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As posted on TMP

Tim DuPertuis of Armorcast writes:

For more information

A shame; I was really looking forward to Mega Minis picking up the molds. I hope they work this out soon...  

I was hoping ANYONE would have picked this up.

I never did purchase the refinery set I wanted.

Fiend Foundry did manage to pick up Armorcast's line of medieval buildings, which are pretty freaking sweet.

I always thought it pretty sucktastic that they stopped production on their awesome Terraform line of terrain. Armorcast's resin was always high quality, well cast with minimal flaws and reasonably priced to boot. Anyone know the underlying reasons behind all this? Any dirt to be scooped or is Tim simply wanting out of the business? Anybody remember his hobby mag, Inquisitor? Those were good days...

I wish them the very best, I remember the awe I felt the first time I saw a GOSHDARN TITAN on the cover of Tim's Inquisitor magazine. Back in NY we had a lot of their terrain.

i wish the still made stompas..

The wargame industry is dying.  Companies like Armorcast used to thrive. This does not bode well for GW. 

You saw the same thing happen with board wargames as first the cottage companies like "Judges Guild" fell like leaves off the tree, followed by branch companies like GDW and XTR, and then finally the core companies like Avalon Hill and SPI. 

The miniature hobby is going through something very similar.  Granted, what you have is change rather than death.  So maybe "dying" is not the best way to put it...Avalon Hill lives on at WotC/Hasbro as a mutation of it's former glory.  Companies like Steve Jackson's continue to crank on.  This is a strange market-forece-driven hobby. 

 

 

 

Awww man, I was looking forward to this. Megaminis is putting out some good stuff, and this would have only added to it. What different direction are they moving in? Away from making money?

Posted By tesseract on 02/15/2007 7:39 AM

The wargame industry is dying.  Companies like Armorcast used to thrive. This does not bode well for GW.  (snippity snippers)  This is a strange market-forece-driven hobby.

It isn't so much a dying industry, but an industry with a very quick and nast knee jerk reaction

Posted By hotflungwok on 02/15/2007 8:56 AM
Awww man, I was looking forward to this. Megaminis is putting out some good stuff, and this would have only added to it. What different direction are they moving in? Away from making money?

One can only speculate.  Perhaps they just want to focus on casting metal miniatures, rather than resin (which, as I understand it, is a bit trickier)? 

It seems like a lot of lines are being passed around, sold, or dropped these days, though

Eh, it's always been going on. Take a look through solegends and bluemule. Lines have been getting swapped around for decades. Nothing to worry about. Someone will buy those molds if there's any demand for them, never fear.

Oh! I've been looking for a 40k or INQ scale truck for a bit now:

http://www.armorcast.com/battletech/frame/2410frame.html

Where can I buy this? $32 is cheaper than how much it was gonna cost to convert my own rig from a land raider and chimera(s) ...

The 28mm battletech is nice too, would be fun to play with scaled up BTech rules. Just amazingly expensive!

- Boss Salvage

Posted By Pariah Press on 02/15/2007 1:05 PM
Eh, it's always been going on. Take a look through solegends and bluemule. Lines have been getting swapped around for decades. Nothing to worry about. Someone will buy those molds if there's any demand for them, never fear.

I don't fear for the molds.  Molds get swapped around like spit at a freshman mixer.

Even if all you know and play is GW branded, it's never a good sign to see quality "players"  in your market like Armorcast go away.  Two Head Talking is right too, but nobody can look at this constantly shifting market place and not see that many things are changing.  There's not much you can do about it except go along for the ride... wait for the inevitable press releases on TMP... or get off the horse. 

What happened to Avalon Hill and TSR (Some would say for the better for TSR), is happening in this niche-hobby space and to GW as well.

If you want what's left of the Armorcast stock try eBay.  HaHaHa!  Now there's an original thought.  

 

 

"The wargame industry is dying. Companies like Armorcast used to thrive. This does not bode well for GW."

Its not dying, its collapsing around a kernel of established high volume companies. They will do alright so long as they are well managed. GW shoots themselves in the foot, the company as of itself has what it needs to thrive.

Posted By Orlanth on 02/16/2007 7:30 AM
"The wargame industry is dying. Companies like Armorcast used to thrive. This does not bode well for GW."

Its not dying, its collapsing around a kernel of established high volume companies.

  Maybe in the very short-term.  From what I've read, those companies aren't likely to do very well, either.  I read an article recently (I think it was called "Is the gaming industry screwed?" that suggested that we're going to see a new model, where hobbyists release unprofitable products with small outlay (due to Print On Demand and similar technology) out of sheer love of the game.  I bet GW will survive, but they will probably have to scale way back soon.  Though maybe their various licensing deals will make a difference. 

Yeah, the industry is far from healthy. Look at the stats on retailers closing. Or Con closings. Or market growth. Take your pick. While there are healthy lines, the industry as a whole should look as attractive to investment as a pile of stinking manure. It's an expensive niche hobby that requires tons of prep & has a hell of a time competing with alternatives like video games. Just because there are echo chambers where pllayers gather shouldn't decieve you about how limited miniature wargaming is.

