I am extremely stoked about the new GRRM miniatures you've got ready to ship out:

1. GRRM - The Mountain that Rides - Tom Meier
2. GRRM - The Red Viper - Tom Meier
3. GRRM - Aeron "Damphair" Greyjoy - Jeff Grace
4. GRRM - Victarion Greyjoy - Jeff Grace

I'll be placing an order that includes these as well as Asha and Yrgitte (been waiting for more GRRM minis to order along with them so's to combine shipping since August 31... quite a while), but I was wondering - Jim, is it too much to hope that Robb, Brienne, Ghost, Catelyn, Arya, and the Sansas might be avilable fairly soon as well? Every time I can combine shipping costs to Canada I save enough to buy another mini from you, with maybe even a little change left over... It's sort of like the difference between being able to make a Monutain vs. Red viper diorama and being able to make a the Mountain vs. the Red Viper diorama and a the Mountain vs. the Hound diorama...

Thanks for any sort of rough ETA you may be able to provide,

Jeff

Hi there.

It will most likely be mid January for some more releases as things can slow down at our production facility with the holidays and time off.

So if you can wait another month, then you can indeed save on some shipping.

Warm Regards,

Jim
www.DarkSwordMiniatures.com

Thanks for the ETA, Jim!

On Sept. 18, you predicted these newly released miniatures might be out in 5-6 weeks, ie. in late October. Is it safe to hope this new ETA might be more accurate than that earlier one, likely at least in part due to no longer having to wait for GRRM to return from an overseas trip to approve the greens?

I'll think about waiting, but there's a good chance I'll decide I've waited long enough & just order everything from the GRRM line that's available but that I don't already have. You'll be among the first to know, I imagine...

I was going to say I might order 3 of the Mountain (and 2 Red Vipers, and another Hound) so I can make both dioramas and still have a solo piece for each mini, but then I saw the price the Mountain is going for... Guess I'll have to put that on the back burner for a while & just stick with one of each for now. He is a lot of pewter! Have you ever considered releasing some of your minis in a cheaper metal, such as what Reaper is doing with their P65 line? With the cost of metals these days, cheaper (ie. probably lead-based) alloys have got to be looking a bit more attractive, no?

Thanks again,

Jeff

Oh, PS. George didn't by any slim chance happen to give you the Official Colour Schemes for all the post-Wave-1 minis in the range while he was giving you his approval on the new greens, did he? What, a guy can hope, can't he?

oh the price on the mountain took me a bit by surprise as well. I expected it to be higher priced, but no that high. I am NOT sayings its not justified mind you, just didn't expect it - I was going to pick one up tommorrow but now will have to wait.

Heh, I hear that & agree - not unjustified; just surprising. I wound up not waiting - just put in my order for all these new GRRM guys, including doubles of the Red Viper and a 2nd copy of the Hound (from Wave 1). So far I have only ordered one of the Mountain, but when the rest of these new greens go into production (hopefully in about a month), I'll order copy 2 and 3 of him. That's the plan, anyhow. Some day I'll have dioramas of the Mountain vs. the Hound, the Mountain vs. the Red viper, and single minis of each of the 3 on my shelf.

Jeff

I really struggled over the SRP of the Mountain.

I was going back and forth between $19.99 and $24.99

He is larger than a 54mm miniature in terms of weight (by quite a bit) and is right in line with a 54mm on height. He is a big SOB. I have to work backwards from production costs and sculpt costs back up to an SRP.

He cost more to sculpt than any of our other 54mm pieces. He has more production molds (five) than our other 54mm pieces (2 each). He also had more master molds than any of our other 54mm pieces.

He was a freak of nature to produce in terms of costs actually (which is fitting for a dude almost 8 feet tall in the books).

Both of our 54mm pieces that Tom did (Dany and Marike) retail for $24.99. Tyrion in 54mm runs $19.99. Given the circumstances, I could not justify a $19.99 SRP on the Mountain. Throw into the mix that he has no other use for gamers (as he is an 8 foot tall mini) outside of collecting for the GRRM range or simply liking him because he is cool looking, and you have a piece that will not have many sales outside of GRRM collectors (kind of like a true 54mm mini). This lands us at $24.99 for the beast.

Oh, I forgot to add in the two different heads and extra arm option (all which Tom has to charge for on the sculpting side as his very limited time is money). There is just so much going on with this mini that the high SRP had to be there. He is selling really well with the GRRM collectors (as he is the Mountain afterall) so this bodes well. Once you have him in your hands, you will see for youself just how huge he is.

Andrew, they are at the Source so swing on in and check em out.

Westeros Fan, order received and marked for extra swag/free goodies.

Oh, onto the why it takes so long. Tom handles the master molding process (via a special process he developed) on almost all of his sculpts for Dark Sword. So once they are done with the master molding and casting/cleaning master sets, I can then have production molds done and casting/packing done. So if Tom runs into snags on mold making/casting these hugely detailed/fine miniatures, then this pushes things out as they tweak/adjust. I can estimate based on what Tom tells me, but once things start getting pushed out, all bets are off. Now, I can tell you that all master sets from Tom are cast/cleaned. We now need to get production molds done and production casting done. So Mid-January is do-able in a very good way in my opinion. You cannot rush quality, nor would anyone want us to as once they are out, then everyone will be happy we took the extra time to make them as good as they can be.

