[unofficial Hobby Hangout] #28 Hero Quest

[sundancer 42976xp 2]

A friendly short reminder for tomorrow’s today’s (September 22nd) uHH (unofficial Hobby Hangout). Here are the times:

German Time 20:30
UK Time 19:30 (07:30 pm)
New York Time 14:30 (02:30 pm)
Australia/Sydney Time 06:30 (06:30 am) (September 23rd)

[UTC/GMT 18:30 (06:30 pm)]
Join in here: https://www.twitch.tv/SunDancerGE

This one is going to be a bit different. Some of you may have seen this:

https://heroquest.avalonhill.com/en-us

Hasbro/Avalon Hill will release “something” related to HeroQuest just 2.5 hours before our stream starts.

I have reached out to the Bard after seeing this latest video from him:

I invited him to be on the show but sadly he can’t make it.

Hail!

Thanks for getting in touch! Sorry it took me a while to reply; this is a new email account and I am still not used to checking it.
I’d ordinarily love to join you on your show but I don’t think I am going to be able to make it this time. I’m sorry about that; it really is a cracking idea.

I’ll let you know straight away if anything changes in the interim, and if the worst comes to worst maybe you’ll have me join you another day?

I was able to have a brief look at your show and I really enjoyed what I saw.

Thanks again for getting in touch, I really appreciate it.

-The Bard

So now live Bard (this time) but I think we can take his predictions and see what is right, not so right and what isn’t shown yet.

I’m looking forward to tomorrow and I’m a little bit excited.

I might need new pants. 😉

HUZZAH!

[limburger 21705xp 0]

it’s going to be fun 😀

[balginstondraegParticipant 1151xp 3]

They did it. They absolutely did it. They made it a US & Canada exclusive. My greatest concern has been realised.

It will be very difficult to “legitimately” obtain a copy in the country the game was originally released in.

 

[kantor72 4854xp 1]

B******s

[sundancer 42976xp 0]

VoD will be here

[balginstondraegParticipant 1151xp 1]

To comment on some things Gerry said. Yes, Ferrus is the Hasslefree Druss model (obviously modelled on the Fangorn comic as opposed to the books). The axe is obviously Snaga but with an oddly flattened handle. The leather shirt has an added breastplate which can be easily painted as hardened leather.

 

Kev was originally working on a much larger scale Druss miniature shortly before David Gemmell died. When he did, Kev couldn’t find the heart to continue and stopped working on it. Oddly enough the large resin Thrud miniature (sculpted by Kev for Heresy Miniatures) seems to have recycled Kev’s old Druss sculpt in that the musculature and posing of the torso, both legs and the arm holding the axe all bear a strong resemblance to his old Druss work in progress photos.

 

Personally Ferrus is the closest you’ll find on the market. Even then you’d probably want to sculpt the helmet onto the top of his hair (the axe and two skulls detail would get fiddly). The cloak is a nuissance as it’s not canonical but it does tie back to the Fangorn comic where he looked a bit like a Marvel superhero and Fangorn’s cover for the earlier chronicles of Druss the Legend.

 

As for film rights….. About 10-20 years ago Sean Connery would have been perfect to play Druss. Reading the novel the part almost felt as if it was written for him. He even got to wear a very Druss-like costume in First Knight (mostly black with silver accents). Perhaps he could do the voice if it was animated. Somehow it’s hard to imagine any other actor doing the role justice. I must admit I’ve always read Druss with Sean Connery’s accent and typical delivery. It just works.

[ced1106Participant 6224xp 0]

> They made it a US & Canada exclusive.

My guess is trademark-squatting. In other countries, you can file a trademark without actively using it (eg. GameZone with HeroQuest). In the USA, you can file an application for a trademark (eg. Restoration Game’s HeroQuest Legacies), but, to actually have the trademark, you must have commerce use, such as an actual game in retail.

Of course, Hasbro could have done more to protect their trademark in other countries (eg. not let it lapse), as well as create international distribution for their crowdfunded projects. However, with some NA backers saying that shipping is almost as much as the game itself, Hasbro may have thought the marginal cost for international orders wasn’t worth the return. (Reaper Miniatures said it would take just as long for their shipping department to ship a handful of orders from one country as it would a truckful to another.)

Dunno if nostalgia is worth $130 – $250+.

[sundancer 42976xp 1]

If Hasbro would have gone for a “this is for all regions” approach, shipping could have been dramatically lower. And even avoid taxation to some part. After all Hasbro sells and distributes games on a global scale. There would be no need to make it “single parcel shipments” from the us. They could simply pass that down to regional fulfilment centres of their own.

But, most likely, it’ll be some (C) shenanigans that we don’t know of and Hasbro isn’t telling…

 

still…

 

Boris looking better by the minute….

[tankkommanderParticipant 6423xp 1]

If they could release worldwide they probably would. Most likely a TM issue.

No release in Quebec as they cannot be bothered to have the game in both english and french.

People wanted HQ, they get HQ. Not sure why some are so butt hurt about this.

[balginstondraegParticipant 1151xp 3]

People wanted HQ, they get HQ. Not sure why some are so butt hurt about this.

Maybe because about 75-80% of the world’s population actually can’t get this?

[limburger 21705xp 0]

Make that 90% … given that shipping to Canada is 100+$ for some odd reason.

Also this : “Not available to ship to Quebec, Canada.”

I’ve seen kickstarters ship far more for far less including the US-based Firelock Games and their Blood&Plunder never cost that much.

I bet trademark issues, greedy/ignorant managers and internal politics are the real reason they did this as a US-only pre-order.
I can’t imagine that Hasbro actually needing some sort of official accounting before they can greenlight something with as much potential as this game.

OTOH … if they had simply re-released it world wide without all of the nonsense that currently surrounds it then we wouldn’t be talking about it. So …

//

 

[ced1106Participant 6224xp 0]

> Maybe because about 75-80% of the world’s population actually can’t get this?

After $100+ shipping, 75%-80% of the world’s population won’t buy this.

> I bet trademark issues, greedy/ignorant managers and internal politics are the real reason they did this as a US-only pre-order.

Yep. I mean, what suit would stick out their neck for a possible international IP blunder when they don’t know the profits of a $100 boardgame in a foreign market and that’s hasn’t been around for 25+ years? More job security putting out another Disney Monopoly game.

No, really. Coming September. : https://www.insider.com/disney-villains-monopoly-board-game

[sparkeswillfly 245xp 1]

Maybe one solution is that OTT becomes inadvertently a European distributor? ….. I dont know if there are specific rules, but they could take “pre-orders” …. dump all the money into the crowd funding page and use the US afflicated office as the delivery address before shipping everything themselves to Europe!

Would certainly put a dent into the hundreds of % mark ups your likely to see on Ebay straight after release.

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