artwork by Dan Warren. If you're fielding kolossi of any type, this guy is a must!
Hektor, Tekhnomántis of Ilios
The Ilios Guard, Oplites Unit (pronounced "op-lit-eez", don'tcha know) have been sculpted by Jin Wei again from the artwork by Dan Warren again. They're a great way to get your Atalantes host fielded as they're Mainstay, of course! The individual miniatures in the unit are Andreas, the champion, and four warriors - Nachor, Kuma, Simon and Amethea.
Ilios Guard, Oplites of Ilios Unit (10x warriors w cmd shown)
Sculpted by Duncan Louca from the artwork by Dan Warren, Dynatos is a huge automaton in the shape of a mighty bronze bull, well able to smash battle lines apart for the Atalantes.
Dynatos, Bull of Bronze
This guy is a powerful warlord of the Érainn, the king of his particular Túath and a big fat git as well. He likes the drink, does Rudraige! Sculpted by Valentin Zak from the artwork by Sam Lamont.
Rudraige the Fat, Rí Túath of the Uí Néill on Foot
Even bigger, fatter and gittier are the Fir Bholg Hurlers, able to overpower enemies in close combat and from afar too thanks to the brainballs they sling at the enemy. The Bholg of Acaill are led by Dougal, the champion, and include Feargal and Feargus. They were sculpted by Valentin Zak from the artwork by Sam Lamont.
Bholg of Acaill, Fir Bholg Hurler Unit
[I love these guys even when they're not hurling petrified, limed brains]
Clearly, your Jute Wiglācas are like buses - you wait around ages for one, and two turn up at once! Here's the hooded version of Ætulla, sculpted by Yannick Hennebo from the artwork by Danny Cruz.
Ætulla, Wiglāca on Foot
Sculpted by Yannick Hennebo from the artwork by Danny Cruz, Bareheaded Ætulla - a slaphead, none the less - is a powerful wig-lāca (pun intended) of the Jutes, a sorcerer able to raise the dead!
Bareheaded Ætulla, Wiglāca on Foot
The Jute noble known as Wihtwald - sculpted by Edgar Skomorowski from the artwork by Danny Cruz - is a Wiht Thain, a leader of other Wihts and a powerful warrior in his own right.
Wihtwald, Wiht Thain on Foot
The lovely Iskarnos - converted from Ulmons by Tim Prow and the artwork by Dan Warren - is a cracking edition to the Khthones as he shoots gobbets of intense fire upon their enemies as well as being a monster you don't want to mess with in a fight!
Iskarnos, Szalamakh
Finally, Quick-Blade gets some mates! One of our oldest miniatures, Quick-Blade is joined by six other new Spear-Vras - molerat-men with spears, basically - to form No-Claw's Burrow, the mainstay of the hosts of the Vras. The individual miniatures in the unit are No-Claw, the champion and for whom his unit is named; a banner bearer, Quick-Blade; a drummer, Fat-Skin; and four warriors, Sharp-Fang , Scar-Belly, Quick-Kill and Fat-Tail. All of these guys were sculpted by Benoît Cosse from the artwork by Stefan Kopinski, Sam Lamont and Dan Warren.
No-Claw's Burrow, Spear-Vras Unit (10x warriors w cmd shown)
We've a new starter host for the Ysians this month, thanks to the release of Hammer-Brugg and his Brutes last month. The Great Club Brute Monstrous Infantry Host includes Hammer-Brugg, a unit of five Brutes of Brugg and Torku, a nasty monster indeed. These guys are a perfect start to any Ysian host!
Great Club Brute Monstrous Infantry Host
[pickup Torku, she's a doll, a creepy many breasted doll]
A product of the Ysian flesh-smith's insane minds, Conjunct X is an amalgam of monsters found dead upon the battlefield and stitched together to become an altogether different kettle of fish. In perpetual agony, starved and beaten by its Goad-Drunes, Conjunct X is one monster you do not want to come across on the battlefield.
Conjunct X, Vivicoct
Danilo Cruz is of course an homage to one of our favourite artists, Danny Cruz! Tasked with drawing himself as his ancestor would be, Danny has done a great job and Juan Navarro Pérez has performed an equally fantastic job to bring Danilo on horse to life. Danilo is a beast slayer and a sell-sword, too, which means any kindred can use his special skills against their enemies' monstrosities!
Danilo Cruz, Beast Slayer of Cantabria on Horse
Released on the 5th of August 2017
All of the releases above will be officially released on the 5th of August 2017, but you can order them right now!
Watch out for the September releases, which should be unveiled soon!
Dude, the metalsmith was just in their half off metal surplus sale.
I am eager to see how those crab men break down into their individual parts. They look like a wonderful nightmare to figure out how to put together correctly!
Never noticed the hands and faces of the guys stuck in the giant skeleton. Neat touch.
I hate metal and have only ever bought resin from Mierce . Just chips paint way too easy, and since I'm generally commissioning these that makes the resins worth it for me
This might be a dumb question, but if I were to pledge for a metal starter host that has 'resin-only' big grizzlies, does that mean that I'd get the infantry and character in metal and the monsters in resin?
Rob said a (5 man human sized?) unit in plastic would run about £20,000+
resin price would be £58
metal would be £36
plastic would need to be cheaper I would suspect to attract people so assume £30?
(and actually I think people would not be happy to pay £5 for a pvc mini on KS they get upset with boardgames at £2-3 a mini and they have a bunch of other stuff in too)
so you'd need 667 'sales' to pay it off at that price
so maybe for the mainstay troops for the popular factions (or now AoS is back in the big leagues for the factions with good crossover potential) a lot less so for the less common units and less popular kindreds
but I suspect most of Mierces current backers are there for the quality and it would be tricky to get a huge amount of traction especially as more and more are settling down to 3 or 4 kindreds so if there isn't anything new for them they're less likely to back
and with 12 (or 13 if you count the Vras separately from their Ysian allies) that's 240,000 just to get one unit each in plastic, and if you don't spread the love around people will get upset
Let's crack on with this project, and what better to crack on with than the Jutboga, set at £7,500 to unlock?
The Jutboga (pronounced "Jut-bow-yə") are based upon the Jutgār, of course, but are no less awesome for that. Human bowmen of the Cant realm of the Jutes, these guys are commanded by Archer Garric, a variant of Garric with a bow and a sword. Their support are the Dwimor - phantoms, one step beyond the Drēaguth, having left their physical essences behind to become purely ethereal, malevolent beyond measure toward the living, full of hate and maliciousness, able to shriek far more effectively than most.
Increase your pledge by £70 ($90) / £100 ($130) to purchase the Jutboga Infantry Starter Host in metal or resin respectively. The Dwimor will be in resin regardless of whether the host is metal or not.
Their website is difficult to navigate. Can someone recommend a unit for me to buy with the following requirements:
1) Available in metal
2) Available right now
3) Will scale okay with my Rackham Kelt Sessairs
4) No noodle axes
5) Humans
7) Picture available of what I am buying
So.. the previous kickstarter was cancelled yesterday suddenly and this one popped up instead? Without an update tying up loose ends and letting folks know outside of some comments? That's a bit poor form.
Gallahad wrote: Their website is difficult to navigate. Can someone recommend a unit for me to buy with the following requirements:
1) Available in metal
2) Available right now
3) Will scale okay with my Rackham Kelt Sessairs
4) No noodle axes
5) Humans
7) Picture available of what I am buying
These are about the only axe armed human infantry on general release (I think.)
Aesthetically the Albainn range are probably closer to the Sessairs, but they're currently only available with spears or crossbow, so conversions would be necessary.
Some info about the Savrár (Kthones lizardmen for those less up on the names) , it seems one of the reasons we've not heard more about them recently is the sculptor hasn't been in communication for some time
@Rick - I'll be honest, Bob will be doing them as Benoît hasn't communicated with us for ages. There's only so much poking I can do before I give up. I'm sure Benny will be back, but for now, the Sávrar need to be done - so I have to take steps. Bob has the Szalamandra unit slated first though."
so they and their big lizard chums are now scheduled for Bob Plociennik
Has he ever done reptiles? Did he do the Shadowsea guys for Antimatter?
Bob Plociennik not Bob Olley
I've not seen any actuall reptiles from him yet, but he has done the dynwoccor and cocwoccor for mierce (mine are now in packing and i'm looking forward to seeing what the resin looks like) previously along with the crab beasts, his art station portfolio shows a decent range of stuff
I can't believe they haven't updated this thread yet!!!
Update #2
Aug 24 2017
£6,250 - Talos
You guys have worked wonders overnight and we're very happy to bring you our first stretch goal beyond the funding goal - and it's the new Talos, set at £6,250 to unlock!
The original Talos was one of our oldest miniatures, and with Kretos and Athena incoming we decided to update him to make him look similar to those kolossi. Enter Duncan Louca, who has sculpted him superbly in 3D - in three versions - and he's even bigger than before, standing 175mm tall to the top of his crest. He's huge - as he should be!
Talos Alpha is the original Talos and he bears Xiphos (sword) and Aspis (shield). Talos Beta bears a double-handed Xiphos - and yes, we know Xiphoi were single-handed, but he's a kolossos of bronze so we're happy to take liberties. Talos Delta bears a Doru (spear) and Aspis (shield), and still has his Xiphos (sword)!
Increase your pledge by £60 to purchase Talos in any of his three forms; increase your pledge by £150 to purchase all three Talos versions!
Note that there is no possibility of mixing and matching versions as the bodies have to change.
Watch out for more stretch goals soon!
Update #3
Aug 24 2017
£7,500 - Jute Jutboga Support Starter Host
Let's crack on with this project, and what better to crack on with than the Jutboga, set at £7,500 to unlock?
The Jutboga (pronounced "Jut-bow-yə") are based upon the Jutgār, of course, but are no less awesome for that. Human bowmen of the Cant realm of the Jutes, these guys are commanded by Archer Garric, a variant of Garric with a bow and a sword. Their support are the Dwimor - phantoms, one step beyond the Drēaguth, having left their physical essences behind to become purely ethereal, malevolent beyond measure toward the living, full of hate and maliciousness, able to shriek far more effectively than most.
Increase your pledge by £70 ($90) / £100 ($130) to purchase the Jutboga Infantry Starter Host in metal or resin respectively. The Dwimor will be in resin regardless of whether the host is metal or not.
More stretches soon!
Update #4
Aug 24 2017
£10,000 - Jötnar of Utgard
Norse have been sadly lacking stuff of late, so let's endeavour to give that superb kindred something... and what a mighty something, with two new giants to join the Jötnar of Utgard, Felljötunn Unit at £10,000!
These superb monsters have been drawn by Des Hanley and will be sculpted by Ernst Veingart, as of course he did the original Felljötunn, Stígr. The Jötnar of Utgard are enormous, incredibly powerful giants from the mountains and are armed with two mighty warhammers and wear light armour. Comprising two new warriors - Válig and Baldr - to complement the awesome, already sculpted Stígr, the Jötnar of Utgard are a fantastic addition to any Norse host!
You can pledge for the two new ones if you already have Stígr, or you can pledge for all three of them as a unit, or even Stígr on his own!
Increase your pledge by £125 ($165) to purchase three Felljötnar; £80 ($105) to purchase two Felljötnar; or £45 ($60) to purchase a single Felljötunn.
More stretch goals soon...
HOW is it that HIGHLORDS are not HIGHLORDING it up over this one?!?
Update #5
Aug 24 2017
£12,500 - Crushers, Krokokh Unit
The stretch goals are coming thick and fast... when we get to £12,500, you'll get the Crushers, Krokokh Unit!
The Crushers are enormous, incredibly powerful creatures of scale and tooth and claw and an anvil upon which enemy armies are crushed. Comprising two new warriors - Srann the champion and Vultta - to complement the awesome, already sculpted Aggrakk, the Crushers is a fantastic addition to any Khthones host!
You can pledge for the two new ones if you already have Aggrakk, or you can pledge for all three of them as a unit, or even Aggrakk on his own!
Increase your pledge by £100 ($130) to purchase three Krokokha; £70 ($91) to purchase two Krokokha; or £36 ($47) to purchase a single Krokokh.
More Érainn - YES!!!
Update #6
Aug 24 2017
£15,000 - Érainn Fiannagh Infantry Starter Host
More stretch goals! I hear you all cry - so here's another... it's the long-awaited Fiannagh, set at £15,000 to unlock!
The Fiannagh (pronounced "Fi-an-a") are the legendary warrior-heroes of the Irish. Sworn to protect the Érainn from the invading hordes of the Fomoraic and others, the Fiannagh roam from town to village to defend their countrymen. Leading them is Cormac of the Red Hand, a true champion of Danu and a mighty warrior. Beef is provided by the Fir Bholg Beaters, the Bholg of an Mhuirthead, big lads with little brains maybe but strong limbed nonetheless.
Increase your pledge by £70 ($90) / £100 ($130) to purchase the Fiannagh Infantry Starter Host in metal or resin respectively. The Fir Bholg will be in resin regardless of whether the host is metal or not.
More stretches soon!
SPASM WARRIORS!!!
Update #7
Aug 24 2017
£17,500 - Érainn Fir Danu Starter Host
The stretch goals are coming thick and fast... here's the next one, set at £17,500 to unlock - and it's more Érainn, in the warped shape of the Fir Danu Starter Host!
The Fir Danu (pronounced "Feer Dan-oo") are the warriors in thrall to the ríastradh, the warp-spasm or convulsions made famous by Cú Chulainn. Cormac Fir Danu is, of course, the warped version of Cormac, and there's five Fir Danu warriors (either warped Fiannagh or warped Tuanagh) to stick into your infantry units and warp up when the enemy gets there. There's also more of the Fir Bholg Beaters, the Bholg of an Mhuirthead, with two new ones and two alternates of the banner bearer / herald.
Increase your pledge by £80 ($105) / £110 ($140) to purchase the Fir Danu Infantry Starter Host in metal or resin respectively. The Fir Bholg will be in resin regardless of whether the host is metal or not. This host, despite its slight price increase over the others, can be bought as part of the FIVE INFANTRY HOSTS / FIVE INFANTRY UNITS deals.
More stretches tomorrow...! Hopefully! Smash those targets!
And more Fir Bholg!!!
And finally:
Update #8
Aug 25 2017
£8,750 - Vul VII Iqqud, Dromedon Unit
You guys have smashed a couple of stretch goals so let's bring you another one! At £8,750 - which is not far away - we have the Vul VII Iqqud, Dromedon Unit!
The Dromedo are outsized camel-men from the deserts of Afrika, freakish, nasty and cruel - and totally suited to the Byzantii armies. Comprising two new warriors - Nakkara and Saddam - to complement the awesome, already sculpted Iqqud (the champion), Vul VII Iqqud is a fantastic addition to any Byzantii host!
You can pledge for the two new ones if you already have Iqqud, or you can pledge for all three of them as a unit, or even Iqqud on his own! Increase your pledge by £100 ($130) to purchase three Dromedo; £70 ($91) to purchase two Dromedo; or £36 ($47) to purchase a single Dromedon.
I like Iqqud, but I like these two better as they won't be chopping their own heads off!
Finally we have progress on Darklands: Savage Hordes III. Huzzah!
This week we have: • sculpt work in progress updates from Valentin Zak; • a link to the forums where you can see this project's fulfilment; • ...and anything else you can expect from us over the next few months.
Here we go...
We have a cracking update from Valentin Zak this week, because the Anglecynn are getting some slayer-bears...
We've been waiting for these guys for so long... the Slayers of Dunholm are, of course, the awesome Sleanbera Unit formed around the original slayer-bear, Cæna.
