We have just passed the $450,000 mark, and this deserves something special!
So for this milestone, this week-end, we are unveiling the Lulu's, opening a Paypal option, enhancing the higher pledge levels with additional free stuff, and by popular demand, announcing a new higher tier reward level which will be launched Monday, complete with Early Bird Specials!!!
So stay tuned for more updates, beginning with this one:
At last, unveiling the Lulu's!
(Unlock will follow later this week)
Life is not easy for the Jailbirds...
They are constantly on the run, fighting for their survival.
And in their wake follow all kinds of fugitives and survivors.
Many of them are very young, lost children who don't have a home anymore, or who never had one...
Why did we create the Lulu's?
There were several things that made us want to do the Lulu's. From the very beginning of Raging Heroes, we envisioned a female faction for Fantasy Games that would be made of a religious sisterhood protecting orphans and other stray children. For various reasons, this project has been on the backburner for quite some time. But it came back to the forefront when we started working on our Science-Fiction minis. That's when we decided to do a Sci-Fi version of this Sisterhood army, which will be called the Sisters of Eternal Mercy. If you've followed our blog, you probably already know that this particular army is planned for a future Kickstarter...
But when we began working on the Toughest Girls of the Galaxy project, one of our intentions was to create many types of feminine characters... If you look at the entire range of the Toughest Girls of the Galaxy, you'll see that while many of them are 20-something warriors, more mature characters are also represented, not to mention the matriarch Baba Yaga. And with the Jailbird Division came images from Mad Max 3 with their army of small children who somehow incarnate hope in a world that is in complete turmoil and decay.
For us, it was obvious that the Jailbirds would come to cross the path of many survivors and runaways, and that some of them would be children.
And we particularly like the idea that even amidst a world of ruins, a bunch of small kids could still grow up and create a better future for themselves and for mankind.
Of course, there's also a Peter Pan element, with children opposing Captain Hook and the grim prospects of adulthood... And a bit of the French tradition of the Poulbots, these stray children who used to live in the streets of Paris at the turn of the twentieth century.
In the end, we felt that these little characters bring with them poetry, warmth and innocence in an otherwise dark universe.
Who they are and how they fit in the game...
The Lulu's are a patch of stray little girls who have become the protégés of the apparently emotion-less One-Shot Blondie.The little girls worship their hero and always try to emulate her, following her wherever she goes.But Blondie always keeps them safe, never letting them come near violent action.And to make sure they are not tempted by real weapons, she has equipped them with inoffensive dart guns that she crafted herself...
Of course, we don't want them to be part of the fights on the battlefield.
So we decided that in-game, the Lulu's will have very specific capabilities.
No one will be able to target them, and they will be virtually indestructible.
They won't be able to inflict any damage to anyone but they will distract enemy focus, and/or create safe zones around them for the Jailbirds.
They do Jimsolo. I had no doubt in the first place, their poses wouldn't work without the puppies.^^ But here the official answer:
"Loud'n Raging 1 minute ago
@Jimsolo: Yes, little animals will be included."
Edit: I see you were the one who asked. Well, others here on dakkadakka might find it helpful, so I don't think that mistake was too bad
Well, they're only unkillable in Raging Heroes' game, whose rules don't exist. So, I fully expect someone, somewhere is going to throw them into another gaming system as proxies or something. I'm sure things like being non-combatants hasn't stopped people from fielding similar units before. Kind of like how back in the days, during a large scale battle with my uncle at my grandparents' house, my brother fielded a civvie carrying a basket of corn as an infantry unit. Of course, The Corn Woman became one of the most feared and dreaded fighters ever when she single handedly slaughtered the crew of an entire warship. I expect someone to do the same with the Lulus.
Edit- only one of those girls seems to have a puppy. The others look like piglets.
Not to be all grim'n'gritty, but... in a game system where one faction that has the walking dead among their own ranks, re-animates the enemy and hasa gun that shoots zombie-making-bullets, nobody would shoot the kids?
Suuuuuuuure.
Morathi's Darkest Sin wrote: Yeah, not really a fan of that tbh, there is a fair reason the mentioning of child soldiers where taken out of more recent Imperial Guard books.
If I get them, it'll only be on the basis that Aura reckons she can convert them into female ratlings, otherwise I'll likely pass.
It's mentioned in the 5th edition IG codex. They dance around it a little but they make it very clear the "whiteshields" are under 18.
Yeah I know that bit, but the fact they refer to them as cadets indicates the 15-17 bracket which is more of a grey area. That I would have no issue with. If I am recalling correctly 3rd edition actually referenced younger than that, more towards the ten year old bracket which in general would be frowned upon by many.
I may or may not have squeaked a little when I saw the Lulus. They are so cute. They've moved from my 'maybe' list to my 'oh my god I want it now' list.
Daddy Kurganova, on the other hand, looks like a villain from a bad Saturday morning cartoon.
If I'm laying all the cards on the table, I'm not going to get the Lulus with my first order. I'll probably try and add them in whenever the RH game proper comes out, but while they are amazing figs and truly precious, I have to make hard decisions about which models I am getting with my limited amount of pledge space. Enough proxy material for a playable IG army (or detachment, in any case) has to come first, unfortunately.
Still, on a visual level, they're great models! And I just had it pointed out to me that their guns have suction cup darts in them, which is awesome! (I think that once I get them, I may steal one of my friend's spare Necron Lords and adding greenstuff suction cup darts all over him. )
I'm very torn on the Lulus. They're cute, but I'm not really sure I want to go cutesy... especially cutesy and playing dress-up soldiers. The animals are adorable, and if I could buy a set of just them I would, but that's unlikely to be an option.
I am a little concerned about the 'more free stuff for larger pledges' though. That's when my spending tends to get out of control. Hopefully it'll only kick in at the $350-450+ range though, and I won't be tempted.
Although I'm probably grumbling more because I really wanted them to be not-ratlings.
The higher than General pledge has got my ears pricked up mind, partially as I am already over the general pledge anyways. I'm waiting to see how it pans out.
Kalashnikov- I've been lurking this thread, and don't think I gave you props for posing with the rifle earlier to prove that it could be done. So... Props
keeps it store friendly and appeases the 'think of the children' brigade
Let's be real for a moment, though. Their game doesn't actually exist, may never exist, and at best is several years away. So these will be used as counts-as Ratling snipers. So all together now - Hooray for child soldiers!
keeps it store friendly and appeases the 'think of the children' brigade
Let's be real for a moment, though. Their game doesn't actually exist, may never exist, and at best is several years away. So these will be used as counts-as Ratling snipers. So all together now - Hooray for child soldiers!
Kalashnikov- I've been lurking this thread, and don't think I gave you props for posing with the rifle earlier to prove that it could be done. So... Props
Heh against my OWN criticism no less! However it did prove my point (as I could see my own sights) that it's possibly one of the worst shooting stances I've taken that didn't involve hip firing. If I get the chance to hit the range soon and I get properly limbered up, I'll actually take some shots (My M1 might not be a stand in .50 cal, but it is a high caliber rifle in it's own right) and we'll see how it does with recoil management.
I honestly have no idea why I'm going so far with this, like I told RH on the Herald's page, I was more or less teasing as opposed to giving serious criticism. A. M3STK mantra, game edition. B. There's ridiculous things in every game system and I've seen /way/ worse poses.
AlexHolker wrote: I love the one holding the puppy. Why can't she be the mascot instead of the hippo?
While Harry the beer run buddy is pretty cool, this is not a bad point. The Lulus actually do seem like a platoon "adopted kid". If they didn't have a role in game (apparently) I'd think of them as a unit mascot.
Morathi's Darkest Sin wrote: Yeah, not really a fan of that tbh, there is a fair reason the mentioning of child soldiers where taken out of more recent Imperial Guard books.
If they are not meant for combat, I don't quite understand why they have huge guns. It was only when reading the background did I realize they are meant to be toy guns, its very hard to spot the tiny suction caps. Why would no one on the battlefield target them? In the TGG grim-dark setting it seems odd. As miniatures, I imagine they will look very much like 6 year old children with massive assault rifles.
I understand the reference to the lost boys from Peter Pan, but at no point did J.M Barrie arm them with Automatic weapons.
Even the makers of Mad Max 3, (also referenced), refrained from portraying young children with guns.
If they are genuinely not meant for combat, I would much rather see Lulus with early 20th century style kid's toys; pop guns, hobby horses, teddy's, slingshots, wooden swords, etc.
Hello alternate Ratlings, because that's what they are right now. Come on now, when we saw the silhouettes, that's what almost everybody was saying.
Also, didn't one of the Gaunt's Ghosts novels revolve around a kiddy platoon at one point? And the Cadian Guard starts recruiting from 8 yrs and earlier in some cases, the Eye of Terror codex makes special note of this as a Commissar is put in a training unit with kids.
They're clearly designed as not-ratlings anyway. The weapons have the profiles of marksman's rifles rather than assault rifles. Which is what passes for the dimensions of sniper rifles anyway in 40k, "Fluff" wise they write that off as being the followers of one-shot blondie, the sniper. Of course, their dart guns are also scoped, which seems to be a feature of the snipers in this KS as opposed to the other figures.
I mean, I understand why they need to dance around the issue and add in their fluff reasons, but even I'd probably have a bit of difficulty with fielding these in a force. If they could have easily passed for halflings, then sure, but the cutesy-animal thing makes them clearly much more children than adult hobbit-lasses.
Automatically Appended Next Post: I haven't kept up on parts of the ever-changing GW/IG fluff from the novels, but when they were first introduced in the RT post-Book of the Astronomicon days, Whiteshields were pretty much clearly 16-17 year-olds rather than 10-year-olds..
gak gets rewritten so often and so fast, who knows what's real anymore? The only time GW thinks of the children anyway is when they need to part them of their money as fast as possible.
I would definitely proxy those little girls as a squad of cultists for my backfield objective squatter squad. I'm pretty persuasive, so with enough beer in the room I could probably convince the fellas to let the squad have a 2++ save called "they're too cute to shoot!".
BlaxicanX wrote: I would definitely proxy those little girls as a squad of cultists for my backfield objective squatter squad. I'm pretty persuasive, so with enough beer in the room I could probably convince the fellas to let the squad have a 2++ save called "they're too cute to shoot!".
This means that if, for some reason, you cannot use Amazon Payments and thus participate in the Kickstarter directly, you can now use Paypal on our website to get the same advantages.
And since we haven't yet properly introduced her as she was released amidst the craziness of the first day of the TGG Kickstarter, here is Tania Tanker, Tank Specialist for the Jailbird Division.
Tania is a pretty joyful character, and an enthusiast who loves to build mechanical things as much as she enjoys destroying them.
This has landed her into being the go-to person of the Jailbird Division when building new types of vehicles, ambushing armoured convoys, or customising stolen equipment.
And although she lost her arm in troubled circumstances she won't talk about, she has crafted for herself an exceptional replacement which is without doubt her greatest achievement to date.
As depicted on the concept, Tania comes with an anti-tank weapon for seek-and-destroy missions. But she will also have an optional heavy shotgun that is handy for when she's working on tanks and various other equipment for the Jailbirds. She also carries a machete for close-combat.
BrookM wrote: gak gets rewritten so often and so fast, who knows what's real anymore? The only time GW thinks of the children anyway is when they need to part them of their money as fast as possible.
They are developing a special centrifuge to expediate the process without the need for all this 'hobby' nonsense.
A paypal option would normally mean certain fiscal death for me, but I think I'm good here unless they release some other walkers that look particularly incredible.
I'm all for dynamic poses, and love a lot of the stuff we've seen so far, but Tania Tanker's head is pointing in the opposite direction to her toes. I thought only owls could do that?
It's a million miles away from a natural pose, though sadly one that is struck by just about every female in comic books. 'Can we try and show both T&A in one go?'
Even in that picture you would see an ass, since it looks pretty much like been drawn from the side. Of course Tania is posing but it is the only girl that is looking back as far as I can see, though I call it a nice variety.
Eggs wrote: It's a million miles away from a natural pose, though sadly one that is struck by just about every female in comic books. 'Can we try and show both T&A in one go?'
Well except it's a pose from one of the most famous WW2 posters in the U.S.
But if you rotate it to the left, she's no longer looking backwards is she? The neck would need to twist a good bit further in the WWII pic to be like the RH mini. Not complaining too much, cos as I say, I'm a fan of most of the stuff I've seen so far. This pose just feels too much for my tastes.
New Update with Zombie and sweetened Pledge Levels and a new Pledge Level
#42, Cyber Zombie
#42 is one of the many cyber zombies used by the Iron Empire. Most of them are completely interchangeable, having lost all form of human consciousness and individuality. But as unthinkable as it may seem, there appears to be a very small light still flickering in the mind of #42.
She used to be a very strong-willed Jailbird warrior who got killed during a particularly violent Iron Empire raid. Her body was scavenged by the Iron Empire embalmers who set her alongside the most promising victims of their grim harvest. Her body was still in a very good condition and her strong musculature made her a perfect choice to be recycled as a bodyguard for a high-ranking character.
When Lady Hilda von Stroheim asked for a full replacement of her bodyguard crew, #42 was appointed to her service and soon proved to be her most effective protector.
Bonuses for Colonel Box and General Boxes
To celebrate the Toughest Girls of the Galaxy Kickstarter passing the $450,000 mark this week-end, beginning immediately, the Colonel Box and General Box Pledge Levels now have additional funds to spend:
All COLONEL BOX pledges (including Early Birds) are getting an additional $30 credit to spend as they will.
This means that when you pledge $745 for a COLONEL Box,
you can now pick $820 worth of Toughest Girls of the Galaxy miniatures.
Of course, you also get Drusilla (Kickstarter exclusive) Drusilla + the TGG Digital Artbook + all unlocked Freebies.
The Colonel Box has an estimated retail value of $1248 + the retail value of the Freebies...
All GENERAL BOX pledges (including Early Birds) are getting an additional $60 credit to spend as they will.
This means that when you pledge $995 for a GENERAL Box,
you can now pick $1130 worth of Toughest Girls of the Galaxy miniatures.
Of course, you also get Drusilla (Kickstarter exclusive) Drusilla + the TGG Digital Artbook + all unlocked Freebies.
The General Box has an estimated retail value of $2568 + the retail value of the Freebies...
New EMINENCE BOX pledge level launching in 15 hours with Early Bird Specials!
And tomorrow, we are unveiling the highest pledge level yet, called the EMINENCE BOX.
The deal will be even sweeter, and to make it even more tempting, we're launching it with Early Bird Specials too!
It will launch at 5PM French time, so 4PM on UK time, 11AM on the US East Coast, etc.
See our countdown here: http://www.ragingheroes.com/ Next Update
Our next update will feature the unlocking of the remaining artilleries along with instant Free Upgrades to continue to celebrate the passing of $450,000!
Good to see some added value to the pledge levels. Laughable to see it added only to the incredibly high ones (and an even higher one added). I guess they've given up completely on getting more backers from people on the fence, which might have been a possibility if they had more value in the less ...enthusiastic levels.
Jimsolo wrote: Anyone else want to see a whole unit of cyber-zombies in the future?
Yes, actually. I quite like #42. Having 9 more unique cyber-zombies would be awesome and the models would find a variety of uses in a number of 40k armies.
