Oh hell yes, I am so converting a Rogue Trader out of that Conquistador-style general. I wish this bloke would sort out some decent support on the production/fulfillment side of his business, the models are stunning but it's a pain waiting around for the small number of online UK retailers that stock AoW to get the new stuff in.
I'm loving both of those models, the Dark Elf is just a massive step up over that horrible Vestal exclusive model. Speaking of the Vestals does anyone know if AoW actually manage to sell out of the sets with the exclusive model? the offer appears to have been removed from their store and every link i find just leads me back to the storefront.
I also finally received both sets of PVC Corruptors a few days ago and they're just fantastic models, they're way more multi-part than AoW's past few PVC dwarf releases with almost every model being completely modular. (The musician torso is the only one that has a pre-attached head.) One thing i did notice though is that the models are roughly 2-3mm smaller that the original Warcast unit, but unless you actually own the original set and put them side by side you really can't tell the difference.
Wasn't there a big complaint about the original Warcast ones being too large to properly rank up? If he shrunk the Corrupters by a little bit then that would make sense.
Would you recommend buying them? I'm considering grabbing them next paycheck to use as evil bad guy allies in some of my evil bad guy armies.
AoW on Indiegogo campaign wrote:The different regiments and heroes will be released from August 2012 until January 2013.
judgedoug wrote: I skimmed the forums and it appears that he's been shipping out the Standard Bearers a few per day, but there's like 300 of them he needs to do.
We seek to incorporate a strongly commercially Sales Manager, to plan, coordinate and execute the business plan of the company.
Reporting to Management, he/she will be responsible for finding and contacting new clients and managing existing clients.
he/she will manage the sales process, from prospecting to closing deals and sales analysis, reporting and achieving business plan and marketing set by the company.
he/she will execute the promotion of the products listed on the basis of the strategy and marketing of the established plan.
Also, the two Dark Elf assassins have arrived at retailers.
That is good news - they BADLY need a business manager of some sort to run things. In fact I think I posted something to that affect before in this thread even.
I skimmed the AoW forums, there are a few people on there that have posted about receiving their BSB. Maybe they are doing the more local ones first?
Also - still no sign/word on the Doomcrushers (not-hammerers IIRC) that were supposed to be previewed in February/released this month.
sparkywtf wrote: So I don't recall ever tellings AoW where I lived to receive my BSB.
I think your indiegogo account provided that address. Otherwise you still have a few years ...
I am also not sure if a single sales manager can get the company on track again. It is not just some PR and communication with customers, it is also a fundamental production issue, be it a lack of motivation, money or infrastructure.
I'll have to check, the only IndieGoGo I've backed was for the chaos dwarf blood bowl pitch recently... but I think it asks for your address as soon as you back, since you also have to pay then, as well. So, there's not a survey like with Kickstarter to get it, iirc...
The waist look very odd on the "champion". I hope it's just the angle of the shot. Not too fond either of how the beard is pushed in by the hilt of the weapon, as it would make any kind of conversion harder to complete. But other than that, yeah, these look good.
Azazelx wrote: January 2013? You mean I have to wait until it all cycles around again?
Someone once told me, 'Time is a flat circle.' Everything we've ever done or will do, we're gonna do over and over and over again. And that dwarf standard bearer, you're gonna be waiting for it again and again and again forever.
Those look amazing. If AoW ever got their act together, they'd make a lot of money. But there's such significant production bottlenecks that they won't be taken seriously. To be honest, I feel like Felix needs to take on a partner for funding and to manage production and sales, and let Felix focus on making his great looking dwarfs and other models. If they can get the models produced and into the hands of distributors, they'll sell.
What happened to that guy who was apparently going to talk to Felix on backers' behalf, and then (apparently) convinced Felix to actually produce the BSB?
I emailed them a couple of days ago and apparently my standard bearer is being shipped out next week. If/when it arrives I'll make sure to get some pictures.
