Got my 8 bonebacks . Just missing pack B, which is coming from the UK!

So when's that KS starting again . I am in love with these now I've seen them in-person. Please do all 12!! You'll get people ordering entire goblin armies if you do (I may get 80-100 if all 12 sculpts are there).

On the RBG forums, sounds like KS2 might go live tomorrow with reworked goals, in part due to the popularity of the Bonebacks! Really hope we get all 12!!

Also he is getting another box of trollcast goodness this week

I'm fine to wait. I have enough crack to keep me going until these get here...

I just hope that it just isn't the more vocal ones that express their opinion regarding the bonebacks, and that they are a minority. It would be a shame of Tre listened to a handful of people on the internet that praise them while the majority remain silent.

Yes, that would be a shame. If you like something, definitely give him feedback as he is (impressively) very open to it from what I have seen.

But just from this thread there are several people who ordered them, so imo it's pretty clear they're a hot item.

Yep Bonebacks are one of my more popular items. I am still trying to nail this down as the difference in original goals makes the structure I had planned not work. I need to figure otu a basic package and then how to add on to it from there.

I already own all 12 of them in metal but definitely would get another set of 12 in trollcast.

 tre manor wrote:


Yep Bonebacks are one of my more popular items. I am still trying to nail this down as the difference in original goals makes the structure I had planned not work. I need to figure otu a basic package and then how to add on to it from there.

The mix of a 100 dollar (or 150 or whatever) basic pledge that gets added on to periodically, and specific extra pay add-ons seems to have worked very well - reaper's vampire level and add ons, and kingdom death's box set and then expansions / extra models for example.

If you have 3 factions (goblins, aenglish, dvergir?) to start off with, then it would make sense to do a basic faction warband for X dollars, and then a delux one that gets models added to it, and then start introducing extra named characters for +$ add on. That way the pledges keep rolling in on a fairly regular basis?

The different pledge levels you had last time worked sort of like that, but were a bit confusing until nearer the end when the graphics got added.

Personally, there are two KS that stand out as really well done. Stonehaven's dwarves and Ed's Trollforged Alien Host. I loved how they built value on some basic pledge levels, but there were different valued tiers. Stonehaven had 1 and then added until it didn't make sense, then created a new tier of value. Ed had 3 tiers to start and added to them at different rates and models. It worked out extremely well, I think and would LOVE to see that here!

Something like Mantic's could work fairly well also - you have a few different "Army" packages - 1 Army, 2 Armies, 3 Armies etc. You need to be able to choose which one you want, not something like "This is the Aenglish level, This is the Goblin level etc".

Then you would get a small discount for every extra Army you backed for, IE the 3 Army level should be cheaper than 3x the Single level.

For adding value, set it at a dollar limit that is around the 2x Army pledge and say "Pledges of the 2x Army , or totaling over $120 (or whatever)" will receive 1x Stretch goals. Pledges over $250 (or whatever) get 2x Stretch goals.

You may also want to offer a further incentive for not splitting pledges. For example with Mantic, many people split their pledge over 2-3 accounts in order to maximise the free mini's they got.

However, if you kept everything in one pledge of over $500, you got access to the exclusive Resin Hero sculpt. It wasn't much, but may have gotten a few people to stick with it saving Mantic the cost of a few hundred free mini's per person.

In other words, if you make your "Core pledge" level too attractive you will find many people won't go above it but will instead order multiples of it. Fine line to walk. While the total money coming in will be the same as if multiple people backed so it's not technically an issue, you are still running a business so need to try and encourage people to not "game" the system to save costs.

Just as long as there's options to buy just the minis I want, I don't really care although a goblins / bonebacks package would be fantastic, of course (with the ability to add more goblins / bonebacks).

When/where can I purchase the horsemen and wolves?

 Homenutt wrote:
When/where can I purchase the horsemen and wolves?

My guess would be that after Tre ships all the kickstarter stuff he will put what's left into his shop. Hopefully that's next 1-2 weeks. I am not sure how much will be left though.

@Tre,
While i know this new campaign will primarily be about the Aenglish, Goblins and Dwarves, is there any chance of the HelsMaidens being included if the campaign can get high enough? They were the unit i most wanted to see funded in the previous KS.

Also will you be producing a limited Ed. Model for the new campaign?

Some pics of the huge boxes of stuff that you are fulfulling the previous KS with would probably be a good idea as well as as many pics as possible of the models for the new KS.

I know I had trouble finding decent pics of the bonebacks online (everybody has the same small picture of the greens), making it harder to realize how good they were without the testimonials of others, and then finally seeing them with my own eyes- at which point I realized they were even better than I thought

Ed Fortae has post some photos of the RGB production molds to his facebook page:

http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.472746612761674.94757.100000790181165&type=3

(hopefully the link works)

I don't know jack about casting, but it looks like he's done something funky to deal with the undercuts in tre's horses, to keep them single pieces? I think?

