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2014/10/28 22:12:21
Subject: Re:New Imperial Assault minis based Star Wars board game from FFG announced!
Well, no, $15 for three monopose grunts, new missions and key Command cards.
So, three monopose grunts and packaging ballast?
I had similar 'ballast' concerns with the release of X-wing. £12 for single ship!
Card inserts, dials, tokens, pilot cards and mini upgrade cards, it's stuff you can't play the game without!
X-wing sells out every time!
I'm glad they have the Balast putting mini collectors off!
More people not buying the game just for the minis means more packs available for those of us who actually play the games.
I play the RPG, and will be buying the minis exclusively for that...and then I will likely end up with enough to actually play this game....which will get me hooked and wanting more...Damn you FFG...
This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2014/10/28 22:39:39
I had similar 'ballast' concerns with the release of X-wing. £12 for single ship!
Card inserts, dials, tokens, pilot cards and mini upgrade cards, it's stuff you can't play the game without!
X-wing sells out every time!
I'm glad they have the Balast putting mini collectors off!
More people not buying the game just for the minis means more packs available for those of us who actually play the games.
Panic...
I'm not sure if the stock shortages are because of a small number of collectors and crazy muddy funsters who want to play Star Wars Miniatures: Starship Battles but with even more expensive ships Instead I think we can largely blame FFG's weird stock control and manufacturing rituals whereby they can only make six hundred and sixty six of any one thing regardless of how popular it is and the order can only be placed on a full moon. But I suppose.. as long as it keeps the company in the black so they can keep churning out new stuff and they do at least remember to do a reprint of the OOS X-Wing stuff at least once a year, it is only super inconvenient.
As for the ballast.. or more specifically, BobtheInquisitor's comments regarding ballast, I'm not sure that you can call it expensive, or equate it's presence to 'costing you a mini from the box'. Most of what FFG puts out there is printed - be it books, boxes, cards, maps or counters. They have been doing it long enough to get pretty good at it and they are smart enough to get their moneys worth out of each piece of art by using it about a bazillion times but cropped in different ways. Even if they were going to a different printer for each new print run and getting unfavorable rates, the cost of the box + ballast is still going to be negligible. Hell, throw in three monopose plastic models and the total production costs are still probably no more than $7 per box. So of course they could sell it without the cards, and they could put in 5 minis instead of 3, and they already are charging exactly the same price for a box with only two miniatures in because those miniatures are more powerful or more desirable. But this simply isn't FFGs modus operandi.
Now I do agree that we can blame GW for this.
Probably.
I reckon it started with Warhammer Quest*.. where we basically showed them that we would be prepared to pay a lot more for a single figure; not because it came with extra ballast or because it was larger / more detailed than other fantasy character models available from GW at the time.. but because you only needed that one figure. It set a precedent that it is okay for a game to charge you more if you don't need as many components as another game and we see it in Infinity, Malifaux etc.. and also FFG's Descent. So while I agree that it sucks, I think you have to compare the value against something in the same category and Descent is the best model for comparison here. A Lieutenant pack with a single plastic 28mm miniature plus ballast is ~£8. A Lieutenant pack with a single large miniature is ~£13. The pre-order prices put the ally packs in the region of ~£13 as well, with a pack of three guys (arguably better value, content wise, than the single character packs at the same price) so there isn't even much of a "Because, Star Wars" markup. So is this a price that people are going to be prepared to pay in order to pay this game? I'd say yes. Is this a good price to pay to use the minis for something else? Of course not.
* Necromunda might have been a better example but IIRC, there wasn't much of a price difference between a 10-man gang in metal and 10-man imperial guard squad.
This message was edited 3 times. Last update was at 2014/10/28 23:26:02
Just as a heads up, Miniatures Market have two of the Armored Cartographer Map Packs in their Black Friday sale for the bargain price of $8 (each map in the pack is double sided) and they are going to be ideal for the skirmish part of the game, especially the Capital City pack which is going to be huuuge!
I reckon it started with Warhammer Quest*.. where we basically showed them that we would be prepared to pay a lot more for a single figure; not because it came with extra ballast or because it was larger / more detailed than other fantasy character models available from GW at the time.. but because you only needed that one figure.
Playing Devil's Advocate, they need to charge somewhat more for something they can only sell once to a customer, vs something that they can sell multiple times, because the sculpt and mold need to be recouped. There's also the opportunity cost of instead putting the resources into desigining/sculpting/manufacturing, etc the character vs putting that same effort into something which will get more sales.
To me, these prices seem reasonable for something with an expensive license. You can still pick up army builder type Star Wars minis on ebay for 2-3 bucks each if you want a lower cost alternative.
2014/12/10 21:09:40
Subject: New Imperial Assault minis based Star Wars board game from FFG announced!
From what I can tell, GamesLore in the UK briefly had stock, and BoardGameExtras (they have the best prices on the add-ons as far as I can tell) are still expecting to have some copies before Christmas.. but yeah it seems that only a small number of boxes have reached the UK in the December shipment. I wonder if the above companies go through a different distributor to Wayland, Firestorm etc who are not expecting copies until early next year.
This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2014/12/11 09:38:36
JHall wrote: Has anyone ordered those Battle Mats from Miniature Market? I am curious as to what the quality is like in person. Also do they come rolled or folded?
If their previous products are anything to go by, they will be folded, although I won't be able to say for sure until mine arrive! The paper quality is good - slightly glossy, and more durable than the mats WotC put out for the Star Wars Saga RPG and their miniatures game.. but really want people are going to be most interested in is the quality of the art. I'll upload a picture of the stuff I already have but obviously I can't physically put it alongside the tiles from Imperial Assault yet
14 units in stock, eh? I expect that to disappear fast! I knew I should have pre-ordered it from Wayland when it was first announced at the reduced rate. Doh!
