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Miniatures Adventure => Fantasy Adventures => Topic started by: Shieldwolf Miniatures on 03 December 2014, 08:16:27 PM
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A warm welcome to all!
For those that may have not heard of us yet, Shieldwolf Miniatures is a company producing an army tabletop game played with 28mm "heroic"/bulky scaled miniatures. The materials used are the best worldwide; polyurethane resin for our characters and HIPS for the troops. We are trying to change ALL our troops in HIPS, something that is very hard to do due to the high costs of tooling. It is not by chance that only 2 companies worldwide keep on tooling 28mm "heroic" scale fantasy miniatures in HIPS!
In order to make things work, we have put on hold ALL planned regiments that were destined for resin production (you are welcome to check out more in our Facebook page where we already have more than 5,000 followers).
A crowdfunding project was not in our initial plans. As Dott. Angelos Margaritis (owner and founder of Shiledwolf Miniatures) has said however: "the possibilities of a crowdfunding project can allow our Community to access an entire new range in a matter of months instead of years!"
Since April 29, 2014, we stopped everything (even if it was a finiancial blow to us having sculpted all these miniatures and not putting them into production) and changed our strategy towards what the Community was asking from us: Make more miniatures in HIPS and keep up with the innovation.
Not being a KS company (by any means, lol) we put more almost 9 months of work and commissioned top of the line professionals to bring this forward. Gearworks studios is responsible for the grafics/video, Georgios Konstantopoulos and his Team are in charge of the concept artwork (you will not be seeing any "sketches" from us) a whole new top-class group of sculptors is working from Summer on this, while Golden Daemon painters have already worked (and keep on working) for the better presentation of our project. Some of the sculptors recruited include the evolving talents Paolo Fabiani and Davide Tedeschi from Italy, the experienced Olivier Bouchet and MIKH from France, the veterans Patrick Keith and Sean Bullough from the USA, etc. In conclusion, we believe to have done our best to prepare for the upcoming Kickstarter, which we are now slowly revealing.
A very ambitious program that with your help we can speed up. :)
First amy revealed is the Valley Orcs, hoping it will follow our success of the Mountain Orcs! 8)
As you can see from the fluff below, we have an entire different vision of not-dumb/ape-like/scrap-wearing Orcs. We would like very much for you to share your thoughts on this! :)
(http://i902.photobucket.com/albums/ac221/Shieldwolf_Miniatures/ValleyOrcsFullarmy_zps4bb9bb2e.jpg)
"...At times the King himself would take a handfull of faithful warriors and head over to the Kingdom of Talliareum to pilage the villages. But what made this Orc different, was that instead of killing everyone in his path, he kidnapped Humans of certain crafts, like blacksmiths and architects.
He enslaved them and had them work for him. This was very strange behaviour for the Orcs and they initially thought the King was going mad. Aburgoth wasn't called The Terrible for no reason however and obviously no-one dared challenge him.
As time passed, the Valley Orcs came to appreciate what they were learning. Their weaponry became better and their towers didn't risk crumbling any longer when a fierce storm hit their settlements. With time, the greenskinned warriors developed such an arsenal that no other Orc faction could match. Heavy armored warriors who would create an impenetratable thick shieldwall and when close enough would engage the enemy to deliver them death... "
Second army revealed are the Talliareum Mercenery Ogres, another innovative army/vision from the Shieldwolf Team. This is the only army out of the 5 planned that will not include any HIPS, everything will be in polyurethane resin. We hope you like these big fellas as much as we do! 8)
(http://i902.photobucket.com/albums/ac221/Shieldwolf_Miniatures/TalliareumOgresFullarmy_zpsb5feefdd.jpg)
"...No one remembers how long ago these huge brutes decided to live among the Humans in the Kingdom of Talliareum. The Ogres do not go unnoticed, standing more than 8 feet tall and weighing some 400 pounds each! It comes as no surprise that they took advantage in the past of their natural strength and physical structure to beat people up, steal, abuse; there was a time they practically did as they pleased. But as the Kingdom of Talliareum slowly formed, the Ogres soon found out they couldn't deal with the better organised Humans. Highly outnumbered, they consistently got arrested, beaten, imprisoned and even executed. Some Ogres left for far away lands, but many stayed, choosing to obey the Law. Well, in a certain sense at least..."
On Monday 8th of December we are revealing the 3rd army we have been working on, hopefully you'll like it as much as we do! :)
As for the concept artwork our sculptors will be working on, here's a teaser of one of our centerpieces. What you see is 20' of work condensed in 30", this particular one took 4 hours non-stop work ;)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GiByEaMhnWk (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GiByEaMhnWk)
We saved the best for last. The work put into this is truly a lot and the number of projects we have looked into for deeper comprehension of how a campaign works (both the very successful ones but also the mserably failed ones even if easily funded) has brought us to a point of responsability towards our future backers, that we have decided to offer a money-back guarantee, meaning that if for any reason you do not like the final miniatures received, you can mail them back to us for a full refund, no questions asked. This is how serious and committed we are in this project.
Hope you like what we have prepared and support our passion.
Thank you! :)
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3rd army has appeared... :)
First sculpts will be revealed (from all armies) very shortly, in the meanwhile we hope you like them and enjoy as much as we do! :D
(http://i902.photobucket.com/albums/ac221/Shieldwolf_Miniatures/ShieldmaidensFullarmy_zps2f8a0e18.jpg)
"...they had long defied their male counterparts and exiled themselves to the coldest territories. At first, these were but a handfull of women that had stood up, they had confronted the men and resisted their destiny; after having been beaten up and abused for centuries, there came a time they decided to face the lethal wilderness of the Northern Alliance Territories than endure the puny life the Gods had designed for them.
Many of them got captured or killed, while others simply perished in the perilous journey, their corpses still preserved in the ever-lasting ice. The few that survived however gave birth to one of the toughest factions the Shieldwolf world ever knew. And after so many centuries of total isolation these female warriors are seen ever more often, having enhanced their breed to a point they can field entire armies. And they can match up to anyone..."
Next (4th) army to be revealed in the next days, probably Monday 15th... 8)
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And the 4th army has made their appearance... :D
(http://i902.photobucket.com/albums/ac221/Shieldwolf_Miniatures/TalliareumGuardofPramendesFullarmy_zps4ef4d05d.jpg)
"...In times of darkness and despair, some races perish and others -somehow- survive. The Race of Humans was one of these. Although they were numerous, they lacked physical strength and were often picked on like the weaklings they were. Ogres did as they pleased with them, Orcs often raided and plundered their villages in the south while the Barbaric tribes pillaged their small towns up north. The neighboring Elves were the only ones who didn't bother them nor were they willing however to assist them.
The Humans saw their lives dominated by fear and their numbers kept dangerously thinning. As times went by, they inevitably realized they stood better chances through unity. That was a hard step for Humans are very hard to overcome their personal weaknesses, and have more often than any other Race challenged reasonable thinking due to their arrogance and pride. Their will to survive however overcame all vanity and personal ambitions, creating overcrowded centers which later formed huge cities.
The Humans were lucky enough to have strong and wise leaders who created the Law, took taxes and used them to build huge fortifications and outposts, while for the first time regular patrols guarded their borders and exterminated the numerous thieving warbands that had long ravaged their lands.The Kingdom of Talliareum had been formed and with it the Race of Humans survived..."
Hope you'll like them as much as we do!
Thank you.
The Shieldwolf Team.
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This is the first I have seen of this, and it looks promising! I am glad to see that you are making plans for your fundraiser, I hope it goes well for you. I will take a look through your website to see what stuff you have already.
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Thanks Timbor, we have perpared some awesome stuff for this Kickstarter, we hope we'll be getting as much of it unlocked as possible! :)
Ah, you can add Olicvier Nkweti on that sculptors list above ;)
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Hello 'Shieldwolf Team'. You might or might not remember my slightly unimpressed comment from Dakka. Reading through this, I haven't changed my mind much.
As you can see from the fluff below, we have an entire different vision of not-dumb/ape-like/scrap-wearing Orcs.
Absolutely. It's the pauldrons-like-washtubs/unliftable-weapons vision that people use when they want to copy Blizzard instead of GW.
Second army revealed are the Talliareum Mercenery Ogres, another innovative army/vision from the Shieldwolf Team.
It probably was innovative when Foundry, and to an extent GW, used it.
Years ago.
"...they had long defied their male counterparts and exiled themselves to the coldest territories.
Where they developed their special thermal bikinis.
(http://barnapkinmemoirs.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/picard-facepalm.jpg)
I don't care how many pop up here to lecture me on "it's just fantasy!", this is a ridiculous, skeevy trope that needs to be a bit less overdone. Have yer tribal ultrafeminist self-sustaining all-woman society from the frozen wastes, even; just make them a non-booby-flashing tribal ultrafeminist self-sustaining all-woman society that dresses like it's from the frozen wastes. (http://images6.fanpop.com/image/photos/34600000/jon-and-ygritte-nights-watch-34658055-1279-686.png)
The last lot I have least problems with, but even spanish-themed not-WFB-empire are not new (http://www.gamezoneminiatures.com/tienda/en/empire/72-alabarderos-ii-del-imperio.html) (to say nothing of minis of the real-world guys), and judging by the style, I dunno if you want to go the GW-style route of a big block unit full of individual, dynamic, 'bulky' he-men. Just mucks up ranking, and worked out worse than that for Mantic's basileans.
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Hello Vermis,
we do remember your comment over at Dakka, it was not the comment itself I believe but the manner with which it was stated. ;)
We have nothing against your writing your opinion and I don't think anyone will jump against you, I'm sure we can't please everyone, it is quite impossible to think so anyway. :)
To each his own, but to say we are copying someone else is at least wrong imho, we have done almost everything in order to avoid that. We copy Blizzard you say? I didn't know our Mountain Orcs faces looked anything like Blizzards. Copying GW has already been discussed, immagine we had different people who actually messaged us that we should copy them instead of doing our own thing because it would be easier for them to buy our minis to integrate along with their current armies! So, I think with comments like these it's crystal clear everyone agrees copying GW is very far from SWM. :)
You said we are not "original" and you are unimpressed.
Do our Death Deceivers look like anything else you've ever seen? I don't think so, and mind you they were our first kit! ;)
Foundry Ogres look like our Talliareum Ogres? I highly doubt that, but when we start revealing our first Ogre sculpts we can gladly have pic comparisons if you like 8)
Sexy "bikinis" on our females... Yes, I presume you are refferring to our light clothing... well, there isn't really anyone else ever doing something similar to actually compare these (correct me if I'm wrong), so there's another innovative idea from SWM. But in order to answer your "bikini" comment, as far as their plastic kit is concerned, and since we will be asking people for a respected sum of money in order to produce it in the quality we are known for, we have 2 alternative versions, which we will be asking our backers to vote for if necessary. One "bikini" version as you call the light armored version and one "heavy armor" version. So, even that has easily been forseen and taken care of. 8)
For the Human Guard of Pramendes, yes, we know there are a very few others who have spanish/conquistador themed models -not entire armies. That's why what you'll be seeing from us in the Kickstarter will also include things you have not seen from any of them, also because the "conquistadores" consist only half of the Pramendes Guard! ;)
As for the Basileans, that was Mantic's idea of fantasy humans and we respect that. Please do not confond us with them however, we have no affiliation with Mantic nor have we ever used their materials in our products. 8)
If you don't want to support us, we can obviously not force you to. But I think everyone -including you- will admit we are among the few army-making miniature companies worldwide who can offer such quality of both service and product.
Thanks for reading, there has been no sarcasm/irony in my post and I hope we will produce something to your liking so you'll find it in your interest to support us! :)
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Nice illustrations, if the sculpts are similar they will be nice miniatures. They may not be as original as you think though. Why 'heroic/bulky' scale by the way, why not just normal 28mm? And the women do need more clothes and armour.
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Sounds like you've got a great lineup of artistic talent hired. Best of luck with your project. Even if your brand of bikini barbarian fantasy isn't my cup of tea, I'm sure there's a market for it.
Your reply to Vermis' post makes you sound incredibly arrogant btw, you might want to look over your social media marketing strategy. Maybe put someone else on forum duty?
Once you have some finished casts, I'd love to see some size comparison pics.
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Good luck with you line of miniatures shieldwolf, when does your kickstarter go live?
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Your reply to Vermis' post makes you sound incredibly arrogant btw, you might want to look over your social media marketing strategy. Maybe put someone else on forum duty?
Disagree. Sounds like someone defending himself from an unwarranted attack when he was making a post about a new product he was launching. Maybe Vermis has a personal problem w/ this company, but this post is no place for it. If I want it, I don't care if someone else thinks it is unoriginal, and if they don't like it, don't buy it.
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Vermis' vitriol seems hard to shake, he's made similar comments on other forums where you post. Just move forward and don't waste your time with comments better suited to frothers, 4chan, or other internet armpits.
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Gentlemen, let’s stay polite and friendly. The last thing we need is an aggressive attitude against an upcoming range of figures. Let’s wait till we can see the greens and then let’s talk about but again -> polite and friendly. Thanks.
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Nice illustrations, if the sculpts are similar they will be nice miniatures. They may not be as original as you think though. Why 'heroic/bulky' scale by the way, why not just normal 28mm? And the women do need more clothes and armour.
Thank you. We have done our best to ensure that the miniatures are going to be as faithful as possible to the illustrations and to what people are going to receive in their hands. The "money-back guarantee" our project offers was decided for that exact reason, we cannot tell people we offer X and deliver Y. We have searched and we are aware of the legal bounds that don't exist with crowdfunding projects, but there is a moral issue at hand and we hold ourselves responsible towards our backers.
As for the 28mm "heroic" scale, with the minor exception of the females where -we have written that elsewhere too- they can't be "too heroic" for the sculpts would look silly/awkward, that's our standard scale. Actually, we try to use "heroic"/bulky in our descriptions, since we tend to have a bit more "realistic" proportions in our sculpts.
