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In my opinion there is a good market for nicely done "boutique" figures in metal. They are relatively cheap to make if you have the sculpting skills to do a good master, though obviously there are other costs such as concept art to take into account.

Kickstarter is a good way to launch a new model and get the pre-orders for it, allowing you to judge demand before going into production.

Personally I don't like extensive Stretch goals, and I think they are not needed. If you want to offer a series of related figures like the girl commandos. You just launch five Kickstarters, and let people join to fund any or all of them as they like. This plan has the advantage that people who want only no.3 in the set do not have to buy nos.1 and 2 to get to the stretch of 3.

Would it be a safe bet that if you do a Kickstarter, it would be for that elusive Gothic KV-2? For a larger model like that, crowdfunding really might be the best way to go.

@Orlando: you rock, thx for the insight into what do you think about crowdfunding !

@Barzam: no, I don't think KV2 will be crowdfunded - atm I don't feel there's a need, we should be able to work issues out by ourselves. The masters got damaged and we're repairing those as reprinting would be tricky (as it is big project it takes long time to print and I can't find such huge spot in our printing schedule). I really wish to make this kit as good as possible - it would be a shame to waste such potential and effort that went into design because of issues in the mouldmaking and model preparation.

As for hints what we're planning I'd like to start with an army project first. We have first models made but as such project takes a lot of our resources we would have to break it down to much smaller chunks that would take forever if we decide to do it all by ourselves. I don't think we can afford putting the whole team working on this project alone without your help as the design alone would take 2 months.
Whole army seems so much more fun and so much more sense IMO than such smaller chunks.
It may be also the only way to make it sensibly priced - I've did some math and if we release it through distribution channel the price would have to be steep ( due to discounts on each level of distribution chain - warehouses, shops have to get their share too), IMO a tad beyond the point that sales volume would make sense. Indiegogo/Kickstarter seem a good way to reach the people directly with an option to make it available at regular price for non-backers.

A while back I've started "open project" initiative on Fridays - we can have some time for projects each of us want to work on personally, launch some training material etc . So far works great - here's what Konrad made during couple of last sessions:

Should turn out great after 3d printing.

When in comes to regular stuff , Kuba has almost finished preparing new turret variant:

Looking awesome as always.

Quick one for you Przemas,

I've bought about 36 of your hussar wings. I use them quite often in my conversions as they look awesome. I was just wondering if you'd ever consider doing these in metal. It's just that when you put them in a carry case they seem to always break. I've had them on ogres, orcs and human models and the pole at the bottom where they largely connect to the model stays attached and the banner snaps. With them being so small and brittle it's hard to pin them.

I'd also obviously buy more if they were metal

Ps, can't wait till the Gothic KV2.

Kind Regards,
Howie.

The KS won't be for the KV-2, eh? Well, now you've got my curiosity as to what kind of army you're planning.

I finally got around to the Necrohounds I bought a little while ago and I just have to say that they are truly incredible miniatures. Like the look of that new turret a lot.

@howie: the chances for metal hussar wings are high . Inititally I was worried that they will unbalance miniature too much. But it seems not to be a major issue.

@Barzam: soon I should be able to share more. First batch of models is ready, I'm working on the movies, description etc. Also we're trying to find a viable way to use Kickstarter as it seems to be preffered over Indiegogo.

@sockwithaticket: great to hear you like those . I remember how worried I've been when we had been preparing moulds for metal casts of those. But it turned out I shouldn't have been - they turned out great , metal captured all the details and it reasurred me that metal is good option for variety of projects.
Don't get me wrong - I still love resin, I only see uses and strenghts of both .

Winner, I'll keep my paypal account poised and prepped to order when they're in.

Can't wait to see what you guys do with a Kickstarter/ Iniegogo capaign. I'm sure it'll be one to watch!


Regards,
Howie.

And here's what Kuba has been doing during Friday's open sessions:


And here I summed up first sessions:
http://bit.ly/1f0V9UJ

The truck is awesome, I've been looking at buying such vehicles for my IG as stand ins for my taurus models.

Now that is awesome I would buy that and more, at last some Apoc style vehicles I am so happy

Damn it, better not show it to Wyrmalla and the other Fallout players.

The truck is awesome! I smell Rebel Grot Warbuggy!

Now that is a model I can support!