Don't expect your KS1 figures anytime soon, though:

RBG Tre
Re: Kickstarter Retool Campaign v. II.............. T-minus..........
« Reply #108 on: January 18, 2013, 10:45:24 AM »
As for the official word on KS1 fulfillment. I am due to receive the test samples of Yrsa next week. I wanted to be CERTAIN that figure is castign properly BEFORE casting 100's of copies beign that almost every single order has that figure in. All molds are made now and Ed and Brian are working on the casting. Brian has been out sick with the Flu so the work has slowed down.

judgedoug
Re: Kickstarter Retool Campaign v. II.............. T-minus..........
« Reply #109 on: January 18, 2013, 10:59:29 AM »
Is Yrsa the last thing to be approved/cast? After you approve her test sample, then they can cast a couple hundred of her?

RBG Tre
Re: Kickstarter Retool Campaign v. II.............. T-minus..........
« Reply #110 on: January 18, 2013, 12:07:42 PM »
I have to approve Yrsa, and the horses and Conradt Warp and then we rock and roll.

So, basically, no chance of it being done anytime soon or of the KS1 figures reaching Australia before the second one ends. /sigh

Looking at the pics online though he could probably approve them right now. That's a brilliant system Ed's got going.

He posted that he submitted the KS for approval yesterday, and that it will be up by Tuesday!

I think he's Definitely planning to have every KS1 order shipped before KS2 ends. Unfortunately with the long ship time you usually experience, scipio, you might have to miss out on this :-/ but almost everyone else should get theirs before this one ends.

Look what I found on the shelf of my FLGS (note the artist name). Wish I could've gotten a better pic, I was wondering why I liked the sculpt on that one so much more than some of the others, and then I noticed who made it

http://www.reapermini.com/OnlineStore/tre%20manor

Love his gnolls and orcs as well.

 scipio.au wrote:
Don't expect your KS1 figures anytime soon, though:

So, basically, no chance of it being done anytime soon or of the KS1 figures reaching Australia before the second one ends. /sigh

I'm in the US and still haven't gotten my figs :(

Ysra was one of the figs I selected. Looks like I shouldn't hold my breath waiting for it. Will look at the KS, but will not be supporting it. That Tre is starting to solicit money when he hasn't delivered everything from the first is not encouraging. Once the second one goes live, he will have to focus and support that one with continuous updates and show off new greens. Meantime, any remaining issues from the first one will get put on the back burner.

Several friends have been waiting to see how my figs would turn out and said they were planning to support his next one. I will have to tell them not to bother.

I can understand you not wanting to risk KS2 before seeing the results of KS1

(although personally I'm game even though I'm waiting too haveing gone for some of everything )

but I don't think Tre himself has too much to do to fulfil KS1, it's down to approving 6 casts on his end, then it's just Ed doing the work.

All Tre will need to do is post & pack when they arrive, but that's not brain work and can be fitted in around other stuff fairly easily

Unless he is locked in on the start date for the next one, he might be better suited to wait a month or so.

Taxes are a big thing in the US this time of year, and a plurality of potential backers will likely be getting a return of some form. Most people use that as a bit of funny money, so waiting until February or later would allow them to get in with that tax return money.

Plus, I would guess that scipio isn't the only one who is still waiting on their miniatures - and that can be a big drawback on getting people to bite twice.

He's said he's submitted it, and that it should be live by Tuesday at the latest

part of the reason for going early is that he needs to book a slot in Ed Fortea's (Trollforged) production timeline. If he looses the slot and another company gets in there it could stop things dead

(as Ed is the creator of and only caster using Trollforged material)

Edit: well Defiance games is playing with a version of the material (provided by Ed) but they can't handle it well and have their own production backlog to handle

Exactly... I understand folks not wanting to pledge until they've received their models, but with the exception of those who live where shipping time will be a month, the vast majority of KS1 backers should receive theirs before KS2 ends and all of them should be in the mail.

Please, Please don't act like that is the Only consideration on when Tre would start his second campaign.

Remember that the second campaign will focus on retooling existing sculpts, as well, not as many new ones.

He has to get in Ed Fortae's casting schedule, and he has to time this (imo) around other big kickstarters. Hopefully we are not leading him astray, but I have been among those who has told him the time is now to launch the campaign, given all those Other factors, and the fact that he will have shipped everything from KS1 before this ends.

I find the reaction above a bit disappointing, honestly. It'd be one thing if there were no updates, but there have been a lot of updates and we know Exactly what he's waiting on to fulfill the orders. Obviously, he's done some things wrong and there are a lot of lessons to be learned, but he's been honest and straight-forward about it.

Believe me when I say he Wants everyone to have their models in-hand before this ends. Not only for positive press, but because when you see his sculpts in-person (as I have now that I bought the metal bonebacks off ebay) most people get won over and love them. A few fall in the other camp and think they're too different from what they're used to.

