2023 - How did we do?!

[Leon]

As we bid farewell to 2023 and look ahead to 2024, it's time to review what we managed to tick off our list for the last 12 months.

Obviously a lot of our plans were impacted by the financial issues we faced in the summer (more info here: https://www.pendrakenforum.co.uk/index.php/topic,22573.0.html) but with our price increase in place and the business on firmer ground, we'll carry those missed projects forward to 2024 and get them done asap.

Russo-Japanese range - SUCCESS!
The Russo-Japanese ranges were released as planned and have recently had flags added to them too.  If you've not seen them yet, you can find them on our website here: https://www.pendraken.co.uk/10mm-colonial-russo-japanese-war and we'll be adding painted pictures to that range soon as well.

Sci-Fi Expansion! - FAIL!
The big Sci-Fi release was delayed a little but it's almost here now.  The first two ranges will be released next week with the second pair in a fortnight's time and then the final two at the end of the month.

More Fantasy - FAIL!
Once again the new Fantasy releases were pushed back due to us halting the sculpting work, so we'll need to push those back and try again in the summer.

TB Line - FAIL!
This one was a fail due to not having the time to spend cleaning up these figures, so they'll be another project for later in the year.

Korean War Supplement - SUCCESS!
Released at Salute last year, the Korean supplement has gone down very well and sold over 200 copies so far.  We also added a whole heap of new releases to our miniature ranges to go with the new book: https://www.pendraken.co.uk/10mm-post-war-korean-war

New Army Builder Software - SUCCESS!
The new builder was soft-launched alongside our new website back in November and can be found here: https://armybuilder.pendraken.co.uk/  We've spent a bit of time tweaking the front-end but the builder is now fully functional and ready to go!  Once subscribed, you can create as many army lists as you like using the existing BKC lists as your base.  We'll be adding the Cold War lists soon too, along with the Future War lists later in 2024.

Dungeon World - FAIL!
The Dungeon revamp has been sitting in our shop for months now, waiting for me to do some work on them for new production moulds.  I'm hoping to get to this after Salute and we'll chat with our resin guy about getting the new modules into moulds.

Red Vectors - FAIL!
We started a whole heap of new MDF products but sadly our 2D designer moved on to a new job leaving us a bit lacking in design know-how!  We're working with the local Uni to see if we can find a new staff member on that front, so if we can get someone in the door we'll be able to crack on with these.

Misc
There's an assortment of other releases that should be appearing at some point, including:
- Indo-China French expansion - FAIL! - Still waiting to be done.
- Revamped Panzer Is and IIs - SUCCESS! - All released last year.
- Cold War British additions - SUCCESS! - The FV432s and Chieftains were released last summer.
- Korean War artillery and additions - SUCCESS! - Over 60 new releases appeared for our Korean releases.
- Revamped WWII artillery crews - FAIL! - Still to be unpacked and photo'd.
- New AWI flag sheets - FAIL! - Delayed while our flag guy was working on the Russo-Japanese ones.


Moving on to other areas:

Crossover Miniatures - FAIL!
I've called this one a Fail as we didn't get them released in time, but all of the new moulds are done so it's just a case of casting up some stock and adding them to the website.  I'll be getting that done later this month, so not long to wait on this.

Gaming Aids - SUCCESS!
The addition of Litko to our website was announced last year and has proven very popular, especially the 'Order in' option.  We'll be adding more of the Litko products going forward so let us know which things you'd like to see.

Website Photos - SUCCESS!
After 14 years of constant work on this, we can now confirm that every product on our website has got an image!  This is a massive tick and something I'm really pleased to get done.

Events - SUCCESS!
We've had a variety of events taking place in our Games Room over the past 12 months, with our Games Day in July, a couple of Blood Red Skies events, a big Leipzig game and more.  We're hoping to have a lot more going on this year too!

Painting Competition - SUCCESS! 
The Painting Competition returned with the usual high level of painting on show.  We always enjoy this each year so thanks as always to those who took part.



