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!
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?
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.
QuoteAnd 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!
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
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.
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.
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!
Quote from: fsn on 03 January 2024, 05:46:46 PMI 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.
Quote from: henjed on 03 January 2024, 06:07:37 PMAnd 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.
Quote from: fred. on 03 January 2024, 08:36:28 PM1) He is very harsh on himself...
Yeah, people at this end tell me that too...!
Quote from: fred. on 03 January 2024, 08:36:28 PM2) 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.
And if you slow down releases, some of us might catch up with the paint the whole catalogue plan...🤣
Seriously, stay awesome. 😎
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 ;D
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.
Quote2) 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 :D
Quote from: DecemDave on 04 January 2024, 09:57:58 AMLeon has always denied being a wargamer but maybe time underestimates and scattered focus are infectious :D
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.
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?
QuoteI 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.
<SNIP>
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.
WW2 still seems to be a main focus of wargaming. I'd say NWE 44-45, the Western Desert and the Russian Front primarily.
Though I think there's a shift from WARgaming, where historical accuracy is important to WarGAMING where the game's the thing, to misquote Hamlet! The rise and rise of Weird War 2 (and more recently Weird War 1) is evidence of that I think.
I'd say, despite my obsession with the weird and wonderful niches of history, that Pendraken have the historical side of that well covered. Whether Leon would be well advised to get into producing E-100s, Panther IIs and zombie Volkssturm I leave up to him :)
Ancients seems to me to have shifted from WRG dominated fights happily pitting Samurai against Sumerians to somewhat more historical pairings but having splintered over a myriad of rule systems and including armies a twenty something year-old me had never heard of! That despite winning the school history prize and studying Ancient History and Archaeology at university.
Pendraken cover the core Iron Age/ Classical armies with several others being possible with creative use of miniatures from other ranges, including some not normally thought of as Ancients. The Bronze Age armies and, with the honourable exception of the Mongols, those armies of the period outwith the Graeco-Roman world are sadly lacking.
I'd still say Pendraken cover the Ancients essentials pretty well.
As to Napoleonics, my personal experience has been that most people know about, and therefore want figures for, the Peninsular War, the Waterloo campaign and Napoleon in Russia.
Pendraken's coverage of the latter could do with a revamp (IMHO) but they do cover it and the other two are covered in lavish detail (again IMHO).
Again based solely on what I see in person or see online, spending on Sci-fi and Fantasy dwarfs* spending on historical miniatures by orders of magnitude. There seems to be an increasing number of rule sets which are designed to let people play with whatever figures they have so I would expect the new sci-fi ranges from Pendraken to do well.
Finally, on deadlines, I've always liked the Douglas Adams approach
"I love deadlines. I love the whooshing noise they make as they go by."
― Douglas Adams, The Salmon of Doubt
*see what I did there? :)
QuoteI'd still say Pendraken cover the Ancients essentials pretty well.
Far be it for me to disagree, but I'd like to see some earlier ancients - maybe something more in the chariot line?
Thge Great Wargaming Survey 2022 would agree with the analysis though; WWII, Naps and Ancients. The SF and fantasy contingent is strong.
(https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/0296/7067/0384/files/GWS2022_Period_totals_600x600.png?v=1670333106)
QuoteFar be it for me to disagree, but
I also think "ancients" has big gaps and have previously bemoaned the lack of an "enemies" range for the superb Late Romans. On the other hand it is a HUGE period and it IS easier to proxy figures than it is with Nap uniforms or where folks want an exact replica of every AFV ever used. (eg I plan to use ACR7 as dark age welsh light cavalry) . So if anything is done in ancients/medievals , perhaps it should be a range of generic types but more poses. (and separate shields??) E.g. The Dark Age arab range has potential but I'm not going to buy 300 spearmen in one pose.
It looks like Leon has a full 2024 program anyway and he knows much better than I about what will be profitable. Perhaps a way forward is more non-kickstarters or commissioned ranges which at least take away some of the development risks.
Quote from: DecemDave on 04 January 2024, 05:18:54 PMIt looks like Leon has a full 2024 program anyway and he knows much better than I about what will be profitable. Perhaps a way forward is more non-kickstarters or commissioned ranges which at least take away some of the development risks.
Interesting. :-\
Which non-kickstarters do you think could be offered? I'll start with the Battle of Kadesh 1274. Perhaps the Macedonians and Indians. Bannockburn 1314. Norway 1940 (I'd love a Neubaufahrzeug of two to go against a T35 and Char 2C) After that, I'm starting to struggle.
Quote(https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/0296/7067/0384/files/GWS2022_Period_totals_600x600.png?v=1670333106)
Interesting that they've split the GW games out from the sci-fi and fantasy categories, otherwise they'd be 1 and 2 in the list by a long way.
