20thmaine | 15 Feb 2015 6:37 a.m. PST |
Ok – Conan obviously had things going for it but I'm still a little surprised it reached $3.3 USDMillion. But more of a puzzle – how come SOBH variant + Range of unique and unusual metal miniatures hasn't quite hit $20,000 USD? I didn't expect it to hit millions – but I thought all the Bonus options would get unlocked ! link Any thoughts ? |
McWong73 | 15 Feb 2015 6:50 a.m. PST |
I suspect you may over estimate the interest in mushroom men. |
Deeman | 15 Feb 2015 7:10 a.m. PST |
Fan of SoBH here, but playing anthropomorphic fungus generates 0 interest. As monsters to kill sure. It took every bit of will power I had to resist the Conan kickstarter. My buddy getting it and my PC dying helped. |
Rhoderic III and counting | 15 Feb 2015 7:18 a.m. PST |
I find it difficult to compare the two. They're like two categories of things. For starters, Conan is a boardgame that also happens to have figures that miniature gamers want, so it appeals to a much bigger segment of the worldwide geek population. The projected production values are also quite far apart. And Conan is… well, Conan. |
Combat Colours | 15 Feb 2015 7:37 a.m. PST |
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Frederick | 15 Feb 2015 7:49 a.m. PST |
Hmmmmm – pugilistic fungi versus a series of more than 40 novels that have sold thousands and thousands of copies over the past 80 years and have been made into comic books and three movies I think this suggests some kickstarter ideas are easier sells than others |
20thmaine | 15 Feb 2015 8:06 a.m. PST |
As I said in the OP – obviously Conan hits the market place with an advantage – and no-one would expect Fighting Fungi to go multi-million. Maybe I am over estimating the attraction of a completely novel range of figures (they are only one "faction" the others being the usual Orcs, Goblins, Hobbits and so on). Perhaps I've been taken in by games like Twilight worldoftwilight.com which also feature unique figure ranges and I imagine are quite popular because I read a lot about them. maybe it's just a dedicated publicity drive (and I wouldn't blame anyone for doing that either BTW). |
79thPA | 15 Feb 2015 8:13 a.m. PST |
Because nothing can compare with Conan. |
Cyrus the Great | 15 Feb 2015 8:17 a.m. PST |
I, personally, had no interest in the Fightin' Funji kickstarter. The Conan one was tempting and I would have been more interested, and pledged, if it was just a figure line. |
Cardinal Ximenez | 15 Feb 2015 8:20 a.m. PST |
Name recognition. We're still a niche hobby supported (very well I might add) by primarily a cottage industry. DM |
Rhoderic III and counting | 15 Feb 2015 8:32 a.m. PST |
I'm also taken in by World of Twilight. Such an atmospheric, ambient setting. Fightin' Fungi by contrast doesn't do it for me. It makes me go "heh, that looks funny" but that's about it. Still, I wish good luck to her and all who sail in her – our hobby doesn't need naysayers. Now, as for why the World of Twilight Kickstarter "only" made £20,000.00 GBP (half again as much as the $20,000 USD of Fightin' Fungi, which isn't so much more as to be in a different league) while Conan made over 100 times that amount, even accounting for the popularity of the Conan franchise, I suppose that's where the difference between a boardgame and a miniature game comes into account. A high-production-value boardgame is going to have a bigger target audience than a miniature game, even when that miniature game has fairly high production values itself. |
Bashytubits | 15 Feb 2015 9:02 a.m. PST |
This is the only funny I ever bought into, I was going to use them to sub in for an Awful Green things game.
