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2023/12/22 16:46:48
Subject: Re:Tre Manor / Red Box Games new KS for Fantasy Men at Arms
user avatar
tre manorCreator
December 22, 2023
Hey everybody! Thanks for chipping in thus far! We are at the halfway point now so we still have time to get this project funded! To help make that happen I have added a couple of new reward tiers and a new add-on.
The new tiers are one for a singular sprue at $12.00 and one for 8 sprues at $60!
Great deal!
2023/12/22 19:29:54
Subject: Tre Manor / Red Box Games new KS for Fantasy Men at Arms
Well it doesn't look like the plastics kit is going to fund. Hence I will be pulling the plug on the campaign today. It sucks but that is just how it goes sometimes.
So, on to better things. I have launched a Patreon offering digital STLs of several of my older digital works as well as a selection of newer works in a similar theme to the plastics kickstarter. These figures are however single piece figures. You can go to my patreon via this link;
my marketing images are kind of crap but I am working on better images as I type this. I have both supported and unsupported versions available.
I am ALSO launching a new kickstarter to fund the production of these newest fantasy medieval figures in metal. These will NOT be produced in metal POST kickstarter. They will only be produced in a quantity sufficient to deliver the kickstarter rewards. So STRICTLY kickstarter exclusive. I had a lot of people ask me to produce them in metal so I am hoping this will give them the opportunity to get them in metal.
Campaign launches on the 8th and runs to the 20th of January. There won;t be any post campaign pledge ups or buy ins. No Stretch Goals. JUST the figures you see here available to buy during the kickstarter only and never again there after.
These are the figures;
2024/01/04 16:29:35
Subject: Tre Manor / Red Box Games new KS for Fantasy Men at Arms
NEW PROJECT LAUNCHING!!
user avatar
tre manor
Hey Yall.....
Well I reckon this project is not going to make it. So I have repositioned myself to launch a Patreon which i will be maintaining on a monthly basis. You can view that page here;
Here you will find at least 10 new figures every month to down load and print at home beginning with a selection of Medieval fighters, a Mage, a couple fo Rangers and a few Brigands. As well as a welcome pack containing TWENTY SEVEN figures ready to print. I offer both supported and un-supported versions of each of the figures.
HOWEVER If that is not your thing then guess what?! I AM ALSO launching a new kickstarter campaign to fund the production of the monthly release in metal! This will be a STRICTLY limited release availble exclusively via kickstarter. No post campaign pledge ups or sell offs. No Stretch goals. Just what is available shown here in produced to ONLY fulfill the demand of the kickstarter itself.
That Project is currently under review by Kickstarter and due to launch by the 8th and will run to the 20th of January only so if yall are interested get in on that one while you can! I will be sure to post an update to this campaign linking you to THAT campaign as soon as it is able to launch.
Thanks so much for yall's very generous support in this campaign but it appears the time just wasn't right this time. Ah well. On to the next effort!!
Cheers,
Tre'
Automatically Appended Next Post: And the hard plastics project has been cancelled. I asked if there would be a relaunch and the answer was:
user avatar
tre manorCreator
3 minutes ago
I would have dearly loved it for this campaign to succeed but I just don't think the market is with me on this. Maybe another subject at another time, but not now it seems.
This message was edited 2 times. Last update was at 2024/01/04 19:43:48
2024/01/05 04:08:59
Subject: Tre Manor / Red Box Games new KS for Fantasy Men at Arms
Tre, for what it is worth you launched the campaign at likely the worst possible time of the year.
I would suggest you don't interpret the failure as 100% a lack of demand rather than at least partially you scheduling the campaign to run during December and close during one of the lowest retail spending periods of the year across the whole US economy.
I think if you showed up with some simple graphics showing the savings of buying now vs retail, some definitive scale shots, a couple photos of physical 3d printed examples next to other miniatures, and ran the campaign during literally any other period of the year you would have more success.
Campaign could also have benefitted from some exclusive leader sculpt in metal and some larger discounts on increasingly larger bundles of guys.
I think the right way to think of a Kickstarter like this is "Covering the capital cost". Basically you should kind of break even at best on boxes you sell during a KS campaign like this. You then make money off the sets you sell after the campaign from a set that backers have fronted the money and borne the risk to produce with their money.
Bluntly, your prices felt closer to "make money" prices for a box of plastic than "help me fund this and I'll give you sets at cost+15%".
Look at prices per mini of plastic sets from Oathmark and Frostgrave for an idea of customer expectations on single sprue sets like yours.
2024/01/05 11:59:26
Subject: Tre Manor / Red Box Games new KS for Fantasy Men at Arms
Tre, for what it is worth you launched the campaign at likely the worst possible time of the year.
I would suggest you don't interpret the failure as 100% a lack of demand rather than at least partially you scheduling the campaign to run during December and close during one of the lowest retail spending periods of the year across the whole US economy.
