Sacredroach wrote: I would love to take advantage of the new sales, but since I was a heavy KS backer for them, I am mostly waiting for old fulfillment and new stuff.
Same here...
Once I get all/almost all of my stuff, I'm going to celebrate by finally buying that spectacular Chimera model.
Get any single miniature, unit or host worth up to £150 FREE if you purchase the all-new Root Beast, who'll be with you in June!
We're so excited to bring you the all-new Andain, Beast of Liathdrúim Root for the Érainn kindred of Darklands that, if you purchase him before midnight (GMT) on Monday the 7th of June 2021, we'll give you any miniature or host worth up to £150 from our webstore totally FREE! After all, you really need to build an army around this guy!
Andain, Beast of Liathdrúim Root
A virtuoso sculpt of Allan Carrasco's from the incredible artwork by Carlos Amaral, and painted beautifully by Paul Whittaker, Andain is a root beast, a huge tree-monster of the Érainn that is even more powerful than the yew and oak beasts already favoured by the hosts of the Uí Néill. For whilst the strength and durability of those ancient beings is retained by the root beasts in their limbs and back, their younger, more flexible rootwood bodies ensure their speed is much greater, ensuring the power of the earth goddess Danu is felt by her enemies much more quickly. No more slow, lumbering beasts of the forests for the Érainn - with Andain, your enemies feel the smack of solid tree fists before they can blink!
How do I choose the free miniature, unit or host?
All you need to do is purchase Andain, and when you go through the basket simply input which free miniature, unit or host you'd like in the "special instructions" box. The only qualifications for the free stuff is that it must be cheaper than or equal in price to Andain! As well as that, you can purchase as many Andains as you'd like and you'll still get a free miniature, unit or host for each one - stock willing, of course!
Note that your free choice is added to your order manually within 24 hours of your order being made; your confirmation e-mail and invoice will not include your choice. Check your My Orders page a day or so after you've made the order, to see your choice applied!
Please don't use Moneyback to purchase the Root Beast
As this is a miniature we have to fund due to Allan's costs, please don't use Moneyback or any voucher codes to purchase him. You'll simply be refunded if you do so and you won't get him!
Get Andain and stuff up to £150 free, before it's too late!
Pre-ordering Andain now is the only way to get a miniature or host up to £150 free: and once this pre-order offer ends - at midnight (GMT) on Monday the 7th of June 2021 - this deal will not be offered again and we will NOT be extending it nor reprising it.
Another stupendous wood/earth elemental from Mierce, hell of a sculpt. I just finished off a tree-thing KOW army ... but unfortunately this guy is so much better than the rest of the sculpts that I'm not sure I can wedge him in
Hmmm...so what I am hearing is: Get a monster or a Host worth up to £150 for £99.99 and get a Christmas present for my Erain and Alban loving buddy for free...
Boss Salvage wrote: Another stupendous wood/earth elemental from Mierce, hell of a sculpt. I just finished off a tree-thing KOW army ... but unfortunately this guy is so much better than the rest of the sculpts that I'm not sure I can wedge him in
That's probably one of of the, if not the, best looking tree monster/Trent I've ever seen.
Though I'm confused as they email says you get upto $150 pounds of something free but it also says you cannot choose anything more expensive then this guy who's listed at 99 pounds?
Theophony wrote: Even with Titans, does KoW use a base size this big? Serious question as an all tree thing army sounds fun.
Admittedly, I'd probably be using this thing to rep an entire unit in KOW, 120mm is too big to balance on a 75mm titan base (and I don't do oversize bases, despite the rules being mostly ok with that)
Monkeysloth wrote: That's probably one of of the, if not the, best looking tree monster/Trent I've ever seen.
Though I'm confused as they email says you get upto $150 pounds of something free but it also says you cannot choose anything more expensive then this guy who's listed at 99 pounds?
i'll guess that hosts may be £99 with an individual value of £150?
Monkeysloth wrote: That's probably one of of the, if not the, best looking tree monster/Trent I've ever seen.
Though I'm confused as they email says you get upto $150 pounds of something free but it also says you cannot choose anything more expensive then this guy who's listed at 99 pounds?
i'll guess that hosts may be £99 with an individual value of £150?
Maybe? It's rather confusing. I ended up just getting the £99 Hydra as the free figure. I was seeing if I could get the Chimera but I had the Hydra on my list of expensive stuff to buy during a deal that I liked as well.
Monkeysloth wrote: That's probably one of of the, if not the, best looking tree monster/Trent I've ever seen.
Though I'm confused as they email says you get upto $150 pounds of something free but it also says you cannot choose anything more expensive then this guy who's listed at 99 pounds?
i'll guess that hosts may be £99 with an individual value of £150?
Maybe? It's rather confusing. I ended up just getting the £99 Hydra as the free figure. I was seeing if I could get the Chimera but I had the Hydra on my list of expensive stuff to buy during a deal that I liked as well.
Rob just confirmed, it’s a single item (be that one figure, a unit, or a host/deal) worth £150. So, there you have it!
He also confirmed that a Druid rider will be made a some point also, and that you can buy them separately, and will attach right to this guy, without needing different bits or anything, which is nice.
Well dang. Oh well. The Hydra is cool too and will probably be easier to assemble as it's a newer model over the Chimera. Some Mierce stuff is a real struggle to get parts to fit.
I'm in, with a handful of hours to spare Picked up a croc dudes unit, since I've got all the big crocs and more coming next summer (??) when the KS ones hit, so seems to fit. Narrowly avoided the mega scorpion, really love that model but still struggling to find a use for it Really pumped to paint the root beast, possibly less so to build it!
Ya. It's hand sculpted so I expect it to be a pain compared to the stuff Bob makes where the connections just fit near perfectly with only minor cleanup.
Though it cannot be worse then the bog beasts. A few of those trees had no indication or indents for where you were suppose to put things.
Turned up to inform Dakka of this offer, and found I was by no means the first. Thanks to Orlando and others who kept Dakka up to date on this offer lest we lose it.
It is a very good deal. Excellent for those who play the Darklands system and want to collect a host; also for those who like their larger monsters.
Basically I read this offer as 'buy a large ent and get an even larger monster free', excluding only the largest dragons.
I will likely bite.
What to add? I already have my Chimera which was the purchase I waited for a 50% sale for. For purposes of feeling good I will not consider a monster worth less than £100, and because maths is not my strong suit today I consider £99.99 to be not less than £100., i.e. acceptable.
I could go for the balrog.
Khan-Wrath. For some reason pronounced "Korn-Roth", cant for a moment think why.
That is £150 but that is a saving for the purpose of getting a saving. I have my balrog from Reaper, its a cheap and fairly crude but the sculpt is good enough.
Narglauth, the guy on the right. Yes the Mierce balrog is much nicer but I don't need it frankly. There are other Mierce balrogs in the same price range and quality, same opinion applies.
Angrislaug. This dragon is nice and within budget at £140, but I am stocked up on dragons. It remains a contender because one cannot have too many dragons. Well one can, but I just bought 20 from Archon so this logic doesnt apply to me.
Beasts of cill chonn bog. Cost £125. A bog beast was already on my to get list, I could not afford more than one and didn't really need more than one, but this is tempting.
Ygandr. Cost £100. An easy option as I wanted a Hydra but had resolves to get one elsewhere, likely the Dark elf one. But if its big and free.....
It will be a hard choice.
Automatically Appended Next Post: I wasnt even aware of this until today. For your information the offer is extended until the 14th, but with notification that there will be no further extensions.
There is also some notation about using discount vouchers with this offer (you cant), but the good news is that you dont get 'cheapest miniature free', so you can buy a third option and choose to pay for that and highlight a more expensive item as your free option.
I looked to see how I had possibly missed it, but truth be told today was the first email notification. My previous one was still the 30% off Summer sale extension. Was this originally only offered on Facebook or elsewhere?
Miniatures whale though I may be, it has always behooved me to handle real life payments fully first, and not doing so is a mistake I have avoided.
A bit of patience and discipline means no debt, fewer problems and eventually more toys. I am going to email Mierce and ask if I can 'pre-order' this deal and pay after next payday, otherwise I will have to be sensible and let this slide.
I could buy, there is money in my account and I could defer the water bill and get away with it but I don't like doing that its a cop out on my responsibilities.
This is the problem with having a chain of discount sales with limited time.
Got my Root Beast and Hydra today. Oddly enough it shipped out at the same time as a lot of the metals I ordered years ago and I got those a week earlier.
The Root Beast looks great and, while it's parts aren't numbered, it looks to be a pretty easy build which is a massive improvement over some of the other Bog creatures.
The Hydra is a lot more parts but everything is labeled so it shouldn't be too hard. If I can get this terrain finished that I've had on my work table for the past week I should be able to get these done this weekend. Just need to decide on a color/pattern for the Hydra as I think being painted up like a snake might be more interesting then your standard colored dragon.
With the other order that also shipped out I'm down to just the metal reivers and Mallox units. I only have one shipping pre-paid for so it might be a long wait unless I add a second once the metal Reivers are done later this year (assuming that's still the schedule) as the Mallox seam to keep getting punted back farther and farther. I might just cancel the Mallox order and use that for something else later on in the year and then get them when they come out.
How does swapping out hosts you've previously selected work? I went heavy on those "multiple metal hosts" during the kickstarters, but some of my jute ghul stuff has been pushed to like 2023... yeah no.
You can just email Rob directly or use the contact form on the website (DM on kickstarter might work too but he checks there less often from what I remember) and just ask. He's generally pretty good and will swap stuff out for the same value. I've not swapped things for that are different prices but I've heard from others Rob is pretty easy to work with on this.
Dispatching in July, get the incredible new Afanc totally FREE if you purchase either the Cocwocor unit or the Cocneidr unit - and all Brythoniaid get a 40% off voucher, too!
This month we expand the Powys realm of the Brythoniaid, home to the mysterious and malign wocorau... and now to Syfaddon, a noisome lake monster known as the afanc that is totally new to Darklands!
You can get a hold of the Afanc totally FREE if you purchase either the Cocwocor Unit (giant man-wocorau armed with flint blades) or the Cocneidr Unit (cockerel monsters able to turn their enemies to stone), as long as you do so before midnight (GMT) on Monday the 12th of July! As well as that, you can...
Celebrate the Brythoniaid with 40% off, too!
Not only can you get your hands on the amazing new Syfaddon, we're giving you 40% off all the items within our Brythoniaid range, which includes some absolutely stunning miniatures!
The voucher will work on all the Brythoniaid items within our webstore, but:
not on the Cocwocor unit or Cocneidr unit, which were Kickstarter items
not on any other range
not on any Starter Bundles or Battle and Starter Hosts, nor Components
not on any other Kickstarter items
The voucher will work on everything else in the Brythoniaid range (including Syfaddon) and, crucially, you'll still earn Moneyback - although tiered discounts are disabled when using a voucher.
How do I use the voucher?
Your voucher code is: POWYS-BRYTHONIAID
To use this voucher simply register on the webstore, mierce-miniatures.com (if you haven't already), copy and paste the voucher code into the Voucher field in your basket when you have selected the items you want, press 'REDEEM', and the webstore will do the rest. You are not limited to one purchase and, indeed, we would ask you to recommend us to your friends with this voucher!
Sculpted by Bob Płociennik from the artwork by Carlos Amaral, and painted superbly by Graham Shirlie, Syfaddon stands on a 100mm base and is around 78mm tall.
Amongst the strangest and stealthiest of creatures, Syfaddon is an afanc, a monstrous denizen of the lakes and ponds of Powys that hides unseen - until likely victims pass by, whereupon the great strength in his long limbs propels him out of the water and upon them, deadly beak clacking and claws slashing. In Darklands, an afanc can Scout in any shallow water terrain and Ambush your enemies, so he's certainly useful to keep your enemies on their toes!
I've always liked the Cocwocor and similar units but they're one of the few things I wish were smaller to fit in for RPGs as I'd love to use them as some 30mm/40mm based de-evolved dragonborn.
yxalitis wrote: Wow, you got him already? I ordered him plus the new beetles.
Ya. Shipped out less then a week after I ordered so well before the actual release date in the email. I'm figuring because they had Hydras already to go and were shipping out some kickstarter metals for me that they did everything at once.
I've dried fit everything and it's so noticeable how well then newer 3d sculpted stuff assembles vs the old stuff. The Hydra, even with peg joins to make assembly easier, was like 30 min or so to get most of the pieces to fit (still have a few left). Tree boy had all the parts fit almost perfectly just from removing sprue material. Only one piece I and to do any work on and that was more around where the vent was on it.
New promo for fans of the Infernii. I suck at posting pics, so here is the text of the email:
Darklands Get the Shieldwall Fiends
Get any single miniature, unit or host worth up to £160 FREE if you purchase the all-new Shieldwall Fiends, who'll be with you in July!
The long-awaited Cowering Fiends of Dis for the Infernii kindred are finally with us, and if you purchase them before midnight (GMT) on Monday the 19th of July 2021, we'll give you any miniature or host worth up to £160 from our webstore totally FREE! Be quick though, because we will NOT be extending this offer!
As well as that, you can...
Celebrate the Infernii with 40% off, too!
Not only can you get your hands on the amazing new Shieldwall Fiends, we're giving you 40% off all the items within our Infernii range, which includes some absolutely stunning miniatures!
The voucher will work on all the Infernii items within our webstore, but:
not on the Shieldwall Fiends, which were Kickstarter items
not on any other range
not on any Starter Bundles or Battle and Starter Hosts, nor Components
not on any other Kickstarter items
The voucher will work on everything else in the Infernii range and, crucially, you'll still earn Moneyback - although tiered discounts are disabled when using a voucher.
How do I use the voucher?
Your voucher code is: FIEND-INFERNII
To use this voucher simply register on the webstore, mierce-miniatures.com (if you haven't already), copy and paste the voucher code into the Voucher field in your basket when you have selected the items you want, press 'REDEEM', and the webstore will do the rest. You are not limited to one purchase and, indeed, we would ask you to recommend us to your friends with this voucher!
