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With the recent announcement of X Wing Armada has FFG reached a point where is likely to be a really big player in the gaming world?
From a personal POV they seem to be giving gamer's what they want, (supply & demand is still an issue though)
I myself have the following:
Tannhauser
X Wing (plus extra ships)
Relic
Nemesis
Deathwatch RPG (if I had the money I'd buy the $200 version!)
On my shopping list I have:
X-Com
X Wing Armada
40k Conquest
Horus Heresy
Cadwallon
Live your life that the fear of death can never enter your heart. Trouble no one about his religion. Respect others in their views and demand that they respect yours. Love your life, perfect your life. Beautify all things in your life. Seek to make your life long and of service to your people. When your time comes to die, be not like those whose hearts are filled with fear of death, so that when their time comes they weep and pray for a little more time to live their lives over again in a different way. Sing your death song, and die like a hero going home.
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I can now be found on Facebook under the name of Wulfstan Design
A question... as stated in the first part of the post.
I just pointed out, by listing what I have, that to me they seem to be going from strength to strength. It appears that they are giving gamer's what they want, unlike another big company.
Live your life that the fear of death can never enter your heart. Trouble no one about his religion. Respect others in their views and demand that they respect yours. Love your life, perfect your life. Beautify all things in your life. Seek to make your life long and of service to your people. When your time comes to die, be not like those whose hearts are filled with fear of death, so that when their time comes they weep and pray for a little more time to live their lives over again in a different way. Sing your death song, and die like a hero going home.
Lt. Rorke - Act of Valor
I can now be found on Facebook under the name of Wulfstan Design
I like what fantasy flight games I have, my only slight moan would be the board game boxes are a bit rubbish compared to others, no thought about separate storing of game parts and the like which other boardgames do really well.
In general they seem to be going from strength to strength, though at present I own the following...
X wing (supply issues at times have been an issue)
Battlestar boardgames
Blood bowl team manager
Star wars and lord of the rings lcgs (the constant new expansions for these do annoy me a little)
Edge of Empire rulebook
Wish list is just the xcom game and witcher one
Seems like a good growing company who seem to understand the importance of making games to run along side well known names and brands
They've been one of the biggest players in the gaming world. It's just that they haven't really done a huge amount in the tabletop gaming market, barring the success of X-Wing, so people here are unlikely to have really noticed them before (outside of the Dark Heresy license). They're one of the biggest publishers in board gaming, huge in RPGs, and invented an entirely new genre in the LCG segment.
I think the most relevant observation is that FFG appears to be moving from strength to strength. The FFG website is not the greatest, and the company has had a few bumps, but overall FFG has (to my eyes) remained very resilient with a diverse range of products in the TTG space and the ability to handle licensed IP very well.
In some sense, FFG is a bit like Samsung in that the company pushes out lots and lots of different products, some of which land very well and others that don't. But the FFG brand is starting to gobble up more and more shelf space at the FLGS, which is itself a huge success.
And personally, I have some to associate the brand with quality production and quality game design. Much like SJ Games, if it has a FFG logo on it, I'll give it a try regardless.
My board game collection is not as robust as those of other gamers, but FFG products make up a sizable proportion of the total, and I've played the heck out of Dark Heresy over the years.
I think the 'critical mass' the OP is seeing is perhaps due to the fact that FFG now has prominent products in several major subsets of the TTG market. It is getting so that you can't swing a dead cat in the TTG areas of the internet without hitting a FFG product. FFG's products have also started to worm their way into more mainstream brick and mortar retail with X-Wing and the FFG board games available at places like Target and Barnes and Noble. Again, people are being exposed to the FFG brand much more frequently than in the past.
Kirasu: Have we fallen so far that we are excited that GW is giving us the opportunity to spend 58$ for JUST the rules? Surprised it's not "Dataslate: Assault Phase"
AlexHolker: "The power loader is a forklift. The public doesn't complain about a forklift not having frontal armour protecting the crew compartment because the only enemy it is designed to face is the OHSA violation."
AlexHolker: "Allow me to put it this way: Paramount is Skynet, reboots are termination attempts, and your childhood is John Connor."
I just got Arkham Horror board game from FFG and It's very fun. Plan on getting the expansions. Star Wars Armada is the game I've been waiting for all my life without knowing it. I'll be pre-ordering that. I looked at X-Wing and said "It looks awesome, but I just wish it was about capital ships instead. Sigh..." But FFG listened to my silent wish!