It''s early days, but Valentin will work wonders, we know...
The champion of the unit is Osbeorn, and he is going to be a brutal bear warrior for your Anglecynn.
He's a big bulky fella!
The last warrior in the unit is Ewart, a big galump of a bear-man.
We're very much hoping these guys will be Wave 19 shipments!
Abhorrent-tastic... and Darklands: Savage Hordes IV!
More for Darklands: New Kindreds today, three conversions down, two to go, and Yannick Hennebo is on the case with those two. It won't be long!
This week we have:
sculpt work in progress updates from Andrew May;
a link to the forums where you can see this project's fulfilment;
...and anything else you can expect from us over the next few months.
Here we go...
Andrew May's work on the Murderous Abhorrents - i.e., great clubbers - is, of course, superb. Here's the two outstanding...
Gussug's looking good, for a freak...
...we mean that affectionately, of course.
Another freak, but a slightly more attractive one, if that's the right word. Here's Genga!
These guys and gals should be a Wave 19 shipment.
The Ruinous Abhorrents wield two clubs, and are no less freakish for that. Again, Andrew May has done the business...
The last Abhorrent to convert is Zunuz, and he is looking great with two clubs... well, knives... you know what we mean.
These guys should also be a Wave 19 shipment!
You can track the progress of this Kickstarter project - in terms of sculpts outstanding and fulfilment of orders - on our forums, in the Kickstarter subforum:
highlord tamburlaine wrote:
I'd say the Gairlom Infantry from the Albainn fits Gallahad's requirements.
Human, no noodle axes, metal, in stock, and photos of minis are available.
I'd say grab the host but it's not in stock.
They also have the Oghurithne which look pretty similar to the Sessair Giants, and they're in metal too!
zedmeister wrote:These any good? The tuanagh fit nearly all of the criteria above:
Spoiler:
Azreal13 wrote:I think I might have interpreted "no noodle axes" as axes, but not with thin hafts. If not, then def Gairlom.
Thank you all for the recommendations! I'll take a look at those. They won't look puny compared to the old Rackham stuff? I've read somewhere that many of the Mierce infantry turned out more "historical 28mm" than "modern fantasy 32-35mm"
Huginn, that is super helpful! My friend has gotten a lot of the Mierce infantry and many were undersized from what he was expecting - but those look just perfect (the taller one has his foot on a rock).
The Norse infantry and the Warriors of Baalor (original versions) were 'undersized' - and some of the females from various kindreds are rather tiny too.
The Warriors of Baalor are getting re-done and upsized, and the Norse will too, eventually...
The size/scales can be a bit confusing at times, especially if you "just want random miniatures and not a squad in specific". Some of their heroes are huge, standing at least 35-38 mm to the eyes (some even higher), and they will truly dwarf their infantry units. So don't just "pick & chose" and assume all characters from the same faction will have the same size/scale, because they wont.
warboss wrote: So.. the previous kickstarter was cancelled yesterday suddenly and this one popped up instead? Without an update tying up loose ends and letting folks know outside of some comments? That's a bit poor form.
Par for the course. New month? New Mierce KS. Never mind the backlog of unfulfilled projects they have. I don't understand why everyone seems to love them.
grefven wrote: The size/scales can be a bit confusing at times, especially if you "just want random miniatures and not a squad in specific". Some of their heroes are huge, standing at least 35-38 mm to the eyes (some even higher), and they will truly dwarf their infantry units. So don't just "pick & chose" and assume all characters from the same faction will have the same size/scale, because they wont.
The reverse is true also - I picked up a couple of the older Angelcynn heroes a while back to use in a Middenheim warband and they were tiny. Like almost Perry historicals tiny.
Based on Huginn's pic it looks like some of the more modern humans are up in the 29-30mm to-the-eye range which is much better for compatibility in scale with other ranges of fantasy figures(which before anyone starts is, of course, not an obligation on Mierce - but it is nice for folk who don't have a realistic prospect of playing Darklands but who enjoy the models). On which note, Huginn, you wouldn't happen to have the Albainn infantry around to take a similar scale shot with would you?
ulgurstasta wrote: Does anyone know if the Dynwocor unit is going to be released in resin? And if so, when?
Spoiler:
they are going to be released in resin, and probably relatively soon,
I've got some on order from the KS and they've moved to packing so they'll be going out to backers over the next month or two, and then into general retail so I'll guess November/December? for that
Anyone got any insider info about a relaunch of Darkholds? That one had me really stoked, especially when the designer mentioned Space Hulk as a big influence.
Ian Sturrock wrote: Anyone got any insider info about a relaunch of Darkholds? That one had me really stoked, especially when the designer mentioned Space Hulk as a big influence.
All we know is that they are re-thinking what offering to put out. There will be a relaunch at some point.
Now, my own suspicion is that they'll offer some sort of cut down version that'll either be a metal set or it may have PVC characters with skrubs as counters or markers of some sort with some sort of £150,000 stretch to switch to PVC. It did well and got to £60k, but didn't have the momentum to carry it on to be funded.
The Ghulas (Ghouls) are up for £20,000. 30mm bases as well:
£20,000 - Jute Ghūl Infantry Starter Host
With £11,000 reached and a few stretch goals smashed, it's time to bring you some more stretch goals - and we're starting with more Jutes! At £20,000, you can grab the Jute Ghūl Infantry Starter Host!
The Ghūlas (pronounced "gool-ass") are degenerate cousins of the living Jutes, neither Jute nor Wiht; for they have failed to live beyond death yet are changed nonetheless, becoming twisted and bitter and craving the taste of human flesh above all else. Led by the Ghūl Thain Acwel, a noble in name but in manner everything but, the Ghūlas are joined by the Gryreghūlas ("gry-er-gool-ass) - terrifying monstrosities that are a portent of what the Ghūlas eventually become. Each Gryreghūl is deformed beyond recognition, their spines and bones growing and protruding from their bodies, their hands becoming claws and their hardened flesh stretching and splitting. Horrifying in the extreme and abhorrent to their fellows, the Ghūlas are important to the Jutes for they are strong and fearless fighters.
Increase your pledge by £70 ($90) / £100 ($130) to purchase the Ghūl Infantry Starter Host in metal or resin respectively.
warboss wrote: So.. the previous kickstarter was cancelled yesterday suddenly and this one popped up instead? Without an update tying up loose ends and letting folks know outside of some comments? That's a bit poor form.
Par for the course. New month? New Mierce KS. Never mind the backlog of unfulfilled projects they have. I don't understand why everyone seems to love them.
Probably because they keep delivering awesome product for a great price?
Rob's past business dealings are always going to be part of his history, and while he has certainly delivered as Mierce, there's still a sizable Maelstrom legacy left over too.
Anyway, here's the next stretch goal!
Update #10
Aug 29 2017
£13,750 - Bronn's Brood, Cocwocor Unit
They're coming thick and fast. Here's the next stretch goal to aim at, set at £13,750 to unlock... it's Bronn's Brood, featuring two new Cocwocor!
Cocwocorau are the larger cousins of the Dynwocor, cackling, noisome beasts with a freakish manner and an ear-pearcing shriek. Comprising two new warriors - Glach ap Digrach and Pedr ap Pedroc - to complement the awesome, already sculpted Bronn ap Banbronn (the champion), Bronn's Brood is a fantastic addition to any Brythoniaid host!
You can pledge for the two new ones if you already have Bronn, or you can pledge for all three of them as a unit, or even Bronn on his own!
Increase your pledge by £100 ($130) to purchase three Cocwocorau; £70 ($91) to purchase two Cocwocorau; or £36 ($47) to purchase a single Cocwocor.
They're.. kinda like Fimir.. are these massive though? If they're reasonably sized I might have to jump in.. If they're enormous I'm going to be sad (and also happy that if I want to do 54mm Fimir they're out there)
MLaw wrote: They're.. kinda like Fimir.. are these massive though? If they're reasonably sized I might have to jump in.. If they're enormous I'm going to be sad (and also happy that if I want to do 54mm Fimir they're out there)
They're on 80mm bases, and (I'm guessing) roughly the size of a space marine dreadnaught. So,they aren't huge, but they're meant to be the largest of the woccor (or jaberwocky men) units. The regular woccor might make better fimir, as they're smaller (on 50mm bases), and you can buy them in metal & save some cash.
So as to not wake up Orlando and Zed, who are apparently napping...
Here's the latest update!
Update #11
Aug 30 2017
£13,000 - Fomoraic Great Axe Reiver Infantry Starter Host
The Crushers are in, and it's time for a stretch goal! Here's the promised Fomoraic Great Axe Reiver Infantry Starter Host, set at £13,000 to unlock... just around the corner then!
Reivers are the men and women that reside upon the Great Ice Sheet itself or upon the lands and the tundra conquered by Baalor, living and hunting amongst the moraine and the floes in tribes uncountable, constantly fighting amongst themselves for the Destroyer's favour. The Reivers' loyalty to the Eye in the Ice ensures they join his hosts whenever they are required, putting aside their differences to fight amongst the Warriors and the beasts of Baalor to bring death to their foes.
The Great Axe Reiver Infantry Host - an ideal way for your Fomoraic to control the battlefield cheaply - contains Kaarstan, Reiver Tain with great axe (he will get a helmet at some point); a unit of ten Reivers with great axes, Raab's Warband; and a unit of three Great Axe Ograx Reivers, Konraad's Mob.
Increase your pledge by £70 ($90) in metal or £100 ($130) in resin to purchase either of the starter hosts for your Fomoraic host!
Watch out for more stretch goals soon... and yes, there will be Two Axe Reivers shortly!
Kinda bummed that the Fomoraic offering here is for weedly humans, and not Majestic Mallax, but...oh well!
More not Mallax offerings!
Update #12
Aug 30 2017
£14,000 - Fomoraic Two Axe Reiver Infantry Starter Host
Hot on the heels of the Great Axe Reiver Host is the Two Axe Reiver Host, set at £14,000 to unlock!
Reivers are the men and women that reside upon the Great Ice Sheet itself or upon the lands and the tundra conquered by Baalor, living and hunting amongst the moraine and the floes in tribes uncountable, constantly fighting amongst themselves for the Destroyer's favour. The Reivers' loyalty to the Eye in the Ice ensures they join his hosts whenever they are required, putting aside their differences to fight amongst the Warriors and the beasts of Baalor to bring death to their foes.
The Two Axe Reiver Infantry Host - an ideal way for your Fomoraic to control the battlefield cheaply - contains Kaarstan, Reiver Tain with two axes; a unit of ten Reivers with two axes, Baara's Warband; and a unit of three Two Club Ograx Reivers, Raad's Mob.
Increase your pledge by £70 ($90) in metal or £100 ($130) in resin to purchase either of the starter hosts for your Fomoraic host!
We've got the Great Axe Reivers and we're almost at the Cocwocorau - so let's give you another stretch goal to go for! Set at £22,500 to unlock, it's the Norse Holumann Infantry Starter Host... featuring resculpted Holumenn!
The Holumann Infantry Starter Host is led by Steinn the Bold on Foot and on Grundtroll, a huge troll-beast of far Norrland, and contains a unit of ten Holumenn with a mixture of axe, sword and shield. Holumenn are longship crew, hardy fighters used to the ways of raiding and war-making, and here they will be resculpted by Bob Plociennik.
This does of course mean the Holumenn Bowmen will be sculpted by Bob, too - we haven't started sculpting those - so any purchase of the Holumenn Bowmen Support Host from any project will be these resculpted versions.
Increase your pledge by £70 ($90) in metal or £100 ($130) in resin to purchase either of the starter hosts for your Norse host! Note that Steinn the Bold on Grundtroll will be in resin regardless of whether you go for a metal or resin host.
Somebody asked for a comparison shot, and as I had the camera set up today.....
The painted figures are Albainn, the bare metal infantry sized figures are Eirann. The big guy at the back is an Albainn giant/ogre, I can never get my head round all the names.
The infantry are all based in the same fashion, glued to a 2p coin. The three central figures are also stood on surf boards (coffee stirrers), so I can build up a bit of terrain around them if I want to. So they are all equal height in terms of basing. The figures are all in various states of bending and stretching, but as you can see they are pretty damn similar in scale. Hope you find that useful.
Appreciate the scale shot - and your paint jobs are very nice!
Next update!
Update #14
Aug 31 2017
£16,250 - Oghu Lobbers, Wild Oghurüc Unit
As we've just unlocked the Cocwocor and the Two Axe Reiver host, it's time for another stretch goal. Here's something for the Albainn - the Oghu Lobbers, Wild Oghurüc Unit, set at £16,250 to unlock!
Wild Oghurüc are larger, more primitive relatives of the Oghur and the Oghurithne, tuned with the Oghu Stones of the mountains which they congregrate around and defend by lobbing rocks and other large objects at their enemies. Comprising two new warriors - Ogágg and Murágg - to complement the awesome, already sculpted Magágg (the champion), the Oghu Lobbers are a fantastic addition to any Albainn host!
You can pledge for the two new ones if you already have Magágg, or you can pledge for all three of them as a unit, or even Magágg on his own!
Increase your pledge by £100 ($130) to purchase three Wild Oghurüc; £70 ($91) to purchase two Wild Oghurüc; or £36 ($47) to purchase a single Wild Oghurüc.
The three Wild Oghurüc can also be included in the "FIVE INFANTRY HOSTS" £100 deal; and the two Wild Oghurüc can be included in the "FIVE INFANTRY HOSTS" £70 deal.
As much as I love the Fomoraic, I gotta say, there's just too many Ograx. I know they're just variants, and weapon combos, but man, there's just so many! They feel sort of out of place in the Fomoraic to me, they have lots of Monstrous infantry already, but almost all of it is based on prehistoric beasties, which is really cool. The Ograx sort of break that asthetic, though I realize they pair well with the reivers. The sculpts for them are looking great, but I'm really hoping this is the last of them for a while. We still have other more animal ones to get to, like the new Gabrox, and we already have a ton of ogre-like infantry in other hosts, like the Ysian Brutes, Bholg, and of course, most of the Albainn.
I think the Fomoraic were better served when it was filled with men and beast-men, as opposed to...giant men?
They need more giant sloth-men though, that's for sure!
Anyway, on to Ys!
Update #15
Sep 1 2017
£18,750 - Two Club Brute Monstrous Infantry Starter Host
With £15,000 and the Fiannagh rapidly approaching, let's push past them with the advent of something for the Ysians... the Two Club Brute Monstrous Infantry Starter Host, set at £18,750 to unlock!
These guys are variants of existing or forthcoming miniatures, with the host's commander - Blade-Grigg - being an alternate of Hammer-Brugg the Death-Brute. He leads a unit of five Two Club Brutes, alternates of the Great Club Brutes, and a unit of three Great Club Brute-Beasts, alternates of the Two Club Brute-Beasts.
Increase your pledge by £130 ($170) to purchase the Two Club Brute Monstrous Infantry Starter Host in resin. Note that you're saving well over 50% on this deal - you'll never get these guys cheaper!
Huginn wrote: Somebody asked for a comparison shot, and as I had the camera set up today.....
The painted figures are Albainn, the bare metal infantry sized figures are Eirann. The big guy at the back is an Albainn giant/ogre, I can never get my head round all the names.
The infantry are all based in the same fashion, glued to a 2p coin. The three central figures are also stood on surf boards (coffee stirrers), so I can build up a bit of terrain around them if I want to. So they are all equal height in terms of basing. The figures are all in various states of bending and stretching, but as you can see they are pretty damn similar in scale. Hope you find that useful.
