This thread has become the Menhir Games official News and Rumors communication space, which will be updated periodically.
Since the 28mm Champions line is done, we are going to focus on sculpting troops for the factions of Menhir Games fantasy setting.
The models poses/features are beign designed to be "mouldeable" in solid/steel moulds to produce them in plastic in the future. For this reason they wont have THAT many details as if they were going to be casted in metal or resin; however, the first releases will be in metal since, as we all know, it is a cheaper way to start producing the miniatures
Also, please have in mind that in MG (menhir games) we decided to choose the 1/72 SCALE for our main line of massive battle/troops miniatures line, while some models -popular/modular ones- will be made also in the famous 1/58 - 28mm scale.
The gigantic painted pics really aren't doing the miniatures any favours. I would recommend shrinking them down to something more approximately the size of the actual miniatures.
I have to agree with insaniak. You might also consider trying to find a pro-painter to really highlight the quality of the models. Not to be mean but those are caked in paint pretty badly and a lot of detail is lost.
Just wanted to remember that inviting people to like the menhir games facebook helps to reach "facebook little bonus", besides helping making the reach of my page higher, each little help works fine!
39 more likes are needed to unlock the first "bonus".
Hello! another render, this time its the Human champion from the faction "Ekal Ki" which is based in medieval India and it is the second stretch goal in the KS.
Hello people, and actual backers of the current campaign.
I decided, as investment, to print the first 3 miniatures stretch goals no matter if they are not actually unlocked , this way you will be able to choose more different miniatures plus the 7 models unlocked in the previous campaign.
However the "stretch goal tree" keeps the same for the rest of freebies and the 2 last models.
Hello! I bring renders and prints for future releases (that we aim to finance with kickstarter)
First of all, i have renders of characters for the Set 3 of the Champions from around the world, which will consist of 8 miniatures, ending the line of heroes with a total of 21 models, each one representing a different faction of the Menhir Games fantasy world "Magrieb":
Human champion (based in medieval russia "kiev")
Human champion (based in chinese Song dynasty aprox 14th century)
Anura champion for "Rusalki" faction, inspired by slav/russian mythology
Hello!, i have images of a coming kickstarter prototypes and renders to make a Dark ages outpost for 28mm scaled minaitures.
The idea is to make a plastic set of tower, gate and palisade. The tower consist of 7 parts ( 4 walls, 2 flors and 1 torch), while the gate consist of 10 parts, but once you glue most of them, you will have 4 parts to make a functional gate (the 2 doors, the wood lock and the frame)
First of all, the renders with some miniatures that will be made in metal for the campaign ( plastic as well, but for another ocassion):
Spoiler:
And then we have printed "low" quality prototypes:
A better look at the gate and tower:
If all goes as planed, we aim to launch the campaign in first days of september.
There will be plastic low-stone-wall streatch goal and metal miniatures (the ones from the renders and 2 more are coming) as addons.
THIS tower at least no, it is a small watchtower, and the inside space is 26mm .. but depending how the KS go, we can make a bigger version a proper wood tower..
Great looking outpost, can see a lot of use for it in all sorts of genres and games. Especially if someone wants to re-enact a certain game of thrones battle.
Also there will be freebies and addons in the shape of packs of palisade, towers, gates and miniatures that will be "stretch goaled" in the campaign. The 4 basic models already sculpted are 2 kings, an archer and a spearmen, there will be also, one swordman and one axeman.
2 more models are sculpted to join the dark age outpost, the axeman with leather jacket and the swordman with chainmail.
While the miniatures will be produced in metal for this campaign, you will notice that the models are designed in such "simple" way, because in the future the same models will be made in plastic, for an upcoming boardgame called "BattleAxe".
That is the reason the models are 1 part, and with simpler details, to be "mouldable" in the future.
I have good news, and that is the KStarter preview!
You will notice that all pledge levels receive nice freebies, and the higher the pledge is, the more freebies you receive. They are total real freebies, of the same pieces/models funded in the campaign, so no crazy , unreal and out of delivery time freebies spam
Since the towers come in pieces is it possible to combine 2 towers into 1 larger tower? Looking at the diagram on the KS page it looks possible if the connector tabs were cut off to do it.
