Mörderin by John Blanche

EU shipping update
4 months ago – Tue, Nov 25, 2025 at 01:49:04 AM

Halloo everyone!

Hope you are all doing well. Straight off the bat, all UK, US and Rest of the World parcels should have arrived by now. If you have not received yours, please do get in touch.

The main purpose of this update is to let our extra patient EU backers know what is happening. Long story short, there has been an unforeseen delay at Polish customs and we are waiting on an update from UPS as to when that has cleared and will finally be delivered to the Polish hub.

As explained in previous updates, we chose to ship all EU parcels (pre-packed and labelled) in one big box to a Polish hub so that you get EU friendly shipping (no customs fees and so forth). Here is the latest update:

1. The shipment was sent to Poland by Zealot Miniatures around the beginning of November.
2. It was supposed to be a two day shipping service (UPS) but it has been stuck in Polish customs for most of this time – apologies, but we only found out last Friday and were waiting to hear from UPS if it cleared yesterday.
3. Customs have been holding the box as they want to run chemical tests on the plastic material to confirm it meets the safety certificate... Poland apparently raised its security level due to national security threats (especially in light of the recent suspected sabotage by Russian agents that has been in the news). Apologies, we thought it arrived in their hands over a week ago.
4. UPS are saying it takes as long as it takes, which clearly is not very helpful. However, there is absolutely nothing we can do as we have to wait for Polish customs to complete their chemical checks.
5. Once it clears Polish customs it should take about three days for the Polish hub to send everything out (each backer’s parcel was pre-packed and labelled in the UK, so all they need to do is put the details through the Polish postal system).

I know this must be very disappointing. Naturally we will post another update when we hear from UPS that is has finally cleared customs. Really sorry about this additional delay. Not sure anyone could have foreseen something like this.

We will keep all you patient EU backers updated. Thanks for hanging on just a little bit longer!

Best,

Thistle

An update from Zealot Miniatures
5 months ago – Thu, Oct 30, 2025 at 06:44:27 AM

[This was first posted in comments a week ago - apologies that this is only being shared as an update now! - Thistle]

Hey everyone, we are the team of casting goblins working for John/Thistle doing production and fulfilment for this project. I just wanted to drop in and post a few paragraphs for anyone who has a few minutes and the inclination to read about the process, since things are being finished up now :)

First off, thanks for everyone's kind feedback on the cast and model quality, we're coming up on the home stretch with nearly 2,000 pledges posted - and we've had just one single message about a miscast piece needing replacing so far! (Yes, you! You know who you are ;) ) and dozens of messages about the great detail and quality. This makes us goblins happy :D so thanks for that, we are simple folks who feed off compliments <3 lol

While John and Thistle take full credit for the awesome design and sculpting of these ladies, it's been a nice challenge to get each design to produce to the best standard we can. And producing nearly 30,000 models... Inside a reasonable timeframe lol.

Which leads me to my second point to say thanks for everyone's patience with dispatch as we get these sent out to you all. As you all see, this project did rather well (!!!) unlocking more models and funding many times the original target/estimate. It's great because we get to make more John Blanche minis that were unlocked :D woo! But also the sculpting, mastering, tooling, casting and dispatch pushed to the right. Boo. So apologies for the extra wait, I've been whipping the other goblins twice as hard recently and we are pleased to have this nearly completed! :P

Third topic is the dispatch, and wow it is not as easy as it once was to post models from the UK! I won't rant specifics, but badly timed tariffs, suspended services and postal strikes were not helpful -.- anyway as of now: all the UK & USA orders are posted, and every other non EU (Rest of the World) country has also been posted already.

Canada: you've stopped striking so we are allowed to post to you again, your boxes are all packed and are being posted now (those that weren't sent at the beginning of the strike - some of you will have yours already).

And EU backers, who are dispatching from an EU hub that we have set up. Thistle already mentioned; but to save each backer like 5€ handling fee+ tariffs + dramas of unpaid tariffs and returned boxes etc nightmare etc..., we are doing it this easier way through a hub for you :) EU boxes will start to arrive starting now, and continue over the next couple of weeks.

Annnnd lastly; We are really looking forward to seeing some more of these sets all painted up, so please do add us in the tags of your posts if you post them on the socials, it's always great to see what everyone creates.

Thanks again!

Eddie
Zealot Miniatures

Shipping update 7th October 2025
6 months ago – Tue, Oct 07, 2025 at 05:10:46 AM

Halloo backers!

I hope everyone is well. 

Shipping is well underway and many of you will have received your pledges already. I have received an update regarding fulfilment and details on this are below. The updates are split into the following sections:

• Canada Post strike
• UK & Rest of the World shipping
• US shipping
• EU shipping
   

Canada Post strike
As many Canadians will no doubt be aware, there is currently a strike at Canada Post. Fulfilment are currently waiting for Canada Post to finish their strike, as Royal Mail (here in the UK) has temporarily suspended any mail as a result. To quote the fulfilment team:

“We'll resume shipping to Canada as soon as we have the shipping option available again on our Royal Mail business account. For Canadian orders already shipped, there may be a slight processing delay in their postal system too.”

Here is Royal Mail's latest update on the situation:

Start date: 24 September 2025

Latest update: 3 October 2025

End date: To be advised

Incident: Strike

Canada Post have informed us that they have received escalated strike notices from the Canadian Union of Postal Workers (CUPW) meaning that all Canada Posts’ operations will be shut down during the national strike affecting all carriers which rely on Canada Post for final mile delivery. 

The duration of the industrial action is currently unknown. Canada Post have confirmed no new items will be accepted into their network until the national disruption is over and have asked us not to despatch from the UK to Canada.

