TF22 to be distributed in the US by Flying Buffalo

Just got an email from Rainer at Troll Factory. Sounds like Rick Loomis is going to be working out a deal with TF to get copies into the US. I know nothing more than this email, though I did already shoot a note to Rick at Flying Buffalo to see what the story is on this one. I'm sure it still won't be cheap, but at least it won't include the full 40 additional euros for shipping in the price. That, in and of itself, is a fine discount as far as I'm concerned.

Thank you again for your interest in the game!

The fair in Essen is done and I spoke there with Rick Loomis from Flying Buffalo Games.
He will take over as distributor for TF22 in the USA so you can order directly:

rick AT flyingbuffalo.com

www.flyingbuffalo.com

As soon as we have worked out the first amount of games based on the first orders,
I will ship a bulk order to Rick and he then will send it to the US customers.

If you have any questions, regarding the game or the ordering process, you can contact Rick or me.

Edit: had to fix the link to Flying Buffalo

Que FFG announcement in 3...2...1...

Wow...this is a WTF'er! May have to grab one.

Alright. I know this is a lot to ask, but can someone sell me a little on this title? It looks cool. How does it play? Is it pure euro optimisation? What's it like?

The only way I ever hear it spoke about is by how much it costs to get on the third market, but very, very rarely have I ever heard anyone talk about it if it's any good or not.

And just got a follow-up from Rick. Looks like it's going to be a straight MSRP euro:dollar conversion, which is going to put it ~$192 shipped in the US. I've already pledged a copy through Rick via email. He's not yet put an order page up on the Flying Buffalo site, but he'll take credit cards via email or paypal now or you can wait for the page to go up in the next few days.

And, just as a point of information before anyone chokes too hard on that price, I asked Rainer about buying a copy when it was first announced. With shipping, a single copy worked out to be between 170 and 180 euros or close to US$250. Even I, with my near total lack of self-control when things bubble up on my "me wants!" list had to take pause at that.

That Rick is expecting to keep this under $200 still makes it half the price the original FMP from Noble Knight or T&T *and* it appears that Rainer is going to keep working on expanding/reworking the game as long as there's interest in it.

(For those not familiar, Flying Buffalo has pretty much been a 1-man show for something like 3 or 4 decades now. I first met Rick Loomis at a GenCon in 1989 or so; he spent a good 15 minutes at his very busy booth explaining his play by mail games to this pimply-faced teenager. He won my undying loyalty for that then--and for being the only guy who had "skull" [and maybe mushroom clouds, too] dice on the market back then. Those got a shit ton of use in the 10,000 games of Car Wars we played throughout high school. I looked forward to hitting the FB booth every year to replace those dice)

For those who may remember Comrade Koba and a couple of other card games from Gotick a couple of years ago, Rick/Flying B handled US sales for them for a while [may still do it but Gotick has been kind of quiet of late--Speaking of which: HEY ANDERS, WHERE THE FUCK IS THE RAF REPRINT/RELEASE? I want my tasteless Bader-Meinhof gaming!]

Gary Sax wrote: Alright. I know this is a lot to ask, but can someone sell me a little on this title? It looks cool. How does it play? Is it pure euro optimisation? What's it like?

The only way I ever hear it spoke about is by how much it costs to get on the third market, but very, very rarely have I ever heard anyone talk about it if it's any good or not.

Have played, and it is a tough beast to really sit down and play. It is nerve-wracking and grueling for about 2-3 hours.

It is kind of a diceless beat-em-up. Object is to get ore off the board. Ore can also be spent to buy new units.

Each turn, you get so many action points to move units. Pieces have move limits, and certain pieces can carry other pieces. Combat also requires action points. Get 2 pieces within the (rather short) range of another unit, spend 2 action points and unit dies. With a limit of only 10-25 actions per turn, odds are, you won't be quite able to get them out of range of reprisal.

So it is a game where if someone REALLY wants to kill you, they can. And if you screw up and leave a piece ever so slightly exposed, a sharp player will happily nail it like a bunny to the wall.