Added value for the people that are planning on going in for at least $750. Oof. I know people have suggested that it's easier to get money out of people that have already shown a significant commitment, but ouch. An extra $30 of miniatures isn't going to move me from $150 to $750. It might move me from $150 to, say, $200 or $250, but not a whole extra $600. Still, we're probably going to see everything unlocked still and (hopefully) get the last two freebies (IE Freedom Fighter and KST Mascot.)
Has anyone seen anything posted about those two freebies by the way?
Fafnir wrote: Except for the one troop box we've seen, which looks a fair bit different from the artwork.
Yeah. You can see it's directly inspired by it, but their artwork is very much more "fashion model" style, and the renders of the troops as shown were much shorter, with much larger breastplates. I foresee more deviation from the concept art in the same manner with the result of much wailing and gnashing of teeth.
WolfStark wrote: All COLONEL BOX pledges (including Early Birds) are getting an additional $30 credit to spend as they will.
This means that when you pledge $745 for a COLONEL Box,
you can now pick $820 worth of Toughest Girls of the Galaxy miniatures.
Of course, you also get Drusilla (Kickstarter exclusive) Drusilla + the TGG Digital Artbook + all unlocked Freebies.
The Colonel Box has an estimated retail value of $1248 + the retail value of the Freebies...
All GENERAL BOX pledges (including Early Birds) are getting an additional $60 credit to spend as they will.
This means that when you pledge $995 for a GENERAL Box,
you can now pick $1130 worth of Toughest Girls of the Galaxy miniatures.
Of course, you also get Drusilla (Kickstarter exclusive) Drusilla + the TGG Digital Artbook + all unlocked Freebies.
The General Box has an estimated retail value of $2568 + the retail value of the Freebies...
They're using dodgy maths again. The General box doesn't get you twice as many models as the Colonel box, so there's no way in hell it's going to get you more than double the retail value.
AlexHolker wrote: They're using dodgy maths again. The General box doesn't get you twice as many models as the Colonel box, so there's no way in hell it's going to get you more than double the retail value.
WolfStark wrote: All COLONEL BOX pledges (including Early Birds) are getting an additional $30 credit to spend as they will.
This means that when you pledge $745 for a COLONEL Box,
you can now pick $820 worth of Toughest Girls of the Galaxy miniatures.
Of course, you also get Drusilla (Kickstarter exclusive) Drusilla + the TGG Digital Artbook + all unlocked Freebies.
The Colonel Box has an estimated retail value of $1248 + the retail value of the Freebies...
All GENERAL BOX pledges (including Early Birds) are getting an additional $60 credit to spend as they will.
This means that when you pledge $995 for a GENERAL Box,
you can now pick $1130 worth of Toughest Girls of the Galaxy miniatures.
Of course, you also get Drusilla (Kickstarter exclusive) Drusilla + the TGG Digital Artbook + all unlocked Freebies.
The General Box has an estimated retail value of $2568 + the retail value of the Freebies...
They're using dodgy maths again. The General box doesn't get you twice as many models as the Colonel box, so there's no way in hell it's going to get you more than double the retail value.
Whatever virtues RH has as a design and manufacturer, clear and transparent math is not to be counted as one.
The $1130 of miniature picks has a maximum value of $1864.50 (if one were to spend the entire amount on $10 heroes with a value of $16.50 each), which, once one adds the "value" of the KS exclusive and the "art book" ($18 and $14 respectively), becomes $1896.5 before "freebies".
The $1130 has a minimum value of $1320 (purchase of 37 $30 mechs and a single $20 heroine), $1352 after non-discretionary add-ons.
Yet their (corrected) valuation is that "The General Box has an estimated retail value of $1694 + the retail value of the Freebies..." (FYI, the average of the minimum and maximum values is $1624.25.)
The math to produce such a value is... opaque, shall we say. It reflects a valuation scheme so rigid and unintuitive it is bizarre they insist on stamping the project with it. Even in the comments they state "The correct est. retail value is about $1694, assuming that for each additional bonus $15 credit, someone were to grab a unit box retailing at $21.50."
Buzzsaw wrote: The math to produce such a value is... opaque, shall we say. It reflects a valuation scheme so rigid and unintuitive it is bizarre they insist on stamping the project with it. Even in the comments they state "The correct est. retail value is about $1694, assuming that for each additional bonus $15 credit, someone were to grab a unit box retailing at $21.50."
What a lucky coincidence it is that the unit whose RRP they're using as a yardstick to talk about how much you're saving is also the only unit whose RRP they increased.
I'm not sure that they will, the heroines are already at a sufficiently high RRP to cover the few small extras that they might get. The troopers were the only ones where the RRP was low once they started adding a number of extras to the box.
As for the extra reward for the higher levels, I can't see it getting many people to jump to those, especially given the average pledge per person is relatively low. Now if they'd started doubling down on the freebies they may have persuaded more people to increase their pledge rather than going for a second/third pledge.
Personally, I think I'll stick with my EB commanders unless I can snag an EB captain for one to cover the extras. As, barring any bike / mecha reveals that are totally epic, I'm just about set for what I intend to pick up.
Buzzsaw wrote: The math to produce such a value is... opaque, shall we say. It reflects a valuation scheme so rigid and unintuitive it is bizarre they insist on stamping the project with it. Even in the comments they state "The correct est. retail value is about $1694, assuming that for each additional bonus $15 credit, someone were to grab a unit box retailing at $21.50."
What a lucky coincidence it is that the unit whose RRP they're using as a yardstick to talk about how much you're saving is also the only unit whose RRP they increased.
All $15 support boxes apart from the bikes were going to be retailed at $21.50. But never let facts get in the way of a good posting
THE EMINENCE BOX LEVEL launching in about 10 minutes Update #42 · Jul 1, 2013 · comment
The EMINENCE BOX Level has been set at $1490.
We have upped the bonus minis even higher on this one, and so this pledge level will allow you to choose $1820 worth of Toughest Girls of the Galaxy miniatures (that is, $1490 pledged + $240 offered) + Kickstarter exclusive miniature + the TGG Digital Artbook. This level also INCLUDES ACCESS TO ALL UNLOCKED FREEBIES. Shipping: US add $23. EU add 20$. France add $10. Other countries, please see FAQ.
This is opening in about 10 minutes, with a few early bird specials for those interested. Here's a countdown to see when we unlock this level.
It's rather mind boggling to me, but there are some people throwing some really serious money at this: all the EB General pledge levels are filled (between $950 and $970) and there are still 18 people at General ($995).
Azazelx wrote: Remember guys, there's an element of Boutique Cheesecake at work here - similar to Poots and his KD stuff, but without the penis monsters.
Yes, and tha'ts exactly why I'm not getting any of them.
Azazelx wrote: Remember guys, there's an element of Boutique Cheesecake at work here - similar to Poots and his KD stuff, but without the penis monsters.
Yes, and tha'ts exactly why I'm not getting any of them.
Cool story, bro.
I, too, am shocked those high level ones went so quickly. Dayum.
At this point, I'm torn between going all in on just one faction, or splitting between Jailbirds and Iron Empire. With less than a week left, I'd have hoped to see more renders of the other 2 factions, but so far I'm not entirely sold on the troops yet. The Heroines I have faith will be represented well, but having seen both the KST Heavies and Regulars, I'm not sold on their translation from concept to miniature.
Hopefully RH will deliver some more renders before the campaign ends.
Not to mention the creative Maths at work for the values.
Creative maths or not these still give a great discount. I just used the Skykadia calculator using the full price Eminence pledge level. Its a LOT of minis.
I was able to select 30 of the 38 heroines. not very interested in the 8 that I did not select.
Also 10 boxes each JB regular and command troops
3 boxes Lulus
4 boxes each of Kurganova Shock Troop, Command, Heavy, and Heavy command
3 boxes each JB artillery 1,2,3, Bike 1,2,3, and Mech
5 boxes JB sniper unit
3 boxes each KST Artillery 1,2,3 bike 1,2,3, mech, and sniper unit.
thats 345 models (counting the Artillery as 3 models) for $1490. A RRP of $2537. and a Savings of $1024 or 40%.
Account in the fact that shipping is $23 even for this many models and your saving most likely $100-200 on shipping.
When I buy models I usually purchase from websites that offer 20 - 30% savings on price. If I had the money to jump to this level of a pledge I would do it in a heartbeat because the only time you see 40% discount is when stuff is clearance. And if stuff is clearance then likely you do not get exactly what you want.
Yes their math on the pledge levels may be a bit off but the fact of the matter is the discount for this KS IS GOOD.
-iPaint- wrote: At this point, I'm torn between going all in on just one faction, or splitting between Jailbirds and Iron Empire. With less than a week left, I'd have hoped to see more renders of the other 2 factions, but so far I'm not entirely sold on the troops yet. The Heroines I have faith will be represented well, but having seen both the KST Heavies and Regulars, I'm not sold on their translation from concept to miniature.
~iPaint
We do need more renders of the troops. Thinking about dropping from Commander to Lt and just getting heroines for now and waiting for troops to hit the stores. This KS has been very badly run...
Azazelx wrote: Remember guys, there's an element of Boutique Cheesecake at work here - similar to Poots and his KD stuff, but without the penis monsters.
Automatically Appended Next Post: Not to mention the creative Maths at work for the values.
That is what makes this so odd: KD:M had a number of very, very high price pledge levels, but they were true to the idea of a "boutique" experience. They offered things like unique sculpts, individually number copies of a custom lithograph and a complete collection of everything KD has ever made. It still amazes that KD:M made $45k off pledges of $1k or more, but it can be explained that they were getting things that were otherwise unavailable.
The Eminence pledge levels don't offer... well, anything unique. It's the same items that anyone pledging over Lt. level has access to, just a somewhat better discount on a whole lot of stuff.
Interestingly this is reflected in the behavior of the pledge amounts, consider;
5 @ $1450 (EB), [$7250]
5 @ $1460 (EB), [$7300]
5 @ $1465 (EB), [$7325]
5 @ $1470 (EB), [$7350]
0 @ $1475 (EB), [$0]
0 @ $1490 (non-EB) [$0]
$29,225 is accounted for in those pledge levels that have existed only since this morning, but the total increase is substantially less. That is because a non-trivial number of the people now holding those EB pledge levels were previously pledging huge amounts.
Buzzsaw wrote: $29,225 is accounted for in those pledge levels that have existed only since this morning, but the total increase is substantially less. That is because a non-trivial number of the people now holding those EB pledge levels were previously pledging huge amounts.
And people who didn't get EB moved to those spots as they opened up. I wasn't able to get online or I would have grabbed a Commander or Captain EB. :(
This KS has an odd vibe to it. I don't think we'll be able to play the "EB mini game" the way we usually can with other projects.
Well, they've been having issues with some of the EBs not actually opening up when people have moved off them. Doesn't seem to have affected all of them, but some of the numbers are certainly down from how many were made available on day one.
Snipers are always a terrifying menace, taking you out before you've even heard the shot.
Invisible, patient, as deadly as the spider in its web.
But the Iron Empire Snipers instill even more fear in the hearts of their enemies...
There are many rumours about them, so of them false, some of them true...
Soldiers from other factions tend to think that the IE Snipers are grim reapers harvesting bodies for the Priestesses and Embalmers, condemning one to an eternal life of slavery that is worse than death.
There are those who say that the IE Snipers can appear and disappear straight out of and into shadows.
Some even say that their bullets will take not just your body, but also your soul...
The truth is that most of the Iron Empire Snipers are undead.
They don't breathe, they don't eat, they don't sleep.
They can hold the same position for days on end without moving a muscle.
I feel I like the concept art of their rank and file much more than many of their heroes, I really hope the final models are as close to the art as possible.
PsychoticStorm wrote: I feel I like the concept art of their rank and file much more than many of their heroes, I really hope the final models are as close to the art as possible.
Judging by the renders of the Kurganova troopers, they won't be. Which is why they won't show us any of the renders. Which is why I won't be buying any of them.
Kroothawk wrote: Just for the record:
4000% passed today, more than 25,000$ raised today. Guess mostly with those eminent pledges.
Since my earlier post 2 $1,480 backers have been added, meaning that Eminence level backers are responsible for at least $32,185. The growth today has been entirely (or at least to the degree it can be discerned) from these mega $1k+ pledges.
Kroothawk wrote: Just for the record:
4000% passed today, more than 25,000$ raised today. Guess mostly with those eminent pledges.
Since my earlier post 2 $1,480 backers have been added, meaning that Eminence level backers are responsible for at least $32,185. The growth today has been entirely (or at least to the degree it can be discerned) from these mega $1k+ pledges.
A fascinating incident for future consideration.
WWX had a similar "all-in from the top backers" mentality, and did well with their campaign, I think.
Azazelx wrote: Remember guys, there's an element of Boutique Cheesecake at work here - similar to Poots and his KD stuff, but without the penis monsters.
Not to mention the creative Maths at work for the values.
Ugh... "Boutique Cheesecake". That just about sums it up...
Kroothawk wrote: Just for the record:
4000% passed today, more than 25,000$ raised today. Guess mostly with those eminent pledges.
Since my earlier post 2 $1,480 backers have been added, meaning that Eminence level backers are responsible for at least $32,185. The growth today has been entirely (or at least to the degree it can be discerned) from these mega $1k+ pledges.
A fascinating incident for future consideration.
WWX had a similar "all-in from the top backers" mentality, and did well with their campaign, I think.
Azazelx wrote: Remember guys, there's an element of Boutique Cheesecake at work here - similar to Poots and his KD stuff, but without the penis monsters.
Not to mention the creative Maths at work for the values.
Ugh... "Boutique Cheesecake". That just about sums it up...
I would say that is a somewhat unfair dig at TGG: while certainly some elements of the lines are cheesecake, some are most emphatically not meant to titillate (for example, the most recent IE Snipers).
On balance, the lines being proposed by RH seem neither more nor less "cheesecake" then other established lines, such as Infinity, for example, or Bombshell Miniatures. The tenancy to dismiss projects with female miniatures in them as "cheesecake" strikes me as profoundly unhelpful.
Specifically, while I have had pointed criticism for RH on the conduct of their campaign, I have substantially less for the contents thereof. Assuming that these miniatures translate well to the medium they will have fairly impressively added not just to the number of female miniatures available for consumption, but dramatically broadened the aesthetics represented.
I've made no secret that I favor the Iron Empire sculpts and have little use for the Jailbirds. But that is precisely because they have succeeded in achieving an aesthetic division between their lines, conceptualizing three dramatically different and internally consistent artistic directions.
So, I STILL don't get where people feel like Raging Heroes got weird with their math. It all has seemed, and remains, straightforward to me. I keep hoping Azazelx or another poster of reasonable intelligence will explain that one in a bit more detail, because it still eludes me.
In addition to that, I can understand having some issues with a couple of the models, but dismissing the entire line as 'Boutique Cheesecake' seems a little disingenuous.
In any event, how does that meme go? Oh yeah!
In other news, how about that 'Kickstarter dropping pledges thing?' Anyone ever heard of anything like that before? Or is that a new thing?
Specifically, while I have had pointed criticism for RH on the conduct of their campaign, I have substantially less for the contents thereof. Assuming that these miniatures translate well to the medium they will have fairly impressively added not just to the number of female miniatures available for consumption, but dramatically broadened the aesthetics represented.
I've made no secret that I favor the Iron Empire sculpts and have little use for the Jailbirds. But that is precisely because they have succeeded in achieving an aesthetic division between their lines, conceptualizing three dramatically different and internally consistent artistic directions.
