Mierce Miniatures Darklands Ongoing News and Rumors Thread! Darklands Rulebook ships on April 18!

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**greywulf**

One of the reasons i stopped pledging many campaigns ago was they no longer declare who the intended sculptor will be. Anyone know who the sculptord are here?

**RiTides**

Henry wrote:

By going for the metal deal you get the small troops in the much tougher metal and the big guys in loverly high detail resin. If you want Erainn it's sort of a no-brainer I reckon.

Ah, that's more like it! I feel like it can't be cost effective for them to make the larger sculpts in metal, particularly while also offering in resin. Glad to see something that isn't doubled up in that sense.

**Undead_Love-Machine**

greywulf wrote:
One of the reasons i stopped pledging many campaigns ago was they no longer declare who the intended sculptor will be. Anyone know who the sculptord are here?

I totally agree, I would find it incredibly difficult to pledge based on the artwork alone.

Knowing who the sculptor will be is vital.

**OrlandotheTechnicoloured**

greywulf wrote:
One of the reasons i stopped pledging many campaigns ago was they no longer declare who the intended sculptor will be. Anyone know who the sculptord are here?

Valentin Zak for the Erainn according to Rob (assuming of course he says yes)

**zedmeister**

Also, Edgar and Aragorn are doing the next load of Jutes

**ulgurstasta**

Quite dull initial offerings, wake me up when we start seeing fomoraic or kthones

**Henry**

Both Fomoraic an Khthone have been hinted at over £100k.

So far it's:
10k Jute
20k Albainn
30k Anglecynn
40k Érainn
50k Byzantii/Infernii

That leaves the 60-90 goals as Atalantes, Brythoniaid, Norse and Ysians.
Bit of a slow burner this one. Hope Rob's got some tweenies up his sleeve to entice us with.

**RiTides**

Yeah, I'm surprised they didn't do something like 5-man units so that they could cut each goal in half... those are some long stretches (especially in pounds, for those of us having to convert over - Byzantii/Infernii are at $76,000).

**Ken Oakley**

When I heard that there was going to be cavalry in the Savage Hordes, I was excited. Then word came out they were going to be metal. I'm in. Then I find out we need to get to $200,000 before they're produced. I'm out. I have way to many resin miniatures which I'm afraid to play with cause they're so fragile.I haven't received the last 2 KSer that I was in from Mierce, so I'm going to pass on this one until I receive them.
I think my main problem is it takes so long to receive the product after the KS ends. I know that's the way KS works and I guess I'm just burned out. (unless the mounted cavalry is in)

**OrlandotheTechnicoloured**

The apparently got so much feedback (I read the this as grief/hassle) last time from people not wanting 'piecemeal' stuff, and 'why don't you unlock a whole horde at once' from new kindreds that they decided to try it that way, giving people what they asked for as it were

(I didn't really see it in the comments but then I wasn't really concerned with how they unlocks happened, just that they did (and who knows what private messages got sent)

it's hard to say if it's the wrong move yet though as this did launch unexpectedly backer numbers are about the same as new kindreds, but the total is down about 25% (but then metal hordes are cheaper than resin and I would not be surprised if that made up the difference.

but the key is it has funded on day 1, so can now safely grow as people see it is going to deliver whenever they glance at it

**RiTides**

Yeah but the only issue is they are actively encouraging people to add items that don't unlock for another almost $40K USD beyond what is currently pledged (the Erainn). So, if people continue to add for things that far off, it could cause issues later, particularly with a short campaign. Almost everyone is pledged for something that isn't unlocked at the moment... that works when campaigns have momentum, but was also something some of the RBG campaigns struggled with. It's a calculated risk... I think these first 4 factions are likely to fund, but it seems like they need to see how much momentum there is if it can get beyond that.

Of course, these campaigns tend to exceed expectations, so they may blast it all out of the water. That would be great, but the risk is they need to unlock more things to get there... which is why I think if they decide to lessen the goals, unlocking 5-man units could help with that.

