Shut Up Hippie!
Mongoose
Gutted, bloody gutted!
ACTA RIP....
- Thread starter Wing Commander
- Start date
M1ndr1d3rs
Mongoose
n815e said:
Chill dude...
M1ndr1d3rs
Mongoose
You do make cool conversions though :wink: (referenced by winged human)
M1ndr1d3rs said:
Heh, thanks.
Don't get me wrong, everyone, I'm upset that they're cancelling the miniatures line - in fact, it ended up costing me over $2k in commission work with that one singular announcement. Some of you have lost miniatures, I've lost money. And if I can keep an open, positive mind about all this, you all should be able to.
I'd just like to see more of the positive thinking we've seen lately than the snide derision and "sky is falling" comments that we had early on.
-Ken
mrambassador1
Mongoose
Matt, can you give us any definitive word on if you will be making 2e counters.
ShopKeepJon
Mongoose
Speaking as a game store owner (someone who sells games like this), a counters based game can work, but not with the quality of counters that have been made available so far.
Up to now, the counters released for CTA have been on cheap, thin cardstock. The artwork has been only barely passable. These are not good enough to entice new people to play the game.
Star Fleet Battles (and similar games) have survived for so long as a counter only game because it started (many, many years ago) as a counter only game. The miniatures have always been seen as something that you buy if you are really into the game. This isn't true of CTA.
If Mongoose wants counters to be a viable option, then the counters must be of a much higher quality, something like the counters used in the higher quality Euro-style boardgames. They need to be very heavy cardstock with very nice, very clear artwork.
This would make the counters very expensive, but still nowhere near the cost of ships. I know of several people in my own shop that were having trouble springing for a full fleet worth of miniatures, but would pay half the cost of a fleet box for a full set of really nice counters for that same fleet. Production would be relatively simple and counter sets would be easy to stock for distributors and retailers. (Even if there is a counter set for each fleet, that's only thirteen products...)
So Mongoose, save the game. Make counters worth playing with...
ShopKeepJon
Up to now, the counters released for CTA have been on cheap, thin cardstock. The artwork has been only barely passable. These are not good enough to entice new people to play the game.
Star Fleet Battles (and similar games) have survived for so long as a counter only game because it started (many, many years ago) as a counter only game. The miniatures have always been seen as something that you buy if you are really into the game. This isn't true of CTA.
If Mongoose wants counters to be a viable option, then the counters must be of a much higher quality, something like the counters used in the higher quality Euro-style boardgames. They need to be very heavy cardstock with very nice, very clear artwork.
This would make the counters very expensive, but still nowhere near the cost of ships. I know of several people in my own shop that were having trouble springing for a full fleet worth of miniatures, but would pay half the cost of a fleet box for a full set of really nice counters for that same fleet. Production would be relatively simple and counter sets would be easy to stock for distributors and retailers. (Even if there is a counter set for each fleet, that's only thirteen products...)
So Mongoose, save the game. Make counters worth playing with...
ShopKeepJon
EDFDarkAngel1
Mongoose
Wow. I have been fighting for months, damn close to a year, to get products into my area. I have a gaming group, we might have some headway... now it's all gone.
I spend one day a week for the past year doing demos or games of Babylon 5. I post on the threads to try and generate interest. The order I've been waiting for to come for the past several weeks never arrives. I ask my LGS, they tell me they sent the order. I ask the forums, and then e-mail Matt, and they tell me they never receive the order. Two days later, ACtA is no more.
I was looking to have three full fleets, and making serious considerations into Centauri. My friend was looking to have two full fleets, and our college student is wanting a full Psi Corps fleet.
All for nothing. The campaigns are nice, the rulebooks are nice... but it was the miniatures that made me. I like assembling, painting, and naming my ships. I take care in them, knowing that they have their own identity and even their own personality (which sometimes worries me).
Without minatures, I cannot expand. I cannot have the same vested interest in the game without the minis.
I am sad, hurt, and betrayed. A year trying to get product in, and now I have less than two months. Does anyone seriously think I will ever know how much an Adira actually weighs? I didn't think so either.
Dark Angel
I spend one day a week for the past year doing demos or games of Babylon 5. I post on the threads to try and generate interest. The order I've been waiting for to come for the past several weeks never arrives. I ask my LGS, they tell me they sent the order. I ask the forums, and then e-mail Matt, and they tell me they never receive the order. Two days later, ACtA is no more.
I was looking to have three full fleets, and making serious considerations into Centauri. My friend was looking to have two full fleets, and our college student is wanting a full Psi Corps fleet.
All for nothing. The campaigns are nice, the rulebooks are nice... but it was the miniatures that made me. I like assembling, painting, and naming my ships. I take care in them, knowing that they have their own identity and even their own personality (which sometimes worries me).
Without minatures, I cannot expand. I cannot have the same vested interest in the game without the minis.
I am sad, hurt, and betrayed. A year trying to get product in, and now I have less than two months. Does anyone seriously think I will ever know how much an Adira actually weighs? I didn't think so either.
Dark Angel
Shadow Queen
Mongoose
I have spend 2 years demoing ACTA and just got a club member into it. He has just got the minbari fleet from the ECW, I just got a vree fleet what can i say im gutted will my artical on the E/M war go out? just put that on planet mongoose.
SylvrDragon
Mongoose
Wing Commander said:
Can't say I'll miss it. My group already gave up ACtA in favor of better balanced games.
ShopKeepJon
Mongoose
Can't say I'll miss you. Good luck with that...SylvrDragon said:
ShopKeepJon
I see. ACTA becomes board-game. Perheaps it's about time. Mongoose minis aren't too cool really - a bit retro I would even say. All ship variants looking exactly the same. Check on the modern technology of minis production - glueable hard plastic each model being really a multivariant.
I understand anger of people having hundreds of ships. But Mongoose is far better then other companies I could call - publishing 'new' edditions every 4 year just to justify discontinueation of whole model ranges and forcing players to buy completly new armies...
I understand anger of people having hundreds of ships. But Mongoose is far better then other companies I could call - publishing 'new' edditions every 4 year just to justify discontinueation of whole model ranges and forcing players to buy completly new armies...
Admiral Phlop
Mongoose
ShopKeepJon said:
2nd that!
ShopKeepJon said:
It isn't currently true of CTA. (At least, most places: I never played with minis, and one other person has posted that his group didn't either.) So you'll lose a chunk of the existing player base. But we've already determined that attrition will do that anyway. Counters would allow people to continue picking up the game, which keeps it alive and supported. If you don't like SFB, consider this the Wings of War model instead
.ShopKeepJon said:
I personally don't care, but I suspect you are right for the general marketplace. And even I think the artwork could be improved (although the black background makes that difficult). Still, even nice Carcasonne-thickness counters would be cheaper than minis to produce. It sounds like the license requires production to be done in-house, though: is Mongoose set up to print thick counters like this?
