RiTides wrote: The quad monstrous beasts deal is what tempts me. I already got 2 Blood Maws added onto to cincy's KS1 pledge, and they're amazing. I think I paid 40 pounds each at KS1 prices? Which I thought was crazy good. Here they're 35 pounds each. Unreal!
This is the deal I was waiting for, just wish I'd known it was coming to free up more funds. Just in for the Monstrous Mount EB at the moment, although that is pretty sweet as-is
I think they're £30 each on quad beasts? I'll be going for 1 bloodmaw and 1 Jotun as I've been coveting both of these since KS1, not sure what else. It's a shame Malicant isn't in there I wonder why not.
I think they're £30 each on quad beasts? I'll be going for 1 bloodmaw and 1 Jotun as I've been coveting both of these since KS1, not sure what else. It's a shame Malicant isn't in there I wonder why not.
Malacant and some of the other options (Euralia was mentioned earlier) aren't beasts; they're commanders. I'm told that's the dividing line - they're too intelligent to get lumped in!
I think they're £30 each on quad beasts? I'll be going for 1 bloodmaw and 1 Jotun as I've been coveting both of these since KS1, not sure what else. It's a shame Malicant isn't in there I wonder why not.
Malacant and some of the other options (Euralia was mentioned earlier) aren't beasts; they're commanders. I'm told that's the dividing line - they're too intelligent to get lumped in!
Makes me sad. Really need to get Malacant and Krull.
Now if only Ristul's Miniatures made some larger Dark Temple Ruins for the Infernii miniatures.
Yeah I'm making a grab for Jotun and a Bloodmaw as well as a Brontull and a Typhaggahw
Undead_Love-Machine wrote: I had to swap my Early Bird pledge for a quad Monstrous Beasts pledge, the value is just too good.
If I buy existing models presumably I won't have to wait too long before they are shipped to me?
It depends how much shipping you pay for. If you pay for one lot of shipping you get everything when it's all ready sometime in 2015 (or whatever the latest model you choose is), if you pay for shipping twice you'll get existing stuff as quick as they can get it done and everything else once it exists.
There's a bit more to picking the correct shipping wave/date, but I think that's it in a nutshell.
Nice that they got to Birna. She's going to be their first flying model, so I wonder if she'll have a flight stand, or if the bird will be dragging its butt on the ground.
I'd missed they added those new monstrous beast options. That's a really good deal. If I can add it in the pledge manager, might need to find a buddy to split one with.
Right, give me a couple of hours to get some tea and sort the kids out and I'll get an update sorted. I would imagine you'll be able to manage your pledge by Thursday at the latest.
Remember, existing stuff (including the cheaper beasts) will be unavailable from 1st August on.
so those in for the deals get ready to order you bumper box of existing monsters quick
Hmmm....there's a good chance I'll be adding a 4 x monstrous beasts bundle to my pledge later. Blood-Maw, Mjagnir and Conjunct XIII for sure. Not sure what I want for the last one. Maybe Shaaroc? Not sure on the 4th one, but there's a few options that would be nice to paint up.
Well poop.
Trying to 'focus' my Darklands spending a bit more so I dropped my pledge 12 hours ago as there were no Norse or Mierce options then this happens.
Forgive me Rob! I did not keep the faith! FORGIVE ME!!
I was going through the same thought process, plastictrees, but dropped to a pound to stay in and think about it... and then quickly was won back over by the early birds opening up, even before the craziness of his allowing all the old models to be selected.
I feel like they might let you put in a Paypal pledge after the fact here if you contact them quickly? The ordering's only going to stay open at these prices for 2 weeks, anyway.
The big question is whether I want to add that monstrous beast deal, or just dump the money in the Mierce store and see what comes in September/ October.
Both options are quite tempting. I can get my giant snake and croc to round out all my giant Khthonic forces...
decker_cky wrote: Hmmm....there's a good chance I'll be adding a 4 x monstrous beasts bundle to my pledge later. Blood-Maw, Mjagnir and Conjunct XIII for sure. Not sure what I want for the last one. Maybe Shaaroc? Not sure on the 4th one, but there's a few options that would be nice to paint up.
May I suggest Typhaggahw, the wyvern for the Brythonaid faction. It's really an awesome beast, too.
decker_cky wrote: Hmmm....there's a good chance I'll be adding a 4 x monstrous beasts bundle to my pledge later. Blood-Maw, Mjagnir and Conjunct XIII for sure. Not sure what I want for the last one. Maybe Shaaroc? Not sure on the 4th one, but there's a few options that would be nice to paint up.
May I suggest Typhaggahw, the wyvern for the Brythonaid faction. It's really an awesome beast, too.
The actual model is pretty awesome for that one? It interests me, but I wasn't sure from the pics that there are online.
decker_cky wrote: Hmmm....there's a good chance I'll be adding a 4 x monstrous beasts bundle to my pledge later. Blood-Maw, Mjagnir and Conjunct XIII for sure. Not sure what I want for the last one. Maybe Shaaroc? Not sure on the 4th one, but there's a few options that would be nice to paint up.
May I suggest Typhaggahw, the wyvern for the Brythonaid faction. It's really an awesome beast, too.
The actual model is pretty awesome for that one? It interests me, but I wasn't sure from the pics that there are online.
Out of all available beasts, my top four picks would be Blood-Maw, Mjagnir, Conjunct XIII and Typhaggahw. I think the wyvern is pretty ace, but I guess it's in the eye of the beholder, eh?
I was a bit upset I missed out on vaak and MAALLOLVÓR, now I can get them for £30 each?
f'ing sweet...choosing just 4 will be tough from that list!
Haven't seen it here, so I'll cut and paste form the KS comments:
Thanks for posting that list, it is really helpful. I think I'll be putting together a bundle of Mjagnir, Druc, Ungefelic and Typhaggahw (I already have Blood-Maw and Vaak). But I'm really tempted to add on for a second bundle in the pledge manager and also get Kadámastar, Mazikílías, Conjunct XIII and Glaun.
Vaak, Maallolvor, Mazíkilías and either Kadamastar or Kaairioc-cro. (oh, and mounted Agriosavra, of course) If I go really crazy, I might throw in the other of the two mentioned, Khallas, Glaun and Typphagaw. I'll probably restrain myself though; I already have Shaaroc and Ygandr to finish and marked Galagaak coming soonish; that many big beasties will be a pain to store, way, WAY too imposing on the painting queue and just generally overkill in every possible way
razormage wrote: Am I the only one in for Oso and three Brontulls? Skullcrushers, here I come!
I'm all about alternative models, but there's no way those will fit on 50mm bases! I wish Mierce would post more size comparisons. Just got all my agriosavra from cincydooley (thanks ) and they are, for once, actually a bit smaller than I expected! Chaudon can achieve Tre-Manor-like detail levels, it seems, with really fine features. I think they're awesome, but I am always guessing about Mierce model sizes.
A "sir scales a lot" or similar in every pic would be most appreciated (such as Forgeworld sometimes uses with the running empire model next to fantasy monsters).
Oy! Agriosavra? Could you post a scale pic of that? I've been looking for just that - really hard to get a proper sense of scale from the photographs...
Extremely thin, haven't tested to see if I can break it, but hence my comparison to Red Box Games here for the thin-ness of some of these features.
Bolognesus- I will definitely be making scale pics, although they come in a lot of pieces (separate legs, two head pieces, separate tail, etc) and I want to do a good job building them, so it might be a little while. If someone could tell me where to buy blue-tac that might be a faster way for me to get a comparison shot made.
Office supply stores are a good bet for blu-tac (the decidedly not blue equivalent around here is called pritt poster-tack or whatever - anything used for sticking posters to walls temporarily is what you're looking for).
Alternatively: couple bucks off of ebay? For modeling purposes, any remotely substantial amount will basically last forever anyway, so it's worth it if you haven't gotten any yet.
And please don't rush on my account, I'd be grateful enough just to get a few pictures already
RiTides wrote: Extremely thin, haven't tested to see if I can break it, but hence my comparison to Red Box Games here for the thin-ness of some of these features.
Bolognesus- I will definitely be making scale pics, although they come in a lot of pieces (separate legs, two head pieces, separate tail, etc) and I want to do a good job building them, so it might be a little while. If someone could tell me where to buy blue-tac that might be a faster way for me to get a comparison shot made.
CVS or any other local chained pharmacy store has blue-tac
plastictrees wrote: Well poop.
Trying to 'focus' my Darklands spending a bit more so I dropped my pledge 12 hours ago as there were no Norse or Mierce options then this happens.
Forgive me Rob! I did not keep the faith! FORGIVE ME!!
Lol, this was not a matter of faith, but of bad planning/timing from Mierce, I might have been interested myself if I had known about it but they messed that up.
Some really nice and promising minis hope they are as good as the Gabrax and not as awful as the hound drunes (man, these look like they are still WIP!)
plastictrees wrote: Well poop.
Trying to 'focus' my Darklands spending a bit more so I dropped my pledge 12 hours ago as there were no Norse or Mierce options then this happens.
Forgive me Rob! I did not keep the faith! FORGIVE ME!!
Lol, this was not a matter of faith, but of bad planning/timing from Mierce, I might have been interested myself if I had known about it but they messed that up.
Some really nice and promising minis hope they are as good as the Gabrax and not as awful as the hound drunes (man, these look like they are still WIP!)
To both of you, just email him, I'm sure he'll give you KS access.
Missing the deadline is not the end of the world, after all, it's all sales and good-will business for him, happy customers are returning customers.
I managed to miss the last minute four beast deal in the KS so I'm very pleased it will be added to the KS store later on as the big beasts are my favorite thing Mierce does.
I'm hoping the next KS has a few more smaller flyers in it, I'd also like a few more horses and the option to buy those horses without riders as its hard to get high quality horses.
Next ks will be Atalantes and Ériann with other Kindreds getting the odd boost. Reckon we may see the first cavalry units. I reckon the Atalantes will be popular
As for the beasts, definitely going to get Talos. Probably Glaun and Typhaggahw. Final beast will be either the Tarask or Flint fang. Not sure yet...
That deal is pretty amazing. I'm glad I didn't find out about it until the end of the KS because my wallet needs a break. I'm hoping KS3 has some similar deals.
Malkaven wrote: That deal is pretty amazing. I'm glad I didn't find out about it until the end of the KS because my wallet needs a break. I'm hoping KS3 has some similar deals.
As much as I wouldn't mind similar deals during the Darklands KS3 campaign, I highly doubt there will be any this good!
Malkaven wrote: That deal is pretty amazing. I'm glad I didn't find out about it until the end of the KS because my wallet needs a break. I'm hoping KS3 has some similar deals.
As much as I wouldn't mind similar deals during the Darklands KS3 campaign, I highly doubt there will be any this good!
I don't think Rob spelled it out, but really there's a limitation in place on what he can do (at least, this is my interpretation). He can offer good deals on older stuff because they either existed pre-KS or because WoW had great prices. He can't heavily discount stuff after that (from DFE or DFE II) because then he's coming under the prices that were paid by KS backers which ofc is not going to be a well-loved move.
Ofc we can only guess how he'll structure KS3 but I would guess the best deals will be on the Atlantes and Erainn starter sets.
Yeah, he made a comment exactly to that effect, that he can discount older models more than newer ones. I haven't actually seen that play out much before, but it certainly did here! Although the beat deal for the riderless new sculpts is also excellent.
I'm sticking to one early bird ridden beast, though.
Some of those sculpts aren't that old, are they? Mostly KS1 stuff and older, but some of those were released relatively recently (Druc, Maalovor and Chrysperis are listed as new releases on the Mierce website). Then there's Khallas, which is from KS2.5 and not even done.
KS2.5 was my jumping on point for Darklands. I thought the All the Units pledge was a great value. I'm hoping they have a similar one in KS3 or a discount like this mini KS on older models.
Mierce Miniatures wrote:Well... at the end of the day, you guys are very loyal, you always contribute to each project, and we really appreciate it; and whilst we can't give you much on new miniatures, we can on old ones.
I'm not sure the discount is actually any better than the value possible in KS2.5, where you targeted only 5 man infantry units with free heroes plus gold pledge bonus credit, and those were all brand new sculpts.
KS2 was less value overall, but in general there's been some amazing deals in each KS.
Looky Likey wrote: I managed to miss the last minute four beast deal in the KS so I'm very pleased it will be added to the KS store later on as the big beasts are my favorite thing Mierce does.
I'm hoping the next KS has a few more smaller flyers in it, I'd also like a few more horses and the option to buy those horses without riders as its hard to get high quality horses.
Once a mini hits the store proper (ie available to regular backers) you'll be able to buy the individual 'bits' so you should be able to pick up the horses that way
decker_cky wrote: KS2 was less value overall, but in general there's been some amazing deals in each KS.
What really sold this one, though, is all the options made available at the end. A lot of the value in the 2.5 campaign was if you got "All the units", one of each faction... which isn't as useful to people focusing on 1-2 factions (most people).
In most games I can focus on 1-2 factions but not Darklands. I typically have every mini added to my cart in their webstore. Then I cry and remove some until I can afford the amount. It's a painful process.
I bet a few more stretch goals would have been made if they made all of the options at the end available in the beginning of the KS
JWBS wrote: I can't find Brugg Death Brute anywhere on the Mierce store, is this one not released yet?
It's in that limbo where it's no longer available to KS backers but hasn't gone on general release yet.
Update 74 wrote:WAVE 1 ITEMS WILL BE REMOVED ON MONDAY
With Wave 1 (from our Darklands: First Edition project) now being shipped, it is time to remind you all that ALL Wave 1 items will be removed from the Kickstarter category in four days' time.
In a nutshell:
Wave 1 items will be removed from the Mierce Miniatures website at midnight (GMT) on the 30th of June
The following items will be removed from the website:
ALBAINN - Dúngal on foot - Dúngal on pony - Ciniod - Itaina - Domnech - Bagseg
ANGELCYNN - Eadric on foot - Aldhelm - Leofwen on foot - Broga
BRYTHONIAID - Urien on foot - Ffion Ferddig - Angedern - Mag ap Mag - Ieuan Longshore and Taranau
BYZANTII - Erebius
FOMORAIC - Mananaan on foot - Idruaada - Daarkan - Naraa - Gaarwäg
INFERNII - Scecchus
KHTHONES - Thelliatiss- Ágriosávra- Eikovra - Myrkranio
NORSE - Knútr on foot - Knútr on horse - Birna - Víthar - Rollo Iron Head - Jörmungand
YSIANS - Crom on foot - Annik - Zethag - Gondard (Gondard - Ekk) - Brugg
SELL-SWORDS - Uhtred Uhtredson - Finnan - Danilo Cruz
In other words, get your skates on if you want any more Wave 1 items; you won't be able to purchase them again until they are released to the general public, and depending on the miniature involved, that could be for a long while yet...!
Well backers who's credit card payment went through should now have access to the Monstrous Mounts section of the Mierce Webstore
Remember you MUST buy a shipping item (1/2/3 deliveries), and this item has to be paid for with your credit card (ie real money) rather than your store cashback
(during checkout you'll be asked about shipping again, pick the free option if you've spent enough, if you haven't pick the cheapest option and Rob message Rob to get it manually refunded to you card, a bit messy but this is the easiest way for him to handle it)
People who had an early bird have been given an extra £10 cashback to account for it (but must buy at least one rider/mount combo) as it was easier to code this way
zedmeister wrote: Wave 1 on KS2 is being reopened until the 31st July. Looks like people are noticing some of the Resins coming in and want a piece of the action...
Yeah, but you keep ordering enough, you keep getting that extra shipping refunded enough, you'll eventually have enough for a whole other figure in there!
I must echo Cicny's thoughts of this being both a good thing and bad thing for me, especially with Comic Con next week.
Looks like I need to start clearing out old games sooner rather than later!
highlord tamburlaine wrote: Yeah, but you keep ordering enough, you keep getting that extra shipping refunded enough, you'll eventually have enough for a whole other figure in there!
=!
This may or may not have happened to me once or twice already......
So, I know this is heretical, but I was looking at putting together a low cost Byzantii band for a friend to try out. I've got Ulmons, Malacant, and some solo characters ordered (Erebius mounted and on foot, demilegionary warriors, etc). Anyone know any historicals I could proxy as basic human troops and not look terrible in terms of scale/detail? Ideally plastic. Thanks!
Bossk_Hogg wrote: So, I know this is heretical, but I was looking at putting together a low cost Byzantii band for a friend to try out. I've got Ulmons, Malacant, and some solo characters ordered (Erebius mounted and on foot, demilegionary warriors, etc). Anyone know any historicals I could proxy as basic human troops and not look terrible in terms of scale/detail? Ideally plastic. Thanks!
Doesn't warlord games make some roman legionnaires? They'll do for Byzantii conterbernia
On this fine Mierceday we have some work in progress images, huzzah!
This week we have:
•sculpt work in progress updates from Olivier Bouchet and Andrew Speirs;
• a list of sculptors and sculpts;
•the current QuickStarter Rules, Muster Rules and Kindred Musters;
• what you can expect from us over the next few months.
Here we go...
It won't be too long before sculpts from Darklands: First Edition are virtually complete, and so over the next couple of months we think this project will have a fantastic amount of miniatures to show off... especially as Roberto Chaudon will be starting the Craven Fiends of Dis soon!
Anyway, this week we have work on the Oghu Guardians from Olivier Bouchet and the Armoured Trolls from Andrew Speirs...
Now that he's finished Gromi and his variations, the lovely Olivier Bouchet can turn his attention to the Oghu Guardians, drawn by Thomas Mahon.
First up in the unit is the champion or Rhud, Grubog... he's got some muscle and no mistake!
Here's a scale shot... Brugg is not small!
Olivier's speed should ensure that the Oghu Guardians will be a Wave 4 shipment.
Andrew Speirs has, of course, completed two of the Armoured Trolls previously, which means he has three more to convert - Vörtun, Gjöll and Unnolg.
Andrew's started work on Vörtun first, and he's about sorted, as you can see!
We do think that Andrew will get these guys done in time for Wave 4.
There's a bit of a wait until Wave 4 begins, but there's plenty of items going out in Waves 1, 2 and 3 (for items from Darklands: First Edition) later on this year.
Wave 1 shipments are cracking on - we reckon we're about a quarter of the way through - and we'll be continuing to ship Wave 1 orders for a while yet. If you backed that project, please don't be upset if your orders have not yet been shipped, even if your order is currently in "packing" - please be patient while the boys get your miniatures cast and sent.
Bear in mind, too, that shipments will continue further through July and probably into August, and as always we will prioritise orders in date order - i.e., if you ordered early, you'll get your stuff sent early.
Here's the big list of who's sculpting what and when for Darklands: First Edition II! Please bear in mind that this list may change over time, so don't take it as set in stone until the first work in progress shots appear.
• Olivier Bouchet: Olivier has begun work on the Oghu Guardians, Oghur Unit and the Abhorrents of Ys, Abhorrent Unit will be next.
• Stéphane Camosseto: Stéphane has taken on Eoric's Pack, Werwulf Unit as well as Armoured Hrōr for us.
• Allan Carrasco: Allan will be sculpting Ravener Birna and Thórrir.
• Roberto Chaudon: Thanks to Roberto being so awesome, we've loaded him up with the Craven Fiends of Dis, Fiend Unit, the Corpse Takers, Hrafnmann Unit, Enslaved Ágriosávra, Khallas, Parawn, Hrókr and Geraint Nerthol on Ceffyldraig. We've also taken Srók from Benoît Cosse to give to Roberto, too!
• Thomas David: Thomas has confirmed that he will sculpt the alternate Sweordsman Timoth.
• Benoît Cosse: we've given Benoît the remainder of the Slaughterers, Krokodar Unit, Brunchaath on Gooracx and the Young Magágg and Umaer Drast alternates.
• Yannick Fusier: thanks to his awesome work on Bagseg, we've given Yannick the Oghu Keepers, Oghurithne Unit - and he's already begun work on them!
• Christian Hardy: We have now given Rēoc's Pack to Christian!
• Yannick Hennebo: He will sculpt the alternate Feral Agathae soon.
• Patrick Masson: Patrick will be sculpting Uhtred on Horse, to match his foot version.
• Hector Moran: excitingly, Hector will be digitally sculpting In III Judas, Demilegionary Incaendium and Quintus Crito.
• Stéphane NGuyen: Stéphane will sculpt Akkaz and Tykho!
• Olivier Nkweti: Olivier has begun work on the The Eye Ascendant, Warriors of Baalor Unit, and after those he will be digitally sculpting the Warriors of Dyngonwy, Rhyfelwyr Unit, and the Spears of Dun Durn, Gairlom Unit. In total, four units for Olivier, but such is his work rate and professionalism, we think that's no trouble for him.
• Juan Navarro Pérez: Juan will be sculpting the alternates Tonsured Caedoc and Forwyn Carys from this project.
• Stéphane Simon: the Shadows of Carn Bran, Shadow-Drune Unit and Ax-Crom - as well as Yrag, Bil and Ekk's Heap - are the sum of Stéphane's work for this project.
• Andrew Speirs: one of our regular backers and a good friend, Andrew will be converting the Trolls to become Armoured Trolls, and work has already begun on them.
• Ernst Veingart: the sculptor of Mjagnir, Ernst has begun sculpting a "miniature" that will dwarf Mjagnir the Jötunn - Gomagg, the Albainn Giant!
• Unknown: we don't yet have a sculptor confirmed for Max Schüte's second Descendant, but we hope to confirm him (and have artwork for it) soon.
Tons of sculpts!
We thought this would be a good idea, as things are cracking on - a list of completed sculpts, in kindred order! Completed sculpts are in bold; in progress sculpts are in italics.
•ALBAINN: Oghu Guardians (Grubog - Pabogg - Drudd - Skrugadd - Undagg) - Skyclad Ciniod - Oghu Keepers (Brugbad - Dungabad - Lobeg - Bogad - Rubeg) - Skyclad Itaina - Spears of Dun Durn - Umaer Drast - Gromi (Gromi - Gromi with two cleavers - Armoured Gromi with two cleavers) - Young Magágg - Gomagg
•ANGELCYNN: Armoured Hrōr - Eoric's Pack - Sweordsman Timoth - Cæna - Rēoc's Pack
•BRYTHONIAID: Geraint on Ceffyldraig - Loyal Guard, Teulu Unit (Cynog - Lleu Gryf - Gerallt - Dafydd - Emyr) - Tonsured Caedoc - Warriors of Dyngonwy, Rhyfelwyr Unit - Forwyn Carys - Parawn
•BYZANTII: Quintus Crito - In III Judas - Feral Agathae - Tykho
•FOMORAIC: Brunchaath on Gooracx - The Eye Ascendant - Helmed Naraa - Marked Galagaak
•INFERNII: Craven Fiends of Dis
•KHTHONES: Srók - Slaughterers - Enslaved Ágriosávra - Khallas
•NORSE: Thórrir - Corpse Takers - Ravener Birna - Trolls of Töheim, Armoured Troll Unit (Vörtun, Gjöll, Unnolg, Gurrir, Nisurl) - Hrókr
• VRAS: Kill-Head Flint-Fang
•YSIANS: Abhorrents of Ys - Ax-Crom - Flesh-Scavengers (Gondard - Ekk - Yrag - Bil - Flesh-Pile) - Shadows of Carn Bran - Akkaz
•SELL-SWORDS: Uhtred on Horse, Sáthach
•DESCENDANTS: Max Schüte's second Descendant
Let us know if we've missed anything!
Darklands is a tabletop skirmish wargame in which you command the hosts of man and beast that your ancestors once did for glory, power or simple survival!
To play Darklands with our fantastic range of miniatures, you need rules of course - and whilst the full Darklands: First Edition rulebook is not yet available until later on in 2014, you can still play the game with our Darklands QuickStarter Rules, which you can download right here!
As well as the QuickStarter Rules, you'll also need the Muster Rules (which show you how to build a host) and the various Kindred Musters (which give you all the warrior profiles for every single miniature we have produced or will produce).
The Darklands QuickStarter Rules are a simplified version of the forthcoming Darklands: First Edition rules that will allow the keen wargamer to play a very basic version of Darklands easily and long before the full rules are released. As such, wargamers must understand that - whilst the basic procedures of how to play Darklands are presented here (such as how to move your units and fight with them, as well as shoot the enemy and invoke sorcery) there will be much more to those procedures within the full rules as well as much else besides.
Until the creation of the Darklands: First Edition Rules, the QuickStarter Rules will always be "living" rules - i.e., they will be updated when necessary and always available for download.
The current PDF version of the Darklands QuickStarter Rules - v10.6 can be downloaded by clicking on the link below.
DARKLANDS QUICKSTARTER RULES v10.6
We would recommend - especially if you are familiar with those previous versions of the QuickStarter Rules - to have a good read through; and also please check out the Mierce Miniatures forum, in particular the "Darklands Rules Discussion" section and the "Observations from a first read" thread...
Printing of the QuickStarter Rules
We have excellent news: the QuickStarter Rules have now been passed to our printers and should arrive at Mierce Towers in two to three weeks! We hope to be shipping them to those that purchased them by the end of July or in early August.
Downloadable Printed QuickStarter Rules
We now have a low-res version of the Darklands QuickStarter Rules for you to download and peruse (and maybe even print) at your leisure. We must warn you, though - it's a very large file, over 280Mb! Something to download overnight, we think.
Click to download the print version
Click to download the print version
We hope to be shipping the printed Darklands QuickStarter Rules (to those that purchased them) by the end of July or in early August.
Don't forget, you can still purchase the Darklands QuickStarter Rules from our webstore!
To play a game of Darklands, a player must choose a kindred or realm they like and a general from its muster. Then an opponent with a host must be found and a battle size agreed upon. Both players then spend their gold wisely to muster their host and ultimately meet upon the battlefield!
The Darklands Muster Rules govern how you build a host for Darklands from the various Kindred Musters and will always be "living" rules - i.e., they will be updated when necessary and always available for download.
The current PDF version of the Darklands Muster Rules - v2.3 can be downloaded by clicking on the link below.
DARKLANDS MUSTER RULES v2.3
These Muster Rules include the most recent, updated rules regarding hosts, units and warriors as listed in the QuickStarter Rules.
A Kindred Muster, what we call an army list, gives you the blocks to build a host of a particular kindred or realm for Darklands. It includes all of the different unit types available to you as a general wishing to create an army, in the shape of warrior profiles.
The kindred musters given below include most (if not all) of the warriors unlocked by our projects so you can check exactly what you're getting for your money in game terms. Again, the Kindred Musters will always be "living" rules - i.e., they will be updated when necessary and always available for download.
Bear in mind, however, that any new profiles are only partially playtested (if at all) - expect changes and feel free to give us feedback on the Mierce forums. Check them out for some awesome new warriors, however!
•ALBAINN MUSTER v1.6
•ANGELCYNN MUSTER v1.11
•BRYTHONIAID MUSTER v1.7
•BYZANTII MUSTER v1.2
•FOMORAIC MUSTER v1.9
•INFERNII MUSTER v1.1
•KHTHONES MUSTER v1.5
•NORSE MUSTER v1.6
•VRAS MUSTER v1.5
•YSIAN MUSTER v1.8
•SELL-SWORD MUSTER v1.4
No doubt there'll be a few errors or typos - feel free to tell us about them!
Pronunciation
Upon each profile is a handy pronunciation guide (based on the Wikipedia Pronunciation Respelling Key) under the warrior's title and, at the bottom of each profile, a suggestion on which miniature from our range to use as that warrior on the battlefield.
That's it for this week people... until next week!
We have a nice update for you here, on this Mierce Friday, which includes some excellent work in progress images, the usual fulfilment malarkey and some awesome news: due to popular demand, you can purchase Wave 1 stuff again until July the 31st!
This week we have: •sculpt work in progress updates from Benoît Cosse, Juan Navarro Pérez and Stéphane Simon; •news of Wave 1 fulfilment, and news that you can order Wave 1 items again for a limited time; •a list of what miniatures are currently being sent in Wave 1, and any updates on Waves 2 and 3; •updated lists of sculptors and sculpts; •current QuickStarter Rules, Muster Rules and Kindred Musters; •what you can expect from us over the next few months.
Here we go...
This week for Darklands: First Edition we have some excellent work from Benoît Cosse (who has now about finished the whole of Baagath's Herd) as well as the first images from Juan Navarro Pérez for a while, of Caedoc, and Stéphane Simon's continuing work on Crom on Horse.
First we have something new from the utterly indispensible Juan Navarro Pérez - the next Brythoniaid commander, Caedoc, from the artwork by Daniel Warren!
With Caedoc begun, we're confident he'll make it into Wave 2.
Benoît's back! The lovely and cuddly Benoît Cosse has worked very hard to get Baagath's Herd near to completion; there's a bit of re-working on the very first Gabrax he did, Ungaa, and a few things to finish off, but they're almost ready.
As always, Benoît's photographs are - well, awful, and we think he's excelled himself with these ones... they're very bad. So please take the photos with a pinch of salt, and watch the videos instead! We are very confident these guys will be excellent "in the flesh".
[as a buyer of Benoit's Waelwulfs I can attest to this, compare the photos I showed earlier in the thread with his WIP shots and you can see how much better they look..... and my photography's only passable, I've also ordered the 'herd' as I know Benoit will do a great job on them]
Baagath is the Gabrax unit champion, a Gultain, and looks suitably mean!
