Wednesday 18 May 2016

The potential future. Or, yet another doomed jaunt into the wargames industry.

This is just a bit of a personal update really, though it is hobby related, so might interest a few of you. As some of you may know, I've been part of the Wargames Industry repeatedly over the last 25 years, (GW, Hetzerdog and more recently the F*undry F*ckwits). This generally ends in tears, but for some reason I just can't stay away and my burnt fingers never seem to teach me the lesson I so obviously need.

With my current spinal injury meaning I'm not at work, it's given me a lot of time to think things over. Partially about fitting a TVR V8 engine in my Land Rover it has to be said, but also about my future in general. Depending on the surgical outcome, I may never return to 100% fitness, and part of the problem is that sitting at a desk programming for long periods of time is something that I may no longer be able to do, and that puts my current job/career in jeopardy.

With that in mind, my partner and I have recently been looking at buying a laser cutter/engraver, which will work for her clothing company, and I thought of possibly starting up in a small/part time way, in the wargames scenery business to bring in some extra income.

A new toy...



Now, I do realise that the laser cut scenery business is booming at the moment, and possibly nearing capacity. However, a large proportion are companies knocking out very basic 'etched box' houses that frankly just aren't very good. There are a few notable companies (4Ground, Sarissa etc) putting out some fantastic work though, and my plan is to aim at that level, rather than the entry level stuff. Now, I know that is going to be a bloody steep learning curve, but what the hell, I could do with a challenge.

I already have small scale resin/white metal mouldmaking and casting facilities, mainly for making jewellery, but I think that a combination of laser cut buildings with resin/metal accessories would be a potentially good angle that isn't currently oversubscribed.

Fenris have already done this with their 'Griffin House' kit, and it breaks away from the traditional problem I have with laser cut scenery in that it doesn't look like a laser cut  model:

How to do laser cut scenery well

This is my issue with most of the stuff out there, it's too regular, too boxy and just too simple. Houses aren't featureless boxes, roof tiles aren't a flat surface etched on a board etc, so I'd like to think I could make far more 'realistic' buildings, both fantasy and sci-fi. My issue with the sci-fi stuff is that it's also generally too clean, and follows the Infinity style of scenery. I prefer my scenery to be a bit more 'lived in', but I guess we'll see how that works, and if anyone else would buy it!

Anyway, there you go, a bit of an update for you, so if you see my blog's not getting updated as often as it was, it's because a: I'm still struggling to paint due to health issues, and b: I'm desperately trying to learn AutoCAD!


4 comments:

  1. I share your view on current scenery so if you were to provide more realistic and weathered solutions, I'd be amongst those very interested.

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  2. I feel like there is a lot of room in the laser cut terrain market, but you have to consider that a lot of gamers are cheap SOBs.

    So that is part of the reason that you get the featureless engraved boxes, because laser time is expensive time. Aside from one or two "hero" buildings, populating a table with the best multilayer laser cut terrain just is not going to happen.

    A second problem is that MDF is heavy, making for shipping, particularly overseas, expensive. This can be mitigated a bit by using card instead (as some companies do), but it is something to factor in.

    A possible solution to these problems is to create detail parts for the otherwise featureless boxes, or to have comparatively small buildings.

    Anyway, something I have thought quite a lot about, so thanks for providing the opportunity to put my 2 pfennig in.

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    Replies
    1. Cheers for the input! It's something I've thought a lot about as well, hence going in this direction. I think low volume, higher cost is the way to go for me personally, as any business I'm in has to interest me on a personal level as well as financial, and selling etched boxes just doesn't interest me.

      Possibly providing '2 level' kits might be an option, with regular and deluxe versions. I agree with your thoughts about both gamers being cheap and about mdf weight. Most buildings I've bought as research are in 2mm or 3mm mdf, and that's just total overkill. I've been using relatively delicate card buildings for decades, and I don't think that level of material weight is needed. Of course, it's probably down to ease of cutting etc, so lighter weight materials will be something I need to test out once I've got hold of the machine.

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    2. laser cut card is the only company I am aware of that is doing something similar.

      You might also consider doing a line of facadés, which would again be half way between correctly detailed and engraved boxes... the super detailed portion goes on the fore, and the rest is more of a box. plenty of historical buildings were made in this fashion too.

      And do not forget about the model railway folks! S and O scales are pretty close to what we use for 28mm.

      It is unfortunate that there are not international partnerships formed for this sort of business, as having things printed in the same country is seemingly cheaper than printing them abroad and having them imported (just for shipping, but there are obviously tax and environmental implications as well)

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