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(copy-pasting it here for those of you who don't use FB)
SHIELDWOLF NEWSLETTER JANUARY 27ΤΗ, 2016
Hello everyone, and a happy 2016, with health and prosperity to you and your beloved ones!
This newsletter is being issued after long and hard discussion regarding our KS-2 "Shieldmaidens vs Orcs" which unfortunately had to be cancelled. We will point out the mistakes we think we made and also try shedding some light to clear any false thoughts.
After discussing it over many many hours, we arrived at the conclusion that the main error from our part was the over-evaluation of the need for an alternative army wargame currently in the market. After monitoring and/or interacting at various forums worldwide, we had come to believe that the timing for a new fantasy army wargame was at its best moment. Our game (even at a beta version) and the quality of the miniatures we have and aim for should have been a winning combination to fill a gap in the market. Apparently most of our supporters were simply looking for some new miniatures and many even missed the fact that they were receiving an enriched version of our rulebook, which is the ultimate purpose of the company (i.e. to create an army game and the miniatures to support it).
The issue with the mid-campaign slump which we said we had prepared for, is something that too must be cleared. In a 30-day campaign, we were expecting a slump between the 15th and 25th day. Unfortunately this happened just after the 7th day (!), so just as we explained on our update #5 at that moment it became pointless thinking the aces we had up our sleeves would suffice to maintain the momentum.
Another issue that came up was the funding goal. We find it funny having to address that, but it is just we do so. People that were informed about us know that when we launched our first Kickstarter (KS-1), we stated “we want to fund five full armies” and we commenced with a 5,000$ goal. Not a single person complained about it, since it’s obvious that the goal was set in order to build upon and it naturally wasn’t enough even for a single (let alone five) full armies!
For our KS-2, we took it down to two armies (Orcs and Shieldmaidens) and asked for 30,000$ to co-fund the first plastic kit, everything else was already available and either co-funded in KS-1 or had been directly made available from Shieldwolf. People who hadn’t been following us implying that the goal was too “low” have simply misunderstood what the ultimate goal was about.
However, we would still like to make it as clear as humanly possible that we have assumed full responsibility for the miscommunication.
Having to press the “Cancel Funding” button was a very difficult thing for us, one we had thought we would never have to bother with. If people think that it was an easy choice, they couldn’t be more mistaken! We would kindly like to remind that a lot of time, effort and funds have already been invested by Shieldwolf and by cancelling the project it is us who risk losing all of it, while securing that our supporters don’t risk a single penny or waste of their time by needlessly allowing this to drag on. In our book, that is honorable behavior and it is a sign of who the people behind Shieldwolf are. We have made a name for ourselves in the past years regarding customer service, communication and high quality product; it means a lot to us, we are proud of it and we would never risk/gamble/jeopardize it for any reason!
This brings us to the next point: where do we take it from here?
After having cooled our heads a bit, we united in our HQ to discuss the options. For two consecutive nights we have been debating vigorously of what do to. The main perplexity is that if army wargaming is dead or dying, the number of people willing to start a completely new army such as the Shieldmaidens or the Orcs will not suffice to make back the investment made by Shieldwolf. This brings us to whether army wargaming is infact dying or not however.
We have decided to give it one more chance, this time with some variations however. In this new approach we will work with our supporters (there are still 312 tenacious backers who held on to their pledges even knowing the project was being cancelled), and show of drafts of how the new project is going to be like. We appreciate all feedback, comments, suggestions etc and are looking forward to interacting with you once again. Whatever happens when this launches, even if it funds for a tiny tiny bit, we will carry it on and deliver just like we have done in the past.
If army fantasy wargaming (meaning rank n’file mass army gaming) has a strong future ahead, then this plan with the new project should not have any issues. Fingers crossed it all works out and we are looking forward to your comments.
Thank you.
The Shieldwolf Team.

Shieldwolf Miniatures wrote:After discussing it over many many hours, we arrived at the conclusion that the main error from our part was the over-evaluation of the need for an alternative army wargame currently in the market. After monitoring and/or interacting at various forums worldwide, we had come to believe that the timing for a new fantasy army wargame was at its best moment. Our game (even at a beta version) and the quality of the miniatures we have and aim for should have been a winning combination to fill a gap in the market. Apparently most of our supporters were simply looking for some new miniatures and many even missed the fact that they were receiving an enriched version of our rulebook, which is the ultimate purpose of the company (i.e. to create an army game and the miniatures to support it).

