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 OrlandotheTechnicoloured wrote:
There're not going to be showing masters as the colour of the resin & support placement will give away what printer they've gone for and that's a trade secret (annoying for us watchers but probably understandable),

Honestly I sniggered a bit at that one. Trade secret? Calm down dear, as they say. More like the guy was looking for a more reasonable sounding justification for refusing to tell people than his initial "I had to do all the boring research, so you should have to do it to! Bloody kids these days etc" sentiment. He has the right to refuse of course, there's just no reason to that isn't a bit petty, it'd be like me going commercial with my sculpting and refusing to tell people what mixture of putty I spent years figuring out works in any given situation - I could do that, but why would I when there's no conceivable way it could harm my business.

Are they Ever going to give the board game ks another go? They have snakemen and lots of cool beast folk but they went with...bugs and skeletons wtf

Some miscasts and grab bags available again

http://mierce-miniatures.com/index.php?act=cat&cre=cmp-msc

http://mierce-miniatures.com/index.php?act=cat&cre=cmp-grb

A couple of new Tim-versions of existing stuff



Kanka'k'ohkh, Blightbringer http://mierce-miniatures.com/index.php?act=pro&pre=mrm_blg_bnl_cha_053_000

and



STHIF'HIH'LISS, GRIBBLOUS BLIGHTWORM http://mierce-miniatures.com/index.php?act=pro&pre=mrm_blg_bnb_mon_063_000

Oh Wow! Digging that Blightbringer. Would make a nice mounted Maggotkin sorcerer.

Seriously? Do they just bank on their keyboards to get names now?

I like both though but can't navigate the site and names to ever really purchase anything.

 SlaveToDorkness wrote:
Seriously? Do they just bank on their keyboards to get names now?

I like both though but can't navigate the site and names to ever really purchase anything.

The Darklands names tend to be based on real Darkage language so can be a bit impenetrable until you get your eye in

but these aresome of the god of rot's favourite medical conditions (or pure schoolboy humour's idea of them anyway Canker Cock and Syphilis)

Canker cock?

ArtIsGreat wrote:Are they Ever going to give the board game ks another go? They have snakemen and lots of cool beast folk but they went with...bugs and skeletons wtf

Well, it looks like there may be a darkholds (the board game) demo at Salute this year. Bish is making the table.



A Byzantii dungeon, to match his amazing Byzantii temple he did for a demo board last year.

Wish I could see them in person...

SlaveToDorkness wrote:Seriously? Do they just bang on their keyboards to get names now?

I like both though but can't navigate the site and names to ever really purchase anything.

This 'Blight' creatures are literally just supposed to be weird things spelled out over-phonetically. These two aren't for sale yet IIRC, they'll be on the front page next month.

 OrlandotheTechnicoloured wrote:
Some miscasts and grab bags available again

Always worth grabbing some of these. I've chosen 3 Albainn, one Erainn and one Fomoraic this time around. If I had a ton of disposable cash I would have probably bought all 12 Norse ones. I reckon you'd get an absolute trove of miniatures from that.

 OrlandotheTechnicoloured wrote:

 SlaveToDorkness wrote:
Seriously? Do they just bank on their keyboards to get names now?

I like both though but can't navigate the site and names to ever really purchase anything.

The Darklands names tend to be based on real Darkage language so can be a bit impenetrable until you get your eye in

but these aresome of the god of rot's favourite medical conditions (or pure schoolboy humour's idea of them anyway Canker Cock and Syphilis)

MOST of them are, yes, but some of the recent mods are jsut keyboard bashing:
sthif'hih'liss
kanka'k'ohkh,
n'nhaak'chshir
n'nhohbr'hoth
s'hcrhro'tum-b'hoss
bee'hhckd'hkkk

Come on, really?

And sticking some tentacles into the mouth of the worm is a lazy mod IMHO.
I do like that mouth though, I am using it to replace the mouth/head on the PP Hordes Blightbringer...

Honestly, I'd explain how blatantly obvious those names are if you speak them aloud, but Dakka's language filter won't let me...

The joke is that it's a rude (ish) term written in a superficially impenetrable way.