Unfortunately there's no video of Baagath.
Blaart is the unit's banner bearer, what the Gabrax call a Tusk-Bearer... and we do apologise for these images, they're awful.
We are pretty confident that Baagath's Herd will be a Wave 2 shipment, but we'll see. Oh, and don't forget to bleat when you say their names...
Stéphane Simon is continuing his work on Crom on Horse, and the horse itself is now taking shape nicely.
We think Crom on Horse won't take too long and so can confidently predict he'll be a Wave 2 shipment.
Wave 1 shipments are cracking on - we reckon we're about two thirds of the way through - but we'll be continuing to ship Wave 1 orders for a while yet. Please don't be upset if your orders have not yet been shipped, even if your order is currently in "packing" - please be patient while the boys get your miniatures cast and sent.
Bear in mind, too, that shipments will continue further through July and probably into August, and as always we will prioritise orders in date order - i.e., if you ordered early, you'll get your stuff sent early.
Due to popular demand we've decided to give you all a chance to get your hands on the miniatures you didn't order from Wave 1!
Grab some Wave 1 items now!
The following items are back on the website: • ALBAINN: Dúngal on foot - Dúngal on pony - Ciniod - Itaina - Domnech - Bagseg • ANGELCYNN: Eadric on foot - Aldhelm - Leofwen on foot - Broga • BRYTHONIAID: Urien on foot - Ffion Ferddig - Angedern - Mag ap Mag - Ieuan Longshore and Taranau • BYZANTII: Erebius • FOMORAIC: Mananaan on foot - Idruaada - Daarkan - Naraa - Gaarwäg • INFERNII: Scecchus • KHTHONES: Thelliatiss- Ágriosávra- Eikovra - Myrkranio • NORSE: Knútr on foot - Knútr on horse - Birna - Víthar - Rollo Iron Head - Jörmungand • YSIANS: Crom on foot - Annik - Zethag - Gondard (Gondard - Ekk) - Brugg • SELL-SWORDS: Uhtred Uhtredson - Finnan - Danilo Cruz
You will only see these items in the webstore if you have backed this project, of course.
Wave 1 Shipping
If you've already received your Wave 1 stuff and fancy grabbing a few more bits before they're released at full price, then feel free to do so - but you have two shipment choices: you can either purchase another Wave 1 shipment item or wait until your next shipment (Wave 2 or 3) comes around.
You've got until July the 31st!
Remember, these Wave 1 items are only making an appearance until July the 31st at midnight (GMT) - you won't be able to purchase them again until they are released to the general public, and depending on the miniature involved, that could be for a long while yet...! Plus, they'll be at full price of course.
What are you waiting for? Grab those Wave 1 items now!
Here's an up to date list of what we think will be shipped when. Note that this list (Wave 2 onwards, anyway) could change, but we'll keep it updated every Friday. • SHIPMENT WAVE 0: complete for this project. • SHIPMENT WAVE 1 (beginning end of June): Dúngal on foot - Dúngal on pony - Ciniod - Itaina - Domnech - Bagseg - Eadric on foot - Aldhelm - Leofwen on foot - Broga - Urien on foot - Ffion Ferddig - Angedern - Mag ap Mag - Ieuan Longshore and Taranau - Erebius - Mananaan on foot - Idruaada - Daarkan - Naraa - Gaarwäg- Scecchus - Thelliatiss- Ágriosávra- Eikovra - Myrkranio - Knútr on foot - Knútr on horse - Birna - Víthar - Rollo Iron Head - Jörmungand - Crom on foot - Annik - Zethag - Gondard (Gondard - Ekk) - Brugg - Uhtred Uhtredson - Finnan - Danilo Cruz • SHIPMENT WAVE 2 (beginning August): Eadric on horse - Timoth - Hrōr - Urien on horse - Carys - Caedoc - Equitus Durio on foot - Equitus Durio on horse - Agathae - Velchior - Djiuzu - Con I Modius (Modius - Gellius - Tiberius - Livia - Severa) - Mananaan on horse - Baagath's Herd (Baagath - Blaart - Chuwaa - Ungaa - Rapraag) - Praach - Xontór - Thoth - Hanokh - Dawn of Khthon (Myrinna - Syntyss - Thillia - Phyllidii - Elthissi) - Hrafnen Crew - Mälmord - Crom on horse - Seza • SHIPMENT WAVE 3 (beginning October): Cnebba - Gesith Unit - Trytheorn - Rikkard - Maximus
Items in bold will DEFINITELY be sent in that wave as we have the sculpt; items in italics are in progress and should make it into that wave, but we don't yet have the sculpt.
Have I ordered the right Waves?
Fairly obviously (and to remind you all that we won't split orders unless you've purchased more than one shipment wave) if you've only purchased one Shipment Wave item, your items will only be sent in one shipment when everything is ready. In a nutshell: •If you have purchased Waves 1, 2 and 3, whatever is available will be shipped in each wave, with wave 3 waiting until everything's finally ready. •If you have purchased Waves 1 and 2, whatever is available in Wave 1 will be shipped in June, with everything else waiting until it's all finally ready. •If you've only purchased Wave 1, your orders will be shipped when everything in your orders is ready.
There's still time for you to change this by ordering more shipment waves of course - feel free to do so, but as soon as Wave 1 is complete, that shipment item will be removed from the webstore. so you'd best be quick!
Please be patient!
We would ask you all to be patient with both ourselves and our artists; sculptors live in the real world and real world problems often impinge upon their time, so please bear in mind that they are working as fast as they possibly can on our miniatures and giving us their full attention. We do not want to rush sculptors for the simple reason that rushed work is often poor work!
Here's the big list of who's sculpting what and when for Darklands: First Edition! Please bear in mind that this list may change over time, so don't take it as set in stone until the first work in progress shots appear. • Michael Anderson: Michael, a new sculptor for us, will sculpt Rick Boer's Descendant, Rikkard, later on in the year. • Stéphane Camosseto: Stéphane will sculpt Eadric on horse next. He has also now taken on Hrōr, so that he matches the Werwulfas unlocked as part of Darklands: First Edition II. • Allan Carrasco: There's just Cnebba for Allan, later on in the year. • Roberto Chaudon: Praach is underway and it won't be long before he's finished! • Benoît Cosse: Baagath's Herd is almost complete. • Jacques-Alexandre Gillois: Equitus Durio on foot and Equitus Durio on horse will be sculpted over the summer.
• Yannick Hennebo: Yannick has agreed to sculpt Mananaan on horse for us, and he's next, as Pedro cannot sculpt this now.
• Hector Moran: he has begun digitally sculpting Con I Modius, Legionary Contubernium with Gellius being the first example. • Juan Navarro Pérez: Juan has begun work on Caedoc and then it's Urien on horse and Carys. Juan has also agreed to sculpt Tomas Johansson's Geat Warrior, Trytheorn, although he's not sure when that will occur. • Stéphane Simon: Work is progressing on Crom on horse and after him its the Holumenn Unit and the Gesíth Unit. • Unknown: Maximus, Maximilian Schüte's Germanic Berserker (due to be drawn by Danny Cruz). We should have artwork for Maximus soon.
Not too many sculpts to go now!
We thought this would be a good idea, as things are cracking on - a list of completed sculpts, in kindred order! Completed sculpts are in bold; in progress sculpts are in italics. • ALBAINN: Dúngal on foot - Dúngal on horse - Ciniod - Itaina - Domnech - Bagseg •ANGELCYNN: Eadric on foot - Eadric on horse - Timoth - Aldhelm - Hrōr - Leofwen on foot - Gesith Unit - Cnebba - Broga •BRYTHONIAID: Urien on foot - Urien on horse - Carys - Caedoc - Ffion Ferddig - Angedern - Mag ap Mag •BYZANTII: Equitus Durio on foot - Equitus Durio on horse - Erebius - Agathae - Velchior - Djiuzu - Con I Modius (Modius - Gellius - Tiberius - Livia - Severa) •FOMORAIC: Mananaan on foot - Mananaan on horse - Idruaada - Daarkan - Naraa - Gaarwäg - Baagath's Herd (Baagath - Blaart - Chuwaa - Ungaa - Rapraag) - Praach •INFERNII: Scecchus • KHTHONES: Xontór - Thelliatiss - Dawn of Khthon (Myrinna - Syntyss - Thillia - Phyllidii - Elthissi) - Thoth - Hanokh - Ágriosávra- Eikovra - Myrkranio •NORSE: Knútr on foot - Knútr on horse - Birna - Víthar - Rollo Iron Head - Jörmungand - Hrafnen Crew - Mälmord •YSIANS: Crom on foot - Crom on horse - Annik - Zethag - Gondard (Gondard - Ekk) - Brugg - Seza • SELL-SWORDS: Uhtred Uhtredson - Finnan - Danilo Cruz •DESCENDANTS: Ieuan Longshore and Taranau - Trytheorn - Rikkard - Maximus
Let us know if we've missed anything!
[I've not copied the info about the latest rules/musters etc, seen the update above for those]
It's a lovely day, this Mierceday, and we have some lovely things to show you all.
Without further ado, this week we have:
sculpt work in progress updates from Olivier Bouchet, Yannick Hennebo, Olivier Nkweti and Andrew Speirs;
a list of sculptors and sculpts for this project;
the current QuickStarter Rules, Muster Rules and Kindred Musters;
what you can expect from us over the next few months.
Let's begin!
This week we have work on the Oghu Guardians from Olivier Bouchet, Feral Agathae from Yannick Hennebo, The Eye Ascendant from Olivier Nkweti and more Armoured Trolls from Andrew Speirs...
The occasionally bearded Olivier Bouchet is working hard on the Oghu Guardians from the art by Thomas Mahon...
Grubog, the Oghur Rhud, is getting there - there's work still to be done but he looks a powerful fella!
Olivier's speed should ensure that the Oghu Guardians will be a Wave 4 shipment.
Yannick Hennebo of the stubble has now completed work on both Agathae miniatures, and Feral Agathae looks excellent!
Olivier Nkweti, fresh from completing work on the Teulu for the Brythoniaid, has begun digitally sculpting the Warriors of Baalor unit, The Eye Ascendant. We're very excited about these guys...!
The Warriors of Baalor herald, Lungaarn, is looking absolutely spectacular. We can tell that these guys will be awesome already!
We do think that The Eye Ascendant will be a Wave 4 shipment...
Andy Speirs is continuing his work on the Armoured Trolls, with Vörtun, Gjöll and Unnolg nearing completion...
Armoured Vörtun is almost complete - check out his wicked hammer...
Armoured Vörtun is about done.
Andy's cracking on with Armoured Gjöll, too...
We do think that Andy will get these guys done in time for Wave 4.
There's a bit of a wait until Wave 4 begins, but there's plenty of items going out in Waves 1, 2 and 3 (for items from Darklands: First Edition) right now and later on this year.
Wave 1 shipments are almost complete and we'll be continuing to ship Wave 1 orders for a week or so, and then it's on to Wave 2. If you Darklands: First Edition, please don't be upset if your orders have not yet been shipped, even if your order is currently in "packing" - please be patient while the boys get your miniatures cast and sent.
Bear in mind, too, that shipments will continue further through July and probably into August, and as always we will prioritise orders in date order - i.e., if you ordered early, you'll get your stuff sent early.
Here's the big list of who's sculpting what and when for Darklands: First Edition II! Please bear in mind that this list may change over time, so don't take it as set in stone until the first work in progress shots appear.
Olivier Bouchet: Olivier has begun work on the Oghu Guardians, Oghur Unit and the Abhorrents of Ys, Abhorrent Unit will be next.
Stéphane Camosseto: Stéphane has taken on Eoric's Pack, Werwulf Unit as well as Armoured Hrōr for us.
Allan Carrasco: Allan will be sculpting Ravener Birna and Thórrir.
Roberto Chaudon: Thanks to Roberto being so awesome, we've loaded him up with the Craven Fiends of Dis, Fiend Unit, the Corpse Takers, Hrafnmann Unit, Enslaved Ágriosávra, Khallas, Parawn, Hrókr and Geraint Nerthol on Ceffyldraig. We've also taken Srók from Benoît Cosse to give to Roberto, too!
Thomas David: Thomas has confirmed that he will sculpt the alternate Sweordsman Timoth.
Benoît Cosse: we've given Benoît the remainder of the Slaughterers, Krokodar Unit, Brunchaath on Gooracx and the Young Magágg and Umaer Drast alternates.
Yannick Fusier: thanks to his awesome work on Bagseg, we've given Yannick the Oghu Keepers, Oghurithne Unit - and he's already begun work on them!
Christian Hardy: We have now given Rēoc's Pack to Christian!
Yannick Hennebo: the alternate Feral Agathae is now complete, and that concludes Yannick's work for us on this project.
Patrick Masson: Patrick will be sculpting Uhtred on Horse, to match his foot version.
Hector Moran: excitingly, Hector will be digitally sculpting In III Judas, Demilegionary Incaendium and Quintus Crito.
Stéphane NGuyen: Stéphane will sculpt Akkaz and Tykho!
Olivier Nkweti: Olivier has begun work on the The Eye Ascendant, Warriors of Baalor Unit, and after those he will be digitally sculpting the Warriors of Dyngonwy, Rhyfelwyr Unit, and the Spears of Dun Durn, Gairlom Unit. In total, four units for Olivier, but such is his work rate and professionalism, we think that's no trouble for him.
Juan Navarro Pérez: Juan will be sculpting the alternates Tonsured Caedoc and Forwyn Carys from this project.
Stéphane Simon: the Shadows of Carn Bran, Shadow-Drune Unit and Ax-Crom - as well as Yrag, Bil and Ekk's Heap - are the sum of Stéphane's work for this project.
Andy Speirs: one of our regular backers and a good friend, Andy will be converting the Trolls to become Armoured Trolls, and work has already begun on them.
Ernst Veingart: the sculptor of Mjagnir, Ernst has begun sculpting a "miniature" that will dwarf Mjagnir the Jötunn - Gomagg, the Albainn Giant!
Unknown: we don't yet have a sculptor confirmed for Max Schüte's second Descendant, but we hope to confirm him (and have artwork for it) soon.
Tons of sculpts!
We thought this would be a good idea, as things are cracking on - a list of completed sculpts, in kindred order! Completed sculpts are in bold; in progress sculpts are in italics.
ALBAINN: Oghu Guardians (Grubog - Pabogg - Drudd - Skrugadd - Undagg) - Skyclad Ciniod - Oghu Keepers (Brugbad - Dungabad - Lobeg - Bogad - Rubeg) - Skyclad Itaina - Spears of Dun Durn - Umaer Drast - Gromi (Gromi - Gromi with two cleavers - Armoured Gromi with two cleavers) - Young Magágg - Gomagg
ANGELCYNN: Armoured Hrōr - Eoric's Pack - Sweordsman Timoth - Cæna - Rēoc's Pack
BRYTHONIAID: Geraint on Ceffyldraig - Loyal Guard, Teulu Unit (Cynog - Lleu Gryf - Gerallt - Dafydd - Emyr) - Tonsured Caedoc - Warriors of Dyngonwy, Rhyfelwyr Unit - Forwyn Carys - Parawn
BYZANTII: Quintus Crito - In III Judas - Feral Agathae - Tykho
FOMORAIC: Brunchaath on Gooracx - The Eye Ascendant (Aanan - Ulaan - Lungaarn - Coraat - Paraa) - Helmed Naraa - Marked Galagaak
INFERNII: Craven Fiends of Dis
KHTHONES: Srók - Slaughterers - Enslaved Ágriosávra - Khallas
NORSE: Thórrir - Corpse Takers - Ravener Birna - Trolls of Töheim, Armoured Troll Unit (Vörtun, Gjöll, Unnolg, Gurrir, Nisurl) - Hrókr
VRAS: Kill-Head Flint-Fang
YSIANS: Abhorrents of Ys - Ax-Crom - Flesh-Scavengers (Gondard - Ekk - Yrag - Bil - Flesh-Pile) - Shadows of Carn Bran - Akkaz
SELL-SWORDS: Uhtred on Horse, Sáthach
DESCENDANTS: Max Schüte's second Descendant
Now then! There's some lovely stuff to show you all this week, including sculpts, painted miniatures, fulfilment news and other gubbins, and the excellent news that Wave 1 shipments are almost complete...
In detail, this week we have:
sculpt work in progress updates from Roberto Chaudon, Benoît Cosse, Yannick Hennebo, Juan Navarro Pérez and Stéphane Simon;
images of painted miniatures from Sébastien Picque;
news of Wave 1 fulfilment, and news that you can still order Wave 1 items again for a limited time;
a list of what miniatures are currently being sent in Wave 1, a final list of what miniatures will be sent in Wave 2 and what will hopefully be sent in Wave 3;
updated lists of sculptors and sculpts;
current QuickStarter Rules, Muster Rules and Kindred Musters;
what else you can expect from us over the next few months.
Here we go...
This week for Darklands: First Edition we have images of quite a few finished sculpts - Praach, Baagath's Herd, Caedoc and Agathae - and continuing work in progress images of Crom on Horse. As well as that, we have painted images of Daarkan and Jörmungand!
The somewhat bearded Juan Navarro Pérez has completed work on Caedoc, the Brythoniaid Abad, and what lovely work it is! That shield is stunning!
Caedoc will definitely be a Wave 2 shipment, as we have him in our hands...!
Yannick Hennebo of the unknown beard has now completed work on Agathae for this project, adding the Fiend helm to her accoutrements.
Agathae will definitely be a Wave 2 shipment now of course.
Stang by criticism of his photography (not really, he never looks here), the slightly non-bearded Benoît Cosse has finished off B-a-a-gath's Herd from Stef Kopinski's artwork and took some better (well, more) pictures! Huzzah!
Here's the unit shot:
They are going to look awesome as a unit!
Baagath is the Gabrax unit champion, a Gultain.
B-a-a-gath looks suitably mean!
Bl-a-a-rt is the unit's banner bearer, what the Gabrax call a Tusk-Bearer...
We think Blaart's very characterful indeed!
Here's the finished Chuw-a-a, chewing on that horn!
The mouth-to-horn configuration works this way because it's doubtful a goat-man would be able to purse his lips well enough to blow conventionally... so he has a hole on the horn that he can get his mouth around!
This guy is the very first one we saw and Benoît's really sorted him out compared to those first images.
Ung-a-a's lovely!
Rapr-a-a-g is a lowly Gabrax warrior, but looks pretty perky for all that!
We have Baagath's Herd in our hands (and can confirm that they are actually really, really nice sculpts) and thus will be a Wave 2 shipment!
Baagath's big brother, Pr-a-a-ch, has now been completed by the un-bearded Roberto Chaudon (from Christophe Madura's artwork), and we really do think he is excellent!
He looks too big and awesome to go on a 60mm base, but he does:
We will have Praach in our hands next week, which means he'll be a Wave 2 fella!
The slightly bearded Stéphane Simon has updated us on the lovely Crom on Horse!
We think Crom on Horse won't make it into Wave 2 now (for reasons outlined below), so he'll be a Wave 3 shipment.
Even though the miniatures from Darklands: a World of War have not all been painted yet, we've decided to get miniatures from this project painted - simply because we are determined to release miniatures with painted images of them in the not-too-distant future (we're looking at you, September). They just look so much better!
Thus, both Sébastien Picque and Martin Grandbarbe are hard at work, painting miniatures from Wave 1, and with predictably superb results... this week we have work from Séb, and we hope to show some from both Séb and Martin next week.
With Daarkan being one of the first public releases later on this year - and us here at Mierce determined to have painted releases in the future - we tasked the lesser-bearded Sébastien Picque to get him painted - and what a paintjob it is. Just look at it!
Daarkan, painted, looks utterly brilliant. We dare you to disagree!
Séb is pulling out all the stops for us as you can see... Jörmungand's paintjob is, frankly, bloody awesome.
Next up from Séb is Ágriosávra, who is already looking fantastic!
We have awesome news: Wave 1 shipments are almost complete! After today's shipment we have some Rest of the World (i.e., not the UK or Europe) packages to go, which will occur next week; and there's also a few more Wave 1 packages to go thanks to backers adding more shipment wave items, so we think that Wave 1 shipping will be totally complete by the end of next week.
After that, we can start casting Wave 2 items, and should be able to get the first Wave 2 shipments out of the door in August (probably the end of August, mind).
Where's My Wave 1 Stuff?
As always, please don't be upset if your orders have not yet been shipped, even if your order is currently in "packing" - please be patient while the boys get your miniatures cast and sent.
Now, if you believe you have an old Wave 1 order that hasn't yet been shipped and are wondering why, many orders only have one shipment wave item and thus will only be shipped when everything in those orders is ready. You can mitigate against this by purchasing a Wave 2 or Wave 3 shipment item, of course - so the power's in your hands!
Due to popular demand we've decided to give you all a chance to get your hands on the miniatures you didn't order from Wave 1!
Grab some Wave 1 items now!
The following items are back on the website:
ALBAINN: Dúngal on foot - Dúngal on pony - Ciniod - Itaina - Domnech - Bagseg
ANGELCYNN: Eadric on foot - Aldhelm - Leofwen on foot - Broga
BRYTHONIAID: Urien on foot - Ffion Ferddig - Angedern - Mag ap Mag - Ieuan Longshore and Taranau
BYZANTII: Erebius
FOMORAIC: Mananaan on foot - Idruaada - Daarkan - Naraa - Gaarwäg
INFERNII: Scecchus
KHTHONES: Thelliatiss- Ágriosávra- Eikovra - Myrkranio
NORSE: Knútr on foot - Knútr on horse - Birna - Víthar - Rollo Iron Head - Jörmungand
YSIANS: Crom on foot - Annik - Zethag - Gondard (Gondard - Ekk) - Brugg
SELL-SWORDS: Uhtred Uhtredson - Finnan - Danilo Cruz
You will only see these items in the webstore if you have backed this project, of course.
Wave 1 Shipping
If you've already received your Wave 1 stuff and fancy grabbing a few more bits before they're released at full price, then feel free to do so - but you have two shipment choices: you can either purchase another Wave 1 shipment item or wait until your next shipment (Wave 2 or 3) comes around.
You've got until July the 31st!
Remember, these Wave 1 items are only making an appearance until July the 31st at midnight (GMT) - you won't be able to purchase them again until they are released to the general public, and depending on the miniature involved, that could be for a long while yet...! Plus, they'll be at full price of course.
What are you waiting for? Grab those Wave 1 items now!
We've now decided on what miniatures will be shipped in Wave 2, so here's an up to date list of what we think will be shipped when.
Unfortunately many hopeful Wave 2 items have had to be put back to Wave 3, for many different reasons; we do apologise for this, but sculptors do live in the real world and they do have real life issues that impinge upon their time. Even so, we think they've done awesome so far!
We'll keep this list updated every Friday.
SHIPMENT WAVE 0: complete for this project.
SHIPMENT WAVE 1 (beginning end of June): Dúngal on foot - Dúngal on pony - Ciniod - Itaina - Domnech - Bagseg - Eadric on foot - Aldhelm - Leofwen on foot - Broga - Urien on foot - Ffion Ferddig - Angedern - Mag ap Mag - Ieuan Longshore and Taranau - Erebius - Mananaan on foot - Idruaada - Daarkan - Naraa - Gaarwäg- Scecchus - Thelliatiss- Ágriosávra- Eikovra - Myrkranio - Knútr on foot - Knútr on horse - Birna - Víthar - Rollo Iron Head - Jörmungand - Crom on foot - Annik - Zethag - Gondard (Gondard - Ekk) - Brugg - Uhtred Uhtredson - Finnan - Danilo Cruz
SHIPMENT WAVE 2 (beginning August): Timoth - Caedoc - Agathae - Velchior - Djiuzu - Baagath's Herd (Baagath - Blaart - Chuwaa - Ungaa - Rapraag) - Praach - Xontór - Thoth - Hanokh - Dawn of Khthon (Myrinna - Syntyss - Thillia - Phyllidii - Elthissi) - Mälmord - Seza
SHIPMENT WAVE 3 (beginning October): Eadric on horse - Cnebba - Gesith Unit - Hrōr - Urien on horse - Carys - Equitus Durio on foot - Equitus Durio on horse - Con I Modius (Modius - Gellius - Tiberius - Livia - Severa) - Mananaan on horse - Hrafnen Crew - Crom on horse - Trytheorn - Rikkard - Maximus
Items in bold will DEFINITELY be sent in that wave as we have the sculpt; items in italics are in progress and should make it into that wave, but we don't yet have the sculpt.
Have I ordered the right Waves?
Fairly obviously (and to remind you all that we won't split orders unless you've purchased more than one shipment wave) if you've only purchased one Shipment Wave item, your items will only be sent in one shipment when everything is ready. In a nutshell:
If you have purchased Waves 1, 2 and 3, whatever is available will be shipped in each wave, with wave 3 waiting until everything's finally ready.
If you have purchased Waves 1 and 2, whatever is available in Wave 1 will be shipped in June, with everything else waiting until it's all finally ready.
If you've only purchased Wave 1, your orders will be shipped when everything in your orders is ready.
There's still time for you to change this by ordering more shipment waves of course - feel free to do so, but as soon as Wave 1 is complete, that shipment item will be removed from the webstore. so you'd best be quick!
Please be patient!
We would ask you all to be patient with both ourselves and our artists; sculptors live in the real world and real world problems often impinge upon their time, so please bear in mind that they are working as fast as they possibly can on our miniatures and giving us their full attention. We do not want to rush sculptors for the simple reason that rushed work is often poor work!
Here's the big list of who's sculpting what and when for Darklands: First Edition! Please bear in mind that this list may change over time, so don't take it as set in stone until the first work in progress shots appear.
Michael Anderson: Michael, a new sculptor for us, will sculpt Rick Boer's Descendant, Rikkard, later on in the year.
Stéphane Camosseto: Stéphane will sculpt Eadric on horse next. He has also now taken on Hrōr, so that he matches the Werwulfas unlocked as part of Darklands: First Edition II.
Allan Carrasco: There's just Cnebba for Allan, later on in the year.
Roberto Chaudon: Praach is complete, and that concludes Roberto's work for us on this project!
Benoît Cosse: Baagath's Herd is complete, and that concludes Benoît's work for us on this project!
Jacques-Alexandre Gillois: Equitus Durio on foot and Equitus Durio on horse will be sculpted over the summer.
Yannick Hennebo: Yannick has now completed Agathae and agreed to sculpt Mananaan on horse for us, and he's next, as Pedro cannot sculpt this now.
Hector Moran: he has begun digitally sculpting Con I Modius, Legionary Contubernium with Gellius being the first example.
Juan Navarro Pérez: Juan has completed work on Caedoc and then it's Urien on horse and Carys. Juan has also agreed to sculpt Tomas Johansson's Geat Warrior, Trytheorn, although he's not sure when that will occur.
Stéphane Simon: Work is progressing on Crom on horse and after him its the Holumenn Unit and the Gesíth Unit.
Unknown: Maximus, Maximilian Schüte's Germanic Berserker (due to be drawn by Danny Cruz). We should have artwork for Maximus soon.
Not too many sculpts to go now!
We thought this would be a good idea, as things are cracking on - a list of completed sculpts, in kindred order! Completed sculpts are in bold; in progress sculpts are in italics.
ALBAINN: Dúngal on foot - Dúngal on horse - Ciniod - Itaina - Domnech - Bagseg
ANGELCYNN: Eadric on foot - Eadric on horse - Timoth - Aldhelm - Hrōr - Leofwen on foot - Gesith Unit - Cnebba - Broga
BRYTHONIAID: Urien on foot - Urien on horse - Carys - Caedoc - Ffion Ferddig - Angedern - Mag ap Mag
BYZANTII: Equitus Durio on foot - Equitus Durio on horse - Erebius - Agathae - Velchior - Djiuzu - Con I Modius (Modius - Gellius - Tiberius - Livia - Severa)
FOMORAIC: Mananaan on foot - Mananaan on horse - Idruaada - Daarkan - Naraa - Gaarwäg - Baagath's Herd (Baagath - Blaart - Chuwaa - Ungaa - Rapraag) - Praach
INFERNII: Scecchus
KHTHONES: Xontór - Thelliatiss - Dawn of Khthon (Myrinna - Syntyss - Thillia - Phyllidii - Elthissi) - Thoth - Hanokh - Ágriosávra- Eikovra - Myrkranio
NORSE: Knútr on foot - Knútr on horse - Birna - Víthar - Rollo Iron Head - Jörmungand - Hrafnen Crew - Mälmord
YSIANS: Crom on foot - Crom on horse - Annik - Zethag - Gondard (Gondard - Ekk) - Brugg - Seza
SELL-SWORDS: Uhtred Uhtredson - Finnan - Danilo Cruz
DESCENDANTS: Ieuan Longshore and Taranau - Trytheorn - Rikkard - Maximus
Let us know if we've missed anything!
A few more angles of some of these pics in the actual updates...
But as usual, some FANTASTIC miniatures and paint-jobs!
Praach is awesome. Roberto Chaudon continues to sculpt as blazing speed (he must be doing this full-time, and perhaps only for Mierce at the moment?). My only question is, I haven't see the art- is his torso supposed to be less long-haired than the head/legs?
They haven't listed completed sculpts by wave before have they? That's impressive that Wave 1 and 2 are both complete already. Combine those with the KS3 existing miniature pledges and Mierce must be casting at near capacity for months on end to keep up with these orders and meet deadlines, which can only be a good thing for the health of Mierce longterm.
