"28mm historical & fantasy ancient Chinese Kickstarter" Topic

March 10, 2015 Update

We are essentially two weeks away from our Kickstarter (Monday, March 23) and we are trying to get a few things polished so we can show them off to you. Today I would like to present to you a few different things. Firstly, we have some work in progress shots of our cavalry. They are not done yet but we thought you might like to see the progress. Secondly, we have a few new concept art pieces showing off another look of the Chinese dragon and introducing some of the army support choices that will be in our Stretch Goals. Lastly, I received in the mail our metal master castings of our infantry and general on foot. I was excited to show everyone how they looked so I threw some ink on them and took a few pictures. The pieces have not been cleaned, polished or altered in any way other than adding the black wash. I hope you like what you see and join us for the Kickstarter. We should have a few more updates for you later this week or early next week leading into the Kickstarter. I posted the pictures and more information on our website at watchfulistudio.wordpress.com and be sure to Like us on Facebook.

The Warring States range will include the core elements of an ancient Chinese army including infantry equipped with a wide range of weaponry, light and heavy chariots, various types of cavalry and the officers to lead them. Building on top of the core range will be two more launches including a fantasy element and support troops such as animated Terracotta warriors, dragons, undead warriors, exorcists, war engines, siege bows, shield-bearers, and war drums to name a few.

For more information check out

watchfulistudio.wordpress.com

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Product Briefing

Range: Warring States / Qin Dynasty (475 – 206 B.C.)
Wave 1: Core Product allowing players to build the mainstay of Chinese armies
1. General including various head and arm options
2. Infantry including unarmored, light, and heavy infantry with head and weapon options
3. Chariots including light, heavy and officer's chariots
4. Cavalry including light, heavy and nomadic cavalry
Historical Origin: China
Scale: 28mm
Casting Material: Metal (Plastic depending on Kickstarter results)
Manufactured in the USA

Range: Warring States / Qin Dynasty (475 – 206 B.C.)
Wave 2: Fantasy Product Range as a possible supplement opened up in the Stretch Goals portion of the Kickstarter
1. Fu Dogs
2. Terracotta Soldiers
3. Fangshi Exorcist
4. Undead
5. Hu-Hsien
6. Fangshi Necromancer
7. Dragon
8. Phoenix
Historical Origin: China
Scale: 28mm
Casting Material: Metal
Manufactured in the USA

No force would not be complete without the myriad of war machines and support options that make fielding armies unique. Adding a variety of support choices can turn your standard army into a potent offensive force or a immovable solid stone wall. The army support options maintain a more historical feel to the army and may be included in both historical and fantasy games.

Range: Warring States / Qin Dynasty (475 – 206 B.C.)
Wave 3: Army Support Product Range as a possible supplement opened up in the Stretch Goals portion of the Kickstarter
1. Shieldbearers
2. Alternate poses for archers and crossbowmen
3. Repeating crossbowmen
4. Giant crossbows
5. Siege bows
6. Catapults
7. Additional heroes
Origin: China Scale: 28mm
Casting Material: Metal

Watchful I Studio was created as a gaming company back in May of 2014 and will be producing all types of miniatures, card games, board games, and other gaming accessories for both the historical and fantasy markets. Their first product range will be 28mm historical and fantasy miniatures focusing on the Chinese Warring States and Qin Dynasty period. The company will be embarking on their initial Kickstarter launching Monday, March 23rd at 12pm EST

Looks pretty cool and it looks like you have your together. Good luck.

Very nice stuff. Good luck!

Yes looks very good indeed……….

Been saving my pennies for this, and also impressed with the approach you guys are taking in regards to metal v plastic. Plastic would be great, but just having these available in metal is making me happy.

Seeing the actual metal sculpts leaves me in no doubt these are top class sculpts competing with best out there.
Very much like the idea of Impetus Warring States armies.
Will they be sold from USA only?

Wow this is pretty cool. I will keep an eye on this KS.
Didn't think I'd be interested but the more I look at it, the more I like.

Xin

I really like the results you've achieved moving from the digital sculpt to the metal. I assume you printed out plastic/resin masters?

Wow, outstanding looking figures!

Hello everyone and thanks for the very nice comments and words of encouragement. We are super excited to bring this range to reality and your positive responses have made this process even more enjoyable.

We are currently in negotiations with a plastic manufacturer so we hope to have that business concluded before the Kickstarter begins. We want to try and eliminate as many obstacles as we can so we can deliver your toys as quickly and efficiently as possible.

This range of products will be offered world wide but will be shipping from the US. I understand that shipping costs may be prohibitive but we will do the best we can to make the product pricing as competitive as possible.

Our process to date is to have everything sculpted digitally so we can use those files for producing the product in any material. If we select anything other than plastic we need to have the miniature printed so a mold can be made. This process is not the most cost effective and can often slow down because of the amount of companies involved but I hope you (certainly us) are happy with the results. What will speed up is if we raise enough money to produce plastics then most of the sculpting is already done.

Thanks again everyone and stay tuned on Kickstarter for our March 23 launch.

