Update #57
Mar 14 2014
It's a Friday, innit
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On Fridays we show you images of sculpts in in progress as well as other stuff pertinent to this project, such as fulfilment news, sculptor news, and so on and so forth.
It's Friday, so here we go...
Dúngal, Mormaer of Dun Durn on Horse
Our Albainn warlord is now complete, as you can see... Olivier Nkweti's done a great job and is already moving on to Hanokh and Thoth!
Dúngal on horseback will be with us soon, but he's a Wave 1 dude so he'll be sent in June.
Leofwen, Thegn of Déra on Foot
Having completed Annik, Stéphane Simon is moving on to another of our ladies, Leofwen!
Angedern, Prifdyndraig of Gwaelod
Roberto's just about finished Angedern and I think it's right to say that he's looking brilliant! There's still a few bits and pieces to do, the legs need more work and possibly lengthening, but you can see straight away that this guy is going to be awesome!
Angedern should be finished fairly soon but, of course, he won't be sent until June as he's a Wave 1 doo-dah.
Erebius, Demiurion
It's been a while since the last
WIP of Tre Manor's work on Erebius, but we think Erebius is really coming on!
It will be a while before Erebius is done as Tre is very busy of course, but he should still land ready for Wave 1.
Idruaada, Warlock Lord of Baalor
Idruaada is progressing nicely thanks to Gauthier's attention, as you can see! Although, we must apologies for the pictures; they're not brilliant...
Once more, Idruaada is a Wave 1 sculpt.
Syntyss, Seed of Khthon
Fresh from completing work on Myrinna, Hector Moran's almost completed Syntyss, the Dawn of Khthon's banner bearer. She's looking fantastic!
The Dawn of Khthon are slated for Wave 1 of course, and we're confident Hector will get them all done in time!
Jörmungand, Troll Jarl
Ahh, Jörmungand... what a beast of a Troll! He really is superb, and we want to have Allan Carrasco's babies. Especially when he gets round to the Troll Konungr... ahem.
Jörmungand will, of course, be finished in time for Wave 1 shipment.
Darklands: First Edition Fulfilment
We are now shipping Wave 0 orders to backers from this project, but we would ask all of you to remain patient while we do so. We are only a small team and are still fulfilling the remaining orders for Darklands: a World of War, and we do expect to continue fulfilling Wave 0 orders throughout March and no doubt later. Having said that, we reckon we'll be concentrating on Wave 0 orders only very soon, and we're thinking that shipment of all Wave 0 orders will be complete in April.
We will keep you all updated of course.
Sculpts and Sculptors
Here's the big list of who's sculpting what and when for Darklands: First Edition! Please bear in mind that this list may change over time, so don't take it as set in stone until the first work in progress shots appear.
Olivier Bouchet: we erroneously reported that Thelliatiss was being sculpted by Olivier Nkweti last time - apologies for that! Olivier Bouchet has taken her on, and she will be sculpted traditionally.
Stéphane Cammosetto: Stéphane will start work on Eadric on foot and on horse in April
Allan Carrasco: starting in April, Allan will be sculpting Knútr on Foot, Knútr on Horse, Víthar, Birna, Rollo Iron Head and Cnebba.
Roberto Chaudon: Angedern is in progress, and he will be followed by Mag
ap Mag, Mälmord, Ágriosávra, Eikovra, Myrkranio and finally Djiuzu.
Daniel Cockersell: the Daddy of all monster sculptors, Dan has begun work on Scecchus, but it will be a while before he is done.
Benoît Cosse: Benoît is still working on Darklands: a World of War miniatures and won't start Hrór, Finnan, Praach and Baagath's Herd for a good long while yet.
Thomas David: work on Timoth has begun, but we only have an armature so there's not a great deal to see.
Pedro Fernández Ramos: He'll soon begin work on Mananaan on horse.
Yannick Fusier: the awesome Bagseg is nearly done, and hopefully Yannick will continue his work with us in the future... on the Oghurithne warriors!
Jacques-Alexandre Gillois: he should begin work on Daarkan, Naraa and both Equitus Durio on foot and Equitus Durio on horse soon. Although not necessarily in that order, and we're not sure when - we just know they'll be done before May.
