Author Topic: IWM WoB Spectral LAM Kickstarter Funded!  (Read 86985 times)

scatcat

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Re: IWM WoB Spectral LAM Kickstarter Announced
« Reply #60 on: 03 February 2013, 10:30:30 »
What will help lower the price per pledge for the minis would be the stretch goal if they are reached. I am hoping to announce them this week.

I will check with Marc about your other question.

Glad to hear. From a consumer standpoint one of Kickstarter's main selling points is the opportunity to get a great deal by financing a project at its inception. $22 is roughly 50% more expensive than IWMs current assault mechs and twice the price of a medium mech's MSRP. IWM's offering, as opposed to Relic Knights and Reaper's Bones, just doesn't offer much bang for my buck. For $185 I get.... 9 minis.  :(

I hope IWM's kickstarter gets funded, but duplicating the success these other miniature lines achieved is not possible at current price points.
« Last Edit: 03 February 2013, 10:36:42 by scatcat »

Dragon41673

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Re: IWM WoB Spectral LAM Kickstarter Announced
« Reply #61 on: 03 February 2013, 10:34:52 »
Anyone else notice there are no holes on the LRM's for the missiles to come out of on the Waneta mini? Am I missing something? If not, I sincerely hope this is fixed.
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Stormcrow

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Re: IWM WoB Spectral LAM Kickstarter Announced
« Reply #62 on: 03 February 2013, 10:42:05 »
Glad to hear. From a consumer standpoint one of Kickstarter's main selling points is the opportunity to get a great deal by financing a project at its inception. $22 is roughly 50% more expensive than IWMs current assault mechs and twice the price of a medium mech's MSRP. IWM's offering, as opposed to Relic Knights and Reaper's Bones, just doesn't offer much bang for my buck. For $185 I get.... 9 minis.  :(

I hope IWM's kickstarter gets funded, but duplicating the success these other miniature lines achieved is not possible at current price points.
Do you realize that they have to make a little extra money on these minis so at they can produce more for the non-donating public? Do you mean to get 9 minis and only donate $135 and for IWM have nothing left over to produce more, buy materials and pay the sculptor(s).
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scatcat

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Re: IWM WoB Spectral LAM Kickstarter Announced
« Reply #63 on: 03 February 2013, 11:29:30 »
Do you realize that they have to make a little extra money on these minis so at they can produce more for the non-donating public? Do you mean to get 9 minis and only donate $135 and for IWM have nothing left over to produce more, buy materials and pay the sculptor(s).

Glad to hear. From a consumer standpoint....

ColBosch

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Re: IWM WoB Spectral LAM Kickstarter Announced
« Reply #64 on: 03 February 2013, 12:38:39 »
One of the biggest mistakes people make with Kickstarter is going in from a consumer's viewpoint.

Don't.

Kickstarter is not Amazon. Kickstarter is not eBay. Kickstarter is a way for people to donate to interesting projects. That nearly all projects offer physical rewards - copies of the finished product, for example - is not a Kickstarter requirement. In fact, Kickstarter has started to limit how many copies of the product can offered as a single reward.

For established companies, Kickstarter is a great way to gauge interest in, and provide fans with, particularly niche items. For new companies it's a great way to get their first products released at all, or at least to tell them that they've got no market before they get in too much debt. But it should first and foremost be viewed as a way to donate to commercial interests rather than an online store or pre-ordering system.
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General308

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Re: IWM WoB Spectral LAM Kickstarter Announced
« Reply #65 on: 03 February 2013, 12:53:37 »
Do you realize that they have to make a little extra money on these minis so at they can produce more for the non-donating public? Do you mean to get 9 minis and only donate $135 and for IWM have nothing left over to produce more, buy materials and pay the sculptor(s).

In this case that argument doesn't fly.   Because when you sell something retail you put all that cost into it.  They are selling these for well above retail.  Which means all that is taken into account and more at retail cost.

