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I have confidence they will keep the spirit of the feline intact, and it would be an interesting, and awesome mini. That is about all I can really say about it. I want to see their KS take on Walter.

 BrookM wrote:
A tad surprised they didn't announce what the post 420k goal would be.

I was perhaps expecting too much from the latest update.

Indeed, it sort of feels like we've got hidden SGs to get updates from them at the moment.

425k is Jinx, or you mean 430k?

Psychotic, you didn't get what he was inferring, which was, that they arbitrarily put up updates whenever they "reach a hidden stretch goal." Aka, something the company places upon the group, that has to be hit, before they will place an update.

I think it's more likely that they're overwhelmed right now, with all the things they mentioned they were working on in Update #19.

I don't think they're conspiring to hide to SGs until we fulfill secret goals or anything; what's likelier is, they couldn't stall the announcement of the next SG any longer now that the snipers were unlocked, so they put up a picture. Meanwhile, they had hoped to give us a big update with several SGs at once, but it's not ready yet (probably because their art director isn't feeling too well). I seem to remember them mentioning earlier that they're working day and night on new concept art to give us enough SGs until the end of the campaign. And I wouldn't be surprised if they're also busy working on 3D renders so they have something concrete to show us soon.

They've mentioned reading this forum, and I can just imagine how weird this thread must be for them: "We need more stretch goals!", "Where the hell are the 3D renders?", "But there aren't any real savings!", "Give us details about the game", "We want to know what ships when!", "They need to UNLOCK EVERYTHING to survive!" Um, seriously. I'm not saying none of those are reasonable requests, but you can obviously see that they get to be quite incompatible, and there's no way they can work out all the details about shipping and the game and such, and keep up with the work they absolutely need to do to get through this Kickstarter. Especially for a 3-person studio in France (I mention France because I also suspect there is a -slight- linguistic/cultural barrier that accounts for the "messy" aspect of the updates). And even if they're not directly reading this (which, admittedly, would also require a significant time commitment), the reports they're getting from heralds must be even more confusing.

Also, as a sidenote: people are hating on the Kurg snipers? I am seriously considering getting them, even though I'm all Iron Empire--they just look too cool!

See, I was totally hyped for the Kurg Snipers... and then the concept art arrived and I was a bit meh about all but the bottom right one, which was the one I was most looking forward to anyways. The others just.. killed it though.

Welcome to Dakka!

Alyanumbers wrote:
"They need to UNLOCK EVERYTHING to survive!" Um, seriously.

To be fair now, I never said they need to unlock everything "to survive" (and I deliberately didn't say everything). They're clearly surviving just fine. Just suggesting it as a possibility to think about in order to appease some of the more twitchy, nervous (but big money) backers and maintain their level/momentum. As I said a couple of times a page or two back, I'm pretty happy with how it's all going and where the KS sits at the moment.

 alanmckenzie wrote:

Alyanumbers wrote:
"They need to UNLOCK EVERYTHING to survive!" Um, seriously.

To be fair now, I never said they need to unlock everything "to survive" (and I deliberately didn't say everything). They're clearly surviving just fine. Just suggesting it as a possibility to think about in order to appease some of the more twitchy, nervous (but big money) backers and maintain their level/momentum. As I said a couple of times a page or two back, I'm pretty happy with how it's all going and where the KS sits at the moment.

Oh, I should have been clearer. I'm referring to what they're getting out of this thread, rather than what you're saying directly. Also, hyperbole. My bad. :/ But in any case, there's no way they can unlock a big batch at once, since they're very acutely aware of the need for more SGs.

somewheresomehow wrote:
Welcome to Dakka!

Thanks!

I would have preferred a hyena (with gasmask) .