Had an email from Mierce to say that there was stuff ready to ship but I hadn't paid for wave shipping (as I hadn't realised I'd only paid for wave shipping of 2.5 miniatures), which I promptly fixed and there are now two packages on their way to me.
How was the casting quality for you guys? Mine had a lot of flash and some warping... not unheard of for resin by any means, but the forgeworld casts I've received were actually better than Mierce's... I was a bit surprised by this. Not sure if it's just because the models I got were so finely featured (the three agriosavra type models).
If by flash you mean the papery thin stuff that comes off when you rub your thumb over it, yes you can see a fair bit of this on some minis but certainy not all,
but (in my experience) nothing that is in any way difficult to get rid of
as to warping only very rarely on some weapon shafts (which responded well to a dip in a cup of boiled water followed by cold water)
If you've got anything warped beyond the easy hot water fix just get in touch with Mierce and they're replace it for you
RiTides wrote: How was the casting quality for you guys? Mine had a lot of flash and some warping... not unheard of for resin by any means, but the forgeworld casts I've received were actually better than Mierce's... I was a bit surprised by this. Not sure if it's just because the models I got were so finely featured (the three agriosavra type models).
Maybe it's common to that model, my 3 at a very quick glance looked to have a lot of flash, albeit that thin, filmy type.
I had 60 models arrive in wave 1 and the only pieces that have jumped out as issues are Scecchus' Poleaxe and maybe one or two other similar weapons like on the Brutes.
Mine are all good, some minor cleanup here and there but that's to be expected. Anything that you're unhappy with, get in touch with Mierce. Chances are they're burning through quite a few molds with the amount of miniatures they're making.
RiTides wrote: How was the casting quality for you guys? Mine had a lot of flash and some warping... not unheard of for resin by any means, but the forgeworld casts I've received were actually better than Mierce's... I was a bit surprised by this. Not sure if it's just because the models I got were so finely featured (the three agriosavra type models).
Not to be a bother, but have you gotten a pic or two of those yet? even if just parts - the wait is killing me
I've experienced that it depends on what kind of bits are being cast, some are worse than others (in particular those that have lots of tiny bits on them), but like the rest have mentioned, very thin and lets lose usually by just looking at it. Warping, a little bit, usually on something thinner, but in general nothing major at all. I'm yet to be disappointed by Mierce's casting.
From past experience, the worst I've seen for the thin flash are the bow and ax drunes. But that's likely due to the number of casts that they've produced than anything else. By comparison, most of the KS2 wave one figures were pretty clean when I received them.
The first 'badly' warped piece I've received was just recently - Broga's weapon haft (held two-handed, with his hands spaced rather far apart) is going to need some work.
I'm planning on giving it the 'hot water' treatment soon to see if I can fix it...
Aug 1 2014
Sculpts, Painteds, Ancestors and Wave 1 closes on Monday!
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Mierceday is here, and that means Miercestuff!
This week we have sculpts, painteds, ancestors, fulfilment news and some other stuff... so that's:
sculpt work in progress updates from Roberto Chaudon and Stéphane Simon;
images of painted miniatures from Sébastien Picque and Martin Grandbarbe;
the lovely Ancestor Maximus, whom Max Schüte is a descendant of;
news of Wave 1 fulfilment, and that Wave 1 items will be removed from the webstore on Monday;
a list of what miniatures are currently being sent in Wave 1, a final list of what miniatures will be sent in Wave 2 and what will hopefully be sent in Wave 3;
updated lists of sculptors and sculpts;
current QuickStarter Rules, Muster Rules and Kindred Musters;
what else you can expect from us over the next few months.
Here we go...
There's not much in the way of sculpt works in progress, but what we do have is excellent - the final cuts of Praach from Roberto Chaudon and the progress of Crom on Horse from Stéphane Simon!
Pr-a-a-ch is now complete and cut by the quite hairy Roberto Chaudon! As always with Roberto's work, there's a lot of components...
We will have Praach in our hands shortly, which means he'll be a Wave 2 fella!
The less hairy Stéphane Simon has shown us that Crom of Carn Wrach on Horse is going to look fantastic...
Crom on Horse is now a Wave 3 shipment of course.
Even though the miniatures from Darklands: a World of War have not all been painted yet, we've decided to get miniatures from this project painted - simply because we are determined to release miniatures with painted images of them in the not-too-distant future (we're looking at you, September). They just look so much better!
Thus, both Sébastien Picque and Martin Grandbarbe are hard at work, painting miniatures from Wave 1, and with predictably superb results... this week we have work from Séb and Martin!
The somewhat hairy Martin Grandbarbe has exercised his superb painting skill on Erebius, our Demiurion of the Byzantii, and he's provided a paintjob with excellent blending from demon to human and back again.
Erebius is on a 40mm base, and looks very nice indeed!
Ágriosávra is the very first of the Sávres to be painted and so it is important to get him right. We think Sébastien Picque, who isn't very hairy, has done just that - and with his colour scheme based on the Komodo Dragon (sans dust and sand, which tends to make them look beige) he looks suitably non-human!
Ágriosávra is on a 40mm base.
The next painted images from Sébastien Picque will be either Idruaada or Scecchus...
Martin is an expert at painting our Ysians now, of course, and he's applied all that skill to Crom on Foot who is just superb. A fitting general for your Ysians!
Next up for Martin Grandbarbe is Dúngal on Foot and Ffion Ferddig!
This week we have another of Darklands: First Edition's ancestors... Maximus of the Kerusker!
Max Schüte hails from Germany and is, like our other descendants, a prolific supporter of Mierce Miniatures and our Kickstarter projects, and he's joined John Longshore, Tomas Johansson and Rick Boer in becoming a descendant of a Darklands character.
From the very start, Max was very clear in what he wanted - a Germanic berserker of the Kerus, a barbarian tribe of Germany that is well-known to have been a thorn in the Romans' side for many years until the fall of the Roman Empire in the west. In Darklands, of course, the Byzantii are re-conquering the western empire, and this ensures they clash again with their old enemies the Kerusker. Here's a bit of background to Max's ancestor...
Maximus of the Kerusker, whilst now being that thorn in the side of the Byzantii, was raised amongst them: the high-born son of a Kerusker noble, Maximus was given to the Byzantii as a child by his father to become a hostage, the better to ensure the allegiance of his particular Kerus tribe, many of whom fight as foederati amongst the Byzantii. However, Maximus was always a little wild and whilst he initially enjoyed his life amongst the civilised, becoming a warrior of some renown, he eventually came to hate his masters as he realised how depraved they actually were - and escaped to Kerusland, where he found depravity and devil worship. Claiming the demon axe Skōhsla from his father and, with its power, slaying him, he escaped the Kerusker and wandered, becoming a berserker for hire amongst the many hosts that could use his skills...
Artwork by Danny Cruz
Max was very happy to have Danny Cruz draw up his ancestor and we think Danny has done a superb job, as always!
Maximus, as you can see, is a classic Germanic berserker, wearing the bear shirt and looking very wild indeed with those skull trophies. However, there are elements of his Byzantii upbringing, such as the segmentata armour on his shoulders, but that demon-axe looks very nasty indeed.
Sculptor as yet unidentified
Whilst we haven't yet organised a sculptor, we can unveil that he'll be around 30-32mm in height (Max Schüte himself is a big guy, well over six foot tall!) and will stand on a 30mm base.
How can I purchase Maximus?
Maximus will be available to purchase from our webstore later on today, in the Darklands: First Edition category, at the special Kickstarter price of £10.00.
Who were the Kerusker?
The Kerus, as we call them, were a Germanic tribe well-known in Roman times as the Cheruscii and whilst they disappeared from history under that name before 650 AD - they were said to have been absorbed by the Allemanni and the Franks - there is no reason why a small tribe of the German forests would still call themselves the Kerus.
We have awesome news: initial Wave 1 shipments are complete!
There are still a few Wave 1 orders to go, brought about by those backers adding more shipment wave items, so we think that Wave 1 shipping will be totally complete by the end of next week.
After that, we can start casting Wave 2 items, and should be able to get the first Wave 2 shipments out of the door in August (probably the end of August, mind).
Where's My Wave 1 Stuff?
As always, please don't be upset if your orders have not yet been shipped, even if your order is currently in "packing" - please be patient while the boys get your miniatures cast and sent.
Now, if you believe you have an old Wave 1 order that hasn't yet been shipped and are wondering why, many orders only have one shipment wave item and thus will only be shipped when everything in those orders is ready. You can mitigate against this by purchasing a Wave 2 or Wave 3 shipment item, of course - so the power's in your hands!
Due to popular demand we've decided to give you all a chance to get your hands on the miniatures you didn't order from Wave 1!
Grab some Wave 1 items now!
The following items are back on the website:
ALBAINN: Dúngal on foot - Dúngal on pony - Ciniod - Itaina - Domnech - Bagseg
ANGELCYNN: Eadric on foot - Aldhelm - Leofwen on foot - Broga
BRYTHONIAID: Urien on foot - Ffion Ferddig - Angedern - Mag ap Mag - Ieuan Longshore and Taranau
BYZANTII: Erebius
FOMORAIC: Mananaan on foot - Idruaada - Daarkan - Naraa - Gaarwäg
INFERNII: Scecchus
KHTHONES: Thelliatiss- Ágriosávra- Eikovra - Myrkranio
NORSE: Knútr on foot - Knútr on horse - Birna - Víthar - Rollo Iron Head - Jörmungand
YSIANS: Crom on foot - Annik - Zethag - Gondard (Gondard - Ekk) - Brugg
SELL-SWORDS: Uhtred Uhtredson - Finnan - Danilo Cruz
You will only see these items in the webstore if you have backed this project, of course.
Wave 1 Shipping
If you've already received your Wave 1 stuff and fancy grabbing a few more bits before they're released at full price, then feel free to do so - but you have two shipment choices: you can either purchase another Wave 1 shipment item or wait until your next shipment (Wave 2 or 3) comes around.
You've got until August the 4th now!
We've put back the cut-off point until Monday night now, so remember, these Wave 1 items are only making an appearance until Monday, August the 4th at midnight (GMT).
You won't be able to purchase these Wave 1 items again until they are released to the general public, and depending on the miniature involved, that could be for a long while yet...! Plus, they'll be at full price of course.
What are you waiting for? Grab those Wave 1 items now!
We've now decided on what miniatures will be shipped in Wave 2, so here's an up to date list of what we think will be shipped when.
Unfortunately many hopeful Wave 2 items have had to be put back to Wave 3, for many different reasons; we do apologise for this, but sculptors do live in the real world and they do have real life issues that impinge upon their time. Even so, we think they've done awesome so far!
We'll keep this list updated every Friday.
SHIPMENT WAVE 0: complete for this project.
SHIPMENT WAVE 1 (beginning end of June): Dúngal on foot - Dúngal on pony - Ciniod - Itaina - Domnech - Bagseg - Eadric on foot - Aldhelm - Leofwen on foot - Broga - Urien on foot - Ffion Ferddig - Angedern - Mag ap Mag - Ieuan Longshore and Taranau - Erebius - Mananaan on foot - Idruaada - Daarkan - Naraa - Gaarwäg- Scecchus - Thelliatiss- Ágriosávra- Eikovra - Myrkranio - Knútr on foot - Knútr on horse - Birna - Víthar - Rollo Iron Head - Jörmungand - Crom on foot - Annik - Zethag - Gondard (Gondard - Ekk) - Brugg - Uhtred Uhtredson - Finnan - Danilo Cruz
SHIPMENT WAVE 2 (beginning August): Timoth - Caedoc - Agathae - Velchior - Djiuzu - Baagath's Herd (Baagath - Blaart - Chuwaa - Ungaa - Rapraag) - Praach - Xontór - Thoth - Hanokh - Dawn of Khthon (Myrinna - Syntyss - Thillia - Phyllidii - Elthissi) - Mälmord - Seza
SHIPMENT WAVE 3 (beginning October): Eadric on horse - Cnebba - Gesith Unit - Hrōr - Urien on horse - Carys - Equitus Durio on foot - Equitus Durio on horse - Con I Modius (Modius - Gellius - Tiberius - Livia - Severa) - Mananaan on horse - Hrafnen Crew - Crom on horse - Trytheorn - Rikkard - Maximus
Items in bold will DEFINITELY be sent in that wave as we have the sculpt; items in italics are in progress and should make it into that wave, but we don't yet have the sculpt.
Have I ordered the right Waves?
Fairly obviously (and to remind you all that we won't split orders unless you've purchased more than one shipment wave) if you've only purchased one Shipment Wave item, your items will only be sent in one shipment when everything is ready. In a nutshell:
If you have purchased Waves 1, 2 and 3, whatever is available will be shipped in each wave, with wave 3 waiting until everything's finally ready.
If you have purchased Waves 1 and 2, whatever is available in Wave 1 will be shipped in June, with everything else waiting until it's all finally ready.
If you've only purchased Wave 1, your orders will be shipped when everything in your orders is ready.
There's still time for you to change this by ordering more shipment waves of course - feel free to do so, but as soon as Wave 1 is complete, that shipment item will be removed from the webstore. so you'd best be quick!
Please be patient!
We would ask you all to be patient with both ourselves and our artists; sculptors live in the real world and real world problems often impinge upon their time, so please bear in mind that they are working as fast as they possibly can on our miniatures and giving us their full attention. We do not want to rush sculptors for the simple reason that rushed work is often poor work!
Here's the big list of who's sculpting what and when for Darklands: First Edition! Please bear in mind that this list may change over time, so don't take it as set in stone until the first work in progress shots appear.
Michael Anderson: Michael, a new sculptor for us, will sculpt Rick Boer's Descendant, Rikkard, later on in the year.
Stéphane Camosseto: Stéphane will sculpt Eadric on horse next. He has also now taken on Hrōr, so that he matches the Werwulfas unlocked as part of Darklands: First Edition II.
Allan Carrasco: There's just Cnebba for Allan, later on in the year.
Roberto Chaudon: Praach is complete, and that concludes Roberto's work for us on this project!
Benoît Cosse: Baagath's Herd is complete, and that concludes Benoît's work for us on this project!
Jacques-Alexandre Gillois: Equitus Durio on foot and Equitus Durio on horse will be sculpted over the summer.
Yannick Hennebo: Yannick has now completed Agathae and agreed to sculpt Mananaan on horse for us, and he's next, as Pedro cannot sculpt this now.
Hector Moran: he has begun digitally sculpting Con I Modius, Legionary Contubernium with Gellius being the first example.
Juan Navarro Pérez: Juan is sculpting Urien on horse and Carys next. Juan has also agreed to sculpt Tomas Johansson's Geat Warrior, Trytheorn, although he's not sure when that will occur.
Stéphane Simon: Work is progressing on Crom on horse and after him its the Holumenn Unit and the Gesíth Unit.
Unknown: Maximus, Maximilian Schüte's Germanic Berserker (due to be drawn by Danny Cruz).
Not too many sculpts to go now!
We thought this would be a good idea, as things are cracking on - a list of completed sculpts, in kindred order! Completed sculpts are in bold; in progress sculpts are in italics.
ALBAINN: Dúngal on foot - Dúngal on horse - Ciniod - Itaina - Domnech - Bagseg
ANGELCYNN: Eadric on foot - Eadric on horse - Timoth - Aldhelm - Hrōr - Leofwen on foot - Gesith Unit - Cnebba - Broga
BRYTHONIAID: Urien on foot - Urien on horse - Carys - Caedoc - Ffion Ferddig - Angedern - Mag ap Mag
BYZANTII: Equitus Durio on foot - Equitus Durio on horse - Erebius - Agathae - Velchior - Djiuzu - Con I Modius (Modius - Gellius - Tiberius - Livia - Severa)
FOMORAIC: Mananaan on foot - Mananaan on horse - Idruaada - Daarkan - Naraa - Gaarwäg - Baagath's Herd (Baagath - Blaart - Chuwaa - Ungaa - Rapraag) - Praach
INFERNII: Scecchus
KHTHONES: Xontór - Thelliatiss - Dawn of Khthon (Myrinna - Syntyss - Thillia - Phyllidii - Elthissi) - Thoth - Hanokh - Ágriosávra- Eikovra - Myrkranio
NORSE: Knútr on foot - Knútr on horse - Birna - Víthar - Rollo Iron Head - Jörmungand - Hrafnen Crew - Mälmord
YSIANS: Crom on foot - Crom on horse - Annik - Zethag - Gondard (Gondard - Ekk) - Brugg - Seza
SELL-SWORDS: Uhtred Uhtredson - Finnan - Danilo Cruz
DESCENDANTS: Ieuan Longshore and Taranau - Trytheorn - Rikkard - Maximus
Once again it's Mierceday, and update time! This week we have:
sculpt work in progress updates from Olivier Bouchet and Andrew Speirs;
a list of sculptors and sculpts for this project;
the current QuickStarter Rules, Muster Rules and Kindred Musters;
what you can expect from us over the next few months.
Let's begin!
This week we have more work on the Oghu Guardians from Olivier Bouchet and more work on the Armoured Trolls from Andrew Speirs...
The behaired Olivier Bouchet is working hard on the Oghu Guardians from the art by Thomas Mahon...
Grubog, the Oghur Rhud, is now complete!
Grubog will be on a 60mm base and is a big 'un.
Skrugadd is the next Oghur to be sculpted and Olivier's doing a grand job already!
Olivier's speed should ensure that the Oghu Guardians will be a Wave 4 shipment.
Andy Speirs is continuing his work on the Armoured Trolls, with Vörtun, Gjöll and Unnolg nearing completion...
Armoured Vörtun is complete, and he looks brutal!
rmoured Vörtun will be a Wave 4 shipment of course.
Armoured Unnolg is coming along, as you can see!
We do think that Andy will get these guys done in time for Wave 4...
There's a bit of a wait until Wave 4 begins, but there's plenty of items going out in Waves 1, 2 and 3 (for items from Darklands: First Edition) right now and later on this year.
Wave 1 shipments are almost complete and we'll be continuing to ship Wave 1 orders for a week or so, and then it's on to Wave 2. If you backed Darklands: First Edition, please don't be upset if your orders have not yet been shipped, even if your order is currently in "packing" - please be patient while the boys get your miniatures cast and sent.
Bear in mind, too, that shipments will continue further through July and probably into August, and as always we will prioritise orders in date order - i.e., if you ordered early, you'll get your stuff sent early.
Here's the big list of who's sculpting what and when for Darklands: First Edition II! Please bear in mind that this list may change over time, so don't take it as set in stone until the first work in progress shots appear.
Olivier Bouchet: Olivier has begun work on the Oghu Guardians, Oghur Unit and the Abhorrents of Ys, Abhorrent Unit will be next.
Stéphane Camosseto: Stéphane has taken on Eoric's Pack, Werwulf Unit as well as Armoured Hrōr for us.
Allan Carrasco: Allan will be sculpting Ravener Birna and Thórrir.
Roberto Chaudon: Thanks to Roberto being so awesome, we've loaded him up with the Craven Fiends of Dis, Fiend Unit, the Corpse Takers, Hrafnmann Unit, Enslaved Ágriosávra, Khallas, Parawn, Hrókr and Geraint Nerthol on Ceffyldraig. We've also taken Srók from Benoît Cosse to give to Roberto, too!
Thomas David: Thomas has confirmed that he will sculpt the alternate Sweordsman Timoth.
Benoît Cosse: we've given Benoît the remainder of the Slaughterers, Krokodar Unit, Brunchaath on Gooracx and the Young Magágg and Umaer Drast alternates.
Yannick Fusier: thanks to his awesome work on Bagseg, we've given Yannick the Oghu Keepers, Oghurithne Unit - and he's already begun work on them!
Christian Hardy: We have now given Rēoc's Pack to Christian!
Yannick Hennebo: the alternate Feral Agathae is now complete, and that concludes Yannick's work for us on this project.
Patrick Masson: Patrick will be sculpting Uhtred on Horse, to match his foot version.
Hector Moran: excitingly, Hector will be digitally sculpting In III Judas, Demilegionary Incaendium and Quintus Crito.
Stéphane NGuyen: Stéphane will sculpt Akkaz and Tykho!
Olivier Nkweti: Olivier has begun work on the The Eye Ascendant, Warriors of Baalor Unit, and after those he will be digitally sculpting the Warriors of Dyngonwy, Rhyfelwyr Unit, and the Spears of Dun Durn, Gairlom Unit. In total, four units for Olivier, but such is his work rate and professionalism, we think that's no trouble for him.
Juan Navarro Pérez: Juan will be sculpting the alternates Tonsured Caedoc and Forwyn Carys from this project.
Stéphane Simon: the Shadows of Carn Bran, Shadow-Drune Unit and Ax-Crom - as well as Yrag, Bil and Ekk's Heap - are the sum of Stéphane's work for this project.
Andy Speirs: one of our regular backers and a good friend, Andy will be converting the Trolls to become Armoured Trolls, and work has already begun on them.
Ernst Veingart: the sculptor of Mjagnir, Ernst has begun sculpting a "miniature" that will dwarf Mjagnir the Jötunn - Gomagg, the Albainn Giant!
Unknown: we don't yet have a sculptor confirmed for Max Schüte's second Descendant, but we hope to confirm him (and have artwork for it) soon.
Tons of sculpts!
We thought this would be a good idea, as things are cracking on - a list of completed sculpts, in kindred order! Completed sculpts are in bold; in progress sculpts are in italics.
ALBAINN: Oghu Guardians (Grubog - Pabogg - Drudd - Skrugadd - Undagg) - Skyclad Ciniod - Oghu Keepers (Brugbad - Dungabad - Lobeg - Bogad - Rubeg) - Skyclad Itaina - Spears of Dun Durn - Umaer Drast - Gromi (Gromi - Gromi with two cleavers - Armoured Gromi with two cleavers) - Young Magágg - Gomagg
ANGELCYNN: Armoured Hrōr - Eoric's Pack - Sweordsman Timoth - Cæna - Rēoc's Pack
BRYTHONIAID: Geraint on Ceffyldraig - Loyal Guard, Teulu Unit (Cynog - Lleu Gryf - Gerallt - Dafydd - Emyr) - Tonsured Caedoc - Warriors of Dyngonwy, Rhyfelwyr Unit - Forwyn Carys - Parawn
BYZANTII: Quintus Crito - In III Judas - Feral Agathae - Tykho
FOMORAIC: Brunchaath on Gooracx - The Eye Ascendant (Aanan - Ulaan - Lungaarn - Coraat - Paraa) - Helmed Naraa - Marked Galagaak
INFERNII: Craven Fiends of Dis
KHTHONES: Srók - Slaughterers - Enslaved Ágriosávra - Khallas
NORSE: Thórrir - Corpse Takers - Ravener Birna - Trolls of Töheim, Armoured Troll Unit (Vörtun, Gjöll, Unnolg, Gurrir, Nisurl) - Hrókr
VRAS: Kill-Head Flint-Fang
YSIANS: Abhorrents of Ys - Ax-Crom - Flesh-Scavengers (Gondard - Ekk - Yrag - Bil - Flesh-Pile) - Shadows of Carn Bran - Akkaz
SELL-SWORDS: Uhtred on Horse, Sáthach
DESCENDANTS: Max Schüte's second Descendant
Let us know if we've missed anything!
and from the Monstrous Mounts KS:
Update #15
Aug 1 2014
Quadruples and Existing Miniatures categories close on Monday!
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That's right - it's now the end of July, and thus the Quadruple rewards and the Existing Miniatures category will be closed on Monday the 4th of August at midnight (GMT)!
In a nutshell:
The QUADRUPLE MONSTROUS MOUNTS and the QUADRUPLE MONSTROUS BEASTS reward items will be removed from the Mierce Miniatures website at midnight (GMT) on the 4th of August
The Existing Miniatures category will be removed from the Mierce Miniatures website at midnight (GMT) on the 4th of August
In other words, get your skates on if you want any any more Quadruples or existing miniatures at a discount!
Will you ever offer such an awesome deal again?
Nope - so purchase your quadruples now!
How long do I get to purchase more Darklands: Monstrous Mounts items?
You have until these items begin to ship to purchase more Darklands: Monstrous Mounts stuff - thus, you have until February 2015 for most things from this project, and April 2015 for those that ship later!
When will you ship existing items?
Due to various pressures, not least of which Darklands: First Edition and staff holidays (it is August!), miniatures purchased from the Existing Items category will not ship until later on in August, and this is likely to continue into September.
RiTides wrote: Painted Agriosavra, sweet! I do have mine out to take a pic of the parts this weekend, Bolognesus
...about that, guess what just hit my doorstep Lovely minis, those savras, that's for sure! Thanks for taking the time anyway, though, much appreciated!
Oh man, sorry about that Bolognesus . Glad you got yours, maybe you can get up some good pics of them, then . How were the casts on yours?
Also, I just got my shipping notice for the below from the Warstore . They have a crazy good discount on Mierce stuff, imo (unlike CMON, who also carries some) but they have hardly anything in stock (just a few items). But I am very happy to have snagged the Kaairioc-cro, Sea Devil for $66:
The QuickStarter Rules are Printed... and news of KS3!
In this, the first update on Darklands: a World of War for a month, we have some excellent news and some superb paintjobs... plus news of our next Kickstarter project!
This week we have: news of the printing of the QuickStarter Rules, and when they'll be shipped to you images of painted miniatures from Sébastien Picque; news of our forthcoming Kickstarter project, Darklands: New Kindreds (provisional name) downloads for the current QuickStarter Rules, Muster Rules and Kindred Musters; what else you can expect from us over the next few months.
Brace yourselves...
Huzzah! The Darklands QuickStarter Rules have now been printed at A5 size and should arrive at Mierce Towers next week. It's been a long, long wait but they're finally coming! Huzzah again!
Have a look at what's coming to your mailbox very soon:
We should be able to send the QuickStarter rules at the back end of next week, but we'll keep you all informed of course. You can download the full QuickStarter Rules below, of course!
Painted Miniatures
We're slowly painting up all of the miniatures from Darklands: a World of War, and whilst we're prioritising painting the new releases to come from Darklands: First Edition we can still get a few done from here over time.
Thus, both Sébastien Picque and Martin Grandbarbe are hard at work, painting miniatures from this project, although we only have some from Séb to show this week...
Aalvór
We've always thought that Aalvór is a cracking little miniature, and Sébastien Picque seems to agree because he has taken Benoît Cosse's sculpt to another level. What a lovely Mallax!
Poor little piggy! Aalvór is on a 50mm base.
Maallolvór
Another cracking sculpt by Benoît Cosse, Maallolvór is Aalvór's big brother and a mighty sloth-beast who could probably disembowel you before you knew it. Painted superbly by Sébastien Picque, of course!
Maallolvór stands on a 100mm base.
Fulfilment
With the shipping of the QuickStarter Rules beginning in a few days' time, that pretty much concludes the Darklands: a World of War kickstarter project, which is officially an Awesome Thing - although it's also slightly sad, because it's been a fantastic experience for us and, we hope, for you guys.
We do hope that this project has, at the very least, met your expectations, if not blown you away with the quality of our miniatures, customer service and the rules themselves.
None of the awesome miniatures we have produced, nor the QuickStarter Rules, could have existed without you guys, all of you that backed this project in early 2013. So it has to be said - THANK YOU to each and every one of you, because without you, it's very doubtful Darklands and Mierce Miniatures would be where we are today.
That's why you're mentioned on the inside back cover of the Darklands QuickStarter Rulebook, so look out for that when you get your copy!
What happens with this project?
As long as Kickstarter lives this project will serve to inform everybody about what this project did and what was produced, of course, but even though - once the QuickStarter rules are shipped - there won't be anything to fulfil, we'll still update this project now and again with images of painted miniatures, or perhaps news about Mierce Miniatures and upcoming projects. So there'll still be a reason to visit!
Darklands is a tabletop skirmish wargame in which you command the hosts of man and beast that your ancestors once did for glory, power or simple survival!
To play Darklands with our fantastic range of miniatures, you need rules of course - and whilst the full Darklands: First Edition rulebook is not yet available until later on in 2014, you can still play the game with our Darklands QuickStarter Rules, which you can download right here!
As well as the QuickStarter Rules, you'll also need the Muster Rules (which show you how to build a host) and the various Kindred Musters (which give you all the warrior profiles for every single miniature we have produced or will produce).
The time has come to talk to you about our next Kickstarter project, provisionally entitled "Darklands: New Kindreds", or KS3 as it is more popularly known amongst backers (which is a bit of a misnomer as it would be our fifth project, but that's by the by).
The provisional start date of this project will be Monday the 15th of September and it should end a month later on Monday the 13th of October. We reckon that's twenty-eight days, which is plenty of time to run a project of this size.
So what's Darklands: New Kindreds all about?
Well, as it says in the title, it's about bringing new kindreds to the world of Darklands!
This project has been mooted for a long while simply because Darklands has ten main kindreds, two of which - the Atalantes and Érainn - have not yet been explored, even though there's lots of interest in them.
You see, in Darklands: a World of War we decided to concentrate on six kindreds (Angelcynn, Brythoniaid, Fomoraic, Khthones, Norse and Ysians) and then added another two kindreds with the Darklands: First Edition project (the Albainn and Byzantii) - which leaves the Atalantes and Érainn rather by the wayside. Now's the time to redress that!
