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Dwarven Forge Kickstarter 4 is now live. This time the theme is castles.

Add-on sets are listed here: http://www.dwarvenforge.com/kickstarter-4-add-on-sets/

p.5 Mountain pack, Mountain floor, Stone bridge add-ons

Now live:











Preview pix:

More teaser pix in the spoiler:
link to more pix: link

Over 100 different sculpts of pieces (this probably includes miniature soldiers)
It sounds like it will not be cheap. Stefan's own words from the DF forums: "I think $1500 is what I personally would want to invest in this upcoming feature." and "$300 or so will get you at least a kewl modular tower"

Price aside, the walls sound cool. Again from Stefan: "the walls are really, really kewl, much better than the improvised use narrow passages to make city walls...these are true City Walls with passages in them." He describes the walls as "massive."

$300 for a 'just' a tower?

Looks to be a bit too rich for my blood.

Especially with Renedra's plastic castle coming soon...

Although sure, I'd prefer a round tower but not at that price difference!

300 bucks?? that better be a massive tower of doom

It really puts the Miniature Building Authority castle kickstarter into perspective, doesn't it?

Reading the title I was thinking this might be my first Dwarven Forge Kickstarter; especially since castles sound right up my alley(especially since it starts after March). $300 for a tower might be better put elsewhere, but I'll wait for the campaign to launch and give it a gander then.

For that kinda money, I'd rather just get a couple of buildings from Tabletop World. This town gates costs 250 euros, which is around $280 with todays exchange rate.

I always thought Dwarven Forge was a bit pricey, but this is mental.

Good luck, I guess.

DF just posted a second teaser pic that I added to the first post. It shows some new walls next to the DF village from KS3.

$300 for a tower though..

Goodness, makes me want to invest in Hirst Arts molds....

The Auld Grump

ive went pretty hard at the DF stuff in the last 2 KS but at 300 for a tower this one is likely out of my reach

 TheAuldGrump wrote:
Goodness, makes me want to invest in Hirst Arts molds....

The Auld Grump

That's just what I was going to say. For $300, you can get enough HA molds, good plaster, glue, paint, etc., to build one helluva castle, and not just one tower. Sure, you have to invest time into it, but at least the casting process allows you to be doing other stuff at the same time.

Two words:
Castle Craft


It's made by the Tehnolog folks. The figures are oversized kids toys but the multipart castle kits are mix and match.

I've been interested in dipping my toes in Dwarven Forge but their normal prices are high and this.. $300 tower business is mental.

Castle Craft eh.. hmm.. I googled and it looks like it's only available in Russia.. any places in the US selling it at all?

Just ebay that I could find. Have a few boxes of it in the basement.

The overwhelming sentiment has more to do with the cost vs. an actual comparison to the other products being mentioned

Tabletop World is amazing stuff. I own some. I covet it and hope to own more in the future. It's made of resin. I've broken pieces. It's not modular. It's not pre-painted. That, right there throws it into the realm of personal opinion vs. fair comparison so the point isn't made or accepted.

Hirst Arts are great building blocks to make bigger builds. I own molds. I continue to buy molds and use them to create new and unique pieces. Most people use plaster-based materials to cast, some use resin. Nobody is using PVC which is what Dwarven Forge is made of. Hirst Arts is labour intensive to create and build stuff. It doesn't come prepainted. It's mostly intended to build something greater than the sum of it's parts, and permanent, like a building. It probably comes the closest to a comparison with Dwarven Forge since you can create modular pieces and cast accessories such as barrels and sacks, and the like. However, the two serve fundamentally different needs.

Castle Craft - never heard of it before. I have toy castles I've bought my son... and that's about that. I won't even bother with this comparison.

jchunick wrote:
The overwhelming sentiment has more to do with the cost vs. an actual comparison to the other products being mentioned

Tabletop World is amazing stuff. I own some. I covet it and hope to own more in the future. It's made of resin. I've broken pieces. It's not modular. It's not pre-painted. That, right there throws it into the realm of personal opinion vs. fair comparison so the point isn't made or accepted.

