Things are rumbling along!

So, the launch of the Kickstarter for my book ARMIES & LEGIONS & HORDES went off with a bang! It funded in three hours, and has continued to go great guns over the last five days. Everyone seems to have been enjoying the stretch goals, so that's a good thing. I'm sure it feels a little weird though, as it's just the Book that is available, no Add-Ons or crazy "all-in" pledge levels, but I want to keep it simple.

So, the front half of the book stays the same (as described in my last post), but the back half is growing. From eight projects being featured, you have all helped my add another SIX projects (plus more cool photography, and a proper interactive digital version), with another project (the Blood Pact) less than 40 backers away at the time of posting.

The book started at approximately 100 pages. Now it has grown to approximately 140 pages. As more and more people come along and back the project, everyone is going to see the benefit!

And here's the link to the campaign:
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1560579763/armies-and-legions-and-hordes/description

Thanks for your support. Take a closer look at the stretch goals funded here:

Cheers
Dave

The Kickstarter Has Begun!

The day has finally arrived! You can now go and check out the full 

Kickstarter campaign page for ARMIES & LEGIONS & HORDES!

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1560579763/armies-and-legions-and-hordes/description

And as a special bonus for everyone pledging in the first 48 hours, you'll receive a cool art postcard!

Please share this far and wide, and consider supporting this funding campaign.

I am writing a BOOK!

That's right, fellow blog fans! I've decided to write a book about painting wargaming collections. It will be going to Kickstarter this Friday, March 16, at 3pm EDT (which is 7pm GMT, 12pm PST, and 6am on the next day for those of you on the east coast of Australia).

What is going to be in the ARMIES & LEGIONS & HORDES book? 

I'm glad you asked. I'm going to be writing down a lot of my thoughts and philosophies on the army building and painting process in the hope that it will be helpful for everyone who has occasionally struggled with finishing an army project. I'm going to take an in-depth look at Inspiration, Goals, Expectations, Planning, and Motivations - with the goal of helping the reader to be able to map out a path to success for their own projects. This book will also be "game system agnostic", the principles described can be applied to any wargaming project, regardless of genre or period.

I'm also going to be putting together some photo-heavy features of armies and projects I have completed over the years along with a few completely new projects. The list looks something like this:

• Sci-fi Mass Battle – 40K Genswick 33^rd Rifles

• Sci-fi Skirmish – Dark Age collection and terrain

• Sci-fi Big Project – 40K Warlord Titan
• Fantasy Mass Battle – Warhammer Nuln Empire army

• Fantasy Skirmish – Fabled Realms collection and terrain

• Historical Mass Battle – Napoleonic British collection

• Historical Skirmish – WW2 American collection and terrain

• Post-apocalyptic Skirmish – This Is Not A Test collection and terrain

What is the Kickstarter for?

I would really love to see this as a printed book. I'm running this campaign to help fund the creation of a 120+ page hardback book, so that's really the focus. I want to keep the campaign very simple and focused on "The Book". There are six reward levels - one is the obligatory $5 pledge for thanks, and the other five are for a PDF version of the book or a printed version of the book, or some combination thereof.

Stretch Goals are focused on adding some of the other armies that I have created over the years.

What prompted you to write this book?

As a part of the services I offer through Dave Taylor Miniatures, I was laying out a rulebook for a friend (Disposable Heroes II for Sinister Laboratories). I had also taken the photos and was editing the book as I went. The key thing I remember was thinking "I'm really enjoying this. Seeing all the elements come together. This is something I really like doing."

So, with the skills to take photos and design and layout books, I just needed a subject to write about. They say "write about what you know" and with over 10,000 miniatures painted since 1991, the topic seemed pretty obvious. This book isn't a "How to paint..." book. There are plenty of those on the market from great painters. This is a new kind of book that focuses not on the techniques, but the psychology and planning behind big projects.

What's next?

I'm sure I've forgotten something, so when I think of it I'll post again, but really all I'd like to do know is ask you to pledge your support when the campaign goes live, and share the hell out of it with all of your wargaming friends. If we can make this a great success, I'm going to be able to explore lots of other cool ideas with other talented folks and bring their dreams to life too!

Check the campaign for ARMIES & LEGIONS & HORDES out on Kickstarter from Friday, March 16th!

CROWDFUNDING - Hobby Transporter!

So, an old buddy from Australia is currently working on getting his dream of a super cool Hobby Transporter funded. Michael Cruise (of Laser Shark Designs) has spent quite a bit of time testing out different designs, trying to get just the right mix of storage, transport, and display capacity going.