Apologies for the delays caused by the strike. Hopefully the situation will be resolved soon and it won’t be too long before Canadians will start receiving their pledges!

UK & Rest of the World shipping

Latest from fulfilment is that they are about 80% through UK and Rest of the World pledge shipments. They are shipping in backer number order, so please bear with us if yours has not arrived yet. The remaining UK & ROW orders will be going out of the door this week.

US shipping

I am sorry to announce there was a bit of a delay caused by Royal Mail not getting their systems/procedures updated quickly for business customers sending smaller parcels. As per previous update, starting 29th August 2025, all parcels being sent to the United States are now subject to customs duties and taxes, regardless of their value, due to the elimination of the de minimis exemption brought in by the US government that previously allowed shipments under $800 to enter duty-free. This change led many postal operators worldwide to suspend or restrict shipments to the US until new procedures were established. This included Royal Mail here in the UK, hence a further delay in sending parcels to the US.

US parcels are going out now but there was a big delay caused by all of this. Very sorry to our US backers, but alas there was nothing we could do about this. US backers should be completely fulfilled in the next couple of weeks due to this. Again, many apologies!

EU shipping

There was a delay with fulfilment getting this all boxed up to ship to the Polish hub, I am very sorry to report. I have been informed that the shipment will be heading to Poland in the coming days which means that EU shipping will begin next week. Ever so sorry for the delay!

So, as you can see shipping has taken a bit longer than we’d originally been told, which is unfortunate and frustrating, for you as well as us. For those who have not received your pledges yet, they are coming! Please bear with the shipping process a little longer.

If you have any queries, please feel free to reach out via message. If you have received yours and there is a problem with your order, there will be a thank you card in your package with contact details. If you do not have this, you can reach out via Kickstarter message and we will assist.

Thank you everyone for backing and your extraordinary patience!

Best,

Thistle

Shipping is finally underway!
7 months ago – Mon, Sep 08, 2025 at 12:30:03 PM

Halloo everyone!

I hope you are all well. 

I can confirm (finally!) that shipping is underway! Some backers will start getting their parcels this week.

Due to a couple of factors, this is how things are happening now:

1. UK, USA and Rest of the World backers are heading out now and should be done in the next couple of weeks. 

2. EU backers are now going via a hub in Poland. These are being boxed up and should be heading from the UK to Poland next week, after which they should all be posted to individual backers in EU countries over the subsequent couple of weeks. This sadly means that EU backers will take a little longer, but we need to ship from Poland since this is how we get to avoid customs/handling fees for you.

USA backers
Starting 29th August 2025, all parcels being sent to the United States will be subject to customs duties and taxes, regardless of their value, due to the elimination of the de minimis exemption brought in by the current administration that previously allowed shipments under $800 to enter duty-free. This change led many postal operators worldwide to suspend or restrict shipments to the US until new procedures were established. This included Royal Mail here in the UK, hence a further delay in sending parcels to the US. 

There has been considerable communication back and forth between fulfilment and Royal Mail, with the latest announcement resulting in a 10% tariff on the value of the items plus a 50p (£0.50) handling charge per parcel. Rather annoying given that we are shipping around 700 parcels to US backers, but there you go. If you are interested, you can read more about it here:

https://www.royalmail.com/usabusinessupdates

Don’t worry though – we setup a Kickstarter contingency fund for any unexpected expenses, so these fees are covered. No one needs to pay anything extra. And your minis are now on their way!

All in, this means that UK, USA and Rest of the World pledges should be fulfilled within the next 2-3 weeks. EU backers should be within 3-4 weeks.

Please accept my humblest apologies for the length of time it has taken to get here. It has been quite the task and it will be a huge relief to finally have everything out of the door and in your hands. Your patience and understanding throughout has been tremendous and truly appreciated. Thank you so, so much for your support!

Best,

Thistle

Aaargh, another very slight delay (just a couple of weeks)...
8 months ago – Fri, Aug 01, 2025 at 10:30:50 AM

Halloo everyone!

Time for another sincere apology – there has been a slight delay with some of the miniatures not being cast in time. This is completely my fault for not double-checking and assuming everything was done (my brain is mush - just a lot going on in life right now). The caster says we are looking at another couple of weeks to finally finish. I am so sorry about this, I know this is disappointing news. This is completely my fault, please do not blame the caster! They are doing everything in their power to get this out.

Firstly, some of the voodoo bears are still being cast, and since almost everyone ordered the original Mörderin pledge that includes the free teddies, that meant that these could not be sent out. This is totally my bad for not realising sooner, for which I must profusely apologise. 

Secondly, there was an issue that was picked up with the chains connecting the skulls to Queen Voudoo’s dress – some of them were breaking off when being packed. So we decided they needed to be thickened, a new tool made and 1,500 new miniatures cast (don’t worry we have a KS contingency fund). Because they could break when packed for shipping, it was decided that it would be best to fix them so they don’t snap so easily – naturally we want to avoid you receiving broken miniatures where possible!

Terribly, terribly sorry about this extra delay, especially as the last announcement sent just over a week ago was declaring the commencement of shipping. Please accept my deepest apologies. 

Hopefully the casting can be completed in the next couple of weeks. This means that instead of everything being out by the end of August, we are now looking at around mid-September for the last mini to be shipped.

I will also see about heading down again soon to lend a hand with picking and packing and will post another update soon. To say this Kickstarter has been stressful is something of an understatement. We just want to get these lovely John Blanche miniatures to all our amazing backers, but the mental toll these campaigns can exact upon a person means that I for one cannot face the prospect of doing another one any time soon, that is for sure!

Once more, very sorry about all of this. I hope I can ask for just a teeny bit more patience from what is an incredibly patient bunch of backers. Thank you for being amazing.

Best,

Thistle