I...want...that...Behemoth! (I've been waiting for that one for soooooooo long!)

Anyone worked with Troll forged for their moldmaking and casting services?

I'm thinking about using their services, and their trollcast material. Only problem is, I'm concerned about how busy they are completing this KS.

As well as this KS, they've also got an on going relationship with Impact miniatures who have launched another chibi KS which will use trollcast

but have a talk to Ed who's very approachable,

I'm sure a small project could be fitted in without too much difficulty (a big project maybe not)

a word of warning Red Box Games first KS had problems with the material in terms of the amount of miscasts which is probably due to the delicate but spikey nature of the sculpts, combined with it being the first large scale use of the material and growing pains as Trollforged expanded from Ed's garage to a full business with employees,

again talk to Ed about this and make sure what you intend to get cast will suit the material

 RiTides wrote:
I meant just the sculpting, not the casting (just in case that wasn't clear) by labor day (Sept 1st in the US). May be a little hopeful, but I think Ed has been on a roll sculpting lately and sounded confident about getting through the last 6 sculpts remaining for him to do.

Seems like Ed's sculpting could be done sooner than that from his comments on the KS:

Edward Fortae on Feb 28
@William, I am working on those next after the bases. I'd have done them sooner but trusted and still do have my faith in Ian. He does great work and wanted to be sure they were up to par.
I'm working 12-16 hour days so I can keep my employees casting your stuff busy and allowing me time to sculpt. I have 6 figures to finish and we are done! Normally that would take me 2 weeks but with cleaning metal masters and molding it's taking longer.
I want this finished so I can release them in our store trust me. I grew extremely fast and learned a lot of things business related along the way. I am excited to get this out on the market so we can focus on the game itself.
As for the rest of you several pledges went out this week and more will go out when Philip compiled the next survey he sends. I'm leaving him to that part as my hands are full and he is doing an amazing job helping us get this out the door.

Edward Fortae about 15 hours ago
I have 6 sculpts to finish but they are very close! I was planning to get shots of a few soon. I had almost finished the flyer but scratched the wings as they were not up to par. It will be complete next week for sure though the new wings are spot on and big

That's probably just the alien stuff, as the alien hunter stuff is being sculpted by others. Seems to me like there's 6, but maybe he's quietly finished something without it being shown (larva swarm would be a quick one I assume).

Sky Hunter
Larva Swarm
The Drone/Cannon Drone
Overlord
Swarm master
Carnage Hound
Queen Guard

Anyways....seems like everything has started to progress at a much faster pace, so that's good.

Are those from facebook? They're looking great!

DaveC, I actually got to talk with Ed and ask about the round lipped bases for you- he said that they weren't in this first wave because very few people had selected them, but he'll definitely be offering them. He mentioned his plan was as follows: as soon as the survey is opened up for base pledgers (soon), he'll ask people what round-lipped bases they want. If most people wanting round-lipped bases want a certain type, he'll prioritize that type and hopefully be able to get them done faster that way.

So, hopefully that will be a happy convergence with the type of round-lipped bases you're looking for. I'm pretty sure your choice will be influential since not a lot of folks are selecting those. So, just wanted to update you on the plan of action he described

Thanks for checking, I was mostly looking for the rocky bases anyway I'm not really expecting all themes to make it to round lip so those should be a popular enough theme (I hope).

Having not submitted anything yet about my choices, Queen level still seems to be a bit away I guess he's using the information from the bases pledge levels to see which style is more popular. I'd say a lot of Queen levels upgraded to scenic bases as it was cheap option for a lot of bases.

You're right, it'd probably be smart for him to do a poll when he starts fulfilling the bases only pledges, to see what those pledging for bases as part of a Queen pledge or the like are wanting with regards to the round lip. Or maybe just ask people to message him their preference if they're getting round lipped.

But I agree, the rocky is probably going to be the most popular in all styles, as it's the most versatile, so I think that would be good to do as the first (or even only, depending on demand) round-lipped style.

I pledged for a Queen level, but I can't even remember what's involved in it or can be involved in it anymore. It won't be worth me even looking through it again until the end of the year when it might fulfil for that matter.

Well just to reiterate- if you don't want to wait you can always just get what has been finished. For the most part that's what I've done, because I wanted to make a wyrm-themed army, and because I needed it for AdeptiCon. I'm going to get one last wave when the Queen Guard, Sky Hunter, and Larvae Swarm are cast up, but I think that's it for wyrm-themed models.

If anyone is going to be at AdeptiCon, I'll be there with my army and giving out small free samples of the trollcast material. Please stop by and say hello

I've got some pics up over in my blog in the P&M section (here), but please forgive me for sharing one here, as well

I've already seen that pic, but still...every time I see that army I'm slightly scared.

Impressive stuff! Very shiver inducing with all that green slime.

That looks awesome. When did you get your Goliath wyrms?

I think 2 weeks ago today, Decker. That gave me a week to paint them up for the event. Ed just made the mold for them and was tweaking it slightly, but I think that's done now.

Little update, really digging the alien hunter...

I like the Queen, it's come together well. I have a different set of legs I am likely to use, but that's fine.

I think the above might be one of the adult warriors from how it looks, and though I like the other style of leg better, the above is also pretty cool too. I've seen other photo's but it seems that Ed is using Facebook more to show his sculpts rather than the kickstarter. Might be because of the feedback, I dunno

Got the alien bases a few days ago and they look nice! Pretty impressive how well the stuff holds detail. The alien bases and grubs should make good proxies for Myth larvae and ranged crawlers. Maybe I can use the host as a mini-boss. The figures should also work for Panic Station? The grubs are nice and TALL, btw.

TF had a few problems with the casting, so sent me "replacement parts" for the LE figures. The spiky bits of the host weren't completely filled in and the grubs were a little off center. Philip replied to emails quickly and will be improving their QC.

TF is helping unhappy customers sell off their pledges, and there's a $58 Host still available. A $220 Queen level was available, but some guy named RiTides took it.

http://trollforged.com/kickstarter-1/pledge-market.html

I'm not sure if I should sell my pledge or not. While I love all the stuff that is being made I have no need for any of it and far too much to paint already. Is there still a demand for the Queen level pledges?

I'm in the same boat. Plus, I'm just really tired of waiting and all the ancillary drama with this project. I'm sure Ed is a nice guy and all, but this Kickstarter has been flake city and amateur hour from the get-go.


But I _love_ some of the sculpts. I can't decide whether to try to sell my pledge, or try to buy some more Queens...

ced1106 wrote:

TF is helping unhappy customers sell off their pledges, and there's a $58 Host still available. A $220 Queen level was available, but some guy named RiTides took it.

http://trollforged.com/kickstarter-1/pledge-market.html

I did indeed

I love this system, as I've certainly sold other KS pledges before, too, and it makes it really easy.

I think the models are worth the hassle here, but of course I'm very biased. Ed is getting quite close. I think a compromise position to take would be, wait until mid-summer, and if you don't like the status then bail then. More people will be looking to buy when he is shipping Host / Swarm / Queen levels anyway... really hoping Host is soon, as I think everything is ready (sculpted AND cast) for it except the stealth swarm adult, which showed a WIP of recently so should be imminent.

At this stage I'll wait for delivery - in one lot I'm not paying extra to split it (I'm tired of waiting but I'll wait) I still want the bases and the big stuff and a few other bits so I'll trade as much credit as I can for them. If I didn't still want some of it I'd have sold my Queen pledge on already. trollcast is a great material to work with. Unfortunately Ed did get in a bit over his head but I fully expect him to deliver although he might have to scale back a bit like he has with the bases to achieve that. I'll eBay the rest but I'll set a min reserve there is such thing as to low a price where your better off just keeping it.

As a lowly host level pledger, I plan on getting mine as soon as possible. I added extra funds to purchase a few other things not included in the Host level, but I will just spend everything on what is available now and be done with it.

At the current rate this project will stretch well into 2015.

Update:

It does look good!

I just went and double-checked... Hard to believe his was all originally due to ship in May 2013...

I know what you mean. I guess they really underestimated the amount of time these things take, especially when also doing the casting of multiple other Kickstarters at the same time.

Lets see how this'll develop.

I think it was also just a case of a backlog developing: RBG ran really late due to quite a number of factors, and that domino'ed into everything else. From what I can tell they are catching up... but also, for both RBG and Trollforged, the original delivery dates were set for much smaller goals than what ended up being raised. It's a shame Kickstarter doesn't somehow account for this, as the reward dates get locked in from the very first moment.

But in hindsight it may have been better to just commit to less sculpts... however, when this is done there really will be an amazing alien line available from Trollforged that wouldn't have been made otherwise.

When will this one finally be 'done' even from just a sculpting standpoint?

I think Ed still has a number of big gribblies left to sculpt like the cannon drone the carnage hounds, and the "not cthulhu." In terms of smaller things he still has to sculpt the swarm master, and the queen guards from what I remember.

So at a rough rate of one "finished" per month, we are probably looking at least six months, probably more.

Could slip to 2015, easily...

 Alpharius wrote:
Could slip to 2015, easily...

Yeah, the more I think about it, the more likely a 2015 delivery seems. Unfortunate, but not much can be done about it at this point. I do get warm fuzzies knowing that I helped Ed get the initial lift off the ground that he needed to run TF full time. I don't think he will ever want for work again.

So, after Chinese New Year for fulfilment, then?

Another update:

That thing is looking awesome!

Update on the Carnage Hound:

I said as much on the KS page, but I think the upper limbs need another joint in them to match the rest of the limbs on the hound. I just think another joint in there would fit the overall style much better.

I agree. They need an 'elbow'.

I don't really mind that they're a bit less buggy. I think the final product of the carnage hound came out very cool (and much better than the concept art).

The Cannon drone looks to be following that path (being an improvement over one of the weaker concepts).







From here: http://trollforged.com/kickstarter-1/pledge-contents.htm

Looks like the models from the main line left to sculpt are:
-Larva Swarm
-Queen Guard
-Drone
-Cannon Drone
-Swarm Master
-Overlord

Cannon drone looks to be well under way (at the rate updates have been coming out, I expect it to be done next week) and larva swarm supposedly is in a similar position. I imagine there'll be a lot of shared parts between the drone and cannon drone too.