Oh Great! Something else I must have! When will it ever end??!!

While I'm at the stage now where plastic renders are fine for me (in particular, seeing the accuracy of Wyrd Miniatures' renders to their sculpted figures has convinced me that it's possible, and IIRC they use), it seems that a Kickstarter can only benefit from some painted eye candy too.

Either way though, I'm pretty excited to see this happen. I'm REALLY hoping the infantry at least, if not the cavalry as well, can go plastic, but in any case I'd be pretty happy to see them released at all – with John Jenkins and Newline not making ancient Chinese in 28mm, it seems we could really use some – though I think those two did Han dynasty, but hey.

I have no idea about Chinese ancient armies but these figures look great. Keen to learn more about this now.

By the way, and for future reference, there is also a "Classical Asian Warfare" board on TMP:

TMP link

Thanks everyone and Thanks Skeptic for the information. I was not aware of the Classical Asian Warfare board and I also found the Crowdfunding Board. It helps when you look. :)

Hello everyone and good morning. With 3 days before our Kickstarter launch we would like to have your input regarding the presentation of our Kickstarter. Please feel free to follow the link and take a look. You are able to post comments directly on the Kickstarter so please be constructive and we will take every comment seriously. We may not be able to accommodate every wish but we will try our best. Finally, please keep in mind that you are not seeing the final presentation as we are waiting on some last minute additions for the cavalry sculpts and new concept art. Please enjoy looking at our range and let's have some fun with this project. :)

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The KS page looks great. I like the fact that you allow so much flexibility in the bodies/head/arms on the packs. I"m gonna pledge for sure!

I like it, but I think the concern with the flexibility is that it's a lot of time and effort spent on getting orders precisely correct, and the same goes for backers selecting orders too.

You might be better off saying each element pack gives you the option of choosing one preset unit of the relevant type, of 20 foot or 5 horse or the relevant chariotry.

It might just be more feasible for you to just say "okay, a wood element box is 20 unarmoured bowmen, 20 unarmoured crossbowmen, and on and on for each combination of armour and weapon options."

One thing on the chariots – the picture doesn't suggest that light or heavy chariots are different, so that could do with some clarification.

Sorting out EU shipping will likely help increase the number of backers – shipping all the EU orders to a distribution centre in Germany seems to be what other similar projects have done – so that they're not dissuaded by handling fees. Maybe something similar for Oceania as well?

I would be over the moon if there were even two plastic sets out of this.

One thing the page doesn't specify is any details about the stretch goals – does reaching them mean they become available as add-ons, do certain pledge levels get extra freebie models here and there, etc. On the one hand it might be better to release that information as they're getting close rather than have it all upfront, and in any case adding lots of freebies seems like a recipe to both lose money on your end and drive fulfillment time back a lot.

The last thing might be to consider moving around the alternate poses, counselor + spy, war drums, catapult, and ballista to the front of the stretch goals rather than the end. It seems to me all of those can be used for both historical and fantasy gamers, whereas the fantasy stuff only appeals to one segment – though your research might have shown that's the larger segment, in which case go with the current order. I'm interested in both myself, so it's fine by me.

Kickstarter is now LIVE!!!!

Thanks everyone for your comments and feedback.

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I echo was long strider says – I'ts going to be a royal pain to get that straight. Away from that is this a fantastic project and I shall follow it with interest.

Well, I have recently contacted a few companies in Europe so hopefully by the end of the Kickstarter we will have something sorted but no promises at the moment.

The first two miniatures painted for my new product range. Kickstarter is live if you want in on the action. :)

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April 8, 2015 Update

We have two weeks left in our Kickstarter and our goal has been reached!!!! We have been working diligently on making sure the production process runs smoothly so everyone can get their toys in a timely manner. This process has allowed us to reevaluate our budget for manufacturing and we were able to save some money. We wanted passed along these savings to the Kickstarter backers in the guise of lowering our Stretch Goal amounts.

Over the past two weeks we have posted pictures of painted miniatures, shown off work in progress of our Terracotta soldiers and hit 600 Likes on our Facebook unlocking some freebies for some of our backers. We hope you take some time and check out the Kickstarter and get in on the action before the fundraiser ends.

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For more information check out

watchfulistudio.wordpress.com

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Be sure to Like us on Facebook to keep up with this project and any future projects we have in the works.

Hello everyone.

We have 3 days left on our Kickstarter and we unlocked our first Stretch Goal opening up the Repeating Crossbow, Shieldbearers, and alternate poses for the Archers and Crossbowmen. We are getting close to unlocking the next Stretch Goal which is going to be the Undead – reanimated corpses of fallen warriors and civilians who died building the Great Wall.

Over the past few days we also opened up some new Add-on items for purchase. The Drunken Master and Swordmaster below and we also had a backer purchase the highest pledge enabling him to have a miniature sculpted based on his design. Well, with the concept art approved we decided to offer that hero as an Add-on. You can check out all the action on the Kickstarter and jump in while the water is warm. :)

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We have 3 more hours until the end of the Kickstarter. We are getting very close to unlocking the undead and with your help we can get there. Thanks

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