By default, creating a new game in this market hurts your customers. Fantasy army games are utterly dependent on the network effect and require a large investment in time, money and space, so people are better off if there is only a single game that utterly dominates that niche so that they only need to make that investment once. The only reason to add a new game to the market is if you have a compelling reason to believe that your game does something that the existing dominant game cannot - either one that serves a different niche, such as sacrificing the fine detail of the simulation for the sake of speed versus sacrificing speed for the sake of the simulation, or one that is a strict upgrade meant to avoid the mistakes of your predecessors. If you can't offer that, your customers would be better served by a shiny new army book with rules for playing the army in Kings of War and The Ninth Age (or models whose function is sufficiently close that they can use existing rules) than a new game that either forces your opponents to invest time and money into becoming compatible with your game or is simply discarded in favour of the existing game.

I think the main reason for the mid Kickstarter slump was most probably a lot of the people who were only interested in the orcs pulling out. It looked like it was going to only just (if at all) make the 60k stretch goal for the 2nd shieldmaiden plastic kit and not get anywhere near the 90k and 120k to make any new plastic orc kits. They most probably felt a bit ignored and didn't feel like waiting roughly a year for some orc models that are already for sale on Shieldwolf's website to be sent (albeit at a discount).

I think when/if they relaunch they should just stick to funding 1 army at a time and try to get as many plastic kits out of it as possible. They should also with the stretch goals not go overboard with too many free rewards (not saying I wouldn't have wanted them if they were there) and maybe just have unlockable add-ons of individual characters or smaller units (monsters, cavalry etc) on the whole. Also maybe don't have non-model stretch goals back to back would help maintain interest. Having the stretch goals laid out 3-4 in advance would also help in keeping the total ticking over and give people something to aim for even if they next goal isn't to their liking.

Interesting on the newsletter there, rather than via KS etc. (or KS messenger as well). I didn't even know they have a newsletter.

The thing about a new ruleset is that it might still be a great time for one, but it's not what to sell the KS on the back of since it doesn't add value for the people who just want miniatures to play Warhammer/9th Age or even KoW with. Carts before the horse there. I've been an interested SW supporter, but I'm not here for their rules.

And really, we can all "want" whatever we like. But that doesn't mean it's going to happen, as demonstrated by my "wanting" to win the lottery over Christmas and then it not happening. If the campaign is relaunched with an expectation that it'll fund two full armies, or even one full army, it's going to fail again. And by "fail", I mean (probably) reach the initial funding goal but not everything that SW expects.. and possibly get cancelled again? That'll be in people's minds. It'll be a harder road next time as they've damaged their reputation and trust with people by cancelling a funded project. There were some very unhappy people and burnt bridges in the KS comments when I was following them during the immediate aftermath.

It was posted on their FB page and then they posted it in the comment secion of the KS Azazelx hence the "for those who dont use FB"

Ah, comments. Probably would have been better to send as a KS Update as comments are easily lost and many who don't follow them on facebook would be less likely to follow the comments.

They said.

We think it best however not to issue an update just yet, but instead a newsletter which we will post on our FB page. At that point, we will re-establish the dialogue in the comment section here to discuss it with you. Once we have talked about it with you here, we will post the update to inform all 312 (and anyone else interested in reading the update naturally) on how this has evolved. :-)

They also said:

Yes, our expectations are now better measured I suppose. I cannot see how backers can be dissapointed especially since this time they will have seen the draft and we will alter it according to feedback to work together with the people who are making this happen :-) For example as people suggested a SG for instance that will allow alternative head versions for both sides (more "Lagetha-like" for the Shieldmaidens without flying hair and more like the initial renders we had shown back in 2013 for the Orcs), alternative weaponry as suggested for the same kit, SGs kept closer together, ruleset not to be included in this KS, a 15-day campaign and not 30 like the previous ones, and many others changes like that. We have received a LOT of feedback and personal messages once this got cancelled and we mean to listen to the community and see how they find our newest approach.

