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 Shieldwolf Miniatures wrote:
Hope you like what @Zywus posted (thanks for lending a hand here!) :-D

It's the least I can do
You have a lot of fora to update in and all those backers nagging you about baby bears must eat up a fair bit of time

 Shieldwolf Miniatures wrote:

 RiTides wrote:
75K hit! Shieldwolf is making the update now, looking forward to seeing the Thing of the Caves

Here's the lady... the version that has still kept some of its sanity I mean. :-)

That explains why poor Arhak Soulbinder isn't in the new edition of KoW


He should have read up a bit on the aftermath of spider mating procedures before going on that date...

 Goregut wrote:
10/10 would date.

Arhak or the Spider Lady?

 RiTides wrote:
That's a really nice total, and since it's for only one kit with a lot of options (so almost two kits really) I'm not worried about them being too cash-strapped to see it through to completion and send out all these sprues.

Yep. I'm optimistic about this being fulfilled without big delays.
Their first KS even shipped out within the presented timeframe!

Beware of "The sunk cost fallacy" here though:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sunk_costs#Loss_aversion_and_the_sunk_cost_fallacy

I realize it might feel like failure to stop pushing and working with a game system that you've put a lot of work and I'm sure love into.

However. I recommend that you think hard about whether putting more resources into the game system going forward is the best use of your limited time and resources.

Do there actually exist a fanbase for the game at the moment? Are even a fraction of your KS backers even remotely interested in yet another fantasy rank n' file game system? I assume most are interested in your miniatures and not much else.

I do think the collaboration with 9th age is a good move to give you more exposure, but any backers you get from that will be after models for use in that system.

The problem with launching any new game is that not only do you need to have a better game than the competition. You need to be significantly better in order to have people even consider trying out a game other then the one they regularly play, have already learnt the rules for etc.


The money is in models rather than rules anyway.

Araves infantry? I'm intrigued.

I'm not as much a hard-plastic fetishist as many seem to be, so would have liked them in resin as well. All else equal though, plastic is always the best material, if the sculpting takes the limitation of the medium into consideration.

I'm not totally appaled by the boobplate but the simple chainmail-clad bodies shown in the pic RiTides linked to in the beginning of his post really do look so, so much better.

There's no point feeling shackled to the designs of exsiting heroes, since IMO it's no problem (and may even be a positive) if heroes differ a bit in their outfits. Helps them to stand out.

If anything, I believe people will be more perplexed if the models turn out looking like this:


rather than this:


The latter is much more in line with my expectations.

Goblins aren't exactly uncharted territory to say the least, but forest themed ones should be a good niche to fill. And of course, hard plastic is a always a selling point.

I know people waited for GW to make plastic versions of the old metal forest goblins for decades (i know they eventually did spider riders and a the aracnaroc but never any basic infantry), so you should have a market ready.

That cropped photo looks like it could be squiggoth material.
Pretty neat if that's the case. You could get quite a lot of cross over sales to 40K players.

 Shieldwolf Miniatures wrote:

 Wehrkind wrote:
A couple of questions, which are a little silly perhaps because I think I know the answers.
1: What scale are they? Are they going to be more like the pretty bulky GW gobbos, or a little smaller and skinnier?

They stand on 20mm square bases and will be slightly bulkier than the more recent Citadel Miniatures goblins. These are warrior goblins!

Could you make a size comparison picture? Preferably alongside different generations of GW goblins (which has been drastically different in mass and size during the years).

If you only have the goblins in digital render form at the moment, perhaps a comparison picture with a goblin and one of your plastic mountain orcs (I believe those are sculpted digitally as well right?)

 Shieldwolf Miniatures wrote:
If you color the feathers in some lively colors (e.g. orange, pink etc) compared to the green skin and combined with the leather clothing, I trust it should be a very distinguishable force on the table :-)

And don't forget the opportunity to add tribal tattoos and/or warpaint during the painting stage

 Shieldwolf Miniatures wrote:
@Zywus
Negative, the Orcs (both Valley and Mountain) have been suclpted traditionally.
I'll see if we can get a comparison pic with a Shieldmaiden next to it if that helps any :-)

Ah I see.
Comparison with a shield-maiden would be nice. Although since we haven't seen the maidens in physical form yet, it still don't really give us a perfect feel for the size of the goblins (although a fairly good one).

