Re: [Epic] off topic: Why so ticked?

From: Chris Miller <ironstar_at_...>
Date: Fri, 26 Dec 1997 01:30:57 -0600

        Well, near-annual price increases can do lot to hurt one's
customers' attitude. In 1991, Epic sprues came 20 in abox for $20 (US). You
got 5 sprues each for 4 armies, but hey, you could trade (or build multiple
armies). Then, 1992 went to 5 sprues for 10-12$, single army boxes. Price
doubled, but not horrendous (and still cheaper than 40K or fantasy to build
one army). Then they were up to 15$ by 1994 (price tripled per sprue). Now,
1997, and it's TWO sprues for 10$ US (price quintupled within 6 years). How
many other products can you think of with that kind of increase? And keep in
mind the miniature themselves never changed until 1997. I don't remember the
great plastic shortage of the 1990's, so the materials weren't getting
scarce. What happened? As for the Golf analogy, what if clubs and balls had
quintupled in price in the same time period?

     The lack of a "player's voice" in any of GW's official games,
publications, or even website do a lot for it too. Even when TSR was really
hot & heavy on the difference between "official" and not, their magazine
published player add-ons and LETTERS and has almost since day one had a
QUESTION & ANSWER section. These things make a difference to the people who
get into your games. OOOhhh, I can send a "comic" in to "Inferno". Please.
Even the Citadel Journal is largely written by their employees. How about
one awesome magazine with official stuff, letters, unofficial add-ons,
battle reports, modeling articles, card inserts that aren't buildings, etc.

.....and what I would say is their greatest sin: making a miniature gamer's
army/mini's "obsolete" simply by issuing a new version of the rules! These
people have spent hundreds to thousands of dollars and tons of time putting
these things together, and by publishing a totally changed set of rules,
your army is no longer "Acceptable" or officially acknowledged. I mean,
these are the people carrying the torch, they will help sell a new game, if
you do it right, but no - we're going to call it something similar, but the
only thing similar is the fluff and the scale.
   Sure, you can play with your friends, but as soon as one of them goes for
the new system, that's on a downslide. As for me, I play in stores quite a
bit, and now my epic armies don't look right. I have old titans, vehicles I
can't use, and hundreds of infantry stands which are no longer based
correctly. Am I going to go replace all the mini's for 5 large armies. No.
I'm going to play the old rules, or something new. I might use the mini's
that came in the box, but that's about it.

For examples of how to do things right (well, better at least) look at how
AD&D was revised. Evolution, not Revolution. I would even say that the
change from 4th ed WHFB to 5th ed was far better handled than this - no
one's army was dropped or broken.

As far as the need for change, well, the AD&D rules I bought in 1989 are
still current. The GURPS rules I bought in 1990 are the current edition. The
Mechwarrior rules I bought in 1991 are current. All the boardgames I've
purchased over the years pretty much stayed in one version, with simple
errata sheets added in. Exceptions include Star Fleet Battles - revised to
this edition in 1990(and believe me , those rule changes pissed a LOT of
people off, but they didn't drop any ship types, and they didn't make my
mini's obsolete), Battletech (OK,OK, they've done 4 in 11 years or so here,
but there ain't that much change in _rules_ from 2nd to 3rd to 4th, just
what comes in the box and the mini's I bought and painted TEN YEARS ago are
still perfectly legit. Does that mean I stopped buying new ones? Hell No! as
a result I can field a regiment (108 mechs) plus a command company (12 more)
and have mechs left over (they're 90% painted, too)

How would golf be doing if the governing body issued major rule changes
every 2 to 3 years and declared that your clubs were no longer "official"
and everyone had to buy new ones?


In general I like GW and their product, but I have seen other things they
have done, and things other companies have done, and I have trouble
understanding their blunders sometimes. Rogue Trader to 2nd ed 40K was a
good move. 3rd ed WHFB to 4th ed caused many people to drop the game. They
don't seem to learn from past mistakes, so they keep happening, and people
get understandably angry.

Chris Miller
Received on Fri Dec 26 1997 - 07:30:57 UTC