September>December : A New Wave is coming, Tsunami warning!

Planning releases is always tricky, current format seems to work, but it inevitably leave some loadouts to be released really down the line.

Then again, there is something positive in getting a profile you wanted or a resculpt of a figure you really wanted to see a new sculpt down the line.

I know I am really happy about Scarface and particularly Cordelias resculpt and Anacondas, and yes, I know I waited a long time for those.

 

It is tricky. But they could also put more thought into it and not make some feel left out all of the time. Nomads, PanO and Combined have been getting the bulk of new figures and re-sculpts for a few years now while others have gotten less. Meanwhile Haqq has gotten very few. Also Yu Jing until recently.

It also sucks when they come out with options for troops and never come out with them. Just make some extra weapons damnit! We've been asking for YEARS to give us different weapons for one guy in a pack and I can only think of one they did that with. The Mowang with the now gone multi-rifle, and Red Fury. They also will put out options they KNOW no one cares about. I just got the the Stormbot for instance and it comes with the Combi-Rifle. COMBI-RIFLE! The one option no one cares about! It's more expensive and totally inferior to the HRL version. Yes yes proxy proxy BS. That doesn't help when you want to make a haris of troops but one model comes in this mix of guys and other in another expensive box, and then the third doesn't exist even though they have been a fire team for years! Ye Mao, Lasiq and Evaders are good examples. Don't give them an AVA of 5 and then only ever come out with two in separate places!

 

I find it also very tricky to get new models wen they come packaged with twice or so resculpts that I already have the old models and find the new ones uninspired and formulaic, for example the Observancy box (4 new models, the orphan I got another one with the initiates box anyways, so the Stigmaton and the Penitents have been proxy'ed since the release of the box...). Many blisters have been repacked into three model boxes, some of which have no reason to be together and their only excuse is that the mix of sectorials has been shoehorned into the Generic/Vanilla army (for example the Nomads Booster Pack alpha, sold in the Corvus store as "Nomads / Tunguska", while the Taskmaster is a Bakunin piece, who also lost one of the models from the catalog).

As for the release method, we suffer because blisters with single models were removed (aside from single heroes making a comeback for the format), so a single faction's release has to be 3 miniatures at once, with the extra effort in design and production that causes.
For example, the K2 and Thamirys from SP, IF we get those ones, we will likely get them with another model, logic would dictate Hyppolita (currently available in a O12 box...) but I would not be surprised if we got a repack with Hector or even another weapon for the Makhe or the Hoplite (were I evil, I would package it with a N4 thorakite with Feuerbach, then release the special weapons box with 3 thorakites only...)

The Myrmidon Officer blister came with BSG and Combi Rifle arms, the Taskmaster box came with 2 weapon options (and koalas), and the TAK female Specops came with a veritable flood of extra arms, I even used one to convert Andromeda (since mine is a mukhtar hacker with the beast, while Andromeda needed a new left hand, since the model has her's as part of the beast's head).

 

All old spec op blisters had multiple weapon choices. Okatavias regular release has also all options.
The current situation is bad. In some cases you got only 2 loadouts, were you would have 4, for some
loadouts you have to wait YEARS (Liu Xing) or you only get the common sniper/hacker. Grenzers for example are divided over three boxes.

The new flyers - while made in unicool (what is cool ;-) - came also with only one weapon choice (iE Nomads Go Pro) and the opportunity to made a second variant is just some mouse-clicks away … especially with the thought in mind, that there will be a new model latest in N7 …

 

I dont like the idea of extra bits in the blister. I dont want to have pieces that im not gonna use. Back in the day, when the tournament pack included the weapon sprues from the spec ops, they ended always in the bin because no one wanted them, even for free. people prefered the art cards before extra weapons

 

And you have the right to your own opinion / preference.

Even if I disagree with it - I'm of the completely opposite opinion. I have a bits box containing several spare guns, CCWs, heads, arms and other pieces - and once in a while, one of them gets used for a conversion. Actually today in the morning I was looking through it for a gun that I kept for 15 or so years. The right model to use it for just came around.