Good luck with you line of miniatures shieldwolf, when does your kickstarter go live?
That would be mid-late January/early February, with latest date being Tuesday 10th Feb.
We have 2 reasons to stretch it a couple of weeks. (you might find them dumb but that's what we think best)
1. We are aware of Monolith's Kickstarter and since we believe the same crowd will be interested in both projects we do not want to collide with them, also because we like their project and hope they do very well!
2. It's right after X-mas holidays and it would mean straining people's finances.
Sounds like you've got a great lineup of artistic talent hired. Best of luck with your project. Even if your brand of bikini barbarian fantasy isn't my cup of tea, I'm sure there's a market for it.
Thanks, we are hoping all 5 armies will have fans so we'll have something for everyone :)
Your reply to Vermis' post makes you sound incredibly arrogant btw, you might want to look over your social media marketing strategy. Maybe put someone else on forum duty?
I'm sorry if it sounded like that, I fail to understand which part of it gives that impression however ???
My name is Dott. Angelos Margaritis, and the post above was written by me. I monitor most of the comments written on the forums by the other members of my Team and am so dedicated on my company's good performance on this crowdfunding project that I will probably be taking it exclusively on me to answer everyone's questions during the KS, so responsability will be entirely on me.
Why do you think I was arrogant? :(
Correct me where I'm wrong please.
a.The materials we use are world's best and -with no surprise- most expensive.
b.The prices we have are considered very fair. In our history, we have lowered twice the prices on some of our products. Both times we refunded the difference to the people who had already purchased the items at the higher RRP! We weren't obliged but that's what I considered fair doing.
c.The customer service till today has a 100% perfect track record.
d.The P&P we charge are smaller than those usually charged (besides the Free Shipping option).
e.Everything produced till present day has been without any crowdfunding money whatsoever.
f.True, our initial sculpting Team was not world's best (we had never claimed that), but -with a lot of patience and funding from our part- that has been adjusted, and we now have what is needed for top-quality product.
g. We hire GD painters for the best presentation of our models, besides our 360 views which few companies bother with.
As for the "innovation", after so many mails about us not doing a "good job" copying others and how stupid we are for not replicating another Company's style, it's extremely frustrating hearing/being blamed also for exactly the opposite! :?
I think you'd agree with me if you placed yourself in my shoes :)
Once you have some finished casts, I'd love to see some size comparison pics.
The only teaser we have revealed is directly from the image taken for the Guard of Talliareum pictured above, sculpted by Olivier Bouchet.
We will reveal multiple sculpts however in the next time period, before launching the KS. Not only that, we will have size comparison pics with other brands and we think we will make it on time to also have painted 360 versions on our webstore, so people will know exactly what some of our sculpts look like from all angles. 8)
(http://i902.photobucket.com/albums/ac221/Shieldwolf_Miniatures/OlivierBouchetTeaserpicfromthesculpt_zps73077b5b.jpg)
We'll leave it to the rest of our sculpts/artwork speak for themselves, hopefully you'll like them! We'll be very happy to hear more comments from the people in the forums, it has been almost 9 months we have changed our PR Policy and interact directly instead of simply monitoring the forums, I find it has been a very good decision so far :)
Thanks for reading.
Angelos.
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I appreciate your civil responses, Angelos. I did not find your responses 'arrogant'. I am going to assume english is not your first language, so perhaps there was a bit of intonation lost in translation which was mistaken for arrogance? I dunno, but I think you are doing a fine job to promote your product,
While some of the criticism is warranted, there is only so much you can do differently when designing a 'classic' fantasy figure like an orc. They have been around for so long with so many different versions from so many different manufacturers, there's bound to be some crossover unless you invent a completely new race. While that could be a good idea in theory, you might have a hard time convincing buyers to pick up a completely new race that has no crossover value in genres.
As for the fur bikini issue... it is rather cliche, and I as well would much rather see more 'realistic' attire, like the photo linked in Vermis' post. However, judging by what I see being sold successfully, I doubt you will get enough support to fund the production of hard plastic, properly attired women. Most customers would prefer the scantily clad type, IMO. A shame, really, but it's reality.
I am looking forward to more WIP shots, hopefully you have a good selection of sculpts ready before the campaign starts. I can't guarantee I will be able to back your KS, but if you have lots of pictures of the actual figures to be produced, then I will be much more likely to join in.
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Appreciate it, I apologize if I gave that impression to anyone -but still fail to see how ???
Yes, we are Greeks and Shieldwolf Miniatures thus also Greek (very near Athens) :D
We'll make sure to upload some sculpts and relative artwork plus other news/fluff/background as the launch date approaches. :)
Thank you.
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We have added a small poll to evaluate people's thoughts on the armies revealed so far in our KS project.
We value your opinion and need your help to evaluate their popularity and classify the order of our Stretch goals.
Thank you! :D
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I am really looking forward to seeing the greens for these. I hope they are just a little more grim dark and a little less cartoonish than the drawings.
As for the Amazons. First, I think an army of Northern barbarian women covered from head to toe in seal skin parkas with fur hoods while historically accurate would be a total disaster for your kickstarter. Sex sells, sex populates the planet, sex has been a part of military display since the dawn of war. Robert Howard sanctified the fur bikini. All that being said, I would love to see an army of women in full plate, but for the love of god put breasts on the breast plates. Yes, I know they serve no function, but neither did the fins on Cadillacs and those sold pretty well.
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The boobies only need to be on full display for those stolid souls in sore need of a working visual imagination.
... which is simply a rather glib way of saying that it would have been nice (and genuinely unusual) to see an Amazon army in genuinely proper, functioning kit instead of the ten-thousand-and-first copy of Red Sonja from someone who claims they're being original.
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I'm waiting for the 5th army reveal (and hoping it's demons) before voting.
Good luck to you in your endeavour, new minis and greater choice are always a good thing.
Looking forward to more concept art, but more importantly, examples of greens/digital sculpts. If the sculpts are up to snuff, I may well be tempted. It's a very, very ambitious project, will be interesting to see the details next year.
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I'm waiting for the 5th army reveal (and hoping it's demons) before voting.
Good luck to you in your endeavour, new minis and greater choice are always a good thing.
Looking forward to more concept art, but more importantly, examples of greens/digital sculpts. If the sculpts are up to snuff, I may well be tempted. It's a very, very ambitious project, will be interesting to see the details next year.
Thank you! :)
The 5th army will not be included in the Poll above I'm afraid so you can go right ahead and vote if you like, we are looking forward to sorting out first the impact/impression these 4 have made before adding more to the basket. :)
We are very much looking forward to the impression our new sculpts will have on the Community, we like them very much but -we are certain- there will always be someone left dissatisfiedd... :-I
The boobies only need to be on full display for those stolid souls in sore need of a working visual imagination.
... which is simply a rather glib way of saying that it would have been nice (and genuinely unusual) to see an Amazon army in genuinely proper, functioning kit instead of the ten-thousand-and-first copy of Red Sonja from someone who claims they're being original.
:D Our research shows the "light-armored" version stands better chances of making a good impact. Way better to be precise, although as pointed out before we will be asking backers to vote if they ask for it.
As for being original, you've probably misunderstood, maybe it's because of our im-perfect English, anyway the originality Shieldwolf shows for this does not (obviously) reside in the clothing of the Northern Alliance women (we never claimed that) but instead on their background story and army. And by "army" we mean there is no-one else producing something like this. (That's to our knowledge at least, please correct if we are wrong) We are the first -or at least we are the first who try to create an army as such :D! 8)
Edit:
I am really looking forward to seeing the greens for these. I hope they are just a little more grim dark and a little less cartoonish than the drawings.
As for the Amazons. First, I think an army of Northern barbarian women covered from head to toe in seal skin parkas with fur hoods while historically accurate would be a total disaster for your kickstarter. Sex sells, sex populates the planet, sex has been a part of military display since the dawn of war. Robert Howard sanctified the fur bikini. All that being said, I would love to see an army of women in full plate, but for the love of god put breasts on the breast plates. Yes, I know they serve no function, but neither did the fins on Cadillacs and those sold pretty well.
Sorry, missed that! :D
I'll probably disappoint you, there will be a tiny bit of cartoonism but not exaggerated/silly. Hopefully you'll comment further once we start pumping the models out for people to see (which is in the very next few days that is).
As for the clothing, I think you've nailed it just fine. :)
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Well, the "original" comment wasn't directed exclusively to you folks, but off the top of my head there have been whole armies of such "northern barbarian women by several companies over the years, such as Brigade, Rackham, and so forth, and other manufacturers such as Reaper, Ral Partha, Foundry and others who don't have a dedicated army set per se, but still produce enough different individual miniatures to create one.
It's a classic fantasy trope, and though it's somewhat cheesy and stale, I don't expect it to vanish, even if I personally would be a lot more interested in something both more novel and more sensible.
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Oh yes, NOW I see how something can be misinterpreted :)
We have seen these -some really lovely models among them too-, our interpretation/definition of an army however is with "rank n' file" troops, warmachines, cavalry, huge monsters etc. All of which will be included in these 5 armies the Kickstarter project will try to fund. :)
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I'm good with a tiny bit of cartoon-ism. :D The rapid replies to our messages are very much appreciated.
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Admitting, first-up, that I am consciously playing Devil's Advocate here and being more than a little cynical...
If one is intending to create an "Original" line of fantasy miniatures, why go with Orcs at all?
I can understand it from a marketing perspective, anything that can be used for WHFB will sell and fund the rest of the range, but if it were me, I'd have a difficult time making claims about originality with a straight face.
Ok, I have a literature degree, I understand Postmodernism, literary exhaustion and the core narratives; NOTHING is truly original, especially with Fantasy, with Tolkien, D&D and Warhammer to follow on from. But why not try the path less trod? You've admitted yourself that the scantly-clad barbarian women will be "of more interest" to the target market, but I notice that the admission came only after the cliched nature of the miniatures was pointed out several times.
Your argument that "no one else" is doing specifically what you are, may hold water (I'm not possessing of an encyclopaedic knowledge of fantasy figures), but the fact is that little of what has been presented so far is very much different, stylistically, from other ranges already out there. Black Hat, Eureka and Privateer Press (to a certain extent) do unique and interesting fantasy ranges and seem to do pretty well out of it.
I guess what I'm getting at is that your comments smack of marketing spin and that after nearly two decades in the hobby, fantasy orcs and barbarian women bore me.
Hope the KS goes well, but I shan't be pledging myself.
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... which is simply a rather glib way of saying that it would have been nice (and genuinely unusual) to see an Amazon army in genuinely proper, functioning kit instead of the ten-thousand-and-first copy of Red Sonja from someone who claims they're being original.
The ongoing Red Sonja series by Gail Simone actually has her in some really cool leather vests (she still sports the armored bikini on the covers though)
http://imagizer.imageshack.us/a/img607/3244/pwv1.jpg
http://40.media.tumblr.com/57754e603383fadc81c7be79b13753c2/tumblr_nds6slMzRa1qhqhmto7_1280.jpg
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I'm disappointed at the negativity in this thread.
Originality is very thin on the ground. Every time a new historical range is released, do we all shout "boring, it's been done before", because inevitably it has. No we do not. I see dozens of companies releasing new metals in the historical sections, most of which are not only same old, same old in their design, but also poorly sculpted and looking like the same old crap that has been put out for years. And all the replies are heart warming "wow" and "lovely" and such like.
A new guy comes along, with some new ideas (and some old too, but see above) and gets a lecture on originality and marketing. I always thought it best to refrain from commenting if you are not enthusiastic about a topic, or do I now have to go and revisit all those historical threads and tell the author that his range has been done before several times and is poorly sculpted, not to mention quite expensive?
I wish the new venture good luck, as I said before extra choice is never a bad thing, you can always (silently) decide it's not for you and move on. Or you can decide it's your thing, spread the word, and enjoy your new toys in the fullness of time. There's nothing wrong with constructive commentary, but arguments over originality, marketing and bikinis, is this really what we want in this forum?
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Admitting, first-up, that I am consciously playing Devil's Advocate here and being more than a little cynical...
All comments/suggestions etc are more than welcome, that's what we are looking for by interacting directly in the forums! :D
If one is intending to create an "Original" line of fantasy miniatures, why go with Orcs at all?
We never said we are re-creating the world :P, we see originality in new armies but also in a new take if you prefer on what they should look like. We cannot please everyone and people will always have something to point out, we do Orcs and people say we copy GW, we do their weapons bigger and people (a page back!) say we copy Blizzard, we do Djinns and people say we copy Disney! I hope you see what I mean, hard to prove I'm not an elephant I guess (Greek saying, meaning it's impossible to prove the obvious...)
Again, I repeat that I find it highly unfair having been "blamed" for not copying appropriately another producer (you can imagine whom I'm referring to), it's horrible when we don't even get credit for our innovation at least, even if people may have gotten used to one type and not liking the other? Then again, you haven't received all the emails we have, so I can understand we don't stand in the same part of the cliff on this. (meaning we see things from different angles)
I can understand it from a marketing perspective, anything that can be used for WHFB will sell and fund the rest of the range, but if it were me, I'd have a difficult time making claims about originality with a straight face.
Well, we'll simply have to agree to disagree, I assure you I keep a very straight face. 8)
Same as above, if we wanted to copy warhammer we would have gone doing something a Spanish company does very well for example, nor would we be sculpting any arabian figs, (which IIRC do not even exist as an army in WHF), Death Deceivers etc which have nothing to do with their game, this is our game we are creating.
Funny enough we have not posted any rules yet, if the minis have caused this debate I'd hate to know what would happen with all the rules that will definitely be judged "not innovative"! lol (I literally smiled while thinking/writing this part of the rules bit!) :D
I'm attaching a pic from a French forum of how Orc Shieldwolf faces are "not fitting" with the rest of the range...
