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Mierce Miniatures Darklands Ongoing News and Rumors Thread! Darklands Rulebook ships on April 18!  [RSS] Share on facebook Share on Twitter Submit to Reddit
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Made in us
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 OrlandotheTechnicoloured wrote:
Yes Banelegions were spun off into a separate company, Mierce Miniatures

supposedly in preparation for a KS to launch a game system, Darklands I think, to go with them.

(or if your more cynical to try and protect what might be a significant Maelstrom asset)


I think that's exactly what happened here, which makes it all the more shameful, cynical and depressing.

   
Made in gb
Rampaging Reaver Titan Princeps





Warwickscire

Good stuff. Though the Mierce website is still missing a lot of images at present.

At a guess, Uuthüll looks like an Infernii beastie. What was the reason for splitting them off from the Byzantii? Was the allure of Darkage romans too much?
   
Made in gb
Fixture of Dakka






Sheffield, UK

Really nice miniatures. Such a shame this is all tied in with the dubious Maelstrom business.

Spain in Flames: Flames of War (Spanish Civil War 1936-39) Flames of War: Czechs and Slovaks (WWI & WWII) Sheffield & Rotherham Wargames Club

"I'm cancelling you, I'm cancelling you out of shame like my subscription to White Dwarf." - Mark Corrigan: Peep Show
 
   
Made in us
Alluring Sorcerer of Slaanesh





Union, Kentucky United States

Now I know why a lot of these are familiar as Simon was the sculptor. Great stuff all around and gl with them.

Listen, my children, as I pass onto you the truth behind Willy Wonka and his factory. For every wonka bar ever created in existance, Mr. Wonka sacraficed a single Oompa Loompa to the god of chocolate, Hearshys. Then, he drank the blood of the fallen orange men because he fed them a constant supply of sugary chocolate so they all became diabetic and had creamy, sweet-tasting blood that willy could put into each and every Wonka bar. That is the REAL story behind willy wonka's Slaughter House!  
   
Made in de
Decrepit Dakkanaut







Which other miniature company would present a close up of the balls as a teaser for their new miniature

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If you want to understand the concept of the "Greater Good", read this article, and you never again call Tau commies: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Utilitarianism 
   
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Unstoppable Bloodthirster of Khorne





Melbourne .au

I think that's a very special message from Rob Lane to gamers.

This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2012/11/09 23:24:39


   
Made in fi
Missionary On A Mission






 scipio.au wrote:
I think that's a very special message from Rob Lane to gamers.


Agreed, it's just my opinion but dont buy anything from EotS, Mierce, Maunsfeld or whatever they rename themselves to next week.

   
Made in es
Been Around the Block





WoooooWWW!! The new piece from Dan Cockersell is here!! Kind of Cthulhesque monstruosity!!


   
Made in gb
Battle-tested Knight Castellan Pilot




Poole, Dorset

It's a lovely sculpt and Daniel is a talented sculptor. However this sculpt will no doubt have been paid for by money embezzled from maelstrom customers by rob lane so on the boycott list it goes.

   
Made in us
Is 'Eavy Metal Calling?





Affton, MO. USA

Absolutely stunning....then again so is the price. If they'd give a size for it on the web site it might actually be worth it if it could stand eye o eye to a forgeworld greater daemon. I might have missed I there. Would have liked I more if they would have one of the feet bent slightly so it would be coming out of the water if based orrectly wih water effects.

LOL, Theo your mind is an amazing place, never change.-camkierhi 9/19/13
I cant believe theo is right.. damn. -comradepanda 9/26/13
None of the strange ideas we had about you involved your sexual orientation..........-Monkeytroll 12/10/13

I'd put you on ignore for that comment, if I could...Alpharius 2/11/14 
   
Made in gb
Rampaging Reaver Titan Princeps





Warwickscire

UNCLEBADTOUCH wrote:
It's a lovely sculpt and Daniel is a talented sculptor. However this sculpt will no doubt have been paid for by money embezzled from maelstrom customers by rob lane so on the boycott list it goes.
I'd be careful making statements like that especially if you are UK basesd. If you have no proof or your statement turns out to be false, you could be a minor target for libel...