It's almost like the organisers want to have something 'serious' as the most popular.
Lies, damn lies and statistics, eh?
All very interesting but sometimes the release of a new range can be the driver to success, especially in this scale where competition is limited. I'd be more willing to try a new period in 10mm than any other scale. If it hadn't been for the expansion of the AWI range with more to come I'd be looking at the Crimean War at the very least
QuoteI appreciate, in fact suggested, that Pendraken aim a bit lower, 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?
QuoteI think you are probably right insofar as there is what appears to be a scattered focus.
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.
QuoteIt looks like Leon has a full 2024 program anyway and he knows much better than I about what will be profitable. Perhaps a way forward is more non-kickstarters or commissioned ranges which at least take away some of the development risks.
I completely get the scattered focus and it's understandable how it would appear that way. It's not a planned business strategy, more a long-term symptom that we've been battling for a while with so much needing to be done. Sometimes it feels like the Pendraken train is running at full pelt and we're just trying to hang on!
I think it's mainly as there are so many different reasons that instigate each of the projects:
Old RangesThese are old style sculpts that need to be replaced as they don't match up with our current standards. So the new Ancients, the 1860's Italians, revamped WWII vehicles, etc. We've managed to do almost all of the pre-20th C. ones now but they have taken sculpting time away from new ranges.
Random OpportunitiesWhen something happens that we hadn't planned for and we have to seize the opportunity, so things like buying the Commander rules, the TB Line ranges becoming available, or the Castle Arts Japanese buildings. We could have let the opportunity pass by but they were sensible additions to our ranges. The trouble is that they require more time and investment to maximise your return, again taking you away from other things.
Customer RequestsWe're all familiar with the Requests lists, which were originally started to give us a clear indication of what people wanted over a decade ago. We've tried to keep ticking things off there but it's not been as quick a process as I'd hoped.
And then you've got more general things like market trends, sculptor availability, budget, etc. Or ranges like the Russo-Japanese where a generous customer wants to commission everything and the resulting sculpts need to be fitted into the mould queue somewhere.
Some projects fit into multiple categories, where the acquisition and subsequent launch of Cold War Commander 2 meant that we needed to expand the available figure ranges and triggered more customer requests along with a bit of a surge in modern gaming.
So while there is an underlying plan in my head, it's often hard to keep those ducks in a row for a prolonged period of time. I'm hoping this year will be better due to us having some big jobs like the website photos done, and hopefully some extra staff coming in to delegate some tasks to!
QuoteThge Great Wargaming Survey 2022 would agree with the analysis though; WWII, Naps and Ancients. The SF and fantasy contingent is strong.
Our sales would definitely agree with that survey, WWII has always been the biggest seller and then it's Naps and ACW these days. The Fantasy always ticks over nicely too.
The Sci-Fi revamp is the one area that could completely change our business in the long-term. If that wargames survey had included GW/40K then every other bar would have diminished to virtually nothing compared to the overwhelming volume of the GW machine. With both GW and Mantic launching smaller-scale Sci-Fi this year (8mm/12mm respectively) we could be positioned very well to pick up some of their market. And considering that Pendraken is less than 0.1% of GW's turnover, if we can carve off just a sliver of their customers it could be massive for us.
Quote from: Leon on 04 January 2024, 11:13:38 PMThe Sci-Fi revamp is the one area that could completely change our business in the long-term. If that wargames survey had included GW/40K then every other bar would have diminished to virtually nothing compared to the overwhelming volume of the GW machine.
It did. 2nd, 3rd, 4th and 7th places were taken by Sf or fantasy. Warhammer came in at 4th place.
I would suggest that the Great Wargamnes Survey being mainly readers of a mostly historical wargmes magazine, will tend to downplay the signiicance of 40K. If you look at YouTube and search for "wargame" most of what turns up is Warhammer.
QuoteAll very interesting but sometimes the release of a new range can be the driver to success, especially in this scale where competition is limited. I'd be more willing to try a new period in 10mm than any other scale. If it hadn't been for the expansion of the AWI range with more to come I'd be looking at the Crimean War at the very least
Funny, isn't it? This is observation not criticism, but some ranges are really extensive, reflecting the enthusism of the commissioner, but maybe not the sales potential. There are 43 lines in the League of Ausburg , which I had great glee suggesting additions such as "Grenadier wondering if he locked the front door", "Hussar hoping that dangerous itch is just too much starch in his underpants", "pikeman opining that his recruiting sergeant may have had several fathers", "Matchlockmen gathered to contemplate the articles in the latest issue of a gentleman's periodical."