The Cowering Fiends of Dis - fearsome humanoid demons of Infernus armed with long-hafted axes and bearing scuta produced for them by the humans of Byzantium - are a perfect addition to any host of the Infernii. Standing on 60mm bases and around 60mm tall to the eye, these guys pack a huge punch and with shields to defend themselves they are also tough to take down! Sculpted by Roberto Chaudon and Tim Prow from the artwork by Stefan Kopinski and Dan Warren, there are five warriors in the unit - the champion Kaio and banner bearer Rubal as well as Acchus, Kholko and Lucus - and there's one extra warrior that is not included in the unit, the alternate of the banner bearer, Ubul.
Remember, to get something up to £160 free, just purchase the Cowering Fiends of Dis, tell us what you want for free and we'll do the rest!
How do I choose the free miniature, unit or host?
All you need to do is purchase the Cowering Fiends of Dis, and when you go through the basket simply input which free miniature, unit or host you'd like in the "special instructions" box. The only qualification for the free stuff is that it must be less than £160 and it must be one purchase on the webstore (and not a load of miniatures adding up to £160)! As well as that, you can purchase as many Cowering Fiends as you'd like and you'll still get a free miniature, unit or host for each one - stock willing, of course!
Note that your free choice is added to your order manually within 24 hours of your order being made; your confirmation e-mail and invoice will not include your choice. Check your My Orders page a day or so after you've made the order, to see your choice applied!
What if I've already purchased the Cowering Fiends of Dis?
If you have already purchased the Cowering Fiends before now as part of a kickstarter project and don't want them again (but do want something free), simply purchase the Cowering Fiends of Dis (5x warriors) RRP Difference item or the Cowering Fiends of Dis (6x warriors) RRP Difference and you can choose a free item. If you have already purchased the Cowering Fiends at full RRP, let us know and we'll just add your choice to your orders free of charge.
Get the Cowering Fiends and stuff up to £160 free, before it's too late!
Pre-ordering the Cowering Fiends now is the only way to get a miniature or host up to £160 free: and once this pre-order offer ends - at midnight (GMT) on Monday the 19th of July 2021 - this deal will not be offered again and we will NOT be extending it nor reprising it.
Aw geez, those are some awkward poses. Especially the dude in far right. You can tell he was never supposed to have a shield. I mean you can also tell it with all others but damn.
Yeah, for me the only one who approaches looking right, is the one in the foreground.
But his shield is wrong. All of them are. They all expose the elbow. These are fairly big shield designs, not little bucklers, and strapped rather than held in the fist, so they're just not practical for protection: too big to be quick, not protective enough to be slow. Your opponent would just hit you on the elbow, all day.
Ian Sturrock wrote: Yeah, for me the only one who approaches looking right, is the one in the foreground.
But his shield is wrong. All of them are. They all expose the elbow. These are fairly big shield designs, not little bucklers, and strapped rather than held in the fist, so they're just not practical for protection: too big to be quick, not protective enough to be slow. Your opponent would just hit you on the elbow, all day.
Well it's 'cause they were originally sculpted hauling around two-handed greataxes, and then they cut off the left arm and had to awkwardly work in a shield into the existing pose. It's really apparent, with how awkward some of the poses are.
A couple of weeks back we had the Last Weekend of a sale, just last weekend we had the Very Last Weekend of the same sale. Today is now the Very Last Day of the same sale. Will tomorrow be the Extremely Last Day of the same sale?
I like Mierce sales, but I will perhaps wait for the next one.
It does gradually alter the perceived value of Mierce minis somewhat. When you know that, several times a year, you'll be able to get just about anything they make at effectively half price... why buy anything at full price?
(I didn't buy anything this time either but mostly because I now have just about every Mierce thing that I like, already.)
Ian Sturrock wrote: It does gradually alter the perceived value of Mierce minis somewhat. When you know that, several times a year, you'll be able to get just about anything they make at effectively half price... why buy anything at full price?
(I didn't buy anything this time either but mostly because I now have just about every Mierce thing that I like, already.)
That’s the Joseph A. Banks (an American clothier for those not from the ‘States) model. They have high base prices, thereby establishing the cache of the brand. But they frequently(!) have deep sales luring “bargain hunters” into the stores. The sales, are intact, so common they are, de facto, reflective of Jos. A Banks’ actual prices. But they simultaneously establish quality (reflected in the high prices) and value (reflected on the sale savings). I believe the odd Persian rug seller here in the US does the same thing. With the added, “we’re going out of business!” FOMO angle…. There’ve been business school case studies on the business model and how it works.
Oh, I get how it works, especially in the short term. Ariely's _Predictably Irrational_ goes into the behavioural economics of similar practices in detail.
But after a few years, it has to have a bit of a reversed effect for experienced buyers, surely? Where we just become "bargain hunters" all the time, because our perception of the cachet and quality has lowered somewhat due to the value?
Plus all these SALE! emails from Mierce can leave me a little desensitized to their messaging, so I'm particularly caught off guard when new stuff appears!
Get the NEW Skyllar FREE with the Gorgórar Host!
With the new Khthones Gorgórar miniatures around the corner, we thought it was about time the Gorgon realm had a new monster - so here's Krataeis, a huge Skyllar of Khthon (just have a look at her in scale to a human!), and you can get her TOTALLY FREE if you purchase the Gorgórar Host before midnight (GMT) on Monday the 27th of September 2021 - just a few days away!
Krataeis (sculpted by Bob Płociennik from the artwork by Christian Byrne) and the other new Khthones miniatures will be in production shortly and we will be producing them throughout September and October.
Get 40% off the Khthones, too!
Not only can you get your hands on the amazing new Krataeis for free, we're also giving you 40% off all the items within our Khthones range, which includes some absolutely stunning miniatures!
The sales work on me, I routinely end up with a new mini or three during their sales. Of course, I will never buy a full price mierce mini anymore, but I probably buy more than I would if they did not pull me in with their very good value sales.
but even if he's not on staff any more he may still be sculpting for them as a freelance again
(or they're just getting round to releasing stuff he sculpted a while back)
Mierce have pissed off a few sculptors over the years, the amazing Roberto Chaudon was quietly removed from their upcoming list, as he and I have exchanged a few emails. If Bob has been similarly dismissed, it wouldn't surprise me.
I have decided to no longer support Mierce, I only have a few outstanding orders, but at 3+ years, I am losing patience.
e.g:
28·06·18
scethæn, crag beetle | schyrós, venerable khelon
First Mierce have apparently had a fair few packages returned recently so are asking all of those with outstanding items to check the address on file is correct
they've emailed everybody and asked people to email to confirm their addresses are correct (or let them know if they're not) so if you've NOT had the email it's certainly worth checking
We're so excited to bring you the all-new Kuurkurak, Barbarous Greatmaw for the Conand realm of Darklands that, if you purchase him before midnight (GMT) on Monday the 18th of October 2021, we'll give you any single miniature, unit or host worth up to £100 from our webstore totally FREE! After all, you really need to build an army around this guy!
We're slowly expanding the Conand realm - an undersea kingdom of sea-devils and water-monsters driven to raid and pillage the lands above the water and reap souls for those beneath the waves - and what better way to expand than with a giant great white shark-man? An amazing sculpt by the masterful Allan Carrasco from the fantastic artwork by Kurt Jakobi, in Darklands terms Kuurkurak is a greatmaw, as evidenced by that huge mouth! Armed with a vicious looking flesh hook and wearing a Conand gutplate and flotsam armour of lashed wood and tough net, Kuurkurak stands on a 120mm base and is around 120mm tall.
All you need to do is purchase Kuurkurak, and when you go through the basket simply input which free miniature, unit or host you'd like in the "special instructions" box that is worth £100 or less (such as our other fantastic shark-man, Tünguuska, below!). As well as that, you can purchase as many Kuurkuraks as you'd like and you'll still get a free miniature, unit or host for each one - stock willing, of course!
OrlandotheTechnicoloured wrote: First Mierce have apparently had a fair few packages returned recently so are asking all of those with outstanding items to check the address on file is correct
they've emailed everybody and asked people to email to confirm their addresses are correct (or let them know if they're not) so if you've NOT had the email it's certainly worth checking
We're so excited to bring you the all-new Kuurkurak, Barbarous Greatmaw for the Conand realm of Darklands that, if you purchase him before midnight (GMT) on Monday the 18th of October 2021, we'll give you any single miniature, unit or host worth up to £100 from our webstore totally FREE! After all, you really need to build an army around this guy!
We're slowly expanding the Conand realm - an undersea kingdom of sea-devils and water-monsters driven to raid and pillage the lands above the water and reap souls for those beneath the waves - and what better way to expand than with a giant great white shark-man? An amazing sculpt by the masterful Allan Carrasco from the fantastic artwork by Kurt Jakobi, in Darklands terms Kuurkurak is a greatmaw, as evidenced by that huge mouth! Armed with a vicious looking flesh hook and wearing a Conand gutplate and flotsam armour of lashed wood and tough net, Kuurkurak stands on a 120mm base and is around 120mm tall.
All you need to do is purchase Kuurkurak, and when you go through the basket simply input which free miniature, unit or host you'd like in the "special instructions" box that is worth £100 or less (such as our other fantastic shark-man, Tünguuska, below!). As well as that, you can purchase as many Kuurkuraks as you'd like and you'll still get a free miniature, unit or host for each one - stock willing, of course!
I've managed to stay away from Mierce for so long, but I have also been toying around with making a Trident Realms army for Kings of War...Hopefully this guy is too big to stand in for anything else.
OrlandotheTechnicoloured wrote: First Mierce have apparently had a fair few packages returned recently so are asking all of those with outstanding items to check the address on file is correct
they've emailed everybody and asked people to email to confirm their addresses are correct (or let them know if they're not) so if you've NOT had the email it's certainly worth checking
OK. That's what that was about. I got it and was confused as I had gotten a package only a few months ago.
i'm guessing it's more of a covid post rather than a wrong addresses issue,
but I guess a fair few folk may have had to move, or chosen to move now remote working is more of a thing, and forgetting to update an address for a long delayed ks package is easy to do so its not a bad move on their part
You know why he is getting packages returned for the wrong addresses?
It is ENTIRELY his fault. Some of us have been waiting YEARS for our Kickstarter orders. I just went and looked and I have an order from July of 2016 he hasn't shipped yet. Common sense would say that it is HIS responsibility to check, when his customer service is otherwise so woeful.
Should I be excited for the upcoming 2nd edition of their Darlands game?
I want to be, but...should I be?
Mierce have been a bit...inflexible regarding many things in the past, and about the game system in particular.
"
I'm all for crunch in a game, but we're talking "granola cereal comprised of rocks, metal and collapsed stars" level of crunch in the 1st edition.
I'm hopeful that a lot of that gets left in an 'advanced rules section' and the game becomes something approaching "Actually Playable" with the 2nd edition ruleset.
I really haven't heard anything about it, other than it's due out soon - like October/November 2021 soon!
Everyone got a book that was massively short of what was promised (loads of rules and tables etc but absolutely zero stories or background or art, so completely worthless for some people).
Thanks for the info. I was just curious if they were pulling a Prodos/Archon and only fulfilling some backers' pledges once the products were soon to be discontinued (obviously the loss of a license isn't the case here but rather a new edition). I'm glad that doesn't seem to be the case here.
First Kickstarter came with the quick start rules, second Kickstarter came with the full rulebook.
The early Kickstarters were generally good in terms of turnaround (i seem to remember getting my rewards within a few months of when they were promised). I received my rules without issue.
That said, darklands rules were silly levels of complex. After a quick skim, it was clear that darklands wasn't something i would ever play. Hopefully the first thing Rob does is slash 3/4 of the rules.
Not really, they were simply trying to make rules for all eventualities. And as a Star Fleet Battles player, I loved that.
HOWEVER…it gave many of my friends headaches, so we mostly used the QuickStart rules and the full rules for shooting and magic. Frankly, I like the care put into the list building, but again, not everyone’s cup of tea.
warboss wrote: Thanks for the info. I was just curious if they were pulling a Prodos/Archon and only fulfilling some backers' pledges once the products were soon to be discontinued (obviously the loss of a license isn't the case here but rather a new edition). I'm glad that doesn't seem to be the case here.
They sort of did this with a separate art book that was a reward around the time they had the rulebook (which I think took about 2 years to get out) that they cancelled after like 5 years -- I know I got credit for it. They did do an art book about 2 years ago that I picked up as I like that kind of stuff.
Ian Sturrock wrote: I wanted a game that would let me do mythic dark ages coolness, like the Slaine comics in game form, but, yeah, 1st edition was not that.
I don't think there's much hope of 2nd being better unless they hired an external game designer to give it a complete rewrite.
That's not really the game Rob wants which is a crunchy WFB style game.
I do. I have a fully painted Norse horde (2 giants,15+ trolls and growing), a band of Ysians and a small Byzantii force.
For the unpainted...I have hundreds in various stages of assembly: Kythones, Fomorii (mostly Conand), Infernii and more of the Norse, Byzantii and Ysians.
Yes, I enjoy this game, but I am looking forward to a streamlined 2nd Edition.
That's not really the game Rob wants which is a crunchy WFB style game.
I mean, sure, but given Kings of War exists, and the Old World game is coming out soon, and loads of people are still playing one or other out-of-print edition of WFB... I'm not sure there's a gap in the market for something that's, if anything, crunchier than all of those.
Especially given societal and gamer trends for wanting faster games that still offer strategic depth.
I disagree, I think it's small, but there's absolutely a market for for something super crunchy. There's a distinct possibility I'm in it.
The issue for me, and it's repeated frequently so clearly I'm not alone, isn't with the crunch of the rules so much as the rather impenetrable nature of the rulebook.
If a second edition does nothing but make it easier to assimilate the rules through layout and format changes and otherwise adds or removes nothing else, it will be a huge step forward.
Azreal13 wrote: I disagree, I think it's small, but there's absolutely a market for for something super crunchy. There's a distinct possibility I'm in it.
The issue for me, and it's repeated frequently so clearly I'm not alone, isn't with the crunch of the rules so much as the rather impenetrable nature of the rulebook.
If a second edition does nothing but make it easier to assimilate the rules through layout and format changes and otherwise adds or removes nothing else, it will be a huge step forward.
I'll second this as its rare I bounce off a rulebook but good editor could have helped a lot with the first book as it didnt flow that well, but if it gets decent reviews my snakefolk might well hit the painting table
No tabletop mass battle game whether fantasy or historical (pre 20th century) is complete with random dysentery rolls. If Oregon Trails could do it i the early 80s on the Apple II then modern game designers should be able to in a pinch!
