End of February Highlights
about 6 years ago
– Thu, Mar 01, 2018 at 08:11:21 PM
Hi Everyone,
We're making good progress mold-making and casting here at the shop. The guys just packed all of the Benny the Bandito, the Bathtub Belligerent, and Anglo Eyes figures today and yesterday. Only a few of the stretch goal figures remain to be mastered and cast at this point, but they include the mounted figures, so there is still a lot of metal to spin!
The card decks are coming along nicely. The Black Deck and Pistoleer Deck are ready for the printer--just waiting for a couple of final quotes from printers. The photos of the figures that go with the character cards are all in now, and I'm ready to start laying out the fronts of the cards.
I've seen the preliminary page designs for the book, and they are extremely professional looking--reminds me a bit of of Legends of the Old West in theme and appearance.
Chinese New Year has wound down, and the mat can now be printed--our first step is a proof which will be done asap.
So things are falling into place. Please be sure to go to backerkit and finish your survey if you haven't already done so. We're at 88% completion at this point, so there are still a few holdouts. Tentatively, I plan on locking down the pre-ordering around the end of March.
Come see us at Adepticon in Chicago (technically the Schaumburg suburb). We'll be there with 3000 of our closest friends at this huge miniatures convention--CMON and other large manufacturers have booths there and the Crystal Brush Competition display cases are truly a religious experience if you're into painting.
That's all for now!
Adios,
Forrest
Cards, Chips, Masters, Molds, Casting, and Chinese Holidays
about 6 years ago
– Sat, Feb 10, 2018 at 03:18:45 PM
PRODUCTION NEWS
BOOK
Dave Taylor has the rules chapter and illustrations and is furiously putting it all together.
CARDS
As for me, I've been entering text into the Pistoleer cards and fancying up the graphics. I think I've got 11 cards left to design to complete the deck, which I'll probably finish tonight.
The Death Dealer deck has been a lot of fun and a real challenge. The card pictured above is a rough draft example of the face cards I'm doing. It's ostensibly legendary lawman Bill Tilghman as the King of Spades. Each of the face cards has a painted character pictured as a living gunfighter in one direction and a ghoulish undead figure in the other. Just a reminder that the wages of sin are death!
FIGURES
The various stretch goal figures and add-ons have been printed and all but one or two have been mastered in metal. One of the last ones was this barber, who is part of the barbershop set. You might recognize this Hollywood character of a tonsorial artist with a bad, greasy combover, nervously tending his shop as a gunfight is about to break out!
Here's the varmint. This was taking when I was starting the process of filing and cleaning up the master. I grabbed my phone when I noticed how crisply his features came out; especially the comb and scissors in his pocket!
After mastering, molds are created from the master castings. The last mold I made on Friday was the barbershop furniture. I'll make the next one Monday--Benny the Bandito and Anglo Eyes. All next week I'll be making more molds to cover the comic characters like Blazer and the Chaco Kid. Each mold will be cast by Roy and packed by Jeff, who have been working like a well-oiled machine, finishing off the castings for set after set in the add-ons and building kits.
Finally, a word about Chinese New Year this month. If you do business in China, you probably know that they all but completely shut down for February as people make their way back home to the provinces for their New Year celebrations. I, on the other hand, have just learned about this to my chagrin. The artwork for the mat is finished, but can't be proofed or printed until March. If anything causes the project to go late, it will be the mats. I'm hoping for a quick turnaround.
That's it for now. As always, don't be shy about asking questions.
Adios,
Forrest
Gunfighter's Ball Update
about 6 years ago
– Fri, Feb 02, 2018 at 01:02:58 PM
We're making steady progress. Here's where we're at:
Chapter by chapter the book is being edited and turned over to designer Dave Taylor for composition. The majority of the photos are finished and in his hands as well.
The cards are being designed. The Black Deck is completely composed and the technical work of converting file formats over for printing is all that is left to do. The Pistoleer Deck and Character Deck are a daily project (I do design about 10 cards per day).
The poker chips, as you've no doubt seen, are also a daily project, but an oddly joyous job. Something about raking in those chips to bag is very satisfying. Handling these nice quality chips is addictive.
The casting and bagging of the Icons faction and Drifter figure is done. Some of the buildings have their metal parts bagged and ready for packing with the corresponding MDF parts. We're starting on the stretch goal figures, which are mostly mastered and ready for production molds.
The Mat is undergoing proofs and color adjustments.
If you haven't been to backerkit to finish your survey, please do so; this will help us get accurate counts for casting and ordering.
Something new every day!
Adios,
Forrest
Gunfighter's Ball Update
over 6 years ago
– Wed, Jan 24, 2018 at 10:01:39 AM
Work continues!
We've got the Black Deck design work done, and the basic formatting templates for the other decks have been laid down.
The guys in the shop have finished casting the Drifter figures, the Icons factions, metal hardware for the resin bars, and the metal hardware for the buildings, and are rolling along on other items, accumulating bags upon bags of other items.
One of the biggest projects in the shop is sorting and bagging 30,000 poker chips! We cleared off space in the back and put down a tarp to make a "clean room" to pack them. Sets of 9 chips (6 white and 3 red) get bagged in a 3x4 ziplock, then 6 bags of chips are put in a larger ziplock. If you keep the small bags, you'll be able to store them pre-sorted, which makes setup much faster (I learned this during playtesting).
These are of course clay composite, the same material used in casino chips.
The photos have been taken for the book and character cards. Ivor Janci (formerly of TSR and Tonka Toys) is processing the files and the final set of photos with the manuscript will go to Dave Taylor for design.
Here's a reminder of what's included in the stretch goals. Just a reminder that if you've pledged at the Deputy level or above, these will be shipped automatically with your rewards and do not need to be selected separately in Backerkit:
Rattlesnake Jack
The Chaco Kid
Bathtub Belligerent
The Pistoleer Deck
Mangus
Sheriff Blazer
Benny the Bandito
Anglo Eyes
Bulldog (Mtd.)
Honest John (Mtd.)
Game Mat
The Black Deck
Mangus (Mtd. on Bull)
Wild Bill Hickok (Mtd.)
Maria Luisa, "La Pistola"
The Death Dealer Deck
Sheriff Blazer (Mtd.)
That's it for today. I know I'm forgetting a lot, so if you have any questions, drop me a line.
Adios!
Forrest
Clarification on Stretch Goals
over 6 years ago
– Tue, Jan 16, 2018 at 07:49:38 PM
I've had several questions about this, so I thought it would be best to answer them in an update.
Stretch goals are assumed/included at the Deputy level pledges and above. You don't have to add them on or specify them in any way; they're automatic. Of course, if you want a second copy of something (the game mat, for instance) then you can add it on, but the stretch goals will be shipped with your other stuff without you having to lift a trigger finger!
In other news...
The final version of the game mat graphics has been sent to us. A commercial printer is making a proof for color matching purposes so the mat manufacturer can see how we want it to look. We're expecting the materials to go off to the mat printer by the end of the week.
I've been designing cards . . . so many cards!
One more photo session and the book will be ready to go off to Dave Taylor for designing. We'll be getting together Friday to finish up.
Thanks for hanging in there. Keep your questions coming and be sure to check out the FAQ section at Backerkit. I keep adding new items to share the answers to specific questions with everyone.
Adios
Forrest
