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Whilst not a big thing, the comments here have said that the stretch goal is only for an alternate sculpt and not any additional miniatures but the stretch goal does actually include 4 additional models as well.

So the only optional buy so far is the skeleton box? Hopefully they'll give us something else to pledge money for.

There will be more. We'll be unlocking free heroes and henchmen and also offering heroes and henchmen as optional purchases as well as the opportunity to buy box sets of the other skeleton types.

So I know most of the example miniatures are just painted resin models, but will they be resculpting all the items in the box as 3D computer models

All the physical to digital re-sculpts that are in the box set have already been completed (and included on the box set image) . Some existing 3d files will be re-jigged a little to improve the quality of the final casts when moulded for PVC.

I didn't have time to look closely when it first launched, but each unit of 10 skeletons has one pose

It costs thousands for a mould. Each unit will have an additional sculpt added (and we'll give you free models from that unit too - but we do need to get to that goal first. The alternative is a higher funding goal in the first place. The KS won't be shy on freebies. Get us over the line and I promise you we'll put plenty of freebies your way.

To buy the whole box set in resin is well over £500/$642 (mix of metal and resin the cheapest way is £450/$578) - heck, to just buy the 3 big guys (Mound Beetle, Tomb Spider, Ghast) in resin the cost would be £105/$135 - and if anyone has held a PVC 'Avatar of Pride' PVC mini from Others: 7 Sins - there's not a great deal of difference between resin and PVC.

Mierce isn't willing to put any of their own money into this.

We've put thousands of pounds into it already. The new art and new sculpts alone run into many thousands and then add other production (video) and R&D costs and you're looking at well over £20k investment in this KS. Each piece of art you see, each new sculpt, each card, logo etc - costs a great deal of money.

Make no mistake - this is a Kickstarter. We have put a lot of effort into making it a tangible product so you can see our vision for what we want to do - but it isn't a fancy pre-order where all of the moulding and final production has already been paid for.

There are 68 miniatures in the box, but I count only 22 unique miniatures, which is a pretty weak offering in PVC for this price point

Compared to what game exactly? At the starting level

Zombicide Green Horde box had less unique sculpts - a few more minis.

Dark Souls - less sculpts, less minis

Deep Madness (perhaps the fairest comparison) had the same amount of minis and less unique sculpts.

We can and will add more (just like the above guys did)

The KS has been priced responsibly. We can and will give freebies, but please don't compare this KS on the first day/goal to others at their final day/goal.

We'll get some more goals up soon so you can better see where we're going with this. I promise you won't feel short changed!

The add on wihtgar are really good value and would be good to bulk up existing metal/resin units.

 skullking wrote:

 MLaw wrote:
Man, this was under the radar for me. Got excited but then saw it was yet another fantasy guys vs undead board game. If they had done just about any other army as the bad guy I probably would've been all over this.

And yet, unlike all those other ones, not a zombie in the box...

At least Ghosts, wraiths, Giant spiders, and Beetles are different then, Zombies, fast zombies, fat zombies (that uxplurd!), Giant Zombie monster, repeat.

They have said that in future expansions to the game, there will be goatmen on the Fomoraic Ice sheets, the weird rat people and mutants of the Ysian dungeons, and Vikings n' Trolls. They have a lot of different stuff they can play with, but yeah, in the end, it is heroes vs. Undead, as that has been a proven game seller for many companies.

I'm with you, I loved that Massive darkness had not one zombie in the box, but I think if Darkholds is successful, they'll move away from the undead realms very quickly. Then we can have undead heroes as players!

I think you're assuming Massive Darkness or Black Plague are the only fantasy boardgames..or something?
Completely ignoring Heroquest (I am loathe to even type that as it is truly the greatest game ever..), I just recently-ish.. got my Sword & Sorcery pledge.. which is chock full of skellies, Conan from Monolith.. which also has... loads of skeletons, Rum and Bones, the Skeleton Archers from Black Plague, Castle Ravenloft boardgame, Dungeon Saga, Folklore (if it ever freakin gets here).. and.. guys trying to get me to buy into Runewars.. and not counting all the skellies from Bones, D&D(the prepaints and just stuff from gaming sessions).. or the really old ones from Dragon Strike, Battle Masters, Dark World, etc etc.. (and yes Warhammer).. I do absolutely agree that Meirce's skeletons are some of the best out there. No question.. period. It just doesn't strike me as an inspired choice.
If they had gone with their lizards, or vermin people, or demons.. none of those are necessarily original but they are the less beaten path. I do hope this keeps going though and picks up enough momentum to lock in future expansions. That would probably be my jumping in point. Getting some of their demons in pvc would be crazy too..

I've only loosely been watching this but did they say if any possible additional content could be attained in this KS (in the way of expansions/different factions) or is it strictly being held for sometime down the road?