WIth some "hobbyst" time and abilities you could do that yes, hwoever as i mentioned before, we are already planing a 25-30k stretch goal to make a bigger tower
Hi! here there is a WIP of the keep. it has no planks/trunks details of course, it is the basic structure and the joint system, i esigned it so there is NO need of glue.
The floors can be inserted and pulled off easily while the tower stays assembled thanks to the horizontal planks whose ends enclose tightly
I like the design of the new keep. That would be a great addition to the basic pallisade fort. I've already pledged for the "gold" level but I'd up if to add that to my pledge!
It's going well. No regrets at all to back at gold level, and seriously, thank you for keeping the shipping costs so low - thats usually the deal breaker for those of us down here.
You are from australia? i have sent many rewards to there in the 2 previous campaigns
The prices are low because we pay part of them, i think that is the best, that makes the main goal and stretch goals be higer (as we have less earning %), but gets more happy backers as well!
Alex, thanks for calculating how much wall space we get at the $60 Gold level (9 feet).
Would this be enough for one of the Conan boardgame maps?
@Menhir: How about when we hit the mid-funding doldrums you post a pic of an example outpost at the Gold level?
KickTraq says we'll hit 87K, making the Gold level pretty darn attractive and Silver not bad, either!
EDIT: "We have decided to let backers decide, after the campaign, whether or not they want the free miniatures or more free Outpost pieces. There will be more details in the surveys, but basically you can choose to exchange the free minis (or some of the minis) for free Outpost pieces at the same total value. Example: if we hit 24K, Gold Level Backers would get 19 free minis equally a value of $48. So you have $48 to use towards any Outpost pieces you want "
Even better it's more than enough for me to keep some for gaming and have plenty left over for my kids to play with. It's going to be a better version of my old Fort Apache playset and that helped get me hooked on gaming.
Hi guys!, the platforms are 25mm "deep", making them 30mm would mean a corridor/platform that is almost 1,80 metres in real world, what is a lot for such low palisade (3 metres in real world scale).
So we made it 25mm, can still can put 30-32mm bases, they will be a bit off, but it wont be THAT bad i think.
The bigger version of the tower is the KEEP.
You will be able to make the keep with 1 or 2 doors, so if you have 2 walls with a door, it can also work as a bigger fortified gate.. and in that case i guess that in the future we will have to make a taller palisade, like 3-4 inches tall.
porkuslime wrote: Are there going to be ladders inside that Keep to get from floor to floor?
Each keep will come with 3 ladders. I didn't see the ladder dimensions on the KS page so I'm not sure if they fit inside the keep between floors or not.
I can see this making a really good Motte & Bailey style castle. Typically you'd need... stables, smithy, barn/storehouse, lodge, kitchens. Not sure what else, but that'd cover it nicely.
Yes, they are a lot of building that in THIS KS wont fit, but we will think a modular system with a core set of walls and roof that, by adding some bits you can build the different edifications
They have just closed the main reward pledge levels with a delivery date of March next year and replaced them with new pledge levels that have a delivery date of May, sensible move I think so as to try and not fall into the old KS trap of successful kickstarters getting overwhelmed with the production and logistics of delivery.
They have just closed the main reward pledge levels with a delivery date of March next year and replaced them with new pledge levels that have a delivery date of May, sensible move I think so as to try and not fall into the old KS trap of successful kickstarters getting overwhelmed with the production and logistics of delivery.
I am in at Gold pledge level.
It's an interesting move given I'd assume that the plastic bits will all be done in one production run.
It's an interesting move given I'd assume that the plastic bits will all be done in one production run.
Production is only one side of the coin in delivering the products to backers. In a kickstarter where there are choices the biggest headache is picking the items and packaging them, so for this reason the move is a smart one, but of course if everything runs smoothly (ish) all it will mean is that later backers will receive their packages early, and I doubt if anyone would complain about that!
Update coming soon but i will post it here because i am quite anxious: With 22 walls section (18 curved + 4 straight) 4 towers, 2 gates and 2 keep i made a DUAL motte and bailey fort... with the rest of pieces you would build the small town palisade.. and with the lumber kit, the bridge/ramps
We will see , and later confirm if you can exchange straight walls for round walls + platforms.
We have to make it such way it is not super confusin you know?
My first idea is: you can exchange 8 straight walls for 4 round + platfrom.