So, he definitely wants everyone to have their orders as soon as possible. Why wouldn't he? From everything I can tell he's an awesome guy and one whom I will gladly support with my pledge, and who I hope people who pledged for KS1 will as well (and many have said they will). If you haven't received your stuff from KS1 by the time it ends, you can always cancel, or you could wait to receive your stuff before putting in your pledge. Completely up to you, but imo he's kept people in the loop on exactly the reason for his timing and it makes complete sense to me.

When I see what is in the next Ks I will see about a pledge. Interested to see if he makes some improvements like casting fragile weapons in metal or packing them differently. With a renewed interest in the lotr battlegame, it's a great time to be making miniatures of this style and quality in 28mm truescale.

 RiTides wrote:
He posted that he submitted the KS for approval yesterday, and that it will be up by Tuesday!

I think he's Definitely planning to have every KS1 order shipped before KS2 ends. Unfortunately with the long ship time you usually experience, scipio, you might have to miss out on this :-/ but almost everyone else should get theirs before this one ends.

Look what I found on the shelf of my FLGS (note the artist name). Wish I could've gotten a better pic, I was wondering why I liked the sculpt on that one so much more than some of the others, and then I noticed who made it

Yeah, it's a good model. I picked it up awhile ago. There's a few of Tre's figures in the existing range. I think I have them all

I can't say I'm not disappointed though. We've gone from "everyone will definitely have their orders before it ends" to "everything will be shipped before it ends (probably)". If there's still two or three more to be approved, you can bet it'll take another couple of weeks before that's done, then there's Ed's casting, shipping to Tre'...

Ah well.

But really, Tre' is by all accounts a nice guy, but we've been hearing "next week" and "in the next couple of days" nonstop for two months now, so it's become white noise that isn't worth the effort to believe. Of course he wants everyone to have their figures as soon as possible, so that's a bit of a non-argument.

I'd rather spend my discretionary spending money elsewhere for the time being. Certainly until I have some Trollcast in hand to check out for myself. With all due respect, there's lots of people who swear by finecast, too, as well as any number of other materials. I over-pledged more money than I wanted to spend on figures I don't have any need for in the first campaign, simply to support Tre's efforts, so I won't be considering pledging at all for this one aside from a dollar so I can see the updates. Yeah, I know it means that stretch goals don't get hit all that quickly, but that's life.

This whole experience does bring to mind some thoughts - if Ed's casting schedule is this difficult to work around, perhaps Tre' shouldn't discontinue his metal range. One guy getting sick for a week threw everything out severely. What happens if Ed breaks his leg or has a family member become ill or any of the myriad of things that happens in life happens? Offering the figures in two materials - traditional metal as well as Trollcast might be the safer option for Tre. You can always find more metal casters, but he's hitching his business' survival entirely to Trollcast and Ed's schedule here...

Yeah, believe me that I know where you're coming from, scipio. But for myself, I am definitely looking forward to the new KS!

Tre really needs to do an update with _precisely_ the status of the last few models and a _realistic_ eta for at least pledges being shipped. No hopeful wishful thinking, but hard reality.

If he still has to approve some models in person, it really could take another month or two for him to receive the model, approve it, then Ed make masters and cast a thousand of them, then ship to Tre, have Tre QC and pack and ship them.

But we've seen horse molds and Conradt warp molds on facebook; so they must have been approved? Maybe they're all being cast right now?

Tre! Give us details!

Everything has been mastered and approved and the moulds have been made for everything but 3 of the 4 horses.

what still has to be done is for Tre to check & aprove the casts that are produced by these moulds for Yrsa and one of Conrads form, along with the 1st horse (Ed's using a cunning new mould technique on them, so wants aproval before doing the other 3)

this should be reletivly quick as all it will take is one or 2 spins, then posting to Tre

After that casting for fulfilment can proceed (& mould production & aproval for the final 3 horses)

The one thing I'm not clear on is how fast Ed's post get's to Tre... In UK it would be trivial to make it 24-48hrs, but I've no feel for interstate postage in the USA

I was also wondering about the metal casting. Seems like it'd be better to sell metals while waiting for the troll cast stuff to build up.

But then I know absolutely nothing about this business so maybe I'm completely off base.

 Da Boss wrote:
I was also wondering about the metal casting. Seems like it'd be better to sell metals while waiting for the troll cast stuff to build up.

But then I know absolutely nothing about this business so maybe I'm completely off base.

If I am not mistaken, I believe that Tre said that he barely made any profit from selling his latest release in metal (that being the HelsVakt before the re-tooling KS), and that most of the profit was eaten up by how expensive it was to have his items cast in metal. I also believe that he probably abandoned metal, and not selling it while waiting for the trollcast, because he would need the entire re-stock to sell out for him to actually make profit. This made it a gamble. Too big metal re-stock that wouldn't sell out and he'd actually lose money. Too small re-stock he'd make a minor profit but it would also require more work to get more re-stocks more often. I believe he said someplace that it wasn't economical viable anymore for him, at his current size of operations, to keep with metal.

