"Renaissance Knights in 28mm" Topic

Steel Fist Miniatures sells the renaissance knights funded during the last campaign through three sets in 28 mm.

Main page
link

Amicalement
Armand

They are very nice but cost way too much (2 cavalry = £20.00 GBP) for people collecting for armies. You need lots of these chaps for the Italian Wars.

I'm with you on this one Olicana, for me it works out @£100 per lance of 10.
May buy some as commanders and characters.

If they are up in the shop I assume the Kickstarter-sets are in the post, too.

Nice :-)

Expensive, indeed. But quality sculpts and casts with miniatures that you will not find otherwhere. Suited for characters. I will post some pics how they rank up with Foundry, Tag, Eureka and Perry when they arrive.

Puster, that will be very useful. Thanks in advance.

Glad you like them boys.

Amicalement
Armand

Those are good!

Do you want quality or quantity, that is the question….

I always want both.

Do you want quality or quantity, that is the question….

That is a good question.

This is a photo of my attempt at putting on a Marignano 1515 game at Derby a couple of years ago where I attempted to show both. I had to use every gendarme in my collection for this game. I bought most at around the £3.50 GBP per figure mark – simply unaffordable (for me) at £10.00 GBP each.

Well sculpted figures always make painting easier and more pleasurable but, you don't have to pay £10.00 GBP a figure to get the required detail. These are a mix of several manufacturers – the Cardinal is a conversion I did especially for the game.

More pics of my collection here:

link

Steel Fists figures are very, very nice but, I would argue, the quality, plus extra heads, weapons and plumes doesn't justify charging more than double the price of Foundry, TAG, etc. IMHO Steel Fist are overcharging; if they can sell enough to make it worth their while then good luck to them – they will not be getting any of my money. At present, Foundry are doing a deal where you get 66 gendarmes for £192.00 GBP (that is £2.91 GBP each).

Great Photos Olicana, i think they must be the largest and finest Italian wars collection there is, always been a great inspiration!

The problem with Foundry is of course that they have but one barded horse for their gensdarmes. I mix in some of their WOTR barded, but its still not easy to coverup.

That said, while I would have loved two sets of Steel Fists Gensdarmes, to paint in various styles, I had to go for one for that montary reason: one of these equals 6 Perry Gensdarmes.

It's a tough one as they are beautiful figures and it is such a niche period.

I backed the kickstarter so they came in at £7.66 GBP for me. Still not cheap though.

This is for anyone who questions my prices,
I'm not over charging anyone…
I sell them for a carefully considered sum and I don't care what anyone else sells their figures for.
If people ask for quality and variation of a niche period then they have to make it worth while for artists produce them.

For £20.00 GBP you get two plumes per figure plus two heads per figure making these figures very modular.

These figures cost me £7.00 GBP per set of two figures to make, plus I have to lay out thousands of pounds to order stock and then wait for sales.
The reason the price is twenty pounds is because I sell to distributors now and they expect a 50% discount of retail price.
Which means if I sell to them I make £1.50 GBP per figure! I have to sell 100 sets to make £300.00 GBP
When there are so few people into these kind of figures the amount you can hope to sell is very limited.

I do make more if I sell them through my website but I have little time to advertise my website, and I cannot offer a lower price than my retailers unless it's a limited special offer.

The reason so few sculptors bother to make ranges interesting or even finish ranges is because so few people are willing to support them.
Many of the best sculptors end up looking for other work Tom Mier being an example who recently mentioned this.

While I really appreciate all my loyal customers who wish to support my endeavours to bring these kind of figures to the market.
I don't make good money from this business and to make survive requires high prices.
If you feel other miniatures are comparable or better value for money then of course buy those…it's your choice because I'm not going to try to compete with other brands.

Nobody will listen if you go into a Ferrari dealership and say that they are overcharging because you can buy other cars for ten percent of the price, people just accept that Ferrari just cost more even though they are all at the end of the day cars.
They are for collectors or show offs who can afford them not for people wanting a family runaround.
My figures are the same, they are not table fillers they are carefully designed for people who want unusual figures and who spend a long time painting them for display.
Iike any art if don't like them enough to pay the price then you simply don't want them enough.
It's not like I'm depriving people of food, these are excess luxuries.

Anyway for a real like Renaissance duke you had to have a lot of money to field lots of Gendarmes! :)

Do you think you will do a Light Cavalry kickstarter for this period at some point as was hinted during the last one?

I am sure the results would be spectacular.

Iike any art if don't like them enough to pay the price then you simply don't want them enough.
It's not like I'm depriving people of food, these are excess luxuries.

