'First Look' at the new League of Augsburg range!

[Leon]

L of A now released!  Couple of codes which are currently unavailable, but the rest are there.  Details here: http://www.pendrakenforum.co.uk/index.php?topic=2773.0

[tzen67]

Are the new LOA figures compatible with the old range?

[Leon]

Are the new LOA figures compatible with the old range?

Nope, not at all.  The old range was one of the oldest left in our catalogue and was a lot smaller and thinner than any of our current ranges.  Once we've filled out the codes a little more on the new range, the old one will be phased out and taken off the website.

[Wkeyser]

Hi Leon
Ok now that the range is official, could we get a rough idea of what is in the pipe line, and perhaps potential release dates? I am not trying to pin you down to exact dates but give us an idea so we can plan what those of us who love these figures will be buying.

After many years of purchasing "new" ranges" I now usually wait until I see the majority of the range available before I jump in. I really want to jump in with the league of Augsburg range but would love to get some more detail on what is planned or at least what Clib is thinking of doing.

William

[goat major]

can i second that request from Wkeyser ? I'm in early planning stages and it would be good to know what the pipeline looks like - even at an early stage. I promise I won't ask about tarletons......

[clibinarium]

To be honest there's no projected release dates, nor indeed specific plans for what's next. By that I mean I just sit down, see what can be made from the dollies I have available and start work; I'm not someone who starts with a specific end point in mind.
Roughly speaking the next set of releases will fill out the grenadiers; the different poses will have particular caps, since there was a fair degree of diversity. Might do some fusiliers and dismounted dragoons too. At the same time I'll be finalising the horses to get started on the cav. I am working on 28mm LoA cavalry right now, so I'm learning a lot from that about how to tackle the horsemen!

[goat major]

thanks Clib that helps 

[Wkeyser]

Yes thanks for that Clib
It does help but not in a good way. I usually don’t jump into a period unless there are enough figures in a range to cover the majority of the period or the portion that I want to do. This news will put me on the side line I think until I see the rest of the range, i.e. grenadiers, commanders, Horse, Dragoons, and Artillery.  Since there is no timetable, which I understand, then I will sit this out until the range is substantially filled out. But it will probably be worth the wait.

Thanks
William

[Chad]

Unfortunately I tend to agree with William, particularly given that the figures with flintlocks have got to be repaired. At most I will probably buy a couple of sample packs and then put matters on hold.

Chad

[Shedman]

It's well outside my normal gaming period (1830-1870 and 2069)  but they are very tempting

What rules are people using these figures?

I know that Field of Glory: Ren covers this period and a little voice in my head says base them up for FOGR 25mm ie on 60mm wide bases but I think that may be a tad deranged

Peter Pig/RFCM do an English Civil War set - would that be too early?

- I've just spotted the thread on rules so ignore this

[Chad]

Shedman

Beneath the Lily Banners 2 is expected out any time soon. You might try those.

Chad

[Colors]

> Since there is no timetable, which I understand, then I will sit this out until
> the range is substantially filled out. But it will probably be worth the wait.

Agreed. We need at least grenadiers, mounted and dismounted dragoons (both 2 headdress versions), horse (pistol, sword, cuirass, helmet, hat), arty and all that in multiple poses with commands. That's a lot of work. So why don't we make it worth their while? Let's all pre-order min. GBP 100, for LoA figs, with a shipping deadline of - say - Sept 1. Clib will finish the line in time, Leon will finish the codes by June 1, we'll send in our exact orders by June 15 and pay. Then Leon can spin all summer and we can paint all autumn! After that Clib can return to all that other, much less important sculpting.

I'm sure half of our money can be transferred to Clib, as an extra incentive. I'm also sure that this won't really affect Pendraken's bottom line, because this means the LoA line will be complete by summer so many more people will order many more LoA figs from then on.
And for every week that Pendraken misses the shipping deadline, all the pre-orders can add extra packs of any line totaling a web-shop value of GBP 7, for free.

Gentlemen, your wallets please.

[Hastati]

Well, I'll be ordering right away.  Gives me a chance to work on the bog standard infantry units (musketeer and mixed musket/pike) that make up the bulk of the army. 

[Leon]

Agreed. We need at least grenadiers, mounted and dismounted dragoons (both 2 headdress versions), horse (pistol, sword, cuirass, helmet, hat), arty and all that in multiple poses with commands. That's a lot of work. So why don't we make it worth their while? Let's all pre-order min. GBP 100, for LoA figs, with a shipping deadline of - say - Sept 1. Clib will finish the line in time, Leon will finish the codes by June 1, we'll send in our exact orders by June 15 and pay. Then Leon can spin all summer and we can paint all autumn! After that Clib can return to all that other, much less important sculpting.

I'm sure half of our money can be transferred to Clib, as an extra incentive. I'm also sure that this won't really affect Pendraken's bottom line, because this means the LoA line will be complete by summer so many more people will order many more LoA figs from then on.
And for every week that Pendraken misses the shipping deadline, all the pre-orders can add extra packs of any line totaling a web-shop value of GBP 7, for free.

