Delayed Fairytales meet The Hunger Games/Battle Royale

[Suden]

I just can't decide whether this was a scam all along. 

 

No way this was just a scam. Alex obviously messed up big time, but he spent a ton of money. He offered far more than anyone could have delivered for the price. I've received the original 40 minis, plus the core game. If that was all I got for a $65 pledge, I would consider myself more than satisfied. Of course I pledged for add-ons, and backed the second project as well, so I ended up investing a little over $250 in total.

 

The minis are big (too big, they'd be so much better at a 28mm scale, but that just shows his inexperience even more), good quality and packaged in fancy retail boxes of six-eight minis each. I don't think anyone could even produce the minis alone for that price, unless they had volumes like Reaper gets on projects. And the game isn't just a couple decks of cards. It's got decks, dashboards, a 40 page glossy rulebook and a lot of quality artwork throughout. The money he raised is clearly visible in the product he produced.

 

The main thing that killed him was the minis. He added them as a free stretch goal at the last minute, and I don't think he actually thought it would reach that level. The minis unlocked at $120k, the project was at $70k with 2 days to go, it more than doubled funding and backers in 48 hrs. He also got burned by the $10 shipping stretch goal. These are self inflicted problems, but hindsight is 20/20 and it's easy to get caught up in the excitement when you are inexperienced.

 

No question Alex got in over his head. But unlike many other projects (ToH,Labyrinths terrain, etc.) he didn't just throw his hands up and quit. He's been plugging away for years, working to refund backers, paying shipping out of pocket, etc., to try and meet his commitments. I'd love to know how much of his own money (and time) he's invested over the last three years. I wouldn't be surprised to hear he'd spent more than all the backers have by now. I feel nothing but sympathy for him.

[MonkeySloth]

++ to this.

 

Even with this falling through Alex was a guy who tried to make it right and didn't go full Benji on us.

 

He wanted to make a game and people talked him into miniatures and that;s where he had no experence and things fell through for him as Suden said. 

[Beagle]

As I said, I'm unsure. I can understand how the minis made it spiral out of control, but that doesn't explain Alex's failure to communicate (including ignoring his delivery partner - Greenbrier Games), or what seem to be made up stories.

 

Each update is the same, 'I'm going to make a point of communicating regularly' and then he disappears. Backers do not get replies to emails, the mysterious 'Belle' who was due to take over comms never materialised, and I've been unable to find any reference online to the company which is supposed to be diverting profits to pay for shipping.

 

If you make $300,000 through Kickstarter and spend $200,000 creating goods to send to backers, you're still making a tidy profit and it's still a scam.

Maybe I just need to be less cynical. 

[Acuteapathy]

As I said, I'm unsure. I can understand how the minis made it spiral out of control, but that doesn't explain Alex's failure to communicate (including ignoring his delivery partner - Greenbrier Games), or what seem to be made up stories.

 

Each update is the same, 'I'm going to make a point of communicating regularly' and then he disappears. Backers do not get replies to emails, the mysterious 'Belle' who was due to take over comms never materialised, and I've been unable to find any reference online to the company which is supposed to be diverting profits to pay for shipping.

 

If you make $300,000 through Kickstarter and spend $200,000 creating goods to send to backers, you're still making a tidy profit and it's still a scam.

Maybe I just need to be less cynical. 

 

I'm with the Beagle on this one.