Perhaps you could 3D print out a example of a goblin just for size comparison to show next to some various GW goblins through the ages (and other manufacturers of goblins for that matter, like Mantic or Red-box games)? (Put in a clear annotation in the picture that the model is just to show it's size and not sculpting quality or manufacturing technique)

I feel that the importance of proper size-comparisons cannot be underestimated in these kind of campaigns.

People are much more prone to back if they are sure of how the models will fit in with their existing collection. There is always loads of requests for these kind of pictures but companies tend to be surprisingly averse to providing them, So if you can get one of these comparison pics ready before the campaign start, I think you'll have a good edge there already.

So... about those comparison pics?

If you don't have any when the campaign starts, you'll get approximately five thousand requests for such then anyway, so you might as well get ahead of that.

 Shieldwolf Miniatures wrote:

 Zywus wrote:
So... about those comparison pics?

If you don't have any when the campaign starts, you'll get approximately five thousand requests for such then anyway, so you might as well get ahead of that.

That's true. Scale is 28mm heroic, goblins infantry comes on 20mm square bases but some people will probably not suffice to that. We will therefore have some type of comparison picture when time comes to make this even clearer, if we get it sooner we'll post it here also, but for the time being a couple of people needed for that are on summer vacation. Why heck it's a Sunday here in Greece too, guess they know better! :-p

Yea, "28mm heroic" has been interpreted in so many different ways by various manufacturers it tells us almost nothing by tself.

Good to see you'll get some pics in order before the campaign. That'll save you a lot of headache.

That's a pretty good comparison pic. Pictures of real models is of course preferable, but it's hardly anything that we can demand when the goblins aren't in production yet.

The mammoth casts look awesome BTW. So crisp and detailed.
I kinda regret not getting one. I forsee that one being a top seller for you in the future.

It would be a bad move to have the campaign end before the end of the months considering most people receive their paycheck then.

I did't realize at first they come with ball and socket arms.
Pretty neat design to have those bands/straps around the shoulders to obscure the join where the ball of the arm goes into the socket of the torso. Although can't really see what their function is in-universe?

They're a bit too chunky for my taste but they do hold up well to any of the other plastic gobbo offerings on the market so I really hope you're successfull.

I'm not really in the market for plastic goblins unfortunately, but I could use some of the orcish heroes.
Would it be possible to pledge for one of the offered heroes that are already finished and have that one delivered together with my previous pledge from the Shieldmaidens KS when that one is good to go?

I understand if it would be problematic for you to 'mix' together different KS's though.

Lots of stuff happening now.
Advertisment on BeastsofWar (I see a arm holding a bow there up on the right)

And the Aracnomaidens/Aracnowraths inserted to the campaign. Should broaden the target audience a bit. They're a perfect fit for Fiends in a KoW Nightstalker army.

The funding looked a bit shaky as first I thought but with almost $16k now I feel confident that it'll at least fund at the starting level.

 RiTides wrote:
Have you guys seen the Arachnomaidens update?

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1273312680/war-is-coming-forest-goblins/posts/1684737

That was a huge draw at the end of the Shieldmaidens campaign, hopefully people see it here

On that note, instructions on how to pledge for it for Shieldmaiden-only backers would be really useful, too, since they might only want these and not the goblins.

They look pretty horrifying (in a good way) indeed

Pics:

 Shieldwolf Miniatures wrote:
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Each box will contain a total of 5 sprues. Each sprue will include 5 spears,4 shields,3 bows, along with some left/right bare arms.
Each box still allows a full 25 kitted speared forest goblins, it's that we get a little less variety and no left-over spears that way on the sprues.

We are also opening add-ons from our existing miniature range (working on them as we speak). It's our last card to play, after which with the last hour surge it should at the very least fund, I mean it's less than 4K to go! :-D

I think that's a much better way to organize the sprues. Now no-one needs to feel worried they'll get stuck with loads of goblins without means to vary them much.
Really hope you fund this. The world needs more HIPS goblins

IF this doesn't fund (and there's still a good chance that it does fund, don't get me wrong) I think there's still a good chance a reboot would make it if the campaign is better designed.

