[Kickstarter] 32mm Sci-fi dinos coming to KS July 1!

[housecaldwell]

Presenting the Ganorn! 32mm resin sci-fi dinosaurs sculpted for me by Andrew May of Meridian Miniatures:

I've been a gamer for 30+ years and never thought I'd be producing my own miniatures.  But, dang it, nobody made what I wanted.  So 3 years ago I started down this journey.  It's been a long process getting to this point and it's been very much a labor of love.  I'm excited to finally get here.

While they are sci-fi miniatures, I've kept the weapons low-tech so that I can use the riflemen (rifle-dinos?)  in Space 1889 Sharpe's Practice and THW's Colonial Adventures.  The full sci-fi platoon will be used in Stargrunt 2/ Tomorrow's War.  And 40K Rogue Trader! 

If you have time and inclination I'd love to get feedback on the page before launch on July 1. 
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/32mmscifidinos/32mm-resin-sci-fi-dinosaurs-introducing-the-ganorn?ref=ebcawd&token=77247d45

For notification on launch:
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/32mmscifidinos/32mm-resin-sci-fi-dinosaurs-introducing-the-ganorn

Best,
Nicholas

[mweaver]

Interesting.  And good timing, with Stargrave's recent release.

-Michael

[Greylegion]

I like these. I’m always looking for aliens to paint up. These are looking pretty good. Might have to put some money in the hat.

[Chief Lackey Rich]

Interesting.  They feel more like reptile folk than dinos to me, but that's just semantics.  Style looks good, weapons and armor are a nice break from the very low-tech look many VSF lizard people have been stuck with over the years, pose variety is reasonable (albeit a bit light on regular grunt poses) for a startup project and could always be expanded if they do well.  The "radium rifles" will look more scifi and less colonial with right paint job, which is good for people looking for (say) new Tau auxilla or whatever.  Not the biggest fan of resin versus metal but it's not a deal-killer.  Price is okay, albeit not amazing.

One thing, Flat Rate Postage in the US is (barring a rate change before fulfillment) always $8.45, not $9.  It's only 55 cents but I've had people get pissy about smaller sums.  Similarly, Flat Rate may not be the most economical option for shipping, even domestic and almost certainly internationally.  These are going to be very light, can probably be packed pretty tightly without risk of breakage, and should fit in a small (300 count or even less) sports card box, which are nearly indestructible and can be bought in bulk for about a dollar each.  You might want to examine by-weight mailing options instead - if you're coming in under 12 ounces or so First Class Package rates are about 2/3rds that of Flat Rate PriMail and only takes about an extra day to deliver to most US zips, while still offering tracking.

[housecaldwell]

Interesting.  And good timing, with Stargrave's recent release.

-Michael

Hi Michael -- right??? I can't wait to play Stargrave with my own figures.  I've been so fortunate to get so much help from different people getting this project to life.  Let's see -- Plasma Gunner would be a Burner.  Missile Launcher easily becomes grenade launcher.  Captain and First Officer (sergeant). Comms guy could be a hacker.  SAW for gunner and troopers for recruits/runners.  It really does match up well entirely accidentally.

It would be fun to design an actual hacker and maybe a big ogre-sized dino as a physical loot specialist (can't remember the name, we just call them bashers).  Heh, but I'd have to convince my wife to do all this again

Best,
Nick

[housecaldwell]

I like these. I’m always looking for aliens to paint up. These are looking pretty good. Might have to put some money in the hat.

We of the Saurian League welcome our new Gray Legion overlords.  :-)

And thank you -- the samples painted up beautifully.  The detail is deep and crisp.  Couldn't be more thrilled with how well Andrew May (of Meridian Miniatures) executed these for me and he certainly added to the design of them, too, with his expert suggestions. 

I'd love to have you join the campaign.

Best,
Nicholas

[housecaldwell]

Interesting.  They feel more like reptile folk than dinos to me, but that's just semantics.  Style looks good, weapons and armor are a nice break from the very low-tech look many VSF lizard people have been stuck with over the years, pose variety is reasonable (albeit a bit light on regular grunt poses) for a startup project and could always be expanded if they do well.  The "radium rifles" will look more scifi and less colonial with right paint job, which is good for people looking for (say) new Tau auxilla or whatever.  Not the biggest fan of resin versus metal but it's not a deal-killer.  Price is okay, albeit not amazing.