Maybe he means the next update in 5 or 6 years? Felix should have most of the Indiegogo Dwarves out by then ...
Probably still be waiting for the BSB.
Yep, exactly where I was going with that. Such great detail, but then execution with the casting and shipping factor in and you get busted, but still nice looking parts.
Alpharius wrote: Those hammerers are nice, but unless they are also significantly less expensive than the new GW ones, I can't see them being 'worth' it...
To be fair I imagine that it will be 35 euros, around 28.8 pounds for twenty models, like their other boxes. From GW website the hammerers box is 30 pounds for ten models. Therefore is less price for double models. I think this is quite less expensive and better offer and personally I prefer the way they look. Although the last thing is my personal opinion. But considering price is significantly less.
Azazelx wrote: What happened to that guy who was apparently going to talk to Felix on backers' behalf, and then (apparently) convinced Felix to actually produce the BSB?
He did exactly that! However, it doesn't seem that he convinced them to actually ship the BSBs
AlexHeap, that would be fantastic, please update us if you get a shipping notice!
AlexHeap wrote: I emailed them a couple of days ago and apparently my standard bearer is being shipped out next week. If/when it arrives I'll make sure to get some pictures.
It really looks like an amazing deal, even with the 5€ flat rate postage the deal is almost $10 cheaper than a box of GW hammerers in Oz and comes with an extra 20 models...
Mr Gutsy wrote: The Doomcrushers are now available to pre-order from the webstore, the set costs 35€ for 30 models and the first 100 pre-orders also get a free metal champion model.
It really looks like an amazing deal, even with the 5€ flat rate postage the deal is almost $10 cheaper than a box of GW hammerers in Oz and comes with an extra 20 models...
It really is a great deal for great looking minis!
I'm hoping the wording of the deal "first 100 pre-orders get this champion for free" - means that the champion in the pre-order bundle is no longer a limited edition.
I'd like to see more of the AOW Dwarf range released (and be readily available) before I decide if I'm going to buy any or not. But if I do - I'd happily buy that champion to go with my Doomcrushers.
It never ceases to amaze me how quickly people forget that IGG and KS projects are famous for taking extremely long to fulfill. Instead it seems that far too many people assume buying into that situation *knowing full well that the product will not go into production for at least months* they are still entitled to wail and gnash their teeth as if they have been fatally wronged.
I backed the RBG barbarian Kickstarter and am still waiting on delivery. Instead of anonymously insulting the sculptor and acting as entitled as any man with a $215 investment has dared I've emailed the sculptor offering encouragement and telling him not to worry about fulfilling mine until he's gotten the problem backers out of the way. Why? I like Tre. I invested in his Kickstarter because he's a small business but produces a product I like and I wanted to help supply sufficient capital to keep him sculpting the things I like to buy. I bought into a campaign knowing he would take a while to fulfill-- he's a one-man operation without the kind of capital and resources to shrug off manufacturing delays or quality control failures. Both of those things plagued him-- it was compounded by his use of another small business to cast his items. All of this in mind I've accepted his explanations for the delays and gone on with my life. I trust that Tre will eventually fulfill and I sincerely hope that his experience with that KS won't sink his business.
I have more than enough models to paint and assemble.
If you want a product that will be delivered to you on time *DO NOT BUY INTO A KICKSTARTER*. If you do buy into one do everyone a favour and be productive instead of pumping drama out at toxic levels.
Some KS are doomed from the start-- Defiance Games has a well documented history of defrauding customers and businesses. Their owner did this with his last company as well. I could only shake my head sadly when people bought into his KS.