PsychoticStorm wrote: I feel I like the concept art of their rank and file much more than many of their heroes, I really hope the final models are as close to the art as possible.
Judging by the renders of the Kurganova troopers, they won't be. Which is why they won't show us any of the renders. Which is why I won't be buying any of them.
It remains to be seen, the first render was vastly disappointing and the print was not better (logical because it was from the same render), it did illustrate that the models get less fat when printed, but the fundamental problems remained, maybe this is the reason we do not see more rushed renders, or, they work extra to have several good renders/ prints ready.
Time will tell how this will evolve, but if they care for their survival, they will deliver what we want, as close to concept art as possible.
For the moment I count on their skills and commitment to accept criticism.
Well, their time is fast running out. We were supposed to see a lot more renders than what has been delivered so far.
And after the campaign ends, there is little we can do to back out if we don't like the product. I am not willing to invest that much money on heroines alone.
Buzzsaw wrote: Since my earlier post 2 $1,480 backers have been added, meaning that Eminence level backers are responsible for at least $32,185. The growth today has been entirely (or at least to the degree it can be discerned) from these mega $1k+ pledges.
I think it's important to note that, in many ways, this is one of those projects where people are more likely to "go big," as you can get an entire IG or alt SOB force (or both) with the highest pledge levels. It's an a la carte system, without a prepackaged dea, so you'll have three main categories of backers: those getting a few models, those getting enough models to field a platoon, and those looking for an entire army.
Buzzsaw wrote: Since my earlier post 2 $1,480 backers have been added, meaning that Eminence level backers are responsible for at least $32,185. The growth today has been entirely (or at least to the degree it can be discerned) from these mega $1k+ pledges.
I think it's important to note that, in many ways, this is one of those projects where people are more likely to "go big," as you can get an entire IG or alt SOB force (or both) with the highest pledge levels. It's an a la carte system, without a prepackaged dea, so you'll have three main categories of backers: those getting a few models, those getting enough models to field a platoon, and those looking for an entire army.
Good point. If I had the dough, I'd be in the highest category. I was kind of surprised at how quickly the new level of box got snapped up, but it's a pleasant kind of surprise.
I too am worried about the lack of renders shown , i was expecting a lot more at this stage of the campaign. Still, judging by one shot blondie I probably shouldn't worry about the quality of sculpts.
I am enjoying the irony that my last miniatures purchase, no i lie, my 2nd last miniature purchase (after http://www.guildofharmony.com/shop_GOH_pg1.php) for the year will be recieved well into next year.
-iPaint- wrote: At this point, I'm torn between going all in on just one faction, or splitting between Jailbirds and Iron Empire. With less than a week left, I'd have hoped to see more renders of the other 2 factions, but so far I'm not entirely sold on the troops yet. The Heroines I have faith will be represented well, but having seen both the KST Heavies and Regulars, I'm not sold on their translation from concept to miniature.
~iPaint
We do need more renders of the troops. Thinking about dropping from Commander to Lt and just getting heroines for now and waiting for troops to hit the stores. This KS has been very badly run...
To be fair to them, this is their first campaign, and I think it's pretty clear that they haven't invested the same time on a day-to-day basis following other KS as closely as many of us here have. Also remember that this is a Kickstarter to create new retail products. Should you decide to drop out of lower your pledge or just not go in for the heavies or the support or the whatever, you can still pick them up next year for a little more than they'll cost here.
In addition to that, I can understand having some issues with a couple of the models, but dismissing the entire line as 'Boutique Cheesecake' seems a little disingenuous.
It's not a dismissal. It's a description - RH is positioned as a high quality "Boutique" miniatures brand - else their hero models wouldn't have a RRP of $18. They're also generally quite "cheesecake" in their design, clothing style and occasionally posing. If I were dismissing them I wouldn't be bothering in this thread, nor would I have a pile of the existing RH range, nor would I have almost $400 pledged in this KS.
Buzzsaw already posted a quite eloquent explanation of the oddities in their Maths.
In addition to that, I can understand having some issues with a couple of the models, but dismissing the entire line as 'Boutique Cheesecake' seems a little disingenuous.
It's not a dismissal. It's a description - RH is positioned as a high quality "Boutique" miniatures brand - else their hero models wouldn't have a RRP of $18. They're also generally quite "cheesecake" in their design, clothing style and occasionally posing. If I were dismissing them I wouldn't be bothering in this thread, nor would I have a pile of the existing RH range, nor would I have almost $400 pledged in this KS.
Buzzsaw already posted a quite eloquent explanation of the oddities in their Maths.
I'm sorry, that wasn't a personal attack on you, Azazelx. You have indeed been supportive of the campaign, and I wasn't accusing you of dismissing the line. However, other users, in this and other threads, have used the same argument to dismiss the entire line, and it is that which I find disingenuous.
As to the math, the only thing I saw was a post that showed that all their math was on the up and up. I know some folks thought it was shady that Drusilla was included in the price, and if I recall correctly, that they had attached a price tag to the digital art book that they were also including. The 'savings' only added up to what they claimed it did if you purchased the same number of selections that they had initially recommended. Were these the only points on which the math was "fuzzy," or did I miss some? (It's closing in on a hundred pages. I'm sure I've missed some posts in here somewhere. ) But these things never seemed shady to me. They were up front about all of them, even giving breakdowns on the website. I guess I don't clearly see where the assumption of shadiness is coming in from. Maybe I've just been burned too often, but this is a great deal more transparency than I'm used to. (Y'know, it could also be the years of working for the shadiest retailer in the Midwest that's coloring my perceptions as well.) Was there more to it than that?
Again, sorry if you thought I was coming after you personally. (In fact, I was trying to refute a general opinion while at the same time appealing to you for a counter-argument, since you're one of the people who has consistently proven that you are reasonable enough to persuade me to think differently about something.)
And as far as semantics go, Raging Heroes is absolutely a boutique venue. Hard to argue that. I've just had a number of people in recent days tell me that "it's just bad cheesecake," that I've started to wonder how many of them have actually looked at the whole line. Again, not a personal attack.
I would say that is a somewhat unfair dig at TGG: while certainly some elements of the lines are cheesecake, some are most emphatically not meant to titillate (for example, the most recent IE Snipers).
On balance, the lines being proposed by RH seem neither more nor less "cheesecake" then other established lines, such as Infinity, for example, or Bombshell Miniatures. The tenancy to dismiss projects with female miniatures in them as "cheesecake" strikes me as profoundly unhelpful.
Specifically, while I have had pointed criticism for RH on the conduct of their campaign, I have substantially less for the contents thereof. Assuming that these miniatures translate well to the medium they will have fairly impressively added not just to the number of female miniatures available for consumption, but dramatically broadened the aesthetics represented.
I've made no secret that I favor the Iron Empire sculpts and have little use for the Jailbirds. But that is precisely because they have succeeded in achieving an aesthetic division between their lines, conceptualizing three dramatically different and internally consistent artistic directions.
Nor is it a "dismiss(al) (of) projects with female miniatures in them as "cheesecake". There's (at least) two other lines of female minis in development being sold and previewed here on Dakka that are emphatically not cheesecake, as well as a number who are. Reaper does both. If you don't see cheesecake elements in all three factions, then I think you're either choosing to ignore what you don't want to see, or getting your back up defensively due to considering the term one of derision - which is most certainly not the manner I'm using it in.
Edit - I'd also suggest that Raging Heroes as a brand is much more established than Bombshell Miniatures, regardless of how long Pat Keith has been sculpting for others.
And as far as semantics go, Raging Heroes is absolutely a boutique venue. Hard to argue that. I've just had a number of people in recent days tell me that "it's just bad cheesecake," that I've started to wonder how many of them have actually looked at the whole line. Again, not a personal attack.
Easy solution - ask them to show you some examples of what they consider "good cheesecake". You'll either find some potentially good artwork, or find that they can';t give you any examples, showing that they simply don't like the genre at all.
I would say that is a somewhat unfair dig at TGG: while certainly some elements of the lines are cheesecake, some are most emphatically not meant to titillate (for example, the most recent IE Snipers).
On balance, the lines being proposed by RH seem neither more nor less "cheesecake" then other established lines, such as Infinity, for example, or Bombshell Miniatures. The tenancy to dismiss projects with female miniatures in them as "cheesecake" strikes me as profoundly unhelpful.
Specifically, while I have had pointed criticism for RH on the conduct of their campaign, I have substantially less for the contents thereof. Assuming that these miniatures translate well to the medium they will have fairly impressively added not just to the number of female miniatures available for consumption, but dramatically broadened the aesthetics represented.
I've made no secret that I favor the Iron Empire sculpts and have little use for the Jailbirds. But that is precisely because they have succeeded in achieving an aesthetic division between their lines, conceptualizing three dramatically different and internally consistent artistic directions.
Nor is it a "dismiss(al) (of) projects with female miniatures in them as "cheesecake". There's (at least) two other lines of female minis in development being sold and previewed here on Dakka that are emphatically not cheesecake, as well as a number who are. Reaper does both.
If you don't see cheesecake elements in all three factions, then I think you're either choosing to ignore what you don't want to see, or getting your back up defensively due to considering the term one of derision - which is most certainly not the manner I'm using it in.
Oh, no. These defiantly are what they are.
They are cheesecake, but that's kind of the point. As with the void needing to be filled, this is what you get. If you want generic G.I.Jane, your looking at bland looking mini troopers with at best oversized weapons, or just oversized flak vests with some buns sticking out the back of the helmet/ neckline.
I think they know exactly what they are doing, and even with that, to me it is about the CHOICE that is the allure to them.
That's what Raging Heroes miniatures tend to be. Bland, generic cheesecake that fails to make me give a feth. IT's why I was, and remain, disappointed with the bizarre need to make the Kurganova minis' breasts several cup sizes bigger than they looked in the concept art.
A female miniature doesn't need to shove its tits and ass in your face to be a good miniature-- I'm almost invariably more interested in models which DON'T do this, because I am not interested in collecting an army of supermodels trying to play at being soldier, I'm interested in collecting an army of professional soldiers. There's nothing saying that they can't be attractive, but there is still a distinct aesthetic difference between "supermodels awkwardly holding guns" and "a plastic representation of what could be a real soldier".
Some people are in to cheesecake models. That's cool, spend your money how you want, it's yours to spend. But it's bizarre how defensive people get whenever someone says that they want something different.
That's what Raging Heroes miniatures tend to be. Bland, generic cheesecake that fails to make me give a feth. IT's why I was, and remain, disappointed with the bizarre need to make the Kurganova minis' breasts several cup sizes bigger than they looked in the concept art.
A female miniature doesn't need to shove its tits and ass in your face to be a good miniature-- I'm almost invariably more interested in models which DON'T do this, because I am not interested in collecting an army of supermodels trying to play at being soldier, I'm interested in collecting an army of professional soldiers. There's nothing saying that they can't be attractive, but there is still a distinct aesthetic difference between "supermodels awkwardly holding guns" and "a plastic representation of what could be a real soldier".
Do you read Tank Girl, or other comic books? You might not like them, but T and A is Peanut butter and Jelly to war gaming. You don't get the choice to change the environment. Sorry.
By and by- Tank Girl and her pals kick a lot of ass,in the same way as that stuff you see in Heavy Metal- which is what people want at the end of the day. T and A for entertainments sake. I'm not seeing too may bull !@#$ manly women miniatures out there, or rough looking ones that you see in everyday life. Buzzcut fat girls don't sell too well, I expect. I'm all for someone making a few, though. maybe they can prove me wrong.
Wargaming on tabletop does not equal PC one size fits all armor and helmets. Those Kurganova's are pornstars, anyway. I'm not seeing them being used on the tabletop instilling fear and discipline. I see those punchboards are eye candy in the classic Elsa She Wolf of the SS sense, and not to be taken seriously.
Grot 6 wrote: Do you read Tank Girl, or other comic books? You might not like them, but T and A is Peanut butter and Jelly to war gaming. You don't get the choice to change the environment. Sorry.
Oh, so you think that I HAVE to spend my money on some cheesecake? I'm obligated to want the same exact kind of models that you want?
That is incredibly arrogant of you.
This has nothing to do with "PC". This has to do with the fact that I have limited funds and I am under no obligation to give TGotG any of it unless they produce a product I want to buy.
Grot 6 wrote: Do you read Tank Girl, or other comic books? You might not like them, but T and A is Peanut butter and Jelly to war gaming. You don't get the choice to change the environment. Sorry.
Oh, so you think that I HAVE to spend my money on some cheesecake? I'm obligated to want the same exact kind of models that you want?
That is incredibly arrogant of you.
I guess. I'm not seeing how you came to that conclusion, nor really want to go on and on about nothing.
You can read the rest of the post at anytime, chief. If you want to crank out a few generic femal/ girl/ women folk or whatever the flavor of the month term is for them solder figures and they fit in with my gear, I'm all in. Like I said, though- The environments already set. Just because you don't want it- there are ten score more that will take your place.
And yet, I'm still not obligated to give them even a single penny for any of it, no matter how much you might not like my reasons.
Whining about "PC" is pointless. Again (since you apparently ignored the first time I said it), this has nothing to do with "PC". This has to do with the fact that I have limited funds and I am under no obligation to give TGotG any of it unless they produce a product I want to buy. No matter how much you cry and scream about it, this basic fact of capitalism won't change.
I would say that is a somewhat unfair dig at TGG: while certainly some elements of the lines are cheesecake, some are most emphatically not meant to titillate (for example, the most recent IE Snipers).
On balance, the lines being proposed by RH seem neither more nor less "cheesecake" then other established lines, such as Infinity, for example, or Bombshell Miniatures. The tenancy to dismiss projects with female miniatures in them as "cheesecake" strikes me as profoundly unhelpful.
Specifically, while I have had pointed criticism for RH on the conduct of their campaign, I have substantially less for the contents thereof. Assuming that these miniatures translate well to the medium they will have fairly impressively added not just to the number of female miniatures available for consumption, but dramatically broadened the aesthetics represented.
I've made no secret that I favor the Iron Empire sculpts and have little use for the Jailbirds. But that is precisely because they have succeeded in achieving an aesthetic division between their lines, conceptualizing three dramatically different and internally consistent artistic directions.
Nor is it a "dismiss(al) (of) projects with female miniatures in them as "cheesecake". There's (at least) two other lines of female minis in development being sold and previewed here on Dakka that are emphatically not cheesecake, as well as a number who are. Reaper does both. If you don't see cheesecake elements in all three factions, then I think you're either choosing to ignore what you don't want to see, or getting your back up defensively due to considering the term one of derision - which is most certainly not the manner I'm using it in.
Edit - I'd also suggest that Raging Heroes as a brand is much more established than Bombshell Miniatures, regardless of how long Pat Keith has been sculpting for others.
I'll be brutally honest: our disagreement is such that I see no profit in continued discussion, certainly not in this thread.
That's what Raging Heroes miniatures tend to be. Bland, generic cheesecake that fails to make me give a feth. IT's why I was, and remain, disappointed with the bizarre need to make the Kurganova minis' breasts several cup sizes bigger than they looked in the concept art.
A female miniature doesn't need to shove its tits and ass in your face to be a good miniature-- I'm almost invariably more interested in models which DON'T do this, because I am not interested in collecting an army of supermodels trying to play at being soldier, I'm interested in collecting an army of professional soldiers. There's nothing saying that they can't be attractive, but there is still a distinct aesthetic difference between "supermodels awkwardly holding guns" and "a plastic representation of what could be a real soldier".
