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Made in gb
Bonkers Buggy Driver with Rockets





Gods Country - ENGLAND

OK, so I'm a big fan of Antenocities Workshop, for 4 people the quality of their stuff has been amazing. I'll leave you to read the blog pot yourselves............

https://www.antenocitisworkshop.com/antenocitis-workshop-needs-your-help/?fbclid=IwAR3ZwqZnhkiR5EzQWVmhllkfQuPvbhr5lzNxeWXDSqPi30Fn5xuK-ESx4Bg

It would be nice if we can help out one of the small companies and keep them afloat. Put my order in already

=======================================================================================================================

Hi everyone,
The industry is changing:

There is an awful lot of stress in trying to keep a company going in this “Hobby Industry” and there are companies a lot larger than us that have recently folded under that pressure – but it would be fair to say that we are certainly struggling to stay afloat.

Few people fully realise the true cost of operations, the minuscule profit margins we try to subsist on or the radical ways in which the entire industry is shifting. Five years ago, three years ago and one year ago the market was completely different than it is today, and our sales were also completely different than there are now. Outlets such as Shapeways, Etsy, Thingiverse, Kickstarter, the availability, reliability and costs of 3D printing, the many, many “home-brew businesses” running laser operations with no overheads, the constant drop of prices forced into the marketplace by those factors….and the huge growth of these micro-manufacturers.

For years now we have been struggling to meet overheads and whilst some Hobbyist truly seems to believe that we live in Castles and drive sports cars the harsh reality is more like struggling every month to pay the (minimum) wages and hoping that next months sales are better…. having to run high-discount sales to pay the wages and then finding buyers wait for another sale before buying anything else…. leading into an endless cycle.

Kickstarters have helped on one hand, but harmed on another: they have radically changed the spending patterns of customers – monthly turn-over has become sporadic and the allure of large Kickstarters offering “the full package” of figures, scenery, game aids and the like, means that people can do a KS 1-stop-shop and no longer need to shop around for things to fill in the gaps in genre or themed wargames. Where big Kickstarters offer dozens or even hundreds of stretch goals and freebies, mass-produced in streamlined Chinese factories, trying to do similar with hand-cast resin is just not feasible and so smaller Kickstarters are often seen as not offering “enough freebies” to be attractive…and the biggest Kickstarters start to produce a per-figure, or per-model, cost to the customer that some people think is sustainable outside of Kickstarter – which it isn’t: mass-produced plastic models for a Kickstarter cannot be matched in cost outside of a Kickstarter.

Postage costs have steadily and inexorably risen, and yet most everyone nowadays expects free-post options or big discounts on postage – yet postage forms our largest monthly outgoing without fail, one that we have to subsidise to try to keep competitive. All of those subsidised postage cost eat out from the already thin profit per model and the, seemingly commonly held idea, that we (and every other wargame manufacturer) make oodles of money from charging postage fees is, to be perfectly honest, ludicrous and somewhat insulting – we don’t make a penny from postage and never have – the simple truth is that postage, internationally, in particular, is expensive.

Business Rates never go down, rent likewise, heating costs and communications costs, website development and maintenance costs…. “Why doesn’t your website support XYZ Phone/Tablet” “Why don’t you do Amazon-style dispatch and delivery” and so on and so forth – Everything cost us money and time and four people in Wem, Shropshire cannot be experts in everything, or have the time, to do everything big companies have now led most online shoppers to regard as “essential or we won’t buy from you”. “Use an external developer” is the usual answer, but where do you get the money form to do that? The Internet is full of people giving easy answers, few are ever realistically viable.

Everything takes a chunk out of every sales price and despite the short-sighted that claim “It doesn’t cost that much, the resin in that model I can get for only XYZ” – that is total nonsense – the price of the resin in any model is a small fraction of the true costs… and we DO have all of those true costs: rent, rates, wages, insurance, equipment and so on and so forth – just because you can cast a resin model in a shed “for next to nothing”, doesn’t mean you can operate a business like that… and let us not mention those people who “buy one and recast whatever else I need – it won’t do any harm”… Yes, it can, yes it does and “no” please don’t say that you are “supporting the hobby” and proudly posting your recasts in your favoured Facebook Group at the same time: Every single recast is a loss to us and one that is felt: you aren’t just stealing our designs, time and work, you are stealing our futures and the ability to house and feed our families – but, of course, “Its only a Hobby”, so no harm is done eh?