Moving on...

Difficult to judge the size of the Kraken, but looks interesting for sure

Spotted these two as well:







   
Made in us
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I want one on those Cthulhu-esque things!

Do they really not give a size listing, or show a scale comparison shot? They usually do...

Also, for the work blocked - what's the price?

   
Made in gb
Rampaging Reaver Titan Princeps





Warwickscire

 Alpharius wrote:
what's the price?


£72 of your hard earned. I'd like to see more of that kraken myself.
   
Made in us
[DCM]
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-

£72...

Must mean it is big, maybe too big for any realistic 'counts as' applications.

Thanks!

   
Made in se
Dakka Veteran




Awesome stuff. Will definately buy a few of these badboys later. If they only would do a Christmas special sale. :p

   
Made in us
Mutating Changebringer





Pennsylvania

grefven wrote:
Awesome stuff. Will definately buy a few of these badboys later. If they only would do a Christmas special sale. :p


There will be a warehouse moving sale later...


   
Made in us
Wraith





 zedmeister wrote:
UNCLEBADTOUCH wrote:
It's a lovely sculpt and Daniel is a talented sculptor. However this sculpt will no doubt have been paid for by money embezzled from maelstrom customers by rob lane so on the boycott list it goes.
I'd be careful making statements like that especially if you are UK basesd. If you have no proof or your statement turns out to be false, you could be a minor target for libel...


That's been pretty well established that this was happening. I doubt they really want to start down that path.
   
Made in pt
Tea-Kettle of Blood




grefven wrote:
Awesome stuff. Will definately buy a few of these badboys later. If they only would do a Christmas special sale. :p


Don't forget to charge it on your CC, you might need the buyer protection...
   
Made in se
Dakka Veteran




Well now... 80% discount, yes please.

   
Made in us
Inspiring Icon Bearer






I'll order the stuff I like, but only through the war store from now on. Those guys are good peeps.

3000
4000 Deamons - Mainly a fantasy army now.
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Decrepit Dakkanaut







 Buzzsaw wrote:
grefven wrote:
Awesome stuff. Will definately buy a few of these badboys later. If they only would do a Christmas special sale. :p

There will be a warehouse moving sale later...

Code is KISSYOURMONEYGOODBYE

Hive Fleet Ouroboros (my Tyranid blog): http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/286852.page
The Dusk-Wraiths of Szith Morcane (my Dark Eldar blog): http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/364786.page
Kroothawk's Malifaux Blog http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/455759.page
If you want to understand the concept of the "Greater Good", read this article, and you never again call Tau commies: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Utilitarianism 
   
Made in gb
Using Object Source Lighting







 Kroothawk wrote:
 Buzzsaw wrote:
grefven wrote:
Awesome stuff. Will definately buy a few of these badboys later. If they only would do a Christmas special sale. :p

There will be a warehouse moving sale later...

Code is KISSYOURMONEYGOODBYE




Brilliant and sad at the same time.

   
Made in us
Willing Inquisitorial Excruciator






 Kroothawk wrote:
 Buzzsaw wrote:
grefven wrote:
Awesome stuff. Will definately buy a few of these badboys later. If they only would do a Christmas special sale. :p

There will be a warehouse moving sale later...

Code is KISSYOURMONEYGOODBYE


There was never any trouble with the Banelords/Banelegions side of things was there? Having multiple companies under one umbrella and then splitting them when one goes down is not remotely a new or unique situation.

People still do business with CoolMiniOrNot, and their owner (one of them anyway) was the owner of New Wave Miniatures, wasn't he? I guess time will settle things for Mierce Miniatures as well.

Just a little bemused by the piling on that is happening...

~Eric

   
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Regular Dakkanaut




These miniatures were all a part of the range that was purchased from Maelstrom in May (with negotiations starting in March) - Yes, it's the same owner but the deal was done legally and above board and a price was approved by an independent valuer - Maelstrom received more than a fair price for the range - All this 'transferred for a pound' rumours are just that - rumours from people that are just guessing at best and outright wrong at worst.