Gauthier Giroud: work on Idruaada has begun and it shouldn't be too long before it's complete.
Stéphane NGuyen: Stéphane should begin work on Seza soon, but we're not sure when right now.
Christian Hardy: Christian will begin work on Aldhelm (taken from Maxime Penaud), Velchior and Agathae soon.
Tre Manor: Tre of Red Box Games fame will be taking time out for us to sculpt Erebius, which is now underway.
Patrick Masson: It's Gaarwäg for Patrick next, although he won't be complete until May.
Hector Moran: Work on the Dawn of Khthon, Gorgórar Unit is ongoing and after that he will be digitally sculpting Con I Modius, Legionary Contubernium.
Olivier Nkweti: He has started work on digitally sculpting Hanokh and Thoth.
Juan Navarro Pérez: Urien on foot is in progress, and Urien on horse, Carys, Caedoc and Ffion Ferddig will follow.
Stéphane Simon: we've loaded Stéphane up with Leofwen on foot, Crom on horse, Zethag, Gondard and his Nithing, Ekk, Xontór, the Holumenn Unit and the Gesíth Unit. Phew!
Valentin Zak: Valentin will sculpt Broga for us and will begin doing so soon.
Unknown: the remaining three descendants, which are Rick Boer's Frisian Warrior (due to be drawn by Stefan Kopinski), Trytheorn, Tomas Johansson's Geat Warrior (drawn by Danny Cruz, and hopefully sculpted by Juan Navarro Pérez) and Maximilian Schüte's Germanic Berserker.
Now that is a lot of sculpts...
Completed Sculpts
We thought this would be a good idea, as things are cracking on - a list of completed sculpts, in kindred order! Completed sculpts are in bold; in progress sculpts are in italics.
ALBAINN: Dúngal on foot - Dúngal on horse - Ciniod - Itaina - Domnech - Bagseg
ANGELCYNN: Eadric on foot - Eadric on horse - Timoth - Aldhelm - Hrór - Leofwen on foot - Gesíth Unit - Cnebba
BRYTHONIAID: Urien on foot - Urien on horse - Carys - Caedoc - Ffion Ferddig - Angedern - Mag
ap Mag
BYZANTII: Equitus Durio on foot - Equitus Durio on horse - Erebius - Agathae - Velchior - Djiuzu - Con I Modius
FOMORAIC: Mananaan on foot - Mananaan on horse - Idruaada - Daarkan - Naraa - Gaarwäg - Baagath's Herd - Praach
INFERNII: Scecchus
KHTHONES: Xontór - Thelliatiss - Dawn of Khthon (Myrinna - Syntyss - Thillia - Phyllidii - Elthissi) - Thoth - Hanokh - Ágriosávra - Eikovra - Myrkranio
NORSE: Knútr on foot - Knútr on horse - Birna - Víthar - Rollo Iron Head - Jörmungand - Hrafnen Crew - Mälmord
YSIANS: Crom on foot - Crom on horse - Annik - Zethag - Gondard - Brugg - Seza
SELL-SWORDS: Uhtred Uhtredson, Finnan, Danilo Cruz
DESCENDANTS: Ieuan Longshore and Taranau, Trytheorn, Rick Boer's Frisian Warrior, Max Schüte's German Berserker
Let us know if we've missed anything!
Darklands: First Edition II
Okay, the time has come to reveal a little more on our next project, "Darklands: First Edition II", as it starts in less than two weeks...
The definite (barring a zombie apocalypse) start date of this project will be Monday the 24th of March, and it should end thirty days later on Wednesday the 23rd of April. This neatly avoids Salute 2014 the weekend before (12th of April), at which we will have a stall, and is just after the easter holidays. We'll be running it for the full thirty days this time, too!
Whilst the dates for the next project lie before Darklands: First Edition begins to be fulfilled, there'll be no conflict between the two because the next project simply adds to this project, and adds units mostly.
What's the Focus?