Hirst Arts are great building blocks to make bigger builds. I own molds. I continue to buy molds and use them to create new and unique pieces. Most people use plaster-based materials to cast, some use resin. Nobody is using PVC which is what Dwarven Forge is made of. Hirst Arts is labour intensive to create and build stuff. It doesn't come prepainted. It's mostly intended to build something greater than the sum of it's parts, and permanent, like a building. It probably comes the closest to a comparison with Dwarven Forge since you can create modular pieces and cast accessories such as barrels and sacks, and the like. However, the two serve fundamentally different needs.

Castle Craft - never heard of it before. I have toy castles I've bought my son... and that's about that. I won't even bother with this comparison.

Are you from Dwarven Forge or what? You're quickly dismissing Castle Craft as a "toy castle" but what you're not seeing is the company's record.. They are well known for making not-40k stuff and then bundling goofy kids stuff with it so it's just left of center. There's a massive castle done with their kits that you would never know was not a historical castle kit.
Found it.. This is what you can do with the modularity of their kits.



As to availability.. it's hit or miss. Sometimes I get lucky on Amazon or google shopping searches but usually Ebay.
EDIT:
And yes.. for clarity.. the cost is bonkers on the DF stuff. There are SO many alternatives out there that are nowhere near that price.

 Alpharius wrote:
$300 for a 'just' a tower?
Looks to be a bit too rich for my blood.
Especially with Renedra's plastic castle coming soon...
Although sure, I'd prefer a round tower but not at that price difference!

Whatever happened to Tabletop Workshop? They seem to have just ...disappeared about a year ago. A shame since they had some nice terrain tooled in plastic.
https://www.facebook.com/Tabletop-Workshop-563457086999981/


Technolog terrain is actually pretty good, especially for the price point. Despite having a Mighty Fortress and two Warhammer Fortresses + extras, I could potentially be tempted by some affordable extra castle elements. Damn. I should paint those up sometime...

 MLaw wrote:

jchunick wrote:
The overwhelming sentiment has more to do with the cost vs. an actual comparison to the other products being mentioned

Tabletop World is amazing stuff. I own some. I covet it and hope to own more in the future. It's made of resin. I've broken pieces. It's not modular. It's not pre-painted. That, right there throws it into the realm of personal opinion vs. fair comparison so the point isn't made or accepted.

Hirst Arts are great building blocks to make bigger builds. I own molds. I continue to buy molds and use them to create new and unique pieces. Most people use plaster-based materials to cast, some use resin. Nobody is using PVC which is what Dwarven Forge is made of. Hirst Arts is labour intensive to create and build stuff. It doesn't come prepainted. It's mostly intended to build something greater than the sum of it's parts, and permanent, like a building. It probably comes the closest to a comparison with Dwarven Forge since you can create modular pieces and cast accessories such as barrels and sacks, and the like. However, the two serve fundamentally different needs.

Castle Craft - never heard of it before. I have toy castles I've bought my son... and that's about that. I won't even bother with this comparison.

Are you from Dwarven Forge or what? You're quickly dismissing Castle Craft as a "toy castle" but what you're not seeing is the company's record.. They are well known for making not-40k stuff and then bundling goofy kids stuff with it so it's just left of center. There's a massive castle done with their kits that you would never know was not a historical castle kit.
Found it.. This is what you can do with the modularity of their kits.



As to availability.. it's hit or miss. Sometimes I get lucky on Amazon or google shopping searches but usually Ebay.
EDIT:
And yes.. for clarity.. the cost is bonkers on the DF stuff. There are SO many alternatives out there that are nowhere near that price.

Actually I was pretty clear that I don't know anything about Castle Craft... and re-reading what was originally written as I was about to copy/paste it here I quite literally (as I'm typing this) realized that I misread it as the Castle Craft stuff were kids' toys (not the figures).