(http://i902.photobucket.com/albums/ac221/Shieldwolf_Miniatures/GWnotShieldwolfface_zps1ef98736.jpg)
I can also show you pics we receive from time to time of how people purchasing our products have e.g. substituted our Orc crew on the Great Wolf chariots and placed goblins atop (although we have still not released any) or substituted our Heavy Skeleton Infantry heads and banner with another producer's, or even how that Owl keeps on appearing on other skeleton models arms! o_o Anyway, everyone is more than free to draw their conclusions...
Ok, I have a literature degree, I understand Postmodernism, literary exhaustion and the core narratives; NOTHING is truly original, especially with Fantasy, with Tolkien, D&D and Warhammer to follow on from. But why not try the path less trod? You've admitted yourself that the scantly-clad barbarian women will be "of more interest" to the target market, but I notice that the admission came only after the cliched nature of the miniatures was pointed out several times.
Because I like Orcs and have decided to have them in this game, although following a more "fearsome" look. (I've put it in "" 'cause I don't want the word to cause further debate) ;)
Actually this was not pointed out in this forum alone, Dakka, Da-warpath and a few others we have directly engaged have also talked about the clothing, even webpages like Beasts of War which we simply monitor have had the same commentary. ;) This is the only forum who has been very argumentative on the percentage of our "originality" however, yes, that's true. :-I
We can simply agree to disagree :) but I ask of you this for argument's sake:
Let's say the Devil's Advocate is correct, and the originality/innovation doesn't really exist to the degree as SWM claims. If tomorrow (and by tomorrow I mean e.g. 4 years) we start producing an entire army of Eaglemen or Fishmen or whatever else does not currently exist (let alone in HIPS), but all that was due to the wisest choice the Company initially made in while being innovative having contained this to a certain level in order to grow, how would you feel about it?
I'm not saying they are in our pans, but that the other option is maybe no-one else is ever going to produce these. ;)
Although we are aware that along with Games-Workshop we are currently the only other company worldwide that keep on tooling 28mm heroic scale in HIPS and we have mailed thousands of miniatures (literally) around the whole world, people are talking about us like we have been here for years or having received the millions via KS Mantic Games has been funded with! We are a young and ambitious company, we don't hide that and to some even if we did it's still obvious. We are seeking top-quality product, innovation, better pricing, and for that we have gone into the expenses and effort and although it was definitely not in our plans, we are now openly asking for your support. :) I think it's as simple as that ;)
For those who do not know us, a coulpe of words. On February 2013 we officially "opened" our store. On February 2014 -to the surprise of many as seen in various forums- we stroke HIPS. On February 2015 we hope we can put the bases to create the foundations for a great army-making miniatures company. That's why the entire project was named "Pillars of Destiny" :D
Your argument that "no one else" is doing specifically what you are, may hold water (I'm not possessing of an encyclopaedic knowledge of fantasy figures), but the fact is that little of what has been presented so far is very much different, stylistically, from other ranges already out there. Black Hat, Eureka and Privateer Press (to a certain extent) do unique and interesting fantasy ranges and seem to do pretty well out of it.
Evolution, not revolution. 8) I'll completely agree on the companies you've mentioned but note that all of the above are destined for skirmish games or to complete other army games, these miniatures are not fit to stand alone as army-games. You don't need 100+ minis to play them.
I guess what I'm getting at is that your comments smack of marketing spin and that after nearly two decades in the hobby, fantasy orcs and barbarian women bore me.
Hope the KS goes well, but I shan't be pledging myself.
I've liked fantasy ever since I remember, Orcs and barbarians still excite me. :D
I appreciate the wish and I'm sure you mean it (no sarcasm), hopefully all will go as planned. :)
The ongoing Red Sonja series by Gail Simone actually has her in some really cool leather vests (she still sports the armored bikini on the covers though)
http://imagizer.imageshack.us/a/img607/3244/pwv1.jpg
http://40.media.tumblr.com/57754e603383fadc81c7be79b13753c2/tumblr_nds6slMzRa1qhqhmto7_1280.jpg
Yes, but I think you'll agree with me that saying that would protect you from the icy cold is still silly. ;)
I've quoted something we wrote over at da-warpath forum
In the heat of battle you do not cover yourself in furs, the adrenaline is such that you will simply take the enemy on with wearing as little burden as possible, the cold is not your concern at the point, instead your foe's axe or sword are!
Wear armor, well, it's not going to do much good to you when the much heavier and stronger male opponent strikes you. We are not the first to have "invented" this clothing, we are not sexist nor miso-gynists, that's why we will have both versions ready for their plastic regiment. We have designed some plated armor parts on the female Lords with a bit of chaimail too, but we find the "regular" Shieldmaidens would much prefer maintaining their agility over some temporary protection. That's why they have their shields anyway, this is fantasy after all! :-)
Thanks for reading, any comments -even negative- are more than welcome!
Angelos.
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I'm disappointed at the negativity in this thread.
Originality is very thin on the ground. Every time a new historical range is released, do we all shout "boring, it's been done before", because inevitably it has. No we do not. I see dozens of companies releasing new metals in the historical sections, most of which are not only same old, same old in their design, but also poorly sculpted and looking like the same old crap that has been put out for years. And all the replies are heart warming "wow" and "lovely" and such like.
A new guy comes along, with some new ideas (and some old too, but see above) and gets a lecture on originality and marketing. I always thought it best to refrain from commenting if you are not enthusiastic about a topic, or do I now have to go and revisit all those historical threads and tell the author that his range has been done before several times and is poorly sculpted, not to mention quite expensive?
I wish the new venture good luck, as I said before extra choice is never a bad thing, you can always (silently) decide it's not for you and move on. Or you can decide it's your thing, spread the word, and enjoy your new toys in the fullness of time. There's nothing wrong with constructive commentary, but arguments over originality, marketing and bikinis, is this really what we want in this forum?
Noticed this after having posted my reply.
Thank you. :)
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Simply put, I watch with interest and come the day, may participate in said KS.
But there's other stuff and reality biting on my wallet that might prevent that - such is life.
Although much of my modern collection leans towards true 28mm and not heroic, I never the less have much of both.
I welcome the arrival and preferably success of any miniature manufacturer, and wish them the best, and hopefully will find stuff in their product line I like, original or not.
In the end more options, more stuff, is always welcome.
I will take what I like and leave what I don't - preferably.
Some genericness in the beginning has to be expected, you are running a business, you need revenue, and cannot rely on completely new concepts, races, KS's etc to sell that. So some semi-generic, Orc, humans, elves etc, all welcome in the lead mountains of madness and paint. whether they look a bit different or not.
Some hype also has to be expected mind you.... and treated accordingly
And if after some success you decide to do an entire race of catmen/fishmen/Ferrets etc, good on you I might even buy one of those to.
As for whats already proposed, if it fits in with what I already have/do then that will of course also influence whether to look at obtaining some - originality might not be that big a deal at that point.
So good luck, all the best, happy time of the year, and bring on some greens for us to see so we can judge better what we want to do with what you are developing. ;)
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I'm disappointed at the negativity in this thread.
Originality is very thin on the ground. Every time a new historical range is released, do we all shout "boring, it's been done before", because inevitably it has. No we do not. I see dozens of companies releasing new metals in the historical sections, most of which are not only same old, same old in their design, but also poorly sculpted and looking like the same old crap that has been put out for years. And all the replies are heart warming "wow" and "lovely" and such like.
A new guy comes along, with some new ideas (and some old too, but see above) and gets a lecture on originality and marketing. I always thought it best to refrain from commenting if you are not enthusiastic about a topic, or do I now have to go and revisit all those historical threads and tell the author that his range has been done before several times and is poorly sculpted, not to mention quite expensive?
I wish the new venture good luck, as I said before extra choice is never a bad thing, you can always (silently) decide it's not for you and move on. Or you can decide it's your thing, spread the word, and enjoy your new toys in the fullness of time. There's nothing wrong with constructive commentary, but arguments over originality, marketing and bikinis, is this really what we want in this forum?
Not a direct contradiction, but there's a pretty important difference between originality in Historicals and originality in Fantasy.
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Hey guys, we decided it's best to collect everyone together to determine the outcome of the popularity of our armies we have revealed so far.
Sorry to be asking this again, but please cast your votes once more, we'd appreciate it. :D
It could decide the order with which the Center pieces will be spread out thoughout the crowdfunding campaign. ;)
Click to vote here! (https://www.wedgies.com/question/549348daf1c08d0200007a35)
Thank you.
The Shieldwolf Team.
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Voted. Hope it helps!
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I'm disappointed at the negativity in this thread.
Originality is very thin on the ground. Every time a new historical range is released, do we all shout "boring, it's been done before", because inevitably it has. No we do not. I see dozens of companies releasing new metals in the historical sections, most of which are not only same old, same old in their design, but also poorly sculpted and looking like the same old crap that has been put out for years. And all the replies are heart warming "wow" and "lovely" and such like.
A new guy comes along, with some new ideas (and some old too, but see above) and gets a lecture on originality and marketing. I always thought it best to refrain from commenting if you are not enthusiastic about a topic, or do I now have to go and revisit all those historical threads and tell the author that his range has been done before several times and is poorly sculpted, not to mention quite expensive?
I wish the new venture good luck, as I said before extra choice is never a bad thing, you can always (silently) decide it's not for you and move on. Or you can decide it's your thing, spread the word, and enjoy your new toys in the fullness of time. There's nothing wrong with constructive commentary, but arguments over originality, marketing and bikinis, is this really what we want in this forum?
Agreed. I would love to hear (in another thread) posters suggestions for original fantasy races that they think would actually sell. From the 10,000 ft view, sure, Shieldwolf is producing well known fantasy races and tropes (hulking orcs, fur bikini babes, etc.) but once you 'zoom in' the fiction, proposed depth of the faction troop chioces, and current availability of similar troops in plastic (and often even metal), it all starts looking remarkably original.
It isn't as though we are spoiled for choice for fantasy plastics and there are already boxes and boxes of conquistadors or barbarian women in plastic.
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We'll be posting some pics on Monday from the sculpts/greens, in the meanwhile we wish everyone enjoys their weekend! :D
(http://i902.photobucket.com/albums/ac221/Shieldwolf_Miniatures/Comingsoon2015teaser_zps49487689.jpg)
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Monday has come. It's sculpt revelation time! :D
Don't know if this reminds you something of Friday's teaser... ::)
(http://i902.photobucket.com/albums/ac221/Shieldwolf_Miniatures/SorceressoftheCircle_zps5c8995ca.jpg)
And this is how we are working on ALL our miniatures, we have already set it in motion ourselves to secure it works just fine, all Teams are wonderfully coordinated concept artwork-sculptor-casters-painters... yap, everything! Hope you like these as much as we do! :)
(http://i902.photobucket.com/albums/ac221/Shieldwolf_Miniatures/FaithfultoConceptArtworkFEMALEJPEG_zps37da7d9f.jpg)
And since it's unfair to reveal stuff from only one faction, here are a few more teasers, starting with one of the Units of the fearsome Talliareum Mercenary Ogres
(http://i902.photobucket.com/albums/ac221/Shieldwolf_Miniatures/OgresWiPteasern_zps64ab57b4.jpg)
(http://i902.photobucket.com/albums/ac221/Shieldwolf_Miniatures/OgresWiPteaser_zps992df671.jpg)
Here's what the level of detail the Northern Alliance Shieldmaidens are getting, this is just some shields! :)
(http://i902.photobucket.com/albums/ac221/Shieldwolf_Miniatures/NorthernAllianceShieldmaidenshields_zpsaafbdfe7.jpg)
And to top it off, last but not least, here's a greenskinned Hero of the Valley Orcs! 8)
(http://i902.photobucket.com/albums/ac221/Shieldwolf_Miniatures/ValleyOrcHerowithGreatWeapon_zps7d2d518a.jpg)
And if you like these, mind you we are obviously keeping our best cards for later on ;)
Thank you,
The Shieldwolf Team.
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That ogre looks promising, and the shields for the barbarians are wonderful. Looking forward to more progress!
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You have my interest. Hopefully I will have the wherewithal to contribute to the kickstarter by the time you're ready to go. Good luck with it.
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I quite like the ogre, looking good. Half nekkid women don't really interest me ( :o) and theres nothing to be seen of the human concept as yet. I'm not sure the sculpt of the orc matches the original concept - the head and jaw are hugely different and the armour is nothing like the original drawing. I really liked the eastern/mongolian look of the concept, but it's been lost in the translation to the sculpt, which is a shame. Still, good to see the sculpts, a promising start, will look out as more sculpts are revealed.
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@Timbor Thanks! :D
@Matakakea Thank you! :D
@Nord I see what you mean, well, that's because the picture you see is for a Valley Orc Hero. the Valley Orcs all wear plated armor. As we are trying to prove, the concept artwork is very detailed and the sculptors are some of the best worldwide.
I think the model you are referring to is this one? ;)
(http://i902.photobucket.com/albums/ac221/Shieldwolf_Miniatures/OrcWarlordWiP_zps3f44122e.jpg)
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Hey, that looks pretty close to the concept! That sculpt seems to be an improvement on what some folks, myself included, find to be odd thing with your orcs - the face and mouth. The teeth often seem too big and the bone structure somewhat undefined underneath, with the lips looking somewhat lifeless. This incantation looks better, looking forward to seeing it painted.
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I like that orc from the neck down, but I'm not sure what's going on with that jaw... it doesn't appear to even be part of his head.
I guess this is sort of a different variation on the "Large-jawed orcs" trope? Style aside, the other orcs I've seen from your line at least look like the jaw and head are a proper whole, but this one's got something funny going on.
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@FramFramson
Large jaws is what we are looking for yes, we are trying to have them cause fear! It's something that makes us "copy" Rackham, some people love it and some others don't. :)
Which of the 2 are you referring to?
