How about Mongoose release new fleet lists during this year
- Thread starter JayRaider
- Start date
Omnipotent said:
Well its actually full of potential - especially if you use LC's novel as some excellent source of new ships, races and scenarios, Unique personalities...............
We are looking at several new races, last ditch fights, brutal encounters between Earth and the Dilgar - especially if you make the Nova a proper Battle level ship and add the Hecate :wink:
Hi, I'm new to the game (my usual bad timing 
) and to this forum, but I've been lurking for a while. Recently I spent about 2000€ to get my favourite fleets... don't tell my gf, please. :wink:
Oddly enough, the idea of playing the game made me buy the show's DVD's, which I enjoyed very much, before I decided to get the 2nd ed of the rules...
I used to work for GW a while ago, and I remember the bosses used to say that in the end of the day GW didn't care much about selling the books or even the boxed games, they wanted to "sell lead", they were saying how the GW achieved what many Alchemists had been striving to achieve for centuries: turn lead into gold (I guess if some of you has been working for GW has heard the same story). So, now I wonder why MGP went the other way. What's the point in making rules and books to play with something that doesn't exist? What's the point in rules for new races? And don't tell me about the counters, because... I mean... Then I'd rather spend my time playing other boardwargame, I actually own many and love them, but it is not the same. And there is no money to be made for the company.
What am I missing?
) and to this forum, but I've been lurking for a while. Recently I spent about 2000€ to get my favourite fleets... don't tell my gf, please. :wink: Oddly enough, the idea of playing the game made me buy the show's DVD's, which I enjoyed very much, before I decided to get the 2nd ed of the rules...
I used to work for GW a while ago, and I remember the bosses used to say that in the end of the day GW didn't care much about selling the books or even the boxed games, they wanted to "sell lead", they were saying how the GW achieved what many Alchemists had been striving to achieve for centuries: turn lead into gold (I guess if some of you has been working for GW has heard the same story). So, now I wonder why MGP went the other way. What's the point in making rules and books to play with something that doesn't exist? What's the point in rules for new races? And don't tell me about the counters, because... I mean... Then I'd rather spend my time playing other boardwargame, I actually own many and love them, but it is not the same. And there is no money to be made for the company.
What am I missing?
Lorcan Nagle
Mongoose
GW had such an investment in their production facilities by the 90s that the profit margin on minis was considerably higher than books. This is why they have such a relatively high turnaround on armies and a constant invalidation of old models - The publishing side of things is there to justify the constant churning of the minis line.
Mongoose by comparison were very small in the minis production side of things, and the economics of scale hadn't kicked in. From what's been said in various locations, the problems with Starship Troopers and Battlefield Evolution meant that ActA had to carry the brunt of the cost of mini production, but the amount of money they were making didn't justify the cost of the facilities they were using. It's a bad situation and unfortunately MGP felt the only way to resolve it was to shut down minis production for now.
While books have a lower profit margin than minis, they're also easier to produce and require less of a cost overhead, so cutting back to MGP's core product - in this case books as they started out as a D20 sourcebook publisher - made sense.
Mongoose by comparison were very small in the minis production side of things, and the economics of scale hadn't kicked in. From what's been said in various locations, the problems with Starship Troopers and Battlefield Evolution meant that ActA had to carry the brunt of the cost of mini production, but the amount of money they were making didn't justify the cost of the facilities they were using. It's a bad situation and unfortunately MGP felt the only way to resolve it was to shut down minis production for now.
While books have a lower profit margin than minis, they're also easier to produce and require less of a cost overhead, so cutting back to MGP's core product - in this case books as they started out as a D20 sourcebook publisher - made sense.
Omnipotent
Mongoose
Thansk DB!
