Reply To: Rumours of 4Ground ceasing trading.

[phaidknott 7023xp 1]

Well according to the last email/newsletter I got from 4Ground, it sounds like they have been selling off the rights to produce some of the kits to other people (no idea which companies are involved). So it sounds like 4Ground are getting out of the MDF business for good.

Like you I found their recent kits rather lackluster in detail and quality (plus they were selling that pigment/paint stuff to lather over the kits to perhaps hide the lack of detail). But to be fair 4Ground were expensive because you got twice the amount of MDF compared to most other MDF kits (as they had internal detailing and used different coloured sheets in layers to get the desired effects (thinking off the Dark Age Hovels kits here mainly), while of late companies like Sarrissa seem to be using a “photocopy” technique to apply the detailing on multiple colours onto a single sheet.

Were they impacted by the rise of 3D printing for terrain and building for Wargamers? I dunno, but I know a lot of companies who were doing things like Resin bases for minis (thinking of Fenris here) seem to have lost out.

4Ground seem to have moved the business over to running a Wargames centre (where they charge attendees for their visit), so they are still involved in the hobby. But the money maker for Ben and Cad was always the Trymeagain side of the business (they sell wooden souvenirs like kid’s swords and shields at various national trust site’s gift shops etc), and it was mentioned they got hit (and hit hard) with the Covid shutdown of all the tourist sites around the country. 4Ground seemed to grow from Ben and Cad’s enthusiasm for the hobby (and their set up with the wooden toys aspect) and grew from there, but it was always a smaller part of the overall business.

It looks like they had noticed a downturn in the MDF side of things and were trying to branch out, not only with the kickstarter, but with rules (like the “World War Zero” set). They also tried selling cheaper MDF kits (like the budget 40K tourney sets they did (which WERE uninspiring), and producing MDF kits designed by other designers (so it sounds like they had stopped designing their own kits). Now Ben did a lot of these initially, and has had some health concerns a few years ago. So perhaps that’s why the MDF kits didn’t have their old “flair” (as probably Ben was no longer the designer).

But that’s about all I know from 4Ground and the Kickstarter (I’m not in direct contact with Ben and Cad), so anything I say is probably wrong (but I’ve done my best to try and follow things over the years as I was the Fabled Realms Backer).