Who are the Atalantes?
The Atalantes are a decadent, somewhat depraved civilisation that live upon the crumbling islands of Atalantia in the Atlantic Ocean - what we now call Atlantis. Their society and their home is dying, but they cling to the ancient rocks even as they are assaulted by their former progeny and slaves, the Khthones - although many believe they should take to the seas and relocate to the Lands of Darkness to the east, which inevitably causes conflict with those that already live there.
In Darklands, the ancient Greeks were descended from the Atalantes, and so their look and feel will be very similar to those who know what a Hoplite looks like - but through their use of arcane technology, constructs of bronze (such as Talos) and ruthless slavery they will also have a very different feel.
Who are the Érainn?
The Érainn are, put very simply, the dark age Irish. Their society is mostly Christian but fairly barbaric, and as they are assaulted by the Fomoraic and the Norse and the Atalantes and many others, they are becoming more and more martial and turning to the old ways of Danu the Earth Goddess.
Thus, Irish warrior-bands like those of old now defend the north of Eriu against the threat of the sea devils and raiders from elsewhere, and Danu herself lends aid to her people through the beasts of the bog, peat and marsh - terrifying creatures with an implacable hatred of all that destroy the natural world. With those at their side, the Érainn might - just - be able to survive this age of darkness.
How will the project work?
We can't say too much about the project right now simply because not everything has been nailed down, but we can say that the main rewards will be based around Starter Sets, rather like Darklands: a World of War.
There will be at least two Starter Sets for each of the new kindreds - one that contains infantry, and one monstrous infantry - as well as options to include generals, commanders, sorcerers, monstrous beasts and much else besides. They'll also include dice and tokens as required, to get you started immediately.
What about the other Kindreds?
We haven't forgotten those!
There'll be Starter Sets for each of the other kindreds, and although we won't go into specifics right now we can tell you that there'll be new warriors and alternates for them all. So whilst the project is designed to fund the creation of new kindreds, if you like the others there'll be plenty for you to fund!
What about a Sneak Peek?
Absolutely... here's something to whet your appetite!
That's it for this week! We hope to bring you news of the QuickStarter Rules shipping next time, and more on the upcoming Darklands: New Kindreds project...
I'm looking forward to it as its been nice getting big boxes of stuff at random times, but wish it ran till the end of October, hopefully you'll be able to top it up and still get all the discounts for then.
The Atalantes are a decadent, somewhat depraved civilisation that live upon the crumbling islands of Atalantia in the Atlantic Ocean - what we now call Atlantis. Their society and their home is dying, but they cling to the ancient rocks even as they are assaulted by their former progeny and slaves, the Khthones - although many believe they should take to the seas and relocate to the Lands of Darkness to the east, which inevitably causes conflict with those that already live there.
In Darklands, the ancient Greeks were descended from the Atalantes, and so their look and feel will be very similar to those who know what a Hoplite looks like - but through their use of arcane technology, constructs of bronze (such as Talos) and ruthless slavery they will also have a very different feel.
That sounds quite interesting! I'll definitely be watching it. Right now I have no plans to pledge, unless they make another small pledge option available... also curious if, if the lead times are rather long, if it's possible to not pay extra shipping and just have it shipped along with the monstrous mounts items next year.
But for now, I'll most likely just be watching... but a better way to combine pledges shipping would be nice for those who are spread across multiple campaigns, I have no idea how you guys track all of it who have been in for each one.
I don't think you'd be able to get free shipping for KS3(5) by getting stuff added on to any of the existing stuff you've got on order
as new stuff means added weight and bigger boxes which means more cost
but I'm sure you'll be able to pay for a single 'ship it when everything is done' pledge
as I'm in the UK I just buy every shipping wave on offer as it's not too expensive as I need to have the minis as soon as possible even if they just sit waiting to be put together,
but I understand those who have to pay international shipping would find it expensive to do the same
I'd love to get all the 'individual waves' of shipping but as you noted, for Internationals, it adds up quick.
I usually get 2 though, just because!
Update #81
Aug 8 2014
Tons of Sculpts, and KS3 news!
Comment
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Phew... what a Mierceday! There's been tons of updates today, and this one is no different... and there's more work in progress images today than ever before for this project!
This week we have:
news of our forthcoming Kickstarter project, Darklands: New Kindreds (provisional name)
sculpt work in progress updates from Olivier Bouchet, Roberto Chaudon, Yannick Fusier, Andrew Speirs and Ernst Veingart;
a list of sculptors and sculpts for this project;
downloadable versions of the current QuickStarter Rules, Muster Rules and Kindred Musters;
what you can expect from us over the next few months.
Let's begin!
This week we have loads for you. As well as an update on the Oghu Keepers by Yannick Fusier, there's more work on the Oghu Guardians from Olivier Bouchet, the first images of the Craven Fiends of Dis from Roberto Chaudon, the completed Armoured Trolls from Andrew Speirs and an almost-complete Gomagg from Ernst Veingart. It doesn't get much better than this lot!
We haven't seen an update from Yannick Fusier for a while but we forgive him, because the first warrior of the Oghu Keepers is looking absolutely superb. Bagseg's got some mates now!
Sculpted by Yannick Fusier from the artwork by Sam Lamont, Rubeg is a warrior of the Oghurithne, and he is looking fantastic!
Rubeg should be completed shortly and hopefully we'll see more Oghurithne in the very near future.
From the artwork by Thomas Mahon, Olivier Bouchet is working very hard indeed on the Oghu Guardians, with both Grubog and Skrugadd complete...
Skrugadd is the next Oghur to be sculpted and Olivier's doing a grand job already!
Olivier's speed should ensure that the Oghu Guardians will be a Wave 4 shipment.
Ernst Veingart's mammoth task - to create a truly massive sculpt of Gomagg from artwork by Sam Lamont - is almost complete, and we're pretty sure he'll be breathing a sigh of relief when it's done. As well as that, though, he should also be very proud of his work... because it's simply stunning!
We do think that Gomagg will be a Wave 4 shipment as it's almost complete; there's just a few cuts to be made, and we'll have him in our hands...
Olivier Nkweti is continuing his excellent work on The Eye Ascendant, the Warriors of Baalor unit, from the artwork by Steve Pierce.
Ulaan is The Eye Ascendant's banner bearer and looks very nasty indeed. He also needs to go to the dentist...
With Lungaarn and Ulaan done, we reckon these guys should make it into Wave 4...
Following Dan Cockersell's work on the Infernii was always going to be a tough ask for anybody, but the superbly talented Roberto Chaudon has taken Dan's baton and done us all proud. Just look at the first sculpt for the Craven Fiends of Dis, from the artwork by Stefan Kopinski!
The champion of the Craven Fiends of Dis is Kaius, and he's a mean mutha and no mistake. Roberto has captured his essence perfectly!
With Roberto's speed (Kaius is complete already!), the Craven Fiends of Dis should easily make it into Wave 4!
Andy Speirs has completed work on the Armoured Trolls, with Vörtun, Gjöll and Unnolg added to the already complete Gurrir and Nisurl...
Armoured Unnolg is now complete, and looks great!
With these guys complete, they'll definitely be a Wave 4 shipment!
There's a bit of a wait until Wave 4 begins, but there's plenty of items going out in Waves 1, 2 and 3 (for items from Darklands: First Edition) right now and later on this year.
Wave 1 shipments are now complete and then it's on to Wave 2. If you backed Darklands: First Edition, please don't be upset if your orders have not yet been shipped, even if your order is currently in "packing" - please be patient while the boys get your miniatures cast and sent.
Bear in mind, too, that shipments will continue further through July and probably into August, and as always we will prioritise orders in date order - i.e., if you ordered early, you'll get your stuff sent early.
Here's the big list of who's sculpting what and when for Darklands: First Edition II! Please bear in mind that this list may change over time, so don't take it as set in stone until the first work in progress shots appear.
Olivier Bouchet: Olivier has begun work on the Oghu Guardians, Oghur Unit and the Abhorrents of Ys, Abhorrent Unit will be next.
Stéphane Camosseto: Stéphane has taken on Eoric's Pack, Werwulf Unit as well as Armoured Hrōr for us.
Allan Carrasco: Allan will be sculpting Ravener Birna and Thórrir.
Roberto Chaudon: Thanks to Roberto being so awesome, we've loaded him up with the Craven Fiends of Dis, Fiend Unit, the Corpse Takers, Hrafnmann Unit, Enslaved Ágriosávra, Khallas, Parawn, Hrókr and Geraint Nerthol on Ceffyldraig. We've also taken Srók from Benoît Cosse to give to Roberto, too!
Thomas David: Thomas has confirmed that he will sculpt the alternate Sweordsman Timoth.
Benoît Cosse: we've given Benoît the remainder of the Slaughterers, Krokodar Unit, Brunchaath on Gooracx and the Young Magágg and Umaer Drast alternates.
Yannick Fusier: thanks to his awesome work on Bagseg, we've given Yannick the Oghu Keepers, Oghurithne Unit - and he's already begun work on them!
Christian Hardy: We have now given Rēoc's Pack to Christian!
Patrick Masson: Patrick will be sculpting Uhtred on Horse, to match his foot version.
Hector Moran: excitingly, Hector will be digitally sculpting In III Judas, Demilegionary Incaendium and Quintus Crito.
Stéphane NGuyen: Stéphane will sculpt Akkaz and Tykho!
Olivier Nkweti: Olivier has begun work on the The Eye Ascendant, Warriors of Baalor Unit, and after those he will be digitally sculpting the Warriors of Dyngonwy, Rhyfelwyr Unit, and the Spears of Dun Durn, Gairlom Unit. In total, four units for Olivier, but such is his work rate and professionalism, we think that's no trouble for him.
Juan Navarro Pérez: Juan will be sculpting the alternates Tonsured Caedoc and Forwyn Carys from this project.
Stéphane Simon: the Shadows of Carn Bran, Shadow-Drune Unit and Ax-Crom - as well as Yrag, Bil and Ekk's Heap - are the sum of Stéphane's work for this project.
Andy Speirs: one of our regular backers and a good friend, Andy has now completed the Armoured Trolls, and that concludes his work for us on this project. We're very sure there'll be more from him in the future, however!
Ernst Veingart: the sculptor of Mjagnir, Ernst has almost completed a "miniature" that will dwarf Mjagnir the Jötunn - Gomagg, the Albainn Giant!
Unknown: we don't yet have a sculptor confirmed for Max Schüte's second Descendant, but we hope to confirm him (and have artwork for it) soon.
Tons of sculpts!
We thought this would be a good idea, as things are cracking on - a list of completed sculpts, in kindred order! Completed sculpts are in bold; in progress sculpts are in italics.
ALBAINN: Oghu Guardians (Grubog - Pabogg - Drudd - Skrugadd - Undagg) - Skyclad Ciniod - Oghu Keepers (Brugbad - Dungabad - Lobeg - Bogad - Rubeg) - Skyclad Itaina - Spears of Dun Durn - Umaer Drast - Gromi (Gromi - Gromi with two cleavers - Armoured Gromi with two cleavers) - Young Magágg - Gomagg
ANGELCYNN: Armoured Hrōr - Eoric's Pack - Sweordsman Timoth - Cæna - Rēoc's Pack
BRYTHONIAID: Geraint on Ceffyldraig - Loyal Guard, Teulu Unit (Cynog - Lleu Gryf - Gerallt - Dafydd - Emyr) - Tonsured Caedoc - Warriors of Dyngonwy, Rhyfelwyr Unit - Forwyn Carys - Parawn
BYZANTII: Quintus Crito - In III Judas - Feral Agathae - Tykho
FOMORAIC: Brunchaath on Gooracx - The Eye Ascendant (Aanan - Ulaan - Lungaarn - Coraat - Paraa) - Helmed Naraa - Marked Galagaak
INFERNII: Craven Fiends of Dis (Kaius - Drubal - Bacchus - Kolkhus - Luco )
KHTHONES: Srók - Slaughterers - Enslaved Ágriosávra - Khallas
NORSE: Thórrir - Corpse Takers - Ravener Birna - Trolls of Töheim, Armoured Troll Unit (Vörtun, Gjöll, Unnolg, Gurrir, Nisurl) - Hrókr
VRAS: Kill-Head Flint-Fang
YSIANS: Abhorrents of Ys - Ax-Crom - Flesh-Scavengers (Gondard - Ekk - Yrag - Bil - Flesh-Pile) - Shadows of Carn Bran - Akkaz
SELL-SWORDS: Uhtred on Horse, Sáthach
DESCENDANTS: Max Schüte's second Descendant
Let us know if we've missed anything!
What about a Sneak Peek?
Absolutely... here's something to whet your appetite, some artwork for the Érainn by Marius Bota!
and
Update #83
Aug 8 2014
Sculpts, Wave 1 and KS3
2 comments
8 likes
It's Friday! Hurrah!
This week we have sculpts, painteds, fulfilment news and KS3... so that's:
news of our forthcoming Kickstarter project, Darklands: New Kindreds (provisional name)
sculpt work in progress updates from Hector Moran and Stéphane Simon;
images of painted miniatures from Sébastien Picque and Martin Grandbarbe;
news of Wave 1 fulfilment;
a list of what miniatures will be sent in Wave 2 shortly, and what will hopefully be sent in Wave 3;
updated lists of sculptors and sculpts;
downloadable versions of the current QuickStarter Rules, Muster Rules and Kindred Musters;
what else you can expect from us over the next few months.
Here we go...
We have some lovely work from Hector Moran on the Con I Modius contubernium and there's two sets of images from Stéphane Simon, too, showing the first of the Hrafnen Crew - the champion, Vidkun the Brave - and the beautifully finished Crom on Horse!
Hector Moran has been a little quiet for a while now but he's upped the pace somewhat on Con I Modius, from the artwork by Steve Pierce!
Modius is the Contubernium's leader, its Decanus, and whilst it's just the basic human pose (think Vitruvian Man) you can see he's going to be great!
Modius will look fantastic in the flesh, we reckon...
We've seen Gellius before of course, but he's now complete!
Gellius will make it into Wave 3 with the rest of the Contubernium, we think it's safe to say.
Livia is the first of the female Legionaries, and she looks blimmin' brilliant!
We do think that Con I Modius will make it into Wave 3, with just two warriors to go.
With Crom on Horse completed, Stéphane Simon can now turn his attention to the first of the units he's sculpting, the Norse Holumenn known as Hrafnen Crew, from the artwork by Danny Cruz. These guys are going to be awesome!
Vidkun the Brave is the Holumann champion, the Kappi, and he's looking great so far!
With Stéphane Simon getting his speed mojo back, we think it's a safe bet that the Hrafnen Crew will make it into Wave 3!
The awesome Crom of Carn Wrach, War-Drune on Horse miniature is now complete, thanks to Stéphane Simon's superb efforts, and he looks brilliant. Don't be fooled, however - the horse isn't as big as Carrowek's...!
Crom on Horse is definitely a Wave 3 shipment, as we have him in our hands...
Even though the miniatures from Darklands: a World of War have not all been painted yet, we've decided to get miniatures from this project painted - simply because we are determined to release miniatures with painted images of them in the not-too-distant future (we're looking at you, September). They just look so much better!
Thus, both Sébastien Picque and Martin Grandbarbe are hard at work, painting miniatures from Wave 1, and with predictably superb results... this week we have work from both Séb and Martin!
The growly Dúngal on foot has got himself a lovely paintjob courtesy of the fantastically talented Martin Grandbarbe...
We can't wait to see how Dúngal on Pony will look painted, now!
The lovely Ffion Ferddig has a Martin Grandbarbe makeover and she is looking really, really nice! The dragon looks pretty cool, too.
Next for Martin Grandbarbe is Bagseg, Eadric on Foot, Urien on Foot, Birna and Annik...
Painted by Sébastien Picque, Idruaada gets himself the usual black and white and steel paint job for the Fomoraic, and looks all the better for it! He's got a brilliant Jon Voight-style sneer, too...
Séb's painting up some more miniatures for us, of course - there's Scecchus and Thelliatiss to come shortly, along with Belech and Vaak from Darklands: a World of War.
We have awesome news: all Wave 1 shipments will be complete by Monday!
After that, we can start casting Wave 2 items, and should be able to get the first Wave 2 shipments out of the door in August (probably the end of August, mind).
Where's My Wave 1 Stuff?
As always, please don't be upset if your orders have not yet been shipped, even if your order is currently in "packing" - please be patient while the boys get your miniatures cast and sent.
Now, if you believe you have an old Wave 1 order that hasn't yet been shipped and are wondering why, many orders only have one shipment wave item and thus will only be shipped when everything in those orders is ready. You can mitigate against this by purchasing a Wave 2 or Wave 3 shipment item, of course - so the power's in your hands!
We've now decided on what miniatures will be shipped in Wave 2, so here's an up to date list of what we think will be shipped when.
Unfortunately many hopeful Wave 2 items have had to be put back to Wave 3, for many different reasons; we do apologise for this, but sculptors do live in the real world and they do have real life issues that impinge upon their time. Even so, we think they've done awesome so far!
We'll keep this list updated every Friday.
SHIPMENT WAVE 0: complete for this project.
SHIPMENT WAVE 1 (beginning end of June): Dúngal on foot - Dúngal on pony - Ciniod - Itaina - Domnech - Bagseg - Eadric on foot - Aldhelm - Leofwen on foot - Broga - Urien on foot - Ffion Ferddig - Angedern - Mag ap Mag - Ieuan Longshore and Taranau - Erebius - Mananaan on foot - Idruaada - Daarkan - Naraa - Gaarwäg- Scecchus - Thelliatiss- Ágriosávra- Eikovra - Myrkranio - Knútr on foot - Knútr on horse - Birna - Víthar - Rollo Iron Head - Jörmungand - Crom on foot - Annik - Zethag - Gondard (Gondard - Ekk) - Brugg - Uhtred Uhtredson - Finnan - Danilo Cruz
SHIPMENT WAVE 2 (beginning August): Timoth - Caedoc - Agathae - Velchior - Djiuzu - Baagath's Herd (Baagath - Blaart - Chuwaa - Ungaa - Rapraag) - Praach - Xontór - Thoth - Hanokh - Dawn of Khthon (Myrinna - Syntyss - Thillia - Phyllidii - Elthissi) - Mälmord - Seza
SHIPMENT WAVE 3 (beginning October): Eadric on horse - Cnebba - Gesith Unit - Hrōr - Urien on horse - Carys - Equitus Durio on foot - Equitus Durio on horse - Con I Modius (Modius - Gellius- Tiberius - Livia- Severa) - Mananaan on horse - Hrafnen Crew (Vidkun the Brave - Snorri Snorrisson - Gunnar Half-Shield - Jan - Undrik ) - Crom on horse- Trytheorn - Rikkard - Maximus
Items in bold will DEFINITELY be sent in that wave as we have the sculpt; items in italics are in progress and should make it into that wave, but we don't yet have the sculpt.
Have I ordered the right Waves?
Fairly obviously (and to remind you all that we won't split orders unless you've purchased more than one shipment wave) if you've only purchased one Shipment Wave item, your items will only be sent in one shipment when everything is ready. In a nutshell:
If you have purchased Waves 1, 2 and 3, whatever is available will be shipped in each wave, with wave 3 waiting until everything's finally ready.
If you have purchased Waves 1 and 2, whatever is available in Wave 1 will be shipped in June, with everything else waiting until it's all finally ready.
If you've only purchased Wave 1, your orders will be shipped when everything in your orders is ready.
There's still time for you to change this by ordering more shipment waves of course - feel free to do so, but as soon as Wave 1 is complete, that shipment item will be removed from the webstore. so you'd best be quick!
Please be patient!
We would ask you all to be patient with both ourselves and our artists; sculptors live in the real world and real world problems often impinge upon their time, so please bear in mind that they are working as fast as they possibly can on our miniatures and giving us their full attention. We do not want to rush sculptors for the simple reason that rushed work is often poor work!
Here's the big list of who's sculpting what and when for Darklands: First Edition! Please bear in mind that this list may change over time, so don't take it as set in stone until the first work in progress shots appear.
Michael Anderson: Michael, a new sculptor for us, will sculpt Rick Boer's Descendant, Rikkard, later on in the year.
Stéphane Camosseto: Stéphane will sculpt Eadric on horse next. He has also now taken on Hrōr, so that he matches the Werwulfas unlocked as part of Darklands: First Edition II.
Allan Carrasco: There's just Cnebba for Allan, later on in the year.
Jacques-Alexandre Gillois: Equitus Durio on foot and Equitus Durio on horse will be sculpted over the summer.
Yannick Hennebo: Yannick has agreed to sculpt Mananaan on horse for us, and he's next.
Hector Moran: digital sculpting Con I Modius, Legionary Contubernium continues apace with Gellius and Livia done and Modius in progress, leaving just Tiberius and Severa.
Juan Navarro Pérez: Juan is sculpting Urien on horse and Carys next. Juan has also agreed to sculpt Tomas Johansson's Geat Warrior, Trytheorn, although he's not sure when that will occur.
Stéphane Simon: Crom on horse is complete and he has begun work on the Holumenn Unit with Vidkun the Brave being the first example. After those, it's the Gesith Unit.
Unknown: Maximus, Maximilian Schüte's Germanic Berserker (due to be drawn by Danny Cruz).
Not too many sculpts to go now!
We thought this would be a good idea, as things are cracking on - a list of completed sculpts, in kindred order! Completed sculpts are in bold; in progress sculpts are in italics.
ALBAINN: Dúngal on foot - Dúngal on horse - Ciniod - Itaina - Domnech - Bagseg
ANGELCYNN: Eadric on foot - Eadric on horse - Timoth - Aldhelm - Hrōr - Leofwen on foot - Gesith Unit - Cnebba - Broga
BRYTHONIAID: Urien on foot - Urien on horse - Carys - Caedoc - Ffion Ferddig - Angedern - Mag ap Mag
BYZANTII: Equitus Durio on foot - Equitus Durio on horse - Erebius - Agathae - Velchior - Djiuzu - Con I Modius (Modius - Gellius - Tiberius - Livia - Severa)
FOMORAIC: Mananaan on foot - Mananaan on horse - Idruaada - Daarkan - Naraa - Gaarwäg - Baagath's Herd (Baagath - Blaart - Chuwaa - Ungaa - Rapraag) - Praach
INFERNII: Scecchus
KHTHONES: Xontór - Thelliatiss - Dawn of Khthon (Myrinna - Syntyss - Thillia - Phyllidii - Elthissi) - Thoth - Hanokh - Ágriosávra- Eikovra - Myrkranio
NORSE: Knútr on foot - Knútr on horse - Birna - Víthar - Rollo Iron Head - Jörmungand - Hrafnen Crew (Vidkun the Brave - Snorri Snorrisson - Gunnar Half-Shield - Jan - Undrik ) - Mälmord
YSIANS: Crom on foot - Crom on horse - Annik - Zethag - Gondard (Gondard - Ekk) - Brugg - Seza
SELL-SWORDS: Uhtred Uhtredson - Finnan - Danilo Cruz
DESCENDANTS: Ieuan Longshore and Taranau - Trytheorn - Rikkard - Maximus
I gotta get an appropriately scaled Godzilla for my Khthon just so he can bust that giant in the nuts and put him in his place.
Big smelly giants.
I am most curious to see what sorts of non-humans these new kindreds will field. Yeah, we've heard they'll have such and such... but I want to SEE them.
A picture of grass and rocks doesn't cut it! I want to see Danny Cruz drawn bogmen and brass bulls! Maybe some slave foot fodder for the Atlanteans.
I've been painting up bondage snake Ssibyros and wondering where his armor came from. It's quite ornate, compared to the bits and bobs all his reptile buddies (barely) wear. Atlantean made?
I certainly hope to see random useless fluff like that in the rulebook!
Really looking forward to the next ks. You can see plenty of Atalantes hints on the various Kthones in the shape of helmets and armour.
As for that teaser, if that's what'll appear in the Rulebook, I'll be a happy chappy. That there is what draws me to Darklands alongside the stunning minis.
I fear for my wallet. Irish and and Ancient Greek style Kindreds will be the end of me...
I'm wondering how close to ancient greeks Mierce will make the concepts. Unlike Romans and various 'barbarians', which have plastics but mostly pretty old and unimpressive, there's some very nice almost heroic Greek plastics from a few manufacturers that have been released over the past few years (Victrix being my favourite). Mierce will undoubtedly be much higher quality, but the difference is much less than in other ranges.
Any giant that is basically a scaled-up human, holds no interest to me. Just a personal preference.
You need to stick lots of scale references on the design so it;s obvious that you aren't looking at a 1/12 scale human.
I like the giants in Game of Thrones, with their large feet and physical differences.
I assume Kaius is smaller than Scecchus?
They are quite similar sculpts, they would work well together.
I can see a size scale picture of all 4 types of demon, starting with Kaius and ending with Krull.
This week we have images of each warrior of the Con I Modius contubernium from Hector Moran, and there's a finished Vidkun the Brave, the champion of the Hrafnen Crew, from Stéphane Simon!
Hector Moran is really pushing the boat out on on Con I Modius, for his digital sculpts - from the artwork by Steve Pierce - are getting near to completion! He's even begun to add the pila to each of the warriors...
Modius
The contubernium's Champion, Modius, is now "in pose" and is really looking the business.
We have decided to include the pila as a separate component which (along with a sword handle to add to the scabbard) will serve as an "alternate" version of each Legionary. This means you can choose whether to have your Legionaries fully armed or just armed with the spatha!
Gellius
The awesome Gellius has been seen a few times, but here's the finished version with pila.
Again, Gellius has separate pila and sword handle components.
Tiberius
The first images of Tiberius show that we have yet another cracking Legionary on our hands!
Tiberius will eventually have separate pila and sword handle components of course.
Livia
Hector's almost completed Livia and she's looking superb!
As you can see, Livia looks very good with pila although he's yet to add that sword handle.
Severa
Here's the first images of the lovely Severa, the second female Legionary.
With all five nearing completion, Con I Modius should definitely make it into Wave 3.
Hrafnen Crew
Stéphane Simon is cracking on with the Norse Holumenn known as Hrafnen Crew, from the artwork by Danny Cruz. These guys are going to be awesome!
Vidkun the Brave
Thanks to Stéphane's lightning speed, Vidkun the Brave is now complete...
He's got plenty of equipment, too!
Gunnar Half-Shield
Stéphane's also cracking on with the next Holumann, the hornblower, Gunnar Half-Shield...
With Stéphane Simon getting his speed mojo back, we think it's a safe bet that the Hrafnen Crew will make it into Wave 3!
Painted miniatures
Even though the miniatures from Darklands: a World of War have not all been painted yet, we've decided to get miniatures from this project painted - simply because we are determined to release miniatures with painted images of them in the not-too-distant future (we're looking at you, September). They just look so much better!
Thus, both Sébastien Picque and Martin Grandbarbe are hard at work, painting miniatures from Wave 1, and with predictably superb results... this week we have work from both Séb and Martin!
Bagseg
Martin Grandbarbe is continuing his work on the Albainn with a stunning paintjob on Bagseg, the Oghurithne warchief. Just look at this guy!
Next up for Martin is Eadric on Foot, Urien on Foot, Birna and Annik...
Scecchus
Another awesome paintjob by Sébastien Picque... Scecchus just looks fantastic. So mean! So nasty!
Séb's painting up some more miniatures for us, of course - there's Thelliatiss to come shortly, along with Belech and Vaak from Darklands: a World of War.
Fulfilment
We have awesome news: all Wave 1 shipments are complete, and Wave 2 shipments will begin on the 25th of August!
Where's My Wave 1 Stuff?
As always, please don't be upset if your orders have not yet been shipped, even if your order is currently in "packing" - please be patient while the boys get your miniatures cast and sent.
Now, if you believe you have an old Wave 1 order that hasn't yet been shipped and are wondering why, many orders only have one shipment wave item and thus will only be shipped when everything in those orders is ready. You can mitigate against this by purchasing a Wave 2 or Wave 3 shipment item, of course - so the power's in your hands!
With Wave 2 beginning to ship on August the 25th, it is time to remind you all that ALL Wave 2 items will be removed from the Kickstarter category on that day.
In a nutshell:
Wave 2 items will be removed from the Mierce Miniatures website at midnight (GMT) on the 25th of August!
The following items will be removed from the website:
ANGELCYNN: Timoth
BRYTHONIAID: Caedoc
BYZANTII: Agathae - Velchior - Djiuzu
FOMORAIC: Baagath's Herd - Praach
KHTHONES: Xontór - Thoth - Hanokh - Dawn of Khthon
NORSE: Mälmord
YSIANS: Seza
You will only see these items in the webstore if you have backed this project, of course.
After August 25th, you'll have to wait until they're released!
If you don't purchase any Wave 2 items you'd like by August the 25th, you won't be able to purchase them again until they are released to the general public, and - depending on the miniature involved - that could be for a long while yet! Plus, they'll be at full price of course.
Darklands: New Kindreds
The time has come to talk to you about our next Kickstarter project, entitled "Darklands: New Kindreds", or KS3 as it is more popularly known amongst backers (which is a bit of a misnomer as it would be our fifth project, but that's by the by).
The provisional start date of this project will be Monday the 15th of September and it should end a month later on Monday the 13th of October. We reckon that's twenty-eight days, which is plenty of time to run a project of this size.
