Blood and Plunder - Dugthefug1644

Perhaps I was being sensitive in a Facebook forum, never a good place to be sensitive, but being called a “cheap ass” and accused of stalling the growth or threatening the survival of the game was a bit harsh. Two or three people chose to single me out for comment because I was asking whether anyone was using ship sized templates to act out naval battles. The most impressive ships can be around £100, some smaller less impressive ships can be cheaper, around the £20-50, but I was likely to need two ships and wanted to see if anyone else had used templates to get used to the naval warfare rules.

I wrote this in reply.

“I think you grow a fan base and interest by having the game played and by being open to as many people as possible. I don’t think sharing ideas about making the entry point cheaper is condemning the company to lower sales. Even though I have mainly been converting miniatures from other ranges for my armies, I have bought firelock miniatures, the rules, official markers and if I enjoy playing it I am sure more purchases will inevitably be made. For the game to be enjoyed to it’s fullest you probably do need ships, but I am not sure we need to have a dig at people for not joining the game from the same budget and angle that you have.”

Yes it was wordy, yes it was a bit precious, but it was how I felt at the time.

Looking back I realise that the people were only voicing their opinion, were only being supportive of their hobby, but still feel that there needn’t have been actual insults or digs used to express that.

I still don’t think that people having proxies for both budget’s sake and for variety’s sake is wrong. Big or small companies, young or old, benefit from games being played in clubs and homes everywhere. The best way to succeed is to have as many ways into your game / hobby as possible. I think Firelock Games have found a good balance. I don’t think their prices are extortionate, I don’t think this hobby is ever going to be a cheap one, but you don’t want to alienate or cut routes into the game that aren’t currently able to invest as heavily as your best customers. Those individuals will appreciate it and over a longer period of time could eventually be a better customer than the guys or girls that do a mega Kickstarter splash of cash and you never sell a thing to them ever again. Third party minis are sometimes people’s only option and shouldn’t be condemned for it, especially seeing as I was told recently that the official organised play rules actually accept third party models. They only require a wysiwyg approach, so your opponent knows exactly what class of troops they are facing.

From hunting around and getting feedback from the community this company sells ships at a reasonable price, but that was sometime ago and I would check around for reviews to be confident you are getting what you want and what you paid for.

http://www.gamesofwar.co.uk/ships