Battle for Alabaster

[Mike the Pike]

as a child of the 80's I reserve the right to use the word RAD...

I didn't realize 1977 was the 80's?

[Primarch]

as a child of the 80's I reserve the right to use the word RAD...

I didn't realize 1977 was the 80's?

Tsk, dont you know anything? Its the same as how 1900-1999 is the TWENTIETH century.

[me_in_japan]

Last call for Battle for Alabaster!

the BfA kickstarter finishes in about 12 hours, so today is your last chance if you want to get anything on it. The basic boxed game will sell for 90dollars when it comes out in November, but there's lot of cool stuff that is only available during the KS (mostly the single minis/mini+strain version combos). If you dont want to buy the boxed game, I can order one (or more) of the ltd ed minis for you on the back of my order. Here are all the optional extras available:



If you want any of them, let me know today.

The basic box is 80 dollars just now, but a far, far better bet is biohazard (100 dollars), which gets you:



and if we pass the next stretch (very likely) we get one o these, too (in biohazard, for free)


The game itself does look very good, actually, but I'm in it for the minis. I've also got myself a battlefoam bag to carry it all around in, so come November (and more in March) I'll be bringing it pretty much wherever I go, pimping games of BfA

more info on the kickstarter page :)http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/coo ... -alabaster

[me_in_japan]

OK - pimping over (for now...)

While it would appear that nobody has much to say on the subject of kickstarter/BfA, I'm (perhaps optimistically) assuming folks are at least lurking. So, here are my thoughts after a fairly interesting experience in business, customer relations and sales.

When I signed up for the BfA kickstarter, I did so for the Biohazard package. That's the boxed game, plus 1 ltd edition resin mini. I was very happy with what I was getting for 100bucks when I signed up, but now the kickstarter is over I'm awaiting delivery of 100 minis (rather than the 50 in the game), for exactly the same price. This alone makes me think "blimey!"

Tbh, though, what really makes me think is the way the forum worked on the kickstarter page. The kickstarter forum had a really good community feeling, which apparently is uncommon. I think it finished with over 18,000 posts, but only ran for a month. What was particularly surprising was that the posts were 99.9% positive. They dont get screened, but nonetheless everybody who pledged clearly felt very, very happy about what they had paid for, despite knowing that theyd have to wait till November to get it. This was due, partly, to the way the McVeys and CMoN treated the punters. There was this one guy called Keegan Fink (his real name, I believe) who had been super helpful and kept updating the forum with all the info he'd found elsewhere online, and explaining to everyone how to pay for shipping, and generally acting above and beyond what some-dude-on-a-forum would usually do. A couple of days ago when they reached a stretch goal, Studio McVey announced the next stretch goal was a one-off character called Keegan (who looks a lot like Riddick), complete with rules for the game. Obviously Mr. Fink was chuffed to bits at being immortalised in geekery. (the stretch goal was met, of course.) I just felt that this kind of fan service and appreciatation for the people who buy (and through use promote) your product is to be commended. Compared with GW's attitude...well, there is no comparison, basically.

As a result of the McVey's attention to their fans, the game is now the highest selling board game ever on Kickstarter (951,000 dollars), which for a company the size of Studio McVey is a stupendous amount of money. The whole thing was just a fascinating little insight into what can happen when the right creative people (the McVeys) and the right business people (Chern Ann, from CMoN) get together. The stretch goals were timed perfectly to encourage folk to spend that extra 10bucks. There was constant updates and feedback from both the McVeys and CMoN. People's questions were answered within minutes. Quite often when forum users requested a particular add-on, it was supplied. Everybody on the forum pledged a lot of money. Everybody on the forum is excited and happy. McVey get lots of money, we get lots of minis, everyone's a winner. GW take note...

[Primarch]

So how much did you pay in the end? $100?

[me_in_japan]

hah! a hundred bucks, ee sez

That's the thing that impressed me most about this kickstarter, in retrospect. They were able to squeeze every last dime out of everybody without making them feel taken advantage of. That's the critical difference between CMoN management and GW management. Both companies abuse your wallet wantonly, but GW are bloody rough about it. At least CMoN take you out for dinner and a movie first...

I spent...

