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Good morning and welcome to Watchful I Studio's update on our Chinese Warring States project. We have posted digital images in the past and now we finally received our 3D prints in mail. I spent the past week preparing them for you to look at as well as for the caster. Here is a taste of what the prints look like and please keep in mind that the prints are put together using white glue and tack puddy. I can honestly tell you that the pieces fit together beautifully and these miniatures will cast up very well.

There are a few pieces missing that will arrive this week. The 'problem pieces' needed to be adjusted and reprinted and I will take some pictures once they arrive and are cleaned. Please forgive me on the quality of the photographs. I am still learning the fine art of photography but I hope the pictures give you a clear idea of what the miniatures will look like.

We have 3 bodies for the warriors on foot (unarmored, lightly armored, and fully armored) and they have a wide selection of arms for each type including arms equipped with bows, crossbows, dagger-axes, spears, straight swords, curved swords, and javelins. The left arm is sculpted to the body and there are two different types of shields available for the left arm. Additional bits include a sheathed bow, quiver of arrows, quiver of crossbow bolts, and 25 different heads to choose from.
The general also has a myriad of arms to select from including both right and left arms. The general has 4 heads to choose from making a tremendous amount of combinations available between the arms and heads.

Our current work in progress are three different chariots including a light chariot, heavy chariot, and a officers chariot. We will be posting some progress of these miniatures as we get closer to completion.

We are building up our range of products for a Kickstarter that will launch Monday, March 23 at 12pm EST. In the Kickstarter will be the core troops needed to build a Warring States army including infantry, cavalry, chariots and the officers to lead them. We planning a Wave 2 and Wave 3 which will include mythical beasts and fantasy elements as well as the heavier equipment such as siege bows, war machines, repeating crossbowmen and shield bearers.

Like what you see? Join us on Facebook to see more updates and pictures. Look for Watchful I Studio

Watching this thread. These look quite nice, and you don't see historical Chinese every day (at least I don't).

Could these also be used for Three Kingdoms? I can't recall if there was a huge amount of difference between Spring & Autumn, Chu vs. Han and Later Han/Three Kingdoms style things.

Well, I would have to say there are differences in armor, uniforms, weapon styles, etc. You could get away with using our miniatures for early Han Dynasty but they too eventually changed their uniforms, helmets, etc. History doesn't make it easy to do one set of miniatures for a vast time period. Oh well, that will be down the line.

WayneTheGame wrote:
Could these also be used for Three Kingdoms? I can't recall if there was a huge amount of difference between Spring & Autumn, Chu vs. Han and Later Han/Three Kingdoms style things.

I may have missed this detail but are you planning on resin plastic or metal?

Nice looking models. I was planning a Sung Dynasty army for the rocket launchers but Chariots also have a strong appeal.

Are the bodies going to come in more poses?

We are planning for the army to be released in metal but if we raise enough money we would like to do as many plastic kits as we can. Thanks,

Joe

 Kid_Kyoto wrote:
I may have missed this detail but are you planning on resin plastic or metal?

Can't wait

For now we are planning on releasing the initial army in the marching pose so there is some consistency across the range. If the range is successful we have already considered doing a 'fighting' pose. Since we are a start-up we had to start somewhere and this is where we started. We all were inspired by the movies watching these large Chinese armies march in unison. Very cool stuff and we know it won't be for everyone but hopefully the range is cool enough that people will be interested in supporting our project. Thanks,

Joe

durecellrabbit wrote:
Are the bodies going to come in more poses?

Very nice looking! Subbed

They look very nice any plans on cavalry?

Hello. Yes, the current plans are to finish our 3 variant chariots (heavy, light, officer's) and then begin work on the cavalry. At this time we are planning 3 different types of cavalry (light, heavy, nomadic) which we will start as soon as the cavalry are done. Thanks,

Joe

 Jehan-reznor wrote:
They look very nice any plans on cavalry?

So, plastic is pretty much out, then? And the metals will start off marching and, if successful, expand into exciting poses?

Somehow I've lost my enthusiasm.

Plastic is not out. We are releasing the range in metal and the level of success of the Kickstarter will determine if we raised enough money to produce plastics. The army will be in a marching pose to begin with and if we develop plastics we could possibly alter the posing, uniforms, weapon options, etc or convert the marching poses in to plastic. We had to start somewhere and for several reasons we selected marching poses. I totally understand that what we do won't be for everyone but we are trying to make the best toy soldiers we can while keeping the costs down. Don't pass judgement until we post the Kickstarter. If you lost your excitement hopefully we will show you something down the line that will be more to your liking. If not, then I wish you all the best and enjoy your hobby.

