Lead Adventure Forum
Miniatures Adventure => Adventures in the Far East => Topic started by: WatchfuliStudio on February 02, 2015, 05:02:40 PM
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April 8, 2015 Update
We have two weeks left in our Kickstarter and our goal has been reached!!!! We have been working diligently on making sure the production process runs smoothly so everyone can get their toys in a timely manner. This process has allowed us to reevaluate our budget for manufacturing and we were able to save some money. We wanted passed along these savings to the Kickstarter backers in the guise of lowering our Stretch Goal amounts.
Over the past two weeks we have posted pictures of painted miniatures, shown off work in progress of our Terracotta soldiers and hit 600 Likes on our Facebook unlocking some freebies for some of our backers. We hope you take some time and check out the Kickstarter and get in on the action before the fundraiser ends.
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects...qin-dynasty-mi
For more information check out
https://watchfulistudio.wordpress.com/
https://www.facebook.com/watchfulistudio
Be sure to Like us on Facebook to keep up with this project and any future projects we have in the works.
The Warring States range will include the core elements of an ancient Chinese army including infantry equipped with a wide range of weaponry, light and heavy chariots, various types of cavalry and the officers to lead them. Building on top of the core range will be two more launches including a fantasy element and support troops such as animated Terracotta warriors, dragons, undead warriors, exorcists, war engines, siege bows, shield-bearers, and war drums to name a few.
Product Briefing
Range: Warring States / Qin Dynasty (475 – 206 B.C.)
Wave 1: Core Product allowing players to build the mainstay of Chinese armies
1. General including various head and arm options
2. Infantry including unarmored, light, and heavy infantry with head and weapon options
3. Chariots including light, heavy and officer’s chariots
4. Cavalry including light, heavy and nomadic cavalry
Historical Origin: China
Scale: 28mm
Casting Material: Metal (Plastic depending on Kickstarter results)
Manufactured in the USA
Range: Warring States / Qin Dynasty (475 – 206 B.C.)
Wave 2: Fantasy Product Range as a possible supplement opened up in the Stretch Goals portion of the Kickstarter
1. Fu Dogs
2. Terracotta Soldiers
3. Fangshi Exorcist
4. Undead
5. Hu-Hsien
6. Fangshi Necromancer
7. Dragon
Historical Origin: China
Scale: 28mm
Casting Material: Metal
Manufactured in the USA
No force would not be complete without the myriad of war machines and support options that make fielding armies unique. Adding a variety of support choices can turn your standard army into a potent offensive force or a immovable solid stone wall. The army support options maintain a more historical feel to the army and may be included in both historical and fantasy games.
Range: Warring States / Qin Dynasty (475 – 206 B.C.)
Wave 3: Army Support Product Range as a possible supplement opened up in the Stretch Goals portion of the Kickstarter
1. Shieldbearers
2. Alternate poses for archers and crossbowmen and repeating crossbowmen
3. Giant crossbows
4. War Drums
5. Siege bows
6. Catapults
7. Additional heroes
Origin: China Scale: 28mm
Casting Material: Metal
Watchful I Studio was created as a gaming company back in May of 2014 and will be producing all types of miniatures, card games, board games, and other gaming accessories for both the historical and fantasy markets. Their first product range will be 28mm historical and fantasy miniatures focusing on the Chinese Warring States and Qin Dynasty period. The company will be embarking on their initial Kickstarter launching Monday, March 23rd at 12pm EST.
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Well, they do look promising :)
cheers
James
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Well, they do look promising :)
cheers
James
They do. I have even viewed the facebook page and I do not do facebook.
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Looking forward to these :D
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Thanks guys for the support and nice comments. We have another update for you regarding the missing pieces that finally arrived and were cleaned. We added two dagger-axe arms that fit the armored, unarmored, and lightly armored warriors, a new more traditional looking Chinese shield and a curved sword for the armored warrior. We also added more arm options for the General giving you several combinations. The pieces are going to the caster tomorrow and we should have metal castings in the next 2-3 weeks. Thanks and enjoy.
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Question:
they are supposed to be metal or plastic?
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Question:
they are supposed to be metal or plastic?
Answer :
The pieces are going to the caster tomorrow and we should have metal castings in the next 2-3 weeks. Thanks and enjoy.
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I wonder how they'll be packaged, then? All of the unused metal bits will contribute to both the cost and the postage...
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I think they look very good, will also paint up well.
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Oh dear, this could prove to be expensive... 8)
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I am quite sure that, back in time they announced it as a plastic project.