**Henry**

OrlandotheTechnicoloured wrote:
but the key is it has funded on day 1, so can now safely grow as people see it is going to deliver whenever they glance at it

Provided the total reaches what people want to unlock their kindreds. Mine sit at 30k, 50k and 100k, so I'm confident that I'll get two see two kindreds worth. It's the people who are chipping in now in the hope of seeing their kindred unlock, only to find they've been slotted in at 80k or 90k who might remove their backing if this doesn't look like it's going to fund that high. They might be holding off until their kindred is unlocked. Only Rob knows the habits of his backers.

**OrlandotheTechnicoloured**

They always have though,

for new kindreds with the piecemeal unlocks the hordes that the pledge levels were based on (and almost everybody was pledging for) basically didn't exist until the 'lesser beasts' unlocked at £40,000

(unless you were getting already existing stuff, and you could in theory do the same here)

it's certainly a risk, but Mierce does have a strong back catalogue to pick from instead so at least some backers would stick and use it for that even if something isn't unlocked (I know I've done that before with them and would do so again)

the only other option I see is unlocking individual units one at a time (with plenty of stretch goals shown), but discounting them individually rather than in hordes...

but if they did that I bet there'd be a huge push by lots of backers for hordes at even bigger discounts, people seem to like being sold discount bundles (both for the discounts and as they let them build armies without too much thought)

**RiTides**

I didn't realize they would apply the credit to existing items (is that clear on the page?). That makes more sense then... thanks Orlando!

**OrlandotheTechnicoloured**

You can always spend your KS cash on anything they make, your pledge just gets turned into credit in their webstore

previously (and I guess this time) we've had a small window of a month or so where all existing stuff is 20% of MSRP, not such a big discount as the prices of the stuff specifically included in the KS, but still good

(Rob is usually willing to let new backers also access the previous KS catagories too so they can get unreleased stuff from them as well)

**Bossk_Hogg**

RiTides wrote:
I didn't realize they would apply the credit to existing items (is that clear on the page?). That makes more sense then... thanks Orlando!

Yeah, it all goes into "moneyback". You can then spend on whatever, even previous kickstarters. I think they should promote their back catalogue a bit on the main page for this KS as well, to let people know that a pledge wont go to waste if they dont unlock the host you want. MIght prevent some pulling out later if certain hosts dont fund.

**RiTides**

Orlando / Bossk - Ah, but this is just items that have been released to retail, right? I think that was my confusion - since most of the items still are not that far, so I don't think I got access to them in my Monstrous Mounts Kickstarter pledge (and didn't realize you could ask for access).

It is a bit frustrating to google a Mierce model, see the preview text in google, then get taken to the "you don't have access to this part of the store" page on the Mierce site! But this is very good to know, thanks

**Bossk_Hogg**

RiTides wrote:
Orlando / Bossk - Ah, but this is just items that have been released to retail, right? I think that was my confusion - since most of the items still are not that far, and I don't think I got access to them in my Monstrous Mounts Kickstarter pledge (and didn't realize you could ask for access).

It should give you access to "existing miniatures", and any other KS you have backed or requested access to. I've backed everything but first edition. I think I ended up just using my Might Monsters 2 pledge money on something from New Kindreds. If they only thing you backed was MOnstrous Mounts, that's probably all you can see. But like others said, ask Rob and he'll probably grant you access. That way you can essentially late pledge for an earlier KS on things which havent been delivered, and still help out this project.

**zedmeister**

£15k Stretch goal and it's another host! No artwork yet - explained below

Sadly I have no artwork at the moment (Danny's had issues with his hands), but I can tell you exactly what we have at £15,000.

At £15,000 will be an Infantry Starter Host - £60 metal, £90 resin - comprising the following:

1x Eormanræd
1x Garric (host banner bearer) -
10x Wihtaxas (Wihts - alternates of the Wihtboga - armed with Ax and Grave Lantern)
3x Tomb Spiders (alternates of Gol Gul, on 80mm bases)

Eormanræd is our lovely Cant Forthain. Metal or resin, £6 (metal) or £9 (resin) outside the host.