Regards,

Jim
www.DarkSwordMiniatures.com

Jim,
Yea, I completely understand - I hope you didn't take my post as a slam on the price. I figured he was a pretty costly one to make both from a sculpting and casting perspective, so I think its a completley realistic price, especially with options. I just wasn't quite expecting it, and my wife regulates my "meaningless" spending pretty well(thats actually good as I do have a history - if you know what I mean) so it will probably have to wait. I am going to go check it out at lunch today though.

I do think he will have uses for gamers though - its always fun to have a big guy in the warband.

Yeah, I'm sure when I see the Mountain in real life (er, in pewter that is) the price will seem less shocking. Thanks for the info on the mould-making process; I find that stuff fascinating but have very little understanding of what's actually involved. I hope I didn't sound like I was trying to rush anyone - your product has always been top-quality in my experience, and well worth the wait.

Free swag is, of course, always appreciated! FYI, I already have a copy of the (oh so sad) Baby Lillian Angel mini advertised as a free gift for orders over a certain amount, and I'm not sure what I'd do with another one - feel free to give mine to someone else for me if you want. If my package hasn't already been taped up and sent out, that is.

Thanks again for the extra info; can't wait to see these little (to one degree or another) guys in person!

Jeff

PS. I think the Mountain could make a quite decent unusually heavily armored ogre (or something along those lines) in a gaming situation. He might not see as much table-time as some other more generic minis, but I bet you'll still sell at least a few to gamers who haven't read Martin.

Went and checked out The Mountain in person yesterday. Totally great piece - it was very hard to walk away and wait. Well worth the $25 for sure. Looking forward to adding it to my collection. the character in the face is perfect - Its going to be difficult to decide between the shield and the open hand though.

Still waiting for my package. It's only been a week though, and it's an international shipment, so I'm not at all worried even though my packages from Dark Sword always seem to get to me quicker than I expect (got used to waiting through literally several months' delay for each issue's delivery to Canada when I was a Dungeon/Dragon magazine subscriber). I have been amusing myself while I wait by imagining The Mountain & co. racing my parents across the border to get to my house first - they (my parents that is; not a box of tiny Westerosi) left my sister's place in Pittsburgh this morning and should arrive sometime this evening. After the mail arrives... We shall see who wins.

Sorry for bumping; been checking back daily to see if anyone else is discussing/reviewing these new minis or even just posting nonsense like this, but alas... this place gets really quiet sometimes. I guess a lot of folks are home on their holidays instead of going to work to post here! :o)

Jeff

The new minis arrived in the mail yesterday, the same day my parents left to go home. I guess hoping the minis would arrive before them was a bit of as pipe-dream, considering how busy the post office gets during the holiday season...

Anyhow, the minis look really, really nice, but I haven't had time to take a close enough look yet to say more than that. Soon...

As always, the Free Swag minis (a male ranger and a female fighter IIRC) are much appreciated.

And so, yet another box of GRRM Masterworks will sit on my shelf (where I will visit often, stroking the blister packs lovingly while murmurring "my preciouses") until my painting skills catch up a little closer to the quality of these superb sculpts. I might just have to put Ser Gregor together sometime sooner though, to really see how huge he is gonna be, as his torso, legs, and head(s) are all different pieces. But I can definitely say that after seeing the pix of him with Prince Oberyn, I was surprised to see how tall the Red Viper of Dorne mini actually is!

Come to think of it, maybe I'll actually try my hand at painting the Red Viper or the Hound, now that I have doubles of both...

Still no paint on those guys, sadly - been having a heck of a time finding the white brush-on primer I like (ie. Reaper Master Series) & it's too humid where I am to get a spray type to go on smooth lately. I may wind up buying another brand this weekend when I visit the FLGS.

Just ordered the GRRM Wave 2 bundle and another copy of the Mountain... Can't wait!

Jim, when you (or whoever) are taking the pix of the painted versions of these new minis, is there any way you could include a shot of Ghost with Jon Snow, to give an idea of scale and size for the direwolf? Just something I can look at while I wait for them to arrive is all...

Thanks,

Jeff

My order came in on Monday, but the post office held onto it as they needed to collect $11.24 from me for the Canadian customs people who wanted their cut, which was a first for me when ordering from Dark Sword. :o(

So all I got was a delivery notice stuck to my front door. Picked them up last night on the way home from work though, and they're looking great, as expected! Tom Meier is clearly some kind of super mutant genius. :o)

The free swag - Jeff Grace's DSM7416 VIF Male Warrior with Bastàrd Sword, this time - was much appreciated, as always. The separate arm piece that attaches at both ends (just beneath the shoulder armor and just above the scabbard) looks like it might be a little tricky to attach though, given my obsession with pinning. But I'll figure it out...

BTW, I did finally put together one of my copies of the Mountain, and he is astonishingly huge. Also, my FLGS finally got some of the Reaper primer I mentioned above, so I might just finally actually start painting some of my GRRM minis once I finish the giant spider demon (I hope that link is not a no-no here...?) that I'm currently working on for my D&D game.

Kang