Some people are in to cheesecake models. That's cool, spend your money how you want, it's yours to spend. But it's bizarre how defensive people get whenever someone says that they want something different.
Please forgive the bon mot, but certainly it must be very confusing for you to see people become irritable over female miniatures. A novel experience no doubt?
I joke, I joke... but in all fairness, it would seem that the solution to you problems is posting just above me...
Buzzsaw: The "solution" to the problem is quite simple-- I wait until a studio makes models I want to buy, and then I... shock of all shocks... buy them, thus doing my part in encouraging more of the same by making them more profitable.
I believe the colloquial term is "voting with your wallet" or somesuch.
Melissia wrote: And yet, I'm still not obligated to give them even a single penny for any of it, no matter how much you might not like my reasons.
Whining about "PC" is pointless. Again (since you apparently ignored the first time I said it), this has nothing to do with "PC". This has to do with the fact that I have limited funds and I am under no obligation to give TGotG any of it unless they produce a product I want to buy. No matter how much you cry and scream about it, this basic fact of capitalism won't change.
???
I'm not even seeing your issue then.
Where's the crying and screaming, by the way? Your the one thinking that the world revolves around you and getting defensive over some bullgak.
No one ever said you had to do anything. You made a statement, high handed as it was and read something you didn't agree with. No reason to get all butthurt over it.
You don't want them, other people do. Next.
As to Vic- YOU might do exactly that if you make a few that go along with the others of the ranges. I'd get a platoon or two of generic Penal legion females if they looked half as good as the current range of Male ones. I'd like a few to throw in with the meager selection of Eshers that I have. I know a few others that would as well. I've been waiting for a few ever since Aliens 3.
Grot 6 wrote: You don't want them, other people do. Next.
And yet, you were apparently offended enough by me not liking the miniatures taht you had a little rant about how I should shut up and take what I can get, when I am under no obligation to do either of those.
So obviously, you don't quite mean this statement.
Melissia wrote: Buzzsaw: The "solution" to the problem is quite simple-- I wait until a studio makes models I want to buy, and then I... shock of all shocks... buy them, thus doing my part in encouraging more of the same by making them more profitable.
I believe the colloquial term is "voting with your wallet" or somesuch.
All flippancy aside, you're doing exactly what you should be doing, I do not fault you. In fact, I have done exactly as you describe since becoming involved in Kickstarter: supporting those companies that make the things I like.
That's what Raging Heroes miniatures tend to be. Bland, generic cheesecake that fails to make me give a feth. IT's why I was, and remain, disappointed with the bizarre need to make the Kurganova minis' breasts several cup sizes bigger than they looked in the concept art.
A female miniature doesn't need to shove its tits and ass in your face to be a good miniature-- I'm almost invariably more interested in models which DON'T do this, because I am not interested in collecting an army of supermodels trying to play at being soldier, I'm interested in collecting an army of professional soldiers. There's nothing saying that they can't be attractive, but there is still a distinct aesthetic difference between "supermodels awkwardly holding guns" and "a plastic representation of what could be a real soldier".
Some people are in to cheesecake models. That's cool, spend your money how you want, it's yours to spend. But it's bizarre how defensive people get whenever someone says that they want something different.
In this case, I do have to ask why you're posting here if the RH aesthetic is completely different to what you personally enjoy. As I mentioned, there's at least two other active ranges here on Dakka that fit your stated criteria. I enjoy both, which is why I'm active in both threads, but I don't find myself drawn to post in threads where the product is something of no interest to me.
I'll be brutally honest: our disagreement is such that I see no profit in continued discussion, certainly not in this thread.
I don't really see a disagreement in broad terms. We both like and appreciate the RH aesthetic. You're merely choosing to take issue with/offence to a term I used in a non-derogatory sense to describe them - for some reason of your own...
To clarify, in case I was somehow vague. I like cheescake. I like realistic. I can like both and distinguish between both, while still liking both. it's not a zero-sum game.
Melissia wrote: Not every post in this thread has to be fawning and drooling over the kickstarter campaign.
Voicing dissent is not allowed Citizen. Please wait while the termination squad arrives.
I would like for RH to stick to one of their statements and produce 80% of the 150 stated minis (that would be 120 minis for those that don't have a calculator handy) for display before the end of the campaign. Continual math errors aside, Id like to see the product I'm pledged for as was originally promised.
Azazelx wrote: In this case, I do have to ask why you're posting here
Simple. There was a range-- the Kurganovas-- of miniatures where it looked as if, from the concept art, it might be a good army to collect.
Then the miniatures came out and disappointed me. So I am expressing my disappointment.
Fair enough. It might be worth checking out the finished product in a year or so, since it seems the precise proportions are somewhat liquid at the moment.
Not every post in this thread has to be fawning and drooling over the kickstarter campaign.
yes. Because that's how we're all been posting to date.
The biggest issue I have is that sculptor felt the need to give them giganto-boobs, whereas the concept art, while not ideal, was at least respectable and could simply be considered stylization in the same general style that Sister of Battle power armor is stylized (although IIRC one of the Canoness models is questionable in that regard, too....)
Azazelx wrote: In this case, I do have to ask why you're posting here
Simple. There was a range-- the Kurganovas-- of miniatures where it looked as if, from the concept art, it might be a good army to collect.
Then the miniatures came out and disappointed me. So I am expressing my disappointment.
Not every post in this thread has to be fawning and drooling over the kickstarter campaign.
It's been pointed out a few times now that Raging Heroes agreed with you that the initial render was not up to snuff in comparison with the concept art. Specifically, they already said that they would be reducing the bust size, as well as doing additional work to them.
I don't disagree with assessments that the Jailbirds are pretty sexualized. (They are very sexualized.) But the Kurganovas aren't The render we've seen has a larger bust than many people want, including the sculptors, who have (again) said that this issue will be fixed before final production.
While I'm not averse to some provocative minis from time to time, I would also like an army of professional female soldiers, and I think the Kurganovas fit the bill pretty nicely. (With the exception of Ivanka, but the extreme degree of sexualization in the Kurganova sisters leads me to believe it's intended to be a character trait of theirs, since it isn't reflected in the army as a whole.)
In any event, if you can't find minis to enjoy here, I hope you find them somewhere.
To be clear: it's okay to like the minis. It's okay NOT to like the minis. It's okay to express both opinions, It's okay to explain WHY you like the minis.
But there is no need to repeat your opinion until everyone agrees with you. And there is no need to argue with someone about their opinion.
Herald mode: I'm going to see about more renders and prints, especially for the new KST Heavies. A lot of people clearly still have concerns about these minis and want to see what's coming.
Normal mode: I'm honestly right there with Melissa though I do like my cheesecake, I want my scifi female infantry to be bad ass, stylization's fine, but out right cheesecake for an entire army just isn't my bag. After the disappointing heavies I really want RH to "show me the money" so to speak. Especially before I give them /my/ money.
I don't think it's true either. I'd do a little freaking dance if it was but sadly not. The heavy weapons troopers in the command boxes do sound like priority targets for magnetization however, all those delicious weapons!
KalashnikovMarine wrote: I don't think it's true either. I'd do a little freaking dance if it was but sadly not. The heavy weapons troopers in the command boxes do sound like priority targets for magnetization however, all those delicious weapons!
I heard that!
Anyone but me super stoked for the Iron Empire freedom fighter?
KalashnikovMarine wrote: Herald mode: I'm going to see about more renders and prints, especially for the new KST Heavies. A lot of people clearly still have concerns about these minis and want to see what's coming.
Hope you can get some response on this, particularly renders / prints of the heavy weapons. Would really like to see those before the end of the KS, so as to make the choice between more trooper boxes or handfuls of the artillery boxes for weapons teams.
KalashnikovMarine wrote: Heh... maybe she's more of a Tyranny Conqueror? Freedom just doesn't sound like the IE's style.
Since they also seem to be behind inter-faction conflict, maybe the IE freedom fighter is some kind of resurrectionist? Someone who returns the undead to life? Or maybe just to regular ol' death.
Azazelx wrote: In this case, I do have to ask why you're posting here
Simple. There was a range-- the Kurganovas-- of miniatures where it looked as if, from the concept art, it might be a good army to collect.
Then the miniatures came out and disappointed me. So I am expressing my disappointment.
Not every post in this thread has to be fawning and drooling over the kickstarter campaign.
At least that answers me why you post here, your entire post history on this thread had me puzzled to be honest, While I agree that the renders was vastly disappointing and something the majority here and on the kickstarter share as an opinion for more reasons than just the breasts size, they have said they will fix them to look closer to the concept art.
I really do not get the cheesecake references though for the troops, for some heroes, ok, but the troops do not have any of the characteristics to deserve that label.
Funny enough, it was supposed to be a pic of Kiki but they put up the wrong pic.
Coming up: a new pledge level for collectors and resin lovers... But you'll have to be fast, there's only going to be a limited quantity available... More in our next update...
Kiki Bulldozer
Genetic manipulations, nano technologies, combat drugs. All elements that play a big part in creating ultra-performing warriors, especially for nations like the Kurgans, who have very advanced scientific research abilities. And of course, where better to test this research than in human rat labs...
Kiki was locked up in a maximum security cell when the walls trembled under the shock of the advancing Jailbird's heavy weaponry. Something had gone horribly wrong in her research protocol and the Kurgans had not yet decided if it was better to terminate such a powerful creature, or to push it further to make her into an even more dangerous weapon.
When the Jailbirds removed her chains and nursed her back to health, her radical mood swings eased and she turned herself into a rather gentle giantess.
But she's fiercely devoted to the members of her new family. Threats or violence of any kind aimed at them will inevitably unleash all of Kiki's strength and ruthlessness, with devastating results.
I'm not a big fan of open, un-protected exosuits myself. At least have an armored glass canopy or something. But I suppose they expect us to add that ourselves.
Melissia wrote: I'm not a big fan of open, un-protected exosuits myself. At least have an armored glass canopy or something. But I suppose they expect us to add that ourselves.
I'll go one farther, actually: not only is the "pilot" (who I presume is some sort of undead creature) totally exposed, the thing is missing its superstructure.
Seriously, it just seems to stop at the waist. What is supporting the enormous armatures, the pilot?
As dumb as the Jailbird mech is, at least it looks like it could function, even if at a severe vulnerability to the pilot. This thing looks like it's just waiting for the pilot to be split like a wishbone...
Seriously, it just seems to stop at the waist. What is supporting the enormous armatures, the pilot?
Maybe i am seeing a different picture, but there are mecha-parts on both sides as well as behind the pilot.
As for the increased vulnerability we already accept melee combat and giant mecha in a lot of these scifi settings although that would make no sense in a future RL combat situation. I am okay with adding a mostly open mecha to the inconsistencies as long as it's a cool alien power-loader homage. And not to forget those two huge randall-grav-shield projectors on the mechs shoulders. Those'll keep the undead pilot safe and sound
Seriously, it just seems to stop at the waist. What is supporting the enormous armatures, the pilot?
Maybe i am seeing a different picture, but there are mecha-parts on both sides as well as behind the pilot.
As for the increased vulnerability we already accept melee combat and giant mecha in a lot of these scifi settings although that would make no sense in a future RL combat situation. I am okay with adding a mostly open mecha to the inconsistencies as long as it's a cool alien power-loader homage. And not to forget those two huge randall-grav-shield projectors on the mechs shoulders. Those'll keep the undead pilot safe and sound
Spoiler:
This is one of those "the physics and engineering make no sense yes I know it has an undead pilot" moments, where I recognize simultaneously that the thing is absurd on its face but can't get past the obvious engineering flaws. Does it have side structures? Yes. Does its design make any sense with internally consistent logic? No.
Just look at how thick and built up every part of that thing is: legs, hips, arms, weapons. It's immense everywhere... except where the forces generated by those huge arms and by bipedal movement would be greatest. It's a sham since the parts of it that are actually... well, there, are very well designed and interesting. If it had a solid, armored torso it would be aces.
Buzzsaw wrote: Does it have side structures? Yes. Does its design make any sense with internally consistent logic? No.
Just look at how thick and built up every part of that thing is: legs, hips, arms, weapons. It's immense everywhere... except...
There's no really glaring problem with the structure. The arms are attached individually to both side structures which in turn sit on hinges on the waist and are connected to each other by some sort of artificial muscle behind the pilot (plus more cables and rods in a diagonal cross in the back of the mecha). It does look believable and mobile enough to me.
I tentatively agree on your second point though, everything is really built up except the middle. I can see where that would be too much of a style change or break for some of us.
Regardless, i would still like to see a looted version of this mecha with a jailbird pilot.
Melissia wrote: Minx: There are good and bad ways to do exoskeleton, this is one of the bad ones
I am not sure if there are good ways to built a large humanoid exoskeleton. It makes no sense to construct a huge but fragile target. Walking and keeping your balance necessitates fully articulate legs (and perhaps arms) with lots of fiddly bits that won't survive a fire fight. In addition the maintenance in the field will be a nightmare.
But perhaps you were talking about the visual aesthetics? In that case we just have to agree to disagree since i wouldn't classify the iron empire mecha as bad although it's not my favorite.
Minx wrote: I am not sure if there are good ways to built a large humanoid exoskeleton. It makes no sense to construct a huge but fragile target..
It's just an oversized suit of power armor. the biggest reason to use it is that it can carry bigger weapons than a normal human could, and is capable of carrying a bigger power supply/storage in the case of energy weapons.
Sure, a drone is arguably a better choice since it doesn't endanger the operator, but it's possible to cut a drone off from its operator due to it relying upon a radio signal or cable.
I'll withhold judgment in case Raging Heroes can give me a really cool explanation to go along with it, but I doubt I'll be getting one.
Of course, I'm incredibly biased (since I don't like any mecha). This is at least something different than the normal walker schlock, which is a step in the right direction. I think I might be in agreement with the dissenting opinions on this one, though, that it is an ambitious misstep.
I actually like it. I hadn't planned on getting any mecha, and I probably still won't (already over spending). But I do like it. The legs look amazing, though I would change the feet.... needs more toes. And I'd like another big gun on the left arm. Also not sure about the pilots bandages and headgear. Other than these small things (though I do think the feet definitely need redone), I'm quite impressed with it.
Yeah, feeling the same way at the moment, though have $30 left to allocate so might pick one up for hellbrute counts as, as it doesn't really fit with the cultist/traitor guard I plan to use the rest of the figures for.
Grot 6 wrote: Had to bow out of my LT pledge. It's there if anyone wants it.
Curious as to your reasoning. I'm thinking about dumping my pledge myself, but I need a push
I'll probably be dropping my EB Commander pledge soon for the following reasons:
1) Many of the things I was looking forward to haven't turned out to my liking - the bikes and the mechs especially.
2) Gaming budget - it doesn't make much sense to pre-order a year (give or take) in advance as there's really nothing 'exclusive' that appeals.
3) Scale Issues - still not convinced it will work for what I want them for, so better to wait and find out rather than get Dystopian'd!
Is it normal for a Kickstarter to have a flurry of dropouts in the last couple of days? I could see how it would be, but I could also see the reverse being true. I'm sure it will get a flurry of additional backers showing up, I'm just curious about those leaving, since it seems like I've seen quite a few people announce their intent to withdraw their pledge.
Not a judgment or anything (I'm still going to receive all the minis that I wanted at this point, so there's no worries on that front) I'm just curious. I've never done a Kickstarter before, and I'd like to do one again in the future, but I'm curious as to how they usually work.
