FenPaints
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Patreon Update June 2024
🕑 Added 2024-06-01 15:38:50 +0000 UTCEveryone once in a while I like to just write up an update about where things are in respect to upcoming content and similar topics, today is one of those days.
YouTube Channel
There's a two hour recording I completed this week, I'll be editing it next week and putting it up for the "A Pillar of the Patreon" and higher tiers on here when that's done and uploaded. It's a full first generation (all the expansions before the GCE) review of every single monster with a goal towards being a new version of the 'purchasing priority for newer players'. I do still think that new players are better off getting a few extra monsters before going near the GCE and for players on a budget I go through where the overall "best" monsters are for each node. I do think there are merits to each and every single monster in the game, but not all monsters are created equal.
After that behemoth I'll be going through the various Survivor archetypes; discussing what gear a given archetype should be focusing on, what armor sets are most effective for that playstyle and a bunch of tricks that a pilot of the given class can make use of in all three phases.
Current Written KDM Content
I have extensive notes for the current KDM Content I'm working through, I will still be building on the Philosophy series as I work through it all and reviews of the shop content will come as and when it gets to me (thank you to patreons timberwolfl and charles for your assistance there). I also need to get into tackling Atnas, The King, People of the Dream Keeper overall, Bone Eaters, Patterns and the Black Knight as a Node 3 Monster. It's all such good stuff that I want to do it justice when I explore it. Honestly you can see the growth in expertise that Team Death have gained in this second Generation of content and I think it is really important to showcase the many design and lore successes that the GCE, Killenium Butcher and Black Knight represent.
Upcoming Written KDM Content
There are three additional KDM related items which I want to get to when I can, first up LaserOx have released an insert for the Gambler's Chest. I reviewed their Core Game insert back in 2020 here and I still use it four years later. It's great (except for that dice tower which I removed) and the new Gambler's Chest insert (here) looks just as good if not better than the main game insert (which still isn't at the point where I have run out of space!)
I will also be reviewing the Frogdog and Plastic Showdown board when they arrive; however I am not sure when that will be happening. BackerKit just isn't working for us, we have the funds but it keeps failing to take payment. So I have not been able to pay shipping for those pieces; I contacted Adam about this and he passed me across to Support to try and get this resolved. However, there's been no further response or action since May 23rd from Team Death despite my chasing up on this. This is very frustrating, as I wrote in the discord, I don't expect special treatment, but I don't think it's unreasonable for me to want to be able to pay for shipping on the things I backed and paid for. I'm at a loss what to do with this short of going back to Adam again and I don't want to do that because I know he's busy with the update, May sale and all the shipping. It is very frustrating, as such expect me to be very behind everyone else with writing about the Frogdog and Plastic Board.
If this situation changes, I'll be letting you all know, but I'm not sure what I can do at this point short of ordering a second Frogdog when it comes out in the EU Store.
Until then, because I REALLY want to do a campaign with GCE content + Frogdog + Black Knight + Plastic Showdown board for my next campaign I've reclaimed my gaming table from KDM and returned them to their space on the shelf here.
I actually feel a bit sad seeing them boxed up there, but it does mean I can get other games onto the table more easily. Speaking of which!
Other Games
Primal: The Awakening will be arriving some time in June, so I'll be putting out a full review for that here the same as I did for Leviathan Wilds. I've heard good things of the game from most sources, though patron tannerd had a less glowing experience with the game and ultimately sold it off. We'll see how I get with it, but even if I do like and praise it, bare in mind that someone else in this community did not!
I'm trying to scrape together enough to cover the costs of my pledge for Studium: No Exit. It's touch and go if I'll be able to afford it, which is a shame because I really enjoyed the Demo a lot and wanted to be able to give a full opinion on the game. It's crunch time this month, I need to be able to spare $300 for the tier my backing is at, we'll see if I can manage that.
I had to give up on Monster Hunter: Iceborne because of that very reason, it was something around £600-£700 to back in at the level that would make it worth reviewing. That's just too much, especially with the poor SEK (Swedish Krona) to £ (British Pound) exchange rate at the time. I enjoyed the Monster Hunter: World board game more than I expected to, but it isn't good enough for that amount of money expenditure.
Patreon Tiers
The Patreon tiers have changed a little, whatever tier you on right now is still available for you, but for those of you on the $1 tier, be aware that I've had to retire it because Patreon does not work very well for $1 access anymore. I get very little from those tiers and the minimum tier Patreon suggests these days is 25kr. If you are on the $1 tier you can keep it as a legacy patron if you want to, it won't be retired as long as you individually remain on that tier.
However, if you can afford to move to the new base tier, I would greatly appreciate it because honestly I am struggling to cover living costs, taxes and KDM costs, cost of living has risen a lot in the 7 odd years I've been running this patreon and I'm now below the poverty line because of that costs increasing over income. I do appreciate ever piece of support each of you give, it all helps.
I am looking to do better content for the higher tiers, once the Gambler's Chest is on the KDS I'll likely do edited playthroughs of campaign runs for the higher tiers (which tier depends on how much time it takes to edit, editing the current videos takes about a day and recording videos tends to take 4-5 days of prep, rehearsal and so forth. We'll see how things go.
The real issue here though is KDM just is so niche that I don't know if I can keep trying to make a living souly from playing and writing about it; the issues with getting my Frogdog & Board have just highlighted that I need to diversify - otherwise money stresses impact on my headspace and make it super hard to write and game.
So, behind the scenes here I've been moving towards making Magic: The Gathering content, I used to play semi-professionally, I've kept up with eternal formats (especially PreModern), Commander and Cube and I love talking about and playing M:TG so much. So I'm considering diversifying, which does mean that eventually KDM content might slow down. I'm not seeking to do that, I am just looking for a way to support making more KDM content and because I can't paint too often (due to health) I need to do something else. Talking about decks and maybe edited gameplay is something I'm considering as such.
To be clear, nothing is changing right now, perhaps not in 2024 at all and maybe not ever. I have to get through my health issues and come out the other side, but after that I do need something else in the content creation sphere to help supplement this playing and writing about KDM which I do here.
Other Content Creators outside of KDM
I'd like to really briefly tout for two Marvel Champions content creators I greatly enjoy, both of whom are starting their journey into patreon. Here they are:
https://www.patreon.com/d20woodworking/posts
https://www.patreon.com/VillainTheoryMC/posts
Also, if you watch PlayingBoardGames at all; prod Justin to get back in touch with me. We were going to play some KDM on stream together, but it fizzled out.
Personal Health
I've had my first meeting with the Private Doctor, unlike anyone I've spoken with before he's already got some ideas about what it is that no other doctor has entertained before. I'll be going through some testing over this month and will get some results about three weeks after that. The hope is he has figured out what the problem is, so it can be treated and then we can see about possibly fixing the damage that my illness has inflicted on my body (hopefully it isn't too much). I am hopeful, but realistically this (probable) infection will have shortened my lifespan some amount.
Sadly this entire medical thing is super expensive, those of you who purchased some of my painted miniatures, patreon pledged at whatever tier you can afford or gifted via KoFi this year have helped make that happen and fingers crossed I might be back to being a normal human being in 2025. I really appreciate that extra support, it's made a lot of difference and all you guys keep me around doing this.
Watch this space! For those of you who are at the $5 and higher tier, it'll be that big old video (which will get public release on the 12th of June). Otherwise the next post will be either the normal Friday update, which will either be the second part of Homicidalism or two reviews (Lordsruin & Usagi) it depends which lot gets finished first!
