Thursday, September 22, 2016

Wizard Kraft Terrain Kickstarter

Wizard Kraft makes what are, for my tastes, simple the best rivers for wargames ever made. I bought my first set at Historicon, circa 2001, and added to it several times when their product appeared there in subsequent years. Then the product became hard to find, but a couple of years back it resurfaced, and I bought up almost all of it that they in stock on their on line store. The fact that it was a side business rather than a full time enterprise continued to make it difficult to obtain. The owner and fabricator, William Werts, has launched a Kickstarter to take Wizard Kraft from a  hobby to a real business, and in so doing, improve production time and add a host of new products. This is fantastic news, and I would urge you to consider supporting this kickstarter. It is the FIRST one that I have ever backed, and at the $150 level. 

Unfortunately, to date the funding of the project is off to a slow start. While I think the guy makes an outstanding product (still more about that later), I don't think he has much of a clue about marketing his business... not that that's any strength of mine, either, I might add. So this post is an effort to boost the project, both out of my own selfish desire to see more Wizard Kraft product for my own use, and my desire for many of you not to miss out on the chance to get some for yourself as well. I have no connection to the business nor  Mr. Werts whatsoever, aside from that of a very happy, long term customer. I would decline any compensation for my support if it were offered. 


Here is my entire collection of Wizard Kraft terrain (rivers) laid out - about 18 feet of 2" rivers, and about 6 feet of 4" Rivers.  Note the ford pieces, Y junctions, curves, and end pieces. Note also the variations in the "straight" and curved pieces. Some of my 28 mm figures are included for scale. The felt is bumpy because I have some of it folded under in prep for a game next week, and set this up rather quickly.  Update: I checked the widths, and although the entire River pieces are about 2" and 4" wide altogether, the actual Water width is 1" for the bulk of the pieces shown above, and 2" for the wider ones. Thus in Wizard Kraft terms, these are mostly 1" rivers. with some 2" rivers. 


Another view of the collection. These rivers are the default version, Deep Blue with Temperate flock (mixed green, very close to the color of green Geohex flock, if not identical).  The rivers will be available in widths of 1/2", 1" 2", 4" and 8" (!). The straight sections will generally be 12" in length, but 4 and 8" sections will be available as well. But wait, there's more, as they say in the ad-biz. "You will be able to select the type of flocking on the shore area from Temperate (mixed green) or Arid (mixed earth). The water can also be selected as Deep Blue, Muddy, Dry Bed, Dry Bed w/pools or Dry Bed merge to Deep Blue or Muddy."


The individual pieces are made of a thin, moderately flexible plastic, that is dark brown and slightly shiny on the unfinished side. The edges are flocked in an exceptionally durable manner. Despite many of these pieces being 15 years old, and having been baked in the 100+ degree heat in my car for days at at time at successive Historicons, (and freezing temperatures at other events), AND rough handling being shoved into my storage boxes after games, there has been NO cracking or peeling whatsoever, and not a bit of the flock has rubbed off anywhere! The brown tan mix of the transition from grass to water is made of an almost cork like material with substantial texture. Not  a bit of that has come off, either! The "water" as you can see has color variations from dark to medium blue, with a bit of a dry brush like detailing in off white for surface effects. Although you really can't see it in the pictures. the "water" surface has an almost cobblestone like pattern in the plastic, which makes it more water like as well. 


Although I don't own any, evidently dirt road sets already exists as well. You can see some of them in this post by fellow blogger and Wizard Kraft aficionado, Jake. The plan is to add cobblestone roads, swamps, beaches, fields, and more to the range. In the updates section, Bill comments "Backers from across the pond in the UK have decided to get in on this project. Thanks for support[ing] me. And to note, no shipping will be charged on any backer rewards." Now, in all honesty, I am not quite sure if that means no shipping on the entire amount of product from your KS pledge, so if you have questions about that, "ask Bill".

From the Kickstarter page:

Early Bird Specials:

First 30 backers of $25.00 or more will also receive a swamp (6" to 8" diameter)
First 20 backers of $75.00 or more will receive a 12" long ford straight plus the above early bird item.
First 10 backers of $150.00 or more will receive a left and right merge for the size of river they choose for their backer reward and the above early bird items.
First 5 backers of $250.00 or more will receive a swamp river set (river ending in swamp and river passing through swamp) and the above early bird items.

As of this writing, ALL of these "early bird" rewards are still available, although many are close to being closed.

There are literally 100's of pictures on my blog showing these rivers in use if you need to see more of them in different settings. I once again give this product my highest possible recommendation, and have already voted with my credit card, LOL!  If you are all interested in great rivers and some other exciting sounding products, consider backing Bill in this Kickstarter! I expect it will be years before you see me back another Kickstarter of any kind, but this one involves an already proven, outstanding product. As they say in Klingon. Qapla'!, gentlemen!

16 comments:

  1. Wizardcraft is a company local to me. Their website shows they sell their product in a local Coeur d'Alene game shop. I don't have any of their products, myself, but as you mention, Jake makes liberal use of their stuff. Perhaps I should give them consideration?

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    1. I was actually surprised to see he was local. I first bought his stuff at Enfilade! back in 2001 and figured he was from the Seattle-Tacoma area.

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    2. Jon, We both have collections of well over 10K figures. How many of them get on the table at one time? A few hundred, a thousand tops. How many of our tabletop battles have a river or a stream - probably 75%. You will probably use these more than anything else except dice and rulers! And then there are the other products planned...

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    3. Agree with you for the need for rivers and streams on the game table. I do have quite a few but could use more. Sheesh, I saw that about figures too!

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    4. Excellent; thanks Jon! I will have one more post on this KS ? tonight as it enters the home stretch!

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  2. I am a huge fan, and really want to get some of the 1" rivers as well as build up my road network. (I already have some lakes and other rivers) I am in for the same pledge as you, and am really hoping he gets it turned around. I still have not seen any word of the this KS on any of the major news sites or KS roundups.

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    1. My plan is to post to TMP tonight (there was a short, veryu understated announcement there was a brief, very understated announcement there about 2 weeks ago), as well as the War=games website. I don't belong to the LAF or Frothers, but those would be places of interest, along with fantasy tabletop gaming sites, maybe boardgame geek, and I don't know what others. Oh yes, I will do a post to the HMGS Facebook group, my local gaming group, and La Bricole, too. BUt I wanted I blog readers to have the first jump on the remaining early bitrd incentives.

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    2. Jake - it sounds like he is probably less than 20 minutes away from you, although Idaho is one big state! :-)

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    3. About 25 minutes away for me. Jake is a bit further south.

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    4. I am actually near Moscow, ID (KS showed me in Hayden which is over 100 miles North), so Jon is a bit closer. I guess that would only be advantageous if he doesn't follow through on the KS.

      That said, I went ahead and sent a note to Meeples and Miniatures and Neil added it to his update today.

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  3. Yes, I saw these the other day quite nice.

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    1. Trust me, John - you WANT this stuff. Sopme mof us can scratch build terrain that is this good, abd a very few maybe can do better - but none of it will have the portability, durability, and light weight of Wizard Craft!

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  4. This is William, 'Bill', from Wizard Kraft. That means NO SHIPPING on anything awarded as a backer reward, including the additional items gained with the Certificates of the reward. This applies to anywhere on the planet! Thanks for the great blog about my product.

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    1. Just supporting something I already know to be a superb product.
      Free shipping on everything ordered through the KS - that's a huge deal, especially for overseas customers!

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