+1 for a second alien pose.

I'd go for a second human pose over a second alien pose, as it's easier to convert the aliens than the humans - you can bend the arms slightly. The humans are stuck rigid.

But consider it a general plus one vote for more poses.

I'd go for plastics. The big question is whether it should be alternative regulars or others, like heavy dudes or leaders. Previous voices have spoken for regulars in more poses on the grounds that there are more regulars than any other mini in any given army. That is true. However, I think it is crucial that a sprue caters for all needs first. Maybe this order then: regular inf (got those already), heavy dudes, leaders, other posed regular inf, other things not known to man...

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Nitpicks Knapsack (Scratchbuilding and 3D designing and printing and painting)

Two heavies is $1200+ which is a lot more to go for at this stage. And doesn't solve the problem that the aliens will still look very uniform.

Rather than that I would hope Ben can fit 2-4 extra turrets on the sprue (even if it means swapping out a couple of infantry maybe). Then two aliens and gun = heavy weapon team. Two humans with their turret (raised a bit on a piece of sprue, and maybe even slightly modified to be more dual purpose) = human autocannon team or similar. Gives you some heavy weapons teams in the basic box via clever and economical use of components, and a unique IP angle on it too. Shoulder mounted heavy weapons guys could then be added later as metals if desired, in addition to some awesome looking metal leaders with multiple poses...

Incidentally I also think the sprue should make sure all the alien stuff is on their half of the sprue... makes it super easy to split them in some fashion if desired.

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http://hordesofthings.blogspot.co.nz/

But would that not look a little bit naff? Why not provide for all required troop types ( which will in themselves add variety) first? I was under the impression that this sprue was supposed to try to cover all the basic stuff, not necessarily provide poses of regulars?

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Nitpicks Knapsack (Scratchbuilding and 3D designing and printing and painting)

+1 on that - splitting is essential.

I beginning to change my mind a little on the poses vs weapons debate - I think one could equals the other bearing in mind scale. Essentially with a mix of normal rifles/axes to hvy weapon troopers you get options : base them separately to get specialized squads or mix them up for a tactically flexible squad / alien rabble - with some variety of poses to boot...

Obviously both would be best but sounds achievable. Though IMHO the aliens would benefit aesthetically from some variety, is that really going to bother enough buyers if essentially they are all the same troops ?

i like the idea of heavy weapons and such, but those are prime material for metal add-ons and perhaps later sprueification, an alternate alien pose would be a very good addition right now. the human pose is more standard, and harder to modify, but the alien pose is more immediately noticable as "the same" since it is a more extreme pose.
still, i think another batch of metal add-ons now, and an announcement that the goal after that one would be an alt-pose alien would work well, more fuel for the fire with a further off goal in view.

as to what add-ons, i think 'heavier' infantry would be the way to go. elite humans in heavier armour (swat/special forces/breaching squads) and alien bosses in clunky super-heavy armour would both be quite popular.

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~Every Tool Is A Weapon, If You Hold It Right~

Would it be possible improving the sprue with additinal funding after release? i mean like making a new sprue with new models or poses but cheaper because some of the tools are allready made?

I hope you understand what i mean.
Man this is hard for me.

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Bioframe - my first wargame:
http://www.tacticalwargames.net/taccmd/viewtopic.php?f=45&t=31704

Ben has already stated it is the intention with the alien gun, and I don't think it will look naff in 6mm if done right. Extending the concept to the human autocannon also seems like a logical possibility to me, as an infantry weapon platform similar to what humans use in previous systems. Maybe the human weapon could come with a infantry weapon base like the alien gun, that you remove easily if you instead mount it on the APC. Perry plastics do lots of similar things in their plastic kits - e.g. hats which you just chop bits off to make them useable as a different sort of hat.

I'm also thinking about what's definitely achievable now and how it fits with a future range. The goals you are talking about are 2400+ just for heavy weapons and leaders for both races, and then extra poses would be on top of that. One extra pose is just 600 and easily achievable now (especially as I'd donate a large chunk of that immediately).

Also I'm concerned that the alien infantry risk looking silly if the basic grunts all remain in one pose as if doing a choreographed dance. Especially when contrasted with the Gobblers who have lots of appropriate wild variety.

Humans are supposed to be regular and pose is also much less dramatic so not a problem, but I think more variety in the plastic aliens would improve the future attractiveness of the range a great deal. It's likely easier to add a few metal specialist heavy weapons/leaders to stands later on, rather than having to buy loads of alternative poses of basic alien infantry in metal just to make them look appropriately irregular.

