Pendraken Feedback

[Subedai]

A note on the webstore re:other ranges to fill out or provide opponents might be good. If the Mongols page had something like Subedai's excellent "mini-army list" for possible opponents above it would possibly have peaked my interest more. I know there's probably a lot of stuff that *could* be used as opponents but I wasn't interested enough to actually look; a quick "have a look at these for possible opponents" message might have got me moving!

Note - I still aren't personally buying Mongols as I've got far too much on and no time or money to finish everything g I'm currently flailing at anyway

I'd be quite happy to do the opponents list if asked...only would it set a precedent for others to do the same for their favourite period? Mine is quite a 'niche' area of history so I am in a group of one but can you imagine the potential furor over peoples ideas of different Ancient, Medieval armies using morphed figures?

[Leman]

Where Napoleonics are concerned my preference is to stick to a particular campaign. for me it is early Peninsular War. Re. 1866 - my Gotha troops are green painted Prussians.

[toxicpixie]

It might, sure - but then people will argue over the "correct" figures in the "correct" range anyway - that 1807 Wurtemavarin Horse Jager has epaulettes and puttees! He should be in ankle boots and have only half the frogging on the left shoulder! As an extreme example A short disclaimer ("In our opinion..." as opposed to "After extensive research these are 100% correct..." should help any complaints.

I can understand why you wouldn't want to end up with people saying "but the company that sold me the chicken said it worked fine as a kite!" but I bet a little guidance would nudge a few otherwise unlikely sales into clicking the commit button

[Roy]

First lot of Pendraken Miniatures I bought were two army packs for blitzkrieg commander.

I reckon, with the help of forum members knowledge and assistance, that building army packs for specific rules sets (like Baccus6mm, for one, do) may help sell more 10mm products and be a good starter/introduction package for new hobbyists into becoming new customers for Pendraken.

Just an idea.   

[Leon]

Thanks for all the posts and apologies for the delay posting in this one.  As far as the delays to ranges go, I've just put up a separate thread to explain that a little: http://www.pendrakenforum.co.uk/index.php/topic,11210.0.html

How did new models such as the much requested Centurion actually sell?
Is the Sherman, Tiger and T34 still best sellers?  Is the WW2 market reaching saturation ?
How did the new range like Falklands compare with say Vietnam in respect of sales?
What are the white elephant  moulds that sit redundant on the shelf and are seldom requested ?

I initiate this discussion for two reasons;  First, I believe Forum faithful can play a part in good market research, but to do so they need to appreciate that requests must have wide appeal otherwise it won't justify the outlay in sculpt and moulds (I assume a mould lasts about 30 casts?).  Secondly,  whitemetal models last forever. Our 10mm T34s  don't wear out.  My son is gaming with my 30 year old H&R 6mm.  This product durability means that repeat customers must be attracted to new products and ranges .  This means speculation and risk by Pendraken.  How can we downsize this risk?

Perhaps the way forward is for a coterie of customers  to commission a range.  Say for sake of argument a number of gamers want a number of specific African Bush war models and figures.   Then that group puts up the investment and when a commercially  viable number of pre-orders have been acquired, the sculpts are made and the first edition produced.   Like a save the church spire appeal a forum chart would tell us when a requested model(s) were viable.

The Centurion is probably the best selling vehicle we've ever released, which surprised us firstly but also provided impetus for us to continue with the modern vehicles expansion.

A mould can be cast 100's of times easily, especially in this scale.  We've got some moulds there that have probably done over 1000+ spins over their lifetime and they're still going strong.  Bigger figures will rip moulds quicker, but you should still be getting 100+ from them.  Some of the 28mm moulds we cast for other companies have done 500+ and are still OK.

We're not a big fan of the customer commissioned route for full ranges, as there's always the grey area of ownership as well as the inevitable debate on what should/shouldn't go into it!  The Mongol non-Kickstarter method worked quite nicely and could be used again with a few tweaks.  Quite a few people have gone down the Techno 'You Want What Making?' route and successfully produced one-off figures, but we're too busy for anymore of those at the moment unfortunately.

Sure there are other manufacturers who do make much more extensive modern ranges in 10/12mm if I wanted to go that way but got to say that I would stay a loyal PM customer due to the company's OUTSTANDING customer service.

So when ordering I like to see whats on offer (i.e. pics of product on the website) and pay actual postage, not a flat 40 or more % that some places charge. Leon and co are very good at answering any questions and don't mind adding on last minute changes/additions.        

Thanks for the kind words, much appreciated.  More photos on the website is something I'm trying desperately to fix and it will be one of my main focusses through 2015 (as it was through 2013 and 2014 as well!)  On the postage, the website currently adds 25% for Rest of the World, which usually works out to be around the right mark.  On smaller orders it's a great deal, on larger ones not so much, but we will be looking at adding some 'Maximum' levels to the website so there's only ever so much you'd pay in shipping.

It would be good to hear Leon's feedback on 2014 best sellers  of the new sculpts and popular ranges.

WWI and ACW are the current big sellers among the recent releases.  The Mongols are probably the slowest seller of the ranges, something that has surprised me a little as they're such nice figures and it's a fairly comprehensive range.  Maybe the lack of specific opposition is the stumbling block there, but that's a different discussion.