The focus of Darklands: First Edition II is, put very simply, the creation of units for eight kindreds in Darklands - Albainn, Angelcynn, Brythoniaid, Byzantii/Infernii, Fomoraic, Khthones, Norse and Ysians/Vras. The Érainn and Atalantes miss out again, but do not worry - KS3 will drain your wallets, if you're interested in those kindreds!
Now, when the project begins, you'll be able to purchase one unit from each of the eight kindreds immediately, and the "ALL THE UNITS" reward will include all of them for one price at a further discount, but (as was the case in this project for generals and commanders) if the stretch goal total for a unit is not met, that unit will not be produced. We do expect to reach all of the unit goals, however!
That's not to say there won't be other, single miniatures for you all - there certainly will be, and some awesome things too. There'll be commanders, beasts, more units, monstrous beasts, all sorts, really - although they will depend upon stretch goals!
We'll also allow people to purchase both the Darklands rulebook (on its own, without Uhtred and Finnan), the Concept Art book and possibly a couple of other rewards from the First Edition project, but the whole thing will be a lot easier to grasp this time - there'll be no "hosts" or "starter sets" or anything like that, because they become incredibly complicated over time (and are a nightmare post-Kickstarter). Don't recoil in horror, however - we've hit upon a system that will replicate the discounts you got with those but also enables you to choose what freebies you'd like with what you purchase!
Gold and Bronze
That system is very simple. Each item on the project has a gold cost and a bronze cost in pounds sterling. If you purchase the "THE GOLD SPOT", the "ALL THE UNITS" or the "YOU'RE THEIR DESCENDANT" rewards, any purchase you make above what you get from those rewards will be at the gold cost, which is roughly 20% off the projected
UK RRP of the item in question. If you haven't purchased those rewards, you must purchase those items at bronze cost, roughly 10% off the projected
UK RRP of the item in question.
What's the Rewards?
There'll be four in total - "I JUST WANT SOME COOL MINIATURES", "THE GOLD SPOT", "ALL THE UNITS" and "YOU'RE THEIR DESCENDANT". We've got rid of the "Darklands & Uhtred" reward - instead, you can purchase the Darklands book and Concept Art book, and you don't get Uhtred on foot or Finnan (although you can get those separately if you want them).
"I JUST WANT SOME COOL MINIATURES" bronze reward - for those who want a few single miniatures or other bits from the project, which will be purchased them at bronze cost.
"THE GOLD SPOT" gold reward - this is the one to go for; it gives you a freebie and also allows you to purchase items at gold cost. Additionally, if you go for this reward, you'll get some other extras... which we'll reveal on the day ;o)
"ALL THE UNITS" gold reward - this enables you to purchase all of the units shown at the beginning, at an almost 40% discount from buying them individually, and any future purchases will be at gold cost. This is a fantastic deal!
The "YOU'RE THEIR DESCENDANT" reward mirrors the one from this project, and enables you to purchase stuff at gold cost.
There's plenty more to it than that, but that's a simple overview of what you can expect.
Note, too, there'll be no "early bird" discounts - that won't make sense with the system we've come up with.
Shipping
There will be "Shipment Waves" in a similar manner to this project in the next one, but shipping will work very differently in terms of how you pay for it. This time, you will not be asked to add shipping when you make your pledge; you will simply pay for shipping in the post-project pledge management phase, on our website. This avoids many issues surrounding postage, not the least of which is increasing the pledge total artificially. To illustrate, around £5,000 of this project's total was in shipping - and that should not contribute towards stretch goals, because that money is destined to pay for shipping alone.
Now, we are aiming to have the website coded so that you will pay for shipping in a streamlined manner next time, as pretty much all of the questions asked of this project after it finished was about postage - but if the website isn't updated, please don't hurt us... time is a limited commodity!
Any more?
There's more, of course, but we've not decided on everything - and all of the above could change before the project begins (although this is unlikely now, except for minor things) - so please don't ask for more specifics yet!
Spread the word!
There's only two more updates to go before the project begins... eeek! Tell your friends, acquaintances and relatives - we need their support as much as yours!
To whet your appetite, here's a concept of a miniature that we hope we'll get to during the course of the next project...
Yrag, Nithing
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