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If they are having big order problems before running a Kickstarter that's going to shoot the kickstarter in the foot fast.

 warboss wrote:
So they're going to use a platform were the TOS literally state they don't have to give you anything in exchange for your money other than an explanation at best if they so choose? Given the pandemic, health issues, and their not infrequent delivery delays, I'd say treat th at as a donation until proven otherwise. Just for the record, I don't ascribe any nefariousness or malice to their potential and past issues but it would foolish to ignore them as with Mierce.

My thoughts exactly, gonna be a huge nope from me. I would rather pay more once it hits retail so that I have something to back up getting a refund once it never arrives.

They have delivered on two KS in the past -- both like 6-12 months late, IIRC, but that's not too bad for a tiny operation, given that even the big firms tend to be late too.

I do get people's caution but I think I'd trust them a sight more than I would Mierce, or for that matter, Petersen Games (who are MASSIVELY late on all their current KS). As far as I know, despite many logistical snafus over the years, Hasslefree have always made good eventually.

 Ian Sturrock wrote:
As far as I know, despite many logistical snafus over the years, Hasslefree have always made good eventually.

You now know differently. They left out a miniature from one of my orders about 3 years ago, and have ghosted all my customer support emails ever since. This includes at least two of their "put the subject line in all caps and we'll make good on it" public notices.

Frankly, a single $6 miniature isn't a huge deal, no. However, the absolute lack of any response from them, AT ALL, even during times when they were pushing their customers to bring such issues to them, demonstrates such a lack of reliability on their part that I can't take the risk that maybe I'll get parts of future orders from them, maybe I won't, but I'll be paying either way.

Psychopomp -- fair enough! That is pretty crappy of them. :(

I had almost the opposite experience, in that I bought their Norse Dwarf multipack when it was first released, years back, and a two-handed axe arrived broken, and I just assumed I could fix it, so didn't ask for a replacement. About ten years later I still hadn't figured out how to fix it, and I decided I wanted to finally make that mini (I'd built the rest of the pack long since), so I asked them if I could buy just the axe. They sent me a free one with my next order.

Another time I asked about whether they could look out a Cote D'armes "Iron Grey" paint as it's my daughter's fave and she'd run out. HF's website said they were out of stock. Again it arrived as a freebie with my order!

So I have a load of goodwill for them. I do believe you though and if I were in a similar position re: unfulfilled order, I probably wouldn't buy from them again.

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/hfminis/hf-minis-galactic-universe-sci-fi-miniatures

well they've already funded so if folk are interested the stuff will be made

Hasslefree is one of the companies that either has amazing customer service (most of my dealings with them) or they totally drop the ball (the one time I spent a year trying to get a replacement of a ruined resin master they shipped me, they responded to only one of my emails, then ghosted me, and I eventually gave up).

Still on the fence but everything looks GORGEOUS.



And even if the Sci Fi Presidents don't appear this might sway me.

Well the Space Presidents are up, currently locked but that just about changes my mind.

They don't have the power armor Trump and Obama though, maybe they're coming.

I really think they need at least one more model, Pensive Mikhail, the former Vice Space Chancellor. That way I can do my Siege of the Galactic Parliament scenario complete with cultists chanting 'Hang Pensive Mikhail!'

Anyway enjoy.

Pledged for 6, I just love the presidents too much and, hate to say it, who knows how long HF will be around without Kev.

Allo Everyone!

I was sent the link to this thread to catch up with so thought I'd say a few words

First up, if you're owed anything from HF, let me know via some form of data protected method. I'm fine wf you want to DM me here, i think I get emails for that, will check after this, or via email to bwartemis at gmail dot com. Even if it's from like 3 years ago, in fact 'especially' if it's from 3 years ago

I won't post a huge explanation or anything, I don't really like that to be honest but past issues have been due to me getting sick. I have a genetic condition, a few years ago it got worse, it is currently better *touch wood*. Any 'dropped balls' were due to me being in and out of work and using all my available hours to make sure HF stayed alive during pandemics and Brexits and whatever, sometimes a non-normal issue fell between the cracks and that just sucks for whoever that was.

Our new setup is far more stable. Backup is in place should I do fall ill again but I am taking much better care of myself.

