FFG announces - Imperial Assault

The thing is, I love SW, I love games. So I want to get completely into X-Wing, and I did. I spent A LOT of money to do so, and I've got a big collection of ships. I _adore_ it. I was going to dip out after the next big ships, but the Scum and Villany stuff looks cool and I like having a third side. So I'll go in for those too.

But here comes Armada, and I'd like to get into that too because it looks neat. And when I get into a game, I like to have ALL of it. I do not to not have the expansions or additional content because I want the full range of possibilities. So I'm looking at a HUGE investment to get into that, if I decide to.

Yet I do, as Sag mentioned, feel something like a mark. X-Wing is only two years old and there's already a completely different system out? And for two years- almost since the game first came out- I've been saying "hey, it'd be great if they developed the system a little more with a scenario book or additional materials and development". Instead, they put out a WHOLE NEW GAME. I kind of feel like an idiot, because now there's TWO SW miniatures games that are out there, and I really can't afford to get into both how I'd like to. Total first-world problem, but I feel like the game I've invested in already is lessened by there being this all-new thing that ISN'T really just Wings of War with TIE fighters.

But oh, wait. Here's YET ANOTHER $100 board game! That will have $60 expansions! I totally feel overwhelmed, and not in a way where I'm thinking "how am I going to afford these awesome games" but in a way where I'm thinking "fuck this shit, fuck FFG, I'm taking my money elsewhere." It does get to a point where a company can stop respecting its consumer's ability to buy their products, and I kind of feel like that's what's going on here. It's almost like those new car commercials that make it seem like ANYBODY can afford to buy a new car.

I could just be happy that I have both Epic Duels and the OT Risk. And if I want to spend $100 on another SW game, I could buy the old Assault on Hoth game or even Queen's Gambit.

Now, if they release a rethemed Tonga Bonga with Ewoks, they have my money without question.

One thing you have to keep in mind is that not everyone has this hyper-awareness of games that I'd say many of us have here. So from our view it does look like saturation and endless expansion. It does look like a "con".

But for the Munchkin fan that likes Star Wars, here's a product for them. For the RPG player, here's a product for them.

In playing Attack Wing, I've met plenty of people that play that game exclusively. And could care less about the Descent expansion and that's assuming they know anything about it.

My buddy loves games, he's the one that got me involved. I asked him if he saw the announcement for Imperial Assault, he didn't. He loves Descent, it's one of his two dozen games he has (no expansions mind you for Descent). There are others out there like him.

These games, like it or not, aren't targeted at us, the hyper-aware crowd, the people that already have tons of games that don't get played or a concise shelf of favorites that need to be unseated.

The goal is to get that Munchkin player, that XWing player, that RPG'er...And get them to buy into one and like one product line because that's all they really want.

I'm kind of having a mini Friday Freakout here, bear with me...

How many of you guys would rather see a really solid SINGLE PURCHASE (with maybe even a couple of expansions down the road), 2-4 player 90 minute SW game retailing for $60 than either Imperial Assault or Armada? Maybe even a simple wargame. Maybe even a DISKWARS game with Star Wars units. How many of you WANT, as game players and consumers, another core set retailing for $100 and requiring additional purchases or another dungeoncrawler retailing at $100?

Unless there's something already in development, FFG is really missing the boat by not having something more accessible and less expensive with the SW license.

Although we may all feel that FFG is milking the Star Wars license too hard, it looks like they are expecting to making huge money off these games, especially once the next movie arrives. FFG is probably trying to aim at least one Star Wars game at each kind of gamer (wargamer, miniatures gamer, card gamer, board gamer, etc.), rather than expect every gamer to plunk down money for every Star Wars game. They certainly did a good job of selling Lord of the Rings games.

EDIT: VonTush beat me to the point.

Now if you can just figure out which game is which you're all set. I want a ship game so I buy . . . Imperial Armada, right? Alliance Assault? If I can see them all with pictures I can figure it out!

HOLY SHIT THEY ARE MAKING A REBEL ASSAULT BOARDGAME?!?!?!

"Alliance Assault" is what they're doing with that distributor, bombarding them from orbit with UPCs...

Yeah FFG (and I'm sure a lot of other toy companies) are lining products up to capture this STAR WARS market once those movie hit. And I'm sure that everyone is convinced JJ Abrams is going to knock it out of the park. AND these new movies have the added benefit of having about 3 generations of people buying into them Clone Wars kids, Eps. I-II-III teens, Eps. IV-V-VI adults ect.

So if the 7 and under set is buying straight up toys, lunch boxes, backpacks and stuff what are you going to sell to the 8, 16, 24, and 30+ crowd? Graphic novels, board games, RPGs, and miniature sets; at $100 a pop they are not targeting kids.

EDIT: I guess my added point this this less saturation and more about having the nets at the ready to bring in a big haul that is multi-generational. I mean think about it when these movies hit every Geek Outlet is gonna feed off STARWARS! STARWARS!! STARWARS!!!

Phandec, Barnes, et. al. are spitting some raw truth right now. It's extremely charitable to assert that FFG is simply trying to publish a SW game for "each kind of gamer." No. They're doing the same thing they do with all of their mainline franchises: they're launching product lines, not games, and in the case of Star Wars they're cynically exploiting the license in a really transparent cash grab. The intersection of hobby gamers and Star Wars enthusiasts is massive - I mean, guys, I've been to plenty of cons, that is one Venn diagram with a very fat middle - and FFG is hellbent on brazenly exploiting it. The amount of hubris on display is staggering and really gross.

Michael Barnes wrote: I'm kind of having a mini Friday Freakout here, bear with me...

How many of you guys would rather see a really solid SINGLE PURCHASE (with maybe even a couple of expansions down the road), 2-4 player 90 minute SW game retailing for $60 than either Imperial Assault or Armada? Maybe even a simple wargame. Maybe even a DISKWARS game with Star Wars units. How many of you WANT, as game players and consumers, another core set retailing for $100 and requiring additional purchases or another dungeoncrawler retailing at $100?

It's tough, man... I'm biting my nails here thinking how I'm going to afford all this shit. But maybe this is the golden age of Star Wars gaming in my lifetime so I want to be part of it. This is classy high quality stuff not like that sloppy floppy shit that came out several years back. Who's got a cool game with dope Star Destroyers and stuff? Not me. And I don't have Epic Duels either. The dungeon crawler is the hardest sell but if we get to have a laser fight with like BOSSK and IG-88 it could be a LOT of fun. Don't forget that it's also a skirmish game as well.

The timing is rather harsh I'll admit.

I think that Armada is the really egregious one. They're smart to tie Assault into their RPG to lure those players in. Assault is going to pull from their RPG fans and their Descent fans who are also Star Wars fans.

Armada is going to pull from... their X-Wing fans. Assault takes the RPG in a different direction, and while you could say that Armada does the same for X-Wing, I fear that the two games are just too close in concept to coexist.

Also, announcing *two* $100 MSRP Star Wars games in one week just sounds like a setup for failure to me. Obviously they won't release together, but still.

Though if there's anything that could get away with it, it'd be Star Wars.