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Reading between the lines, the previous owner, the guy writing on TMP, held 41% of the shares. He sold enough shares to this Chinese guy to reduce his holding to 4% of the issued shares. This would effectively transfer control of the company to the Chinese guy.

The purpose of this would have been to raise capital for expansion, however the Chinese guy's moulding company then failed to make promised deliveries of stock, leading to disappointed customers.

Whether this was a deliberate ploy or merely inefficiency, we cannot tell.

Another lesson to take from this is not to trust Lonnie Mullins. He went to the Chinese partner and essentially stabbed Mr. Riedy in the back.

whill4 wrote:Another lesson to take from this is not to trust Lonnie Mullins. He went to the Chinese partner and essentially stabbed Mr. Riedy in the back.

Just to play devils advocate is their actually any proof that this is what happened?

Can you prove it didn't happen this way?

Anyway read the The Miniatures Page discussion. Two employees essentially verify this is what happened.

whill4 wrote:Can you prove it didn't happen this way?

Anyway read the The Miniatures Page discussion. Two employees essentially verify this is what happened.

Ya but honestly I would take little stock in anything said from any employee of that company after a public letter like that was issued. It is highly unprofessional, and it suclks that their company is going down hill but it sucks even more for us retailers who now have to hunt down our sales reps and get our money refunded for orders that have not been nor will be delivered. For anyone of that company to publicly write that letter shows some very unprofessional and well childish behavior that is unexcusable in my eyes.

whill4 wrote:Can you prove it didn't happen this way?

Can you prove that Wargames Factory isn't a front for terrorists?!

Actually, you probably can. Nevermind!

That sucks!
Will we never see plastic greatcoats come to fruition? Is the concept under some sort of foul curse?

Empchild wrote:Ya but honestly I would take little stock in anything said from any employee of that company after a public letter like that was issued. It is highly unprofessional, and it suclks that their company is going down hill but it sucks even more for us retailers who now have to hunt down our sales reps and get our money refunded for orders that have not been nor will be delivered. For anyone of that company to publicly write that letter shows some very unprofessional and well childish behavior that is unexcusable in my eyes.

You already said that. So what is your professional approach to this kind of situation, if what they say is true? If Ghost Studios has been failing to fulfill their end of their arrangement and then Lonnie has been blaming it all on Tony, why shouldn't he be permitted to defend himself, and why shouldn't his former customers be permitted to make an informed decision about whether they want to do business with people who clearly cannot be trusted?

Guys, just remember, Big Gamer is watching YOU!



Still, reading the open letter and the comments, this is a very strange case. What was Lonnie's impetus to bad-mouth his employers? The whole thing is fishy and convoluted...

_Tim?

AlexHolker wrote: So what is your professional approach to this kind of situation, if what they say is true? If Ghost Studios has been failing to fulfill their end of their arrangement and then Lonnie has been blaming it all on Tony, why shouldn't he be permitted to defend himself, and why shouldn't his former customers be permitted to make an informed decision about whether they want to do business with people who clearly cannot be trusted?

Precisely!

He's been the face of the company since it's creation. He has every right to defend his reputation to his former customers, especially after his former company practically dragged his name thru the mud in its press release.

Honestly from someone who has been screwed and milked out of thousands by bad business partners. It sucks I agree but it is in bad taste to post drama the way he did with a direct attack on gamming news sites. Post if on the WGF forums but not on TMP. You are only inviting criticism upon yourself in doing so.

Looks like I best buy a few more boxes of Greatcoats now just to make sure that I'll have enough bodies for my army. From the sounds of it, there's a good chance that the company will be out of business by June.

(Speculation there on my part, don't take that as a rumor)

Lonnie is now the bossman state side. That was is impetus and motive.

whill4 wrote:Lonnie is now the bossman state side. That was is impetus and motive.

Actually he isn't. There is some other dude named Savy or some such that is actually named as the head of WF.

Having a motive does not prove that it happened in the manner you're suggesting. Often, you'll notice in murder mysteries, several people will have motive to kill someone. Does that mean everyone killed that person?

whill4 wrote:Can you prove it didn't happen this way?

Anyway read the The Miniatures Page discussion. Two employees essentially verify this is what happened.

Ahhh so now it comes down to just say whatever you want unless you can be proven wrong I won't even go into why that is logically unsound. Second what I will say is that the other employee is a very good friend of Tony and looks like he got just as screwed (and fired by the way) as Tony did. So no I don't automatically think that they are telling the entire truth.