Huginn wrote: Somebody asked for a comparison shot, and as I had the camera set up today.....
The painted figures are Albainn, the bare metal infantry sized figures are Eirann. The big guy at the back is an Albainn giant/ogre, I can never get my head round all the names.
The infantry are all based in the same fashion, glued to a 2p coin. The three central figures are also stood on surf boards (coffee stirrers), so I can build up a bit of terrain around them if I want to. So they are all equal height in terms of basing. The figures are all in various states of bending and stretching, but as you can see they are pretty damn similar in scale. Hope you find that useful.
Well, you guys have worked wonders over the weekend because we stand at £20,000 or thereabouts - and that means there's only one stretch goal left, so we'd better add some more! Set at £23,750 to unlock, here's the Vras Spear-Vras Infantry Starter Host!
The Vras - mole-rat-men that burrow and infest the cities and towns of Frankia - are long-time allies of the Ysians and whilst they may be foul and loathsome bringers of disease and filth, they are useful indeed thanks to their sheer numbers. Grey-Fur, a Vras-Chief of cunning skill, leads a unit of ten Spear-Vras (which are already sculpted) and a unit of Rend-Vras, larger and more powerful cousins of the Vras themselves, full of tooth, claw and hate. Artwork for these guys is not yet done, but will be done over the next couple of months. Suffice to say, they'll look like Rat Ogres and will wield war-glaives themselves!
Increase your pledge by £70 ($90) in metal or £100 ($130) in resin to purchase the Vras Spear-Vras Infantry Starter Host! Note that the Rend-Vras will be in resin regardless of whether you go for a metal or resin host.
The Ghūlas are in - so it's time for another stretch goal! Here's the Atalantes Khalkotes Infantry Starter Host, set at £25,000 to unlock!
Led by the mighty Herakles, the legendary Hero of Ilios (seen here in his strictly limited edition form, Unhelmed Herakles - only available in this starter host), the Khalkotes are elite warriors of flesh and bronze, injured and repaired by the finest Tekhnomántes of Atalantia. Joining them are the Kórikolossos, Daughters of Bronze, female kolossi on 40mm bases.
Increase your pledge by £70 ($90) in metal or £100 ($130) in resin to purchase the Atalantes Khalkotes Infantry Starter Host!
More shortly!
Update #18
Sep 4 2017
£21,250 - Jute Ghūlgār Infantry Starter Host
Right then - it's time for another stretch goal. Here's the Jute Ghūlgār Infantry Starter Host, set at £21,250 to unlock - just around the corner!
The Ghūlas (pronounced "gool-ass") are degenerate cousins of the living Jutes, neither Jute nor Wiht; for they have failed to live beyond death yet are changed nonetheless, becoming twisted and bitter and craving the taste of human flesh above all else. Wielding spear and shield and so called Ghūlgār, they are led by the Ghūlgār Thain Cweld, a noble in name but in manner everything but, and are joined by two new Nihtbats to join Thrada, the Bats of Cisel, on 80mm bases. Artwork for these will follow in time.
Horrifying in the extreme and abhorrent to their fellows, the Ghūlas are important to the Jutes for they are strong and fearless fighters.
Increase your pledge by £70 ($90) / £100 ($130) to purchase the Ghūlgār Infantry Starter Host in metal or resin respectively.
More stretches soon!
Update #19
Sep 5 2017
£30,000 - Graach's Herd, Gabrox Unit
Wowser. You guys have worked wonders overnight and have smashed all but one stretch goal still standing, so let's give you more to go for! At £30,000, here's the Graach's Herd, Gabrox Unit stretch goal!
Graach's Herd is all about the Gabrox. Gabrox are larger, more brutal cousins of the Gabrax and Gul-Gabrax; not as intelligent as either of those, but wilder, stronger and more ferocious - and so incredibly useful to any beast-man general.
Gabrox will stand upon 50mm bases and will be around 50-60mm tall to the eye. They are Wild Monstrous Infantry of the Fomoraic.
Increase your pledge by £50 ($78) / £60 ($80) to purchase a unit of 5x Gabrox in metal or resin respectively, or by £60 ($80) / £70 ($90) to purchase a unit of 6x Gabrox in resin. You can purchase the alternate banner bearer warrior separately for £12 ($16) / £15 ($20).
More stretches shortly!
Update #20
Sep 5 2017
£27,500 - Anglecynn Geoguth Infantry Starter Host
Right. Here's another stretch goal, and the first sighting of the Anglecynn in this project... it's the Anglecynn Geoguth Infantry Starter Host, set at £27,500 to unlock!
The Geoguth (pronounced Yeo-guth - it's the root of the word "youth") are led by the Champion of Tamtun, Berenulf Wulfshead, in both helmed and unhelmed forms (the latter being strictly limited edition and only ever available in this host). The Geoguth themselves form a unit of ten called the Youths of Stæford, and they are joined by two units of ten Wulfas - wolves, basically, on 30mm bases - in the shape of the long awaited Sweorcan's Pack.
Increase your pledge by £70 ($90) in metal or £100 ($130) in resin to purchase the Anglecynn Geoguth Infantry Starter Host!
And the good news is that it will be funded this time around!
And because Team Alpharius is crushing Team Zed and Orlando...another udpate!
Update #21
Sep 5 2017
£26,250 - Gorgers of Khthon, Stóskoular Unit
£25,000 and the Khalkotes are almost unlocked, so it's time for another stretch goal... for the Khthones! At £26,250 you can get the Gorgers of Khthon, Stóskoular Unit...
Stóskoulares are huge scaled worms able to burrow underground for long distances, gnawing through soil and propelling themselves with their little legs to burst from the ground behind an unsuspecting wizard or war engine. These guys are great to get rid of those pesky sorcerers!
Each Stóskoular will stand on a 60mm base and will be around 50-60mm to the top of its head.
Increase your pledge by £50 ($65) to purchase the Gorgers of Khthon in resin.
I lost track of the pledge waves. When are the models from this new KS reasonably expected to deliver? I still have stuff unsent from years old projects.
Yes, I also have quite a backlog of things with Mierce.
As for this campaign, depending on the item, some are scheduled for as early as Feb. 2018 (the Talos alts) while most are in the June/July/August 2018 range.
As you note though, expect many of them to be a bit later than their projected ship dates!
Is it just me, or do the Gorgers seem like something from the Jute Kindred, rather than the Khthones? I mean, they're insects (centipede like ones too), they burrow...
Alpharius wrote: Yes, I also have quite a backlog of things with Mierce.
As for this campaign, depending on the item, some are scheduled for as early as Feb. 2018 (the Talos alts) while most are in the June/July/August 2018 range.
As you note though, expect many of them to be a bit later than their projected ship dates!
Laugh, yeah, I just checked out of morbid curiosity and I have stuff from 12/12/2014 outstanding still.
Only 4 hours to go, and this one has already done way better than I thought it would!
Some of these might not be reached, but who knows?!?
Update #22
Sep 6 2017
£28,750 - Herakles
Another fantastic total on the morning of the last day of this project! Well done to everyone! Let's get to the Gabrox with the addition of this latest stretch goal, which gives you the awesome Herakles at £28,750!
Herakles is the Hero of Ilios, a mighty champion of the largest city-state of the Atalantes, victor of a thousand battles and the equal of any warrior upon Gaia. Armed with a huge Kopis and bearing heavy armour and a shield, he may also ride a Pegasos of Bronze into battle, a gift from a grateful nation and the only example of its kind remaining.
Increase your pledge by £30 ($40) to purchase both Herakles on Foot and on Pegasos of Bronze. Herakles on Foot will be in either metal or resin at that price. Herakles on Pegasos may only be in resin. You can also purchase them individually at the prices indicated.
More stretch goals shortly!
Update #23
Sep 6 2017
£28,000 - Female Demilegionarii
Here's a thing... the Demilegionarii - whilst we love them because they are amazing sculpts - are missing their female counterparts, and after much badgering we've decided to give in and get some done. So here's the three Female Demilegionarii, set at £28,000 to unlock!
The Demilegionarii are half-human, half-demon creatures that fight in the legions of the Byzantii for the immortal Emperor of Byzantium. Selected from the ranks of the Legionarii, each Demilegionarius wields a sword, an axe and various mutations on their path to demonhood, eventually becoming Demifiends and, if they are lucky (or unlucky depending on your viewpoint), Fiends. Demilegionarii stand on 40mm bases and are between 30-45mm in height.
The three female Demilegionarii here represent the mutations of the female Legionarii, and you can purchase all three for £25 ($33) or £40 ($52) in metal or resin respectively. You can also purchase all eight Demilegionarii found in the In III Judas, Demilegionarius Incaendium (five of which are already available) for £48 ($62) / £80 ($105) in metal or resin.
More stretches shortly!
Update #24
Sep 6 2017
£35,000 - Beasts of Cill Chonn Bog
Well here's a thing. New Bog Beasts, set at £35,000 to unlock!
Bog Beasts are giant constructs of the sorcerers of Danu, raised from the bogs of Ireland to devour their enemies and/or batter them into submission (your choice). Each Bog Beast will be around 70mm to the eye and will stand on an 80mm base. Artwork is not done for the two new Bog Beasts - you're seeing the existing Bog Beast, Mórannach, of course - but will be done after the project ends should they be unlocked. Expect one of them to be climbing out of a bog!
These guys are due to be sculpted by the legendary Allan Carrasco - so if you want them, make sure we get them!
You can pledge for the two new ones if you already have Mórannach, or you can pledge for all three of them as a unit, or even Mórannach on his own!.
Increase your pledge by £125 ($165) to purchase three Bog Beasts; £80 ($105) to purchase two Bog Beasts; or £45 ($60) to purchase a single Bog Beast.
I sure hope Zed and Orlando are OK...
Automatically Appended Next Post: Well, it is all over now - made £33,855 and everything but the last goal (BOG BEASTS by Allan!!! ) made it in - wow!
Hello, I'm selling some Mierce stuff, I'll put the link here since this thread is basically the Mierce online community it might be of some interest to some people. Extra discount for Dakka people. Hopefully this is ok
JWBS wrote: Hello, I'm selling some Mierce stuff, I'll put the link here since this thread is basically the Mierce online community it might be of some interest to some people. Extra discount for Dakka people. Hopefully this is ok
Not really.
Please repost this in the Swap Shop forum - thanks!
It's the penultimate update (at least in terms of miniatures) for Darklands: New Kindreds, because another conversion has been done, leaving just one to go.
Here we go...
Just the one miniature to show this week, and it's for the Anglecynn... specifically, the Dēra realm...!
Leofwen is a lovely lady of the Anglecynn, sculpted originally by Stéphane Simon, now converted by Yannick Hennebo to be on foot...
Apologies for Yannick's photos... they're not great.
She should be a Wave 20 shipment now...
Dairdubh's been shown before, of course, but we thought we'd show you one assembled as we could only show you parts beforehand. That's a 100mm base, too, so his profile - as a Yew Beast - will be as it is found in the musters.
I still can't figure out - is there any kind of discernable pattern/timescale between something shipping out for backers and it popping up to buy for us regular plebs? I really want to get at least one or two of those Peat Beasts(on which note, if anyone with Mighty Monsters access and some KS credit wants to flog a set to me shoot me a PM).
Yodhrin wrote: I still can't figure out - is there any kind of discernable pattern/timescale between something shipping out for backers and it popping up to buy for us regular plebs? I really want to get at least one or two of those Peat Beasts(on which note, if anyone with Mighty Monsters access and some KS credit wants to flog a set to me shoot me a PM).
Not really - it really depends on what they can get out and when. Somethings are waiting an age whilst others get put out quite fast. When the peat beasts are sculpted, take note of the wave send out - close to send out, you could drop Mierce a message asking for access to purchase them. That's your best bet for now
Seperately, Savage hordes and lizzies for you:
Byzantii and Khthones
We have a bumper update on Darklands: Savage Hordes today, largely because of Bob Płociennik of course!
Here we go...
There's stuff for the Byzantii this week, and lots of stuff for the Khthones, too...
The Ballista war engine known as Tor I Italus (to decode: First Tormentum of Italus) is now complete, thanks to the awesome skills of Bob Płociennik.
It really looks awesome!
He's been done for a while of course, but here's Italus again...
He's an excellent Decanus...
Aigidius, a crewman, pulls those levers like his life depends on it.
Which it probably does...
The other lever-puller is Elianus.
He's not quite as good at pulling levers as Aigidius, but he's happy in himself, and that's the main thing.
Verus carries the ammunition back and forth...
...which is back-breaking work, but he's happy he's not pulling levers for a living... (this is not the finished Verus - he's on the top picture with the whole unit).
The Ballista itself is called Bal I Italus.
(Garric is just a size example)
The whole shebang should be a Wave 20 thing...
We've decided to get Bob Płociennik to sculpted the Gukkok's Blades, Sávrar Unit, and - rather predictably - they look bloody awesome.
The champion of the unit is Gukkok, and he is mighty fighty...
He's not quite finished - the teeth are too small, the tail is too long and the fins need to be thicker - but he's getting there...
The banner bearer is Kliss, and he looks awesome!
We're hoping these guys will be Wave 20, and knowing Bob's speed, we reckon that's possible...
The Firekin - also taken over by Bob Płociennik - are the Szalamandra unit, on 60mm bases, for the Khthones...
Ignilak is the champion of the unit, probably the oldest and most experienced!
He's looking excellent...
The second Szalamandra is Sikkak...
...he seems to be looking for victims to gob fire onto!
The last member of the unit is Kkigni...
We're very much hoping these guys will be Wave 20...
Yodhrin wrote: I still can't figure out - is there any kind of discernable pattern/timescale between something shipping out for backers and it popping up to buy for us regular plebs? I really want to get at least one or two of those Peat Beasts(on which note, if anyone with Mighty Monsters access and some KS credit wants to flog a set to me shoot me a PM).
Not really - it really depends on what they can get out and when. Somethings are waiting an age whilst others get put out quite fast. When the peat beasts are sculpted, take note of the wave send out - close to send out, you could drop Mierce a message asking for access to purchase them. That's your best bet for now.
Hmm, oh well. They're ostensibly finished already, the fulfilment thread for MM has them all sculpted and recieved but yet to be moulded, pegged for Wave 19 in October, but I doubt Mierce will just give me access to buy them as I've not backed any of their KS.
Those Szalamandra look WAY better then their artwork/I thought they would - I'm in!
And yes, Highlords will be Highlordin' it up in here any minute now...
Also - Murder-Bears!
Update #31
Sep 29 2017
Bears that Slay
A cracking update for Darklands: Savage Hordes III, we think, because two bears that slay are nearing completion...
This week we have:
sculpt work in progress updates from Valentin Zak;
a link to the forums where you can see this project's fulfilment;
...and anything else you can expect from us over the next few months.
Here we go...
Again, only two miniatures to show this week, but they're blimmin' awesome ones, thanks to Valentin Zak...
The Slayers of Dunholm are some of the finest miniatures we've ever produced, and I know we're biased, but we're also (relatively) objective. Check out Valentin Zak's work to find out if we're relatively objective!
The champion of the unit is called Osbeorn, and he's looking brutal and brilliant.
He's missing his chainmail and his chainmail coif, but it won't be long for those!
The last member of the unit (remember that Cæna has been done for a while), Ewart is looking spiffingly good...
These guys will definitely be a Wave 20 shipment...
We have a little update for you this week on Darklands: Warriors of Baalor, featuring some warrior of baalor nobles. Fancy that.
Here we go...
