"Cacique Caribe's tent sculpts for Forge of Ice" Topic

Heya folks!

These tents were some of the first things that I ever had cast up. Cacique Caribe sculpted them and posted the pics here. They were a big hit!

People encouraged him to have them cast in resin, and a light bulb went on over my head. I had already decided to start my own miniatures venture, and after seeing a dozen people tell him to cast them up, I thought, "waitaminute! *I'LL* cast them up!" So, I asked CC if he was interested in selling me the greens, he was amenable to the idea, and away we went!

I had fifty of each made up – I sold them for $8.50 USD each, or $30 USD for the set of four.

I was very happy with the quality of castings, but, it took me years to sell all of them.

It was mostly my fault they sold so slowly – I still don't have much of a web presence (mainly Facebook and the Lead Adventure forum), but back then it was almost nonexistent, I was only on TMP and the old Excelsior forum.

I've been content to leave them indefinitely out of stock. The caster still has the molds, I can have more made pretty much whenever I want… but it's not cheap.

I need to sell about 25 sets to break even on having more made. Lately I've gotten a handful of inquiries about them, but, in my experience, only half of the inquiries like that lead to sales. There are some cool new prehistorics on the market that weren't out when I first had these made, though. The Lucid Eye Neanderthals and apes, the Eureka Denisovans, a few new rules sets, etc…

SO – I'm making this post to test the waters. Would there be any interest in these if I were to re-release them? If I can get interest in 15-20 sets (and I can keep the prices the same as they were in 2008 – $8.50 USD per tent, or $30 USD for the set of four), I'll have another batch made.

I'd love to hear everyone's thoughts on the subject.

-Alex Bates
-Forge of Ice

Any idea of the postage charge to the UK for 2-3 sets?

Have you thought about crowdfunding this?

I'D take a set if shipping to Canada wasn't too bad.

How is CC doing? I miss him here greatly!

I'm interested to know if Cacique Caribe is well… (smile)

Amicalement
Armand

Obviously, Dan is doing very well!

Hell, I want a set, and not really sure for what.

Doug

I haven't talked or interacted with Dan (Cacique Caribe) in quite some time, although I have seen him post to the Lead Adventure forum fairly recently.

I hope he's doing great!

@Andoreth – postage for 2 sets would run about $20 USD USD, sadly. I live in central Alaska, international shipping is killer.

Shipping to Canada is a bit cheaper.

I can check with the post office on Monday to get exact numbers.

I will almost certainly not crowdfund these – I just finished up a successful Kickstarter and I've got my next one planned. But I don't think KS is quite right for doing restocks of old itmes.

Is this something you could partner with existing prehistoric figure range vendors? It would be nice to get a set of tents, some prehistoric tribesmen and a mammoth to hunt or something.

These are really unique sculpts, it would be a shame to see them "go out of print".

The tents do fit nicely into my own Lost World line of figs ( facebook.com/forgeofice )

I have some ape-men coming down the pipeline, and the tents will go with them. That said, if any current prehistoric fig manufacturers want to carry them, I'd be happy to discuss it!

Hey Alex -- is the idea that these are made from the hide (or pieces of hides) of some LARGE and sturdy beast? E.G., a bull Aurochs, or a Forest or Steppe Bison -- they, killed in winter, thus explaining why they look so "shaggy?" Or, is the idea that they're made out of pieces of the hide of a Wholly Mammoth?

I always thought of them as being mammoth fur, but I don't have any 'official' back story for them.

The round one works as a tent, but I think CC sculpted it intending it to be a storage space or something similar – it doesn't have an obvious entrance flap like the others do.

Alex, you painted those beautifully! It's great to see them done like that.

Dan
PS. Yes, the oval one was made to be used as a food cache, but it could easily be used as a living tent.

OK, folks – I've gone ahead and placed the order for 30 more sets from the caster. They should be here by the end of January. If anyone wants to pre-order (read, "pay for") their set now, shoot me a PM & we'll sort it out.

Thanks very much for all the feedback and interest! I wasn't sure that it'd be worth it to do another batch of them, but it looks like there's enough interest for it.

-Alex

And Dan, if you start sculpting again, let me know – I'm always interested in looking at anything you make! :)

Alex, I will most definitely let you know! Hopefully soon.

Dan

Huzzah!