So what's Darklands: New Kindreds all about?
Well, as it says in the title, it's about bringing new kindreds to the world of Darklands!
This project has been mooted for a long while simply because Darklands has ten main kindreds, two of which - the Atalantes and Érainn - have not yet been explored, even though there's lots of interest in them.
You see, in Darklands: a World of War we decided to concentrate on six kindreds (Angelcynn, Brythoniaid, Fomoraic, Khthones, Norse and Ysians) and then added another two kindreds with the Darklands: First Edition project (the Albainn and Byzantii) - which leaves the Atalantes and Érainn rather by the wayside. Now's the time to redress that!
Who are the Atalantes?
The Atalantes are a decadent, somewhat depraved civilisation that live upon the crumbling islands of Atalantia in the Atlantic Ocean - what we now call Atlantis. Their society and their home is dying, but they cling to the ancient rocks even as they are assaulted by their former progeny and slaves, the Khthones - although many believe they should take to the seas and relocate to the Lands of Darkness to the east, which inevitably causes conflict with those that already live there.
In Darklands, the ancient Greeks were descended from the Atalantes, and so their look and feel will be very similar to those who know what a Hoplite looks like - but through their use of arcane technology, constructs of bronze (such as Talos) and ruthless slavery they will also have a very different feel.
Who are the Érainn?
The Érainn are, put very simply, the dark age Irish. Their society is mostly Christian but fairly barbaric, and as they are assaulted by the Fomoraic and the Norse and the Atalantes and many others, they are becoming more and more martial and turning to the old ways of Danu the Earth Goddess.
Thus, Irish warrior-bands like those of old now defend the north of Eriu against the threat of the sea devils and raiders from elsewhere, and Danu herself lends aid to her people through the beasts of the bog, peat and marsh - terrifying creatures with an implacable hatred of all that destroy the natural world. With those at their side, the Érainn might - just - be able to survive this age of darkness.
How will the project work?
We can't say too much about the project right now simply because not everything has been nailed down, but we can say that the main rewards will be based around Starter Sets, rather like Darklands: a World of War.
There will be at least two Starter Sets for each of the new kindreds - one that contains infantry, and one containing monstrous infantry - as well as options to include generals, commanders, sorcerers, monstrous beasts and much else besides. They'll also include dice and tokens as required, to get you started immediately.
What about the other Kindreds?
We haven't forgotten those!
There'll be infantry and monstrous infantry Starter Sets for each of the other kindreds, and although we won't go into specifics right now we can tell you that there'll be new warriors and alternate warriors for them all. So whilst the project is designed to fund the creation of new kindreds, if you like the others there'll be plenty for you to fund!
What about a Sneak Peek?
Absolutely... here's something to whet your appetite, some artwork for the Atalantes by Marius Bota!
That's it for this week people... until next week, keep it Darklands!
Automatically Appended Next Post: And KS2.5 update (abridged):
Sculpts, and more of KS3...
This week we have less than seven days ago but it's still good stuff. We have another Oghur of the Oghu Guardians from Olivier Bouchet and a complete Fiend from the Craven Fiends of Dis by Roberto Chaudon.
Oghu Guardians
From the artwork by Thomas Mahon, Olivier Bouchet is working very hard indeed on the Oghu Guardians, and with both Grubog and Skrugadd complete it's time for Undagg to step into the limelight...
Undagg
Another superb Oghur from Olivier Bouchet, Undagg really does look the business! Olivier is absolutely nailing these guys. He's not finished yet of couse, but Undagg is definitely getting there.
Olivier's speed should ensure that the Oghu Guardians will be a Wave 4 shipment!
Craven Fiends of Dis
Following Dan Cockersell's work on the Infernii was always going to be a tough ask for anybody, but the superbly talented Roberto Chaudon has taken Dan's baton and done us all proud. Just look at the first sculpt for the Craven Fiends of Dis, from the artwork by Stefan Kopinski!
Kaius
The champion of the Craven Fiends of Dis is Kaius, and he's a mean mutha and no mistake. Roberto has captured his essence perfectly and he's now complete, as evidenced by his components...
As you can see from Roberto's photo below, Kaius fits on a 60mm base nicely...
With Roberto's speed, the Craven Fiends of Dis should easily make it into Wave 4!
Automatically Appended Next Post: First KS:MM update:
The first Friday update!
Welcome to this, the very first Friday update for Darklands: Monstrous Mounts!
Erebius on Behema
We've a cracking set of work in progress images for you this week from the mighty Dan Cockersell - who, as always, is providing us with an unbelievably awesome sculpt in the shape of Erebius on Behema!
Erebius on Behema is being sculpted by Dan Cockersell from the artwork by Stefan Kopinski, and what a sculpt it is. Dan has turned his attention to Erebius himself, with predictably awesome results!
Note that (if you hadn't noticed already) Erebius is slightly further "along the path" to demonhood, as evidenced by his left leg.
Here's a shot of Dan's Erebius next to Tre's Erebius...
...and here's a scale shot!
Whilst Erebius' Behema is yet to be completed, we do think that he'll be able to get it all done in time for Wave 4...
Wow, Dan Cockersell is out of this world- he sculpted the painted Scecchus model above, and now Erebius on Behema. Very excited that that looks to be a wave 4 shipment!
Is the Scecchus model part of the Craven Fiends of Dis unit, being finished by Roberto Chaudon? That unique head is my favorite of Mierce's concepts, although it seems to be on a variety of creatures- are they all descended from same ancestor, or similar?
RiTides wrote: Wow, Dan Cockersell is out of this world- he sculpted the painted Scecchus model above, and now Erebius on Behema. Very excited that that looks to be a wave 4 shipment!
Is the Scecchus model part of the Craven Fiends of Dis unit, being finished by Roberto Chaudon? That unique head is my favorite of Mierce's concepts, although it seems to be on a variety of creatures- are they all descended from same ancestor, or similar?
They're fiends, Scecchus is not part of the unit, but will be a Warchief. So, the command structure could be:
zedmeister wrote: They're fiends, Scecchus is not part of the unit, but will be a Warchief. So, the command structure could be:
Krull -> Scecchus -> Fiend unit of 5 fiends
Ah, that makes sense, thanks!
But just two questions here:
Krull has wings, how/why is that, since the others of that "type" do not?
The new Behema monstrous mount sculpt has a similar head but walks on all fours, any background for that?
Basically, are these things demons that can take any form, or what's the story to their varied forms? I really like them, so just trying to feel it out
The Infernii kindred are basically the Daemons of Hell. Mierce have taken inspiiration from Dante's inferno and have Krull and friends come from Dis (A city that includes the 6, 7, 8 and 9th levels of hell) as one realm. Presumably, the daemons of Dis have a particular look (the heads you mention) which also help to unify the Kindred.
Scecchus is a Fiend (which are what Demi-legionnaires eventually become), Behenna is a named Brontull (riding beast of some sort). Krull and Malacant are probably more senior fiends and have wings which I reckon are granted as a reward or perhaps are a status symbol of being a certain rank.
Here's Krull's background for example:
Summoned and enslaved by the Magi of the immortal Emperor Constantine of Byzantia, the daemons and incubi and fiends of the unspeakable city of Dis and its environs have become the foremost threat to the world since their inclusion in the armies of the stone cities not a decade ago. The legates, increasingly greedy for power and glory - just like Constantine himself - are by now used to the sight of thousands of these despicable, unearthly creatures within their legions, and their effects on the legionaries and auxiliaries, for few armies can stand against such power; but none could ever be anything but aghast and terrified of the greatest Daemon yet enslaved, Krull. A mighty Lord of Dis and (it is said) right hand to Dispater himself, that the Emperor Constantine - admittedly the greatest Incantus of Byzantia - could bend Krull's will to his own ends only shows the powers inherent within him; or, many whisper, the desires of Dispater to influence the world of Man. Regardless of whether Krull appears by design or by servility, when he does, it is rare that the enemies of Byzantia do not quail in the face of such power, and rarer still that the legions are not the victors.
I just noticed that Erebius seems to slowly be turning into a Fiend. He's got the horns starting to jut off his brow, giant limbs, nasty teeth... except one leg now seems to be a reverse joint.
I thought all the Infernii have "regular" legs?
It's getting tougher and tougher to figure out which Monstrous Mount I want. That Erebius is really nice looking, but I want to stick with my reptilian kindreds...
It's getting tougher and tougher to figure out which Monstrous Mount I want. That Erebius is really nice looking, but I want to stick with my reptilian kindreds...
Non-KS related - new releases and discount bundles for September including the Basement.Dweller of DakkaDakka inspired Axman!
QuickStarter Rules and New Miniatures!
It's been a couple of months since the last set of releases from us here at Mierce, and whilst all of the miniatures from our Darklands: A World of War Kickstarter project have already been released, there was one important item produced by that project which hasn't been released, yet... and that's the awesome Darklands QuickStarter rulebook! So we thought we'd better get that out there. The better to get people playing Darklands, of course, before the full rules come out!
As well as that, we've a few miniatures to release, too - Kraan on Foot and on Bear for the Fomoraic; Beowa in human and bear form for the Angelcynn; Chaagmuth on Hoof and on Toracx for the Fomoraic; Carrowek on Foot and on Drune-Horse for the Ysians; Kernuor on Foot and on Karnun-Beast for the Ysians; and finally, the long-awaited Belech, Axeman of Omens...
Just like the last few months, thanks to us being busier than busy bees we've just not had the time to get the release art and descriptions done; but you can still see some good images of each miniature on the website of course.
The Darklands QuickStarter Rulebook is finally here! After a long wait, somewhat made up for by being available as a download for a good long while now, the QuickStarter rules have now been printed in A5 format and are available for you to purchase right now.
The Darklands QuickStarter Rules are a simplified version of the forthcoming Darklands: First Edition rules that will allow the keen wargamer to play a very basic version of Darklands easily and long before the full rules are released. As such, you guys must understand that - whilst the basic procedures of how to play Darklands are presented here (such as how to move your units and fight with them, as well as shoot the enemy and invoke sorcery) there will be much more to those procedures within the full rules as well as much else besides. It also looks fantastic in printed form!
Now, you will need the Darklands Muster Rules and various Kindred Musters to get your hosts ready for battle, and whilst at some point there will be a section on this website to download them it's all there for you on our latest Kickstarter updates. Just check out any one of them to get started!
The second of our 'foot and mounted' combinations, you can now purchase the frankly awesome Kraan, Untain of Baalor in both forms at a discount - you'll save £5.00 from the cost of purchasing the foot and mounted versions individually! Sculpted by Jacques-Alexandre Gillois from concept art by Stefan Kopinski, Kraan is an awesome miniature, especially when painted by a master like Sébastien Picque.
Both versions of Benoît Cosse's stupendously awesome Chaagmuth the Jaw-Taker (painted by Sébastien Picque) are now available as unassembled, unpainted miniatures in one easy-to-buy foot and mounted combination, right here - thus saving you £5 from purchasing both individually!
As well as the foot and mounted combinations, we thought it would be a good idea provide you with an easier - and cheaper - way to purchase Beowa in both human (sculpted by Benoît Cosse) and bear (sculpted by Stéphane Simon) form. So here is the idea, turned into reality!
Carrowek on Foot. Carrowek on Drune-Horse. Put them both together, and what do you get? A cheaper way to get both in our lovely foot and mounted combination, sculpted by Stéphane Simon from the concepts by Danny Cruz!
The last foot and mounted combination to be released this month is Kernuor, the lovely Ysian Seer-Drune sculpted by James van Schaik from concepts by Danny Cruz...
Just before Christmas 2013 a member of the Dakka Dakka forums, basement.dweller (real name Grigorios from Sweden) came up with the idea of Belech on Guitar... so we thought we'd get Roberto Chaudon to turn Belech into this mighty Axeman of Omens!
We've no doubt that more band members will pop out of the woodwork at some point... suggestions for them are welcome, as is the name of Belech's band!
All of the releases above will be officially released on the 6th of September 2014, but you can order them now from this very website to your heart's content!
Isn't everyone getting starter forces for the next KS? I can't imagine Rob doesn't see the appeal of starter boxes of some sort so I wouldn't be surprised if they stick around after.
Baragash wrote: Isn't everyone getting starter forces for the next KS? I can't imagine Rob doesn't see the appeal of starter boxes of some sort so I wouldn't be surprised if they stick around after.
Yes, in the last update, it was stated that on top of the new push for Atalantes and Érainn models, there would be additional models for the other factions.
What about the other Kindreds? We haven't forgotten those!
There'll be infantry and monstrous infantry Starter Sets for each of the other kindreds, and although we won't go into specifics right now we can tell you that there'll be new warriors and alternate warriors for them all. So whilst the project is designed to fund the creation of new kindreds, if you like the others there'll be plenty for you to fund!
Zond wrote: Pretty much. We have intro rules, perhaps intro or versus bundles for those not backing the kickstarters may help?
I do believe that these are planned for. They plan to have a sort of starter force for each faction, sort of like the 500 gold forces we've seen in the kickstarters.
RiTides wrote: Wow, Dan Cockersell is out of this world- he sculpted the painted Scecchus model above, and now Erebius on Behema. Very excited that that looks to be a wave 4 shipment!
Is the Scecchus model part of the Craven Fiends of Dis unit, being finished by Roberto Chaudon? That unique head is my favorite of Mierce's concepts, although it seems to be on a variety of creatures- are they all descended from same ancestor, or similar?
They're fiends, Scecchus is not part of the unit, but will be a Warchief. So, the command structure could be:
Krull -> Scecchus -> Fiend unit of 5 fiends
What about Malacant? It says he's a Monstrous commander as well, though he's listed as a 'Servile Champion of Dis', whereas Scecchus is a 'Servile Fiend of Dis'. Although, I would guess his Wings and Cloven feet being so similar to Big Brother Krull would rank him a bit higher than Scecchus.
Would be cool to get some female Fiends or other residents of Dis. Krull needs to fight along side his wife/sister/mother (BigMommaK). Penda can't be the only dude dragging his wife into battle.
RiTides wrote: Wow, Dan Cockersell is out of this world- he sculpted the painted Scecchus model above, and now Erebius on Behema. Very excited that that looks to be a wave 4 shipment!
Is the Scecchus model part of the Craven Fiends of Dis unit, being finished by Roberto Chaudon? That unique head is my favorite of Mierce's concepts, although it seems to be on a variety of creatures- are they all descended from same ancestor, or similar?
They're fiends, Scecchus is not part of the unit, but will be a Warchief. So, the command structure could be:
Krull -> Scecchus -> Fiend unit of 5 fiends
What about Malacant? It says he's a Monstrous commander as well, though he's listed as a 'Servile Champion of Dis', whereas Scecchus is a 'Servile Fiend of Dis'. Although, I would guess his Wings and Cloven feet being so similar to Big Brother Krull would rank him a bit higher than Scecchus.
Would be cool to get some female Fiends or other residents of Dis. Krull needs to fight along side his wife/sister/mother (BigMommaK). Penda can't be the only dude dragging his wife into battle.
Malacant is a Warchief where as Krull is a Warlord. Warlords are, in effect, the general of the entire force, where as the Warchief leads a contingent of that force and the Warchief is subservient to the general. In game terms, Malacant and Scecchus are both warchiefs.
Khthon's been pretty equal opportunity so far with letting the ladies get their fight on. Not many armies, factions, or kindreds out there have boob snakes after all.
I'm still trying to figure out what color Mag Ap Mag should be. He's got hair, scales, softer skin under that, what looks like a wattle of a bird... I'm at a loss as to where to take him color- wise! Some kind of pinkish red maybe for the skin, with the scales in a darker color? Lighten up the loose skin under his neck?
But then he's got hair and horns too! Evolution certainly had a field day with this one!
And if he's distantly related (somehow) to the other Brythoniaid dragon types, should his skin fall in line in their color spectrum as well?
These thoughts have been eating at me for quite some time!
An off flesh with bits of purple could be interesting. There's still the hair though. I'm thinking of using some greys and browns maybe.
When I'm home from work the plan is to finish off the two Brutes I'm working on as well as Ssibyros, and then I'm going to commit paint one way or the other to my Woccorman.
I'm hoping we get to see what those Dyngwyferns look like during the next campaign. The Brythoniaid wyvern is quite an awesome model. Quite big too. I'm guess since they have the "Dyn" at the beginning of their name that means their Wyvern men- I'm wondering if that would be like a Dyndraig with wings?
I don't think Rob's spoiled that one yet.
Maybe we can summon him up and have him chime in...
We have some fantastic news for you all: the awesome Darklands QuickStarter Rules, now printed in A5 format, are shipping now!
There's some other news too...
news that the QuickStarter Rules are shipping now
downloads for the current QuickStarter Rules, Muster Rules and Kindred Musters;
anything else you can expect from us over the next few months.
Here we go!
QuickStarter Rules
Huzzah! The Darklands QuickStarter Rules have arrived at Mierce Towers!
It's been a long, long wait but they're finally here. Here's a few images of the printed rulebook:
Look at the thickness!
Inside front cover
Inside the book
Shipping of the QuickStarter Rulebook
We're shipping the QuickStarter Rulebook right now, either:
in date order (i.e., the earliest orders will ship first) and taking the opportunity to ship them with your Wave 2 or Monstrous Mounts Existing Miniatures at the same time, should you have any of those
if there are only QuickStarter Rulebooks left in your order, shipping them all now regardless of date order.
What this means is that if you've Wave 2 stuff or existing miniatures shipping too, please be patient - we'll get it all out pretty quickly we think, and you'll have those QuickStarter rules very soon. In the meantime, you can download the full QuickStarter Rules below, of course!
The rulebook is officially released on September the 6th!
Fulfilment
With the shipping of the QuickStarter Rules starting, that pretty much concludes the Darklands: a World of War kickstarter project, which is officially an Awesome Thing - although it's also slightly sad, because it's been a fantastic experience for us and, we hope, for you guys.
We do hope that this project has, at the very least, met your expectations, if not blown you away with the quality of our miniatures, customer service and the rules themselves.
None of the awesome miniatures we have produced, nor the QuickStarter Rules, could have existed without you guys, all of you that backed this project in early 2013. So it has to be said - THANK YOU to each and every one of you, because without you, it's very doubtful Darklands and Mierce Miniatures would be where we are today.
That's why you're mentioned on the inside back cover of the Darklands QuickStarter Rulebook, so look out for that when you get your copy!
What happens with this project?
As long as Kickstarter lives this project will serve to inform everybody about what this project did and what was produced, of course, but even though - once the QuickStarter rules are shipped - there won't be anything to fulfil, we'll still update this project now and again with images of painted miniatures, or perhaps news about Mierce Miniatures and upcoming projects. So there'll still be a reason to visit!
Can't post the update for FE1 from work, but even though the Érainn didn't in principle appeal to me, I have to admit the concept art has definitely opened up the possibility that they might.....and I thought this was going to be a cheap KS (relative to the last 3)*
*Infantry starter sets aren't going to help that either as I've got a few kindreds that would benefit from that
Well my big stack of copies of the A5 QS rule book have arrived, and since I don't need all of them I have 5 copies to give away if anybody here is interested
(they are the same as the pdf you can download for free, but some of you like me may prefer hard copies)
If you want one of them all I'll ask for is the postage PM me if you're interested
Sculpts, Wave 2 has begun and Darklands: New Kindreds...
These seven days keep disappearing. Here's another Mierceday!
This week we have sculpts, Wave 2 fulfilment news and KS3... so that's:
news of our forthcoming Kickstarter project, Darklands: New Kindreds
news that Wave 2 items will be removed from the webstore very soon;
sculpt work in progress updates from Hector Moran and Stéphane Simon;
news that Wave 2 fulfilment has begun;
a list of what miniatures will hopefully be sent in Wave 3;
updated lists of sculptors and sculpts;
downloadable versions of the current QuickStarter Rules, Muster Rules and Kindred Musters;
anything else you can expect from us over the next few months.
Here we go...
This week we have images of Severa for the Con I Modius contubernium from Hector Moran, and there's more work to show on Gunnar Half-Shield, the herald of the Hrafnen Crew, from Stéphane Simon!
Severa
Hector Moran is really pushing the boat out on on Con I Modius, for his digital sculpts - from the artwork by Steve Pierce - are getting near to completion! He's even begun to add the pila to each of the warriors...
Hector's now got the awesome Severa, the second female Legionary, "in pose"...
With all five nearing completion, Con I Modius should definitely make it into Wave 3.
Gunnar Half-Shield
Stéphane Simon is cracking on with the Norse Holumenn known as Hrafnen Crew, from the artwork by Danny Cruz. These guys are going to be awesome!
Stéphane's almost finished the next Holumann, the hornblower, Gunnar Half-Shield...
With Stéphane Simon getting his speed mojo back, we think it's a safe bet that the Hrafnen Crew will make it into Wave 3!
Fulfilment
We have awesome news: Wave 2 shipments have now begun!
Where's My Wave 1 Stuff?
As always, please don't be upset if your orders have not yet been shipped, even if your order is currently in "packing" - please be patient while the boys get your miniatures cast and sent.
Now, if you believe you have an old Wave 1 order that hasn't yet been shipped and are wondering why, many orders only have one shipment wave item and thus will only be shipped when everything in those orders is ready. You can mitigate against this by purchasing a Wave 2 or Wave 3 shipment item, of course - so the power's in your hands!
With Wave 2 items now shipping, it is time to remind you all that ALL Wave 2 items will be removed from the Kickstarter category on August the 25th.
In a nutshell:
Wave 2 items will be removed from the Mierce Miniatures website at midnight (GMT) on the 25th of August!
The following items will be removed from the website:
ANGELCYNN: Timoth
BRYTHONIAID: Caedoc
BYZANTII: Agathae - Velchior - Djiuzu
FOMORAIC: Baagath's Herd - Praach
KHTHONES: Xontór - Thoth - Hanokh - Dawn of Khthon
NORSE: Mälmord
YSIANS: Seza
You will only see these items in the webstore if you have backed this project, of course.
After August 25th, you'll have to wait until they're released!
If you don't purchase any Wave 2 items you'd like by August the 25th, you won't be able to purchase them again until they are released to the general public, and - depending on the miniature involved - that could be for a long while yet! Plus, they'll be at full price of course.
What are you waiting for? Grab those Wave 2 items now!
Kickstarter 3
What about a Sneak Peek?
Absolutely... here's something to whet your appetite, Cormac of the Red Hand, a Curadh (pronounced "CUH-reye") or Champion of the Érainn,by the lovely Sam Lamont!
Cormac's miniature will be stood on a rock, so it can fit on a 30mm base, or (as a limited edition project exclusive) on a Gabrax, for those who like that kind of thing ;o)
That's it for this week people... until next week, keep it Darklands!
Automatically Appended Next Post: And the last one for today:
More Sculpts and Darklands: New Kindreds...
It's Friday. Here's an update!
This week we have:
news of our forthcoming Kickstarter project, Darklands: New Kindreds
sculpt work in progress updates from Olivier Bouchet and Roberto Chaudon;
a list of sculptors and sculpts for this project;
downloadable versions of the current QuickStarter Rules, Muster Rules and Kindred Musters;
anything else you can expect from us over the next few months.
Let's begin!
This update we have an Oghur of the Oghu Guardians from Olivier Bouchet and another awesome Fiend from the Craven Fiends of Dis by Roberto Chaudon.
Undagg
From the artwork by Thomas Mahon, Olivier Bouchet is working very hard indeed on the Oghu Guardians, and Undagg joins both Grubog and Skrugadd as far as the completeness stakes go...
Another superb Oghur from Olivier Bouchet, Undagg really does look the business! Olivier is absolutely nailing these guys. Undagg is now complete!
Olivier's speed should ensure that the Oghu Guardians will be a Wave 4 shipment!
Kolkhus
Following Dan Cockersell's work on the Infernii was always going to be a tough ask for anybody, but the superbly talented Roberto Chaudon has taken Dan's baton and done us all proud. Here's another sculpt for the Craven Fiends of Dis, from the artwork by Stefan Kopinski!
A lowly warrior of Dis, Kolkhus is Roberto's next Fiend and he's looking awesome. He's not complete yet, but he's definitely getting there...
With Roberto's speed, the Craven Fiends of Dis should easily make it into Wave 4!
I am absolutely loving the Fiends of Dis, simply stunning. I am also very pleased with the way the Oghu Guardians are turning out, when I went for the "get them all" option in the KS they were the only concept art I did not like....The translation to miniatures have completely changed my mind about them.
The oghur are probably the ones I don't like at all, neither the concept nor the sculpts. Don't get me wrong, the sculpts are alright, but not close to the other standard Mierce usually offers. The difference between the Craven Fiends and the Oghur are miles apart.
grefven wrote: The oghur are probably the ones I don't like at all, neither the concept nor the sculpts. Don't get me wrong, the sculpts are alright, but not close to the other standard Mierce usually offers. The difference between the Craven Fiends and the Oghur are miles apart.
My thoughts as well. The concept is good, they just seem to have less detail and texture. for lack of a better word, they're "smoother" than most Mierce figures who have veins, scars, etc.
I didn't like the Oghur concept and I somewhat like the models. I never knew why until you guys pointed out how smooth they are. It's almost into uncanny valley territory. I'm sort of torn about the Scots now. It's not that the Oghur are bad, just other models are better.
I agree that the Oghur models look way better than I thought they would based on the concept art.
I also agree that they remain something I will resist picking up.
But...this is probably more down to the fact that I cannot pick up yet another Kindred just before the two new Kindreds that I will most likely NOT be able to resist get released in September!
A bit of advise for those that picked up Malmord the Fell Troll,
when it comes to assembly there is a really tiny claw on the sprue of claws/skulls for his belt & necklace.
This, as it turns out is the dew claw from one of his legs, and it's a real pain to fit it once the figure is assembled, so remember to glue it onto the leg before you stick the leg onto the body
I like them (although perhaps not quite as much as the existing Gabrax which are a touch more delicate),
The warrior is a pain to put together though as it's really tricky to get the separate arm to fix to the hand on the polearm while fixing the other hand onto the other arm at the same time. The other three are simple enough though
I think they look very good. I don't quite understand how they can look so bland when Cosse takes the pictures, and so good when some amateur (no offence mate) snaps off a few pictures with his iphone. It baffles me. I especially like the one looking to the side (right in the second picture), and will have to get it with my next order!
grefven wrote: I think they look very good. I don't quite understand how they can look so bland when Cosse takes the pictures, and so good when some amateur (no offence mate) snaps off a few pictures with his iphone. It baffles me. I especially like the one looking to the side (right in the second picture), and will have to get it with my next order!
Easy!
Benoît Cosse is a professional sculptor, and not a professional photographer!
All kidding aside, he really does need to figure out how to take some better pictures of his work as he's doing himself an injustice!
Yeah....I really think some of the details in how the heads are shaped and how the horns flow just didn't work with the design on these. I don't much love how the shoulders/necks come together either.
I think following the designs of other mierce gabrax horns would have been the easiest improvement - curling backwards, generally fairly straight, looks better, rather than curling towards the middle or forwards.
The chewing on the horn model is an amusing but odd concept, and if you're going to do something like that, it has to be absolutely knocked out of the ballpark, which I don't think they did. A more standard horn blower would have been much nicer.
Most of the problems I have link back to the concept art, but I also think Benoit Cosse didn't elevate them from the concept, which is always nice, but was certainly necessary in this case.
The Mierce gabrax characters are by and large amazing. I'm always going to compare gabrax to beastmen miniatures from GW, which aren't a homerun by any means, but are very good. In general, where there's a comparable model, Mierce models are way nicer than the competition. Here, there was definitely room for that, but the concept and execution were both a bit below Mierce's standards.
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The Oghur's I don't absolutely love, but they're very nice and are IMO better than the concept art. I think they mostly fall victim to not being what people were really hoping for (which was the oghurithne, after seeing the wonderful Bagseg), and being next in line in terms of 'slightly bigger' ogres.
Jehan-reznor wrote: That War Drune, sheer awesomeness, And Belech needs a plectrum in his right hand
He has a built-in natural picks in the form of great big claws.
Automatically Appended Next Post:
decker_cky wrote: Yeah....I really think some of the details in how the heads are shaped and how the horns flow just didn't work with the design on these. I don't much love how the shoulders/necks come together either.
I think following the designs of other mierce gabrax horns would have been the easiest improvement - curling backwards, generally fairly straight, looks better, rather than curling towards the middle or forwards.
The chewing on the horn model is an amusing but odd concept, and if you're going to do something like that, it has to be absolutely knocked out of the ballpark, which I don't think they did. A more standard horn blower would have been much nicer.
Most of the problems I have link back to the concept art, but I also think Benoit Cosse didn't elevate them from the concept, which is always nice, but was certainly necessary in this case.
The Mierce gabrax characters are by and large amazing. I'm always going to compare gabrax to beastmen miniatures from GW, which aren't a homerun by any means, but are very good. In general, where there's a comparable model, Mierce models are way nicer than the competition. Here, there was definitely room for that, but the concept and execution were both a bit below Mierce's standards.
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The Oghur's I don't absolutely love, but they're very nice and are IMO better than the concept art. I think they mostly fall victim to not being what people were really hoping for (which was the oghurithne, after seeing the wonderful Bagseg), and being next in line in terms of 'slightly bigger' ogres.
Considering there are about a dozen models I can't afford, having some of the completed models NQR is, frankly a relief...!