We've got a couple of works in progress from Yannick Hennebo this week, for the Fomoraic, of course... and these two are strictly limited edition, so you'd better get yours quickly if you haven't got one already!
Daarkan gets two soul axes and becomes Destroyer Daarkan. Nasty...
He'll be Wave 20...
The lovely Naraa becomes Shieldwall Naraa thanks to the addition of a shield...
highlord tamburlaine wrote: Those sure are some nice sculpts. A shame that extra large sculpt Roberto did won't see any use though- not to detract from the work on these models.
I want to see how they come out once printed (particularly the heads, but also the scales in general) but the renders look good so far!
What sculpt are you referring to from Roberto - do you have a pic?
Sorry, it wasn't Roberto that sculpted it, it was actually Benoit Cosse. Nearly a year ago. That might explain my hazy memory of it.
From a Dec. 2016 update.
Those circles were supposed to be 60mm wide, and there had been talk of bumping them up to 80mm bases.
New renders are definitely growing on me, and considering the crispness of the scaled on my big chicken wyvern boss man, I'm sure these new 3d sculpts should turn out good.
Anyone know how long it's worth waiting before querying an order that's status has changed to packing?
Im assuming that when the status changes from processing to packing that's the point where the order goes and gets casted (if that's the right word )and stuff so isn't just popping stuff in a box, as in the past it's stayed in packing for a week or two before I get a shipment notification, but this time it's been a couple of months with nothing further.
Pretty much only when the next wave has entered packing,
they try and ship in order of when people placed their orders but with some of us with stuff coming in from lots of projects, some ordered within minutes of the pledge manager going live and other stuff ordered many months later it's never certain what will trump what
it also depends on having the moulds made/remade and I suspect that's what we're waiting for here with Rob (and Tim) having spent a bunch of time on Darkholds in terms of development, playtesting etc and more new stuff than there's been for a while hitting it's shipping date
(I've also had stuff in packing for this latest wave for ages, but we have seen a fair few people reporting stuff from this wave arriving so it is going out)
Always a good idea to email them directly - they'll let you know what's what, and if there's a missing shipping item or something similar holding things up.
I didn't think it progressed to packing unless there were sufficient shipment items anyway (may be wrong)
If as Orlando says there are others who've had stuff sitting in Packing for a long while now as well then I'm sure it's nothing to worry about and there are many factors involved. I was just curious.
Taaloc wrote: I didn't think it progressed to packing unless there were sufficient shipment items anyway (may be wrong)
If as Orlando says there are others who've had stuff sitting in Packing for a long while now as well then I'm sure it's nothing to worry about and there are many factors involved. I was just curious.
Like Alph said, just shoot them a quick email too. you'll get an answer either way, plus, if it's being held up by needing more shipping, then you can sort that out also. But yeah, I've had stuff 'Packing' for awhile as well.
It's a ripper of an update on Darklands: Savage Hordes today, oh yes! My word it is. That's all because of Bob Płociennik, again, who is simply storming it these days.
Here we go...
We've twelve miniatures to show you today, and all for the Khthones, and all digitally sculpted by Bob Płociennik. Awesome!
The Sávrar unit with blade and shield are Gukkok's Blades, and they're now awesomely complete thanks to Bob's ministrations.
The champion is Gukkok; he's changed a fair bit since the last time you saw him, so here he is in his new form...
The blade is bigger and longer, and his crests are thicker...
The banner bearer, Kliss, has also changed a bit since last time...
Those crests are thicker now.
The herald of the unit is Esko...
...he loves drumming, he does!
A lowly warrior, is Ikki...
...but he'll happily chop you to pieces anyway. That makes him a Happy Chopper.
The other warrior of the unit is Brakka...
...he likes cooking people he's killed, sort of like a Little Chef.
The alternate of the banner bearer is Kikik...
...can he Kikik? Yes he can...
The alternate of the herald is Skokk...
We're very much hoping Gukkok's Blades will be a Wave 19 shipment!
The alternate, support version of Gukkok's Blades are Gukk's Javelins - Sávrakontar, Sávrar armed with Akonta, javelins basically. Sculpted by Bob of course!
The unit champion is Gukk, who loves a bit of darting.
He also loves fishing...
Ikkliss is a javelin warrior dude...
...although that sword looks handy, too...
Another javelin warrior, Skoss has an excellent eye...
...able to hit his target at fifty paces...
Javelin-throwing is a handy skill for Kki...
...he has no trouble finding the hearts of his enemies.
The different models just seem to be quickly reposed... many have the exact same head / expression with the mouth slightly ajar and the same "evil grin" look... the only other variant is the mouth closed one. So they took the two head options they'd digitally sculpted, and repeated them over and over throughout the unit...
If these were human models, people wouldn't be okay with that. It's similar for the javelin pack, for instance, it's the same 3 slightly askew javelins on all models...
Just looks rushed and not with the time put in to give them character, imo.
The poses look varied enough for me. I hope those javelins end up that thick, as I'd hate to have to redo all of them as brass rods. Too much work for me!
I'm all for digital sculpting, just not digital copy-paste... imagine the amount of variety a unit of lizards like this could have if individually sculpted (whether digitally or traditionally). One head roaring, maybe another with a knife between its teeth... as it is they are fine but lack individual character.
Another place this is visible are the spears, they look very basic (both the metal points and the shafts) and are just repeated identically on all models. They don't match the rough nature of the blades of the first unit (although even there, the same blade model is repeated on several sculpts).
Just my opinion, but these could be so much more than what they are now if given the attention they deserve!
You'd think that, sculpting digitally, this would be something that would be easy to avoid and change up, but...do you find that many digital sculptors instead go the easier 'cut-n-paste' route instead, especially on 'units' of miniatures?
I have a lot of models in packing forever as well. I am probably being just cynical but I remember right at the start of the kickstarter a lot of people including myself noticing models going into packing. Makes me wonder if they just did that at the start of the Kickstarter to make people less worried about all of their back models that haven't shipped yet and more likely to pledge on newer kickstarter.
Probably NOT deliberately to push up the ks numbers (as somebody who has also had stuff in packing since before that too),
although it wouldn't surprise me if this time round things moved a week or two early (ie mid/late august) so when he was off on honeymoon the rest of the team would be able to carry on working on the September releases instead of waiting for him get back and work though all the essential emails etc which would have meant no info for the casting/packing people until mid September at the earliest
for any worrying about whether you've got enough shipping waves Rob has specifically said stuff never gets labelled as packing unless you do
My understanding is that when you're in packaging that means that your stuff is slotted for production and then getting packaged as they make it through production runs for the various molds. I've had very large orders that were one shipment in packaging for months and I believe that's what I was told.
As for shipping missing, Rob will email you if you don't have any. Has happened to me before as well.
Remember those Sávrar from last time? Well, you guys weren't satisfied with their variety (although you must all bear in mind these things were genetically engineered by the Atalantes, so they should be very similar) so we tasked Bob Płociennik to give them a little variety. We do listen. Sometimes...
...and there's also three versions of an existing Sávrar commander from Bob, which you can now find in the Savage Hordes Kickstarter category on our webstore. Ace!
The old Eikovra is looking tired now, next to the new Sávrar, so we decided to get Bob to resculpt him - and as there'll be another two versions, of course. Here he is in his Ikon Warrior glory...
He should be a Wave 20 shipment!
The warrior version of Eikovra is called a Sun Warrior, and he is looking very nice indeed...
Again, he'll be a Wave 20 shipment!
The Sávrakontar need a commander, too, so here's Akontar Eikovra to fill that slot!
Another Wave 20 shipment!
The Sávrar unit with blade and shield are Gukkok's Blades, and they're now looking utterly superb thanks to Bob - and your criticism!
The Champion, or Sávrarkh (which is different to a Sávrarch, before you ask), is Gukkok...
...he looks rather vicious!
The banner bearer, or Ikon Bearer, of the unit is Kliss...
...we love his cuddly lizard icon, but he'll still stab you soon as look at you.
The herald of the unit is Esko, a Sávrar Beater...
...see that face on the beat-stick? That's your face, that is... it must be petrified somehow, or perhaps at the start of the session, because we don't think your face will last that long as a beat-stick, to be honest.
The first warrior of the unit is Ikki...
...ten points for spotting the changes from last time...
The second warrior is called Brakka...
...we were going to call him Dakka, but that would be silly.
The fourth warrior is Kikik...
...he's the alternate of the Ikon Bearer, of course...
Here's the fourth warrior, Skokk, the alternate of the beat-stick fella...
Gukkok's Blades should be a Wave 20 shipment!
Now here we have the support unit for the Sávrar, the Gukk's Javelins, Sávrakontar Unit, modelled on Gukkok's Blades of course by the lovely Bob Płociennik!
The champion of the unit is Gukk...
...a Sávrakontarkh, no less...
The first warrior of the unit is Ikkliss...
...he likes to stick people with his pointy sticks!
The next Sávrakontar warrior is Skoss...
...sounds a bit like a Shetland Island, but he isn't... er, an island.
Another Sávrakontar warrior. Here's the brevitically-named Kki!
Yes, that is a word. Brevitically, we mean.
The last Sávrakontar warrior is Akka, related to Brakka and Dakka.
This being a Mighty Monsters project, you'd expect monstrous beings, of course, and here's an update on two of them shown last week...
This week we have:
•sculpt work in progress updates from Tim Prow;
•a link to the forums where you can see this project's fulfilment;
•...and anything else you can expect from us over the next few months.
We're off...
We've two updates from Tim Prow this week, finishing off those shown from last time...
We saw Murderous Cúlaítar last time, of course, but he needed a little work on his crosses and now Tim's sorted that, you can put a fork in him!
Here's what he looks like with his murdering sticks (from last week)...
He will be a Wave 20 shipment!
Tim just needed to add details to Cowering Scecchus' shield hand and so he has, to be sure...
Again, he should be a Wave 20 shipment!
You can track the progress of this Kickstarter project - in terms of sculpts outstanding and fulfilment of orders - on our forums, in the Kickstarter subforum: • Darklands: Mighty Monsters - fulfilment
Here's a fantastic update for Darklands: Mighty Monsters! Hurrah!
We're off...
Just the one miniature for the monsters that are mighty this week, sculpted by Martin Lavat for the Norse...
The awesomeness of Tórlákr, a Grimtroll of the Norse, is down to four people - Christophe Madura and Dan Cockersell, who drew and sculpted Blood-Maw; and Dan Warren and Martin Lavat, who drew and converted him to become Tórlákr.
Martin's done an amazing job matching Dan's skin textures!
We are very much hoping he will be a Wave 20 shipment!
Automatically Appended Next Post:
Ottaa's Pocket
It's been a while, but here's an update for Darklands: Mighty Monsters Part Deux, finally. It's a complete Ograx from those you've seen before, but he's still awesome!
Let us begin...
We've two miniatures to show this week, and both are Fomoraic-y and rather ogrish.
Konraad's Mob is only two strong at the moment, but they're still awesome for all that... we all wish Yannick Fusier would speed up, but then perhaps he wouldn't produce such awesomeness.
Kaarl - last seen with protruding wires from sculpting - is now done and parted up. Here's his parts...
He really does have the best horn we think we've ever seen in miniature form!
The lovely Ottaa, whose pocket is often full of ice which then becomes very wet indeed, is now complete - and looks bloody awesome!
We're hoping these guys will be Wave 20, but Yannick's got three to do yet! Plus, Yannick always does nativity stuff at Christmas, so we shall see.
Automatically Appended Next Post:
SLEE-an-ber-ə
Here at Mierce Towers we love Valentin Zak, not just because he has the coolest name in the world, but because he is also an amazing sculptor who somehow invests each miniature he sculpts with character and movement. Here's to you, Valentin!
Here we go...
One new miniature this week, but it's awesome nevertheless - for the Beornica!
Once again, we have to say that the Slayers of Dunholm are some of the finest miniatures we've ever produced. Ever, and that's saying something.
The champion of the unit is Osbeorn, a name which means "divine bear". No, really.
Osbeorn now has a chainmail coif, and that completes the unit!
Here's a reminder of Cæna, who's been done for ages...
...he's cool by any definition of the word, is Cæna.
...and here's the last member of the unit, Ewart, who's coming with Osbeorn. Not literally.
These guys will definitely be a Wave 20 shipment!
Automatically Appended Next Post:
Help us, Patrick Swayze!
It's quite difficult, writing this bumpf, without repeating yourself. I try not to, but sometimes it's inevitable. Still, there's worse things that could happen, like forgetting you'd put the kettle on ages ago and so you have to re-fill it with fresh water and re-boil it because if you don't your tea tastes of limescale, so I'll just carry on regardless.
We're off...
Just the one miniature again, for the Ysians, and it's now complete. Nice!
The awesome Grom returns, complete, ready for some killy action with his mates. Who aren't done yet, but will be worked on by Jason very soon.
Grom - the champion of the Brute-Beast unit - is now complete, and looks bloody amazing. That right arm - once some kind of lizardy arm - looks fantastic!
Here's a size indicator:
He's big, very big.
Let us all beseech the God of Sculpting, Patrick Swayze, to get these ready for Wave 20.
Automatically Appended Next Post: Skellybobs
Wihts with Swords
We have a stupendous update for Darklands: Starter Hosts this week, for the Wihtsweords are.. well... done!
Here we go...
There's eight miniatures to show today, but we're going to make things very simple for you - it's the Jutes, and they're by Bob Płociennik. Nice!
Sculpted originally by Edgar Skomorowski, our very own Bob Płociennik has converted Sweordsman Wihtwald to be having a rather rusty sword. Awesome!
He'll be Wave 20!
Again sculpted originally by Edgar Skomorowski, our fantastic in-house sculptor Bob Płociennik has converted The Dead of Black Barrow to become The Lost of Black Barrow, with swords instead of spears. They look bloody awesome to us![url=https://mierce-miniatures.com/projects/ks_sth/the_lost_of_black_barrow_wip_01_large.jpg]
The Lost of Black Barrow, Wihtsweord Unit (click for a larger image)
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Note that baldy Sweordsman Wihtwald is not included, he's just for show. They'll be Wave 20!
help a good cause (mens cancer research & care) and get a chance to win goodies with Mierce
THREE DAYS TO GO!
In a fit of inspiration derived from our latest releases, here at Mierce Towers we've decided to hold our very first raffle in aid of a good cause... that of the Movember Foundation, the only charity tackling men’s health on a global scale to address some of the biggest health issues faced by men: prostate cancer, testicular cancer, mental health and suicide prevention. To that end - and to encourage you to take part - we're giving away five times what you have spent as Moneyback in your account when you purchase anything from our webstore until midnight (GMT) on Monday the 13th of November 2017 - an extension to the original date, meaning you've three days left to enter, possibly snare yourself a massive prize and help men around the world!
You don't even have to grow a moustache (although we strongly urge that you do so!), as we've done it for you with the Rhyfelwyr, those fine Welshmen sporting cracking mo-dogs!
Warriors of Dyngonwy, Rhyfelwr Unit
How do we help the Movember Foundation?
On Tuesday the 14th of November we'll be giving the foundation 10% of every order you guys make as part of this raffle; even if you only purchase £50 worth, you'll be directly contributing £5 towards the health of men in the future. So bear in mind that the more orders you make, the more times you'll be entered into the draw and the more times you'll help the foundation!
How do I enter?