Problem: a model has a number of possible loadouts that can be fielded.
Possible solutions:

1. Release only one loadout modelled, and expect the players to proxy it for the others / convert it to cover the others.
2. Release all the possible loaduts as separate SKUs. Who wants to have more than one loadout, will buy them. Albeit it clutters the logistics chain.
3. Release all the possible loadouts in a single SKU as distinct models. Brings the cost for the SKU up.
4. Release the model with variant parts to represent different loadouts. The player can choose which one he wants buildt, and if they want all of them, they'll have to buy extra copies of the model.
5. Design the model to be loadout-agnostic, eg. with CCW and /or sidearm only. IMO that's a solution you can use sometimes (especially for characters), but using it all the time would result in a flood of models with this characteristic.
6. Do not release the model at all, let the players get all worked up and frustrated :P

 

To be precise, you got a sprue of extra weapons with no extra limbs, so you could attempt a conversion. The examples I mentioned are models that had not only the weapons, but the whole piece, so it was a matter of glueing one piece or the other, no conversion required.

What the old Specops blisters had that the new seem not to is an extra head, I put my Chandra's helmeted extra head to great use to "convert" the female Wu Ming (sold in a blister, discontinued ages before the 4man box was) into a female Proxy Mk4 (the helmet was the same as the Mk2 Proxy sniper back then).

I don't have Oktavia (I have the old Myrm officer and the TAK Spec Ops), nor have I looked at the model (I looked a lot at the Taskmaster, but was never able to justify the buy at the time, now I wish I had), so I didn't mention her for that reason.

Caveat: AVA of the model. It's not the same thing to have an AVA1 model than an AVA4 one with different options, and even then the top optimal number of troops deployed of that unit may be 2.

The usual solution was to release the model with a common weapon for all profiles, and maybe one defining one as an option.

I think the sprues were ignored because it was more of a hassle than anything. I agree, however, that we end having all those extra pieces roaming around in a box of bits never to be used again.
I think a good option would be for CB to release an STL file of some of those options for big units like the flyers, since a lot of people can get secondary or tertiary access to a 3D printer. Or at least, not nuking places were people distribute those extra bits.

 

The AVA of the model and what is considered to be the optimum number of these fielded is something I compeltely ignore in the list above - for I Iisted only possible solutions. As in ways in which a producer can handle the problem presented.

AVA should of course be taken into consideration, but the optimum fieldable is unquantifiable: it depends on the meta, on player's preference, on current season rules, on mission - and I have a feeling CB's take on this paramteter is very different from what I hear in the community.

I've taken a liberty of checking thorugh the Army for, specifically, charaters (who, by nature, are AVA 1) that would need the most options.
There are many that could use a second gun option, or a weapon-agnostic option, but the worst offenders are:

• Krit Kokram (3 options: Heavy Shotgun, MultiRifle, Feuerbach)
• Miranda Ashcroft (3 options: Boarding Shotgun, MultiRifle, CombiRifle)
• Drakios (3 options: MultiRifle, Mk12, Red Fury)

Now there are also characters who are warranted to have different models by the virtue of having different Silhouette (Jamie Arrantes, Yojimbo, Maximus) or different attributes (like Jeanne d'Arc in her standard and Mobility armors), but that's a separate thing.

 

For me, characters should have one model in production, no more. They can have a loadout-agnostic set of weapons, and at the same time sate the craving for melee weapons CB obviously has, so heavy gun platforms aren't released with melee weapons...

I see, but I disagree, I can't approve AVA 1 characters having multiple models when there is a constant nagging about having too many SKUs as the reason for not having at least 1 miniature per model.

Ko-Dali, Jeanne and, the most egregious, Musashi (since he has a single loadout and all models have swords as their only weapon), all have not two but three to six released models each...

Krit Kokram's model carries a pistol, Miranda carries a sword: both are weapon Agnostic.
Drakios currently has no miniature whatsoever, the old one from N3 was retired even before he was reasigned to the CA. And that N3 miniature was released before the Red Fury existed, so at the time it was perfectly in line with the profile.

BTW, Drakios opens a new question: should new models be released with new options if new profiles get added?

 

Sorry, but we're talking completely past each other.

You're talking about what would be right in your personal opinion.

I'm not disimissing your opinion, but I am talking about all the possible ways a manufacturer can deal with this problem.
Not how they should.