I don't think there's any problem with the product but rather the presentation. Having so much flip-flopping on so basic a feature as what the sprues contain creates a lot of uncertainty.

If the sprue-layout is more finalized, the pictures show more varied goblin designs and the number of initially available pledges that's dependent on stretchgoals being reached is lessened. I think it can do better than what we have now.

3d printing a few physical models as examples would work wonders as well I believe. You have the renders, so I assume it could pretty easily be done.

I wonder if it wouldn't be relatively easy to sculpt some chainmail over the gut-window. I'll give it a try when I receive mine.

They look pretty awesome otherwise though.

They're a bit unnecessarily tall for my taste (though the proportions are great), but as said: no taller that what's clearly shown in the comparasion picture.

They will scale well enough with WHFB figures as long as they're not mixed together in the same unit. I'd say it's no bigger difference between that lumpy 6th ed starterset spearman and one of the shieldmaidens, than one of those spearmen and say, a metal greatsword from the same era from the same company. The comparasion with GW models is jarring, not so much for the size difference but because the maidens are more or less scaled like an actual human.

The more serious size difference is with the maidens and historical figures, but if used in a fantasy setting I see no problem with there existing a particularly tall group/tribe of humans producing these warrior women.

 Fenriswulf wrote:
Now I need Mantic to make a Northern Barbarian force so I can shoe-horn these into a game system

Agree. I would personally have prefered them being a bit smaller,(but retaining the same proportions), so they'd scaled better with historical 28mm's. But if they're not mixed together in the same unit, the maidens will hardly look more off than having say units unit of GW men-at arms /statetroops and Fireforge or Perry infantry in the same army,

 Fenriswulf wrote:
Now I need Mantic to make a Northern Barbarian force so I can shoe-horn these into a game system

They'd work well as Varangur wouldn't they? Until the Northern alliance list is released, which should be a dead ringer for use with these models.

My shipment arrived a few days ago. Quality looks ace.

Lots of extra heads as well and I really like the look of them, Even if some of the ladies perhaps sport a bit too ostentatious hair-do's
I can see people getting a sprue or two just for the heads.

Here's some mock-ups I've done to check if they're suitable to feminize some other models:



The GW bodies are a bit too large (though workable, at least the state troops one) but it's a perfect match for the Fireforge and Mantic model. Great resource to sprinkle out here and there for anyone who wants to pot a little femenine spice in their units. I could see them being popular in the inquisimunda, INQ28mm etc. communites as well.

Lack of spears is a real downer. It's relatively easy to switch weapons with spare spears from other kits, but there's not a lot of close combat arms to begin with so that's a problem.

It's especially weird considering the valkyrie-esque aestetic of these fantasy-viking-ladies. Spears being the iconic valkyrie weapon in art and lore.

 Azazelx wrote:
Also, we never did get proper "nice" shots of the sprues in the end, did we?

There's pics of the sprues on the pre-order page.

http://www.shieldwolfminiatures.com/index.php?dispatch=products.view&product_id=134

 lone dirty dog wrote:
Yes mine turned up and I have to say I was pissed to find no spear arms, I mean they were previewed from the start and was the only reason I wanted them.
That was my hole thing the mammoth with Howdah and a spear attacking female warband, I mean what use are swords on an attack mammoth ?

Not defending the decision to not include spears, but at least it should be pretty easy to cut off the hands of the close combat arms (some even come with loose hands already) and replace them with spear holding hands cut from other kits.

A box of infantry from Perry, Fireforge, Gripping beast etc, gives you plenty of spare spears if you use other options, so it's reasonably easy to find someone who'll part with their spares if you have no use for such a box yourself.

I realized Dark Eldar arms from Cabalites and Wiches fit rather well, both size- and aestetic wise.

Those baby bears are ridiculously cute.


Something about the proportions of these new maidens don't really sit well with me, but hopefully the campaign can do well without my meager contribution.