Age of Annihilation - Backer Trend and Discussion

[Son of Arathorn]

Originally Posted by Good Pig

I think the Dawn Raiders all feel very Scapey, especially Cornelius Breech Derelict Prince. The Iron Clad Collective feel like Soulborgs creepier cousins. The Nemesis War Brood I can see easily fitting into a world populated with dragons and Marro. I get if someone never got an opportunity to purchase Heroscape they'd be bummed by not seeing any recognizable historical units with this set. But they can still get ROTV.

Other than Sgt Drake, SOTM didn't have any historical units either

Man, Shiori gets no respect.

[IAmBatman]

Originally Posted by Son of Arathorn

Man, Shiori gets no respect.

Luckily she's potentially available this time around as well.

[Good Pig]

Originally Posted by IAmBatman

Luckily she's potentially available this time around as well.

Yes, good catch. I think I forgot about her because I've never drafted her before.

And the new figure looks awesome! I'm guessing they'll beef up her stats or powers quite a bit. Either straight up Triple Attack or some kind of special attack that can hit three times.

[IAmBatman]

If you ignore the goggles and guns and a couple of other small touches, Exiles of the Sundred Sea could scan as purely historical pirates, just of a couple different species. I feel like the right paint job could sell them as fairly historical.

[FrankensteinsMonster]

Originally Posted by Knox

Great post! Rep'd it. That's worth reading for anyone caught up in these discussions

Thank you.

[Astroking112]

I absolutely love the Clockwork Combine. Maybe it's because I read a Redwall novel or too as a kid, but it very much feels in line with the "classic pop culture" of original HS to me, just like I'd guess that those more familiar with other genres might love the Ironclad and Nemesis factions.

I'm sad that new Shiori is such a high stretch goal. Hopefully they'll still package the SotM heroes together in the future if those goals aren't met. Having them return would really help AoA feel connected to SotM.

The main things that I want from the campaign right now are some unit cards and scenario details, though. A demo playthrough of a scenario mentioning that there are 19 other ones in the box would do wonders for showing new players what the game's all about, and as a returning player, I want to know more about the mechanics of each faction than I've gleaned from a few interview transcriptions.

[badgermaniac]

(Sorry if a lot of this has already been stated as I didn't want to read 23 pages of posts.) Ultimately, the issue I think the new game/expansion is facing is the same reason it went out of print. The cost of production simply skyrocketed beyond the point of feasibility.

At this point, I just can't see myself backing this. I have a (nearly) complete collection of the original game which I can continue to play whenever I want. I don't need more terrain and while new stuff is cool, it isn't hundreds of dollars cool. At half the price-point, I can justify some new figures and a bit more terrain, but I am also aware that it isn't economically feasible for Hasbro to sell it so cheaply.

I hope it works out in the end, but if they can't grab committed fans like me, I fear it won't end well. Economics needs to strike a balance between the seller and the consumer, and I just don't know that it is possible in today's world.

[Mr Migraine]

I wonder what their profit margins will be between terrain tiles, other terrain pieces (trees, walls, etc.), and figures.

Hopefully, if the game gets rebooted, they'll be able to increase sales volume by selling separate terrain packs that appeal to a broader market of people who use them for other, non-Heroscape games.

Common units also sell very well for hardcore Heroscape players.

This new set is one of the least effective ways to sell heroscape product (large minimum price point, all unique units, mixing terrain with units), so if it manages to find anyway, that's a great sign that the separate smaller packs will perform even better.

I'm the type of legacy player who has more than enough terrain tiles, but I'd be very interested in additional trees, rocks, ruins, and especially all the new units.

I just hope they don't have to resort to selling any individual SKU as a loss-leader for the rest of the franchise. Hopefully the terrain-specific packs can sell well and be profitable on their own, because a ton of non-Heroscape players are going to buy that for hex-based mini gaming.

[Hogg]

Originally Posted by Mr Migraine

I just hope they don't have to resort to selling any individual SKU as a loss-leader for the rest of the franchise. .

That's not a bad idea, actually. I think RotV was a loss leader and look how many expansions were sold because of it. That may be something they are unwilling to do at this point and is reflected in the backers for the Haslab.

The backer count wasn't rising very much during the early part of the weekend but seems to be picking up a little steam again now. That's probably a reflection of people's social habits.

[Knox]

I really like the new fortress. That would really help with mapbuilding for large maps in particular

[GamerDad74]

Originally Posted by Mr Migraine

I wonder what their profit margins will be between terrain tiles, other terrain pieces (trees, walls, etc.), and figures.

Hopefully, if the game gets rebooted, they'll be able to increase sales volume by selling separate terrain packs that appeal to a broader market of people who use them for other, non-Heroscape games.

Common units also sell very well for hardcore Heroscape players.

This new set is one of the least effective ways to sell heroscape product (large minimum price point, all unique units, mixing terrain with units), so if it manages to find anyway, that's a great sign that the separate smaller packs will perform even better.

I'm the type of legacy player who has more than enough terrain tiles, but I'd be very interested in additional trees, rocks, ruins, and especially all the new units.

I just hope they don't have to resort to selling any individual SKU as a loss-leader for the rest of the franchise. Hopefully the terrain-specific packs can sell well and be profitable on their own, because a ton of non-Heroscape players are going to buy that for hex-based mini gaming.

I agree with this and with badgermaniac. Some veteran backers love this campaign. Some veteran backers would buy ANYthing Heroscape. But I think there are many of us veteran players (I've been playing and collecting since about 2007--I still play with family and friends) who are just not willing to drop $250 on this iteration as is.

It's like for all of the talk of the lessons learned from HS 1.0, they go and do the same thing here--all unique sets, not selling to strengths (commons and terrain), not bundling content in ways that players want and maximize sales, etc.

It's so incredibly frustrating to watch this. I want to support HS. Love the game. But I'm not going to buy something just because it says "Heroscape" on it. It has to be something I can afford and specific content and format that I WANT to spend $$$ on. (Hello!: Classics units locked behind impossible backer counts???)


I WILL buy at $100 or $125 with some new terrain and a couple of factions of my choice. Are they listening to veteran fans? Are they looking at the backer numbers? We'll see.

[wriggz]

I believe they are listening, but business is such a guessing game, and the argument to change the model faces serious inertia, not to mention the pitch to relaunch was based on this plan, it is hard to go to a VP and say we want to change our financial plan mid stream based on some fan feedback.

Maybe this campaign is the most economical, with the likelihood of the greatest financial gain with the least risk. Maybe a campaign with terrain packs was discussed but that product had too much risk (i.e. a terrain only expansions does not imply many repeat purchases in the future, and terrain runs might cost too much compared to figures. Id be surprised if all this was not just discussed but scenarios were run with forecast modeling. I can't see Hasbro greenlighting this without seeing different models.

That all said, if this does not fund, I'll be bummed but not devastated. With a complete collection and lots of terrain, not to mention C3V customs, personal customs, C3G, the boards from AotP and custom terrain, I'm more than set. While this new set is cool, it does not feel essential since it is more self contained. Id be much more annoyed if this set had new hivelord, more WWII troops, zulu warriors, the ninth wizard or Aquilla kyrie. Maybe that's the set that more people would want, but that's the set I'd cry over.