Age of Annihilation - Backer Trend and Discussion

[Hogg]

I didn't really expect anything from Hasbro, given how it has gone so far.

I do expect a lot of last minute backers. Probably not enough to hit 8,000 though. There are people waiting until the end of the campaign to back it and others who will increase their pledge to see if they can get it backed.

Honestly, I would pay $1000 just to bring HS back, even if it didn't include any products and I would have to buy them all for retail once they're made.

AoA not being Classic Age is another issue, but I feel like that can be addressed once HS is being printed again.

[brak88]

Yeah, it's be nice to see some sort of goal moving down a bit or the stretch goals being added regardless or something. The campaign as a whole hasn't felt fun and exciting, more of a worrying month leading down to a game of chicken of if this will fund or not, if there is a second release option possible or not, or if people that didn't like certain aspects of the set are going to bite the bullet and back it not.

It's going to be an interesting few days/week in the aftermath of the campaign.

[IAmBatman]

What it comes down to is people *do* support Heroscape and *do* support the War Council, they just don't like how the campaign has been run because they wanted a successful campaign and this hasn't been successful. Pulling backings doesn't accomplish anything. Nor does spite towards a company for doing a bad job. I don't think (most) folks are assigning malice to Hasbro for how they handle this product, just incompetence.

[IAmBatman]

Originally Posted by brak88

It's going to be an interesting few days/week in the aftermath of the campaign.

I dunno, I feel like the aftermath has already been pretty hashed out at this point since the writing has been on the wall since the first 72 hours or so. Probably just more of the same until folks get tired of talking about it and move on?

[Grungebob]

Originally Posted by IAmBatman

What it comes down to is people *do* support Heroscape and *do* support the War Council, they just don't like how the campaign has been run because they wanted a successful campaign and this hasn't been successful. Pulling backings doesn't accomplish anything. Nor does spite towards a company for doing a bad job. I don't think (most) folks are assigning malice to Hasbro for how they handle this product, just incompetence.

I wasn’t suggesting spiteful behavior, I was wondering why they feel they should invest in a company they are not currently confident in.

I personally support Hasbro and purchase their products. I have no I’ll will toward them, but the last thing I would do is increase my pledge without some reciprocal action on the part of Hasbro.

[rudyvalentine]

I think you can be disappointed about how the campaign is being managed and still want to see it succeed. There is the element of sending a message based on what you support or don’t support, but in this case when it’s presented as this or nothing, people are choosing to support this since there’s no guarantee there is another chance.

I think that’s the wild card here. If it was just a kickstarter campaign people would bail when they see it’s not working or it’s been mismanaged, but it’s not and chances are it’s not just going to relaunch in a couple months new and improved.

[Grungebob]

Originally Posted by rudyvalentine

I think you can be disappointed about how the campaign is being managed and still want to see it succeed. There is the element of sending a message based on what you support or don’t support, but in this case when it’s presented as this or nothing, people are choosing to support this since there’s no guarantee there is another chance.

I think that’s the wild card here. If it was just a kickstarter campaign people would bail when they see it’s not working or it’s been mismanaged, but it’s not and chances are it’s not just going to relaunch in a couple months new and improved.

Of course we all still want to see it succeed, but there’s a difference between being hopeful, and increasing your pledge 5 fold to back a project from a company that hasn’t tweeted about this campaign in 10 days.

[IAmBatman]

Originally Posted by Grungebob

I wasn’t suggesting spiteful behavior, I was wondering why they feel they should invest in a company they are not currently confident in.

I personally support Hasbro and purchase their products. I have no I’ll will toward them, but the last thing I would do is increase my pledge without some reciprocal action on the part of Hasbro.

Because no one who has backed this campaign has done it to invest in the company involved. They've done it to invest in the IP for the most part, and in the specific product offered to a lesser extent.

[IAmBatman]

But I guess GBob's subtext here, especially with the Twitter bit, is that Avalon Hill/Hasbro have given up on this, so rather than coming up with grand schemes, might as well just fully accept that it's over.

[Grungebob]

Originally Posted by IAmBatman

Because no one who has backed this campaign has done it to invest in the company involved. They've done it to invest in the IP for the most part, and in the specific product offered to a lesser extent.

part of this doesn’t mesh with my sensibilities, but I think I get it. It’s the reciprocal portion that puzzles me.

[brak88]

Kudos to everyone that's buying 3, 4, 5, upwards of 10 sets wanting this to succeed. As long as you have the funds, we're adults and can do whatever we want to spend our money.

I've personally seen posts from war council members starting this is meant to be a single purchase for a person, and I don't personally see a reason to want more than one. As long as people don't start saying that "you didn't care enough of you didn't buy 5 sets."

If the terrain tiles presented were more of any tiles besides the basic rock, sand, water, grass tiles, and if the set had half of it consist of 2x copies of common figures like SOTM, so buying a second set would allow you 4x copies for a good amount of all the common squads, I probably would've justified buying two, but what do you do?

Steam has been picking up a bit today, and I think some shenanigans could happen, Hasbro or community wise if 7,000 gets reached before campaign end

[1moreheroscaper]

Grungebob,

I agree that pulling out would be a strong message on the Haslab campaign, but when I think of some toy Haslabs that failed, it seemed the message was it was, "it is too little for the price, or no demand for the product even at a lesser price."
With the Heroscape Haslab, I don't feel it is the price or the quantity of pieces. Tha main issues is the number of backers needed, it seems higher than the residual fan base that has carried on over the past 12 years. I could be wrong, but if this was there approach in 2004ish, Heroscape may not have been made then.
Back then they game expanded its fan base because people had it in hand and shared the play with others. I was getting others into the game because I had product in hand, and then they could go to Target, Walmart, or Toys R Us and have some product too in a very short time period. And many of those fans would buy and play it if available, but they were not hardcore hold-ons to the game ounce the line ended. I think many would be back if it was a sure thing.

So back to the backers number required, it seems too high.
For HeroQuest, it seems the rough number needed was 6,667 mythic tier ($150) pledges to reach $1,000,000. And if 1,000,000 is the Heroscape goal, then that should be about 4,000 $250 pledges, not the 8,000 needed to fund. So maybe their production breaking point is 2,000,000.
I reference HeroQuest since it is the same company, and I know the main cost difference is the plastic tiles and terrain for Heroscape, so they are not completely comparable for that simple reason. HeroQuest also got about 24,000 to 25,000 backers, which I believe include retailers too--since Gamestop got their basic copies shortly after I received my copies of the Haslab HeroQuest. HeroQuest has also been a grail game for many gamers for over 20-25 years simply due to its entry to gaming nostalgia and the 2nd market prices going all the way back to the early years of Ebay.
I don't think Heroscape has all of that yet, though it is the largest part of my game collection (dwarfing all other titles in my 300+ games and expansions). It think the game is wonderful and one of the best, but I think its backing goal for success is being measured against something it is not (after the other game showed how demand for it appeared to be).

I believe Heroscape would be funded if it had an orignal goal to HeroQuest. Instead, I think that final numbers for HeroQuest forced the Heroscape campaign to double its goal, because the new measure for success had been established. I could be completely wrong about all of this, but nonetheless, it is my reason for still trying to back rather than pulling out. I want it to be known I would like the product and the price for this huge lot is okay for me.