Apolagist: I don't think E&C is against having another alien pose on the sprue, he's just saying that replacing the gun would be a bad idea (I agree).

Considering how quickly the numbers are going up I think is pretty much a given there'll be more poses though, so I don't think you need to worry.

E&C: I reckon having a pledge for vehicles upgrades, where the buyer has to send you an email specifying which sort(s) they want, would be the best and most popular way to do it. Groupings will be more expensive and off-putting to those who don't want some of the contents.

Totally, my greatest dream right now is to have enough funding to have a whole gamut of different poses and sculpts on there.

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Currently doing a plastic scenery kickstarter

Don't get me wrong – I'm not upset or anything! I'm very happy with how the sprue is at the moment – I just want it to do as well as it possibly can, and thought another pose might pull more people in.

The gun/alt pose swap was idle thinking based on the note on the campaign page:
Since that was the case, and the vehicles are obviously different on the front page/gallery, I was musing over other possible changes.

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Industrious, red-robe wearing member of the PCRC

Aye, but there's a difference between cosmetic improvements, and wholesale sprue changes. People have a right to their cannons. :-)

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Currently doing a plastic scenery kickstarter

Factory doing matter prints for flow tests.

Who wants a 4-up used in the factory process?
Stretch goal reward?

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Currently doing a plastic scenery kickstarter

I'm a little puzzled by the sprue changes/costing issue, and was wondering if you could offer a little explanation to help explain the casting/sculpting process to a complete novice.

Any time the idea of multiple poses on the infantry comes up, we're told that that will add £600 to the cost of creating the sprues. The Alien vehicle however is on it's 3rd iteration though, and on the previous page of this spread you mention hoping to improve it further. In a thread on Warseer, a poster mentioned that he thought the Human APC was a little small, and you asked for feedback on how much people thought it should be scaled up? Could you please explain why changes are possible on the vehicles, but not on the infantry?

As far as the separating/mixing the upgrades issue goes, some people (like me!) are looking to build up 2 armies at the same time (need an army to play against!) and aren't put off by the idea of the mixed pack. Would it be possible however to simply have an entry on the poll of "Anti aircraft upgrade pack" and customers email whether they'd prefer a mixed pack, or 4 half sprues of Humans or Aliens. I presume (knowing full well however that assumptions are dangerous) that the actual sprues themselves, once they start coming out of the machines, can be cut in half and combined to people's preferences with minimal fuss, especially if it keeps both opposing viewpoints happy and results in more sales (I can't see it resulting in less!)

Yep. Perhaps one with a larger pledge of other things, to make it more value and/or force people who want one to buy more.

Hee hee! Cool

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Industrious, red-robe wearing member of the PCRC

Because the designs are not finalized yet - they've not been run through the factory's computer algorithms to set up lines of draft, tool cut locations, etc. It's at that point we're actually charged. So changing the size or some of the detailing on one of the figures as they are at the moment shouldn't change the costings too much (and if it does, Mr. E&C will be footing the bill).

So we're currently budgeted for: 1x human pose, 1x human tank with gun, 1x alien pose, 1x alien tank with gun.
(Also 1x sprue of bases, now in a distinct budget of its own)

We could swap out the human pose for a different human pose right now (let's say one with him looking a different direction), and that'd be free. But if we wanted to *add* that pose to the existing sprue, only swapping out 14 of the 28 humans for the sculpt looking in a different direction, then our tool now looks like this:

2x human pose, 1x human tank with gun, 1x alien pose, 1x alien tank with gun.
(Also 1x sprue of bases, now in a distinct budget of its own)

At that point, we're going to be left with a bill for the second sculpt's processing, which'd cost us £600 extra over the current processing budget. Does that make sense?

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Currently doing a plastic scenery kickstarter

bitz by bit ordering, while nice, is hardly practical. But everyone has a bitz box, so bitz packs are a nice way to enable collector to personalize their miniature.

About the success of the campaign actually, while I'm pleased it is working, I really think it could do at least 2 times better and probably more if you had actually planned for it before, beyond designing the plastic sprue.

Imagine the success it could have if you had perfected the designs for the metal range before ?
If you had a few painted prototypes, actual color pictures to show ?
If you had a clear plan for strech goals, so that people could understand the whole vision, rather than discover a few lines at the bottom of the page ?
If you had used kickstarter, for which everyone has an account since it is essentially Amazon, and which let you clearly separate add-ons from pledges ? and actually shows updates on the main page rather than in an hidden tab ? And where so many other miniature project could reference you ?
If the main page of your project actually contained all the info, your vision, your projects, rather than a single link to a nerdy forum at the bottom ?
If you did take into account the fact that your core customer have already spent a lot a week before because of SG line death ?