 Azreal13 wrote:
Honestly, I'd explain how blatantly obvious those names are if you speak them aloud, but Dakka's language filter won't let me...

The joke is that it's a rude (ish) term written in a superficially impenetrable way.

sigh* Yes, I "get" that...

it's all rather sad and pathetic, and does nothing to help their sales.

So do you "get" that they're blatantly obvious, or are they just keyboard bashing?

Pick a side dude.

As for being sad and pathetic, perhaps dial down the hyperbole? I mean, ok, they're silly and, ultimately, a little puerile and not all that funny, but I think you're taking it a little too personally if that's your reaction. I'm also pretty confident that anyone who was keen to buy wouldn't be put off by the name, or by needing to cut and paste the name, or by going to the specific section of the website and identifying the model visually.

There's fair criticism and taking things a little too seriously.

Let's dial things back a hair in here - disagreeing is fine, of course, but we ask that everyone do so politely and without insults.

Thanks all!

Regarding (my personal take) on the names, we've discussed this a lot previously and Mierce doesn't seem open to changing it. Certainly does make googling for specific creatures an adventure, though

 Azreal13 wrote:
So do you "get" that they're blatantly obvious, or are they just keyboard bashing?

Pick a side dude.

As for being sad and pathetic, perhaps dial down the hyperbole? I mean, ok, they're silly and, ultimately, a little puerile and not all that funny, but I think you're taking it a little too personally if that's your reaction. I'm also pretty confident that anyone who was keen to buy wouldn't be put off by the name, or by needing to cut and paste the name, or by going to the specific section of the website and identifying the model visually.

There's fair criticism and taking things a little too seriously.

OK I can see where you’re coming from, so let me explain where I’m coming from.
I was a huge Mierce fan, from when they were actually Maelstrom Games, and I was buying Banelords.
That company folded, leaving a few people out of pocket, then reappeared as Mierce, and launched their first highly successful Kickstarter.
I was on board from day 1, I have an entire display cabinet full of their magnificent minis.
But then they just kept creating more and more kickstarters, the time frame for delivery kept getting longer and longer, and they seemed to being having a hard time doing basic stuff like creating better image disaplys of their minis, putting together some assembly instructions, fixing their laggy website, etc.
And then I and others became a little worried about the financials, and that they were using kickstarters to keep the business running.

I have over $500 AUD tied up with them, and I don’t even get response to my emails anymore, and I am STILL waiting for orders placed and paid for over 2 years ago.

So, yeah, I’m a little jaded.

yxalitis wrote:
and I am STILL waiting for orders placed and paid for over 2 years ago.

So, yeah, I’m a little jaded.

Only two? I'm coming up on 4 years for some of mine which are for a project they don't even update anymore because apparently it's finished, and yes I have enough shipment items. Shocking.

 Taaloc wrote:

yxalitis wrote:
and I am STILL waiting for orders placed and paid for over 2 years ago.

So, yeah, I’m a little jaded.

Only two? I'm coming up on 4 years for some of mine which are for a project they don't even update anymore because apparently it's finished, and yes I have enough shipment items. Shocking.

Oh really, what are you waitng for?

One of mine still hasn't even been sculpted...Uuroch. Funded about 18 months ago.

He's still 3rd on the list for Yannick to do:
YANNICK FUSIER: He'll be doing Murcunn, the Oghureach Unit and Uuroch

I notuced they considred a model "done" when the 3d scukpt was completed, even though that was not able to be printed.
At least we should see Branbreca and Thuuluc soonish.

yxalitis wrote:

 Taaloc wrote:

yxalitis wrote:
and I am STILL waiting for orders placed and paid for over 2 years ago.

So, yeah, I’m a little jaded.

Only two? I'm coming up on 4 years for some of mine which are for a project they don't even update anymore because apparently it's finished, and yes I have enough shipment items. Shocking.

Oh really, what are you waitng for?

One of mine still hasn't even been sculpted...Uuroch. Funded about 18 months ago.