Joe

 BobtheInquisitor wrote:
So, plastic is pretty much out, then? And the metals will start off marching and, if successful, expand into exciting poses?

Somehow I've lost my enthusiasm.

I really do hope it works out as you plan. I would love some plastic minis from you. For metal, I'll follow up and see if you have any interesting hero types, but I will never buy metal rank-and-file again.

We have a quick update for you regarding some new additions to the line-up. The dagger-axe arms, curved sword for the armored warriors, the odd shaped shield and a handful of new arm options for the General. The pieces go off to the caster tomorrow.

Very nice!

 WatchfuliStudio wrote:
Plastic is not out. We are releasing the range in metal and the level of success of the Kickstarter will determine if we raised enough money to produce plastics. The army will be in a marching pose to begin with and if we develop plastics we could possibly alter the posing, uniforms, weapon options, etc or convert the marching poses in to plastic. We had to start somewhere and for several reasons we selected marching poses. I totally understand that what we do won't be for everyone but we are trying to make the best toy soldiers we can while keeping the costs down. Don't pass judgement until we post the Kickstarter. If you lost your excitement hopefully we will show you something down the line that will be more to your liking. If not, then I wish you all the best and enjoy your hobby.

Joe

 BobtheInquisitor wrote:
So, plastic is pretty much out, then? And the metals will start off marching and, if successful, expand into exciting poses?

Somehow I've lost my enthusiasm.

Hey! I LOVE Marching poses, especially for armies that consist of mostly regular, professional soldiers (meaning they get paid for it, not that they are some bad-ass).

And the Qin Army certainly meets that standard.

I prefer to save more active poses for armies that have a more "barbaric" flavor to them.

MB

Considering this product line will start with minis and follow up with rules, I am wondering if the KS will be structured so that backers have some idea what Watchful Studios considers a full army rather than just getting X boxes of infantry/chariots.

I have heard pictures of the three kinds of chariots may be on the way soon. I will post them here as/when if Watchful Studios doesn't beat me to it.

Hello everyone. We are very excited to present to you our digital sculpts of our Warring States / Qin Dynasty chariots. There will be 3 chariots in total: a light 2-horse chariot, a heavy 4-horse chariot, and the officer's chariot. The light and heavy chariot will use the same frame and crew but the light chariot will have 2 horses and the heavy chariot will have 4 horse.

The officer's chariot will have a different frame and will come with a driver and officer with the cool looking umbrella.

We have made additional bits such as another right arm for the officer, severed heads to hang from your chariot, a crossbow to hang from your chariot and additional arms for the chariot crew to pose them as you see fit.

The chariot will come with 2 different horses and the bodies, arms, and heads are interchangeable with the infantry.
We plan on releasing the chariot in metal but are very hopeful that if the Kickstarter goes well we could convert the kit into plastic. More to come over the coming weeks as we head into our Kickstarter planned for Monday, March 23 at 12pm EST.

The sculpting looks great.

We have recently posted a new digital pictures of our chariots on our Facebook page (also added to this post) and we also posted a survey concerning our Stretch Goals for our Kickstarter. We wanted your opinion on whether or not we should take a Fantasy approach to our Wave 2 or continue down the historical road and offer a support range to our core product.

Wave 1 and the product you will be offering your pledges for will be a 28mm metal core range of Chinese Warring States / Qin Dynasty miniatures consisting of:
General on foot
Unarmored, lightly armored, and fully armored infantry
Light and heavy chariots
General's chariot
Light and heavy cavalry
Nomadic cavalry

One of our stretch goals will be to convert the infantry, chariots and cavalry into plastic but those will be lofty goals. We want to offer a broader range of miniatures using smaller stretch goals to keep everything moving and give the army a more complete feel. Please vote, send us your comments and things you would like to see sculpted, and pass this along to your friends.

Here is the survey:
https://epoll.me/vote/ACcK7NhQr9M/watchful-i-studio/what-range-of-products-would-you-prefer-to-see-in-our-stretch-goals-for-our-upcoming-kickstarter

Here is our Facebook Page:
https://www.facebook.com/watchfulistudio

Would there be famous generals part of the fantasy extension (due to popular representation of them) or more historically accurate?