Yeah it's no longer viable for the vast majority of mini shops to stock metal. It's one of the reasons everyone is moving over either plastic or one of the alternatives (Mantic Restic, Reaper Bones, GW Finecast, traditional plastic, Trollforged etc).

Even the big guys really can't afford metal anymore. It's becoming more of a parts material like certain weapons etc, and even then those are dissapearing rapidly also.

New update:

Project Update #45: Update # 45 Fullfillment update and NEXT Red Box Games kickstarter campaign news

Posted by tre manor

Hey Everybody. I am really sorry for the long delay in my latest update and for the continued delay in fullfillment. I wanted to post a generla update lettign everyone knwo what the exact current status is on the KS fulfillment.

I have in hand and approved castings of:

Hordesmen

Varp

Gynnade

Morgrimn Waiting and Warp

Svetlana

Olga

Keeper

Whistelock

RObert

Aenglish footmen

Undead

Dire Wolves

COnradt Waiting

I now await the delivery of:

Guarthagust

Ulbrecht

Yrsa

Fenris ( needed an adjustment for the sake of efficient casting )

Conradt Warp

Horsemen

Horses

I must approve the castings of Yrsa and Conradt Warp and the horse. The production moulds are made and Ed is confident with them but I need to actually see the results of these production moulds before approving Ed and Brian to go ahead with casting 100's of copies.

Every delay in the fulfillment thus far has been strictly for the sake of your final satisfaction. I did not want to settle for anything less than the most perfect model I could deliver so when we had castings with visible shrinkage I asked that those molds be remade. That took a while and then casting the 100's of required minis took even longer.

The horses have been a real trick unto themselves. Neither Ed nor I have ever made horse models and this turned out to be a bit more difficult than either of us expected. I am especially particular about the Yrsa figure as it is by far the most complicated and delicate figure I have ever released and it is the replacement figure for the most popular figure I have ever produced. It MUST be perfect.

In the end I was too optimistic in my expectations of delivery, AND I was remiss in never pushing the expected delivery date backward as the work load expected by that date grew exponentially. It is a mistake I will not repeat. I am ready and waiting for the delivery of these last items to begin shipping the rest of the KS rewards but until those figures are in hand and approved I can do little more than wait.

I do expect to have the last of the expected casting within the next week or two. Ed has informed me that the test samples of Yrsa, COnradt, and Horse #1 were shipped to me on friday last which means I SHOULD receive them for approval tomorrow. At which time I will inspect the castings and call Ed with the yay or nay. Upon my approval Ed will finish the last three horse molds and Brian ( if he is back in from being Ill.... get well Brian! ) will begin casting the rest of the Yrsa, and Conradt Models.

There are still 100's of copies of each mini left to be cast BUT I will be taking shipments of these figures in batches as they are cast to allow to me to begin filling orders as quickly as possible.

I have submitted for approval from Kickstarter the next Retool campaign page. which will include all of the rest of the Aenglish models and the goblins as well. IF these items all fund then I will move on to the Dvergr from there. If the campaign finished without funding the dvergr then that range will be a separate kickstarter for later this year after the 2nd kickstarter campaign is fulfilled.

I had intended to have ALL commitments from this first campaign fulfilled before running a second campaign but the realities of development did not allow for this. The difference in this second campaign is that all planned models are already sculpted and mastered ( with the exception of the Goblin footmen ) so the actual production overhead is cut in half. Ed already has the masters and they are ready for the production of production molds. All that is needed is for me to be able to finance the slot in Ed's work schedule to have those molds made and have castings run.

The expected delivery date for the second kickstarter products is set for August of 2013. This is the nearest date that Ed and I both fell confident in to deliver all planned products, however I will be creating a module in my regular webstore in which you will be able to pay for " batch shipment " of any figures involved in this campaign. Figures will be produced in the order in which they are funded and will be available for shipment in specifically timed batches. When ever a batch is ready to ship I will post an update letting all of the backers know. At which point they will be able to " purchase " the shipping cost for that batch and have it shipped to them then rather than having to wait until the final pieces are produced and in hand.

Again, My deepest apology for the delays thus far and my most sincere appreciation for your patience with me in this.

Cheers,

Tre'

Due to the delay, Tre's shipping incomplete orders now, and eating the extra shipping expense for the split orders. So everyone should have some troll cast in hand before the second kickstarter ends.

Hey guys,

OK good news and bad news...... bad news first. I misunderstood Ed on what I was to be approving. I only received Yrsa for approval. She looks PERFECT so she is approved and Brian has been properly chained to the casting machine and thoroughly flogged for good measure. This means that we are still waiting to approve Conradt Warp, the riders and horses. MORE bad news is that the horse molds had to remade anyways as the tails kept breaking off in demolding......