The bottom line is that hand-cast resin is expensive to produce requiring skilled and experienced staff that almost always deserve to be paid more than we can.

Staff Leaving:

Chris Carter who has been running the Workshop and doing all of our moulding and a majority of our casting for the last 3 years+ is leaving us at the end of November: he is leaving to help his wife look after his two children who have Autism and ADHD.
He is leaving us on the very best of terms and we absolutely support what he is doing in putting his family first, however, losing somebody of Chris’ skill and knowledge will obviously affect AW.

Firstly it will affect USIMF KS delivery – dispatch for that has now started (with postage costs being sent out to backers), however, the length of production and dispatch for that KS will now be at least doubled (USIMF backers had a detailed update previously)

People with Chris’ experience are rare and finding somebody else to train up to his standards, exceptionally difficult and time-consuming…and often they fail. It would involve a lengthy training period, which needs managing and increased costs in wastage and so on and so forth…and we do not have the money, manpower or time to do that. We have tried to do the same previously and it resulted in a period of sub-standard casting, as well as very high costs that did not result in us ending up with qualified capable casters anyway. As such we will not be replacing Chris.

Also, after 6 or 7 years of deteriorating eyesight, it has come to the point that close-in high-detail work has become harder and harder for me (Jed) to do, to the point where the final mastering stages of a model have become problematic with that type of work accelerating the issues with my eyesight. Without Chris checking and qualifying masters it will become difficult to reliably keep the detail and quality that I expect.

So, after 15 years in the Industry and with a view to how the wargaming market has changed and is changing, we do not feel that continuing to produce hand-cast resin models is viable in the long-term. Our long-term goal is to wrap-up resin-casting and change to selling 3D print files alongside our MDF laser-cut kits. We will eventually close our resin-casting capabilities entirely, but in the immediate future, we will be closing half of our resin-casting workshop alongside closing-down two of the four small units we have here in Wem.

Therefore: We will temporarily be closed from Friday 2nd to Friday 9th for downsizing (This will not affect ordering online, just production and dispatch will be impossible during that period)

We will be reducing our offices from the existing four small units to two – keeping the workshop and laser room but closing the other offices and retail shop units.

With the closure of the Retail Shop area, Nadine will also be leaving us in December.

That will leave myself and Ben running the reduced resin-casting facilities and the Laser workshop.

However, to do that, and really just to keep operating at all, we need your help: we need to clear our stocks of non-AW retail products – currently on a 20% discount https://www.antenocitisworkshop.com/product-category/modelling-supplies/

(On that note – some people have already asked us for a bigger discount… which rather missing the point: we still need to make money – selling the stock discounted below its cost doesn’t help us at all.
What we are asking you is to buy what you need at a good (20%) discount now rather than putting off that order “next month”. If you need Dullcote or Silflor or sheet materials, Evergreen and so on and so forth, please buy it now – we need the money….. and we need it now.)

And, on the note of moving forward with just Ben and myself running operations:


3D Print files and other AW products:

We have a number of existing resin models for Infinity and GOT and our MDF kits that will need to either be continued or discontinued depending on the individual models themselves – the more time-consuming less-profitable items will be removed from the store, and resin components within MDF kits are already being replaced and/or reduced.

Ultimately, as a company, we will eventually be producing 3D print files rather than resin and, with regard to that format, we have been in discussion with Stephane Chasseloup whose designs make up a considerable portion of the USIMF KS range of models.
Following those discussions, we are going to be able to offer 3D print file versions of his models and in addition to his designs, we will also release the STL files of much of our existing catalogue.

In fact, this needs to be our next priority: Our recent operating costs and material outlay means that we need a cash injection to continue through into 2019 and so we plan to put out a new Kickstarter that includes our back catalogue of 3D models as well as the USIMF 3D print files. As these are already “ready for print” and therefore delivery, this can be run and delivered within a very short period of time (before Christmas) and without impacting on the USIMF KS resin production.