Obviously something happened but considering Tony himself states that he sold most of his 41% share in the company leaving him with only a 4% share doesn't make me think very highly of his business acumen. What Tony did not do was provide any evidence of underhanded dealing by Lonnie (for instance any emails or memos he sent behind Tonies back). All we know for sure is that Lonnie seems to be the one person who kept his job.

So why automatically assume that Lonnie is even part of this? If he was so bad why did Tony hire him in the first place? There are certainly still a lot of questions that need to be answered before I decide that one side is wrong over the other. Unfortunately it doesn't seem like we are going to ever get these facts.

Yeah, managers from the outside getting rid of the company founder Tony is like, say, former shampoo managers firing Rick Priestley at GW

Ohhhhh I'm not saying it is a good thing just that it doesn't necessarily have to be as underhanded as it has been made out to be.

When you only own 4% of something it doesn't take underhanded to get rid of someone.

Da Boss wrote:That sucks!
Will we never see plastic greatcoats come to fruition? Is the concept under some sort of foul curse?

Seeing as I have over 100 of them behind me I think that yes, yes we have

Now will we ever see them expanded... That's another question with a more depressing answer

brettz123 wrote:Ahhh so now it comes down to just say whatever you want unless you can be proven wrong

No, it comes down to what people who were heavily involved in the company say is true, and you need some kind of justification for your position before you go calling them liars.

So why automatically assume that Lonnie is even part of this? If he was so bad why did Tony hire him in the first place?

Because Tony isn't clairvoyant? Cause must preceed effect, and if there was no cause to think Lonnie was so bad that occurred before he was hired, it's unreasonable to engage in this sort of Monday morning quarterbacking and start assigning blame for not acting on information that wasn't available.

brettz123 wrote:Ohhhhh I'm not saying it is a good thing just that it doesn't necessarily have to be as underhanded as it has been made out to be.

When you only own 4% of something it doesn't take underhanded to get rid of someone.

I think the underhanded part comes into play in regards to how he came to only have a 4% ownership. My understanding is that he had 41%, I.E. the controlling interest, with the rest of the ownership split between the Chinese company, Lonnie, and the other 1 or 2 big guys that worked at WF. What ended up happening was that he had to keep selling ownership off in order to raise more capital to cover his expenses (I would hope it was his operating expenses, and not him being fiscally irresponsible) because the Chinese company was holding on to his inventory, and by doing that, preventing him from raising capital via sales profits. The implication is that the Chinese company intentionally held the merchandise with the intention of this occuring and conspired with Lonnie to ensure it occured.

Thats mostly from guesswork, a bit of reading in between the lines, and theory, so don't take this as what actually occured.

malfred wrote:Another lesson from business: It's easy to predict doom and gloom AFTER the fact.

Actually, with one of the companies that ran into trouble this month, quite a few people predicted doom and gloom before the fact...

So far as WGF:

Tony Reidy: Wait, you said when you bought a controlling share, you were saving the company! That was the deal!
Darth Jervis: :hfffffff: I have altered the deal. Pray I do not alter it further. :pfffffft:

So more importantly, does anyone have a source for the greatcoats? I need about 60 of them.

Lonecoon wrote:So more importantly, does anyone have a source for the greatcoats? I need about 60 of them.

The War Store sells them. So does FTW Games/Spikey Bitz I believe. I bought a set from FTW Games and another from The War Store last year.

I might have a few kicking around the shop. Ordered a bunch when they first came out. My main distributor is out of them, just checked.

The Warstore is out..

Lonecoon wrote:So more importantly, does anyone have a source for the greatcoats? I need about 60 of them.

Just got 2 boxes from the Warstore.


Automatically Appended Next Post:

porkuslime wrote:The Warstore is out..

Ouch, looks like I got my order in just in time.

Back in like September I was emailing WF about the possibility of getting some models done for a game I'm putting together. Price was way to high, but that Tony fella seemed like a nice guy and all. I hope they can figure something out, but it sounds like they are probably better off just moving on, learning from their mistakes, and starting a new company from scratch just making the same kinda stuff.

mikhaila wrote:I might have a few kicking around the shop. Ordered a bunch when they first came out. My main distributor is out of them, just checked.

Send me a PM if you've got a couple. I'll buy 3 boxes, as I found one on Ebay.

Lonecoon wrote:
Send me a PM if you've got a couple. I'll buy 3 boxes, as I found one on Ebay.

Wow, I snagged two (of the three available) from eBay last night, thinking that I had best get them while I still could. Looks like I was right.

Has anyone checked to see if Maelstrom still has any in stock?