Now Good news!! We are shipping what we have on hand now and will complete shipping at our own expense when the rest of the stock is delivered. I want to be certain that you guys are happy with your RBG Kickstarter experience and you have all waited patiently for long enough. and MORE GOOD NEWS!! The Horse molds are being remade now and should be ready by the beginning of next week.

So be looking for a package from RBG in your mailboxes over the nest 3 weeks!!

Cheers Y'all and thanks for your patience with me thus far!

Tre and Company.

p.s........ RBG Kickstarter # 2 Launches VERY soon!!

This is good news for us, not so good news for Tre. I'm looking forward to getting the stuff in hand though! This also means it's highly likely the goods will show up before the close of KS2.

Therefore I will likely get a placeholder pledge in then revisit the amount once the KS1 goodies arrive.

I think this is a really good idea for Tre to do, I just hope it isn't costing him too much. Between all the recasting, new molds etc that have had to be made I can't imagine there is much left (if anything) out of the original drive.

The good will generated though will probably pay for itself, and it does show how confident he is that we'll like what we see from KS1.

 Surloch wrote:
The good will generated though will probably pay for itself, and it does show how confident he is that we'll like what we see from KS1.

I agree! I'd actually been wondering why he hadn't gone for this / thought of suggesting it to him. I'm sure it's expensive, but it will be worth it in the end for his business, I think.

Looking forward to seeing some pics of folks' KS1 stuff

Hopefully it means he will put the KS1 stuff that has shipped up on his store and start selling to non-KS folks who want to see what trollcast looks like as well.

Kickstarter really seems to be taking their time authorizing this new campaign... Didn't Tre say he submitted it on the 19th? If so 5+ days for Kickstarter to simply give an 'OK' to a campaign is just ridiculous.

Tre definitely won some big points from me by making the decision to send out the models he currently has produced, but i agree that it is going to be absolutely brutal on his remaining funds. (I remember reading that the original minimum postage estimate for the KS was at least $7500.)

Yeah, I've been checking his forums, and he submitted it on the weekend... everyone's tired of waiting so hopefully it gets approved soon.

Someone said that KS's approval policy was longer now, but this is all I could find?

Kickstarter wrote:Once your project is submitted to us for a guidelines review, it will take us a day or two to get back to you (longer over the weekends). Submitting a project the day you hope to launch is not a good idea.

A whole business week for approval just seems like too long...

Well KS used to let you have multiple projects on the go,

then they changed it so you could only have one 'live' project at once

I wonder if they're moving towards making creators fulfill their projects before approving another ?

Although most of use are happy to wait and back KS2 as well, the updates show that KS1 isn't done yet. Maybe kickstarter are waiting on that?

(as otherwise I agree it seems to be taking a bit too long)

Well if they are waiting for that then they need to communicate that in the TOS. I doubt that is the case though. This isjust good old fashioned bottleneck. I imagine they get a TON of submissions now.

Tre, I hope people appreciate the efforts you're making to put right the delay. It confirms my impression that you are a decent bloke as well as an awesome sculptor

I will be backing KS2 with a significant order, I expect.

Thanks Boos.

Yep, Da Boss. You just got a nickname.

And that's how it starts.

 tre manor wrote:
Well if they are waiting for that then they need to communicate that in the TOS. I doubt that is the case though. This isjust good old fashioned bottleneck. I imagine they get a TON of submissions now.

Actually, that's the excuse they gave us while waiting two weeks to approve Endless.

He posted this on the RBG forums this evening:

tre manor wrote: Ks approved the campaign!! I am just going over it one last time before posting it up. I want to be ABSOLUTELY sure everything is in place and is correct.

F5.... F5.............

I think the new Kickstarter deserves a new thread and this one can be moved to Misc Games (like most old kickstarter threads have been) once it's up.

The new kickstarter is up:

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1103158358/red-box-games-miniatures

I think there should be a new thread for the new one.

Aye, new Kickstarter thread is up, so I've moved this one to Misc games as par the the new policy. Good luck with your new Kickstarter Tre.

Any update on shipping?

This is the last I heard, which was over 2 weeks ago now.

10 Feb
Project Update #48: Update #48 Fulfillment update and KS2 update / notification
Posted by tre manor

Hey Everybody,

Well final fulfillment is still awaiting the delivery of the final pieces ( COnradt Warp, the Riders, and the Gynnade Krigare War Staff ) BUT we have shipped more than 300 packages thus far that were completable with what we have on hand now.

There should be another batch of packages going out next week as I begin to receive the awaited items. Unfortunately this means that the packages won't arrive to all international destinations in time to beat the ending of the current Goblins kickstarter but we are doign all that we can to make this happen as quickly and efficiently as possible.