Alyanumbers wrote:

They've mentioned reading this forum, and I can just imagine how weird this thread must be for them: "We need more stretch goals!", "Where the hell are the 3D renders?", "But there aren't any real savings!", "Give us details about the game", "We want to know what ships when!", "They need to UNLOCK EVERYTHING to survive!" Um, seriously. I'm not saying none of those are reasonable requests, but you can obviously see that they get to be quite incompatible, and there's no way they can work out all the details about shipping and the game and such, and keep up with the work they absolutely need to do to get through this Kickstarter. Especially for a 3-person studio in France (I mention France because I also suspect there is a -slight- linguistic/cultural barrier that accounts for the "messy" aspect of the updates). And even if they're not directly reading this (which, admittedly, would also require a significant time commitment), the reports they're getting from heralds must be even more confusing.

But.. let's break those down a little, shall we?
Firstly, I do think they're overwhelmed and stressed right now, and that's without Benoit's back injury a few days ago.

Now, my issue with most of these is that they claim to have been preparing for this Kickstarter for anywhere between 6-18 months depending on who you listen to. Given that this was initially supposed to launch in February, I think most of these issues should really have been worked out before the KS began, and essentially be non-issues now.


Stretch Goals - this is part of maintaining a Kickstarter. We know that keeping on top of updates is vital. Now we know that the initial days' rush threw their original stretch goals out of the window, and the subsequent slowdown to a near-crawl has mangled their quickly-remade plans as well. However, I'd think that an afternoon's meeting would be enough time to work out a progression of $20-50k or so in $5k increments. You would assume that the silhouetted concept artwork are all finished images (well before the KS started) that just need the "stretch price" to be typed in. Post them on the KS page and job done. A relatively easy job, if they've prepared properly in the last 6 months. (Remember Reaper's maps?) This helps keep the momentum up and potentially increases pledges.

Renders - well, they claimed at the start of the campaign that almost all (80%?) were finished and the rest would be finished by the conclusion of the campaign. Even if NO new renders get finished during the campaign due to Benoit's injury, they should still have most of them in a condition to be displayed. While the concept art is nice, look at the renders by comparison - Nurse Bernadette, Nepharya, Blondie? All looking great, and FAR better at selling the figures than artwork, especially considering how often great concept art becomes merely good or average figures. If they have them done, they should be in ready-to-show images, similar to the Nurse or Blondie. Again, great for backer momentum and enthusiasm.

Real Savings - they kinda screwed themselves a little in the first 2 days and also with their discount/pricing structure. $6.50 savings on $10 heroines and $3 savings on $15 heroines? That doesn't take even a month of preparation. It just takes 1 objective person to look at (as opposed to their friends, yes-men, fans) and point out it needs fixin'. The easy fix for this is to increase the giveaways. Whether it makes it worthwhile or not for them comes down to their KS attitude - if they're seeing this as a slightly-discounted direct retail channel, or as an opportunity to raise funds to produce models that they will sell for years to come - and how far to one side or the other they want to lean.

The RH Game - Easy one. Just put it off since everyone is going to use these figures for WarHammerZoneInfinityEtc anyway - "We're still in the very early stages of working it out right now, but rest assured that it will be the best quality product that we can bring to market."

What Ships When - since they're planning on going into production mode pretty quickly post-KS, and the assumption is (was?) that all the initial silhouettes would be unlocked, I'm sure they would (should?) have a general roadmap. They don't need to be able to tell us that now, but they will need to have that info before the campaign ends. If they don't, it has the potential to hurt them.

Unlock Everything - this really does have the potential to hurt them, badly at that. This because they're running a 3-faction KS, and people building armies have pledged large amounts of money on Day 1&2 with the assumption that everything they need ot build their _____ army will be unlocked by the end. If key items aren't unlocked, people will pull/reduce their pledges. Note this doesn't affect me personally, because I just want $10 heroes at this point, but then again, if they don't have all of those heroes unlocked, I might well reduce my pledge anyway. The panicked Day 1&2 reorganisation of the stretch goals in expectation of far larger ongoing daily pledge amounts has backfired. They did change things afterwards, but it has the potential to go badly if the campaign starts to have negative inertia. Hence, the vital importance of more frequent updates, renders, etc - stuff that should have been pretty much sorted out before the campaign started...

