Akky's Space Opera-type project - Under New Ownership

[Sir Barnaby Hammond-Rye]

There was a recent post by Artemis Black on DakkaDakka in the Hasslefree thread that some of you might find interesting. I had asked about the 'Archbaron Drumpf' miniature that Kev showed on Facebook, and Artemis indicated that there will be a Kickstarter launching soonish.

Very good news! 

[AKULA]

 

[Wachaza]

Why does it need a kickstarter? Surely the stuff is sculpted. Ok might need to rejig moulds but it seems a little unnecessary. Just release the figures.

[Inso]

Why does it need a kickstarter? Surely the stuff is sculpted. Ok might need to rejig moulds but it seems a little unnecessary. Just release the figures.

Capital to pay for remoulding and resin/metal for the initial casting run?
To see whether there is a market for them - why pay for everything only to find out there isn't demand for it?
To generate buzz and publicity?
Kickstarters get much more attention than just advertising.

There are lots of reasons

[Sir Barnaby Hammond-Rye]

Yes, even at manufacturer's cost any significant number of castings quickly adds up to a nice chunk of change. Fine if you are only talking a dozen castings. And then the question is how many to order. 50? 100? 500? And don't forget to tack on the shipping fee for a very heavy box!

[mrgrigson]

Not to mention sussing out which subsets will do better than others. While many Necromunda players have been doing head swaps on the latest genestealer hybrids to make Van Saar gangs, I've seen them chomping at the bit for models that fit more closely with the original vision. And hey, if there's sufficient interest, maybe Kev will do an appropriately bedecked lady or two. A KS will give him a couple of weeks of comments from people with skin in the game to get a feel for things.

[Giger]

Glad to see the range is finally seeing the light of day again, I have more than enough of these for my own uses but it would be nice to see some new characters.

[Wachaza]

I've waited a long time for these to come back. Kickstarter just adds to the length of time until I get my hands on some.

[AKULA]

All I'd say is that when I decided to sell the range, my priority was to find someone that I felt would look to expand the project further.

I don't currently have any involvement with the KS or the project going forward, other than as an interested bystander....but, I expect that this will be my first ever KS that I choose to participate in, as a punter.

 

[Artemis Black]

Hey guys.

Yes, we're the new owners The reason for the delay is the same answer as 'why a kickstarter'. It's because we're not going to just release them as is.

We're expanding them and they simply never got to the top of Kev's worksheet. So as we recently hired a new sculptor he has started work on some extras. Nothing too fancy, some extra male and female religious 'monks', there'll be some additions to the basic troops and the combat suits. There's an 'Archbaron Drumpf' by Kev that'll be part of it too.

We're rejigging our sci-fi minis into 4 categories - Galactic Navy, Grymn, Freeboters and this new lot which will be knows as the 'Akulian Empire'

It'll be a short kickstarter with a short turnaround, not some giant sprawling thing. Kickstarter is good to get a small project off the ground that needs entirely remoulding and rejigging etc.

[beefcake]

Good to hear. Any idea when it's kicking off.

[Giger]

That's really great to hear, will definitely be jumping in on this one now.

[Artemis Black]

Good to hear. Any idea when it's kicking off.

Nope, depends how many new sculpts our new guy can do and by when. When we have enough new minis we'll launch it, it'll likely just be a week to ten days and have very few unsculpted stretch goals. Just wanna get it launched all at once.

We're genericising it a bit with the extra sculpts, more general sci-fi tropes, that still fit into an Empire run by the Triad of 'Political/Military/Religious' and hailing from a desert home planet. First job was some more religions types (With an eye to them being not particularly sci-fi so they can be used elsewhere, similar to the tropes used in Stargate for the Ori).

Next up we'll add some more variants to the existing troop types then some alterations to some of the others. Add in a few more specials and we'll be god to go. So cross your fingers on our new sculptors speed

(If you're interested in his skill level then we're releasing his first sculpt for us tomorrow, Ainiel, a fantasy elf).

[Artemis Black]

I should also quickly add that the 'hazmat suits' were removed from the Akulian Empire and repurposed for the Galactic Navy with a weapon change and some extra doodads. So if you liked them as is, then they're gone now sorry.

[Wachaza]

I should also quickly add that the 'hazmat suits' were removed from the Akulian Empire and repurposed for the Galactic Navy with a weapon change and some extra doodads. So if you liked them as is, then they're gone now sorry.