I'll highlight some of the bigger changes, there are also quite a few retouches, but the bigger changes are below;
1. Change to Damage, you do not have to roll and calculate Damage from Dice values, simply now the dice that you hit with that are not parried are the amount of damages you do. With a caveat, that some weapons now do Vicious and Terrible damage and for every hit dice not parried a D5 or D10 is rolled to add wounds.
2. Calculation of Hit roll and parry roll is now simplified, the starting roll is a 5 for same skill for a 10 point Skill Banding higher or lower you add or deduct 1 to a Min / Max of 3 and 7, you then add modifiers, such as Gigantic...etc
3. Combat Victory calculations have been simplified
4. The use of Blood Tokens has been simplified
5. Continuous effects have been simplified and made more effective in Combat situations and results.
6. Change to how Magic is used in the Game, and more Invocations to choose from. Magic is not all encompassing as it was in 1ed but is still effective with better power output.
7. More use of Effect Templates, such as Hellfire Pits, Chasms, etc..
8. Use of Artefacts.
9. A more structured Mustering Process, simplified with easy to follow Mustering Guides
The essence of the game is the same, combining Strategy, Tactics, and Skirmish battles, many of the Actions are still in 2ed from 1ed with a couple of exceptions, and the more complicated actions that have migrated over have been simplified without losing their appeal.
2ed has been on the testing table since 2018, and is finally coming to fruition hopefully by the end of this year.
If you purchase the incredible new Scethæn, Crag Beetle [120mm base] at full RRP for the Jutes before midnight (GMT) on Monday the 8th of November 2021 we'll give you the all-new Mound Beetle unit (worth £100) totally FREE!
If you purchase the incredible new Scethæn, Crag Beetle [120mm base] at full RRP for the Jutes before midnight (GMT) on Monday the 8th of November 2021 we'll give you the all-new Mound Beetle unit (worth £100) totally FREE!
This, interestingly enough, is exactly my last order fulfilled.
Some 5 years later, the last of my backlog is i production.
Will I continue buying Mierce stuff?
Maybe, but since their first kickstarters, 3D printing and digital artists have exploded
I can go on Etsy and find breathtaking designs printed in Australia for very reasonable prices.
I have their dragon turtle on my bench now.
But for -far less- I can get this:
Ian Sturrock wrote: I wanted a game that would let me do mythic dark ages coolness, like the Slaine comics in game form, but, yeah, 1st edition was not that.
I don't think there's much hope of 2nd being better unless they hired an external game designer to give it a complete rewrite.
That's not really the game Rob wants which is a crunchy WFB style game.
WFB was nothing like Darklands. The Darklands book is formatted like a computer programming textbook that puts even Dystopian Wars 1e to shame in terms of "get an editor on this, stat!". I don't think I've ever had my interest in a game crash as quickly and decisively as I did when I cracked that one open.
Fun fact, the Kings of War application for this model (Ghekkotah Slasher) received an upgrade very, very recently that this coldblooded drummer is absolutely perfect for (Thunderous Drums)
Also big boy here is 50% off until Mon Dec 20: https://mierce-miniatures.com/index.php?act=pro&pre=mrm_dkl_kth_sav_wen_815_000 (bolt thrower) 1x Gukk's Javelins, Sávrakontar Unit 1x Sávrakontar Champion 4x Sávrakontar 1x Rillik's Thrower, Megakontabolos Unit 1x Schyrós, Venerable Khelon with War Tower 7x 30mm round Darklands bases 1x 40mm round Darklands base 1x 120mm round Darklands base
Included the breakdown as I was struggling to spot the difference without (it's bolter or HQ) 1x Myrkranio, Sávrargós on Foot 1x Gukk's Javelins, Sávrakontar Unit 1x Sávrakontar Champion 4x Sávrakontar 1x Schyrós, Venerable Khelon with War Tower 7x 30mm round Darklands bases 1x 120mm round Darklands base
Original Timmy wrote: Dam that is bad ass, i may just get myself 1 for Xmas, but im a bit surprised to see it offered in Metal, as it looks quite a big "mini"
Just the lizards are in metal I assume. I have the Bancbreca tower and only the archers were metal.
What does 2022 have in store?
A great deal, as always, not the least of which is the Darklands: Second Edition Rule Book, which is now at the printers and, all being well, should be with us in a physical sense in early March. It's taken a while to finish, but that's because Rob is a perfectionist (or a bit too verbose for his own good - take your pick).
What does 2022 have in store?
A great deal, as always, not the least of which is the Darklands: Second Edition Rule Book, which is now at the printers and, all being well, should be with us in a physical sense in early March. It's taken a while to finish, but that's because Rob is a perfectionist (or a bit too verbose for his own good - take your pick).
Win up to £500 worth of miniatures with the 2022 Mierce Miniatures Compendium! The 2022 Mierce Miniatures Compendium The 2022 Mierce Miniatures Compendium - A4 perfect bound, ~200 pages
Perfect bound at A4 size and at almost 200 pages, The 2022 Mierce Miniatures Compendium is now available to pre-order (to be dispatched on the 4th of February), but be warned - there's only 100 copies available, so you'd better get hold of your numbered, limited edition copy before they sell out - because they will!
To that end, we're running a fabulous competition for all you Miercenaries where you could win up to £500 worth of miniatures if you purchase the Compendium!
Win up to £500 worth of miniatures! You can get your hands on up to £500 worth of miniatures if you can tell us the full names of the miniatures for the concept art shown on page 5 of the The 2022 Mierce Miniatures Compendium.
There'll be three winners; first place will win £500 Moneyback, second place £200 Moneyback and third place £50 Moneyback, and ALL entrants will recieve £5 Moneyback if they don't win first, second or third place. We're making sure to reward everybody who takes the time to take part! Moneyback is basically store credit: have a look at the Moneyback FAQ on our webstore for details.
Competition Rules You must have purchased The 2022 Mierce Miniatures Compendium to be able to take part
You must send an e-mail to contact@mierce-miniatures.com with the full name of each miniature shown as concept art on page 5, stating your full name and your Mierce Miniatures username
All correct answers will be entered into a prize draw which will take place on Friday 25th of February 2022 at around 6pm, so you have a few weeks to grab your copy of the compendium if you haven't already got it. We'll notify everybody of the winners on our Facebook page. DO NOT post the answers publicly; if you do you will be disqualified and the competition will be run again, slightly differently. Please don't spoil it for everybody!
Downloadable Version There will be a free, downloadable version of the 2022 compendium in March, once the competition has finished, so watch out for that!
Good luck, and get hold of that 2022 Compendium!
Happy Ordering! Remember, you've only got until the 25th of February to take part!
I'm done!
The last of my orders are on the way!
Fantastic!
I wish Mierce all the best of luck, I'll continue checking out their releases, what ever else has happened, a good 1/3 of my mini collection came from them...and their last huge dragon was an absolute masterpiece!
I don't know how you managed this though - I've still got a LOT pending.
I think part of my problem was going metal for infantry.
And for really like the Mallax too...
I have figuratively tons of metal infantry (and cavalry) too...Jutes, Norse, Ysian, etc, etc. BUT...I have seen a steady stream of production, and have picked up the odd massive figure here and there from the new stuff.
Thankfully I am patient. Unfortunately, they still produce stuff faster than I can paint...
THEY ARRIVED,
4 beetles, and My Goodness Bob knows his stuff, they are awesome.
Will post some pics of my recent completed stuff when I can be bothered
We always intended to enable you to view The 2022 Mierce Miniatures Compendium as a downloadable PDF once the competition was over - well, now you can! Simply right-click the link here and click "Save as..." to download where you'd like:
We wouldn't recommend opening it in your browser, as it's such a huge file; and with your PDF reader, we recommend "Two Page View" so that the first and last pages are displayed singly, thus ensuring the book contents are displayed on your screen as they would in physical format.
The 2022 Mierce Miniatures Compendium Perfect bound at A4 size and at a whopping 204 pages, The 2022 Mierce Miniatures Compendium is in stock and available to order, but be warned - there's only around 50 copies left, so you'd better get hold of your numbered, limited edition copy before they sell out - because they will!
Featuring over 1,000 miniatures and other items, The 2022 Mierce Miniatures Compendium shows you pretty much all of the miniatures we've ever produced, minus a few that have been resculpted and plus a few that haven't been released yet. They're all shown at roughly true scale, so you can judge their size, too.
Just about everything appears to be half price till tomorrow. I don't see much evidence that there's many sales, though, even at that price -- theoretically each item is limited to 5 sales but lots of them still have all 5 available. I didn't see anything sold out. :(
There was an email earlier in the month saying they were going to significantly reduce the number of sales they were going to have this year after the 50% off one. We'll see if that ends up being true.
But at least I got my giant turtle now as I think that's the last thing in the KS pipeline I want that I didn't pledge for (which all that's left are just metals of resin that's already out so I should get sometime this year).
Rob is putting all his chips on black.
He's seen the success of other mini companies that linked their minis to a game system: e.g Privateer press, and of course Games Workshop, and wants a piece of the pie.
GW started out at a lower price point, they only started ramping up their prices (while decreasing quality) AFTER they had achieved massive world-wide success.
I see GW shops in shopping malls here in Australia, and PP stuff in a handful of shops that stock minis.
Rob needs to realise he is simply not going to ever approach that level of penetration.
I love Mierce minis, but I simple cannot see the Darklands game system ever succeeding.
Remember this is the company that had to personally chip in to save their last Kickstarter...
I don't see Mierce surviving until they radically alter their business model.
Massively reduce their inventory. Only stock the kits that sell in numbers. Commission only works that appeal to the buyers.
From following this thread peripherally strictly for miniatures pron, it seems like the most devastating thing for existing longtime waiting customers that ironically could happen would be if it took off and he was swamped with orders putting him even further behind for their rewards.
warboss wrote: From following this thread peripherally strictly for miniatures pron, it seems like the most devastating thing for existing longtime waiting customers that ironically could happen would be if it took off and he was swamped with orders putting him even further behind for their rewards.
Very true, his 4? (3??) man shop struggled with every Kickstarter.
Ha failed to carefully budget the hundred of thousands of pounds his first Kickstarters brought in to actually pay for the stuff people ordered.
What's worse is he kept on doing it, using each successive Kickstarter to pay for the previous, whilst simultaneously delaying fulfilment for years.
And as soon as he's got his head above water...another effing Kickstarter...
I got all my orders, I can't complain, but I know there are plenty out there who are still waiting.
warboss wrote: From following this thread peripherally strictly for miniatures pron, it seems like the most devastating thing for existing longtime waiting customers that ironically could happen would be if it took off and he was swamped with orders putting him even further behind for their rewards.
Very true, his 4? (3??) man shop struggled with every Kickstarter.
Ha failed to carefully budget the hundred of thousands of pounds his first Kickstarters brought in to actually pay for the stuff people ordered.
What's worse is he kept on doing it, using each successive Kickstarter to pay for the previous, whilst simultaneously delaying fulfilment for years.
And as soon as he's got his head above water...another effing Kickstarter...
I got all my orders, I can't complain, but I know there are plenty out there who are still waiting.
Frankly it's a travesty his business model lasted for years like that.
I will give him props for sticking with it though and not pulling a Newwave/Cmon. Credit where some credit is due. Admittedly, some backers may pass away from old age by the time they get their rewards but still...
My favorite was the recent irritation he showed when people's addresses were wrong.
Dude. My address has changed MULTIPLE times since I ordered because you are borderline running a scam that takes years to fulfill anything from a kickstarter.
I know this thread has a strong distrust of both Darklands the game and Mierce the kickstarter experience BUT if you're somehow interested, there's a week left in the Darklands: Second Edition kickstarter
Boss Salvage wrote: I know this thread has a strong distrust of both Darklands the game and Mierce the kickstarter experience BUT if you're somehow interested, there's a week left in the Darklands: Second Edition kickstarter
the book almost done (Rob showed pictures the printer shared of the printed pages just prior to book assembly)
but this is KS
I dunno. I wouldn't want to run afoul of the TOS and risk Kickstarter sending you a somewhat strongly worded request for communications with your backers on your project that is late several years. Yikes!
Ian Sturrock wrote: Mierce are doing half price on everything... so much for their Never Ever To Be Repeated half price sale, what was it, four months ago?
Ian Sturrock wrote: so much for their Never Ever To Be Repeated half price sale, what was it, four months ago?
In their defense, this is technically an entirely different sale based around the Darklands tournament they're having ... that happens to have the same effect as The Sale That Will Never Be Repeated from back when But I agree, I think of that sale every time the next one happens
But speaking of cool, big resin minis, I'm once again tempted and once again saved by expensive global shipping. If I lived in the UK tho, man, would I be screwed
The price of metal has skyrocketed over the last year or so and it is showing no sign of stopping, let alone reducing to previous levels. Thus, we've had a hard decision to make - put the prices of our larger metals up, or do away with them entirely.
As the quality of metal miniatures is not as good as resin miniatures, there seems little point to them remaining, so we've decided to remove the metal versions of miniatures that are supplied on larger bases. This will happen for our back catalogue as well as future releases. We stress that none of these miniatures are being discontinued - you can still get them in resin!
What's being removed?
The following metal versions of miniatures are being removed from the webstore:
40mm bases - Some of the larger miniatures on 40mm bases (such as the fir danu) will no longer have metal versions
50mm bases - All miniatures on 50mm bases (monstrous infantry) will no longer have metal versions
60x35mm bases - All miniatures on 60x35mm bases, cavalry or large hounds, will no longer have metal versions
I've got some on order!
If you have some metal miniatures of the above sizes on order, we will be switching them to resin immediately. You don't need to do anything - this will happen automatically, and free of charge - but if you have kickstarter orders awaiting metals it may take a little while to get them organised for you. Please contact us if you would like further information.
Spears and Pointy Things
We will ensure there are metal pointy components for some miniatures, such as cavalry with spears; if you have ordered the metal versions of these, you'll get the metal spears where necessary. We'll be making some judgements on what miniatures will get such things over the next few weeks, so stay tuned.
