TGG2 Update #36 – Production Update

by Cedric Basse April 02, 2016

Welcome to Update 36 for the TGG2: Light & Darkness Kickstarter campaign!
(You can still Pledge on our special page, but hurry, there's little time left).

Sister Ardanna, Pillar of the Faith

So finally, here she is!

With Ardanna now finished, we now have 52 out of 63 Heroines whose sculpting is complete! And out of the remaining 11, the majority are almost done.

Furthermore, you probably also know that Sister Ardanna was the last remaining Freebie to be sculpted.

This is very good news, because it now means that all the Freebies are now done, and they will be included in with your first TGG2 shipment, if you're at Lieutenant Box Pledge Level or above!

In our eyes, this set of 16 TGG2 Freebies is really special. Indeed, the fact that a mini is also a Freebie does not translate into a quick and dirty job. On the contrary, we designed and crafted each Freebie with the same loving attention as any other sculpts of this Kickstarter. In fact, we think that characters like Sister Ardanna, Lady Melith, or Xarsiss, are among the very strong characters of the TGG line.

And as you know, we are currently working on a TGG game, and the Freebies will be as important as the other characters in the gameplay!

Which reminds me: if your Pledge Level does not give you access to the TGG2 incredible Freebie pack (worth $282,50 at retail), remember that you there's still time for you to increase your Pledge for a few more days. Soon we will open the Pledge Manager, and it will then be too late to jump to another Pledge Level.

Upcoming Renders

Earlier today, on the Comments thread, Lwarren posted this:
"How funny would it be if they update later today (April fools day), with 150 broken links to pictures, complete with descriptions of how awesome the models we can't see are. Now that would be a good prank :)"

That could have been tempting... If a tiny bit sadistic... However, while, in the last Update, we told you that we should have a lot of renders of the Troops for you in this Update, as it turned out, our new Troops workflow actually got in the way.

But in a good way, though.

Usually, what we do is that we make a sculpt, then we do a 3D render that we share with you in Updates. Then and only then, after you've seen it, do we prepare the 3D sculpt for 3D printing. This means that the sculpts go to the 3D printer 2 to 4 weeks AFTER you've seen the render.

But our Troops workflow is so radical that the 3D print preparation is now incorporated directly into the sculpting process. So that means that the renders that we will be showing you now come in the very last stage.

This means that, unfortunately, the renders have been slightly delayed. But looking at where we're at today, we should be showing you a first series of Troops renders them later next week. And another good chunk of Troops renders just a few days after that, even though renders are so time-consuming to create and prepare.

AND the very good news is that when you see those renders, it will mean that the sculpts will already be in the 3D printing queue at the 3D printer shop!

So, while we all wait for those Troops renders, I thought that you might have a use for these cool DE and Fantasy Sisters wallpapers.

Shipping and the Pledge Manager

Speaking of the Pledge Manager, this may seem surprising, but setting up an effective Pledge Manager platform is an incredibly complex task because the various logistical needs it has to address are unusual, and simple off-the-shelf solutions don't actually exist. So we have to twist and tweak what does exist to achieve our ends.

We were pretty happy with the system we had for TGG1. And yet, it required a massive amount of manual and non-automated work, and you can bet that we'd rather spend it on creating gorgeous minis and new projects instead. So for TGG2, we've been working on making the new Pledge Manager more efficient.

Yet right now, we still have problems setting up the shipping exactly as we had planned. As you know, we did not collect the shipping fees during the Kickstarter, because we wanted to use a weight-based system and the option for you to get as many shipments as you wanted as often as you wanted.

So, we still have to collect your shipping costs. But after very long conversations, back and forth, and lots of hair pulling with various commercial platforms we've been working with, it appears that something that looks so simple is in fact hindered by many technical considerations for which, at this point in time, there are no workarounds. In this digital age, it seems rather crazy that this cannot be done but, right now, this is where we're at.

So, unless there's a breakthrough with one of our vendors, we may have to devise another approach for shipping than what we originally had in mind.

To make up for this, I am studying the possibility of getting you 2 shipments for the price of one. This way, you'd be able to quickly get your hands on all the Freebies together with everything else that's already available in Wave 1, and you'd get a second shipment when the rest of your Rewards Selection is ready.

And of course, I would try and include an option to add more shipments later if that's what you'd want.

So that's where I'm at right now. There's still a bit of smoke coming out of my ears, but the doctor said it should get better in time... I'll be able to share more in the next Update.

In case you missed it, there is more info on the Pledge Manager in Update #35.

Casts and Stocks

Sprinkled throughout this Update are the latest production casts that we received from the foundry.

Indeed, while we are working like crazy to finish the sculpts, the foundry is not slacking off either, and the team is committed to produce as many models as possible with Wave 1. We've already received massive boxes full of minis. Most of them are already stacked on our shelves patiently waiting for the next step.

For example, as soon as we have received all the Freebies, we'll gather the whole team and have a beer and pizza (well, this being France, it might be wine and cheese) packing week-end to put together all 16 Freebie models in over 2500 individual little plastic bags.

We had a banker visit our stock room last week, and he very innocently asked where our minis where packaged before shipment. We could not decide if he were impressed or thought us crazy when we told him it was done in our offices, and not by little hands in faraway countries... But you won't be surprised when we tell you that one of the reasons why we do this ourselves is also because it gives us one more chance to quality control the minis before they get into your hands.

And here's the beautiful Manticore we talk to you about, now in its cast version:

Wish Nope and Beedle could help out with the packing, too...

Base size and shape

This question was posted on the Comments thread by Jonathan Holt:
"It will be unfortunate if these models don't fit on 20mm square bases. LnR said that these models are supposed to be proxies for different games but when the models don't fit for the more obvious choices for games to proxy (KoW/WH)...that is a problem. I am obviously speaking from the Fantasy side of things. These may work fine for Warpath/40k."

I was going to prepare a reply for this, but John Wolf jumped in and did it extremely well, so it made more sense to simply quote him:
John Wolf: "You are thinking about the numbers wrong. A 20mm square base is only smaller then a 25mm round base when compared to the 20mm side. The diagonal is a pinch over 28mm. The problem with basing on squares is not whether the feet will fit, but how the arms and weapons interact. One way to limit this is by making something similar to the 80mm x 20mm bases GW made (for four models a cross). The models can still mess with the placement in front of and behind them but each rank is uniform. You still use single bases in the last rank, to make "change" as your troops are taken off (Yes, you will be removing models... If you don't want your troops to die, you shouldn't be playing war...)"

I would also add that by doing what John Wolf talks about and putting them in a line-up on a larger base, you get the best possible effect of what we're trying to do, which is to aim at making each unit look like a small diorama.

Hot Deals!

We had new releases this week, and we want you to enjoy them as much as we do, so I am reactivating the BestBackerEver10 Discount Code which will give you 10% OFF across our entire store until next Friday April 8, 2016, including on our latest releases:

And check out our great DEALS section, including these brand-new boxes:

  • “I Want Them All” Box #7 (all the new releases above)
  • Heroes Box: The Big Ones (JB, KST, IE) (Aleksandr, Ilsa and Kiki)
  • Heroines Box KST 5: The 4 Yagas

So, get 10% OFF the entire shop with this DISCOUNT CODE: BestBackerEver10

But hurry, this offer expires next Friday April 8. To use it, simply visit our webshop as normal and enter the code in the Discount box during checkout.

Oh, and one more thing: Order now and be the first ones to get yourself a free exclusive TGG2 bookmark (while quantities last)!

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