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Valley Orc hero with great weapon, the colour photo. It's not that he has the large jaw - loads of people do large-jawed orcs, probably more than they do orcs with normal-sized jaws - that's "normal". It's that the jaw on that one specific figure doesn't actually look like it's attached to the top of his head.
The grey sample sculpt below that looks fine.
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I like that sculpted spell effect. Very, um, effective.
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@FramFramson Ah, I see what you mean, well you cannot see it from this angle since it's "face-forward" but below the jaw and the armor there is a gap, so maybe it doesn't look so strange.
After all, it does have to be faithful to how "our" vicious Orcs look like. People who get them in their hands always talk about how nice they are, don't know, maybe despite our effort we manage to do injustice to ourselves. Anyway, here's a pic of our plastics unpainted for you to see/make the face comparison :)
(http://i902.photobucket.com/albums/ac221/Shieldwolf_Miniatures/PlasticOrcs_zps90c7aeca.jpg)
@twrchtrwyth Thank you, after seeing what a success the Shaman was and the comments we received (especially from a Youtube video someone uploaded), we'll try to have that in most of our models 8)
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So, our first update for this year has to do with the thanking of all the people who voted in our Poll, more than 500+ !!!
Results show that Humans, Orcs and Ogres are equally popular, and that's with more than 100+ votes for each of these! Ogres and Humans will have a unique "touch", but for the Orcs especially, with all the "goodies" the Valley Orcs have to offer (some of which unique to anything else you've ever seen before from any other manufacturer worldwide), we are very confident that -with a bit of luck on our side- we will soon have the most complete and detailed Orc army in 28mm heroic scale ever created!
All things are in schedule and we will be launching -at the very latest- on the 10th of February, but we will try to make it late January if possible...
In the meanwhile we again wish you all a very happy and prosperous 2015 from everyone here in the Shieldwolf Team!
(http://i902.photobucket.com/albums/ac221/Shieldwolf_Miniatures/2015_zps1be1295c.jpg)
Thank you.
The Shieldwolf Team.
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So, we are keeping a bit silent these days, but everything is on schedule and we will launch as planned at the very latest on the 10th of February. The project has already been submitted and we have been given the "green light" so theoratically we could be lauching right now, but we mean to take care of a few loose ends first :-)
There are slight chances we manage to launch late January, but early February is more probable.
Stay tuned and we hope you'll like and support what we have created and what we want to create!
Thank you,
The Shieldwolf Team.
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Looking forward to see what is on offer!
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Can't wait :D
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Thanks guys!
Just a quick note, our Kickstarter will not make it within January so we fall back to "plan B", which means early February with most likely dates to be either 9th or 10th of Feb. :)
The main reason for not being able to launch a tad earlier that we found it best finishing the "Monuments of Glory" project first, which involves the release of 2 additional busts, so nothing else may be in the works and allowing us to concentrate 100% on our KS!
More news on Monday! 8)
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A great week to everyone!
Launch date has been announced, so make sure to mark it on your calendar!
10 February!!!
(http://i902.photobucket.com/albums/ac221/Shieldwolf_Miniatures/CentralTeaser_zps508bcd4b.jpg)
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were I to have voted I would probably gone with either the Ogres or Guard
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Vote is still on Gray Ghost, :) we just wanted to band everyone together because results were too different from each other. Results on this forum for example (before we cancelled the poll) have nothing to do with what the majority of the people really wanted. It's also very normal to guess that when we post something on a Warhammer Orc+Goblin forum, Valley Orcs get something like 80-90% (yeah, I know, even there some people voted in favor of the ladies, lol), so we had to put it all together. 8)
Gathering more than 600+ people gave us an accurate comparison with our previous research findings.
If you're interested you can always click here!
https://www.wedgies.com/question/549348daf1c08d0200007a35 (https://www.wedgies.com/question/549348daf1c08d0200007a35)
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Warrior Priest on Horse model revealed... 8)
We believe in this, we have not only recruited these great sculptors for the awesome artwork we have created, but also started producing, casting, painting and shooting 360 flash for people to see what we are creating!
Hope you like these as much as we do... 8)
(http://i902.photobucket.com/albums/ac221/Shieldwolf_Miniatures/WarriorPriestonHorseFinalbyShieldwolfMiniaturesteaser10February_zps72015523.jpg)
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That looks nice to me... any chance we can get some more angles of the sculpt, particularly to see the face?
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Beautiful sculpt. Any chance you could ditch the cross? Not trying to start a war with anyone, but this is fantasy. A lot of religions with warrior priest, most of them don't use a cross.
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That looks nice to me... any chance we can get some more angles of the sculpt, particularly to see the face?
Head is a separate piece and can be turned facing any direction you prefer.
Any more angles? Oh, I'm sure we can do better than that :D
Shieldwolf Miniatures shoots for world-class quality, something that includes presentation as well. We do not limit ourselves in a couple of photos or in shooting some cheap youtube video. We are working with one of the best photography studios in Athens, you can expect 360 degree views of various models for which we have already proceeded in creating their concept artwork, sculpted, casted, painted and photographed. The Warrior Priest above included ;)
We believe in this, it means a lot to us! :)
Beautiful sculpt. Any chance you could ditch the cross? Not trying to start a war with anyone, but this is fantasy. A lot of religions with warrior priest, most of them don't use a cross.
Thank you! Both book and cross are separate pieces, which -if that's what you prefer- both can be ditched. 8)
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Thanks, but I never ditch books. :)
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Thanks, but I never ditch books. :)
Neither do we ;) also because according to the information we currently have, the model above will feature 2 books and 2 crosses at a price that is going to be considered a steal! :)
More teasers coming up in the next days, we have stuff from 5 armies prepared so you can expect still a lot! :D
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Very nice sculpt 8)
Part of me is happy that you guys weren't around when I was more into fantasy gaming and on the other hand, part of me is sad.
:)
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Very nice sculpt 8)
Part of me is happy that you guys weren't around when I was more into fantasy gaming and on the other hand, part of me is sad.
:)
Thank you, we like it a lot and we are very happy this too came VERY faithful to the concept artwork.
Fantasy gaming (especially wargaming, not skirmish) is going through a strange phase atm, for a variety of reasons we can discuss in another thread, most of which I guess you already know. :)
People need something refreshing, not same-o-same-o, it is not only our miniatures that have a different vibe (agreed, some people will like them, some will not, and some -inevitably- will hate them), it is also our game which we have not advertised enough (main reason is because it's still not fully finished) and on which we have spent literally hundreds and hundreds of hours testing. o_o
An army game -and not a skirmish game- is way more complicated, a simple new rule of a single army is enough to unbalance the entire game! :( It is in our hearts that we believe something new -and better- can come in and bring in more people -either veterans brought back or completely newcomers- to this fantastic hobby we so much enjoy. But to do that we need to be able to support it. Even before the KS we had spend a very considerable capital, but we need to spend an even larger one. And we need to do it faster.
We love this hobby, we want to do more. That's the only truth. 8)
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There's certainly a gap in the market for an army sized game. I can think of only two other major fantasy battle games*, one of which is about to be upgraded/nuked into oblivion (delete as applicable) and the other is a stripped down, bland version of the first. If you can produce a half decent game you may well be on to a winner.
Good luck to you sirs, I am looking forward to seeing the campaign.
*other fantasy games may be available, good luck finding them
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There's certainly a gap in the market for an army sized game. I can think of only two other major fantasy battle games*, one of which is about to be upgraded/nuked into oblivion (delete as applicable) and the other is a stripped down, bland version of the first. If you can produce a half decent game you may well be on to a winner.
Good luck to you sirs, I am looking forward to seeing the campaign.
*other fantasy games may be available, good luck finding them
Thank you Nord, I'm catching the opportunity you're giving to me with your comment to pin an interview they took from us from the greatest Greek hobby site (and since most people in this forum don't speak Greek I imagine, :D) we've translated it in English and posted it in other forums as well. 8)
I'm sure you'll be interested mostly in Questions 5 and 6.
(I'm also sure not everyone will like it, but again, we can't please everybody) :)
For whomever is interested, here's the original http://www.wargamer.gr/index.php/community/interviews/item/4425-shieldwolf-miniatures (http://www.wargamer.gr/index.php/community/interviews/item/4425-shieldwolf-miniatures)
This is our first interview from the people behind the only Greek company manufacturing miniatures in 28mm scale. While waiting for their first campaign on Kickstarter which is due on February 10th, we asked 11 questions to this company, concerning their upcoming rule-set, their miniatures and naturally their campaign!
1st Question: Tell us 2 words describing Shieldwolf Miniatures, how was it created and how come you decided something like this in a country that has nothing similar to what you're doing?
Shieldwolf Miniatures was an idea created many years ago and something that Angelos liked a lot, since we have all been involved for many years in fantasy worlds and it fascinates us. The decision to make this into a reality was however taken on February 2012. The fact nothing else like this exists in Greece was additional motive for us to create it!
2nd Question: How was the reaction of the hobbyists?
Initially we expected better, we were set up for mass production of large scale, but we soon realized that competition was tougher than initially anticipated. Truth is that worked in our favor because although it forced us to alter our initial plans, it made us even more competitive than we initially were aiming for. The number of people who are now following us today proves this.
3rd Question: What did you change?
Well, let's start with what we kept. Our manufacturing methods rest the same, they were already at a great level. Same goes for customer service, we kept doing exactly what we started from day 1. What we changed was our sculptors, our standards and the interaction with the people who share our passion, we are now discussing openly with people and we are not afraid to show off our accomplishments in such a short period of time. Also, we are prioritizing innovation, something that makes us different from everyone else, and which was recognized to us from the release of our Mountain Orcs.
4th Question: What do you believe makes you different from other miniature manufacturers?
First of all we are not only manufacturers of miniatures, we are also producers of a game. Concerning the miniatures we replied earlier, we see things differently. For the game I'm afraid there's not much to tell because although it has been developed a lot, there's still work to be done. There aren't many fantasy army games in general, the reason is simple, it's very hard to support them. We however, in contrary with skirmish games, are looking into doing something harder and more elaborate.
5th Question: What difference does your game have from e.g. Warhammer or Kings of War?
Our game allows 2 different ways to play it, one very fast and one very hardcore, something that neither of the above offer. Compared to Warhammer it's much faster and slightly less complicated. We have different rules concerning magic and character roles and placing, while we don't include any named characters. Compared to Kings of War we include large monsters (centerpieces) which they don't have and probably more tactical and fast. Whether it's more fun to play or not will be judged from the people.
6th Question: Do you want to tell us some more specifics about your game?
The game people know today when playing an army wargame, like the ones mentioned above, is that 2 players set up their armies and then take turns playing according to certain restrictions. Before even starting a game of War is Coming, there will be a number of events that effects whatever advantages or disadvantages a players had before starting. Nothing chaotic but brings the feeling that this is war and you must cope with the unexpected. Any capable General going into battle should be able to handle that.
Another example of how a number of soldiers/warriors of each army gives advantages and disadvantages to each army and which should reflect on the game or if you like, on the field of battle. An army with few numbers (elit) compared to an army of many (horde) could and should move more effectively. Therefore, while a General/player has finished deploying his more disciplined army, instead of waiting for the masses of troops the enemy/opponent brings with him, could start playing immediately (by shooting, moving etc)! War is coming and it's not going to wait.
7th Question: Let's change a bit the subject and get back to the miniatures. What armies are you preparing and when are we going to see for example the Araves?
The Araves like many others have temporarily frozen in favor of the Kickstarter. We have already said that we have many plans for armies no one has ever created before in this scale and will be favored when possible. Dwarfs for example, which are included in our plans, have saturated choices at the moment and even if we release rules for them, you aren't going to be seeing models any time soon. Someone could use models from Mantic or Games Workshop which are the only ones at the moment that have a complete army for dwarfs. For the rest of our troops we are definitely liking very much Daemons, Goblins and Elves. For the Daemons we have a very powerful and special set of rules and vision in store for them, Goblins are a Mercenary army (like the Talliareum Ogres) while we have said before that Elves are not "good" and "bad", for us Elves are only "good", they are divided in 3 factions, the Elves of the Order who compose the main part of the army, the Oak Elves who supply skirmish units and the Shadow Elves who do all the "dirty" work (harassment, warmachine hunters κλπ). Slowly and with determination we will proceed in these armies as well, one thing at a time.
8th Question: I see. OK, let's talk about the Kickstarter. Why Kickstarter and not Indiegogo?
We chose Kickstarter because of the plans and passion we have for something really big, Indiegogo (as it is till today at least) is for smaller scale projects and with not as many people. It's definitely very important that the campaign goes well and we hope in the support of the Community. We have worked on this for 9 long months, while freezing everything else that was ready to go into production, something that financially has obvisouly not helped us and we hope our decision proves correct, not by chance we had named this “Pillars of destiny”. We have done everything we could do, we have superb sculptors, painters, concept artists, the materials we use are world's best. Every detail has been analyzed and discussed multiple times, even our pitch video which we consider every serious campaign wanting to do something great should reflect the amount of work, passion and responsability of the creators.
If this works out well, besides Games Workshop Shieldwolf will be the only other company worldwide producing this quality of fantasy miniatures in 28mm heroic/bulky scale, while we also accelarate the completion of the first edition of our game.
9th Question: What goodies have you prepared and what's the 5th army you still have not revealed?
The 5th army will be revealed during the Kickstarter in order to provide further momentum in our campaign. We have sculpted and painted models from this army too, along with the other 4 naturally. What we have prepared I can assure you are top quality not only in sculpts but also concept, while many you have never seen from any other manufacturer. And some of these are... big. Really big!
10th Question: What's your funding goal?
We have spent a very considerable amount of money preparing this Kickstarter, and that is only normal if you want to convince on what you are doing. In theory this campaign even with our cofunding should have had a funding goal of at least 62,000$. Even so, it was decided that we are going to start from an embarassingly low funding goal, which will not even cover the money spent on concept artwork alone! There is the danger of course that this does not pick up fast and that the stretch goals don't get unlocked the one after the other like we have planned, something that would be very bad not only for all the work we have put into this but for the campaign itself. We hope something like this does not happen and we'll unlock -if not all- at least most of the things we have planned for.