There are probably cases of kickstarters where people overpledge just to unlock the stretch bonuses, and then reduce/remove their pledges once they see what's available at the end.
But in the case of RH, where they pretty much gave up on unlocking everything through stretch bonuses, I think it just comes from the way they've been managing this trainwreck of a kickstarter.
In addition to not providing the information we want concerning aesthetics of the actual models, the lack of renders also shows a lack of confidence in their own product in RH's regard, especially after the issue with the Kurgan heavy troops.
Not to mention the great confusion to be had concerning casting materials, items included in specific boxes, and other similar issues.
Well.. some people talk about dropping their pledges since the beginng of eternity..
true, some will eventually drop out... but USUALLY the last ~2 days of most campagns go crazy.. sometimes doubling or trippling the total amount of pledges/money.
RoninXiC wrote: Well.. some people talk about dropping their pledges since the beginng of eternity..
true, some will eventually drop out... but USUALLY the last ~2 days of most campagns go crazy.. sometimes doubling or trippling the total amount of pledges/money.
And that could still happen here too, though it is unlikely given the current state of this campaign, and what's 'left to do' and all that.
There's usually some sort of incentive for a massive wave of additional backers and right now, I'm not seeing it.
Jimsolo wrote: Is it normal for a Kickstarter to have a flurry of dropouts in the last couple of days? I could see how it would be, but I could also see the reverse being true. I'm sure it will get a flurry of additional backers showing up, I'm just curious about those leaving, since it seems like I've seen quite a few people announce their intent to withdraw their pledge.
Not a judgment or anything (I'm still going to receive all the minis that I wanted at this point, so there's no worries on that front) I'm just curious. I've never done a Kickstarter before, and I'd like to do one again in the future, but I'm curious as to how they usually work.
It makes perfect sense, especially in an environment where there are a lot of Early Bird Specials: consider that the majority of the money pledged was contributed before even the thumbnail images were shown.
As any campaign continues, people that pledged early in anticipation of later satisfaction face three possible outcomes;
1) Satisfied, and maintain their pledge,
2) More then satisfied, and increase their pledge,
3) Unsatisfied, they reduce or cancel their pledges.
Going into this particular campaign there are a number of unknowns, which have been whittled down over time (to some extent);
-What would blanks look like, such as,
--The Mechs,
--The Bikes,
--The Heavy Troopers,
--The Lulus, etc...
-What would the renders look like? The commonly bandied about figure is that 80% of items would be rendered by the end of the campaign.
-What would the early test casts look like? So far a single mono-pose hero has been shown and one multi-pose trooper (the former to great acclaim, the second to much controversy).
-What would the final load-out of added value be?
So, as we begin to round the final bend, how have these items panned out?
I cannot speak for anyone but for myself and have found things to be a distinctly mixed bag: the Mechs and Bikes, which I was open to at the beginning, have been profoundly disappointing to me. The Heavy troopers aren't too shabby, but considering their rather parsimonious discount there seems little reason to hold great enthusiasm for them.
Renders? They really need to release more of them. Same for more views of troopers.
The freebies are... again, a mixed bag. So far the Freedom Fighters are unabashed successes (IMO), the pets are... an odd choice, and the tank commanders suffer from a) there being no tanks in the campaign, and b) being one from each faction. It's also difficult to not feel rather let down when one compares the value added in this campaign to... pretty much any other large scale campaigns. For Americans there is also the issue of being unused to paying shipping, however reasonable that shipping may be.
To such evaluations other intangibles are added: the consistently overwhelmed air by RH may give one caution, along with their reputation for running late and so on and so forth.
The last 48 hour pledge burst is fueled by a number of different factors (value, exclusivity, so on): does this campaign possess such factors in sufficient amounts? Time will tell.
So we decided to create a special pledge called the CONNOISSEUR BOX level, dedicated to the most demanding collectors among you.
This pledge will include the following:
• All 38 Heroines in high quality casts made from hand-poured resin, each with a numbered certificate of authenticity.
• A very special 54mm scale edition of the Necro-Priestess Nephahrya in a high quality cast made from hand-poured resin with a numbered certificate of authenticity.
• A signed and numbered full-colour, printed version of the Toughest Girls of the Galaxy digital artbook. As its digital counterpart, it will be a lavishly designed coffee table book with all the TGG concept art, many unreleased sketches, stories and background, …
• A 5-hour webinar with the Raging Heroes team (in English and in 2 parts) in which you'll discover how we conceive, develop, and sculpt Raging Heroes miniatures.
We will open this pledge level in several hours: at 5PM in France, 4PM in the Uk, 11 AM on the East Coast, etc. See a countdown here.
EDIT: This upcoming pledge will ONLY be available in very limited quantities.
I hate to disagree with some people in the thread , but the Iron Empire mech is 7 truckloads of awesome on two legs. I literally looked at it, opened my mouth and let out a half stunned "ahhhhhhhh" that went for about a minute whilst my brain tried to absorb how much I liked the art.
I love the piped in pilot look, coupled with the mummy wrappings and the faceplate/headware. I'm not normally a fan of necro/undead stuff but i really like this!
If the thing is undead ,what does it matter if the pilot is unprotected, it's already dead. The whole reality thing amuses me. We have people willing to buy into inter galaxy space travel, plasma weapons , undead wizards , gods in space, saviours of humanity , fungas aliens and yet somehow reality gets introduced with mechs . HA!
I'll be honest, I'm considering the possibility of dropping my pledge, and I'm an Early Bird General.
Why? Economics. Do I really need to drop ~$1000 on a new IG army, when I already dropped $1500 last year for a massive Dreamforge IG force? I mean, just how many Imperial Guard armies do I need? So, yeah, I'm thinking of dropping it a good bit to just have a bunch of the characters, and a single platoon.
Personally, I'm satisfied with I've seen so far. I would like to see more renders, but that has not been an overriding concern for me.
So, since I'm too busy to do any more mathmatical acrobatics with the various pledge levels, could someone tell me if it would be worth my time to switch from Lieutenant to Captain or Major? Or just stay at Lieutenant and up my pledge amount? Oh, and let's not worry about the EB stuff.
Breotan wrote: So, since I'm too busy to do any more mathmatical acrobatics with the various pledge levels, could someone tell me if it would be worth my time to switch from Lieutenant to Captain or Major? Or just stay at Lieutenant and up my pledge amount? Oh, and let's not worry about the EB stuff.
There are some very limited increases in value as you go up in pledge level. Basically, once you get to Captain you get $5 more then you pledge (you can spend $370 off a pledge of $365). Below that you get less discretionary cash then you spend (i.e., Commander you can spend $240 for a cost of $245).
Automatically Appended Next Post:
Mathieu Raymond wrote: Higher pledge levels might include extra free minis (or their values)
To the best of my knowledge no level above Lt. has any difference in the add-ons, until you get to the really high levels (Colonel at $745 and up).
Automatically Appended Next Post: Buzzsaw, thanks for the neutral response. I appreciate being able to get a non venomous answer. Especially given that I know you have some pretty deep criticisms of the campaign.
To such evaluations other intangibles are added: the consistently overwhelmed air by RH may give one caution, along with their reputation for running late and so on and so forth.
Is there such a reputation? I know that this Kickstarter had a couple false starts or some such, but I hadn't heard any notoriety about them being late. Are there more specifics on this? Again, not enough to make me drop my pledge, but I would certainly like to have an accurate estimate of how long I will be waiting for my minis.
Breotan wrote: So, since I'm too busy to do any more mathmatical acrobatics with the various pledge levels, could someone tell me if it would be worth my time to switch from Lieutenant to Captain or Major? Or just stay at Lieutenant and up my pledge amount? Oh, and let's not worry about the EB stuff.
I just used the pledge calculator to figure a captain box (365). Change it to lieutenant (165) and the price jumps to $385. Which accounts for the $20 extra models you get as a captain. So other than the free extra models no there is no real difference
gohkm wrote: Whoa, how much is the CONNOISSEUR BOX level going to cost?
The mention of resin has got me interested in this all over again.
We'll probably have a mini update just before it becomes available. But I'd expect a price somewhere north of $700 based on what they've said is included.
Automatically Appended Next Post:
Minx wrote: Perhaps we will see the 54mm priestess and the physical art book as separate add-ons. Has there been any word on that, heralds?
Based on the fact that they've said the art book would be signed and numbered it's probably unlikely. But there again, given the way they've been chopping and changing during the KS they may surprise us all and throw it in with all pledges over X level/amount.
Automatically Appended Next Post: So, we're just over 100 hours from the end of this crazy KS ride but there's still a lot to do to get from here to there.
1) Add-on unlocks. There's 12 of these left to go, a smattering of heroines, 6 bikes and a couple of other things. Whilst this is still on track with their 1-3 auto unlocks a day I don't believe that it's a good idea to go into the last 24 hours with anything left to unlock as it'll distract RH from trying to keep on top of things as pledging gets crazy again*
The only reason I can see them going into the last 24 hours with a few unlocks left would be to do a big reveal and throw in upgrade kits. In the same way as artillery box 3 the other day. This would have been good with mecha, which they've missed their change with, but it also works with bikes. So I'd expect to still be missing three reveals if this is their plan.
2)Renders / Prints We've seen no where near enough of these for this stage in the KS. Especially given the prep time that they put into the KS and the talk about getting a large percentage of the renders done by the end. This suggests that they've either slipped behind and the KS has stopped them from getting them done, which is possible given there's 3 of them and there have been a few RL issues, or the quite vocal reaction to the renders we have seen has them gakking themselves.
If the former is the case, then they need to let us know. The updates aren't just for posting background snippets about unlocks and talking about new pledge levels. If the latter is the case then they need to 'man up' and get more posted. Not just of heroines, but of all the basic troopers so we can see what they've come out like. From a personal point of view, I'd really like to see renders of the heavy weapons from the command boxes as well, in order to see if they'd fit my needs or if I need to get a number of artillery boxes.
3) Communication / Involvement Whilst they have improved since the start of the KS there's still a lack of involvement with backers at times. They tend to pop on, post a few comments here and there on the KS page, put up the updates and then go away for a few hours / over night. This leads to things getting missed / not answered.
For example, I had a question for RH direct and after their previous rapid response to PMs via KS I dropped them one there. Whilst I got an initial response fairly quickly it was pretty much a 'not now but ask again in a couple of days'. This was on the 23rd and despite two follow ups and a nudge in the comments section they don't seem to have picked it back up. There's other people murmuring about similar things or asking questions repeatedly trying to get an 'official answer' but not seeming to get very far.
Breotan wrote: So, since I'm too busy to do any more mathmatical acrobatics with the various pledge levels, could someone tell me if it would be worth my time to switch from Lieutenant to Captain or Major? Or just stay at Lieutenant and up my pledge amount? Oh, and let's not worry about the EB stuff.
I just used the pledge calculator to figure a captain box (365). Change it to lieutenant (165) and the price jumps to $385. Which accounts for the $20 extra models you get as a captain. So other than the free extra models no there is no real difference
So basically it's the difference between free shipping and paying for shipping. Not a bad move queaff?
Is there such a reputation? I know that this Kickstarter had a couple false starts or some such, but I hadn't heard any notoriety about them being late. Are there more specifics on this? Again, not enough to make me drop my pledge, but I would certainly like to have an accurate estimate of how long I will be waiting for my minis.
Thanks again!
There is such a reputation, the Kurganova sisters box I believe was also a month or two past the initial ship date before it actually went out. However, I've not heard of them pulling anything worse than a couple months nor of them ever failing to ship something. I also don't think it's terribly uncommon in the boutique miniature market for quirks like that. They also reportedly don't do things in half-measures so sometimes doing things right takes longer.
It is something to be leery of as there will almost certainly be delays; most every majorly successful KS has them.
Is there such a reputation? I know that this Kickstarter had a couple false starts or some such, but I hadn't heard any notoriety about them being late. Are there more specifics on this? Again, not enough to make me drop my pledge, but I would certainly like to have an accurate estimate of how long I will be waiting for my minis.
Thanks again!
There is such a reputation, the Kurganova sisters box I believe was also a month or two past the initial ship date before it actually went out. However, I've not heard of them pulling anything worse than a couple months nor of them ever failing to ship something. I also don't think it's terribly uncommon in the boutique miniature market for quirks like that. They also reportedly don't do things in half-measures so sometimes doing things right takes longer.
It is something to be leery of as there will almost certainly be delays; most every majorly successful KS has them.
For the sister box I'd rather say a few weeks than months.
About the IE mecha and IE bike: I like them. Because of them (and mortaria noctis) I turned to the dark side.
To such evaluations other intangibles are added: the consistently overwhelmed air by RH may give one caution, along with their reputation for running late and so on and so forth.
Is there such a reputation? I know that this Kickstarter had a couple false starts or some such, but I hadn't heard any notoriety about them being late. Are there more specifics on this? Again, not enough to make me drop my pledge, but I would certainly like to have an accurate estimate of how long I will be waiting for my minis.
From personal experience - RH is always slow/delayed. I've preordered several sets from them (vestals, sci-fi vestals, Mantises, Kurganovas) and pretty much every time there's been a delay of a month-6 weeks+. Mind you, this is with the relatively small numbers of website pre-orders when dealing with between 4 unique models to 2 boxes of five. The KS has many times that number of models and 2200 backers, so there will be significant delays. The designer, Benoit has also hurt his back just before the campaign and again a week ago, so things like that also need to be factored in.
Minx wrote: Perhaps we will see the 54mm priestess and the physical art book as separate add-ons. Has there been any word on that, heralds?
Based on the fact that they've said the art book would be signed and numbered it's probably unlikely.
I was talking about not-signed and -numbered limited print/cast runs. If they already go the length of preparing a physical art book i assume they could just print more and not sign some of them for us to add to our pledges.
Automatically Appended Next Post:
Azazelx wrote: From personal experience - RH is always slow/delayed. I've preordered several sets from them (vestals, sci-fi vestals, Mantises, Kurganovas) and pretty much every time there's been a delay of a month-6 weeks+. Mind you, this is with the relatively small numbers of website pre-orders when dealing with between 4 unique models to 2 boxes of five. The KS has many times that number of models and 2200 backers, so there will be significant delays. The designer, Benoit has also hurt his back just before the campaign and again a week ago, so things like that also need to be factored in.
My last delivery was late as well; a bit longer than Azazelx shipment. I hope that their estimated delivery date has been set far enough in the future that it won't cause too many problems and i wouldn't worry about a month if we are already waiting 3/4 of a year anyway.
In any case they seem to be aware:
LnR wrote:We have set up a quite late delivery date for pledges that has plenty of room for unexpected issues that may come up in the casting and shipping process.
We are currently expanding our team to have staff dedicated to the packing and shipping logistics.
2)Renders / Prints We've seen no where near enough of these for this stage in the KS. Especially given the prep time that they put into the KS and the talk about getting a large percentage of the renders done by the end. This suggests that they've either slipped behind and the KS has stopped them from getting them done, which is possible given there's 3 of them and there have been a few RL issues, or the quite vocal reaction to the renders we have seen has them gakking themselves.
If the former is the case, then they need to let us know. The updates aren't just for posting background snippets about unlocks and talking about new pledge levels. If the latter is the case then they need to 'man up' and get more posted. Not just of heroines, but of all the basic troopers so we can see what they've come out like. From a personal point of view, I'd really like to see renders of the heavy weapons from the command boxes as well, in order to see if they'd fit my needs or if I need to get a number of artillery boxes.
