@Ben Kenobi: for the most part my nomad collection is relatively complete, potentially rather fortunately. From your list all I don't have is Bran & the B.S. Moran (which I'm not too concerned about). My main worry is (regardless of faction/sectoral affected) what happens to players that don't have what they want/need? Hypothetically a new player could come along, say this time next year, to find that there are a number of profiles they want to use in game no longer have models available. Sure the proxy rules are forgiving, but.........for me at least it's just not the same. Or at least it wouldn't be if you follow me.
I don't think these models can vanish, cause they where played in Vanilla Nomads or in other sectorials. Therefore wouldn't be much won if Corregidor would disappear.
A reasonable point. Discontinuing a product that sells well/has a place within the vanilla version of its faction seems unwise to me. Even when FRRM was shelved the new Chasseur remains in production as it's likely the most widely used French unit in vanilla Ariadna (so far as I'm aware not much else ever saw a great deal of table time outside their sectorial). There's also the fact that much of FRRM's model range was relatively old (correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't think there was a single digital sculpt in there aside from the aforementioned Chasseur). In contrast though I'm forced to consider Acontecimento. Some pretty new sculpts for the starter & Bagh Mari. The Drago was older, but the HRMC is a very impressive weapon. I feel there was (& indeed still is) room in vanilla PanO for at least some of those discontinued units & yet they're gone. I suppose I'm really saying, in a very long winded way, that I'm concerned. I don't know what's going, what impact it will have etc.... For myself if anything Nomad or QK goes it's not so bad as I have most of what I want for those factions, but I'm not only concerned for myself (That said If CHA goes I shall be royally irritated. I've been eyeing up the Scots since I started around the time Icestorm released & have purchased precisely nothing of them).
Umm, guys... every model that is does appear elsewhere. Usually in a given sectorial's original Vanilla, or a different Sectorial.
I mean: I have a really hard time recalling a model that would be available to one sectorial and one sectorial only. True, I'm wrong about literally every model, as some characters are unique to certain sectorials (NAA mostly, as far as I can tell - Security Chief Arslan for example, makes no appearance outside of DBS, as Shinobu Kitsune to JSA), but apart from the Tohaa (who are their own thing for the time being) and NAA (who don't have a vanilla)? And keep in mind that untill the Uprising, the JSA were all part of the vanilla Yu Jing, and NAA as such did not exist. So, even if, say, QK takes a sabbatical, every of their units is still going to be a part of another army. Mostly vanilla Haqq, with some (Alguaciles, Mobile Brigada & Iguana Squadron) being Corregidor (and through them, vanilla Nomads), Druze having their own sectorial nowadays, Yuan Yuan throwing their lot with Ikari and Scarface working for Druze beside QK. If you shelve the Corregidor, well, Senor Massacre moonlights for StarCo, McMurrough for Caledonia (memory serving me) and Valerya Gromoz for the Druze, the rest of that lot being vanilla Nomad-available, as well as pulling jobs in QK (in case of Alguaciles, Brigada and Iguana) and StarCo... The entire shelved Merovingia was (with few exceptions) part of the vanilla Ariadna. And, form the official standpoin, still is... if you have the models, you can field them alongside the newest Kazak troops in a vanilla Ariadna list, and Koni himself wouldn't bat an eye. There are a few Mercenaries in FRRM list -Knauf works for StarCo, Alguacile Hacker is Corregidor / Vanilla Nomad (and still wearing another hat as a QK / StarCo merc!), Wardrivers work for other Ariadnan armies too, and Anaconda TAGs became popular with NAA nowadays (appearing in both Druze and StarCo lists). And so on. I'm pretty sure we'll see the NAA-only troops seeking employment outside of their given sectorial, too. I think I've overheard such an information form the CB, too... And... we've discussed the possible shelving of QK / Hassassin Bahram in the Haqq subforum. The conclusion is - we are not see happily toward such an event, but at least the Haqq community (in general) can live with it.
Conspiracy theories are apologistic behaviors now? Remember that the Raicho just got resculpted. Perfect opportunity to be "repacked" with its Pilot. Szalamandra is a really new sculpt--didn't see it come with its pilot. Maghariba Guard is a new sculpt--no pilot there either! Guija saw a recent revision--no pilot there! Geckos are relatively new--no Pilots there! Gorgos had its pilot left out when it was a relatively new sculpt that "needs" its bit. Quite frankly? Pretending that this is somehow a case of them "being old" is silly. Old, tiny, and not very good to begin with.