All you need to do is purchase anything from our webstore over the value of £50, using cold, hard cash (not Moneyback) and entering the phrase "Mierce for Movember" in the special instructions box, and on Tuesday the 14th of November at 3pm GMT we'll announce the winners of the Mierce in Movember Raffle. Yes, you read that right - winners plural, because we'll be picking out five winners from those that take part! We'll be choosing one winner from each of the following categories: orders worth between £50-99, £100-£159, £160-£259, £260-£499 and £500+!
PLEASE DO NOT USE ANY VOUCHER CODES. Any orders using voucher codes will be rejected. Tiered discounts do apply - the more you purchase, the cheaper your units will be!
What's on offer?
Pretty much anything is covered by this offer, with only purchases using Moneyback not a part of it. Even so, there's so many miniatures in our range that you're spoilt for choice!
Help Men in Movember!
Grow that moustache, and in summary:
•1: Make an order on the Mierce Miniatures webstore worth more than £50 before the 13th of November at midnight (GMT)
•2: Enter "Mierce for Movember" in the special instructions box, so we know you're contributing
•3: Wait patiently for us to announce the winners on the 14th of November at 3pm (GMT)!
•4: If you're a winner, we'll be depositing your winnings - five times the amount you ordered! - into your Moneyback!
•5: ...or simply bask in the glow of helping a charity that actively helps men, even if you didn't win a prize!
So does anybody know what's going on with the "Savages Hordes Muster Book" that all the lore and background was allegedly moved to? I have emails from Rob from years ago now promising it would be just around the corner.
But are they that bad that they had to be resculpted instead of just pushing out a new unit instead? I dont think so. They are pretty decent. But we'll see if they ditch their old unit entirely or not.
Clearly Zed is busier than I am so here are the somewhat late Mierceday updates
Darklands: Savage Hordes gets another update this week thanks of course to Bob Płociennik, who is making great progress on the Werwulf Hunters (and therefore the Werwulfas).
This week we have: •sculpt work in progress updates from Bob Płociennik; •a link to the forums where you can see this project's fulfilment; •...and anything else you can expect from us over the next few months.
Here we go...
It's the Werwulf Show this week with both Eoric's Pack and Sigewulf's Pack - both of the Anglecynn - getting nearer to completion...
The Werwulf Hunter unit is looking absolutely superb right now. Bob is working wonders on these guys!
Acca is a cracking miniature, based on Sigebald of Eoric's Pack of course...
Again, the arrows need a little work but that's it. We're hoping all of these guys will make it into Wave 20...
The original and still the best, Eoric's Pack is the Werwulf Unit that Sigewulf's Pack is based upon. Each warrior from Eoric's Pack will have sword and claw, spear and claw, sword and shield and spear and shield options (regardless of what you can see here).
The fantastic Sigebald is looking utterly superb in his new form. The banner is just amazing. The haft may need to be a little thicker to support the banner's weight, please note.
To see how he'd look with spear, see Siweard (his warrior alternate). Obviously the shield won't be there in the claw versions...
The herald of the unit is Heoruvard, and he howls whether it's a full moon or not...
All four versions shown here...
Siweard is the alternate of Sigebald the banner bearer. The warrior version!
At this speed, Eoric's Pack will be ready for Wave 20... but we'll see.
I'm getting a very native American vibe from those quivers with what looks like birchbark stitching on them
Savage Hordes II
We've some lovely miniatures to show you this week for the Atalantes by Jin Wei...
As we said last time, the Ilios Watch's ladies needed a boob job and so Jin got to work. The result means they look more like ladies than... er... men.
Akantha gets an upgrade...
...and she was happy about that.
The lovely Io also gets an upgrade. Hurray! She said.
These guys will be Wave 20, assuming we can get them printed in time...
The Ilios Vigil are the Iliotoxotes - literally "sun archers" - variant of the Toxotes. These guys pack a punch but are quite rare, so use them sparingly...
Good stuff, as always, but I've found that my interest and enthusiasm as waned greatly due to the large backlog that Mierce still owes me, and also due to the fact that I've had a bunch of stuff stuck in 'packing' of what feels like ages.
And no, I don't owe any additional shipping on them - at least I didn't when I asked Rob ages ago!
Are you the same "Bob" that now digitally sculpts for Mierce?
Also:
Mierce Miniatures wrote:
It gives everyone the opportunity to purchase starter hosts a bit cheaper at the beginning of the year, and introduces the Werwulfas properly, who have had a bit of a makeover and deserve a bit of attention. Also, the Wælwulfas are getting a resculpt too.
I'll add the forthcoming hosts (from SH IV) at some point, plus the mounted hosts, too.
Doing my best and I sure am glad that you like them as much as I do. It always feels awesome to see comments like this Tbh I mainly joined to follow people's comments I'm probably not gonna spill any cool news, but I want to see honest opinions, if not as a feedback to already finished models, then at very least as a guideline for all the future ones
Anyway, can't wait to get my hands on those Werwulfas too, just got my first batch of minis from Rob, and gotta say printing and casting quality is beyond awesome, I don't play much anymore but I love how cool they look on my display :p
Anyway, I'm not here to float the topic with spam, so I'm gonna stop now :p
Bob, all your work for Mierce has been Excellent! Having the unit of Dynwocor in hand finally, I have to say, they're amazing! So glad you've been able to do more work for them. I can't wait to see what you do with a unit I've really been waiting for, the Mammax!
I'll echo the praise for you Bob! Been great seeing your work. The werwulfs look much better than the originals. I'm also really excited to see Wulfric's pack get a resculpt too.
Aww looks like we lost my fav concept artist for now
@Zed - you'd have seen them if there was... the holiday period has been slow artist wise... plus I'm having to find a new one seeing as Roberto Cirillo now works full time for another company
Would be great to be able to buy stuff 'in person' - delivery time would be almost nil!
I think they mentioned being open to the idea of letting people drop by on appointment. Not sure if that's still good though. If they have a physical store that's certainly news to me
11 mins ·
...
In a little more than an hour we (me and Ryan Kingslien) will start a short (~an hour) webinar regarding sculpting miniatures:
https://app.gotomeeting.com/?meetingId=209730821 Feel free to come and hang out with us if you are interested in how the sculpting looks backstage smile emoticon I will be showing some cool Mierce Miniatures' models and how they came to be, as well as answering some of your questions.
not sure if this service archives content or if it's live only but if you're around take a look
This stretch goal will of course result in a digital resculpt of the existing Annik miniatures by Bob Płociennik, along with a couple of new versions to boot! Along with the original Annik of Carn Wrach on foot and on horse there's also the lovely Bow-Annik on foot and on horse and of course the amazing Sairen-Annik on foot and on horse...
at 7500
This stretch goal will of course result in a digital resculpt of the existing Leofwen miniatures by Bob Płociennik, along with a couple of new versions to boot. The original Leofwen, Fane-Bearer of Dēra on foot and on Great Hart are shown on the image, as well as the archer version on foot; but we're also going to add the archer version on Great Hart and a new foot and mounted sword and shield version of Leofwen, too (art for which we don't have, but which we're sure you can imagine).
and for after the KS has actually funded (at £10,000) we have at £12.500
This host will of course include the Wælwulf unit resculpted for the £10,000 stretch goal, Wulfric's Pack, which comes with all three weapon options for them - claws, great claws and sword and claw. Cearl, the Wælwulf Thegn that leads the host, will be digitally resculpted by Bob Plociennik and will also include the same three weapon options. To give the host a bit of punch there's Creoda, too, a mighty Guthwulf well able to tear the enemy to pieces!
(it's a shame these are being resculpted as I like them as they are, but I guess getting the extra weapon options done by a traditional sculptor would be more expensive than having Bob redo the whole lot now he's on the payroll)
highlord tamburlaine wrote: Now that you mention concept art, we haven't seen much out of Danny Cruz for a while either. I always liked his stuff.
Yeah, I agree. I love Roberto's work for sure, but Danny was what I really consider to be the art style that shaped the Darklands line.
Yep, Mierce seemed t have dropped some very good sculptors recently.
I was in conversation with Roberto, he was not treated well by Mierce, according to him, tehy jsut pulled sculpts from him.
I queried Rob, he said "well, he is expensive"
Umm, so are Mierce Minis, we pay top dollar for quality.
However, my concern is that this Kickstarter is a symptom of an underlying problem.
After his boardgame KS failure last year, and the promise of "no more kickstarters for a long time" we immedaitely got another little kickstarter.
Now we have this one...a scant month later...WTF is going on why are these minis so damned important we need more and mroe kcikstarters, each one pushes out the completion date further and further, they are nearly a year overdue already.
Given the obvious fact that these minis won't be produced for at least 6 months, why not wait until then to launch the kickstarter? The delivery date wo't change?
...what's the advantage of getting digital sculpts completed now.
Why, was Bob asked to do new scukpts, instead of working through the considerable backlog of stuff stretching as far as Savage Hordes?
Was this wolf resculp urgent?
What's the urgency., close out a few of the long long outstanding old Kickstarters first...
My fear is that Mierce is using these kickstarters to pay the bills...
IF Mierce are using kickstarters to pay for the day to day operating costs of the business, that is VERY BAD NEWS.
Most of the money from each kickstarter should be banked to pay for the production of mins paid for IN THAT KICKSTARTER...NOT to pay wages and rent now.
That's a catastrophe waiting to happen...they are basically putting off debt into the future, and each new kickstarter adds to that...if THIS kickstarter is paying the bills, what will pay for the production costs of the minis? Another kickstarter later on...?
That is my underlying concern, it's not "Where are my minis" it's "is the company using kickstarters to run day to day?"
Rob shows the rabid fanbase some shiny new minis fresh off Bob's PC, and they throw cash at him, never mindng that these minis won't see the light of day for at least a year.
Bob doing these NOW tells me Rob needs this kickstarter to keep the lights on.
That's not good.
I queried him in the comments, and his response didn't alleviate my concerns.
One logistical question regarding the digital sculpts - has Mierce brought 3D printing in-house? If not, the printing backlog is being added to pretty rapidly with all the digital sculpts they're producing, and that has its own challenges and costs associated with it, separate from the molding/casting queue.
I obviously love a lot of Mierce's traditionally sculpted stuff, since I have tons of it but for some things, the digital really is fantastic - the Jutes in particular! For these wolves, I'm not sure yet - would love to see a print or cast to get a better feel for how they'll look on the table. But that's true of basically any company showing a miniature render (which seems to be most of them now ) of course!
I know they were planning on getting a 3D printer in house - and I *think* that they've purchased one or were about to purchase one or recently purchased one...
highlord tamburlaine wrote: Now that you mention concept art, we haven't seen much out of Danny Cruz for a while either. I always liked his stuff.
Yeah, I agree. I love Roberto's work for sure, but Danny was what I really consider to be the art style that shaped the Darklands line.
Yep, Mierce seemed t have dropped some very good sculptors recently.
I don't think anyone was dropped, they just have an in house sculptor for a lot of the stuff they're doing now. So they can more cost effectively get through that backlog of figures. There's nothing stopping them from using any of the old sculptors again, unless they work for someone else (like Aragorn).
I was in conversation with Roberto, he was not treated well by Mierce, according to him, tehy jsut pulled sculpts from him.
I queried Rob, he said "well, he is expensive"
Umm, so are Mierce Minis, we pay top dollar for quality.
So... Rob asked if he could do them cheaper, Roberto declined. So Rob found another way, that was cheaper. #runningabusiness
However, my concern is that this Kickstarter is a symptom of an underlying problem.
After his boardgame KS failure last year, and the promise of "no more kickstarters for a long time" we immedaitely got another little kickstarter A month later.
Now we have this one...a scant month later four months later...WTF is going on why are these minis so damned important we need more and mroe kcikstarters, each one pushes out the completion date further and further, they are nearly a year overdue already.
Given the obvious fact that these minis won't be produced for at least 6 months, why not wait until then to launch the kickstarter? The delivery date wo't change?
...what's the advantage of getting digital sculpts completed now. Can't say I've ever had a miniatures kickstarter send out stuff in less than six months, even when they have everything sculpted, and in house molding. Don't know that I've ever heard of one doing it either, but, I could be wrong.
Why, was Bob asked to do new scukpts, instead of working through the considerable backlog of stuff stretching as far as Savage Hordes? The archer wolves were in line to be done next, they're from one of the first SHKS. Rob (and a lot of other people} didn't like the original sculpts, so instead of hiring someone to just modify those, as was planned, Rob just had Bob resculpt the lot. And since they were being worked on, he had Bob do a few more weapon variations.
Was this wolf resculp urgent?
What's the urgency., close out a few of the long long outstanding old Kickstarters first...
I don't think they HAD to be fully resculpted, but the figures were 'urgently' needing to be done. So, it's kind of one of both there.
My fear is that Mierce is using these kickstarters to pay the bills...
They have said that they are a 'Kickstarter company' many times over the years.
IF Mierce are using kickstarters to pay for the day to day operating costs of the business, that is VERY BAD NEWS.
Most of the money from each kickstarter should be banked to pay for the production of mins paid for IN THAT KICKSTARTER...NOT to pay wages and rent now.
So how SHOULD they pay the employee wages? Not trying to sound mocking by asking, I am curious what alternate means of getting money you believe they should follow. They have lots of sales, and have added at least 100 new models to their online retail store in the last year. They go to cons to sell figures, they hold tournaments. Tim (a payroll employee/company head) even does conversions which are sold in the shop, and, are timed well with what is popular in other game systems (in fact, all I'm getting in this current KS is stuff I didn't get in previous ones, and some of Tim's new blight figs (which look awesome!)). What else is there?
That's a catastrophe waiting to happen...they are basically putting off debt into the future, and each new kickstarter adds to that...if THIS kickstarter is paying the bills, what will pay for the production costs of the minis? Another kickstarter later on...?
With every KS, they add new models to the 'to do' list, and then eventually when they're sculpted, they go into the store, and other people (non KS backers) can buy them.
That is my underlying concern, it's not "Where are my minis" it's "is the company using kickstarters to run day to day?"
Rob shows the rabid fanbase some shiny new minis fresh off Bob's PC, and they throw cash at him, never mindng that these minis won't see the light of day for at least a year.
He showed us the new sculpts which Bob had already done, and showed very old concepts of some of the original figures he wanted to have redone. He never said that any of these resculpts would precede anything else which had already been funded. Also, I think you've contributed to enough Mierce KS to be considered part of that 'Rabid' fanbase, so don't play it off like you're new to the whole thing.
Bob doing these NOW tells me Rob needs this kickstarter to keep the lights on.
They need those lights to work!
That's not good.
I don't understand why Rob trying to pay his employees & bills is such a horrible thing to you.
I queried him in the comments, and his response didn't alleviate my concerns.
Mierce Miniatures 19-time creator about 9 hours ago
@Yx - people are sculpting them, as you can see from the past few months.
Bob's done Hror simply because it fits with the new Werwulfas and because I wanted him to do it. He's doing Thurgis next, then he's finishing off the Savage Hordes stuff with the Holumenn and Gorgóraxo, and then he's starting on SH2 stuff. The odd character inbetween the big units is not much of a strain on his time and in any case, certainly with Annik, it helps with SH3.
I have said all this before and you're being disingenuous by saying I'm brushing you off - the information is already out there so there seemed little point in repeating it.
I'll say it again, you need to calm down, and you need to stop being so negative. It doesn't help anything.
Skullking, (I won't quote that huge post again...)
If you don't understanfd basic busines, let me explain.
Running a business using a kickstarter NOW to pay the bills, keeps the loghts on, means that money is consumed.
The £10,000 or whatever, is gone, used to pay wages, rent, bills etc.
But when we pledge for XXX and YYY minis with our money NOW, we expect that money to be used for that purpose.
