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I mean they say you don't lock in till Feb that that's like any kind of payments, you still gotta add them all up and be able to agree with the total. That means if I buy 500 worth of stuff I'm looking at an extra 20 bucks per hundred. 20% increase in spend?

Man I really didn't wanna drop to a dollar for time to think but I'm not sure I've even paid anyone a hundred bucks to ship me anything =\ Hell I could go back to a cat battle systems pledge for as much as I've talked myself into here, and still pay less to ship all that dense card...

 scarletsquig wrote:
Over 1000 backers at the $1 mark. That's unusually high.

It's the only pledge level for people who want the new Deadzone units without buying a whole army for some other game.

 lord_blackfang wrote:

 scarletsquig wrote:
Over 1000 backers at the $1 mark. That's unusually high.

It's the only pledge level for people who want the new Deadzone units without buying a whole army for some other game.

Yep. And with all some of us have for DZ from those KS projects, chances are it also allows us to have Firefight forces if we decide we like those rules.

Can we add extra $$$$ in the pledge manager? Forgot about the way Mantic does things.

To be fair I think the shipping is a good estimate, shipping abroad is a costly venture. I actually applaud Mantic for releasing those prices at this time in the campaign. It will either make customers think twice or outright remove their pledge.

As for the sculptor guy (I am assuming he did the Ogres) I think his feedback is very useful for backers.

Shipping costs these days are horrific, and I blame Tories, Republicans and "third way" conservatives of all stripes for destroying the various national postage services by privatising them. Crony capitalism is the bane of society.

RoninXiC wrote:
Can we add extra $$$$ in the pledge manager? Forgot about the way Mantic does things.

Yeah you can, they run it using their Mantic Digital store.

For US customers, it's the end of an era.

The fact is, for the amounts we're spending, in the United States U.S. customers can easily get free shipping. However that relates to what international customers pay, that's what Mantic is competing with in the United States.

So the deals would have to be an order of magnitude better than they used to be for the value to be similar to previous campaigns. They are not. They're about the same, more or less, and in some cases perhaps worse, if you care about older product being bundled in. So the value is a lot less.

I'm thankful that I got in when the getting was good with Mantic's earlier campaigns, very much including Deadzone Infestation, whose shipping was capped at a reasonable level. But from now on, I'm only paying for what I really want, with no filler. I'll need to see more up front before committing. I plan to buy no vehicles whatsoever, as with shipping costs included, I'm very sure discounted retail will compete well with Mantic's KS price, and allow me to buy them risk-free by seeing them produced and reviewed first.

I'm dropping to a dollar, and pledging about $135 up front. I do think Heracles and the $20 for 20 deals will likely prove worthwhile even with shipping costs. Even the $115 level bundles in the rules and the book, which will weigh more, and which I don't want to pay for or pay shipping on, so a la carte makes more sense. How much I add on the Pledge manager will depend on the total value, with final shipping costs very much a consideration.

I don't believe US customers are better than anyone else in the world, or deserve better. But again, as a US customer, fair or not, the reality is I look for the best deal. And with free shipping on large bulk orders so easy to do here (or even on small orders through Amazon), I'm not assuming special privileges by stating these facts or taking this reduced approach to the campaign, I'm just being a smart customer.

I'm not resentful. Again, I'm thankful I got such incredible deals from Mantic up until now - I can't imagine paying for my Deadzone scenery with the new shipping prices. But from this point forward, I'll be a merciless a la carte customer for their campaigns, buying only what I want, and only at very low speculative risk. I will continue to follow their products through campaigns and retail, though. Just more selectively and carefully.

@Vermonter, seems like sensible and logical reasoning to me. Very nicely put.

Personally I may just go the Heracles route as we are 95% sure if the quality of the contents.

I just hope that for those adding funds via the pledge manager that there are updates/renders/sculpts for inspection up to January/February.

I was really excited here but maybe it's the lack of sleep, scream crying kids, or pressure due to limited time...but after a couple of days of little sleep and screaming kids... That retail, yeah that retail she starts looking pretty good. And now I'm poorly quoting piirates of the carribean...


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Also very well spoken verm. Don't always agree with your outlook but I think we're pretty close here.

With the shipping costs, the lack of knowledge about scuplt quality, and at least a year to deliver (not to mention my KOW2 pledge still being AWOL with no response from Mantic), I don't see any upside to pledging big now.

I'll keep my dollar, and maybe buy some goodies when the PM closes.

I'm dropping my EB $115 back to $1, haven't had enough of a look at firefight and nothing in the bundles or pledges really sufficiently entices me. I'll go back up a bit in the PM of course but for now it's not really as exciting as I'd hoped.

Anyway, whoever gets to that EB first saves $10

Pretty much what Vermonter said. I don't blame Mantic for not wanting to take a bath on shipping, which I'm sure they have to this point. At the same time, I'm not looking to spend a ton of money on shipping either. If the shipping is going to up the price to where it's basically at "what you pay from discount retail" then I'm not really a buyer for large quantities that long in advance. If Mantic cares, they'll find a way to make distribution less costly. If they don't or can't, well, at least retailers will now have incentive to stock Mantic I guess.