OR 4 stratight + 4 platform for 4 round + platform
Each "item" would have a value of "1 part". however all would be exhange in 4s or 8s not custom changes like "i want 3 round walls with platformso i exchange 4 straight walls and 2 straight pltforms".
It might be best to just create a stretch goal and/or add on of however many round walls and platforms you want to set it at and leave it at that. I think backers would have an easier time adding stuff in the pledge manager rather than swapping and it would help everyone keep track of everything.
In at gold, but I would love for the platform packs to have a few more than 4 for $5. Relative to the higher funding levels, they just seemed overpriced at that level. At 8 for $5, I could be lured into buying a pack or two.
Also, just an idea. Put your walls in packs of a given number for the backers (I dunno, somewhere between 4-10) and that way standard orders are made up of x number of packs. Given an option to swap out two straight packs for two curved packs at gold level, 1 for 1 at silver, or something along those lines. That way when packaging, you're just swapping pre-grouped packs instead of a few here and a few there.
Next stretch goal is the 'Modular Hovel Kit' at $55k.
Also announced overnight (to us in Europe it was overnight anyway) is the addition of a 'Full Circle pack' consisting of 16 curved wall sections and 16 curved internal platform sections. The diameter of the circle will be about 27cm, and the price per pack is $30.
"Important to note is that the paints are of low quality 3D prints, not real quality parts, those 3D print are 100 microns, while the real quality will be 25microns, same used for my miniatures Smiley"
At 55K, the plastic hovels add-on will be available for $15, for two small or one larger hovel. Each gold level has 9' of plastic walls, twelve towers, five gates, three keeps, 38 bases, accessories, and $53 trade-in for the pewter pieces for plastic.
EDIT: Three $60 Gold pledges left! Four whole bucks! Enough to buy a Viking chess table!
Waiting for these stone walls to be added to the kickstarter:
They would be a great addition and could be used in a variety of ways to give diversity of appearance to the upcoming hovels, as well as a whole lot of other things.
I haven't backed (yet) but I think the creator said in comments that the stone wall is an old, unrelated project that will not be a part of this campaign.
Wooden pieces look like a good deal regardless, I gotta say. Trying to save my pennies for Warpath but these guys will probably get 64$ out of me by the end.
Can't decide still if I want the figures, since I don't have any remotely normal humans really, or just more scenery.
Unlocked hovels will probably bid adieu to the guys.
May have to add on some stuff in a pledge manager if they do one, as I was trying to factor in spending for Warpath and I'd already budgeted for just a gold pledge for this.
Ah well, the stone walls are not going to be made available.
Waiting for the 'Hovels' design to be released, though it will be simply a 'work in progress', but would have liked a series of buildings to go together. I do not think the project creator expected the KS to succeed as it has and therefore didn't plan for this much backing.
Waiiiiit a minute. That's crazy! $53 credit towards other pieces if you go in at $64! That's just too good to be true... But the opposite for my wallet!
Where is the official announcement about the possibility of trading in the pewter minis? That's highly tempting (I don't really need more Dark Ages soldiers, but more hovels would be ace).
Ian Sturrock wrote: Where is the official announcement about the possibility of trading in the pewter minis? That's highly tempting (I don't really need more Dark Ages soldiers, but more hovels would be ace).
Ian Sturrock wrote: Where is the official announcement about the possibility of trading in the pewter minis? That's highly tempting (I don't really need more Dark Ages soldiers, but more hovels would be ace).
Digital file?! Too much work. I'm buying plastic fencing instead of gluing together popsickle sticks, just take my moneys and turn it into stuff, and then send it right to my door!
Menhir Games, will the game be "Argentina Friendly"? Where will stuff ship from? With the import restrictions and taxes here, will it be a viable option for us, gamers in Argentina?
JMMelo wrote: Menhir Games, will the game be "Argentina Friendly"? Where will stuff ship from? With the import restrictions and taxes here, will it be a viable option for us, gamers in Argentina?
Son producidas en argentina.. salen de aca asi que no hay drama con eso.. sos de algun foro en argentina? que raro que no lo hayas visto
The value is good! i admit that when we were at 24K we had "alarm numbers" not loss, but yes very in the red line, but since we did not offered more significant freebies (only to the really high pledge levels backers) and we separated,/made the breach between SGs higher, we are pretty well!