As for the Kickstarter, everything in the Kickstarter is fully sculpted, we won't be waiting on anything and won't be able to be let down by those things going wrong etc. That is 100% on purpose to make sure that anyone who is, completely understandably, doing a 'wait and see' will see something good not some other unforeseen disaster

And finally, to worries about us being sans Kev, it is obviously a detriment to the business, but we have a 'lot' of unreleased sculpts due to my aforementioned illness (there's 50+ sci-fi minis in the KS alone). Plus we purposefully have invested a lot of money in resin casts of 'bitz', weapons, heads, uncountable dollies etc. so moving forward we will be working with other sculptors but you will likely see a lot of Kev in the work coming from them as we'll be utilising our resources to better match future minis with the existing range,

If we couldn't so the above and continue 'HF' to be 'HF' then we'd likely have closed up shop when Kev moved to GW. It wasn't an overnight decision, plans were made and hopefully you can follow along.

(And yes, I have taken to livestreaming work some days of the week, so you can watch the day to day trapping of HF Minis. Everyone is welcome and if it's a work stream then work Q&A is basically permanent . Figured it would be a nice extra way to give people comfort that there are less cracks to fall between these days )

Artie, thanks for coming in and clearing stuff up.

(FWIW, my Hasslefree broken model issue was so long ago, I don't even have the emails any more. But I have ordered since that time.)

 Artemis Black wrote:
First up, if you're owed anything from HF, let me know via some form of data protected method. I'm fine wf you want to DM me here, i think I get emails for that, will check after this, or via email to bwartemis at gmail dot com. Even if it's from like 3 years ago, in fact 'especially' if it's from 3 years ago

Sure, why not? I just forwarded you the email chain for the fourth time, so here's your fifth soft throw to drop this ball on. I anticipate more silence, again.

 KidCthulhu wrote:
Artie, thanks for coming in and clearing stuff up.

(FWIW, my Hasslefree broken model issue was so long ago, I don't even have the emails any more. But I have ordered since that time.)

Doesn't matter if you have the emails, drop me one at the above address and I'll see what I can check back on

Since you're here, Artemis, I have a question.

A while back Kev released a not-Kaleb Daark homage sculpt in resin. By the time I got there it was sold out, but the page said there's also a metal version, which I'd actually prefer.

Unfortunately, there's never been a metal version available on the website.

Is there any chance this sculpt might be re-released in metal some day? It's the best iteration of Daark that I've seen (there are a handful of other versions out there, besides the original GW on foot and mounted ones, but Kev's is definitely the best.)

That is a lot of cool minis. Might be the first kickstarter I back this year.

After three years, four ignored emails, and several posts on multiple forums warning people of the dangers of doing business with them, Hasslefree has finally made good and provided me a refund.

So, there you go. They do eventually make good on things, I guess? I'll leave it up to the buyer to decide if they want to risk that amount of time and effort to get their order, if they're one of those dropped balls.

I for one consider my business with Hasslefree done and gone.

It's a tough call. I never felt there was any malice on the part of Hasslefree, just that they're overwhelmed and a small shop.

But yeah there's always a risk with a small business.

 Talking Banana wrote:
Since you're here, Artemis, I have a question.

A while back Kev released a not-Kaleb Daark homage sculpt in resin. By the time I got there it was sold out, but the page said there's also a metal version, which I'd actually prefer.

Unfortunately, there's never been a metal version available on the website.

Is there any chance this sculpt might be re-released in metal some day? It's the best iteration of Daark that I've seen (there are a handful of other versions out there, besides the original GW on foot and mounted ones, but Kev's is definitely the best.)

Do you have a pic?


Automatically Appended Next Post:

 Kid_Kyoto wrote:
It's a tough call. I never felt there was any malice on the part of Hasslefree, just that they're overwhelmed and a small shop.

But yeah there's always a risk with a small business.

As mentioned above, was entirely me getting sick. I mean mistakes were made obviously, but that happens everywhere. The issue was in fixing the mistakes, if I was in hospital again then that person had a higher percentage chance of being screwed.


Anyway, I think I'm going to try livestreaming from the home office today, so if anyone would like to come and ask any questions about the business or the Kickstarter or whatever really, I should be available later today at https://www.twitch.tv/theartemisblack

Fair warning, there'll probably be some politics on there today too as we've been releasing the political parody figs and some people take jokes better than others

There is this one that does seem to be in stock in metal

https://hfminis.co.uk/product/kalee/

(NSFW bare breasts)

and a more dynamic clothed version

https://hfminis.co.uk/product/dynamic-kalee/

but i'm guessing you mean this one that i can only find as a thumbnail google has saved from an old dakka thread ?

