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Suppose a fledgling terrain company was in an embryonic state of development and YOU were part of the design process. What things/issues would be the most important to you as a potential consumer? For me, I would say (in no particular order):

1) Customer service.
2) Quality of the product. Not ultra-brittle resin.
3) Product availablility ie, no Forgeworld-esque back orders

What would you look for? What would be important to you?



Ghidorah

1) Won't bother me if 2) is 100%.

3) is important, when the impulse hits me to re-do the table I want it now!

one that is ready to be painted ( with little washing )

basically:

no warping
no moldings ( i hate shaving off extra resin bits )
no gluing required

Realistic Pricing!!!!!!!

-Porkuslime

The issues I usually see are price/quality. It's hard to do enough stuff cheaply to get people interested, and do it in a quality manner.

1: Useability (i.e. hills that will allow models to stand on it), appropriate sized terrain.

2: Cost. If its is great and useable I'll buy it. I'll buy more if its good value.

3: Quality. It is terrain, a mould line isn't going to concern me but snapping the first time I use it will.

Cost and scale. Alot of stuff is thick and simple looking. Or too skiny (railroad stuff). I want terrain that will work with warhammer and 40k models. I dislike when a house looks like it was made for hobbits. And cost, if it costs the same as (and is not any cooler than) the Citadel terrain, what is to make me buy the new stuff?

What things/issues would be the most important to you as a potential consumer?

I would expect said fledgling terrain company to take a look at Forge World's modus operandi and then do the complete opposite.

That means:

1. A small miscast rate (rather than FW's 50:50 miscast rate).
2. Answering E-mails (as opposed to not answering E-mails).
3. Only offering faster shipping if you can actually provide faster shipping (as opposed to offering faster shipping, taking 3 months to make up your back orders, and then shipping it to me in 2 days and still making me pay for faster shipping because when you shipped it - 2 months after I ordered it - it did arrive quickly).

Once you've got those down - quality, communication and customer service - you're fine.

BYE

As I constantly travel, ease of transport. My friends and I have been kicking around a RT type enterprise making such pieces. We'd use the left over resin from my existing business.

LunaHound wrote:one that is ready to be painted ( with little washing )

basically:

no warping
no moldings ( i hate shaving off extra resin bits )
no gluing required

1) This requires extra care and time with mixing and mouldmaking. Will reflect in cost as extra time means less pieces made in that interval
2) Don't quite know what you want here. Moldings are how resin casts are done? If you mean minimising the gates and vents, this also requires extra time and care with manufacture - see (1.
3) Pretty much restricts to smaller pieces (up to about 8-15 cubic inches) - but they will be very heavy, and shipping will cost more.

It is possible to do all three of these and be cost-effective. Many other resin cast companies can do this. Of course, many other resin casting companies also don't outsource to third parties and have ninth-rate castings as a result.

Otherwise, what HBMC said.

1) Cost. First and Foremost. I understand that the point of premade terrain is to save time...but anyone without a large disposable income is going to balk at terrain that costs even a quarter as much as an army.

2) Modularity. I would love a set that may come with just a few pieces that could be put together in multiple ways.

3) Customer service. If I have a problem and send an email, I expect a reply within a day. Can't do that? Don't start the business.

Fill in the gaps.


No. Not on the models... in the product lines...

Look at FW and Armorcast (even Epicast to a degree) and see what they're making. Don't copy them too much.

One thing *I* would love to see someone do is a "Haunted tree" theme. You know? Big old gnarly trees (like the GW set), but with twisted faces sculpted into the bark of the trees at various places.

"Different" things like that.

Eric

1)Invest in a vaccum chamber to get rid of air bubbles
in the resin.Models should be near completely clear.
2)Acetone this will eradicate the shiny surface.
3)Filler.This will help cut down the shiny surface.
4)Sander.Nothing worse than excess resin.
5)Always have a stock.Waiting times for resin products
are unacceptable.Do you really want customers shouting
down the line!
6)Do we really need more ammo crates and oil drums?No!
Try looking at fantasy art books(Peter Anthony Jones,Rodney
Matthews)And look at the scenery they come up with.
I worked for two resin giftware manufacturers for a good
few years so if you have any casting questions I'll
try to answer them.Cheers!

I agree, cast up things that no one else is doing right now. Keep quality and cost reasonable, but if you're doing something different, they don't need to be better.

Custom objective markers for different races on a 25 or 40mm base?
Alien terrain pieces?
Alien building pieces?

Make terrain suitable for WFB that doesn't have an excess of skulls, and I know a lot of people who would be interested.

Terrain pieces should be part of a larger set. Far too often I see a small company with a hodge-podge of products, but no set lines that are even close to be being fully developed (I'm very unlikely to buy a one-off piece). There are exceptions to this. Quantum Gothic is one of the newer terrain lines that I'm very impressed with.

River Sections....and in fairly sensible sizes. A 4' river sounds good, but does it take into account the bends etc? Don't want to order it if I need a second pack for it to cross the table! Also, river bends are very, very rarely 90 degree turns...tend to be far more gentle.

I want the following:

Generic stuff. I don't need specifically GW terrain. Give me generic stuff I can use everywhere that looks good.

Nice futuristic buildings in a small scale. I really would like someone to make decent Battletech scale buildings. This however, is apparently too much to ask.

Reasonable pricing. If I have to wash, sand, paint, and flock it myself, it better be a lot cheaper than something I don't have to do any of that to.

Finally: Use rubber for terrain instead of resin. If it is flexible rubber I don't have to worry about it snapping. Other companies use this, and that is the terrain I buy.

I have to agree that more 'stowage' isn't needed, but I would argue that small stuff (like the aformentioned crates and barrels) can be a good 'order filler' if priced appropriately. It's the kind of thing someone might use to fill out an order if, say, they're already spending $90 they might add another $10 of widgets to make the order an even $100. I know I think of that sometimes, especially if the store cuts shipping costs at a certain price or jsut to maximize use of my gaming budget.