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We have recently posted a new digital pictures of our chariots on our Facebook page (also added to this post) and we also posted a survey concerning our Stretch Goals for our Kickstarter. We wanted your opinion on whether or not we should take a Fantasy approach to our Wave 2 or continue down the historical road and offer a support range to our core product.
Wave 1 and the product you will be offering your pledges for will be a 28mm metal core range of Chinese Warring States / Qin Dynasty miniatures consisting of:
General on foot
Unarmored, lightly armored, and fully armored infantry
Light and heavy chariots
General's chariot
Light and heavy cavalry
Nomadic cavalry
One of our stretch goals will be to convert the infantry, chariots and cavalry into plastic but those will be lofty goals. We want to offer a broader range of miniatures using smaller stretch goals to keep everything moving and give the army a more complete feel. Please vote, send us your comments and things you would like to see sculpted, and pass this along to your friends.
Here is the survey:
https://epoll.me/vote/ACcK7NhQr9M/watchful-i-studio/what-range-of-products-would-you-prefer-to-see-in-our-stretch-goals-for-our-upcoming-kickstarter (https://epoll.me/vote/ACcK7NhQr9M/watchful-i-studio/what-range-of-products-would-you-prefer-to-see-in-our-stretch-goals-for-our-upcoming-kickstarter)
Here is our Facebook Page:
https://www.facebook.com/watchfulistudio (https://www.facebook.com/watchfulistudio)
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If you produced some figures of the Water Margin heroes, I would be so sold.
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If you produced some figures of the Water Margin heroes, I would be so sold.
Perhaps in the future but those stories take place about 1000 years after the range we are producing. With a history as old as the Chinese we could produce stuff for a very long time. As long as people were interested. :)
Joe
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Red Cliff / Romance of the Three Kingdoms characters would be awesome. I'd also like to see some Wuxia Kung Fu heroes and possibly Tibetan Mandala style demons. Ok, now I will go look at the survey... ;)
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mhmm
I like the miniatures but...
I would have preferred to wait more and have them in plastic. They have so many different pieces and option that I fear in metal they will leave us with a lot of wasted pieces. After all when you first introduced the plan it was supposed to be a plastic range for the line troops.
Said that, continue on the historical path until the range is completed.
Arrigo
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Hello everyone. I updated the original post above. Enjoy.
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Hello everyone and good morning. With 3 days before our Kickstarter launch we would like to have your input regarding the presentation of our Kickstarter. Please feel free to follow the link and take a look. You are able to post comments directly on the Kickstarter so please be constructive and we will take every comment seriously. We may not be able to accommodate every wish but we will try our best. Finally, please keep in mind that you are not seeing the final presentation as we are waiting on some last minute additions for the cavalry sculpts and new concept art. Please enjoy looking at our range and let's have some fun with this project. :)
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/2104924145/1533907520?token=72c21473
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The rewards seem pretty reasonably priced. I'd like to see some heroes and legends, although my knowledge of historical Chinese is based almost totally on Jet Li movies and Dynasty warriors.
I'll probably buy a pack to paint for my brother, who is an enthusiast of the era.
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Thanks for all of your comments and feedback. We look forward to seeing you on Kickstarter.
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/2104924145/28mm-ancient-chinese-warring-states-qin-dynasty-mi (https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/2104924145/28mm-ancient-chinese-warring-states-qin-dynasty-mi)
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I went and looked at this, but I could barely understand it. I get trying to be cool with the whole "element" naming scheme, but I can barely figure out what I'm getting with each pledge. I wish you could've use plain language and photos of the miniatures rather than photos of an element box. If I can't figure out what I'm going to get for my money at a glance, there's a problem. I don't remember ever having this issue with any other kickstarter before.
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The Element Packs allow you to design your own army based on what units are available at the end of the Kickstarter. If you scroll down below the pledge levels it describes each Pack and what you get. The photos even lay out the quantity of each item. We didn't want to restrict people in what they bought because some people will want more infantry while other will want lots of chariots. The Element Pack design allows that flexibility. We talk about how the Element Packs work in the intro letter and show pictures after the Pledge Levels. I hope that helps.
I went and looked at this, but I could barely understand it. I get trying to be cool with the whole "element" naming scheme, but I can barely figure out what I'm getting with each pledge. I wish you could've use plain language and photos of the miniatures rather than photos of an element box. If I can't figure out what I'm going to get for my money at a glance, there's a problem. I don't remember ever having this issue with any other kickstarter before.
