"Question for Hasslefree about Celtos" Topic

So... I've heard that there's an announcement in the current Harbinger magazine that the entire Celtos line is for sale. I haven't seen the magazine yet, so I suppose it's just hearsay, but if it's true, would Hasslefree buy the line?

As I understand it, Kev sculpted a lot of the Celtos line, and his distinctive style is all over the figures. I'm sure Hasslefree would do the series justice!

There were some fantastic pieces of concept art for Celtos posted here on TMP last year by I-Kore, and I for one would love to see Kev's take on the artwork.

I also promise to spend lots and lots of money on Celtos figs if you buy the line!

-Alex

Alex, you could always offer to join Hasslefree as an investor, to help purchase the Celtos line!

(Then you'd probably get your minis at cost...)

I for one like the stuff he is doing at Hasslefree much better than the old Celtos my-what-big-swords-we-have line. I would rather see new sculpts that _didn't_ expand the Celtos line.

I heard this rumour too :)

As far as I know the guys at UM don't have 90% of the master moulds and have mislaid the greens I sent them last year. So apart from the rules system, artwork and printed stock, Celtos isn't really worth much to me.

AKAIK, The rules were under revision and as yet haven't been updated so they're out of date and need work done on them as they stand.

Without the master moulds I'd be at a disadvantage when the time came to re-work the production moulds, and without the greens I'd have to work on the ranges from scratch to expand them.

Also, I hear that one of the reasons for getting rid of Celtos are the legal issues between what was I-Kore and Rackham that arose when I was asked to use photocopies (that I later found to be) taken from the old Rackham catalogue to make the first of the Gaels. Legal battles are something I don't need right now, especially when I wouldn't have a leg to stand on.

And as mweaver says, I've come a long way since I-Kore. Going back to Celtos may be a step in the wrong direction for Hasslefree.

All good reasons not to get involved. Still, I hope someone picks up the line, as it has some rather nice figs in it.

SOme of the dwarves were really nice, in particular.

FWIW, the announcement can be found here:

link

The rules to the game are fairly solid. A few things need tweaking, but mostly it's language, not mechanics. The army lists need doing (The Gael book is unbalanced with the starter lists in the rulebook, and the playtest lists I saw need a lot of work).

If someone else were to pick it up, would you be willing to do more work for it, Kev? Sculpting-wise, that is.

Possibly :)

So long as they can afford me and can put up with my Prima Donna tantrums and foot stomping.

Hmmm. Maybe they should just stick to head-, weapon- and equipment-swaps to flesh out the ranges, then :)

They could do that *if* they had the master moulds and/or the greens.

Aah, just continue with the terrific work and excellent BME bashing you are doing now, Kev! You are WAY past the Celtos stuff quality-wise.

BME? What's that?

Well, that's interesting to know. Thanks for the response!

-Alex

From the post on the UM forums:

"270+ unique miniature designs plus tin masters"

So it appears whoever buys it will have the masters :)

Oh, and my previous reply was meant to be tongue-in-cheek, referrring to your tantrums.

How much would this "whole package" thing would go for?

Anyone has a reasonable idea about the cost of the whole lot being sold by the Johns and crew?

andrew paul wrote:
"From the post on the UM forums:

"270+ unique miniature designs plus tin masters"

So it appears whoever buys it will have the masters :)"

that doesn't mean that they have all of the masters though does it? I would double check that one.

link

Jr wrote:
"We have around 50% of the master moulds also on our premises. The other master moulds are being held for us by the company we subcontracted to make our master moulds."

by "we" I asume that he means I-kore, and the moulds aren't exactly being held by the mouldmaker, he just wont release them until he gets paid for work outstanding scince I-kore went down. They may have paid in the last two weeks I guess, I had heard that the figure owing was around the £5k mark.

I also now know for a fact that they don't have the greens because I just checked my old email account (the one that only gets checked every few weeks or so) and Colin McCulloch, the boss of UM, sent me an email on the 31st of May asking for their return.