Ah, I follow now. Thankyou. Indeed the vast majority of units exist within their respective vanilla factions as well as one or more sectorials. That is in fact my concern. If one or more sectorials are to be shelved this coming year in order to make room for more then OK. This seems to be the way CB intend to develop the game going forward, with a rotating roster of sectorials (assuming they do revisit shelved sectorials further down the line, whether that be two, five, ten years, whatever they decide). With luck this will allow sectorials previously shelved to be updated with new rules/units/cool stuff when they re-enter rotation. The problem for me occurs with the miniatures. If the entire catalogue for a shelved sectorial remains in production then there's no issue (other than the question of why discontinue the sectorial at all), however it's likely that at least some of the range will go oop, perhaps even the majority for that sectorial. If those units were only present in said sectorial then once again there's no issue, but as you pointed out it's very rare for that the be the case. Assuming then that it's not only the rules that are shelved (frozen might be an accurate term as they are still usable) but also the miniatures that are no longer produced the issue for me is: How are players (especially new players) going to get hold of models for profiles that are still useful (perhaps even as close as Infinity gets to auto-includes) in their vanilla faction or elsewhere?
@Swiftage - I prefer the term "taking a sabbatical" myself when we're talking about sectorials rotated out of miniature production. Well, we're having the Acontaciemento situation now to study as an example. Then again, keep in mind out-of-production models tend to stay in the retail system for quite a while. I've just recently purchased Azra'il Panzerfaust (who was invalidated by the N3 rules-wise: the loadout doesn't even exist anymore, and the entire unit was resculpted to be S5 rather than old S2-equivalent) off the shelf. And should I look around, I would find quite a few 1ed-era models still available, despite being phased out / resculpted. They remain in the system. Sure, they'll dry up from the supply chain eventually, and we'll have to rely on second-hand market to get them. Or use proxies / convert us some minis to represent them. I guess CB assumes these models / sectorials are less popular anyway, and old players who have placed sentimental value in the do have their models already (well... I'm judging by myself here, true... should entire range of QK or CJC go out of production tomorrow, I wouldn't be affected at all!), and there's more money for them to be made seling new troops to both new players and old, than refreshing existing models and risking old-timers won't like to upgrade what they already own. So, they intend to give these old units and armies a few years to rest and become something fresh again.
So you don't have an answer as to why multiple new releases that don't have pilots or later had pilots sold separately were done as such? Cool deal.
So we have the same problem again. Bad news and no info at all. It would be very interesting which faction leaves. The statistic oft ITS season 8 indicates that CHA will leave is not unlikely. But Hassassin Bahram too. But QK is more likely cause of the resculpt. Think about the chasseur. So I think CHA, QK and HB are most likely. Mhh but what if The Morats are beaten?? Questions over questions.. So CB give us a hint please so everyone can again complete his faction as long as it is possible!
Indeed @Ramas . We're down to speculation based on incomplete information. All I'm relatively sure of is that any of the five sectorials released this last year are highly unlikely to be discontinued. Presumably (despite some rumours that I presume have to do with discontent among the player base) Tohaa is not being discontinued either. Beyond this I'm really not sure. Best guess: Shasvastii will get their update at last (year of the alien & all). As for which sectorials get shelved to make room.........?
Because you can't really do anything other than post memes or videos when called to task. Easy answer isn't that it's a "conspiracy", it's that it was a good short-term business decision at the expense of potential customer satisfaction and SKU issues down the road. So about par for the course really.
Come now. I think we all know just where the Techbee can be stuffed --or ought to be stuffed, and it isn't into a new Pan-O support box. My solution to the crabbot dilemma was to get a Danavas with the Karakota. Or, in proxy-speak, a naga minelayer and a crabbot for my ASA. I'm fine with the Pan-O box being Trauma Doc, Machinist and 2 palbots, provided that all are resculpts. I don't like the current palbots, humpty-derpy and dumpty-derpy.
The “taking a sabbatical” and JSA split came very close together, and were accompanied by the expansion of the ITS proxy rules. If an army interests you, the proxy rules allow you to play them even if the army specific minis aren’t available.
Going off the timing of OperationS and TAK starter release (ColdFront) and their Gencon N this year, I think they are using those to indicate when the models are available and not the rules. IA would fit with that Blue N that way.