Some KS are a good chance to get limited items or discounted items but the price you pay includes time. These are small businesses running on advanced capital and relying on other businesses for their final product which is often made at extremely low margins. To think they can pivot on a dime and pay another manufacture to do something when their current supplier says they are running behind is madness. These companies are beholden to their suppliers/casters/etc because they can't afford to lose anything they've paid in advance. They're also run by fewer people than are required to do these things quickly. Maybe it's the mechanical engineer in my speaking here but delays in a KS fulfillment should be expected. If they fulfill in time be happy that nothing went wrong. If not think about the situation and decide whether pulling out is smart. In the case of Defiance Games the moment things went south people should have contacted their CC company and cried foul. With Tre I knew his problems were genuine and far from fraudulent.
Automatically Appended Next Post: I dealt with Felix personally back when he only had one model on the market and was fresh from his departure from GW. He was kind, forthcoming and generous in providing a few bonus models in my order. That's the baseline-- Felix was kind and generous to me when he was capable of doing so.
At this point it appears he's overextended and his business sense may not match his sculpting skill. Regardless, he remains the man it appears he was back then-- talented, engaged and passionate. We've learned he's a bit prone to delay as well but the qualities that I like about his work haven't' changed so I will continue buying from him.
Drake_Marcus wrote: It never ceases to amaze me how quickly people forget that IGG and KS projects are famous for taking extremely long to fulfill. Instead it seems that far too many people assume buying into that situation *knowing full well that the product will not go into production for at least months* they are still entitled to wail and gnash their teeth as if they have been fatally wronged.
Does that apply only to the customers, or also to the businesses? Because all your BS about knowing that a crowdfunding pre-order having long delays should go double for the business who actually has first hand knowledge of how far along they are, and that makes it not just incompetence, but fraud.
Drake_Marcus wrote: It never ceases to amaze me how quickly people forget that IGG and KS projects are famous for taking extremely long to fulfill.
Oh good. One of those posts. You're right of course. We should just throw businesses piles of our money and they should never be held accountable to actually fulfil their ends of the bargain. After all, it's not like they're professionals in the industry or anything, right?
Felix was polite to me as well when AoW started. I bought his first several figures direct from him via emails and so forth. Then again, I was polite to him, and send him money in good faith - then and now. I didn't bother to read your entire rant - I just skimmed it, but I'm going to throw you on ignore, since I probably don't need to see whatever else it is you have to say. Ever.
Unfortunately it looks terrible. This, together with AoW absolutely terrible customer service and communication, it's constant delay of crowdfunding fullfilment might actually put another nail in their coffin. It's very sad, I think, as I like their miniatures. Just not in this sad material.
Well, from what I read at the link, backers still have the option to get their stuff in Warcast or get extra figures in the ...restic?
I just wish Felix would hook up with Renedra. Shieldwolf were able to do so, as apparently is the upcoming goblin kickstarter that ScarletSquig is currently wetting his pants over.
I really don't understand why people are so against AoW switching to PVC, while the material isn't the greatest to work with Warcast really wasn't anything special either. I own 3 different Warcast sets and each of them have had their own problems to some degree, the material is fairly thin in places and sometimes has this roughness about it which requires scraping with a hobby knife if you want a smoother surface. Its also prone to minor miscasts during production, for example the severed head trophies on a few of my Corruptors had the eyes/nose region fail to cast which left heads with a weirdly caved in face. Also a few fingers on the Corruptor champions pointing hand fail to cast, and my Warcast Ironshields had numerous problems with small holes along with miscast thin shoulder guards. (I had more problems, but i don't really want to write a novel here listing every small flaw...)
But lets not forget the major problem with Warcast though, the fact that AoW absolutely struggled to cast and fulfill existing orders of the stuff without endless months of silent delays. At least with PVC they're capable of producing and restocking at a relatively fast rate and actually making money off the models. Personally I'd much rather see AoW release 5-6 new PVC units and build up their range, than blow the same amount of money on a single plastic set in the hopes it will magically save their company. While hard plastic is a ton of fun to fantasize about, its completely unrealistic to expect a company in AoW's current condition to take such a huge risk on it again.
grefven wrote: Unfortunately it looks terrible. This, together with AoW absolutely terrible customer service and communication, it's constant delay of crowdfunding fullfilment might actually put another nail in their coffin. It's very sad, I think, as I like their miniatures. Just not in this sad material.
