Okay...
1 ) Koschei done and looks great! The hand, however, was sculpted as a "mitten" rather than with 3 fingers. The 5I variant will be available as online-only and should be available pretty soon. I am going to ask Dave to modify the right hand to the three fingers style ( too late for the released version ) for the variant and the left hand will be the same. The 5I's right and left arms are identical to the 3I's right arm except for the Heavy PPC on the left arm of the 5I.
2 ) Night Wolf, Koschei and Winston Combat Vehicle sent to distributors this week. Should be to stores soon after.
3 ) Hell's Horse Fast Recon, HH Heavy Jump Infantry, Davion Firefighter ( ATV not done yet ), Marian Ceremonial Guard, WOB Tau Wraith and WOB Tau Zombie done and look great! The eight remaining infantry types ( and the buggy ) to be done by March 31st for April release. The "eight" actually involves at least 11 miniatures as at least three of the eight have multiple poses ( like the Branth in flight and grounded pose ).
4 ) Ignis, Theseus, Angerona, Ironhold ( and variant ) and Kopis to be done in April and released in May.
5 ) Woodsman, Tonbo and Sling will be first quarter 2012. MAYBE earlier depending on requests from Catalyst for special releases that will take up slots ( like the Bounty Hunter series ).
6 ) Fan funding will re-open in May. Except for most mechs and combat vehicles, these will be online releases only. To make me happy ( which is of paramount importance ;) ), please fund the Coyotl, Wakizashi, Procyon, Trajan, Brahma, Bruin and Ostwar...
7 ) Celestial Dominus variants for the Malak, Preta, Deva, Archangel, Seraph, and Grigori should be on the website next week.
8 ) I will list more of the release schedule soon. Dark Crow and Eisenfaust were picked by Catalyst Games personnel as anticipated big sellers -- hope they are right.
9 ) Misregulations ( new term for me ), mold lines, etc. Discussed this issue -- QC to be further emphasized and closer monitoring of less experienced casters. One problem discovered was that the rubber mold supplier switched to cheaper rubber to keep from having to raise prices and this degraded the mold ( and thereby casting ) quality. IWM is investing in the more expensive rubber to improve mold quality. Also evaluating and planning to utilize new alignment "pegs" to prevent any slippage of the mold halves and the creation of the misregulations/misalignments that frustrate us all. There is a new person in charge of casting and production ( but she REALLY knows the job -- she is just new to the title ).
10 ) Resin terrain pieces -- plans to do wrecked mechs ( one of each weight class ), vehicles, fighters and slaughtered infantry/BAs. Also craters, gun emplacements, bunkers and other items that you suggest. Initially need to do things that can sit on a flat hex base -- not yet ready to do ovoid or spherical objects that need to fit together ( like a plastic Easter egg ). Should make for great terrain and kill-markers ( and something for ground pounders to hide behind ).
11 ) Eisenfaust delayed but it, the Dark Crow and the Marsden tank are next up for sculpting.
12 ) Shadow Hawk 1R is done and looks great!
13 ) The Apollo re-issue is the old sculpt and all Liao lance pack sets will contain the original sculpts -- except the Men-Shen is getting new legs ( I think shorter and beefier but don't quote me ) and some other small changes ( not a new variant ).
14 ) Still some concerns re: the fan-funded Thunderbolt's legitimacy -- some crap re: the agreement between the Japanese and the U.S. B'Tech people -- whether the permission for some of the previously unseen to be reseen extends to the production of their miniatures and not just the images. Seems kind of a silly distinction but IWM is awaiting ( and awaiting ) word from Randall Bills/others re: the official go ahead. If denied, then funders' money will be refunded or can be re-tasked to other projects as you prefer. I like to think that this will go through without a hitch...
Probably more to say but these are initial highlights... More schedule info to follow.
Rob