I guess some may have a pressing desire for metal over resin ? If so i'd get in contact with Rob to see if you can grab any remaining stock
and on a different note i've had an email saying my Darklands Map poster has been sent which is cool as ive been waiting a long time for it and wondered if it was going to be financially viable to have done
I emailed Rob about my units I've been waiting for in metal, which all but 2 were human sized, and he switched everything over to resin and is shipping them out with my Atalantes construct order I placed as part of the 50% off sale.
I've not quite found anything in the 3d printing world that I like ascetically as much as those and with the strong dollar and the discount I decided to bite.
So I should be 100% delivered on all my Mierce Kickstarters in the new two weeks as the Mallox I was waiting on I had ask for a credit for since they keep getting pushed out.
Would I back another KS from them? Maybe if it was another attempt at plastics but I've been happy just buying what I want during pre-order sales they've been doing the past 2 years and I've gotten everything from those within 4-5 weeks.
What has been the usual experience with the small resin infantry?
Are the spears decent, or will I be best served replacing the spearshafts with metal rod?
Looking at the Atalantes Hoplites in particular.
I have the metals of infantry, but had avoided the resin for them.
I've been happy with the larger resin casts.
The resin spears are resin. Not the best. But Mierce does tend to do a lot of metal spears with their resin units and if they don't come with resin spears all it takes is an email to Rob for a special order with metal spears.
Im still waiting for Dromedon Vulgus (3x warriors w cmd), that were from a kickstarter and the order was 08/19/17. I just checked and they are to be released June 2023.
The Mallox unit was similar which is why I asked for a credit. I can buy them when they come up for pre-order in how many years but use those funds from the kickstarter to get stuff that's available now.
Monkeysloth wrote: The resin spears are resin. Not the best. But Mierce does tend to do a lot of metal spears with their resin units and if they don't come with resin spears all it takes is an email to Rob for a special order with metal spears.
Thanks!
Pretty much as expected then.
Have to whittle down my cart to a more tolerable price point lol.
Monkeysloth wrote: I emailed Rob about my units I've been waiting for in metal, which all but 2 were human sized, and he switched everything over to resin and is shipping them out with my Atalantes construct order I placed as part of the 50% off sale.
I've not quite found anything in the 3d printing world that I like ascetically as much as those and with the strong dollar and the discount I decided to bite.
So I should be 100% delivered on all my Mierce Kickstarters in the new two weeks as the Mallox I was waiting on I had ask for a credit for since they keep getting pushed out.
Would I back another KS from them? Maybe if it was another attempt at plastics but I've been happy just buying what I want during pre-order sales they've been doing the past 2 years and I've gotten everything from those within 4-5 weeks.
What did he do on the mallox credit? I'm in the same boat with a number of Jute hosts that are looking at like a 2023/24 date. I got them as part of a host bundle, so am not sure if I'd just get what I paid as moneyback or if I could swap to something else based on the current price.
Monkeysloth wrote: I emailed Rob about my units I've been waiting for in metal, which all but 2 were human sized, and he switched everything over to resin and is shipping them out with my Atalantes construct order I placed as part of the 50% off sale.
I've not quite found anything in the 3d printing world that I like ascetically as much as those and with the strong dollar and the discount I decided to bite.
So I should be 100% delivered on all my Mierce Kickstarters in the new two weeks as the Mallox I was waiting on I had ask for a credit for since they keep getting pushed out.
Would I back another KS from them? Maybe if it was another attempt at plastics but I've been happy just buying what I want during pre-order sales they've been doing the past 2 years and I've gotten everything from those within 4-5 weeks.
What did he do on the mallox credit? I'm in the same boat with a number of Jute hosts that are looking at like a 2023/24 date. I got them as part of a host bundle, so am not sure if I'd just get what I paid as moneyback or if I could swap to something else based on the current price.
Earlier this year, late last year? Cannot remember exactly when. I got 70 Quid from it. not sure what the OG KS price was. Cannot even remember what KSer they were from.
Honestly I could see Bob getting that sculpted in a month. But getting sculpts in was rarely the hold up for the other projects.
I'm 100% caught up on all my backordered/Kickstarter stuff since dumping the metal I originally asked for. I'd love a giant hydra sculpted by Bob and will be happy to pick it up after general release.
Fool me repeatedly on Kickstarter...we've got a problem.
I think that is how that saying goes.
Fool me once, shame on you.
Fool me sixteen times in a row, shame on the 20 or so people who still buy into Mierce's Kickstarters
Eh, I'm in for one. So far I've received 6 pages of product from Mierce, have less than a page of Backorders, and only about 3 orders in process. They are simply bad at forecasting design and manufacture times. Like, really bad at it.
But their minis are top notch, and every couple of months another box of resin arrives in the mail. Outside of Forge World, they are the only company I still buy resins from these days.
I haven't ordered one of their long term kickstarters in a while, and all of mine have finally been caught up with. The last thing I bought pre-release was the regiment of bears which turned up rather promptly. I'm willing to take a shot on the short order stuff but not necessarily on the stuff not expected to be released for over a year or so.
Isn't this good news traditionally for Mierce in stock purchasers? Won't you be able to buy it at half price before many kickstarter backers get their pledges in a year?
So why are there repeated posts here over the years of people seeing (and others getting via sales) previously crowdfunded products that backers are still waiting to receive?
People who bought in late for something will be fulfilled in the same 'wave' as KS backers, so the amount of waiting you've done can vary a lot (although a wave can take a couple of months to post out),
the only exception i can think of is the different time frame that could come with material with some metals running far behind their resin counterparts , i am waiting on a few units i'd have had by now if i hadn't opted for metal because of the lower price
(or if you've got a bunch of KS stuff you're waiting for and only a single paid shipping wave left where you'd have to wait until it was all available, but Rob would always let you postage to ship what was ready now in that case)
i bought a lot from them and have never noticed the sales being cheaper than the prices i paid on KS (I could have missed the odd item but Rob has been fairly careful about that..... the KS prices were really good, especially the early ones)
Been a bit for this thread but there is something I saw today that's been out for a bit, I think, but some here might be intrested in and that's "The Art of Danny Cruz" book from Mierce. Looks like it's all printed and ready to ship.
Don't really need a 120mm tall undead shark personally but there's some bundles with him discounted in it.
I haven't really followed anything else going on with Mierce this fall but I believe the Hydra shipped out to most people last month so it should, hopefully, go up for general sale early next year. Bob did a great job on it.
My hydra just showed up yesterday (and a BUNCH of older KS miniatures). That hydra is a massive, well detailed beast. Pretty happy with it.
Also, the metals (a bunch of the Romans showed up) are different from before. These have a more polished feel to them (not sure if a different caster or now in house).
Not 100% sold on Bruus yet. I will probably end up ordering one, just to maintain completion of the Jutes forces.
Boss Salvage wrote: Love me a hydra, appreciate the built shot of it - tall as they should be!
Bruus is fun, even if the preposterously huge human lantern irks me
The lantern is out of place on a GIANT, UNDEAD, BI-PEDAL SHARK MONSTER....just saying.
Seriously though, I get how it throws off a timeline for a fantasy game, but it looks like it is held up by a rope (won't talk about fire safety there), so an easy fix to cut and change it out for something/someone else hanging from the rope.
Theophony wrote: The lantern is out of place on a GIANT, UNDEAD, BI-PEDAL SHARK MONSTER....just saying.
I mean, I'm rarely the person being precious about aesthetic choices, but it seems like a missed opportunity to give it like a chunk of lighthouse or a beat up silo with a fire in it or a massive glowing crystal skull or something As you say, we do have the power to make these dreams happen.
All the same, I'd pick him up if I lived in the UK and wasn't broke
Theophony wrote: The lantern is out of place on a GIANT, UNDEAD, BI-PEDAL SHARK MONSTER....just saying.
I mean, I'm rarely the person being precious about aesthetic choices, but it seems like a missed opportunity to give it like a chunk of lighthouse or a beat up silo with a fire in it or a massive glowing crystal skull or something As you say, we do have the power to make these dreams happen.
All the same, I'd pick him up if I lived in the UK and wasn't broke
Just having fun with you.
Would also point out: Why does he need a lantern as he is missing at least one eye?
Theophony wrote: The lantern is out of place on a GIANT, UNDEAD, BI-PEDAL SHARK MONSTER....just saying.
I mean, I'm rarely the person being precious about aesthetic choices, but it seems like a missed opportunity to give it like a chunk of lighthouse or a beat up silo with a fire in it or a massive glowing crystal skull or something As you say, we do have the power to make these dreams happen.
All the same, I'd pick him up if I lived in the UK and wasn't broke
Just having fun with you.
Would also point out: Why does he need a lantern as he is missing at least one eye?
Lanterns feature on a bunch of Jute models, the big ghosties, and I think also some of the spell casters and giants, pretty sure they aren't there to compensate for a lack of carrots
The lanterns craze actually destroys some of the other Jute models. There are some awesome armoured skeletons in there, but every single one of them has a lantern. One or two lanterns per unit of 10 would be awesome and look great painted. 10 lanterns for 10 skellies on the other hand..
Illumini wrote: The lanterns craze actually destroys some of the other Jute models. There are some awesome armoured skeletons in there, but every single one of them has a lantern. One or two lanterns per unit of 10 would be awesome and look great painted. 10 lanterns for 10 skellies on the other hand..
I think, from memory, in the Darklands game the lanterns are a ranged weapon for the Jutes, like a magic soul attack of some kind.
But it may not suit aesthetically depending on your tastes.
The goal is to produce some new sculpts - <image updated below> - while also pushing what looks like all the current monster sculpts at 40-50% off.
There are some aggressive turnaround times on the new critters, but before rolling your eyes too hard I have experienced some good deadline management on recent sculpts that were already down the pipeline a bit, so stuff like 'March 2023' might actually be a thing. Ish.
Anyway, I backed it for the wtf skittery Stump Beast, and if we somehow hit 50k I might expand that to the wtf Filth-Hulk too because I guess my games of Kings of War could use some caustic milk squirting action
The laser shooting kolossos and zombie dragon should be pretty rad as well, and I look forward to seeing the Gorefiend and apparently enormous yak thing in the resin.
Automatically Appended Next Post: From the first KS update:
Outstanding Miniatures
Speaking of outstanding miniatures, here's a word about those from our previous projects. There's not too many left, but we've no doubt there'll be some concern about pushing the production dates of those back to favour this project; but that should not happen as we are planning on producing most of the new brutal beasts alongside our previous projects' miniatures for the same kindred, in the same manner that we've been adding new miniatures alongside them for the last few years. So, for example, Parawn would be shipped alongside the Saethwr and Helwr, and Fornjötr with the Norse, and so on.
What this means is that the new brutal beasts should not affect the delivery of miniatures from previous projects. In many cases these new brutal beasts are traditional sculpts, which are much easier to produce than digital sculpts, and so have almost no bearing (except for actual manufacture) on the production of previous projects' miniatures.
The existing brutal beasts will be shipped in late February / early March, as we do of course have those sculpts already. We do have to wait for the money from the project to come in before we can produce them, please note, which will be February 19th, although some may well ship before that.
Oh right, update! As noted, this funded sometime this afternoon, so congrats Mierce. Lots of climbing to go to unlock things:
<image updated below>
Speaking of rough economic times, I'm largely doing this to help Mierce out a little. I can 3D print giant monsters with no mold lines in my basement over night, but I would like Mierce to be around a while longer to keep making some of my favorite traditional boutique resin on the market. In general, but also occasionally for personal reasons.
Several things on that list that interest me but they're pretty far down on the list and my budget is gone for this month anyway. Really interested in the hippo-rino and the colossus when they do come out though.
Azreal13 wrote: My first thought when I got the email earlier was
World: Going through most severe squeeze on living standards in decades.
Mierce: "Here's our KS for a bunch of monsters that'll retail for 3 figures!"
But it's funded, so what do I know?
There's a dedicated group of Mierce whales that buy everything that comes out so this is likely them as several of the 800 quid level are gone.
Alpharius wrote: This feels like one of the worst deals Mierce has ever had for a KS campaign.
On top of that, many of the new options feel a bit...uninspired?
The pound has tanked and it costs a lot more for raw materials there then just a year ago compared to the US or EU. I think it's better for people that still have unfulfilled stuff to see them not having a KS that's not crazy bonkers with the current British economy.
And if the same 20 people want to keep buying everything Meirce makes in this KS campaigns who are we to complain?
I'm more then happy to wait for their release month sales which always deliver (for me at least) within a week or two of when they say they'll ship and a pretty good deal if you want most things in the bundle.
You'll notice they swapped the new Jute dragon for the resculpted Brythoniaid dragon, due to popular demand, and to give a stronger 20k push.
Personally, I picked up a big dude in the 40% off big dudes sale that just happened, so dropped my KS pledge to £1 since I doubt we'll get to anything I want. Plus the Creature Caster limited plague angel just dropped
I put in for the dragon...even if we don't make it I can still use several of the new unlocked sculpts.
I've been getting a steady stream of Mierce metal, MDF and resin (barring the recent Royal Post Hack), and my backlog is slowing shrinking on the Mierce side...but steadily growing on the "me actually building and painting" side.
I hope this works well for them and generates extra revenue and gets everything else that is in the backlog moving faster, but I can see this leading to a place I'd rather not go - we get STLs for stuff already purchased instead of the actual metal or resin models...
Alpharius wrote: I hope this works well for them and generates extra revenue and gets everything else that is in the backlog moving faster, but I can see this leading to a place I'd rather not go - we get STLs for stuff already purchased instead of the actual metal or resin models...
Yeah, the fact that the advert looks like an "I O U" is leaving me a bit anxious. With how far 3d printing has progressed, maybe they're going to move towards that instead of resin casting? Or licensing like many patreons?
I'd backed a ton of metal infantry that sit unassembled simply because the parts are so damn small. Gluing horns on my drunes... just no. And I'm owed a ton more, some of which like the ghasts seem unlikely to see the light of day. Depending on what they are offering, it may be time to cash out of my former pledges.
Alpharius wrote: I hope this works well for them and generates extra revenue and gets everything else that is in the backlog moving faster, but I can see this leading to a place I'd rather not go - we get STLs for stuff already purchased instead of the actual metal or resin models...
Yeah, the fact that the advert looks like an "I O U" is leaving me a bit anxious. With how far 3d printing has progressed, maybe they're going to move towards that instead of resin casting? Or licensing like many patreons?