I feel like the Gabrax's legs look to short or something.
I've got the Jaw Taker here, and he's quite well built- I understand he's taller than his mates. I also have one of the older Banebeasts standard bearers, and his hooves look to be in a good proportion to the rest of his body size.
Maybe it's just the angle the shot's taken at?
For what it's worth, I was very unhappy with Ssibyros when I saw his first photos, but actually having him in hand, he works much better for me.
Anyone managed to start piecing their wave 2 stuff together yet? I want to see some new kits getting pieced together!
Rest assured the two hydrar will be my top priorities when they arrive!
I like em. Currently building my 10 and am wondering if I should get another 5 for a unit of 15. They fit the Fomoraic aesthetic well in being some sort of fushion of man and beast. They're not completely covered in fur and are quite heavy set.
The hornblower makes sense when you think about it. They don't have the mouth to use a normal horn.
You will only see these items in the webstore if you have backed this project, of course.
Here's a few images to make you realise what you're missing...
Timoth, Smith of Langwith Timoth, Smith of Langwith
Caedoc, Abad of Becelert Caedoc, Abad of Becelert
Velchior, Magus Infernum Velchior, Magus Infernum
Djiuzu, Dromedus Secundus Djiuzu, Dromedus Secundus
Baagath's Herd, Gabrax Unit Baagath's Herd, Gabrax Unit
Praach, Braying Gabrox Praach, Braying Gabrox
Xontór, Gorgon of Khthon Xontór, Gorgon of Khthon
Thoth, Anax of Ýdron Thoth, Anax of Ýdron
Hanokh, Kentarch of Ýdron Hanokh, Kentarch of Ýdron
Dawn of Khthon, Gorgórar Unit Dawn of Khthon, Gorgórar Unit
Malmörd, Fell Troll Malmörd, Fell Troll
Seza, Death-Abhorrent Seza, Death-Abhorrent
After August 25th, you'll have to wait until they're released!
If you don't purchase any of the Wave 2 items above by August the 25th, you won't be able to purchase them again until they are released to the general public, and - depending on the miniature involved - that could be for a long while yet! Plus, they'll be at full price of course.
What are you waiting for? Grab those Wave 2 items now - before it's too late!
Automatically Appended Next Post: I've only seen the CG renders for those Kthon, anyone got a real in-the-flesh shot?
(No, I'm not referring to the Pink Floyd song)
We're slowly painting up all of the miniatures from Darklands: a World of War, and whilst we're prioritising painting the new releases to come from Darklands: First Edition we can still get a few done from here over time.
Thus, both Sébastien Picque and Martin Grandbarbe are hard at work, painting miniatures from this project, although we only have some from Séb to show this week... both being rather tricky!
Belech
The awesome Belech, sculpted by Roberto Chaudon, is a scion of Baalor himself and thus is very much a Fomor - a true Fomor or Fíorfomor - and is basically a sea creature. Thus, his paintjob was always going to be rather eccentric and we eventually settled upon this one, simply because it fits the icy nature of Baalor's realm as well as many lobsters and other sea creatures on our earth.
Séb's performed wonders with this guy, and we hope he provides inspiration for you all to paint your Belech similarly! Remember, lobsters only turn red when they're cooked...
Vaak
Sculpted by Roberto Chaudon again (we do seem to give him the difficult ones!), from the artwork by Stef Kopinski, Vaak is a Moraine Beast, a constructed creature of ice and rock born of the glaciers Baalor brings to Eriu and, of course, dark sorcery.
Painted by Sébastien Picque to quite a difficult brief, Vaak has turned out superbly and hopefully it will provide inspiration to those of you who are struggling with this guy. He's a difficult miniature to paint, but certainly not impossible!
Aug 29 2014
New sculpts and more news of Darklands: New Kindreds...
2 comments
8 likes
Crikey. Another seven days have passed, and here we are again... with loads of cool stuff to show you!
This week we have some new sculpts, Wave 2 fulfilment news and KS3... so that's:
news of our forthcoming Kickstarter project, Darklands: New Kindreds
sculpt work in progress updates from Stéphane Camosseto, Hector Moran and Stéphane Simon;
news of Wave 2 fulfilment;
a list of what miniatures will hopefully be sent in Wave 3;
updated lists of sculptors and sculpts;
downloadable versions of the current QuickStarter Rules, Muster Rules and Kindred Musters;
anything else you can expect from us over the next few months.
Here we go...
This week we have the first images of Hrōr and Eadric's horse sculpts from Stéphane Camosseto, Tiberius for the Con I Modius contubernium from Hector Moran, and there's the completed Gunnar Half-Shield, the herald of the Hrafnen Crew, from Stéphane Simon!
Eadric on Horse should make it into Wave 3, huzzah!
Hrōr is going to be spectacular. When he's got his weapons and armour, we think Hrōr is going to be Stéphane's best work yet...
With Hrōr looking pretty close to completion, he's a safe bet to make it into Wave 3!
Hector Moran is really pushing the boat out on on Con I Modius, for his digital sculpts - from the artwork by Steve Pierce - are getting near to completion! He's even begun to add the pila to each of the warriors...
The last of the Legionaries to get "in pose", Tiberius is looking good...
With all five nearing completion, Con I Modius should definitely make it into Wave 3.
Stéphane Simon is cracking on with the Norse Holumenn known as Hrafnen Crew, from the artwork by Danny Cruz. These guys are going to be awesome!
Stéphane's now completed the Holumann herald known as Gunnar Half-Shield...
With Stéphane Simon getting his speed mojo back, we think it's a safe bet that the Hrafnen Crew will make it into Wave 3!
We have awesome news: Wave 2 shipments have now begun!
We estimate we're around 10% through the orders containing Wave 2 items so far. We're combining Wave 2 items with QuickStarter rules as well as any existing miniatures from Darklands: Monstrous Mounts.
We have more specific news about our next Kickstarter project, entitled "Darklands: New Kindreds", or KS3 as it is more popularly known amongst backers (which is a bit of a misnomer as it would be our fifth project, but that's by the by). So, read the following carefully...
The definite start date of this project (barring an ape apocalypse) will be Monday the 15th of September (so only around two weeks away!) and it should end a month later on Monday the 13th of October. We reckon that's twenty-eight days, which is plenty of time to run a project of this size.
So what's Darklands: New Kindreds all about?
Well, as it says in the title, it's about bringing new kindreds to the world of Darklands!
This project has been mooted for a long while simply because Darklands has ten main kindreds, two of which - the Atalantes and Érainn - have not yet been explored, even though there's lots of interest in them.
You see, in Darklands: a World of War we decided to concentrate on six kindreds (Angelcynn, Brythoniaid, Fomoraic, Khthones, Norse and Ysians) and then added another two kindreds with the Darklands: First Edition project (the Albainn and Byzantii) - which leaves the Atalantes and Érainn rather by the wayside. Now's the time to redress that!
Who are the Atalantes?
The Atalantes are a decadent, somewhat depraved civilisation that live upon the crumbling islands of Atalantia in the Atlantic Ocean - what we now call Atlantis. Their society and their home is dying, but they cling to the ancient rocks even as they are assaulted by their former progeny and slaves, the Khthones - although many believe they should take to the seas and relocate to the Lands of Darkness to the east, which inevitably causes conflict with those that already live there.
In Darklands, the ancient Greeks were descended from the Atalantes, and so their look and feel will be very similar to those who know what a Hoplite looks like - but through their use of arcane technology, constructs of bronze (such as Talos) and ruthless slavery they will also have a very different feel.
Who are the Érainn?
The Érainn are, put very simply, the dark age Irish. Their society is mostly Christian but fairly barbaric, and as they are assaulted by the Fomoraic and the Norse and the Atalantes and many others, they are becoming more and more martial and turning to the old ways of Danu the Earth Goddess.
Thus, Irish warrior-bands like those of old now defend the north of Eriu against the threat of the sea devils and raiders from elsewhere, and Danu herself lends aid to her people through the beasts of the bog, peat and marsh - terrifying creatures with an implacable hatred of all that destroy the natural world. With those at their side, the Érainn might - just - be able to survive this age of darkness.
How will the project work?
We can't say too much about the project right now simply because not everything has been nailed down, but we can say that the main rewards will be based around Starter Sets, rather like Darklands: a World of War.
There will be at least two Starter Sets for each of the new kindreds - one that contains infantry, and one containing monstrous infantry - as well as options to include generals, commanders, sorcerers, monstrous beasts and much else besides. They'll also include dice and tokens as required, to get you started immediately.
What will the rewards be?
The rewards will be based around those starter sets, and you'll be able to purchase them separately or combined - including an option for "all the starter sets" for those with larger wallets...!
There will also be a reward for those who just want a couple of miniatures from the project, and there will also be a reward for an A5 version of the full rulebook that only contains rules.
The Infantry Starter Sets will be priced at £80, which will save you over 40% from the predicted RRP of everything that's inside them. You'll get a general, infantry unit and small monstrous beast, as well as dice and tokens.
All of the infantry starter sets will be unveiled right at the beginning of the project, although stretch goals will have to be made to get everything. If (when?) the project reaches £60,000, all of the infantry starter sets will be produced.
The Monstrous Infantry Starter Sets will be priced at £100, again saving you over 40% from the predicted RRP of everything that's inside them. You'll get a monstrous commander, a monstrous infantry unit and a large monstrous beast, as well as dice and tokens.
None of the monstrous infantry starter sets will be unveiled at the beginning of the project - you'll have to wait until we hit £60,000 for those!
What about the other Kindreds?
We haven't forgotten the existing kindreds - oh no! There'll be Infantry and Monstrous Infantry Starter Sets for each of the other kindreds, priced exactly the same as the above.
In the existing kindreds' Infantry Starter Sets, you'll get an alternate general, an infantry unit with alternate warriors and a small monstrous beast that may be alternate, and it may not - along with dice and tokens. Again, these will be shown immediately the project begins and will be produced when the project gets to £60,000.
Similarly, the existing kindreds' Monstrous Infantry Starter Sets will include an alternate monstrous commander, a monstrous infantry unit with alternate warriors and a large monstrous beast that may be alternate, and it may not - along with dice and tokens. Again, these won't be shown until we hit £60,000.
All of the alternates will be able to be purchased separately, to ensure those of you with plenty of our existing kindreds' miniatures don't have to shell out too much for them.
Aren't there any new miniatures for the existing Kindreds?
Oh yes - there definitely will be, as long as we get past the infantry and monstrous infantry starter sets; and we may well chuck in a couple here and there before that occurs...!
Trust us - the alternates will make you all very happy indeed, and there will certainly be a couple of freebies... so whilst the project is designed to fund the creation of new kindreds, if you like the others there'll be plenty for you to fund!
What about a Sneak Peek?
Absolutely... here's something to whet your appetite; Kretos, an Ogros of Bronze - a mighty construct of the Atalantes that stands a little shorter than Talos, but much wider - by the lovely Dan Warren!
Darklands First Edition II
Update #84
Aug 29 2014
Sculpts, and more of Darklands: New Kindreds!
Comment
7 likes
As sure as Friday is Friday, another Friday comes along every Friday, which is great because Friday is Mierceday...
This week we have:
news of our forthcoming Kickstarter project, Darklands: New Kindreds
sculpt work in progress updates from Olivier Bouchet and Roberto Chaudon;
a list of sculptors and sculpts for this project;
downloadable versions of the current QuickStarter Rules, Muster Rules and Kindred Musters;
anything else you can expect from us over the next few months.
Let's begin!
This update we have yet another Oghur of the Oghu Guardians from Olivier Bouchet, another Warrior of Baalor from Olivier Nkweti and a completed Fiend from the Craven Fiends of Dis by Roberto Chaudon.
From the artwork by Thomas Mahon, Olivier Bouchet is working very hard indeed on the Oghu Guardians, and Undagg joins both Grubog and Skrugadd as far as the completeness stakes go...
The standard-bearer or Nhund of the Oghu Guardians is Pabogg, and he's yet another cracking sculpt by Olivier Bouchet...
Olivier's speed should ensure that the Oghu Guardians will be a Wave 4 shipment!
It's time to show you another digitally-sculpted Warrior of Baalor from Olivier Nkweti, who is really showing us who's boss with these guys...
Paara is a cracking (and nasty-looking) Warrior of Baalor, sculpted from the artwork by Steve Pierce of course.
With Lungaarn and Ulaan complete, and this guy about there, the Warriors of Baalor should make it into their shipment wave...
Following Dan Cockersell's work on the Infernii was always going to be a tough ask for anybody, but the superbly talented Roberto Chaudon has taken Dan's baton and done us all proud. Here's another sculpt for the Craven Fiends of Dis, from the artwork by Stefan Kopinski!
A lowly warrior of Dis, Kolkhus is Roberto's next Fiend and he's looking awesome and complete...
Darklands Monstrous Mounts
Update #18
Aug 29 2014
More Work on Erebius
Comment
4 likes
This here is the second update for Darklands: Monstrous Mounts, and it's a cracker because we can show you more of Erebius on Behema!
This week we have:
news of our forthcoming Kickstarter project, Darklands: New Kindreds;
sculpt work in progress updates from Dan Cockersell;
a list of sculptors and sculpts for this project;
downloadable versions of the current QuickStarter Rules, Muster Rules and Kindred Musters;
anything else you can expect from us over the next few months.
Let's begin!
We've a cracking set of work in progress images for you this week from the mighty Dan Cockersell - who, as always, is providing us with an unbelievably awesome sculpt in the shape of Erebius on Behema!
Erebius on Behema is being sculpted by Dan Cockersell from the artwork by Stefan Kopinski, and what a sculpt it is. Dan is now working on the Behema, and it's looking superb.
Whilst Erebius' Behema is yet to be completed, we do think that he'll be able to get it all done in time for Wave 4...
Roll on September 15!
Kretos, an Ogros of Bronze?
Awesome.
The Gaming budget for 2014 might be all gone come October!
Wow! Hell of an update! Looking forward to the 15th as well.
Ogros of bronze!! Damn, that's cool! Well, that's my interest piqued for the Atlantes. I have yet to see some Erain stuff to make me really excited, but I'm confident I'll be impressed.
Which of the two new kindreds are you all leaning towards?
Also interested to see what these 'alternate' units for the existing kindreds will be. If they start revamping Gaarwaag & the Tarvax on me I don't know how ill control myself?
I'll probably pick up some Atlantes since they are able to field Khthonic slaves. The bronze Ogros looks neat too, and who knows what sorts of constructs they'll have by the time the campaign finishes.
skullking wrote: Wow! Hell of an update! Looking forward to the 15th as well.
Ogros of bronze!! Damn, that's cool! Well, that's my interest piqued for the Atlantes. I have yet to see some Erain stuff to make me really excited, but I'm confident I'll be impressed.
Which of the two new kindreds are you all leaning towards?
Also interested to see what these 'alternate' units for the existing kindreds will be. If they start revamping Gaarwaag & the Tarvax on me I don't know how ill control myself?
So...
Mierce Miniatures wrote:
@Rick - all existing / being sculpted infantry units will have alternates at £60,000... no need to sell, either; just add the bolt-on parts... hang fire on selling until you see what's happening.
Mierce Miniatures wrote:
40 minutes ago
Nothing like that Andy - just alternates so that you can turn standard-bearers and musicians into warriors.
Different weapons are a definite possibility, but not in this project.
skullking wrote: Wow! Hell of an update! Looking forward to the 15th as well.
Ogros of bronze!! Damn, that's cool! Well, that's my interest piqued for the Atlantes. I have yet to see some Erain stuff to make me really excited, but I'm confident I'll be impressed.
Which of the two new kindreds are you all leaning towards?
Also interested to see what these 'alternate' units for the existing kindreds will be. If they start revamping Gaarwaag & the Tarvax on me I don't know how ill control myself?
So...
Mierce Miniatures wrote:
@Rick - all existing / being sculpted infantry units will have alternates at £60,000... no need to sell, either; just add the bolt-on parts... hang fire on selling until you see what's happening.
Mierce Miniatures wrote:
40 minutes ago
Nothing like that Andy - just alternates so that you can turn standard-bearers and musicians into warriors.
Different weapons are a definite possibility, but not in this project.
Ah... Well... That's nice, I guess? Have to see what they mean specifically. I guess I thought it would be something more like the 'armored trolls' or 'helmed Naara'.
At least that will somewhat alleviate the current problem where a 10 man unit has 1 champion, 1 standard bearer, 1 musician, and 4 and 3 each respectively of just 2 warrior sculpts. I'm anticipating quite a bit of conversion work to take care of that with both Fomoraic infantry units as it stands.
More Oghur action, and Darklands: New Kindreds! Comment 6 likes
It's Friday, or - if you know your history - the day of the goddess Frige. I'm sure all your imaginations are fired up by that...
Anyway, this week we have:
news of our forthcoming Kickstarter project, Darklands: New Kindreds sculpt work in progress updates from Olivier Bouchet; a list of sculptors and sculpts for this project; downloadable versions of the current QuickStarter Rules, Muster Rules and Kindred Musters; anything else you can expect from us over the next few months.
Let's begin!
There's not much this week - in fact, it's just a completed Oghur of the Oghu Guardians from Olivier Bouchet!
From the artwork by Thomas Mahon, Olivier Bouchet is working very hard indeed on the Oghu Guardians, and now Pabogg joins both Grubog, Skrugadd and Undagg as far as the completeness stakes go...
The standard-bearer or Nhund of the Oghu Guardians is Pabogg, and he's yet another cracking completed sculpt by Olivier Bouchet...
Olivier's speed should ensure that the Oghu Guardians will be a Wave 4 shipment!
There's a bit of a wait until Wave 4 begins, but there's plenty of items going out in Waves 1, 2 and 3 (for items from Darklands: First Edition) right now and later on this year.
Wave 1 shipments are now complete and Wave 2 shipments are in progress right now. If you backed Darklands: First Edition, please don't be upset if your orders have not yet been shipped, even if your order is currently in "packing" - please be patient while the boys get your miniatures cast and sent.
Bear in mind, too, that shipments will continue further through July and probably into August, and as always we will prioritise orders in date order - i.e., if you ordered early, you'll get your stuff sent early.
We have more specific news about our next Kickstarter project, entitled "Darklands: New Kindreds", or KS3 as it is more popularly known amongst backers (which is a bit of a misnomer as it would be our fifth project, but that's by the by). So, read the following carefully...
The definite start date of this project (barring an ape apocalypse) will be Monday the 15th of September (so only around two weeks away!), at 6pm, and it should end a month later on Monday the 13th of October at 6pm. We reckon that's twenty-eight days, which is plenty of time to run a project of this size.
So what's Darklands: New Kindreds all about?
Well, as it says in the title, it's about bringing new kindreds to the world of Darklands!
This project has been mooted for a long while simply because Darklands has ten main kindreds, two of which - the Atalantes and Érainn - have not yet been explored, even though there's lots of interest in them.
You see, in Darklands: a World of War we decided to concentrate on six kindreds (Angelcynn, Brythoniaid, Fomoraic, Khthones, Norse and Ysians) and then added another two kindreds with the Darklands: First Edition project (the Albainn and Byzantii) - which leaves the Atalantes and Érainn rather by the wayside. Now's the time to redress that!
How will the project work?
The main rewards will be based around Starter Sets, rather like Darklands: a World of War. There will be at least two Starter Sets for each of the new kindreds - one that contains infantry, and one containing monstrous infantry - as well as options to include generals, commanders, sorcerers, monstrous beasts and much else besides. They'll also include dice and tokens as required, to get you started immediately.
What will the rewards be?
The rewards will be based around those starter sets, and you'll be able to purchase them separately or combined - including an option for "all the starter sets" for those with larger wallets...!
There will also be a reward for those who just want a couple of miniatures from the project, and there will also be a reward for an A5 version of the full rulebook that only contains rules.
The Infantry Starter Sets will be priced at £80, which will save you over 40% from the predicted RRP of everything that's inside them. You'll get a general, infantry unit and small monstrous beast, as well as dice and tokens.
All of the infantry starter sets will be unveiled right at the beginning of the project, although stretch goals will have to be made to get everything. If (when?) the project reaches £60,000, all of the infantry starter sets will be produced.
The Monstrous Infantry Starter Sets will be priced at £100, again saving you over 40% from the predicted RRP of everything that's inside them. You'll get a monstrous commander, a monstrous infantry unit and a large monstrous beast, as well as dice and tokens.
None of the monstrous infantry starter sets will be unveiled at the beginning of the project - you'll have to wait until we hit £60,000 for those!
What about the other Kindreds?
We haven't forgotten the existing kindreds - oh no! There'll be Infantry and Monstrous Infantry Starter Sets for each of the other kindreds, priced exactly the same as the above.
In the existing kindreds' Infantry Starter Sets, you'll get an alternate general, an infantry unit with alternate warriors (based upon the banner bearer and herald) and a small monstrous beast that may be alternate, and it may not - along with dice and tokens. Again, these will be shown immediately the project begins and will be produced when the project gets to £60,000.
Similarly, the existing kindreds' Monstrous Infantry Starter Sets will include an alternate monstrous commander, a monstrous infantry unit with alternate warriors (based upon the banner bearer and herald) and a large monstrous beast that may be alternate, and it may not - along with dice and tokens. Again, these won't be shown until we hit £60,000.
All of the alternates will be able to be purchased separately, to ensure those of you with plenty of our existing kindreds' miniatures don't have to shell out too much for them.
Aren't there any new miniatures for the existing Kindreds?
Oh yes - there definitely will be, as long as we get past the infantry and monstrous infantry starter sets; and we may well chuck in a couple here and there before that occurs...!
Trust us - the alternates will make you all very happy indeed, and there will certainly be a couple of freebies... so whilst the project is designed to fund the creation of new kindreds, if you like the others there'll be plenty for you to fund!
What about a Sneak Peek?
Absolutely... here's something to whet your appetite; Ollmhór, a Beast of Síleann Fen by Sam Lamont - a monstrous Fen Beast of the Érainn that stands on a 60mm base and that will be around 70mm to the eye - so pretty big!
That's it for this week people... until next week, keep it Darklands!
There's only a few bits to show you today, but they're excellent bits all the same... and, of course, we have another sneak peek of Darklands: New Kindreds, which is only ten days away!
This week we have:
news of our forthcoming Kickstarter project, Darklands: New Kindreds sculpt work in progress updates from Stéphane Camosseto and Yannick Hennebo; news of Wave 2 fulfilment; a list of what miniatures will hopefully be sent in Wave 3; updated lists of sculptors and sculpts; downloadable versions of the current QuickStarter Rules, Muster Rules and Kindred Musters; anything else you can expect from us over the next few months.
Let's go!
Following on from last week, we have images of the completed Hrōr and an almost-completed Eadric's horse from Stéphane Camosseto. As well as that, we have Mananaan's horse from Yannick Hennebo...
Stéphane Camosseto has almost completed work on Eadric's horse and after that, of course, is Eadric himself...
Eadric on Horse should make it into Wave 3, huzzah!
We were right - Hrōr is a spectacular sculpt and, in our humble opinion, Stéphane's best work yet. It all bodes well for Eoric's Pack, the unit of Werwulfas funded by Darklands: First Edition II and which Stéphane will begin sculpting soon!
With Hrōr now completed, he'll definitely make it into Wave 3!
Yannick Hennebo has begun work on Mananaan on Horse, with his horse being completed first... and it looks superb!
Yannick should be able to get Mananaan on the horse sorted pretty quickly, so we're confident he will make it into Wave 3.
We have awesome news: Wave 2 shipments have now begun!
We estimate we're around 20% through the orders containing Wave 2 items so far. We're combining Wave 2 items with QuickStarter rules as well as any existing miniatures from Darklands: Monstrous Mounts.
Where's My Wave 1 and Wave 2 Stuff?
As always, please don't be upset if your orders have not yet been shipped, even if your order is currently in "packing" - please be patient while the boys get your miniatures cast and sent.
Now, if you believe you have an old Wave 1 order that hasn't yet been shipped and are wondering why, many orders only have one shipment wave item and thus will only be shipped when everything in those orders is ready. You can mitigate against this by purchasing a Wave 3 shipment item, of course - so the power's in your hands!
Now that we now how awesome Hrōr looks, I wonder what the 'solution' to the "Hrōr problem" will be?
If I'm reading that right, for the next KS there will only be new variants and a few completely new models for the existing Kindreds? In that case I'm probably only going to make a small investment this time nearer the end of the KS when they are unlocked.
I don't begrudge anybody waiting on the new Kindreds with this KS as they have had a long wait, just that it doesn't seem to be for me this time around.
There's likely to be some variant to tempt you among those choices!
Creator Mierce Miniatures about 9 hours ago
@Andy S - each new and old infantry unit will get a champion, banner bearer, banner bearer as warrior, herald, herald as warrior, warrior 1 and warrior 2.
The banner and herald alternates will have as few parts different as possible, and these parts will be included as an option in every unit purchased with a command group (5x warriors w cmd or 10x warriors w cmd) or as a standalone warrior (5x warriors).
Obviously, if a unit does not have a banner bearer or herald, there are no alternates.
@Charlie - no update for KSMM.
There will be a few freebies and there will also be new stuff for each kindred, although the new kindreds take priority first, so they'll come up once the infantry / monstrous infantry starter sets are funded.
I really wish they would slow down with the new campaigns for this.
I haven't got my Wave 3 stuff, and likely won't get it before this newest KS closes.
So I probably won't back it, since I haven't actually received anything yet.
I read the very first post from this thread, and how everyone was displeased with the naming and such. I can only agree. When I first heard about Mierce, two things were very off-putting to me. The sentences in the fluff made just no sense. Very, very poorly written. Tim Fisher tried to actually compare this to GW fluff. It's not even close. All, not just some, of the names sound like they are in an alien tongue. Just unnatural. But it's these wierd names combined with sentences without technical structure. I took my time trying to learn about just one faction, and I threw in the towel. They need to fire their author. It's a joke that he is employed by this company.
Second problem I have is that the factions just don't have their own character. Okay one is sort of snakey. I think one has some minitaurs. But really, most are just a series of bizarre monsters. If you are going to go with Dark Ages, make it more clear who the Byzantines/Vikings/Celts are. Cuz I just don't see these distinct factions. Just a slurry of demons and monsters with a couple barbarians each.
About ten percent of their sculpts are admittedly very very good tho. Anything done by Stephan Simon is great.
The author is the owner and developer of the game so don't expect the writing to change
(personally I think it's solid enough, but if it's not for you it's not for you, we all like different stuff)
Knowing a bit of the history/mythology of the UK, Ireland and Scandinavia also helps as that's where a lot of the background ideas come from
as to the naming, yup they are difficult (especially the ones based on the Welsh language in the Brythonaid kindred) but the more you read/use them the easier it gets (and you start translating bits in your head which helps)
I've said this before and I'm sure I'm not the only one but the website does a terrible job of presenting the factions that is made worse by the naming scheme. The kick starter does a much better job as it is one page with clear pictures of what everything is while the website requires lots of clicks and slow page loads.
I agree with that the names are rather hard to understand and to even attempt to pronounce, and I do agree that it seems to be a steep learning curve for new people to navigate through the different factions, but once you get a hang of it it starts making more sense and each of the factions are getting quite easily to identify among all the others. So keep at it.
The factions all take realistic historical factions and then lump their mythology (Norse have frost trolls and Jotun) or an alternate mythology (Byzantine and Demons). The factions IMO are all pretty distinct.
BloodFather wrote: I read the very first post from this thread, and how everyone was displeased with the naming and such. I can only agree. When I first heard about Mierce, two things were very off-putting to me. The sentences in the fluff made just no sense. Very, very poorly written. Tim Fisher tried to actually compare this to GW fluff. It's not even close. All, not just some, of the names sound like they are in an alien tongue. Just unnatural. But it's these wierd names combined with sentences without technical structure. I took my time trying to learn about just one faction, and I threw in the towel. They need to fire their author. It's a joke that he is employed by this company.
Just having a little fun there, no offence is intended. In all seriousness, you are perfectly entitled to your opinion; all I will say is that the names (and thus pronunciations) of our kindreds, realms and warriors is based upon historical / contemporary names of the various languages involved. I make no apologies, however, for using (for example) Welsh, or Irish, or Old Norse, or Old English; because I believe it makes Darklands more authentic. If that means people will avoid Darklands, so be it - I refuse to compromise.
Additionally, the background writing - particularly the sentence structure - is deliberately strange to mirror the writings of the venerable Bede. I don't ask anybody to understand that - all I would ask is that you realise it's deliberately strange, and move on - and please, no personal attacks of the above nature, which are entirely unnecessary and immediately lowers the value of your opinion.
What I will say is that, once the full rules are out and there's more background material, you may find it easier to get into. Darklands is in its infancy, really, and I just don't have the time to draw it all together except for the rulebook. I hold my hands up on that one - the background material is sparse and hard to find. That will change though.
Anyway, in all honesty, if you find the names too difficult to pronounce or the background too difficult to grasp, then Darklands is probably not for you. Darklands does require a degree of interest in our world and history in order to get into the setting, which (ironically enough) is probably the easiest fantasy setting to understand out there. It's our world, fourteen hundred years ago. There's Romans. There's Vikings. There's Celts! Once you get into the dark ages and the myth and legend that surrounds it, I defy anyone not to be intrigued.