I think if you showed up with some simple graphics showing the savings of buying now vs retail, some definitive scale shots, a couple photos of physical 3d printed examples next to other miniatures, and ran the campaign during literally any other period of the year you would have more success.
Campaign could also have benefitted from some exclusive leader sculpt in metal and some larger discounts on increasingly larger bundles of guys.
I think the right way to think of a Kickstarter like this is "Covering the capital cost". Basically you should kind of break even at best on boxes you sell during a KS campaign like this. You then make money off the sets you sell after the campaign from a set that backers have fronted the money and borne the risk to produce with their money.
Bluntly, your prices felt closer to "make money" prices for a box of plastic than "help me fund this and I'll give you sets at cost+15%".
Look at prices per mini of plastic sets from Oathmark and Frostgrave for an idea of customer expectations on single sprue sets like yours.
Have to say I agree with all of the above. The kit looked good, but from a buyer viewpoint it did not really seem to be kickstarter level discount. And there was no real incentive to buy in higher. Unlike other kickstarters or even Wargames atlantic's where the discount goes up the higher you go as an incentive to buy more... and the buy single sprues was cool... but with shipping a single sprue was $17... which... was not a great option.
I hope you try again.
2024/01/10 16:53:37
Subject: Tre Manor / Red Box Games new KS for Fantasy Men at Arms
I'm a big fan of your models, and have quite a few of your wee men in metal, but this KS did seem to lack some extra element to draw me in.
I like the idea of an "exclusive" (you can define "exclusive" however you like - maybe a model you can sell yourself online after the KS?) leader model.
Or a bigger discount to buyers, essentially as others note, to get the molds made so that you can sell the sprue at the appropriate mark up later? I don't need a ridiculous discount, but something that makes me feel I'm getting a "deal" while at the same time helping you expand your range.
And yea... This was an odd time choice to launch the campaign.
I also hope you try again (and have hopped on your metal KS, which i've posted here and above for others - as has Smokestack above)
Thanks for the advice guys. it is ALWAYS appreciated and taken to heart.
I will absolutely try again. I cannot help but think this effort was just simply not my best. I think too often I am aiming at the generic middle ground and that just lacks broad appeal. Really I do not mind at all being told if the designs are just boring. In fact I would prefer to be told if they are.
Not having a game AND being " my own scale " is working against me. Infinity makes it work because they have a game. I know that having a game would be a MASSIVE step in the right direction for me. But I also think just making better designs would help as well.
As for pricing.... this is always a very very dicey gamble. My post kickstarter sales over the past 2 years have been utterly abyssmal so it always gives me pause to rely on that as my income. If I price the offering too low and then something goes wrong I am suddenly in a tight pinch. So I try to price the offerings in such a way as to make sure I have enough financial response to cover any delay in production or price discrepancy in production or shipment.
That said I can see that plastic is a bit of a different game.
I have absolutely not given up. I am regrouping and deciding how to get back at this most effectively.
Automatically Appended Next Post: I think I just need to do something more interesting than " medieval fighters ".
This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2024/01/12 18:07:31
2024/01/12 18:17:56
Subject: Tre Manor / Red Box Games new KS for Fantasy Men at Arms (cancelled, but restarted another as metal)
tre manor wrote: Thanks for the advice guys. it is ALWAYS appreciated and taken to heart.
I will absolutely try again. I cannot help but think this effort was just simply not my best. I think too often I am aiming at the generic middle ground and that just lacks broad appeal. Really I do not mind at all being told if the designs are just boring. In fact I would prefer to be told if they are.
Not having a game AND being " my own scale " is working against me. Infinity makes it work because they have a game. I know that having a game would be a MASSIVE step in the right direction for me. But I also think just making better designs would help as well.
As for pricing.... this is always a very very dicey gamble. My post kickstarter sales over the past 2 years have been utterly abyssmal so it always gives me pause to rely on that as my income. If I price the offering too low and then something goes wrong I am suddenly in a tight pinch. So I try to price the offerings in such a way as to make sure I have enough financial response to cover any delay in production or price discrepancy in production or shipment.
That said I can see that plastic is a bit of a different game.
I have absolutely not given up. I am regrouping and deciding how to get back at this most effectively.
Automatically Appended Next Post: I think I just need to do something more interesting than " medieval fighters ".
I really liked the medieval fighters.. fantasy plastic sets are pretty much always useful, and these looked very good. I wouldnt mind seeing more of what you mentioned though... Post apoc Thundarr the barbarian type figures would be cool. And a female set would be cool. I havent gone in on your metal kickstarter, as while yes, its the same figures as your plastic ones would have been, its kind of not, as I had planned to convert them with other plastic sets and dont do much converting with metal anymore...
