The Weekender XLBS: The Hobby Market & Year Of The Hybrid?
August 24, 2014 by dignity
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Happy Sunday guys!
@warzan as for that tosser on FB, people like that really need to go swivel. I keep saying as an online magazine, BOW is cheap for the amount of content that you get. Value for money it beats any and all publications to do with our hobby, end of.
my gut is hurting, I am laughing so hard.
Happy Sunday all.
Why did I know that as soon as @warzan started playing with that models fingers it was heading for disaster?
So RPG’s came in at 15 mill. I wonder how much of the miniatures total amount for the year was boosted by role players though.
Great show guys.
My understanding is that rpg branded minis come under the rpg total. My guess would be that wargaming mini sales intended for use in rpgs is a very small percentage of the minis market. Hypothetically speaking if they did comprise a sizable minority, then rpg companies are missing a trick.
I don’t think many. Modern rpgs don’t rely on miniatures and it is really just pen and paper and a rulebook. The biggest game to feature miniatures is still D&D, but even that does not need them.
happy sundays, great show. Look for crossfire, possible 1/35th scale rules set.
I’m one of those video gamers that came over to the dark side with you guys. heh.
My idea for incorporating Apps into miniature games: I hate hacking in miniature games, or opening doors and things like that. The reason is, rolling dice doesn’t really simulate the action. What we need is a quick mini-game style App that you can play when you hack a terminal or whatever. All you would need is 30 seconds on it and its exciting for both players because you are going to be wanting the other person to fail it. Take infinity for example, hacking terminals should be so much more involved in the world Corvus Belli has created. I’m on… Read more »
I personally would like to see Infinity augmented with the Google glasses. Firstly it’s set in a futuristic environment and if you could get the software to recognise things like street lighting , holo ads , enhanced horizon terrain and maybe even thins like weather. Secondly , how cool would it be to see flamers belching across the board, shots pinging off walls for near hits , cammo failing and revealing troops and thrusters on jump troops. Thirdly it could be used to bring in things like that scene in movies where the hero has reached the objective and is… Read more »
I just wrote a rambling post about this sort of thing but I just saw this and thought I’d offer some more info 🙂 Like I said in my post the Epson headset boasts that it has a much bigger display than the Google Glass. What this means is that it has the equivalent of a 2 inch window overlayed in the centre of your vision when wearing them. That window is the only possible place the augmented reality elements can be displayed so imagine there’s all sorts of crazy effects going on – you can’t see any of it… Read more »
I like the idea of the augmented boards using Google glasses, but I have doubts as to it’s affordability next year
I don’t think there can be any doubt that accessibility is the key to the success of X-Wing and Attack Wing. The IP helps, but it’s not as if those two licenses have been a goldmine in the industry before. The pre-paints and the simplicity of the game play only really leave cost, table space, and opponent, as the barriers to entry. Compare that to WFB which presents potential new customers with a virtual marathon of hurdles to overcome before they’re playing that game as intended (2400 points, full painted, on a table with terrain, using a large and complex… Read more »
I was looking at some of the Pathfinder prepainted minis in my LGS yesterday. Some of them are what you would expect, but a few were actually pretty impressive. I think we’re getting close to a point where those better prepaints will be a reality. In the end it will all boil down to cost, and right now gamers seem happy to spend. The average time in the US between recessions is six years though, and we’re at the six-year mark from 2008 so…
We’ve been developing apps with augmented reality for a few years now and have recently been working with the Epson BT headset which is similar to the Google Glass. In my experience working with AR and headsets I think it is definitely possible to make a tabletop game with these kinds of features. The problems that exist at the moment are mainly to do with tracking. Screen size at the moment is pretty limited too, I haven’t worked with the Glass yet but I hear it has a smaller display than the Epson one (Which is about 2 inches across… Read more »
It’s SUNDAY!!!
Although as I’m on holiday everyday feels like Sunday,except for the lack of an XLBS
Google Glass Gaming Gizmo FTW!
just a thought, are kickstarter funds included in the “sales” figures, as $100,000 for a game before retail release is going to move it up the chain, i guess if its in the top 10 next year then its a good game rather than the KS adding to its sales?!?
Can I lower the shoe fund by winning?????
X-Wing being second in sales really doesn’t surprise me. It’s a popular IP and Fantasy Flight has really gone out of their way to make a great game out of it. Star Trek Attack Wing as the number 3 in terms of sales does. I mean it’s a fun game but I don’t think it has anywhere near the player base does that X-Wing does. The fact that card games are the best selling doesn’t really surprise me because they are generally cheaper to get into than miniatures games. However, I am surprised that Cardfight Vanguard did not break the… Read more »
Back in the 70’s, 1/35 or 1/32 skirmish games were mainstream due to the amount of products available, even buildings and terrain from Airfix. Guess it died out with the coming of 28mm miniatures.
Happy sunday, chaps! The google glass digital battle field mash up got me thinking. I love the ideas about blasts and stats and health etc. But in my view, the google glass mash up would come into its own in more of an almost rpg type wargame. A smaller skirmish game with individuals that can do multiple things. Imagine, if you will, choosing your squad on your computer. But not only choosing your squad. You can choose the weapons, skills, perks, etc. In, say, a 5v5 game, you go to activate your mini, and it comes up with a pop… Read more »
Thank you Guys for the great review of the Mortis, so happy you are enjoying the build Justin! No doubt a lot of effort was taken to engineer the Leviathans to make them as builder friendly as I could while retaining the pose options.