JHall wrote: Has anyone ordered those Battle Mats from Miniature Market? I am curious as to what the quality is like in person. Also do they come rolled or folded?
Okay, here are some quick pictures I took - I couldn't lay them flat (really need some time to clean my desk) but the pictures should give you an idea of what the existing maps are like:
Sort of. Take a look at the first post here on BGG for a comparison with the WotC SWM line. Overall, they are about the same height, but the FFG ones are less.. spindly.
Edit: Compare the stormtrooper on the BGG page with the stormtroopers here (middle) and here.
FYI, converted Infinity models look great alongside WotC and - it seems - FFG Star Wars miniatures. Perfect if you are looking for some new hero models
2nd Edit: The Star Wars Miniatures Clone Wars Map Packs used to be super cheap on fleabay. You used to be able to pick them up for about £2 each. Now I think retailers who held on to them may find they are in demand again. This is the best deal I can find on them at the moment.
This message was edited 6 times. Last update was at 2014/12/11 12:27:34
As far as I'm aware, those maps were designed by a man named Christopher West. I've got a whole stack of his maps, from fantasy to SW to generic Sci-Fil. Even the map set he recently Kickstarter'd. They're excellent designs.
With Adventurers Atlas, Armoured Cartographer (and JediCartographer / ArmouredGear before that) I always get confused about who made what, and if the WotC maps were made internally, or by Christopher West while he worked there, or if he was always freelancing and was simply comissioned by WotC to make maps for them, and if he was behind any or all of the above map-making teams.
..but all that really matters is that they are out there, they are great, and they are super convenient for DMs who have to travel to their games, or IA players who want to be able to store their skirmish maps in the game box
This message was edited 2 times. Last update was at 2014/12/11 13:16:21
My local comic\games store had a demo of this on yesterday. I played the first scenario through 3 times. It's a bit tricky getting the hang of all the different symbols on the dice at first but once you're used to it the game flows very smoothly.
"And if we've learnt anything over the past 1000 mile retreat it's that Russian agriculture is in dire need of mechanisation!"
2014/12/14 10:44:20
Subject: New Imperial Assault minis based Star Wars board game from FFG announced!
They had only pressed out the ones for the first scenario, though I did get a look in the box and there where loads of tiles included. The quality was excellent, nice thick card.
"And if we've learnt anything over the past 1000 mile retreat it's that Russian agriculture is in dire need of mechanisation!"
2014/12/14 10:47:48
Subject: New Imperial Assault minis based Star Wars board game from FFG announced!
yeah,
I got mine yesterday.
I can say there is a lot of stuff in there.
- For the benefit of those already subscribed to this thread a quick copy paste from my unboxing thread -
+++
I quickly read the rules and It looks like an amazing game.
You can play it as an adventure, playing through the campaign book missions.
Or as a Skirmish board/wargame, picking out 40pt of troops & upgrades/abilities to fight with.
First off photos of the minis.
Pretty much fantastic 'board game' minis - I think these would look great painted... not sure that I'll bother.
My AT-ST chin gun doesn't fit in it's slot... going to have to remove some flash.
You get 6 rebel Heros
These come with large Hero character sheets with extra abilities for campaign play.
and a regular skirmish card which offers a cut down version of the Hero, for skirmish play.
You get a huge amount of double sided Floor pieces to set up missions and skirmish maps.
4 booklets...
300+Cards
170+ tokens - Including hero stand in tokens...
11 Dice
Wait what was that?..Stand in Hero tokens??
This is my complaint with the game and where the milks starts to turn sour...
Darth, Luke, Han, Chewie, royal guard champion, ig88, General weise, rebel troopers , rebel saboteurs.
These characters feature heavily in the campaign missions making up more than half the content. Normally being the focus of the mission.
You can also use these guys in the Skirmish game.
Who wants to play missions with half the characters represented by 3D minis and the most important ones represented by 2D card chits?
To make things worse for skirmish play the rebels have no stock troops... Just the 7 heroes to pick from.
Surely these 9 minis should have been included !??
Luckily to explain this, FFG give you a promotional leaflet.
Spoiler:
You can buy the second half of the core games minis separately! you know... to get the full experience.
Which kinda brings us to my second gripe...
Im confused about the Luke and Darth card token since every core set comes with the Darth and Luke expansion packs... It's confusing.
FFG wrote:In addition to the massive amount of missions and figures included in the Imperial Assault Core Set, the Luke Skywalker Ally Pack and the Darth Vader Villain Pack are included in the Core Set as an added bonus
On the back of the box it says you get two expansion packs included... And shows you the retail packaging.
But inside they disappointingly come in a baggie.
But to be fair I don't even understand why they bothered putting these in a separate baggie... you need these minis to play the core game properly unless you want Darth represented by a cardboard chit!
I honestly don't see these as a bonus!
If it's to show what expansion packs add to the game.
It's not a lot, 1 minis to replace your mission goal card chits and 10 various game upgrade cards?
Spoiler:
Basically this is stuff that should be in the box!
When I think expansion packs I would think something like Boba fett...
Stuff that's not required to play the core missions.
Stuff that will add to Skirmish play.
So in round up It's a great box.. I feel like I'm going to get a lot of use from this game.
But it feels like they held back on core stuff to sell to you as 'expansions'.
Panic...
This message was edited 4 times. Last update was at 2014/12/14 17:17:45
Instead I think we can largely blame 
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