But that is fine. Wargaming has often been a small time deal. GW was the first big dog to really push a stable (and exclusionary) product. That has paid off for the company. For the industry? Maybe not so much. Who knows?

And, unfortunately, good sculpts are no guarantee someonw will pick them up and continue production. Heartbreaker had some awesome stuff that I still miss....

I think the hobby is stratifying again.

If we count collectables and prepainted minis the hobby probably had better sales and more players than ever.

If we count number of line and manufactuers again, things are healthy, a lot of garage and niche companies have appeared.

It's the guys in the middle, smaller than GW or WoC or Wizkids but bigger than a one man shop who are in trouble.

Loss of retailers is troubling for the future but may not show an unhealthy market since more and more shopping is done on line. Unfortunately it makes it harder and harder to bring in new players.

I think the industry is far from dead!! Companies come and go, you see the same thing happening in other "collectibles" industries...take 1:6th scale modelling for example. The computer games industry is only a platform, but you can never replace the tactile sense! People play computer games but what they see on the screen they want to bring into their living rooms in real 3D format, bring on the miniatures and other model formats!!

As far as bricks and motar retailers is concerned, forget wargames, retailers as a whole ( from Swords, to guns and from Radio controlled to miniatures ) are feeling the pressure of online shopping. The overheads for running a store are so much higher than running an internet "shop" that the bricks and motar shops just can't compete! So when you see "henrys" local games emporium going into meltdown, its not that the industry is dying its just that peoples shopping habits have changed.

Armorcast Terrain has new owners. On April 30th, 2007 Matt Beman of Beaumont Miniatures Workshop and Ginfritter of Ginfritter's Gnomish Workhop joined forces to revive the classic Armorcast Terraform lines of resin battlefield scenery.

Beginning in mid May of 2007 we will start re-releasing Armorcast resin terrain under the ARMORCAST TERRAIN label to wholesalers and retailers world wide.

Watch for upcoming products and release dates at armorcast.com/News.html

The original Armorcast company under Tim DuPertuis will continue to operate as ARMORCAST MODELS at http://www.armorcast.com/battletech/index.html and will specialize in 1/60th scale BattleTech 'Mechs and vehicles under its continuing BattleTech license from WizKids Inc.

Armorcast was founded in 1995 and has been a pioneer in quality large scale gaming models and highly detailed gaming scenery for 12 years.

Contacts:

ARMORCAST TERRAIN

Matt Beman - Sales & Marketing

Matt@armorcast.com


Ginfritter - Webmaster & Production

ginfritter@armorcast.com


ARMORCAST MODELS - CLASSIC BATTLETECH MODELS

Tim DuPertuis

timdp@armorcast.com

That's cool! I've seen Ginfritter's stuff- very nice. This means that my dream of one day owning a 1/60th scale Mad Cat is not dead!

Woo-hoo! FANTASTIC! I'm glad to see this has worked out well for all parties, businessmen and consumers alike! Yay! Ginfritters does some excellent casting (HamHammer 3000!) and while I only have a few peices, I always did like Armorcast's terrain (and now I'll be able to get more! Whee!). Dang, I've been a fan since the old hoary days when Armorcast had an official GW license and put out "Inquisitor". Fine, fine days those were.

This is good news.

Posted By nyarlathotep667 on 05/05/2007 8:37 AM
Dang, I've been a fan since the old hoary days when Armorcast had an official GW license and put out "Inquisitor". Fine, fine days those were.

?????

Great news!

Posted By Hellfury on 05/05/2007 11:22 AM

Posted By nyarlathotep667 on 05/05/2007 8:37 AM
Dang, I've been a fan since the old hoary days when Armorcast had an official GW license and put out "Inquisitor". Fine, fine days those were.

?????

Many strange eons ago, before Fanatic Mag, before Citadel Journal, and before Teh Internets (as we know them), there was Tim DuPertuis' small hobby mag devoted to all things 40k: "Inquisitor". Included stuff like vehicle design rules for 2nd ed, army lists, and even "official" Q&A's answered by Jervis and Andy. This was also around the same time you could buy the Mike Biasi titans and such. Then GW gave them the shaft.

This is excellent news.

Fellblade - I bought myself a MadCat about a month ago, in anticipation of them possibly going OOP. Believe me... worth every cent I paid for it. - it's a brilliant model ! (Got my eyes on a Vulture next...)

I also had a few conversations with Tim D. over email during the sale - very nice bloke, and very helpful.

As for Nyarly's point about GW shafting them way back when...that was one of the worst things could have happened, IMHO. I've got almost all of the Armorcast WH40K titans (including the 'Nid bio-titans), and they're a pleasure to work on. Not the same detail level as FW, but more robust, easier to clean up, and NOWHERE near the $$$...    

congradulations and best of luck with your new business!