Having a few friends that have done kickstarters, and looking into it myself, there are rules prohibiting renderings. Kickstarter doesn't want photorealistic renderings of a product concept. They're cool with technical drawings, CAD designs, sketches, and other parts of the design process. They like to see the guts of the creative process, but renderings that could be mistaken for finished products are prohibited.
That's already been covered. Miniatures aren't prohibited if I remember correctly.
And yes, another of the reasons I'm glad I pulled out is that they haven't show but a single unit of troop renders and they aren't that good and differ pretty decently from the concept art.
Not to mention they've pretty much stopped freebies at this point.
Oh well, if they are pretty when released I'll pick up a few. Like the recent Warzone stuff.
Warmaster Primus wrote: I just looked through the guidelilnes and I didn't see any exceptions.
Notice how they keep on using the phrase "Hardware and Product Design projects"? Miniatures are neither part of the "Hardware" nor the "Product Design" project categories.
The renderings and prints are either not finished yet or they are waiting for the right time to reveal them.
In any case i have no doubt we will see more of them before the KS for this project is over.
.
CELEBRATING THE UPCOMING $500,000 MARK WITH SNOW IVANKA Update #48 · Jul 3, 2013
As we're getting extremely close to the $500,000 mark and we can already feel the end-of-Kickstarter build-up kicking in, we wanted to immediately unlock a character that is very dear to our heart.
The Toughest Girls of the Galaxy Kickstarter all began with Kapitan Ivanka Kurganova. This mini was without a doubt our biggest hit. Ivanka generated so much interest that we quickly wanted to delve deeper into her background and find out more about her.
She was launched during the summer and she did so well that we immediately thought about creating a winter version of her to release her for Christmas. We talked about it to several of our fans and retailers, and they were all very much enthusiastic.
So we began sculpting her. And then, something strange happened. There was definitely another girl trying to come to life through Ivanka's sculpt. Fairly quickly, we realized that it was Ivanka's younger sister Malinka. It was intriguing to see her slowly taking a life of her own without any consideration whatsoever for our Christmas plans... So we went with the flow and that's how Kommander Malinka Kurganova was born. And when we saw the two sisters together, it was obvious that someone was missing in the family: Ivanka was the good student, Malinka was the young turbulent and spoiled younger sister, and so, an elder sibling, more mature and accomplished, was needed to round up the team. And there she was, Admiral Olga Kurganova.
So much for our plans for a Snow Ivanka...
The three Kurganova sisters did extremely well, and they also felt like the beginning of a good story. We knew that we'd have to bring more of this family to life, and give them a full army to carry out their orders. At first, it was only the Jailbirds. But once again, we realized that the 3 sisters were calling for something else. The lowlife big-mouth bad-attitude Rambettes were not good enough for them. They needed a much higher-class and professional army. And so, this is how the Kurganova Shock Troops were born.
But it was still not enough for them, because now, they needed a real enemy. Something that would match their might. And so, instead of just one army, we ended up with three.
And we know that some of you were a bit surprised to encounter Daddy Kurganov thrown into the midst of these furious ladies. But we definitely wanted to extend the Kurganova family, and yet, we wanted something a bit special and different. It would have been easy to add their mother or grandmother, but somehow, don't ask us why, the three girls wanted their father.
And so, after all of this, we stumbled again upon the first Snow Ivanka sketches. And it felt like full circle. Ivanka was the one who started it all, and so we owed her her snow version. So here it is, now unlocked.
Hulksmash wrote: And yes, another of the reasons I'm glad I pulled out is that they haven't show but a single unit of troop renders and they aren't that good and differ pretty decently from the concept art.
Funny, the first post shows renders of two troop units
You are correct. I got them mixed together for some reason but it does show a basic trooper box and a heavy unit. Both don't quite live up to their concept art though.
On a seperate note:
When was the last free model added at this point? Can't remember the funding level the cat mascot was unlocked.
None of those are free models but thanks for taking what I asked out of context as an excuse to put up things that are only enhancing the basic retail items, not the value of the year out pre-order.
Hulksmash wrote: None of those are free models but thanks for taking what I asked out of context as an excuse to put up things that are only enhancing the basic retail items, not the value of the year out pre-order.
Exactly. I haven't looked at these "troop box upgrades" as anything beneficial. This was all gak they were planning on doing anyway, and it's just a cop out 'bonus' for them to attempt to enhance value on a surface level.
Hulksmash wrote: None of those are free models but thanks for taking what I asked out of context as an excuse to put up things that are only enhancing the basic retail items, not the value of the year out pre-order.
Exactly. I haven't looked at these "troop box upgrades" as anything beneficial. This was all gak they were planning on doing anyway, and it's just a cop out 'bonus' for them to attempt to enhance value on a surface level.
The Infamous "Fake Stretch Goal"?!?
I still think they'll unveil some 'real' incentives for people to join in and/or increase their pledges, sometime soon, certainly before Thursday or Friday...
Hulksmash wrote: On a seperate note:
When was the last free model added at this point? Can't remember the funding level the cat mascot was unlocked.
30th June, unlocked and added as freebie to Colonel Box and General Box:
Spoiler:
#42 was unlocked but not added to any pledge level for free. They instead increased the free money in the top two (at that time) pledges in the same post.
The last free miniature, Jinx, was unlocked at $425k on the 25th of June.
Since then we've had some free upgrades, that were going to be included in the box anyway and talk about more freebies coming at some point.
Look again at the Zombie: Free model for General and Colonel box.
Ah yes, the $745 and $995 levels. Kinda, sorta, but not really.
→ FREEBIES (Watch this space too!)
You have already unlocked several FREEBIES: cool, free miniatures that will be included for FREE to pledges from LIEUTENANT BOX level and above.
Funny, that the $165 Lieutenant Box that states that it INCLUDES ACCESS TO ALL UNLOCKED FREEBIES and others in between the $745 level don't get access to that particular freebie. I guess my $400 isn't really valued, comparatively. At this rate I feel like I'll be better off pulling my pledge and pouring that money into DeadZone instead.
I can buy some RH models when they hit retail in 2014.
Hulksmash wrote: None of those are free models but thanks for taking what I asked out of context as an excuse to put up things that are only enhancing the basic retail items, not the value of the year out pre-order.
Exactly. I haven't looked at these "troop box upgrades" as anything beneficial. This was all gak they were planning on doing anyway, and it's just a cop out 'bonus' for them to attempt to enhance value on a surface level.
The Infamous "Fake Stretch Goal"?!?
I still think they'll unveil some 'real' incentives for people to join in and/or increase their pledges, sometime soon, certainly before Thursday or Friday...
I'll admit, I'm about ready to drop for various reasons (and yes, Alph, the impending Wrath of Kings KS is one of the ).
prankster wrote: #42 was unlocked but not added to any pledge level for free. They instead increased the free money in the top two (at that time) pledges in the same post.
The last free miniature, Jinx, was unlocked at $425k on the 25th of June.
Oops, you are correct, so every General and Colonel box got a free 30 resp 60$ merchandise, not a specific 10$ free miniature.
Azazelx wrote: Funny, that the $165 Lieutenant Box that states that it INCLUDES ACCESS TO ALL UNLOCKED FREEBIES and others in between the $745 level don't get access to that particular freebie.
See above, it is a money bonus 3-6times worth as much, not a specific miniature.
Breotan wrote: So, since I'm too busy to do any more mathmatical acrobatics with the various pledge levels, could someone tell me if it would be worth my time to switch from Lieutenant to Captain or Major? Or just stay at Lieutenant and up my pledge amount? Oh, and let's not worry about the EB stuff.
I just used the pledge calculator to figure a captain box (365). Change it to lieutenant (165) and the price jumps to $385. Which accounts for the $20 extra models you get as a captain. So other than the free extra models no there is no real difference
So basically it's the difference between free shipping and paying for shipping. Not a bad move queaff?
Warmaster Primus wrote: I just looked through the guidelilnes and I didn't see any exceptions.
Notice how they keep on using the phrase "Hardware and Product Design projects"? Miniatures are neither part of the "Hardware" nor the "Product Design" project categories.
Pretty sure product design applies to just about every category where you're actually making stuff. I could be wrong, but then again I'm married to a product designer and have had several friends launch kickstarters.
The CONNOISSEUR BOX is about to LAUNCH
Update #49 · Jul 3, 2013 · comment
So, what do you get in the Connoisseur pledge and how much is it worth?
• All 38 Heroines in high quality casts made from hand-poured resin, each with a numbered certificate of authenticity → Kickstarter cost: $640 (Estimated price if they were sold at retail and not numbered): $901)
• A very special 54mm scale edition of the Necro-Priestess Nepharya in a high quality cast made from hand-poured resin with a numbered certificate of authenticity → Kickstarter cost: $40 (Estimated price if they were sold at retail and not numbered: $60)
• A signed and numbered full-colour, printed version of the Toughest Girls of the Galaxy digital artbook. As its digital counterpart, it will be a lavishly designed coffee table book with all the TGG concept art, many unreleased sketches, stories and background, … → Kickstarter cost: $40 (Estimated price if they were sold at retail and unsigned: $45)
• A 5 hour webinar with the Raging Heroes team (in english and in 2 parts) in which you'll discover how we conceive, develop, and sculpt Raging Heroes miniatures → Kickstarter cost: $120
So, this means a total Kickstarter value of $840, with an estimated would be retail value of $1126.
But we are discounting it further, and so this pledge or add-on (see the difference explained here) will be available in Limited Quantities for $695.
But you'll have to be fast. This pledge level (also available as an add-on) add-on opens up in about 10 minutes: see the countdown here.
Note 1: We know that some of you want to get the printed version of the TGG Artbook, so we've been working on that and we're offering it as a very special limited privilege in the Connoisseur Box. We won't be able to offer additional copies within the Kickstarter. However, the book will be available in our webshop at some point in the future.
Note 2: The sculpting and art direction webinar. The webinar offered in the Connoisseur Box will allow you to discover what process we use to create our art and miniatures at Raging Heroes. It is a combination of the two webinars we've offered as separate pledges (3D Sculpt Webinar and Art Direction Webinar), and so you get even more value here because they were supposed to be 2 Webinars at $120 each, that we've grouped in a single event. This also means that if you've pledged for the 3D Sculpt or the Art Direction Webinar, you'll instantly be upgraded to this 5-hour Webinar, and gain a 50% discount in the process.
Note 3: Will these 38 Heroines be available in hand-poured resin outside the Connoisseur Pledge or Add-on? No. This is a too costly and time-consuming process, so we cannot offer them outside this Connoisseur Pledge or Add-on.
Kroothawk wrote: But what do actual kickstarter people and production designers know
In this particular case, not much. From the post where they announced the restrictions, you can find in the comments section from Cindy Au, listed as the Kickstarter Head of Community:
"The new guideline prohibiting renderings applies only to projects categorized as Product Design or Hardware. Other categories, including Games, are not affected."
Maybe, either way they've had 17 people move to that pledge level, one of them dropping down from "EMINENCE" to do so, along with the associated EB hopping as they open up.
So not the same rush as for the other limited pledges, but certainly something that's attractive to people.
One can argue about success of a KS or how it is run, but ultimately, the total is going up. They are doing things that would seem unorthodox, but people seem to want these specialty items and huge pledge levels.
Ok, so far, I owe a beer to both pretre and TalonZhan.
You are correct. I got them mixed together for some reason but it does show a basic trooper box and a heavy unit. Both don't quite live up to their concept art though.
On a seperate note:
When was the last free model added at this point? Can't remember the funding level the cat mascot was unlocked.
Sculpts of the Troopers for the Kurganova Shock Troops
We know that buying things on concept only can be a delicate proposition. Yes, you already know that we have committed to having sculpts that are very true to the concepts. But we all know that an image is worth a thousand words.
And while we've already shown several Heroines' sculpts, we've read that some of you want to see how the troops concepts translate to sculpts.
So here are 3 sculpts of the Kurganova troopers.
Mathieu Raymond wrote: One can argue about success of a KS or how it is run, but ultimately, the total is going up. They are doing things that would seem unorthodox, but people seem to want these specialty items and huge pledge levels.
Ok, so far, I how a beer to both pretre and TalonZhan.
Last three days: 26k, 11k, now 21k and counting. 120 new backers. We will see what the usual end rush will bring. Still 3 days and 19 hours to go.
Melissia wrote: Is that the resculpt of hte kurganovas that people were talking about? Because that's still rather disappointing.
The picture I posted? No, that's the original render of the non-heavy troopers. To the best of my knowledge those troops have not been subject to revision.
Mathieu Raymond wrote: One can argue about success of a KS or how it is run, but ultimately, the total is going up. They are doing things that would seem unorthodox, but people seem to want these specialty items and huge pledge levels.
Ok, so far, I how a beer to both pretre and TalonZhan.
I don't even remember what the bet was, but now I get free beer!
Alpharius wrote: I'm sure the $500K Milestone will bring...something?
There's also bound to be some additional incentives added in as we had towards the finish line, right?
Given the way the rest of the KS has been run, I certainly would not count on it. Unless you mean incentives like the Connoisseur level and freebies for Colonel and General levels, which are aimed strictly at the high rollers. For the great unwashed masses (and bulk of their pledgers): nothing...
All of the basics for a KS should already be done before we go into the last three days: all original figures unlocked, renders for the bulk of the troop types shown, freebie incentives to increase the numbers of pledgers at the base (or sweet spot) levels of pledges, etc. The last three days is the time to be showing new and unexpected products designed to give people a good reason to increase their pledges.
Given the way the rest of the KS has been run, I certainly would not count on it. Unless you mean incentives like the Connoisseur level and freebies for Colonel and General levels, which are aimed strictly at the high rollers. For the great unwashed masses (and bulk of their pledgers): nothing...
prankster wrote: 3) Communication / Involvement Whilst they have improved since the start of the KS there's still a lack of involvement with backers at times. They tend to pop on, post a few comments here and there on the KS page, put up the updates and then go away for a few hours / over night. This leads to things getting missed / not answered.
I keep seeing similar comments in this thread. How often do you expect them to respond to questions on the KS page? You specifically mention "overnight." Are they expected to attend the KS page in shifts so they have 24hr coverage? They can't take a break from the KS page in order to eat, work their real full-time jobs, or attend to their families? What level of interaction is expected?
LnR wrote:And last but not least, we can officially announce that we are going to resume the unlocking of new Freebies and new Free Upgrades tomorrow...
Incredible! We've sailed past the $500,000 mark and are now fast approaching $520,000 (in the time it took us to finish this update, we're now just a few hundreds shy of that number!) !!!
We cannot thank you enough for your support.
You may not have realised this yet, but in the opening video of the Kickstarter, we talk about unlocking 25 Heroines/characters. The way this Kickstarter is progressing, it looks like we're going to end up with as much as double that...
So, once again, thank you ever so much! This is an unbelievable ride.
So to celebrate this, we wanted to announce several things.
First of all, the much awaited Lulu's are now unlocked, and you can now include them as part of your pledge.
Second, we are also happy to unlock the ill-fated Vera Krabbenhöft, Army Standard of the Iron Empire (see her story further down below her image).
And last but not least, we can officially announce that we are going to resume the unlocking of new Freebies and new Free Upgrades tomorrow...