In my personal opinion, if it was a perfect world, there would be a spearate model available for every loadout. A number of models for those you tend to field multiples of a given loadout (say, LI with basic longarm - eg. CombiRifle Alguaciles). Plus "universal proxy" sculpt. And those available would be designed for easy arm-swap conversion, so you could build several variations out of one box / blister.

That's my perfect world, and I acknowledge it is totally not realistic to expect that. A world that never was and never will be.


As to Miranda Ashcroft, you are both right and wrong again:

• the limited edition model carries only a sword, true.
• the general release model carries sword and an Aleph-issue CombiRifle.

and given the Limited Edition Ashcroft was available as pre-order bonus for the Artbook One back in 2013, I'd write her off as a curiosity.

Yes, Krit Kokram is an example of the weapon-agnostic miniature approach. I have listed it as one of the possible answers to the problem.
It is economical, and it gets the job done. It laso more-or-less future-proofs the model.
It doesn't satisfy the WSYIWYG crowd, who make up a significant part of the community. I have a feeling someone in the CB team is a part of this crowd, too.

Drakios, well, he has no model at this moment. He transferred from his old army (Steel Phalanx) to a new one (New Wave), his original Aleph model (Combi + HFT) is no longer relevant and no longer in production. How will he be handled in New Wave, I have no idea - if you want to hear my wild guess, he'll be given a random long arm with an underbarrel HFT (or just the HFT and random gun on his back, like the Burkut), and that'll be it. Because that's how CB seems to roll these days.
I don't expect to see any new equipment profiles for him in New Wave beyond what was already shown, albeit the existing ones may get altered.

 

Which I did - back in the days - with my Nomad Spec Op, mainly because his combi was tiny as hell.

Nice. Speaking of extra heads, if IRC both Shikami had extra heads, with or without helmet and one had an extra weapon arm also.

I have only the lim.ed. Playwise she will not see much tabletime but I was tempeted to buy the regular also because of the options and she IS a nice model.

To be fair, some options came over the years (in case of Miranda). And Krit can be all three with his chain colt (I still belive he is coincidence product and they planned to release Tai Shang but accidently made a male miniatur, but he is a good accident). I wish they would do a version with Feuerbach, because I like to see the SWC weapons on a miniatur (just put him in the next ITS box). There was a time, when the HSG version was not Wysiwyg as the shotguns had templates.

Again Arrentes different S values seems to be an accident too ;-) but anyway mulitple versions a characters are a good way for CB to sell them more then once and a nice to have for us (except the ones, who did not like stuff like this ;-).

Hopefully. With N5 (or earlier) a lot of miniatures lost their WSYIWYG (Dasyus, Intruder Combi, etc.) which is not nice for people who like their minis with the right gun. Poor Hawkwood is not WSYIWYG any more in both (regular and lim.ed) incarnations...

 

Yup, I still need to convert my Intruder Rifleman (2.gen, from the old Corregidor starter pack) into a SMG Hacker.

But that's kinda for a different discussion.

 

I know I am being nit-picky, but Miranda is armed with a Combi Rifle in addition to a sword. Has that ever stopped me from declaring it is a different weapon to my opponent? No.

 

With all the sympathy I have ofr CB and Infinity, clear communications was never their forte.
Neither, I guess, was sticking to the plan.

To roughly translate a certain military widsdom, constant change of orders indicates constant command ;)

 

The miniatures from Next Wave look good. But there is nothing what wakes intrest in me. With humans its just another sectorial with some sligthly different use and look. I were never much in CA (my attempt to make a MAF army result in a quick sell off because I realised I had to many miniatures and factions already. So this will just pass by. I think i don´t even had to study (but I will) what the can do beause in my close meta there is no one that gets exicted for this new (and probably not neccessary) sectorial. An Aleph sectorial #3 with something unique like 80 % REMs, 15 % Posthumans und some fillers. I also wonder how bad Tohaa are running because they were never further developed.

Nice to see that most of the old sectorials get a comback.

 

I'm cautiously optimistic about seeing StarCo coming back!

 

No Ko Dali in Red Phalanx? It's like they're looking for any reason they can to make me care less and less.

I really love the idea of corrupted defectors humans so much, please, CB, justify my hype. I want to be on board so bad, but the signs are so milquetoast so far.