The deal that was done was in the tens of thousands of £s, which for a small, relatively unknown range with no game and modest sales (at that time there was little in the way of trade and distribution accs - something we have worked hard upon and grown since) was good money (I know of more popular ranges that have sold for less, some of which were touted to us and/or people I know in the past). A lot of those models had been out for a while and had their initial sales spike - many models do not sell well outside of the 1-3 month period after release, therefore they aren't worth as much as a brand new sculpt/release. Their value diminishes - yet we paid a fair price. Then work started the site which was (finally!) completed in Sept - Though we had worked with trade accs in the months prior to that as Mierce.

Maelstrom had that money and if anything it kept them running for longer. I cannot help what happened with MG and if anything we at Mierce have gone out of our way to help people out. In November I had all my guys working extra hours (which they volunteered for) to get all the MG unfulfilled Mierce customers orders fulfilled. This has cost us thousands in shipping and packing alone, not to mention the cost of materials and man hours - For a small miniatures company it was a bold move and has nearly broke us. We didn't get paid for that - We've been run in our own budget since the buyout - there was no money link and if people think we are rolling in money, you're very wrong!

We worked hard to get those orders fulfilled (and also keep our own orders fulfilled in a timely fashion) and had another blow when we discovered that the data we had from MG re: Unfulfilled orders was wrong and we now have more people to supply (in the NY as we don't have enough time factored in pre-Xmas as we have our own orders to ship and of course my staff want to have some time off with their familiy over the Xmas period) - All of this stock has to be cast and supplied as the stock levels on MGs site were wrong. More time and money for us for which we won't get a penny for as guess what, we're owed money by MG too!

Now I'm sorry if I'm biting here - but you have to understand I have staff here that have families to feed and rent to pay - When people are saying that Mierce has ripped people off and slag us off it can affect them. These guys at Mierce work hard to get minis sent to people and orders are usually shipped the same day they are placed and all customer orders since we launched our own site have been cleared and sent by the Fri of that week.

I can't do anything about MG customers with unfulfilled orders - at that point I was many months into my new tenure at Mierce - and yes people see the link, but if you think the money was hived off to us, you're having a laugh - Me and my staff had our wages paid a week late from Nov's wages as we had such a large shipping bill to pay for the stuff we sent out to MG customers - it cost us literally £thousands.

Yes, the range of miniatures began life under MG, yes it cost MG a lot of money to get the range established - but it also bought in a modest amount (nothing compared to MG's turnrover of course) and the range was largely funded by the staff working on the range - We had a very lucrative side line in selling off second hand minis via ebay that bought in around £2-2.5k a week which covered our wages and then went towards paying for the sculpts - between the amount we bought in via second hand on ebay and the actual sales of the minis the total cost to MG was very little - If you factor in the price we paid for the miniatures when we became a separate entity then MG will have made a modest profit overall on the range and second hand project as whole.

I've seen a lot of rumours about the total costs and they're very uninformed or selective in their info. I know the info on the cost of the minis first hand - It was me that worked overtime on our second-hand line every week for two months to fund the cost of the Chimaera sculpt in 2010!

We Mierce guys always wanted to be separate from MG as we wanted to be independent of any retailer and also to foster relations with other retailers easier. We had a separate part of the building, worked together and funded ourselves via our own sales and services (the only real cross-over was when I helped the events manager out with WFB events) - Finally, many months before MG went belly up we paid an amount to MG for the range that was valued by an independent, professional valuer.

Mierce hasn't ripped anyone off, nor are we in any way financially responsible for any debt MG have. It pains me to see people lose out, it honestly does. I'm a hobbyist and have been since 1990. I know personally some of the people that have lost out.

We at Mierce have also lost out - We've lost our largest customer - MG had selling power that's for sure - There are many ranges that have broken into the UK/Europe on the back of MG stocking their range. We're now waiting on our trade accs to pick up the slack, which is definitely happening as their sales are increasing though it will take time to get replace the lost sales via MG.

Also we've spent a lot of money we had built up on shipping the unfulfilled MG orders for Mierce product as we felt passionately about getting stock to people - We needn't have done that - In many ways we would have been better off to the tune of a few £k but nonetheless we did it and hopefully a couple of hundred customers will have got their stuff in time for Xmas - No it doesn't help everyone, but it's the best we can do. I've thanked my staff members personally for the effort they have put in and I'd like to thank them here as well - They have worked their socks off and busted a nut to get those orders out. Resin casting is a slow and labour intensive process (though one with great results)! and it wasn't easy.

