Model Martial Women- A Raging Heroes Kickstarter

     There's a generalized misconception in table top wargaming that "female models don't sell," or even worse that "female models only sell to women and guys with issues."  My opinion has always been that his is due to the way such models are marketed- which is generally poorly.  The new Kickstarter from Raging Heroes is out to drive that point home... exceedingly well.

     If you're in Wargaming, you've heard the three classic "female model" arguments before.  The first is whether or not female models should be made "realistic" or "fantastically proportioned."  The second is whether or not either of those is objectifying/degrading/inappropriate, and the third is that female models generally undersell, as they are only collected by female gamers and certain slightly disturbed members of the male gaming community.

     While I intend to try to step around the political landmines of those first two questions, for what it's worth I always felt the third was generally a cop-out.  Quite frankly, many of the female models on the market are simply not as well sculpted as some of their male counterparts.  Now, there could be a lot of reasons for this ranging from a lot less experience crafting female forms in small scale, spending less time and effort on a model less "likely to sell", to literally not needing to try as hard to be on par with the competition.

     Raging Heroes is changing that.

     

     They've launched a Kickstarter called "The Toughest Girls in the Galaxy,"  targeted at bringing three all femme fatale armies to light.  This first Kickstarter is an attempt to jump start their company into full-fledged production, and allow further development of their gaming world, to eventually include it's own game system.  The units they will be releasing will be predominantly resin, with some of the heroine models in white metal.  There are three independent factions.  

     The Jailbirds which Raging Heroes describes as "as a mix of Mad Max, Tank Girl, and Vasquez from the Aliens movie."  Yeah.... you have my money.  Lightly armored and very, very though looking, the concept art and renders we've seen do an excellent job of blending a certain level of sensuality to an otherwise very badass model.  These aren't simple women in need of a man to save them... maybe carry their extra ammo, but not save them.

     Kurganovas, in general, seem to be a more heavily armored force- obviously these "heavy armor" ones are going to be an example of what we can expect in armor design.  While I generally don't hold with overtly female-designed heavy armor due to the "auto-fatal bullet trap in the sternum free of charge,"  Raging Heroes is actually doing a decent job of downplaying it while still adding femininity.  Okay, so we still have an "underboob bullet catch" to deal with, but at least it's not right on the sternum that there's the problem.  If they put in some fluff about the icon mid-chest being made of black box material, or some other design data like the armor incorporate addition layers of anti-ballistic protection to deal with the bullet catch problem, I'll be sold. (I'm thinking "Cybertronic Armored Female Chasseurs, anybody with me???)

     The Iron Empire uses alien super science to create living abominations bordering on works of art.  While this series has received the least attention thus far, the concept art (the first image in this article, and right) look to be very, very striking indeed.  I expect there will be a lot of unique models coming out of this army line.  Much like the Jailbirds, the "highly feminized" aspects of the model are acceptable due to the generally lower armor values.  Their heavier armed using were a layered armor which is very femininely stylized, and honestly I'm going to have to reserve judgement on that aspect until I see a render (or better yet and example of it cast), but to date they have done an exceptional job of making the renders match to concept art, so I'm not terribly worried.  UI'm thinking the "Space Prussian Chic" look might just be well received... Bauhaus anyone?

     Now, as far as support... this thing funded in thirty seconds.  Thirty.  Seconds.  It struck $300K in the first day.  Over 1300 backers at the time of this printing.  So, You're going to have to forgive them if they're a little slow on updating us with examples of the unlocked models... nobody ever plans for a 2,500% success on the first day.  I'm sure this wasn't even in their wildest dreams.



     As far as freebies on this one, thus far there is one freebie model announced and unlocked, but it requires a bid of $95 to get it. Other than that, while the models seem appropriately priced, this isn't a "giveaway kickstarter"-  this is a company trying to increase their line and get start up funds.  I'm sure as it goes along there will be more rolled out, but if you want to back this, don't expect it to be a Reaper/Mantic style kickstarter with the "free model of the day" unveiled regularly.  If you're looking for a "buy one get two free" Kickstarter, this isn't your bus stop.  However, if you're looking for an original Kickstarter for some truly inventive feminine models of the highest quality, this is definitely one to pledge on.  A bunch of our regular readers and contributors are already talking about this one, and I know MBG has been really big on their products of late, and that man knows quality when he sees it.

     Will this continue to skyrocket and surpass the mythical $1M mark?  Will it peter out and basically limp along for thirty days having blasted its gas all on a whirlwind one night stand?  I guess we'll all have to keep out eyes peeled to find out!



The Second Class Elitist.