In my opinion (which of course proves I too have an arsehole), the writing in most fantasy wargames, in particular Hordes and Warmachine, is awful. The background is made up nonsense and every single name or idea is borrowed from somewhere else (usually Tolkien or Conan). So I make no apologies for trying to make Darklands a little different and a little more grounded in history, myth and languages that exist than the rest, and a little more grounded in the natural world, too.
BloodFather wrote: Second problem I have is that the factions just don't have their own character. Okay one is sort of snakey. I think one has some minitaurs. But really, most are just a series of bizarre monsters. If you are going to go with Dark Ages, make it more clear who the Byzantines/Vikings/Celts are. Cuz I just don't see these distinct factions. Just a slurry of demons and monsters with a couple barbarians each.
Again, this may be because the background material is not yet drawn together, although that's something that will happen in the future. There just aren't enough hours in the day!
Darklands is man and beast together, not man, elf, dwarf, orc and beast. Those standard fantasy tropes are something we wish to avoid because they have been done to death and the world does not need another wargame with them in it. Regardless, even though man is the most common denominator (which also makes it easier to relate to) we've worked hard to try to ensure each kindred is different, especially because - for example - the Anglo-Saxons and the Norse are basically the same people.
Albainn - Ogres and Giants
Angelcynn - shape-shifting Wolves, Bears, Boars, Deer
Atalantes - Ancient Greeks with arcane weaponry and bronze colossi
Brythoniaid - Dragons
Byzantii - the romans, allied to demons
Érainn - the Irish, and bog/tree/fen beasts
Fomoraic - hairy beast-men and ice creatures
Khthones - reptiles - snakes, lizards, lisks, crocodiles
Norse - vikings, trolls and ravens
Ysians - flesh constructs and wild creatures
BloodFather wrote: About ten percent of their sculpts are admittedly very very good tho. Anything done by Stephan Simon is great.
I'm glad you think we've done something right, at least... even if only ten per cent!
Again, as a last aside, Darklands won't be for everyone, just as Hordes and Warmachine isn't or Warhammer isn't; but if you don't understand it and want to know more, just mail us - we don't bite and I'd be happy to answer any and all questions you have.
For those that have commented in support of Darklands here, thank you
BloodFather wrote: I read the very first post from this thread, and how everyone was displeased with the naming and such. I can only agree. When I first heard about Mierce, two things were very off-putting to me. The sentences in the fluff made just no sense. Very, very poorly written. Tim Fisher tried to actually compare this to GW fluff. It's not even close. All, not just some, of the names sound like they are in an alien tongue. Just unnatural. But it's these wierd names combined with sentences without technical structure. I took my time trying to learn about just one faction, and I threw in the towel. They need to fire their author. It's a joke that he is employed by this company.
Just having a little fun there, no offence is intended. In all seriousness, you are perfectly entitled to your opinion; all I will say is that the names (and thus pronunciations) of our kindreds, realms and warriors is based upon historical / contemporary names of the various languages involved. I make no apologies, however, for using (for example) Welsh, or Irish, or Old Norse, or Old English; because I believe it makes Darklands more authentic. If that means people will avoid Darklands, so be it - I refuse to compromise.
Additionally, the background writing - particularly the sentence structure - is deliberately strange to mirror the writings of the venerable Bede. I don't ask anybody to understand that - all I would ask is that you realise it's deliberately strange, and move on - and please, no personal attacks of the above nature, which are entirely unnecessary and immediately lowers the value of your opinion.
What I will say is that, once the full rules are out and there's more background material, you may find it easier to get into. Darklands is in its infancy, really, and I just don't have the time to draw it all together except for the rulebook. I hold my hands up on that one - the background material is sparse and hard to find. That will change though.
Anyway, in all honesty, if you find the names too difficult to pronounce or the background too difficult to grasp, then Darklands is probably not for you. Darklands does require a degree of interest in our world and history in order to get into the setting, which (ironically enough) is probably the easiest fantasy setting to understand out there. It's our world, fourteen hundred years ago. There's Romans. There's Vikings. There's Celts! Once you get into the dark ages and the myth and legend that surrounds it, I defy anyone not to be intrigued.
In my opinion (which of course proves I too have an arsehole), the writing in most fantasy wargames, in particular Hordes and Warmachine, is awful. The background is made up nonsense and every single name or idea is borrowed from somewhere else (usually Tolkien or Conan). So I make no apologies for trying to make Darklands a little different and a little more grounded in history, myth and languages that exist than the rest, and a little more grounded in the natural world, too.
BloodFather wrote: Second problem I have is that the factions just don't have their own character. Okay one is sort of snakey. I think one has some minitaurs. But really, most are just a series of bizarre monsters. If you are going to go with Dark Ages, make it more clear who the Byzantines/Vikings/Celts are. Cuz I just don't see these distinct factions. Just a slurry of demons and monsters with a couple barbarians each.
Again, this may be because the background material is not yet drawn together, although that's something that will happen in the future. There just aren't enough hours in the day!
Darklands is man and beast together, not man, elf, dwarf, orc and beast. Those standard fantasy tropes are something we wish to avoid because they have been done to death and the world does not need another wargame with them in it. Regardless, even though man is the most common denominator (which also makes it easier to relate to) we've worked hard to try to ensure each kindred is different, especially because - for example - the Anglo-Saxons and the Norse are basically the same people.
Albainn - Ogres and Giants
Angelcynn - shape-shifting Wolves, Bears, Boars, Deer
Atalantes - Ancient Greeks with arcane weaponry and bronze colossi
Brythoniaid - Dragons
Byzantii - the romans, allied to demons
Érainn - the Irish, and bog/tree/fen beasts
Fomoraic - hairy beast-men and ice creatures
Khthones - reptiles - snakes, lizards, lisks, crocodiles
Norse - vikings, trolls and ravens
Ysians - flesh constructs and wild creatures
BloodFather wrote: About ten percent of their sculpts are admittedly very very good tho. Anything done by Stephan Simon is great.
I'm glad you think we've done something right, at least... even if only ten per cent!
Again, as a last aside, Darklands won't be for everyone, just as Hordes and Warmachine isn't or Warhammer isn't; but if you don't understand it and want to know more, just mail us - we don't bite and I'd be happy to answer any and all questions you have.
For those that have commented in support of Darklands here, thank you
Cheers
I admit that I really like this whole approach as it indeed gives quite a depth to the whole setting. I find it very interesting that historical background with fantasy touches.
If you need any contribution with the Greek names for Atalantes I would be more than happy to help
About ten percent of their sculpts are admittedly very very good tho. Anything done by Stephan Simon is great.
Don't know how I missed this gem. Simply put, you're wrong and blind. 10%? You're significantly short.
Sweet, sour, salty or bitter... I guess everyone got their own flavour they prefer. For me, I'm more heavily leaning towards 10% are not to my taste while 90% is pretty great.
Mierce Miniatures wrote: In my opinion (which of course proves I too have an arsehole), the writing in most fantasy wargames, in particular Hordes and Warmachine, is awful. The background is made up nonsense and every single name or idea is borrowed from somewhere else (usually Tolkien or Conan). So I make no apologies for trying to make Darklands a little different and a little more grounded in history, myth and languages that exist than the rest, and a little more grounded in the natural world, too.
I was nodding and agreeing with you right up till that pointless little dig. Slagging off another game to try and make yours / your favourite look good, is never ever a good idea.
I'm assuming the earlier poster simply got his numbers reversed? 10% he didn't like, right?
That's the only thing that could logically make sense.
Truth be told, I was kind of in the same boat in regards to the background material- early on. I started looking into the history a bit on my own of some of these kindreds, and after that there was no turning back.
Having had the opportunity to visit a bunch of historical sites in that area of the world when I was younger certainly has helped make some connections with things as well.
Names for the Brythoniaid are still my biggest challenge, but also some of my favorite! There's something about piles of vowels just jumbling up on each other that appeals to me.
highlord tamburlaine wrote: I'm assuming the earlier poster simply got his numbers reversed? 10% he didn't like, right?
That's the only thing that could logically make sense.
There's only two more I can think of, one is that he possesses a very minority aesthetic perspective, the other is an inflammatory term that involves bridges and billy goats.
Names for the Brythoniaid are still my biggest challenge, but also some of my favorite! There's something about piles of vowels just jumbling up on each other that appeals to me.
In fairness, modern Welsh is equally hard to pronounce...
If you pull the info you can dig out of the background bits a lot of the units have in the Mierce website you can reconstruct a fair bit of information. It also helps you understand what the terms mean
Below is what I've done for one of the kindreds (any errors are mine not Robs)
The Albaiin have resisted the invasions of the Romanii and continue to resist the attacks of the Byzantii (the sucessors to the Romanii) and those of the fearsome Norse. They also fear possible invasion from the Fomoraic, the Érainn and the Angelcynn. The ally when necessary with the Brythoniaid (inhabitants of what is now Wales), the other remnant of the original inhabitants of these isles.
The kindred is composed of seven kingdoms which cover the land of Alba, these are
Fortriu ruled by the Righ of Fortriu, Talorc son of Uuid, Once a mere kingdom, Fortriu now has holdings in all of Alba: not simply land, but fortresses and bulwarks against the raiders and would-be conquerers to the west, south and across the sea.
One of vassals of Talorc son of Uuid, Righ (King) of Fortriu, is Dúngal, Mormaer (Warlord/General) of he great fortresses Dun Durn. He is ably served by his Hound (personal banner bearer) Drast the Hunched so called because of his physical deformity which would normally have made him an outcast, but this was ignored after saved the life of Dúngal in the wilderness of Fortriu during a Dál Riatan ( Érainn?) incursion and later went on to demonstrate unmatched skill in war. Dúngal also calls upon the services of the Umaer (warchief) Ciniod and Itaina and the Sagart (Sorcerer) Domnech as well as numerous Gairlom (Infantry)
Other kingdoms of the Albaiin are Cait (to the north-west of Fortriu), Ce and Circinn (both to south of Fortriu).
Alba also still provides a home to some of those who lived there before man came.
The Giants beloved of the old gods. The Oghurüc born of giants driven from their original homes by man until they reached the hidden the places of the world where lie forces and things that crawled or flew undisturbed until the Giants came. They were then changed by this meeting becoming the twisted Oghurüc. These deviant Giants have a single eye hooves and horns. Tehir twisted appearance is matched by their hate filled hearts that revere their gods through the suffering of others, in the hope that sacrificing others to the Oghu stones will atone for the sins of their own lives and thus eventually return them the forms they once had as true Giants. The Oghur who treat with the Oghurüc with supersticious awe and fear and the Oghurithne. These beings know the ways of the Oghu stones and can the powers they hold in the battles against the enemies of the Albaiin.
I'm not a huge fan of the names either. When playing the game it devolves into "This unit attacks this unit" or whatever as it's easier than trying to garble it all out when I actually play the game that is.
It's fairly obvious to everyone that this game is grounded in history, and I'll freely admit that doesn't put me off the background but it doesn't inspire me to read further into it either. As every faction is based on an obvious culture in broad strokes I can make assumptions about Darklands as it's the Dark Ages with big monsters. I think the only faction I can't make any guesses about are the Khthones.
Errr, no. That's hardly the norm. That name in particular is just an attraction concocted in the 19th century to lure tourists, works like a charm too! As for the name itself, it reads out as a set of landmarks used to describe the general area, words strung together. It looks a mess, even to native Welsh speakers.
Alpharius wrote: I'm hoping that once the 'full' rulebook is released, there's lot of good background on the various Kindreds.
If there's one criticism that I feel is valid here it is that - the background right now is too sparse and too scattered.
Rob's told us that the full rulebook will address and correct this - so I'm really looking forward to that!
This is a very good and accurate point. A rich background with stories and several details of each faction is what makes the difference between a rich system and just a good game with nice minis.
It is point they should really look very seriously.
Errr, no. That's hardly the norm. That name in particular is just an attraction concocted in the 19th century to lure tourists, works like a charm too! As for the name itself, it reads out as a set of landmarks used to describe the general area, words strung together. It looks a mess, even to native Welsh speakers.
I'm surprised you felt compelled to explain that too me.
Of course I was using an extreme example, because I was having a little joke, if I was giving a lecture on the origins and evolution of the Welsh language, I would have probably used a slightly more grounded example.
It will definitely be next year for the printing, I'm hoping to get the PDF up after the next project; I'll update everything next week. I've been holding off telling people because I thought that I would get enough time to get the PDF done in August, but then I had to babysit the kids for three weeks as our lass got a new job. Family life and work are tough...
So that's another slip from, what was it, November?
I have to say, and this has been on my mind for a while, that my enthusiasm remains, but as the game slips further and further down the line, my enthusiasm to buy more effectively blind diminishes.
To the above discussion- The website is really terrible about representing the factions, though! You get much more out of the Kickstarter pages in that regard.
A rulebook that has more than just the rules in it though is a book that I'm far more likely to pull off the shelf to read just for the hell of it.
If the actual book is going to slip into 2015, which I'm fine with if it means even more art and the like, gives me a good reason to pick up the quickstart rulebook then to tide me over.
Very least I can pawn that book off on my brother when the nice full version arrives.
Azreal13 wrote: So that's another slip from, what was it, November?
I have to say, and this has been on my mind for a while, that my enthusiasm remains, but as the game slips further and further down the line, my enthusiasm to buy more effectively blind diminishes.
The quick start is PLENTY to start chewing on until the new year. It's already more robust than many other rulebooks.
Azreal13 wrote: So that's another slip from, what was it, November?
I have to say, and this has been on my mind for a while, that my enthusiasm remains, but as the game slips further and further down the line, my enthusiasm to buy more effectively blind diminishes.
The quick start is PLENTY to start chewing on until the new year. It's already more robust than many other rulebooks.
highlord tamburlaine wrote:A rulebook that has more than just the rules in it though is a book that I'm far more likely to pull off the shelf to read just for the hell of it.
If the actual book is going to slip into 2015, which I'm fine with if it means even more art and the like, gives me a good reason to pick up the quickstart rulebook then to tide me over.
Very least I can pawn that book off on my brother when the nice full version arrives.
This.
It isn't so much about lacking an option to play the game, it is all the rest of the experience that surrounds it, up to and including the smell of cracking open a brand new glossy tome for the first time.
Both myself and my only likely initial opponent had decided to hold off starting until we had the full book, and that target is simply sliding off towards the horizon and other games and priorities are beginning to insert themselves between me and it.
I can feel myself losing impetus, and I'm fairly sure a book the allows me to get inside the game world will resolve that, so I guess, for me, it is now a race between the book launching and me losing all momentum and relegating Mierce from a company I'm a huge fan of, who makes miniatures for a game I play to a company I occasionally buy counts as models for other games I play.
Whew!
All this bickering and opinion-based arguments around rules, names, backgrounds, history...!
I'm so glad I just buy dem perty minis cos I likes 'em.
I don't even know the 'background on any of my several dozen purchased minis, I just like building, cleaning, filling, painting, and looking at them.
Perhaps I should...maybe I should be more careful which minis I place together, lest they start fighting because they are opposing factions...
Well, painters will always just buy the models they like. Most people look for a ruleset or at least a clearly defined faction to build towards, though.
RiTides wrote: Well, painters will always just buy the models they like. Most people look for a ruleset or at least a clearly defined faction to build towards, though.
Hmm, I'd love to see some stats to back that assertion...
Hey Mierce, what percentage of customers just buy minis, ie not 500 gold mustesr of one faction?
Azreal13 wrote: So that's another slip from, what was it, November?
I have to say, and this has been on my mind for a while, that my enthusiasm remains, but as the game slips further and further down the line, my enthusiasm to buy more effectively blind diminishes.
The quick start is PLENTY to start chewing on until the new year. It's already more robust than many other rulebooks.
highlord tamburlaine wrote:A rulebook that has more than just the rules in it though is a book that I'm far more likely to pull off the shelf to read just for the hell of it.
If the actual book is going to slip into 2015, which I'm fine with if it means even more art and the like, gives me a good reason to pick up the quickstart rulebook then to tide me over.
Very least I can pawn that book off on my brother when the nice full version arrives.
This.
It isn't so much about lacking an option to play the game, it is all the rest of the experience that surrounds it, up to and including the smell of cracking open a brand new glossy tome for the first time.
Both myself and my only likely initial opponent had decided to hold off starting until we had the full book, and that target is simply sliding off towards the horizon and other games and priorities are beginning to insert themselves between me and it.
I can feel myself losing impetus, and I'm fairly sure a book the allows me to get inside the game world will resolve that, so I guess, for me, it is now a race between the book launching and me losing all momentum and relegating Mierce from a company I'm a huge fan of, who makes miniatures for a game I play to a company I occasionally buy counts as models for other games I play.
Personally, I'd rather them hold off on the full rule book so that they can include all of the factions and figures into it.
RiTides wrote: Well, painters will always just buy the models they like. Most people look for a ruleset or at least a clearly defined faction to build towards, though.
You can get that now, though it is in a few places.
I think every Mierce KS update has links to the game rules, muster rules (army building) and Kindred lists (including points costs).
It was a bit of a shocker to me that the rulebook printing is delayed until next year BUT...
1) I get the feeling that it is a 'one man band' at Mierce when it comes to rules/fluff writing?
2) Maybe Mierce can combine shipping the rules with a subsequent wave of miniatures, to help out on costs? With individual backer approval, of course!
I'd be OK with that, if it helps out any.
Still the best news is that KS5 starts in about a week!
It's the one man band vibe that's giving me bad juju feelings about the whole thing. The quality of the miniatures I've received so far is unquestionably very high (and I've a large hole in my bank account that says I'm committed and want this project to succeed), but I can't see the game system taking off when Rob has said a number of times that it is he who does the writing and he won't delegate that task to others. It means that as well as running the company and kickstarters, he is solely responsible for the design, rules, feedback, QA - when does this guy get to sleep?
I suspect the rulebook is pushed back again simply because there aren't enough hours in the day for Rob to do everything himself, but then as the manager he should know that he shouldn't be trying to one-man-band it.
Henry wrote: It's the one man band vibe that's giving me bad juju feelings about the whole thing. The quality of the miniatures I've received so far is unquestionably very high (and I've a large hole in my bank account that says I'm committed and want this project to succeed), but I can't see the game system taking off when Rob has said a number of times that it is he who does the writing and he won't delegate that task to others. It means that as well as running the company and kickstarters, he is solely responsible for the design, rules, feedback, QA - when does this guy get to sleep?
I suspect the rulebook is pushed back again simply because there aren't enough hours in the day for Rob to do everything himself, but then as the manager he should know that he shouldn't be trying to one-man-band it.
No need to 'suspect' it - he's outright stated it!
Maybe Mierce as a company isn't in the position to hire on someone specifically for this task, if that's "all" they'd be hired on for?
Henry wrote: It's the one man band vibe that's giving me bad juju feelings about the whole thing. The quality of the miniatures I've received so far is unquestionably very high (and I've a large hole in my bank account that says I'm committed and want this project to succeed), but I can't see the game system taking off when Rob has said a number of times that it is he who does the writing and he won't delegate that task to others. It means that as well as running the company and kickstarters, he is solely responsible for the design, rules, feedback, QA - when does this guy get to sleep?
I suspect the rulebook is pushed back again simply because there aren't enough hours in the day for Rob to do everything himself, but then as the manager he should know that he shouldn't be trying to one-man-band it.
No need to 'suspect' it - he's outright stated it!
Maybe Mierce as a company isn't in the position to hire on someone specifically for this task, if that's "all" they'd be hired on for?
Maybe?
Or he's like some of us who refuse to delegate work to others because of a lack of trust they will do it right.
Or in the same direction? Something like this I'd want to keep control off until I have a robust universe with all the major factions documented, style guides written, etc. so that any new writers have a clear direction to follow.
Easy for me to say that as I'm not planning on playing the game, I only want the minis for painting and proxying as Chaos Daemons.
It's his vision after all, I can't blame him for wanting to keep creative control over it.
I'd do the same. I've been trying to get a kid's book published, and the one publisher who showed any interest so far wanted to take it and turn it into something completely different, and bring on board a bunch of other people.
I wasn't going to have any of it. Why should I put all my blood, sweat, and tears into a project for someone else to come along and muck it up in a direction I didn't want to take it? I think the same thing applies here.
When they're filthy rich and a publicly traded company, that's the time they can jump ship and let someone else ruin things!
@Dan - Alpharius has it right; Kickstarter is our business model, for now at least. It's all right saying "let's give it a break"... but I have staff and bills to pay...
RivenSkull wrote: Or he's like some of us who refuse to delegate work to others because of a lack of trust they will do it right.
I'm trying to write my thoughts in a way that doesn't make me sound like an ass. So please accept that I wish Rob and his team all the best and in no way do I presume to know how he runs his business. This response is not aimed at him but to the responses of what I said.
RivenSkull wrote: Or he's like some of us who refuse to delegate work to others because of a lack of trust they will do it right.
I'm trying to write my thoughts in a way that doesn't make me sound like an ass. So please accept that I wish Rob and his team all the best and in no way do I presume to know how he runs his business. This response is not aimed at him but to the responses of what I said.
Good managers delegate.
Good managers delegate when they can afford to hire competent, trustworthy people.
It's a small company; he simply may not be able to delegate the necessary funds to that particular measure, just yet.
@Dan - Alpharius has it right; Kickstarter is our business model, for now at least. It's all right saying "let's give it a break"... but I have staff and bills to pay...
heh!
The problem with this is Mierce/Lane is continually starting new campaigns when previous ones aren't delivered on yet. It's one thing with a larger(!) company like Mantic who sells to many others and has a retail reach beyond their own website, but when you've got Rob Lane's track record - specifically his track record when it comes to delivering on goods that have been paid for, it might be a little more risky at some stage. "But I have staff and bllls to pay" is a sentence that gives a bit of cause for concern. Looks a bit like a game of Jenga to me...
wait what? Mierce's Kickstarter have been extremely well done so far. extremely good update policy, quick and honest answers to delays and most if not the majority of stuff arrives in time.
@Dan - Alpharius has it right; Kickstarter is our business model, for now at least. It's all right saying "let's give it a break"... but I have staff and bills to pay...
heh!
The problem with this is Mierce/Lane is continually starting new campaigns when previous ones aren't delivered on yet. It's one thing with a larger(!) company like Mantic who sells to many others and has a retail reach beyond their own website, but when you've got Rob Lane's track record - specifically his track record when it comes to delivering on goods that have been paid for, it might be a little more risky at some stage. "But I have staff and bllls to pay" is a sentence that gives a bit of cause for concern. Looks a bit like a game of Jenga to me...
I could go on, but I won't for the time being.
Classic FUD. Let's see how I am doing 4 Kickstarters in. Well, I have all my stuff from the first Kickstarter, nearly all my stuff for second. I can see the sculpts that I've purchased for the third Kickstarter in production (through the weekly updates) and I received a recent chunk of existing stuff from the fourth Kickstarter. I'd say they've been delivering. And, not only that, they've been delivering on time and on target, baring the odd exception.
I think Azazelx is saying that the Next One Could Be The One That Causes It All To Fall Apart?
However the explanation we've been given is that Mierce needs to book up sculptors and the best way for them to do that, using metrics that they've come up with and seem to be working so far, is to run Kickstarters, raise funds, and book sculptors up.
The beauty of it all is, of course, if anyone is worried, they absolutely should not pledge and wait for the miniatures they like to hit retail.
I also think they are making a rod for their own back, solely releasing new items via kickstarter means a lot of your potential sales are fulfilled before it hits retail. To be on a more sustainable footing and create greater incentive for stockists to carry their line they should probably reinvest some money in straight to retail releases. Also selling your back catalogue at knock down prices via kickstarter also makes it harder to create a firm retail base.
Currently Mierce is a house built on sand, they need the foundations of retail going forwards. If one kickstarter doesn't make enough money to keep the wolf from the door we will see a lot of unpaid sculptors and a lot of customers without product (again).
UNCLEBADTOUCH wrote: I also think they are making a rod for their own back, solely releasing new items via kickstarter means a lot of your potential sales are fulfilled before it hits retail. To be on a more sustainable footing and create greater incentive for stockists to carry their line they should probably reinvest some money in straight to retail releases. Also selling your back catalogue at knock down prices via kickstarter also makes it harder to create a firm retail base.
Currently Mierce is a house built on sand, they need the foundations of retail going forwards. If one kickstarter doesn't make enough money to keep the wolf from the door we will see a lot of unpaid sculptors and a lot of customers without product (again).
You are making the assumption that the sculptors aren't being paid out of the KS that funded that new sculpt, which isn't the case from what we can see. Mierce seem to be raising money for the next x months worth of work with each KS, i.e., obtaining funds for new work, so without new funds the business would wind up after the last funded KS finished fulfilment. The accusation raised against Mantic by more than a few is that they are operating in a debit function with their KS, in that they are funding previous KS with the latest one. I have no idea if that is true.
No I'm making the assumption they are having sculptors start work for a kickstarter before the kickstarter funding it is complete, as evidenced by work in progress shots. If that kickstarter doesn't make sufficient to cover the running costs of the business but funds then the sculptors won't be paid for work started and backers won't get their pledge rewards as evidenced by rob lanes previous behaviour.
This is why I think they need to have more exposure through normal retail channels. If they have more income coming in this way then they are less vulnerable to the vagaries of kickstarter. However stockists are going to be more enthusiastic about the product if not all the sales are being swallowed up via kickstarter leaving them only breadcrumbs. Why invest in a line you will struggle to sell?
They need to use kickstarter for new sculpts only, leave the existing range for retailers to shift and every now and again do a new sculpt for a straight to retail release.
I may not like how rob lane went about setting this business up and will not purchase their products but I would prefer to see the company on a firm footing to reduce the chances of the community getting shafted again.
To me that means not relying on kickstarter for all their revenue and increasing their retail base to bring in new customers.
Which WIP are you talking about that were commissioned prior to a KS? I know of only one, the Erbus (SP) Mount and I would suspect that the funds for that were surplus to a previous KS anyway.
I'd argue that retail sales are actually completely the wrong way, this is a niche product in a niche sector, tying up limited customer funds early is a good thing, I have to decide what I want to buy each month from a long list and I have a large monthly budget.
Retail they would have to pay for the sculpt, the moulds, the initial batch of casts all out of their existing funds with no guaranteed sales. KS removes all of that uncertainty.
Mierce Darklands is definitely a niche within a niche - a boutique resin line of miniatures.
To me, getting the completed rules and background book finished and out for sale will be the biggest key in generating a more stable traditional 'retail' sales path for them - both on their own webstore and in FLGS and online game stores too.
Of course, all of this assumes stuff that we don't know - like what are Mierce's plans, goals, aspirations, etc.
@lookylikey reread my post, in it I say to use kickstarter for new sculpts. To not sell existing sculpts as kickstarter add ons (these sales can go to boosting retail sales) and to do an occasional 'retail exclusive' sculpt from reserved profit. If you have fixed costs like premises and staff to cover relying soley on kickstarter funds is not security.
I'm not saying don't use kickstarter, I'm saying build retail channels and narrow the scope of the kickstarters to create a more stable financial base.
If you don't see securing a businesses financial future as a good thing then you have some pretty odd ideas.or perhaps you would rather just get cheap shinies now and not worry about later?
As for WIPs you see plenty during the campaigns as well as concept art all of which has to be paid for. Remember there is a significant delay between the start of the campaign and funds being transferred.
@alpharius the trouble is if all sales (back catalogue included) go through kickstarter there is little incentive for retailers to pick up that line even with a rule set. Retailers will be loathe to buy into a line where it will be difficult to move as the parent company keeps selling the back catalogue at large discounts.
Actually the campaigns have been run on a basis of "we need x to commission the sculptor. So get us to the unlock and we can't start the commissioning process". I don't think sculptors start work without a down payment at least, and most of sculptors don't start work on the pieces until the money is guaranteed. As an aside, this is probably the closest to what people refer to as a "true-kickstarter" - often Mierce are paying for concept artwork during the campaign when the money reaches certain levels, presumably to avoid over-extending themselves, with each stretch goal showing what will be sculpted next. Quite often, people are hankering for the next reveal only to be told "The artists is finishing it off, hopefully in the next few hours" and sometimes has to resort to partially completed pieces if the total is rising faster than anticipated. There's less emphasis on packing the pledges with a ton of models and it's more about building up the range with discounts over retail and minor exclusives the order of the day. They also do trade sales to various companies, so that adds some additional funds that allow them to do fun things like the Axman of Omens.
Besides, Mierce has built up a reputation by using some of the best sculptors in the business and some of sculptors actively enjoy working on Mierce projects. Tim Fischer of Mierce always remarks that he is talks with different sculptors and has commented that he does get approached from time to time by sculptors asking to work on Mierce pieces. Roberto Chaudon, Allan Carrasco, Stéphane Simon and Olivier Nkweti are just a few of the many that are regular sculptors. Roberto is commonly remarked by Mierce to keep an eye on the KS comments and is fan favourite.
To be frank, if you want to use the best in the business and guarantee sculpts, you'd want to keep the sculptors sweet and maintain a good working reputation - that means making down payments, or full payments before commission, regular dialogue, feedback and a generally pleasant working atmosphere. The fact Mierce are able to commission these sculptors time and again tells me they're doing something right.
So where are the funds for these straight to retail releases coming from? To pay for the sculpting, moulds, initial casts for stock?