Garric is a completely new Host Banner Bearer for the Jutes. £9 (metal) or £13 (resin) outside the host.

Wihtaxas - Wihts with axes - have an Ax for close combat work and a Grave Lantern, which is similar to the Gāst Tomb Lanterns but less powerful. Metal and Resin, same price as Wihtboga outside the host, £27 (metal) or £58.

Tomb Spiders are alternates of the smaller Gol Gul. You may not know this, but the first iteration of Gol Gul was too small; we've mashed it up to make a unit of three slightly different Tomb Spiders on 80m bases. These are resin only, unit of three is £60 RRP, so £54 in resin.

So there you have it! Something awesome for you now we've reached £50k - get adding for it!

Automatically Appended Next Post:
This little teaser just dropped:

Imagine Sávrar. You'll get both Javelin-armed Sávrar and sword/shield Sávrar

**PirateRobotNinjaofDeath**

I'd read something somewhere that led me to the impression that the 3d CAD sculpts of the Jute models are being 3d-printed, rather than hand-sculpted with the 3d images as a reference. Is that correct or am I mistaken?

**Bossk_Hogg**

PirateRobotNinjaofDeath wrote:
I'd read something somewhere that led me to the impression that the 3d CAD sculpts of the Jute models are being 3d-printed, rather than hand-sculpted with the 3d images as a reference. Is that correct or am I mistaken?

Correct. There's not much point to making 3D renders to then hand sculpt them - that's a lot of duplication of effort.

This isnt their first foray into 3d sculpt/prints. The eye of baalor, the taelu and the legionaries were all 3d sculpts. I'm guessing the 3d sculpts make it easier to do alterations of them. I think we'll see the Byzanti legionaries with javelins as well. While they werent 3d sculpted, it seems likely we'll see an alt of the Bythoniaid rhyfelwyr, since they have bows on the figures.

**highlord tamburlaine**

Hydra guys were also 3d sculpts.

**Barzam**

Wiht's with axes you say? It's something I'd like, but given how far behind on everything they are, I'm extremely hesitant to put money down for them.

**razormage**

highlord tamburlaine wrote:
Hydra guys were also 3d sculpts.

So were the Dawn of Khthon, the female snakes.

**Bolognesus**

And for that matter the warriors of Baalor. They've done a fair few by now.

**Alpharius**

Bossk_Hogg wrote:
PirateRobotNinjaofDeath wrote:
I'd read something somewhere that led me to the impression that the 3d CAD sculpts of the Jute models are being 3d-printed, rather than hand-sculpted with the 3d images as a reference. Is that correct or am I mistaken?

Correct. There's not much point to making 3D renders to then hand sculpt them - that's a lot of duplication of effort.

This isnt their first foray into 3d sculpt/prints. The eye of baalor, the taelu and the legionaries were all 3d sculpts. I'm guessing the 3d sculpts make it easier to do alterations of them. I think we'll see the Byzanti legionaries with javelins as well. While they werent 3d sculpted, it seems likely we'll see an alt of the Bythoniaid rhyfelwyr, since they have bows on the figures.

Bolognesus wrote:And for that matter the warriors of Baalor. They've done a fair few by now.

Same thing guy!

The Eye Ascendant, Warriors of Baalor

http://lands-of-darkness.wikidot.com/the-eye-ascendant

**zedmeister**

Khthones are going to be a £60k goal

**Alpharius**

And the new Jutes muster is up too:

http://www.mierce-miniatures.com/darklands_first_edition/darklands_kindred_jutes_muster_v1.06.pdf

**Bolognesus**

...oops.

And yay @ Khthones @60k, I was starting to get worried there might literally be nothing for me to back here.

**Alpharius**

I'm getting more and more tempted by Jutes...especially now that many of them are available in metal!