I mean, my current leaning is to reduce or even drop my pledge. At $365, there's no need or desire to increase it. Now if I do reduce or drop it, I won't do so until the last 48 hours - at which point it will either be negligible due to the feeding frenzy spike, or at worst, part of a far larger mass exodus. Adding some more significant freebies (and not really the petlings, unfortunately) will absolutely make me more likely to keep my existing pledge. Either way, I've pledged as much as I can afford (and frankly, more than I should pledge) already, so increasing it isn't on the table.

I dunno what will happen, but it's certainly going to be interesting.

And yes - welcome to Dakka.

 Azazelx wrote:

Renders - well, they claimed at the start of the campaign that almost all (80%?) were finished and the rest would be finished by the conclusion of the campaign.

Minor nitpick, but the actual claim was that 80% would be finished by the end of the Kickstarter, not that 80% were finished at the beginning.

Anyway, I still think their biggest planning problem, however long they were planning it, is that they were following Kickstarter's guidelines and suggestions (something they've mentioned several times previously). The problem, as we've seen, is that that guidance does not work very well for successful gaming Kickstarters.

But, when you consider that this is an incredibly niche product (ultimately, it's mostly for people who want female IG or alt SOB), I still say they're doing incredibly well for such a limited audience within an already limited audience. SHould they have tried to do three armies all at once? Probably should have just done two, but hindsight and all that...

 Minx wrote:

 Buzzsaw wrote:
According to their comments "Yes, about that: waist height to the heroines when sitting upright." Honestly, it seems impossible to imagine that the details on that figure could be reproduced with any kind of fidelity at that size...

Judging from the similar sized "Walter, the Renaissance dog" that is part of the limited Königsmark sister box they won't have a problem transferring the concept into a worthwhile miniature.

Yes, I agree. I'm painting the Kurganova's dog right now and it is characterful for a tiny lump of metal. Details that should be there are there. And I'm sure it's just paraedolia, but I keep seeing a face on it's back...

Some random thoughts: Why in the world do they post so late at night/early in the morning? The last post was a bit after 5AM France time.

Amusingly, about ten minutes after TGG Update #20, into my inbox comes an update for Cthulhu Wars, update... #47 (FYI, CW started the day after TGG). Also interesting, in-between that update at 11PM last night and now, there has been another update.

They do seem to have some idea of this disconnect. From the comments;

@Abe Lincoln with a Shotgun Axe
You wrote: " I guarantee, if they came out with the information on the wave shipping, and included even two or three more stretch goals, it would bounce up a bunch. A solid update with a few 3D printed minis, solid goals, and well expressed ideas? Probably another 5 digit day."

OK, we are taking you at your word!
We will be posting several updates in the next few hours on each of those topics...
Let's see what happens!

First update will be on Wave Shipping, coming up in a few moments.

Project Update #21: SHIPPING YOUR PLEDGE REWARDS IN SEVERAL WAVES
Posted by Loud'n Raging Like

As you are probably aware, while our Kickstarter delivery date is planned for March 2014, the production of the Toughest Girls of the Galaxy is spread over several months.

Therefore, we already know that the minis will be produced in several waves.

While we know that everything will be ready to ship by March 2014 as stated, we have been very reluctant to share details of the “wave” production plans, because those plans are fluid.

Nevertheless, we know that having at least some idea of what's coming up can be quite exciting and can help with planning. So here is what we have in mind.

The first wave is planned to include up to 15 Heroines, as well as all the Regular Troopers (that is, the Troops Boxes and the Command Group Boxes) for all 3 armies. The Kurganova Heavy Troopers should also be part of this wave.

This, however, is not a completely FIRM schedule, since this first wave will also be when we finesse our production tactics and workflow. So there might be some more stuff, or there might be a little less.