We are seeing it now, with a spurt of AWI releases. All very nice sculpts &c, but C18 is the 13th most popular period in the survey. You'd also need to consider that WSS, 7YW &c, &c are also in that category. Having said that, you have to cut bait to catch fish, and the pretty new sculpts (and they are glorious) are likely to attract new customers.
I'll cite the Russo-Japanese War. It's always been an odd period for me, something between the ACW and WWI. I got slightly more interested (in the naval side) by Drachinifel's story of the 2nd Pacific squadron. Then Milday curled a manicured finger and *boom* there is the Russo-Japanese range, and I'm going to buy in.
Pendraken is less a Roman road, planned and going in nice straight lines from point A to point B, and more a sheeps' path, meandering where it will, taking the path chosen by the flock. The all-wise Dark Shepherd can try and influence his flock with new ranges, rule sets, OOBs, paint guides etc, but ultimately they will go where they will, and the shepherd just has to try and stay ahead of them.
Or get a sheep dog. Sheep dogs are cool.
(https://d.newsweek.com/en/full/1926294/border-collie-dog.jpg?w=1600&h=1200&q=88&f=b9c70b5b9f74182968cc111968dd6f72)
Bottom line. I find Pendraken to be frustrating when new goodies are trailed then seem to take a long time to appear (Ancient Indians, Amazons, Japanese Castles) but in the grand scheme of things I haven't run out of things to get excited about, and as a company they are listening, friendly, approachable, honourable and open. I nailed my colours to their mast 11 years ago and it's still there.
They keep asking me to take it down, but they don't mean it.
That's a very cute doggy Nobby
QuoteWhich non-kickstarters do you think could be offered?
For me "biblical" , "Fall of Rome", "Age of Charlemagne/Offa" and the "Reconquista" are big missing areas. I have no clue if enough people would support any of them (hence why a non kickstarter might work) but they would also provide lots more proxy options and variety to existing ranges. Plus the campaigns of the Prophet (pbuh) and his successors need way more poses than the current Dark Age Arab range and scattered proxies.
Having recently fallen for the AWI and still not finished my Peninsular Naps, I dont need any of the above in 2024 or even 25, although I suspect there will be items in the TB line that I absolutely must have.
I'm still pretty new to 10mm so have plenty on my one day list, but I agree the fall of Roam would be a great range to complete particularly if it includes the protagonists that fought over Britain. I've taken to converting existing figures for now
All over Britain, if they were roaming while falling! ;D ;D ;D ;D
Is the Italian Wars going to be the next Big Thing?...
Quote from: Ben Waterhouse on 05 January 2024, 01:56:24 PMIs the Italian Wars going to be the next Big Thing?...
I love the colors of the italian wars, but did it in 15mm with the Mikes Models/ Essex ranges many years ago. I probably have 1000 figures with another 500 or so to paint, so will not be painting them again.
the biggest problem has been a good set of rules, as they are not "Pike and Shot", despite may rules written for 30YW or ECW, saysing they also include the period of the Italian Wars.
I recently bought Furioso from Alternative Armies, and while they needed a number of tweaks , and army lists written they seem to play well.
I would also consider moving to 10mm if a suitable number of Chariot era figures were produced, as I currently only have one army in 15mm. A lot of the figures can be very generic, but a lot of poses are needed to make the unit look right.
Quote from: Raider4 on 04 January 2024, 08:27:53 PMLies, damn lies and statistics, eh?
Indeed so. The figure sizes considered in the survey did not include 10mm, or 6mm for that matter. It is as if 10mm wargamers are invisible.
Quote from: John Cook on 05 January 2024, 03:50:48 PMIndeed so. The figure sizes considered in the survey did not include 10mm, or 6mm for that matter. It is as if 10mm wargamers are invisible.
Who said that :)
Sorry I will get my coat.
Just back from my holidays so late to the discussion
Leon has indeed been hard on himself when judging failure, as others have suggested a Delayed category would be appropriate. Also the majority of the successes have been larger projects, particularly the website photos.
As Leon has mentioned most of the 'scattered' items last year were either commissions or opportunities that Pendraken could either grasp or let slip. While all are useful additions to the Pendraken ranges they have taken time away from the focus projects
In my view Pendraken should be very pleased with another successful year and I hope the new 1-2 projects a month approach works well
QuoteIn my view Pendraken should be very pleased with another successful year
Hear ! Hear!
It's just that some of the projects I was looking forward to didn't get done. :(
Quote from: fsn on 05 January 2024, 09:03:33 AMIt did. 2nd, 3rd, 4th and 7th places were taken by Sf or fantasy. Warhammer came in at 4th place.