So a bunch more photo's are up of the Drone and other bits, but it seems the end of this KS is remaining far far away.

I was going to use these as replacement Tyranids, but much like people who have backed the Dreamforge Games, I have lost real interest in 40k, and have no system to use them in otherwise. I'll still keep waiting, but my enthusiasm for it isn't nearly as great as it had been.

I remember back in March when RT was postulating that sculpting would be finished by September 1, while I was saying 2015 at best.

We had a similar discussion about Dreamforge. I predicted 6+ months more than RT, but it seems even I was a year or more short of when it might one day ship.

From what I understand, Ed's taking so long because he was just too busy delaying Jodi's kickstarter. When Jodi took his casting order elsewhere, Ed really had to put in a lot of long hours to make more delays for Jodi.

Wait, what kickstarter is this for?

Yeah, I'm pretty much done with this. My enthusiasm gets sparked briefly when new greens are posted, but the pace of those has slowed. And now its just excuses and more excuses why its taking so long. It seemed like there was momentum earlier, but I suspect Ed has burned through all the initial KS money, and has to take other jobs to keep the doors open, and backers of this project are Priority B or Priority C, at best.

Pretty disappointing, all things considered.

Wait.. wait... two years?

Funded November 14, 2012.
Original estimate (Swarm/Queen): April/May 2013

Current ETA for Swarm/Queen: none

Yeah, that's pretty bad. I'm glad I azazelx'ed my pledge

The material is ace though. I did do Helsvakt and love all the Trollcast figs I got.

Oddly, I'm not angry at all about this one. Must be because the amount is just under my "care" threshhold, and because he seems a bit inept rather than a dick. And he doesn't keep starting new kickstarters. Still gonna hang gak when people say "it should be finished real soon" though...

Yeah, they update regularly, he's still sculpting and casting, it's just taking a loooooong time. More of the Dreamforge model (delivering, just late) than anything else. A lesson learned the hard way, but progress is being made. Can't wait to see the carnage hound and cannon drone cast, as I think they're going to be next!

 Azazelx wrote:
Oddly, I'm not angry at all about this one. Must be because the amount is just under my "care" threshhold, and because he seems a bit inept rather than a dick. And he doesn't keep starting new kickstarters. Still gonna hang gak when people say "it should be finished real soon" though...

I've been part of a few "inept rather than a dick" projects, and the problem there is with the ineptitude, they run out of cash. So they get in a spot where perhaps they may have the finished product, but no money to manufacture or ship it. Or they run out even before they've finished. And the longer a project goes past its due date, the higher likelihood of that happening.

It's not even close to a sculpt a month at this rate. It just seems to keep dragging on. The Drone was being worked on... now???

I am almost wanting to get my cash back, but I've waited so long I really want the miniatures. And I have no real system to use them in, but whatever.

The swarm bases also look to be the same base, no style differences. I guess you could sculpt on your own little gribblies, but I was hoping for lots of small stand up ones, which were in the art, as so much else was.

Edit: Sculpts not finished at this point

- Skyhunter, Dreadnought (including various alternate arm types), Swarm Adults (never saw a fully completed sculpt unless I missed it), Stealth Swarm Adult, Drone (work in progress), Alien Hunters, Overlord, Swarm Master, Cannon Drone (Was a final sculpt of this shown? Still being worked on?), Goliath Wyrm, Queen Guard, the various outstanding bases of different types.

2 years after a project finishes, we shouldn't have a list that long.

Goliath Wyrm is done (long ago, cast and everything) and the same with the swarm adults and alien hunters. The Alien Hunter pledges are now being sent (latest update from a few days ago).

Cannon Drone is done, about to be cast, Swarm Master is done, although you're right we haven't seen stealth swarm pictures, so I'm not sure about their status. Same with the Sky Hunter, which was far along but never shown final.

The real things left are the Drone (WIPs shown), Overlord, and Queen Guard... and the Dreadnought, although that's not being done by Ed and looked pretty far along.

Just a bit more patience here, they are updating a Lot and it'll get there, unfortunately I'm just not sure if it'll be until spring.

How long till those "hounds" are for sale. Not the larger one. The smaller one. I could use a bunch of those for a project. Or if someone has some that they'd like to unload

I think it is likely Ed will loose/is loosing money on this Kickstarter, but doggedly refuses to quit because he is a stand up guy. I think the delays are some mix of him working on it as he can between jobs that bring in cash flow to keep his head above water, and not feeling artistically motivated to work on things at various times.

When the "Host" level ships, I will definitely be "cashing out" so to speak by going only for things that are ready to ship, in part because of lack of interest in the other stuff, and in part because I think it will benefit Ed to get this taken care of as fast as possible.

Ahhh ok, my mistake. It's been a while since I did a full checkup on where things were at, my apologies.

So what month would a spring release be in over there in the US?

He was just speculating, there is no indicator of why the delays are so bad.

What other projects is Trollforged working on? Naturally, the more work you're doing for other people, the less time you have for your own. I know Impact Miniatures used Trollforge for their Urban Achievers KS, which was fulfilled quite quickly.

Trollforged is doing a lot of work for Impact on their various KS projects, plus converting a number of their existing minis into trollforged outside of KS too

rumour has it that they may be the caster doing the spincast resin for Raging Heroes (although I've seen no official confirmation of this, the material I've has looks similar but then it probably would)

Hey guys,

I got to speak to Ed on the phone earlier this week, and he said everything except the Drone and Overlord is sculpted! He acknowledged needing to make an update showing some of the sculpts that were never seen finalized (I told him which ones they were), or rather send Philip some pictures to make that update with. But, it is a great relief to hear how far along the sculpting is towards completion!

Obviously, that's only part of the work, and a lot of things still need to be cast. But, I think it's likely that the Host pledge will begin to be fulfilled in the near future, just with folks who want to swap for items that aren't yet cast needing to wait (but people who just want to get a "stock" host pledge being able to receive theirs).

So, obviously not the "fully done" news that everyone wants, but it does mean the end is very much in sight for those who backed at Host, which puts things one step closer for those at higher pledge levels (or, by messaging them you can likely cash out with just the models that have been completed for Host, if you really want to, once those start to be fulfilled).

I appreciate the update, but honestly, its more of same. "We're really close now", "No really, I MEAN it this time", "I'm going to dedicate every waking hour to this until its done", etc etc.

Sitting at Swarm level, I'd wager dollars to donuts I won't see gak until 2015, at the earliest. (Really glad I didn't back at Queen, like I almost did.) Its frustrating, and what's even more frustrating is that Ed (and Phillip) seem to be unwilling to do the math themselves and come to the same conclusion, and just be honest about it. Instead its a continuous string of "almost there" bs.

They've lost any last shred of goodwill of mine.

I was very, very close to backing this one for a lot of money.

Back when I thought it would make a great 'counts as' Tyranid army.

This is one KS Bullet I was fortunate enough to dodge.

Best of luck to all still waiting to get what they pledged for!

I pledged more than I should have. Having seen the sculpts, though, I am going to want to trade a large part of my order for other things. I don't think any of the humanoid aliens came out looking too good.

Honestly I'm probably just going to trade out most of my aliens and get a bunch of those dreadnought/robot things as the render is looking amazing! But yes, I do slightly regret backing at the queen level now...

 Commander Cain wrote:
Honestly I'm probably just going to trade out most of my aliens and get a bunch of those dreadnought/robot things as the render is looking amazing! But yes, I do slightly regret backing at the queen level now...

this is pretty much where I'm at as well now, I'll swap out the $100 allowed and reallocate the money I added for bases I no longer need and get 6 Dreadnoughts as they are turning out really great and I still have a use for them.

I don't regret backing this as I wanted to support Ed, he just got in a bit over his head but I have full faith he'll deliver (in 2015 most likely)

 BobtheInquisitor wrote:
I pledged more than I should have. Having seen the sculpts, though, I am going to want to trade a large part of my order for other things. I don't think any of the humanoid aliens came out looking too good.

I think the swarm adults came out OK, but only because I plan on using them as dryads/nasty forest guardians, and I think with a green and brown paint scheme they will really look the part.

That is a great idea Gallahad! I think the hounds will find many other uses, too.

I'm sorry that I only pledged at the middle level - I'm probably going to go to a double Queen pledge once I get the survey.

Well, I'm going to put my Swarm ($140 pledge) up in the market if anyone wants it.

I am in for a Swarm pledge too, but I will wait this out.

Thing is, the longer this is allowed to go on, the more it's going to cost Ed in shipping fees. He already went past the first postage cost blowout that happened last year or so, you don't want to let it go on too much longer.

In case anyone is interested: http://trollforged.com/kickstarter-1/pledge-market.html#savagerobby

I am pretty tempted on picking up that pledge there, as those models look pretty damned nice/creepy. And as I haven't been waiting for almost 2 years now, my wait threshold is still pretty high.

Just a wonder if they will even get shipped at all. I'll have to do some back reading


Yeah I grabbed that pledge. We'll see how it turns out.

@RivenSkull,

I think you are almost guaranteed to get your pledge....it will likely be a while yet, but you will get it.

 Gallahad wrote:
@RivenSkull,

I think you are almost guaranteed to get your pledge....it will likely be a while yet, but you will get it.

Hopefully by then my pile of unpainted mini's will be empty.

Then again, I'm saying the same thing for when several other miniature kickstarters ship.

And I just bought another 10 Reaper mini's today.....


I'm doomed

RivenSkull wrote:
I am pretty tempted on picking up that pledge there, as those models look pretty damned nice/creepy. And as I haven't been waiting for almost 2 years now, my wait threshold is still pretty high.

Just a wonder if they will even get shipped at all. I'll have to do some back reading


Yeah I grabbed that pledge. We'll see how it turns out.

Looks like it just got sold. Hope it was you! I consider that a win-win.

I sincerely hope that you both receive them in a (semi) timely fashion - and love them.

 SavageRobby wrote:

RivenSkull wrote:
I am pretty tempted on picking up that pledge there, as those models look pretty damned nice/creepy. And as I haven't been waiting for almost 2 years now, my wait threshold is still pretty high.