I did want to alert everyone that I have added the dire wolves as a paid add-on to the Goblins campaign for those who were unable to get them in the first Kickstarter campaign. So if you wanted to snag a few ranks of the Dire Wolves head on over to the Goblins Kickstarter and add them to your pledge!

Cheers Y'all!

tre'

My apologies - I found this in the other KS thread:

 tre manor wrote:
Everythign is fine at Ed's Shop. It was just a LOT of work. Teh helsvakt are literally probably the most difficult thing he will ever undertake. Those little spikes have been a nightmare fro us both and I will NOT be doing anything like that again!

Ed has just a really big work load on him btu they have apparenyl come trhough ont he HelsVakt. Ed informed me this mornign that they have cast 100's of the horses and that I will have a package en route friday. So it shoudl be that by this time next week I will be shippign orders out again.

So Tre' may start shipping again at the end of this week. Not sure if that's the final KS1 package from Ed or not, though?

Anyone looking for some of the original metal casts?

I have Multipack A, Multipack C, Old Mama Rotbelly and another loose fig (Gnasher?) up for sale on Bartertown.

http://www.bartertown.com/trading/viewforum.php?f=16

At this point I am nearly 100% convinced that the delays are Trollforged related:

Update 40 Nov 20th, "Other than that all sculpting is done and now it is just a matter of the moulds being finished and corrected as needed. "

Trollforged has had the finished sculpts for over three months? I think we know where the problem is here.

Hey everybody!

Well I did receive the last of the four expected boxes today and I have gone through the QC with all items received. I am still awaiting delivery of the corrected Blutulf model btu I do now have Ulbrecht and Guarthagust in hand and that means that MANY orders can be shipped. I also have 3 of the 4 horses.

There is however a problem with hel rider #2....... There is a consistent flaw on the armour sleeve of the rider torso. It is immediately noticeable...... I am at a loss as to what is the best thing to do. I literally do not have the money left to double ship and I think at this point I have exhausted your patience. I do not know what to do here.

I can hold all order containing this item for reworking and then email you when the corrected item arrives in stock, OR I replace that torso with a different torso........

PLEASE GO TO MY FORUM TO ANSWER. I will have a topic posted there where in you can answer directly and I can then take appraisal and decided the best course of action.

http://red-box-games.com/forum/index.php?topic=183.0

Also from my newsletter if you are not subscribed there is some store front news that may or may not be of interest to you.

hey Guys,

well at long last the retool effort has run it's course and I think it makes better sense to keep my current catalogue in metal and concentrate any future efforts on entirely new product rather than trying to retool everything and wait for a year or more for that to resolve itself.

So.......... I have received restock of several items and the rest is on order as well and is expected within the next 2 weeks or so. So if there are items you have been waiting for they may already be available again in metal. Have a look through the store and see what has appeared once again! Let me be clear.... As of now ALL items visible in the store are available for order and ready to ship.

Cheers,

Tre'
I was really happy for Tre when the first KS did so well. I don't know him at all but it's good to see someone just working away on their own thing and having some success.
The way it's playing out has just become vaguely depressing though. I'm still looking forward to getting my minis, Tre just seems to be down about the whole situation.

 judgedoug wrote:
At this point I am nearly 100% convinced that the delays are Trollforged related:

Update 40 Nov 20th, "Other than that all sculpting is done and now it is just a matter of the moulds being finished and corrected as needed. "

Trollforged has had the finished sculpts for over three months? I think we know where the problem is here.

At risk of RiTides having a meltdown, I'll repeat what I've been saying for months - Tre' should never have put all of his eggs in the one Trollforged basket. At least he seems to have seen the light now, and is sticking for metal and getting actual stock of his models into his webstore again and getting some income again. The second KS should never have gone up with the first in such a state.

I'm going to place an order for some of the metals now, I think. I like the Halfblood range and I think some of the Aenglish will be nice as metal heroes, so I'm going to spring for them.

Some of Tre's posts over on the RBG forums are really depressing, he's been talking about how the Helsvakt campaign was a complete disaster and how he is planning a move back to metal castings...

(From the KS2.2 thread.)

well actually I did not profit $80,000.00....... If I went through the actual numbers it woudl make you puke....it did me. :/

At the end of the day this KS has been a disaster. I have ruined my reputation, increased my work burden decreased the amount fo profit made per part and jumped up in tax brackets in the process. A nice little kicker is that I cannot claim the postage expense of fulfilling the KS as an expense right off on my taxes. So not only am I paying doubel the expected postage costs I am also paying taxes on the cost to boot!

And then the real disaster is that the KS parts might never see retail release. The backers may be the only people ever to get most of this stuff unless I retool back to metal!!

