Golem Get Started On Hansa & Gates Of Antares Cancelled!
February 14, 2013 by brennon
Golem Painting Studio have done some exceptional work in the past for Mantic Games and other individual clients, and now they are taking on the task of painting Hansa for Dark Space Corp's Beyond the Gates of Antares...
Above you can see the undercoated and first stage of Hansa, and it's already looking great. It helps that the model itself is a superb sculpt and genuinely aspires to be painted!
If you want to follow along with Golem's progress then you can check out their Facebook Page.
There is also some rather sad news concerning their Kickstarter...
"After much consideration we have decided to withdraw our project from
Kickstarter.
We’d like to thank you all for believing in us and backing us, GoA will still become a reality but through different means.
*We will take the next month to reassess our plans, during this time you will still see us on the forums and we will continue to post updates to our website. Once we have a plan set we will let you all know what it is so that we can continue to build GoA together. *
There are a lot of positives to take from this journey and we certainly don’t think of this as a failure, more a change in plans with actual direct
feedback from the market, which should help us greatly in the future. One of the best things we’ve done is you guys. We managed to develop a thriving community in a very short time, which is bursting with ideas and support for the project and for that we thank you and we will continue to want and need your help in the future.
There are too many people to thank, but we’d like to take the opportunity to give special thanks to these guys (in no order!): Melcavuk, Krazus,
Prototheca, Endtransmission, Karl Pedder, Gylan Hunter, Michael Musson, John Wigley, Des Hanley, Karol Rudyk, Bruno Lavallee, Angelika Rasmus, Andy Gibson (brandnewbadidea), Golem Painting Studios, James Sherriff, Tim Prow, Kev White, Wojtek Fils, Bob Naismith, Andrew Chesney, Paul Sawyer
We’ll talk to you all very soon
Thank you!
Rick, Rik, John and Co"
Thanks to BoW user KingDaveTheBest for passing on this information.
What do you make of this Beyond The Gates Of Antares news?
It is a shame, but hoping to get 300k for a miniatures game that only has 1 mini to show us was hoping for a bit much. fingers crossed this game eventually gets to see the light of day
Sad to see that this project didnt get as much love as they were hoping for. Maybe their next go around wont have such a high goal.
Lots of positives for this project moving forward but to me it did seem like investing in a series of ideas rather than something more tangible. Let’s hope BTGOA can get this to a point where it requires just a small ‘kickstart’ to make it a viable option. Like @ demyse says…. get some more mini’s out there for us to drool over and lets see what happens.
It was ambitious but did not have a lot of tangible goods as @willy2fly & @demyse said.
Would have been interesting to see the plan put into action.
So what happens to any cash already invested?
This is the first ks I have seen that has been pulled up short.
Kickstarter is a all or nothing service. Backers dont get charged until after the campaign is over and the goal has been reached.
Thanks @wildchevy That clears that up!
awesome mini ! hope to see more of the project soon
It is a bit weird that a KS cancelled half way through imo. A bit weirder that GW problems, Main FB page removed, then the GoA KS cancelled. NOT suggesting there is any link between them, as I honestly do not know, but it just seems a bit strange. Hopefully isolated incidents in a difficult time. I did think it a little strange to start a KS with very little substance to it as Willy states above and I don’t think a few of their sculpts were very well received, or perhaps backers funds are drying up as there has… Read more »
It’s not weird when you were realise that they were over halfway through the kickstarter’s duration, but only barely over a third of the way towards the cash target. Simply put, they weren’t gonna make it, and cancelling it to concentrate on moving forward with whatever ‘Plan B’ turns out to be makes a lot more sense than letting it limp on until the end and failing to reach the target anyway.
Your comment just reminded me of a blog that seems to have come true.
http://pinsofwar.com/rick-priestleys-kickstarter-fail/
great catch there, Chibi
nice read Chibycharoo, he certainly hit the nail on the noggin with that blog, hehe.
Well, I suppose it did come true.
Wasn’t truly my intention, originally. They idea behind that post was more to write a (admittedly slightly provocative) “wake-up-and-fix-this” call to action.
But yeah, here’s to hoping that going back to the drawing-board will yield a better Gates of Antares in the long run!
I mean it weird how the last few weeks have panned out with the hobby and the fact that a lot of donations come in the last week or so, when the goal has been shattered or really close. I thought 300k was a bit steep like a few other people, but you hear the stories like Kingdom Death and you think, why not? anything is possible. I think it may detract from people donating again in the near future, unless it is 90+% done. Guess we will see when/if it happens. Maybe Rick has a lot of shares in… Read more »
Kingdom Death was probably a factor in this. It had won so many pledges it had shut a lot of wallets that would have otherwise opened for GoA. That said I think the fact that there was one mini was the big one. So many gamers choose their faction and build their lists based on what looks cool and the lack of minis would be offputting. Even if the rules are not quite ready they need a better taster of the toys folks will be playing with before a lot of people will commit. It’s great that there are so… Read more »
Not only that but KoD were able to produce instructional videos on game play.