It's just the pateron and MyMiniFactory logos. Nothing to read into as that's what everyone uses.
Alpharius wrote: I hope this works well for them and generates extra revenue and gets everything else that is in the backlog moving faster, but I can see this leading to a place I'd rather not go - we get STLs for stuff already purchased instead of the actual metal or resin models...
Yeah, the fact that the advert looks like an "I O U" is leaving me a bit anxious. With how far 3d printing has progressed, maybe they're going to move towards that instead of resin casting? Or licensing like many patreons?
It's just the pateron and MyMiniFactory logos. Nothing to read into as that's what everyone uses.
Oh, hah! I don't think I ever noticed their logos. Thanks!
Should anyone with a large backlog of pending minis already purchased be worried about Mierce's...health?
With apologies to Europe, is this The Final Cashgrab?
This is actually the normal price for pateron STLs. They're all way to good deals which is causing issues with the industry overall as people compare non-patrons prices to what you can get via subbing and have unrealistic expectations.
As for if you should be worried about Mierce? hard to say but Tabletop World just announced they're going to STLs as well which is a big loss as their thing was always handcrafted brick by brick but now they'll just look like all the other 3d printed stuff out there that's tried to copy them. I think people are just seeing companies pull in way more money via 3d printing then they can with physical releases for their nitch, high end stuff. Which is interesting as 3d printing really is a relatively small amount of people in this hobby vs those that don't have them.
Should anyone with a large backlog of pending minis already purchased be worried about Mierce's...health?
With apologies to Europe, is this The Final Cashgrab?
This is actually the normal price for pateron STLs. They're all way to good deals which is causing issues with the industry overall as people compare non-patrons prices to what you can get via subbing and have unrealistic expectations.
As for if you should be worried about Mierce? hard to say but Tabletop World just announced they're going to STLs as well which is a big loss as their thing was always handcrafted brick by brick but now they'll just look like all the other 3d printed stuff out there that's tried to copy them. I think people are just seeing companies pull in way more money via 3d printing then they can with physical releases for their nitch, high end stuff. Which is interesting as 3d printing really is a relatively small amount of people in this hobby vs those that don't have them.
Actually this makes a ton of sense for Mierce. In the gaming industry as a whole new product drives sales and profits. Sale of old stock is a bonus. I think this is an excellent way to add 2500 quid of sales per month by offering an eventual decade worth of products...realistically they can keep this up for years, and add needed capital into the company. I see no downside for Mierce or for the Miercenaries.
For me, this means I can print the forces in the quantities I really want...silent hordes of undead, screaming hordes of Ysians and slithering hordes of Kythones.
It also means that for a fraction of the cost, I can try out other kindred (Albans for example).
I almost bought Tower Banbreca in the old (..or was it new?) year sale.
...This basically paid for most of my printer, right here. Quality even out of my humble ~$250 RRP printer is just absolutely outstanding, on par with Mierce's (quite excellent!) casts. *1
As for pricing I'm with SacredRoach on this one. Sales on old stuff taper off anyway - but not only that, consider what the actual margins on >$200 in resin cast minis really is, after labor and materials! Every time some small business breaks down their costs on here I shudder at how wafer thin the margins are.
Margins on Patreon? ~92%! You break even on this so, so very much more quickly than folks might think, just going off of sticker price...
Also don't forget how we get a very narrow, focused subset of some faction in a given month. This *drives* sales. I now get to print the pesky, probably horribly-low-margin-anyway infantry and a lovely centrepiece or two - how much more likely am I to fill out the faction with some traditionally purchased minis that I simply can't get digitally yet - or possibly ever - now that I've actively paid for a subscription that suckers me (back) in?
I strongly suspect this model will see them sell *more*, not less, physical product - besides thousands a month in extremely high margin extra revenue.
And yes, I'm currently running the second of three build plates for my tower Banbreca, so maybe it's the enthousiasm speaking - but the more I think about it, the more convinced I become that Mierce's financial position gets far less, not more, precarious*2 for this, if anything.
*1 Anycubic Photon Mono 4K, in case anyone is wondering - and if you wait for a sale like I did, it can be had <$175 with a spot of luck! You'll still need something for wash&cure purposes of course, but still...
*2 I'm not nearly as doom&gloom on them as some, not by far - but let's face it: nigh anyone in this industry is one or two financial setbacks away from complete ruin, it seems...
Bolognesus, I would really love to see your Tower Banbreca when it's finished, or even the pieces. I've yet to get quality models that I felt good about 3D printed, either that I've commissioned to be printed or done myself.
I can't tell if my standards are just too high, or I've had bad luck in sourcing it! Companies like Greebo are literally selling 3D prints as final production products ("Greeblood", they're very cagey about the material and process) but I can't seem to crack the code.
I do think it's likely more forgiving at the large size of Mierce creations, but the large areas of organic or at least smooth / curving surfaces seem like they'd be challenging for many machines unless you're going to lightly sand it afterwards (and maybe you should just always be doing that ).
Anyway, would love to see your results when you have them!
RiTides wrote: Bolognesus, I would really love to see your Tower Banbreca when it's finished, or even the pieces. I've yet to get quality models that I felt good about 3D printed, either that I've commissioned to be printed or done myself.
I can't tell if my standards are just too high, or I've had bad luck in sourcing it! Companies like Greebo are literally selling 3D prints as final production products ("Greeblood", they're very cagey about the material and process) but I can't seem to crack the code.
I do think it's likely more forgiving at the large size of Mierce creations, but the large areas of organic or at least smooth / curving surfaces seem like they'd be challenging for many machines unless you're going to lightly sand it afterwards (and maybe you should just always be doing that ).
Anyway, would love to see your results when you have them!
Spoiler:
Shame I printed in white resin, it looks *really* soft in the pictures - meanwhile in reality, it's crisp as hell.
I'm looking at the Gasts that are currently sort-of at the head of my new painting queue and even just primed black, they're crisp as heck.
Again, just a humble ~$200 printer - but one of the ones with 4K at 5.5" LCD diameter resolution.
I'll get back with pics once I have anything painted - although keep in mind, I'm neither a good, *nor* a fast painter so it'll be a bit, haha.
I printed a few of the regular- sized skeletons last night and was quite satisfied with the quality.
It may not be cast resin quality, of which the Mierce stuff was quite crisp, but for a mediocre painter like me it will absolutely suffice for goofing around with kindreds I wasn't super excited about picking up in the first place.
Still not reach the printed quality of some of the Kingdom Death photoresin stuff though. Of all the commercially printed figures I've gotten those have been the closest in quality to the cast stuff. Some of their early releases were iffy, but the latest batches have been n i c e .
Should anyone with a large backlog of pending minis already purchased be worried about Mierce's...health?
With apologies to Europe, is this The Final Cashgrab?
I do worry about this to be honest...
- They only have a certain amount of sculpts done digitially. They have a finite catalogue to draw from here
- It not only devalues their current range, but makes buying any of their big items (which has always been Mierces selling point) questionable. As has been pointed out, if they release a £175 model digitally, its cheaper to buy the kit and print it at home.
- The cost per unit isn't prohibitively high; I'm confident enough to skip this month and just pick up whatever takes my fancy later down the road.
- They only have a finite amount of sculptors to draw from, and I would imagine a lot of the freelance digital sculptors already work for others or have there own Patreons; why would I work for Mierce if I could do it myself?
- Theres some digital units that could be released through Patreon before backers have been able to get there minis, simply by losing track.
On the flip side however, theres a lot of things Mierce can bring to the table.
- Theres already a game available that people can read reviews of and play
- Its a pretty broad setting, with lots of common tropes that can be transplanted into other games (the Jutes and Atalantes being great first few months I feel). I can see a lot of GMs subscribing
- There is room to expand in a better way then others have; one faction per month, come back to them same time next year, any significant drop off bring in another faction.
- Digital scannings come a long way, and they have a substantial back catalogue they could, in theory, convert.
I'm on the fence.
The bit about selling products without fufilling pre-orders is something I know others have experienced - I still feel miffed about turning up to Salute one year, being excited to see the models in person, only to see the models I backed at Kickstarter and been told 'were delayed' for sale in significant quantities - and then waiting a further three months (I think in the end I arranged to pick them up from Mierce because I was so naffed off). Mierce does have form for things like this, and whilst this might help them address production issues... it might also lead to the return and encouragement of old habits.
I suspect it'll be a Patreon I duck in and out of as the mood takes me, and will be watching this thread carefully.
RiTides wrote: Bolognesus, I would really love to see your Tower Banbreca when it's finished, or even the pieces. I've yet to get quality models that I felt good about 3D printed, either that I've commissioned to be printed or done myself.
I can't tell if my standards are just too high, or I've had bad luck in sourcing it! Companies like Greebo are literally selling 3D prints as final production products ("Greeblood", they're very cagey about the material and process) but I can't seem to crack the code.
I do think it's likely more forgiving at the large size of Mierce creations, but the large areas of organic or at least smooth / curving surfaces seem like they'd be challenging for many machines unless you're going to lightly sand it afterwards (and maybe you should just always be doing that ).
Anyway, would love to see your results when you have them!
Spoiler:
Shame I printed in white resin, it looks *really* soft in the pictures - meanwhile in reality, it's crisp as hell.
I'm looking at the Gasts that are currently sort-of at the head of my new painting queue and even just primed black, they're crisp as heck.
Again, just a humble ~$200 printer - but one of the ones with 4K at 5.5" LCD diameter resolution.
I'll get back with pics once I have anything painted - although keep in mind, I'm neither a good, *nor* a fast painter so it'll be a bit, haha.
Thank you for the pic, Bolognesus!
Also to highlord - I did not know that KD was selling prints, that's really helpful to know . I definitely think we're on the cusp of this becoming super viable... Looking forward to the revolution
Also to highlord - I did not know that KD was selling prints, that's really helpful to know . I definitely think we're on the cusp of this becoming super viable... Looking forward to the revolution
They sell prints they make. Not STLs. Ala privateer press.
I got that - I'm actually super willing to pay for prints, as mine just haven't turned out smooth enough when painted. Again, I know fine sanding would address much of that, but if a company has cracked the code, I'm interested.
Is there anyone selling printing services that others of you might consider sending your Mierce files to to print? Like you mentioned, companies like KD, PP and Greebo are just selling their own stuff... and the services I have used have not stood up to the quality required, anymore than my own results have (and actually worse, so far).
It's been exactly ten years since we ran our first Kickstarter project, fellow Miercenaries, and we've paid homage to the past with a miniatures project in January, Darklands: Brutal Beasts. This time we look to the future with another kickstarter project that unleashes the STL files for our Sávra miniatures - Darklands: Digital Realms - for you to download and print for just £25!
The Darklands: Digital Realms kickstarter project!
The SÁVRARCHON reward from the Darklands: Digital Realms kickstarter project!
The SÁVRARCHON reward on Darklands: Digital Realms is the only reward on the project and is yours for just £25. It gives you an amazing amount of miniatures; if you purchased these normally they'd cost you well over £800 in resin and around £600 in metal!
Lots More to Come!
There's plenty more to come over the next week, so head on over to Darklands: Digital Realms and grab yourself some really cool lizardmen!
Interesting development - and something they've mentioned potentially doing. I imagine this is a 'feeling the waters' deal.
2 things concern me
- Why such a short turn around on these? Like why 5 days? Surely (given that theres stretch goals clearly planned) you'd want to pull it out at least a fortnight. That... worries me.
- Why launch it in the same month as your Patreon. Maybe ones intended to promote the other, being cynical... these cash grabs were the sort of thing Maelstrom did when that was an entity...
I've backed it on the basis that £25 isn't an awful lot of money to lose if things go wrong, and that I probably won't be able to afford a mega lizardman army
EDIT
You might also be wondering what else might be coming in the range, and might try and look on the Mierce Website to find them... unfortunately, there buried under a different name under a different faction. From what I can tell, its essentially the entire faction.
Kickstarter is just a different market with not as much cross oever as you'd expect. Plenty of STL companies run both side by side and some even do kickstarters with things that were in their Paterons.
I agree it's odd so soon into their pateron but i think they're seeing which one is better in the long run or if they should use both.
Gomezaddams wrote: Thing is, if it was just about seeing which was better, why set the 'goal' so high?
Yea, that's a weird choice. With no add-ons and a single pledge tier, they straight up need 200 pledges to fund. Taking a look, the last time a Mierce KS broke 200 was Savage Hordes IV (Sept 2017) and before that Darklands: Savage Hordes III Part Deux (Oct 2016). The Patreon has 323 patrons right now, so maybe the thought was Mierce could double tap the patrons easily and then the rest is gravy. Mostly this has been met with confusion on the Patreon.
Here's Mierce's response on Patreon as to why a KS is running at the same time and if these lizard files will be available to us patrons:
No, they won't be; we have so many STL files to offer, we want to speed it up to eventually synchronise with our physical releases. We have around eighteen months' worth of files if we did it only via patreon! This project offers around three months' worth of files and it's actually a bit cheaper than the patreon, and speeds things up for us.
Yeah it's weird. Don't get me wrong I'm more than happy to slap down 25 quid to get these as well but they should have probably either started them same day, with a combined announcement - or given it a couple months.
I have backed them on Patreon, but do feel a bit put out by the kickstarter. Rob has said to a comment on this that it is to speed up the publishing of the range as stls, as it would take 18 months via patreon alone. Makes me worry that the factions I'm backing to get might be made available via kickstarter instead.
RiTides wrote: Bolognesus, I would really love to see your Tower Banbreca when it's finished, or even the pieces. I've yet to get quality models that I felt good about 3D printed, either that I've commissioned to be printed or done myself.
I can't tell if my standards are just too high, or I've had bad luck in sourcing it! Companies like Greebo are literally selling 3D prints as final production products ("Greeblood", they're very cagey about the material and process) but I can't seem to crack the code.
I do think it's likely more forgiving at the large size of Mierce creations, but the large areas of organic or at least smooth / curving surfaces seem like they'd be challenging for many machines unless you're going to lightly sand it afterwards (and maybe you should just always be doing that ).
Anyway, would love to see your results when you have them!
Spoiler:
Shame I printed in white resin, it looks *really* soft in the pictures - meanwhile in reality, it's crisp as hell.