But if anyone does have any feedback for them, they are very vocal on both their FB page and on KS so I highly suggest sending any feedback their way, im sure they will be here eventually though but I think they are putting a prio on the KS at the moment.

I guess i'm just totally miss reading them, but to me it seems they are just totally in the dark.

Are they a miniature company trying to bring out rules for a game to sell their miniatures, or are they a rules company trying to bring out miniatures to play with their rules? I'd say the first one is more accurate as they already have models out in the world, and they have a decent following. They need to grow that part of the business and drive their name, because even though they have a thread here on Dakkadakka, they are still a tiny fish in the business with a small name that is getting bad press from these decisions. Release the models for a counts as army, then you can release your own rules later on.

It also sounds to me like they think the gaming market is shrinking around the globe. Just the way it is worded it seems like they thought the funding wasn't there to be had because people didn't care for mass combat fantasy games . I guess the whole KOW2 kickstarter has ruined the market and GW was right to blow up the old world since no one cares. I think they need to spend a little more time thinking this through .

Just my quick take away.

I did kinda raise my eyebrow at their perception that mass combat fantasy gaming is dying because nobody cares about their WIP .pdf ruleset.

A miniatures company who wish in the future to bring out a gaming system for people to use, I think they are focusing alot more on making miniatures and developing their IP and getting it out there like you said they are a pretty small fish but these small fish have big dreams

The next KS will (from the best of my knowledge) be a short one according to them 15 days and will be about getting the basic shieldmaiden kit funded with some odd stretch goals to customize them.

 Goregut wrote:

The next KS will (from the best of my knowledge) be a short one according to them 15 days and will be about getting the basic shieldmaiden kit funded with some odd stretch goals to customize them.

The one they just cancelled already funded the basic Shieldmaiden kit in less than half that time and was on the way to unlocking customization.

But no, let's cancel that and risk losing a bunch of backers so we can try to do it again a few weeks later.

Makes zero sense.

They need to leave aside their ruleset for now and focus on getting there HIPS kits out, even if they have to do it one KS at a time. This way you can have market saturation with their lovely HIPS kits (hopefully better then Mantics offerings). And then when enough kits have been produced then you'll have your freedom to produce your own ruleset.

The 2.0 KS lets call it was about funding 2 complete armies. They had a bunchi of stuff planned etc etc which enticed people to pledge because all the possible things they will be getting, since it slumped so early I can only guess their reasoning would be "if its going doing this early, we will never reach were most people were wanting" so therefore more people would drop out as the things they hoped would be unlocked simply wont be. Maybe that wouldnt have happened, but either way no point in dwelling on it.

The 2.5 KS will solely be about shieldmaiden basic infrantry with "small" stretch goals which would allow you to make them into different units and thats it (I think)

Do keep in mind this is my interuptation of whats being said over in the comments so dont quote me on any of this! im sure the guys will be around to explain it "properly" at some point.

Overtyrant, I believe that is now their goal, their plastics are made by Renedra I think the company is called, their plastics are good from what ive gotten from them and I think the newer mantic plastics also come from their but I may be mistaken.

 Goregut wrote:
They also said:

Yes, our expectations are now better measured I suppose. I cannot see how backers can be dissapointed especially since this time they will have seen the draft and we will alter it according to feedback to work together with the people who are making this happen :-) For example as people suggested a SG for instance that will allow alternative head versions for both sides (more "Lagetha-like" for the Shieldmaidens without flying hair and more like the initial renders we had shown back in 2013 for the Orcs), alternative weaponry as suggested for the same kit, SGs kept closer together, ruleset not to be included in this KS, a 15-day campaign and not 30 like the previous ones, and many others changes like that. We have received a LOT of feedback and personal messages once this got cancelled and we mean to listen to the community and see how they find our newest approach.

Well, that sounds very promising to me (although I think it's actually very good that they didn't post the Facebook / comment text further up this page as an update, as it still seems to miss the point a bit on why this project likely could raise what it had, but not the amounts something like Kings of War can... and that is an established ruleset, which is a huge factor for fantasy right now).

