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Welcome to Update #30 for theTGG2: Light & Darkness Kickstarter campaign!
(You can still Pledge on our special page, but hurry, there's little time left).
So, as promised, here's an orgy of renders to feast your eyes on. Below, you will find the work of two summer months' worth of sculpting.
As you can see, the Freebies are now almost finished (we are just missing Tobias and Ardanna), and a very big quantity of Heroines have also been made.
This means that these figures are moving on to 3D printing as quickly as we can prepare the files. As you will see below, in the section covering our trip to the foundry, the first TGG2 masters have already made their way to the foundry.
So we're pretty excited, because things are moving along quite nicely.
Our goal for the upcoming 4 weeks is to finish preparing all the finished sculpts for 3D printing, and move them along to the foundry. At the same time, we plan to start implementing an updated workflow for the troops. Scroll down below the renders for more info.
You will find below the renders for the following completed sculpts:
→ Lady Melith, Courtesan (Dark Elves – Fantasy/SciFi – Freebie/Heroine)
→ Mahleezariah, Lust Elves Matriarch (Lust Elves – Fantasy/SciFi – Heroine)
By the way, remember that this Lust Elves Matriarch is a pretty large miniature. See this imagefor reference.
→ Arthenya VI, The Archpapess (Sisters Heroine)
We knew from the start that Arthenya VI would be quite a character, and we are extremely happy with how she turned out. Nevertheless, we decided to forego the small cherubs from the concept and replace them with angel-like minions instead, which will work better fluff-wise. Please note that the 2 minions will be on separate bases, and there will be a scroll stretching down to the ground to hold up the one with the gun/sword.
→ Arthenya VI, The Archpapess (Sisters – SciFi – Heroine)
→ Arthenya VI The Archpapess (Sisters – Fantasy – Heroine)
→ Augusta, The Mother Superior (Sisters – Fantasy – Heroine)
→ Augusta, The Mother Superior (Sisters – SciFi – Heroine)
→ Lady Kashala, Dark Elf General (Fantasy – Heroine)
→ Lady Kashala, Void Elf General (SciFi – Heroine)
→ Liligrith, Exsanguinatrix (Dark Elves – Fantasy/SciFi – Freebie/Heroine)
→ Sephea, Executrix Champion (Dark Elves – Fantasy/SciFi – Freebie/Heroine)
→ Sister Trematta, Field Resurectrix (Sisters – SF – Heroine)
→ Violet (Dark Elves Mascot – Freebie)
To be honest, we know that some of you were not fully onboard with the concept of Violet that was shown during the KS campaign. The truth is that we had a very specific idea in mind, but it was not easy to translate it visually. So a lot of work has gone into this sculpt and we are now quite happy that she looks like the haughty and grumpy old lady we had envisioned.
→ Zailith (Dark Elves – Fantasy/SciFi – Freebie/Heroine) – Updated version
We were no 100% happy with the posing of Zailith from a previous render, and so we slightly tweaked it. It might look like a very subtle difference but we know that the final miniature will look a lot better for it.
→ Rithali-in, Expiatrix (Sisters – Fantasy/SciFi – Freebie/Heroine)
During the campaign, a few backers were puzzled by the look of Rithali-in, as they thought she were a Dark Elf and not a Sister... It will probably make more sense to you when you see her leading units of Repenting Sinners (some of our future Sister miniatures). She moves them forward into battle, towering above them on high iron heels, negligently cracking her whip whenever the spirit moves her...
→ Zaraya, Pilgrim Priestess (Sisters – Fantasy – Heroine)
→ Zaraya, Pilgrim Priestess (Sisters – SciFi – Heroine)
→ Sinzirith, Blood Vestal High Priestess (Dark Elves – Fantasy/SciFi – Freebie/Heroine)
→ Xarsiss, Harpie Queen (Dark Elves – Fantasy/SciFi – Freebie/Heroine)
→ Sister Altarii (Sisters – Fantasy – Heroine)
You saw Altarii during the campaign, but since then, we have extensively reworked the proportions of that first sculpt as well as the design of several of her elements.
→ Sister Altarii (Sisters – SciFi – Heroine)
→ Arkiish, The Black Reaper (Dark Elves – Fantasy – Heroine)
→ The Daughters of the Crucible (Sisters – SciFi – Command and Troops)
These are sculpts that are almost done. Normally, they should only need a bit of work to be finished. They are
The sculpts listed below have been lingering in the Completion queue for a while now. Sometimes, there are sculpts that prove harder than expected to bring up to the level we want them to be at. The ones below have been waiting for attention for a while now, because the people who could give them the necessary finishing touches have been kept super-busy with other sculpts. And so it's hard to squeeze them back into the planning. But just like you, we are extremely eager to see them done!
And finally, there's Tobias (Sisters Mascot – Freebie)
Tobias had been pegged as finished. But when we prepared the renders, we were not happy with him. So we sent him back to the Completion Queue.