Thanks, Rich -- this is great feedback!  You pretty much nailed my design brief.  I wanted a high-tech force to match against my old beaky Marines, Imperial Guard, etc.. They'd be great as Tau auxilia.  And I play a lot of VicSciFi so I came up with the idea that the Ganorn still go to war with weapons that look like they were from their past even as they embrace new tech like SAWs and plasma guns.  They're very traditional, these saurians.  (And yeah, riffing off the Predator idea that they go hunting Aliens for sport)
 

One thing, Flat Rate Postage in the US is (barring a rate change before fulfillment) always $8.45, not $9.  It's only 55 cents but I've had people get pissy about smaller sums.  Similarly, Flat Rate may not be the most economical option for shipping, even domestic and almost certainly internationally.  These are going to be very light, can probably be packed pretty tightly without risk of breakage, and should fit in a small (300 count or even less) sports card box, which are nearly indestructible and can be bought in bulk for about a dollar each.  You might want to examine by-weight mailing options instead - if you're coming in under 12 ounces or so First Class Package rates are about 2/3rds that of Flat Rate PriMail and only takes about an extra day to deliver to most US zips, while still offering tracking.

Again, this is great feedback, thank you.  Shipping is such a mess right now.  Mostly the flat-rate shipping is to manage risk -- I've now had 2 kickstarters write to their backers and say "shipping prices have doubled or tripled" since the KS and one of them is putting up a tip jar in the pledge manager to help offset those costs.  (Now, those KS's rolled their shipping costs into their pledges, which I think is a mistake for this very reason.)

BUT...I think you're right that if there were cheaper shipping options available I would certainly offer it.  I just want to get my toys out there for other kids to play with.  So I will rework that section!  Essentially I could make flat-rate be the worst case scenario and that will help with some of the international shipping.  And I will look into your suggestion about the sports card boxes -- that sounds like it could work well.

Thank you again for taking the time to write this feedback -- I really appreciate it and I think you've just made my campaign better.

Best,
Nicholas

[Chief Lackey Rich]

BUT...I think you're right that if there were cheaper shipping options available I would certainly offer it.  I just want to get my toys out there for other kids to play with.  So I will rework that section!  Essentially I could make flat-rate be the worst case scenario and that will help with some of the international shipping.  And I will look into your suggestion about the sports card boxes -- that sounds like it could work well.

Perhaps the best approach would be to leave the estimates as-is but add a codicil that says shipping will be charged at actual cost and may result in slightly lower costs during fulfillment.  You're not charging till after the KS is over anyway, right?  You can always see whether 1st Class works out to real savings for US backers once you've got a better idea on shipping weights.  It does vary a tiny bit depending on what zip code you're in and shipping too (unlike Flat Rate) but it doesn't spike to insane numbers even for APO/FPO or Hawaii and Alaska.

You might try finding Reaper fan communities online to pitch to when you go live.  There are bound to be some of them who'd welcome your figs for use with the small range of scifi dino folks in the Bones Black range (which are ludicrously hard to find on their web store for some arcane reason):

https://www.reapermini.com/search/dinosaur

https://www.reapermini.com/search/dinosaur/latest/49008

[housecaldwell]

I agree.  I added a section as you suggested.  Thanks again - that was a great suggestion.

[housecaldwell]

We're live and 60% funded!  Come get your own murderous little saurian warriors!   

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/32mmscifidinos/32mm-resin-sci-fi-dinosaurs-introducing-the-ganorn

Best,
Nicholas

[aliensurfer]

ooh I like those 

[housecaldwell]

aliensurfer!  Haven't seen you for a while.  Cheers!  And thank you!  65% now.

[housecaldwell]

Just to let everyone know -- we're 113% funded!  And we still have until July 31.  I've started sharing some close-up shots of the various models as updates to the campaign if you want to take a closer look (they are public updates).

[housecaldwell]

Last message, I promise. About to hit the 48 hour mark and we are 150% funded!   Just FYI -- I have no plans at present to have them available after the KS.

Best,
Nicholas