Happy to receive requests for models wanted by a particular individual as long as they are happy to fund the design, printing and mould making and casting. But remember anything produced needs to be IP safe and i'd probably want to add the finished item to my range after.

Cheers

_________________
Vanguard Miniatures

Link, http://vanguardminiatures.co.uk/

Stockist of:

Vanguard Miniatures
BattleGroup Helios
Onslaught Miniatures
Pyrkol Gaming Markers
Gregster's Lab
Microworld Games
Troublemaker Games

As it stands I would be a bit concerned about what happens if a model is not funded. This is an important feature of kickstarter et al: if the goal is not met by a certain time, the money held in escrow is returned. You don't mention on your page what you intend to do here. On this thread I get the impression you would like to keep the money indefinitely (by which I mean with no finite time frame), and you also mention the idea of using money contributed for one set of models to fund the production of another set. That rings a few alarm bells for me simply because it could put customers in an awkward position if for whatever reason you get into financial distress. That can happen to the best of us - consider some of the high profile kickstarter failures of late. I appreciate you have the best of intentions, I just think you need to be clear on what the terms are - I would imagine a preorder still constitutes a contract of sale so presumably people can just ask for their money back at any time? That would be a way of doing it without having a time limit I suppose? Though bear in mind they could do so after money has been spend on production costs. The risk on your side of people doing that is probably quite low though.

Sorry to be the one to bring it up, hope you see it as constructive - the more confident people are, the more likely they are to participate, and the clearer things are, the less chance there is for misunderstanding on either side that could create unnecessary hassle.

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Kyrt's Battle Result Tracker (forum post is here)
Kyrt's trade list

I do think this is an important point. Kickstarter generally offers some sort of guarantee/risk coverage, but even they can have a hard time every now and then with this sort of time.

I assume the pre-order model would purely be for the said model, with guaranteed refund. However, the idea that people could invest into other models as well, something akin to Patreon would be very interesting as well, but that would also be a bit tricky...

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Bits Blitz - The place to be for all your bits needs!

http://www.shapeways.com/shops/bitsblitz

Thanks for the input guys perhaps I need to be clearer.

All models put up on pre-order will get manufactured even if they don't reach the number of pre-orders required. I would just make up the shortfall myself. Perhaps I need to have a funding per item cut off date so that you don't have to wait forever to either get your models or receive your money back.

Funds can be returned at any time before dispatch of goods via paypal there is no problem for me with that.

I'm doing it this way because I work full time and just don't have the time to run a kickstarter, this way I can keep it small and straight forward and cut out the middle man. It's no different from a normal pre-order really it's just that the models are not yet made. When I started vanguard last september I had no on the shelves stock but customers didn't seem to have a problem pre-ordering at that time.

Another thing to note is that in most cases I only need around 25 to 30 pre-orders to fund any one model which really isn't that many when you consider the global customer base, i've had several people wanting to give me money for the truck model already including one guy who wanted 15 trucks which is 5 packs of three a few orders like that and we are funded.

I'd rather not go to the effort to set all this up on my website if you guys are unsure of my trustworthyness or intentions. We can always leave it and keep things as they are, this was just an idea to get new models out faster by having a little cash injection support from the community.

At the end of the day I want to make vanguard my only job so destroying my reputation by stealing from my customers would be stupid.

Your post has been most enlightening to me as I can see that customers are unsure about this project and have no confidence in it actually working which of course it won't if no one backs it.

Regards John

_________________
Vanguard Miniatures

Link, http://vanguardminiatures.co.uk/

Stockist of:

Vanguard Miniatures
BattleGroup Helios
Onslaught Miniatures
Pyrkol Gaming Markers
Gregster's Lab
Microworld Games
Troublemaker Games

I think the confidence thing is also something that takes time to build up. Vanguard Miniatures hasn't been around for that long and you still need to build up a reputation. So try to keep it small scale for now, make sure you deliver quality and on time.

Same advice regarding the Kickstarters, just run small ones. Big ones have the tendency to run out of control. We've seen plenty of them with delays or even unable to deliver, so try to avoid that. You're doing good work, now you need to build a reputation on that.

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Bits Blitz - The place to be for all your bits needs!

http://www.shapeways.com/shops/bitsblitz

I don't think you should take Kyrts comments so hard. I think he is trying to find a way to "design out" people being unsure and therefore increasing the amount of orders. Im sure people are behind you, though it is a shame that traffic is so low on Taccoms these days* that you aren't seeing the buzz that DiD's first few campaigns did in the past. Build it and they will come as they say.

Adding a disclaimer that funds can be returned at any time is a good idea - though might generate a lot of dribs and drabs refunds which could be time consuming for you.

I think adding a time limit to each pre-order will generate pressure to buy an a kind of "momentum" to the whole thing - certainly this worked for me with the small pile of DiD stuff i bought from funders! :-) I certainly wouldn't state you will make up a short fall - this will decrease the pre-sales I'm sure as people will wait - plus why produce models which aren't popular enough to cover their own production?! ;-)

Personally, i would run 5/6 models each 3/4 months. Put a pre order time limit of a month or 6 weeks and state any which don't meet their funding goal this time round will be refunded. State that models which don't succeeded MAY be put up later, but will be on ice for at least a year or so - again adds pressure. Also, add an intended production date (make it long, no one minds getting stuff early!)