Just a wonder if they will even get shipped at all. I'll have to do some back reading


Yeah I grabbed that pledge. We'll see how it turns out.

Looks like it just got sold. Hope it was you! I consider that a win-win.

I sincerely hope that you both receive them in a (semi) timely fashion - and love them.

Yeah that was me that got it. Toying around with any additional mini's to grab along with it.

These will be great for a long term Fallout PnP project and for a few other games.

Now If I can buy someone's KD:M Kickstarter I'll be golden.

I went in on a lower level, and am considering boosting up to Queen + bases. There's enough minis that I'm liking (LOVE the host miniatures, and in general the sculpting quality has increased as time went on), you can trade out the minis you don't like for the ones you do, and you can always find a use for a ton of cool bases, so value isn't a question. I haven't been out of too much money, so delayed delivery isn't an issue. As there's only a few minis left to sculpt, I see no reason not to believe the project won't be completed and delivered within 6 months.

It was a project that was too good to be true when it happened (look how many minis were funded for and the value in terms of minis for a project raising only ~$55k), so it's not surprising that it hasn't been a smooth ride. I'm impressed with the quality and stickwithittude that's been shown.

That looks like some good quality casting right there.

I also asked Ed about this and he said the stealth swarm has 4 different bodies, and the warrior has 2 (since it is more of a static model). So, along with swapping the arms and heads around, Lots of options!

He said he's going to try to snag some pictures of the queen guard, too- I think those only have masters ready, so harder to photograph. Once he shows those, I think it's just the Drone and Overlord left to be seen complete!

should those pics be spoilered and tagged as NSFW since the alien junk is hanging out there? Totally joking, the models are looking really nice though

Queen Guard pics! Now it's just the Drone and Overlord left to see complete, everything else has been shown

I hope by the time he gets to Queen there's a proper repository of all of the figures sculpted (in finished form) that people can see properly for trade-outs, rather than needing to try and dig through three years worth of half-arsed updates and WIP photos.

He should really have something like that now. I think it's really becoming more relevant as more items get completed.

RT, you seem to be good mates with Ed. Any chance of you suggesting this to him? Might be more likely to happen coming from yourself.

You mean like this?

trollforged.com/kickstarter-1/pledge-contents.htm

Needs to be updated, but has a link to the trollcast update for finished things. Its not super obvious, but its just another tab from the pledge manager.

Azazel, I did suggest that to Ed and Philip, and I think Philip's plan is to update the links of at the page decker just linked to (the pledge manager page).

I'll probably put together a big post here on Dakka of the different views of all the sculpts, so that folks can have more angles than just the one the pledge manager gives

Look on that page I just linked, look at the column "Trollcast", then click on the links, which take you to specific kickstarter updates. You have all the angles linked there for any completed (100% done - so not just master or whatever) models. It's not just the one WIP shot you're thinking of.

By the way, I found this on Ed's Facebook:

Nice find, Malika!

The Host survey is out! Never thought I'd see the day.

Yep, it's awesome! Ed said he's actually hoping to send out all/most by the end of the year. With Host surveys out, Swarm won't be far off.

I'm actually kinda wishing it would take a tiny bit longer, until I can get a little bit more money saved up.

I got to wait a wee bit longer anyway as I'm after some of those dreadnaughts

Where do we see all the finished sculpts?

Never mind. Found it.

Just click on the links in the right-hand column.



Shoot, and I just sent Ed a "Contact Me" trade request without realizing that Host pledges come with $20 (+3 aliens?) in trading credit.

Philip Sibbering, you here? How do I fix this without sending him another long message?

Philip doesn't post here, so your best bet is to send in a note via the "contact me" on the KS page (which I think Philip does actually have access to).

 RiTides wrote:
Philip doesn't post here, so your best bet is to send in a note via the "contact me" on the KS page (which I think Philip does actually have access to).

Okay. I will send another "Contact Me" message to Ed's Kickstarter account. I know he's busy, so I don't want to bother him too much, but I do want to be able to fill out my pledge manager on time.

I sent a somewhat vague request to him because I just don't have the time or energy to add up all the dollars and credits for the trade and don't really care if I end up losing out a bit. I just wanted to drop Swarm Adults, Swarm Adult Warriors, Hosts and the Queen and replace them with whatever I can get in Stealth Swarm Adults, Hounds, and one of each Alien Hunter. And use the $20 in the store for 2 Alien Brains. Much of this deal was worked out back when the Kickstarter campaign was still going, but I've changed my mind on a few things because of the sculpts and the delays.

RITides, you know them, right? Is this trade request too complicated, or something that will be a problem for them to fulfill?

It sounds reasonable, the general rule of thumb is only trading 50% of your pledge value. If you haven't heard back by Friday shoot me a PM and I'll ping Philip (I imagine he's sorting through quite a few messages like this one as we speak!).

Hopefully, for most folks the automated trade system will work on the pledge calculator. I may have a go at the calculator on the weekend if you haven't heard back and see what I think yours would work out to, so I can know what I'm taking about . Is your Kickstarter name the same as your username here?

 RiTides wrote:
It sounds reasonable, the general rule of thumb is only trading 50% of your pledge value. If you haven't heard back by Friday shoot me a PM and I'll ping Philip (I imagine he's sorting through quite a few messages like this one as we speak!).

Hopefully, for most folks the automated trade system will work on the pledge calculator. I may have a go at the calculator on the weekend if you haven't heard back and see what I think yours would work out to, so I can know what I'm taking about . Is your Kickstarter name the same as your username here?

My Kickstarter name is not the same. Thank you. I have heard back from Philip, but I don't know that it's worked out yet...

 RiTides wrote:
It sounds reasonable, the general rule of thumb is only trading 50% of your pledge value. If you haven't heard back by Friday shoot me a PM and I'll ping Philip (I imagine he's sorting through quite a few messages like this one as we speak!).

Hopefully, for most folks the automated trade system will work on the pledge calculator. I may have a go at the calculator on the weekend if you haven't heard back and see what I think yours would work out to, so I can know what I'm taking about . Is your Kickstarter name the same as your username here?

I'd hope that he's a bit more flexible with this sort of thing if need be, given that he hasn't exactly held up his end of the transaction being 17 months late and counting...

I've found that he is indeed very flexible on swaps. It's Philip handling the communication now, of course, but Ed really is hoping to have this done and dusted by year's end (or at least the aliens). I don't know if it's possible, but he wants to send out the Kickstarter rewards as quite a few folks have inquired about buying the models (like Hulksmash about the hounds last page) and he won't sell them until he's sent them to backers, of course. So, onwards the fulfillment!

Well, I only pledged $50, but traded a lot more than $25 in credit even though I traded less than half of my minis. Hope that won't be a problem. I will probably have to wait on the alien hunters, but whatever.

If anybody on Dakka knows any of the names below give them a gentle poke, we've all waited long enough so I'd hate for them to miss out because they're no longer at their old email addresses


Update #219 Oct 28 2014

Host Update

Hi all,

I’m compiling the Host level fulfilment, and I need some more information from a few backers to complete it. I’m posting their names here in the hope they will see it, or someone else will see it who knows them. If you know them: give ‘em a nudge

No reply to survey
The following have not returned their survey, and have not responded to messages;
•Marshall

•Andrew
•Gallahad
•Robert W. Calfee
•Tom Knight
•Mark
•Gregory Horrell
•camoudragon


Note: if you cannot find your survey pledge contact me via Kickstarter (using the ‘contact me’ link under Ed’s photo to the right).

PayPal Backers
The following a PayPal backers who have not responded to the alert email I sent on 11th Oct 2014.
•Andre Mcinnis
•Arthur Dixon

Status
Other than the above, everyone is now in the fulfilment sheet. I’ll give it a couple more days and then sent it to the team to process.

Philip
On behalf of Ed

There's a Gallahad who posts here, not sure if it's the same guy, though.

I've PM'ed him with a link to this thread, in case it is him.

RITides, it looks like everything is taken care of. Thanks!

Awesome to hear, Bob!! Can't wait for them to ship these out to folks

It is the same guy! It's me, I'm filling out my survey now. Combination of having a hard time deciding what to get, and being really busy with life. Thanks for the heads up everybody.

Cool,

now we just need to track down the other 8 names

interneteers ho!

Worked at SSI, profiles has likes of Cthulhu wars, etc.
https://www.facebook.com/robert.w.calfee

Took me all of three seconds to find him.

NEXT!



Automatically Appended Next Post:
This one took about 60 seconds of checking:

https://www.facebook.com/gregory.horrell.5




Automatically Appended Next Post:
I've tracked down camoudragon's real name (redacted, since this is public) and location (Germany) but haven't found a facebook, etc yet. Lots of now-inactive posts on various forums, and what looks like a probably translation credit on Mobygames.

Andre Mcinnis (the former herald of the search duck) is active on facebook on the trollforged page so he's got the survey

I hope Ed gets these done soon because there is now renewed interest in Tyranids due to the new spore pods etc, as well as new creatures available, and he really needs to be able to capitalise on this interest as soon as possible.

 RiTides wrote:
I've found that he is indeed very flexible on swaps. It's Philip handling the communication now, of course, but Ed really is hoping to have this done and dusted by year's end (or at least the aliens). I don't know if it's possible, but he wants to send out the Kickstarter rewards as quite a few folks have inquired about buying the models (like Hulksmash about the hounds last page) and he won't sell them until he's sent them to backers, of course. So, onwards the fulfillment!

A month on - and a month till C+NY (see what I did there?) and I think it's safe to say that this one won't be finished in 2015. (Even aliens-only). Hope for Easter, then?

I see what you did there. I wonder what the wait time would be if I hired him to do a sculpt for me...

We were supposed to hear something after Thanksgiving, but we're still waiting. Apparently a few sculpts are waiting to be finished up. Still 2015 for Queen level pledges.

Remember - Christmas is after Thanksgiving. It's all in the way you look at things...