As such we will be running a short, two-week Kickstarter for STL files starting around the 12th November.

STL Kickstarter:

This Kickstarter will include a lot of prints from five ranges:
Governance of Technology:

Hunchback
Hunchback Plasma
Huncback AT

Warthog

Kabardin AA
Kabardin AT

Viper

Mobile Turret

Skorpion

Zebu

Bear

Firefly


Designed for Infinity Vehicles:

Dropships:
Azure Dragon
Roc
Efreet



Vehicles:
City Hopper
ForkLift
Street Cleaner
Matador
Evora
Federale
Bike Set.
Fast Panda
USIMF:

Prowler
Bison
Buffalo
Wolf
Prairie Dog / Growler
Skunk / Cougar
Patriot
Wolverine
Grizzly
Kestrel
Bobcat


LEGIO X:

Musk Ox
Kodiak / Marten
Honey Bear
Yellow Jacket / Scorpion / Gopher
OGRE

We will be putting out some graphics and costs over the next week with a KS preview going up ASAP but some rough notes might be useful:
Some items such as the Dropship models and the Fast Panda will no longer be produced in resin, so this will be your last chance to get them, albeit as an STL.
Commercial 3D printing licenses will be available for some products (allowing you to print and sell those prints) – ALL Designed for Infinity models are excluded from those licenses.
There will be some massively discounted “Early Bird” packages available in limited numbers (max 50 backers) and plenty of “all-in” packages beyond those Early Birds.
Existing USIMF KS backers can swap from resin models to STLs if they wish to.
Delivery of STL files will be after the second week of December 2018 and all STL work is already completed.


Summary:

We’ll have more details on the STL Kickstarter soon, in the meantime we really need you to place orders for supplies and materials if you need them, now at https://www.antenocitisworkshop.com/product-category/modelling-supplies/

During next week our internal network will be down, along with the entire office setup, so our Internet connection will be only from home or via phone/tablet – the store will be operating FULLY during this period, we just won’t be producing or dispatching until the following week.

Once we are up and running in the new offices we’ll put out a list of resin that will be discontinued providing you with a chance to buy those products – however, stocks will be limited to existing production moulds – we won’t be making new moulds once the olds moulds have perished.

We’re hoping that we can shift our existing stocks of supplies and materials ASAP and get ourselves ready for 2019 – we still have many, many products in development or concept that we can bring out, we just need the time and money to get into a position to get those produced.

So here’s hoping that we see you all in 2019.

Ben, Chris, Nadine, Jed.

A bit of everything really....... Titanicus, Bolt Action, Cruel Seas, Black Seas, Blood Red Skies, Kingdom Death, Relic Knights, DUST Tactics, Zombicide the lit goes on............. 
   
Made in gb
Joined the Military for Authentic Experience





On an Express Elevator to Hell!!

Many thanks for bringing this news here TheSecretSquig - I've regularly shopped from Antenociti in the past and this is the first I have heard of it.

Very sorry to hear that they are struggling - it's such a competitive marketplace and like he says definitely think it has become almost over-crowded in recent years. Hopefully losing the retail shop (which is a shame in itself) will cut down their overheads considerably and allow them to stay in business.

Have been fantastic over the years with scratch-part bits for 40k conversions and later on Infinity terrain and extra minis, for which they're one of the best places to shop from.

Have been working recently on my own Space Hulk bases - will make sure I get an order in!

Epic 30K&40K! A new players guide, contributors welcome https://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/751316.page
 
   
Made in in
[MOD]
Otiose in a Niche






Hyderabad, India

More bad news from Antenociti.

https://www.facebook.com/Antenociti/

Key phase...