General308

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Re: IWM WoB Spectral LAM Kickstarter Announced
« Reply #66 on: 03 February 2013, 13:02:46 »
One of the biggest mistakes people make with Kickstarter is going in from a consumer's viewpoint.

Don't.

Kickstarter is not Amazon. Kickstarter is not eBay. Kickstarter is a way for people to donate to interesting projects. That nearly all projects offer physical rewards - copies of the finished product, for example - is not a Kickstarter requirement. In fact, Kickstarter has started to limit how many copies of the product can offered as a single reward.

For established companies, Kickstarter is a great way to gauge interest in, and provide fans with, particularly niche items. For new companies it's a great way to get their first products released at all, or at least to tell them that they've got no market before they get in too much debt. But it should first and foremost be viewed as a way to donate to commercial interests rather than an online store or pre-ordering system.

I agree and understand that.  But as near as I can tell this Kickstarter needs more money money per mini that it $2777 a mini.  But the problem is when you go look at the cost under the Fan funded LAMs these are costing a whole lot more to make than those.   Something doesn't add up when you compare the two.   It feels like they are trying to raise money for more than just these minis.  Which is fine but they don't state what it is.  The fan funded has existed for so long we all have a good ideal  how much it cost for them to do a mini.  The cost for these is way above what we have been shown by IWM that the cost is.  Were is the extra money going?   Tell us and we would be more likely to jump in.    Explain why Waneta cost with free cad drawings cost so much more than the other LAMs that have been fan funded?   


ps anyone who has ever had CAV minis knows this statement is wrong "Until recently, the quality of 3-D printed sculpts was significantly worse than what our sculptors could make by hand"
« Last Edit: 03 February 2013, 13:14:35 by General308 »

ColBosch

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Re: IWM WoB Spectral LAM Kickstarter Announced
« Reply #67 on: 03 February 2013, 13:30:10 »
IWM doesn't do their 3D prototyping in-house. Right there, that drives cost up.

Ultimately, it doesn't matter, though. If you think they're looking for too much money, don't donate.
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Psycho

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Re: IWM WoB Spectral LAM Kickstarter Announced
« Reply #68 on: 03 February 2013, 13:31:33 »
What IWM is willing to pay their sculptors is limited by what they anticipate sales revenue to be. The cost to print these minis is $2000 each, and that number is not controlled by IWM. They can figure the sales numbers versus the cost to print, and price the minis accordingly to cover their costs. They`re not raising money for more than just the LAMs, the LAMs are costing that much more.

Stormcrow

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Re: IWM WoB Spectral LAM Kickstarter Announced
« Reply #69 on: 03 February 2013, 13:42:06 »
In this case that argument doesn't fly.   Because when you sell something retail you put all that cost into it.  They are selling these for well above retail.  Which means all that is taken into account and more at retail cost.
To me it's not selling, it's a reward for those who choose to support a given campaign.
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ColBosch

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Re: IWM WoB Spectral LAM Kickstarter Announced
« Reply #70 on: 03 February 2013, 13:59:39 »
To me it's not selling, it's a reward for those who choose to support a given campaign.

Exactly my point.

Look at it this way: you're not a customer, you're an investor. Don't skip down to the rewards right off the bat. Watch the sales pitch, read the precis, do some research into the company you're supporting. Remember that there are no guarantees you'll ever get anything out of it. Like a conventional investor, sometimes those dividends come out to a squat zero. But if you're willing to take the risk, go ahead and invest what you feel is a fair amount for the project, only then considering the potential rewards.

Stop thinking like a consumer.
BattleTech is a huge house, it's not any one fan's or "type" of fans.  If you need to relieve yourself, use the bathroom not another BattleTech fan. - nckestrel
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Ian Sharpe

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Re: IWM WoB Spectral LAM Kickstarter Announced
« Reply #71 on: 03 February 2013, 14:17:37 »
Hope to see more of these in future.  No interest in WOB LAMs at all, however. 