However, i will quote a comment i made regarding the credtis, that makes people think "its to good to be real":
simplier is: that "credit" is not credit that comes from nowhere, they are the value of the miniatures freebies SGs, that we allowed to be exchanged by more plastic stuff.
so, if in the first place the miniatures FREEBIES were calculated, it means that by changing them by plastic stuff would be as if the freebies originally were plastic and no metal.. its the same "calculated money"; but in plastic, rather than metal.
and not to mention that plastic production is cheaper than metal cast, of course.
I backed this at the Gold level, which seems to be the sweet spot. I'm looking to swap the minis for a Hovel kit and the complete Round wall kit, which will give me decent table full of terrain, and enough walls to last my life.
I'm at Silver and thinking of going Gold. If you trade in the metal figures that's $18 extra credit on a pledge that costs $20 more, so you effectively pay only $2 (and $4 extra shipping if international) for all the extra plastic that Gold has above Silver. No-brainer.
I can make hovels myself easily enough, so most of my credit will go towards extra palisades and furniture.
As tempting as the round wall set is, I'm thinking I'm going almost all hovels with my trade ins.
That gives me a good 6 buidlings to toss on the table which is more than adequate for any village scenarios we may have come up in Song of Blades & Heroes.
I'm going to have to get a few more industry kits just to have all the extra tables and fences.
Since the walls are all free-standing you can make a circle with straights anyway (as long as you don't want to put the shooting platforms everywhere), the round walls are just slightly angled.
Hm... I might be able to go in on this after all. I'm not sure whether I'm better off getting 2x Gold or 1x Merchant (with trade-ins for more terrain) as it doesn't seem 100% clear on what each includes with all the SGs...
I pulled money from elsewhere (other, less inspiring campaigns) to go double gold on this. Now to hoping that it ships and arrives before June 2017, because we ain't going to have it in March.
Hoping for more of a SWM than a G&G experience here at least...
I was wondering what game system were the miniatures designed for? Most miniatures of Vikings I found were placed on round bases. With the number of freebie minis included, however, I'll most likely just field them as Middenheim Mercenaries for Mordheim.
Yeah, I'm sorted. Split a Gold set with my son, and we also picked up some hovels and bits and pieces. I like the minis, and they're a good price, but I need hovels more than I need Vikings right now.
Really looking forward to being able to rapidly populate a table with cheap, durable, great-looking terrain. This is a fantastic deal overall.
I'll be using it for Song of Blades and Heroes (there's enough terrain even in just my half of our purchase to easily fill a SoBH table), and some bits for Frostgrave, though it doesn't *quite* fit my preferred personal aesthetic for the majority of the FG table (will happily throw in the occasional palisade, keep, or hovel, but probably no more than 1-2 pieces from this set -- my mental picture of Frostgrave is mostly stone).
Also going to be using it for Song of Blades & Heroes/ Darklands.
Grabbed a bunch of industry kits along with hovels to set up a nice little village to fight in with all the assorted clutter to hide behind/ destroy/ eat.
Alright, well.. I missed the campaign ending and wasn't able to add more than $5 like I planned so yeah... your post comes across as a little rude to people who wanted to support you. Something to consider...
I think the lesson to take away here is to not take non-standard KS practices for granted.
Pledge managers and post-project funding are outside of the "normal" operation of Kickstarter. A creator is not required to do such things.
As mentioned, the creators of this project had even refuted the idea during the campaign period and confirmed there would be no pledge manager or post-project funding.
Respectfully, pay attention to what you are pledging for and make every effort to find out as much information about the product and processes you are agreeing to.
Got my gold, traded the minis for 3 hovels, a wall platform and a feat kit. I can get Wargames factory vikings for like 50 cents each - terrain not so much.
Alex C wrote: I think the lesson to take away here is to not take non-standard KS practices for granted.
Pledge managers and post-project funding are outside of the "normal" operation of Kickstarter. A creator is not required to do such things.
As mentioned, the creators of this project had even refuted the idea during the campaign period and confirmed there would be no pledge manager or post-project funding.
Respectfully, pay attention to what you are pledging for and make every effort to find out as much information about the product and processes you are agreeing to.
Respectfully I had my hands full with an injured dog the day it ended and didn't have time to up my pledge like I wanted. I didn't take anything for granted, life happened.