"So, if you want stuff, ordering stuff *right now* might be a good idea"


Ah, the joys of running a small business...
So, the last couple of months have been really (really) bad and to say that we're reaching the point of no return would be... accurate.
So, about 10 minutes ago our landlord left having 'popped round to say hello...'
Since we left the two other units that we used to have those two units have been left vacant and the landlord cannot fill them... there are quite a few business premises in the town lying empty, some high-street, some on other estates, all of which there is very little interest in...
Meanwhile, with his empty units, the council wants Rates paying on them. So, as he can't get any business interest, he's looking at converting the block (of the Old Brewery which forms this Business Park) into flats.
The council is considering this as a "yes" so long as the whole block is turned into flats, not just the couple of empty units. Which means... we would have to go.
So, yeah - that happened.
As this has, quite literally, just happened, we've not had time to even think what to do... but given the dire trading over the last couple of months and an absence of any money to make a move...
Well, it doesn't look that fabulous atm.
So, if you want stuff, ordering stuff *right now* might be a good idea.

 
   
Made in gb
Decrepit Dakkanaut




UK

That certainly doesn't sound encouraging,

especially as I think the high quality resin which is what the lost last time when their master mouldmaker moved on was probably the main thing folk went to them for

so would all the expense and hassle of finding somewhere else to make physical stuff really be worth it

 
   
Made in us
Legendary Master of the Chapter





SoCal

That is terrible news.

I've been waiting for the rewards from the IMF Kickstarter before putting in an order, but now it looks like it's too late.

   
Made in gb
Martial Arts SAS




United Kingdom

AW just can't catch a break, can they? I was planning on adding to my Forward Base collection in small orders through the year but given the circumstances I will see what I can afford to order tonight!

   
Made in in
[MOD]
Otiose in a Niche






Hyderabad, India

I wouldn't order from them as an act of charity, but certainly if there's something you want, you might not be able to get it later.

 
   
Made in gb
Martial Arts SAS




United Kingdom

Indeed. It is too bad this is on the back of the caster leaving - I was really hoping for the Forward Base internal panels (resin or otherwise) to pop into existence but all things considered, that's a first world problem right now.

   
Made in us
Stealthy Warhound Titan Princeps







Hmmm - I do have reason to buy some modelling supplies. Do you have to pay VAT if you are in the USA?
   
Made in us
Regular Dakkanaut




 kestral wrote:
Hmmm - I do have reason to buy some modelling supplies. Do you have to pay VAT if you are in the USA?


Forget the last update, 800 or so under and likely no tax
   
Made in gb
Fixture of Dakka






 kestral wrote:
Hmmm - I do have reason to buy some modelling supplies. Do you have to pay VAT if you are in the USA?


I believe there is an option on their webstore to get non-VAT prices for non-EU orders.
   
Made in gb
Pestilent Plague Marine with Blight Grenade





took some time to go through their products and made an order. I hope they make it through, and definitely interested in an STL KS for when I get a 3D printer

 Mad Doc Grotsnik wrote:
Charax absolutely nailed it.
 
   
Made in us
Stealthy Warhound Titan Princeps







Order placed... ...but that is a kind of buggy website. Hopefully it all works out and they can get going again. They made some things (like their computer terminals and such with color printed components) that were so brilliant I knew I didn't want to risk never getting them.
   
Made in us
Fixture of Dakka






I know what I would do...

E bay shop, color and give the love in the website, draw down on no sellers product and more advertising on the YouTube gaming sites like WarGamer Girl, Beast of War, Tabletop, and the Tank Girl....

Your bundles too... Fallout, Infinity, Necromunda, Star Trek, etc... get in bed and cuddle with Modipheus/ Mantic/ TV7/ Gamer sites....

The quality of this scenery is too good to let fall by the wayside!


Hustle Pays the Bills!



At Games Workshop, we believe that how you behave does matter. We believe this so strongly that we have written it down in the Games Workshop Book. There is a section in the book where we talk about the values we expect all staff to demonstrate in their working lives. These values are Lawyers, Guns and Money. 
   
Made in us
Last Remaining Whole C'Tan






Pleasant Valley, Iowa

Those are some lovely STLs. I'm going to have to take a careful look when I get home.

 lord_blackfang wrote:
Respect to the guy who subscribed just to post a massive ASCII dong in the chat and immediately get banned.

 Flinty wrote:
The benefit of slate is that its.actually a.rock with rock like properties. The downside is that it's a rock
 
   
Made in nl
Dakka Veteran






United Kingdom

This is all very sad to hear. Antenocities do some lovely stuff
I'm not surprised though - the UK has a massive problem with councils raising business rates so high many independent stores simply can't stay afloat.
My local town has changed markedly in the past 1-2 years, with a lot of small businesses disappearing and not being replaced with anything. It's insane.