Not certain at which point in the kickstarter that was, but in any case the McVey Studios had minis made prior to the launch of the KS and we new the models would be of good quality.
More minis and greens to show would indeed be a better plan
Now that is a name check if there ever where one 🙂
It where a new idea to go all in with a full game release with multible fractions, and this month been made with KS ideas.
I did find my self with 5 if you count GoA and Kingdom Death
And if you look at the guys behind it I think they are too savvy to let a little think like be 200K short on a Kickstarter will stop them, I’ll bet we have not seem the last of GoA
Suddenly we realise that a love for miniatures and being a great game-designer is not enough to put a good game out to the masses.
You need to have a business mindset as well. (always felt PP have all 3 nails hit :p)
I never backed this project just on the lack of solid material it had. The idea that KS is for helping someone get a project from scratch become a reality is far from true. We all back projects based on the content we will receive from them. For games we all look to see if the game will be fun and the physical content like models, boards and such are worth the hard earned cash we give them. GOA had very little in every department that attracts us to fund a game. If it wasn’t for Rick Priestley name I… Read more »
This is a good thing. Better to stop the train at the station, rather than let it hurtle off a cliff and onto the waiting rocks below.
I think this is a positive sign for kickstarted projects in general. For a while there, just about anything could get funded. People were going a little crazy just throwing money at anything and everything. I think it’s pretty obvious that some of those projects are going to end in failure because no one really held the organizers to any kind of standard of proof before just funding them and sending them on their way. That Gates of Antares got cancelled is a shame, but it shows that the customers in this market are coming down from the initial excitement… Read more »
I remember reading pinsofwars blog and agreeing with it, glad you posted the link to it Chibi. I was going to jump in early with the KS as I realy want to get into a new tabletop massed wargame without the usual “I go then I waite an hour while you go” jobby. Infinity to me is skirmish level. One mini and a few sketches was never going to draw a crowd but the biggest problem for me was the “Real Time Dynamic”. I just instinctivly felt like it was going to be abused left right and centre. The verry… Read more »
I think the kickstarter was a good way to them to get people involved.
There’s no reason they can’t kickstart a more mature offering as a result, and they will be able to use the coverage and feedback they’ve got so far to help with that.
pesonally i think the interview that GoA with the beasts of war team was a PR disaster. The guy in he middle (Warlord Games) why did you paticipate; if you had meaningful dialogue to contibute , then why you did not impart this? All i saw was a bloke sitting akwardly drinking tea as quickly as possible and saying nothing. If this is wht you bring to the project, then no thanks. The idea was sound as well as the mixed media handling of games, this was potentially great. The digs at your old employer, i understood because they did… Read more »
Seem to recall the comments were all positive and some said they would pledge.
Whether they did or no is another matter but it suggests that it was hardly a PR disaster.
As for the guy in the middle, you try getting a word in edgeways with Warren! 😛
Yeah. I think it hardly was a PR disaster.The fact that they DID get over 100.000 GBP with the little they showed goes a long way in demonstrating the credit Rick Priestley has in the community. Any other company Kickstarter with the same amount of miniatures, yet no “Rick Priestley” wouldn’t have gotten 1% of that money. Hell, 90% of the miniatures game Kickstarters out there don’t get anywhere near that 100.000 GBP mark with 100x times the content to show. Which is the tragedy in the end. If they had combined the “rick priestly” pitch with only half of… Read more »
Hehe that’s true, Warren does have a motor mouth – wouldn’t have it any other way! I was so annoyed the other day because of personal reasons (i.e. in a lot of pain) and this was one project i was really looking forward to; this could potentially be the sci fi table top game we’ve all been waiting for. I also understand that unless the community involved in the game direction is handled very carefully, this could devolve very quickly into a talking shop, or a mouthpiece for prominent members. I’m absolutely sure that Rick would not allow that. Despite… Read more »
Im hopeing that the type of game Im looking for ( and hopefully a lot of other people too !) gets released before the years end but something tells me its not going to happen that soon…oh well. My eyes were opened last night in Drogheda to the substantial amount of Gamers that are around my area. The players I met are HEAVILY invested in Warhammer and 40K, best of luck to them too. Unfortunatly it doesnt appeal to me as a system and I dare to say its outdated ! Honestly no offence to anyone who enjoys it. Its… Read more »
Guys, I have to apologise to all; my second paragraph is completely inaccurate. I got mixed up with something I was reading about Andy Chambers and somehow got Rick mixed in! Embarrassing, yes, but if I’m wrong, ill say I’m wrong.