So, FFG is rising in my books.
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Laughing Man wrote: They've been one of the biggest players in the gaming world.
Glad I read through first, I was about to post exactly this.
Barring those few people I know who only play games you can pick up in mass retailers(and look at their shelves, even Target and Walmart are starting to carry Eurogames, FFG, and the like), I haven't seen a games closet that hasn't had at least one FFG game in it, usually it's 3-4 of them.
This message was edited 2 times. Last update was at 2014/08/11 15:38:37
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I've seen their stuff in my local Waterstones, so that must be good for them
Live your life that the fear of death can never enter your heart. Trouble no one about his religion. Respect others in their views and demand that they respect yours. Love your life, perfect your life. Beautify all things in your life. Seek to make your life long and of service to your people. When your time comes to die, be not like those whose hearts are filled with fear of death, so that when their time comes they weep and pray for a little more time to live their lives over again in a different way. Sing your death song, and die like a hero going home.
Lt. Rorke - Act of Valor
I can now be found on Facebook under the name of Wulfstan Design
Wolfstan wrote: With the recent announcement of X Wing Armada has FFG reached a point where is likely to be a really big player in the gaming world?
FFG has so diverse catalogue that the 'FFG brand' as such is less likely to produce 'critical mass' than simply some game becoming a runaway hit (like X-Wing).
My only problem with them is that they go for quantity over quality sometimes. They produce loads of stuff and the quality is not always the best. Some of their games feel forced in their complexity, and many expansions are poorly thought of. Particularly Descent, where each new expansion made the game more buggy and less playable, and FAQqing was slow as heck. And their 40kRPG series seems to be becoming worse with every iteration:
-Dark Heresy: good system, not as 'clean' as WHFRP, but close
-Rogue Trader: ok, bit too much bloat and required a huge errata to be playable
-Deathwatch: terrible
-expansions: only serve to make things worse.
Haven't dared to try Only War or DH 2.0 after that.
I have X-wing and a few expansion ships, it's all very pretty and well made I just think the rules are a bit bland. However, for a quick pick up n play it is spot on.
I think there are too many cards and tokens, though.
Backfire wrote: My only problem with them is that they go for quantity over quality sometimes. They produce loads of stuff and the quality is not always the best. Some of their games feel forced in their complexity...
Holy moly does Horus Heresy fall into this category. I don't know why this game is as well liked as it is, because I think it's complete pants. Needlessly complex and feels completely detached from any sense of commanding forces in an actual battle. I'm pretty damn good at grokking game rules and I'm pretty sure in spite of my best efforts, my group has never once managed to play this game completely correctly, or really felt like we had any grasp on overall strategies.
Battlefleet Gothic ships and markers at my store, GrimDarkBits:
FFG makes some kick ass games. I love their H.P. Lovecraft based games (Arkham Horror, Elder Sign, Elder Scrolls), their X-Wing stuff is kicking ass and taking names, and their RPG stuff is extensive. Also, gak tons of board games.
In boardgames/card game the are becoming a real player. In the overall gaming/toy market they are still small time, but GW is too. Saying that I have over a dozen of FFG product with every expansion put out for them, so here is hoping they MB some day.
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Bob: Well, I guess I'll just have to develop a sense of humor.
I know both it and Star Trek Attack Wing knocked Warhammer Fantasy off the top 5, if that's any indication.
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I know both it and Star Trek Attack Wing knocked Warhammer Fantasy off the top 5, if that's any indication.
It does, it shows in the tiny segment of Table Top Miniature gaming they are becoming a real player. But. like I said before GW the biggest player in the TTM market is still small time in the overall gaming world.
Peter: As we all know, Christmas is that mystical time of year when the ghost of Jesus rises from the grave to feast on the flesh of the living! So we all sing Christmas Carols to lull him back to sleep.
Bob: Outrageous, How dare he say such blasphemy. I've got to do something.
Man #1: Bob, there's nothing you can do.
Bob: Well, I guess I'll just have to develop a sense of humor.
I know both it and Star Trek Attack Wing knocked Warhammer Fantasy off the top 5, if that's any indication.
Warhammer Fantasy knocked Warhammer Fantasy off of the top 5.