Hot off the press (well the comments)

Philip Sibbering about 4 hours ago

Host update: everyone who's pledge wasn't on hold will be shipped this weekend. The other pledges that are on hold are boxed up and awaiting missing miniatures.

so mine is now packed, but as I'm waiting for the dreadnaught it won't be shipped yet.

also in case you'd not see it

Philip Sibbering on November 19

@ Terrance Mobley, Joe Kushner,

In a reply to a message on the same topic I sent this;

I have nothing official, but the survey for Swarm level is going out within the next couple of weeks. The only miniatures Queen level has that the Swarm level does not is the 'Queen Guard'. I suspect the bottle neck in the whole process will be *me* sorting through it all: as backers have a lot of options, and I like to track 'em down when the miss out of any stuff, and give them every chance to respond to the survey. Considering that we are in November, I suspect Queen will be early 2015 which is disappointing, but we might get it done sooner. If I get pictures of all remaining Trollcast product, I may stack Swarm and Queen and have them within weeks of each other.

That's my unofficial thoughts at the moment, but I should have something more concrete soon

Philip

My question is why has the dreadnought not been finished yet? Seeing as it was commissioned out to a different sculptor I see no reason why they are taking so incredibly long in designing the thing. Seeing as it is now the only model I want from this ks is seems silly that the 3D design hasn't even been finished yet

Yeah I reckon the 3d stuff should have been done by now. Unless the guy is paid in installments or something and doesn't work onwards until he has the money. Which might be smart in this instance, who knows.

What about the alien hunters? We've seen most of the greens, but it sounds like they aren't ready for casting yet.

 BobtheInquisitor wrote:
What about the alien hunters? We've seen most of the greens, but it sounds like they aren't ready for casting yet.

They're done, the surveys went out and people only getting them have been fulfilled (most people getting them have other stuff too)

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/131182444/assimilation-alien-host/posts/992067

It turns out I'm still pretty excited for this project. Yay, alien worms!

Any idea what the retail pricing is going to look like when these minis finally hit retail? The Overlord and Drone look exciting, but if they are too much more than the kickstarter price I'm concerned that plastic Tyranids might become even more exciting.

Apparently the model was a bit too big to print with their own machines, so now they found somebody else to help them out:

 Malika2 wrote:
Apparently the model was a bit too big to print with their own machines, so now they found somebody else to help them out:

Spoiler:

Wow that's a nice model

The Dreadnought is a real highlight of this project I'll be picking up a few when the survey comes out. The only very minor change will be to remove the chains I know they are in the concept art and David Seymour has been very faithful to it but they're not for me.

The update says our own RiTides is involved in the printing. Hopefully that turns out fine as I've seen some nice 3D renders spoiled by a bad print but I'm sure they are on the case and Ed has experience prepping prints from the various Impact! KS

it's a thing of beauty, and I'm glad I've already committed to a couple

now we just need the renders with the extra arms

What an awesome looking dreadnought, so true to the original drawing! I think I am signed up for 5 of the things

 DaveC wrote:
The Dreadnought is a real highlight of this project I'll be picking up a few when the survey comes out. The only very minor change will be to remove the chains I know they are in the concept art and David Seymour has been very faithful to it but they're not for me.

The update says our own RiTides is involved in the printing. Hopefully that turns out fine as I've seen some nice 3D renders spoiled by a bad print but I'm sure they are on the case and Ed has experience prepping prints from the various Impact! KS

Yes, I've spoken to Ed pretty extensively about it, and the resolution of my printer is higher than some of what Impact has used, and their models have looked great in trollcast.

I have 25 micron resolution, so some final prep work may be needed, but hopefully not too much, and as you say Ed is experienced in this from working with Impact / etc.

I am excited about the dreadnought, will definitely do my very best in printing it! David has been an absolute wizard in modeling it true to the art

Our very own RiTides is now involved?!?

ZOMG!!!

Yeah, that Dread has turned out to be a real highlight of the project. I'll be swapping out several of the unimpressive/not up to the concept art's quality insect men for those, I think.

Who's your daddy!

(note low res test print)


That's one monster of a Dread personally I like it, it might be a touch too big but it's different to whats available already. Ed has actually asked for comments on the size. I'm good with it as is but I did ask if it's possible to do do it in 2 sizes as its a digital sculpt.

I like the size,

you can actually imagine a (28-32mm) pilot sat in the cockpit area

although I can understand those who might prefer it a little smaller (far too many vehicles for 28-32mm gaming are actually undersized for what they're meant to contain) and wouldn't object if it got a little (10%ish) smaller

Just a little too big for my tastes. It seems to be straying too far into the toy category not to mention that I was hoping to use it for a contemptor type dreadnought...

Amazing model though, can't wait till they are at my doorstep!

 Alpharius wrote:
Our very own RiTides is now involved?!?

ZOMG!!!

Trollcast gonna RItides

Needs a poster

Check out the latest update here - more scale shots from David's low-res print, and thoughts on doing a 100% version and a 70% version.

I'm actually printing the 70% version tonight, as from measuring the pixels in the size comparison images, this would put the dread's shoulders about on par with a GW dread's shoulders. The backpack / etc are still taller, but I think it will look "right" (and if it's still a hair bigger, I personally think that's alright ). This will also allow a full 30% difference in the size of the two kits, so that it doesn't overlap with applications for the full-sized dreadnought.

If you're a backer, please post a comment on that update saying which you would prefer - a lot of people mentioned wanting a smaller version in the last update, but in this one most have posted saying they prefer the full-sized one! I'm hoping both can be made - but the easiest way to decide that is for Ed to know which folks plan / would prefer to buy (or both, of course ).

RiTides, you have a bit of experience with Trollcast; what glue do you use and how well does it work? I tried gluing some of Defiance's not-Trollcast minis, and they repel superglue the way Reaper Bones repels water. Using accelerator simply gave me a superglue cast of the joints without holding them together. It's got me worried quite a bit.


Also, did he ever receive the power armored Alien Hunter? That must be the one model my rewards shipment is waiting for...right?

I use Gorilla brand super glue, and sometimes greenstuff in the joint to make it really strong (but that's a trick I like for most materials). I do not use Zap-a-gap with or without accelerator... I think the Gorilla glue is great for this.

I don't know for sure on the power armored Alien Hunter - I think it may end up being a modified sculpt based on one of the prior Alien Hunters.

Nice low tech imperial knight!

I've finished the 70% print - on Christmas eve, in fact! Took some pics but will leave it to Philip to post; he may want to wait until it's assembled. I'll be mailing it to Ed on Tuesday, and he said he'd snap a pic after getting it cleaned up

You tease!

How is the full size one coming? I'd like to see it in all it's smooth glory

Full size print will be happening next week post holidays . It may take up to two weeks to finish since we have the other side of the family festivities the week of New Years, but I will post up when it's done! And maybe sneak in a pic of part of it

Philip just posted this on the TFM forum:

Nice, thanks for posting it here! As you can see, some final sanding / smoothing required, but the detail came out great.

Ed is great at finishing printed masters, having done it with Impact's digital sculpts printed at a similar resolution. I backed Impact's campaign for some of these, and the results were awesome.

David is hard at work on the dreadnought arm options, and I can't wait to print them! After the 100% size dread, of course (the above pic is the 70% size, and the grubs are 29mm tall on the left, 27mm on the right, with a 40mm base visible in the pic, too).

As I already replied on the TFM forum, I'm very curious to see how Ed will clean this up without damaging the details. It might definitely be an interesting option for some of my own modeling projects, since it would allow be to save a lot of money on the printing costs.

Yes, what you describe in the link (fine sanding of the 3d printed part) is the process he uses (which he did with Impact's digital sculpts, for instance).

One note is that the lines on the "face" spaced far apart are just from how that curve is broken up into triangles in the .stl file to make it printable. They can't even be felt in-person, and should disappear when the surface is fine sanded to remove evidence of the print lines, anyway.

I am not sure which one I would want. I've kind of gone beyond the need for this project now the time for it has stretched out so long, but I would like to find a use for all these miniatures.

I am guessing the 70% option is the better one for me, as it allows me to incorporate it into at least some game systems around the place. So that'd be my choice I guess.

How will the two options be priced? If price increases linearly wit height, I'd go for the bigger one, but if it he increase is cubic due to the volume of the casting, then the little guy is more of a bargain. That assumes they aren't double the KS price or otherwise unappealing.

I believe for the Kickstarter, they will be priced the same - Ed will be doubling his workload on the dread to make two versions, and only the full sized was unlocked during the campaign.

So you can select the smaller size, but it will not come at a discount from the larger size. Seems fair enough to me, I'm just glad he's willing to cast two! As I really want the smaller size for counts-as use and the KS price for them is already way below a GW dread.

$25 is still a good price for the smaller version and you get every weapon option for that it's the size I was expecting it to be so really it's the 100% version that's a bargain now.

Plus you can get 2 bodies and 1 weapon set for $45

I should have enough funds in (after swap outs) for 2 large and 4 small the aliens are of little interest to me now so I'll stock up on dreads and some of the larger beasts.

Yeah the dreads are already a huge bargain as it is so I certainly wouldn't be expecting a further discount on the model just because it's a little smaller!

Yeah, makes sense to me. I'll certaily be grabbing in both sizes, as he's gone for both

For the more close-combat-inclined, David finished the first claw and I printed off and sent Ed a pair (just got it in the post today so he won't see it till next week). Can't wait to see the 70% size assembled! I'm hoping he can snap a pic of it tacked together once he gets the masters cleaned up

Ed has begun to make metal masters of the 70% size dreadnought, pics in the latest update! (Update #234... the Trollforged crew is nothing if not diligent about updating )

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/131182444/assimilation-alien-host/posts/1109539

Awesome! By the way, are there some clearer pics to see how Ed managed to clean up that Dreadnought?

I'm curious on that too, Malika (he had texted me a pic but nothing came through, darn phone... just changed it so hopefully won't have that happen again ). I'll see if I can find out more from him on what he did to them. He did mention that, from having gotten both, he felt these prints were better than Shapeways FUD. I have found the supports difficult to remove and still get a clean finish on mine, but he seems to have done this very well (but then again, he is much more experienced at all of this!).

Hmm, so printing FUD and having Ed clean that up still isn't the solution? I was kinda hoping for that since it could greatly diminish production costs if the print could be a lot cheaper. Oh well...