I'm looking at the Gasts that are currently sort-of at the head of my new painting queue and even just primed black, they're crisp as heck.
Again, just a humble ~$200 printer - but one of the ones with 4K at 5.5" LCD diameter resolution.
I'll get back with pics once I have anything painted - although keep in mind, I'm neither a good, *nor* a fast painter so it'll be a bit, haha.
Thank you for the pic, Bolognesus!
Also to highlord - I did not know that KD was selling prints, that's really helpful to know . I definitely think we're on the cusp of this becoming super viable... Looking forward to the revolution
...OK so not necessarily something I'd photograph and post (speedpaint at best) but since I've taken a bit to sort out that apparently my bargain basement resin wasn't exactly fit for printing very lithe, breakable models, and I really needed to buy something suitable already, all I've gotten completely painted so far is this one (speed)paint scheme tester.
Not a great marketing image but heck, you know what the model's supposed to look like, right? As to quality of home prints... look at the chainmail. how those individual rings come out just fine, and they take single coat/wash treatment. I don't think I lose *any* quality vs. buying cast minis at this point?
Apologies for the pic quality, I'm looking for a decent macro setup, but for now I'm stuck using my phone.
Half Price Spring Sale 50% off until Monday!
Spring has finally sprung, fellow Miercenaries, and to celebrate that we're offering 50% off all of our miniatures until midnight (GMT) on Monday the 27th of March 2023!
Sale Voucher Details Your 50% off UK RRP discount voucher ends on Monday the 27th of March 2023 at midnight (GMT).
The voucher will work on all the miniatures within our webstore, but:
- not on any limited edition miniatures
- not on any components, miscast packs, grab bags or other offers
- not on any Kickstarter items or other pre-orders
Crucially, you'll still earn Moneyback when using a voucher - although tiered discounts are disabled.
How do I use the voucher? Your voucher code is: SPRING-2023
To use this voucher simply register on the webstore, mierce-miniatures.com (if you haven't already), copy and paste the voucher code into the Voucher field in your basket when you have selected the items you want, press 'REDEEM', and the webstore will do the rest. You are not limited to one purchase and, indeed, we would ask you to recommend us to your friends with this voucher!
Please be patient Please bear in mind that promotions like this quickly strip the stock that we hold, so we do ask that you remain patient while we sort your order out. We can never tell, really, which miniatures are popular from one promotion to the next!
Happy Ordering!
Remember, you've only got until Monday to take part, so get your skates on!
So the Kickstarter got cancelled - it just wasn't going to hit the funding goal. I suspect now after the final reveals of the Seraphon, it might be an even harder sell. Anywho, next month on Patreon has been revealed!
This is a lot more like it for me. Big lads, medium lads, infantry lads, and some heroes. Two main complaints though.
- Theres only five bodies in the units. Its just a different set of arms which is going to get.. samey if the arms aren't seperate so you can do a bit of mirroring
- Thera three times, but no standard bearer?
However, there is at least another months worth of Atlantes there (medium lads with bows, ladette with bow, mega big lad)... but on the other hand, some of that is penned for release in June...
Again, this is where Mierce is in a much stronger position then a lot of other 3d printing companies. Lets say come June, rather than running a whole new month of Greek lads*, carry on with the new factions and send some of those straight to MMF. Email to all Aprils backers who have ducked out "Hey we've got new Greek lads for sale, and if you back this month you get 50% off!". Thats some good synergy of your digital sales right there.
The more I think about this as well, the more I think that if they want a big injection of cash... why not run a Kickstarter for the Bane Legions range. Use the funds to purchase a 3d scanner, and then all the Bane Legions can be slung up on MMF without any real impact to the Darklands range.
I'll be backing this month I think. I've been wanting to paint some Greeks for awhile and these will do the job nicely.
Just printed my first couple of jutes from the first month of the patreon. Sprayed grey and dry brushed white so that the details can be seen. A couple of components didn't print perfectly, and some bits are very thin, but the quality of the detail is really good.
I've always wanted this dragon, but have been put off by the price tag (even at 50%) and how much of a pain it would be to build. Mind, printing it on my tiny printer will be a terror too, however I'm thrilled to have the capability to if I ever feel froggy and have any resin stockpiled
Related, I should probably print something from Mierce to see how it works for me ......
@boss salvage the presupported files have printed really well. No failures or issues at all. The big pieces are all hollowed out as well, so they aren't using too much resin at all. That big skeleton tower from month 1 with the wihtax riders only used about £6's worth of resin.
Boss Salvage wrote: I've always wanted this dragon, but have been put off by the price tag (even at 50%) and how much of a pain it would be to build. Mind, printing it on my tiny printer will be a terror too, however I'm thrilled to have the capability to if I ever feel froggy and have any resin stockpiled
Related, I should probably print something from Mierce to see how it works for me ......
Rob has more or less explicitly committed to splitting the wings into parts small enough to run on small resin printers in the Patreon comments. Also the megaturtle from the Khthon-Savrar kickstarter got its body split into additional components, small enough to work with 6" ish screen resin printers (and a good bit smaller even, I figure).
Everything presupported has worked just fine for me so far.
You're going to be a tonne of resin and like ten-plus build plates into printing that dragon, but if its a mini you had your eye on, man, that thing basically earns your resin printer its purchase price, I'd guess (I know it would for mine, if I had any interest in this dragon).
Bolognesus wrote: You're going to be a tonne of resin and like ten-plus build plates into printing that dragon, but if its a mini you had your eye on, man, that thing basically earns your resin printer its purchase price, I'd guess (I know it would for mine, if I had any interest in this dragon).
How does the cost + effort of printing compare versus buying it at half price?
Bolognesus wrote: You're going to be a tonne of resin and like ten-plus build plates into printing that dragon, but if its a mini you had your eye on, man, that thing basically earns your resin printer its purchase price, I'd guess (I know it would for mine, if I had any interest in this dragon).
How does the cost + effort of printing compare versus buying it at half price?
Fair question. To be a little sarky... I, for one, actually enjoy spending time on hobby related activities
On a serious note: if you've never done this before there's a fair bit of learning to do (although it's not nearly as much as you might think from the outside looking in!), but most of that is pretty darn fun (and satisfying).
Once you're over the initial hurdle... You just spend 5-10 minutes every now and then getting some printed parts out of the printer, washing them, setting them to cure and then run the next print.
That's a nice little 5-15 min of hobby time with tangible results once or twice daily.
TBH it mostly *doesn't* take up time I would otherwise have spent productively, be that on work, life, or hobbies. YMMV of course.
Also I do have one of the ready made wash& cure solutions. If you're dicking around with tubs of isopropyl alcohol and dingy UV LED boxes it might not be quite as convenient a workflow.
Printing about a hundred bucks worth of savrar (at half off, at that!) probably took a net 15-20 min of my time, for example. I'd say it compares favorably
Bolognesus wrote: You're going to be a tonne of resin and like ten-plus build plates into printing that dragon, but if its a mini you had your eye on, man, that thing basically earns your resin printer its purchase price, I'd guess (I know it would for mine, if I had any interest in this dragon).
How does the cost + effort of printing compare versus buying it at half price?
Fair question. To be a little sarky... I, for one, actually enjoy spending time on hobby related activities
On a serious note: if you've never done this before there's a fair bit of learning to do (although it's not nearly as much as you might think from the outside looking in!), but most of that is pretty darn fun (and satisfying).
Once you're over the initial hurdle... You just spend 5-10 minutes every now and then getting some printed parts out of the printer, washing them, setting them to cure and then run the next print.
That's a nice little 5-15 min of hobby time with tangible results once or twice daily.
TBH it mostly *doesn't* take up time I would otherwise have spent productively, be that on work, life, or hobbies. YMMV of course.
Also I do have one of the ready made wash& cure solutions. If you're dicking around with tubs of isopropyl alcohol and dingy UV LED boxes it might not be quite as convenient a workflow.
Printing about a hundred bucks worth of savrar (at half off, at that!) probably took a net 15-20 min of my time, for example. I'd say it compares favorably
You should really double that amount of time (total) to take in account the time slicing the files and planning out your print beds depending on the machine, but once that is set up your timeframe is about what I invest in building an army.
Bolognesus wrote: You're going to be a tonne of resin and like ten-plus build plates into printing that dragon, but if its a mini you had your eye on, man, that thing basically earns your resin printer its purchase price, I'd guess (I know it would for mine, if I had any interest in this dragon).
How does the cost + effort of printing compare versus buying it at half price?
Fair question. To be a little sarky... I, for one, actually enjoy spending time on hobby related activities
On a serious note: if you've never done this before there's a fair bit of learning to do (although it's not nearly as much as you might think from the outside looking in!), but most of that is pretty darn fun (and satisfying).
Once you're over the initial hurdle... You just spend 5-10 minutes every now and then getting some printed parts out of the printer, washing them, setting them to cure and then run the next print.
That's a nice little 5-15 min of hobby time with tangible results once or twice daily.
TBH it mostly *doesn't* take up time I would otherwise have spent productively, be that on work, life, or hobbies. YMMV of course.
Also I do have one of the ready made wash& cure solutions. If you're dicking around with tubs of isopropyl alcohol and dingy UV LED boxes it might not be quite as convenient a workflow.
Printing about a hundred bucks worth of savrar (at half off, at that!) probably took a net 15-20 min of my time, for example. I'd say it compares favorably
You should really double that amount of time (total) to take in account the time slicing the files and planning out your print beds depending on the machine, but once that is set up your timeframe is about what I invest in building an army.
...Really? Maybe if I have to do the supports myself but with presupported models, that's no work at all.
Honestly I think it helped when I realised that printer was going to sit idle >80% of the time anyway so now I just set it up real roomy and do a couple extra plates, no need to puzzle and squeeze to minimise no of build plates...
Bolognesus wrote: You're going to be a tonne of resin and like ten-plus build plates into printing that dragon, but if its a mini you had your eye on, man, that thing basically earns your resin printer its purchase price, I'd guess (I know it would for mine, if I had any interest in this dragon).
How does the cost + effort of printing compare versus buying it at half price?
The big files have been hollowed out, so it hasn't been as much resin going into them as you might expect. The big jute tower with the 5 skeleton riders used less than 250g of resin (around £6-7) and the colossus from the atalantes about £5's worth. Including their bases. It's peanuts compared to the sale price. Effort hasn't been much- they are presupported so it's just a case of filling the build plate.
Bolognesus wrote: You're going to be a tonne of resin and like ten-plus build plates into printing that dragon, but if its a mini you had your eye on, man, that thing basically earns your resin printer its purchase price, I'd guess (I know it would for mine, if I had any interest in this dragon).
How does the cost + effort of printing compare versus buying it at half price?
The big files have been hollowed out, so it hasn't been as much resin going into them as you might expect. The big jute tower with the 5 skeleton riders used less than 250g of resin (around £6-7) and the colossus from the atalantes about £5's worth. Including their bases. It's peanuts compared to the sale price. Effort hasn't been much- they are presupported so it's just a case of filling the build plate.
Oh right, price - I hadn't even thought to respond to that! It's *so* much cheaper than buying models outright it's barely even a consideration at/for 28mm TTWG purposes. Good point.
(With a hearty recommendation for the Sunlu ABS-like resin - apparently not quite as good as some of the other ABS likes but so, so attractively cheap and even skellies end up decently break-resistant!)
Can anyone explain to me how the chuff this all works? Start by assuming I'm an idiot who doesn't understand the modern world.
I joined the Patreon from the first month, so I've been getting billed. I have a MyMiniFactory account and there's nothing in it. I'm assuming that the first couple of months of files are gone and I can't get them (the Whit and Atalantes)?
I'm looking at this months collection and it's a download from MyAirBridge. I've downloaded that but how does that link to MyMiniFactory? Do I upload them to my own account?
You should be receiving the pledged for files in your MMF account. The way it works is that during or after the paid for month the creator will send you permissions for the files and they appear in your library under "files shared with me."
Most likely, your MMF account is not linked with your Patreon account which is why it's not automatic. I was having the same problem and I asked one of the creators I was subscribed to about it, and they mysteriously went away and "fixed it" which had a knock on effect of making it the process automatic for every other Patreon. I think they just emailed My Mini Factory customer support on my behalf. So you can ask Mierce or the MMF customer support if you want to be direct. Retrospectively, you own (for personal use) all the files you've pledged for on Patreon, so once they've linked your account, those 3 months will appear in your library.
Honestly this makes a lot of sense for a small company like them.
When Antonocities went under the big issue Jeb had was finding people that could make resin molds correctly as it was a rare skill set and most that could would go elsewhere as the hobby doesn't pay much.
If he had lasted long enough for the 6-8k printers to really get affordable that wouldn't have been an issue anymore.
I've been in a worried place with Mierce since ... forever? Their latest "last chance at 50% off" routine that kept getting extended got me worried once again for their survival. I just wish they'd stop making damn good models because then I could back off. If they go purely 3D file I certainly wouldn't mind.
Henry wrote: I've been in a worried place with Mierce since ... forever? Their latest "last chance at 50% off" routine that kept getting extended got me worried once again for their survival. I just wish they'd stop making damn good models because then I could back off. If they go purely 3D file I certainly wouldn't mind.
The sales seem like a replacement for a real marketing drive. Cut the sales; cut prices across the board. Then get their great sculpts in youtubers hands with unboxings/builds/painting videos. They are #1 in monstrous Infantry unit variety and sadly allot of people have not heard of Mierce.
Henry wrote: I've been in a worried place with Mierce since ... forever? Their latest "last chance at 50% off" routine that kept getting extended got me worried once again for their survival. I just wish they'd stop making damn good models because then I could back off. If they go purely 3D file I certainly wouldn't mind.
The sales seem like a replacement for a real marketing drive. Cut the sales; cut prices across the board. Then get their great sculpts in youtubers hands with unboxings/builds/painting videos. They are #1 in monstrous Infantry unit variety and sadly allot of people have not heard of Mierce.