I LOVE the product but this has NOT worked out at all. From the rate of delivery to the price per part, nothing about this has gone according to plan. Now I am not sure that I can get restocks within a reasonable amount of time which was originally part of the reason I wanted switch over to trollcast.

The next KS will be going up as soon as I figure out how to work it out. I am going to run a very brief KS to bring production in house in metal. Which is what I SHOULD have done the first time around. The idea is going to be to fund the production and postage of any parts "gifted " as rewards with a a reasonable profit and to buy the machines and materials necessary for production.

Im really hoping that the move back to metal is one of desperation due to Tre apparently not being able to get restocked right now, rather than a sign of Tre completely stopping his expansion into Trollcast. Because i prefer buying my RBG rank and file models in 16-24 man units, and if he reverts back to his old metal prices for larger human infantry models (For example the old metal armored Helsvakt used to cost $45 for 5 models.) then im afraid that Tre will have completely priced me out of of purchasing anything from him other than a few character models.

a bit more info,

the faulty helsrider mould has already been fixed and casts are on their way to Tre

the faulty ones were either sent in error

or perhaps because Ed thought they were 'almost' OK and since the material can't be recycled Tre should have them (eg to use as freebies/material samples ? I'm speculating here)

My order arrived in the UK, lovely models

My order arrived in Richmond VA but won't be able to check it out for a couple more hours. I ordered:

185

12 ranks
4x gynnade krigare
3x helsvakt horde
1x varp krigare
1x helsrider1
1x helsrider2
1x helsrider3
1x dire wolves

10 characters
belegast
blutulf
the keeper
red olga
guarthagust
ulbrecht
guarthagust
ulbrecht
helsrider 4

plus
conradt normal and crazed
morgrimm normal and crazed
yrsa and fenris
svetlana



Automatically Appended Next Post:
Got my figures, they are amazing. Drooling over them currently.

Today I received the first part of my (quite large $300+) pledge! I was totally excited as I inspected the part. Here are my thoughts about it.

First things first. The package of the items is so-so, and as I first opened it I was a bit disappointed. Everything packed in zip-lock bags, but not nearly enough padding to protect the items from bouncing around in transit. But despite this, no major damage to the figures at all. A few minor breakage to spikes but nothing else. So, to sum it up, Tre could spend a little extra to make sure a safer transit, but the material is strong enough to survive the voyage across the ocean.

I basically pledged for several copies of everything. In this package, though, I didn't receive Belegast, Robert, Gynnade Krigare, Aenglish Watch, Helsvakt Hordesmen, Varp Krigare or the Kickstarter exclusive Svetlana. What I first noticed was the different colours of the material. There are 5 different compound it appears. 1 very light grey, 1 light grey, 1 medium grey, 1 dark grey, and 1 dark grey with a very shining hue to it. Wierd. But it also appears that the material is more stiff/hard depending on what colour it has. Or at least that is how I perceive it. The ligher colour is more forgiving to bending while the darker is more hard. But regardless of this, how it appears to hold detail is really no difference. The material holds details incredible well, and I would even dare to say that it's superior to metal in this aspect (yes, I got lots of the HelsVakt in metal as well!). The edges are sharp and clean and all the tiny details are visible and incredible solid. This material is everything Tre has promised it to be regarding this aspect. While I suspect it being fragile, it is noticibly stronger than resin. Of course, it will not survive a long fall, but it should survive if you dropped them from table-height. Of course, some damage might be done to it if you manage to make it land on a spike or similar.

Regarding the casting, though. The figures WILL require quite a bit of cleaning. Flash, venting, etc. are common and quite often on "bad spots" (like in the face). The zombies, in particular, appear to suffer more from this. The horses, which were delayed due to quality control isn't that bad. While it bothers me if I flip the horses over and lay them on back, I will never, ever, notice it while they stand as normally. If this is where Tre draw the line, his standard is far above mine. Anyway, while most of the figures will require cleaning, it is a bit of a larger issue (in my opinion) with Tre's slender figures than with your average heroic figure. Anyway, expect a lot of cleaning to do and expect it to be done on vital parts of the figure. But not everything is having these issues. Morgrimn and Conradt are basically ready to go out of the zip-lock bag. Whistelocke is also of awesome quality. So some are worse than other. All in all, this isn't a big issue and while requiring time to fix it's easier than with metal. Usually it's just a matter of scraping it off.

Morgrimn and Conradt, in particular, are frikkin' awesome figures. Tre's superior sculpting skills really shines here (as the figures appeal to my style). These four figures (wait form and warp form) are quickly growing on me and I get a wierd sensation as I look at them. They are awesome. I cannot speak enough good things about them. The poses, the detailing, the muscles, everything is close to perfect in my opinion. While they also in the same time are slightly larger than what Tre normally does, I can only hope that RBG will take a few steps closer towards a bigger scale, as it really allows Tre to shine. This, indeed, would attract a lot of new supporters to RBG!