11th Question. Hopefully all will work out well. One last question before we finish, because it will certainly interest people. Will there be any Kickstarter exclusives or early birds?
Kickstarter exclusives will not be available. The reason is when we create something we want it to be great and share it with people, even those that at the time couldn't afford it. During our campaign we already have serious discounts to reward those who believe in us and helped us out. Now, in the great scenario that we have unlocked all our stretch goals, which we have said before will be counted and we'll not add anything else on top once everything has been met, then we'll look to do something extra with that money for the backers, but let's not rush.
For the early birds the answer is also "no", except if you mean a limited number of pledges, then in that case "yes" (although we have not baptized them early birds), we need to make sure that after the campaign we meet pledges easier.
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I've quoted something we wrote over at da-warpath forum
In the heat of battle you do not cover yourself in furs, the adrenaline is such that you will simply take the enemy on with wearing as little burden as possible, the cold is not your concern at the point, instead your foe's axe or sword are!
Wear armor, well, it's not going to do much good to you when the much heavier and stronger male opponent strikes you. We are not the first to have "invented" this clothing, we are not sexist nor miso-gynists, that's why we will have both versions ready for their plastic regiment. We have designed some plated armor parts on the female Lords with a bit of chaimail too, but we find the "regular" Shieldmaidens would much prefer maintaining their agility over some temporary protection. That's why they have their shields anyway, this is fantasy after all! :-)
Alas, that isn't how armour works. Up till about 25 kilos, armour restricts you very little, and decent armour is something I would always choose over a slight boost in agility. Calling armor "temporary protection" is rubbish, to be frank, I have had my maille for years and it is still in mostly one piece. I understand doing the whole bikini clad shield maiden thing, because we all know it will sell, but please don't insult our intelligence by making up an excuse that makes no sense...
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Alas, that isn't how armour works. Up till about 25 kilos, armour restricts you very little, and decent armour is something I would always choose over a slight boost in agility. Calling armor "temporary protection" is rubbish, to be frank, I have had my maille for years and it is still in mostly one piece. I understand doing the whole bikini clad shield maiden thing, because we all know it will sell, but please don't insult our intelligence by making up an excuse that makes no sense...
Ah good, more than a month ago and now we get the first negative reaction to something no-one else reacted to. :)
Firstly, we have no intention to insult anyone. If you think we insulted you, that was not our intention. If you think what we prepared is not for you, simply do not support us. It's a game after all, only a game.
Secondly, if you write your comment with a different approach, we might get somewhere where we can agree and you can get your point across.
Thirdly, let's not get stuck in 2 words (and I'm not playing the "language barrier" card, there's absolutely no need for that!), if you make a woman wear heavy armor and make her face a man wearing the same, it will create a disadvantage and make her a slow and easy adversary. And wearing 25kg (as you say) or wearing 2kg does not count as "slight" boost, it's instead a huge boost and what the Shieldmaiden would count on. >:D
Anyway, back to our example, both Barbarian and Shieldmaiden are wearing heavy armor, well, it will probably allow the female to parry the first couple of blows (here's where the term "temporary protection" that upset you comes in). Then the female will inevitably fall and await the final blow. That's not what we want them to be.
Also, we haven't used real armor to weigh and tell you it's 25kg like you have (and I'll take your word for it that it is indeed twenty-five), I do remember however once holding a 2-handed long sword and it was VERY heavy to handle (and I'm no midget!), so I can immagine what HEAVY armor would be like on a female, even if it has to do with a Northern Alliance Shieldmaiden that is a tough nut to crack ;)
To wrap things up, we have gone into the trouble to design 2 different options, we have said that before and I repeat, we do have some with little clothing and we do have some with armor (not heavy armor). People will be pledging, and when we -hopefully- get to that point of unlocking them, we will almost definitely be asking you what the preference is! 8) It's your hard-earned money you will be pledging, you do have a right to say your own. :D
Hope I made more sense now and I expressed the point made above better. :)
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Ah good, more than a month ago and now we get the first negative reaction to something no-one else reacted to. :)
Firstly, we have no intention to insult anyone. If you think we insulted you, that was not our intention. If you think what we prepared is not for you, simply do not support us. It's a game after all, only a game.
Secondly, if you write your comment with a different approach, we might get somewhere where we can agree and you can get your point across.
Thirdly, let's not get stuck in 2 words (and I'm not playing the "language barrier" card, there's absolutely no need for that!), if you make a woman wear heavy armor and make her face a man wearing the same, it will create a disadvantage and make her a slow and easy adversary. And wearing 25kg (as you say) or wearing 2kg does not count as "slight" boost, it's instead a huge boost and what the Shieldmaiden would count on. >:D
Anyway, back to our example, both Barbarian and Shieldmaiden are wearing heavy armor, well, it will probably allow the female to parry the first couple of blows (here's where the term "temporary protection" that upset you comes in). Then the female will inevitably fall and await the final blow. That's not what we want them to be.
Also, we haven't used real armor to weigh and tell you it's 25kg like you have (and I'll take your word for it that it is indeed twenty-five), I do remember however once holding a 2-handed long sword and it was VERY heavy to handle (and I'm no midget!), so I can immagine what HEAVY armor would be like on a female, even if it has to do with a Northern Alliance Shieldmaiden that is a tough nut to crack ;)
To wrap things up, we have gone into the trouble to design 2 different options, we have said that before and I repeat, we do have some with little clothing and we do have some with armor (not heavy armor). People will be pledging, and when we -hopefully- get to that point of unlocking them, we will almost definitely be asking you what the preference is! 8) It's your hard-earned money you will be pledging, you do have a right to say your own. :D
Hope I made more sense now and I expressed the point made above better. :)
ouch.
I don't think but maybe Uthred did not read the comment a month ago, but more recently?
Because this is fantasy - therefore girls in 2kilos or less of metal/fur/cloth bikini in the freezing cold is fine or not, in fantasy - so no one really bothered with the comment - I think you may find they did notice :)
But - as it stands - nothing really new there its been done plenty in the past with bikini armor
- But sensibly armored - there are not so many - which if you are wanting to do something different is a valid thing to take note of.
That then gives some interesting options to others regards shield-maidens and the like.
Especially those that don't see anything different yet in what you are doing - nice stuff for sure, but the argument continues whether it is different enough :)
Still, you are mis-leading/mis-understanding the armor point. Which is a little unfair.
A weapon is not armor. it's weight is born by one or two hands/arms.
25kilos of armor - or more - is distributed weight. its not born on a single point of the human frame in the same way a weapon is.
Also that includes layers of padding to absorb blows - the chain mail is primarily meant to stop weapons cutting/penetrating - the underlying padding absorbs the impact to prevent crushing/bruising etc, so a warrior can keep fighting for longer.
and in reality 25kilos of armor is light armor
Uthred has a point related to realism, thats all - I am sorry, but see nothing wrong in his wording in doing so :)
In the end as you say, there are two options, and the backers/buyers will decide in the end whether they want with or without. o_o boobies o_o
We have not even touched on plate armor, which is primarily meant to redirect/deflect blows away rather than absorb impact. Still - this is fantasy land :D
There are certainly some women in re-enactment circles that would not be impressed with the idea they could not beat men when fully armed and armored in a similar fashion. :D
They are and would be used to using the equipment - and that makes a huge difference compared to picking up a big sword and saying "wow - heavy" for the first time. :D
Regardless, please keep the nice sculpts and eye candy coming, and thanks for waiting until February for your kickstarter, so I have time to save up. :D
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Not being an expert on actual combat in armour, I find Shieldwolf Mini's explanation is fine enough for me. If we are talking in real-life terms, an all-woman army is unlikely anyway considering the simple biological differences between men and women (mass being the most obvious, but not the only thing).
In the real world, there hasn't really been any 'women-only' armies save for pseudo-mythological amazons in pretty much all of recorded history? Even historical amazons were likely not 'women-only' societies, but women from Scythian peoples who fought alongside men from horseback - likely more out of necessity than anything else. So, the main historical inspiration is likely someone who wore little to no armour, and fought from horseback with a bow as a primary weapon.
Here we have a purely fantasy army that would be unlikely to be successful or feasible in a real world, heavy armour or not. I am glad that Shieldwolf is giving the option to have some armour, and not make them all bearskin-bikinis. Full-plate clad female warriors going toe-to-toe in ranked close combat with men twice their size is just as unlikely as a skirmishing, lightly armoured woman-warrior, IMO.
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My wording may be wrong, don't know, I'm not trying to sound like "I know better", but my point is it's not that unreasonable that women will prefer agility over heavy armor.
Everyone is entitled to their opinion, it's not that we acted like everyone else is stupid/dumb/moronic and we "got away" with a silly explanation, to us it's not silly. :)
As for innovation, I underline (again) that this is not us imagining fantasy female warriors dressed like thta, but we should be given the credit of trying to realize an entire army at this scale, something no-one else (to our knowledge) has ever done before.
Hope this resolves the issue 8)
As for the kind words, thank you, we are saving the best for the Kickstarter (and even hiding some while it is live), we will send more your way however in the next days... :)
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Oh blimey, not the armour thing again. ::)
Everybody accepts ogres walking round in uniforms, orcs, daemons, etc. but a woman in bikini. NOOOOOOO. It's unrealistic!!!!!!!!! Come on, get a grip, it's a fantasy game. If you can accept a mythological ogre walking round with a cannon under his arm, surely you can accept a woman, tits out or nicely ensconsed in armour. It's not a historical game, anything goes.
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Gentlemen, let’s stay polite and friendly. The last thing we need is an aggressive attitude against an upcoming range of figures. Let’s wait till we can see the greens and then let’s talk about but again -> polite and friendly. Thanks.
I really don't get all the vitriol directed at this project. I would think with the rumors of changes at GW people would be lining up to praise a new project like this. If you don't like the miniatures, the concepts, are the amount of armor worn by one army or another, why not just move on? I am interested and frankly I'm getting a bit tired of some of the comments.
As Nord pointed out, this is Fantasy. Dwarves, Dragons, unicorns. If you can accept centaurs without getting bogged down with questions about where exactly there tackle is located I think you can deal with fur bikinis. Oh, and for the record, Spartans fought naked so it isn't beyond the realm of possibility.
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I'm looking forward to seeing what is offered in this Kickstarter. I'm pretty impressed by the mounted priest. I'm especially interested in seeing the northern women. I'll reserve judgement on whether I'm going to spend money on them until I see the versions available.
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Apologies all, especially Shieldwolf Miniatures if my recent comment on armor seemed over the top, it was not meant to be or to generate that much heat.
As I mentioned at its end and much earlier in the discussion I am very interested in this project.
I don't directly have issues with any of it and do look forward to a positive outcome from it.
I see the hard work and effort going into it, after all they are showing real sculpts and solid ideas ahead of launching the kickstarter, with the addition of it hopefully being truly Euro friendly (low postage cost please o_o ) it does show some great promise.
Regardless, please keep the eye candy and info coming, and hope good things come from this, and that I can afford the postage if/when the time comes.
T
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Your apologies are not necessary Tactalvanic, I very much comprehended what you meant to say and you did with a very respectful way (you also have a great point about the weapon example I shot out which indeed isn't the same thing as wearing a 25kg armor like the other forum member mentioned).
It is us who must apologize if someone got offended by our (maybe a bit harsh) reaction, but try to understand we not only have frozen a bunch of stuff -sculpted and ready for production- in favor of this project (and which we have shown pics of so no-one would think we are making this up!), we have spend 9 long months trying to get everything ready and -if succesfull- we have to spend even more if we want to live up to our reputation! We do not want to trim on an issue that imho shouldn't even exist, and we certainly don't believe anyone of you is dumb! :)
We have already spend upfront a very respectful sum of funds, time, effort, etc, which is a lot more than others have by presenting mere artwork or renders (and maybe not even those) and we are willing to co-fund this in order to see it come to life! Sculpting the 3-ups for our first kit in order to commence tooling asap once the project has been completed has already costed several thousands of pounds and should this project fail, no-one is going to give these back to us, but we believe in this and are willing to put our hands over the flames trying to reach for our dream. It amazes us how some projects nowadays from the so-called "Kickstarter companies" do much less than that but receive way less heat than we have. :-I
We receive in daily basis (and that's the truth) various questions/suggestions etc in our info contact form. You will be surprised at what questions people are asking us, we are among the few who have worked with HIPS before and unlike beginners we know the timelines and costs. Our first sprue wasn't made of 2 bodies, 3 weapon options and 4 heads! We tried putting a very respectable amount of stuff and at a -what we consider- very reasonable price. We mean to keep providing top-quality product and also make available even more, but we don't want to wait 20 years for that! :-[
We believe and love what we are doing, we would very much like to have people asking questions like "what monstrous cavalry are the Shieldmaidens or Talliareum Ogres going to have?", "what weaponry will be available on their plastic sprues?" or maybe "what monsters will each faction receive?" or even "how much money do you think would an army cost?", then have people answering and guessing, we'll throw in a bit of information too if possible. ;)
That's (in our humble opinion) what would help promote both the campaign and thread/conversation in general, not why the Shieldmaidens wear so little clothing or if our Ogres are original enough or not...
Thanks for reading,
We believe you'll like what we've created and would be honored if you decide to support us.
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Well, Shieldwolf, they do say that any publicity is good publicity, so even if folks are complaining about the lack of armour on the women, at least they are talking about the product! :D
I admire the effort you guys are putting into this project, and I think it is the proper way to go about creating a kickstarter campaign.