I`m looking forward for these stuff, and I bet I can get my EA(multible) and Vree playing friends to play em with me..hmm, maybe I can use my Cylon "Centauri" fleet as something else
I have had zero time for ACTA in a while, so I haven´t even painted the Cylons theme yet. I got it all planned out though :lol:
Vezio, well u did managed to get what u wanted. I`m still hoping that the mini production will come back in a year or two :shock:
Heh, I got everything I wanted, not much but just the stuff I really wanted to play with. Damn, have to get back to writting on my school paper
I`m looking forward for these stuff, and I bet I can get my EA(multible) and Vree playing friends to play em with me..hmm, maybe I can use my Cylon "Centauri" fleet as something else
I have had zero time for ACTA in a while, so I haven´t even painted the Cylons theme yet. I got it all planned out though :lol: Vezio, well u did managed to get what u wanted. I`m still hoping that the mini production will come back in a year or two :shock:
Heh, I got everything I wanted, not much but just the stuff I really wanted to play with. Damn, have to get back to writting on my school paper
I was lucky that I just had some money from an insurance, but still was a big effort for me, and I will be watching my hobby investments for the rest of the year at least... and you know how hard it is when you are addicted :wink:
I'll just have to focus on painting now... no shopping, painting
Lorcan, thank you, it makes more sense to me now, but what were the problems with Starship Troopers and Battlefield Evolution?
I'll just have to focus on painting now... no shopping, painting
Lorcan, thank you, it makes more sense to me now, but what were the problems with Starship Troopers and Battlefield Evolution?
SST. Seemed very popular, but I think Mongoose were talking about pre painted miniatures, then went of doign BF evo and SST didn't seem to get much support
BF Evo, officially no idea, but unoficialy, the models sucked, the books fell apart, and the artwork was "interesting" which was a shame, as I have heard repeatedly that it is a fantastic ruleset.
but we have to remember Mongoose was first and formost a publisher, not a mini's company.
BF Evo, officially no idea, but unoficialy, the models sucked, the books fell apart, and the artwork was "interesting" which was a shame, as I have heard repeatedly that it is a fantastic ruleset.
but we have to remember Mongoose was first and formost a publisher, not a mini's company.
Lorcan Nagle
Mongoose
hiffano said:
Yeah, to expand on this SST was missing release dates from the original line with questionable sculpt quality (The Skinnie slaves were a notable point of contention)
MGP decided to switch to prepaints (and a modified ruleset) late in 2006. The idea was to release Battlefield Evolution early in 2007, and Starship Troopers in the summer with 4 armies each, with one release per month for each faction.
Of course, stuff didn't go well. The BF: Evo minis weren't as good as the prototypes and the various releases were delayed repeatedly. Preview pics for some of the fourth and fifth wave of minis were put up on the board (Lynx transport/gunship helicopter, Viper Gunship helicopter, Chinese snipers and a Leopard tank IIRC) were up on the site, but vanished shortly thereafter. Apparently Mongoose were unhappy with the quality of the minis there were getting, and wanted their production facility to either increase quality or decrease price, and the chinese producers refused.
At this time Mongoose announced the line was going on hiatus and would return soon, once a deal with a then-undisclosed third party was finalised. This deal would lead to a number of Evo-based minigames that would be compatible with said company's products and once these lines were on their feet SST would return.
It turned out the company was a computer game publisher (I can't remember who) and the deal fell through. Mongoose announce dplans to retask the line even further - with new, revised rulebooks, unpainted metal minis and resin vehicles, and a near-future release for SST. They also announced a WWII version of Battlefield Evolution, which they were not producing minis for, this being an offshoot of the ill-fated pre-painted WWII Evolution game (I was briefly a playtester for this). This was on the cards up until a few weeks ago when the shutdown of mini production was announced. MGP are still intending to release Battlefield Evolution: World at war (the WWII game), and Modern combat (the revised near-future game) rulebooks and suppliments, but with no mini support for the forseeable future. They're also intending to offer the SST army lists as a free download later this year.
MGP has stated they have every intention of returning to mins production and hope to do it as soon as 2009. Matt's said on a nuber of occasions that he feels pre-painted minis are the wave of the future and that there's a big potential market for them.
Lord David the Denied
Mongoose
Pre-painted models for ACtA will not go down well with the existing players, mark my words. I highly doubt they'll draw in much new blood, either. Wargamers, as far as I can tell, see pre-paints as kids toys, and pre-paints only really appeal to "fad" players who'll buy into something then drop it later.
Lord David the Denied said:
The only pre-paints that I've seen do relatively well are the ones for Rackham's AT-43, which seem pretty popular actually. I haven't played it, but from what I've seen the rules are decent and the minis are actually pretty well done, unlike most pre-paints to date. I have a feeling if B5 had pre-paints available of the same quality as AT-43 they might actually sell, especially if they were the same scale as the current minis. But then that's only a hypothesis. I doubt they are the "wave of the future" since a *lot* of players like to build & paint their own armies, but I guess time will tell. At-43 seems to be showing what can happen with them, but I don't think pre-paints will ever supplant normal minis anytime in the foreseeable future.
