Calendar Update, New Patreon Structure & the Launch of THE CRUSADER
Hello everyone!
Before we get into calendars, restructuring, or new lines, we want to begin by saying thank you.
Thank you for supporting us and staying with us up to this point. What we have built together over this time is not a small thing: complete ranges, ever-growing armies, months of consistent releases, and, above all, a community that has allowed Last Sword to develop its own identity. None of this would have been possible without your support on the other side of the screen and the printer.
Precisely out of respect for everything we have achieved together, we believe it is important to speak clearly about where we are now and how we are going to organize the coming months.
Over the last year and a half, Patreon and subscription-based systems have changed a great deal. This is not something affecting only us; many creators have felt the same wear and the same difficulty in maintaining the previous pace. Pretending that nothing has changed would be a mistake.
Until now, whenever things have gone well, our response has always been to push harder: more miniatures, more units, and larger monthly releases. That approach has allowed us to create very complete ranges, but it has also placed a great deal of pressure on the calendar, especially in the fantasy line.
Faced with that pressure, the easy way out would have been to use AI, simplify processes, or deliver miniatures below the standard you expect from us. But that is not, and will never be, the identity of Last Sword.
We also want to reaffirm an important part of the way we work. Last Sword does not operate with hired-gun sculptors who come in, sculpt a single unit, and disappear. We work with a stable team, with our own methodology and a shared vision for each range. That continuity is one of the reasons our collections feel cohesive: they are not isolated pieces, but part of the same visual language developed from within the studio.
You can meet the team behind Last Sword here:
https://lastsword.com/about-us/the-team/
That is why we believe in training sculptors within our own team. It is not the fastest path, but it is the one that allows us to maintain a strong identity in the long term. Training, reviewing, correcting, and guiding the process takes time, but it is also what prevents our ranges from becoming a collection of disconnected commissions.
For all these reasons, starting in August, we are going to reorganize our lines. The goal is clear: to make the project more sustainable, diversify our resources, and open a new path for growth without sacrificing quality.
THE BANNERMAN will remain the home of our fantasy line. However, we want to be transparent about an important change: during the periods when we were able to increase the number of miniatures released each month, we gladly did so. Now, in order to maintain the level of detail, protect the working rhythm of the team, and avoid shortcuts that do not fit our way of doing things, we need to reduce the monthly workload of this line slightly.
It is a difficult decision, but we would rather deliver fewer pieces while maintaining the Last Sword standard than force a quantity that could compromise the final result.
THE ADVENTURER will continue as our historical line. It has grown at a slower pace, but it has done so steadily, and it is now a fully self-sustaining line.
THE CRUSADER will be our new sci-fi tier starting in August. Its first release arc will be Solar Crusader, a range of sacred warriors in a dark science-fiction setting, with its own identity within Last Sword. This is our way of stepping into sci-fi without abandoning what defines our work: detailed, narrative miniatures designed for both collectors and tabletop players.
This reorganization also requires some adjustments to the calendar.
In THE BANNERMAN, August will change. Initially, that month was planned for miniatures from previous Kickstarters, but we have decided to replace them with a new Tsarstvo Leasir release. We believe it is more useful to dedicate that space to consolidating a new range that has already started to grow and deserves continuity.
The Dwarves that had previously been postponed will finally arrive in September.
In THE ADVENTURER, the Late Romans — Cataphract Cavalry has been delivered in July. In August, we will release Early Medieval — Normans, and the City-States — Peltasts will move to September, taking the slot originally reserved for the cataphract cavalry. The City-States — Elite Hoplites will move to November.
We also want to explain the reason behind this adjustment. Aniol, the sculptor who has taken charge of this range, is part of the team we are training within the studio. He is doing very good work, but the historical accuracy and level of detail we want for this line require a little more time.
We prefer to give him that margin so we can review, correct, and make sure each miniature reaches the finish we expect from Last Sword. We do not want to solve calendar pressure by relying on external sculptors who come and go, or by producing pieces without aesthetic continuity. We want to build coherent ranges, and that requires time, method, and a team that grows with the project.
The updated calendar from July onward is as follows:
THE BANNERMAN — Fantasy Line
July: Dark Elves — Fallen Lineage
August: Humans — Tsarstvo Leasir
September: Dwarves
October: Undead — Undead Elves
November: Wood Elves — Tree-Keen
December: High Elves
THE ADVENTURER — Historic Line
July: Late Romans — Cataphract Cavalry
August: Early Medieval — Normans
September: City-States — Peltasts
October: Late Romans — Palatini
November: City-States — Elite Hoplites
December: Vikings — Rus
THE CRUSADER — Sci-Fi Tier
August: Solar Crusader — The Oath of Dawn
September: Solar Crusader — The Charge of Zenith
October: Solar Crusader — Guardians of the Unconquered Sun
November: Solar Crusader — Wrath of the Solar Crown
December: Solar Crusader — The Final Eclipse
We know that calendar changes are never the most comfortable part of any project, but we believe this reorganization is the responsible step if we want to keep working seriously. We do not want to promise more than we can properly deliver. We want to deliver better, maintain our standard, and build ranges that can continue growing for years.