So it was a bit of a mixed bag overall with 10 Successes vs 9 Fails!  So much of the year was hampered by external forces, especially the Sci-Fi and RedVectors releases, but we still managed to get some big projects completed including the Korean releases and supplement, new Army Builder, Litko and more.

We'll get our Plans for 2024 thread sorted out asap and take an optimistic punt on what we can achieve over the coming year!

[fsn]

I hope you're not seeing the year as in any way a failure? I got quite tired reading the list of releases.

You set yourself quite a challenging set of goals - releasing six sets of SF would be quite a struggle for most manufacturers. I would also suggest that not all goals have equal weight - with all respect to the Flag Guy, producing the shiny, new, expansive Russo-Japanese range is a bigger hit than missing a few extra flags for the AWI range. 

This year, why not release SF, then Amazons, Japanese Castles, and then fill up the rest of the year with unimportant stuff?

[henjed]

And remember, we need those French Indochina minis out in time for the 70th anniversary of the siege of Dien Bien Phu... any time from late March to early May would be great. 

And you are quite simply the best mini manufacturers I have ever come across - great quality, great service, great value and a forum that is the friendliest I have come across.

[mollinary]

And you are quite simply the best mini manufacturers I have ever come across - great quality, great service, great value and a forum that is the friendliest I have come across.

All the above with knobs on! Happy New Year!

[GrahamC]

Under the circumstances I think that's a pretty big result. Even without commissioning new sculpts you've got quite a bit to take forward - the sci fi looks awesome and there's those new AWI sculpts that were commissioned so depending on time etc lots to look forward to

[sebigboss79]

Reflecting on my own 2023 gaming year, may I suggest that slower is not a bad thing.
I miss forums like this. Too much noise on social media, same questions get asked over and over again, hatefests....

2023 has been a back to the roots for me with more Pendraken and re-release of some good old games. Yes, I am now at that age.

So here is to 2024 and slow but steady progress.

[fred.]

From reading these reviews of Leon's over the years, two things are common themes. 

1) He is very harsh on himself - at work I'd be rating several of those at least as ambers, if the figures have been produced and are just awaiting production runs, and not be saying its a fail

2) He is very optimistic about what work can be fitted into the standard working year! Perhaps rather than having 20 projects for 2024 go with 15, you are clearly making priority calls during the year, so take a bit of pressure off and make some of those calls now. If you happen to finish the 15 projects by Nov, you can always find an extra one to do. I think it will feel like better progress during the year, and more of a sense of achievement at the end of the year, if you take in slightly less. Just something we try to do at work, where demand for change is always several times the capacity to deliver that change. 

[Steve J]

I think a pretty decent year there Leon, all things considered. What is important is that you always keep us up to date on what is happening, which is greatly appreciated. Here's to an excellent 2024!

[Leon]

I hope you're not seeing the year as in any way a failure? I got quite tired reading the list of releases.

Not at all, just frustrating at times when some things don't get done.  I should really stop giving ourselves so many deadlines to hit as things always get delayed somewhere along the way.

And remember, we need those French Indochina minis out in time for the 70th anniversary of the siege of Dien Bien Phu... any time from late March to early May would be great. 

Thanks for the kind words and I've got the Indo-China stuff pencilled in for February on my projects list.

1) He is very harsh on himself...

Yeah, people at this end tell me that too...!

2) He is very optimistic about what work can be fitted into the standard working year! Perhaps rather than having 20 projects for 2024 go with 15.

Funnily enough I'm trying something similar for this year.  Rather than have a never-ending list of projects that need to be done, I'm going to try approaching 1 or 2 each month (1 project if it's a bigger one, 2 if they're smaller).  So for January it's to get those Sci-Fi ranges released, then February will be the AWI and Indo-China releases, March will be the 7th Sci-Fi range, etc. (April has nothing pencilled in currently as it's Salute month.) 

Other projects have to wait their turn and if I get it a project done before the end of the month I get to take it easy and just do general business stuff for a bit.  I'm hoping this will prove more efficient than trying to work on 3-4 projects at the same time, where you have to keep dipping in and out of a task and you lose track of where you are with it.