Hehehehe, got to admit that the reception of this pickup truck is somewhat unexpected - THX ! So cool to hear we're not only ones that enjoy "open project Fridays" creations .

Chris finished painting models for a soon to be released squad. I couldn't resists picking one up for a quick photo:


After getting feedback from you I'm checking the possiblity of launching Kickstarer. But damn, those country restrictions are so annoying. I agree that it is better platform, but opening an account for a non-US citizen seems like a major pain in the ass. Got to admit that's the time I'd prefer to spend on working on next models. If anyone has any ideas how we can use Kickstarter after all please do share.

You can use Kickstarter if you have a US or UK (I think) partner. They can open and run the project.

I like the Chevy

BTW ask Raging Heroes how to do a kickstarter as a non US/UK company. They are one of the very few who ever went through that complicated procedure. And it took them several months.

So yeah, it should take you guys a week tops, because we all know how RH does its thing.

Check out the Total Extinction project.
Someone on Dakka kindly assisted them with the necessary U.K details and it took off quite quickly all things considered.

I doubt you'd have much trouble finding similar help.

http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/0/542219.page

Yeah, there've been a few EU based companies running kickstarters via one means or another. The route taken by Total Extinction seems to have been fairly smooth, they were able to launch not long after finding a volunteer. Where as the RH approach took them quite some time to get things together.

Another project creator that could be worth asking is Maki Games though I don't know how much prep they put into the KS before it launched to get it running in USD.

I think the UK is a bit easier going towards companies and the like opening an account there as opposed to the US. Main reason RH apparently took so long was because they NEEDED a US account because the wanted their pledges in USD, lest they alienate a large portion of their intended victims pledgers.

What KS really needs to do is either allow for a mainland Europe option or allow projects to set their own currency, instead of being region locked.

DAM !!! Is that one of the gangers you previewed a while back I see there looks like my order will be coming very soon whats the ETA on this set

Oh blimey, there goes my following paycheck to support the Polish economy! Please release that truck soon

And regarding the Kickstarter; Aren't there crowdfunding platforms closer to home? A bit like what Gamezone do with the Spanish crowdfund? I think backers from outside the EU can alsoback that one, right? Or are people wary of backing something otside their continent? It's not like you are a new player on the market. Also you have a good reputation, to really deliver.

All the best, I will sure be backing any crowdfunder you start!

I'd suggest using a non-KS site would damage the ultimate possible outcome.

My take from reading other comments on here, and my own personal feeling, is people are incredibly conservative with regard to crowd-funding, and hugely lairy of using anything outside of KS or IGG (I didn't back Darkhammer on IGG, despite being a fan of their product and really liking what they were proposing to make)

For a project to be a success, it is important to acknowledge that even the smallest barrier can cost you backers and funds, and to do everything possible to eliminate them.

 Przemas wrote:

Got these in today. Nice sculpts, not too much flash. They're basically Malifaux scale for anyone who's looking at buying them as they make my Mordians look like dwarves and are actually a little taller than a marine. They're about the same height as Infinity minis but a good bit chunkier. Shame Malifaux doesn't use guns.

Hmm, what about using Indiegogo instead?

 Malika2 wrote:
Hmm, what about using Indiegogo instead?

Whilst it might be easier to launch on IGG, there's a number of comments earlier in this thread and on most similar threads that detail issues that people have with that particular platform. Though the main one is the lower exposure that anything other than KS has. If they can work around the current KS restrictions, which seems to be easier if you're running a 'UK Based' project, it'll likely do better than going for IGG/Other platform.

Oh and in Western Europe the idea of a UK/US project sounds 'safer' than something from Poland, but that's just the local xenophobia we're dealing with at the moment. :(

So annoying that Kickstarter still isn't available in the rest of the EU, they'd better hurry up with that or else they will eventually fail...

 Malika2 wrote:
So annoying that Kickstarter still isn't available in the rest of the EU, they'd better hurry up with that or else they will eventually fail...

Can I ask how you got to that conclusion?

From the looks of it Kickstarter has an excess of success while in limited countries, having only relatively recently opened up access in UK and I believe here in Australia.
With the amount of exposure and brand recognition it seems surprising anyone would refer to it as anything other than a success.

Sure it would be cool to give every country its own ability to use the kickstarter branded platform but the lack of that is far from "eventual failure."