The Good, the Bad and the Ugly

The Good: Secret Weapon Miniatures!
I placed my order on a weekend, and didn't expect to hear from them until Monday, but I got an instant response. I even added to my order after the first one was completed, and THAT was no problem. Top notch friendly service, and a great product delivered in a timely fashion. You really can't ask for anything more than that.

The Bad: Skullcrafts
Complete opposite experience. Whatever you do, do NOT order from this guy. I still haven't gotten my order or heard from him. For over 2 months now, nobody has been getting their orders from him, but that's not the worst part of it: he doesn't EVER respond to email/or communicate with the customer. No order confirmation emails, no response to any email inquires, nothing. The forum on his site is filling-up with people (who've been waiting over 40 days) asking for their money back.

The Ugly: That would be me.
I've been on both sides of the customer service counter in my day, so I know when I'm not even getting the bare minimum of common courtesy. I'm patient, but if you can't treat me like a human being, and you still want to take my money, I get ugly. I'm not proud of that, but it's how I react.

I'm quite happy to give praise, and really hesitant to slander.... but Skullcrafts has earned my ire. I'm sorry for the negativity, but I hope this saves somebody from the frustration of trying to deal with that company.

A Time for Heroes

Friends,


In the last 4 months our world has seen some extraordinary disasters, both natural and man made. The people in the Middle East and Africa have been battling their governments and each other for a different and hopefully better future. many, many people died and got hurt and this is still going on today: in Libya, in Ivory Coast, in Syria and in many other places as well.

And then the tsunami that hit Japan...seeing the footage of that wave gave me the chills and I have not been able to revisit it, realizing how much carnage and hardship this wave caused...


Storm Wardens

We cannot change any of these things by ourselves. But we can help support organizations that go to Africa and Japan, people that risk their own lives to better the life of a stranger. One of these groups is Doctor without Borders. An amazing organization and I am asking you all to check out their news feed here.

DWB go to places where most organizations have left and try against odds to fulfill their oath: to help people in need, really really in need.


And they need money. And that's where we come in...last year you all raised over 16,000 dollars for this amazing charity with the Storm Wardens Project. Here's the link, the page is still up.



And yes, it was all YOUR success. We just opened up a PayPal account and built 2500 points of models. But you all showed that our community can come together and do something amazing.


2011

Well, this year the world seems way worse off and we have decided to do another Charity Project:

Heroes of Armageddon

John and I thought it better to raise the stakes and create a much larger project: we're giving away FOUR 3000 point armies. We hope that you will all pitch in and let your heart speak. This is the change we all can make, instead of ignoring the news.


How does it work?

Every dollar that you support the project with gives you a chance to be one of the lucky four at the end of this drive. So 10 dollars of donations buys you 10 chances. 100 dollars means....right, you got it.

At the end of the drive, in July, we will run our trusty number generator and pick our four new friends.

Then, the armies will travel to Games Day in Chicago, where they will be displayed. After that the winners can take their army home or we send it off.

In short: the more you donate, the better your chances. More importantly, the more you donate, the more you help all of us to make the world a better place.


Heroes of Armageddon

Our Games Day Diorama will depict the 3rd battle of Armageddon with 4 armies: Steel Legion, Blood Angels, Ork Hordes and Speed Freaks.

We have expanded the all star build team from last year with a handful of Golden Demon winners and we also hope to go bigger and better by reaching out to more of you and the industry and collecting even more than we did last year for Doctors Without Borders.


Here are the team leaders for the 4 army projects


Dave Taylor: Steel Legion

Jawaballs: Blood Angels

Mad Boy Genius (Spikey Bits): Ork Hordes

Goatboy (BOLS): Speed Freaks


These four wonderful modelers were so kind to say yes to us and have committed to finishing up these armies in an amazing way: creative, fresh and with a great paintjob. Through these guys, we have been able to lock down 3 Golden Demon winners to paint the centerpieces of the armies and have created a total build team of close to 20 to 25 people, all of which are wonderful artists and gracious with time and effort for this cause. More on all of the participants next week.


Our main site for the finished units and more info is Heroes of Armageddon


There is more....

Just like last year, as our way of saying thanks for your help, we will enter you in a weekly prize drawing once for every dollar you pitch in so not only will you be helping a good cause, but you might just win something amazing for your trouble. Everyone who has supported the project up to that point will be eligible to win. The prizes will be really, really nice.


What can you do?

Put the "H.O.A." button on your page. You can help spread the word and link to the heroes site and the site of the bloggers involved. Why not create a special blogroll for this? That would help immensely.

You can hold a local event to raise money or just post some fliers at your favorite gaming spots.

You can send in prize or model donations and be part of the many sponsors that help us out.

You can talk to family and friends and tell them about the help that they can give

AND

you can send us models that we then distribute to the teams that need them. A list will go up soon with requests.


Last Years winner

Last year's Army winner Jacob, watch a video of him at Games Day receiving the Storm Wardens Army Grand Prize.




Are you ready to make a difference?

Are you ready for 4 awesome armies?

Are you ready for Armageddon?


John & Mike

Coming SOON!