Landsknecht Zweihänder sculpts (Great Swords)

[Armand]

Very interested in these! I'd get 2\4 packs depending on the price, and shipping cost...

[Dave]

So I went back to Bob, he's finishing them up. Here's a list of changes:

1) Putting parierhaken (parrying hooks) on a few of the swords (at the request of Lex).
2) Adding a few more hat feathers.
3) Giving each guy a katzbalger.

The sword width/size will stay as they are for casting purposes and durability on the table-top.

The standard bearer and drummer will by on a single strip, and there will be six strips with the swordsmen on them. These will be 6x18x1mm and there will be a bit of texture on top. You should be able to snip them apart so each figure is separate. Also, they'll be arranged so getting stands into base contact isn't a problem (lessoned learned from High Elf Archers...).

[Dave]

Some other topics for discussion.

Timeframe

The earliest the mold guy can get to them will be August. That means I likely won't have them until the end of August and casting won't begin until September. So I think October will be when these guys will begin to show up on people's doorsteps.

Kickstarter

To cover the costs of molding and casting (and get another unit out of this as there'll be room on the master mold) here's what I'm thinking.

A project with a goal of $3000 that will run the month of June.

If successful, I'll have enough money to get pikemen sculpted, molded and cast along with the swordsmen.

For backer levels, you commit to buy 2/4/8/12/16 units. The units can be any combination of swordsmen or pikemen, your choice.

The only add-on I can think of is bases (currently checking with Renedra for a volume discount).

For stretch goals (5000, 7000, etc) another unit gets added to the pool you can choose from: Arquebusiers, Crossbowmen, Light missile Cav, Heavy Cav, Light Cannon, Characters. I doubt we'll see any of these this time around but we can dream.

If it's successful, I'll have the cash on hand to pay Bob to sculpt the pikemen in July and still get everything to the mold guy in August.

If it isn't successful, you guys get swordsmen (likely more expensive so I don't take a complete bath) and the pikemen are a longer time in coming.

[Stormwind]

And these are units designed with the Dogs of War list in mind, aren't they? I'd love to see Galloper Guns - if the other units are of this quality then that would be amazing and these would do as really capable Empire proxies.

[Dave]

Yep, the Light Cannon would be horse mobile.

[Stormwind]

Is there any chance that the crossbows would be pavise ones in the Tilean style? =-D

[Ironhelm]

Your thoughts?

*throws money at the screen*

[Dave]

I'm sticking with Landsknecht for now stormwind, no Italians. As to the pavise, I know Pendraken already makes them. I don't think I'd be offering anything truly unique/groundbreaking by doing some more of those.

[andys]

Sounds good to me Dave. You certainly need to do something that no one else does. You'll get more sales that way, especially if you're more expensive than existing manufacturers.

Good luck with this and I'll be watching with interest!

[Stormwind]

That's alright, I'll just imagine they're all Border Princes armies, then. =D

[Dave]

Did a little guesstimating on prices. What are people's thoughts on these for backer levels (all prices in USD):

2 Packs - $25 ($12.50 per pack)
4 Packs - $45 ($11.25 per pack)
8 Packs - $85 ($10.63 per pack)
12 Packs - $120 ($10 per pack)
16 Packs - $150 ($9.38 per pack)

Extra packs would be at the "per pack" price.

Shipping:

These are guesstimates at this point. I was liberal with the weights, so hopefully they won't go up. These would be added to the backer levels above (eg, there would be a "2 Packs (US)" @ $28, and a "2 Packs (International)" @ $38):

US:
  2 Packs - $3
  4 Packs - $4
  8-X Packs - $6 (small flat rate box becomes cheapest option at this point)
  X+ Packs - ?

International:
  2 Packs - $13
  4 Packs - $15
  8 Packs - $21
  12-X Packs - $25 (small flat rate box becomes cheapest option at this point)
  X+ Packs - ?

There's obviously an upper limit of unit's that'll fit in a small flat-rate box, but I would think it could handle the vast majority of orders. Unless of course every single WM player in a country goes in on one order...

[ruiza97]

I would go with this one, 12 Packs - $120 ($10 per pack).  With 8 being Pikemen and 4 being Swordsmen.

adrian

[andys]

2 packs to the UK $38 = £22.60 (-ish) = £11.30/pack

So 3 packs would be $38 + $12.50 = $50.50 = £30 = £10/pack

Very expensive but for a new starter that is offering something unique that's not too unreasonable a price. For that money, I'd expect bases to be included. If you could trim, say, 5% off it wouldn't hurt so much?

The pricing only becomes competitive at the 12/16 pack point. So those customers would tend to be folks starting an army from scratch or looking to greatly expand an existing army. Shame my Dogs of War and Empire are just about complete, although I'd go for 2 packs of Swordsmen to support this worthy effort.

If you were going fully commercial, I think you'd have to trim those prices quite a bit to survive.

[ruiza97]

If you were going fully commercial, I think you'd have to trim those prices quite a bit to survive.

In the UK maybe.  But not for doing business in the Union.

[andys]

True. It's the postage that's going to reduce sales overseas, mores the pity 

Still, hopefully you'll still generate enough interest for it to be a success - I certainly hope so!