General308

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Re: IWM WoB Spectral LAM Kickstarter Announced
« Reply #72 on: 03 February 2013, 14:29:18 »
Exactly my point.

Look at it this way: you're not a customer, you're an investor. Don't skip down to the rewards right off the bat. Watch the sales pitch, read the precis, do some research into the company you're supporting. Remember that there are no guarantees you'll ever get anything out of it. Like a conventional investor, sometimes those dividends come out to a squat zero. But if you're willing to take the risk, go ahead and invest what you feel is a fair amount for the project, only then considering the potential rewards.

Stop thinking like a consumer.

You have to think like a consumer.  Investors have a chance to loss everything they invest or to make all there money back and even many many times there money back.

All that said I would be willing to invest in this with one simple change.  Allow the investors the ablity to buy these at normal cost between now and 2014 at a normal cost.  That would make it a worth wild investment.   Right now they are planing to make these and give them to investors and sit on them for a year.  That is bad for me as an investor because if I want more when I have the money I have to what over a year for more because they are sitting on it doing nothing with the completed molds for a year.

General308

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Re: IWM WoB Spectral LAM Kickstarter Announced
« Reply #73 on: 03 February 2013, 14:31:47 »
What IWM is willing to pay their sculptors is limited by what they anticipate sales revenue to be. The cost to print these minis is $2000 each, and that number is not controlled by IWM. They can figure the sales numbers versus the cost to print, and price the minis accordingly to cover their costs. They`re not raising money for more than just the LAMs, the LAMs are costing that much more.

$2000 each sounds about right.  However they are wanting closer to $3000 each.  Just seems high since they got the CAD's for free.   Also why were the fan funded LAMs less?  I think that is the part that confuses me the most

Psycho

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Re: IWM WoB Spectral LAM Kickstarter Announced
« Reply #74 on: 03 February 2013, 15:57:19 »
It's production costs; molds, materials, and labour. You're seeing it with the kickstarter because IWM is looking to cover their entire cost, and maybe make a little on top. With a fan-financed project the fans are only covering the sculpting costs, and IWM expects to make up the production costs once the product is available for sale. Or, looking at it slightly differently, when a mini is fan-financed, there are no minis going out the door until customers are paying for them. With the KS, if it succeeds, there will be somewhere in the neighborhood of 800 minis (rough estimate based on the $25k goal and $30/mini; it could be more or less depending on what reward levels are used) to be produced and shipped out, without another dime coming in for them.

In either case the art is essentially free. I don't know the specifics of the license, but I don't believe that IWM pays per piece of art used - illustrators are paid by CGL for their work.

ColBosch

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Re: IWM WoB Spectral LAM Kickstarter Announced
« Reply #75 on: 03 February 2013, 16:24:58 »
You have to think like a consumer.  Investors have a chance to loss everything they invest or to make all there money back and even many many times there money back.

All that said I would be willing to invest in this with one simple change.  Allow the investors the ablity to buy these at normal cost between now and 2014 at a normal cost.  That would make it a worth wild investment.   Right now they are planing to make these and give them to investors and sit on them for a year.  That is bad for me as an investor because if I want more when I have the money I have to what over a year for more because they are sitting on it doing nothing with the completed molds for a year.

Okay, I see my analogy was taken literally. Just go to Kickstarter's main page, click the "What Is Kickstarter?" link at the top, and read through. IWM is handling themselves properly and within the guidelines of the website. If you don't like it, don't contribute.
BattleTech is a huge house, it's not any one fan's or "type" of fans.  If you need to relieve yourself, use the bathroom not another BattleTech fan. - nckestrel
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General308

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Re: IWM WoB Spectral LAM Kickstarter Announced
« Reply #76 on: 03 February 2013, 17:38:36 »
Okay, I see my analogy was taken literally. Just go to Kickstarter's main page, click the "What Is Kickstarter?" link at the top, and read through. IWM is handling themselves properly and within the guidelines of the website. If you don't like it, don't contribute.

