Another idea just occurred to me regarding Amerika and the plastic miniatures. If I am understanding toblerone77 correctly, he is supposing that if you actually had the plastic battle pieces on hand, that the game itself might be a more sellable product.
Of course, you guys can’t afford to put out the expense of getting the plastic battle pieces until the game is actually funded. As I recall, a MINIMUM order of plastic miniatures like these would be at least 1000 sets to make it worthwhile for the factory to make them. And there is the cost of the molds themselves to add into this expense. And if the game funding was not successful, then HBG is sitting there with this HUGE expense laid out and no game sales to recoup their loss.
So, one idea would be to go ahead with the plastic battle pieces as their own product. You could even take pre-orders for sets to ease the cost on your end. You know a lot of people will be wanting these pieces and a lot will be wanting extras for their own games even after Amerika comes out. You would still have plenty of sets to fill the actual games and when you present your game for funding, you already have the actual playing pieces on hand to show. Also, with the battle pieces made beforehand, the actual rest of the game would be a little cheaper for you to complete.
I don’t know if I’m missing anything here. I’ve never tried to market a game like this. Just wanted to throw it out there.