He's still 3rd on the list for Yannick to do:
YANNICK FUSIER: He'll be doing Murcunn, the Oghureach Unit and Uuroch

I notuced they considred a model "done" when the 3d scukpt was completed, even though that was not able to be printed.
At least we should see Branbreca and Thuuluc soonish.

It's a bunch of Ysians, Trolls and Kthones for New Kindreds, so more like three and a half years now I've had a look (it was the fact the order date was in 2014 that was throwing me off) and then I have an order that has just gone over 2 years from Feb 2016, but I know what's happening with that.

Taaloc wrote:It's a bunch of Ysians, Trolls and Kthones for New Kindreds, so more like three and a half years now I've had a look (it was the fact the order date was in 2014 that was throwing me off) and then I have an order that has just gone over 2 years from Feb 2016, but I know what's happening with that.

If you do have enough shipping items, I'd just ping Mierce and let them know you want them sent. I just received the last of my NK order this week, and I'm pretty sure everything is done for that project.

yxalitis wrote:At least we should see Branbreca and Thuuluc soonish.

Yeah, supposedly, we'll see first casts the Nucranca unit, and a few other things that they've gotten printed on Friday this week. I'm guessing ol' Thuulac, and Banbreca will take a bit, as they're both big, and there's 2 versions of one, and 3 of the other, but we'll see.

Friday update!

Ground Troll

It's time for another update for Darklands: Savage Hordes IV, and what an update it is...

Ready? We are!



Only one miniature to show this week, but it's an absolute belter, and for the Norse!



Predictably, Bob's work on the Norse goes from strength to strength, and Steinn the Bold is utterly, utterly brilliant. Or at least, the Grundtroll is - and we're very much expecting Steinn to complement this awesome monstrosity...











Here's the Grundtroll with a man on it... not Steinn: it's our old friend Garric, not yet turned into Steinn of course!



Now you can see how big the Grundtroll is! You'll note the Grundtroll's pose is rather more dynamic than the artwork - that's deliberate.

Now, we think this guy will be a Wave 22 shipment in resin and a Wave 23 shipment in metal (well, the foot version anyway) - really that's all down to the printing backlog, if we're honest! But he'll be with you soon enough...

Automatically Appended Next Post:
And, an important moment:

The cast from their first 3D Print Run!

Printed Garric

With the 3D printer up and running, we thought it would be a good idea to show you images of our first (moulded) prints!

Here we go:



We've three miniatures to show you this week - all variants of the original Garric! We thought we'd lump them all in the same project to save confusion. You must forgive the photographs, too - they're not studio photographs, just what Tim's taken on his phone.



The original Garric is the banner bearer, of course; the one we're showing is Helmed Garric, a project exclusive miniature. If you didn't order him you'll get the banner version with the flowing hair version of Garric.





The next version of Garric is Warrior Garric - sans banner, basically, and now left handed!





Here's Archer Garric, too! Although he's back to being right handed here. Garric, in case you didn't work it out for yourself, is ambidextrous...





So there you have it - the first casts of 3D prints from Mierce Miniatures. A great day!

That Grundtroll model is sweet!!! Good to see them acknowledge that printing backlog is the holdup, not casting. I'd love to see them update more on that as they get their printer working.

Edit: Ninja'ed by the second update! However, while I think it will work great for monster-sized models, I'm not sure about the level of quality we're seeing in those man-sized casts from their first prints above. Hmm...

By way of comparison, here's the 3D render:



Remember he's 32mm to the eye, is quite a simple design and was taken on a phone camera.

I think it looks pretty good, but I'm comparing it to a "world class" standard, like Zealot Miniatures' prints:



That's not a direct comparison (it's a larger model, showed the actual print, etc). But if I think about other "world class" digitally sculpted models, like Kingdom Death or even Games Workshop, the end result has a level of detail that is basically identical to the render.

I don't think these fit the same "world class" level of detail / transition from render to print. Still quite good, though, and I'm looking forward to their printing monsters (what I always back for, anyway ) .

Hoping that the material is translucent or the lighting is off, because the details on the print seem a little bit soft for a master.