I didn't say they were doing anything improper. What I am saying is that when I compare it with other projects.  The return on investment isn't as good as others I have seen.  Fact is when you look at how good of an investment it is  you have to compare it to other projects along the same line.   The reward is you pay 50% over retail then you get 9 minis.  It isn't a good deal at this point.  Because a retail price calculates in all the other cost and what you have to charge to make your money back.  ( I am guessing retail cost of course because I can't think of any other BT minis that are about $22 bucks each minis the Omega) Now they could make it a worth wild project to invest in buy letting backers buy more at a normal retail cost I would do it then.

Frankly as it sits now I am scared for it to work out.  As has been stated established companies do projects like this to gauge intrest in a product.   Honestly if this works the way it stands now they might decide to do it with more and more minis going forward.  I am not willing to suggest to IWM that I am willing to get a mini early if I have to pay $22 bucks a peace for it.   Heck if I am going to invest in it frankly I would rather do it to get it into production faster not slower just so they can use the time as a rewards.  So honestly as much as I want the Waneta  LAM I am not going to they way it is set up now.  A few changes I would.  Frankly I am suprised it hasn't been funded already because BT players are fanatics.  We will see what happens.

GRUD

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Re: IWM WoB Spectral LAM Kickstarter Announced
« Reply #77 on: 03 February 2013, 20:49:35 »
Since there still seems to be some "Confusion" over why the Kickstarter LAMs will cost so much more than the Fan Financed LAMs, and Speck hasn't chimed in on it, I guess I will.  Go to the 1st page of this thread and click the link for "The Road to the Spectral LAM's Kickstarter", and read what is on IWM's site.  It spells everything out quite clearly, that while the initial CAD drawings were "Free", there's still many hours required on EACH of them, to convert the drawing into a physical object that can be assembled.  This accounts for the price difference in the Fan Financed LAM's, which are done by hand, versus the WOB LAMs, which are done through computer-assisted magic.  Or whatever you call the machine that takes computer pictures and creates physical objects from them.   :D   As the saying goes, "There's a first time for everything.", but they should also add on to the end, "But the first time is usually much more expensive than the second time.".   :-\ 


As for me, there's very few WOB designs that I like, and none of these LAMs are on that list.  ;D  While I Hope for IWM's sake that they reach their Goal, they're going to have to do it without me.
To me, Repros are 100% Wrong, and there's NO  room for me to give ground on this subject. I'm not just an Immovable Object on this, I'm THE Immovable Object. 3D Prints are just 3D Repros.

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StCptMara

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Re: IWM WoB Spectral LAM Kickstarter Announced
« Reply #78 on: 03 February 2013, 21:32:32 »
To me it's not selling, it's a reward for those who choose to support a given campaign.

You are not buying anything. You are investing in a project. You get some of the finished product as a demonstration
of the product you invested in. You are NOT buying anything. It bugs the heck out of me that people invest in a kickstarter,
and then act like they are owed something. I have some kickstarters that I contributed to that the poor people behind
them are getting harrassed because they ran into delays(For example: Skippy's "Red Shirts" card game, that ran into
some issues with Paramount and is having to have a significant portion of its art redone).  What is up with these rather
slow people who don't bloody get that they are NOT BUYING A DARNED THING?! Do you expect a car when you buy
a certain amount of GM stock? Do you expect a free top of the line computer when you buy a certain amount of
Intel stock? Then why the bloody heck do people expect anything when they INVEST in a kickstarter?
"Victory or Debt!"- The Battlecry of Mercenaries everywhere

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General308

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Re: IWM WoB Spectral LAM Kickstarter Announced
« Reply #79 on: 03 February 2013, 22:56:23 »
You are not buying anything. You are investing in a project. You get some of the finished product as a demonstration
of the product you invested in. You are NOT buying anything. It bugs the heck out of me that people invest in a kickstarter,
and then act like they are owed something. I have some kickstarters that I contributed to that the poor people behind
them are getting harrassed because they ran into delays(For example: Skippy's "Red Shirts" card game, that ran into
some issues with Paramount and is having to have a significant portion of its art redone).  What is up with these rather
slow people who don't bloody get that they are NOT BUYING A DARNED THING?! Do you expect a car when you buy
a certain amount of GM stock? Do you expect a free top of the line computer when you buy a certain amount of
Intel stock?
Then why the bloody heck do people expect anything when they INVEST in a kickstarter?