These sculpts have been worked on, but they need much more work to be called finished. Nevertheless, we they have begun to take shape, and we can't wait to move them forward. They are
While some of the sculptors will be preparing the finished Freebies and Heroines for 3D print, the rest of the crew will set up an updated workflow to produce the TGG2 Troops. During the Kickstarter campaign, you've see a few sculpts of troopers and units. In retrospect, these were still very much work-in progress and tests. We now know that we can make them look much better and get them up to our continually higher standards.
As you may know, very often, we have several sculptors working on a single sculpts so that each individual can bring to it what he/she is best at. But with the TGG2 Troops, we want to bring this approach up to a whole new level. As we gear up for this, we deliberately are making the choice of slowing production a bit and focussing and training up all of our sculptors.
In the end, the production will move decidedly faster. However, it is quite possible that next month, we may have less sculpts to show you than in our previous monthly updates.
As noted in our past Update, we went to visit our foundry in the US at an earlier date than planned.
While quite intense and frankly, exhausting for all parties, this trip was a blast. It is also heralding a new era in the production of the TGG miniatures!!!
As you can imagine, walking into a foundry is a miniatures' fan dream. During our stay, we were every day awed by the treasure we'd discover whenever we opened a box, pushed a door or lifted a lid. Tons of miniatures everywhere, from many different companies, loads of collectible stuff no longer on sale, etc.
But all was not fun and games, far from it! We had the opportunity to witness and exchange a lot of information during these 15 days, which helped us rethink many of the processes involved both in sculpting and mould-making. Read on to learn about some of the things we worked on.
One of the key job we have to do when we 3D print sculpts is to cut them in several parts because most of the time, our miniatures cannot be cast in one piece. However, until now, we've always tried to minimise the number of separate pieces in the 3D print. There are 2 reasons for this. First, the more pieces you have for a miniature, the more space it needs in the mould, which means a higher cost for producing the mini. Second, we always want to keep the assembly of a miniature as simple as possible for you. But, working directly with the foundry made us realise that it would be more effective to cut the miniature in many parts at the 3D printing stage, and then, let the mould-maker re-assemble the parts so that he can get the most effective layout in the mould. In fact, it is a bit more complex than that, but you get the general idea...
We also worked on the making of the troops, which are designed to be multi-parts minis for a high level of customisation. In TGG1, we chose to keep all the parts and accessories for each mini on a single sprue whenever possible. It has advantages in terms of picking and packing and to us, it made more sense to keep all the parts together. But for various technical and logistics reason, we saw that a case can be made for grouping series of parts on smaller sprues, which would also probably reduce the number of gates on those parts (the gates are what connects the pieces to their sprues). We still have to test this, because in theory, it would increase the sorting and picking time (which is already a HUGE amount of work). However, the foundry tells us that it might in fact speed up this operation because each sprue will be easier to quality control.
Which takes us to our next point, quality control. We are implementing new workflows at the foundry to add an additional layer of quality control as the minis are cast.
We could go on and on like this, about all the stuff we worked on, tweaked, improved, or radically changed. As you can see, it's not very sexy stuff. However, we though you'd like to share in some of the tons of decisions and processes that go on behind-the-scene in the production of the TGG.
One of the most exciting moments of this trip to the foundry was to see the very first TGG2 3D prints being used to make the very first TGG2 moulds. You might not know this but, to make professional spin-cast moulds, you need to place the masters between two slabs of silicone or rubbers which you then “vulcanise”. This vulcanisation is a pretty gruesome process, as the mould is heated up to a high temperature while under 20+ tons of pressure. Just imagine our poor, supremely delicate 3D print masters thoroughly crushed as if they had be sat on by an elephant, and you'll get a picture of what happens in the mould.
As we are now about to conclude the shipment of our first TGG (Toughest Girls of the Galaxy) Kickstarter, we are ready to unleash these minis on the (perhaps unwary) general public. This will be done over the remainder of 2015 and may well stretch into the beginning of 2016.
We've included some HOT DEALS, saving you up to 15%!
PRE-ORDER NOW! The first 100 orders over 50 € will get a set of our 5 very popular TGG1 beer mats. Shipping will begin next Tuesday, September 22nd.Click on the images to go directly to our webshop.
Well, that's it for now. Remember that if you have any questions or concerns, you can always contact us directly via Kickstarter or email at RagingHeroesTeam@gmail.com.
Truth be said, it's been exhausting work getting this Update done, with 4 of us working non-stop for 10 full days. So now it's your turn ;) We'd love some feedback :)
Which of the minis shown above are your favourite? Which inspire you the most? Which one you did not see coming? What are your plans for all to these?
And stay tuned for our next Update, which should be around this time next month.
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At Raging Heroes, every army we create starts with carefully chosen ingredients. For the Dark Elves, you've got: Refinement. Elegance. Extreme Evil. Gothic fashion. Japanese Rock bands. Scandinavian fairy tales illustrations from the 19th century. Find out more about your past and future favorites!