I do appreciate Mantic's honesty that it's stated up-front, and I do look forward to the people who don't read complaining in February about how they didn't notice.

EDIT: Also thanks Bolognesus for reminding me to drop to a cheaper EB. $5 isn't much, but still...

 GrimDork wrote:
Holy gak 90 dollars? What the what? When I could order this crap free from the mantic website or miniature market at retail? I'm gonna have to do some thinking....

Vehicles aren't such a good deal now. Even the troop deals lose some of their shine when you factor the shipping.

Welcome to my world, fethers

Seriously considering the dolla billz approach now. If I had known UT was that high from the state of probably have never nabbed one honest. But like I said if I don't have UT a dollar is what would happen.. Hate not to pledge up front but I really gotta have the PM in front of me so I can weight the cost of shipping added on a per model/group basis.

I dropped to $1 from the $115 eb. I just don't see a single bundle I'm interested in. I'll likely grab 20-40 of each plastic infantry type in the pm but that's the only place the deal is with shipping being what it is.

Yep, looking over the final-ish offerings I see enough in Heracles that I'd make use of to bulk out existing armies in a worst case (the Enforcers are overkill really, but meh, there are worse things). Everything else is far too much on the "maybe" end of the scale to throw money at a year in advance. I might like the Asterians and GCPS, but that's just way too much of a gamble at the moment.

Yeah, those shipping costs.

Understandable, I guess, but still...

I'll definitely be staying at a dollar now.

Well, there's still Blaine and the novel. That deal should be quite safe. If the novel actually survives the funding process, that is.


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 Alpharius wrote:
Yeah, those shipping costs.

Understandable, I guess, but still...

I'll definitely be staying at a dollar now.

I really don't think it is understandable. At $30 per vehicle, the shipping costs should have already been out of sight between Waldo and Keyser Soze.

 BobtheInquisitor wrote:
Well, there's still Blaine and the novel. That deal should be quite safe. If the novel actually survives the funding process, that is.

You're assuming that the Royal Mail doesn't decide to start charging exorbitant fees for the mailing of dead trees overseas to retain more of England's Strategic Pulp Reserve. Plus you will also have to pay the fee for the handling of those fees similar to what they charge on paying customs, and of course the "because we can" tax that the US government will put on it once they find out that inferior British pulp is coming into the States.

$90 will be the shipping on the novel before long...

I guess Amazon will come to the rescue. Amazon, protecting the little guy.

It may be worth Mantic investigating sea freighting pre-packed orders in to the US in future,

although whether US backers will be happy having to wait an extra month or two for ships to arrive, containers to get processed, customs, and then stuff to be reshipped ?

 OrlandotheTechnicoloured wrote:
It may be worth Mantic investigating sea freighting pre-packed orders in to the US in future,

although whether US backers will be happy having to wait an extra month or two for ships to arrive, containers to get processed, customs, and then stuff to be reshipped ?

Not sure but here's what I do know. I started the day with an Advanced Warfare pledge, was planing on updating to a total warfare pledge + add ons, rad the shipping amount and will now be dropping to $1 and might get some infantry sprues. Once shipping is added value just isn't there on the things I'm interested in especially when the prefunding aspect is added in.

 GrimDork wrote:
Holy gak 90 dollars? What the what? When I could order this crap free from the mantic website or miniature market at retail? I'm gonna have to do some thinking....

I did my thinking and I saved my money for elsewhere. They seem to be trying to not take my money while still holding my KOW2 models hostage.

Ugh... those shipping prices.

I swear it's an echo chamber in here!

Thought about upping to one of the larger pledge levels myself when the PM dropped, grabbing at least one vehicle bundle to go with everything. Saw how much it would be to ship it, figure I'll wait for the inevitable online sales instead.

Heck, wouldn't I qualify for free shipping from Mantic themselves after spending beyond a certain threshold anyways?

I still like the basic Advanced Warfare package. It's nice getting books, dice, all that stuff along with an army and vehicle. At least I have a few hours left to make a decision.

Yeah, poor Americans... that's what we Europeans had to deal with for quite some time.

Like 75 bucks lol.

 BobtheInquisitor wrote:
I guess Amazon will come to the rescue. Amazon, protecting the little guy.

It does help when you use a series of well paid for loopholes and small banking islands to ensure you never pay company tax, anywhere

 NTRabbit wrote:

 BobtheInquisitor wrote:
I guess Amazon will come to the rescue. Amazon, protecting the little guy.

It does help when you use a series of well paid for loopholes and small banking islands to ensure you never pay company tax, anywhere

. And here I thought they saved all that money cutting their labor law compliance to the bone and then denying it medical leave. Amazon, passing the savings on to their workforce payroll.

RoninXiC wrote:
Yeah, poor Americans... that's what we Europeans had to deal with for quite some time.

Leave emotion out of it. It pure logic. I can

A Pay more now for what I hope the models will look like based on renders or
B Pay less in the future if the models come out looking like there rnders.

Why should I choose A ?