The Loose Association of Wargamers

I despise the Kickstarter or Crowdfunding concept (almost as much as self checkouts in supermarkets). All are designed to make money for a business by transferring the risk/work to customers. If you believe you have a product the market will welcome then back it with your own money not mine.

I agree completely.

Not sure I agree. I think they serve a purpose. Small designers who don’t necessarily have access to the capital required can fund a project. If this option wasn’t available, these projects may never exist and the hobby may well be poorer as a result.

I've only ever backed one, the Footsore one, and then only when it was their second in the Baron's War range. I am thinking of backing the Medieval Welsh one again by Footsore but are you suggesting that I shouldn't?

Kickstarters do come with a caveat that you have to be very careful or risk losing your money. I’ve backed three, one Barons War, Colin Farrant’s windmill and a roleplaying expansion. All three have good reputations and were low risk. Two have been delivered and I expect the BW one to arrive this month.

For me it’s about investing in the hobby. I try to do it as low risk as possible, and if it comes off, I’ve helped add something to our hobby that may well never have existed.

I also don’t have a problem with self checkouts at the supermarket as it’s often quicker for me to use them

Jeremy wrote: ↑Mon Aug 30, 2021 10:39 am Not sure I agree. I think they serve a purpose. Small designers who don’t necessarily have access to the capital required can fund a project. If this option wasn’t available, these projects may never exist and the hobby may well be poorer as a result.

Absolutely the reason I've backed maybe a couple of dozen. In fairness there's very little risk in the Wargames ones and there's only been an issue with a couple. One which delivered over a year late because the one man band lost interest and one because the, much larger, manufacturer was basically incompetent and not totally truthful at times

Most of the ones i've backed have excellent backer participation and communication too, Mantic, Andy Hobday (Barons War: Warhost, not Footsore ) and Midlam are particularly good for that.

However i'm not sure when the bigger manufacturers use crowdfunding as a pre order device as that's not what the idea was really meant for.

I totally agree with Jeremy and i think i agree with Paul. I think i need to sit down.

They definitely are hugely useful to small and Indy producers and anything that helps them is good. Personally i havent used them much because when i buy stuff i tend to want it now. But the principle is great and if gets non-mainstream products into the market then thats brilliant.

I have backed quite a lot, what you have to remember is that for small and medium companies, they can be a most welcome cash injection.
And saying they would sell anyway does not take into account you might take 2 years to recoup your investment as a figures maker just by putting them up for sale, possibly longer.

I think KS works well for small hobby business's, but you have to be wary of the explosion, right product, right moment and you can be overwhelmed beyond your capacity to deal.

Although I'm clearly in the minority on this I've not actually read anything in the answers that would persuade me to a different stance. I doubt any of the Kickstarter products would be missed in our hobby if they'd not come to the market via others shouldering the risk. We wargamers are suckers for the new and shiny after all.