As for asking specific questions about what will be included for each army, I would say I haven't asked too many questions like that because we haven't had enough information revealed yet. I am sure such discussion will follow as we approach the KS release and get more info about what will be on offer. ;)
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That too makes sense I guess... :D
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Both concept artists and sculptor for the Warrior Priest on horse were instructed to "make the best mini ever". We believe to have done it! :D
Here's a pic of one of the Concepts we discarded, might as well show it off here. 8)
(http://i902.photobucket.com/albums/ac221/Shieldwolf_Miniatures/Warriorpriest-general_zpsefd9177b.jpg)
There's also a hiden message in the pic above, you'll find out what it is on the 10th however... :)
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Apologies all, especially Shieldwolf Miniatures if my recent comment on armor seemed over the top, it was not meant to be or to generate that much heat.
As I mentioned at its end and much earlier in the discussion I am very interested in this project.
I don't directly have issues with any of it and do look forward to a positive outcome from it.
Sorry Tactalvanic that wasn't really directed at you, my apologies if it came off that way. I probably should have just kept my mouth shut. At least that's what the Gräfin usually tells me, and she is usually right. lol
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Sorry Tactalvanic that wasn't really directed at you, my apologies if it came off that way. I probably should have just kept my mouth shut. At least that's what the Gräfin usually tells me, and she is usually right. lol
I know but..
:D I just could resist - it was a slow day in the office and it just...mmm :D
Problem being - in the office my better half is not there to tell me to shut it. ;D
Still - was the comparison mainly rather than caring what they are wearin' o_o that stuck.
That aside Shieldwolf Miniatures has a good point to raise - some suggestions of numbers of miniatures per sprue planned - boxes - number of base troops in them - etc would be of interest, and what bits and bobs are on the sprues with said troops - will they be similar in style to existing, and how are they all fitting in with the currently available miniatures?
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I would add to that. How are the figures presented? In other words do we get humans bodies (torsos and legs) with separate heads and arms, or are the heads attached. Are they metal, plastic, or resin. Personally I like to kit bash so multi part plastic would be my prefrence.
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So, first enquires are for our plastics. Great! :D
Planned plastics in HIPS: ALL the 3-ups for the 1st kit have already been sculpted. People may not know that, but sculpting the 3-ups is not sufficient, it's not like you can go right ahead and start creating the molds. One needs to see if there are undercuts that disallow tooling, then discuss and form the lay-out, see how this will make it easier for both the tooling process and facility of use of the final product. The fact we have already produced this allows us inner knowledge and saves time and resources. Those are reasons why cheaper production issues in far-away countries usually occur and compromise both time and quality. Plus the fact Renedra's quality is second to none and imo only comparable to Citadel Miniatures. Everything else from what we have seen till today falls behind. Both reasons for which we have selected top-quality European manufacturing, regardless of the higher costs. :)
Anyway, this allows us to start the tooling immediately after the campaign has finished, saving backers at least a couple of months of additional waiting.
We will take some pictures of them, maybe even releasing/previewing a few before launching 8)
Number of bits: SWM will post with great detail during the crowdfunding campaign the number of parts that will go into each regiment (meaning how many torsos/heads etc). People have the right to know what they are backing! That's valid for everything e.g. for the weaponry we will do the same.
Number of troops: We have put into production 4 regiments till today, they all feature 20-strong w/command. We plan to do the same here. We do not want regiments of 10,15,16,17,24 etc we find that frustrating because we believe it is usually done in order to force a gamer into buying additional boxes to form round numbers. We have followed -and we will keep on following- the same path/policy. :)
Another thing we will make sure to do with our plastics, is have additional bits left over. It was the only drawback for people who supported us and they told us about, so you can be sure this change will be implemented in all our future regiments.
As for the number of sprues included in each box, that depends on how much stuff gets unlocked. E.g. we will be offering 2 weapon options for the Orcs (2nd handed weapons and 2-handed weapons). If they both get unlocked, then the number of sprues will inevitably augment.
Last 2 questions, if they are similar with something else that exists and how fitting are they with other currently available miniatures.
To our knowledge all regiments planned are unique and nothing else similar exists maybe with the exception of our Orcs (if you overlook the face issue). The greenskins in HIPS are also available from Wargames factory, Citadel miniatures and Mantic Games. Taken from our Mountain Orcs, their cousins from the Valleys will be similar. For their kits, we will also maintain the same large number of modularity choices.
A wonderfully detailed preview can be seen here
http://wargameterrain.blogspot.be/2014/03/shieldwolf-miniatures-plastic-mountain.html (http://wargameterrain.blogspot.be/2014/03/shieldwolf-miniatures-plastic-mountain.html) :)
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I would add to that. How are the figures presented? In other words do we get humans bodies (torsos and legs) with separate heads and arms, or are the heads attached. Are they metal, plastic, or resin. Personally I like to kit bash so multi part plastic would be my prefrence.
Troops (with the exception of Ogres) will be ALL in HIPS. That's hard plastic on sprues, aka "real plastic".
Everything else will be in polyurethane resin (best type of resin available).
No metal (although it would be cheaper, lol).
For the Humans, heads and arms separate pieces, affirmative. 8)
Edit: Sorry, missed that 8) Humans (for reasons that will be obvious once revealed) torsos+legs will be single piece.
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To our knowledge all regiments planned are unique and nothing else similar exists maybe with the exception of our Orcs (if you overlook the face issue). The greenskins in HIPS are also available from Wargames factory, Citadel miniatures and Mantic Games. Taken from our Mountain Orcs, their cousins from the Valleys will be similar. For their kits, we will also maintain the same large number of modularity choices.
A wonderfully detailed preview can be seen here
http://wargameterrain.blogspot.be/2014/03/shieldwolf-miniatures-plastic-mountain.html (http://wargameterrain.blogspot.be/2014/03/shieldwolf-miniatures-plastic-mountain.html) :)
Nice link, with useful size comparisons, but I think I did not word the question well.
Meant to ask in relevance to your own existing range of miniatures, and how they fit with them, and expand on that range accordingly.
For instance, kingdom of hell, you have one single demon/hero thing.
Whats the plan for them, within the constraints of what you can tell prior to kickstarter - are you evening out the races with more balanced number of troops for each race via the KS so that there are army options available for all of them within your own range?
Not surprised metal would be cheaper, its expense was always really a myth raised and propagated elsewhere - but leave that - lets have answers relating to your stuff.
Would it be a case that larger creatures, eg Ogres and other possible large troops/specials would be resin?
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Every creature that is not in the "troops" selection will be cast in polyurethane resin.
From simple characters on 20mm square bases till huge Monsters on 150mmx100mm bases (and we have some that are larger than Dragons!)
If the 5th army is one of those we currently have (Undead, Kingdom of Hell, Araves, Dracantropii), then they will receive a boost, yes. Should it be for the Daemons of the Kingdom of Hell, you can expect some Infernal beasts (from 50mm to 150mm bases), plastic troops on both 25mm and 40mm bases (with and without armor), along with a sinister female kit. A few heros, a couple of "peculiar" warmachines and some flying ugly things. These are our plans for them, at least for now. ;)
The Undead will be a more conservative force, with the exception of some huge undead beasts and somewhat innovative war-machinery, they will be what people usually come to expect from them. They go on 20mm till 150mm bases.
The Dracantropii will get some lightly armored troops, some jungle beastie stuff and we are thinking of adding some strange features into them but that's still to decide and these feautures would not be included in this KS. Nice thing about them, they have a bucket-load of options open to them (some of which very interesting we believe). :D
Now, for the revealed factions.
Orcs will be by far our most enriched race, since they already have the Mountain Orc faction and the Valley Orcs will be far more option enriched, for starters they feature 2 beautiful Centerpieces while the Mountain Orcs currently feature... none!
:D
The Shieldmaidens have won the love of the voters, almost 200+ voted in their favor so we could not but be graciously favorouble towards them. These tough ladies will also get a large variety of stuff to choose from, from single characters (on 25mm square bases) till huge Centerpieces (likewise, up to 150mmx100mm bases). We are very confident their plastics will be very well received once we get to the point of unlocking them.
The Ogres will be all in polyurethane resin and they start from 40mm square bases till... hehehe! :D
The Humans will have monstrous cavalry as we have said, infantry troops in plastic, warmachines, and in general a very respectable selection to make your army from. Humans are a very important part of our world, this is only a faction of theirs. They start on 20mm bases and take it from there... some sweet (and probably unexpected) surprises for them too :-)
Hope this was more precise... :D
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Thank you very much for all the information. That's really quite a bit to digest. Just one more question. Can you tell us anything about pledge levels? As of today it is no longer possible for me to avoid the Conan KS and while I could easily see myself going big with a pledge for your project I would like to be able to start off somewhat modestly. After all the new Raging Heroes KS and probably the Blood Rage Ks are coming this year. Good god the Gräfin is going to kill me.
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Thank you very much for all the information. That's really quite a bit to digest. Just one more question. Can you tell us anything about pledge levels? As of today it is no longer possible for me to avoid the Conan KS and while I could easily see myself going big with a pledge for your project I would like to be able to start off somewhat modestly. After all the new Raging Heroes KS and probably the Blood Rage Ks are coming this year. Good god the Gräfin is going to kill me.
Yes, Conan is blowing off the rooftop, we are very pleased because they seem to have done a good job. :D
Even if it does not affect us since they launch a month after our campaign, hopefully -and with all respect to them- Raging Heroes will have the common sense not to launch any new KS after the whole mess their first campaign has proved to be, but unfortunately KS allows new projects to be launched even if others have not been completed (but instead are long overdue).
During our research, we found out that projects modestly planned but highly overextended (like the one you mentioned) was a reason for huge disappointment, and that's one of the main reasons we have stated from the beginning that we have a fixed stretch goal campaign. We cannot pretend to be able to do more than we can, we know our limits and every serious manufacturer imo should be doing the same. Once it has been funded, we STOP. We could get greedy and ask for more, but the last thing we want is people creating threads to make fun of us. We will not tolerate that. ;)
Another thing our research came up with was ill-prepared manufacturing methods. We are aware of 2 different campaigns regarding dwarf miniatures for example, where both manufacturers later stated that they had not realized the amount of work they had promised to do. Needless to say, both were generously funded, and both are long overdue... :-I
I'm only stating these to explain what our way of thinking is (and thus have avoiding naming them), we have no issues whatsoever with any of the above, here's hoping it all works out well for them and -mostly- for their backers. :)
Now, to answer your question and not derail any longer :D, I'll try to be as specific as possible in what our reasoning behind our pledge levels is.
Hopefully you can give us feedback on this 8)
Although we found out the less pledge levels provided then the less complicated and thus easier it becomes for the backers (and the distribution afterwards for the creator), we have decided to proceed in a different way. :)
We are going to have a very big choice of pledge levels (IIRC 12 or 13), starting from $5-6 and climbing up slowly to more than $1000.
What's the possible hick-up on this? Well, if everyone pledges 20-30$ while waiting to see what else gets unlocked from the mountain of stuff we have been working on, then number of backers is going to be large but number of stretch goals unlocked not so, creating a possible hazard.
What's the catch? We are going to have a number of limited quantities and early birds. Once these get grabbed by the backers, it creates a gap, where someone will either have to really bump up their pledge in order to get the additional bonuses, or simply be allowed to add $ but without the bonus stuff. This creates motive for EBs and limited quantities to be caught up quickly, so the hype created will unlock the stuff needed to keep things pumpin' nicely along... :D
Now, for some more details.
Shipping will be added with the pledge. We would like people to know exactly what they'll be paying for, and not having a question mark after making the pledge (and even worse, get angry when they hear about the final cost!).
Early Birds. We will be probably be launching 21.00 or 22.00 Greek time. We respect all backers regardless of where they live, we do not want to favor or disfavor anyone since hard-earned money pledged has the same value. How do we avoid having people waking up on 03:00 in the morning then? Easy. 8) Kickstarter allows us to limit countries where the shipping will be for. That means we will have available e.g. a pledge level that will be available for Australia, Thailand, New Zealand and Japan pledgers ONLY, with very discounted shipping. ;)
Limited numbers available. That is done mainly because if our campaign is successful, we don't want to have a mess in our hands to handle. As said earlier, it's easier to deal with a low number of pledges, rather than many.
So, if someone's budget is limited, they should be quick to jump in... :)
Edit1: Typos
Edit2: Modified "poorly" to "modestly" to avoid any misunderstandings.
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Great bit of detail there, thanks very much
As The Red Graf said - lots to think on before launch.
:)
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Thank you for the additional information. It sounds like you have done a lot of thinking on this. I agree that a wide variety of pledge levels is a better way to go. I suspect that most people will go ahead and buy in at the level that gets them what they want.
As for Raging Heroes, I think you are being a bit unkind. Yes, they have been slow, but we are talking about toy soldiers not the cure for cancer. I myself pledged several hundred dollars to that Kickstarter and have never complained once. They make some of the finest figures in the industry and in my opinion they are worth waiting for. I received the first wave some time ago, the second wave with the bulk of my order is on the way now. I never felt they would not deliver on there promises.
As for their second kickstarter, it contains two armies I am very excited about and I am anticipating another large pledge pledge for it. The miniatures will get here when they get here.
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@The Red Graf
You might be right, you might not. I have no issues with RH (although a hobbyist didn't order any myself), and I didn't bring them up in the conversation anyway. I'm pretty sure their minis are nice and they will eventually be delivered someday, as I'm sure they'll get logically funded easily in March. In my honest opinion however, a creator must be held accountable for what he promises to deliver, both on material and time.
There's no need to open another issue that has nothing to do with the KS in hand and derail however (especially now that we got over the armor issue :D), I think we can simply agree to disagree. :)
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Here's something else to change the subject, no need to mix topics... :)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oNVLqT9CnYs (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oNVLqT9CnYs)
Gearworks Studios was put in charge of this, we believe work and dedication should show off even from the pitch video, on which we took our time working on. 8)
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So, we have been dispersing teasers all over the forums and as we have entered the last week before launch, we are going to be teasing even more! ;D
There has been a lot of work put behind this and we are pretty sure you'll see things you may have never expected! :D
So, here are a few more teasers, pictures this time, tomorrow we'll be showing off some -beastly- teaser sculpts from the Valley Orc army.