   
Made in us
Nimble Ellyrian Reaver



York, PA USA




I will keep reminding people of this until the injustice is undone.

I have a friend who played Inifnity and I remember him saying how he wanted some of the Antenocities Workshop products years ago but could not justify the shipping.

Every time another kick starter ships direct from China to "save on shipping" that cost is paid indirectly by small companies like Antenocities Workshop.

There is no such thing as free shipping. Someone is paying somewhere along the line. And in the case of the Chinese they have managed to use the United Nations to get the small companies within 1st world nations to subsidize their business model.

Meanwhile, other people within those 1st world nations are quick to leap aboard the subsidy train and soak up some of that gravy.

It is all well and good in the end. Who doesn't love free shipping?

Yet collateral damage is occurring.

I hope the folks at Antenocities Workshop find better luck in their future endeavors.

More-https://www.forbes.com/sites/wadeshepard/2017/11/05/how-the-usps-epacket-gives-postal-subsidies-to-chinese-e-commerce-merchants-to-ship-to-the-usa-cheap/#4e85e23740ca
   
Made in us
Regular Dakkanaut




Surprisingly, you can get decent, if not really great alternative shipping from shipping warehouses in china/hong kong. If your manufacturing base is there, it can be a win win. USPS postal prices have increased a big fold lately, so you're paying about 6 bucks at a commercial discount price for a lb. Though that jumps up dramatically once priority comes in, and most of the time that's the best deal up to a certain weight. Means partnering with shippers who have better negotiated rates, meaning outsourcing to a packing company.

China doesn't have as many stringent regulations, but it also is pretty fast to adapt techniques for the market. I try to get something molded in the US, they go by a rigid nature, only insisting on steel. I go to china, they will do it in aluminum with modern tech, and you can get a comparable per rate strike.
   
Made in gb
Highlord with a Blackstone Fortress






Adrift within the vortex of my imagination.

I couldn't afford Antenocitis Workshop products on my budget, but they are nice people. I have met Chris Carter enough to be on first name terms and knew he was going through a lot with his family, but it was not my place to ask more. I overheard things he said but never wanted to question him on his private life. It was sad that he had to leave a job he loved to care for his disabled son, which he saw fit to explain at the time.

Antenocitis Workshop has a good range of very high quality products for Infinity, they have a direct rapport with Corvus Belli and get things on advance from them, including the new sectorials, and are permitted to make unlicensed terrain and vehilce products and label them 'for Infinity'.
I have played on Antenicitis terrain on a number of occasions and it is a joy to use. Infinity is not my spending focus, i have one squad for one faction, and I have larger commitments to pay for in gaming. However money spent on Antenocitis products is not money wasted, if you can afford thier price you will like their quality.

Chris is a pleasure to game with also, and I have him to thank for explaining the Infinity rules to me in ways that I could more easily understand. I wish him well.

n'oublie jamais - It appears I now have to highlight this again.

It is by tea alone I set my mind in motion. By the juice of the brew my thoughts aquire speed, my mind becomes strained, the strain becomes a warning. It is by tea alone I set my mind in motion. 
   
Made in us
The New Miss Macross!





Deep Frier of Mount Doom

I wish them luck but I can't but help think they dropped the ball long ago. FIve to ten years go, tons of folks were begging to throw money at them for dropships they previewed to go along with their great scifi tanks and I don't recall ever seeing a reason why they didn't make them at the time instead of the, for example, 25mm scale vending machines for scifi settings that they came out with. By the time they ran a kickstarter for them, the itch to buy them had long passed for me (and the aforementioned armored vehicles had mostly been even been discontinued iirc). It's anecdotal but I haven't considered purchasing from them in years. YMMV.

This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2019/05/25 17:09:14


 
   
Made in gb
Highlord with a Blackstone Fortress






Adrift within the vortex of my imagination.

From memory of old conversations and information gleaned from this thread I think antenocitis were victims of the short term thinking common to many British industries.

