The Longest Update in the History of Updates
Let’s start with news about delivery.
The base game and the sleeves are on the boat. They should be delivered in the middle of January. We’ll let you all know with an update and pictures of the massive amount of materials.
We’ll have our advanced copies by December 16th/17th. Any copies for review will come out of these.
The second wave of minis are in production. I have pictures of final models below. The files for the second wave of printing have been submitted, but are being purposefully delayed because…
…the third wave of sculpts have not been approved at this time. We expect to approve them before Christmas, but that delay puts us in the middle of two holidays: Christmas and Chinese New Year. This delay rests solely on us. There are three minis that needed some tweaking: the minotaur, the rat king, and the dragon. You can see these miniatures and the adjustments we are making in the photos below. EVERYTHING is done and approved except for these sculpts.
This creates a bit of a problem for us. The second wave of printing covers tiles and cards, but it also covers the packaging for the second and third wave of minis. Because the packaging covers both the 2nd and 3rd miniature waves, the entirety is delayed.
Sincerest apologies aside; what does this mean to you? It takes roughly three weeks to process orders. The new schedule has us receiving the second shipment (the one with all the stretch goals) in the middle of March.
Domestic customers will receive a shipment in early February (the base game, metals, shirts, litho,
BF insert, and sleeves) and in early April (the stretch goals). International customers will receive one shipment in April. We are very confident in where we are now. You need only see the photos and the minor adjustments we are making to see how close we are to done. In fact, I am much more at ease as I write this than I have been in months, because so much is absolutely done, approved, and in production. And, we know exactly how long production takes.
But we also understand Kickstarter and right now you might be saying to yourself, “Here we go again…another infinitely delayed
KS.” We want to reassure all backers with a guarantee. We are so confident you’ll have your game and stretch goals within five months of the original date that we will give a refund to anyone who requests their money back if we fail to deliver your pledge before June 31st, 2014.
Logistics and business aside, let’s take a look at all the stuff we have in and haven’t shown:
Trickster
Spriggan
Skald
Conner and painted Brigand.
Twilight Knight...this is just an amazing sculpt. This picture doesn't come close to doing this model justice.
Tailless and Keesi & Og
Syclopt and friends.
This model is so much cooler than I thought it was going to be. It really surprised me. His back is so nasty...super happy with how he turned out. Oh...and the painted Archer.
Ia and friends
This boss feels cool, and the arch of the back makes a figure that is static truly dynamic. His friend, the painted Apprentice.
Bones is massive. He is over four inches wide. And the painted Acolyte, which you have seen.
Orcneas, Master of Master is a BOSS! He is freakin' huge. I think our painted Soldier is a deadman. Just speakin the trooft
Boss group shot. Gonna have me some fun....
Prepare to be impressed when you get your pledge. I expected a lot from what we have done, but we have exceeded even my lofty expectations. I couldn't be more proud of what we are giving you.
These are just the samples they sent. Obviously all the Heroes will be represented. The cards fit very nicely, and the plastic is very strong. The images are vibrant and hold Keith's art very well.
It is a three piece insert.
The tiles and boards fit underneath. Sorry about the blurry picture.
The Battle Foam insert fits in the box wonderfully. As stated it is three pieces. The pictures above are the mock up. Depending on what you do with your dice, you'll have 9 extra Minion slots, and 2 extra Captain slots.
Soldier - front
Soldier - back
The metal tokens and coins are done. Here is a sample. They are pretty sexy. We were very pleased with how these turned out. We think you will, as well. You'll also be happy to know, they fit perfectly into the Hero Boards.
Here is the final sculpt of the Torchbearer. Tom did an amazing job on him. Announcing him was one of my favorite times in the Kickstarter. He was inspired by all of you, and your tremendous outpouring and support.
You'll notice the Iathi Lair is less phalic. Yes, we noticed it as well.
Traps - Done.
Etrus the Last. I love his backstory.
Etrus is one of the 3rd wave sculpts that ISN'T approved. You get a really good idea how close everything is to being done. The correction may seem very small, but it is important enough to us to delay the 3rd wave (which delays all of the stretch goals). Basically, the underside of his hammer is too smooth. It removes the believability of the model. It breaks the 4th wall, if you will. We also wanted to make his smile more menacing, and less happy.
Urulock
Size comparison with the Acolyte.
This is another of the 3rd wave sculpts that isn't approved. His hindquarters are a little too plain. They lack texture. Simply put, they are too smooth and won't hold paint very well. Once again, you can see that the delay is really about making minor changes to an already finished model.
The Rat King. My wife gets grossed out just looking at it.
This is the last of the models that need tweaked. The tails should be smooth, not furry. Once again, a very simple fix.
Alt Hero - Fighter
Alt Hero - Brigand
Alt Hero - Acolyte
Alt Hero - Apprentice
If you are wondering about the Archer, for some reason the picture won't transfer/link. Other images, we are keeping back for other updates (Duncan's Trickster level is getting his own update, so you can see everything at one time).
The Kickstarter's success has allowed us to hire a long time member of the MERCS team, Tom Mason. He is the sculptor behind Marcus the Ready and the Torchbearer. He is an amazing sculptor and is responsible for nearly half the MERCS teams. We are so very happy to have him aboard. It really helps streamline MERCS, Myth, and undisclosed future products.
The front door.
The front room. To the left is the gaming room/testing room. To the right is our offices. Straight back is the warehouse. It smells like victory
[img]https://s3.amazonaws.com/ksr/assets/001/434/001/5a2c163c1098e29ba61ea737ba7d32ed_large.jpg?1386790779
Tight Money guarding the doors.
When creating a company, you have ideas about what you'll be doing, none of which tend to be correct, and where you will work. We have had the good pleasure of inhabiting our own office for four weeks. It is still a work in progress, but things are moving forward. It is pretty fun to come in every day and work with these guys on the world's finest games.
Pretty amazing really. How far everything has come and how close we are.
As I stated earlier, I'll be creating an update where we highlight Duncan's Trickster level. The quest, the miniature, and the special card associated with it. We intend to carry the story of Donnchadh forward into every expansion we do. Donnchadh is now a part for Myth and will be in every expansion we create. His story will be long and involved, and sometimes it may seem that the Darkness has won, but for Heroes...
We'll also be doing an update and video of the unboxing next week.
Finally, at long last for some of you, we'll be posting the Slaughterfield video with the Skald, Trickster, Spriggan, and Brigand. I stated in the comments somewhere, we have waited so we could use real cards with real art.
Thanks for trudging through this overly long read.
BOOM!
How much are the card sleeve packs, anyway? Now I'm wondering if it's worth doing a Cincy on the cards.