So in 6 months time, what money is there to fund the production of the minins we paid for?
Answer....none, it was spent 6 months ago.
Unless Mierce is selling a buttfuck olf minis outside their Kickstarters, which from the number of deeply discouted Mierce mins I've seen on 3rd party sellers, sites, isn't happening, they are having to run another kickstarter, to fund the production of minis from a previous kickstarter.
This result in a debt spiral, as each time they do this they are putting off the debt by more and more.
It's like a Ponzi scheme (only not deliberate fraud, let me make that clear)
So what happens if one of those KS fails?
Oops, suddenly Mierce have no money to both produce mins, and maintain the business.
Result: Mierce ceases trading, all outstanding orders are lost.
No to be very clear I am NOT saying this is the case 100%, but it sure seems that way.
And in case you weren't aware, this has already happened to the major players behind Mierce, when Maelstrom games folded.
I think both @yxalitis and @skullking raises fair points.
It would be a concern if Mierce were using the money from each current kickstarter as a way to pay for overdue rents, wages, debts, etc. because, just like @yxalitis writes, when the money from kickstarter stops coming, every non-fulfilled project will risk failure. This can't really be argued with. However, are we certain that it will happen? Of course not. Maybe online sales pick up instead, perhaps they've by then generated enough interest for their wargame that it will be self-sustaining, perhaps Rob and Tim takes out a bankloan to see it through. What will happen in the future that is to come is of course impossible to say. Another flaw in @yxalitis post is that we do not know the financial plan of Mierce, and how they in fact are using their funds. It could be so that they use 50% from the kickstarter to pay wages/debts/etc. and 50% is put into the bank as a reserve to keep them going just in case the kickstarter-hype would fade away. Perhaps they are even using only 20%. We don't know.
Of course it make sense to use lower costs for a business if they can. For example, say that one sculptor's rates are higher than someone elses, it is fair to think that the one with the lower rates win out, just like @skullking points out. It is a business and this is usually how they work. However, one cannot simply look at the short end result. Also, as @yxalitis mentions, if one pays for a high-end product, one is to expect the quality to represent the cost. Some sculptors, Roberto Chaudon in particular (my own very personal opinion) is an incredible talented sculptor and has sculpted some of the very best miniatures for the entire range. I believe it is a fair point to say that some people will buy miniatures just because they were sculpted by him. Replacing one sculptor with another who has lower rates doesn't neccessarily mean that the profit of margin increases in the long run. Maybe the sales go down because people cant find their favorite sculptor in the range anymore, maybe people compare the old work with the new and find it not living up to the same standards, etc. Of course, again, we do not know because we do not have the numbers. Only Mierce do. But needless to say, using an in-house sculptor will greatly reduce the costs in the long run. It's just a matter of hoping that the customers do not find it to be a drop in quality. Again, we don't know because we cant see the sales numbers, or what figures are most popular, etc.
I also agree with @yxalitis in regards of were the werewolves needed to be resculpted instead of pushing out new figures that people pledged for a long time ago. Personally, I would probably approach it with a different route and try to complete new, outstanding ones, before readdressing old ones. Again, reasons to this are unknown. I hope there are others than Mierce simply "felt like it". Because that does not make sense as a business. Again, we don't know the underlying reasons. From my perspective, this is probably a poor business decision for the "long run". I would rather keep the customers happy by showing progress elsewhere. However, who knows, perhaps Mierce has identified a need/desire in the industry and thought they could fill that gap by pushing out those redesigned werewolves. Then it would, instead, be good for the business.
@Skullking: There are a lot of miniature kickstarters that do not delay 6+ months with shipping out the products. I could drop 10 projects on the top of my head right here and now, but I won't since this thread is dedicated to Mierce. But telling the truth, after running one kickstarter, one should have got the grasp and understanding of productiontime and should be able to form a correct estimated delivery time. However, would people back a project if they saw that the ETA was 18 months from now? Most likely some people would turn it down simply because of that. Would they, on the other hand, back the same project with a listed ETA in 6 months? If you believe yes on the second question, why list the "true and accurate" one? This is running a business, after all, which is about making money. Delays, in many cases, are not delays, but a part of the actual production time, only that the creators, from a busness point of view, decided to give the wrong ETA to attract more attention to it. It is as simple as that. Of course delays still occur, but as much as it happens in Kickstarter, one got to think more than "oh, it was unforseen".
Pretty much this...
I of course have zero knowledge of Mierce finances.
This Kickstarter came out of nowhere, why the urgent need for resculpts?
If this had been: "Hey guys, we have a big backlog of 3D stuff we need to print, help us fund a printer to help out" I'd have been reassured that they were aware of the increasing delays, and acting to remediate.
Instead we got; "ooh, look, shiny new things, give us some money to fund them" despite the fact that with the current backlog, they aren't seeing the light of day for a long time.
I mean, without a printer, how are these getting competed?
Remember, they hired Bob, a 3D artist, full time, with no plan as to what you do with his output?
I mean, you hire a 3D artist, you plan a 3D printer purchase to produce the work, right?
yxalitis wrote: ...which from the number of deeply discouted Mierce mins I've seen on 3rd party sellers, sites...
Where are these places? I've never found Mierce models in the UK for better than 10% off RRP, and with shipping they usually end up the same price as ordering direct from Mierce.
I have supported a number of mierce miniature Kickstarters but and I do like there figures, generally I have found the team to be very good not rising to comments, but putting professional reply’s back. However I didn’t like the way they responded toyxalitis at all putting in that he was doing there head in has put me off backing, also he asked some questions and there response was along the lines of read throutthe hundreds of comments it’s in there. Well who has time for that if they need to repeat stuff so be it
That or a credit check, I'm no accountant though, but it does place their last declared accounts at a net of around -£60k (numbers in brackets on balance sheets being negative). That's only an improvement of around £2k net on the previous year.
But like I say I'm not an accountant and that could mean nothing, it's all a matter of public record though.
Companies house is a dreadful gauge of the current financial health of a company, as most records are based on information from years ago because of the way accounts are filed, and the information for many companies is massively superficial because those under a certain size aren't obliged to report publicly in any but the most superficial detail.
So you've read the reports right Alph, but it has almost zero bearing on the current situation.
I want Mierce to survive as the mini's I have are things of beauty but this constant KS'ing and delays because of X,Y or Z (there's always something) doesnt abate the vague sense of unease that at any time they could go pop means I'm no longer willing to back anything
I backed New Kindreds in 2014 and I'm still waiting for magma svrill and helmed ophios, that 2.5 years overdue !
I'm never backing mierce again for anything that's not already released.
Companies house is a dreadful gauge of the current financial health of a company, as most records are based on information from years ago because of the way accounts are filed, and the information for many companies is massively superficial because those under a certain size aren't obliged to report publicly in any but the most superficial detail.
So you've read the reports right Alph, but it has almost zero bearing on the current situation.
Yes... and no. Theres a lot of 'blanks' in terms of what Mierce does to generate cash outside of kickstarter. With a range that big, I'm not sure why there still going to Kickstarter.
Or, to cut it another way - Darkholds had £58k before funding was cancelled... and rather then relaunching it in the new year they try a new kickstarter for existing things.... which seems to be failing. Also they didn't log in today. And why on Earth would you launch a campaign for £10k in January. Thats madness.
Don't get me wrong - I hope this is wild speculation and I'm wrong... but with that amount of figures outstanding, still running kickstarters for new models, and no one really buying your existing stock... theres a bigger issue.
As to why the KS was launched it sounds like they just wanted to advertise and sell the resculpted armed werewolves. Rob said he wasn't expecting this one to take off big time on day 1 in the comments,
no doubt because of the date (although that doesn't seem to be hurting HATE or Nemesis) and the Single kindred focus (all previous ones have launched with a mix even if they would have had to break stretch goals to get them)
and Rob said in the comments that he had commitments at home this weekend so he wouldn't be around much if at all
as too Darkholds I imagine they're still trying to work out whether they can produce something to relaunch that has enough appeal to fund. A lot of the feedback from those that were interested but didn't back was a mix of
more detailed finished rules and art design assets (possible but will take time especially when it's now being done on the side as KS isn't paying for it)
that they wanted even more new unique sculpts (thus pushing the costs up, although some of that increase may be reduced as more digital sculpts are done by Bob)
that they wanted a 'standard' dungeon crawl with more mixed random enemies (possibly doable but then it's not a Darklands game and a lot of the hope was that it could lead into the wargame)
a lower funding target (just not possible unless they under cost and risk having to kill a funded project)
Lower funding/risk of failing - I get that. But other companies meet some of that with there own capital, and I don't think they have it... and at this stage they probably should.
There's very little activity about Mierce outside of this thread which given the number of sculpts, quality of the figures etc. Is surprising. How are they selling figures outside of Kickstarter is my question - especially with so many figures outstanding
Like I said, if love to be wrong. Let's come back in 12 months and see where things are at.
Lower funding/risk of failing - I get that. But other companies meet some of that with there own capital, and I don't think they have it... and at this stage they probably should.
There's very little activity about Mierce outside of this thread which given the number of sculpts, quality of the figures etc. Is surprising. How are they selling figures outside of Kickstarter is my question - especially with so many figures outstanding
Like I said, if love to be wrong. Let's come back in 12 months and see where things are at.
Oh yes, I want to get egg in my face and have people point out how wrong I was!
I have £130 tied up in store credit, andther £100 unspent from the Loads of Monstrs Deal and another £150 in infinished orders!
I WANT TO BE WRONG!
Thuulac, the giant crab, was beautifully rendered by Bob a yeat ago,
At this stage, they do not have a means to produce him!
I asked mid last year, and Rob replied that to print Thuulac and Brebeca would cost £1600, which is 10% of the cost of a printer itself
Given this; why on Earth have we not simply been asked to help fund the printer itself...??
My feeling is that the Kickstarter is indeed being used to raise money to keep the business going, having one for a 3D printer would require Rob to actually spend all the money on one!
God I hope I'm totally wrong, and that by June all the sculpts fron Mighty Monsters part one and two will be completed and shipped!
I backed New Kindreds in 2014 and I'm still waiting for magma svrill and helmed ophios, that 2.5 years overdue !
I'm never backing mierce again for anything that's not already released.
And some kickstartes never deliver anything...we should not let these set the starndard for completion however.
The first few Mierce kickstarters got everything out the door in around 18 months, and those were mammoth £100,000 plus projects
Given that Mierce have now run 19! kickstarters, they shouild be very sure how to deliver on time.
New Kindreds was funded in Septmber 2014, and still has one outstanding sculpt.
skullking wrote: Yep, Mierce seemed t have dropped some very good sculptors recently.
Umm, so are Mierce Minis, we pay top dollar for quality.
So... Rob asked if he could do them cheaper, Roberto declined. So Rob found another way, that was cheaper. #runningabusiness
Prayers
Hello skullking, Roberto Chaudon here, can you tell me where did you get this info? The line that says I declined a Rob offer please. Thanks!
Hmmmm repeated long running sales, large backlog of pre paid for products, terrible looking financials.
That seems to ring a bell for some reason, if I had any money tied up in this pyramid it would be squeaky bum times.
I would be looking on companies house for any other new companies registered in Rob or his familys names and for mentions of assets moving outside the company.
I hope we see more things like those Blight Beasts in the future (which I just got in, and are quite nice as expected).
Reasonably priced, nice casts, good size, and using existing figures as a base to work from hopefully results in less overhead expenses but still offers consumers something new.
SeanDrake wrote: Hmmmm repeated long running sales, large backlog of pre paid for products, terrible looking financials.
That seems to ring a bell for some reason, if I had any money tied up in this pyramid it would be squeaky bum times.
I would be looking on companies house for any other new companies registered in Rob or his familys names and for mentions of assets moving outside the company.
Wow, that's got to be bordering on libelous!
Perhaps refrain from making baseless and inaccurate accusations before you get yourself into serious trouble?
You've clearly no idea how stringently the official receiver would examine an activity such as the transfer of assets from a failing/failed business, and as pyramid schemes are illegal in the U.K. you're essentially publicly accusing someone of fraud, with, one assumes, absolutely no evidence to back it up?
Based on the information available, concerns about Mierce are understandable, but dragging up and then misrepresenting past events like this aren't going to help anyone.
Wait, hold up a second - the Blight Beasts are based on the smaller versions of Morannach, but have been released before the base models? Does that mean the proper ones will be out sometime soon then?
Yodhrin wrote: Wait, hold up a second - the Blight Beasts are based on the smaller versions of Morannach, but have been released before the base models? Does that mean the proper ones will be out sometime soon then?
yxalitis wrote: Thuulac, the giant crab, was beautifully rendered by Bob a yeat ago,
At this stage, they do not have a means to produce him!
I asked mid last year, and Rob replied that to print Thuulac and Brebeca would cost £1600, which is 10% of the cost of a printer itself
Wow, I didn't realize that - but this is my concern with so many digital sculpts. Very affordable to render, but costly to print the masters so that they can be cast...
They have gotten a lot of goods out the door over the past few years, that's for sure, and their range of minis is now HUGE.
But their website is terrible, and finding anything is very hard, having unspellable, unpronounceable names for everything doesn't help.
Back in the Maelstrom Games days they had fantastic photos of each mini including a scale for size, and closeups :
How informative is that?
Now they have just one photo!
I suggested that a site revamp would help, but they have no time for that...
yxalitis wrote: Thuulac, the giant crab, was beautifully rendered by Bob a yeat ago,
At this stage, they do not have a means to produce him!
I asked mid last year, and Rob replied that to print Thuulac and Brebeca would cost £1600, which is 10% of the cost of a printer itself
Wow, I didn't realize that - but this is my concern with so many digital sculpts. Very affordable to render, but costly to print the masters so that they can be cast...
$20k for a 3d printer? What are they looking at getting a power based one or a carbon STL? A good resin printer for prototyping is about $5k and that included support contacts and upgrades.
yxalitis wrote: Thuulac, the giant crab, was beautifully rendered by Bob a yeat ago,
At this stage, they do not have a means to produce him!
I asked mid last year, and Rob replied that to print Thuulac and Brebeca would cost £1600, which is 10% of the cost of a printer itself
Wow, I didn't realize that - but this is my concern with so many digital sculpts. Very affordable to render, but costly to print the masters so that they can be cast...
$20k for a 3d printer? What are they looking at getting a power based one or a carbon STL? A good resin printer for prototyping is about $5k and that included support contacts and upgrades.
Well, I'm no expert in professional 3D printers, but that did strike me as high when i read it...
I asked them what brand and type they were looking at, and was told to mind my business (in as many words)
Also, £800 to print this:
Does seem high...but, again, i don't know enough to be definitive.
But even so, that's silly, why not print the basic one, cast it off, and get the barnacles and starfish attached separately with good old fashioed resin, and recast?
And at £60, they'd pay the cost in a couple of dozen orders.
I suggested that a site revamp would help, but they have no time for that...
I offered to assist them with the performance aspect of their site in exchange for resin and got ghosted.
But really, if they're a KS company, and the majority of their sales come from KS, why bother with a fancy website? People are buying your stuff site unseen as is.
I suggested that a site revamp would help, but they have no time for that...
I offered to assist them with the performance aspect of their site in exchange for resin and got ghosted.
But really, if they're a KS company, and the majority of their sales come from KS, why bother with a fancy website? People are buying your stuff site unseen as is.
Because you need a sustainable market outside the kickstarter community...as few as 200 people support the entire company, that's not enough!
They need to get out there and attract buyers to purchase the stuff that the KS made possible, NOT just toss one kickstarter after another to create 100's of minis that not enough people are buying.
