Hybridisationing

I've got some very interesting things to talk about today, but only if you're interested in those things, which I hope you are because a) you're here reading this and b) I'm going to talk about those things whether you are interested in them or not.

Gogamagogging

Firstly, NEW STUFF! Because I know you love that kind of thing. (No Mordians please).

The lovely Ivan Flaman has created Gogamagogg for us (after a brief hiatus from sculpting) and while he's not quite finished yet - I want to give him a bigger belly! - he's almost there.

Gogamagogg's hip animals (you know we love them) include a cow and a poorly mallax; he had to have two, after all!

This fellow is 190mm tall or thereabouts, so he's bloody huge - bigger even than Gomagg - and he will only be available in resin (more on that in a sec).

Warlording

Rafael Callegari has been busy on three of our warlords, which are just about complete; Talorc, Penda and Conall Cóel have been wonderfully realised in his excellent style, which - we think you'll agree - very much suit Darklands.

First up, let's have a look at Talorc macUuid, the bloke in charge of the Fortreans:

That should show you how big Gogmagogg is...

Here's a close-up to see that fantastic expression on his face! What's he thinking about? Answers on a postcard...

Next let's see Conall Cóel, slightly roughed up and a bit more Darklandsy:

Then we have Penda the mighty bloody-handed b'stard of retail parks:

He's not quite finished yet, still a few details to sort and his helmetless version.

We're on course to get the warlords done by the end of this month; four are complete (well five if you count Sáthach) and it won't take long for Rafael and Cleyton to do the rest. Production has already begun on some of them and so we're very hopeful we can get them out to you all in April, which is rather exciting.

We'll offer them for sale individually next week I think, with probably ten sets for you to go for at a cheaper price; but they'll all be more expensive than on the project.

Productioning

Speaking of production; as you all know, we've got a big Grey Wulf resin backlog at the moment, which is easing - but is still going to be a problem until the summer, I should think. So, I've made An Executive Decision. Now that might sound like a late 90s thriller starring Steven Seagal, but it simply means the Grey Wulf backlog should get better much quicker; we're going to make everything above 50mm base size in cast resin. 30mm infantry, 40mm infantry and 50mm infantry - and up to 60x35mm cavalry - will still be made in Grey Wulf.

We're doing this for a number of reasons. I think, firstly, we've hit the limit of what our printers can do (at least in terms of speed) without hiring more people / using cheaper resin; it's simply not time effective to print monsters, so we're going to change that. Secondly, monsters don't need to be in Grey Wulf - cast resin is still perfectly viable for miniatures that are so large* - and perhaps there was an element of ‘new toys!’ about making the Brutal Beasts in Grey Wulf. Thirdly, those Brutal Beasts need to be done, and done soon, and they can be done much faster in cast resin.

Changing the monsters from Grey Wulf to cast resin does involve us printing out master miniatures, moulding them and casting them, but once they are moulded the guys can make them much faster than printing them, which of necessity is an overnight job. Cast resin is a little more expensive than Grey Wulf, but of more importance to me is speed right now. For example, we've literally just moulded the cogwyfern bits and we'll be casting those in the next few days; except for the wings, because we're...

...*Hybridisationing

Yes, that is a word. Well, it is now. Ahem.

Okay, so - some monsters will be a hybrid of cast resin and Grey Wulf, because some bits and pieces need to be a bit more flexible / less brittle than others. A good example are the cogwyfern, which you can see below.

What we've done with these guys is kept the wings in Grey Wulf (which are actually very quick to print because they are perpendicular on the print bed, and can be printed in big batches) and everything else is in cast resin. These guys were my test for hybridisationing (which means we are all now hybridisationingers here at Mierce Towers), and the test was successful as you can see. I was a little worried about cast resin shrinkage (it can happen) but the wings fit perfectly.

So, the cogwyfern are the first, and over the next few weeks and months we'll try to get all the brutal beasts into cast resin (or a hybrid) to get these guys out to you as quick as possible. That way we can concentrate on infantry and cavalry on the printers, which in turn then brings the backlog down quicker.

As well as that, it means new monsters like Gogamagogg can be produced much more quickly even with the Grey Wulf backlog, which ensures getting the kickstarter backlog done this year is not a pipe dream.

Pricing

This does mean that the monsters will go up in price, to meet the cast resin monsters half way, but that won't affect anybody who has a back order.

TL;DR - we're making monsters in cast resin again, which gets your stuff to you much quicker. This does mean an increase in price, but it'll be rayt*.

*A technical term meaning everything will be all right in the end.

So that's it for today, fellow Miercenaries! As always, if you've any questions, just ask...