Yeah, one dog bit the other for getting into his food bowl. The problem is, the dog that did the biting is our German Shepherd and the dog that was bitten is our Chihuahua. It looked really really bad but it was loose skin and is healing very fast.
I was really let down about missing the deadline and was mostly just looking for the cool add-ons like the tables and merchant stuff and hovels but I guess I can live without :/
Alright! Gold Outpost + 3x Hovel Kits and 2x rounded walls+platforms packs (should be enough to make a half-circle if I'm reading correctly. This will be awesome
Menhir Games is releasing the official "Levy Men" Beta version 0.1 ------- Looking for betatesters
“Levy Men” (or “Caballeros & Campesinos “ in the spanish version) is a set of rules designed to abstractedly simulate combats that represent from skirmishes with dozens of miniatures to big battles with hundreds of miniatures per side. For 2 players, it was conceibed to be played in a fast and dinamic game mode that will allow the players learn and implement the simple rules rapidly.
The objective of the ruleset is to serve as a “starter game” for those not familiar with wargames and, for the experience players as a “filler game” or just a way to play as much fast and masive battles in one gaming day!
Gah. A brand new scale for a minis game? And 22mm? Why not just go with true 25mm (which is pretty common in historical minis games)? I am not convinced this is a step forward.
Its 1/72 scale , known as 20mm, but actually they are 22,5mm to eye level, which to top of head would be 24-25mm. I should have just put "20mm" or 1/72.. in the pictures not 22mm
While they are 1/72, the proportions are a exagerated a bit on purpose, it is the style of THIS product, i have other 1/72 true scale models to release in the future, but for fantasy range not historical.
Hi! i wanted to share with you my last sculpt, a human norse axe thrower.
I wanted to add a nordic character to my line of champions/characters from arround he world, and when it was time for this character to be done, i tried to do something "original" and, rather than making the typical super muscled "barbarian-like" norseman with a lot of heavy armor and heavy weapons, i decided to do a smaller man, agile, dinamic, fast, and rather than heavy weapon, light weapons to be DELIVERED just to the enemy faces.
He has 3 franziska axes, 1 scramasax knife, shield and padded + chaimail armor.
Loving the axes, and the Vikings TV show-inspired hair, and the pose. But the mail armour looks wrong. Looks like, if the guy were average mail height of 175cm or so, each link of mail would be at least 10cm diameter. That's like more than 10 times bigger than the real thing... Cap-a-pie make museum-quality repro mail armour -- here's their Viking style hauberk:
I know it's impossible to get the same level of detail in a 28mm figure (or 22mm, if that's what this is). But you can get something that looks the part -- look at this Hasslefree one:
The rings are as maximum 1mm diameter. The miniature is 28mm scale.
I have of course seen tons of coat of mails and its variatons and even made small sections of mail to understand how they work. Since all the miaitures in the 28mm line have the same sizeof rings i wont change it, but at the same, i like the final result:
This is the "arabic dwarf" character, he is about 22mm to eyes 24 top of HEAD:
Fair enough. I guess I may find myself forever in the camp of loving your buildings and looking forward to KS shipment, but not being a fan of your minis. (My son likes the Norse ones though, and has a few as part of his half of our KS pledge).
Well!! today we officially announce the upcoming launch of the Champions from arround the ancient world: SET 3 Kickstarter campaign!
Spoiler:
The campaign will be launched febraury 8 (monday), and this time we are adding some special for you to use with the minis!
As novelty-and since this is the last campaign for 28mm characters from Menhir Games- we communicated with 2 companies that created, each of them, rulesets that fit perfectly with the so particular miniatures: rules for skirmishes of about 4 to 12 miniatures (average) per side, having both rulesets a RPG “touch” making it possible to make very customized profiles to each Champion.
By pledging certain level, you as backers will get a "coupon" to use to get the PDF rules, the Printed rules or both of them at an important discount when visiting the editors page webstore.
“Bladestorm is ICE’s classic fantasy “skirmish-style” miniatures game. Each figure represents one person or creature. Simple and fast-pace, it’s a raw, hard-edged game with an emphasis on action and color. Bladestorm is designed to stand alone; you never need a referee. Use the Bladestorm rules to fight miniatures battles set in virtually any fantasy world.”