Through their long wandering in space, the people of the Iron Empire were exposed to so much radiation that most of those who did not die from it became sterile. Thanks to the necromantic findings they made on their new home world, they managed to rebuild a new society. But the question of demographics became a pressing one. The rare individuals able to conceive and bear children quickly ascended the social ladder and the Empress herself launched a program aimed at locating all fertile citizens and make sure they'd produce children together in the hope of creating a new fertile gene pool.
Quite often, the children conceived that way were taken away from their family to be raised inside imperial facilities in order to facilitate the genetic selection. This program was mostly a failure, though, as most of them also turned out sterile, and imperial scientists proved unable to identify a genetic pattern that would produce fertile descendants. Still, the Empire regularly continues to confiscate children that it thinks might hold the remedy for this curse.
When Vera Krabbenhöft entered the army, she already knew that she was one of the very few fertile women of her world. Being pretty sure that she or her children would be taken away to the imperial secret labs, she chose to pass herself as a disfigured undead. Indeed, one of the main reason most of the Iron Empire citizens always wear a respiratory mask, glasses or full helmet is as a form of social respect and politeness between the living and the undead, as the latter have no breath and a sometimes hollow gaze.
Because she never removes her hemet and pretends that her face is too damaged to be seen, she's been given the surname Krabbenhöft, which means 'Crab Head'. But sometimes, fate has a twisted sense of humour. As much as she wants to remain anonymous and hidden from view, a strange series of coincidences have landed her the position of Army Standard, a rallying point on the battlefield upon whom all gazes converge....
LnR wrote:And last but not least, we can officially announce that we are going to resume the unlocking of new Freebies and new Free Upgrades tomorrow...
And they have been saying that for what, a week? Far too late in the KS to pick up large numbers of new pledgers, especially in the US with a big, busy holiday weekend coming up.
prankster wrote: 3) Communication / Involvement Whilst they have improved since the start of the KS there's still a lack of involvement with backers at times. They tend to pop on, post a few comments here and there on the KS page, put up the updates and then go away for a few hours / over night. This leads to things getting missed / not answered.
I keep seeing similar comments in this thread. How often do you expect them to respond to questions on the KS page? You specifically mention "overnight." Are they expected to attend the KS page in shifts so they have 24hr coverage? They can't take a break from the KS page in order to eat, work their real full-time jobs, or attend to their families? What level of interaction is expected?
Maybe overnight was a bit of poor word choice, especially given that they seem to have switched to working to some variation of US time for the KS despite being based in France. The fact is, despite the updates they're putting out they don't give the feeling that they're overly involved in the KS project. They're often off doing other things, like sleeping and so on. Though as this is their company, and as such their job, I don't feel it's too much to expect to have the comments section of the KS open in the background and drop in and out. Rather than appearing shortly before and update is posted and then seemingly vanishing again 30 or so minutes later.
Even outside of the KS they don't seem to be communicating that much, having used their web contact form 24 hours ago I've not yet had any response other than the automated confirmation that my message was received. If they are going about their real full-time jobs then surely someone would be checking this and responding? Especially as it's their generic contact form on the website.
Melissia wrote: Is that the resculpt of hte kurganovas that people were talking about? Because that's still rather disappointing.
The picture I posted? No, that's the original render of the non-heavy troopers. To the best of my knowledge those troops have not been subject to revision.
That sucks. Guess I'll just check this thread again in a few days or so.
I want the Kurganovas to not be lame and stupid :/
redstripe wrote: I keep seeing similar comments in this thread. How often do you expect them to respond to questions on the KS page? You specifically mention "overnight." Are they expected to attend the KS page in shifts so they have 24hr coverage? They can't take a break from the KS page in order to eat, work their real full-time jobs, or attend to their families? What level of interaction is expected?
RH is currently at Update 50
Sandy Peterson's Cthulhu War's just released Update 66.
Myth had 55 by the end.
Kings of War had low 60s by the end IIRC.
How many did K: DM have at the end? I had to pull out in the last few days sadly.
I think the real issues is that of those 50 Updates, 6 or 7 have been spent clarifying 'accidental typos' and 'math errors' or 'other misunderstandings' from earlier updates. It seems to take almost 2 Updates to get a single point across and they still have to clarify it in other posts because they revert to earlier incorrect statements.
And none of the last few updates has been addressing the 80% previewed by the end of the campaign or even hinted of the next actual mini to be displayed. One Shot is great but she was posted on Day 1. I'd like to see some of the troops which is the bulk of what I would like to pledge for.
Mathieu Raymond wrote: One can argue about success of a KS or how it is run, but ultimately, the total is going up. They are doing things that would seem unorthodox, but people seem to want these specialty items and huge pledge levels.
Ok, so far, I how a beer to both pretre and TalonZhan.
I don't even remember what the bet was, but now I get free beer!
I'm in the same boat on remembering. I'm old and confused.
Give mine to Kalishnikov since he got in that sexy pose with the rifle for me.
Maybe he'll finally put on those Spanx and stick his butt out to truly get the feel of the miniature.
So i ahve this great problem , my GF take the Awesome Cyber-shamanic-licantropic Kurganovas for herself, so i dont know what army to chose.
Initially i was all for the JB , but now that Mecha make me change my mind and go for the NecroPrussianEgyptian Empire . Sigh :(
Melissia wrote: Is that the resculpt of hte kurganovas that people were talking about? Because that's still rather disappointing.
The picture I posted? No, that's the original render of the non-heavy troopers. To the best of my knowledge those troops have not been subject to revision.
That sucks. Guess I'll just check this thread again in a few days or so.
I want the Kurganovas to not be lame and stupid :/
I think after the backlash the heavy troopers had, they decided to make all troopers the same proportions with the heroines.
I hope they do, I personally am expecting the artwork in miniatures form as promised, not the renders we have seen....
Indeed, I kind of liked the concept art myself. It had boob-cups yes, which was unfortunate, but it was subtle and more stylistic than fanservice, so I was mostly okay with it. Those renders... were fanservice.
Melissia wrote: Indeed, I kind of liked the concept art myself. It had boob-cups yes, which was unfortunate, but it was subtle and more stylistic than fanservice, so I was mostly okay with it. Those renders... were fanservice.
The renders differ in certain points from the 3d prints and later miniatures. The size of the bust is among those. Besides the trooper renderings were WIP and since they wanted to change the boob-cups on the heavy troopers chances are the same happens to the other Kurganova troopers. If it's bothering you ask them directly. I am sure there are many who are interested in their answer.
LnR wrote:And last but not least, we can officially announce that we are going to resume the unlocking of new Freebies and new Free Upgrades tomorrow...
And they have been saying that for what, a week? Far too late in the KS to pick up large numbers of new pledgers, especially in the US with a big, busy holiday weekend coming up.
keltikhoa wrote: ... Yup... Melissia I enjoy your short stories but I must take your opinion with a grain of salt.
Melissia wrote: I didn't say that ALL of the concept art was bad
Melissia wrote: I was thinking that the Kurvanova might be good from the concept art... but then I saw the Kurganova minis and... wow. that's bad.
Try actually reading more than a single post.
I still dislike most of the concept art for TGitG. And most of the miniatures, as a result. The Kurganovas and some of the heroes were the only ones I particularly liked.
Have they ever made official the adding of additional "freebies?"
I.E. - I want to add that damn baby hippo to my pledge.
Basically - I'd like to pledge for "Private" and choose my favorite Heroine (Mimi, just for the record) and pay $5 or $10 to add the hippo and see if they'll still give me free shipping.
(Since they altered the pledge to say a box of 5 troopers can still get free shipping - I figure what's a girl and a tiny hippo?)
LnR wrote:And last but not least, we can officially announce that we are going to resume the unlocking of new Freebies and new Free Upgrades tomorrow...
And they have been saying that for what, a week? Far too late in the KS to pick up large numbers of new pledgers, especially in the US with a big, busy holiday weekend coming up.
T
No, they said this just once, today.
This is the first time they've said it in an update, but they've been saying that the freebies will be back soon pretty much since the update that switched us to rolling unlocks rather than $value unlocks. So, whilst posting it in the update may appease some people, it's still very much a case of jam tomorrow until we actually see more details.
Automatically Appended Next Post:
Schmapdi wrote: Have they ever made official the adding of additional "freebies?"
Sadly not, it's another of the unanswered questions that we might see an answer to during the next 88 hours.
prankster wrote: This is the first time they've said it in an update, but they've been saying that the freebies will be back soon pretty much since the update that switched us to rolling unlocks rather than $value unlocks. So, whilst posting it in the update may appease some people, it's still very much a case of jam tomorrow until we actually see more details.
Indeed, they told us the freebies would come back after they've unlocked most of the miniatures. And now that we've reached that particular point we get to see the next freebies tomorrow. It's a bit premature to moan today about it not happening tomorrow though.
prankster wrote: This is the first time they've said it in an update, but they've been saying that the freebies will be back soon pretty much since the update that switched us to rolling unlocks rather than $value unlocks. So, whilst posting it in the update may appease some people, it's still very much a case of jam tomorrow until we actually see more details.
Indeed, they told us the freebies would come back after they've unlocked most of the miniatures. And now that we've reached that particular point we get to see the next freebies tomorrow. It's a bit premature to moan today about it not happening tomorrow though.
IIRC they've never actually said that they were waiting until after most of the unlocks, just that they'd be back before the end.
Well, I liked the renders, but then they said they're going to change them, and the scale is still unclear too. Sorry, but I'm not going to buy a product without seeing it.
prankster wrote: This is the first time they've said it in an update, but they've been saying that the freebies will be back soon pretty much since the update that switched us to rolling unlocks rather than $value unlocks. So, whilst posting it in the update may appease some people, it's still very much a case of jam tomorrow until we actually see more details.
Indeed, they told us the freebies would come back after they've unlocked most of the miniatures. And now that we've reached that particular point we get to see the next freebies tomorrow. It's a bit premature to moan today about it not happening tomorrow though.
IIRC they've never actually said that they were waiting until after most of the unlocks, just that they'd be back before the end.
The statements I have found tend to support prankster's point, with the following appearing in the comments;
@Ashley Waggoner Williams (see correction) @Alvin Scott: The Heroines are all unveiled but now all unlocked. Neither are some of the Troops and Support. However, we are now UNLOCKING (not unveiling, as I commented earlier) between 1 and 3 items every day. Freebies and Free Upgrades will resume a bit later on.
We are focusing on the unlocks now. There will be more Stretch Goals for Freebies and Free Upgrades later... Add-ons are also planned... And details of weaponry etc. is forthcoming... You are in our hourly thoughts and we won't let you down!
It seems they had planned to give us more stretch goals and freebies after their focus on unlocks and apparently that time has come tomorrow.
However, we are now UNLOCKING (not unveiling, as I commented earlier) between 1 and 3 items every day. Freebies and Free Upgrades will resume a bit later on.
We are focusing on the unlocks now. There will be more Stretch Goals for Freebies and Free Upgrades later... Add-ons are also planned...
and
Guys, what we actually said was that we are unlocking one to three a day... Stretch goals will come back later...
I feel justified in my original assertion that they were trying to milk the kickstarter at the start of the campaign in the hopes of squeezing more money out of us. I'm glad to see the tactic failed.
I'm also glad to see they finally made the coffee table book an option, as well as the "heroines only" pledge level... too bad they made it prohibitively expensive >< can't afford it this month.
Mathieu Raymond wrote: One can argue about success of a KS or how it is run, but ultimately, the total is going up. They are doing things that would seem unorthodox, but people seem to want these specialty items and huge pledge levels.
Ok, so far, I how a beer to both pretre and TalonZhan.
I don't even remember what the bet was, but now I get free beer!
I'm in the same boat on remembering. I'm old and confused.
Damn, I took the most flak for predicting the same, and I don't get a free beer. Good thing that I don't like beer then
Mathieu Raymond wrote: One can argue about success of a KS or how it is run, but ultimately, the total is going up. They are doing things that would seem unorthodox, but people seem to want these specialty items and huge pledge levels.
Ok, so far, I owe a beer to both pretre and TalonZhan.
I don't even remember what the bet was, but now I get free beer!
I'm in the same boat on remembering. I'm old and confused.
Give mine to Kalishnikov since he got in that sexy pose with the rifle for me.
Maybe he'll finally put on those Spanx and stick his butt out to truly get the feel of the miniature.
He was a damn sexy sport. And he's a pleasure to communicate with to boot(y)!
The beer was because I said we'd probably get the usual upswing *just cuz*, and you both said no.
I'll be honest. I'm getting cold feet. Not sure if I will pull out. I wanted to see renders. If they still have to create them, then there is no way they are hitting September for wave 1, especially for something that has been prepared for for months in advance. And if I don,t like the renders post KS? I guess there is always eBay...
Automatically Appended Next Post: Kroot, I'll pay for whatever drink you like. I'll even fix you up a Warp Core Breach.
LnR wrote:And last but not least, we can officially announce that we are going to resume the unlocking of new Freebies and new Free Upgrades tomorrow...
Just saw that. I fear it'll be too little, too late for many to jump on or stay in.
Just got up and had a quick peek at this Connoisseur level. My stars! That's more than a little out of my reach. Shame - I'd have preferred having these in resin.
LnR wrote:And last but not least, we can officially announce that we are going to resume the unlocking of new Freebies and new Free Upgrades tomorrow...
Just saw that. I fear it'll be too little, too late for many to jump on or stay in.
Difficult to say: for reference, compare what RH is adding at a minimum pledge of $150, compared to what Bombshell Miniatures added at $75;
Spoiler:
FYI, the tee-shirt could be exchanged for another choice of miniature.
That's a decent comparison to make. For $75, Bombshell gave you four figures, a t-shirt and some add-ons clearly of lesser value than the main product line. At $150, RH is giving you close to 30 figures, plus add-ons.
Sythica wrote: That's a decent comparison to make. For $75, Bombshell gave you four figures, a t-shirt and some add-ons clearly of lesser value than the main product line. At $150, RH is giving you close to 30 figures, plus add-ons.
I believe Buzzsaw was showing the difference in freebies. If you want to compare the pledge levels, it's much more difficult.
Apples to apples, please. Or as close as possible.
For $150 (+12) Bombshell gave you 16 metal character models, a t-shirt (swappable for 2 more metal character models) - so 18 metal characters, 9 mascot-sized models, 4 old sculpts in metal, a bunch of weapons and a scenic base.
For $160 (+20) RH gives you 17 metal character models (assuming $10 heroines+KS exclusive), 3 tank commanders (made of ?) and 2 pets
Sythica wrote: That's a decent comparison to make. For $75, Bombshell gave you four figures, a t-shirt and some add-ons clearly of lesser value than the main product line. At $150, RH is giving you close to 30 figures, plus add-ons.
I believe Buzzsaw was showing the difference in freebies. If you want to compare the pledge levels, it's much more difficult.
Apples to apples, please. Or as close as possible.
For $150 (+12) Bombshell gave you 16 metal character models, a t-shirt (swappable for 2 more metal character models) - so 18 metal characters, 9 mascot-sized models, 4 old sculpts in metal, a bunch of weapons and a scenic base.
For $160 (+20) RH gives you 17 metal character models (assuming $10 heroines+KS exclusive), 3 tank commanders (made of ?) and 2 pets
$165 + shipping gets you up to 16 metal character models ($10x15 + exclusive), five (i assume metal) character freebies, a bunch of weapons/accessories and two pets. Until the end of the KS it's quite safe to assume another (possibly) metal character and another pet. Seems to be quite a good deal.