Thank you! :)
(http://i902.photobucket.com/albums/ac221/Shieldwolf_Miniatures/ShieldmaidenWiPreport301_zpsdc9c88d3.jpg)
(http://i902.photobucket.com/albums/ac221/Shieldwolf_Miniatures/ShieldmaidenWiPreport282_zps87836b6b.jpg)
(http://i902.photobucket.com/albums/ac221/Shieldwolf_Miniatures/ShieldmaidenWiPreport291_zps25715e38.jpg)
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Hmm, I'm not sure what the big piece is, but the wood pattern is nicely done on it. Color me intrigued.
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It took us 3 long months non-stop to sculpt this beauty, woodwork and fur took a very very long time but final result has done us justice I think.
As promised, Valley Orc beasties will show up later tonight... 8)
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As promised, behold the Valley Orc Warboars, sculpted by another very talented sculptor of our Team, Olivier Bouchet. They are monstrous indeed for these beasties stand on 75mmx50mm bases. And yes, there will be an even heavier armored version of these too!
(http://i902.photobucket.com/albums/ac221/Shieldwolf_Miniatures/ValleyOrcWarboars_zps1dbca5ff.jpg)
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Those look pretty nice! I am definitely a fan of the more textured sculpt for fur as you have employed compared to the more stylized fur that GW seems to peddle nowadays. The faces are also very nice and believable. Are these planned for HIPS or resin or metal or what?
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Just a guess, but I am saying the top piece is part of a chariot?
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Just a guess, but I am saying the top piece is part of a chariot?
Or a howdah?
Still looking for a nice chaos war mammoth, especialy since not having bougth a forgeworld one before the prices on ebay skyrocketed... :`
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@Timbor These are going to be in polyurethane resin. :)
@TheRedGraf Something much larger than a chariot. Much much larger... >:D
@Braxandur ::)
Edit: What I can reveal is that it has already been completely sculpted... :)
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I have an old Grenadier war Giant carrying a platform loaded with Goblins. It's much much larger than a chariot.
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Or a howdah?
Still looking for a nice chaos war mammoth, especialy since not having bougth a forgeworld one before the prices on ebay skyrocketed... :`
The more I look at it, you may be right. That notch could go over the neck of the beast.
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The beastie on the right, he's got little hearts on his knee pads. How sweet. ;)
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The beastie on the right, he's got little hearts on his knee pads. How sweet. ;)
That's because it's meant to be tender when ti comes straight at you... for a hug! ;D
PS. Hours of launch to be announced later today ;)
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(http://i902.photobucket.com/albums/ac221/Shieldwolf_Miniatures/LaunchesonFebruary10OFFICIALtimes_zps5924ae50.jpg)
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Is there no way to speed up time..? o_o
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So, 3 hours 20 minutes till the bell rings :)
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The campaign is live! Still some free shipping early birds left too: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1273312680/shieldwolf-war-is-coming/description
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So the first Shieldmaiden Lord concept art is up and I like the looks of it. It looks like leather pants and top with some plate pieces for armor. Nice indeed. And the mammoth is pretty spectacular, although I haven't quite figured out how some of the armor is held on.
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Hey thanks, :D the Mammooth is indeed a centerpiece and should have the given attention.
For the armor, this is the interior of the plates/shoulder-shields to show much detail has been put on this. :)
(http://i902.photobucket.com/albums/ac221/Shieldwolf_Miniatures/Mammoothpic3_zps80d69d53.jpg)
Thank you all for your support!!! :D
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Well, 100 backers and climbing, need to have patience for 29 days... :)
Olivier Nkwetti is currently sculpting the first Dragon below, hope you like it as much as we do :D
(http://i902.photobucket.com/albums/ac221/Shieldwolf_Miniatures/NorthernAlliance2-headedDragonI_zps181314e2.jpg)
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Congratulations on being funded. :) I hope it continues to go well for you.
I would like to see more photos of sculpted items, artwork is just lines on a page, it doesn't really show what you are trying to sell. I would also like to see more of the armies you have talked about, so far it's just been character models. Have we found out yet what the plastic sets are, I thought that was the whole point of the campaign?
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We've written it somewhere in the middle of the Campaign, although I can understand it got lost in the avalanche of stuff shown, it is after all 5 armies!
First plastic kit is Valley Orc Infantry.
2nd plastic kit is Shieldmaidens/Warmaidens (dual kit).
Characters, Monsters, units, monstrous cavalry...
We are going to have it all, for the time being only the Ogres have seen 2 Units unlocked and the plastic Orcs (although we took a risk and that was put up by us to pump up the campaign) from the start.
What we need is people pledging, if they don't see the value in it they can pull back later but if everyone's on the fence till the plastics get unlocked.. yeah, not going to happen!
For sculpts, please click on most of the images, there are still some sculpts we have not shown but need to get to them first ;-)
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A nice comparison of the lion rider next to a GW demigriff:
(https://s3.amazonaws.com/ksr/assets/003/270/514/e10862b7c9b2ff348d323b9262f92886_large.jpg?1423688372)
That model looks stellar! Looks better than the demigriff, IMO. :D
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The lady has been unlocked... :D
(http://i902.photobucket.com/albums/ac221/Shieldwolf_Miniatures/QueenoftheShieldmaidens_zps238fa85a.jpg)
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A nice comparison of the lion rider next to a GW demigriff:
That model looks stellar! Looks better than the demigriff, IMO. :D
Very soft detailing, a rider miniature that looks distinctly apart from the mount (you wouldn't sit straight up in the sadel like that if the mount was moving) and some dubious proportions on both :?
I was interested in the Lion Rider concept but not anymore.
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I'm not going to change your mind but "soft" detail is a bit stretched imho, we currently don't know of any other lion miniature detailed that much in this scale, maybe you have one in mind with which you are comparing this, don't know. But then again, maybe our pic does us injustice, allow me to post a couple from our WiP reports..
(http://i902.photobucket.com/albums/ac221/Shieldwolf_Miniatures/Lioncloseup2_zps23e95a7f.jpg)
(http://i902.photobucket.com/albums/ac221/Shieldwolf_Miniatures/Lioncloseup1_zps3c5d87bd.jpg)
The sculptor commissioned for this is Paolo Fabiani. I think you'll agree with me it does hold it's share of detail, we even re-sculpted the buckles to make them "battle-realistic"! ;)
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I really like Paolo's work. He has sculpted several figures for DeepWars and Shadowsea, and did a stellar job on them.
I wouldn't say the details are 'soft' on this figure, but some of them are more fine, which requires a bit more skill to paint well. It can have a nicer overall effect though, IMO.
As for the recent stretch goal of the wyvern, will you guys have any WIP photos of the figure? Has any progress been made on it so far? I am quite liking the concept art:
(https://s3.amazonaws.com/ksr/assets/003/273/837/fbbc80e3a59cde26e0b84f9fb74ffcde_large.jpg?1423741584)
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@Timbor
Paolo Fabiani is currently sculpting the other 3 lions, we should easily have WiP reports before the campaign ends.
For the 2-headed Dragon there will certainly be WiP reports before the campaign ends, yes, for the Wyvern we cannot promise something atm... 8)
Edit: I'll make a note to try posting here an update, really appreciate you lending a hand here @Timbor, we have our hands full but there's plenty of time to turn this project into a beauty... :)
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I'm not going to change your mind but "soft" detail is a bit stretched imho, we currently don't know of any other lion miniature detailed that much in this scale, maybe you have one in mind with which you are comparing this, don't know. But then again, maybe our pic does us injustice, allow me to post a couple from our WiP reports..
The sculptor commissioned for this is Paolo Fabiani. I think you'll agree with me it does hold it's share of detail, we even re-sculpted the buckles to make them "battle-realistic"! ;)
Ahh... passive-aggresive retorts from a company official, nothing like it to strengthen my faith in your brand :-I
Firstly, the indentions that you perceive as 'fine detailing' arn't what I'd call fine. Lines made by hollowing rather than varying levels on the miniature's surface make for poor detailing as there is no mass in the them, it all becomes a falt mess. When a horse wears a harness you wouldn't see the leather straps blen into its skin, as is the case on the lion pictured above. This makes for some messy surfaces that leaves little for the eye to properly focus on. Same goes for the engraving that I predict will blend into the armor plating on 9 of 10 painted miniatures.
And if you want my opinion on what a properly sculpted cat is there's this sabre-tooth tigress from Hasselfree:
(http://www.hfminis.co.uk/img_cms/product_images/h035%20unlim.jpg)
Notice how straps and armor are sculpted in clearly varying levels and how the artist have put some thought into how a human being might use her legs to actively hold on to the mount rather than sit in a stiff pose with her legs almost impossibly widely spread? That's what I'm looking for in a lion/tiger rider miniature.
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Tordenskjold, I honestly have no idea what you're looking at concerning the straps. They all look like pretty clear layers to me, it doesn't look at all like the straps are carved into the skin/fur of the lion. :/
The pose is another story, personally I don't think you can worry too much about 'realism' when it comes to riding lions though. For mine, I think the hasslefree one looks incredibly awkward- it'd be almost impossible to swing a weapon from an unstable position like that. It does look cool though, so I'd probably still get it if I were into scantily clad girls on giant cats.
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I have to concur with Tordenskjold; to me, this sculpt is an abysmal fail. I find the concept art (while a blatant ripoff) actually quite pleasant, but the sculpt really isn't to me.
Both the rider's and beasty's pose are frankly silly and horribly static. On top of that, there are many details I feel are wrong with this sculpt, starting with the sausage-like plaited mane. Also, the way the armour is meant to hold on this lion is beyond me and the laws of physics.
The sculptor is clearly talented, as the chain mail and other details show, but he seemed to have had an off day. If I were involved in your venture, I would ask for it to be redone.
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So yesterday I was taking a survey to see if I preferred the Shieldmaidens with command at $35,000 or without at $25,000. Now I have an email informing me that they will not be available until $60,000 and may not have a command. Wow, because the world needs more orcs. My interest in this kickstarter is vanishing over the horizon almost as fast as the Shieldmaidens.
Refresh my memory, can I cancel a pledge?
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Tordenskjold, I honestly have no idea what you're looking at concerning the straps. They all look like pretty clear layers to me, it doesn't look at all like the straps are carved into the skin/fur of the lion. :/
The pose is another story, personally I don't think you can worry too much about 'realism' when it comes to riding lions though. For mine, I think the hasslefree one looks incredibly awkward- it'd be almost impossible to swing a weapon from an unstable position like that. It does look cool though, so I'd probably still get it if I were into scantily clad girls on giant cats.
Look at the straps on the tail:
(http://i902.photobucket.com/albums/ac221/Shieldwolf_Miniatures/Lioncloseup1_zps3c5d87bd.jpg)
No detailing what so ever, dentures worked directly into the material of the mini. And on the matter of realism I think you can and should generally care when you are crafting a mini, human proportions and general anatomy presumably also exist in whatever world the game takes place in.
As for my taste in miniatures I must presume you are trying to insult me. I am into well crafted miniatures and I call it as I see it; there are flaws on the Shield Wolf lion that are not present on Kev White's tigress. That 'scaintly clad female' is modelled after mr. White's wife by the way, you'll have to take your concern about her up with mr. and mrs. White, not me. I'd love to see you calling mr. White a pervert for sculpting a model of his wife - maybe turn your eye inward, eh? :)
So yesterday I was taking a survey to see if I preferred the Shieldmaidens with command at $35,000 or without at $25,000. Now I have an email informing me that they will not be available until $60,000 and may not have a command. Wow, because the world needs more orcs. My interest in this kickstarter is vanishing over the horizon almost as fast as the Shieldmaidens.
Refresh my memory, can I cancel a pledge?
Luckily yes you can! Consult your pledge manager on Kickstarter.com
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Luckily yes you can! Consult your pledge manager on Kickstarter.com
Thanks.
I have been thinking about this a bit and trying to decide why it irked me so much. I think it is because Shieldwolf has been talking about how they are bringing us new armies for a new game. Great, there are a lot of Red Sonja, Viking Girl, Valkyrie models out there, but we have never had a heroic 28mm plastic box set of female Barbarian's before. That actually is newish and certainly interesting to me. However, here we are several days into the Kickstarter and that newish feature that polled so well before the release is being hidden behind a lot of stuff that we have seen done over and over by other companies and in some cases done better by other companies (Ogres carrying cannons, Orcs doing anything). Even the Shieldmaiden General figure is a false flag because a girl on dragon is just a girl on a dragon without an actual army to lead.
It looks like Shieldwolf has figured out what we really want and is planning to hold that thing hostage to increase there overall Kickstarter. I suppose that counts as sound business strategy.
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Keep in mind that plastic kits are incredibly expensive to build and produce moulds... to make a KS with that as the sole goal with no other ramp-up for a relatively small startup has a much lower chance of success. Best to have a few other things to offer for backers to join in the meantime. Look at the Pro-Gloria indiegogo campaign - they required 30k euro (thats what, $40k?) for one plastic kit, and they could not get there. I think 60k is reasonable for the shieldmaidens. They are already at 25k in the first couple days... many KS campaigns follow a rough 33-33-33 split where the first third comes in the first couple days, the second third during the bulk of the campaign, and the final third in the last two days. I think they have the ability to fund at least the shieldmaidens.
I will keep my pledge in this for now. I really don't get all the vitriol against Shieldwolf here. What did they do to piss so many people off? As for the concerns about the straps on the lions tail... I did not know that many people focused so close on the underside of a lion's tail. There are, what, two straps on the kev white tiger? Of course he is going to put some extra detail on those straps when there are only two. That is often the point of his sculpting style - less is more, low fantasy, simple, well defined and proportioned sculpts. The Shieldwolf stuff is busier, high fantasy. Saying a whole model is crap because an extremely minor and not visible part of it is not as detailed as the rest kinda blows my mind. As for the engraving not being deep enough to be painted well on 9/10 figures painted... to me that just says that 9/10 painters are not skilled enough to bring out the details.