All-in-all, despite a few negative aspects, this KS is a big success thus far for me, and while I feared that the Trollcast material wouldn't be as good as I had hoped for it to be, I must admit that I love it! I hope Trollforge can get around their issues, expand on their productions and get cleaner casts in the end, because RBG + Trollcast material = awesomeness!

Glad to hear the Trollcast worked out well!

And really glad you included the following sentence:

grefven wrote:
These four figures (wait form and warp form) are quickly growing on me and I get a wierd sensation as I look at them.

I am so happy for you

 Wehrkind wrote:
Glad to hear the Trollcast worked out well!

And really glad you included the following sentence:

grefven wrote:
These four figures (wait form and warp form) are quickly growing on me and I get a wierd sensation as I look at them.

I am so happy for you

We all need to come out at one point or another...

"Of Closets and Kick-Starters: How One Man's Models Changed Another Man's Life."

Life Time Movie of the Week.

UPDATE EMAIL:

Project Update #59: Update #59.......Still Waiting
Posted by tre manor
Hello All,

Again I have to report that fulfillment is at a stand still. I am still waiting for the items needed to resume shipping orders. I have ordered the Gynnade Krigare weapons in metal from Valiant and the shipment is en route to me right now and expected to be delivered on Monday. At that point we will be able to resume shipping again. ED and crew are working on casting the rest of the parts needed to completely fulfill all outstanding KS orders but it will take time. Fortunately Ed has informed me that he has completed the casting for ALL of the Gynnade Krigare. So we at least have that obstacle down. The other items as I understand are somewhat easier to cast so hopefully the rest of what is needed will be along soon.

In terms of the work still needing to be completed for fulfillment that means we are still awaiting.............

Aenglish footmen 230 bodies ( each ) 375 sprues of heads, 375 sprues of weapons, 375 sprues of shields.

Robert 230

Whistelock 175

Yrsa 275

Keeper 30

fenris 280

Morgrimn waiting 90

Conradt waiting 200

conradt warp 325

Guarthagust 145

Ulbrecht 55

Varp A 185

Varp C 150

Varp D 20

Undead 625 total sets though the individual numbers vary from part to part

Hordesmen 450 legs ( each ) 450 torsos ( each ) 435 head sprues, 1200 weapon sprues.

This will still be a long time coming. I wish like hell that I could get this resolved faster but I can only ship what I have in hand. We are packing and shipping as we are able. Orders are handled on the basis of what we have available so it may seem a bit hap-hazard as to who gets their orders and who does not but it does simply come down to what we have at the time.

I understand that many of you are very disappointed in me for the way that this Kickstarter has been handled. I can only say that I am truly very sorry and that should you see fit to back any of my future projects, I assure you that you won't be let down a second time.

I will be launching a second ( well third actually ) Kickstarter in the next couple of weeks to fund the development of totally new product in metal with the help of three different well established metal production partners. Thsi new effort will hopefully see through the production of new Dwarves ( Dvergr ) the Goblin Footmen and Wolf Riders, Modular Orcs, Modular Elf footmen ( Aelfar ) and New Njorn ( Norse Humans ). It is my hope that through this next effort I can make some way to mending my reputation and salvaging my business. No effort will be spared to make that happen.

Sincerely,

Tre'

Can someone on his forums tell Tre' for the love of God not to start any more fething kickstarters until this one is complete? It'll be just as "successful" as the second one... THIS sort of gak is what's the most disappointing.

Man, I'm a big fan but it is depressing as hell how long this has been dragging on for. I imagine Tre must be incredibly frustrated, not to mention the people whose product is months late now.

Are the new minis from these kickstarters ever going to be available on his website? Or is RBG doing kickstarter-only presales now?

(If it's the latter, it's a shame.)

The miniatures from the latest "orc/goblin" KS will most likely be available on the RBG website later. The HelsVakt and other figures that were released in TrollCast material will not be sold in that material. RBG couldn't afford the TC material and TrollForge isn't just big enough currently to handle all its commitments, so the only way for RBG to make some profit again is to move back once more to metal, with the ultimate goal to start making the casts in-house.

Just received my KS1 this week.
I haven't had a chance to go over everything in incredible detail, but so far:

Sculpts are, unsurprisingly, excellent.
The material seems good. I wouldn't say that it's noticeably superior to other resins. Maybe more durable, but it doesn't seem to handle thin items like swords especially well.
The casting is solid to poor. The horse undersides are well known. Some very poor mold line locations. The biggest issues I've noticed are bubbles or under pours (?), on the marauders hands. Resculpting will be required in several cases.

Overall, happy with my purchase but disappointed that it wasn't the first step to something bigger that Tre had hoped.
I'm now glad that Imbrian Arts switched away from TrollForged and that I sold my AssimilationAH pledge. I can't help but feel that Tre was a test run for Ed that Tre paid for in more ways than one.