Having a really attractive, easy to use website helps.
Thuulac, the giant crab, was beautifully rendered by Bob a year ago,
At this stage, they do not have a means to produce him!
I asked mid last year, and Rob replied that to print Thuulac and Brebeca would cost £1600, which is 10% of the cost of a printer itself
Given this; why on Earth have we not simply been asked to help fund the printer itself...??
My feeling is that the Kickstarter is indeed being used to raise money to keep the business going, having one for a 3D printer would require Rob to actually spend all the money on one!
God I hope I'm totally wrong, and that by June all the sculpts from Mighty Monsters part one and two will be completed and shipped!
So this is an interesting point Yx, and now that I see what you're trying to say, I apologize for not understanding it initially.
When you said you wanted a KS to 'Fund a 3D printer', I assumed that meant that you just thought they should start it with that goal, and that only. No stretch goals, or anything else. Which, to be fair, is really what KS was created for. Now I see you want it so that Mierce is locked into having to purchase the printer (assuming the KS is successful). And, everything that they are doing for this KS, could have been put in a stretch goals for that. That to me makes more sense, as there is incentive for people to pledge, but also a clear goal and reason for the KS. That I think, is a good idea, and technically, might be what they are using the money for, but, no one but them know that.
On a different note. What do you feel Mierce needs to do to right themselves (assuming you are correct in regards to them needing help), and get back on course? However, please take into account all the things I mentioned that they ARE doing in my last post.
Most of the money from each kickstarter should be banked to pay for the production of mins paid for IN THAT KICKSTARTER...NOT to pay wages and rent now.
So how SHOULD they pay the employee wages? Not trying to sound mocking by asking, I am curious what alternate means of getting money you believe they should follow. They have lots of sales, and have added at least 100 new models to their online retail store in the last year. They go to cons to sell figures, they hold tournaments. Tim (a payroll employee/company head) even does conversions which are sold in the shop, and, are timed well with what is popular in other game systems (in fact, all I'm getting in this current KS is stuff I didn't get in previous ones, and some of Tim's new blight figs (which look awesome!)). What else is there?
And the fact that they have said that 2018 is a year devoted to getting things sculpted/molded/done. I think too many people criticize companies for something they see as bad, but few actually offer solutions/guidance.
When this KS was run, it was said that they'd just be conversions of the current Werwulf models, but, Rob chose to resculpt them, since they had to be done anyway. Though i realize this irks you because you feel its unnecessary, getting digital versions offers the ability to add new versions of the unit in the future easier, and for less cost to Mierce. Much like how your beloved Thuulaac got his Encrusted version, they can do alts much easier if they're in the computer already. The other items they want to do would infact be added to 'the end of the sculpting line', and there for making it longer, but they are at least all figures which exist already.
Regarding Thuulaac - I think that's the question, though. Is it really easier to make the Encrusted version digitally? It's easier to show the render, but it's only actually easier to make if you have access to in-house, high quality 3D printing...
And even then, converting casts of the original masters (like the blight creatures from a few pages ago) still seems easier than printing and cleaning all new masters from the variant digital sculpt...
On a different note. What do you feel Mierce needs to do to right themselves (assuming you are correct in regards to them needing help), and get back on course? However, please take into account all the things I mentioned that they ARE doing in my last post.
I have already answered your first question, although of course that's my opinion, I've run a small business, but not in retail.
Most of the money from each kickstarter should be banked to pay for the production of mins paid for IN THAT KICKSTARTER...NOT to pay wages and rent now.
So how SHOULD they pay the employee wages? Not trying to sound mocking by asking, I am curious what alternate means of getting money you believe they should follow. They have lots of sales, and have added at least 100 new models to their online retail store in the last year. They go to cons to sell figures, they hold tournaments. Tim (a payroll employee/company head) even does conversions which are sold in the shop, and, are timed well with what is popular in other game systems (in fact, all I'm getting in this current KS is stuff I didn't get in previous ones, and some of Tim's new blight figs (which look awesome!)). What else is there?
The KS is there to fund the sculpt, pay for the artist to make the pretty picture, pay for the sculptor to sculpt it, and pay for the actual mini to be molded and shipped to each backer.
The day to day running costs of the business have to be funded solely from sales outside the KS, otherwise the business is not tenable, that's the hard truth of business.
skullking wrote: Yep, Mierce seemed t have dropped some very good sculptors recently.
I don't think anyone was dropped, they just have an in house sculptor for a lot of the stuff they're doing now. So they can more cost effectively get through that backlog of figures. There's nothing stopping them from using any of the old sculptors again, unless they work for someone else (like Aragorn).
I was in conversation with Roberto, he was not treated well by Mierce, according to him, tehy jsut pulled sculpts from him.
I queried Rob, he said "well, he is expensive"
Umm, so are Mierce Minis, we pay top dollar for quality.
So... Rob asked if he could do them cheaper, Roberto declined. So Rob found another way, that was cheaper. #runningabusiness
Hello skullking, Roberto Chaudon here, can you tell me where did you get this info? The line that says I declined a Rob offer please. Thanks!
Hey Roberto!
Apologies if this statement is false. I was however just presenting an example based on what Yx had quoted Rob as having said, and his conversation with you. I should have cited it as such, which is totally my bad.
We were actually talking about Roberto Cirillo, an illustrator who works with Mierce. He however was unable to do drawings for them, due to him being hired full time by another company.
skullking wrote: Yep, Mierce seemed t have dropped some very good sculptors recently.
I don't think anyone was dropped, they just have an in house sculptor for a lot of the stuff they're doing now. So they can more cost effectively get through that backlog of figures. There's nothing stopping them from using any of the old sculptors again, unless they work for someone else (like Aragorn).
I was in conversation with Roberto, he was not treated well by Mierce, according to him, tehy jsut pulled sculpts from him.
I queried Rob, he said "well, he is expensive"
Umm, so are Mierce Minis, we pay top dollar for quality.
So... Rob asked if he could do them cheaper, Roberto declined. So Rob found another way, that was cheaper. #runningabusiness
Hello skullking, Roberto Chaudon here, can you tell me where did you get this info? The line that says I declined a Rob offer please. Thanks!
Hey Roberto!
Apologies if this statement is false. I was however just presenting an example based on what Yx had quoted Rob as having said, and his conversation with you. I should have cited it as such, which is totally my bad.
We were actually talking about Roberto Cirillo, an illustrator who works with Mierce. He however was unable to do drawings for them, due to him being hired full time by another company.
Nope, i was talking about Roberto Chaudon, the sculptor, not an illustrator.
"Yep, Mierce seemed t have dropped some very good sculptors recently."
I can see the confusion, however. #Toomanyrobertos
skullking wrote: Yep, Mierce seemed t have dropped some very good sculptors recently.
I don't think anyone was dropped, they just have an in house sculptor for a lot of the stuff they're doing now. So they can more cost effectively get through that backlog of figures. There's nothing stopping them from using any of the old sculptors again, unless they work for someone else (like Aragorn).
I was in conversation with Roberto, he was not treated well by Mierce, according to him, tehy jsut pulled sculpts from him.
I queried Rob, he said "well, he is expensive"
Umm, so are Mierce Minis, we pay top dollar for quality.
So... Rob asked if he could do them cheaper, Roberto declined. So Rob found another way, that was cheaper. #runningabusiness
Hello skullking, Roberto Chaudon here, can you tell me where did you get this info? The line that says I declined a Rob offer please. Thanks!
Hey Roberto!
Apologies if this statement is false. I was however just presenting an example based on what Yx had quoted Rob as having said, and his conversation with you. I should have cited it as such, which is totally my bad.
We were actually talking about Roberto Cirillo, an illustrator who works with Mierce. He however was unable to do drawings for them, due to him being hired full time by another company.
Nope, i was talking about Roberto Chaudon, the sculptor, not an illustrator.
"Yep, Mierce seemed t have dropped some very good sculptors recently."
I can see the confusion, however. #Toomanyrobertos
I also found myself glossing over the fact that he did the art for the new mounted Annik too!
Spoiler:
Never fails to impress the quality of artists they've got working on Darklandds. That Savage Hordes book better be chock full of the same caliber of art, considering the wait!
yxalitis wrote: Thuulac, the giant crab, was beautifully rendered by Bob a yeat ago,
At this stage, they do not have a means to produce him!
I asked mid last year, and Rob replied that to print Thuulac and Brebeca would cost £1600, which is 10% of the cost of a printer itself
Wow, I didn't realize that - but this is my concern with so many digital sculpts. Very affordable to render, but costly to print the masters so that they can be cast...
$20k for a 3d printer? What are they looking at getting a power based one or a carbon STL? A good resin printer for prototyping is about $5k and that included support contacts and upgrades.
Well, I'm no expert in professional 3D printers, but that did strike me as high when i read it...
I asked them what brand and type they were looking at, and was told to mind my business (in as many words)
Also, £800 to print this:
Does seem high...but, again, i don't know enough to be definitive.
But even so, that's silly, why not print the basic one, cast it off, and get the barnacles and starfish attached separately with good old fashioed resin, and recast?
And at £60, they'd pay the cost in a couple of dozen orders.
Well resin that's final product can be used for mold making is about $200/liter (though it really varies but I don't think you need the more expensive dental stuff that's $400). I'm not an expert on STL printing but I think you get something like 90% out of a bottle so I don't think 800 pounds is too far off once you consider that you have supports that are added in all those parts would pretty much need them), the enviable bad print, the time (probably several days) cost of printer wear (resin vats are like $50 and don't last very long) and employee cost to it. I know a lot of smaller companies in our hobby have been buying them. Heck Hobbyist resin printers are about $800 now and they could print your typical Reaper Miniatures level of quality for about $10-15 of resin (which is only getting cheaper.
Baragash wrote: The issue is very simple, they need a break out game.
I did hope Darklands could be a new big thing, but after seeing the rulebook, I doubt it. I found it to be on the level of a first-edition Spartan Games book in terms of needless complexity, poor organisation and super-dry rules descriptions. It really needs a revised edition, because I can see a lot of interested people coming for the miniatures and then bouncing off the rules system. I'm reminded of Malifaux, which started off with a cool miniatures line and a flawed system, but with Malifaux, the quirkiness of the card / cheating system felt fun, Darklands just reads to me as laborious and fiddly.
(And come to think of it, what happened to that setting / army list book? That's one thing I'd like to get hold of, as I can always use more cool settings for use in RPG's, etc.)
I am going to bring you Cynemon resculpt (makes sense because of the upcoming SH3 mounted version) and something else today. Let's get cracking on this project! £3k to go!
Out of curiosity (and I know its a non representative sample) but how many people commenting in the thread have actually played or tried to play the rules? And how many are using the models for another game?
I only ask as these fantastic miniatures are being produced for a reason. Personally I'm not sure the collectors market is big enough to sustain a range of this size, and (I assume) for the longevity of a company like this, they'd want a specific and IP protectable game/universe/ruleset to use them in.
I have played the game on several occasions, and using different kindreds.
I really like the ideas behind the rule set, however they are not the easiest to read/navigate. Hopefully this is something that is being looked at.
For me, the one thing Mierce need to work out how to do is get a presence and get people playing the game.
They have had one of the most impressive tables at Salute, and this years looks like it will be incredible too, but the number of people who are actually able to play the game in situations such as this is limited.
I hope that Mierce goes on to have a long and successful life, and being a Kickstarter company is not necessarily a bad thing, and I look forward to the (hopefully successful) return of Darkholds!
Deathwatch101 wrote: Out of curiosity (and I know its a non representative sample) but how many people commenting in the thread have actually played or tried to play the rules? And how many are using the models for another game?
I only ask as these fantastic miniatures are being produced for a reason. Personally I'm not sure the collectors market is big enough to sustain a range of this size, and (I assume) for the longevity of a company like this, they'd want a specific and IP protectable game/universe/ruleset to use them in.
I have played the game on several occasions, and using different kindreds.
I really like the ideas behind the rule set, however they are not the easiest to read/navigate. Hopefully this is something that is being looked at.
For me, the one thing Mierce need to work out how to do is get a presence and get people playing the game.
They have had one of the most impressive tables at Salute, and this years looks like it will be incredible too, but the number of people who are actually able to play the game in situations such as this is limited.
I hope that Mierce goes on to have a long and successful life, and being a Kickstarter company is not necessarily a bad thing, and I look forward to the (hopefully successful) return of Darkholds!
Like many I was drawn in by the quality of the models to start with, and then the Darklands setting really grabbed me - a twisted version of the dark ages across the British isles and northern Europe is right up my street. I bought the rulebook fully intending to play the game, but although it's really nicely produced it's also ridiculously complicated and badly laid out as a ruleset. Mierce seem to be pushing it as more of a mass battle game as well, a successor to Warhammer Fantasy, and the prohibitive cost of the models (which are excellent quality) just doesn’t make that viable for me - in a rare case of my common sense overriding my lust for awesome models, I decided not to go any further down that road. (Also, from what I can gather, there are only two or three people who play it within a hundred miles of me.) I've got a handful of their models just as display pieces and thoroughly enjoyed painting them, but I think in order for it to be a viable game it needs to be stripped down, streamlined, and presented as a warband/skirmish level thing. Then I'd be all over it.
Wahey! With Annik and Leofwen in, let's get a hold of something at £8,500 - and that's a lovely resculpt of Cynemon, the Wiglere of Mierce for the Anglecynn!
This stretch goal aims to digitally resculpt the existing Cynemon miniatures on foot by Bob Płociennik and ensure the Cynemon on Horse miniature (as revealed in Darklands: Savage Hordes III) will be sculpted by him too, ensuring Wulf Skull Cynemon will also get a horsed version.
I played off and on when the big book came out and quite enjoyed it (I do like complex rule sets though), but the moving away of pretty much all of my previous gaming group means I don't any more
(and the continual work on the rules means I probably have only a minimal handle of the game as it is now, especially the force building but then that's the trouble with new rule sets do you leave them alone for a few years so people can play withough trouble, or do you evolve them to make them better but lock out all except people who are really on top of things)
I mostly like the setting(in general I think you're probably taking anthropomorphising too far once you hit Camel-men, but that's just me), and I like a lot of the models, but I tend to prefer Mordheim-sized games these days since it means I can get more variety from the same budget. Indeed Mordheim is where I tend to use Mierce models I buy.
If they had a similar small warband campaign-skirmish game in the Darklands setting, I'd be right on board with that even if the rules were as...lets be charitable and say "intricate", as Darklands-proper.
All my models have been used for other games, as I thought they were cooler than the "first party" sculpts available for those games. Mostly Warmachine, where I think Mierce's quality and style is so much better!
OrlandotheTechnicoloured wrote: I played off and on when the big book came out and quite enjoyed it (I do like complex rule sets though), but the moving away of pretty much all of my previous gaming group means I don't any more
(and the continual work on the rules means I probably have only a minimal handle of the game as it is now, especially the force building but then that's the trouble with new rule sets do you leave them alone for a few years so people can play withough trouble, or do you evolve them to make them better but lock out all except people who are really on top of things)
Have they played around with the core rules much? Hopefully to simplify them! My understanding is that Rob originally wanted the Holy Grail of a competitive rule set that couldn't be broken, and with a very specific, 'realistic' feel to what they could do, so gave everything its own distinct term. The trouble is that there were so many of them you loose track of which is which.
A group of us talked about doing a streamlined, community version, but I think that the distance between us all and the work involved can be off putting - even more so if there is little chance of it taking off! 9th Age is 'working' as a community rule set because the community is there already.