Kirasu: Have we fallen so far that we are excited that GW is giving us the opportunity to spend 58$ for JUST the rules? Surprised it's not "Dataslate: Assault Phase"
AlexHolker: "The power loader is a forklift. The public doesn't complain about a forklift not having frontal armour protecting the crew compartment because the only enemy it is designed to face is the OHSA violation."
AlexHolker: "Allow me to put it this way: Paramount is Skynet, reboots are termination attempts, and your childhood is John Connor."
Wolfstan wrote: With the recent announcement of X Wing Armada has FFG reached a point where is likely to be a really big player in the gaming world?
From a personal POV they seem to be giving gamer's what they want, (supply & demand is still an issue though)
I myself have the following:
Tannhauser
X Wing (plus extra ships)
Relic
Nemesis
Deathwatch RPG (if I had the money I'd buy the $200 version!)
On my shopping list I have:
X-Com
X Wing Armada
40k Conquest
Horus Heresy
Cadwallon
Out of the gate, FFG was a major player. Even better, they interact with the fan base, discuss the games and listen to the fan base. All in all? They are doing exactly what they need to make the quality grow the company. When I look for a quality game, I'll look at FFG first anymore. Most of the stuff the put out is pretty good. They do have some stinkers, but on the whole, they continue to push and work hard for the money, interest, and continual growth that a company needs these days.
If you want good games, FFG is the first choice.
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I really liked the bloodbowl team manager and I keep getting badgered to buy into X wing as well, I had a few games, seems quite good.
People seem to be raving about them all over, lets hope the quality keeps up as they grow, looking good so far
Live your life that the fear of death can never enter your heart. Trouble no one about his religion. Respect others in their views and demand that they respect yours. Love your life, perfect your life. Beautify all things in your life. Seek to make your life long and of service to your people. When your time comes to die, be not like those whose hearts are filled with fear of death, so that when their time comes they weep and pray for a little more time to live their lives over again in a different way. Sing your death song, and die like a hero going home.
Lt. Rorke - Act of Valor
I can now be found on Facebook under the name of Wulfstan Design
Yep Fantasy Flight are really doing an excellent job, that they can get their products in mainstream shops certainly doesn't hurt either. Really looking forward to both Imperial Assault and Star Wars: Armada.
I've also heard very good things about Battlelore/Battles of Westeros as well.
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Was going to post this in a new thread, but saw this one come back to the top.
Dog's of War Gaming posted their video of Fantasy Flight Games InFlight Report from Gencon this year:
Audio and video quality is poorer than Team Covenant's coverage from last year. Hope they pose a better video soon.
Financial Highlights:
* Another 25%+ year of growth (FFG was 30~31M in revenue last year)
* Miniatures makes up 33% of sales now (up from 16% last year and pretty much all X-wing)
* 55% Domestic Sale/45% International Sales
* 97% sales retailers/3% direct
Several items I have not seen discussed in threads about FFG:
* Doing a direct Battlelore app game.
* Digital integration with X-Com Board Game. Moving away from cards/dice to computer aided game.
silent25 wrote: Financial Highlights:
* Another 25%+ year of growth (FFG was 30~31M in revenue last year)
* Miniatures makes up 33% of sales now (up from 16% last year and pretty much all X-wing)
* 55% Domestic Sale/45% International Sales
* 97% sales retailers/3% direct
WOW.
Impressive. X wing is just mind blowlingly popular still... And that big a percentage of their sales are trade sales..
Just more evidence we are in a golden age of tabletop miniature games right now I guess
Fafnir wrote: Oh, I certainly vote with my dollar, but the problem is that that is not enough. The problem with the 'vote with your dollar' response is that it doesn't take into account why we're not buying the product. I want to enjoy 40k enough to buy back in. It was my introduction to traditional games, and there was a time when I enjoyed it very much. I want to buy 40k, but Gamesworkshop is doing their very best to push me away, and simply not buying their product won't tell them that.
Yep FFG seem to be doing very well. Good levels of quality in models and rules, good prices and they improve their products consistently. Looking forward to throwing money at them when Armada and Imperial Assault hit!
jonolikespie wrote: Just more evidence we are in a golden age of tabletop miniature games right now I guess
Gotta thank GW for their incompetence in allowing enough of a place in the market for these companies and their games to take hold!
This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2014/08/22 04:16:53