Cheers, Gary
reyamc2001
Mongoose
I would probably buy prepaints as long as the scale was the same, the paint job was decent, and the additional cost for painted minis was not too high.
Greg Smith
Mongoose
We played plenty of games of Full Thrust modded to use Star Trek micro machines. There are plenty of gamers I know who will use prepaints, purely for ease, immediate play and lack of time and/or talent to paint.
Greg Smith said:
I agree, while I don't prefer pre-paints, I have nothing against them and I'll buy them if they are the only thing available. I have gobs and gobs of the WoTC Star Wars Starship Battles prepaints. Probably in the neighborhood of over 300 different ships.
That being said, I have even more metal/plastic ships from different unpainted starship miniature lines. Don't get me started on the other pre-painted and unpainted non-starship miniatures I have.
Of course I know nothing about running a busines like this, I just want your opinion because there is always more to learn, but I think I would personally still go with miniatures, rather than just books, if I have people who can write nice ruleset and people that can make good sculpts. I mean, look at Flames of War, it's apparently having a huge success, because of the way it is marketed, GW style (Brisigotti used to be my boss at GW), and because they sell pretty nice miniatures.
Don't you think MGP has the means to do the same with the WW2 rulesets or the BFE?
I don't think prepainted is good for periods and games not aimed aminly to kids. Expecially for the quality of the sculpts and of the plastic. They do look like cheap toys. I only got some Heroclix and Star Wars figures because you can't forget your first love (yes I'm getting old) and there is no alternative, but I'd spend a lot of money if those ranges were made in lead or hard plastic.
Don't you think MGP has the means to do the same with the WW2 rulesets or the BFE?
I don't think prepainted is good for periods and games not aimed aminly to kids. Expecially for the quality of the sculpts and of the plastic. They do look like cheap toys. I only got some Heroclix and Star Wars figures because you can't forget your first love (yes I'm getting old) and there is no alternative, but I'd spend a lot of money if those ranges were made in lead or hard plastic.
I have and would use pre paints - and thats not just in Kids games :roll:
Games I have with them - Heroscape - a great game with good balance and excellent tactical play. The figures have basic paint jobs (about what I can do on a good day)
Tahnhauser - excellent figures and interesting fun game.
I own some superb Horrorclix Aliens and Predators - beautifully sculpted posed and very well painted - ironcailly they were the same price as the Bat Evo figures Which I found too small, average painted and with dull poses - I have since sold mine.
I will use any kind of figure I think looks good - don't care if it is per painted or not, metal or plstic - and god do some people winge about metal vs Plastic. Who cares what they weigh - to me its what they look like.
I have a vast quantity of unpainted metal and plastic with not the time, ability or usually the inclination to paint- to me it is basically a chore............and mean minis cost double - (having to get someone to paint them)
And yeah I have tried - been collectiing for more than 20 years..............
Games I have with them - Heroscape - a great game with good balance and excellent tactical play. The figures have basic paint jobs (about what I can do on a good day)
Tahnhauser - excellent figures and interesting fun game.
I own some superb Horrorclix Aliens and Predators - beautifully sculpted posed and very well painted - ironcailly they were the same price as the Bat Evo figures Which I found too small, average painted and with dull poses - I have since sold mine.
I will use any kind of figure I think looks good - don't care if it is per painted or not, metal or plstic - and god do some people winge about metal vs Plastic. Who cares what they weigh - to me its what they look like.
I have a vast quantity of unpainted metal and plastic with not the time, ability or usually the inclination to paint- to me it is basically a chore............and mean minis cost double - (having to get someone to paint them)
And yeah I have tried - been collectiing for more than 20 years..............
Da Boss said:
Me too. And I agree on the Tannhauser figures.
The thing is that soft plastic pre-painted don't look good with bent rifles or spears, horrible mould lines, weird attempts at painting the eyes, odd positioning of the figures.
Anyway it's good we are all different. Some probably play for the rules, I probably find my motivation mainly or first in the "look" of the game, somebody else enjoys other aspects of the hobby... it only makes it harder for the games/miniatures companies
Shadow Queen
Mongoose
how about fleet decks?