100bucks on Biohazard level (this was the buy-in required to qualify for all the freebies.)
25 bucks on shipping (not unreasonable. It's a fair size box.)
30 bucks on the terrain kit (basically, all the terrain in the game is represented by card stock/counters. This is a set of plastic terrain, corpse counters, spawning vents, and so on. Nice gun turrets, too. Anyway, 30 dollars, 70 bits n bobs.)
10 dollars on Engineer Niven Banks and his Strained counterpart(a kickstarter-only mini, who bears a not-accidental resemblance to the bloke from deadspace. Meh, I was playing deadspace a lot recently. Lucky timing on their part.
80 dollars on a Battlefoam bag to carry it (and my malifaux) around in. I'd been toying with getting another battlefoam bag anyway, and coupled with the below point, I decided to go for it.
25 dollars for shipping for the battlefoam (this is less than the 44 dollars the battlefoam site charge.)

so, 270 dollars and I don't resent it one bit. It should be noted that every cent is actually being paid for from my UK bank account, and moreover I have a birthday coming up in a month, which should take the sting out of it (parents usually give me a hundred quid or so "to buy something for yourself") I appreciate its a lot of money, but I'm pretty much sworn off 40k buying for now, my warmachine army is pretty set, and my malifaux crew are needing stuck together and played with, so there wont be many more purchaes for me for a loooooong time. The other big plus point is that this is a standalone game containing both factions. No more army upgrades necessary, no codex to buy. One-and-done. I like that.)

[ashmie]

I'm in agreement it was really well marketed. I do think they over sold it a little but to their credit as look at the money they made. I was really excited about the project at first but pulled out of my pledge later on and cancelled. Time and space for the models was an issue sadly. No way would I be able to make time to paint them all.

(Edited for politeness. No point winging on what clearly was a good project).

I'm sure you will do a great job on the minis and I'll be up for playing it some day. The waiting until March thing and paying now also made me think twice. The game does look fun though and the kickstarter website is clearly the way to go for anyone who wants to get a project off the ground.
Hats off to Alabastar and the kickstarter.

[AndrewGPaul]

Frankly, I'm waiting for the Kickstarter bubble to burst - either with a high-profile failure (the Mage Knight campaign could be one such; they're wanting $700k in 28 days and you need to cough up $170 to even get any actual miniatures), or outright fraud. At the moment, it's got this "power to the people!" aura about it, which is probably helping boost interest.

Before Kickstarter, someone who wanted to publish a game had to get the funding together from their own savings, bank loams, credit cards, etc - or hawk it to a big games publisher and hope they took a liking to it. Now, Kickstarter is removing all the financial risk from the creator and putting it onto us, the supporters. It's like Dragon's Den, except Duncan Bannatyne gets a share of the company, not just product. Essentially David has given CoolMiniOrNot inc. a loan of $270, interest free for five months.

Looking at Kickstarter's T&Cs, creators are obligated to supply any rewards they committed to. On the other hand, it subsequently says

Kickstarter is not liable for any damages or loss incurred related to rewards or any other use of the Service. All dealings are solely between Users. Kickstarter is under no obligation to become involved in disputes between any Users, or between Users and any third party. This includes, but is not limited to, delivery of goods and services, and any other terms, conditions, warranties, or representations associated with campaigns on the Site. Kickstarter does not oversee the performance or punctuality of projects. The Company does not endorse any User Submissions. You release Kickstarter, its officers, employees, agents, and successors in rights from claims, damages, and demands of every kind, known or unknown, suspected or unsuspected, disclosed or undisclosed, arising out of or in any way related to such disputes and the Service.

which implies that if Mike, Ali and Chern were ll to disappear with the near-million, that's not Kickstarter's fault - presumably it's up to each individual supporter to try to claim back their money from the project creator; something that's going to be very difficult, especially for those of us outside the USA.

With traditional pre-orders, you're covered by consumer protection laws and credit card companies if appropriate. With Kickstarter, I don't think those things apply.

I'm not saying CMON will go bust or defraud four thousand people of their money, but the protections seem rather weak. Personally, I'm in for $220, plus another $150 or so for Ogre.

[me_in_japan]

I completely agree that kick starter favours the producer rather than the customer. I felt comfortable backing CMoN and the McVeys because I know them (in a business sense) well. I've bought their stuff in the past, and I know the scale of their respective operations. If it was just some random "Al's Toy Company" running the campaign, I'd have been far more wary. I do agree that sooner or later there's going to be a major flop/rip off, or perhaps just rules will be tightened to the point where it stifles the system. I'm not that fussed, tbh. As long as I get BfA in November, I'll be a happy camper.

[AndrewGPaul]

It's funny to me that CMON now has this reputation for reliability - I still remember when Dave Doust and New Wave Games were bywords for "rip-off" in the online wargames retail market.