Will the unit cards/rules be available separately?

[TabletopWarrior]

I have seen numerous posts indicating folks will buy the rules, even if they don't like the miniatures. But does the rulebook contain everything you need to play? I may be wrong, but I am under the impression the unit stats are NOT in the rule book. They are only contained in the boxed miniatures. Is this correct?
TW

 

[Soulmage]

I think the expanded rules hardback contains everything.

Personally, I hope Mongoose charges a premium for the rules hardback. There are a number of folks on here saying they don't like paying a premium for "non-premium" models and that they should be cheaper. . .

If that's the case, then they shouldn't mind paying a premium, like $55+ for premium rules!!

If they've got a problem with that, they've don't have a leg to stand on as far as their complaints go. . .

 

[Paladin]

Personally, I hope Mongoose charges a premium for the rules hardback. There are a number of folks on here saying they don't like paying a premium for "non-premium" models and that they should be cheaper. . .
...
If that's the case, then they shouldn't mind paying a premium, like $55+ for premium rules!!

That's a great strategy... Lose your butt on minis that are most unfortunately slowly being rejected by the community and make sure you cut sales to a bare minimum by driving up the cost of the rules up and ostracizing the the fans of the game thus far. Come on man. Relax. It's a justified reaction for people to support the rules, at least they have some faith and loyalty to Mongoose rather than bashing it to shreds like many others.

Besides, Victory @ Sea is being sold mini free and focusing on rules only, what's the difference?

Current price on the advanced rules is $24.95. Depending on the length and depth of content it could go higher and I wouldn't mind a higher price. But if it's going to be a 15 pg black and white book...

 

[Locutus9956]

Frankly yes I would be happy to pay a 'premium' for premium rules IF they slashed the price for the minis too. But were not talking about premium rules anyway, were talking about rules that are complete....

 

[Hiromoon]

And of course there's always My work....

 

[MongooseMatt]

Hi guys,

The price of the rulebook will not change, but it does not include unit stats.

 

[Hiromoon]

*thud*

Wait....I knew this already... *bangs head against table*

 

[Soulmage]

That's a great strategy... make sure you cut sales to a bare minimum by driving up the cost of the rules up and ostracizing the the fans of the game thus far.

I'm not saying that's what Mongoose will or should do. Matt's even said on this thread that they won't.

I'm just saying that the folks making that claim ($$/value) ought to be willing to pay a lot more for the rules without bitching. Otherwise they're just pointless internet complainers. . .

 

[DM]

I can see both sides of the argument, but a policy like that would, I think, tend to drive away players who legitimately want to use figures other than Mongoose's for their games. For example, I have invested heavily in 15mm modern (and to a lesser extent, 15mm WW2). All of my wargaming terrian is either 15mm or 1/300. I won't be going in to 28mm to play BFE. Having played it a few times I also find that the smaller scale figures work better in accordance with my personal playing preferences and my experiences of (admittedly peace-time, exercise-based) battlefield conditions. If the only way of getting vehicle and infantry stats was to spend £20 on a box of figures I was never going to use I wouldn't touch the rules with a bargepole. No matter how good they are if you don't have the stats they aren't playable. Fortunately though (a) Hiromoon's excellent stat sheets have given me enough data to start with, (b) I know enough about current and near future battlefield systems to generate my own stats if necessary and (c) I have "faith" in the internet that any published stats will end up on the net somewhere (probably on a fan site). That works OK for me, but for the more casual gamer the apparent lack of stats may discourage sales.

EDIT - atrocious spelling mostooks removed

 

[shotgun-toting chipmunk]

I believe the intention is to offer stats in S&P as models are released, though I'm not 100% sure.

 

[DM]

Thats what I was anticipating, to be honest. Mongoose seems to be rather good at keeping players supplied with unit stats. far better than some of its competitors!

 

[Lorcan Nagle]

Hi guys,

The price of the rulebook will not change, but it does not include unit stats.

Will they ever be availible seperate from the box sets? I was under the impression the rulebook was going to contain the stats.

 

[Hiromoon]

There will, of course, always be me

I really should update my site....oh! I got a new picture for the Fadayeen!

And some vehicles that could be used for the Technicals card...

Fadayeen:

Technicals:

 

[witteridderludo]

I would like the unit stats to be available as well. I like the SST rules a lot and would buy the Evo rules to play with 1/72 scale models. Not that I am allergic to prepaints, I just don't like the 28mm scale.
Just look waaay to big and crowded for my taste.
Would be a shame to have to start leeching

 

[Jeff Cope]

Mongoose making stat cards available outside of being packed with the minis just makes zero sense from a business perspective.

The stats will not, as Matthew stated, be included in the full rulebook. So the only way to get unit stats is to buy the minis.

Like most miniature gaming systems out there the money is made from the ongoing sale of the supporting miniatures, moreso than the rules.

Given that, I feel it's somewhat rude to ask Mongoose to provide the stats to those who don't wish to buy the minis. That's asking them to sever a valuable revenue stream. Even if they charged for the cards, it wouldn't make them the money that minis would.

Jeff

 

[Hiromoon]

And yet, I have yet to be told to cease and dessist with the cards...

I'm fairly confident that Mongoose will improve the miniature quality, getting back to the level we saw in the prototypes....

 

[Elvis in Combat]

At least from my perspective in my little corner of the US I would think it much more important that Mongoose ENCOURAGE the playing of the game over simply buying the miniatures as the entry to play the game. It's not like people are lining up to play this game.

Especially since the US distributors under ordered the product, the local stores aren't planning on stocking much which leads to lower availability of the product for the gamer.

That means there won't be enough product and if the only way to get the unit cards is through the purchase of the product, that isn't available, then it's a nasty catch 22 isn't it?

It's not like people who are interested aren't going to buy the product anyway. OK, maybe there are a few people who want to use the game system in different scales or other mfgs. So what? That's such a small segment of people it's not worth worrying about.

More Importantly but off topic:
If it's perceived that a gamer will have to buy miniatures to get stats, then this game is dead before it even starts. And I'm not refering to miniature quality here. Gamers like to compare stats between forces and their units and combos, deny them that and they will simply not bother.

 

[Jequeyl]

Mongoose making stat cards available outside of being packed with the minis just makes zero sense from a business perspective.

It would make zero business sense NOT to make the stats available. People like to see what they buy, and that's not just what the miniatures look like. For Warhammer you buy army books with collection of all the stats for your minis, for warmachine you get all the stats for all armies in the basic books and for Confrontation the statcards are all published online. The point is there is somewhere where you can get all stats.

It's true that it is risky with a game like BF:EVO where there exists lots of alternative models, but I think they will lose a lot of customers if they don't show of what the units can do beforehand.

And I really hope they're not going to do this with the SST book. When I buy that I want all stats at once so I don't have to wait until they release the boxes for the models I already bought.

 

[Lorcan Nagle]

Agreed. Almost every other game that offers minis allows you to read the stats in some way, shape or form before you buy them. Warmachine and Hordes have huge stat sections in the main rules, and each new wave of minis is accompanied by a sourcebook. Warhammer has codexes/army books. BattleTech has Technical Readouts. Most CMG manafacturer let you check stats out on their website. I'd much rather know exactly what each unit can do before I decide whether to get it or not.

 

[Hiromoon]

From my understanding, the stats will be viewable on the box. I could be wrong though.