I am not surprised that Conan did well, it does have quite a large fanbase. Mushroom men not so much. |
Tgerritsen | 15 Feb 2015 9:04 a.m. PST |
Unique doesn't mean interesting. I'm a huge fan of SOBH, but didn't even click the kickstarter link to even check it out. I have zero desire to play anthropomorphized fungi on my table top. I did buy into Conan, however. I am a major fan of the Conan series, and this kickstarter seemed to hit the sweet spot just right. Had SOBH put out a line of something more traditional, I likely would have supported it. This was just unique for unique's sake and didn't do it for me. |
Zargon | 15 Feb 2015 9:15 a.m. PST |
Mushrooms are for eating or getting high ;D I love the songs of stuff but like above 0 interest on mean fungispores set in a fantasy setting. Maybe if this had of been more like a pulp Fungi from Spaceeee maybe more interest. Cheers |
Miniatureships | 15 Feb 2015 10:03 a.m. PST |
Board games have a greater appeal than miniatures, period. If you do any study on Kickstarter, you will find that board games out sell all other games, including video games. I have four grown and married children. They all play board games. They all are in tune with the Will Wheaton program that reviews board games and demonstrates how those games are played. In the miniature market, we only have youtube programs dedicated to certain brands and companies of miniatures. There really is no video or youtube program dedicated to reviewing and showing what is totally available in the miniature world. If you are not someone these programs like, and I mean their personal favorites because most of these programs are done by people who are fans of the products they are speaking about, or are not part of the companies paying for your programing, then forget about hearing anything about it. The same applies to magazines. Like Wargames Illustrate, companies can advertise in it, but all articles and positive reviews are going to go to those former people from GW who have started a historical miniature company or are now part of a historical miniature company. |
KatieL | 15 Feb 2015 10:12 a.m. PST |
World of Twilight also has been going a while and has an existing fanbase to build on. So the kickstarter was for "more of the stuff you already know you like" |
Fergal | 15 Feb 2015 10:38 a.m. PST |
Fighting Fungi is the type of project that KS is supposed to be for. A small niche project that needs to find other interested folks tobe possible. I think a Conan board game would be a sure thing? OK, cool, they used KS to get it out there, but they didn't need it. Fighting Fungi needs KS to seek out 100 folks that think anthropomorphic mushrooms are cool :) that's the beauty of KS! |
20thmaine | 15 Feb 2015 11:49 a.m. PST |
I didn't even recall that World of Twilight had had a kickstarter ! |
wminsing | 15 Feb 2015 2:24 p.m. PST |
Mushroom men vs. CONAN!!! ? Sure you jest? But in all serious, even for miniatures, the fightin' fungi range is a topic that appeals to a very limited demographic. -Will |
20thmaine | 15 Feb 2015 4:28 p.m. PST |
I think what we're leaning towards is – when I see "cool miniatures" I'm in the minority. |
Dave Crowell | 15 Feb 2015 5:06 p.m. PST |
Conana has already got brand name recognition in spades. I might have plumped for the mushroom men if they were 15mm. In 28mm they are just a novelty. I have also seen Kickstarters fail, then relaunch and succeed. I think everyone was surprised by how wildly the Ogre Designer's Edition did, and that game is just bits of cardboard in a huge box. |
McWong73 | 15 Feb 2015 6:35 p.m. PST |
Fergal makes a good point. |
20thmaine | 15 Feb 2015 6:58 p.m. PST |
Agreed. I'm just looking forward to a really easy paint job…might even get to use that gloss red that's hiding at the back of the paint box. |
Rhoderic III and counting | 15 Feb 2015 7:00 p.m. PST |
To strike off on a tangent, why is Terminus Gate doing so poorly? Mycomorphic brawlers have more appeal than space pirates and a game system that sounds like a mix of Necromunda and Space Hulk? (Disclaimer: I have not backed Terminus Gate myself, although I'm interested in it.) link Maybe they're just bad at getting the word out there. Or maybe the sculpts don't look inspiring enough. Or maybe Fightin' Fungi does have significant name recognition in the form of Ganesha Games and Andrea Sfiligoi. |
Ivan DBA | 15 Feb 2015 7:42 p.m. PST |
Just based on a quick glance, here are problems with Terminus Gate: 1. You have to spend $90 USD to get a boxed set with eight, count 'em, eight figures. I wouldn't pay that for a retail item in the store right now, let alone for a KS. 2. Upgrade to a deluxe version for $120 USD, and you get two whole additional figures, plus unspecified stretch goals. Compare that to Conan, where, for a comparable price point ($90 and $135 USD for the basic and deluxe boxes) you got more figures than I can be bothered to count. 3. No clear set of stretch goals laid out to entice people to keep going. I echo all the comments about Fightin Fungi: obscure subject with extremely limited appeal= perfect candidate for KS (to ensure enough people actually want to buy it), but don't be surprised when it is not a runaway success. |
Imaginos | 15 Feb 2015 8:16 p.m. PST |
I kicked in for Conan because…boardgame with a ton of extras. I can use the figures in the boardgame, or with SBH. Or with other games. I kicked in for Fighting Fungi, but only the $1 USD level to add the PDFs for various games (in for 11). If you want the PDF's, this is the best way to get them. But I don't have any real interest in painting up fungi figures. |
Bunkermeister | 15 Feb 2015 8:56 p.m. PST |