Of course with Kickstarter you are not getting stock or ownership in anyway of the company.    Which is why it isn't a real investment.   If I buy stock to I expect a car no.  But if I buy stock I know I have a chance to make more than my money back.  You don't have that chance with Kickstarter.  Which is why the ones that do really well seem to offer great perks for people giving the money. 


TheOldGuy

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Re: IWM WoB Spectral LAM Kickstarter Announced
« Reply #80 on: 03 February 2013, 23:48:05 »
How silly (read: stupid) this argument is.

Kickstarter is not Groupon or Amazon or Woot.

It's a way for fans to directly finance projects they want made.  The point isn't to get a "great deal".  A company, such as IWM, is attempting to make the costs it gets to production + some profit on top.  It's not that difficult.



scatcat

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Re: IWM WoB Spectral LAM Kickstarter Announced
« Reply #81 on: 04 February 2013, 00:53:29 »
Wow. My comments sure sparked a lot of heated debate.


Obviously people view kickstarters in different ways. As I said earlier, I am a consumer and a project must offer me tangible benefits at reasonable prices. If not I don't back it. Right now the LAM project doesn't offer enough bang for my buck. This is my opinion and it's correct for me.

My goal wasn't to argue the merits of IWM's offering, debate terminology, or spark a flame war. I am an avid Battletech fan with thousands of minis, purchase 2 orders from IWM a year, love LAMs, and have disposable income. I am IWM's target market. I want IWM to succeed. Knowing why my wallet remains closed helps IWM both now and in the future.

Think of my last 2 posts as free market research directed towards IWM and draw your horns in.

StCptMara

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Re: IWM WoB Spectral LAM Kickstarter Announced
« Reply #82 on: 04 February 2013, 01:47:12 »
I will admit, the one thing that is causing me reservations about contributing at ANY LEVEL to this
is the lack of any information on the funded since may of '11 3085 LAMs. I am, frankly, not sure if
contributing will even see LAMs done as anything more then a small production run for the backers,
then abandoned. Just as, since they will be able to make them for the Backers, why would it have to
wait until next year for them to be able to make them for general production? I mean, if you have the
molds, what is so hard about spinning them up?
"Victory or Debt!"- The Battlecry of Mercenaries everywhere

"Greetings, Mechwarrior! You have been recruited by the Star League to defend the frontier against---Oops, wrong universe" - Unknown SLDF Recruiter

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GRUD

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Re: IWM WoB Spectral LAM Kickstarter Announced
« Reply #83 on: 04 February 2013, 02:11:21 »
Just as, since they will be able to make them for the Backers, why would it have to wait until next year for them to be able to make them for general production? I mean, if you have the molds, what is so hard about spinning them up?


I don't think it's an issue of Not being able to produce more until 2014.  I think it's an additional enticement to back them, because you'll get them this year, rather than having to wait until next year.  The last word is that they haven't decided yet if the minis will be General Release or Online Exclusive either.  Either way, if you back the Kickstarter, you get the minis this year, as an incentive for doing so.  If you DON'T back them, you have to wait another year.  They say the Goal is enough to cover the production of minis for the backers, PLUS additional minis, so they'll have more, they'll just "squat" on them for another year.
To me, Repros are 100% Wrong, and there's NO  room for me to give ground on this subject. I'm not just an Immovable Object on this, I'm THE Immovable Object. 3D Prints are just 3D Repros.

Something to bear in Mind. Defending the BT IP is Frowned upon here.

Remember: Humor is NOT Tolerated here. Have a Nice Day!

