Shieldwolf Miniatures on the cancellation of their Kickstarter: This newsletter is being issued after long and hard discussion regarding our KS-2 "Shieldmaidens vs Orcs" which unfortunately had to be cancelled. We will point out the mistakes we think we made and also try shedding some light to clear any false thoughts.
After discussing it over many many hours, we arrived at the conclusion that the main error from our part was the over-evaluation of the need for an alternative army wargame currently in the market. After monitoring and/or interacting at various forums worldwide, we had come to believe that the timing for a new fantasy army wargame was at its best moment. Our game (even at a beta version) and the quality of the miniatures we have and aim for should have been a winning combination to fill a gap in the market. Apparently most of our supporters were simply looking for some new miniatures and many even missed the fact that they were receiving an enriched version of our rulebook, which is the ultimate purpose of the company (i.e. to create an army game and the miniatures to support it).
The issue with the mid-campaign slump which we said we had prepared for, is something that too must be cleared. In a 30-day campaign, we were expecting a slump between the 15th and 25th day. Unfortunately this happened just after the 7th day (!), so just as we explained on our update #5 at that moment it became pointless thinking the aces we had up our sleeves would suffice to maintain the momentum.
Another issue that came up was the funding goal. We find it funny having to address that, but it is just we do so. People that were informed about us know that when we launched our first Kickstarter (KS-1), we stated “we want to fund five full armies” and we commenced with a 5,000$ goal. Not a single person complained about it, since it’s obvious that the goal was set in order to build upon and it naturally wasn’t enough even for a single (let alone five) full armies!
For our KS-2, we took it down to two armies (Orcs and Shieldmaidens) and asked for 30,000$ to co-fund the first plastic kit, everything else was already available and either co-funded in KS-1 or had been directly made available from Shieldwolf. People who hadn’t been following us implying that the goal was too “low” have simply misunderstood what the ultimate goal was about. However, we would still like to make it as clear as humanly possible that we have assumed full responsibility for the miscommunication.
Having to press the “Cancel Funding” button was a very difficult thing for us, one we had thought we would never have to bother with. If people think that it was an easy choice, they couldn’t be more mistaken! We would kindly like to remind that a lot of time, effort and funds have already been invested by Shieldwolf and by cancelling the project it is us who risk losing all of it, while securing that our supporters don’t risk a single penny or waste of their time by needlessly allowing this to drag on. In our book, that is honorable behavior and it is a sign of who the people behind Shieldwolf are. We have made a name for ourselves in the past years regarding customer service, communication and high quality product; it means a lot to us, we are proud of it and we would never risk/gamble/jeopardize it for any reason!
This brings us to the next point: where do we take it from here?
After having cooled our heads a bit, we united in our HQ to discuss the options. For two consecutive nights we have been debating vigorously of what do to. The main perplexity is that if army wargaming is dead or dying, the number of people willing to start a completely new army such as the Shieldmaidens or the Orcs will not suffice to make back the investment made by Shieldwolf. This brings us to whether army wargaming is infact dying or not however.
We have decided to give it one more chance, this time with some variations however. In this new approach we will work with our supporters (there are still 312 tenacious backers who held on to their pledges even knowing the project was being cancelled), and show of drafts of how the new project is going to be like. We appreciate all feedback, comments, suggestions etc and are looking forward to interacting with you once again. Whatever happens when this launches, even if it funds for a tiny tiny bit, we will carry it on and deliver just like we have done in the past.
If army fantasy wargaming (meaning rank n’file mass army gaming) has a strong future ahead, then this plan with the new project should not have any issues. Fingers crossed it all works out and we are looking forward to your comments.
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