I love the idea of alternate head versions and alternate weaponry for the same kit as stretch goals. Since they really hate the mid-KS slump, a 15-day campaign isn't a bad idea, either! (Although sometimes that center portion does significantly add to the total, even with negative days mixed in)

I also think the campaign either should have the orcs not included at all, or have them closer for an initial offering, if possible - to avoid folks pledging for orcs bailing because they think they won't get funded.

Overall, hopefully this is a good lesson learned and they approach this next campaign with the right expectations and with a clear plan for a feasible funding amount (say $60K by the end - I think it's doable if they can get people into it again and I am certainly up for it, although I didn't have need of Shieldmaidens I am definitely watching this). Several local gamers were interested and might jump onto a new campaign. So, onwards and upwards, Shieldwolf!

I suggested they put the mountain orc kit they already have as a addon but I agree leaving out the valley orcs from this one would be the best option.

One to two kits. Personally I'd prefer they set up a goal for mountain orcs and shield maidens. Set the goal appropriately, and then set SG's to enhance the sets with their catalogue available at a discount as add-ons.

But they do need to get a bit over themselves, start with alternative models and then once you're established and have a solid line then do an actual rules for your game.

At least 20 people play KoW at my local club, with a few very rare games of WHFB (not many holdouts left), even had a 20k points mega battle recently. Fantasy gaming with large armies is still alive. GW simply decided to focus more on the 8-16 year old market with their AoS rules (which are simple to learn, fast to play and don't require the painting of many models, it suits their physical retail store business model better), rather than veterans.

They've probably lost me as a returning backer at this point, if a company doesn't have confidence in its own product or if I catch a hint of anything like "the KS money wasn't actually enough to create the product so we cancelled", I get nervous about the product not delivering.

I can always buy them at retail, anyway.

 scarletsquig wrote:
They've probably lost me as a returning backer at this point

And that's going to be their major hurdle for the next time; backer retention.

Im still backing the next one because well I really want the shieldmaiden models, and I have alot of faith in SW in general, they didnt bail when their first KS went downhill by a considerable amount and to be fair they did something not alot of companies would have done so gotta respect them for that.

I understand completely why some people wont be onboard! I really do, but (no offense intended obiviously) I hope that your actions wont be what the majority decides to do.

I have to agree with people saying a new rules set is not their best move right now. Not only because there are a lot of rules sets out there that are cheap, but also because they don't have the models for the rules! I personally like using a lot of counts as and the like, but what really draws me into a game is either great rules or great models and fluff that pull me in. Really the models and fluff are the bigger deal for me, as I put off PP for years because I thought the models were ugly.
At any rate, Shieldwolf is falling down on both counts, as they might have good rules, but who knows. And as others had said, who knows how much better they really are? Worth the marginal effort?
Worse, even if a faction does get me all excited (Shield Maidens HO!) without models to collect they have to sell me on the rules. And if my buddy wants some other faction that doesn't have models yet, well, there is really no reason to play their game instead of using whatever cool stuff is available to play a different game.

I dunno, maybe it is just me, but I am totally on board for cool models, but yet another rule set, with or without models, is not terribly exciting. Show me you have a crazy awesome rule set that I would play with models I already have, or sell me awesome models then suggest a rule set that really plays to their fluff and feel.

Since when is a slump a week in somehow unexpected? While you don't want to go into free fall (neg funding daily totals each day for days), it's been my observation that practically every completed kickstarter I've followed has had meteoric first and last two days with a pretty much flat trend throughout the middle 80%.

Yeah. Not to be blunt, but people don't care about their rule set. There are tons of rule sets on the market already, why should we care about this one? On the surface, its another fantasy mass-battle system, which means no one will bother to even read the rules. Why would they when they can play KoW, a game that has a large following, good rules and the ability to use basically any models you can think of with appropriate army lists? It's a bit baffling to me why anyone would enter that market right now. But yes, Fantasy mass-battle wargaming is probably facing a heavy decline compared to the glory days of WHFB and LotR. I can't imagine KoW has even a fraction of the amount of players those games had at their height. Skirmish and/or sci-fi seems to be where it's at.

Very few companies are going to successfully sell a wargames ruleset via KS. A Song of Blades and Heroes did it for their advanced version, but that's a much-loved, well-established game that's been heavily playtested.

