Tanker-related tangent thread

[Norman D. Landings]

Okay, WaT has really taken off and we’re all keen as mustard.

Question, though: why didn’t Gale Force 9’s recent “TANKS” hit the sweet spot?

All-you-need starter set (Panther vs. 2x Shermans) with high production-value components...

Force-building element to the game which seemed tailor-made to start people collecting...

I thought it seemed poised to do for AFVs what WoW did for stringbags, but it never happened.

[Buff Orpington]

I think that part of the problem is that people were not really prepared for the rigid control of GF9/Battlefront regarding expanding the scope. Lots of people have shed loads of 15mm FoW armour but whatever you have you'll have to wait until GF9 release that tank in an expansion pack to get cards. They weren't going to start releasing card packs on their own so you have too wait. Any discussion of diy stats or (god forbid)stats for tanks they don't make is totally verboten on the forum. Can't really blame them as it's all about revenue protection but it clashes with the average gamer's desire for everything to be as close to free as possible.

Another issue is the assembly of the kits, they're great kits but the instructions are total crap. You get very little to tell you which bits you need for which version, The T34 kit comes with four different barrels. If you don't know about the assembly guides on the FoW site you're buggered.

[BaronVonWreckedoften]

Never heard of it, to be honest. TFL was launched with a much bigger fanfare and I think that was what caught many people, like me, with no real interest in WW2 gaming. Plus what Buff said about stricter control - the TFL website has none of the proscriptions listed above - hell, there were people who hadn't even finished reading the WAT rules proposing changes to them in some threads!

[Norman D. Landings]

That pre-packaged, vehicle+cards, controlled release schedule model worked very well for WoW/G, though.

[Buff Orpington]

True, but they had a big appeal to people like board game players who want it to work straight out of the box without having to build something. Another possible factor was the pricing, I may be wrong but I think the expansions were pretty pricey at first but they seem more sensible now. They've certainly come down a bit on Ebay.

[Norman D. Landings]

That’s actually what prompted this thread - some of the ‘TANKS’ bundles get you a bunch of vehicles perfect for WaT, packaged with what amounts to a ‘free’ game.

[Buff Orpington]

I did even better, the guy I bought the game from got two sets (minus one lot of tanks) into the box. If anyone going to Ayton wants a full set of cards, rules, maps & 2D terrain let me know.

[Norman D. Landings]

You, sir... have a taker. I shall happily relieve you of that tanky gubbins.

[Buff Orpington]

Good, that's some more space cleared for Peeler's quality tat.