I know that a while ago Rob was not 100% happy with the army creation rules (and getting a balance between creating 'realistic' warbands and allowing freedon of choice is tricky!) so I'm not surprised they are changing lots - though I do think you need to settle on a set for a period of time.
They just need to actively market the game I think. Its go a great setting, awesome models and a solid core principle. Strip the extra out, refine it and push that.
They need to at least add Tags to models on the website. I knew what I was looking for and it still took me 20 minutes to find because I had no clue what the archaic names meant. If your models are used in other games, just tag them with "plague", "demon", etc. Make it as easy as possible for a lazy customer to find products!
I have virtually the entire darklands range... never played a game, and don't expect to unless the rules are significantly revised. They're so dense and dry that it doesn't grab my interest. The factions don't really have a clear schtick to draw in new players (ie, this is the debuff/control faction, this is the glass cannon faction, this is the tough melee beater faction, here's your weenie horde). Given the number of factions, there'd need to be some overlap. And yes, I know they're called kindreds
I don't feel that the game will take off without more accessible rules. After the rules are done, they'd need to get some US stockists to get them in stores, so production capacity would need to ramp up. I know Gangfight Games was talking about just 3d printing minis to order. I wonder if that would be more economical for Mierce? Like the giant crab - does anyone REALLY want one without barnacles and crust on it? Seems almost a waste to get the master print and mold made for a niche within a niche within a niche.
Bossk_Hogg wrote: I have virtually the entire darklands range... never played a game, and don't expect to unless the rules are significantly revised. They're so dense and dry that it doesn't grab my interest. The factions don't really have a clear schtick to draw in new players (ie, this is the debuff/control faction, this is the glass cannon faction, this is the tough melee beater faction, here's your weenie horde). Given the number of factions, there'd need to be some overlap. And yes, I know they're called kindreds
I don't feel that the game will take off without more accessible rules. After the rules are done, they'd need to get some US stockists to get them in stores, so production capacity would need to ramp up. I know Gangfight Games was talking about just 3d printing minis to order. I wonder if that would be more economical for Mierce? Like the giant crab - does anyone REALLY want one without barnacles and crust on it? Seems almost a waste to get the master print and mold made for a niche within a niche within a niche.
I'm in the same boat with you BH, I've got most of the models, and they're phenomenal! But I'm also a bit scarred by the depth of the rules. We live in an age when Mini games are being simplified a lot, and while I think that's great, as it helps people get into it easier, I still think games with lots of depth have their place as well. The issue is, with SO MANY games to choose from, trying to learn a bunch of detailed rules, on top of all the other games you play, is a bit much for most people. For me, if a game has awesome miniatures, I'm more inclined to collect it, and possibly play it, vs one that has great gameplay mechanics, but crappy figures.
I think Mierce could do with a bit of marketing help as well. There are a lot of venues for marketing these days, many of which cost nothing. Focusing on social channels is very key to getting a foot up in todays market. They have the super high quality product part locked in, but people need to know more about it.
In regard to the names, I feel as though they need to give things names closer to how they are listed in the Kindred musters. Where as on the website Araigh is listed as 'Araigh, ancient of Sileann Fenn', under the Warchief's section. He could just be listed as 'Fenn Beast Warchief - Araigh'. I love the depth and thought put in to the names & titles, but, I think they need to make them a bit more accessible for the masses.
And for the record, I purchased both versions of Thuulac. As I like the idea of a younger looking one with some nice designs on it's chiten vs an old Barnacle encrusted one, who looks like hes seen a few battles.
I am not a gamer, I only paint minis, so the rules are of no interest to me, BUT I thought keeping them as a free PDF download would help spread the word, after all, Mierce aren't going to become a successful business just selong the rulebook!
I buy mine for other games. My group of friends is mostly RPG\boardgames so miniature playing time is pretty restricted and the rules for this game aren't anything I'd be able to convince anyone to learn if I even wanted too.
I've got a lot, especially from the early kickstarters, but have really only followed a few factions and even then have bought less over the last 2 years as I've only painted maybe 2 figures from the line as so far I haven't had a lot of use for them. But dang are they great looking and I'd love a RPG setting for darklands but Rob isn't into them so no chances there, which I'm fine with, hopefully if they ever get their fluff book out I can use that and add a ruleset.
I have voiced concerns before about Mierce's business model. The concerns still exist since we do not know their true financials and the business has clearly not had explosive growth in the last couple years. "Kickstarter" is not a business model. It is a platform to promote and gather funds for a project. If Kickstarter went bankrupt tomorrow (not likely), I suspect that Mierce would follow suit after a little while - pure speculation based on info at hand. However, there are plenty of companies in the same industry that have multiple large Kickstarter projects that would not go out of business if Kickstarter disappeared (it would still hurt them). I would be much happier if Mierce was viable outside the Kickstarter platform.
I also own quite a few figures from the line and have only a few painted. I also have not played the game but have almost enough painted to do play a small game if I can find an opponent. The complexity of the rules are actually intriguing to me, even though the rulebook has many flaws in layout and organization.
I agree with others that a ruleset for smaller skirmish play makes the most sense with very expensive figures. Either have cheap figures where you can afford to have huge armies, or expensive figures with smaller groups. I love the quality of the the sculpts from the line, though there has been a slight decline in the average overall quality in recent projects. It isn't bad by any means, just not as good as when it seemed like every sculpt was done by one of the best artists in the industry.
The idea of a Darkholds board game is pretty good. The marketing and execution could have been better, maybe the campaign looked too similar to the regular Mierce Kickstarters. Using the sculpts to go after a different market was smart. I think if they had figured out a way to include a dragon, it would have funded.
I wish them success but have slowed way down in purchases. Partially because I have enough basics for now, but also I want the backlog to shrink. Plus those metal figures take very long to get produced.
Some of the decisions have confused me some. Like choosing to resculpt Hror. Raise your hand if you saw both sculpts of Hror sitting on a shelf in a store at the same price, you would choose the original sculpt, I would. It isn't miles better but has a bit more character.
Yeah...the minis are awesome, but I do agree they have dropped off a bit in quality.
Thankfully the current KS looks like it will make it after all..that's good...let's see what they do about that 3D printer now they have even more digital sculpts.
The funny thing is..for the small saving you get by purchasing in the KS, you can just wait for the inevitable 25% off sale, and buy the minis your want for immediate delivery for much the same.
Kind of defeats the purpose...but, Lo, another 120 purple have propped up Mierce for a little longer, ordering minis they ain't gonna see for a year or so...
£11,250 - Birna, Dottir of Hrafnen on Foot and on Horse
Now that we're funded, we can bring you some more goodies! Here's your next target, set at £11,250 to unlock: a digital resculpt of Birna, Dottir of Hrafnen on Foot and on Horse!
Spoiler:
This stretch goal will result in a digital resculpt of the existing Birna miniatures by Bob Płociennik, along with a couple of new versions to boot - and a pose change. This will necessitate proper new artwork as there's no horsed version of Birna yet, so we'll get Danny Cruz on top of that very soon!
Along with the Birna on foot and on horse (which will be armed with sword and shield and spear and shield) there's also two more variants, Archer Birna and Ravener Birna, both of which will gain foot and horse versions too. There'll also be a helmed head option (which will be the same as Ravener Birna's head) for all variants.
We won't be resculpting Birna's Fellhrafn, but we will give it a new Birna rider to match the new art, which will include the variants. The horsed version will be as similar as possible to the Fellhrafn rider, if not exactly the same - we'll see.
Increase your pledge by the following amounts to get these particular versions of Birna:
All three versions on foot and on horse - £70 metal / £90 resin
Any Birna on foot and on horse - £27 metal / £32 resin
Any Birna on foot (or as rider for the Fellhrafn) - £6 metal / £11 resin
Any Birna on horse - £22 metal / £27 resin
Any Birna on Fellhrafn - £45 with metal rider or resin rider (the Fellhrafn can only be resin)
Birna on foot will stand on a 30mm base. Birna on horse will stand on a 50mm base. Birna on Fellhrafn will stand on an 80mm base.
£11,250 - Birna, Dottir of Hrafnen on Foot and on Horse
Now that we're funded, we can bring you some more goodies! Here's your next target, set at £11,250 to unlock: a digital resculpt of Birna, Dottir of Hrafnen on Foot and on Horse!
This stretch goal will result in a digital resculpt of the existing Birna miniatures by Bob Płociennik, along with a couple of new versions to boot - and a pose change. This will necessitate proper new artwork as there's no horsed version of Birna yet, so we'll get Danny Cruz on top of that very soon!
Along with the Birna on foot and on horse (which will be armed with sword and shield and spear and shield) there's also two more variants, Archer Birna and Ravener Birna, both of which will gain foot and horse versions too. There'll also be a helmed head option (which will be the same as Ravener Birna's head) for all variants.
We won't be resculpting Birna's Fellhrafn, but we will give it a new Birna rider to match the new art, which will include the variants. The horsed version will be as similar as possible to the Fellhrafn rider, if not exactly the same - we'll see.
I like the original enough that I'd rather have seen a new heroine riding a horse but there you go
Automatically Appended Next Post:
Here's Thurgis, the Werwulf Wiglere...
and what looks to be a list of what sculptors are doing what at the moment
@Rick - well, Valentin Zak (starting Brude), Allan Carrasco (who's just started the Peat Beasts), Jason Hendricks (doing the Brute-Beasts), Jin Wei (Kyros on Bronze Horse first, any human Atalantes), Duncan Louca (any non-human Atalantes), Tim Prow (conversions), Yannick Hennebo (conversions and various) and Yannick Fusier (Ograx, Oghureach, etc.) are all working on stuff. We're shoving a lot onto Bob simply because he's so capable and I employ him, but we won't forget the other sculptors!
Love most of that Werewolf Wiglere - except the face.
For some reason it just looks....odd.
I think it looks like its been 'added' rather than part of the model. The fur doesn't seem blend into the rest of the model. Almost like its too shaggy around the neck.
The stretch goals are coming thick and fast... when we get to £12,500, you'll get the Crushers, Krokokh Unit!
The Crushers are enormous, incredibly powerful creatures of scale and tooth and claw and an anvil upon which enemy armies are crushed. Comprising two new warriors - Srann the champion and Vultta - to complement the awesome, already sculpted Aggrakk, the Crushers is a fantastic addition to any Khthones host!
You can pledge for the two new ones if you already have Aggrakk, or you can pledge for all three of them as a unit, or even Aggrakk on his own!
Increase your pledge by £100 ($130) to purchase three Krokokha; £70 ($91) to purchase two Krokokha; or £36 ($47) to purchase a single Krokokh.
I recently bought Aggrakk for KOW purposes, then stumbled on this image of his two bros while googlin' croc minis (as one does). I noticed there are at least a couple Mierce KS with late pledges that would get me these lads, should I go with the latest one? Which I think is https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/mierceminiatures/darklands-savage-hordes-iv?ref=profile_created ? June seems far away but gives me time to get the rest of the army up to speed to welcomethe big'uns
I found them on the Baalor (?) KS as well, with a Feb 2018 ship date. Which I could also late pledge for ... but I'm guessing doing the newer one with the June 2018 ship date we see here is better?
EDIT: Newer one = Savage 4
EDIT2: I had to request access to late pledge, so simply asked them to do whichever means I get crocs faster / whichever they prefer KS number-wise if there's no speed difference.
Boss Salvage wrote: Admittedly I flipped out a little when I stumbled on that. Triple giant smashy croco dudes??? *the mind boggles*
2018: The year I admit I have a croco/gator-man problem but do nothing to fix it - tho at least some of it'll get painted
- Salvage
LoL! I know your pain.
Aside from these big boys, the regular Krokodar are pretty large as well (60mm bases), and have very smashy weapons too. Combine those with the Privateer press Gatormen (on 40mm bases), and you've got quite the 'Swamp force'.
I love that Mierce provides a game where you can have historical figures mixed with pretty much any sort of anthropomorphic creatures imaginable. I personally love Prehistoric Mammals, so the Fomoraic cater to that with Mammoth & Wooly Rhino men. But being able to fight them against, Croc men, Snakemen (and women), Hydra/basalisk men, werewolves, Giant Bugs, Bears, & well... Giants. Ogres, Trolls, Ratmen, Skeletons, Ghosts, Wraiths, Ghouls, Dragons, Roman Demons, jaberwocks, Tree men, Swamp 'things', Hippo men, Camel men, Raven men, Artillery, Minotaurs, goatmen, Sloth men (just for you Alph ), Automated Greek Statues, and all manner of twisted Frankenstein like horrors. All wrapped up in a Dark Ages of Europe setting. It's pretty awesome!
They didnt make much over the kickstarter amount....
I bought into the kickstarters in 2014...took over a year to actually finally get all the models I ordered....read over the rules.....and thought they were crap in all honesty.
I assembled and threw some primer on some of the miniatures but to many other really nice miniatures on the market now esp at the price points mierce is charging.
I did buy some of the new plague stuff and one of the characters with the recent new year sale but to use in other games nothing to do with mierce.
If they truly want to succeed as a gaming company they have to make a viable ruleset for their miniatures first. Something many of us have told them for years now.
Look at Wyrd they only made miniatures then finally made a game people wanted to play and met success.
With the miniature line mierce has its really the lack of a game people can actually play and support that is the issue....and yes I have played many very complex games over the years and so have my friends and all of us were completely put off by the darklands rule set.
I'm pretty good at getting rules sets at this point, but Darklands is one of the most obtuse I've tried to navigate. All I really wanted to do was get a handle on how to make an army, so I'd know what kind of buy-in in snakepeoples I'd need to have a proper go at it ... and I couldn't really figure it out. All I really remember at this point was a bunch of tables (stat blocks?) with really tiny font
The stretch goals are coming thick and fast... when we get to £12,500, you'll get the Crushers, Krokokh Unit!
The Crushers are enormous, incredibly powerful creatures of scale and tooth and claw and an anvil upon which enemy armies are crushed. Comprising two new warriors - Srann the champion and Vultta - to complement the awesome, already sculpted Aggrakk, the Crushers is a fantastic addition to any Khthones host!
You can pledge for the two new ones if you already have Aggrakk, or you can pledge for all three of them as a unit, or even Aggrakk on his own!
Increase your pledge by £100 ($130) to purchase three Krokokha; £70 ($91) to purchase two Krokokha; or £36 ($47) to purchase a single Krokokh.
I recently bought Aggrakk for KOW purposes, then stumbled on this image of his two bros while googlin' croc minis (as one does). I noticed there are at least a couple Mierce KS with late pledges that would get me these lads, should I go with the latest one? Which I think is https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/mierceminiatures/darklands-savage-hordes-iv?ref=profile_created ? June seems far away but gives me time to get the rest of the army up to speed to welcomethe big'uns
- Salvage
These guys are OK, but I don't like their soft, rounded teeth, Roberto (Chaudon's) Srok is a much, much, MUCH better sculpt, these are pretty basic.
It only shows total new backers. It doesn't show the total number of backers dropped, nor does it show total new backers joined along with what they added or who upped their pledges by x amount. As a wild example, they could have lost 20 backers who were in for £1 but gained 28 backers in for £50. Add on to the fact that existing backers were boosting their pledges.
Not exactly hard to explain or understand. Happens all the time on kickstarter and a common complaint about Kicktraq not showing all changes
That's Malacant's body...
from left to right: Murus (rocks), Shot (lead shot), braziers for Malleolus (fire bolts)
Sagittae (bolts) on the far left
I can't believe they haven't updated this thread yet!!! 
