"AQotMF - It's Official" Topic

From the KS page.
We regret to announce that effective January 27th, 2016, Robot Peanut Studios, LLC, and its associated brands, Architects of War and Alien Dungeon have permanently closed their doors.

Our sales plummeted precipitously in the 3rd and 4th quarter of 2015 and never recovered across our online retail operations as well as hobby shop and distributor sales. We could not maintain our business under these conditions and despite a continuing series of sales and marketing efforts, we have been forced to file for bankruptcy. The case has been filed in the United States Bankruptcy Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania at case number 16-20247. Please contact an attorney if you have any questions.

We set out six years ago to start a company providing exciting and entertaining intellectual property primarily in the analog gaming market. RPS began with miniature games with the intention of expanding to board and digital games. While the All Quiet Kickstarter project brought in significant sales for us, the cost of development, manufacturing, and shipping exceeded the sales numbers and we were relying on sales beyond the Kickstarter in the broader market to carry the costs and expand the game. These sales never materialized in sufficient quantities. It is just that simple – we sold stuff through the Kickstarter that essentially ended up just above cost and then paid for the shipping. All Quiet just didn't generate enough money for its scale. In addition, our original cost estimates based on quotes and time frame from various vendors Pre-Kickstarter were exceeded, making the business model untenable without retail sales that never materialized.

We are very sorry that it has come to this. Certainly not the outcome we dreamed of when we started the company. To our investors, the Kickstarter supporters and our loyal customers, we'd like to thank you for your support. It has been difficult not communicating during this legal process, but we have had to go through a process and that has been well outside any of our previous experiences.

This will be our last communication. Customer service inquiries will not be answered and there will be no additional communication on Kickstarter. We do not know what the final disposition of All Quiet and or other product brands will be at this time. We have to forfeit our participation in such matters to the court.

Barb and I must move on and find employment and start putting our lives back together. To our friends, investors, vendors, and loyal customers, thank you for helping us try to fulfill our dream and we wish you the best possible future.

Yours Sincerely, Barb and Ernie

Regardless of everything else that happened it's good that they came clean and released a statement like this rather than leave folks guessing.

-Will

I agree. It sucks that I won't get the rest of my stuff, but I think I broke even after all.

Most sad but glad they will be able to move on. Better to have made the attempt and failed than to never have made the attempt at all. Unfortunately with the bankruptcy the IP rights on All Quiet and Architects of War other properties are going to be tied up for some time.

What was not created or shipped yet that was in the kickstarter?

(I was not in the kickstarter)

I made a sizable investment in the KS and admit to feeling somewhat used and abused. Not too long ago they were promising to send out the rest of our stuff. Then months of dead silence. . . now this.

I think my biggest regret is that a unique game is dead and buried. I suppose some fans might use shapeways to fill in the army list gaps, but that will likely be haphazard. What might have been. . .

For an alternate take from a backer and game industry insider:
link

I was a customer and AOW was a frequent supplier of my lead addiction, mainly Perry and AOW terrain, which was very nice.

So, I feel as though a friend died…but I am only a customer. It must be excruciating for Barb and Ernie.

I agree with you Condotta. I purchased a lot of my Perry and AOW from them. Sorry to see this happen.

Barb and Ernie were a big part of the dealer's area at Historicon for me. I always spent money with them when I attended. So I second Copndotta's comments. I do not think there was any mens rea on the part of Barb and Ernie. Many individuals and companies have to resort to bankruptcy in order to get their lives put back together and regroup.

@ Spudeus, how is All Quiet dead? There are number of people that do have the game and many of the models so the game will continue. Now will the game be able to grow? That is of course a different matter. In which case the game might fade over time unless someone else comes along to buy the molds and has the moxie to market the game. Anyway this is an example of a first world problem. We are talking toys for grown people after all.

Well, maybe dead is the wrong word, no game is dead if someone plays it, but it certainly feels still-born. This was supposed to be the flagship for a massive line of Martian Invasion stuff, followed by all sorts of factions in a Great Interplanetary War.

Now, as they state, the IP is in limbo. We have pretty pictures and stats in the rulebook for models that were never produced. We have lots of backers who feel deceived and sporked over.

Is this a big deal compared to war, poverty and disease? I would never claim that. But when I emotionally invest in someone's idea and gradually see it wither and die, I personally feel a little empty – the last three years have been a weird, wild ride.

Oddly the closure finally means it moves up my agenda – my stuff's always languished waiting for the increasingly unlikely next shipment. Now that's definitely not happening, yes I'm miffed at what's gone undelivered (especially the Goliath, as that was really the one item that "sold" the game to me) but I can take stock of what I've got, probably sell some stuff off and rebalance my collection a bit, and then, well, maybe actually start using the rest…. When all's said and done I'm out a not-small sum, but what I've got's more than enough to get a game out of. Worse things happen at sea….

I had to wait around while plumbers worked on our rentals the other day and I took my All Quiet rule book with me and tallied up the points I have for both sides. Turns out I possess well over 4000 points for the Martians and about 3K for the US. And that's from primarily just the Kickstarter. I've bought several hundred bucks more lately to flesh things out and am still ordering things I want, but I really need no more to make for wonderful games.

