Never played Aristeia and I have no interest in the game, So! for me it is a shitty genre that I don't care about.
Aristeia minis are really fugly. I can't understand how the same company can produce both the brilliant miniatures(tm) and stuff like aristeia. Otherwise, it would have been fun to play something else, while taking a break from the infinity. I think any other CB idea is more interesting then Aristeia.
It's CBs first dip into plastic minis as far as I can tell. It's a different medium, it takes time to get to the level you see them do in metal.
honestly the metals of the limited edition collectors are pretty fantastic, so it is prob the plastic just losing quality
They're not single pieces, they're pre-assembled in the factory. Also, make sure you get a look at the expansion figures if you've only seen the core set - the production quality went up very noticeably, even if it's never going to achieve the detail of metal or injection-moulded hard plastic.
I really hope they take a look at how they package stuff given they're discontinuing models less than 2 years old to save SKUs. Proper army packs for a variety of sectorials would be a good step as would 5 model boxes for troops with core linkability (ideally with extra weapons to cover options). Two model blisters should be a standard on release too rather than repacking them later on, especially if they include an ancient mini with a modern one (looking at you Tankhunter blister). New Joan could have been released at the same time as the last one. BAM! One Pan O SKU saved.
Wow, I am surprised to see such Aristeia hate. I haven't picked it up, because of limited budget, and even less time. But I thought it looked good, and interesting, and thought I might pick it up eventually.
It's great. If you get a chance to play it, do, everyone I've played it with has enjoyed it. It's one of those games where even on one play through you can see the endless tactical and strategic possibilities.
Or they could put the entire product line in one big box, and BAM! One SKU! In more seriousness, yes some streamlining of SKU's is good, but I also think CB is trying to manage their production capacity. I don't think it is just about SKU reduction. I also don't want them to do away with single blisters. When I am buying miniatures, I figure out how many sculpts in a box I want, and divide the total price by that, to determine if I wish to buy. Two figure blister, and one of the miniatures I don't like? More times than not, I am going to pass on that. Although I have to admit, I seem to be more of a cheapskate than most wargamers, and I just might not be their target market.
Some of those Aristeia models can be good conversion pieces if you like the heads or another body part to attach a metal model.
I am talking more about designs, looking at some of those is like designers were high on something. At some times sculpt quality is also bad. However characters which are also in infinity are pretty good: musashi, deadpool, lunah.
I thought we were all cheapskates. I'm most certainly a penny pincer when it come to buying stuff for the hobby. However, there are times were paying a few extra dollars does help procure something you want or need.
I'd prefer single blisters too, don't get me wrong. But if they're limiting to 50 SKUs a faction I'd rather see double blisters than huge swathes of minis unavailable. They're repacking blisters anyway and doing it in an odd, haphazard way as evidenced by the Tankhunter blister. Wouldn't it have been better to get a resculpted autocannon and the AP HMG as one blister than what we've got? It means that units would get minis to cover the profiles faster too.
I think a lot of it suffers from designers trying (poorly) to pay homage to other series. I keep calling it Bootleg Overwatch when people ask me what it is, because a lot of it really does have that kind of janky bootleg art feeling, even though the core of the game is so well designed.
Honestly if they really wanted to? Army Packs for Vanilla, with a spread of stuff that people are going to want in all the Sectorials(to guarantee it will at least see some sales) as a "core product" and troop boxes get alternate arms 'keyed' to specific poses. To me the most asinine aspect of it is that they know they have SKU bloat but they still insist on doing single blisters. Just do a multi-model blister or box and call it a day from the outset. A good example of this is the new Deva Hacker and Deva Spitfire models. That should have been one blister. I'd also say that they should be waiting to do repacks until they have new versions of both models they want in the blister. Because now down the road I guaranfrickingtee you that we'll get a new Autocannon sculpt once TAK kicks into high gear and that double blister doesn't sell.
Well, perspective is important. For example, I know one of North America's top Infinity players really loves Aristeia. He's playing Aristeia more regularly than Infinity now. I've only dabbled in it... I'm a terrible board gamer, so not well qualified to comment!
it was pitched to me this way at Gencon when I demoed it. The gameplay couldn't be more different than overwatch though
