Kicking it!

I know that Kickstarter is nothing new to the Hobby Blog community but I thought I’d do a post about my experiences with Kickstarter since last year.

Zombicide

My first Kickstarter was Zombicide! by Guillotine Games and Cool Mini or Not. One of my hobby friends sent me a random text message about this this cool looking zombie game that has Sheldon from the Big Bang Theory as a miniature. Well, I’ve never been a big “Zombie” guy but I was still intrigued. He sent me the link and that was my first taste of Kickstarter. What a interesting concept… well, I pledged full in on the “Abomination” level which covered the base game and then a host of extra survivor (and ultimately zombie-survivors) models as part of the stretch goals. The game delivered on time and I’ve had a load of fun playing with my son and his friends! I thought to myself, that this kickstarter thing was pretty cool and I really felt like a got a good value for the dollars I committed. We are still expecting the second wave shipment later this year – looking forward to all the new survivors. In the meantime, I’ve been slowly cracking away at painting my zombies. Next time we play a game, I’ll try to break out the camera and get some game shots!

 

Reaper Bones

Well, I really got caught up in the excitment over this Kickstarter. So many models for such a “small” dollar investment. They sucked me in pretty good with all the stretch goals and in the end, I even pledged to get the paints as well. I’ve always been a fan of the reaper paint line and the painting sets offered as part of the kickstarter stretch goals were cheaper than retail so why not… Having said that, my experience with this kickstarter was a bit more dissappointing. We are still waiting for everything I pledged to be delivered. I knew the models weren’t due until later this year but they failed to deliver the paint sets in November as they were orginally promised. Reaper was very up front with this with several email communications – basically they were overwhelmed by the success of their kickstarter and couldn’t deliver on the demand. So I’m still waiting for the paints to be delivered. Oh well, there are lots of goodies coming… though I have no idea what I’m going to do with most of the models.

So that ending 2012 and my Kickstarter pledges. I spent a considerable amount of time watching several other Kickstarters but ultimately held off on pledging.

Now in 2013, I’m getting sucked in again…

Rivet Wars

This is a 2 player game set in a WWI/Steampunk era. The models look like so much fun and the game play looks to be pretty solid. This is another KS from the CMON team so I’m very confident they’ll deliver. The KS is a little over a week old and it is already funded now we just watch it grow as the stretch goals roll on. They are already delivering some pretty cool cameo “Special Edition” miniatures – some of the movie references are beyond me (though Nick Fury was easy to identify). This KS is about to cross the $200K mark. At $225K things will get pretty crazy. I’d encourage anyone reading this blog to check out the Rivet Wars Kickstarter!

 

The Painting Pyramid

The last Kickstarter I’m backing right now has a local connection. Uber painter – James Wappel is running his program to publish a huge series of miniature painting DVDs. James is an amazing artist and his models consistently win prizes in every competition he enters. He played in my Bilbo’s Birthday Bash Tournament this year and ran away with the Best Appearance awards. Anyway, very happy to support a local guy and get some good advice on miniature painting too. Make sure you go check James’s Kickstarter.

 

Wyrd Hobby Services

Finally, not related to Kickstarter but Blog worthy… A good friend of mine has started his own Hobby painting and converting commission business. You should definitely check out his site. He’s one of the best painters and I know and he’d love a chance to work with your models! Go check him out at Wyrd Hobby Services!

Well, that’s all for now… I’ve got a lot fun Hobby things planned for this year and with any luck I’ll actually get some blog posts made…