I am supporting you all the way, but it really feels like if you're improvising.
I don't think you realise it completely yet, but with careful planning, additional designs, scuplts and variants ready IN ADVANCE, some partnership with other actors (outsourcing the bases to EW for the first phases rather than invest for a new mould for example) and a better understanding of the market, I think you could have a 8000£ project funded by now, with separate and varied infantry sprue for both factions from the beginning, and be well on your way to full vehicle sprues as final stretch goals in sight by now, with loads of add-ons unlocked in between which would have essentially been slightly discounted pre-orders for your company.

I can't believe you don't even have a link to your campaign on your company website.

Man, you know for a fact that I follow your projects with anticipation and even admiration over your skills when it come to making minis, but you need to realise that it is not the only thing you need to work on if you want this to really work.

Now, since we're here, we'll do as best as possible, but really Ben, get cranking, you could make it to 10000 still if you really go into overdrive, and give a really great (kick?) start to your business. Since you launched your campaign without that much preparation (you obviously dreamt about it a long time, and I understand SG demise probably prompted you to pull the trigger), you'll need that much more work.

As it is, it looks like you think your audience is actually restricted to Tac Coms. While I'm sure we're all honoured, while the 6mm market isn't very big, it is much larger than tac coms. at the moment, your visibility and the interest of the project for those who are not "in the know" is really below what it could be.

Try to guess how much a nice-but-not-groundbraking project for 28mm fantasy dwarves can get.

OK, 6mm sci fi is not as widely used as 28mm infantry, but these models have thousands of rival alternatives; with plastic 6mm infantry you essentially get yourself a monopoly.

I REALLY DON'T mean any of this long rambling post as an offence and I know you already poured a lot of work into this, on the contrary I am enthusiast enough about what you're doing that I care enough to state my fears bluntly. You really don't seem to realise what you have in your hands*, and what you COULD do with it.


*basically, platinum plated gold ingots.

Next time? :-)


As I've noted before, that would:
A - Make the actual boxes more expensive, because it would close to double our costs per box, going by the last EW trade terms I saw.
B - Not help make the DiD line look distinct from an IP perspective. This is a very important issue and I'm sure you can understand why.


Our company website gets a comparably tiny amount of traffic. We've had ten times the visits to the IGG page than we've ever had to TMG.co.uk in its entire existence. :-)

It's a fair point though, and I'll poke Zombocom to link it (He runs the website side of things).

I intend to. :-)


Indeed, I would estimate the total market to be somewhere around 0.1% of the wargames market, quite possibly less, with 28mm being 80%.


I will do my best - I didn't want to over-promise at the beginning, with a plastic sprue that would be fully featured but need £10k of funding. I wanted to start slow, and build up as we go along.

It has definitely surprised me that there is this much interest.

Do you think instead of doing small stretch goals for metal tanks, for example, we should do one big stretch goal for a sprue of plastic tanks?

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Currently doing a plastic scenery kickstarter

I already feel sorry for typing such a ranting post. I guess I needed to voice it.

Take it as a testament to the hope I'm having for your endeavour...

It is ok - I would prefer people be passionate about the potential of this project!
Far worse if nobody cares. :-)

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Currently doing a plastic scenery kickstarter

I think there'd be more interest in putting more bells and whistles on the existing sprue than getting extra, different sprues. The sprue you have should be the focus of the campaign, rather than the baseboard for separate bits – be they metal models or new plastic sprues – to be tacked-on.

Feeding the money you're raising back into the core of the campaign (refining and improving the sprue) means that it'll attract more backers – and benefit the existing backers.

Basically:
Additions and improvements to the sprue are good: They keep the focus tight, and mean that all backers benefit: new backers might be attracted, and existing backers benefit and might increase their pledge (because the updates to the sprue have things that are good in multiples).
On top of this, the sprue becomes more attractive long-term, when it's standing on its own merits in your shop.

Separate metal pieces like the tanks are counter-productive (even though they're cool models, I hasten to add!), because they dilute the focus. New backers might be attracted, but existing backers don't necessarily benefit; and if they do, they have to pay more.
Long-term, the sprue is less attractive in your shop.

Metal add-ons like the AA turrets etc. are a middle ground. New backers might be attracted, existing backers benefit a little (but have to pay more to do so).

In every case, everyone who's bought in to the campaign wants the sprue to be improved/altered/expanded because they want the cool models on it – and want their money to help improve and refine it so that it is a big success and a steady seller for the future

I know you weren't sure about making the funding for the plastic sprue – hence the separate release of the alien slaves etc. – but you're kind of competing against yourself. The alien slaves could have been put on the sprue, but now you risk pissing off backers who've pledged for metal ones.

Stick to the core plan, and make the best goddam sprue you can with the remaining time.

Remember that you've achieved your initial goal, and that's awesome – a heartfelt congratulations and thanks for the initiative, time and funding you've put into it already.

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Industrious, red-robe wearing member of the PCRC

Yes Sir!

I may put out a few other stand alone metals if I think they can pay for themselves (and more, being able to put profit back into improving the Sprue) mind you. Nothing that'll detract from the main goal. ;-)

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Currently doing a plastic scenery kickstarter