Hey! Can't a guy get any Privacy around here!

George_Labour

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Re: IWM WoB Spectral LAM Kickstarter Announced
« Reply #84 on: 04 February 2013, 15:39:38 »
There's also the possibility that they don't want to commit to promising large amounts of these miniatures until they're sure they can produce a consistent number of acceptable quality.

The issues some had with the various map and mech scale dropships as well as their own problems with keeping them in stock seems to be a good example of that.

And of course there will be delays in the project just like with most of thse kickstarter things, and they don't say exactly when in 2014 they'll release them to the general public. You could be looking at a release window similar to the Omega super heavy where a lucky few got them four or so months before they went on general sale.

Though I personally wish my donation (I don't consider it an investment) got me a bit more than what I'll be receiving I'm not displeased with it.

But then I've also spent extra money on Forge World to get a exotic turret for my 40k tanks when I could have just used the ones that came in the box. So my willingness to spend higher than normal prices for exotic and or collectors pieces is perhaps not the same as other consumers.

speck

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Re: IWM WoB Spectral LAM Kickstarter Announced
« Reply #85 on: 04 February 2013, 19:07:38 »
General updates for the project, Stretch goals should be announced soon, answers to peoples questions are posted below about Instructions and Backers able to purchase more before general release in 2014. Also updates to the Kickstarter page has included more information about when they will be available, This summer for Backers, General Release in 2014 starting with Origins, Historicon, and Gen Con and the on IWM webstore in Fall 2014.

Also I have created a image gallery for the Kickstarter, right now it all the images from the Kickstarter page, plus three more painted pictures.

i'm thinking about helping out but.....and this sounds bad... will these come with a card to let you know were the parts go?  one of them looks to have 12 parts and some of them are dange small.  That is what is stopping me from jumping in already

Yes, There will be instructions on how to assemble the miniatures.

I think if they would set up so backers could buy them from Iron Wind over the next year this thing would be funded in a day.   Right now I have the money but haven't made up my mind

All of the Backers of the Kickstarter will be able to purchase more of the miniatures that are produced from the kickstarter before 2014.

I agree and understand that.  But as near as I can tell this Kickstarter needs more money money per mini that it $2777 a mini.  But the problem is when you go look at the cost under the Fan funded LAMs these are costing a whole lot more to make than those.   Something doesn't add up when you compare the two.   It feels like they are trying to raise money for more than just these minis.  Which is fine but they don't state what it is.  The fan funded has existed for so long we all have a good ideal  how much it cost for them to do a mini.  The cost for these is way above what we have been shown by IWM that the cost is.  Were is the extra money going?   Tell us and we would be more likely to jump in.    Explain why Waneta cost with free cad drawings cost so much more than the other LAMs that have been fan funded?   

Please check out, The Road to the Spectral LAM article on IWM website for more details on why the cost to produce the LAM's from the CAD is expense. It goes into details of what all has to be done to the CAD file so that a proper miniature master can be made. The first test, Waneta Ground mode, got $2000 for all of the CAD adjustments and printing on a high quality 3D Printer. The extra money beyond the 18,000 for the 9 Master copies goes into producing the master, production molds. Both of which take time to be completed and then some of the money goes into the other cost of getting the miniatures manufactured and packaged. Others have already commented about why there is a pricing difference on the Fan Funded items, to go along with it, there are the hidden costs that the Fan Fundraisers do not pay for. Such as the master and production mold making and all of the other costs that go into getting a miniature produced for sale. All the Fan Fundraisers pay for is the sculpting of the miniature by one of the several sculptors who have been doing battletech miniatures since the Ral Partha days.

Hope to see more of these in future.  No interest in WOB LAMs at all, however.

So would we, but the selection of what we can do with the CAD is limited by what art is done that we can get CAD for. Right now its the LAM's that Stephen Huda has done and maybe some of his other work for Battletech.