Keep it up mate, Its looking good! Only wish i had some time for hobbies these days. Expo will be my first proper games in 6 months... :-(



* Not sure why traffic on TC is so slow ? Is this cos of the server glitch? At this rate the community here is going to starve... :-(




Sent from my mobile using Tapatalk

@malika2, mate I hear you that I haven't been around long but so far i've had nothing but positive feedack from customers and in over 500 orders not one complaint.

I don't see what else I can do to satisfy customers of my good intentions and desire to make vanguard the go to place for 6mm sci fi. Remember I collect this stuff too and so want to see these models made as much as my customers. Also even before I opened vanguard I did and still do a lot of trading on this forum and have always had a good reputation from these trades too.

As for the kickstarter option as stated above I haven't the time to run one large or small hence the idea of setting up an in house one on my site as it would have run itself.

@ Blip, your right it is a bit quieter here these days sometimes i'm supprised how few new posts are made when I check in. I have had several members tell me that they have been locked out of there accounts and that some forgot their passwords and such so members have dropped by the wayside. Also the loss of things like Ben's kickstarters has caused people to move on I suppose.

Your ideas are good ones and at least some would have been implemented but i've already made the announcement on FB that this will now not be happening.

It's a pity I thought it was a really good way to get new models out there but it would seem that it was not meant to be.

Unless of course I get bombarded by irate would be backers demanding it be re-instated.

Regards

_________________
Vanguard Miniatures

Link, http://vanguardminiatures.co.uk/

Stockist of:

Vanguard Miniatures
BattleGroup Helios
Onslaught Miniatures
Pyrkol Gaming Markers
Gregster's Lab
Microworld Games
Troublemaker Games

I would suggest that you have already built up quite a reputation! I'm not alone in that your models have a real community feel about them and you have adapted designs based on feedback both here and FB.

I know I wlll be ordering a raft of your new stuff as it comes out, would you be happy for me to pay some up front which I can call on account when they are released? Or will it cause too many problems when it comes to ordering? All of the models I've seen will find a place somewhere in my armies new and old!

I hope you don't mind me being frank, i think you have massively over reacted based on the miss-reading of one post. It must be hard as things are a bit of an echo chamber here, but don't kill off a great idea without at least sleeping on it.

I don't really use Facebook for gaming so i don't know what you've posted, but i suggest delete the post, edit the one above and give it a shot. Its late at night, most people won;'t have had chance to read it yet anyway. Whats the worst thing that can happen ? A few models don't get funded so quick and a few people have their money refunded? Big deal - at least you know. My bet is that it will be a great success.

As for reputation - i know two local guys who have ordered from you and were extremely happy. This type of campaign can only boost that rep and profile.

In total agreement with Blip!

Don't have that much to add to what Blip said.

_________________
Bits Blitz - The place to be for all your bits needs!

http://www.shapeways.com/shops/bitsblitz

Thanks for the vote of confidence sir it's is well received.

Your offer to pay upfront for forth coming new models is marvelous as you say it would generate to many paperwork problems but thanks for offering to help out in this way none the less.

All the new designs have been sent to the casters for production and I have several more items at the printers awaiting a window so there are going to be new releases happening over the next few months even though the funding project has been abandoned.

Models to see release are currently:

Cybershadows Jackal class stalker
Elites scorpion light tank, two variants
Novan warrior IFV with turret options
Novan Archer and Bombadier towed heavy artillery pieces
New heads for the leviathan and dreadnought stalkers

Then:
Novan Dragon flame tank
Novan overlander truck, two possibly three variants
Warrior add ons, new turrets and armour upgrades
Novan artillery crews
BFG eites fighter sprue
Novan turret defence set and tower extension

_________________
Vanguard Miniatures

Link, http://vanguardminiatures.co.uk/

Stockist of:

Vanguard Miniatures
BattleGroup Helios
Onslaught Miniatures
Pyrkol Gaming Markers
Gregster's Lab
Microworld Games
Troublemaker Games

Guys you could be right but in most cases i've had zero feedback to my questions on if I should go ahead or not that coupled with posts such as Kyrt's leads me to conclude that there was very little confidence in the idea or enthusiasm to support it.

Zero replies to my questions means zero interest in the idea to me. Well perhaps not zero replies but half a dozen does nor inspire confidence in me that it's worth trying.

I'll do as you suggest and think on it but at this time i'm unsure if I want to try again.

_________________
Vanguard Miniatures

Link, http://vanguardminiatures.co.uk/

Stockist of:

Vanguard Miniatures
BattleGroup Helios
Onslaught Miniatures
Pyrkol Gaming Markers
Gregster's Lab
Microworld Games
Troublemaker Games

Blip i've taken your advice and deleted and or edited my posts so nows the time to convince me that it's worth pressing ahead with this project.

I will be sitting on this one until monday evening, cast your votes now please.

_________________
Vanguard Miniatures

Link, http://vanguardminiatures.co.uk/

Stockist of:

Vanguard Miniatures
BattleGroup Helios
Onslaught Miniatures
Pyrkol Gaming Markers
Gregster's Lab
Microworld Games
Troublemaker Games

You have my vote for this or anything else that can help.