Concept art is different, thats promotional material for the KS. Other than that mount I don't remember any seen any WIP that wasn't from a previous KS?
There is nothing stopping Mierce from selling stock via a retailer, however that impacts their direct pricing as they then have to build in margin for the retailer to make a profit on and discount, which in turn impacts the KS, as the product will be available elsewhere for less.
I can understand trying to entice more sales via KS, but you're right - it is hard to "incentivize" B&M and Internet retailers to purchase the line if every 6 months the manufacturer is going to offer deals they can't meet or beat.
Of course, there are ways around this, I guess, but again, we don't know what Mierce's long terms goals, aspirations, plans, etc. are.
I am just as interested in the Darklands GAME as I am the beautiful miniatures.
I want this to be a long term, ongoing, surviving, healthy game and retail line - it scratches just about all of my fantasy wargaming itches!
@lookylikey like I already said in my post reserved profit for the occasional straight to release item. One mini every couple of months would be easily done.
WIPs go look back at the updates there is plenty there.
So concept art is free if it's for promo purposes?
Retail prices lower than kickstarter prices, well that's news to everyone on the planet.
You either need to take more time reading posts or stop intentionally trying to push your misguided agenda for 'cheap shinies'.
UNCLEBADTOUCH wrote: @lookylikey reread my post, in it I say to use kickstarter for new sculpts. To not sell existing sculpts as kickstarter add ons (these sales can go to boosting retail sales) and to do an occasional 'retail exclusive' sculpt from reserved profit. If you have fixed costs like premises and staff to cover relying soley on kickstarter funds is not security.
I'm not saying don't use kickstarter, I'm saying build retail channels and narrow the scope of the kickstarters to create a more stable financial base.
If you don't see securing a businesses financial future as a good thing then you have some pretty odd ideas.or perhaps you would rather just get cheap shinies now and not worry about later?
As for WIPs you see plenty during the campaigns as well as concept art all of which has to be paid for. Remember there is a significant delay between the start of the campaign and funds being transferred.
@alpharius the trouble is if all sales (back catalogue included) go through kickstarter there is little incentive for retailers to pick up that line even with a rule set. Retailers will be loathe to buy into a line where it will be difficult to move as the parent company keeps selling the back catalogue at large discounts.
I think your overlooking how small Darklands is at the moment. They are going to release their 5th Kickstarter and they still do not have a complete rulebook or all of their factions sculpted. Their first campaign was over a year ago and its getting closer to two years. Sitting on older sculpts in anticipation of retail some day is unrealistic in my opinion. I agree with you though that going retail will make them more stable. Just not in the deck of cards right now.
@malkaven it's a simple case that if they don't sell older existing sculpts at a large discount as kickstarter add ons there will be more demand in retail channels for these items. This will build up a relationship with retailers. Attract more people to the kickstarters for new models, not everyone goes on forums. As well as generally increasing there presence in the market place.
Kickstarter still has it's place but it will be a much easier transition in future if they start working more heavily with retailers in the build up to the game 'going live' so to speak.
Retail prices lower than kickstarter prices, well that's news to everyone on the planet.
To be pedantic, it can be at a certain level. If you're buying big, yes buying at KS prices will be cheaper. However, if you went in at the £10 level because you liked one of the figures and if you were US based you'd have to pay £10 shipping on top of it. However, if you waited 6-9 months, chances are you'd be able to get it from the Warstore or CMON cheaper when they get the trade orders in. Even if you went in for £50, with the £10 shipping on top, waiting may still be a good option. Same with any Kickstarter really - going big is usually cheaper unless you just want the exclusives.
UNCLEBADTOUCH wrote: @malkaven it's a simple case that if they don't sell older existing sculpts at a large discount as kickstarter add ons there will be more demand in retail channels for these items. This will build up a relationship with retailers. Attract more people to the kickstarters for new models, not everyone goes on forums. As well as generally increasing there presence in the market place.
Kickstarter still has it's place but it will be a much easier transition in future if they start working more heavily with retailers in the build up to the game 'going live' so to speak.
Yeah I hear ya and agree. Having so many KS'er offering cheap older products will hurt them in the long run. Sadly though I really don't know if Darklands will ever see retail.
They *might* be 'waiting' for the Rulebook to be complete before taking those steps, maybe?
It would be good to have that available to seed into shops along with miniatures.
Once they can do that, we might see the end of 'Cheap Shiny' from the back catalog in Mierce Kickstarters? (And to be honest, there' little 'cheap' about anything in the Darklands range! )
Because this:
@malkaven it's a simple case that if they don't sell older existing sculpts at a large discount as kickstarter add ons there will be more demand in retail channels for these items. This will build up a relationship with retailers. Attract more people to the kickstarters for new models, not everyone goes on forums.
sounds like a good idea!
Though I'd bet that is said 'people' aren't using forums, they'd have a hard time finding Mierce's Kickstarters too!
@zedmeister to be pedantic shipping does not affect the price of the item, simply to cost to purchase. Therefore does not affect the margins of the product being sold by the manufacturer.
@alpharius that's why you stuff flyers regarding kickstarters in your retail products as they go out to retailers, it becomes another advertising channel.
Fair does. Just thinking from the point of view of a curious Kickstarter Backer.
As if on cue, here's a batch of new retail releases for stuff produced for their 2nd Kickstarter:
October Releases, and Darklands: New Kindreds!
With our first Kickstarter project - Darklands: A World of War - totally complete, with all the miniatures, rules and accessories produced and available for you to purchase right now, it's time to turn our attention to the miniatures, rules and accessories produced by the project after that, Darklands: First Edition, which is about two-thirds complete. As there's so much to release - around seventy new miniatures from this project alone - we're intending to bring you at least eight items per month for the foreseeable future, one release per kindred, so that everybody's got something to look forward to as each month goes by. We're also intending to have each miniature painted before its release!
As well as that, we bring you news of our next Kickstarter project, Darklands: New Kindreds, which begins next week and will enable you to get your hands on some Atalantes and some Érainn!
Back to the present... in this set of releases, the first, we have some absolute stunners! For the Albainn we have the lovely Dúngal on foot, a warlord; the Angelcynn get Eadric on foot, another warlord; then there's Ffion Ferddig for the Brythoniaid, a bard warchief; the half-demon warlord Erebius is the first release for the Byzantii since Ulmons; the Fomoraic are joined by the awesome Daarkan, a warchief; the Khthones get their first Sávrar, a warchief called Ágriosávra; the Norse enjoy the stunningly brilliant Jörmungand, the first Troll warchief; and the Ysians have the menacing warlord, Crom on Foot, to contend with...
Unfortunately, just like the last year's releases, thanks to us being busier than busy bees we've just not had the time to get the release art and descriptions done; but you can still see some good images of each miniature on the website of course.
Sculpted by a newcomer to our range - Olivier Nkweti - from the artwork by Sam Lamont, Dúngal on Foot is the first release for the Albainn in a good long while and is a cracking little miniature that is chock-full of character. Darklands: First Edition gave us more Albainn, of course, and Dúngal is a warlord, and so he's a good start to any Albainn host - especially as your first pick should be your general! Painted by Martin Grandbarbe.
With Penda such a huge, unmistakeable miniature, we though it would be a good idea to give Angelcynn generals the option of a more human warlord to use as their general. That doesn't mean Eadric - sculpted brilliantly by another newcomer to Darklands, Stéphane Camosseto, from the artwork by Des Hanley, and painted here by Martin Grandbarbe - is any less marvellous, and he's a true son of Mierce, too, evidenced by his large belly and travel-size barrel of beer... don't mess with him after closing time!
Let's get the pronunciation out of the way: Ffion Ferddig is pronounced FFEE-on VER-th [as in the] ig. Right? Right. Now, Ffion is a bard, a musician and story teller who inspires the men of Gwynedd to greater heights of glory and as such can be very useful to a Darklands general. She's also a cracking sculpt to boot - Juan Navarro Pérez takes the honours here, along with the artist, Dan Warren! Painted by Martin Grandbarbe again.
Rejoice, Byzantii fanatics... for the first new release for your kindred for many years is finally here! Erebius is a Demiurion, a centurion who is devolving into a demon of Infernus although, whilst he is half-man and half-demon, he is still a highly effective general. Sculpted by the fantastic Tre Manor from the artwork by Stef Kopinski, and painted by Martin Grandbarbe, Erebius is the perfect start to your Byzantii host!
The talent of Jacques-Alexandre Gillois shines through in this, the first miniature sculpted by him (from the artwork by Stefan Kopinski) for a while; Daarkan is just amazing, and Sébastien Picque's paintjob is the icing on the cake. A warchief, Daarkan and his Soul Axe will ensure your Fomoraic host can perform some nasty things upon the enemy as well as looking brilliant!
The Khthones are not just about snakes or crocodiles, for the Atalantes created and enslaved virtually every form of reptile they could find on their crumbling islands - and here's the first of the Khthones lizards, the Sávrar, slightly bigger than humans but very quick and very nasty. Ágriosávra is a warchief, a commander, and is a fantastic sculpt by Roberto Chaudon from the artwork by Christophe Madura! The lovely paintwork is by Sébastien Picque.
We've known for many years that Allan Carrasco is an amazing sculptor, but even we couldn't believe our eyes when we saw Jörmungand for the first time. Created from the artwork by Stefan Kopinski, our first Troll warchief - a Jarl - is absolutely stunning, a sublime miniature from a master of his art, and very large indeed! Suffice to say that Jörmungand will grace both the tabletop and your painting collection....
Whilst we do have some excellent Ysian generals already, we couldn't resist creating Crom. Why wouldn't you? With a brutal glaive, an arrogant stance and some fantastic head trophies, not to mention those massive muscles and that long-horn helm, Crom fits the Ysian (and particularly the Kernowek) stereotype very well indeed. Sculpted by the Ysian-master Stéphane Simon from the artwork by Danny Cruz, and painted here by Martin Grandbarbe.
All of the releases above will be officially released on the 4th of October 2014, but you can pre-order them now from this very website to your heart's content!
Darklands: New Kindreds is launched on Monday!
Our next fantastic project, Darklands: New Kindreds, will be launched on Monday the 15th of September at 6pm, and it's all about bringing new kindreds to the world of Darklands!
This project has been mooted for a long while simply because Darklands has ten main kindreds, two of which - the Atalantes and Érainn - have not yet been explored, even though there's lots of interest in them. Now's the time to redress that! You'll find a ton of stuff to fund for those two kindreds - from warlords to infantry units to monstrous beasts - and there'll also be plenty for anyone who loves our existing kindreds.
The main rewards will be based around Starter Hosts, rather like Darklands: a World of War. There will be at least two Starter Hosts for each of the new kindreds - one that contains infantry, and one containing monstrous infantry - as well as options to include generals, commanders, sorcerers, monstrous beasts and much else besides. They'll also include dice and tokens as required, to get you started immediately!
You've got a few days to wait yet, but if you're interested, head on over to one of our other projects on Kickstarter, such as Darklands: First Edition II, and have a look around!
Watch out for more news of that project on Monday, and don't forget - there'll be more releases next month, too!
UNCLEBADTOUCH wrote: @lookylikey like I already said in my post reserved profit for the occasional straight to release item. One mini every couple of months would be easily done.
WIPs go look back at the updates there is plenty there.
So concept art is free if it's for promo purposes?
Retail prices lower than kickstarter prices, well that's news to everyone on the planet.
You either need to take more time reading posts or stop intentionally trying to push your misguided agenda for 'cheap shinies'.
You didn't actually mention using the KS to fund direct to retail, I went back and checked twice. The cost of direct to retail added to a KS would be about £4k+ per model going on Mierce's comments around stretch goals, thats a fair wack to be adding to a KS the size of Mierce's for no benefit to KS backers.
Updates to what, the KS? Those are all art work in memory, you are going to have to provide examples as I can't find any. Art work is part of the startup cost for a KS, you should be including it in the initial funding total and it should be considerably cheaper than the sculpt, moulds and initial casts.
Retail sales will require a margin, typically 50% of RRP, and Mierce will have to cover all costs and make a profit out of the remaining 50%. Even if Mierce already have that 50% margin added in to their prices you will not convince me that they will sell enough models through retail for it be worth losing 50% of the RRP of the item by selling it through a store. Most successful wargaming retailers discount from RRP, Mierce in order to attract retailers would have to sell at RRP (otherwise the manufacturer can always out discount the retailer), hence lost direct sales and the indirect sales in return would be at about 50% of what they would have gotten.
I have no agenda other than wanting to point out how needless retail sales are for niche product.
Looky Likey wrote: I have no agenda other than wanting to point out how needless retail sales are for niche product.
I look forward to the next Ferrari kickstarter
@zedmeister hopefully they will exclude these and the wave 1 stuff from future kickstarter add ons. I really think that given the opportunity to grow a retail presence this game will fill an existing niche within the fantasy skirmish war and part of the market and be very popular.
Looky Likey wrote: I have no agenda other than wanting to point out how needless retail sales are for niche product.
I look forward to the next Ferrari kickstarter
@zedmeister hopefully they will exclude these and the wave 1 stuff from future kickstarter add ons. I really think that given the opportunity to grow a retail presence this game will fill an existing niche within the fantasy skirmish war and part of the market and be very popular.
Ferrari do actually do their own version of KS for the limited edition, big ticket cars like the LaFerrari, those are all sold during the pre order process before build starts.
Looky Likey wrote: I have no agenda other than wanting to point out how needless retail sales are for niche product.
I look forward to the next Ferrari kickstarter
@zedmeister hopefully they will exclude these and the wave 1 stuff from future kickstarter add ons. I really think that given the opportunity to grow a retail presence this game will fill an existing niche within the fantasy skirmish war and part of the market and be very popular.
Ferrari do actually do their own version of KS for the limited edition, big ticket cars like the LaFerrari, those are all sold during the pre order process before build starts.
Actually the supercar variants are given away as loss leaders with millions invested before preorders even begin, you simply pay to be part of the club that gets one free.
Mainstream models are very much sold via a retail route. It's the retail sales that support the company.
And on that last off topic point lookylikey goes on ignore and I head off to the pool.
Today's the start of our next release schedule; we'll have eight miniatures per month (at the least), one for each kindred, for the foreseeable future... and that's just the miniatures from Darklands: First Edition and Darklands: First Edition II.
We would have begun releases from D:FE earlier, but we needed to get Wave 2 sorted first, and I wanted to ensure our releases are painted.
As regards the wheres and whyfores of retail, there's a reason we do Kickstarters; whilst we have some good and reliable distributors in the USA and Germany, who put an order in each month, Darklands is not viable for many retailers yet, although the growth potential is huge, in our humble opinion.
It will take years before Darklands is taken up by a lot of the general wargaming public, though. The long view is best.
UNCLEBADTOUCH wrote: Actually the supercar variants are given away as loss leaders with millions invested before preorders even begin, you simply pay to be part of the club that gets one free.
Mainstream models are very much sold via a retail route. It's the retail sales that support the company.
And on that last off topic point lookylikey goes on ignore and I head off to the pool.
Ferrari funds development of its super cars through a private membership lease scheme of the FXX, with the FXX being a test mule for development of its next generation of cars. Ferrari have sold all 499 LaFerraris before launch at $1.6million each, thats nearly £800 million, I would put money on at least a quarter of that being profit.
Ferrari sells around 6000 "mainstream" cars a year, rising to 12000 with the change in management that has just happened at a starting price of £145,000, at least £1,740,000,000. Very different numbers to any wargame company.
So help me figure things out here, fellow US Mierce fans. Who regularly stocks things?
I know FRP here in California are probably the best about getting new releases in stock.
Dzur's Treasures in Texas carry a fair amount. Not as much as variety as FRP though.
The Warstore hasn't had anything new in AGES, and have irritated me since they kept putting cheap Kadamastars on auction up until the time I wanted to get one.
Who am I missing out on ordering from?
I also asked in the comments of one of the campaigns, but never really got an answer.
-Do the bigger boxed figures usually come with bases? The last 3 I've gotten (all from different stores too) didn't have any bases. I didn't want to nag Rob about it if they weren't supposed to come with them in the first place.
After how successful my Demos of Darklands were at gencon, I believe Warstore wants to stock more. I think with the KSes being fulfilled and the rulebook being written, Rob's focus has been on that rather than distribution "right now". As he said, the long view.
But yeah, the warstore is def hoping to stock the full line in the future.
Wow, a lot of armchair business critics here.
All I say is...look at what Mierce has produced since they started using Kickstarters.
No way no how could they have fleshed out the factions with dozens and dozens of high-quality miniatures without using KS.
highlord tamburlaine wrote: That's good to hear, as sales tax from FRP tends to add up when I order a lot of Darklands stuff unfortunately.
Nobleknight has some stuff as well, though from what I can tell its the same price as on Mierce's website. A restock at the Warstore would be great!
I read somewhere that in the long term, plastic figures were in consideration, so it makes sense to do more retail at that point, since they can make more on volume vs earning more on a direct sale through KS or their own website.
Well, if I understand what he's saying, UBTOUCH is just trying to point out that creating one kickstarter after another without working to stabilize and support their brick and Mortar retail support, Mierce can only get so far, or will fail to deliver.
I can understand this thought, as it does seem as though they are focused on the kickstarters more than getting stuff out to retail. As Mierce and Zedmiester just pointed out, they have stuff for retail coming out in the near future, and Mierce has consistent releases from then on. I know they are a small studio, and this is a HUGE undertaking when coupled with fulfilling their kickstarter demands, AND trying to further the Darklands game world along.
It seems like the model of using kickstarter as a lifeline of your business is silly and/or risky for both the business and it's backers, but, as Mierce have shown, this is actually a way of running a small miniatures company. Smaller companies such as this would have never been able to create so much content in this amount of time in the past.
It's kind of crazy, I received my Wave 2 shipment from Mierce today. A shipping fee I paid for during the second kickstarter. And I'm receiving items from all 4 kickstarters! (some are items which had already been released, and I was just getting during that particular kickstarter)
What are you getting from KS 2.5? AFAIK it's QSRs, Monstrous Mounts and Wave 2 (which is KS2 only)? I thought no KS2.5 materials were shipping until wave 4?
OHMYGOD! Check this lot, and take a look at the sneakpeak!
New Sculpts, New Kindreds!
This, fellow Mierceites, is the last update before the launch of Darklands: New Kindreds, which starts on Monday... and even without another sneak peek, we have tons to show you!
This week we have: news of our forthcoming Kickstarter project, Darklands: New Kindreds sculpt work in progress updates from Hector Moran, Juan Navarro Pérez and Stéphane Simon; images of miniatures painted by Martin Grandbarbe; news of Wave 2 fulfilment; a list of what miniatures will hopefully be sent in Wave 3; updated lists of sculptors and sculpts; downloadable versions of the current QuickStarter Rules, Muster Rules and Kindred Musters; anything else you can expect from us over the next few months.
Let's go!
It's all change this week as there's work in progress of never before seen sculpts, including Urien's Horse from Juan Navarro Pérez and a new Holumann from Stéphane Simon. Not quite all change though, as we have images of the completed Con I Modius - which looks utterly amazing.
Urien
It's been a little while since we've seen anything by Juan Navarro Pérez but, as always, he produces absolutely stunning sculpts - and Urien's horse is no exception!
There's a way to go, but now he's started we reckon Urien on Horse will make it into Wave 3.
Con I Modius
The awesome Hector Moran has worked some digital magic once more and, we have to say, the Con I Modius, Legionary Contubernium looks absolutely stunning. We can't wait to get our hands on them!
Con I Modius should make it into Wave 3, although please bear in mind that we do have to get these digitally printed first.
Remember, too, that each one has a pilum (javelin) option!
Modius is the Decanus, the leader of ten (the Contubernium also contained two servants who were not expected to fight), and looks suitably commandery. Yes, that is a word...
The patina that Hector has put on these guys won't translate to the miniature, of course, but it certainly looks fantastic here...
A Legionary, Gellius is a cracking miniature
He does have a scutum and pilum, of course.
Another male Legionary, Tiberius is looking fantastic...
Tiberius is holding his pilum in his scutum hand...
The first female Legionary, Livia is a lovely sculpt!
Like Tiberius, Livia holds her pilum in her scutum hand.
Severa is the last of the female Legionaries and looks superb.
We don't yet have images of Severa's pilum but we should get that fairly soon...
Hrafnen Crew
Stéphane Simon is cracking on with the Hrafnen Crew, with the banner bearer, Snorri son of Snorri, getting there...
It's early days yet for Snorri but he's certainly taking shape...
Even though there's a couple still to sculpt, we reckon the Hrafnen Crew will make it into Wave 3.
Painted Miniatures
It's been a while since we've seen any painted miniatures, but these two - painted by Martin Grandbarbe - have been worth the wait!
Eadric
Our lovely warlord for the Angelcynn, Eadric, is looking superb!
Sadly, Martin managed to break Eadric's sword, so that's why that looks a bit odd; but he's got a new sword and should sort that out shortly...
Annik
Annik, our lovely lass from Cornwall, has a paintjob...
Annik looks fantastic... and rather bloody!
New Kindreds
How will the project work?
The main rewards will be based around Starter Hosts, rather like Darklands: a World of War. There will be at least two Starter Hosts for each of the new kindreds - one that contains infantry, and one containing monstrous infantry - as well as options to include generals, commanders, sorcerers, monstrous beasts and much else besides. They'll also include dice and tokens as required, to get you started immediately.
What will the rewards be?
The rewards will be based around those Starter Hosts, and you'll be able to purchase them separately or combined - including an option for "all the starter hosts" for those with larger wallets...!
There will also be a reward for those who just want a couple of miniatures from the project, and there will also be a reward for an A5 version of the full rulebook that only contains rules.
The Infantry Starter Hosts will be priced at £80, which will save you over 40% from the predicted RRP of everything that's inside them. You'll get a general, infantry unit and small monstrous beast, as well as dice and tokens.
All of the infantry starter hosts will be unveiled right at the beginning of the project, although stretch goals will have to be made to get everything. If (when?) the project reaches £60,000, all of the infantry starter hosts will be produced.
The Monstrous Infantry Starter Hosts will be priced at £100, again saving you over 40% from the predicted RRP of everything that's inside them. You'll get a monstrous commander, a monstrous infantry unit and a large monstrous beast, as well as dice and tokens.
None of the monstrous infantry starter sets will be unveiled at the beginning of the project - you'll have to wait until we hit £60,000 for those!
What about the other Kindreds?
We haven't forgotten the existing kindreds - oh no! There'll be Infantry and Monstrous Infantry Starter Hosts for each of the other kindreds, priced exactly the same as the above.
In the existing kindreds' Infantry Starter Hosts, you'll get an alternate general, an infantry unit with alternate warriors (based upon the banner bearer and herald) and a small monstrous beast that may be alternate, and it may not - along with dice and tokens. Again, these will be shown immediately the project begins and will be produced when the project gets to £60,000.
Similarly, the existing kindreds' Monstrous Infantry Starter Hosts will include an alternate monstrous commander, a monstrous infantry unit with alternate warriors (based upon the banner bearer and herald) and a large monstrous beast that may be alternate, and it may not - along with dice and tokens. Again, these won't be shown until we hit £60,000.
All of the alternates will be able to be purchased separately, to ensure those of you with plenty of our existing kindreds' miniatures don't have to shell out too much for them.
Aren't there any new miniatures for the existing Kindreds?
Oh yes - there definitely will be, as long as we get past the infantry and monstrous infantry starter hosts; and we may well chuck in a couple here and there before that occurs...!
Trust us - the alternates will make you all very happy indeed, and there will certainly be a couple of freebies... so whilst the project is designed to fund the creation of new kindreds, if you like the others there'll be plenty for you to fund!
What about a Sneak Peek?
Absolutely; here's something to make you fall off your chair... because we have a Jute-shaped surprise for you on Monday! Here's Sigheard, champion of the man-sized infantry Wihtgar Unit... drawn by Danny Cruz, coloured by Joe Slucher!
That's it for this week people... until next week, keep it Darklands!
Undead Jutes! Oh, and these are not the typical one dimensional undead you are used to - The Jutes are not Necromancers, they are more allies of the Wights
New Sculpts to Show, and Darklands: New Kindreds is nearly here...
Frige's day is here once more - and this one will be a cracker, because not only do we have new and old work in progress images, it's also only a few days until Darklands: New Kindreds launches!
This week we have:
news of our forthcoming Kickstarter project, Darklands: New Kindreds
sculpt work in progress updates from Olivier Bouchet, Roberto Chaudon, Yannick Fusier, Olivier Nkweti and Juan Navarro Pérez;
a list of sculptors and sculpts for this project;
downloadable versions of the current QuickStarter Rules, Muster Rules and Kindred Musters;
anything else you can expect from us over the next few months.
Let's begin!
Contrary to last week, there's a fair bit to show you today, including another Oghur from Olivier Bouchet, two Oghurithne from Yannick Fusier, the start of Forwyn Carys from Juan Navarro Pérez and another Fiend from Roberto Chaudon...
Oghu Guardians
From the artwork by Thomas Mahon, Olivier Bouchet is working very hard indeed on the Oghu Guardians, and now Drudd joins the rest of his unit!
The last remaining sculpt of the Oghu Guardians, Drudd, is here...
We do believe that the Oghu Guardians will make it into Wave 4, as Drudd is the last sculpt!
Oghurithne
It's been a little while since we've heard anything from Yannick Fusier, but not only has he completed Rubeg, he's also started work on Lobeg, the herald...
The lovely Oghurithne warrior, Rubeg, is now complete (well, apart from cleaning up and cutting) and he really does look the business.
These guys look fantastic!
Lobeg is the herald of the Oghurithne unit, and whilst it's early days for him yet, you can see the shape and size of him.
We don't think the Oghurithne will be complete for Wave 4, but we shall see. They'll probably be a Wave 5 shipment.
Forwyn Carys
The magnificent Juan Navarro Pérez has decided that it would be easier to sculpt Forwyn Carys first and then convert her back into Carys (for Darklands: First Edition), and who are we to argue?
She's certainly looking great, anyway! Forwyn Carys should now make it into Wave 4.
The Eye Ascendant
With just one warrior to go after this one, the champion, it seems The Eye Ascendant - digitally sculpted by Olivier Nkweti - is not far away at all...
Coraat is a Warrior of Baalor and another great example of Olivier's skill at nasty faces...
Whilst we don't think it will be too long until they're all done, we do still have to print these guys - although we still think they'll make it into Wave 4.
Craven Fiends of Dis
Roberto Chaudon's well into the Craven Fiends of Dis and here's another masterwork from the art by Stef Kopinski...
A lowly warrior, Bacchus is a cracking piece of work complete with broken horns and scars. Who says demons can't take pain?
We certainly hope that the Fiends will be complete in time for Wave 4, and with just two to go, we think Roberto can do it!
@Graham - the Jutes are one of the three germanic tribes that were invited by the Romans to defend Britain; they settled in Kent, other parts of the south coast and the Isle of Wight (which is where the inspiration comes from - interestingly, there's over 300 barrows on that island); the Jutes brought certain practices over with them and now the humans (Jutes) can resurrect their dead (the Wihta). Additionally, the Jutes are also shape-shifters in human form...
Creator Mierce Miniatures about 2 hours ago
A bit of Jute background: "Amongst those invited to defend Britannia in ages past by the Romanii were the Jutes, at first glance little different from the Angelcynn or Seaxans or Friesians that joined them in the time of Henghest and Horsa. Now, in this age of darkness, the corruption of the Jutes is of black renown, for their barrows unleash the dead that knew battle long ago and their hosts embrace shape-shifters of altogether different form, forms of the mounds and the tumuli, forms of the disturbed earth and the cracked rocks. Now, the Jutes have power."
While I love the general idea for that faction, I can't help but feel they're overextending - again. Darklands was just about to - more or less, that is - come to a point where most kindreds were decently fleshed out, and would no longer feel half-finished or incomplete (I'd have liked a savrax unit before a krokod unit too, for example - it'd give more of a sense of completeness IMO) - and on comes another kindred. Not a good idea, IMO.
...That said, if I can find the funds those Jutes might just get expensive for me
this company has my attention for sure. the sculpts are my favourite I've ever seen.
I'm not super familiar with Kickstarter... is it still possible to buy into the old ones or are those prices/bundles gone?
I guess I could get on board with the new one?
My only problem with this game is that as it emerges I find it tough to navigate the website and find information. I think they should make it easier to get started.. maybe some starter packs? I want to know the lore, figure out the rules and figure out how to get started with a buddy.
A gritty skirmish fantasy game is what I've been craving. These are amazing and if the rules work, this could end up being my favourite game.
Bolognesus wrote: What are you getting from KS 2.5? AFAIK it's QSRs, Monstrous Mounts and Wave 2 (which is KS2 only)? I thought no KS2.5 materials were shipping until wave 4?
It was the two hydra men released in KS2. I ended up buying them during KS2.5, and they weren't finished till now. Nothing 'from' the actual KS 2.5, or Monsterous Mounts.
Also, I'm sure Mierce will do a great job on the Jutes, just hope they stay more 'skeletony' and no part 'Zombie-y'. God knows we have more zombie crap everywhere then we can handle.
) and they are, for once, actually a bit smaller than I expected! Chaudon can achieve Tre-Manor-like detail levels, it seems, with really fine features. I think they're awesome, but I am always guessing about Mierce model sizes.
. They have a crazy good discount on Mierce stuff, 