$2000 each sounds about right.  However they are wanting closer to $3000 each.  Just seems high since they got the CAD's for free.   Also why were the fan funded LAMs less?  I think that is the part that confuses me the most

Part of this I have answered above, but will just touch on the CAD part. The CAD files from Stephen Huda were given to IWM for Free, but we can not just take them to any 3D printer and print off a master. This was done originally almost a year ago and it was a complete disaster. The miniature had the 3D printer lines all through out it and when cleaned up it lost all of the details. The link I provided above for "The Road to the Spectral LAM's goes into all of the details of what needs to be done to make a miniature from the CAD files.

I will admit, the one thing that is causing me reservations about contributing at ANY LEVEL to this
is the lack of any information on the funded since may of '11 3085 LAMs. I am, frankly, not sure if
contributing will even see LAMs done as anything more then a small production run for the backers,
then abandoned. Just as, since they will be able to make them for the Backers, why would it have to
wait until next year for them to be able to make them for general production? I mean, if you have the
molds, what is so hard about spinning them up?

I touched on some of the delays of the MkI LAM's in this post. What gives you the idea that only a small production run will be made for just the Backers of the project, this has not been said at all. What has been said is that Backers will get theirs by June or July of 2013, then starting in summer of 2014 they will be available at the Origins, Historicon, and Gen Con. In the Fall of 2014 they will go up on IWM website. As  I just said above, the backers of the project will be able to order more of the LAM's before next year. I just found this out today when I heard from Marc. The delay in general release is part of the perks of Backing the project.

There's also the possibility that they don't want to commit to promising large amounts of these miniatures until they're sure they can produce a consistent number of acceptable quality.

The issues some had with the various map and mech scale dropships as well as their own problems with keeping them in stock seems to be a good example of that.

The delay for general release until 2014 has nothing to do with making sure IWM can produce hem consistently. Once the production molds are done, they will be able to produce them just like any other miniature. Like I have said already, the delay is a bonus to those that Back the project. I just found out today that anyone that backs the project will be able to buy more before the general release date. So even if you just Pledge $10 dollars to the project, it will still allow you to buy the miniatures later on.

The issues with the Map Scale dropships was due to the fact that they were manufactured by another company for IWM. That company became very unreliable for quality product. It took some time to find another vendor that could produce them again and hopefully they can keep up with the demand.

Jal Phoenix

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Re: IWM WoB Spectral LAM Kickstarter Announced
« Reply #86 on: 04 February 2013, 19:44:07 »
Quote
So even if you just Pledge $10 dollars to the project, it will still allow you to buy the miniatures later on.

You just got me.  A big drawback for me was that I don't have a spare $185 sitting around to ensure I can get one of each for my collection.  Being able to donate $10 now and buy them piecemeal over the course of a year makes a big difference.  I can spare $10.  Publicize this part, and you'll get more backers.   O0

General308

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Re: IWM WoB Spectral LAM Kickstarter Announced
« Reply #87 on: 04 February 2013, 22:30:24 »
General updates for the project, Stretch goals should be announced soon, answers to peoples questions are posted below about Instructions and Backers able to purchase more before general release in 2014. Also updates to the Kickstarter page has included more information about when they will be available, This summer for Backers, General Release in 2014 starting with Origins, Historicon, and Gen Con and the on IWM webstore in Fall 2014.

Also I have created a image gallery for the Kickstarter, right now it all the images from the Kickstarter page, plus three more painted pictures.

Yes, There will be instructions on how to assemble the miniatures.

All of the Backers of the Kickstarter will be able to purchase more of the miniatures that are produced from the kickstarter before 2014.