The PVC Corruptors are actually better quality than that picture makes them appear, the PVC is a much darker shade of grey compared to Warcast which doesn't show the detail too well in that image. It also doesn't help that both sets of legs are in slightly different positions which make the severed head on the PVC legs look fairly soft by comparison.
Below are some actual painted PVC Corruptors i found on a blog, the paint jobs are a tad basic but i think they're still very effective and the models are also fairly heavily washed which helps show off some of the detail.
(Warning NSFW! the standard banner is a fairly graphic dismembered naked female torso.)
Some close pictures of PVC corruptors from same blog:
Advice taken from the set of instructions inside of corrupters box: Note that the porous surface of PVC plastic might obscure the detail at a first glance. Only after being primed, PVC miniatures will perfectly show all its detail.
This is a very good product which has a superb ratio quality price, the rest are nonsense and create controversy where there is none... or at least that's what I think .
ronin1973 wrote: This is a very good product which has a superb ratio quality price, the rest are nonsense and create controversy where there is none... or at least that's what I think .
Everyone is entitled to their opinion. To me, it's quite obvious that the material looks terrible, unfortunately. The details look soft and quite bad at some parts. And that's my opinion. It's too bad, because there are some really great miniatures.
PVC does give softer edges instead of hard lines... so, it's most noticeable on armor and weapons. This is why, for example, I think Privateer Press' trollblood bodies look great in the material... but the weapons look absolutely toy-like.
These look alright to me, particularly given the price, but it's not the same as injection molded ("HIPS" high impact polystyrene) plastic.
So bit of news from AoW, the Vestals have finally finished being tooled and are ready for production and the Doomcrushers have been delayed until at least September. (Although based on how long it took the production company to tool the vestals, i'm guessing the Doomcrushers won't start shipping until at least November.)
The fact that the Vestals of Nemesis tooling is taking longer than initially planned, has affected the schedule of the other molds to be tooled. Vestals of Nemesis are finally ready for production, so the delay will be no more. However, having been a considerable delay, we estimate that the Doomcrushers injection molds will be ready for production in early September instead of July.
Once again we appreciate so much your patience and we apologize for the delay before the date initially estimated July
Also AoW have released a new Dwarf model the 'Champion of Göllnir'.
Preceding the upcoming Iron Guard regiment for Warthrone, arrives the Champion of Göllnir.
The Iron Guard form the personal guard of a Dwarf king. Each Iron Guardian is appointed by the king himself, from the most courageous, skilled and tenacious of his warriors. Champions of Göllnir are the best of the chosen, only below the noble Dwarf Lords in power and command.
grefven wrote: Unfortunately it looks terrible. This, together with AoW absolutely terrible customer service and communication, it's constant delay of crowdfunding fullfilment might actually put another nail in their coffin. It's very sad, I think, as I like their miniatures. Just not in this sad material.
I'm REALLY glad I didn't jump in on this campaign now...
+1
I don't like this PVC at all since I've seen it up close (both material and shrinked models put me off), a friend of mine got the Corrupters some days ago (finally!), he was so enthusiastic but the final result is definitely not worth neither the wait nor the money.
As for the immense delays etc, imho this business has simply gotten too much to chew on and is making one mistake over the next. I don't know if they simply can't pull it together anymore or if their reaching out more than they should has put their financial health in a simply very bad state...
Maybe AoW should wholesale their plastic slayer sprues to someone who can actually market them worth a damn, it's a great kit that they've failed to do justice.
Some close pictures of PVC corruptors from same blog:
Advice taken from the set of instructions inside of corrupters box: Note that the porous surface of PVC plastic might obscure the detail at a first glance. Only after being primed, PVC miniatures will perfectly show all its detail.
