Age of Annihilation - Backer Trend and Discussion

[EricTheGreat1999]

Originally Posted by rudyvalentine

Where’s the last push at? Nothing from AH and we’re under 6 days to go. Have they given up on this? It feels so flat right now when this should be the grand finale.

They have released some content on Discord but again, they're giving this information to a niche group of individuals that have already been following this project since the beginning.

I get it- there's no update or comment tab on Haslab for them to use. But releasing content on Discord, when the majority of potential backers need to see advertising through other online mediums, seems like a bad marketing strategy all-around.

If I were to be the Devil's advocate here, I would ask "What more could they do, other than picture ads on Facebook or the occasional sponsored video on Youtube?".

[rudyvalentine]

Originally Posted by EricTheGreat1999

They have released some content on Discord but again, they're giving this information to a niche group of individuals that have already been following this project since the beginning.

I get it- there's no update or comment tab on Haslab for them to use. But releasing content on Discord, when the majority of potential backers need to see advertising through other online mediums, seems like a bad marketing strategy all-around.

If I were to be the Devil's advocate here, I would ask "What more could they do, other than picture ads on Facebook or the occasional sponsored video on Youtube?".

I guess I was expected a final days video from the AH team to try and put a cap on this. Their twitter has been quiet too since the last card reveals a week ago. Just surprised it’s been so quiet outside of the Discord cave.

If this is it I don’t see it surging to even hit 6k “backers”. Just hope it gets to the million dollar mark as I think that’s an incredible show of support for all the limitations of this campaign.

[SuperSamyon]

Originally Posted by EricTheGreat1999

They have released some content on Discord but again, they're giving this information to a niche group of individuals that have already been following this project since the beginning.

I get it- there's no update or comment tab on Haslab for them to use. But releasing content on Discord, when the majority of potential backers need to see advertising through other online mediums, seems like a bad marketing strategy all-around.

If I were to be the Devil's advocate here, I would ask "What more could they do, other than picture ads on Facebook or the occasional sponsored video on Youtube?".

One of the things that has confused me the most throughout this campaign is the use of their own Discord channel to disperse news. Given that this Discord was created on the week the campaign started means the only people who would be in the channel are the super fans. The casual backer who happens to stumble upon the haslab heroscape page would have no way to quickly receive news updates. Even those of us in this forum have struggled to stay abreast which is why the news post is so critical.

As far as what else they could do for marketing this week, allow me to respond to the devil's advocate with the following.

1. Updated Facebook ads that include actual game play videos.
2. Daily updates on their social pages that cover new aspects of the offering.
3. Repurpose said videos on YouTube so that the algorithm could put it into circulation.
4. Mass mailers that target their market segment that has shown interest in board games. If nothing else, they should have the addresses of all the backers from Heroquest.
5. Email blasts to the same market segment. There are millions of people in these email groups who could have been directed to this offering.
6. Twitch channel streaming live games.
7. Send out the miniatures to the top miniature painters on YouTube so they could provide a painting video and talk up the campaign. It's probably too late for this now as they would have needed to do this two weeks ago.
8. Additional videos from MWG that perhaps introduce the campaign of Heroscape.
9. A content series exploring the terrain and how maps can be developed. I would target the battle tech community and perhaps even the lego community.
10. Offer giveaways and prizes to the backers including a chance to win a free AoA set.
11. Release a digital comic book that updates the fans on where the story is now.
12. Run an SEM campaign targeting Kickstarter and tabletop keywords to drive that market segment to your haslab page.
13. Geotarget ads on social media that target the various gaming conventions taking place around the nation this week. There's always something.
14. Hire a high impact salesman that can talk up the offering to your audience.
15. Influencer marketing. Influences are hungry for content.

This is besides all the things they should be doing anyway that is par for course with Kickstarter board games. There are missed opportunities this week for sure.

[Knox]

Originally Posted by SuperSamyon

One of the things that has confused me the most throughout this campaign is the use of their own Discord channel to disperse news. Given that this Discord was created on the week the campaign started means the only people who would be in the channel are the super fans. The casual backer who happens to stumble upon the haslab heroscape page would have no way to quickly receive news updates. Even those of us in this forum have struggled to stay abreast which is why the news post is so critical.

As far as what else they could do for marketing this week, allow me to respond to the devil's advocate with the following.

1. Updated Facebook ads that include actual game play videos.
2. Daily updates on their social pages that cover new aspects of the offering.
3. Repurpose said videos on YouTube so that the algorithm could put it into circulation.
4. Mass mailers that target their market segment that has shown interest in board games. If nothing else, they should have the addresses of all the backers from Heroquest.
5. Email blasts to the same market segment. There are millions of people in these email groups who could have been directed to this offering.
6. Twitch channel streaming live games.
7. Send out the miniatures to the top miniature painters on YouTube so they could provide a painting video and talk up the campaign. It's probably too late for this now as they would have needed to do this two weeks ago.
8. Additional videos from MWG that perhaps introduce the campaign of Heroscape.
9. A content series exploring the terrain and how maps can be developed. I would target the battle tech community and perhaps even the lego community.
10. Offer giveaways and prizes to the backers including a chance to win a free AoA set.
11. Release a digital comic book that updates the fans on where the story is now.
12. Run an SEM campaign targeting Kickstarter and tabletop keywords to drive that market segment to your haslab page.
13. Geotarget ads on social media that target the various gaming conventions taking place around the nation this week. There's always something.
14. Hire a high impact salesman that can talk up the offering to your audience.
15. Influencer marketing. Influences are hungry for content.

