KJ said:
IMO the problem with any new SST stuff (pre-painted or not) is going to be getting the retailers to trust MGP with their money and shelf space. Y'all pulled the plug over a year ago, killing off (at least in my area) the small but growing interest (amongst both players AND retailers) in the game.
Well said, KJ. Trust is a big issue. MGP need to realize this, maybe even eat some "humble pie" and admit that they just didn't get it right. Marketing 101: even though consumers may act like lemmings, they're actually pretty smart, and can smell bullsh*t a mile away...and a company's attempts at damage control about 10 miles away. TRUTH is always the best option.
I share your pain. I tried my darndest to get interest in SST at my FLGS...but when the crappy figs started showing up, interest took a nosedive. Pre-paints sealed the game's fate. All his SST stock was eBay'd long ago...and he can't GIVE away the BF:Evo stuff.
Meanwhile, despite all the egg on my face, I convinced the owner to stock Flames of War. Guess what? He recovered his initial investment in a little over a month, we've got some pretty excited people...and there's not a pre-paint in the entire line. In fact, a few of us were talking the other day about using A&A pre-paints as proxies to get even more people interested and the universal opinion was "only as demos and only as an absolute last resort."
In MGP's defense, some of the miniatures were absolutely brilliant. The ones that people remember, however, are the ones that blow goats (Skinnie Slaves...).
The bad figs, the poor layout and design of the supplements, the "shotgun" approach to the Skinnies, the on-again, off-again air assets, and the total lack of "fluff" were the primary complaints about SST in my area. When pre-paints were announced, people said "screw that!" and SST was dead. The BF:Evo pre-paints arrived...and MGP became persona non grata. The owner told me that he has never sold a SINGLE thing for BF:Evo and he is only selling MGP stuff at cons at deep discount to get rid of it.
I hope you're reading this, Matt. Your company has taken a huge black eye (at least in my area), and if you insist on going down this pre-paint lunacy path and dumbing down the rules to the point where they can be included in a box of figs, SST will never be viewed as a serious game...and will ultimately fail. You'll get incremental sales at best.
Go the opposite direction: insanely great sculpts (I got some Forge World Chaos militia today and my jaw literally dropped!!!), ENHANCE and EXPAND the rules, and start releasing some MEAT in the form of supplements. SST will be taken seriously, I can almost guarantee it.
Oh! Instead of spending your money paying the Chinese to paint marginal figs, why not put that money to use in a better way...as in a nice, glossy, series of promo pieces, top-notch publications, and MARKETING.
Regards.