So the end result is kind of chessy, VERY thinky, nerve-wracking. I really think the 3 minute time limit on turns from the original version should have remained in TF22. Otherwise, you could just agonize over your turn for hours.

One nice thing is that the TF22 version looks nicer than the original. The minis are definitely a step up, and the board on the original was a flimsy thing indeed. And the mechanism for marking ownership of a piece are these tiny, tiny pieces of plastic that are like 1/10 scale Mike & Ike candies.

Wow, that is definitely not my style. I appreciate the rundown, Frank.

That's a bummer, I always kinda imagined FMP as Nectaris/Military Madness in board game form, which of course basically exists in 1000 other places, but the theme lines up so perfectly

moofrank wrote: So the end result is kind of chessy, VERY thinky, nerve-wracking. I really think the 3 minute time limit on turns from the original version should have remained in TF22. Otherwise, you could just agonize over your turn for hours.

Yea, your description is spot on from I've heard from my local friends who have played FMP. I haven't had a chance to play but their description and the bit quoted above made me feel like it would push the same buttons in me that Dungeon Twister does [though DT does it *faster*, which I think is what drives the tension better]. I like like the Chessy/thinky/gruelling part, though it strikes me that I'll be grabbing the sand timer out of an old copy of Foil (think that one was a 3 minute timer) and throwing it in the box immediately. (Also kind of makes me wonder if this style of "euro" is particularly "French"--even Formula De has some of these qualities, and a timer is absolutely critical as, without it, it almost turns into a different game. With time-limited turns, it's "grip and rip"; without it, it's a stare-at-the-board numbers cruncher)

I just found this thread,
Dogmatix, thanks for posting it!

For the shipping, yes, shipping a single game from germany to USA is surely a cost prolem, as the game's weight is above 2kg. The minium rate DHL charges is 45,00 Euro for a parcel above 2kg which would make it very expensive to ship single games.

I'm glad Rick took the job as distributor so we can save a lot of shipping costs using bulk shipping.

For the further development of TF22, there're already some things in the pipeline, for example, sculpted modular terrain tiles made from resin to vary game maps.

Second thing will facilities to add, first of it will be s ship yard.

I have some more additions in mind but not fixed, yet.

If someone has fun to bring in enhancement ideas, please let me know.
I see TF22 not as a fixed and closed game but as a base to include and develop more ideas, enhancements, minis, background story.

Rainer
TF22

Welcome to the Fort, Rainer. The news item is here.

Notahandle wrote: Welcome to the Fort, Rainer. The news item is here.

Thanks a lot!

tf22 wrote: I just found this thread,
Dogmatix, thanks for posting it!
Rainer
TF22

Happy to help man. I'm excited that you took on this project and I'm dying to try the game. Please pop back by here to provide any updates or send me an email (I'm the "Justin H" you've been corresponding with today) and I'll post stuff here.

Also, for those who haven't dealt with Flying Buffalo's website, well...let's just say web design and online services are not their strong suits (or, perhaps, "1992 called and said you can KEEP the damn site! ). It's hard to navigate and the sort of joint that can render you insensible if you spend too much time trying to figure it out.

Once Rick gets around to putting up the TF22 page or I get any more info along the way, I'll drop a direct link into this thread . Otherwise, I'd suggest actually giving him a call or shooting him an email if you're intent on getting a copy. They take all credit cards and paypal. I'll warn that my experience with paypal (for most small vendors, not FB specifically), is that they charge immediately, which means it's a bitch for pre-order items where "pre-pay" isn't a necessity.

I thought Full Metal Planete was very good.

I've got quite fond memories of Flying Buffalo. Tunnels and Trolls had this very nice reduction in rules overhead that unshackled our roleplaying when I was a kid. The rules in my view were broken, but our roleplaying really improved from stock and standard D&D, which we also liked.

Some additional news:
We now have the light version ready:

TF22 LT

with cardboard markers included instead of metal minis which means light in the case of price and weight.

www.tf22.de/s01.php?shopid=s01&cur=eur&s...1&pp=aa&bnr=TF222001



Rainer