Could care less about the rules right now.

Focus on the models is what they should be doing.

Keep putting out quality product, get the brand's name better known, then I would worry about new rulesets.

One note on companies doing a second campaign for something after (for whatever reason) cancelling their first - This actually is not necessarily a bad thing, it really varies in each instance. I've seen campaigns that do worse, one in particular that did 10x better, and several do about the same.

I expect this one to do about the same, really - the product offering is still awesome and a great value, and I think this was just a bump in the road. Looking forward to seeing their draft of it

Emphasis should be placed on the model line, 100%.

The shieldmaiden models are sufficiently cool and different to attract an awful lot of interest.

Throw in some rules as well if you like, but its the models that will bring backers.

I think the plan of 3 Maiden kits for the next campaign is good, 15 days is bad, launching soon and keeping their booked slots is best.

Ideas on the ideal campaign structure?

A SG map should be there from the beginning with kit 2 visible, but the SGs in between kit 1 and 2 could be adjusted after the first few days in regards to monetary level.

I think funding should be kit 1, then some "secret" SGs (shown on the roadmap but not unveiled frim the beginning( that should unlock free additional sprues, more options on sprues or such, to keep the excitement of discovering what's coming next, a SG for the production of add-ons like bear cav, which should probably be known from the beginning to have a goal to work towards and the next plastic kit also shown with the $ amount needed and a decent bit of information about it. The last kit could be hinted at in a rather obvious way to come at milestone X from the beginning and have a few teasers on the campaign page (at least weapon artwork or some such), with a big info dump after kit 2 is reached. By then the SGs between 2 and 3 should be set in stone as well and added to the roadmap.


Layout:

Campaign page

Pics, pics, pics and infos, infos, infos about the sprues and model concepts. Seriously. Artwork. Concept sketches. Designer interview as an KS update.

A "x dollars gives you y amount of stuff saving z from retail price!" graphic. A BIG one.

KS header and campaign name

Drive home that the campaign is for HIPS modular fantasy28 mm warrior/Viking/barbarian WOMEN. That's a freaking niche that is just BEGGING to be exploited going by hundreds of comments from unique commenters on forums, KSs and coversations I've read or had over the years. Especially if there are women without chainmail bikini in there, though those have fans, too.


Thoughts? I REALLY want this to be succesful.

Edit: If I understood their anwer to my post on KS right they're not going to relaunch in Feb. Giving up on a 2016 delivery and their booked slots, postponing this for who know's how long. And not even trying to get all three planned SM kits out, but a smaller KS. Really? They were pretty much guaranteed to unlock two kits already. They tease heavy armour and 2handed-axe girls and on the same day tell us that we'll have to wait whoever knows how long for them?!


I'm actually starting to get disappointed the BAD way.

Scratch that. I'll sculpt and convert my own Viking girls. I only really needed a dozen or so anyway.

They are going to EITHER relaunch in Feb or later on in the year I think they said June(ish).

I'd still back them for some of the cavalry they mentioned for the shieldmaidens. Based on their current range, I'd even back them just based on concept art.

I agree that they should focus on selling their models first. Mantic blew up with KoW2, but before that it seemed like their angle was "buy armies cheap!" I know I saw a decent amount of Chaos Dwarf players (online anyway) using Mantic's models in WHFB 8th. I saw a lot of Mantic's undead also.

Shieldwolf's miniatures are great. Better than anything GW/Mantic are making right now imo. Just like Mantic snuck into my brain/wallet by offering alternate GW minis, maybe Shieldwolf should focus on offering alternate KoW minis.

I think it is important to remember that it has taken Mantic years and years to get their KoW rules to this level of visibility in the community. There may be space in the market for another mass battle game, but it will take time to develop that space and what sets Shieldwolfs' offering apart from the many other options.

The way you get there is by first selling great miniatures. I would be doing everything in my power to re-launch in Feb and keep the existing production slots at Renedra. Even funding a single plastic kit would put them in a very elite group of kickstarter projects, and something that would pay dividends for their business for a loooong time. The only reason their first campaign went as well as it did was on the strength of their plastic orcs.

Seriously, there is decent money on the table from lots of backers if they can launch fast enough to take it.