It looks neat, but definitely not my style... much closer to MBA, IMO. Far too small in scale for the type of roleplaying I like to do with terrain.

If the argument is price then MBA is very pricey - more than Dwarven Forge.

Consider, as well:
1) The material being used. The pieces are made of a PVC material which means you can literally toss the pieces into a bag and take it over to a friends' house. People do this with the product and list it as unique feature that has worth.
2) The modularity. Some systems are more modular than others. With a system built for modularity, you don't just get full structures that can be reconfigured - you can actually build walls as high as you can afford, or towers as high. You can swap out the battlements/crenellations and configure things in a more granular way, if only to change up gameplay, or maybe for the purpose of copying a particular setting or story. By far, this is probably the biggest selling point.
3) Prepainted. Being able to use the modular terrain right out of the box because it's prepainted comes with a bit of a premium. Dwarven Forge pieces are known for having good paint jobs.
4) It holds it's cost. Many gamers change their stuff up, so will sell old stuff to finance new stuff. Dwarven Forge pieces hold their value.
5) It has an earned reputation for being the standard in modular gaming tiles.
6) Scale. It's 25mm scale so 1"=5'.
7) Backwards Compatible. For the most part, Dwarven Forge is backwards compatible with their older sets, including the resin sets. There are incompatibilities and issues here and there, but these are not insurmountable.
8) High Quality Craftsmanship. There is no argument that the sculpting that goes into the pieces is top quality.

There's no doubt you can spend a lot on any hobby, and with limited funds (some more than others) everyone has to make their own tough decisions on how to maximize the value in what they spend their hard-earned money on. I wouldn't presume to think I know what's best for anyone. However, I can only go on what I'm reading and there's a lot of, "It's too much money." and that's simply an opinion without anything else. Seems like a waste of time and effort to simply give an opinion on a forum when the whole point of a forum is to discuss things with others. An opinion isn't discussion. And if someone is going to make comparisons, don't be lazy or superficial about it. I spent a lot of time in pointing out differences between the systems and that seems to me to be more worthwhile than a personal opinion and some vague hand-waving about some cheaper terrain.

To be fair, your posts do read very much as though you work for or have strong associations with Dwarven Forge. Especially given how your only posts or discussion in the better part of 2 years on this particular online forum are on how awesome the DF stuff is...

Jchunik: I'm not actually sure what you're hoping to accomplish.
I "think" you're saying the same thing as us.. which.. is basically:
"That price point is high" and "there's many other kits out there".
What I can't tell is whether you're trying to establish the merits of forking out a buttload of cash for DF stuff or if you're just typing up things that are valid observations without leaning one way or the other..

DF using 28mm scale.. 1" = 5' is not DF using that scale for compatibility.. They're using that scale because DnD miniatures and other roleplaying games have adopted that as the standard where miniatures are concerned. DF simply fell in line. There are MANY 1" companies out there.

As to compatibility within their sets.. I guess I don't know enough about their ranges to care about this. To me, a castle and tower being compatible with a dungeon is seemingly a non-issue.

Standard in gaming is really a self-proclaimed title. They got a lot of press and have a lot of friends. However, Dungeonstone is reportedly just as good or better, barring it's not pre-painted. Cheaper too.

As to craftsmanship.. The pieces are generic. It would be more off topic than we might be already (I think we're on topic but sometimes these types of discussions get shut down). To me it's cookie cutter stuff that I "could" do myself if I were motivated enough. Compare that to Zealot's forthcoming (very very slowly) Twisting Catacombs. The individual pieces OOZE style. By comparison, I can get cookie cutter dungeon stuff from Scotia Grendel for a song. I have an e-bay seller that does cool stuff too that I can't remember off the top of my head and it goes back and forth between really neat style to just cookie cutter type stuff.

I'm not trying to say DF is terrible. I'm not trying to disparage any of their kits or work.. but you seem to be driving the conversation to a specifically polarized viewpoint style discussion. That's almost always the outcome of this type of thing.. eventually it just devolves into "this is awesome and that sucks" type of debate.. because ALL of this is, as you said, opinions on the internet.

