Kings of War Kickstarter

[Vlad The Impala]

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1744629938/kings-of-war?ref=live

Mantic are doing a kickstarter (tied in to the forthcoming release of the hardback rulebook) to accelerate the release of new armies for KoW - Ronnie mentions Ogres, Angels, and "Forces Of Nature" in the video, as well as monstrous infantry units for the existing forces.

It went live last night and has already bust through the initial target and both stretch targets. I'm in for the "Soldier" option (although I may up my pledge later - we'll see how the money goes) which gets me a copy of the new rulebook + extras for less than the RRP (assuming exchange rates stay stable for the next month...)

So, yeah: worth doing if you have the spare cash!

[Metropolis]

CONTENTS DELETED

The author has deleted this message.

[jogar_t_hutt]

i was going to ask that to? what are mantic up to? i was under the impration that kickstarter was for small compenies trying to get off the ground maybe they need to do an add campain insted of a GW word-of-mouth add

[lurkio]

It looks like a pre-order for the new rulebook and they have called it a kickstarter to gather a bit more interest in it.

[Vlad The Impala]

By industry standards Mantic IS a small company - they are less than 3 years old and have less than a dozen full time staff. Honestly, if Steve Jackson Games (who have been around for decades and are considerably larger) can do it for Ogre and Paizo (who are one of the BIGGEST RPG companies at the moment) can do it for their projects, then I don't see why people have a problem with Mantic doing it for Kings of War.

Their problem, as I understand it, is the cost of plastic tooling: the Kickstarter allows them to get preorders NOW for kits that were otherwise pencilled in for 2014 (or later), meaning they can finance tooling of a lot of kits at once, instead of a steady trickle over several months (or years) with metal-hybrid and resin kits taking up the slack because they're easier to produce. This means that they will be able to commission a LOT of plastic releases for Kings of War over the next year, instead of  kits every 3-4 months with sales from each one being used to finance the next . We are already looking at werewolves for the undead army and a whole new ogre faction based on the concept art on the kickstarter page, and if they hit $50K they will be producing a multi-purpose plastic chariot/fight wagon kit for the Orcs - these would be far too big and expensive to release in metal, so they would be stuck at the back of the queue until 2015...

Besides, I want the exclusive Vampiress model based on the cover art from the new rulebook!

EDIT: also, a couple of points someone made on their facebook page:

1) By doing it as a Kickstarter allows them to reach a much wider audience than they would otherwise - they don't have (or want) GW's high street presence, so this gets them noticed - especially if it goes nuclear the way Zombiecide or Ogre have...
2) Banks are not lending to small businesses - especially in the creative arts or entertainment sectors. That leaves companies with only two alternatives if they want to raise a large amount of capital in a hurry: float shares on the stock market (which would see them going down the same route GW has in the end) or crowdsource using sites like Kickstarter and Indiegogo. A system that may have started out for "new, small companies" is being increasingly adopted by old(er) large(r) companies that cannot get finance any other way - have a look at some of the computer game kickstarts that are around at the moment.
3) By using the Kickstarter system of pledges and goals (many of which are being suggested by the fans themselves) Mantic get excellent market research data into what units and armies their fans would like to see supported.

[MortiS-the-Lost]

Metropolis wrote

Mantic seem to be abusing the system. I assumed Kickstarter was for new or small companies to get backers, not a company like Mantic, or are Mantic struggling and need financing?

jogar_t_hutt wrote

i was going to ask that to? what are mantic up to? i was under the impration that kickstarter was for small compenies trying to get off the ground maybe they need to do an add campain insted of a GW word-of-mouth add

Yes, I too did wonder about the ethics of this at first as I was only vaguely familiar with concept of Kick-Starter, but having now read up on what kick-starter is about I can assure you that it is an entirely legitimate use of the site and other established companies are using what they call 'crowd funding' for their projects. (the key wording here is 'Projects' not 'Companies')
For instance Stainless Steel software is using Kick-Starter to fund Carmageddon Reincarnation a modern re-make of their awesome classic of the same name (but without the 'Reincarnation' bit). At the time of writing it has 8 days to go and is fully funded!

 ^ Carmageddon Reincarnation, looking awesome!

So yea, Mantic are looking for funding to expand their Kings of War ranges, we're being promised Ogres, Werewolves and much more besides. The Kick-Starter funding will allow Mantic to much more quickly bring out all the stuff they want to, giving KoW a lot more variety to offer gamers.

The rewards are well worth the money and I urge anyone who is interested in affordable wargaming to put some of your money towards this. Of course if you don't think Mantic deserve funding you can spend your money elsewhere (maybe funding GW's shareholders dividends)

Personally I shall be pledging for the 'Sargent' rewards package which will work out at about £32 in proper English money, for which I'll get a Kings of War Hardbook Rulebook, a mini-rulebook, a bunch of dice, a 20 figure regiment of my choice (I think I'll go with Orcs) and the warm sense of satisfaction that comes with knowing I'm doing something positive for the future of the hobby.  

[Vlad The Impala]

Now at $53,764 - so far we have paid for sculpting and tooling of a vampire character based on the new box art (metal), Undead werewolves (plastic), Ogres (plastic), Ogre Shooters (plastic), and an Orc chariot/fightwagon plastic kit. Two lucky souls will also have new special characters crafted in their likeness (there are a further 3 of those available if you have $3K!, as well as 5 options to have characters named in your honour). At $65K they will publish a "Kings and Legends" supplement with full rules and background for all the new special characters. at $75K they will sculpt EITHER plastic trolls OR mummies, depending on which proves most popular - I imagine the next stretch goal after that will be for the "losing" kit.

[Sjeng]

COOL! Carmageddon rebooted! I'm SO getting a copy! Thanks for pointing that one out Mort!

Also found some other stuff ppl here might like:

RPG map pack
E-Z lock dragonshire building blocks

[Quicky]

Should be interesting to see what they come out with next. I assumed Mantic was a bigger company than it was. The have had there figures next to the GW ones in the local craft shops for some time. When GW started playing silly billies they decided to  get rid of the wargames figures completely. GW figures were the same but the mantic box sets were sold off for £3 each.
Very excited lad and dad later and £30 bought more skeletons and Dwarfs than you could shake a stick at. More than enough to convert for a complete army i am sure.

yes the minature do need a little work to fill the gaps etc but they are a great set of starter figures for my son qnd the new ones in the pipeline look very promising...

The mantic warpath minatures are very interesting (and cheap as well) as well as the new kickstarter games like deadzone.