Absolutely correct. Charge what you like. As I said,

if they can sell enough to make it worth their while then good luck to them

And I wish you the Best of British.

DELETED………..

Light horse are on my mind but i will have to see….

Also I have put a kind of unit deal on my website so they can be bought as a full set for £45.00 GBP As they were in the Kickstarter
Also my distributors who will carry them at shows may have deals of their own.

Glad you like them too guys.!

Ammicalement
Armand

Those sculpts and paint jobs are gorgeous.

That said, with separate arms, helmets and plumes, it sounds like there is going to be a fair bit of assembly work with superglue involved.

I have also supported all Steel Fist kickstarters they've made in a few years; samurai Warlords/Sekigahara battle clans as I think they're making a great job to reproduce figures to such an extent of details and historical accuracy nobody else makes; their point to charge more than the standard wargames figures can be shared or not but it is simply not correct to compare their with other makers' castings and prices in my opinion because these Steel Fist are targeted to small group of gamers who really can appreciate and afford the efforts they made to produce them . Foundry castings were produced more than 2 years ago and the mould/sculptors cost were paid off long ago so why their price is still quite high; everybody is waiting for their reduced costs offers to buy them…

I don't even game the period but was tempted; they are such lovely minis, especially the horses.

I think Oliver of Steelfist has made a perfect statement here, in regards to his figures and costs. They really are the top of the tree in regards to detail and accuracy plus top notch sculpting and casting quality.
I will be ordering some once the Xmas wallet killer period is over, and i would love to see him do some lesser mounted knights/ lighter cav.

Also I have put a kind of unit deal on my website so they can be bought as a full set for £45.00 GBP GBP

That sounds good, though I noticed that the free shipping starts at £50.00 GBP… then again, also those foot gendarmes look gorgeous.

Thanks for all the positive support.
I intend to make light horse but there are a number of other packs for this range I'm currently working on first!
I will also at some point make the Knights as single piece castings with only the lance to glue on for those who don't want to mess with modular figures.
Those will of course be cheaper too.

That is great news, the sculpts so far have been superb so I am keen to see what is coming next.

Well said Oliver, mine arrived today and they are lovely figures and looking forward to what you have next in the pipeline however some mounted command especially some Italian looking fellas would be champion.

cheers Pete

Eagerly awaiting mine…

Sorry Steel Fist. Whether you like it or not you do compete in market place with other products. Were your products more competitively priced I would consider purchasing them. It really is a question of value (cost versus benefit.) Your pricing is so far beyond other comparable products that I am taking a pass. Too bad because more sales at a lower return per unit might get you to your goal sooner.

Yours are in the post Puster :) in fact I hope to post the last ones tomorrow.

Marcus Brutus
I don't compete with the market and I'm not interested in doing so.

I tried once with a pack of samurai that was very competitively priced and I sold about twice the amount.
Why should I work hard to process two times the orders for the same overall amount of profit just so people can have cheap figures.
It's not worth my time.

if you feel the other product are comparable the buy those.

Fortunately enough other people are willing to support me to make it worthwhile.

I agree Steel Fist with your comment immediately above. You can choose to price your products in any manner you like. I have problems with your first post and the tone in it. This is a comments board and people are giving you feedback. If they protest your pricing and feel that you are over charging that is their right. I happen to agree with them. The selling price of any product in the end is what the purchaser is willing to pay. I was observing above that a lower price would get more sales. In economics there is something called the "law of diminishing returns." The perfect price is the one that gets the most sales for the highest amount. Personally, I think your Renaissance knights have more marketing potential than samurai. It is your decision to make of course. But the rest of us can comment on your decisions through this Forum if we so chose.

Of course all are free to make their views known, I was only defending my point of view and then people have both sides thoughts on the matter and can decide what they think.
No hard feelings intended.

Comparison pictures, please, someone. I am curious how these stack up with the older GW Empire metal Reiksguard knights.

They have arrived, in time for christmas :-)

Really nice minis – also the 15th century knights. Good detail and perfect cast. Glad I got them!

Building them will need some basic skills, like stifting the plumes, or fitting the lances to the hands. I will do that soon, though it may take some time to decide which heads and plumes will go with which body and horse now. :-)

For first impressions, the horses are in size between Foundry/Perry and Lead Adventure, though usable with both (as larger horses aside the Perry or Foundry). They will imho not fit into the same unit with Eureka or the Pro Gloria horses. As I plan to use them for characters this will pose no problem – imho within the same army you can mix all the lot. The GW horses are, of course, a size of their own, especially in bulk. When I do them I will add one of these.

Photos to follow in a week or so… busy times.