The ground troll is looking great. I dig the new pose. It does seem to be missing the spikes on the back legs compared to the art,

Those aren't prints they're (production) casts from the prints if you read the very bottom of the update

(but the resin does look a bit translucent, wonder if it's another supplier change or just low on dye)

oh and from the comments

19-time creator about 3 hours ago

So there you have it - the first casts of our first prints.

That means Garric (4 versions), Galon Garreg, the Núcranca and most of the Ballista and crew are now printed; next up is Thuulac, then Banbreca. Tim's off next week and the rest of us haven't done anything with the printer yet, so it'll be April before you see anything else I expect.

It's not paid for itself yet, but a significant chunk of it has been - what we've printed already would have cost around £3,000+. We were quoted £600-odd for each Núcranc...

Production casts or no, when I saw the email I kinda felt they looked like (admittedly high quality) PVC casts rather than the usual sharpness I'd expect from Mierce resin or metal.

I mean, I wouldn't be disgusted if that's what I ended up with should I buy them, but if there's technical reasons, either photographic or manufacturing, why that image isn't indicative of typical finished quality, it was probably better to wait and share a better image/cast in a week or two.

I mean, can anyone see a customer sat on the fence about those models being convinced to drop £50 or so on a unit on the basis of that image? Because personally I can only see the reverse happening.

 Azreal13 wrote:
Production casts or no, when I saw the email I kinda felt they looked like (admittedly high quality) PVC casts rather than the usual sharpness I'd expect from Mierce resin or metal.

I mean, I wouldn't be disgusted if that's what I ended up with should I buy them, but if there's technical reasons, either photographic or manufacturing, why that image isn't indicative of typical finished quality, it was probably better to wait and share a better image/cast in a week or two.

I mean, can anyone see a customer sat on the fence about those models being convinced to drop £50 or so on a unit on the basis of that image? Because personally I can only see the reverse happening.

I thought so too. Part of that is just the design. Garrick is just a kind of boring model in comparison to other Mierce offerings. He's got a flat, 2D pose, so from his profile alone he looks like a one piece PVC cast. Not a lot of flair on him or wear and tear on the armor. Bob's other stuff is better IMO, but I think this is one of his earliest works we've seen realized in a physical state.

I'd be really surprised if it was the printer as even a cheap $800 resin printer should be able to easily print that Garrick model. I've seen way more detailed stuff come out of those.

It looks like the photography. Reminds me of the Conan kickstarter where most things were done in a similar color and everyone complained about how soft all the detail was until they got the pieces in hand.

I really hope that with their push to 3d modeling and printing things Mierce minis finally become somewhat less time-consuming to assemble. Every single resin model I've got from them I'd had to rework joints as they never fit as casted and I'm pretty tired of spending more time assembling a miniature then I do painting it.

 Monkeysloth wrote:
I'd be really surprised if it was the printer as even a cheap $800 resin printer should be able to easily print that Garrick model. I've seen way more detailed stuff come out of those.

It looks like the photography. Reminds me of the Conan kickstarter where most things were done in a similar color and everyone complained about how soft all the detail was until they got the pieces in hand.

I really hope that with their push to 3d modeling and printing things Mierce minis finally become somewhat less time-consuming to assemble. Every single resin model I've got from them I'd had to rework joints as they never fit as casted and I'm pretty tired of spending more time assembling a miniature then I do painting it.

I doubt it...why would a 3D printer help in that regard?

It's not the design, but the moulding that lets them down in that department.

Roberto Chaudon for example puts lovely coded little pins and sockets in his design to assist construction.

But when they get moulded, more often than not these are totally blasted away by the big fat injection pin.
Same with some of the 3D printed stuff already cast…

So even though the 3D printed master may have all these lovely connecting pins and sockets, it’s up to the casting to make sure these remain intact.
Sometimes they do, most often they don’t.

When I compare the casting from Mierce to other companies, especially the Rackham stuff from CMON, I have to wonder why they find it so hard to leave the pins and socket unmolestered.
The Rackham Hydra, Dragon, Flesh Golem, and Belial are all amazingly detailed, wonderful miniatures, that you can put together without glue they are so fantastically designed!