Recession Bights

The Wargames Factory affair is turning into a Motorway pile up, no winners and lots of flaming wreckage.

The ousted Tony Reidy has posted a very angry open letter on The Miniatures Page, which has been repeated in various forums. You can read it here:
http://bit.ly/gcxubg

Meanwhile, George Sivy, Managing Director, Wargames Factory has put up his own notice here:
http://bit.ly/e7wPCz

It is worth reading as it invites people to write in for refunds or deliveries; apparently the records have gone missing with the change in management. Trying to sort out the management mess is a good step, essential to restore confidence if WF is to survive. Less impressive are threats of court action against people who, in the opinion of WF, make defamatory statements against WF or its agents: see below for quote.

"WEB POSTINGS AND FORUM ALLEGATIONS There is much misinformation as well as some serious allegations being circulated throughout cyberspace regarding the current state of affairs. As the new corporate manager of Wargames Factory, at the appropriate time, I will address all of the false and inaccurate statements and allegations that are being posted on the Wargames Factory website. There are more important and pressing operational matters to deal with right now without getting distracted or involved in a “mudslinging match” with previous management. Defamatory statements made about any individuals will be taken up with legal counsel and dealt with to the fullest extent allowed by law. "

That's a toothless threat, certainly to people who live outside of the USA or China. The wargaming community is so small that the people on these forums are also your customers guys.

I have freelanced in wargaming for more than thirty years. Wargaming has always been a cottage industry run by enthusiasts with minimal business sense who are woefully under-capitalised, selling to a tiny customer base that has fashion fads. The inevitable result is constant collapse. GW is a little unusual in its size, possibly bigger than all the other wargame companies put together, and the fact that it is really a toy company selling largely to kids through its own retail outlets, but even so it is a minnow in the corporate world.

There is another rumoured bankruptcy - Bastion, who make the Ex illis game. They had reinvented the idea of a mixed computer-miniatures game. This has been touted as original, but it isn't. The idea of using digital resolution of miniature and board games goes right back. I wtote an Apple II program for resolving fire of one of WRG's WWII grulesets back in the 70s. I never used it because (i) it took loner to resolve than rolling a dice and consulting a tableby the time you inputted the iformation (ii) the Apple and the wargame were never in the same room, and (iii) rolling dice was much more fun than pressing a button.

This concept has been reinvented constantly, e.g. DVD family board games, and it always fails.

Funnily enough, WF and Bastian are rumoured to share the same Chinese manufacturer, Ghost Studios. At this rate, they will own vast chunks of the independent wargames industry, all of it loss making. Best of British, chaps.

M'learned Friends

GW have reportedly started an IP infingement suit against Chapterhouse Studios who have been advertising resin upgrades for GW kits. I suspect GW will win as the CS website uses actual names from the IP. I suppose you can sell an upgrade for a Tamiya Tiger Tank because Tiger Tank is not Tamiya's IP. You can sell an upgrade for an armoured 28mm space warrior - but not a Space Marine? Hell, but I'm not a lawyer.

Wargames Factory, who make the plastic 28mm wargaming models including zombies and shock troops (not Krieg, you notice) appear to have gone under. WF made nice models but there were complaints about delivery and customer service. The North American rep for Ghost Studios, the Chinese toy manufacturer that made the models, became the manager of WF some time ago. Now it appears the original owners and creators of the company have become corporate non-persons. Lots of rumours but no hard facts all over the net. If you have ordered direct from WF you might want to consider your exposure.

On a better note, Tamiya's excellent spray paints are backin the shops, hopefully without the heavy metals.

The wonderful artwork is from:
http://mason.gmu.edu/~rrotunda/lawyer-vulture.JPG

Workshop News

The Grey Knight Codex is out in April. I am quite looking forward to that one.

Meanwhile extra scenarios for the Badab War are avaiable from Forge World here:

http://bit.ly/i3eorl

and here:

http://bit.ly/gmecfw

On another note, I wondered how one man shops and a sharp reduction in main shop staff (the part timers were disposed of) would play out against GW's business model that depends on getting kids into the store and teaching them how to play.

The answer appears to be not well going by GW's summer results. The company has issued a profits warning, expecting sales to be down 4% on market expectations for the financial year 2010-2011. Royalties are also down on the previous year. Shares fell 12%.

"Peel Hunt analyst Charles Hall cut his profit forecast for the retailer by £5m to £12m but said the retailer still had "excellent long potential", highlighting a "one-man" store format that offered a low-cost route to expansion" [From the Guardian Newspaper].

Hmm. I wonder if Charles Hall understands how the GW business model works. How will one man stores run entry games and mass kids games? That still puzzles me.

A rumour circulating down at my wargaming club is that the company has cut their store managers pay by regrading the shops. I emphasise that this is just gossip. I do not know any store managers well enough to ask such a personal question.

Ultramarine Movie

A press release from Codex Pictures tells us that Dan Abnett will be scripting the Ultramarine Movie.

Good choice guys, John approves.

Acclaimed Warhammer 40,000 author Dan Abnett is named as writer of the ULTRAMARINES movie screenplay.

With more than 30 Black Library titles to his name, including the Gaunt's Ghost series, the Eisenhorn trilogy, the Ravenor spin-off and two of the Horus Heresy books, Dan's storytelling skills and extensive knowledge of the Warhammer 40,000 universe made him a natural candidate for the role.

Go here for a clip of an interview with Dan:
http://ultramarinesthemovieblog.com/blog/2009-11-18/dan-abnett-writing-ultramarines-movie-screenplay?utm_source=Ultramarines%3A+The+Movie&utm_campaign=6d957de758-email_issue001&utm_medium=email

The director is Martyn Pick whose previous credits include The Age of Stupid, which I confess is how I sometimes think about the times we live in.

Incursion - West Wind

I have received an email from West Wind concerning their Strange WWII theme.

The Incursion board game is now up for pre-order on the West Wind website, RRP £35.00. The game will be ready to ship mid Jan 2010. Pre-order your copy now to avoid disappointment as the run is limited to 1000 copies and they are selling fast. Each copy of the board game pre-ordered from the West Wind website will receive a FREE pack of Bomberzombies or a Grunt APE (our choice) that will ship with the game. Check out the great Package Deal on offer too.

Europe and UK, order here:

http://www.westwindproductions.co.uk/catalog/

For more information about the game, and customers ordering from North America or Australia/New Zealand, go here:

http://www.incursiongame.com/

INCURSION is a board game set in the world of Secrets of the Third Reich. Armoured troopers of the US Lucky Seventh hurtle through underground bunkers and combat the monstrous forces of the German SWD in a furious race against time. The Doomsday Device is ticking and neither the Allies nor the Axis can afford to fail. The mechanics for this two player game are simple to grasp allowing players to instantly focus on their tactical options. Play is incredibly fast-paced and tense and players choose their forces through a card-based Requisition Point system. The game may either be played with cardboard stand-ups that are included in the box or with highly detailed metal miniatures that are available from West Wind. Miniatures are NOT required to play this game but they are really cool! The exquisitely designed and produced contents of the boxed game are as follows:

• Rigid two piece box covered in art
• Glossy 28 page rulebook
• Card rules summary/playsheet
• 4 sheets of two-sided heavy-duty die cut pieces (132 total) including counters, doors and stand-ups for all models that might potentially be used in the game.
• Super Heavy duty two-sided six-fold game board
• 87 cards including the full deck of battle and all model cards in multiples where appropriate.
• 3 black dice
• 36 black plastic stand-up holders for doors and models
• Vac-formed plastic holding tray
• More fun than you can shake a stick at!