Thank you again for staying with us, for your patience, and for being part of Last Sword.
Comments (8)
Still happy to support you while I can. The offer was very generous these days and I won't mind you downsizing it a bit to maintain quality and continue your growth. I'm actually glad you expand your range and options (except it might cost me, but we'll see about that) : I wish you the best and to continue growing as a great miniature sculptors. poutous
Do you any bundled tiers?
Hi Adam, Yes, there will most likely be bundled options. The current tiers will continue as they are for now, so nobody will lose access to the tier they already have. We are still working on the final structure, but the most likely option is that the current bundled tier will become a hidden legacy tier, while a new All-In tier will be created to include the three lines: THE BANNERMAN, THE ADVENTURER, and THE CRUSADER. Anyone already subscribed to the current bundled tier would be able to keep it for as long as they want. The reason for making it hidden is simply to keep the Patreon page clear and easy to understand. If we kept every possible combination visible, we would need separate tiers for Fantasy + Historical, Fantasy + Sci-Fi, Historical + Sci-Fi, and then the full All-In option. That would quickly turn the page into a maze. So, in short: yes, we are planning bundled options, most likely with a new All-In tier, but we want to structure it properly before making the final announcem
I don’t think I’d be far off the mark in saying that Last Sword Miniatures truly produces some of the most beautiful fantasy and medieval-themed miniatures… Well, let’s be honest—they make the most beautiful ones, which is why we’re with them :) The fact that they’re going to start releasing sci-fi-style miniatures is certainly no bad thing, but we all sincerely hope that the introduction of blasters and laser-armed soldiers won’t come at the expense of fantasy and historical warriors... We sincerely hope so, because the miniatures are truly excellent.... As is the quantity of them, to be completely honest :)
Stoked to hear that you guys are keeping a promise to quality. LastSword is some of the best minis I've seen, I wish I would have joined earlier! Have you ever thought of launching an additional tier, a legacy tier, that bundles together a handful of pre released minis from years past? That's something I would certainly sign up for.
Thank you so much for your kind words! To answer your question: not through Patreon directly, but the construction of the "Armory" that you can currently see in the Reward Checker on our website is geared exactly towards that. It will work as a sort of Kickstarter hosted on our own website, allowing us to do this without depending on intermediaries. We are actually going to kick things off soon with an unreleased Undead warband that we originally made just to play our own campaigns and has never been commercialized. However, the true goal behind this development is to be able to run small campaigns bundling our older, legacy miniatures alongside some new models, with a frequency that Kickstarter simply didn't allow us to maintain. For example, in a few months, you will likely see the Wolf Band bundled together just like you suggested, along with a few brand-new, unreleased additions! On top of that, the Napoleonic campaign that we have almost finished, as well as a World War II campaign, will also see the light of day through this system. We haven't stopped, and we don't plan to. There is still plenty of fuel in the tank!
'We have too much work, we cannot maintain quality at this pace, we have to downsize our future fantasy releases'. 'Oh, we are also starting up a new sci-fi line!'. You understand these 2 messages combined might sound a bit strange?
Hi Alexander. I understand that putting those two points together might sound contradictory at first, but this decision is about being proactive. The studio's current situation is not dramatic. Barring a sudden drop, we have enough margin to maintain our entire team without issues for several months. However, the fantasy line has been showing a downward trend. If this dynamic continues, the long-term stability of the team will be compromised. That is precisely why—because we currently have the time and resources—this is the exact moment to diversify. For the sake of everyone in the studio, we need to open a new revenue stream while we can still do it with proper planning, rather than waiting until we are in a financial emergency. Last Sword started as a hobby, but today several families depend on this work. We have the responsibility to act diligently to secure the future of the project. Reducing the output in the fantasy line allows us to maintain our sculpting standards without burning out the team, while the new sci-fi line aims to generate the income needed to sustain the studio as a whole. Furthermore, I want to make one thing very clear: if the numbers in the fantasy line bounce back to a point that supports the effort we are currently pulling back, you won't even have to ask us to increase the volume again. It will come naturally from us, exactly as we have done since this Patreon started by delivering just 5 miniatures a month, over 60 months ago. We have never hidden our perspective on things, and in this case, we want you to know the exact reasons behind our decisions. Thank you for raising your concern directly. Best regards.