4Ground Publishing (makers of fine pre-painted MDF terrain) shutting down

If you're at all into the miniatures wargaming scene then you know (and likely own stuff from) 4Ground. Rumors began spreading that they were shutting down, and the 4Ground website appears to confirm this sad news:

4Ground Publishing is having a closing-down sale, from now until 30th of June 2022.
At that time, Tymeagain Ltd. will complete any remaining orders but will not accept further orders for 4Ground product.
Thank you for coming on this incredible journey!

4Ground obviously are major players in 28mm MDF terrain, but they also had a Kickstarter (The Legends of the Fabled Realms) that has not been fulfilled & has basically gone dark since October 2020. Tymeagain Ltd comes into play via a corporate naming swap circa 2019 which happened at the time due to rising debts by 4G, but the company itself didn't really change hands (boring behind-the-scenes finance stuff, since 4G was incorporated as a limited company in 2011, at the time of incorporation it had just one shareholder, that being Tymeagain Ltd.)

I would be surprised if some corporate entity didn't buy 4G's assets, as they are basically the gold-standard of pre-painted MDF terrain across multiple scales & settings. But this does mark basically twice in 4 years that their financial situation has been precarious enough to warrant a reconfiguration or a sale.

Just saw that today and debating picking up a few items I've wanted, but not picked up yet.

They really are the gold standard though Warsenal (and Black Site Studios are decent replacements. Warsenal is unpainted, but the build quality/detail if you are willing to paint it is beyond 4Ground. Black Site is painted and good quality, but not as detailed or cleverly assembled as 4Ground.

barrowdown wrote: Black Site is painted and good quality, but not as detailed or cleverly assembled as 4Ground.

Yeah, I have high hopes for Black Site (especially since they are in the USA, so shipping costs/times are less onerous.) That's one thing 4Ground has in its favor is they've been doing it for so long that they know the tricks of what to do & what not to do in MDF construction, whereas Black Site is still learning. I've built some Black Site stuff and have thought, "Wow, I hope they learn never to force me into assembly like this again!"

fightcitymayor wrote: I've built some Black Site stuff and have thought, "Wow, I hope they learn never to force me into assembly like this again!"

I know the exact feeling with their stuff. Even some of the builds that look relatively simple when complete still have weirdly complicated or poorly engineered segments.

Black Site's biggest weakness at this point is how hard it is for them to keep items in stock. 4Ground always managed to keep almost everything in stock or quickly back in stock. Black Site will have months between restocking kits or only restock with a very small amount of kits. With their flat shipping, I like to order several kits at a time and generally of the same theme/style and that is generally difficult.

Seems surprising! 4Ground/Tymeagain definitely make quality stuff, and appear to have it all set up to run.

However they have been moving over to running FactoruM, which is a gaming centre. Its only about 10 miles from me, and is pretty good. So perhaps they want a change of direction?

FactoruM