“Rack & Ruin is a campaign-based skirmish game designed for 25mm-35mm fantasy miniatures. Players design the 4-5 miniatures they want to use as characters and add more as monsters or apprentices that follow their heroes. This book contains all the rules for building your party of Human, Elf, Dwarf, Halfling, Orc, Goblin, Risen and Beastman characters. Choose your party’s goal from the 6 provided and then customize your characters with 18 different skills, over 130 traits, and over 70 items."
As you know in this campaign we recommended two rulesets to use with the miniatures.
One of them is Bladestorm, from MetalExpress, their ruleset is for combats between small parties composed by characters, soldiers and creatures, which suits perfect (as Rack & Ruin does) with the Champions from Around the world, where you can find peculiar characters, and mythologycal inspired creatures.
That is why together Bladestorm we developed pre-made combatant cards with stats and images of each of the already done Champions, and you can download them all (PDF printable version) here to use in your Bladestorm skirmishes!
New month, with good news: we are back to sulpt! Since the 28mm Champions line is done, we are going to focus on sculpting troops for the factions of Menhir Games fantasy setting.
The models poses/features are beign designed to be "mouldeable" in solid/steel moulds to produce them in plastic in the future. For this reason they wont have THAT many details as if they were going to be casted in metal or resin; however, the first releases will be in metal since, as we all know, it is a cheaper way to start producing the miniatures Emoticón smile
Also, please have in mind that in MG (menhir games) we decided to choose the 1/72 SCALE for our main line of massive battle/troops miniatures line, while some models -popular/modular ones- will be made also in the famous 1/58 - 28mm scale.
As for now, we practically have enoungh different units to make a basic warband:
X1 Light infantry pose (with exchangeable weapons) X1 Light archer X1 Medium infantry X1 Medium infantry with 2 handed weapon X1 Medium mounted unit (2 head options for the mount)
Except the archer, the rest have exchangeable heads and optional shield. One extra pose for the light infantry will be sculpted as well.
Hello! after some time, following the 3D sculpting of 1/72 models for fantasy gaming, we sent to 3d print the first facion - the Rösian humans (vikings)-, and yesterday we received the masters/samples, to assemble them and them off!
The starter packs of all factions will contain a mix of monopuse models (always with separated shield) and other poses with the option to select different heads or weapons.
So to make a "refresh", these are some of the renders :
Spoiler:
This is not a human viking but we , to see how would it come out, sent to print an elf hyena rider
After 3D printing, the moulder made the masters:
Spoiler:
And here they are assembled!
Spoiler:
ALSO, we wanted to share that we are working on the miniatures to be able to play skirmishes with warbands with individual miniautres, but also, they will be compatible with bases with slots to make 5men squads and make rank & file armies
For our upcoming crowdfunding campaign in October -that will help fund the production of the 28mm troops of 4 factions- we found that it would be interesting to sculpt and offer as addon (and freebies) a set of cult/religion 3D printable terrain, relative to each faction..
We started with the classical "viking" humans, but there will be a set of arabian (hassim dwarves), persian/assyrian ( akkyri elves) and mongolian (uyghurd orcs) terrains.
And of course, with each set of terrain: a Priest! to acompain the warriors and bless them (or buff) before going to battle and defend the homeland!
Well, the most recent official production update (from July!) claimed that they would definitely get everything shipped out this year.
However, Ramiro has suggested in comments that this is unlikely to happen, and that further delays are happening. He didn't give an updated timescale, though he did claim that none of this was his or Nick's fault...
I do get that when you're a business dealing with a third party, matters sometimes get beyond your control. But it's still your responsibility to choose that third party, and to get some guarantees out of them, especially for stuff like timescales and production quality.
My biggest worry is that it just won't happen -- that their money will run out before all the molds get made and the pieces cast and shipped.
However, I also have a big worry about the eventual quality of the work. I'm sure Menhir's sculpts are good, but this third party moldmaker seems so unreliable that I'm not convinced that their first molds will be detailed and high-quality. Which would either push fulfilment back even further, or get us our rewards but leave us all disappointed in the quality. This KS was a great price for high-end miniatures plastics, but pretty poor if the eventual product is more like a modular toy fort.
I rolled the dice with this one, and luckily only pledged $65. I'm basically ready to write it off, and anything I get is a pleasant bonus.