I like Dwarven Forge stuff.
I Do not work for Dwarven Forge or any of their associates.
I have a pretty good collection of their stuff that I have built up over the years since they started.
That being said, this newer PVC material is great. You could pick up your tower and throw it at the wall, then pick it up and rebuild it or build something else. I am not afraid to let kids play with it when they come to visit.
Yes, its expensive. So is GW stuff. Deal with it. GW had a combination of both the best and most affordable castle available in their Mighty Fortress, which was $99, and could be expanded with more walls or towers. Too bad GW, in their infinite wisdom, decided to take it OOP in favor of their new Uber-Expensive Skull-covered fortress of skulls or whatever they call that train wreck.

You also have 12k posts, so you're far less likely to be a sockpuppet. Having said that, looky here.

 Azazelx wrote:
You also have 12k posts, so you're far less likely to be a sockpuppet. Having said that, looky here.

Sorry can't see it, work blocked. I can tell it goes to ebay. Some treasure pray tell?

 snurl wrote:
I like Dwarven Forge stuff.
I Do not work for Dwarven Forge or any of their associates.
I have a pretty good collection of their stuff that I have built up over the years since they started.
That being said, this newer PVC material is great. You could pick up your tower and throw it at the wall, then pick it up and rebuild it or build something else. I am not afraid to let kids play with it when they come to visit.
Yes, its expensive. So is GW stuff. Deal with it. GW had a combination of both the best and most affordable castle available in their Mighty Fortress, which was $99, and could be expanded with more walls or towers. Too bad GW, in their infinite wisdom, decided to take it OOP in favor of their new Uber-Expensive Skull-covered fortress of skulls or whatever they call that train wreck.

So the durability is worth the higher cost, is what you're saying? Considering I don't have children, and the people I game with are usually fairly careful the durability is a non-issue for me, and not worth paying a higher price. Price is always worth discussing, regardless whether you think folks should just, "deal with it".

Maybe the price estimates for this KS are just off?

I hope?

Because at $300 for a tower and $1500 for a castle, yeah, I'd go with Tabletop World stuff first, even with any 'durability' concerns on using resin stuff.

Because at the end of the day, I'm not sure how much use a castle would ever see anyway.

A tower? Sure!

A castle? Not so sure!

 MLaw wrote:
Jchunik: I'm not actually sure what you're hoping to accomplish.
I "think" you're saying the same thing as us.. which.. is basically:
"That price point is high" and "there's many other kits out there".
What I can't tell is whether you're trying to establish the merits of forking out a buttload of cash for DF stuff or if you're just typing up things that are valid observations without leaning one way or the other..

DF using 28mm scale.. 1" = 5' is not DF using that scale for compatibility.. They're using that scale because DnD miniatures and other roleplaying games have adopted that as the standard where miniatures are concerned. DF simply fell in line. There are MANY 1" companies out there.

As to compatibility within their sets.. I guess I don't know enough about their ranges to care about this. To me, a castle and tower being compatible with a dungeon is seemingly a non-issue.

Standard in gaming is really a self-proclaimed title. They got a lot of press and have a lot of friends. However, Dungeonstone is reportedly just as good or better, barring it's not pre-painted. Cheaper too.

As to craftsmanship.. The pieces are generic. It would be more off topic than we might be already (I think we're on topic but sometimes these types of discussions get shut down). To me it's cookie cutter stuff that I "could" do myself if I were motivated enough. Compare that to Zealot's forthcoming (very very slowly) Twisting Catacombs. The individual pieces OOZE style. By comparison, I can get cookie cutter dungeon stuff from Scotia Grendel for a song. I have an e-bay seller that does cool stuff too that I can't remember off the top of my head and it goes back and forth between really neat style to just cookie cutter type stuff.