Well he has definitely done that - however, there is another smaller printing service that several folks have used on here which I can point you to, which I think would give you better results for not much more (just PM me if interested!).

PM sent!

I think it's OK for me to post this here, since some backers don't want to see too many dreadnought updates so it's likely Philip won't be posting it.

David did some incredible work on the drill and saw arms, and I've printed them and will be sending them to Ed tomorrow for cleanup and casting!



The saw arm is actually one of the base arms so he'll need to make a lot of them (and it's in 3 pieces). But man, is that drill awesome!! It's a single piece, and I totally love it

One informal question from me... the more I think about the remaining casting schedule, the more I feel like just this one size of the dreadnought is enough... would like to hear folks thoughts (just for myself) on whether they really feel like a bigger size is required too, or if this one size would be enough to satisfy folks. Honestly, this is the size everyone thought it would be anyway, I think (or this might even be a bit bigger than that ) and so in my personal opinion, it'd be reasonable to just focus on getting the one size done, along with the aliens he's already sculpted cast. He's further along on sculpting than casting, I think, and if it's not needed it doesn't make sense to add something extraneous to the queue.

It all depends on the final prices. Bigger can be better if there isn't too much difference in cost. And I have to wait for retail since I cashed out my pledge...sort of. Still waiting on a power armored alien hunter, apparently.

I really want the Dreadnaught in the 'larger' size since that's what I backed for so as long as that's the one picked I'd be happy

but there were also a significant number of backers who wanted the 70% version that came up as a possibility from what I remember

so I guess Ed needs to decide if the extra work/cash to make it happen is worth the good press and possible extra sales

Yeah, he is planning to make both, I was just wondering for myself . Sound like both is the way to go!

 RiTides wrote:

One informal question from me... the more I think about the remaining casting schedule, the more I feel like just this one size of the dreadnought is enough... would like to hear folks thoughts (just for myself) on whether they really feel like a bigger size is required too, or if this one size would be enough to satisfy folks. Honestly, this is the size everyone thought it would be anyway, I think (or this might even be a bit bigger than that ) and so in my personal opinion, it'd be reasonable to just focus on getting the one size done, along with the aliens he's already sculpted cast. He's further along on sculpting than casting, I think, and if it's not needed it doesn't make sense to add something extraneous to the queue.

I don't think it's kosher to be changing the size/removing the original larger one this late in the game, with a project that's so very overdue, when a certain thing was promised. And I'm only interested in the smaller one myself. No. It's not reasonable at all.

 Azazelx wrote:
I don't think it's kosher to be changing the size/removing the original larger one this late in the game, with a project that's so very overdue, when a certain thing was promised.

Is the larger one really the "original", though? Here's the pic I see on the KS page:



That pic matches up much better with the 70% size of the digital sculpt, I think, rather than a 100% size printout, although of course it depends on where exactly that person figure is standing.

This is totally just my opinion, nothing to do with Ed or Philip or even David. I just feel like, with all that is left to be done, doing two copies of the dreadnought seems like too much. Ed's a trooper, but I haven't yet seen pics of resin of any of the dread parts, and of course there's a lot of aliens left to cast (not sculpt). Casting is the real bottleneck here, and there are a lot of parts to the dreadnought. Also, the two different sizes was something that came out of discussions when David originally printed a test of his digital sculpt. Honestly, I think the full size is much too large, bigger than the art here shows. Since this is not something that Ed sculpted, it's up to the sculptor's interpretation of this art.

I think the size I printed this at is more true to the art than the digital sculpt was scaled to, and is what everyone was expecting - AKA dreadnought sized, and actually already a bit bigger than that!

What I was expecting was bigger than a standard dreadnaught which is fine as it's intended to contain the static remains of a marine (with bits of the arms and legs removed)

the same problem as a lot of 28 'scale' vehicles, they're basically shrunk to fit on a gaming table

what I prefer is stuff that actually looks like a mini could fit inside

the beauty of this is it is scaled to look as if it could actually have a living person sitting in the body, that's why I wanted it as soon as I saw the art, there's really not a lot of stuff scaled like this (with the exception of Dreamforge's stuff).

an important bit from the comments

David Lee Seymour about 14 hours ago

Personally I have to AGREE with Tides and Steve. I may have been a bit overzealous in my personal interpretation of the dreadnought model, but the FACTS ARE that what is currently being referred to as the 70% model is LARGER than the official description of the model on the original model scaling page ( roughly 60mm ) and that the concept art itself shows a model slightly larger than 65mm ( being a 28mm man for scale ).
Yes, the concept in my head was a larger 2 man tank and that's what I ended up with as an artist creating through my own mind's eye, but the FACTS remain:
1) a "70%" model is roughly 5mm larger than the concept art.
2) the original scale listing for the dreadnought is "60mm"
3) I volunteered to make this sculpt happen A YEAR AND A HALF AFTER the kickstarter ended... NO ONE backed a 93mm behemoth.
Now, Personally I want the big one. That's how I envisioned it. But how long is that going to take? Are you willing to wait for its place in the queue? I'm putting my heart into this sculpt and all the time I can spare to get it done. Sure I'm proud of it, but I cannot expect Ed to cast something so large simply because I sculpted it way bigger than it was meant to be. That much raw material for the applied KS pricing toward the original size would break Trollforged Miniatures....that's fact #4.
The problem here isn't "oh look, they're shrinking it on us" it's that in my overzealousness I sculpted it too damned big. And you can quote me on that because I AM THE SCULPTOR.
I would LOVE to see it cast at 93mm some time post-ks, but for the sake of time and Trollforged Miniatures PLEASE, stop and think about the facts here.

up til now I thought of the 70% one being smaller than the illustration,

but from what the sculptor says it's the one that fits with the art and the 100% one is significantly larger

so I'm happy with the 70% version (as I now realise that fits what I originally pledged for) if that helps out.

That's great Orlando, thanks for posting your thoughts! I always take your opinion strongly on Kickstarters as you follow them closely and stay engaged, so I really appreciate seeing your take.

You'd need the patience of a saint to follow something like this closely or to stay engaged with it. I mostly forget that it exists, and that's probably a good thing. Here's to wondering if it'll be finished by Christmas '15!

Yeah, that's am open question Azazel :-/ which is why I suggested streamlining this part - there is so much left to cast.

The problem is that once you start to promise something, then the cat is out of the bag/Pandora's box is opened. It's a bit hard to turn around and say "you know, actually, I don't want to offer them in two sizes after all - sorry!" Let's not forget that for all the trials and tribulations and good intentions, this thing is almost 2 years late now, with no sign of actually completing this year - it's just plodding along with sub-par sculpts at an incredibly slow rate. So really, let's not forget that Ed owes us, not the other way around. It's great that he wants understanding, etc, but it's not like he's offering refunds - and for many of us, the point of the project is on hold or abandoned at this point in time so the eventual figures are likely to get chucked in a box...

Edit: Forget it. I am going to have my pledge up for sale via their site. $120 pledge, which was for Swarm plus postage. I'll be looking to deal with someone directly via paypal for this, and can absolutely guarantee my reputation as a trader and honest dealer. If anyone is interested, feel free to snap it up when it is posted up there.

 Azazelx wrote:
The problem is that once you start to promise something, then the cat is out of the bag/Pandora's box is opened. It's a bit hard to turn around and say "you know, actually, I don't want to offer them in two sizes after all - sorry!" Let's not forget that for all the trials and tribulations and good intentions, this thing is almost 2 years late now, with no sign of actually completing this year - it's just plodding along with sub-par sculpts at an incredibly slow rate. So really, let's not forget that Ed owes us, not the other way around. It's great that he wants understanding, etc, but it's not like he's offering refunds - and for many of us, the point of the project is on hold or abandoned at this point in time so the eventual figures are likely to get chucked in a box...

I'd take your minis if you don't want them, but I'm still waiting on my own pledge. The only mini my pledge is waiting on is the power armored Alien Hunter, which I am pretty sure was outsourced and not handled by Ed at all. There's a bit of a Mikh situation going on, not that Ed is a much faster sculptor than Jodie. I just wish he would crack down on the subcontractors and finish up the big monsters for his store.

Which sculpts do you consider subpar?

I'm rather curious about the power armoured Alien Hunter as well. Mostly to see if it would be workable as a proxy for the 'Legionary', a concept Philip has been working on with some of us for a while now.

 BobtheInquisitor wrote:

I'd take your minis if you don't want them, but I'm still waiting on my own pledge. The only mini my pledge is waiting on is the power armored Alien Hunter, which I am pretty sure was outsourced and not handled by Ed at all. There's a bit of a Mikh situation going on, not that Ed is a much faster sculptor than Jodie. I just wish he would crack down on the subcontractors and finish up the big monsters for his store.

Which sculpts do you consider subpar?

Pretty much everything that's bipedal, except for the dread. The worms and larger wormish things all look decent, but the bipedal stuff is a poor translation of Des Hanley's excellent art. Mine is Queen Level ($200)

I think at this point once the Dread is ready I'm going to ask Ed/Philip if I can cash out my Queen pledge for 6 Dreads and call it a day they can keep the extra $50 worth as 6 Dreads is more than I need and the remaining money is incentive for them to do it plus I just want and end to it now no interest in any of the aliens anymore and the round lip bases aren't near started yet.

 DaveC wrote:
I think at this point once the Dread is ready I'm going to ask Ed/Philip if I can cash out my Queen pledge for 6 Dreads and call it a day they can keep the extra $50 worth as 6 Dreads is more than I need and the remaining money is incentive for them to do it plus I just want and end to it now no interest in any of the aliens anymore and the round lip bases aren't near started yet.

I'll probably do much the same, that way I have some nice models and Ed will have one less backer breathing down his neck!

That's basically what I did previously, taking the models that were done a year ago so I could use them in the AdeptiCon team tourney. Ed and Philip were really accommodating about it (you'd be talking mainly to Philip, who generates the order slips for Ed). I think it does help to take slightly less if doing full swaps, since you're only supposed to swap out half of the items... this is what I did, since I honestly didn't need any more of those worm models, I have so many as it is! (I was probably one of the highest pledges in the campaign, I really went all-in).