If you've ever had to travel to conventions (especially via plane) you know how tough it can be. I really like the look of this solution, and if you do too, I suggest you head on over to the Kickstarter HERE, and pledge your dollars!

Nice work, Michael!

Cheers
Dave

CROWDFUNDING - A couple of quick plugs!

It has been a little while since I plugged a Kickstarter or Indiegogo campaign on the blog here, and currently there are two being run by two friends. I thought this little lull right before Gencon might be a good place to slip this in. ; )

First up we have Tablescapes Dungeons: Mines from Secret Weapon Miniatures, Reaper, and Dark Art Miniatures. This is a set of totally modular pieces that enable you to build your own dungeons for roleplaying and skirmish adventuring. The look quite cool, and will be produced in durable PVC. The campaign is going quite well, and stretch goals are being unlocked on a fairly regular basis.

If you are into roleplaying or dungeon-crawling, this will be right up your alley!

The second crowdfunder is an Indiegogo campaign, by my mate Rhys Knight, called Brassed Off. Rhys has dabbled with some wargaming/modeling accessory crowdfunding before, and is now gathering funds to start producing some very cool sheets of brass-etched detailing for wargaming minis. Rhys has just started his campaign and has a very modest target and some great reward levels for those looking to increase their inventory of brass detail sheets.

Check his campaign out. I think the sheets of Cogs, and the Metal Plates (shown above) are the two most germane to my interests : )

KICKSTARTER - Awaken Realms resin terrain

Yesterday a package arrived from Awaken Realms, a painting studio out of Eastern Europe that is now expanding into resin terrain. They are currently running a Kickstarter for their new range of objectives, totems, portals, and barricades. You can check it out HERE!

It all looks very cool. The resin is light and sturdy, with crisp details and not a lot of flash.

Cheers
Dave

October Kickstarter plugs : )

Sometimes things are a bit quiet, but at other times you have three friends who all have quite different Kickstarters running at the same time! Here are my three friends and there various  projects : )

First up is John, from Ninja Division, with their Kickstarter for Super Dungeon Explore: Legends. John and the team have a very solid track record with SDE, and the fact that they funded in 15 minutes bears that out. If you like chibi-style models that love to go dungeon crawling, then this is the KS for you. Click HERE to check it out!

Next up is my buddy Jeff of Dragon Forge Design. Over the years I've used hundreds, if not thousands of Jeff's resin bases and they have always been of superior quality. He is currently running a quick-fire campaign to help expand his Goth-Tech range, very cool for any steampunk themed minis you might happen to be painting : ) Jeff's closing in on 50% funding, and it won't take too much to get him all the way. Check it out HERE.

And finally, there's my friend Bryan. Bryan is a gaming industry veteran, fellow freelancer, and a massive gaming, movie, and comic geek. I sat in on a Q&A at GenCon earlier this year and Bryan was on the panel. His answers to questions about, in this case, whether or not your game was "ready" were always well reasoned and humorous. He has launched a longer campaign to try and fund a printed version of so many industry panels. By supporting Bryan, you get to ask him questions (the number of which very by you pledge level) on any topic, but I'd suggest keeping them focused on the gaming biz - any facet of it really, board games, minis, RPGs, etc. You can check out his campaign HERE. (Also, my neighbor is working on the cover for Bryan's book!)

All the best to my friends working hard to bring new content to the world we love : )

Cheers
Dave

Do you remember when...

...I was working on my Imperial Knights?

I worked on some "custom decals" for my 30K version of the House Taranis iconography. These were pretty darn cool. A huge thank you to my friend Chris for tackling the printing of these for me.

There was only one real let down with the decals I had made. They didn't have white areas on them. Basically, if I wanted white, I'd have to paint over the decals once they were applied (or very carefully paint the white on the surface and apply the decals over it).

Well, those days are no more, because a long-time friend of the blog - Ron Gamble/Eye of Error - has launched a Kickstarter to create a business that can provide YOU (and me) with custom decals that INCLUDE WHITE!!!

I invite you all to head on over to his Kickstarter (HERE) that is almost funded, and get in early on the action!

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1388656630/fallout-hobbies-custom-decal-shop?ref=nav_search

Cheers

Dave

New Dragon Forge Kickstarter!

As many of you might know, my Mechanicum/Adeptus Mechanicus forces all stand tall on the wonderful Tech Deck bases from Dragon Forge Design. I've been using these bases for three years or so now and love them dearly. Jeff has, after much pleading, finally sculpted some great new bases for the line that he is now releasing as part of his latest Kickstarter (launched this morning, if I'm not mistaken). He asked me to paint up some examples, and here they are : )

50mm rounds

60mm ovals (perfect for Skittarii snipers)

75mm oval - One

75mm oval - Two

75mm oval - Three

80mm round

105mm oval - One (perfect for Ironstriders)

105mm oval - Two (perfect for Ironstriders)

120mm oval

130mm round (perfect for Dunecrawlers)

The second Knight base in the series.