I half follow the updates and comments, and the creator's statements are increasingly consistent with other seriously troubled kickstarters: delays, blame shifting, stretches of silence, and somehow deciding that they should be annoyed with us for asking all these questions.
I'm confident we're going to get these, seems like the normal bumps and delays you'd expect from a small business that hasnt been involved with mold injected plastic stuff before.
Guys, you are right with your concerns. Honestly i have stoped commenting because each time i do i want to give information that Nicks doesnt wants me to give, like the "unlikelyness" (invented word?) of shipping this year. So i will limit to give Nick pics and text for the updates.. and last month the news were not sastifactory for nick so he didnt updated, will do it with next "round of pictures" from factory, this friday -monday.
Regarding money, dont worry that while yes, some cost increased, there wont be problem with the factory, because they , being VERY aware of the delays they are causing, agreed not to increase moulds, neither injection costs, they will absorb the losses in the hopes of making more campaigns, better planned.
this (a factory absorving loses) is something very unusual (and happens thanks to the face to face contact and relationship i built with factory owners), and is good for us all
Simple put: the problem was underestimated electroerosion times, its is simple as that.
For next campaigns, they will invest on another electroerosion machine, to work double fast.
However, a tiny BIG detail is that we are making 8 moulds.. not 2 or 3... EIGHT, guys, that is a lot, if they where miniatures, they would be 8 moulds with 20 miniatures each, and entire line! (supposing 2 moulds per factions ,4 full factions)
It's always better to give regular updates. Even if you have nothing to add.
A regular update of, "Nothings changed, shipping date still expected for X" or "Nothing much have changed, looks like shipping is unfortunately getting a bit later still, newest expectation is Y" is far better than silence.
The latter makes people fear you're bailing/giving up on the project and are just afraid to admit it (and sadly, with good reason, since there's far too many crowdfunding ventures that's followed that path)
Exactly, i know that , but Nick doesnt want to understand it: if the KS would have been mine, i wold have already updated 2 times to let you know the stage of things, but nick believes he just have to give good excellent news in each update, rather than "neutral" or bad (but there are not bad news in thiscase ! )
Yes , i know, i know, tell that to Nick haha! i tried my best to make him understand.
When the walls mould finish (this month) i will send to you, since you are some kind of "authority", test shots so you can analyze them and share your opinion.
TBH, I am not sure which is less helpful -- Nick not wanting to update because there is no good news, or you blaming the factory and/or Nick.
But yeah. People worry because this project is showing the same signs as projects which later fail to fulfill. If you want to stop that, you need two things:
1) Honesty. That means saying if there are setbacks. It means saying if there is no news. It means regular updates giving us a real insight into both the successes and failures of the project. KS backers back partly because they really enjoy that level of detail... and even if they didn't, after they have given you their money, they demand that level of detail because they want to know where "their" money is going.
2) Unity. Talk to Nick and release joint updates/statements (here and on KS), on behalf of the project as a whole. Otherwise you end up seeming fractious, which is another scary sign. Nobody wants to see this project fail to fulfill because of a perceived argument between you guys, least of all you, because the damage it will to do both your reputations is severe. Blaming each other for failure will only increase that damage, to both of you.
Ian Sturrock wrote: TBH, I am not sure which is less helpful -- Nick not wanting to update because there is no good news, or you blaming the factory and/or Nick.
But yeah. People worry because this project is showing the same signs as projects which later fail to fulfill. If you want to stop that, you need two things:
1) Honesty. That means saying if there are setbacks. It means saying if there is no news. It means regular updates giving us a real insight into both the successes and failures of the project. KS backers back partly because they really enjoy that level of detail... and even if they didn't, after they have given you their money, they demand that level of detail because they want to know where "their" money is going.
2) Unity. Talk to Nick and release joint updates/statements (here and on KS), on behalf of the project as a whole. Otherwise you end up seeming fractious, which is another scary sign. Nobody wants to see this project fail to fulfill because of a perceived argument between you guys, least of all you, because the damage it will to do both your reputations is severe. Blaming each other for failure will only increase that damage, to both of you.
While nick and me have had discussions, always end well, because we know we have to finish this, and no personal "missunderstanding" will prevent me or him to want to fullfll the campaign.
PS: i dont blame like "hey it was him!!" i just want to make clear that there is NO other problem than delays, and delays come from factory, it is a fact, not a blame
plus the new ones.