[Duke Speedy of Leighton]

And if you slow down releases, some of us might catch up with the paint the whole catalogue plan...🤣

Seriously, stay awesome. 😎

[henjed]

Great news about February for the Indochina additions.  I'll make sure I make a slap-up Vietnamese meal when they arrive: after all, DBP is as much about nam pla as it is about nap-alm 

[fsn]

There's a theme here.

I appreciate, in fact suggested, that Pendraken aim a bit lower - I will repeat SF, Amazons, Japanese Castles, Ancient Indians, unimportant stuff would be a good project plan IMHO - but realise that like a shark, Pendraken has to keep moving or it will die*. Obviously this imparts a certain pressure to constantly expand and grow.

My question is how long can this go on? Just take Leon's working life. he is, I would judge, to be about 23, so has 44 years of a working life. At 10 successes a year that is 440 reasonably substantial projects. Having said that, I'd put Dave at 87 and there's no sign of him stopping.** 

     



*This may be common knowledge, if not actually a fact
** Milday? How dare you ask her age! She is timeless, frozen in dimpled perfection.

[DecemDave]

2) He is very optimistic about what work can be fitted into the standard working year! Perhaps rather than having 20 projects for 2024 go with 15,

Leon has always denied being a wargamer but maybe time underestimates and scattered focus are infectious

[John Cook]

Leon has always denied being a wargamer but maybe time underestimates and scattered focus are infectious

I think you are probably right insofar as there is what appears to be a scattered focus.  There is little point in having a mass of, shall I say relatively obscure ranges, dare I say Indo-China, Russo-Japanese, First Schleswig War, even Crimea, and that kind of thing, if they don't attract sufficient sales to keep a business going. 
If such polls are to be believed, as far as 28mm is concerned anyway, WW2 is still the most popular, closely followed by Sci-fi, Fantasy, and 40K in that order.  Hot on their heels are Napoleonics, then Ancients to 500AD.  This hardly ever seems to change. 
WW2 seems, to me, to cover a vast arena and at a guess I suspect that it really means Europe 1944-45.  I'm not sure if Sci-fi, Fantasy and 40K translate into 10mm.  Ancients are outside my comfort zone but I'm fairly confident that this is at least an equally broad and varied a wargaming period as WW2.   I've been wargaming Napoleonics for almost 60 years and I can say, with absolute confidence, that they cover a multitude of sins. 
So, the conclusion I draw from this, unscientific, overview, based on very little except a few polls, and accepting that 10mm manufacturing has imperatives all its own, is that WW2, Napoleonics and Ancients should form the core of any wargaming business.  I'm not sure about Sci-fi, Fantasy and 40K from a 10mm perspective.  But, I am sure that core periods should be done as comprehensively as possible before anything else, which is just icing on the cake.   
How is Pendraken doing in these contexts?  WW2 and Ancient specialists can answer that better than I can, though 1940 seems to be fairly well catered for, a few omissions notwithstanding.  As far as Napoleonics are concerned it is a mixed picture.  The later wars 1809 to 1815 are very well covered, but with a major omission of a compatible 1812-1815 Russian range.  That could, I suppose, affect the sales of the others in an 1813-14 context.  Early Napoleonics 1805-07 are completely ignored and now virtually unavailable anywhere with the demise of Magister Militum. 
In the middle of the field are the likes of ACW, Pike and Shot, 18th Century and other 20th Century wars, just about everything else is little more than making up the numbers. 
Leon knows his business best, but I haven't detected a coherent strategy, to be brutally frank, except to try and please all the people all the time.  Pendraken is excellent at doing that but it is a scatter-gun approach, I'd say, and may not be a very good business plan.
Selection and maintenance of the object is a key principle in business as well as war, but the objective has to be one that is achievable and makes sense in the first place, and which drives and informs the plan.
Written in the spirit of constructive criticism by somebody who might be well shy of the actual mark.   

[Matt J]

I think the appearance of 'scattered focus' may in a large degree be a result of sculpter availability and the desire to maintain range/era consistency with specific sculpters?