The build looks great, one hint I can give you for the next one is to slide the cap over the hip ball joint and then inert it into the leg, it will allow the legs to fit tightly against the pelvis without having to muscle the connection into place.
Cheers!
Mark
No worries bud i’ll give it a go i have the crusader to finish up and one more of each thanks for the advice and cant wait to see what you guys come up with in the future!!! 🙂
BoW Justin
By my calculations 1/35 scale is approximately 50mm (to eyes for a 6ft man). won’t Bolt Action scale up (approx 3x) especially the Tank War supplement…
@BOW There’s a challenge… take some of these 1/35 tanks out onto some dunes – mark out an area and play a game scaled up! I’m sure John has some 1/35 stock to play with.
Cracking show… very very funny at the beginning.
Would love to see hybrid gaming. Augmented reality would be good for contained games as well as table top, like Deadzone. But I don’t see it happening in 2015. I think we’ll see loads more management apps for games… the Zombicide helper app works really well and is not intrusive and if everyone has it on their phone it speeds the game up.
BEST! XLBS! BEGINNING! EVER! I laughed so hard, totally made my day 😀 Thank you for that. I always thought that CCGs made up a hugh part of this industry, but the sheer numbers did suprise me. Any info of where FoW landed? It’s probably diluted by the amount of 15mm WW2 companies out there. Acutally I don’t think that 2015 will be the year of the cross over. And I don’t think that there will be THE year of the video game / wargaming cross over. Of course there will be some kind of products in the future, maybe… Read more »
Agreed! Best first 35 minutes of an XLBS..ever! As for the news on the US sales figures, there is certainly some really interesting data in there although I didn’t appreciate how much larger the CCG market was than.. well.. anything else in the hobby. Crikey! I guess blind-buys don’t turn people off as much as I thought! Great to hear the Pathfinder card game is doing well and man, FFG are really knocking it out of the park with X-Wing, aren’t they? I’ve been reading a lot of gamers complain about how nobody plays game X or Y at their… Read more »
I think part of the problem with RPGs is that you can buy a few books and be done with your purchasing effectively for years. Most of the roleplayers I know buy in cycles, picking up lots of stuff for a month or so and then nothing for a year or more. Most of them also play in homebrew campaign settings. The great thing about RPGs is that the best thing to bring to the table with you is your imagination. It’s hard to create a steady cash flow around a product like that. It’s entirely possible that lots of… Read more »
I agree with you, but I know several of my friends wouldn’t. I’m 36 years old I want to keep my hobby a tactile one. However, several of my younger friends, most around 25 years old or so, like it when everything is pre-made for them. They don’t like assembling or painting. They don’t care much about creating a story/setting for their army, they just want to play. I understand that not everyone likes every part of the hobby equally (I myself LOVE the fluff, like to play and slightly dislike painting), but this outlook horrifies me. If these instant… Read more »
I hope that isn’t true, but I fear you have a point. Hopefully there will always be enough gamers like you and me who can enjoy a completely physical and analog game. Being an IT guy I have enough computers around me all day. I really enjoy working (assembling, painting, writing) and playing with physically real things and people who acutally stand before me. It is a great decceleration in a time, where everything gets more digital and faster from day to day. I think the problem with RPGs is exactly what @mpopke said. My friends and I do a… Read more »
Nowt wrong with playing Saga Edition. I still prefer it (or perhaps more accurately, I found it more suitable for my gaming group) than EotE. I’m still trying to track down a copy of Unknown Regions that isn’t £50+ 😀
Excellent show indeed. I must say I’m very happy with my decision to get backstage some two months ago or so. You guys are very entertaining and informative. Keep up the good work and I hope you get many new backstagers =) Concerning bridging TTGs and digital media I’m…hesitant. I don’t play Infinity/DW or any other miniatures games because I want to involve digital media. I AM using digital army builders but I don’t want to computerize mini wargames, that’s what we have real computer games for. Having some fancy google glasses to show a sort of HUD also seems… Read more »
Happy Sunday! Have sat here watching this whilst assembling the leg/foot pistons on my Reaver Titan….. and then Justin says he built that entire Leviathan kit in 2hrs! It took me that long to build the legs on this thing! Ref 40k, it’s future and overall sales – @warzan touched in this yesterday regarding the whole gameplay/turn sequence slowed the pace of the game when compared to games like Bolt Action. 40k has become too cumbersome and probably does need stripping down a bit. The tactical objectives have added to the gameplay in 7th Ed, and changed the dynamic. But… Read more »
Hay @warzan this is for Loyd Golem Arcana is already working on the agmented reality side of the game and has a work in progress – http://youtu.be/saDHrC_0QxM
If I could pick any setting for a wargame it would Stephen Baxters XeeLee setting. It’s hard SF with lots of crazy tech and ideas that will blow your tiny human mind (like it did my own haha), NONE of the aliens are humanoid shaped, infact two of them are more spherical based, the main antagonists are Dark-matter based life called Photino birds which gradually drain the energy from the core of stars, ending fusion and causing premature ageing into red giants, the habitats they prefer (And they seek to do this to the entire universe) so it is basicly… Read more »