Its been going on years now, started with 30% off, then 40% and now 50% and every time it will be extended, i imagine most people just wait for these regular sales, as there is always one on for various items, they may have to wait a month or so for the rotation to come back to the items they are interested in, but i imagine most will wait for the savings, especially in this day and age with "cost of living crisis". Mierce might as well slash the prices 40-50% full time, if thats the prices they are actually selling reg minis at, there is no point in having the higher prices imo if virtually no one is buying them
Also has anyone printed off anything they have the actual resin mini of and if so how do the resin casts and 3d prints hold up against each other and could you post a picture please? i understand the printer resolution plays a big part and im guessing most are running 4k Photons or Elegoo printers, i hear people saying no matter how good printers are they are no match for traditional resin casts.
Henry wrote: I've been in a worried place with Mierce since ... forever? Their latest "last chance at 50% off" routine that kept getting extended got me worried once again for their survival. I just wish they'd stop making damn good models because then I could back off. If they go purely 3D file I certainly wouldn't mind.
The sales seem like a replacement for a real marketing drive. Cut the sales; cut prices across the board. Then get their great sculpts in youtubers hands with unboxings/builds/painting videos. They are #1 in monstrous Infantry unit variety and sadly allot of people have not heard of Mierce.
Its been going on years now, started with 30% off, then 40% and now 50% and every time it will be extended, i imagine most people just wait for these regular sales, as there is always one on for various items, they may have to wait a month or so for the rotation to come back to the items they are interested in, but i imagine most will wait for the savings, especially in this day and age with "cost of living crisis". Mierce might as well slash the prices 40-50% full time, if thats the prices they are actually selling reg minis at, there is no point in having the higher prices imo if virtually no one is buying them
Also has anyone printed off anything they have the actual resin mini of and if so how do the resin casts and 3d prints hold up against each other and could you post a picture please? i understand the printer resolution plays a big part and im guessing most are running 4k Photons or Elegoo printers, i hear people saying no matter how good printers are they are no match for traditional resin casts.
I did miss them at Salute this year. I always got something something as impulse buy. Im also always worried about their path. Going full digital is a bit crappy IMO since I only get their stuff done by the likes of Allan Carrasco and others that are top class traditional sculptors sculpting for Mierce. Losing that is losing my interest.
Henry wrote: I've been in a worried place with Mierce since ... forever? Their latest "last chance at 50% off" routine that kept getting extended got me worried once again for their survival. I just wish they'd stop making damn good models because then I could back off. If they go purely 3D file I certainly wouldn't mind.
The sales seem like a replacement for a real marketing drive. Cut the sales; cut prices across the board. Then get their great sculpts in youtubers hands with unboxings/builds/painting videos. They are #1 in monstrous Infantry unit variety and sadly allot of people have not heard of Mierce.
Its been going on years now, started with 30% off, then 40% and now 50% and every time it will be extended, i imagine most people just wait for these regular sales, as there is always one on for various items, they may have to wait a month or so for the rotation to come back to the items they are interested in, but i imagine most will wait for the savings, especially in this day and age with "cost of living crisis". Mierce might as well slash the prices 40-50% full time, if thats the prices they are actually selling reg minis at, there is no point in having the higher prices imo if virtually no one is buying them
Also has anyone printed off anything they have the actual resin mini of and if so how do the resin casts and 3d prints hold up against each other and could you post a picture please? i understand the printer resolution plays a big part and im guessing most are running 4k Photons or Elegoo printers, i hear people saying no matter how good printers are they are no match for traditional resin casts.
[spoiler]
I did miss them at Salute this year. I always got something something as impulse buy. Im also always worried about their path. Going full digital is a bit crappy IMO since I only get their stuff done by the likes of Allan Carrasco and others that are top class traditional sculptors sculpting for Mierce. Losing that is losing my interest.
Yeah their stall was always a highlight to look at and always busy, like you say, they do some of the best minis on the market and its great to see them in person.
I thought Mierce were scanning all their traditional sculpts for the STLs, so hopefully all those sculptors minis should be available in STL format, i guess if Mierce decides to go all digital sculpting and those guys are putty/GS only then, yeah it will suck if they are lost from the sculptor pool Mierce uses, it would also suck for those without a printer if Mierce went full digital with just selling STLs.
Ive sort of lost track with up to date news but. Have Mierce stopped using traditional sculptors completely?
Edit #1 I tried to "spoiler" the OG quote but failed lol Edit #2 Hopefully i figured it out!
Edit #3 Nope, didnt work, i give up on it.
Also has anyone printed off anything they have the actual resin mini of and if so how do the resin casts and 3d prints hold up against each other and could you post a picture please? i understand the printer resolution plays a big part and im guessing most are running 4k Photons or Elegoo printers, i hear people saying no matter how good printers are they are no match for traditional resin casts.
I've printed a fair few bits. I have a few cast models from them as well. I honestly couldn't say that the cast ones are a better quality. The prints are phenomenal. I don't have the same model in cast and print, but I have a thread on the printed stuff that I've painted here.
Also has anyone printed off anything they have the actual resin mini of and if so how do the resin casts and 3d prints hold up against each other and could you post a picture please? i understand the printer resolution plays a big part and im guessing most are running 4k Photons or Elegoo printers, i hear people saying no matter how good printers are they are no match for traditional resin casts.
I've printed a fair few bits. I have a few cast models from them as well. I honestly couldn't say that the cast ones are a better quality. The prints are phenomenal. I don't have the same model in cast and print, but I have a thread on the printed stuff that I've painted here.
2) Also, where's the right place to ask about specific miniatures from specific Kickstarter campaigns?
I'd love to have an update on:
Spoiler:
I think they were part of Savage Hordes III, or Savage Hordes III Part Deux...
And the reply from Sunday July 2:
Rob Lane wrote:They're slated for December of this year mate - watch out for that... and we're confident we'll meet that, too, thanks to a production change which will revolutionise everything we do.
Watch this space!
Cheers
Rob
I'm going to build a mostly Mallax based army for Darklands and somehow, somewhere I'll get a battle in with...someone!
Not sure what the new "production change" is - but I'm all for it if it speeds things up!
thanks to a production change which will revolutionise everything we do
sounds a whole lot like there's going to be a lot more printed (rather than cast) models sold? Which would be nice, I'd really, really prefer digital Mallax - and so would my bank account
That's not the only benefit of producing miniatures in Grey Wulf resin! Here's just a few of the many advantages of this fantastic material:
High Quality: The quality of Grey Wulf is exceptional, as good as cast resin and far superior to metal
Strong: Grey Wulf is very strong and tough despite being light and will survive plenty of knocks, bashes and drops; being plastic, paint will not chip off like it does on metal, either
Flexible: Unlike some print resins Grey Wulf is not brittle, quite the opposite! It's very flexible and will remember its shape
Fewer Components: miniatures in Grey Wulf can be printed with overhangs, so they don't need to be in as many components as cast resin. This means there's far less fiddly assembly and far less gap filling. Some of the smaller miniatures will be produced in one piece, such as the wulfas
No Mould Lines: As there are no moulds when printing with Grey Wulf, there are no mould lines, slips or flash
Costs Less: It costs far less to produce miniatures in Grey Wulf, which means we can pass on those savings to you, our valued customers
Quick to Produce: Compared to making cast resin or metal miniatures, production with Grey Wulf will be much quicker. Previously, once the miniature was sculpted we had to cut into more components; prepare for print; print; clean up; mount for moulding; mould; cut the moulds; and finally cast (bearing in mind that after thirty or so resin casts each mould had to be re-moulded). Now, we simply have to cut the miniature into less components, prepare for print, print and clean up - and then send it off to you! The greatest benefit here is that we can produce new releases far quicker than in the old materials!
Environmentally Friendly: Grey Wulf will use less resin than casting and no rubber for moulding, which means we're using less resources
The only disadvantage of Grey Wulf is that we can't cast traditional miniatures in it... until we get a high quality 3d scanner... ;o)
Some Do's and Don'ts
Before we talk about future Grey Wulf production, we have a couple of do's and don'ts. Please make sure you assemble all Grey Wulf miniatures with superglue - not plastic glue! - and while there's no need to wash your miniatures before priming, if you're in that routine feel free to do so. You can heat up Grey Wulf and bend to shape, but we wouldn't recommend that you treat it like cast resin in that regard - Grey Wulf is a little more resilient than that and may end up becoming brittle.
The Future is Grey Wulf
Grey Wulf being so incredible made it easy for us to decide on producing all future releases in this superb material. That means we won't be producing anything new in cast resin or metal (unless it is a traditional sculpt), and all of our previous digital releases will eventually be made available in Grey Wulf. This will take time, however, so please be patient in that regard!
Cast resin and metal options will be removed
We will of course be lowering the prices of all of our future releases at some point over the next week or so, and removing metal options; once we have produced existing miniatures in Grey Wulf, their prices will change and metal options removed, too, and we'll make sure we send a mailshot out whenever we do so (we'll probably do it on a kindred-by-kindred basis). Traditional - i.e., - hand-sculpted - miniatures will remain in cast resin and metal, although we will be resculpting pretty much everything digitally - or scanning the monsters that are still amazing - at some point over the next few years.
What if I've already bought the future releases?
If you have already purchased any future releases in cast resin or metal, we'll happily refund what you paid for them to Moneyback (store credit) so you can spend that on the new versions. Just send us an e-mail to that effect! If we don't get any instructions from yourself, we'll simply send you the future releases in Grey Wulf resin.
How does this affect the miniatures from this project?
Broadly speaking, anything digitally sculpted will be in Grey Wulf resin; anything that's traditionally sculpted (i.e., by hand) will be in cast resin.
For this project, only the wælwulfas and Cearl are left to produce, so they will be in Grey Wulf resin.
The only real issue is the price of the new digital miniatures, but please bear in mind here that we don't yet know the exact costs of the print resin for larger miniatures. For smaller miniatures there is a huge economy of scale, but for larger ones there is not; so it may well be that the larger digital miniatures may be equal in cost to the cast resin miniatures when printed in Grey Wulf.
Bear in mind, too, that if you've purchased any of the above in the hosts or deals they'll be much cheaper than RRP in Grey Wulf anyway.
This would be the important part, I think:
What if I've already bought the future releases?
If you have already purchased any future releases in cast resin or metal, we'll happily refund what you paid for them to Moneyback (store credit) so you can spend that on the new versions. Just send us an e-mail to that effect! If we don't get any instructions from yourself, we'll simply send you the future releases in Grey Wulf resin.
It looks like if you do not ask for this to happen, you'll lose out on quite a bit (maybe?) as their system will not be automatically giving you credit for this, and you'll be getting "Grey Wulf" going forward either way, even though you *might* have paid more than what the new Grey Wulf pricing will be...maybe?
I think they're underestimating the time it takes to properly clean and prep a supported part... unless they're just going to do the basics with a quick snip and leave the nub cleanup to the customer.
Monkeysloth wrote: I'm sure if you email him Rob will clarify as that might just be they'll still make KS orders in metal or resin to fulfill those orders.
I see this as nothing but a positive for the line as mold making has to be their biggest bottleneck.
And stock holding. It's a big range for a small company to be able to keep a constant stock of, which ties up a lot of capital. I might be wrong, but I am under the impression that the casting isn't done in house. Moving to printing will give them control of production and mean that they don't need to keep anything other than repeat sellers in stock without creating long wait times, and will save them a small fortune.
Monkeysloth wrote: I'm sure if you email him Rob will clarify as that might just be they'll still make KS orders in metal or resin to fulfill those orders.
I see this as nothing but a positive for the line as mold making has to be their biggest bottleneck.
And stock holding. It's a big range for a small company to be able to keep a constant stock of, which ties up a lot of capital. I might be wrong, but I am under the impression that the casting isn't done in house. Moving to printing will give them control of production and mean that they don't need to keep anything other than repeat sellers in stock without creating long wait times, and will save them a small fortune.
They did all their casting in house as far as I know. Metals they use to use a 3rd party but I believe they finally got approval from the local government to set that up at their shop a few years ago.
They did all their casting in house as far as I know. Metals they use to use a 3rd party but I believe they finally got approval from the local government to set that up at their shop a few years ago.
Ah right okay. I must have inferred that in error.
They were loud about logistics when their metal casting was outsourced and had two or three little paragraphs at the bottom of KS updates when they in-housed it as I recall, so that's understandable. Honestly I'd forgotten they'd even brought it in house TBH.
Just had an email from Mierce, 55% off everything, but only if you pay via Paypal.
I just read the small print, they ask that you pay them as friends and family "so that you pay the fees". This voids all of your protection as a buyer. Am I wrong to be a bit worried by this?
Why have Paypal as a payment option, then instruct you to pay using the friends and family option? At best it seems very amateurish, at worse...I don't know.
Undead_Love-Machine wrote: Just had an email from Mierce, 55% off everything, but only if you pay via Paypal.
I just read the small print, they ask that you pay them as friends and family "so that you pay the fees". This voids all of your protection as a buyer. Am I wrong to be a bit worried by this?
Why have Paypal as a payment option, then instruct you to pay using the friends and family option? At best it seems very amateurish, at worse...I don't know.
Definitely seems shady, what next will they start asking for payment in crypto?
I think it's less shady vs Rob wanting the funds now vs waiting months for paypal to release them which is the other difference between the two payment options. They're probably wanting to raise money to switch completely over to 3d printing everything.
If you're not comfortable with it 100% don't buy anything for sure but there's been lots of times over the past 10 years that Mierce could have just walked away with people's money and haven't (and some people here thought they 100% were). Their pateron is doing decent right now and are shifting to a new production process so I see this more as amateurish as was mentioned as they're thinking "of course we'll deliver so why would anyone be concerned?" when in general it's always good to present the buyer with as much confidence as possible when buying something they'll get it.
Monkeysloth wrote: They're probably wanting to raise money to switch completely over to 3d printing everything.
I'd agree with this. I think that all the latest promotions and current Kickstarter are all for raising money to buy more printers. I don't think that there is anything sinister behind it.
Undead_Love-Machine wrote: Just had an email from Mierce, 55% off everything, but only if you pay via Paypal.
I just read the small print, they ask that you pay them as friends and family "so that you pay the fees". This voids all of your protection as a buyer. Am I wrong to be a bit worried by this?
Why have Paypal as a payment option, then instruct you to pay using the friends and family option? At best it seems very amateurish, at worse...I don't know.