I actually bought out someone's pledge later on as well, and haven't redeemed that one yet - planning to get a few each of Drones, Cannon Drones, Carnage Hounds, Hounds, and Dreadnoughts. All of those are sculpted except the Dreadnought arms, so I am hoping it might all be ready this summer.

David has been sending Philip/Ed/myself some WIPs of the arms he's working on, and he's getting pretty close to having the flamer finished. I'm not sure how many that leaves to go, although if you just want the base dreadnought without the arm add-on pack, Ed has the masters for those arms already. I know he's been snowed under with a big job deadline, since he's had to take on other work to keep the foundry running, but I am really hopeful that after that is out the door he can come down hard on casting the things he's already gotten sculpted, along with the dreadnought.

 Azazelx wrote:

 BobtheInquisitor wrote:

I'd take your minis if you don't want them, but I'm still waiting on my own pledge. The only mini my pledge is waiting on is the power armored Alien Hunter, which I am pretty sure was outsourced and not handled by Ed at all. There's a bit of a Mikh situation going on, not that Ed is a much faster sculptor than Jodie. I just wish he would crack down on the subcontractors and finish up the big monsters for his store.

Which sculpts do you consider subpar?

Pretty much everything that's bipedal, except for the dread. The worms and larger wormish things all look decent, but the bipedal stuff is a poor translation of Des Hanley's excellent art. Mine is Queen Level ($200)

I pretty much agree with you, excepting the stealth adult swarm warriors, or whatever the not-genestealers are called. I traded all of my other bipedal creatures for more worms or alien hunters, which work well enough as alien bounty hunters for me to enjoy them on a "kill crites" level. I'm actually surprised at how bad the other swarm adults turned out.

I feel for you on that Queen level. Even ignoring the long wait, that many worms, grubs, hounds and fiends will take forever to clean, assemble and paint. Did you have a project in mind when you pledged?


Automatically Appended Next Post:

 DaveC wrote:
I think at this point once the Dread is ready I'm going to ask Ed/Philip if I can cash out my Queen pledge for 6 Dreads and call it a day they can keep the extra $50 worth as 6 Dreads is more than I need and the remaining money is incentive for them to do it plus I just want and end to it now no interest in any of the aliens anymore and the round lip bases aren't near started yet.

Why not get grubs or hounds with the remainder of the cash and use them for trade fodder?

At this stage I'm prepared to write off the $50 it was paid 2.5 years ago it's gone forgotten about I'd only be taking the extras for the sake of it I don't want them so Ed can have the $50 worth to cover shipping and what ever plus it's give and take Queen level allows $100 of swap outs I'd like a full swap out so I'm not asking for full value on it.

You guys make me feel selfish for my swaps. Most of my swaps were a result of finally seeing the sculpts, but I definitely wanted my money's worth. They can keep the interest, though.

Yeah, this was an early Kickstarter and it's pretty clear Ed overpromised, and has had to work hard to even deliver at the pace he has. This is also why I was willing to swap for less (and why I'm making the masters for the dreadnought, etc), but I totally understand someone wanting the full value of their pledge and am definitely not suggesting you do otherwise unless (like myself previously / DaveC) you just don't want/need more of the models.

On the painting / cleaning front, I did paint 150 grubs along with some of the bigger worms (1 Fiend, 2 Wyrms, 3 LE Grubs, and a few from other ranges). It was a ton of work, but at that scale, I didn't feel the need to try to remove mold lines (and I feel they're not very noticeable on the grubs, especially in quantity). I would love to add some more big critters to my swarm, though, which is why I can't wait to see casts of the Cannon Drone and Carnage Hound (which are fully sculpted) and the Drone (which I don't think Ed was quite finished with previously, but the WIPs looked great).

I also had a much smaller pledge, so I am not reall y getting anywhere near as many models as most of you seem to be.

 BobtheInquisitor wrote:

I feel for you on that Queen level. Even ignoring the long wait, that many worms, grubs, hounds and fiends will take forever to clean, assemble and paint. Did you have a project in mind when you pledged?

Tyranids. Of course, since then I've bought two of these, amongst other things.

Why not get grubs or hounds with the remainder of the cash and use them for trade fodder?

Agreed on this. "Only supposed" to trade out half went along with "supposed" to fulfil 2 years ago. I'm not torches and pitchforks towards Ed, but I'm not feeling generous, either.


Automatically Appended Next Post:

 RiTides wrote:
Yeah, this was an early Kickstarter and it's pretty clear Ed overpromised, and has had to work hard to even deliver at the pace he has. This is also why I was willing to swap for less

If a Queen, etc is going to cost him more than $200 in terms of work, materials and postage he could always offer refunds instead of the silly "buy some other guy's pledge" system. Since that hasn't happened, I'm happy to hold him to the full "value" and I'll also ask him for (and expect to be granted) as many swaps as I need to not get any of the awful sculpts and have them replaced by the decent ones.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
...and since this is yet another ProxyHammer mini range without an actual game of its own, shouldn't it be moved to Dakka Discussions like RH and others have been?

I received my rewards for this kickstarter and wanted to write a little review to share my thoughts. I will take some pictures and post them tomorrow.

My review would be an overwhelmingly positive one except for one thing: the MOTHERFETHING GLUE PROBLEM. Trollcast repels cyanoacrylate (the manufacturer's suggested adhesive) the way Reaper Bones repels water. I washed all pieces with warm water, dish soap and a toothbrush for scrubbing, then thoroughly dried them. The material still feels soapy, which seems to be its natural state. I know RITides recommended Gorilla glue, but mine didn't work (although it is pretty old). Loctite Gel Control did a little better, but required me to sit and hold each join for approximately as long as it took me to clip, clean and glue GW's Araloth clampack. Loctite plus accelerant works pretty quickly, but makes it difficult to line up the joins as finely as I would like, as well as gumming up certain surfaces. I haven't run into the problem on the Trollforged minis that the Hudson Bugs had, where the CA glue would just form a press mold of the socket and fall right out when dry...at least not yet. Does anyone have any suggestions?

On to the good stuff.

The detail is crisp and clean. To my admittedly-poor eyes, it looks just like resin. I would put it up there in detail quality with any of the resins I own. (I don't own any boutique resins, if it matters.) The casts are as clean as or cleaner than Scibor's stuff, for the most part. They have about the same numbers of bubbles as I typically find on Scibor resins, depending on the piece, not a whole lot but definitely some.

The material is tough. It has some slight give, with some sections being very bendy and others more solid. It should survive gaming mishaps pretty well. It is easy to work with in that it cuts smoothly and scrapes cleanly. Although it is tougher to cut than finecast or most resins, it is certainly easier than restic. Mold lines scrape off just like HIPS, at least in the few parts of the mini that aren't covered with texture. If it were easier to glue, I would say it is as good for conversions as Finecast or Bones.

The designs are fun and very gribbly. I love all the alien faces, and the sky hunters turned out better than I thought they would. The grubs are about what I expected. The limited edition grubs are pretty huge. The hounds are much smaller than I had expected, about the size of a Reaper Bones wolf familiar, while the Stealth Adults are quite a bit taller than genestealers. The alien hunters are all one piece and look very simply detailed, with Starlord helmets and Darth Vader pants. I like them quite a bit. Unfortunately, instead of sending me one of each sculpt, they sent me three copies each of two sculpts. I still have not received any Alien Alien Hunters or Power Armored Alien Hunters. I am looking forward to them.



@Azazelx: That's a huge number of Tyranids you got there. Looking to get rid of any spare bits?

Awesome to hear! Too bad about the glue, I can imagine that'll be quite a challenge for many players.

By the way, could you post some pictures of your models once you start painting them? :-)

I use Army Painter super glue on Trollcast and haven't had any issues. I have been caught out by the mold release I didn't get enough off and the primer cracked and flaked off the miniature so you do need to really scrub them before spraying/painting.

Is there a soap that works better than dish soap?

I use warm water with diluted Dettol (disinfectant - it strips paint if used neat) and a nail scrubbing brushing it not sure what the American equivalent is though. It's worked so far.

I think the US recommended dish soap is Cascade. Comes in a green box and is a powder, specifically the powdered soap is what was recommended to me. My box says "Cascade Complete" on it.

Alright, I've had some time to reflect some more on what I like and dislike. With more effective cleaning and the use of accelerator, I think the gluing process will become much easier. The matrial is sturdy and holds detail really well. The minis look good.

The alien hunters are one piece already, so they are the easiest to clean up and glue right onto the bases. If they are priced about the same as Bones Nova Corp or Mantic's MA Tiger Corps, I'll buy more of them to have and convert and maybe paint. They are cleanly sculpted minis with a look that takes me back to 80's or early 90's TV sci fi. I totes want to convert one with rock star hair and a blast cannon as an homage to Critters. "They was dressed like they's from Los Angeleez!"

The grubs are pretty simple to assemble, although they have mold line issues with all their folds and ridges. Love their faces.

The Stealth Adult looks pretty sweet to me as a rubber suit monster. It has a very Grey 17 is Missing vibe, which I dig. The limbs could have been a little thicker, and the crack in its bottom was a trifle unnecessary, but very effective as a monster designed with a post-Alien horror lexicon.

The hounds are great. I wish there were a few that were running or leaping, but they have all kinds of predatory charm. Wish I had bought a couple more.

The Sky Hunter is impressively large and fits together surprisingly well. (The gap on the right wing on mine is due to the accelerator hardening the glue while I was still putting the wing on.). If there were some flying ones on flying bases, I would love to buy some of those. Might get another one to convert into some kind of shooty flying creature.

I probably won't get around to the limited edition Grub, the Fiend or the other big worm guy until next week sometime. I also got a couple of Alien Brains, and they look pretty creepy, even if the sculpting is not as sophisticated as on the later aliens.

The pictures are a problem.

Mo pictures mo problems.

After this, I give up.


Automatically Appended Next Post:

 Malika2 wrote:
Awesome to hear! Too bad about the glue, I can imagine that'll be quite a challenge for many players.

By the way, could you post some pictures of your models once you start painting them? :-)

Sure, but that might take longer than you think.

