Well, its about time we blow this joint

The gameplay is about as close to Overwatx as you'll see on a tabletop, at least for the area control missions.

 

I would like to take this one step further. Instead of CB dropping MRRF and Shock army, why not make them 300 point box sets? It will really cut down on SKU's, but I think CB don't want one faction to have 5 sectorials

 

It's not just the SKU count itself, but also the issues that accompany having a lot of SKUs. New boxart would need to be commissioned. The in-house molds take up space, and staff time needs to be allocated for fabrication, packaging, etc. Room needs to be made in the release schedule for the announcement, the rollout, etc.

Then you're still back to the core problem that both of these Sectorials weren't selling well to begin with, even with way more product and support than they received as full sectorial lines. You'd inevitably end up with the community complaining that "my sectorial isn't fully supported" and "why does Sectorial X get so many new releases when all my Sectorial has is one box set"

My guess is that CB looked at a number of different options, and decided that the expenses associated with maintaining them probably outweigh any profits they'd generate. We don't know CB's margins, or the numbers associated with specific product lines, so we can't say for sure. But it's a guess.

 

Boxes tend to be pictures of the models, not much box art needing to be commissioned there.
Molds are going to take up space whether or not you retire the range--it's only if you keep rather than destroy the molds that this becomes a large issue.

Then maybe they should do a better job of making it so that people will want to play the Sectorial or they will want to buy the product? I wanted to start Shock Army. I had no reason to with the garbage starter set they released--and I absolutely refuse to do split boxes of any kind from online retailers.

Of course we don't know these things--they're a privately held company that doesn't publish these figures.

 

I'm just sad that asa isn't likely to see many additions as a result of this. Everything new to them was an aleph model :( the shock army is a great idea that, er, wasn't... Panned out enough. Vanilla, of course, being the primary limitation to what can be added to asa without resorting to aleph.

I'd cast my ''vote" into the "army box sounds ideal" pile... Problem is, if they released an army box with anything new, we previous asa players would now have a lot of duplicates for one model. CB is definitely squished by the need for monthly releases, and having too many SKUs. :/ Its a monumental task to release new boxes (esp army boxes) without leaving old players behind. For example, when Bolts blister went oop i had to hurry up to get it because I already had everything else in the army box.

 

I am not sure I understand you position. Why do you believe it is it an issue that they are discontinuing a starter which is 'garbage'?

 

Do you know what a "self-fulfilling prophecy" is?

If in fact the reasoning behind choosing Shock Army is that the starter set didn't sell well, then they created a self-fulfilling prophecy when they released it. It was NOT a well designed set by any metric.

 

I suspect he'd rather they made a different starter. I for one like the starter, but dislike the general trend of putting heaps of swc in them. You don't "start" the game putting 6swc down. You start it with a few basics and something special in small games and grow from there. It makes me worry they'll move to not producing basic profiles. For example, you have to split box, proxy (there's a few good ones), or use old starter to get enough Regulars on table if you realistically want to take more than four Regulars... Because that minelayer profile is incredibly good. Srsly WTH the Regulars are so good lol

 

ASA starter isn't garbage, even though it's poorly thought out and unwieldy. I've also made some calculations; getting two boxes and converting some of the models will actually cost me the same less as buying a separate SWC box and two additional models. I'm actually looking forward to it.

I also doubt that starter was a large factor in sectorial's lack of popularity. It's more that MO and NCA were more visually striking and more liberally equipped with hi-tech toys.

 

SAA certainly didn't draw in a lot of new players to Infinity.

But it was a good draw care pulling experienced players into PanOceania from other factions.

It's the lack of that which I'm concerned about.

And what I'm hoping Varuna will provide.

 

The Autocannon has been one of their best-selling minis of all time, like the Nomad Catgirl and the 3 original Ninjas (hacker, sniper, and standing). And I think the original 'jazz hands' Interventor.

You don't change those easily. They probably should have done a new trooper to match the new style, and left the autocannon weapon as-is. But I can understand why CB didn't change it.

I post a pic of the Autocannon on a non-Infinity forum and I get a whole pile of 'ZOMG, WTF is that?!?' responses.

 

Of course, PanO will have five if Svalarhemia ever drop, likely to oppose a YuJing White Banner. One problem both face though is how do you make each sectorial unique?

The four Ariadnas play differently. The three Nomads, the two ALEPHs, when there were two YuJings, but PanO and future YJ sectorials have the problem that their military forces are more patterned and coherent. ASA aren't vastly different from NeoTerra but MO work a bit different from both, Varuna probably will be close to ASA in some ways and NeoTerra in others. IA for the YJ will be HI heavy, and White Banner may be the YuJing "Vanilla with Sprinkles" sectorial.

The other issue with the Autocannon now is, it's bundled with a pretty unpopular mini, isn't it? Most Ariadna players don't like that HMG at all.

Fixing the Daktari may be easier, a new support pack, new catgirl. The Interventor, though, I think I know exactly what's happening with that... we get a new Jazz Hands one in the Grenzer SWC box.

 

Going from the RPG background, PanO will eventually have six Sectorials, with Svalarheima Winter Force and Earth Bastion Army still to come.

 

I'm expecting a YJ Earth Bastion Force, too, in that case.

Will be kinda interesting to see what goes into the 'national guard' or 'deep reserve' lists, though.

 

What is the TAG Deathmatch?
Is there rules/pdf etc? Sounds interesting..

 

Well, about the starter, it depends from where you came. I remember you that CB has just realized that Vanilla isn't the first call for a lot of players, unlike what they had thought since recently. And if you come from Vanilla and already have REMs, TAGs, Fusiliers... what you need is specific loadouts proper to the sectorial. And from this, I found the starter appealing. Maybe the Akal could have been replaced by a BM but apart from that, it was this starter that dragged me in ASA for the ITS 8.

The main mistake of CB was to think that sectorials were for the veterans of the faction, not to design a starter in the line of what they thought.

 

Why not just release boxes of each model type including every model available? vanilla would be sitting right at 50 I think, if you don't include mercs and Joan Versions.

Then again you don't start the game with 7 fusiliers haha their current method isn't bad. But more 6+ model boxes and army boxes will really help keep the numbers down.

 

BeastsOfWar have published free rules at some point: https://www.beastsofwar.com/infinity/tag-deathmatch-free-rules/

Looks like file is absent on BoW site, I`ve uploaded it to imgur https://imgur.com/iu0zQWy

 

Those asking for 300 point boxes of FRMF and ASA have to understand that it’s not just an issue of SKU removal, only 9 SKU’s are being withdrawn through mothballing of ASA, it’s also to do with limited production capacity and the need to produce the new minis for Varuna.

Right now I’d say CB are close to capacity with production and others have said that without some restructuring and a move to a higher tax bracket they won’t be able to produce enough product for the market. ASA looks like the easiest one to retire of the 3 existing sectorials since it has the fewest SKU’s and will cause the minimal amount of disruption to the faction.

For those wondering why NCA or Millatry Orders didn’t get mothballed the answer is both the Icestorm and Beyond Icestorm boxes have units that appear in those sectorials while beyond the Akal and Orc there were no units that crossed to ASA.

On Aristeia I’ve had the advantage of seeing the metal prototypes of everything from Soldiers Of Fortune onwards next to the PVC production pieces and the difference is minimal, detail is softer and the likes of Valkyries polearm is more likely to bend but the combination of better production of PVC casts and a focus on sculpts easy to produce in PVC mean there is very little difference at all.

Also Aristeia is a great game, like really really good. I suspect the basic rule system of switches and coloured dice will make more appearances in future CB games as it’s a very solid system with plenty of of scope for expansion