Studio 38 (former Alkemy, Kraken Editions)

[fullheadofhair]

hehehe, I also have rackham-dedicated box!!!

same here! I will have to post a picture of the three lifetimes of Rackham metals I have to paint.

[Trovarion]

rumor has it that some company bought the moulds and rights and whatnot and the game is going to continue. I can't tell you more cause this rumor is mainly spread by some german guys who like to brag with their "inside knowledge" all the time and blabla a lot but of course "can't tell you everything cause it's all a secret and only i know hihih blalbalbla" ...so i am not 100% sure...but yeah...maybe...

[Nameless]

I have that inside knowledge about any company going down - there's always a chance someone will buy the rights to OOP range

[NAVARRO]

Really? To give you the example: Starship Troopers. Great rules, very playable game; fugly minis. Hardcore gamers who claim they play only for rules didn't play the game cause minis were ugly.
Confrontation v.2. Bad rules, great minis. Tons of players.

People love to blame indy games for high pricing, at the same time paying 10 Euro for GW/PP miniatures.
yes, Alkemy made some pricing mistakes which they have corrected.
Getting into the game was reasonably priced.

What kills a game is luck of updates (Alkemy philosophy of one wave paying for the next) and business model of sales and promotion (don't know the Kraken's so won't even speculate).
This is a very difficult and unforgiving market, trust me. It's a killing ground for artists with no business background.

Agreed! ALkemy was not cheap but if you consider them VS GW/PP then you realize that the prices are not that diferent but the quality IS VERY diferent. THe starters for alkemy were well priced and since its a skirmish game you could buy a faction just by getting very few models. I got a full army deal with a limited edition litho and a resin of a rare mini for 75 euro. For 75 euro you only buy a minimal percentage of what you need to play pp/gw. So the prices are okish.

People like excuse themselves that its to expensive to get into some indies yet they splash stupid amounts of money on their GW armies or pp boxes.

As for gamers prefering not quality minis and rather robust stuff... well like morfeo said thats a load of bollocks, since if theres quality miniatures involved, the games thend to sell alot better... and if you have a alkemy miniature you would notice the kind of plastic they used made these miniatures like anti shock if they fall since plastics are very bendable on the extreme thin parts so yeah these are robust and I doubt they will break anytime soon

The business model of putting all eggs in one basket in one big investment rather then diluting the money on several sustained releases did not help and the fact they were always a bit non suportive of the fan base did not help either. There was always a feeling this game was about to end and I bet that doesnt boost any sales.

I hope the german guy at tgn is not speaking from his ass and I still have hope this will be picked up by someone who has a sharper business sense.
I miss ilyad, rackham, helldorado and I dont want that lakemy has the same fate.... Helldorado though is getting slowly on its feet.

[Corvus]

Helldorado though is getting slowly on its feet.

because the line is now in the hands of real business people

[torgaming]

Darkover-BK on TGN has posted some info that confirms another company is picking it up:

Hi Folks!

I’m quite familiar with this process and I’m in regular contact with the company. I can therefore add some facts to this discussion and I can also say something about the future of Alkemy:

1.) The news is true, Kraken Editions is in liquidation.

2.) Alkemy will be continued and maybe even better than before. Another company is about to buy the game and I am really optimistic that this might even help the game.

3.) If everything goes as planned, Alkemy will have metal miniatures in blisters quite soon, the new owner will continue this new strategy.

I’m really sorry that I can not give You further details by now, but I’ll return as soon as possible and tell You more.

The German readers can also keep an eye on brueckenkopf-online.com.

All the best!

Direct link (although not working right now)

https://www.tabletopgamingnews.com/2010/ ... 6#comments

[mahon]

sounds like french miniature companies are doomed - but I think that's because of the way they work.
i think they create nice minis, but cannot run a company. sad but true

@Demi -

@Morf & Navarro - good points, guys.

[torgaming]

sounds like french miniature companies are doomed - but I think that's because of the way they work.
i think they create nice minis, but cannot run a company. sad but true

@Demi -

@Morf & Navarro - good points, guys.

from what I can tell (and can be wrong on this) but I think most French mini companies are run by artists and not businessmen. Not a great way to do it imo.

[Maru]

i got bad info for you - you are right

[mahon]

that's how I imagined it... not the best way to run a business