Overall, we are aiming for 3 waves, or perhaps 4, by March 2014, but it is too early to commit to exactly how many there will be and what will be in them. Because if we do and things don't happen exactly has stated, then everybody gets understandably frustrated :-(
Sad but true: we have been burned too many times by our enthusiasm and our wish to communicate, and so we are now forced to proceed with caution :(
But again, what we can be FIRM about is that everything will be done by March 2014.

Getting in on the wave shipping

There are 2 ways to receive your minis ahead of March 2014, if your pledge rewards include minis that are ready earlier:

DROP SHIP PROGRAMME: You can pick them up at a drop ship location
PERSONAL WAVE SHIPPING PROGRAMME: You can pay the extra shipping costs associated with having your pledge rewards shipped in several waves.

You don't have to make that decision now. When the first wave is ready, we will contact you, and you'll then be able to choose the option you want, (and pay for the extra shipping if need be, if you chose the Personal Wave Shipping Programme).

Drop Ship Locations

Here is the list updated as of June 8. We will be updating this list again this week-end.

What's next?

Stay tuned for another update within the next 2 hours, to find out what's waiting to be unlocked...

Automatically Appended Next Post:
So if I plan carefully to have all my stuff picked from Wave 1, I still have to pay extra for shipping? Say wha???

Sooo... the one thing they are certain of is "what we can be FIRM about is that everything will be done by March 2014."

 Mathieu Raymond wrote:

Automatically Appended Next Post:
So if I plan carefully to have all my stuff picked from Wave 1, I still have to pay extra for shipping? Say wha???

That's what we were thinking too O.o

Have asked on the post how much they expect it to cost... they need to give some indication of $$ surely!

Also, don't want to be too negative, but really what use was that update? There was no information in there that we didn't know already. :/

 Buzzsaw wrote:
Sooo... the one thing they are certain of is "what we can be FIRM about is that everything will be done by March 2014."

What about other miniature kickstarter campaigns, esp. those with multiple waves: Have they managed to fulfill their planned shipping dates and when did they announce those dates?

It was a brilliant concoction of marketing speech. I've rarely seen qualifiers used more efficiently.

I know we wanted an update, and a lot of us would have been unhappy had there not been one. But I think we should start clamoring for meaningful updates instead.

In any case, if it's not an extra 23$, I might still plan my purchases for Wave 1 stuff and be done with it. The rest I can get at retail. Support an online stockist.

 Mathieu Raymond wrote:
So if I plan carefully to have all my stuff picked from Wave 1, I still have to pay extra for shipping? Say wha???

They were talking about waves. That might be interpreted as no extra cost if everything is in one wave. Although to be sure one of the heralds should try to clarify please.

Edit: Please also ask whether it is possible to opt-out of getting freebies, the exclusive heroine, etc, as i am sure those who only want to get one wave would be annoyed to pay extra shipping just for them.

 Minx wrote:

 Mathieu Raymond wrote:
So if I plan carefully to have all my stuff picked from Wave 1, I still have to pay extra for shipping? Say wha???

They were talking about waves. That might be interpreted as no extra cost if everything is in one wave. Although to be sure one of the heralds should try to clarify please.

It's always a good sign when a long awaited update intended to clear things up needs immediate clarification.

It was also amusing when the total dropped by $50 about 5 minutes after the update was posted.

Though MiniKingdom pretty well nailed it already,

MiniKingdom wrote:
...
Also, don't want to be too negative, but really what use was that update? There was no information in there that we didn't know already. :/

 Buzzsaw wrote:
It was also amusing when the total dropped by $50 about 5 minutes after the update was posted.

It's even more funny that people try to monitor these minuscule movements...

 Minx wrote:

 Buzzsaw wrote:
It was also amusing when the total dropped by $50 about 5 minutes after the update was posted.

It's even more funny that people try to monitor these minuscule movements...

I said funny, not meaningful.

It was also very difficult to notice, requiring most of my powers of deduction, what with the total posted in huge script in the upper right hand of the page...