Apologies, I'd seen the 'excluding 40K' bit at the top and didn't notice it had a separate line. You're right though, WSS is going to get a historical slant to any responses. If we look at the overall wargames hobby, I'd expect it to be over 90% Fantasy/Sci-Fi gamers. Not the most scientific method but if we take Warlord Games vs Warhammer 40K on Facebook, the latter has about 8 times more followers than Warlord does and that's only one GW game system.
Quote from: fsn on 05 January 2024, 10:01:49 AMWe are seeing it now, with a spurt of AWI releases...
I'll cite the Russo-Japanese War.
Both of those fall under the 'Customer Led' header where we've not chosen those projects, they've been commissioned by other people and we put them into production. So it's great for expanding ranges without the expense and time involvement, but moulding/prepping does eat into other projects.
Quote from: fsn on 05 January 2024, 10:01:49 AMBottom line. I find Pendraken to be frustrating when new goodies are trailed then seem to take a long time to appear (Ancient Indians, Amazons, Japanese Castles).
The missing Fantasy is purely a scheduling issue and my fault. We've started both Ratmen and Amazons and I've got a selection on my worktable, but we had to pivot to Korea I think it was, just to get those ranges done and ready for the launch of CWC2.
The Japanese castles is another topic entirely and I share your frustration at those not being available yet...
Quote from: DecemDave on 05 January 2024, 10:54:57 AMPlus the campaigns of the Prophet (pbuh) and his successors need way more poses than the current Dark Age Arab range and scattered proxies.
I'd like to revamp all of the Dark Age ranges as those are getting towards the Old Ranges category now. The horses in particular were done on old dollies.
Quote from: Orcs on 05 January 2024, 02:12:43 PMI would also consider moving to 10mm if a suitable number of Chariot era figures were produced, as I currently only have one army in 15mm. A lot of the figures can be very generic, but a lot of poses are needed to make the unit look right.
That's another area that we need to expand in. We got started with Techno doing the new Romans, Gauls, Greeks, Persians, etc but again we got sidetracked with something before we could get the Macedonians and Indians done.
Quote from: paulr on 05 January 2024, 08:08:27 PMLeon has indeed been hard on himself when judging failure, as others have suggested a Delayed category would be appropriate.
We'll have one of those next year maybe!
QuoteBoth of those fall under the 'Customer Led' header where we've not chosen those projects, they've been commissioned by other people and we put them into production. So it's great for expanding ranges without the expense and time involvement, but moulding/prepping does eat into other projects.
Indeed. These are the sheep paths which eat into the Roman roads (even I'm not sure that makes sense.)
QuoteThe missing Fantasy is purely a scheduling issue and my fault...
The Japanese castles is another topic entirely and I share your frustration at those not being available yet...
You quote my frustration, but not the following paragraph in which I was much more complimentary. Yes, I am looking forward to the Amazons and the Japanese Castles, but that's what I am interested in. Honestly, the AWI stuff is pretty, and although I won't be buying from that range someone else is obviously frothing with excitement. I realise that Pendraken doesn't exist just to please me, and I have no right nor desire to intefere with scheduling (OK, maybe a little desire). My frustration is unimportant, and silly, and selfish and solpsistic, and is akin to the 6 year old in the back of the car saying "are we there yet?" repeatedly.
You are very open with the trials and tribulations of the industry. You have limited resources and a constantly changing economic enviromnent. You're still standing as a going concern and with everything that has hit us in the last few years that's a solid achievement.
I hope to have many more years of complaining about things not being released quick enough. May you go from strength to strength.
About the Amazons ...
(https://media.indiedb.com/images/articles/1/267/266728/auto/are-we-there-yet-gif.gif) (https://www.micechat.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/Simpsons-Are-We-There-Yet.gif) (https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/53951756e4b00bb4cdae2705/1448848264156-ZVVIOOTHZCMUTQDNPMPS/image-asset.gif) (https://y.yarn.co/7c7b30db-1e96-4aa1-bc66-7e0d4946bf23_text.gif) (https://media.tenor.com/wJspYdT6fucAAAAM/ugh-are-we-there-yet.gif) (https://media1.giphy.com/media/l0MYyBMSjz2mdkJR6/giphy.gif?cid=6c09b952ohsqb21du6ggndkj05s1v455rlkzbj24ub5wbirn&ep=v1_gifs_search&rid=giphy.gif&ct=g)
QuoteTB 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.
What's still to come from the TB Line please?
QuoteIs the Italian Wars going to be the next Big Thing?...
Ooooh, that would be nice.
QuoteWhat's still to come from the TB Line please?
Leon's 2017 announcement can be found here:
https://www.10mm-wargaming.com/2017/07/pendraken-miniatures-acquires-tb-line.html