2024/01/12 21:08:26
Subject: Tre Manor / Red Box Games new KS for Fantasy Men at Arms (cancelled, but restarted another as metal)
Totally understand Kid Cthulhu. difficult days for us all!
Glad you liked them Smokestack. You were in on my Barbaria Kickstarter though right? That is something I am going to be expanding upon very soon. I think maybe I approached it from the wrong angle. Maybe focusing on a smaller scope game with fewer figures might have been more successful.
2024/01/13 12:30:16
Subject: Tre Manor / Red Box Games new KS for Fantasy Men at Arms (cancelled, but restarted another as metal)
tre, this may be a terrible idea, but I wonder if there's any value in taking some of your pre-existing sculpts that are no longer in production and scanning them to make STLs to sell.
The scale thing might not be an issue then since people could resize them if they wanted.
It would take existing miniatures that aren't generating revenue and give them a new way to create sales without the need to invest much beyond having the miniatures scanned and then listed on the sites that sell STLs.
2024/01/14 05:52:47
Subject: Tre Manor / Red Box Games new KS for Fantasy Men at Arms (cancelled, but restarted another as metal)
tre manor wrote: Totally understand Kid Cthulhu. difficult days for us all!
Glad you liked them Smokestack. You were in on my Barbaria Kickstarter though right? That is something I am going to be expanding upon very soon. I think maybe I approached it from the wrong angle. Maybe focusing on a smaller scope game with fewer figures might have been more successful.
Yup. I got all of the girls. A Barbaria game sounds awesome. And for the most part I would not NEED to convert stuff so metal minis are fine... but Multi-part plastic Barbaria minis would be awesome. If we got things like the alien horses from Thundarr (or a Barbaria equivalent... **dragon horses, Lion mounts, etc**) even better.
Founded in the roots of Conan the Barbarian, Elric. Tarzan, Barsoom, Dark Sun, and the many visions of Frank Frazetta's Savage Sword and Sorcery art. Powerful muscles and buxom beauties opposed to gnashing teeth and scaly hides in dark and misty jungles, broken legacies of civilizations past and dry sun blasted desert dunes and rocky crags. Ape-Men, Lizard-Men, Revenants and Mutants bearing fang and club, spear and jagged sword to smote red ruin upon the last of Men...... But the last of Men are no tender morsels for the maw. They are ready and willing if not eager for the fray!
Yeah, I am definitely interested in a Barbaria game. I apologize for keep mentioning Thundarr, but it was a favorite of mine as a kid... and I get very heavy Thundarr vibes from what you described.
2024/01/15 23:17:16
Subject: Tre Manor / Red Box Games new KS for Fantasy Men at Arms (cancelled, but restarted another as metal)
I take that as a compliment dude. Thundarr is a BIG favorite of mine as well. Thundarr, Galtar, Herculoids, Black Starr. LOVE that stuff! I Really REALLY want to expand Barbaria. I have such cool ideas. The Kickstarter probably would have benefitted from more stuff being added to it. I wanted to have more but I just could not afford to expand it as I wanted to.
2024/01/16 13:16:38
Subject: Tre Manor / Red Box Games new KS for Fantasy Men at Arms (cancelled, but restarted another as metal)
tre manor wrote: That is a frequent request. mayhaps I shall explore it!
I would order two of each a Norse and Amazon team immediately if you did a full team of 16 unique sculpts in the Barbaria style in metal. No questions asked, take my money haha.
2024/01/19 18:20:25
Subject: Re:Tre Manor / Red Box Games new KS for Fantasy Men at Arms (cancelled, but restarted another as metal)
I for one would welcome our Gemeni, the ratmen, and the mutants wonderful sculpts in Tre's style.
Chalk me down for a set of those throwback cartoons figures. I'll take a few of each, please!
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2024/01/20 00:04:07
Subject: Re:Tre Manor / Red Box Games new KS for Fantasy Men at Arms (cancelled, but restarted another as metal)
Hm, interesting, I've always been a huge fan of your named models in the past, they seemed to be perfect for DnD characters to me, and I got myself one (The Bastard Hughbert, incidentally, his sword hand broke and the fix was crude, are there plans to have a rerun of those old models?) as well as a few for my friends and they really were a great fit on the table.
tre manor wrote: Looking back on it I think I should have gambled more heavily on it and added in a Foe warband to balance the barbs.
NOW I am thinking i need a full on 2 player boxed set with with opposed forces and a few terrain bits and battle mat.
I think a two player set would definitely be good. I think having a “game in a box” motivates a lot of people to try something they otherwise might not.
I take that as a compliment dude. Thundarr is a BIG favorite of mine as well. Thundarr, Galtar, Herculoids, Black Starr. LOVE that stuff! I Really REALLY want to expand Barbaria. I have such cool ideas. The Kickstarter probably would have benefitted from more stuff being added to it. I wanted to have more but I just could not afford to expand it as I wanted to.
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