Automatically Appended Next Post: Foxy Dynamite unlocked:
Foxy is the archetypal loner, a one-woman army, a black lioness who'll stalk her prey relentlessly for days on end.
Whether making things go 'kaboom' or surgically taking down a single target, she effortlessly delivers, then silently disappears. No backslapping or congratulations for this one. You're born alone, you die alone, and, as fas as Foxy is concerned, spending the in-between time alone as well is just another perk of the job.
Sythica wrote: That's a decent comparison to make. For $75, Bombshell gave you four figures, a t-shirt and some add-ons clearly of lesser value than the main product line. At $150, RH is giving you close to 30 figures, plus add-ons.
I believe Buzzsaw was showing the difference in freebies. If you want to compare the pledge levels, it's much more difficult.
Apples to apples, please. Or as close as possible.
For $150 (+12) Bombshell gave you 16 metal character models, a t-shirt (swappable for 2 more metal character models) - so 18 metal characters, 9 mascot-sized models, 4 old sculpts in metal, a bunch of weapons and a scenic base.
For $160 (+20) RH gives you 17 metal character models (assuming $10 heroines+KS exclusive), 3 tank commanders (made of ?) and 2 pets
$165 + shipping gets you up to 16 metal character models ($10x15 + exclusive), five (i assume metal) character freebies, a bunch of weapons/accessories and two pets. Until the end of the KS it's quite safe to assume another (possibly) metal character and another pet. Seems to be quite a good deal.
Sorry - it is $165, not $160 - my bad there. So $185-187 for most of us when you count the shipping.
I also miscounted the add-ones somehow - again my bad and thank you for the correction - so 17 metal heroes, though we can't assume that the tank commanders are metal or restic at this stage as no information has been given.
The weapons/accessories aren't something thrown in as extras - they're false stretch goal "updates" to the troops boxes, which you don't get if you go all heroes. (They've already done "extra bits" with a number of their existing kits, and pre-KS was the way they had already started to go due to feedback).
At this stage, I don't think many assumptions are safe. They started talking about more freebies a week ago, but nothing has eventuated. The better time to begin adding them would have been then, to get more fence-sitters onboard earlier, who could then be potentially persuaded to upgrade their pledges.
gohkm wrote: Just got up and had a quick peek at this Connoisseur level. My stars! That's more than a little out of my reach. Shame - I'd have preferred having these in resin.
Ah, well.
"My stars", what a great expression . Think I'm going to have to steal that!
I've been following this more lately, since the pages were more manageable than at the beginning. This is a project at the stage that I don't think I would back, given what I've experienced to date... a company has to be further along and have more models sculpted for me to feel safe enough that they'll deliver a quality product.
The weapons/accessories aren't something thrown in as extras
I stand corrected, the extra options are apparently only available for six (until now?) specific heroines; If you don't include them you won't get the extras.
Azazelx wrote: At this stage, I don't think many assumptions are safe. They started talking about more freebies a week ago, but nothing has eventuated. The better time to begin adding them would have been then, to get more fence-sitters onboard earlier, who could then be potentially persuaded to upgrade their pledges.
Perhaps, but then again there has been a sharp increase in the number of backers over the last two days from around 25 to more than double that. And there's this:
Yes, we do have Freebies, and Free Upgrades, planned before the end... and even some very cool extra stuff, if things go crazy!
Yeah, they said that, but they've said more or less the same thing several times previously as well.
I think I'll be dropping my EB Cpt. to an EB Lt. if one opens up, otherwise just dropping out entirely. Not enough value or renders for me to stay in at the higher level.
I'm also considering lowering my pledge from an EB Captain to Lieutenant, mainly because the Australian dollar has dropped considerably over the past 2 months and is worth only $0.90 per US dollar. while the difference isn't too noticeable at the lower pledge levels, when you get to the higher levels like the $345-$365 Captain (Plus the $23 ROW postage.) the difference ends up being an additional $35-$40 on top of your actual pledge.
I saw freebies, I was happy.
I saw another mascot, I was disappointed. I would like another real mini in the freebies now. The hippo was cool, but I hope they've got something else in the sleeve.
Kroothawk wrote: Just for the record: Yesterdays results: 30,522 $ (third highest, topped only by first two days), 57 new backers.
Wow, there's a bit of a disconnect between the amount it went up by, and the number of new backers (which is rather low). Continuing the trend that those who are in on this KS, are in on it BIG... like with the Wild West Exodus campaign.
@Justin Christensen: Complaining about "free stuff" when the standard is no free stuff would, indeed, be odd. But the standard is not no free stuff, but the opposite.
Most very, very successful Kickstarter campaigns leverage the economies of scale along with the incredible benefits of payment up to a year in advance to sweeten the deal substantially.
Comparing the value added in this campaign to what was added in other large, successful campaigns and it's very difficult not to have this campaign come up lacking.
That last comparison, incidentally, puts paid to the excuse that "Other KS, which may give more away, don't have the quality as RH." Quite simply and bluntly, RH is not on the same level as Kingdom Death. It just isn't. Not talking about aesthetics, just pure quality of sculpt and figures.
Finally, I must correct a misstatement I made earlier: I said that the "word is that 80% of renders will be completed". The correct statement is found in the Risks and Challenges section;
"- We made sure that our sculpting planning was realistic. This means that you'll be able to have access to a first wave of production as early as September. And we have set up and used for the past several months a sculpting workflow that allows us to create many miniatures quickly without compromising their quality. This means that 80% of the sculpting process will be done by the end of the Kickstarter. "
Note, not 80% of renders, but 80% of "the sculpting process". Given that Renders are only a part of the sculpting process, it does not seem unreasonable that all renders would be done.
Renderings are not necessarily part of the sculpting process, much less publicly displayed renderings.
Anyway, i am sure they'll show us more during the next 67 hours.
I'm out. I'm tired of waiting and complaining about renders, and I'm not going to pretend that RH are actually going to do something about it in the last ~60 hours.
As much as I've been a huge cheerleader for this from the jump, even I can see the point of people who are miffed at not seeing more renders/sculpts. I'm not pulling my pledge, and it doesn't really bother me too much, but the 80% statement certainly does create a set of expectations and I think that (unlike certain complaints) it's completely reasonable to expect to have seen more at this point.
Minx wrote: Renderings are not necessarily part of the sculpting process, much less publicly displayed renderings.
Um, what? These are all digital sculpts, and the renders are created from said digital sculpts. Showing off the render takes no more effort than taking a screenshot, honestly. It takes a bit longer if they want to do a beauty shot, but not terribly much longer. No real excuse not to show them if the sculpts actually exist.
Considering that they said that 80% of the sculpting work would be done by KS end, (and that the community is in effect giving them a giant, no interest loan) asking to see them is not outside the realm of reason.
Taarnak wrote: Um, what? These are all digital sculpts, and the renders are created from said digital sculpts. Showing off the render takes no more effort than taking a screenshot, honestly. It takes a bit longer if they want to do a beauty shot, but not terribly much longer. No real excuse not to show them if the sculpts actually exist.
Creating a good rendering from a digital sculpt is akin to taking a good photograph. It takes time, especially if you don't want the customers to rage about a perceived flaw in said rendering that's just there due to a sloppy screenshot and not due to the sculpting itself.
Taarnak 530736 5811908 wrote:Considering that they said that 80% of the sculpting work would be done by KS end, (and that the community is in effect giving them a giant, no interest loan) asking to see them is not outside the realm of reason.
Asking nicely is one thing, pretending or implying that RH somehow hides them from us is outright bizarre and still encountered way too often in this very thread. I too would like to see more renderings and i am sure we'll see more. But i don't think it'll help to constantly nag about it, especially in an accusing manner.
Edit: As we know there have been some RL issues as well as an unforeseen increased KS campaign work load just to (insufficiently) appease a vocal minority. I guess all that has had a negative impact on their lofty goal to finish the sculpting of most miniatures. So, let's see how much they accomplish until Saturday evening and then decide. Although judging from past products there really is no need to worry. Their miniatures have always been very satisfactory both in quality and design.
Taarnak 530736 5811908 wrote:Considering that they said that 80% of the sculpting work would be done by KS end, (and that the community is in effect giving them a giant, no interest loan) asking to see them is not outside the realm of reason.
Asking nicely is one thing, pretending or implying that RH somehow hides them from us is outright bizarre and still encountered way too often in this very thread. I too would like to see more renderings and i am sure we'll see more. But i don't think it'll help to constantly nag about it, especially in an accusing manner.
The problem is though, we're running out of time and there's still lots for RH to actually do in that time.
Paid Unlocks
There's still 8 unlocks, six bikes, a mecha and a heroine, to have everything unlocked. This is still within their 1-3 a day range, but pushes it to the last 24 hours.
Freebie unlocks
One of which was posted earlier and as a minimum we can probably expect at least one more (final freedom fighter)
Renders / prints to reveal.
Even if we take the 80% done to mean the 16 options available at launch, we're still to see quite a few renders. ~13 out of the 16 options should, in theory, be available to show off. Given that 6 of these were troop / command boxes and another 3 were artillery that's still a lot of figures. Whilst we have seen a small number of renders, and prints, not all of those are what could be grouped under the 'first wave' heading based on the original target. This suggests that they're potentially aiming to get 80% of everything done, excluding maybe freebies.
Updates / Communication
This is one thing that they need to be on top of for the last couple of days. I've been critical of their communication for much of the KS, as have others at times. They simply need to step their game up and be involved. Yes, not everything posted is going to be positive or something they can answer, but a presence is needed rather popping in to post an update and maybe answering a couple of questions that they spot before going away again.
As we are nearing the end of the Kickstarter, we'd like to share with you what we've planned for its last remaining days.
First of all, we want you to know that, thanks to you, this Kickstarter has already been far more successful than we anticipated! You made the Toughest Girls of the Galaxy Kickstarter one of the most successful miniature-only Kickstarter ever. (In fact, we haven't had the time to check, but we just might be the second largest one behind the famous Reaper Kickstarter… )
And while you may not have noticed, in the presentation video of the Kickstarter, we talk about a total of around 25 heroines. In the end, we will probably double that! That's because during this Kickstarter, we continued designing new minis like mad to bring you even more choices.
For us, this is what this Kickstarter is about: allowing us to bring you in one fell swoop an ever larger range of quality miniatures to choose from.
With this in mind, the road map below is what we know that we, as a boutique manufacturer, can manage and deliver at the same level of quality you expect from Raging Heroes.
We created the uber-stretch goals described below off previously undisclosed projects based on your comments and things we read from you on various forums, Facebook, etc.
We hope you like them
Note: You'll have noticed that there are still a few minis that have not yet been unlocked yet. This will be happening over the next 24 hours.
$530,000 Freebie: Charlie
$535,000 Free upgrade
$540,000 Freebie: Freedom Fighter Iron Empire
$545,000 Free upgrade
$555,000 Uber-stretchgoal: Jet Girls - unit of 5
$560,000 Free upgrade
$565,000 Freebie: Jailbird Spotter
$570,000 Free upgrade
$580,000 Uber-stretchgoal: Kurganovas Trike
$585,000 Free upgrade
$590,000 Freebie: Cyberzombie
$595,000 Free upgrade
$605,000 Uber-stretchgoal: Jailbird's Trike
$610,000 Free Upgrade
$615,000 Freebie: Kurganova nurse
$620,000 Free Upgrade
$630,000 Uber-stretchgoal: Iron Empire Trike
$635,000 Free Upgrade
$640,000 Freebie: 1 new Lulu
$645,000 Free Upgrade
$665,000 Uber-stretchgoal: 3 Kurganova Werewolves
$670,000 Free Upgrade
$675,000 Freebie: Kurganova Radio Technician
$680,000 Free Upgrade
$700,000 Unit of Cyberzombies
$705,000 Free Upgrade
$710,000 Freebie: Iron Empire Officer
$715,000 Free Upgrade
$720,000 Freebie Hacker Upgrade
PS/ The Free Upgrades are listed as place holders, as we have are still compiling the final list. This means that all Free upgrades will be unlocked before getting to the end of the road map.
PPS/ Also, Freebies will become purchasable as add-ons. More on this in an upcoming update.
The KST Mecha
Here is the last Mecha of this Kickstarter.
For the Kurganovas' Mecha, we decided to stay with a more regular walker style.
We felt that it better matched the technical swiftness of the Kurganovas' machinery. We also wanted to include an art deco/diesel punk vibe which is one of the visual theme we'll continue to explore for this army.
Fiiiiiinally, a mech that actually looks like it might have some function.
Well, $720k is very close to what we were aiming for before we switched to auto-unlocks. Now all we need is for the rush to come through in the last couple of days and we can blast through those.
Kind of amuses me that it was posted just as I was talking about their communication during the KS (see a few posts up)
Taarnak 530736 5811908 wrote:Considering that they said that 80% of the sculpting work would be done by KS end, (and that the community is in effect giving them a giant, no interest loan) asking to see them is not outside the realm of reason.
Asking nicely is one thing, pretending or implying that RH somehow hides them from us is outright bizarre and still encountered way too often in this very thread. I too would like to see more renderings and i am sure we'll see more. But i don't think it'll help to constantly nag about it, especially in an accusing manner.
The problem is though, we're running out of time and there's still lots for RH to actually do in that time.
Paid Unlocks
There's still 8 unlocks, six bikes, a mecha and a heroine, to have everything unlocked. This is still within their 1-3 a day range, but pushes it to the last 24 hours.
Freebie unlocks
One of which was posted earlier and as a minimum we can probably expect at least one more (final freedom fighter)
Renders / prints to reveal.
Even if we take the 80% done to mean the 16 options available at launch, we're still to see quite a few renders. ~13 out of the 16 options should, in theory, be available to show off. Given that 6 of these were troop / command boxes and another 3 were artillery that's still a lot of figures. Whilst we have seen a small number of renders, and prints, not all of those are what could be grouped under the 'first wave' heading based on the original target. This suggests that they're potentially aiming to get 80% of everything done, excluding maybe freebies.
Updates / Communication
This is one thing that they need to be on top of for the last couple of days. I've been critical of their communication for much of the KS, as have others at times. They simply need to step their game up and be involved. Yes, not everything posted is going to be positive or something they can answer, but a presence is needed rather popping in to post an update and maybe answering a couple of questions that they spot before going away again.
To add to this list, one thing that has been promised (or so I am under the impression) but not yet provided is the grouping for shipping: people who only wanted to confine themselves to a single wave of shipping asked to know what was in which wave.
Automatically Appended Next Post:
prankster wrote: Well, $720k is very close to what we were aiming for before we switched to auto-unlocks. Now all we need is for the rush to come through in the last couple of days and we can blast through those.
Kind of amuses me that it was posted just as I was talking about their communication during the KS (see a few posts up)
An amusing co-incidence, but it does not materially alter the fact that they can be remarkably unresponsive in terms of communications.
In this, if nothing else, Mantic is head and shoulders above RH (Mantic has fantastic customer service).
Automatically Appended Next Post: One thing;
First of all, we want you to know that, thanks to you, this Kickstarter has already been far more successful than we anticipated! You made the Toughest Girls of the Galaxy Kickstarter one of the most successful miniature-only Kickstarter ever. (In fact, we haven't had the time to check, but we just might be the second largest one behind the famous Reaper Kickstarter… )
That's... an interesting way of looking at things.
)
Oh yeah!
