Delayed Mierce Darklands: New Kindreds

[Beagle]

I'm not concerned about the Maelstrom connection, I've had two large pledge rewards from the first two projects delivered and it looks like the third is going well in production terms.

 

I do have some concern though. Is the Mierce business model now Kickstarter dependent? Looking at some of the RRPs I could easily believe that these are purposefully inflated to sell the kickstarter deals. Will anyone really pay £30 at retail for one mounted and one foot figure?

[MonkeySloth]

Yes. Rob has stated that currently kickstarter is their business model.

 

I'm not concerned about Maelstrom either, in fact I'm surprised its been brought up so many times in this thread alone and never once, that I recall, from KS 2,3 or 4.

 

I assume its because this is the third one of the year?

Edited October 5, 2014 by MonkeySloth

[Darsc Zacal]

At one time Maelstrom had a good track record too.

I brought up my personal experiences with the folks behind Maelstrom and Mierce when the first Mierce KS campaign was announced. Most folks here dismissed it so I haven't brought it up again.

 

I only mention it now as lately folks in this thread have spoken about the smaller amount of new minis and the continued discounting being offered on ones from previous campaigns, which to my mind follow a pattern I have seen before with Maelstrom. Everything is fine and dandy until their cash flow began suffering and then discounts were being offered on existing product until the prices being offered were too good to be true... Which it turned out they were.

 

There. I've had my say now.

[MonkeySloth]

Ahh. I don't think that's what's going on. People kept telling Rob that better prices would help bring new people in so he's spaced out stretch goals more and half of them are alts which are cheap to produce. I see that as a responsible way to lower the entry price, as the alts aren't discounted at all unless you buy a starter, but they're still not the deal they were in KS1.

 

Now if he was just throwing fee-be after free-be onto the low prices he has for starters right now then that would be concerning.

[Trodax]

This KS certainly feels a lot more messy and complicated than the previous ones, at least to me. The staged unlocking of various parts of the package deals (unit, commander, monster) just looks a bit all over the place, and the project exclusive alternates are absolutely everywhere. Then there's the alternate banner bearers and the extra warriors; in some cases I'm not 100% certain if these are included in the units on offer here. I understand the fact that the "All the infantry starters" pledge level is actually "pick any 11 of the 14 available", but that has to be confusing for newcomers. It feels like they had a plan, but then almost immediately abandoned it.

 

As for Darsc's misgivings, I don't know. I will say that I have felt a slight sense of worry during the last few months, in the building up to this project. It just doesn't feel quite sustainable to run a KS like this every six months, and the backlog they're racking up is vast. My feeling is that it's pretty much the same crowd of backers coming back for more in each of their projects, but will people really keep buying like this indefinitely? I don't really mind a business model based on Kickstarter, if it's carried out as by Red Box Games and AntiMatter Games; one project at a time. But with overlapping projects like this (i.e. starting a new one before the previous one (or two, or three) is completed) feels a lot more... shaky and sensitive to problems. I'm still waiting on a big wave 2 order from KS2, and it seems there is quite a lot left to do before my "All the Units" pledge from KS2.5 can be fulfilled (estimated delivery date October 2014). It's not the lateness of things that bothers me, mind you, it's the overlapping with the next project.

 

Another thing I think feels kind of silly is that every project has the 20% off on existing product built in. When I jumped onboard the Mierce train in KS2, I actually picked up a number of things from KS1, thinking this was a one-time deal. But now I know I could just get stuff at this price in any future KS. 20% off really seems to be the price one should compare things to, rather than the RRP.

[MonkeySloth]

I agree that they can't keep relying on the same 100 people to be their major financers--I know many of us here are weary of it and I think there's only 2-3 of us that count for upper mid tier backers. I also agree about there always being 20% off, but it still ends up being about the same prices as the on-line sellers that carry the line so I guess it's really not that big of a deal.

 

KS2 has a huge chunk done, I've got the vast majority of my order already, and 2.5 is humming along quite nicely.

 

The best thing about these KSers is you can back for $15 dollars and just order what you want right as shipping is about to start--that's kind of what I'm doing as I just don't have the money anymore and that way I can see sculpts before I order.

[Arkady]

I looked over it again and tbh, I can't even figure out what I'd be getting if I were to pledge, say, for an existing kindred starter. The image would seem to suggest that some of the infantry will be the new alternate sculpts, which on the other hand I thought were add-ons that need separate buying.

 

Oh, and when would the stuff arrive, anyways? Would even the single starter come in 2 waves then, or would it ship as one in... err... June 2015, perhaps?

 

Trying to make things attractive for new backers is important mind. But this campaign epically fails in finding the right balance between "offering a great deal" and "making things easy to figure out". That considered, I'm not sure I'll give in and pledge.

 

EDIT: oh. Found it. There's an update that suggests the new alternate infantry will be in the other kindred starters for this campaign, after all. Then again, I can't find that confirmed through anything but the graphic.  Head hurts. Campaign too complicated.

Edited October 6, 2014 by Arkady

[Dan d'Lyon]

Rob actually stated that there will be a significant break after this KS until the next big one. Initially the plan was to do one every 6 months, but now the next one could be 9 months away or more to allow them to catch up some of the backlog. I think that's a very good decision and will hopefully get these amazing models into more people's hands.

[MonkeySloth]

That's a good decision.

[Trodax]

Well that is really good to hear. In the first days of this KS I saw some comment to the effect that the cavalry campaign would be in six months (and it was going to be huuuge); nice to see they've rethought things a bit.

[MonkeySloth]

Also they need to get the rules out and Rob keeps working on getting minis out instead.

 

Having a full set of rules will start to attract people to the game--now if only he could decide on a starter for each group as people that go to their website have no clue what they're looking for or what they need.

[Dan d'Lyon]

Supposedly there will be actual starter sets after this one too.  Of course, that could get pushed to the side again.

 

Anyway, last day folks.  Lots of good stuff out there with only about 4 hours to go.

[Orlando_the_Technicoloured]

The Camel men are fully locked in so I'm v.happy

[Orlando_the_Technicoloured]

Rob's just guaranteed Egil the norse bird man a little early so you can now pledge for that starter too without fear

[MonkeySloth]

I only went in for about 15 pounds. I'll see later on if I want to buy more as, while the prices are great, I've yet to paint anything up from Mierce so I probably should consider doing that first. And I know I really won't have time this year.