About this project
$46,827
227
Congratulations - We funded in 129 minutes and are deep into Stretch Goals!
You can check in on us after the campaign ends by visiting:
www.DarkSwordMiniatures.com
Dark Sword Miniatures Facebook Page
Dark Sword Miniatures Twitter Feed
The Facebook Page of Jessica Rich For Painted Dark Sword Sneak Peeks
Our 16th stretch goal is now up along with an epic optional add on bundle of nine new Raccoon Miniatures and a Hamster optional add on bundle. You crushed our last Final FREE Miniature Stretch Goal with so much time left I had to figure out yet one more miniature to add on. Our final FREE Miniature Stretch Goal is for "Happy Baby Panda" sculpted by the most excellent Jason Wiebe.
Help bring this new Critter Kingdoms Anthropomorphic Animal Miniature Range Expansion to market! These are all lead-free Pewter Miniatures - not plastic. They come unpainted and the miniatures shown are the actual original sculpts.
Dark Sword Miniatures has been producing critically acclaimed tabletop gaming scale (often referred to as 28mm Heroic Scale) pewter miniatures for the past 13+ years. Our award-winning miniature ranges include the George R.R. Martin Masterworks, Elmore Masterworks, Parkinson Masterworks, Easley Masterworks, Caldwell Masterworks, Stephanie Law Masterworks, Visions in Fantasy, and of course our Critter Kingdoms Anthropomorphic Animals range. Dark Sword Miniatures has a 13+ year proven track record with our ranges and with our customers. With your backing and support on this project, we would like to release a number of new miniatures for our Critter Kingdoms range.
We did our first anthropomorphic animal sculpt way back in 2004. We did a few more here and there for the next couple years and then we decided to give them more attention and sculpting time. Fast forward to 2015 and we now have 127 (yes 127) anthropomorphic animal sculpts in the range. We have a huge assortment of different animal races in the range from Guinea Pigs to Owls to Turtles to Cats & Dogs. One of the great things about this subject matter is the endless variety of amazing animals we can turn into stalwart adventuring types.The one drawback with this endless variety of animal races is that sometimes certain archetypal character classes/professions (Fighters, Mages, Clerics, Rogues, Bards, Druids, etc) are overlooked or ignored due to time constraints. So you have a Mouse Warrior, but no Mouse Mage or Cleric.You have a Raccoon Rogue, but nothing else. So for folks looking to do RPGs or use the critter miniatures for table top games they run into an issue where they might not have all of the critter race and class options/combinations they would prefer.
This project will
look to remedy this issue for Dark Sword miniatures starting with two key
critter races: Mice and Rabbits. Dark Sword Miniatures has been developing a
Critter Kingdoms RPG game (it will be a “rules light” D20 system game) for the
past few years and have since been filling in the gaps on certain critter
race/class combinations. In the meantime, we have been commissioning large
amounts of awesome new critter artwork to use in this RPG and use for new
sculpts to give players & collectors more interesting/fun options for
various critter races that actually look like they could go on an epic
adventure with the appropriate gear they would need to survive outside of their
villages and towns. Variety is the spice of life and we hope to have a lot more
fun with this line.
Dave Summers has sculpted up the
wonderful new miniatures for this Critter Kingdoms expansion.
Dave has a proven track record with Dark Sword Miniatures, Ral Partha, and
WizKids. Dave got his big break into the industry with Ral Partha Miniatures
back in the late 1980’s. There, he worked alongside Tom Meier, Dennis Mize and
Jeff Grace. Dave sculpted some of my favorite dragons and miniatures for Ral
Partha. And he was on my list of sculptors to bring over to the Dark Sword team when I started the company back in 2002.
