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Just got this on the Kickstarter updates

“Sacramento, CA – After an incredible twelve-year run, Secret Weapon has been unable to weather the combined impacts of the pandemic, and Brexit. The month-over-month loss in sales in all categories will force us to cease operations some time in the coming weeks. As we prepare to clean out the warehouse we will be having a “Going out of Business” sale to move our non-resin products.


All new sales of resin products have been disabled, and all remaining products have been listed at steep discounts to move immediately. The sales portal has been taken temporarily offline to give us time to process the remaining customer resin orders. The website will re-launch the week of 23-August and be active while supplies last. A warehouse sale will be announced for larger and remaining items.

We have spent the past several months negotiating a partnership with one of our international trade partners, but that fell apart at the eleventh hour and we have no choice but to shut our doors.


We are working with Eric at Every Little War to continue work on the “HD Bases” Kickstarter campaign, and updates will continue while we transition the project.

What happens next for Secret Weapon will likely be up to the bank at this point, and we will work with them to find good homes for our other assets.


I founded Secret Weapon 12 years ago so that I could leave behind a business development career that had me working 80+ hours every week, had given me acute hypertension, and a stress-induced bleeding ulcer. I had written the business and marketing plan while I was bored at work, and when I decided to leave that job behind because I wanted to be home with the child we were planning to have, it was my wife’s idea for me to launch Secret Weapon. Later, she would convince me not to take a job that would have been a great fit… and the next month sales increased almost 400%, and I had to hire my first part-time employee. Twelve years later I am humbled by this community. Your support for Secret Weapon, and its employees, is something I had never experienced in more than 25 years of business administration.


It has been, and remains, a pleasure sharing in your creative passions.

Thank you again,

Justin McCoy

Founder

Secret Weapon Miniatures, Inc.”

Wow, I JUST put in an order to them about 2 weeks ago to get some more resin bases, set to arrive this week.

This is awful, I'll have to clear out some remaining once their webstore goes back online ot make sure I can get everything I need.

sad news

A sad day indeed. Their pumpkin patch bases were the idea for an entire campaign between my gators and a friends grymkin.

Major bummer

They’re talking about finding a home for the assets, so it’s possible that they’ll get picked up by another company. It’s happened before in recent times (Pig Iron and Maxmini IIRC).

I just hope he can extract with minimal personal damage. Not really his fault that the world fundamentally changed overnight.

Huge loss. My whole DG army uses Secret weapon Bases. :(

This is a crying shame. Justin makes some quality products. I love his washes, in particular the concrete and stone ones. And I have nothing but good things to say about the Tablescape tiles I have.

I never bought any of his bases, but he accrued a hell of a range of styles. Hopefully someone picks them up.

Damn, that sucks... Secret Weapon washes are my absolute favourites. A shame they go out of business. All the best for their future.

 Snrub wrote:
This is a crying shame. Justin makes some quality products. I love his washes, in particular the concrete and stone ones. And I have nothing but good things to say about the Tablescape tiles I have.

I never bought any of his bases, but he accrued a hell of a range of styles. Hopefully someone picks them up.

My annoyance was the tiles not going retail so I couldn’t get the extra ones I wanted.

Website is down as well.

PourSpelur wrote:
Website is down as well.

The sales portal has been taken temporarily offline to give us time to process the remaining customer resin orders. The website will re-launch the week of 23-August and be active while supplies last.

This is especially disheartening to me as someone who's invested in their HD Bases kickstarter. I really hope the project gets picked up and fulfilled.

 Garfield666 wrote:
Damn, that sucks... Secret Weapon washes are my absolute favourites. A shame they go out of business. All the best for their future.

I’m not sure, but didn’t SWM pick up les bursley’s washes? I’m sure they’ll find a new home, but if they are the les ones, the recipe is floating around.

 Breotan wrote:
This is especially disheartening to me as someone who's invested in their HD Bases kickstarter. I really hope the project gets picked up and fulfilled.

The statment posted mentioned that Every Little War is going to be taking over the HD Bases Kickstarter.

This sucks.

The first site I found to do Praetorian inspired Pith Helmet heads.

Made quite a few purchases of those for Rough Rider conversions and the like.

The_Real_Chris wrote:
My annoyance was the tiles not going retail so I couldn’t get the extra ones I wanted.

I'm annoyed at this as well, but I don't believe it to be his fault. He and the manufacturing plant in china got into a debate over the ownership of the tile moulds and it ended up being only the KS pledges plus a very limited amount of extras ever being produced. That was a proper blow to him I feel, as he's the only other company I'm aware of to challenge GW on the plastic game board front. And given the quality and price of them, they really could have been a top seller once they became more widely available.

 Snrub wrote:

The_Real_Chris wrote:
My annoyance was the tiles not going retail so I couldn’t get the extra ones I wanted.

I'm annoyed at this as well, but I don't believe it to be his fault. He and the manufacturing plant in china got into a debate over the ownership of the tile moulds and it ended up being only the KS pledges plus a very limited amount of extras ever being produced. That was a proper blow to him I feel, as he's the only other company I'm aware of to challenge GW on the plastic game board front. And given the quality and price of them, they really could have been a top seller once they became more widely available.

I think this is a very diplomatic take on what happened with the Chinese manufacturer, but agreed that it is quite unfortunate. I love my urban tablescape for Marvel Crisis Protocol

I bought a bunch of their stuff for my 30k Mechanicum and it was great. Sorry to see them go.

 Snrub wrote:

The_Real_Chris wrote:
My annoyance was the tiles not going retail so I couldn’t get the extra ones I wanted.

I'm annoyed at this as well, but I don't believe it to be his fault. He and the manufacturing plant in china got into a debate over the ownership of the tile moulds and it ended up being only the KS pledges plus a very limited amount of extras ever being produced. That was a proper blow to him I feel, as he's the only other company I'm aware of to challenge GW on the plastic game board front. And given the quality and price of them, they really could have been a top seller once they became more widely available.

Let's not forget the devastating impact neoprene mats had on the plastic game board market.

Disappointing news. I've used their bases for years now as their quality was fantastic and pricing was reasonable.

That's sad. I've used their water and weathering products to good effect.

This damned pandemic has been a boon for some companies but the death knell for others.

I love the Secret Weapon tiles, I wish I could get more, I bought some second hand at somewhat high prices about a year ago but I’m guessing they are nowhere to be found now.

Sad to see this happening to Justin.

I had the pleasure to work with him many years ago and we did some crazy bases for the folks, he was always a gentlemen to work with.

I really hope he manages to find something on these difficult times.

A big loss for everyone.

Gah, that really, really sucks. Their weathering pigments are absolutely top notch, and I like the paint range as well. Really hoping someone else picks up those products.

I backed their dungeon tablescapes KS and was very pleased with what I got, so I'm disappointed there won't be more of the same. :(

This is disheartening and sad. I met Justin at NOVA years ago and he was a complete, community-oriented gentleman. I have an entire AM army based with his product. I'll have to keep an eye out for the end sale.

With regrets and respect...