I'm not trying to say DF is terrible. I'm not trying to disparage any of their kits or work.. but you seem to be driving the conversation to a specifically polarized viewpoint style discussion. That's almost always the outcome of this type of thing.. eventually it just devolves into "this is awesome and that sucks" type of debate.. because ALL of this is, as you said, opinions on the internet.

To be honest, I don't know really what I'm trying to get at either.

I'm first a crafter. I've previously posted that I use Hirst Arts, for instance. I also do my own mods to existing terrain, including adding LEDs to pieces.

I'm second a gamer and use all sorts of terrain and miniature products from various companies, including Dwarven Forge.

Thirdly, I have done contract work for Dwarven Forge (I guess that's important in the interest of disclosure and all that - or for people to dismiss my viewpoint easily and possibly call me things like a shill or sockpuppet because... well, people).

The LED work I have done was noticed by Dwarven Forge and I was asked in KS3 to build the LED pieces (of which I'm very proud). I've subsequently been asked to further work on KS4 and have had more involvement with that.

I'm pretty much a normal person like anyone else here, I guess. For good or bad my handle everywhere on the internet has always been my name which means I'm easy enough to look up. So, I'm not some anonymous pimply teen or shady dude with a nefarious agenda (as cool - if not tropey - as that would be in a movie).

However, I guess like most, I tend to make poor decisions while surfing the internet late at night, hence the mistakes I've made in posting to this thread.

My "agenda" had started off more well-intentioned, if a bit misguided. I was checking out these forums to see if anything had been posted yet about KS4. It had. I thought, "Cool! Let's see what people think?"... then "Holy crap! I understand these are not the insular forums at Dwarven Forge, but what a completely different attitude than I'd expected." Then, as is obvious, I admittedly got a little butt-hurt over what I felt wasn't a fair comparison or even a consideration of the actual product, just a "it's too expensive, and instead I'd go for this comparative product." My points were those products are not comparative just because[i] they're also roleplaying solutions - in my opinion they target specific and different needs or criteria for different games and gamers.

Ultimately (and this is where I'd messed up here) I'm more interested in understanding what type of gamer people here are and what they are looking for - It's clear that Dwarven Forge is not it, but what characteristics make an appropriate product that meets your needs (and not just price)?

I've backed DF through their previous KSs. Tons of dungeon tiles, cavern tiles, but only the sewer set for their most recent "Cities" KS. I wanted them just for RPGs (which I don't play, just fantasize about...) and possibly skirmish/dungeon crawler games that I'd pimp out (which I rarely play, and also often fantasize about). For their previous KSs, I spend about $300 on the first (unpainted), $700 on the second (about the same amount, but prepainted), and $250 on the third (also unpainted, and much, much less stuff than KS1), and felt each consecutive KS was less of a bargain. Castles are less interesting to me, and at that price point, I'll also pass.

But I'm now intrigued by Castle Craft tehnolog, the Russian stuff. There's an ebay seller from Russia, so maybe I'll go with that - less than $100 looks like it would get me a whole lotta castle! Still, I could get this as my son's 4th birthday present... The wife would be none the wiser. Hmm...

For me, I'm looking for a decent looking product that can be taken from a shelf to a table, and back again. I'd prefer if it's ready out of the box, but requiring painting is a non-issue if it's modular or pre-assembled. It will be used for mostly miniature games, and rarely for RPG games.

I'm mostly sad I missed out on the first couple DF kickstarters as they had some neat stuff, but it does look as if Reaper is dipping it's toes in the market with terrain pieces made from Bones. I'm still interested in this Kickstarter, but I'm just waiting to see a confirmed price per pledge levels.

This forum likes all sorts of stuff. But if a product is felt to be way overpriced then it will receive the appropriate flack, just see any GW stuff or Mantics latest KS. I myself absolutely love DF stuff and can very easily afford to buy most of their products and an entire castle or two from their upcoming KS if the prices are to be believed but I feel their product are way overpriced and do not offer value for my £.