Back in 2016 Antenocitis was booming, had their best year. Why? Brexit, that's why, the drop in value of the pound meant a massive surge in orders from the US and EU, people who could not afford their prices suddenly could. However as with so many companies who have a good quarter, it means profits now not storing up for later. Currency fluctuations go both ways, materials costs also increase, and the domestic market suffers, an export beonanza due to currency fluctuations should always be squirrelled away to offset what happens next. Antenocitis however were evidently caught flat footed. I have seen this before and with far bigger fish.

n'oublie jamais - It appears I now have to highlight this again.

It is by tea alone I set my mind in motion. By the juice of the brew my thoughts aquire speed, my mind becomes strained, the strain becomes a warning. It is by tea alone I set my mind in motion. 
   
Made in de
Basecoated Black





Sorry not quite correct!
The price due to the also week € did not make much difference, the Pound was actually stronger back in 2016

1,00 Euro = 0.88318 gives you Pound today
1,00 Euro = 0.7597 gave you Pound back 2016

They should simply not have made such a big Kickstarter which they can not fullfill!!

They could have simply made three kickstarters, which would have also lowered the workload for Chris. I am sure the poor guy must have been doing 12+ hours a day to get the workload done.

I love Antenocitis stuff but this is most certainly to large part a self made problem.

This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2019/05/26 08:59:49


The Forsaken Legion

The 1st Galactic Ironcore Expeditionary Force




https://www.tabletopwelt.de/uploads/monthly_2020_03/609584589_MonsterMunch1.jpg.242a2ec285270c43360efa0bd2ba212f.jpg 
   
Made in gb
Joined the Military for Authentic Experience





On an Express Elevator to Hell!!

Very sad to hear that things haven't really improved.

I wonder if there is any way for Corvus Belli to help out and sell AW products through their website, as they do for Micro Arts and Bandau? I've made up two Infinity terrain boards which I don't think would have been possible without AW - it really is a great range. Think it would be a blow to Infinity as a game if they went under so it might be a mutual interest thing, the presence on CBs website helping a lot as of course it would get that much more coverage.

Epic 30K&40K! A new players guide, contributors welcome https://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/751316.page
 
   
Made in us
Krazed Killa Kan





SoCal

I don't think they'd be doing well even without the Chinese postage exploits.

They've linked themselves too heavily to Infinity as just terrain, which generally ties to how well the game's community is growing. Infinity isn't growing that fast anymore. Having 2 other competitors directly being sold and advertised by your "partner" is just bad.

Spending all that time and money on producing giant boutique vehicles that don't have any use besides being terrain is unlikely to sell. There's also new techniques and processes combining 3D printing and resin casting that would speed that production up considerably. There's no sign they're looking into that, or any other solution, other than asking for help.

There's precious few scifi games with similar aesthetics and similar scale. Additionally, 40K's resurgence means people buy less into those other games, which means more gothic and non game specific terrain purchases.

I wanna see these guys succeed, but other than asking for help, I'm not seeing what they're doing to survive beyond that.

This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2019/05/26 22:25:23


   
Made in us
Thermo-Optical Tuareg





California

So, I think at this point it's pretty safe to assume that I'm never going to get my stuff from the IMF Kickstarter, right?

   
Made in us
Legendary Master of the Chapter





SoCal

Not unless Impact! runs a second Lost KS KS.

Speaking of which...

   
Made in se
Regular Dakkanaut





I’ve wanted to go through their shop, but it’s really a mess. There are no categories. Everything is presented as a long list.
   
Made in gb
Fixture of Dakka






There's a list of categories down the right-hand side;
3D Print STL Files, bases, Designed For Infinity, Fantasy, GOT - Sci-fi, Modelling Supplies, Special offers, Survival, and sub-headings within that.
   
Made in se
Regular Dakkanaut





Theres not on the mobile site, and I am nowhere near my home for some days.
   
Made in gb
RogueSangre



West Sussex, UK

Messiah wrote:
Theres not on the mobile site, and I am nowhere near my home for some days.


Categories appear at the top of the mobile version of the site for me, I frequently use them to see what is new in the Post Apocalyspe range.
   
 
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