Still wish I had a Harvester tripod, though…

We are talking toys for grown people after all.

Is this a big deal compared to war, poverty and disease? I would never claim that.

This is a very cavalier attitude, at the end of the day it's still a business. The months of no communication while promising on their website that they would be back. In case you've forgotten:

Work is in Progress
We're making every effort to create the best possible shopping experience for you.
Please visit us again soon.

Given that they've waited until today to make it official, after the fact, there may be a lot of creditors left holding the bag.

I do wish the best for Barb and Ernie.

However none of this excuses the THEFT that they committed. And yes theft is the correct legal term. I am not talking about their AQotMF kickstarter, because that is not theft. While they made a good effort to fulfill that venture, it did fail. I have already written about the theft (Maryland would call it fraud, but in PA it is theft) in other posts. Pennsylvania law – Title 18 describes theft by deception which is a pretty accurate description of their behavior in my case. I hope that they do not lose their home, but their willingness to steal and deceive leaves me at a loss for words.

And I feel bad for those that didn't receive things they paid for and even more for Barb and Ernie. It's got to be horrible to see your business come crashing down like this. Regardless of how much some backers lost it can't compare to the complete loss of reputation and livelihood that this represents.

As far as I'm concerned, it is not about the All Quiet items that were promised and not delivered. And I do hope that Barb and Ernie do land on their feet. The loss of reputation at this point is deserved. It will take a whole heck of a lot to get that back.

There's a part of Architects of War not spoken about on forums, and what went wrong with it will baffle me to the end of days.

Ernie had a friendship with a number of UK manufacturers like Warlord, Perry Miniatures, Gripping Beast and Renedra, which by association was extended to North Star. That friendship meant he had the green light to be the representative for those companies in the USA.

To me, that potentially was a great business. Instead he blew it, spectacularly. We'll never know.

Risk/reward. Survival of the fittest. I was a backer. I was a long term AOW customer for historicals. The AQMF Kickstarter was a turning point for the company in a very negative sense. Communications were infrequent to non-existent. Promises were made and broken on multiple occasions. Then nothing. Then this.

I will miss AOW. I will not miss the last six months. I will not order from these individuals again. Your view may vary.

Nick,

I figured that that was more the purview of those in England to explain or define better than those of us on this side of the pond. With how many folks over here wanted items from those companies, it is unexplainable.

You got it mate. Ernie had it 'on a platter' as they say. There are others in the hobby who'd have killed to be in his position.

In my opinion, some people are just not suited to running a business.

Reading the linked article and other threads on other forums, it sounds like Ernie suffered from the classic problem of an inflated ego. Shame, since I liked his company in its early days. :-(

Risk/reward. Survival of the fittest. I was a backer. I was a long term AOW customer for historicals. The AQMF Kickstarter was a turning point for the company in a very negative sense. Communications were infrequent to non-existent. Promises were made and broken on multiple occasions. Then nothing. Then this.

I will miss AOW. I will not miss the last six months. I will not order from these individuals again. Your view may vary.

Well said. Once they got the AQMF kickstarter going they basically started to abandon the historical ranges – starting with Perry and then eventually Gripping Beast. Sad, because the historicals got them in front of people to begin with.

I also feel bad for the manufacturers. How many of them are still owed money?

Hate to see anyone go under. I didn't lose anything but I know a lot of people are left waiting for stuff that will never come. Maybe someone who knows the law can post how the Harmed parties can contact the court maybe they will get something.

I'm not happy to read this. I think all the bad possible about Barb and Robot Peanuts.
I believe that all was written in this letter is false except for the part on the kickstarter costs.
They had problems from more than one year to pay duly all the providers. And they were absolutely dishonest making huge orders before than black friday, ensuring future payments, taking money for the stuff they received and fleeing with the money by closing the business after they sold that.
People like them damage this industry.

I was in the kickstarter pretty deep and didn't receive a number of items and I can live with that (not happy but you can't change reality). What I am more disappointed is in the loss of AoW as a vendor and distributor of historical miniatures and terrain. I run the vendor hall for 2 of the HMGS conventions and AoW was a very real presence in the Hall (they had one of the largest set-ups in the vendor hall). The carried a very diverse set of excellent products (their own and that of others) and displayed these products in a very effective manner – lots of people came to shows to see and buy their products). To see what I thought was a successful company (before the KS) fail so quickly makes me wonder if there is more to this than just a bad set of business decisions related to the kickstarter or is it something deeper with the overall business. I am really sorry to see the loss of this outlet for a number of very good historical miniatures and terrain. I hope that some other company (WarStore I hope you are reading this) can step in and at least pick up the distribution of some of the products for our shows. I understand the anger of some of the disappointed backers (and I am one of them), but I hope this is not more than a failed kickstarter or even a failed business model, because I have seen a lot of historical and miniature companies close in the last 5 years and when a business this large fails I start to get concerned about the entire hobby. To put a perspective on the declining numbers we used to have over 80 or so vendors at our shows 6 years ago and we are now in the 50's.

I hope that some other company (WarStore I hope you are reading this) can step in and at least pick up the distribution of some of the products for our shows

Good heavens – NO! The Warstore isn't the same company it was a few years ago. I'm hopeful there will be another vendor that can step up and carry Perry and Gripping Beast.