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http://hordesofthings.blogspot.co.nz/

again, people keep quoting the 600 pound cost, but thats not the actual cost. once administrative costs are included, its closer to 1000
so, putting human and alien leaders and heavies in the sprue would cost an extra 4000 pounds (ie: double the current pledge levels)
so, while that is probably reachable, i dont think its likely without signpost goals along the way and definitely not a great use of resources.
heavies and leaders are both likely to be less numerous than normal troops, so would be more appropriate if made available in metal packs, this would be cheaper, and allow greater customisation, and the money saved could be used to produce alternate sculpts of the basic troops. it also makes for smaller stretch goals, which will further encourage pledgers, since they wont have the "well the next goal is nearly 2000 pounds away, i'll just wait to see if it will make it" thinking hanging over their heads

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~Every Tool Is A Weapon, If You Hold It Right~

So, a new month, and a new hobby budget.

But what to buy? Since you've said, E&C, that you set your profit levels on metal very low, I'm assuming I'll be more help towards improving the plastic sprue if I buy more boxes than if I buy tanks or Gobblers?

And my vote would be for extra troop types on the sprue. Heavy weapons, cc-only weapons, and/or assault rifles for the aliens would be as good as additional poses since you can put one or two on each base to add variety, but they also open up the possibilities of specialist troop stands (in which case you reverse tings, with one or two standard troops on the stand.)

Same with the humans, though I'm a great fan of identical ranks of humans lining up to volley fire down on the aliens. (I just have to model some Steps of Odessa for terrain.....)

-Allen McCarley

Well, the single posed aliens would look no more silly then the ones most people use daily. And no more silly than what most people will manage to perform with their tank turrets and heavy alien mortars. Arguably less silly, I would think. What strikes me as puzzling is the emphasis on the one hand on twin posed regulars, for the good looks, while on the other hand sacrificing that good look by not providing the ubiquitous heavy weapons.

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Nitpicks Knapsack (Scratchbuilding and 3D designing and printing and painting)

My preference is to go for heavies at this time, and for this reason - I designed the basic Alien warrior pose to be very easy to convert. His arms are both held out to the side, which means bending them, or cutting them and re-posing them at a different angle, will be very easy (remember how easy plastic is to convert with).


I did certainly bear this in mind when I put a circle base on the Alien vehicle's cannon - it can be an infantry-operated cannon too, if you want your Alien vehicles to be flatbed transport vehicles instead of gun-armed it means you still get to make use of the cannon.


As you can tell at the moment I've run out of space to do that... I'd have to remove a couple of Alien Warriors to get them to fit on the other side of the sprue.

Long term, since the patterns will be already in the computer for cutting the tool, it'll only cost ~£2000 to make a new mould with a new combination of existing model patterns on it. So in a couple of years we could split off the Aliens and do an Aliens-only plastic sprue for example. Maybe add a couple more sculpts at that time for the V2 sprues if there's cash to spare...

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Currently doing a plastic scenery kickstarter

Yep, Plastics have the highest profit margin so that'd help reach whatever we decide is the next stretch point in a better financial shape. :-)

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Currently doing a plastic scenery kickstarter

Paypal & Indiegogo take ~10% before I even get the money, and then there's production costs, postage costs, packaging costs, etc. Yep it all mounts up.

One thing we could do is return to an idea that came up earlier in the campaign : "Apologist's Riflemen".

Wherein we'd create a special pledge dedicated towards upgrading the plastic sprue.

Pledges towards that element of the campaign would get something to indicated they are a "Rifleman" (perhaps a limited edition Indiegogo-only pair of Leader models, one for each faction?), but barring the cost of the unique figures, every penny pledged towards that goal would go directly into upgrading the plastic sprue.

I'm thinking that £50 would be a good level to set the "Apologist's Riflemen" pledge point at, with a target of £700 increments to achieve extra sculpts on the plastic sprue (£60 extra to cover the ~10% paypal & IGG fees, and £40 extra to cover matter printing & postage of the limited edition figures to Pledgers).

So pledgers would get a pair of limited edition figures that would never be available elsewhere, and they'd get to upgrade the plastic sprues at the same time. How does that sound as a way to get us the upgraded sprues for £700 in pledges rather than £1000-£12000 in pledges?

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Currently doing a plastic scenery kickstarter