It's been great! We've done the first 8 missions with my quarantine pod and are about to do the 9th. The missions have been fairly unique, the game is challenging even for veteran board gamers, and of course the selection of minis is excellent. So I'm very optimistic for TAG Raid. Only two flaws that I've seen (and the second could be quite subjective): 1. Tighten up that rulebook. I know we just got an FAQ today, but parts of it were hard to read and we had to use our best instincts to divine the intent. Aristeia exists, so I know CB can write tight rulebooks. 2. Give retailers a better deal on it, so I don't feel like I'm undercutting the people who hook me up with minis, gaming supplies, and space to play.
There was a retailer pledge option but as far as I could find it was full kickstarter cost which seemed a bit odd.
Considering how much stuff we got with defiance I doubt CB could have afforded a retailer discount in its current format. Maybe if they made a cheaper version of the core set with resin models instead of metal figures for retailers they could drop the price to around 150-200 retail, but even that seems very unlikely the game has way too many high-quality components by my very rough estimations the core plage in its current format would have retailed for around 300$ without the freebies. CB might make a retailer set at some point in the future for those who miss the Kickstarter or make another defiance campaign only time will tell.
The Core box has all the nessesary unit tokens. Technically they could release it for retail without metal minis. Or make that godawful aristea PVC models as an addon.
that's the thing without the high-quality metal minis CB games are not the same, we all know how much of a difference playing on a good table with fully painted armies versus unpainted armies with the cheap terrain we get from the starter packs, the whole experience won't feel like a CB game without the minis and eventually 3d terrain like the stuff for super dungeon. PS: the aristeia minis are not that bad after a good paintjob
My main beef with that material is that minis arent perfect and yet you cant file the mold lines since its all rubbery.
agree the minis are not hobby beginner friendly green stuffing and advanced cleanup are required on some models
This is total speculation, but I don't think they can. Not without having to increase the price for the base consumer. I paid just shy of $400 dollarydoos for the platinum Defiance pack. There's 55 metal minis in there, on average if I were to buy 55 blisters of Infinity at a retail price that would set me back about $1100 dollarydoos. When I think about that I suspect that CB have cut their own margin as razor thin as they can more or less afford to, to make the kickstarter as accessible as possible. I believe that they literally can't afford to give retailers the normal discount other kickstarters offer because it would be quite possibly producing them at a loss. It also makes sense when we consider that Defiance appears to be a one off run with no intent for the game to be produced for general long term retail. EDIT: Essentially CB has given *everyone* the retailer discount, with the expectation that due to the product being a limited edition run that the actual retailers can mark the price up on their own. I have been tracking the sales of Defiance on ebay and they've been steadily selling for $800 to $1000 dollarydoos for the platinum packs. I have also seen retailers in my country pricing the base kit at $500 in brick and mortar stores.
The Defiance rulebook needs to be whacked on someones head - then given to the Aristeia! team. It's a great game but a baaad rulebook.
Yup! Seriously, if they want it proofread, I know a number of people who'd go over it with a fine tooth comb and tighten it up...