I've backed it, instead of backing either Bones IV or the Game of Thrones minis game. Looks like great value to me. I was contemplating buying some of the big monsters for the Wihts already (beetles and such) and this way it feels like I'm getting those at a good price, plus a bunch of generic but great quality skellies and a game as a freebie.

I'm on a tentative pledge, I'm not much for boardgames but if this KS takes off we might see a lot of cool mierce miniatures at least

Massive 'What's in the box?' image for closer pics of minis



We're gonna stick up other stretch goals and optionals in a mo - so you guys can see what we have planned down the path.

bananaman wrote:

I didn't have time to look closely when it first launched, but each unit of 10 skeletons has one pose

It costs thousands for a mould. Each unit will have an additional sculpt added (and we'll give you free models from that unit too - but we do need to get to that goal first. The alternative is a higher funding goal in the first place. The KS won't be shy on freebies. Get us over the line and I promise you we'll put plenty of freebies your way.

I totally get that, and actually wasn't saying you should include freebies - I think the number of models in your starting box makes complete sense.

However, I do think that, if you've got 24 sculpts in the box, the skeletons really, really need more than 1 sculpt each. I'm saying a swap, and putting something else as a stretch goal.

It even could have been conceivable to do the models that are only quantity 1 each in another material, depending on the quantity you're targeting - a hybrid game. But just one sculpt per 10-skeleton unit, with 3 such units, is a deal breaker for me... and for myself, I'd prefer to pay more to get those same units in resin from you, instead.

The rest of it looks great, imo! And only posting this to give feedback, in case there was time to adjust contents depending on further backer input going forward (I understand if it's not possible, though).

Agrered on the 'let's have more sculpt variety please!' front.

Also, the OP really needs to get crackin' here - I already posted update number one, and here's update number two!

Update #2

Aug 16 2017

£150,000 - Grave Spiders

With an excellent total this morning, and more requests for stretch goals, we thought we'd bring you some. Set at £150,000 to unlock - i.e., when we're funded! - here's the Grave Spiders!



Once we reach £150,000, a new Grave Spider warrior sculpt (Ogol) will be introduced to the game. Half of the 10x Grave Spiders warriors included in the box will become Ogol, with the other five remaining the original Grave Spider warrior, Lugant.

6x Free Grave Spiders!

As well as that, backers of the Darkholds: Ancient Barrows reward (including any early bird versions) will receive an extra 6x Grave Spider warriors (three of both different warriors) - for free!

OPTIONAL BUY - Ugal's Web

With the addition of the above you'll also be able to purchase Ugal's Web for £15 ($19) as an optional buy.



This box-set will include 20x Grave Spider warriors (ten of both different warriors) to enweb the heroes and henchmen - or use in the Darklands tabletop wargame, of course!

I Really like the stretch goal turning some of the base spiders into the alternate sculpt (and making them half each). Although I'd still prioritize doing so for the skeletons personally

Ah, I Really like the stretch goal turning some of the base spiders into the alternate sculpt (and making them half each). Doing the same for the skeletons would just be ace

That's what we already showed off yesterday with the Wihtgar goal (upgraded to two spear skellybob sculpts and also give 4 miniatures away, free to backers)

We'll do it with all the skeletons and even the Dreaguth - you'll see the stretch goals go up soon, Spiders already up (apologies to arachnophobes!) 2 sculpts and 6 free spiders. The heroes will get sick of the sight of spiders turning up - they can be a real pain in the A!

Hah, you beat my edit . That does sound great

More alt sculpts for the skeletons you say? How about some freebies too?

Deal!

Once we reach £155,000, a new Wihtboga warrior sculpt and a new Wihtax warrior sculpt will be introduced to the game. Half of the 10x Wihtboga warriors included in the box will become the new Wihtboga warrior (Wassa), with the other five remaining the original Wihtboga warrior, Octha. Half of the 10x Wihtax warriors included in the box will become the new Wihtax warrior (Cenred), with the other five remaining the original Wihtax warrior, Ealdred.

4x Free Wihtbogas / Wihtaxas!

As well as that, backers of the Darkholds: Ancient Barrows reward (including any early bird versions) will receive an extra 2x Wihtboga warriors (two of both different warriors) and an extra 2x Wihtax warriors (two of both different warriors) - for free!

OPTIONAL BUY - The Dead of Ceafor Barrow

With the addition of the above you'll also be able to purchase The Dead of Ceafor Barrow for £20 ($26) as an optional buy.

That is just what the doctor ordered - I'm in

Only problem is we're probably folks who'd (for the most part) be jumping in anyway, since we're familiar with Darklands - hopefully there are some BGG ambassadors who can spread the word in those circles, too!

Liking the sculpt variety there!

Could always use more, but I think that's a nice amount of difference for a 'boardgame'!