This is a very good product which has a superb ratio quality price, the rest are nonsense and create controversy where there is none... or at least that's what I think .
Schmapdi wrote: I agree with Gutsy - clean it up, paint it and you wouldn't be able to tell them apart (aside from the size difference).
Unless you're an amazing, award winning painter the actual small level of detail loss won't be noticeable/detrimental.
The rest is just illusion, like how for 2 years people swore that finecast models were "sharper" than their metal equivalents.
agree as well. very good plastic kits at an awesome price.
for those few here who like aow, and, given the comments here might be worried about their financial status, i don't know the insiders, but i can tell from what i see: I very often visit their HQ to play warthrone and speak to the guys, and i can see the company is more than healthy, 8 full time staff by now (when I started visting them they were only 3) so that is close to a 300% growth appart from the freelance staff that has also increased significantly.
i cant tell on other places, but many people here in spain are switching to warthrone, and their miniatures are in every hobby store all around the country.
btw, how cool is that multiquote feature, first time I use it
EDIT: actually the multiquote has not appeared , i have done it manually now, so i'll have to see how it works
Not that the pictures above make it any better, I also see this picture below and it's the same as my friend's newly arrived (and placed on the shelf) models. The quality is definitely not there, and I wouldn't really mind if some minor preparation work had to be done to fix that up, but in the end what you get is what you get, not much you can do about that unless you can turn PVC into something else. Detail is horrible in quite a lot of places in fact.
Spoiler:
AlexHolker wrote: Does everyone remember how AoW switched to PVC, the plastic Privateer Press uses that everyone hates?
From here.
I think skipping the not!Witch Elf preorder was the right choice.
Another thing I really disliked about the company (I used to be a great fan of these guys, it has been very long since I ordered anything from them) is taking pics from precise angles or having these YouTube videos uploaded often shot from a distance, so you can't really tell. You see tiny companies compared to AoW (another spanish one I think is BlackChapel and their respect to the client actually showing from all angles the miniatures available makes the veteran company look like an amateur...). The guys from this company (and many other companies like them) even go into actually painting their miniatures, something AoW has long forgotten the meaning of. Cutting costs from all corners obviously.
@Adder Ant I like the fact they are growing as you say, but having 8 full time staff members also means 8 full-time salaries (judging from their legendary delays they should hire more!). This inevitably has caused the backslide on their quality as everyone continuously points out in order to decrease their tooling costs (I don't collect WoC but if I did these would not be on my list and same goes for the Witch Elf strippers if I were a DE player, I'd buy a hero or two probably but nothing more than that).
This augmentation of stuff also means an inevitable increase in either sales and/or prices too in order to justify it. Judging from my gaming group who don't really care much about AoW any more (especially after their IGG failure) sales aren't doing too great. And you really think AoW is cheap?! Lol. Yes, I understand that comparing them to the big company they are making copies might have once made them look cheaper, but that was some 2-3 years ago! What exactly makes these Corruptors or Pathfinders (apart the fact they don't have unproxied counterparts) cheaper than their counterparts? Wayland delivers 12 WoC for 17 pounds (around 20 euros). Let's see... oh, it is actually as expensive as they are (and for lower quality)! So, buying from a distributor and paying 35 euros for 20 PVC minis is definitely not cheap, and making GW look a better value for money takes effort. Way to go.
I used to play dwarfs a while back (before the great horned rat called upon me ), I remember me buying their Slayers 25euros for 20 minis. And those were real plastic minis, not PVC! There was an update AoW had posted some time ago, claiming that Renedra was too expensive and they were moving into cheaper tooling costs. Oh great! That would mean lower prices, right? Ehhhh... no?
After all, it's not like they're professionals in the industry or anything, right?
, i have done it manually now, so i'll have to see how it works
You see tiny companies compared to 
), I remember me buying their Slayers 25euros for 20 minis. And those were real plastic minis, not PVC! There was an update