Anyone know why the pics of minis are so low res on the new site? Did someone accidentally upload all the thumbnails as main pics?

if you hit zoom you get a thumbnail so something odd is certainly going on

So I just put in an order now that my ancient issue is being resolved. I'm actually happy how this is turning out.

 OrlandotheTechnicoloured wrote:
There is this one that does seem to be in stock in metal

https://hfminis.co.uk/product/kalee/

(NSFW bare breasts)

and a more dynamic clothed version

https://hfminis.co.uk/product/dynamic-kalee/

but i'm guessing you mean this one that i can only find as a thumbnail google has saved from an old dakka thread ?

No, the one I was referring to is Malak the Burned:



And now that I look at him again, I see that I must have been thinking of converting him into Daark, rather than him being a ready-made Daark homage. I think there's a good resemblance, but he's just carrying a normal axe, not Kaleb's iconic, organic Dreadaxe. Still, "Malak" is pretty close to "Malal," so Kev may have had Daark in mind even so.

Regardless, I'd still be very interested in buying him in metal. Any chance he'll be recast and re-released? He's currently listed as sold out in both resin and metal, which indicates that he was a strong seller for Hasslefree, even without exposed breasts or a perky butt. Surely that has to count for something.

Fun fact: Hasslefree used to sell Kaylee's Dreadaxe separately in resin. I still have one.

 Ian Sturrock wrote:
Anyone know why the pics of minis are so low res on the new site? Did someone accidentally upload all the thumbnails as main pics?

I went over it in the recent newsletters but basically the old site was bespoke, and had two issues of incompatibility with the modern site.

The first is that it stored images in bespoke folders, so all thumbnails were uploaded automatically but not the product images, I fixed that.

The second is that the new site doesn't use thumbnails per se, whereas our old site did. The new site uses a product image and dynamically resizes it for various things, such as thumbnails, wishlist images etc.

The problem with that second one is we don't 'have' full sized single shot images for most of our minis, we have thumbnails and composite advertising shots (the gallery image you see next to the blurry thumbnail on each of the product pages).

If we swapped them around, the thumbnails would be smaller versions of the composites, which is terrible as you wouldn't be able to see what they are.

So our only two solutions are to 'make' full sized single shot images of every mini or, the one we've chosen, get a plug in written that hides the first image on every page It's just not ready yet, once it is it'll fix that issue. For now, you just have to make an extra click on every page, annoying but liveable.


Automatically Appended Next Post:

 Talking Banana wrote:

 OrlandotheTechnicoloured wrote:
There is this one that does seem to be in stock in metal

https://hfminis.co.uk/product/kalee/

(NSFW bare breasts)

and a more dynamic clothed version

https://hfminis.co.uk/product/dynamic-kalee/

but i'm guessing you mean this one that i can only find as a thumbnail google has saved from an old dakka thread ?

No, the one I was referring to is Malak the Burned:



And now that I look at him again, I see that I must have been thinking of converting him into Daark, rather than him being a ready-made Daark homage. I think there's a good resemblance, but he's just carrying a normal axe, not Kaleb's iconic, organic Dreadaxe. Still, "Malak" is pretty close to "Malal," so Kev may have had Daark in mind even so.

Regardless, I'd still be very interested in buying him in metal. Any chance he'll be recast and re-released? He's currently listed as sold out in both resin and metal, which indicates that he was a strong seller for Hasslefree, even without exposed breasts or a perky butt. Surely that has to count for something.

Fun fact: Hasslefree used to sell Kaylee's Dreadaxe separately in resin. I still have one.

Malak was one of our new metal releases in the recent Halloween sale, someone doesn't get our newsletter!

I've just restocked Malak (and Vorgan), and the Halloween code is active for about 2 more hours, run!

Power Armor Trump is up as a locked stretch goal. I also saw power armor Obama is coming but can't find the post.

Not going to use the Trump-head, but that is a really great terminator lord in itself. Could possibly be an Abaddon proxy, depending on actual size

 Illumini wrote:
Not going to use the Trump-head, but that is a really great terminator lord in itself. Could possibly be an Abaddon proxy, depending on actual size

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/hfminis/hf-minis-galactic-universe-sci-fi-miniatures/posts/3668604

Power armor Obama is up now, locked though.

Another scale shot with a Chaos Guard dude and a Star Grave Trooper.