As we talked about earlier I have complete understanding for your decision. Health comes first in all matters and you've done a tremendous ammount of hard work for the community. Thank you for bearing the financial burden and taking on all the troublesome work of running a business while letting me have all the fun seeing my weird ideas being turned into actual miniatures. Thank you for the confidence to give Todd and me free reign designing stuff. I have many fond memories of those early pioneering days figuring out how to make the CAD and 3d print work for actual mass produced miniatures. (Altso a big thanks to Todd for his patience and sound advice when he was turning my sketches and their imposssible geometry into something that could actually be printed and cast).
What impressed my most in the beginning was your attention to detail and focus on quality. I was used to GW and FWs mediocre quality control with lots of flash, poorly alligned moulds and miscasts. But those early Khazari and Guild units were excellent sculpts and cast with no flash or mould lines. I had never seen anything like it. That staple of quality was definitely what made EW in the golden days. The fact that some suppliers closed shop has obviously been the cause of many headaches, but I think it speaks volumes about your desire to deliver a good product that you have held back releases of products, which turned out to to be sub par prints or casts in later years. I am sure many customers were frustrated that the Hoplon mkII and Squires never got released - especially when production casts had already been made. It takes a firm commitment to stick to your priniciples and say: "Sorry. We cannot release this product as the quality is not up to our standard - even if we're gonna loose a load of money right now". A company with less focus on quality would have been sorely tempted to release that stock of sub par casts and make a quick buck anyway.
I think this sums up the idealism that drove EW. An idealism that is all too rare in business these days. It was never about making money. It was about doing what felt right, and having a quality product that was available to everyone interested in the hobby.
It is beyond doubt that the Epic community is in your debt - not only for picking up the mantle when it became clear that GW was dropping support for Epic, but also for paving the way with CAD design and inspireing an entire scene of new 6mm manufacturers.
I think you made the right decision. It might still be possible to find a way to keep the entire product line available, but making the CAD designs available at Shapeways is an excellent way to keep the miniatures on life support. Like I mentioned earlier: It is only a matter of a very few years before print on demand (and home print) becomes competitive with traditional casts in terms of price and quality
Thanks for everything buddy! It's been both a fun and educational ride!