Legends of the Fabled Realms from 4Ground has left me with a sour taste. Only upside is at least I got a weekend at the OTT  centre and some terrain out of it.

For me the shine went off KS when Scythe arrived.

I’m done with KS now after receiving the latest Vaesen book (Mythic Britain) which is sadly a very lazy and mediocre product.

Shipping prices are going up, and I’m in the middle of the Blacklist Games drama. ): Given that I’ve been backing miniature laden campaigns since Bones I (and even picked up Zombicide Season 1 promos through a flea market), I’m good with bulk generic fantasy miniatures, and zombies, not to mention games with long campaigns. I did pick up the CMON Undead or Alive, so have a good supply of Old West miniatures as well. I’ll still back bulk miniatures that are unusual (Eg. War of the Teddies, Tiny Furniture’s “Sitting People”) or anything to fill out the collection.

I’ll back the Gloomhaven miniatures KS, but think I’ll not buy Frostgrave because of the $250 retail cost and Update 80. Retail holiday sales are *still* good, and have free shipping to boot. I’ve spent $150 with Noble Knight (before the union issues) and maybe $100 at Miniature Market (Arkham Horror 3rd edition for $32). With the holiday sales, I think I still spend a fair amount of hobby money retail.

I’m okay with waiting, since it takes me five or so years to get around to playing a game I’ve bought. KDM *has* had a of hype before the second KS, but it was also known that it would take forever to ship out and the scope would go nuts. I actually haven’t opened the inner shrinkwrap of the core box yet. 😛

As for hype, for myself, the hype is usually followed by a high price tag (eg. Oathsworn) or disappointing selection (eg. Terrain Crate 3 — I don’t play unusual sf that could use the plants or mat) so I close the tab and wait for the next KS. I do like the BoW ads reminding me of mini’s I don’t have the budget or time to play with. (I keed — BoW is my favorite way I can find out what mini’s are out there!) 😀

Last night – 26th, there was a KDM update…things moving forward etc… I`m not a backer, just let you know if you have not checked in on them. Myself, Its Hel the last sage…just quickly went right now and checked on dates..! Went live on May 2020, and ETA of Jun 2021…woops…

I’ve not backed a KS for several years now.  I found that any initial buzz was always killed by the time of eventual delivery.  Add in any other dramas that occasionally plagued KS projects and I found on the whole I was mainly paying for the privilege of disappointment.
Also I really, really have enough stuff now.  I don’t need any more. My purchasing in general has slowed to a dribble.  Lockdown did wonders for my project painting, and so now I have completed, painted and based armies for very many games sitting waiting to be used.  Anything I buy now in terms of figures has to be available immediately as I am simply buying it for the fun of painting it up and maybe to add options to an existing army, so there’s no point in a) buying huge boxes, or b) buying stuff that won’t arrive for a long time.
I’m also done buying and learning new rulesets.  Sod that for a game of soldiers.  I hate the hassle of learning new rules, so I’ve decided to opt-out.

Of course, I’m still human (just!!) so I occasionally crack – I went big on Slaine this year – but in my defence, I did paint it all and I have played it quite a bit.  But on the whole, stuff has to be pretty special to rouse my desire, and KS with its inbuilt delays and issues is never going to get there any more!

Ive recently gone through some interesting experiences on KS. one project had a funny air about it and at the moment of backing I had a alarm going off saying ‘seems too good to be true, you realise this is probably a scam’ I elected to still go through with it. it collected and failed to deliver anything, I have chalked it up to experience, trust your gut instinct in future etc

others I got very excited for during the project and when they delivered I was less fussed by them. nothing wrong with that on either sides of the fence, just life.

recently however I had one project that has succeeded and some people have got their stuff, the majority have not however and im really saddened by it. I had a lot of excitement for the theme, timeline and ‘vision’. now effectively the creator has somewhat disappeared and I believe they wanted it to be a big success, they simply had a business relationship breakdown and caused issues with delivery. I do not believe I will receive what ive invested in and it’s sad.

now my life has moved on and circumstances have changed. I am not likely to back KS projects in the future, not because I don’t want the projects to succeed, purely because I don’t have the time anymore and still have a big pile of stuff to deal with. im ultimately reorganising my priorities and becoming much more disciplined with my time/money.

I’ve stopped with the KS purchases with a simple question to myself “How likely am I going to be to paint these things in the next year or two?” (Hint answer is usually not). Sometimes a “smaller” KS might tempt me for things like a rulebook etc, but the days of “Board game with LOOK AT ALL THE MINIS YOU GET” sales pitch usually leaves me cold. I’ve got a rather large backlog thanks to Mantic (still not got all the Dreadball teams painted, as well as the Dungeon Saga), and the only other thing on my paint list to do is Core Space (and the later game addition), although thankfully with that one I don’t have to paint any terrain (just the minis).