For those of you unfamiliar with Dark Sword Miniatures and the style of our
28mm heroic gaming scale miniatures, you can check us out on our Web site at: www.DarkSwordMiniatures.com
You can also scroll down the page to some gallery pictures of a small sampling
of the miniatures we have released over the past 13+ years. Please note -
these are painted studio model examples – all of our miniatures come in bare
pewter or resin and will require minor assembly. You the hobbyist will get
the pleasure of assembling and painting our miniatures in whatever color schemes
you wish to see them in. It is a wonderful hobby indeed..
Dark Sword has already run and fully delivered on three Kickstarter projects. We aim to once again exceed expectations on delivery of this project both on the quality of our miniatures and speed of delivery for our backer rewards. Like our last Kickstarter projects, we have a very simple campaign backer structure you can see over to your right. Early Bird Core Set and Core Set Backers will be rewarded for their support with special Kickstarter pricing. Other perks will include stretch goals that can be unlocked along the way for more free bonus miniatures added into the core set and access to other cool add-ons after the initial funding goal is exceeded.
We already have the core set fully sculpted and have
been running test castings of these miniatures to ensure everything is ready to
crank into high gear on the production front once we get underway.
Below is a small
sampling of our existing Critter Kingdoms Anthropomorphic Animal Pewter
Miniature range (I like to call them Critters).
Please note - these are painted studio models - all of our miniatures come in
bare pewter or bare resin and require minor assembly and of course painting.
Below is a small sampling of our existing George R.R. Martin Masterworks Pewter Miniature range from the Song of Ice and Fire Book Series that inspired the hit HBO show Game of Thrones. These miniatures were created working closely with GRRM himself from how he envisioned the characters from the books in his mind - they are not from the HBO series. Please note - these are painted studio models - all of our miniatures come in bare pewter or bare resin and require minor assembly and of course painting.
Below is a small sampling of our Elmore Masterworks Pewter Miniature range. Please note - these are painted studio models - all of our miniatures come in bare pewter or bare resin and require minor assembly and of course painting.
Below is a small sampling of our Visions in Fantasy Pewter Miniature range. Please note - these are painted studio models - all of our miniatures come in bare pewter or bare resin and require minor assembly and of course painting.
We have included the above galleries of images to showcase a
small sampling of what Dark Sword Miniatures has delivered over the past 13+
years as we approach 700 miniatures produced. You can see for yourself the
quality and care we put into every aspect of our small boutique miniature company.
You can check out our Web site at: www.DarkSwordMiniatures.com to see more
examples of what we have done and also read customer testimonials about the
quality of our miniature ranges and the speed of our shipments all over
the world. I bring these things up to call attention to our proven track record
of delivering on projects in a consistent methodical manner.
Thank you very much for checking out our Kickstarter Project!
Risks and challenges
The biggest challenge we face is getting the backer rewards shipped in a timely and affordable fashion. I want to exceed expectations on this front once again like we did on our first three Kickstarter projects. So to once again help support this goal, we have already completed sculpting and initial master molding on the core set of miniatures. We have also performed test castings to ensure everything is dialed in from a pewter quality perspective. We have already had our pewter miniature caster set aside casting time and packing time so we can quickly get a head start on production as this campaign is underway. Just like with our first three Kickstarter projects, we will keep our backers in the loop with frequent updates throughout the run of this new Kickstarter project. All of our production and packing/shipping will take place in/from the Midwest USA.
Many Kickstarter campaigns also run into shipping issues – especially international shipping issues. We are in our 13th year of business and have shipped orders out all over the world in the past 13+ years. We also completed and fully delivered on our first three Kickstarter projects. International shipping is expensive and this large release will be no exception. Dark Sword Miniatures has built a reputation of top notch quality and dependability over the years in regards to both our miniatures and our shipping turn times. And we aim to build upon that reputation once again with this new Kickstarter.
Another challenge many Kickstarters face is sorting the surveys after the project completes. Just like our last three Kickstarter projects, we have purposely built our project with simplified backer levels in order to simplify surveys so they are easy to complete and return quickly.
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Funding period
- (7 days)