This is besides all the things they should be doing anyway that is par for course with Kickstarter board games. There are missed opportunities this week for sure.

Agree with all that, it would probably only add $100,000 to the total cost needed for the project. Maybe a quarter million.

Had a dream last night that the haslab was at 6,500. Woke up to the realization that was not the case

[Grim]

Well yeah, where is the final push? It ends on Tuesday. I know some people don't like the shoulda woulda's before it's actually over, but if they're not pushing right now with super mega hard plus a million, it's over.

AWESOME
The war council is super awesome. What we've seen of the units is as good as original (pre D&D) stuff. The minis are spectacular. The art is sublime. The Avalon Hill staff has done a great job, especially considering their small size.

NOT
The Haslab platform doomed it, I think. Hasbro itself doomed it. The marketing was terrible. It should've been ready Day 1, etc etc blah blah.

Also they should hire SuperSamyon as a marketing consultant for the next try. And "they" should be a different, smaller, company.

[caps]

I'm hoping that the reason we haven't seen very much is just that they're saving their true final push for Monday and Tuesday. We'll find out soon enough!

We did get a pretty cool TikTok from an account with lots of followers

[nyys]

Originally Posted by caps

I'm hoping that the reason we haven't seen very much is just that they're saving their true final push for Monday and Tuesday.

This was my thought as well. Something big. Maybe all the stretch goals will happen at 8K big. Not sure that will be enough, but it would be something.

[Heirloom]

Maybe they’re waiting for 50%-backed to release their final advertising salvo? We can hope. So much for an exciting week in the campaign

[Shurrig]

5 days left and we are almost at 3600 backers!

I believe we will have well over 4000 backers when everything is over, though anything is possible. That is $1,000,000 raised, The original backer goal for Heroquest's campaign. I will consider that a success and not something AH or Hasbro should turn their nose at. We're not talking about funding a one-off collectible or a reprint of a 30 year old board game, we're talking about funding a gaming system that has the capability to compete with the most popular miniature war games out there.

There is not a miniatures/skirmish game on the market that is even half as accessible as Heroscape, a market which Hasbro does not currently cover and yet could do so if they wished. individuals spend thousands of dollars on 40000K for a single army, why wouldn't this be the case for Heroscape? Raise your hand if your collection is worth THOUSANDS, I know mine is and I don't have more than 80% of what's out there. I hope the radio silence on AH's part this week means they are discussing how they can pull this off, because this is indeed a "white space" this company could and should fill.

[chas]

"Now I know I have a heart, because I can feel it breaking."
--Tin Man, The Wizard of Oz

This month a game called Undaunted Stalingrad will be coming out by Osprey. This is a book publishing company which became famous putting out hundreds of military uniform illustration books for miniatures painters and players for many years, and later history books. It started publishing games as well in the last twenty years or so:

https://boardgamegeek.com/thread/296...h-20th-novembe

This post from BGG shows a week long video schedule celebrating its upcoming release, including all kinds of events, interviews, spotlights, etc. on the new game, which is the fourth in the series, and a much bigger box than previous sets. It is a fancier send off effort than they have done before. I have the game on preorder, so I see what is going on with it.

This is the kind of thing they could have done for AOA. "Nuff said."

***

"You got to put out those positive waves, Moriarity!"
--Oddball, Kelly's Heroes

Meanwhile, on the home front, our New York City Gang of Four just held the largest gathering here at my place ever, with seven players, including three returning or new Scapers! I played in the 5th, 6th, and 7th games in a third session of a custom scenario I designed, the most played game ever held here in 14 years of Heroscape sessions. The new guys got to try C3V Customs out for the first time; next month they'll get to try Supers. See my signature line for details as usual, and our latest broadcast of positive waves.

Heroscape lives!

[rudyvalentine]

I’ve heard people claim this is an instant success on kickstarter but if it was run exactly the same way as the Haslab, I’m not so sure. The videos they’ve put out are great, the changes they made to the original campaign page are huge improvements, and listening to feedback and making changes to the faction colors was a positive, but the overall feel to me is this campaign wasn’t fully baked when it started and they felt like they had 45 days to figure it out.

Even on kickstarter with loads more exposure how many bakers would have been turned off with the bare bones launch details? How many more by the lack of tiers, add ons, regular updates, etc.

It just seems poorly planned and minimally promoted and these last few days are icing. Like 95% of the budget was development and the leftovers were how are we going to sell this? Maybe that’s how Haslab works. The designers/developers come up with a product and turn it over to the Haslab crew to launch it, but in the board game crowdfunding arena so much more is expected and required for a successful campaign. Even Heroquest got more of this right on the same platform.

Maybe they learned some things from this and there’s a way to take all the work and still use it to bring the game back. I definitely like the product just not the execution.

[nyys]

The other thing about if it were a KS. After a slow start it likely would have been cancelled, revamped and relaunched at a later date. At least if it followed the KS mold.