RiTides, thanks for the suggestion! I will try some Cascade ASAP.

I do like those stealth swarm models more than the standard adults. Didn't realize they were so tall, too!

Very cool! Thanks for the pictures Bob. My order consists almost entirely of swarm adults, grubs, and stealth swarm adults. I'm looking forward to those grubs.

Did you get any sort of tracking or shipment notification?

Yes. I got an email from Trollforged via Stamps.com.

Edit: I am going to try one more picture...


Automatically Appended Next Post:
Hopefully the detail will show up a bit more.

I just saw some of the figs at the local FLGS. Seems Ed is doing a painting class there and the entry fee gets you 5 of his models plus you get to sit down and paint with him. They had the models on display of the human soldiers as well as a Minotaur he either made or casts, they look really nice . Too bad I work nights or I'd sign up for it.

I saw this on Ed's facebook:

That's the drone, right? The leg looks a little thin, but I really love the body and am open to it.

Also, from the KS comments Ed now recommends a dilute solution of Pine-Sol for cleaning:

Cleaning: A release agent is applied to the mold to ease separation, and will need to be cleaned off the miniature before gluing and painting. Ed recommends a dilute solution of Pine-Sol

I will try cascade first, since I have it already. Also, Pine-Sol is a very harsh chemical that gives me breathing problems.

I had good results with the Cascade, so it should work well, just wanted to update with this option

Yaaay, fun with heavy chemicals!

Update #243 Apr 24 2015

Trollcast Queen Guard, and Swarm Master

Steve sent me photos of a couple of miniatures missing from the status page. These are final production Trollcast versions of the Queen Guard and Swarm Master.



Scale shot: Queen Guard, Swarm Master, and LE Host


Queen Guard


Swarm Master

Philip
On behalf of Ed

The swarm master looks pretty good, but the queen guard just looks like a clown to me.

Depending on the eventual retail pricing, I doubt I would buy either of them. The overlord, on the other hand...

Both/either could look okay with a complete arm replacement.

 Azazelx wrote:
Both/either could look okay with a complete arm replacement.

Yeah, Replacement arms would make them and the queen much more...attractive. And the overlord, the adult warriors, the drones, etc. The swarm needs to assimilate Charles Atlas.



Anyway, the cascade worked, although I had to was the LE grub and sky Hunter wings twice. Cyanoacrylate alone still doesn't grip as quickly or strongly on Trollcast as with resin or restic, but with accelerator, it works in about a second. I'll just stick to the glue and accelerator algorithm I have going on for the foreseeable future.

The big wyrm and fiend both have some big gaps,. Fortunately, Greensstuff should work beautifully on these minis. The thin tentacles feel very fragile compared to parts of the same thickness on the grubs and alien hunters, and I already lost one. I also broke my LE host by dropping him, so I guess some Trollcast minis are as fragile as resins. Oddly, the spindly stealth adult arms survived much worse.

Anyway, here are some photos. I'll need to use many posts because m iPad apparently assigns useless file names to my pictures.

The usual suspects.

Alien braaaaaaaaaiiiins.

More pics.

Family resemblance.



In conclusion, I love the look of these aliens. I plan to buy more when more of the stretch goal sculpts become available. Now I just need to get into the mood to assemble and paint them. (I plan to shamefully steal RITides' colors and techniques, although I might use red instead of purple for that classic Christmas grub look. Or maybe I'll use black.)

Does anyone have any good recommendations for inspiring media? I'm thinking Tremors, Riddick, Critters, and maybe The Thing. For books, Stephen King's The Mist, F. Paul Wilson's Nightworld, maybe Deathstalker since that series has at least two techno-organic hive aliens and a crapton of melee, the Tour of the Merrimack? Is the War Against the Chtorr any good?

 BobtheInquisitor wrote:
In conclusion, I love the look of these aliens. I plan to buy more when more of the stretch goal sculpts become available. Now I just need to get into the mood to assemble and paint them. (I plan to shamefully steal RITides' colors and techniques, although I might use red instead of purple for that classic Christmas grub look. Or maybe I'll use black.)

Does anyone have any good recommendations for inspiring media? I'm thinking Tremors, Riddick, Critters, and maybe The Thing. For books, Stephen King's The Mist, F. Paul Wilson's Nightworld, maybe Deathstalker since that series has at least two techno-organic hive aliens and a crapton of melee, the Tour of the Merrimack? Is the War Against the Chtorr any good?

Nice and thanks for the pics! I think black or red could look good

I think some of the art for Xenoshyft would be great inspiration! Not as sure about fiction, it sounds like you have a lot of good ideas for that, though

The art for that game is amazing. Is there any plan for them to release an art book?


The name still comes across like an attempt to fool a word filter.

Just found this on Facebook by the way:

Meh. I get the feeling that Ed's barely thinking about this campaign at all anymore. It's clearly no kind of priority.

I think an update just went out about it. I reached out to Ed to see where the Carnage Hound and Cannon Drone are at, since I think he really nailed those! He said the Carnage Hound is cut, but the Cannon Drone has taken forever for him to cut up due to all the spikes, and that he'd have some cast pics as soon as it was fully cut up.

I'm not a huge fan of the drone, but those other two were amazing greens and I hope he can get them cast up soon

It did. I was referring to the long, long time between updates and the incredibly slow progress. Remember this time last year when you were expecting it to be finished soon and I was "early next year, at least"?

Yeah. It feels like no kind of priority. I understand that he still needs to put food on the table - Run the website sales, production for Raging Heroes, etc - but it now feels like he's spending an hour or so on (most, maybe) Sunday nights sculpting and not much more.

I get the frustration, I'm in the same boat. The money is well gone on this project, another victim of "over promise, under fund". I guess I'm just glad he didnt end up folding. Hopefully after Raging Heroes finishes he will have some spare cash to work more on this. I'm also waiting on my 2 foot tall Mythos Foundry Cthulhu from him. Though to be fair, a lot of the delay in that one is on the creator.

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/mythosfoundry/cthulhu-mythos-foundry-style/description

The funds seemed to have been used to set his business up to take on other projects, rather than finish this one. So while it can be said that the money is already gone, it doesn't give an explanation as to where. The current amount of sculpts done for this project would not have cost over $46k. Ed, while saying he will fulfill the promise to get this kickstarter done, seems to have put this very far back on the list of things to do.

In doing this, he has actually cost himself more money than if he had of tried to get all the sculpts for this done as soon as possible. In the time its taken between the end of the project and now, prices for postage have jumped massively, and I expect costs for materials to have climbed as well. Not to mention that if the items had been sculpted and put into production, he could expect an income from them as a revenue stream to help keep his business expanding. As it is, the sculpts are now stagnating because of the lack of time devoted to getting them out, and being eclipsed by new offerings from other companies.

I don't expect this Kickstarter to be any where near finishing any time soon. Ed will kick the can down the road for a while to come, using his set up shop from this to bring in new work from things which pay money now, rather than finishing and finding he's got to find thousands of dollars to pay for materials, postage and labour costs. I'd like him to at least finish Swarm level so I can hopefully have someone buy my pledge and get me out of waiting for this KS to end.

Welp, someone bought my pledge, so I am out. Hope everything pans out for you dudes, and that you can get your stuff for this sometime soon!

@fenriswulf : Thanks, being honest, I didn't have as much on this as other projects. If times were hard I may have sold my pledge but currently I'll let it ride. Whilst my interest may have dropped, I think the models are looking good enough to see this through.

I do like the look of the Dreadnought, but waiting as long as I'd been waiting, I didn't want to wait any longer. The original purpose I backed this kickstarter for (that being making a not-Tyranid army for 40k), I am no longer interested in doing because I don't like GW's games anymore, so missing out on what is on offer is not so bad. I can put what I got as a refund on this to Zombicide: Black Plague instead, which suits me fine.

Yeap. And I certainly don't want to hear any complaining from him or his supporters about how the X, Y or Z level pledges are going to cost him more to fulfil and ship than the price of the pledge. If it's that bad, he could/should start issuing refunds rather than getting us to buy each other out, but that's clearly not on the agenda either.

So while I'm not especially angry with him, he gets no sympathy or empathy from me at all on anything, either.

There are finished sculpts that I would buy if they ever went on sale. Not the drone, but the behemoth, and maybe an overlord or something. I don't want to buy it piecemeal or buy out a larger pledge. I just want the project to finish so it can go up on the store.

Meanwhile, GW kills their brand and Reaper is making more and more affordable gribbly monsters.

I finally got mine... at extra expense and items pending.

http://www.mywargame.com/2015/11/27/troll-forged-miniatures-kickstarter/

Good review. I would like to know what you think when you assemble them. It's a shame there were fees and they were so high.

Thanks for the review. A shame that apparently Ed doesn't know how customs fees work and overvalued the contents including the value of the missing items.

Good review, thanks for sharing it! I wonder when this Kickstarter will finally be 'finished'.

I understand that this company is also responsible for the Raging Heroes resins, correct? If not, pardon the mistake!

But question for those who have received resin minis from this long on going KS: how greasy are these models / parts?

All mine have been fine, but then I've not had any issues with the Raging Heroes stuff either

(It very much looks like Ed is the caster for RH but I don't think we've ever had any official confirmation)

I only have Impact! chibi minis in Trollforged they definitely need to be scrubbed to get the mold release off I've never seen anything like it I spray undercoated one mini without cleaning it first and the undercoat flaked off in under an hour.

I hope Ed gets all the Dread parts into production soon so I can close out this KS it's by far my longest outstanding.

 BrookM wrote:
I understand that this company is also responsible for the Raging Heroes resins, correct? If not, pardon the mistake!

But question for those who have received resin minis from this long on going KS: how greasy are these models / parts?

The mold release did not wash off of my minis with normal dish soap, water and toothbrush scrubbing. I had to use Cascade (twice) or Pine Sol to get the release all the way off. Or almost all the way off. Two pieces fell off of my (stationary) fiend at random a week after I assembled it.

 RiTides wrote:
Yep, it's awesome! Ed said he's actually hoping to send out all/most by the end of the year. With Host surveys out, Swarm won't be far off.

Two years later, Swarm is off!