There's some interesting ideas in there!  Unfortunately, I think economics are going to get in the way of most of them!  Clib has to sculpt to live, and 10mm isn't the most profitable scale for that, so he needs to do work in 28mm to keep the bills paid.  We also couldn't afford a bill for that many figures in such a short period of time, not unless we stopped all the other designers for 3 months, which isn't feasible either.

I'm sure Clib would be quite happy with half of all the sales money as well ( ) but that's also not feasbile in the slightest.  We have to sell 100's of packs of each individual code before we break even, so using that theory, we'd be out of pocket for years!

[Colors]

Ah. But suppose 100 LoA fans join forces? And you then add a discount for orders over GBP149 ... then the word spreads, all those hibernating LoA fans wake up, and you have ... 250 * 150 = GBP 37,500. That should get us on top of the Things To Do pile, no?

Hey, you've got to listen to Trump: Think Big! (but stick to 10mm please)

Fellow Gamers, let's join forces and create "The League for The League of Augsburg". We Play in a Grand Style, so our units are at least 100 inf or 50 cav strong. A proper army has at least 15 units. So that GBP 150 shouldn't be a problem.

Colors

[Chad]

What about those gamers who do not field such large units?

Chad

[clibinarium]

As Leon says I don't get a lot of time for 10mm sculpting, but it pretty much balances with the Pendraken budget anyway. This month I have AWI stuff on the desk, infantry, including the Guard's command, hatmen and flankers. The batch after that will be LoA, grenadiers being first on the list.

28mm work is what pays my bills, or at least that's the idea (at the moment my invoices are unheeded, making me disillusioned with the whole thing).

[Wkeyser]

Hi Clib
As I have mentioned before regarding the French Rev range, I think there is a real possibility to get buy in from gamers on a range.

What is needed is Pendraken to give us the number of packs of figures need to sell in order for the range to break even, this is the break even point for Pendraken, all sales after that will be cost of manufacture plus profit.

I still don’t know why this is not done.

Lets say you would take 500 pounds to do x number of figures in a range. Then Pendraken only has to figure out what that cost is plus manufacture of that many figures, that is the break even point where they have paid for you sculpting, molding, and casting.  So say it takes 1000 pounds that is really do able with the quality of the figures that you do in the 10mm scale, take a look at the number of hits for this discussion it is way over most any other topic, this has to say something about the desire to get your figures.

So what would cost be to complete the range that is your sculpting cost, the mold making. Now that number needs to be covered by making x number of packs, with the cost of casting figured on top of that, easy right!

I am willing to put in a preorder with Pendraken for 200 pounds for the rest of the League of Augsburg range and 500 pounds for a complete French Rev range. Now if the boys at Pendraken buy into this (they have not yet) then we could go around the web pedaling the range for preorders. So the people that pledge are charged once the molds are done. So hopefully no delay in paying you clib.
William

[Colors]

> at the moment my invoices are unheeded, making me disillusioned with the whole thing

Don't be. Instead (from personal experience, perhaps obvious, but still):
1- never accept an order if there's still n outstanding, but mention with every order what that n is
2- use a 50-50 or 33-33-33 approach: they pay 50% when you confirm the order, only then do you go to work. With the 1/3 you add a 'project finished' step, eg with photos proving you've done your job, then they pay the 2nd 1/3 and only then do you ship.
3- if your image and reputation allow: always 100% up front. And certainly ALWAYS do this with new customers.
4- often people simply forget to pay, so use early reminders, but never in writing: call or visit
5- sometimes they are in a rough spot and want to pay but cant, so when you do 4 and meet too many uhms and ahs, offer a payment in installments, it will take longer, but you'll get your money
6- these days there are quite a lot of businesses that really only pay when you threaten with legal action, very impolite, but that's life. So find out what the legal procedure is (some countries require a reminder by post before you can start sueing for example), then send the official letter, not yours, but a lawyer's. They charge a small fee for this kind of standard letter, but 9-10 times they work and almost always their fee is included in the letter, so the late-payer pays it (put that in your order agreement)
7- there's always some that start out with the plan do scam you, often these people are likeable but still somehow rub you in the wrong direction. Almost always they're in a hurry and usually they have the legal thing sorted out. To avoid being duped, always do 3 (and even then they know how to get you ... and me ... several times)

If potential clients respond to any of these with a "I won't accept that, do you want to do business or what!?" simply respond that as a personal favor you'd like to comply, but successful experts say personal and business don't mix, so business is business and that means 1 to 7. Don't back down because in at least 30% of such cases you'll lose money.

Never take it personal and always offer cash payment discounts. It goes both ways. I once lost my IT supplier, because he was angry that I always paid too late. It was silly: I never realized it was such a big thing to him, I simply hated to do the paperwork, I would have gladly paid him cash everytime (his office was close to mine). But instead of talking he got angry.

Cheers, keep the good work going. We are lost without you!

Colors

[clibinarium]

Don't worry, nearly all the precautions you list I take already. Where I have not been paid it is never out of malice, but out of difficult circumstances I believe. Recently I have been very frustrated by it and probably I spoke out of turn because of it.

One thing I must make clear, if it was in any way ambiguous in my post; all the folks at Pendraken have never given me any problems, indeed they are a joy to work with.