Rumours of 4Ground ceasing trading.

[dean6345Participant 140xp 0]

Someone on the Bolt Action Facebook page has screen shot an email claiming to be from Cad at 4Ground stating that 4Ground is ceasing trading.

Looks like the £430+ I gave them all those years ago for the Legends of the Fabled Realms Kickstarter didn’t keep them afloat.
The last update on that Kickstarter was over a year ago saying it was still alive! ?

Guess not.

It’s a shame that the company didn’t honour its promises or even communicate with its backers as a resolution could have been met. Maybe this is a hang over from that poor business decision.

I’ve just sold a load of the terrain they sent for the KS on eBay for peanuts (just over £30 for the full ruins of Daldorr set). Should have hung on to it. Might be worth more now.

[stvitusdancernParticipant 1933xp 0]

I reached out to Big Ben. Haven’t heard back. I hope this is not true, but I fear it might be.

[dean6345Participant 140xp 0]

To be fair, we’ve been trying to contact 4ground for some time.

The guy who posted the email stated he got it from another FB group. Someone stated it was only for traders at this time.

[demonsub 12746xp 0]

Yeah, I saw this in a Facebook group yesterday and I questioned if it was an old post that had been rediscovered from 2019 before they were saved. Several people got back saying it was new.

If it’s true it would be a sad loss.

[balginstondraegParticipant 1151xp 0]

We can probably forget any chance of seeing the Fabled Lands kickstarter ever delivered. Then again there’s been little hope on that front for quite some time now.

[iceeagle85Participant 4967xp 1]

Well their websites says this

 

[phaidknott 7023xp 1]

Possibly it looks like they are stopping the “gaming” MDF kits side of things while continuing with the Tymeagain souvenir wooden swords and things they produce for the shops at various castles and other historical sites. They also seem to be still taking bookings for their wargaming centre they opened last year.

So it looks like we’ll no longer see 4Ground at any Wargame shows, but to be frank I think they’ve been hit (as have other MDF manufacturers, along with the Resin piece producers like Fenris) by the impact of 3D printing has had on the hobby (more and more people tend to either print their own buildings or just buy them pre printed).

I was also a 3rd Tier backer of Fabled Realms, but we did get about £350 (retail) of MDF buildings already (so Ben and Cad did their best on this one) and it was such a shame that everything fell apart with the experiment of “commercial” 3D printing of miniatures (I think it was the right idea, just about a year or two too early as the hardware (ie larger bed printers) wasn’t  available at the time).

I think this is just a commercial decision of shutting down the parts of the company that isn’t generating the profits while diversifying into new areas where it’s more profitable to operate.

[fightcitymayorParticipant 2104xp 1]

So the next question is: Who buys the assets?  4Ground are more or less the gold-standard of pre-painted MDF, and it would be straight up silly to just never produce another slab of MDF ever again.  It seems like multinational “holding companies” are very trendy right now for buying up entertainment company assets, so maybe it gets shuffled off to some finance beancounters somewhere.  Or does another major player in the MDF world (Sarissa Precision?) step in and gobble up the production kits if the price is right?

 

 

[phaidknott 7023xp 0]

I don’t think any “assets” are up for sale. It sounds like the Wargaming MDF part of the business (although I’m guessing here) just isn’t profitable any more, so they are closing down that part of the business.

Although with the website stating it’s a closing down sale, it’s probably time for the BoW team to post the information as “news” (although sad tidings that it is) so people know (to grab those last pieces of terrain they might need before they go out of stock)

 

 

[limburger 21705xp 0]

Anyone buying those ‘assets’ would have the same problem that 4ground have : the cost of resources vs the amount sold simply isn’t profitable (enough) …

Sarissa may be having similar problems, but with less complex products they may still have enough margins and sales to justify production.

[phaidknott 7023xp 0]

Well 4Ground just updated their Facebook Page. It states they are closing down due to rising costs, so as I said it’s a business decision rather than any rumours of going bankrupt etc. It’s going to be hard times for a lot of manufacturers over the next twelve months with the raises in energy bills and raw materials (plus the cost of living squeeze on customers lowering their available spends), hopefully we’ll not see too many similar situations 🙁

[tankkommanderParticipant 6423xp 0]

The problem for 4ground is that you can buy the kits unpainted for a fraction of the cost, and if you want painted there are a lot of cardboard options available now that look great and are easier to assemble and store.

[limburger 21705xp 0]

There always were and always will be cheaper options for those that have the time to spend on such things.
Having things like 4ground out there to buy and inspire others is good for the hobby.

[kiranamida 5791xp 1]

Man, that is rough.

Tempted to divert some hobby budget to some of the kits I’ve long wanted but never had a need for yet before they disappear forever.

[wkeyserParticipant 91xp 2]

Just had another thought for those of you thinking of ordering from 4Ground during their closing sale. I would be very wary of sending money to them knowing that they are closing their doors I would be afraid they would do the same thing as they did with the Kickstarter, just keep the money.

 

Buyer beware, 400 gamers where lied to by 4 Ground and lost around 107.000 pounds.

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