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Or you could have had infantry packs and chariot packs. I understand your system, but it adds more complexity, which deters buyers.
Good luck with your project, but I fear you are far too ambitious with this being your first time. :(
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I have to agree the system confuses me a little too.
I just want one pack of infantry. Maybe 10 guys or so.
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I completely understand if the format confuses you and we really meant for it to be flexible enough to allow you to pick what you want. We had several people review the Kickstarter before it went live and no one thought the format was confusing so we pushed forward. We understand that not everyone will want a Chinese army and we also know that things like our shipping costs, pledge levels, costs, Stretch goals, and format are all things that people may like or not like influencing their decision to invest. I appreciate your comments and hopefully things will work out for our project and we can use your feedback for future ideas. Thanks
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Is there any way to buy between 10-20 infantry guys?
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An element pack can be one of the following:
20 infantry
10 cavalry
3 light chariots
2 heavy chariots
Fu Dogs (2 statue version, 2 'live' versions)
20 Terracotta Warriors
That is the currently available list. As Stretch Goals are unlocked more 'packs' will become available as well as add-ons.
If you wanted just 20 infantry then you could go for the Year of the Rabbit which is $40 for one Element Pack.
Is there any way to buy between 10-20 infantry guys?
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I also think smaller "half size" elements would be great.
I really like the look of the Terracotta Warriors, but have absolutely no need for 20 of them. Those apart the first set as currently listed that would make me want to pledge is the 25k undead.
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We thought about half-packs and it made the Kickstarter even more confusing than what people are commenting about now. Perhaps we will add half-packs to the add-ons sections if we can figure out a simple way to add them. We are sculpting our Terracotta Soldiers right now so perhaps you will change your mind. :)
At the price point of $2 a piece we wanted to make sure people had no issues about building an army and that's how we set up the Kickstarter.
I also think smaller "half size" elements would be great.
I really like the look of the Terracotta Warriors, but have absolutely no need for 20 of them. Those apart the first set as currently listed that would make me want to pledge is the 25k undead.
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We have taken your comments into consideration and we will be posting Half Packs in the Add-ons Section over the next few days so I thank you for you ideas and helping to make our Kickstarter better.
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The first two miniatures painted for my new product range. Kickstarter is live if you want in on the action. :)
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/2104924145/28mm-ancient-chinese-warring-states-qin-dynasty-mi
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Great to see the 10 figure half packs now listed. Will certainly be getting a few of the Xian guys to use in D&D games.
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Looking good
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I updated the original post. Thanks
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Congratulations on reaching funding.
But I have to say I am really disappointed in the WIP Terracotta Warriors. The sculpts do not capture the look of the artwork at all, nor do they look remotely like the statues on which the idea is based.
Sorry but I think those are very poor.
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I would be interested to hear how you would correct the sculpts. The Terracotta Warriors in real life are standing with no weapons and have the same armor and and clothing as the real life counter-parts. So, with that being said people could just paint the existing infantry sculpts we have in a terracotta color and be done with it. What we are trying to achieve is a more fantasy reanimated look showing 'battle' damage, weathering, chips, etc. We tried a few other options to make the Terracotta Warriors look more like they were assembled in pieces and it didn't look quite right.
I am completely open to suggestions at this point because we are not past the point of no return and I actually do appreciate the feedback. We wanted to give them a different pose than the normal soldiers so there is some distinction. There is a part of me that thinks seeing the miniatures painted would help in this instance but we want people to be happy with our work. We know we won't make everyone happy but we can at least try. :)
Thanks
Congratulations on reaching funding.
But I have to say I am really disappointed in the WIP Terracotta Warriors. The sculpts do not capture the look of the artwork at all, nor do they look remotely like the statues on which the idea is based.
Sorry but I think those are very poor.
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To me they ones shown in your update are too "complete" and too "mobile"
I imagine them more as a slowly shuffling mass of roughly human sized/shaped soldiers, more broken and incomplete than complete. Some with weapons some without.
Missing heads, arms etc, some just torso and head, bodies with gaping holes and missing chunks rather than superficial scratches and cracks. Warriors as they were when discovered in Xian rather than when first buried.
More akin to a summoned earth elemental force than re-animated people. Standing or barely moving rather than striding about. Possibly even less detailed sculpts.
I think the concept art captured much more the look I was hoping for; obviously incomplete, less animated and looking like barely mobile statues.
BUT, all that said, I would have picked up a half set to use as elementals in oriental adventure D&D type games but am not a 28mm mass battle gamer so am not your target market for these models.