The Fighting Fungi might have been okay, but I would rather have had a wargame game instead of a role playing game. I would be okay with armies of Fungi rather than a couple dozen totally different figures. Mike Bunkermeister Creek Bunker Talk blog |
Paint it Pink | 16 Feb 2015 3:31 a.m. PST |
The fungi stuff I took one look at and went meh. If it's any consolation I didn't buy into Conan either, but at least that looked interesting. |
20thmaine | 16 Feb 2015 4:12 a.m. PST |
I was going to go for Conan – the miniatures looked very nice – in the end I was less sure about the game itself (whether it'd get played much – whether the gameplay looked very thrilling). Probably end up kicking myself on that one ! |
wminsing | 16 Feb 2015 6:52 a.m. PST |
Regarding Terminus Gate, I suspect that it's a problem with the way the campaign is structured. It appears to be following the 'high initial investment, but when the money starts rolling in we'll unlock a load of 'freebies' to make it worth the money' model. The problem is of course, if the money doesn't start rolling in nothing gets unlocked and the core pledge remains a poor deal. -Will |
20thmaine | 16 Feb 2015 7:15 a.m. PST |
Anyhoo….may have not unlocked every stretch goal, but there was quite a flurry of late deciders so I'm happy to see another 3 stretch goals unlocked on the fighting fungi. Roll-on June |
Das Sheep | 17 Feb 2015 5:55 p.m. PST |
The mushroom men look neat, but I have no idea what I would use them for. Edit: If you had some examples already up, some computer models done, and more to go off, I would probably be more interested in the fungi. But as it is, it just does not show us a lot other than very nice drawings. The conan game you saw what you were going to get. |
Ganesha Games | 18 Feb 2015 3:29 a.m. PST |
As someone suggested, KS is for companies that have an idea and need the money to put it in production. All the best of luck to other companies, but if you have the $ to buy a license from Conan properties, and to show up at launch with that kind of production values, maybe you do not need KS in the first place? And – we knew it was a niche interest and we were surprised of getting $25.00 USD when we just wanted $4,500 USD to cover for the sculpting and a bit more to cast them. Also – a lot of people were understandably not taken by the setting, but they did not join because they did not understand they are getting what they asked for ages – a new magic system for SOBH. Also the rpg material – it is a free add for most pledgers on so it is not "disturbing" the miniature rules in any way. You don't even have to read it if you are not interested in the setting. It's just three guys starting their miniature business from a niche area because that's what we can surely handle well, and deliver as promised without breaking the bank, at the time, doing a niche interest theme that nobody else would probably have done. Luckily there were 290 people who understood that and joined this :-) Our next project, that will appear only after we have delivered this fully, will be slightly more mainstream. |
Ganesha Games | 18 Feb 2015 5:44 a.m. PST |
I mean we got 25 thousands, not $25. USD |
Ganesha Games | 18 Feb 2015 5:52 a.m. PST |
Das Sheep we started the KS with 6 figures already done and paid for out of our pockets, and we showed three more sculpts during the KS, maybe you missed that? We are all very happy with how things turned out. Our little myconians went against a Cimmerian heavyweight and survived to tell the tale :-) |
Ganesha Games | 18 Feb 2015 5:55 a.m. PST |
Bunkermeister but it is a wargame – actually, a version of Song of Blades and Heroes that introduces new rules that can be used with any of the game's incarnations, including a much requested spell system. there is a RPG product, but it was an add-on (a free add on for all those who had a certain pledge level, and $5 USD for all others). Song of Blades and Heroes has its own RPG (Tales of Blades and Heroes) who has some following, so since we were developing the background anyway, we decided to add a RPG supplement to the mix. |
TwinMirror | 19 Feb 2015 5:12 a.m. PST |
Well, I supported Ganesha's Fightin' Fungi, but the Conan boardgame didn't interest me. Why? Because Fightin' Fungi presented a really interesting, unusual and imaginative concept from a reliable, quality Company. Exploring and developing niche or unusual ideas seems to me to be exactly what Kickstarter is all about. And as a few others have pointed out, the Conan game certainly didn't need KS to be successful. I grew up reading Robert E Howard and still enjoy Conan, but there are literally thousands of minis one can use to represent that world, and tons of games that already do so adequately – I even made a Runequest-based Conan game as a teenager. This new Conan boardgame is probably good, but seemed inessential to me, whereas I'm more than pleased that soon I'll be getting loads of strange and cool fungusmen to use in fantasy, horror and sci-fi games. |
KenofYork | 19 Feb 2015 8:53 a.m. PST |
I am a Conan enthusiast and have been since I was a wee lad. I am still reeling in the disappointment of my FFG Conan boardgame. I have sworn off kickstarter but I might buy this game later. |
20thmaine | 21 Feb 2015 9:57 a.m. PST |
we knew it was a niche interest and we were surprised of getting $25.00 USD USD when we just wanted $4,500 USD USD to cover for the sculpting and a bit more to cast them. I in no way was trying to suggest that the KS was a failure for getting "only" $25,000 USD – and personally I'm glad that I backed it. Any surprise that remains is more due to SOBH being (I perceive) quite popular AND that I have fondly imagined that novelty was something that really appealed to fantasy gamers. But – I'm looking forward to getting the figures and the rule books so I'm more than happy. Well Done to Ganesha Games! |