There could be a few more delays

(Ed has snapped his other Achilles tendon according to a post on facebook, so more surgery and recovery looms, fingers crossed it all goes well for him)

I'm still looking forward to my dreadnaughts whenever they arrive

Yeah, I just sold my painted aliens to a really nice fellow backer from England. I have quite a few unpainted if anyone's after some, PM and I'll list it out with pics / etc!

The dreadnought resin photos looked sweet (albeit so late it's crazy!). I'd love to see yours when you've finally got them, Orlando! I wonder if you might ping Ed and see if Dreadnought-only pledges might be ready to ship, seems like it's done?

Still waiting for the remaining stuff and the inevitable extra charge again.

I actually assembled the models this week. Was a bit disappointed that the resin doesn't become malleable when introduced to hot water. Being able to bend alien appendages would have been nice. Instead it snaps if you try to bend it at all.

There's a ton of grease on a lot of the models. Good bath required!

Darkly amusing that this one is about to be four years overdue. The sculpting shown in recent updates hardly justifies ....well, anything really. I think most of us could do the same quality with a bag of clay and some cocktail sticks.

It was total bs as well when the last pledge level went out they told people that they needed their selections in within two weeks. This from a project that's almost four fething years overdue. We're ready now, so drop what you're doing and get your stuff in right now.

It's a shame this one is petering out in a whimper. The basic grubs, monsters and troops were very good, although every year makes them more obsolete in the market. Soon there will be hard plastic or Bones alternatives for everything this Kickstarter funded.

I keep forgetting this project exists until I get my annual update email. Of all of the kickstarters I backed, only one (Low Life Miniatures) has been outstanding for longer. Man, I really regret going in for the all alien hunters pledge all those years ago. I think some of the sculpts like the alien alien hunters haven't even been started yet.

Low Life Miniatures is still outstanding!? Oh man, I loved their vibe...

For Trollforged, I do think if you swap for only completed sculpts you can get your stuff (and honestly could have years ago). A shame the final sculpts didn't match the earliest, but I do think the late additions of cannon drone and dreadnought were really sweet. Just committed to too much for too little - this was actually one of the first campaigns I backed, and I went in really heavily! Thankfully, got some cool bugs from it, but definitely some lessons learned, too.

Are the dreadnoughts ready to ship yet? They're all I am really bothered about getting now but seeing as I have a queen pledge I could be waiting till 2020 for the whole thing to show up...

the masters are done (printed and cleaned up) now but I don't know if they've made it to mould yet

(I've been sent the rest of my pledge and am waiting for some dreadnaughts too)

 RiTides wrote:
Low Life Miniatures is still outstanding!? Oh man, I loved their vibe...

For Trollforged, I do think if you swap for only completed sculpts you can get your stuff (and honestly could have years ago). A shame the final sculpts didn't match the earliest, but I do think the late additions of cannon drone and dreadnought were really sweet. Just committed to too much for too little - this was actually one of the first campaigns I backed, and I went in really heavily! Thankfully, got some cool bugs from it, but definitely some lessons learned, too.

Is there a compiled list anywhere with images of what's actually done and ready? (with "value"/costs listed?)

This is as close as you'll get

http://trollforged.com/kickstarter-1/pledge-contents.htm

I just want Ed to get casting the Dreads so I can close out of this project.

Thought I'd resurrect this thread again as there's a new update.

Update September 22, 2017

Hello everyone!
My name's Nick and I’m the new manager here at Troll Forged. First and foremost, We here at Troll Forged still intend on fulfilling the Kickstarter to the best of our abilities. That being said, the cost of shipping has changed a good bit since the Kickstarter originally funded. We are generating the money to ship things where we can, but it makes for slow going I’m afraid.

I have been working my way through the backlog of messages that we had received, and I believe that I’m caught up now. If you have sent a message in the past and have yet to hear anything back, please message us again, and I’ll get you sorted out as soon as possible.


WiP on the Hydra

As an update on the unfinished models, I have been prodding Ed with a sharp stick until he works on finishing the Hydra sculpt so we can start producing those. We have reached out to the sculptor for the Alien Alien Hunters and the Power Armor Alien Hunters as well. He has said that he will be able to finish those projects in October so we look forward to seeing those soon. Those are the only outstanding sculpts that people's order may be waiting on. So I will be moving to finish orders that don’t contain those pieces first while we wait.

My intention going forward is that I will attempt to make a weekly update to share any progress we’ve made including our list of backers that have been shipped to within the last week.

Here is our list of Backer rewards shipped out in the last week (by backer number). 127, 40, 125, 293, 248, 278

If you have any questions feel free to message us and I’ll be happy to answer. You can reach us either through the contact form Philip setup, or through the Troll Forged Facebook page.

-Nick

As a last note, some of you may have noticed that the Troll Forged webpage is currently down. We did this to reevaluate our stock and what models and molds we have available, as well as to update the back end on the store. We will be reopening the store soon and adding content as we go, so stay tuned.

It will be 5 years since funding on November 14th, I commend Ed for sticking with it and wanting to finish, others would and have given up long before now but it's taking soooo long. I'll keep waiting I guess, all I'm waiting on is 6 Dreads - which have already been sent to some backers. I lost interest in the aliens long ago and agreed write off a portion of my pledge money and just take the Dreads which I can find a use for, 6 is overkill as it is.

I hope they figure out a better mold release agent going forward. Cleaning off the old Trollforged minis was frustrating, and many of my minis have since collapsed spontaneously.

That said, I'd be up to buy more of the Alien Hunters or the Behemoth if they show up at near-Kickstarter prices.

Well that's my last from the KS arrived, a couple of the dreadnaughts,

I've been generally happy with the trollforged material except raging heroes 2nd KS first wave which were so greasy it gave you the shivers just touching and never seemed to clean up. These seem ok as did the second wave of the raging heroes KS

it may have taken ages but Ed did come through in the end (using his own money by now) which is something you'd wish more KS projects would do when the going gets tough

I keep forgetting that this is still going on and I haven't got anything yet. Of course some of the stuff I'm waiting on hasn't even been sculpted yet, so there's nothing to do but keep waiting and hope me and the other 3 people in the "Nothing But Hunters" tier don't get forgotten.

How did the dreadnoughts turn out in the end Orlando? They are are the only thing I am particularly interested in so I hope the casts came out nicely!

Nearly a year since the last post but threadromancy is called for.

Update 8/14/18
Hello backers,

Sorry for the long silence. I’m here today to tell you that Tom Anders of Impact miniatures has graciously offered to come onto the project in order to orchestrate the remaining fulfillment of the kickstarter. All further communications will be from Tom unless otherwise noted.

Tom has 39 successful kickstarters to his name so I’m sure that his professionalism and expertise will serve us all well in getting this project wrapped up.

I was actually talking to Tom about this last night but couldn’t say anything until it was announced. Tom’s agreed to take on the rest of the fulfillment for Ed including covering the postage costs to get it done and off Ed’s plate. Trollforged and Impact! Work closely together so this will give Ed a clean slate to concentrate on miniature casting.

Big thanks to Tom for doing this.

I should finally have this KS off my outstanding list shortly

Wow. That is very nice of Tom. It will be nice to see this one wrapped up.

I was planning to buy some things I missed out on when they hit retail, but now I'm not sure that will ever happen.

Note from Tom @ Impact!:

Today I receive a massive box with all the castings currently finished for the project as well as 2 binders of information on the project. Sorting through it all as quick as I can but wanted to let you know that progress commences.

Impact! Miniatures
... Troll Forged officially closed their doors permanently on Thursday ... it is a big part of why I took over the project. Ed needed to close the company but did not want to do so if it meant leaving you all without your rewards so since Ed is a good friend ... I agreed to take it over to get you all your rewards. But I don't have the ability to send you items that were never created while the company was still open.

Troll Forged Miniatures
24 August

Hello folks. it's with a heavy heart that I must announce that Troll Forged Miniatures is winding down operations. Our casting services will still be offered by Nick Hanger through his new company Metal Oak Casting Studios, but Troll Forged will soon cease operation as a independent entity.
Over time TF has moved away from being a place that creates its own models and became almost purely a support operation for other casting ventures. The organization required to manage this all has become a burden so I (Ed) have decided to step back from that aspect to go back to molding and sculpting as I've always wanted to do from the start.
Our previous obligations from the Alien Assimilation Host kickstarter are being managed by Tom Anders of Impact miniatures for organization and shipping and by Nick for casting so that the project will still be fulfilled. We are currently looking at options to have others host our sculpts so that they are still available to the public.
Thank you again for all your support over the years.

Well I can mark this one off the list, I received my order today. It was my longest outstanding KS at nearly 7 years. Big thanks to Tom Anders at Impact! Miniatures for sorting this out for me. I paid for the postage as I didn't want to see Tom out of pocket and international shipping has increased a lot in the last 7 years.

Wow, that's some turn-around!

I was impressed by how they all persevered on this one, rather than cutting the cord... but the backlog must have been crazy, I'd received mine years ago!

What will you do with it, DaveC (and what did you get)?

There’s still a good few outstanding but Tom’s determined to see everyone right. Trollforgeds casting business is long gone Tom has some of the outstanding stock and I believe has made arrangements for the rest. He’s paying for the shipping out of his own funds and it took some effort to get him to accept the postage from me.

In the end I wrote off a good bit of my pledge I got a few Dreads that I still have use for and few other bits and pieces. Tom offered to cover the full pledge but I’ve no further interest in the Aliens and I’d only be taking stuff for the sake of it and not because I have a use for it so I was happy to call it a day for what I got.

Tom is the same guy handling the Lost Miniatures KS, right? Any idea how many of the Assimilation Alien Host minis he has? I'd be interested in buying some more alien hunters and swarm adult warriors, and maybe a bigger beast depending on price, if there's a chance he can throw it into the Lost Minis rewards box when those are ready to ship. I mean, I'd also happily pay for shipping of the Trollforged minis by themselves, but not before we see some movement of Lost Minis.

Same Tom yes as for what he has I don't know what quantities he has. I know he'd made arrangements to use existing molds to cast up outstanding orders but I don't know to what extent. No harm sending him a message to ask worst he can say is no.