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I would have been much less concerned if they had not, in my opinion, moved the ball. They proposed the shieldmaidens at a much lower point and then raised the bar for them by almost double while moving from a dual use box with full command to a single use box without command. For now I am leaving my pledge in place.
Follow up here, apparently there was a badly written communication last night and Shieldwolf was in fact communicating the cost of tooling the dies for the plastic shield maiden kit, 25k, 35k, and 55k depending on the options not not the stretch goal to unlock the kit. So I was wrong.
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Look at the straps on the tail:
Really...? That's it? lol
No detailing what so ever, dentures worked directly into the material of the mini. And on the matter of realism I think you can and should generally care when you are crafting a mini, human proportions and general anatomy presumably also exist in whatever world the game takes place in.
As for my taste in miniatures I must presume you are trying to insult me. I am into well crafted miniatures and I call it as I see it; there are flaws on the Shield Wolf lion that are not present on Kev White's tigress. That 'scaintly clad female' is modelled after mr. White's wife by the way, you'll have to take your concern about her up with mr. and mrs. White, not me. I'd love to see you calling mr. White a pervert for sculpting a model of his wife - maybe turn your eye inward, eh? :)
lol
You're now shifting your argument to proportions? Shield wolf clearly state that they're sculpting in 'heroic' 28mm. Proportions go out the window.
You couldn't have read me more wrongly when it came to the scantily clad women thing. I meant nothing more than that fact that she's not wearing many clothes, which is an objective fact and not intended as a moral judgement.
I don't know why I'm even writing this post, given that I'm not even getting on board this kickstarter, and I'm not at all interested in lion mounts, whether they're ridden by scantily clad women or men in puffy sleeves. ::) lol
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I've temporarily edited this thread pending review of some comments made. Please keep it civil.
Thanks.
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So, 5th race revealed, an update coming soon! :D
And the number of backers in this project keeps on rising, great! :)
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Updated! #17! :D
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Here's one for those who can't bother digging... :)
(http://i902.photobucket.com/albums/ac221/Shieldwolf_Miniatures/Goblin_Hero_with_2_weapons_side_view_by_Shieldwolf_Miniatures_zpsadcdc045.jpg)
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And here's his buddy! :)
He's coming to say "hi"... lol
(http://i902.photobucket.com/albums/ac221/Shieldwolf_Miniatures/Goblin_Hero_B_with_2-handed_weapon_front_view_by_Shieldwolf_Miniatures_zps25bd9f63.jpg)
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Those goblins look very nice, indeed. Looking forward to seeing more!
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Thanks @Timbor :)
Goblins were nicely accepted by the community but we still have a long way to go to unlock their war-machines, cavalry etc... These 2 chaps at least will logically be funded! 8)
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Wyvern funded!!! :D
We are pretty confident Olivier Nkwetti is going to deliver a beautiful sculpt on this one... :)
(http://i902.photobucket.com/albums/ac221/Shieldwolf_Miniatures/WyvernUNLocked_zps325f6982.jpg)
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The Orc rider of the Wyvern unlocked as well!
Awesome! 8)
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And here's the pic!
(http://i902.photobucket.com/albums/ac221/Shieldwolf_Miniatures/ValleyOrcWarlordonWyvern_zps0a824a41.jpg)
Off to the Siberias Lion Riders!!!! :D
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33,000$ Stretch goal gives an additional model to all Orc Troopers... this should make things more interesting...
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54mm scale Dragons show up!!! (Painter's delight...) 8)
(http://i902.photobucket.com/albums/ac221/Shieldwolf_Miniatures/Painters%20corner%20Orc%20Wyvern%20JPEG_zpsbrs0x4p4.jpg)
(http://i902.photobucket.com/albums/ac221/Shieldwolf_Miniatures/Painters%20corner%202-headed%20Dragon%20%20Riders%20JPEG_zpsikclhawv.jpg)
And the rest of our enticing offers are still valid! Only 2 weeks left! :D
(http://i902.photobucket.com/albums/ac221/Shieldwolf_Miniatures/Orc%20example_zpsf44ptwzz.jpg)
(http://i902.photobucket.com/albums/ac221/Shieldwolf_Miniatures/Necro%20Example_zpsyrzojkrs.jpg)
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For all my vitriol at the start, I don't think that wyvern concept is too bad. At least the roof-shingle armour is metal plates strapped to it.
Is the male dragon rider going to get a bikini and an upskirt shot too, though?
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There are, what, two straps on the kev white tiger? Of course he is going to put some extra detail on those straps when there are only two. That is often the point of his sculpting style - less is more, low fantasy, simple, well defined and proportioned sculpts. The Shieldwolf stuff is busier, high fantasy.
What
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For all my vitriol at the start, I don't think that wyvern concept is too bad. At least the roof-shingle armour is metal plates strapped to it.
Is the male dragon rider going to get a bikini and an upskirt shot too, though?
Glad you like it :)
The 54mm scale model is aimed at painters and doesn't feature a rider (yet, maybe in the future but we didn't plan for one in this Campaign and we have already proceeded in enough changes to even think of considering any more).
The 28mm scale instead is necessary for the development of our game, so it goes with the rider. We also use Wyverns and Dragons without riders however, with different stats/abilites, so... :)
Here's a close-up of the rider, commissioned to Paolo Fabiani.
(http://i902.photobucket.com/albums/ac221/Shieldwolf_Miniatures/Valley%20Orc%20Warlord%20rider%20on%20Wyvern_zpsyzg80lo5.jpg)
As for our Siberias lions, we are very happy people are so thrilled about them on our campaign and from comments on other forums (even the largest Warhammer Elf forum has shown elevated interest!), so we still boast the most detailed fantasy lions ever to be sculpted in this scale. To each his own I guess, opinions may vary and this is ours... 8)
Anyone else wanting to see what our Lions are about and how large they are in real life (after all, they are Monstrous Cavalry!), here's a video from the largest Spanish reviewer, Forja y Desvan to whom we sent one of our first resin casts to show off to their viewers! :)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7egie__Wy4g (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7egie__Wy4g)
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And here's yet another video, coming close to the final week now! :)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hN6CWJpgGK0 (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hN6CWJpgGK0)
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Finished and Funded!!! :D
Thank you all, now time to move on and deliver as promised! 8)
As announced, we will not be launching any following KS campaign before delivering everything to everyone FIRST. We find it irresponsible and immature doing otherwise. ;)
Again, thank you all for the support!!! :)
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"Early Wave" ships on Thursday, that's less than a month from the project's ending! 8)
Hope everyone enjoys their rewards, we will keep you posted! :D
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Our next KS launches with the plastic shieldmaidens, we want however to sculpt some 3ups first and prove our commitment so here's asking what you prefer most!
Please vote :)
Press to cast vote here! (https://www.wedgies.com/question/5526f876d9425307000026c5)
(http://i902.photobucket.com/albums/ac221/Shieldwolf_Miniatures/4%20versions%20HD%20jpeg%20with%20logos_zpsjvlreszj.jpg)
Ah, "Early Wave" shipping has finished. It took us a staggering 28 days from project's funding date, we honestly don't think it can get any better than this and all due to the backers speed to fill out the Pledge Manager and the Team's non-stop hard work! Congrats to all! :D
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Nice to see you guys keep pushing forward, also nice to hear the last KS is shipping early. You don't hear that too often these days lol
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We make fun of companies launching one KS after the other (that is not an indirect hit to anyone but our personal logical opinion 8)) when they have NOT delivered on the previous ones and are instead piling them up, it helps disguise financial problems and inevitably explodes when one KS doesn't cover the next. We are hoping it will not happen but would easily bet good money it will... ::)
We promised we will first deliver to everyone and then do a 2nd KS which at this point is a one-way ticket after the first KS although successful didn't reach expectations. And we mean business. ;)
As most of you have guessed Shieldwolf Miniatures is anything but a garage company, we have a set-up and facilities that allow us production at huge scale, unfortunately we are however currently lacking at choice of product. Hopefully in 3-4 years from now we will be established as one of the major army fantasy game manufacturers at 28mm scale.
Our deeds are going to prove this to those who supported us, Mountain Orcs plastics at 15$ for 20 models for example is definitely NOT happening again lol, the lucky ones who supported us in KS got the deal, risk paid out very nicely. If a "money-back guarantee" can be considered a risk I mean lol (which is also NOT happening on the 2nd KS, caused us more trouble than good! :?)
Anyway, we have a long way to go still, appreciate all your support and kind words! 8)
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I wonder if today's vote is going to negatively impact the KS?
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We will need to see what this 60%+ vote of "NO" to austerity will signal.
It is currently causing us some issues, yes. Banks are shut and therefore we cannot proceed to complete payments for example to our sculptors, not to mention funds are in there.
We had been ahead of shcedule(!) something very few Kickstarters manage and we have been working on KS-2, but this delay was surely out of our hands nor could we have foreseen it. :?
It has also delayed our next update, we aimed for today (Sunday 5th) but probably will have to kick it back another couple of weeks...
Hopefully all will work out well... 8)
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Thanks for taking the time to answer, I know you must have a lot on your plate. I hope things can be sorted out quickly. I don't see any good for anybody in letting this drag out. Hoping for the best for you and for Greece.
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Appreciate it :-)
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Production is going steady and we still believe we will deliver earlier than promised.
The game is also being playtested and tweaked, we are hoping in an amazing KS-2! :)
In the meanwhile I'll just leave these pictures here, probably the most detailed fantasy mammoth worldwide. At our KS-1, people bought it for 60$! (howdah version was 75$) o_o
It will be again available in a discounted price via our KS-2 for those who can wait however ;)
(http://i902.photobucket.com/albums/ac221/Shieldwolf_Miniatures/SW_Shieldwolf_Great_War_Mammooth_2_zpszjhvtbe1.jpg)
(http://i902.photobucket.com/albums/ac221/Shieldwolf_Miniatures/SW_Shieldwolf_Great_War_Mammooth_1_zpsmkrwblzp.jpg)
(http://i902.photobucket.com/albums/ac221/Shieldwolf_Miniatures/SW_Shieldwolf_Great_War_Mammooth_4_zpsfbbfxnsq.jpg)
(http://i902.photobucket.com/albums/ac221/Shieldwolf_Miniatures/SW_Shieldwolf_Great_War_Mammooth_3_zpsbu5bjwo3.jpg)
(http://i902.photobucket.com/albums/ac221/Shieldwolf_Miniatures/SW_Shieldwolf_Great_War_Mammooth_5_zpsrknaxmwh.jpg)
These are production shots showing pins for easy assembly, carefully inspected for quality safety. When this beauty along with others from the kickstarter goes available via retail (because it must first be delivered to our KS backers as promised), reasons for it going unchallenged will become more obvious 8)
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I can't remember if I added the female necromancer to my pledge. Now I need her for Frostgrave. How soon will she be available through your online store?
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I can check the PM but she's going to be available via our webstore and retailers (like almost all of our models from KS-1) after the 23rd of November.
Shipping on our KS-1 will commence next month (Wave-1) and proceed by end of November (Wave-2).
Fingers crossed we don't encounter new surprises.... :D
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I can check the PM but she's going to be available via our webstore and retailers (like almost all of our models from KS-1) after the 23rd of November.
Shipping on our KS-1 will commence next month (Wave-1) and proceed by end of November (Wave-2).
Fingers crossed we don't encounter new surprises.... :D
Awesome, thanks for the update. I can't wait to see what you guys do next.
Some female miniatures for your middle Eastern range would be nice. Hint hint.
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We are going with a very different approach this time in KS-2. :)
First of all there's going to be really great value for money from the very start. Freebies are going to augment the value even more and so are the plastic kits which we have doubled in the planning of this campaign. 8)
We pitch off with the plastic Shieldmaidens, there will be 3-ups to see this. Yes, we are the only army fantasy game with an arabian/eastern themed race for which we have already sculpted stuff (although those who follow us know we have put their regiments on hold). Some deadly figures there too, but for that to happen the campaign must go ballistic.
We will keep our feet on the ground and aim at funding the Shieldmaiden Infantry set first, you should expect a minimum of three plastic sets for the Shieldmaiden faction ;)
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I'm good with Shieldmaidens as well. :)
Looking forward to it.
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Battle Orc Wyvern review by Talk Wargaming :)
These beauties are flying to their owners next month!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SKDI2nCc6Gs (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SKDI2nCc6Gs)
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My stuff shipped today. I can't wait to see it.
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And they are here. Thank you very much Shieldwolf. Can't wait to see what you do next.
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And they are here. Thank you very much Shieldwolf. Can't wait to see what you do next.
Photos of said stuff will be appreciated, thanks.
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(Some pics have already shown up in various sites but we prefer staying out of this and letting people upload what they like :) )
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For those interested reviews of the War Mammooth, plastic Mountain Orcs and Mountain Orc Great Wolf Chariot can be found on my Wargame News and Terrain website. Excellent quality for both the resin and plastic miniatures, really amazing to be honest. You can check them here.
http://wargameterrain.blogspot.be/2015/09/shieldwolf-miniatures-northern-alliance.html (http://wargameterrain.blogspot.be/2015/09/shieldwolf-miniatures-northern-alliance.html)
http://wargameterrain.blogspot.be/2014/06/shieldwolf-miniatures-resin-mountain.html (http://wargameterrain.blogspot.be/2014/06/shieldwolf-miniatures-resin-mountain.html)
http://wargameterrain.blogspot.be/2014/03/shieldwolf-miniatures-plastic-mountain.html (http://wargameterrain.blogspot.be/2014/03/shieldwolf-miniatures-plastic-mountain.html)
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I already sent off the Necromancer Maiden to a professional painter. I will try and post a picture of the other one.