That said clearing the production queue and getting stuff on sale quicker would likely help - I was holding out for new Gauls but that project had partly gone elsewhere and partly been replaced by other projects as they haven't appeared yet I might be tempted to a few when they eventually appear, but probably not now!

Definitely, and that's something we need to get done asap.  The Romans/Gauls have been sitting there for far too long, as have the Falkland's additions and the SCW CTV troops.

"Range X simply isn't complete without figure Y" where Y will sell precisely one figure per set of people playing... Must strike fear into the hearts of figure makers everywhere...

Sometimes!  Luckily we are in a fortunate position where we've got a comprehensive catalogue that allows us to add those nice little bits and bobs to the ranges without it harming the business too much.

2.  10mm is a small market.   About one punter for every ten gaming in 15mm.  

I spoke to the WSS guys about that at the Crisis show actually.  In previous surveys, 10mm was gamed by between 5-8% of wargamers, but in the recent WSS survey this was up to around 12% of gamers.  Whether that was down to a change in people's habits or a wider survey group, I don't know, but it's a good percentage either way.  We'll continue doing what we can to get those numbers up!

I reckon, with the help of forum members knowledge and assistance, that building army packs for specific rules sets (like Baccus6mm, for one, do) may help sell more 10mm products and be a good starter/introduction package for new hobbyists into becoming new customers for Pendraken.  

That's something we've looked at, but the trouble is the huge amount of rulesets out there for any given period and which ones you do armies for?  You can guarantee that whatever rules you do packs for, someone will email and ask why you don't do armies for Ruleset X!  The sales on the 1000pt Ancient and Medieval packs were never great, even less so since GW dropped WM, so we'll be taking those out of the catalogue soon.  

We're hoping to more forward with our own rules instead, so keep your eyes peeled for those!

[Duke Speedy of Leighton]

Thanks Leon
The Centurians may be the biggest seller, but are they still that after you remove FSN's orders!?

[Duke Speedy of Leighton]

We're not a big fan of the customer commissioned route for full ranges, as there's always the grey area of ownership as well as the inevitable debate on what should/shouldn't go into it!  The Mongol non-Kickstarter method worked quite nicely and could be used again with a few tweaks.  Quite a few people have gone down the Techno 'You Want What Making?' route and successfully produced one-off figures, but we're too busy for anymore of those at the moment unfortunately.

Which is why, as soon as I discussed the Picts, I said I was funding the sculpts, but everything in the range belonged to you guys. Since My idea was to fund a range that might be popular but also to remove a small fraction of your expenses in getting the range out. Since shares in Pendraken are not available, this is my tiny investment beyond the normal cash for lead mountain arrangement.
Now I really hope they sell!

[Chad]

I agree with Lemmey's point on ownership. I too have had figures adjusted/reworked and have always made it clear to Leon that all ownership rights in the model belong to Pendraken. I personally don't think that has to be a large issue.

Chad

[Hertsblue]

Agree entirely. I have no problem with allowing figures I've commissioned to fall to Pendraken ownership. However, there will always be someone.... 

[Subedai]

That's something we've looked at, but the trouble is the huge amount of rulesets out there for any given period and which ones you do armies for?  You can guarantee that whatever rules you do packs for, someone will email and ask why you don't do armies for Ruleset X!  The sales on the 1000pt Ancient and Medieval packs were never great, even less so since GW dropped WM, so we'll be taking those out of the catalogue soon.  

We're hoping to more forward with our own rules instead, so keep your eyes peeled for those!

Agreed, working to a specific ruleset is like using a Mk One minesweeper...your foot! I think the original suggestion -especially where Mongols are concerned- was only for ideas of compatible figures from other Pendraken ranges that could be used for opposition armies where there is no existing range. More of an information sheet than an in-house, cast in concrete style format.

[Maenoferren]

Agreed, working to a specific ruleset is like using a Mk One minesweeper...your foot! I think the original suggestion -especially where Mongols are concerned- was only for ideas of compatible figures from other Pendraken ranges that could be used for opposition armies where there is no existing range. More of an information sheet than an in-house, cast in concrete style format.

Having just ordered a Mongol tribal army I fully intend to use my medieval figures I got for Christmas to fight them

[Subedai]

Having just ordered a Mongol tribal army I fully intend to use my medieval figures I got for Christmas to fight them

Mongols are the way forward because the figures are so cosmopolitan in 10mm. At a push you could even use them as bashkirs in a Russian Napoleonic army and just say they have muskets.

[GrumpyOldMan]

Hello Subedai

Mongols are the way forward because the figures are so cosmopolitan in 10mm. At a push you could even use them as bashkirs in a Russian Napoleonic army and just say they have muskets.

Well I was actually thinking of putting bolt action rifles on the back of the sword armed Mongols for use in Interwar/Pulp 






Cheers

GrumpyOldMan

[Subedai]

I rest my case about their versatility.

[mollinary]

I agree with Lemmey's point on ownership. I too have had figures adjusted/reworked and have always made it clear to Leon that all ownership rights in the model belong to Pendraken. I personally don't think that has to be a large issue.

Chad

Me too!  I don't want ownership, I want the figures. Unfortunately, in common with all spoilt little brats  - I WANTS  THEM - NOW! 

Mollinary