So head on over to the Kickstarter and support a small business : )

Cheers

Dave

Back from AdeptiCon - Loads of Crowdfunding!

Well, AdeptiCon 2015 was fantastic! Such a massive and exhausting weekend that I am still getting settled back into the swing of things after returning home on Sunday night. I'll post a few photos later in the week, as well as a review and some information from my painting classes.

Until then, however, I thought I'd take a few minutes to show you a handful of crowdfunding projects that friends of mine have running at the moment. They're all for different genres of games/toy soldiers, and all seem like a lot of fun.

First up, my friends at Soda Pop Miniatures have launched a Kickstarter for their new chibi-style ninja board game, Ninja All Stars! In the game you get to play rival ninja clans that are sneaking around outside a Japanese cast in the middle of the night. It's a simple KS, with only a single pledge level and lots of scope for masses of models as stretch goals are crushed. As I type, it is about 160% funded and still has 27 days to go.

The next one to show off is much smaller in scope, and is from a regular reader of this blog. Nick Baran is taking some of his first steps towards building a miniatures line for a game he has been developing over the last couple of years, Broken Contract. He has developed the rules for the small-scale, underground mining, skirmish game and has those available now as a free download on his Broken Contract blog. Nick's Kickstarter is to fund the first eight miniatures from the range (enough for the initial game), and at the time of typing he's at 75% funding with 18 days to go. Nick is also pushing to build his Facebook presence, so if you are on the Facebooks, I suggest you go show him some love (and help unlock a few models along the way).

Another old colleague of mine, Joe Krone, and his Watchful I Studio have launched a Kickstarter for their first miniatures range, the Chinese Warring States. The primary goal is to get a line of historical miniatures into production, with stretch goals looking to add some more "fantastic" elements into the mix, such as Terracotta Soldiers and Temple Dogs. Where were these guys when I was building my Cathay army back in the day? At the time of typing, the Chinese Warring States project is 65% funded with 29 days to go.

And finally, my friends over at Mantic are running their next Kickstarter in order to help expand their range of miniatures for the Deadzone game/Warpath world. With essentially two simple pledge levels, you can start to get your hands on not only the elite of the Pathfinders and the hordes of chittering Veer-myn, but some of the cool new industrial sector scenery from their Battlezones range. I'll be putting some of the standard range together in the coming weeks for my work on a host of Relic Knights articles. Should be fun : ) At the time of typing, this one is 360% funded, with 13 days to go.

Cheers
Dave

The Infamy Miniatures "Post Kickstarter"

You may remember a couple of my posts earlier in the year about Infamy Miniatures and their excellent Kickstarter. Well, I've still been plugging away at a few things, and recently received an early Christmas present from Infamy's James Griffiths. James sent me a couple of the first casts of some characters I've been very keen to see.

I've already mentioned my desire to build a gang around The Toad, dockside crime boss extraordinaire! Well James' gift spurred me on to completing the build of The Toad, which you can see below.

And I also completed the build for the Quaker (a walking robot toting a nasty electrical gun) and Mole, a fierce fighter used to digging through subterranean London.

If you saw my posts about the Infamy Miniatures Kickstarter, but didn't jump in, you still have time to join in as part of the Post-Kickstarter Backer Kit. James has left the Backer Kit open until January 5th, so head to his website HERE and join in. I've already selected my 20 models. Which ones will you choose?

Cheers
Dave

Create Your Minis - Kickstarter

There has been a lot of chatter in recent years about the impact that 3D-printing will have on the wargaming world. Lots of speculation about how it will work, what the business model will look like, and when it will all become affordable.

Well, I recently heard about a new group from France who have just launched their first Kickstarter. Create Your Minis are offering up a service where you can pick and choose various elements and assemble them all on-screen, creating (like the name suggests) your own mini. There are all sorts of individual elements with fantasy, sci-fi, and contemporary settings, so you can create all sorts of looks, for your favorite war-game or RPG.

Create Your Minis offer a 3D-printing service, and their Kickstarter explores that some more. There are certainly some interesting things on offer as additional items and stretch goals, such as drop Dead Daisy (below). If you have a few minutes to mess around with "designing" your own miniatures, I'd certainly recommend checking them out.

Create your Minis website

Create Your Minis Kickstarter