Please check out, The Road to the Spectral LAM article on IWM website for more details on why the cost to produce the LAM's from the CAD is expense. It goes into details of what all has to be done to the CAD file so that a proper miniature master can be made. The first test, Waneta Ground mode, got $2000 for all of the CAD adjustments and printing on a high quality 3D Printer. The extra money beyond the 18,000 for the 9 Master copies goes into producing the master, production molds. Both of which take time to be completed and then some of the money goes into the other cost of getting the miniatures manufactured and packaged. Others have already commented about why there is a pricing difference on the Fan Funded items, to go along with it, there are the hidden costs that the Fan Fundraisers do not pay for. Such as the master and production mold making and all of the other costs that go into getting a miniature produced for sale. All the Fan Fundraisers pay for is the sculpting of the miniature by one of the several sculptors who have been doing battletech miniatures since the Ral Partha days.

So would we, but the selection of what we can do with the CAD is limited by what art is done that we can get CAD for. Right now its the LAM's that Stephen Huda has done and maybe some of his other work for Battletech.

Part of this I have answered above, but will just touch on the CAD part. The CAD files from Stephen Huda were given to IWM for Free, but we can not just take them to any 3D printer and print off a master. This was done originally almost a year ago and it was a complete disaster. The miniature had the 3D printer lines all through out it and when cleaned up it lost all of the details. The link I provided above for "The Road to the Spectral LAM's goes into all of the details of what needs to be done to make a miniature from the CAD files.

I touched on some of the delays of the MkI LAM's in this post. What gives you the idea that only a small production run will be made for just the Backers of the project, this has not been said at all. What has been said is that Backers will get theirs by June or July of 2013, then starting in summer of 2014 they will be available at the Origins, Historicon, and Gen Con. In the Fall of 2014 they will go up on IWM website. As  I just said above, the backers of the project will be able to order more of the LAM's before next year. I just found this out today when I heard from Marc. The delay in general release is part of the perks of Backing the project.

The delay for general release until 2014 has nothing to do with making sure IWM can produce hem consistently. Once the production molds are done, they will be able to produce them just like any other miniature. Like I have said already, the delay is a bonus to those that Back the project. I just found out today that anyone that backs the project will be able to buy more before the general release date. So even if you just Pledge $10 dollars to the project, it will still allow you to buy the miniatures later on.

The issues with the Map Scale dropships was due to the fact that they were manufactured by another company for IWM. That company became very unreliable for quality product. It took some time to find another vendor that could produce them again and hopefully they can keep up with the demand.

Knowing I can buy in at any level and be able to buy more without waiting a year make it likely I would help out.

StCptMara

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Re: IWM WoB Spectral LAM Kickstarter Announced
« Reply #88 on: 04 February 2013, 22:42:07 »
You just got me.  A big drawback for me was that I don't have a spare $185 sitting around to ensure I can get one of each for my collection.  Being able to donate $10 now and buy them piecemeal over the course of a year makes a big difference.  I can spare $10.  Publicize this part, and you'll get more backers.   O0

Yeah..same here, Jal. I wonder how they will be handling Backers making orders, though?
"Victory or Debt!"- The Battlecry of Mercenaries everywhere

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Reality and Battletech go hand in hand like a drug induced hallucination and engineering a fusion reactor ;-)

BirdofPrey

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Re: IWM WoB Spectral LAM Kickstarter Announced
« Reply #89 on: 05 February 2013, 02:28:06 »
hey speck, if you intend on adding stretch goals, how does this sound: Have some of the strech goals that you will use this same process to produce masters for the mech and fighter modes of one of the Star League LAMs, and a couple of goals that would also add the airmech modes.  I figure, if it takes $2000 per sculpt, then having these at $5000 intervals would be able to fund the two modes with some buffer room/ extra money for IWM overhead and Christmas bonuses, so doubling the initial goal would get us 2 modes of the SL LAMs and $7500-8000 would let you produce all three modes of every single LAM there is.

If you did do that, though, which would be really, really great, the people who funded those sculpts should have a say in which ones are added as which stretch goal level.

Anyways, it is nice to know we can donate what we can afford to the kickstarter now, and and be able to buy more later.  I really want that expensive whole nine yards set, but I just burnt my spare cash  on another kickstarter.
« Last Edit: 05 February 2013, 02:30:50 by BirdofPrey »