And next up the wicked Dreaguth will get a sculpt update and two free Dreaguth! As well as the opportunity to pick up more of these guys in groups of 5.



Once we reach £160,000, a new Drēaguth warrior sculpt will be introduced to the game. One of the 2x Drēaguth warriors included in the box will become the new Drēaguth warrior (Wictred), with the other one remaining the original Drēaguth warrior, Cynobog.

2x Free Drēaguthas!

As well as that, backers of the Darkholds: Ancient Barrows reward (including any early bird versions) will receive an extra 2x Drēaguth warriors (one of both different warriors) - for free!

OPTIONAL BUY - The Malign of Alum Tomb

With the addition of the above you'll also be able to purchase The Malign of Alum Tomb box set for £20 ($26) as an optional buy.



So if the KS funds and reaches £165k (a mere £15k beyond the funding target) you get
1 free Moragg of Mann
6 free Grave Spiders
4 free Wihtgar (spears)
2 free Wihtboga (bows)#
2 free Wihtax (ax and lantern)
2 free Dreaguth (wraith types)

+68 minis in the box

= 85 miniatures - and that's just the first few stretch goals!


Full update here https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/mierceminiatures/darkholds-ancient-barrows/posts/1964550

Back the KS here https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/mierceminiatures/darkholds-ancient-barrows/description

Yes, it's an uphill battle for Mierce because they didn't lie to the consumers with an artificially low funding and artificial stretch goals for models that were already going to be produced.

Not that I mind when Mantic or CMON does it, because it means that the game preys upon people's psychology and it makes a ton of money.

Unfortunately, I would guess that most Kickstarters need the appeal of "oh it's already funded and oh look every day I get another free miniature" to reach the actual forreals requirement to get the game made, versus Mierce here who has just straight up told us "look, no BS, this is how much this will cost to make".

If the "goal" was $25k and came with 15 minis but every $5k after that gave us another mini then people would be losing their minds over gettin' free stuff, despite it actually needing $200k to be manufactured.

Man you're a little jaded doug

I agree in part of course, but rather than artificial ideally there'd be a plan in place to make a smaller game if it only funded at say 100K (if that was the goal).

Also I wouldn't get worried yet - obviously they need to reach out to the board gaming / other communities, but many more people are being exposed to this right now as a result of the campaign.

Even if, in the worst case, this failed to fund, remember that the second highest funded Kickstarter EVER, actually failed to fund the first time around (with a 125K goal... and ended up raising over 13M!). So there's no harm in putting this out there and then, if needed, reworking slightly and launching again.

With the goals up to 165K, I think this offering is very competitive, and I'm very stoked for it

 RiTides wrote:
Man you're a little jaded doug

Hah, not necessarily jaded, just realistic.

This really does show the difference between 'boardgames' and 'wargames' in terms of street appeal and Kickstarter campaigns.

£55K in just about a day is a record breaker for Mierce!

And being over a third of the way funded with almost 700 backers this 'early' is good too, I think.

20 days to go, lots of 'freebies' coming at or just after funding...we should be ok!

Yeah, the value is there. And if you compare it side by side in terms of value at £165k to similar KS at the same level - it's actually incredible value!

Get us to £165k and this is what you'll be getting. (click on spoiler tag as the image is mahoosive)

Mierce Miniatures 17-time creator about 2 hours ago

Tim's been busy on the BGG page...
We have Facebook advertising and I've just done a mailshot; next on my list is Daarkan, the new Fomoraic Hero, at £170,000...

You knew Baalor's boys weren't going to stay unrepresented for long here!

Loving the new skeleton sculpts - have to say these are probably some of the nicest sculpts I have ever seen for one, and i've seen a lot of skeletons I can tell you!

Spiders are suitably creepy, so job done there I think. Always think they are an essential in a dungeon crawl game, even if they're not that effective in game they tend to freak people out, who then attack them as a priority over other (possibly more deadly) monsters!

Glad to see this is ticking along nicely.

A few social media stretch goals might also be a good idea. I know us wargamers tend to be old farts/luddites, but the board game crowd is much more hooked in from what I've seen.

The second wave of skeletons look much more impressive. Still, I'm really only interested in the heroes, and maybe a myna chad du, geisha or Flanagan.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
Autocorrect hates your game.

 BobtheInquisitor wrote:
The second wave of skeletons look much more impressive. Still, I'm really only interested in the heroes, and maybe a myna chad du, geisha or Flanagan.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
Autocorrect hates your game.

I was going to say 'try harder' and 'that's not even remotely amusing' but...

...no, I'll stick with that - no desire to 'encourage' more of that!

 MLaw wrote:

 skullking wrote:

 MLaw wrote:
Man, this was under the radar for me. Got excited but then saw it was yet another fantasy guys vs undead board game. If they had done just about any other army as the bad guy I probably would've been all over this.