Do they ask or require you to pay as "family and friends"? It according to the rules does void your protection as a buyer but I've seen multiple people on bartertown and even here in the swap shop get their money back when they show the proof/email/communication that it was a purchase and not a "gift". That's not by any means a guarantee though and my info is admittedly a couple years old since I haven't traded much since getting out of regular 40k play. Regardless, that's a yellow flag at the bare minimum for a company that is notorious for being years late with their crowdfunding rewards where you also technically have no protection. At least with paypal and other immediate payments, people in the thread here report that they get their product typically in a timely fashion likely because of the looming threat of a timely forced refund if they don't. From a seller perspective, that's an easy way to get your account locked and funds frozen as well if they find out you're repeatedly trying to not give paypal its cut.
Well, paypal does get its cut - just from the buyer, not the seller.
I think Paypal might have just decided not to want to deal with Mierce as a pro customer after the Maelstrom bankruptcy - they can be a bit, ahem, heavy handed and untransparent about these things?
Either way, I've paid for four orders this way; three were shipped just fine and the fourth was a couple days ago, so I'll cut them some slack on not having shipped yet
I would point out that while specific sculpts are indeed sometimes extremely delayed, the 'general purpose' store credit you get often gets spent on other things in the meantime anyway.
...Yeah that's not a perfect excuse by any means but for most of the customer base the stuff that finally got sculpted from KS 7 got paid for with the funds they put in at, like, KS 9 or 10. Mierce usually doesn't close the sale at KS pricing until the model is relatively close to release (in fairness, that *is* for individual models and units; bundles etc. can often disappear a good bit earlier).
It's worked pretty well for the core customer base but with a lot of the digital sculpting being done by more regular contractors now, I think the general suggestion has been that those years-long stragglers will be less of a thing going forward.
As always, we'll see - but as pointed out a couple posts above, folks have been dooming over Mierce for over a decade now and every time so far, it's worked out fine for the actual customers ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Bolognesus wrote: Well, paypal does get its cut - just from the buyer, not the seller.
I think Paypal might have just decided not to want to deal with Mierce as a pro customer after the Maelstrom bankruptcy - they can be a bit, ahem, heavy handed and untransparent about these things?
Either way, I've paid for four orders this way; three were shipped just fine and the fourth was a couple days ago, so I'll cut them some slack on not having shipped yet
I didn't know that and it's a change from the past when I last used it (years ago) so I appreciate the info. I'm glad you've had luck with the orders (no sarcasm intended) but that's entirely at their discretion obviously (at the cost of their remaining creditibility/reputation if they don't deliver) so I hope that it continues.
Bolognesus wrote: Well, paypal does get its cut - just from the buyer, not the seller.
I think Paypal might have just decided not to want to deal with Mierce as a pro customer after the Maelstrom bankruptcy - they can be a bit, ahem, heavy handed and untransparent about these things?
Either way, I've paid for four orders this way; three were shipped just fine and the fourth was a couple days ago, so I'll cut them some slack on not having shipped yet
I didn't know that and it's a change from the past when I last used it (years ago) so I appreciate the info. I'm glad you've had luck with the orders (no sarcasm intended) but that's entirely at their discretion obviously (at the cost of their remaining creditibility/reputation if they don't deliver) so I hope that it continues.
...Yes, but again, that's been the case for a decade now, during which they've been pretty consistently solid, not just for me.
Honestly I suspect almost every small player in this industry is one or two setbacks away from insolvency but the doom&gloom these guys have been getting for ten years solid is wearing a bit thin. Not putting that all on you, just putting it out there.
...Yes, but again, that's been the case for a decade now, during which they've been pretty consistently solid, not just for me.
Honestly I suspect almost every small player in this industry is one or two setbacks away from insolvency but the doom&gloom these guys have been getting for ten years solid is wearing a bit thin. Not putting that all on you, just putting it out there.
Yes, and Newwave was a reliable company that for years fulfilled my orders without issue until the day they stopped doing so for the gaming community and to an extent the same was true with Maelstrom. Admittedly those are first and foremost stores and not (at the time) manufacturers but it's foolish to completely ignore the well known warning signs just because of past stellar performance. You're not completely ignoring it but rather just weighting them differently which is reasonable so no issues from me but it's telling that half the time this thread is updated that it's bad news for the customers. If anything, them surviving and trying to fulfill orders shows good intentions despite the bad luck, health problems, and potentially poor business decisions. Regardless I've said my peace for now until the next seemingly innevitable setback is posted in thread.
There is no reason any company should be asking for friends and family payments. Period. Especially one like Mierce given the whole Maelstrom debacle, and if there's an issue I imagine Paypal would part ways with them for good (it might even be against their terms of service.
Then there's this whole 'Grey Wulf' resin...
Its probably all fine but... normal companies don't continuously be weird.
Grey Wulf is a brand name for 3D-printed by them, and shipped to you.
It's simply cheaper than traditional casting, which is inherently very labor-intensive.
They've been especially clear about that in KS updates, so people don't get surprised by (and possibly react badly to) getting printed instead of cast models shipped to them.
As for being weird, they're not the only ones experimenting with printed, instead of cast, products - but you do want to be fairly loud about it up front exactly to avoid disappointed customers.
I know that Paypal refused to let Mierce use them when the company was first set up, supposedly because of the amount of chargebacks they had to deal with when Maelstrom collapsed IIRC.
It was news to me when I heard that Mierce were finally taking paypal as payment. It's still not one of the options when you go to pay on the Mierce website.
Reading between the lines, maybe they are still banned from Paypal but have found some kind of workaround, and it involves taking Paypal payment via a third party. It might explain the Friends and Family thing.
Anyway, I have no evidence for any of this, just thinking out loud really, feel free to shoot me down.
Grey Wulf is a brand name for 3D-printed by them, and shipped to you.
But... thats not how there explaining it. Its an interesting bit of language. To quote:
"all of our future releases will be produced in a new, flexible, ultra-tough, extremely highly quality print resin we have dubbed ‘Grey Wulf’"
So the problem for me is that there saying all this, and combining it with a load of fluff about how its 'unlike some print resins' which... ugh. Also, one of those claims is that its environmentally friendly - which is just all wrong given the waste by-products of 3d printing.
Its a bit like when 'Warlord resin' came out - which was Siocast... they just wanted to put there own brand and spin on it. That's fine I guess... they highlighted different benefits (being lighter then metal was a good one for historical wargamers!)
They've been especially clear about that in KS updates, so people don't get surprised by (and possibly react badly to) getting printed instead of cast models shipped to them.
Yes but not on the point above. What resin is it there using exactly.
As for being weird, they're not the only ones experimenting with printed, instead of cast, products - but you do want to be fairly loud about it up front exactly to avoid disappointed customers.
Absolutely, but Mierce doesn't have a stellar history or track record, and it needs to be more transparent with things like this, especially given the random Kickstarter, PayPal friends and family... even this start command thing they've got advertised on starter hosts 2 just reads really badly.
Normal companies - even in the whacky world of miniature wargaming - don't tend to have multiple strands of weirdness happening at the same time.
You... realise that resin casting isn't entirely environmentally neutral either, right? the casting gates alone probably waste as much as, or more than, printing supports - and once you have your printing process dialed in well chances are misprints will be much more rare than miscasts.
UV-sensitive resins aren't great, environmentally, to manufacture - but as far as I understand really not that different from regular polyurethane resins used for casting.
As for resilience, it's not hard nowadays to find printing resins that are far tougher and less brittle than anything I've bought in cast resin.
I'm all for a wait and see approach, see how this stuff works out for the first batch of customers that have ordered printed models - some of the bits on the werewulfs, spears but especially the skeleton hanging off of the banner, are quite delicate so if it turns out to be disappointingly brittle we'll hear pretty soon.
As for 'not a stellar history or track record'... you are going back a decade there, at this point. Honestly curious if you have examples of customer issues since the actual Mierce days that haven't been resolved well; I'm honestly not aware of much, if anything beyond some disappointment on timelines (which is balanced out by a fairly flexible array of options on what to order and when, as far as KS models go)...
Yes (first-hand experience), but thats not how its being presented here - the suggestion being it's environmentally friendly which it isn't. It might be better than hand casting from one perspective, but could be substantially worse from another.
As for resilience, it's not hard nowadays to find printing resins that are far tougher and less brittle than anything I've bought in cast resin.
Absolutely, and having had my own resin printers for the last few years I completely agree... but again, this is marketing and language. Saying its a super duper new thing, when its probably a mix of a few known brand resins isn't great, and I'm not sure why there doing it. Its like when Mantic claimed they were using a super plastic resin, and it turned out to be the same stuff Sedition Wars used. I don't understand why wargaming companies can't be - to a degree - straight forward with the materials they use.
As for 'not a stellar history or track record'... you are going back a decade there, at this point. Honestly curious if you have examples of customer issues since the actual Mierce days that haven't been resolved well; I'm honestly not aware of much, if anything beyond some disappointment on timelines (which is balanced out by a fairly flexible array of options on what to order and when, as far as KS models go)...
You are absolutely right and as one of those customers of Maelstrom who never had an issue, it feels a bit..hmm.. to bring it up. But.. Mierce has this habit of doing weird stuff in batches - stuff that companies doing well simply don't do - which is what happened with Maelstrom when it was struggling.
Random Kickstarter, weird resin post, friends and family payments... its not a great look.
Fair enough on much of that. Honestly I'm OK reading through the marketing (...at least they're not AoW. Good Lawd Almighty that Patreon prose is physically painful) but I agree a more sober approach would appeal more.
I will say, however, they made it clear from the get go that the STL provisioning would be monthly patreon/tribes, with a few KS a year (if it worked out OK enough with the first one).
A KS to throw out a couple oddball models they couldn't really pack into one of the monthly battle hosts seems to fit right into that.
As for small businesses being strapped for cash, well, I suspect in this industry that's most of 'em. Looking for some quick(er) liquidity to get printing production set up, and likely improve margins, seems understandable. I agree they likely don't have deep reserves. In fairness that should only encourage buying STL's, of course - at worst you're out a tenner for the month they go belly up
Bolognesus wrote: at worst you're out a tenner for the month they go belly up
I have wondered about it, but i presume our Patreon files in our accounts over on MMF will still be there IF Mierce goes belly up!?
MMF library files will remain available almost regardless, yes (copyright takedown would be one reason not to, but I think we're all pretty confident that's not a realistic risk!).
MMF is a bit of a cowboy operation in how they deal with sellers from what I gather so honestly I'm happier keeping stuff on a cloud location of my own, but that's a very, very paranoid quirk on my part more than anything.
Bolognesus wrote: at worst you're out a tenner for the month they go belly up
I have wondered about it, but i presume our Patreon files in our accounts over on MMF will still be there IF Mierce goes belly up!?
MMF library files will remain available almost regardless, yes (copyright takedown would be one reason not to, but I think we're all pretty confident that's not a realistic risk!).
MMF is a bit of a cowboy operation in how they deal with sellers from what I gather so honestly I'm happier keeping stuff on a cloud location of my own, but that's a very, very paranoid quirk on my part more than anything.
Thanks thats good to know, ive got a couple of KS and Mierces Patreon on there. Im the same i like to have my own copy of files just in case, but im out off storage at mo and iirc it was Mierces 1st Patreon that used up the last of my HD space lol. I dont quite yet have faith in cloud storage, if goes down for good everything is lost, if a HD goes down i can run some recover software to hopefully recover the files.
@ALL has anyone printed that big ass dragon we got, the Brythoniaid Cadwaladr the Blessed, Rhi of Gwynedd, if so how did that get cut down to printable sized parts and how did the print turn out?
I've printed the dragon and am half way through painting it. Print is phenomenal. Genuinely excellent. My printer bed is big enough to have been able to use the large wing files, so only one joint. Had to do a bit of filling in the joints, but nothing difficult.
I'll be posting pictures when it's done, but happy to share a wip if you want to see the print.
JamesY wrote: I've printed the dragon and am half way through painting it. Print is phenomenal. Genuinely excellent. My printer bed is big enough to have been able to use the large wing files, so only one joint. Had to do a bit of filling in the joints, but nothing difficult.
I'll be posting pictures when it's done, but happy to share a wip if you want to see the print.
No integrated bases, and I just looked through my files and I don't think they've given us files for blank bases either? Which suck to print in resin anyway, FDM is a lot better for bases. I assume they have a zillion Templar Forge bases kicking around still (which I really like personally).
They provide STLs for their bases. They're via a direct download from the same site hosting the models before they get to MMF but a different link and aren't on MMF. Every release post I've seen the link.
I think the idea is you really won't even want their bases unless you're interested in Darklands specifically, in which case you're most likely subscribed to either Patreon or Tribes anyway.
...That or it might be an oversight.
kenofyork wrote: Thanks. I made those for years. Maybe not a zillion but a fair number.
Oh! You made the TF bases? Nice work, I use them for most of my one-off 3D prints that don't have any set gaming purpose. Pity that Mierce has left you in the dark as they reorient the business around 3D printing. Which currently involves feuding with Patreon and being disappointed that the Jute Frontier hasn't blown up with us active patrons
I think they're shipping their print-on-demand minis with the good old black HIPS bases, though? They're certainly still all available on the store and I haven't heard a thing about those going out of production.
They're made available in STL for folks doing the printing at home, but I struggle to see how it'd be cheaper to print them on demand rather than buy them in plastic for Mierce proper, so assuming you've lost a customer might be a bit premature?
Just had a delivery of Culcca, Gāst Cyning which is my first 3D print from Mierce.
Looks good and certainly comparable to their resin and it came with the standard plastic base, 60mm in this case (not a 3D print). If i remember right they did a base buy back for credit fairly recently so if that went well with KS backers who've used other styles that could have given them a load (i kept mine as i use them, but i do have a load)
Spoiler:
spoiler for size
so the real differences are going to be down to the sculpts, and while Bob does some really nice work i'm still more drawn to the hand sculpted stuff by Alan Carasco, Valentin Zak etc which are still going to be in resin
Picked up a croc dudes unit, since I've got all the big crocs and more coming next summer (??) when the 
Really pumped to paint the root beast, possibly less so to build it!
I've managed to stay away from Mierce for so long, but I have also been toying around with making a Trident Realms army for Kings of War...Hopefully this guy is too big to stand in for anything else.
As you say, we do have the power to make these dreams happen.
Would also point out: Why does he need a lantern as he is missing at least one eye?
. I definitely think we're on the cusp of this becoming super viable... Looking forward to the revolution 