From the comments;

Creator Loud'n Raging 1 minute ago

@Emma: If all your models were part of the first wave, of course not. Basically, as soon as a wve becomes available, any pledge rewards that can be fully shipped will be shipped. Absolutely no reason to have you wait until March 2014 if everything you chose is ready in October!
@J.Brown @Emma: it will depend on the size of the package. It's the French Post rate for small parcels + the tracking sticker cost.

So that should put your mind at ease Mathieu: although from the sounds of things the first wave will be very limited.

I had limited myself to mostly Kurganova troop boxes and a few heroes. If the heroes need to be shifted to conform, fine, I'll pick up the ones I want at retail, like I said.

Yeah, I know, I'm not setting myself up for big discounts. But it's what I want...

 Minx wrote:

 Buzzsaw wrote:
Sooo... the one thing they are certain of is "what we can be FIRM about is that everything will be done by March 2014."

What about other miniature kickstarter campaigns, esp. those with multiple waves: Have they managed to fulfill their planned shipping dates and when did they announce those dates?

One of the few KS projects that has managed to fulfil it's dates so far is Mantic Games with Dreadball and that used waves (they gave a month for the fist shipment, then a quarter for the next two),

but it's so rare if you have to have stuff on the estimated delivery date KS is probably not the place for you

Update 22:

This is a special update because tomorrow is Mireille's birthday, and because we are also smack in the middle of the Toughest Girls of the Galaxy campaign, so we thought that we'd spice things up :-)

So the $430,000 Stretch Goal (and maybe some of the others to come) will unlock not one, but THREE veiled silhouettes!

And as some of you have commented, it is true that the Iron Empire has not had a lot of its Heroines unlocked compared to the other factions, while, on the other hand, we are very close to having all the Jailbirds Heroines out (forgive the pun).

So we are taking this opportunity to unveil 2 Iron Empire Heroines and 1 Kurganova Shock Troop Heroine. Yes, life is unfair for the Jailbirds, but then, hasn't it always been?

So here is the very much anticipated Ilsa Wolfenstein, Commander-in-Chief of the Iron Empire army. She is a one-of-a-kind leader, as she will not wait behind the lines but will jump right into the fray, seemingly invulnerable. She had her giant claws specially made for her so that she could engage in melee with the terrible Kurganova were-creatures.



And meet the newly-renamed Lieutenant Drakkan of the Iron Storm Heavy Troopers. Originally, this character was named Lieutenant Kotzen, but several readers pointed out that in German, Kotzen meant vomit. So we ran a little poll on Facebook to get some new name suggestions. In the top three was the name Kieta Drachan, which we felt suited her background the best. However, Drachan in French would be pronounced Drashan, so we changed the spelling to keep the hardness in the name.



And finally, here is Volga Potemkine (with a silent 'e' at the end), who carries the Kurganova army banner. As you may have noted, Volga Potemkine is a somewhat tongue-in-cheek name, as it refers, in a very obvious fashion, to the battle of Stalingrad in which the Soviet Union fought the Nazis, and to the movie Battleship Potemkin, which tells the story of the mutiny of its crew against their tzarist officers, and which has been called one of the greatest propaganda movie ever.



Like them? Please share you favourites. You can also add this link back to the campaign: http://kck.st/18RPJfh

PS/ We are making a big advertising push right now, and we'll tell you more about it in our next update :-)

There we go, finally some lateral thinking on getting the interval reduced, and some fine figures as well!

Drakken, especially was not what I was expecting...


And that is a very good thing! Love that helmet...

Excellent. Wolfenstein is there. That's one I've been waiting for.

Same here, at long last!

Finally the general I have waited for that one.

As expected they'll unlock more than just one miniature at certain stretch goals. I hope that lessens the worries of some (future) backers.

I'd like to see Lieutenant Drakkan with two melee weapons; perhaps that's something for an upcoming upgrade freebie or an easy conversion otherwise.
.