The elephant in the room - Rob Lane. Everyone hates him, he ripped loads of people off right? Put it this way he doesn't have £500k in his back pocket because of this (the total debt to suppliers wasn't £500k that's end of years accounts the debt was more like £200k with GW @ circa £40k) - And Rob struggles to pay his mortgage every month and feed his missus and kids like the rest of us. There's no throne of gold that he's cackling atop. I know Rob, I've known him years we played in the same wargames club for many a year. I know how this has affected him, I've seen him age before my eyes in the last few months. Is he a crook? No (I wouldn't work for him if so) . Has he made mistakes with MG? Yes. When GW stopped MG from selling to the rest of the world removing £1,2million from turnover at a stroke maybe he should perhaps have laid off 20 staff there and then and sold off the gaming venue and the mini range back then and ran the online store from a facelesss unit in the middle of nowhere. But he didn't, he tried to keep things going, which as a person it is to his credit as all those staff managed to pay the bills for another 18 months during a world-wide recession. In hindsight had he been a more ruthless person he'd have done that and many staff would have been made redundant. People have certainly lost out on money on orders they placed with MG and that's terrible, though it's as a result of Rob not wanting to lay off a load of staff. Did Rob want this to happen? NO, he's been backed into a corner - he had a plan, it was stuttering along but the debt was being reduced (at the end it was around £96k, but that was down from £120k earlier in the year so progress was being made and payments were being made) in the end once the rug was pulled he was out of time and out of money. Some people out there have lost out on a large amount of their disposable income that they spent on miniatures that were never sent. I know a lot of people that have lost their jobs - Rob himself also just lost his main source of income (MG). It's not like the guy planned to lose his main source of income, make redundant all his staff, become an internet pariah, blacken his name and enrage a load of customers - oh and lose the company that he had spent years building up and was emotinally invested in not to mention financially. Cash flow kills companies and in the end the cash flow was wrecked and he was ruined. I don't doubt that there are certain people in some quarters that have taken a great delight in this - But in the end the whole story will emerge and some people out there are far from innocent in all of this despite the smoke and mirrors.

Mierce's future remains very much under Rob's stewardship - he will write the game, he is the guy with the vision who will bring the stuff in his head to life. Mierce remains fiercely independent and there is no legal challenge anywhere from anyone to Mierce's ownership. None.

If the GW decision to stop traders from selling to the RoW was such a massive blow to MG then I'm afraid there's another one coming that will be the death knell of all large online retailers within the UK that sell a lot of GW..... GW will soon be bringing in a new addition to their T&Cs. Retailers will be limited to selling £75k of GW product a year. By comparison that's roughly the amount MG would order from GW in two weeks. Yup, two weeks and GW was roughly 50-55% of MGs turnover. So that said I think the days of the giant mega-online store are over (in the UK/Europe at least) . The future is in many smaller stores all ticking over. I wouldn't be placing a GW order with a massive store as once that change comes in someone is going the way of MG..........

OK I've said my peace - I'm not sure what difference it will make in the grand scheme of things. I won't be dragged into a long internet debate as I'm not sure anyone has ever seen one of those resolve amicably, and I have nothing more to add- I shall concern myself with posting purely on Mierce matters from now on. I can't do anything about Mierce other than the Mierce team have done their best to help out in all of this and we continue to send orders out promptly.

Scale shots will appear soon -I shall have a load of images to post with different angles, concepts and scale shots. UUthull stands a little smaller than Krull (though it would be a good scrap to watch!) and is about 100mm to his eyeline with the tip of his anchor being some 182mm from the ground.

Order via CC - I always do even from the likes of Amazon. Order from one of our retailers - There are many retailers stocking the range now MG are no longer around and our trade sales continue to increase. In addition to retailers we have two distributors in the US, one in Germany and one in the UK.