And yet, unlike all those other ones, not a zombie in the box...

At least Ghosts, wraiths, Giant spiders, and Beetles are different then, Zombies, fast zombies, fat zombies (that uxplurd!), Giant Zombie monster, repeat.

They have said that in future expansions to the game, there will be goatmen on the Fomoraic Ice sheets, the weird rat people and mutants of the Ysian dungeons, and Vikings n' Trolls. They have a lot of different stuff they can play with, but yeah, in the end, it is heroes vs. Undead, as that has been a proven game seller for many companies.

I'm with you, I loved that Massive darkness had not one zombie in the box, but I think if Darkholds is successful, they'll move away from the undead realms very quickly. Then we can have undead heroes as players!

I think you're assuming Massive Darkness or Black Plague are the only fantasy boardgames..or something?
Completely ignoring Heroquest (I am loathe to even type that as it is truly the greatest game ever..), I just recently-ish.. got my Sword & Sorcery pledge.. which is chock full of skellies, Conan from Monolith.. which also has... loads of skeletons, Rum and Bones, the Skeleton Archers from Black Plague, Castle Ravenloft boardgame, Dungeon Saga, Folklore (if it ever freakin gets here).. and.. guys trying to get me to buy into Runewars.. and not counting all the skellies from Bones, D&D(the prepaints and just stuff from gaming sessions).. or the really old ones from Dragon Strike, Battle Masters, Dark World, etc etc.. (and yes Warhammer).. I do absolutely agree that Meirce's skeletons are some of the best out there. No question.. period. It just doesn't strike me as an inspired choice.
If they had gone with their lizards, or vermin people, or demons.. none of those are necessarily original but they are the less beaten path. I do hope this keeps going though and picks up enough momentum to lock in future expansions. That would probably be my jumping in point. Getting some of their demons in pvc would be crazy too..

I've only loosely been watching this but did they say if any possible additional content could be attained in this KS (in the way of expansions/different factions) or is it strictly being held for sometime down the road?

Well... Technically based on what was originally said, you thought the was 'another' heroes vs undead game. And where as all the ones you listed are 'general fantasy' meaning you have undead and other beasties/villians (I haven't played all of them, but I know they are good too), I was just pointing out the general skew of ones where it's mostly heroes vs undead usually tend to be zombie horde games for some reason. And that is very true, there are a CRAP TON of fantasy games out there, even with the group you listed there's still Myth, Super Dungeon Explore, Kingdom Death (I think that one did ok?), Patheon, Orcs must Die!, Cthulhu Wars (kinda), Dark Souls, Village Attacks, Arcadia Quest, Ninja All-Stars, B-Sieged, Banner Saga, Probably more that I didn't actually help fund.

Mierce's skeletons are part of the Jutes which are one of their most popular armies (I think Fomoraic still take the top spot), and I think a lot of people like games where you fight the undead better then just a bunch of other humans, or weird monsters (though kingdom death would surely destroy that theory ). As a fomoraic Darklands player, I'd have much preferred a game with an army of Gabrax, Reivers, and Warriors of Baalor (Beastmen, marauders, & Chaos Warriors for those not familiar with Darklands), but I think starting with skeletons and wraiths makes sense, and you can have it down in the barrows, which is a cool place they don't talk about much in the lore (what there is of it...).

I agree that they should have some expansions that deviate from the Jutes, maybe a fomoraic warband, or some Vras raiders are trying to ransack the barrow as well. AI vs AI enemies! Could be cool.

IF Darkholds does well, there will be expansions like what you've mentioned - Fomoraic for certain.

But, I don't think they'll show up in this KS - and that's probably an OK thing, so as not to over-promise and under-deliver out of the gate...

 Alpharius wrote:
IF Darkholds does well, there will be expansions like what you've mentioned - Fomoraic for certain.

But, I don't think they'll show up in this KS - and that's probably an OK thing, so as not to over-promise and under-deliver out of the gate...

Ah, this is what I was looking for. Thanks to you and skullking for clearing up. The names Mierce use frustrate me more than they should. Their webpage could stand for some sort of easy to follow graphics for people unfamiliar with the cryptic names they've selected. A beastman type expansion would very likely get me in.

skullking - I was literally just thinking about games I have or am waiting on that have a healthy stock of skeletons in them.. I think we were coming at it from different frames of mind is all. I'm pretty sure Descent probably has a skeleton box as well, I have just avoided it.. albeit to my chagrin. Some of the other games you guys have mentioned caught my eye as well but I missed out on or just can't get behind at the moment. Mierce has a special place for me as a company I want to back when the project and my funding line up though. I like what they do it's just not fallen into place yet.

Well done on keeping this updated today Alpharius & Bananaman (Tim)

I tend not to be able to get online during the day on Wednesday but hopefully I should be able to post all the updates tomorrow