All I can say for customer confidence is that we cast all of our range in house ourselves. We'll make it then send it to you we're completely in control of getting our product out the door. No supplier issues as we're the supplier. Sometimes there's a short delay if we have a lot to cast/send out but as I say so far we've cleared/cast/packed all Mierce orders by the end of every week, usually same day. There should be a couple of hundred MG customers with orders for Mierce product fulfilled by now and even during that period we still sent out our own orders swiftly. The last 27 MG orders will ship early/mid Jan when we get back from Xmas hols.






   
Made in se
Giggling Nurgling




Sverige

Sorry, the connection to MG will haunt you for some time. For me it's not the money, I just don't like being lied to. Which I clearly was.

Best of luck building up your reputation.

   
Made in gb
Utilizing Careful Highlighting





cornwall

"These miniatures were all a part of the range that was purchased from Maelstrom in May (with negotiations starting in March) - Yes, it's the same owner but the deal was done legally and above board and a price was approved by an independent valuer - Maelstrom received more than a fair price for the range - All this 'transferred for a pound' rumours are just that - rumours from people that are just guessing at best and outright wrong at worst."


soooo he perchased them from himself ?
   
Made in nl
Zealous Knight







 CURNOW wrote:
"These miniatures were all a part of the range that was purchased from Maelstrom in May (with negotiations starting in March) - Yes, it's the same owner but the deal was done legally and above board and a price was approved by an independent valuer - Maelstrom received more than a fair price for the range - All this 'transferred for a pound' rumours are just that - rumours from people that are just guessing at best and outright wrong at worst."


soooo he perchased them from himself ?


...Yes? If, as our anonymous Mierce representative claims, this transaction was made at fair market value that is entirely above board and in no way immoral per se.
I personally doubt the facts are quite like this guy claims - but without evidence to that effect (which is up to MG's administrators now), it's hard to claim some wrong was committed in this transfer of assets/separation of operations - which, again, is a perfectly valid thing to do on it's own.
What went wrong with MG is, as Laffe somewhat puts it already, and I believe the MM rep sort-of says as well (though not in that way, obviously) that they simply faced changing business conditions in entirely the wrong way (roaring the proverbial challenge and charging headlong into it instead of making a tactical withdrawal as they should have) and then tried to lie and connive their way out of it.

That's the issue, and that's why I don't trust Mierce one bit until I have at least the supposedly shipped MG orders fulfilled by them in my hands (I tend to think they'll have done that - it'd be commercial suicide not to! but I don't have that package in my hands just yet) and even then, with mr. Lane's involvement, I'll never ever buy from them directly.

...But that is not, for me, and should not be for anyone who knows the first bit about how these things can, and are perfectly allowed to, go, because of these transfers of assets until they've been proven not only to be a bit more of a shade of grey than our anonymous MM rep claims, but proven to have been fraudulent. Really, I don't discount the possibility but no evidence of malversation in that aspect of this whole mess has been shown, so until that happens it's not really fair to go off making all kinds of accusations of such fraud.

Do mr. Lane's businesses deserve trust or loyalty? Certainly not. But accusing someone of fraud like that goes a wee bit too far.

I do suggest we take this whole thing back to discussions from here on out; while I don't think it's entirely unfair to MM to continue it here, this is hardly news.
Rumours enough certainly, but not of the kind this subforum is intended for
   
Made in us
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The kraken needs more angles shot on the the website, a 360 video/gif wouldn't hurt actually.

3000
4000 Deamons - Mainly a fantasy army now.
Tomb Kings-2500 Escalation League for 2012

href="http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/311987.page ">Painting and Modeling Blog
 
   
Made in gb
Major




London

Anything that's been near Rob Lanes name, let alone is owned by him, will never see a penny out of me. Friends of mine lost money with no expectation of ever being able to see it again.

This message was edited 2 times. Last update was at 2012/12/12 20:19:22


 
   
Made in gb
Decrepit Dakkanaut




UK

I like the minis (especially Octithulu)

and apreciate you putting forward your side of the story (and am glad that you chose to fulfill the maelstrom orders for the meirce range)

once the insolvency has gone through and there is official confirmation mierce sale was above board I may concider shopping with you again... at the moment I'm just a bit too nervous

 
   
 
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