I've been using the Haqq Hakims for my Varangians. And with this debacle, I will continue to do so. Thankfully they seem to have alot of design choices that let them visually pass really close to quite a few Ariadnan units, just a bit more up teched.
It makes sense to release the least likely used loading first. People buy it to proxy then the actual good ones get released later and sell easily.
It does to a point. Because you'd think they'd make more money later by coming out with the most used one later. But they don't. It takes years if at all they finally come out with the one you want. Also not so easily sold because some (me) will not bother buying because the proxy/conversion works fine. I also didn't bother getting the Hacker Zhencha that came out first, in the hopes the SMG would come out, which it did.
I admit I’m very confused by Shaolin and Varangian as single model blisters. I think cheap warbands are one of the cases where a unit box makes the most sense. A blister with a single Shang Ji and a box of Shaolin would be much more sensible than what we’re getting.
In N3, certainly. But I feel like I'm seeing almost no warband spam in N4. Can't remember the last time I faced more than one or two at a time. Except for CA I think. Those guys love their taigha spam.
They understand their customer base, at the very least. You (we) need Varangians. More than one. They release a boarding shotgun one. You'll get one, at least one, for proxy. Maybe second or third for converting weapons. And when they release the Chain Rifle ones, probably two poses or something, won't you grab them? Of course you will. KA-$$$-ING.
Another thing to consider: is the Varangian with shotgun actually going to be sculpted as Varangian with Claymore? It could be sculpted to be more universal.
That's almost worse. If they put out a universal stand in first. That pretty much means they won't ever put out any others.
Someone here complaining that Yu Jing have only received 7 new releases since Kaldstrom was released really made me shake my head in wonder. Kaldstrom WAS a Yu Jing release in itself, and it only came out 13 months ago. Sheesh. CB just puts out hit after hit in terms of model design, in support of such an amazing game. I play eldar in 40k, and they've received 1 box and 2 blisters in 6 years. I agree that the varangian loadout appears to be a weird choice, but CB no doubt have a reason for their release schedule. I just don't like to see people opining about how they're clueless, just because they don't share their strategy openly. It's like reading your opponent's JSA courtesy list and starting to explain to them how silly they are for only bringing 4 troopers...
If you had read the post, you would find it's not a complaint but an observation. I also said it could have been worse since PanO only got 5. I work in marketing and CB's marketing is... hard to define. Usually when you come out with a product that has follow up related products you try to strike while there's still interest or hype. For instance, using YJ as an an example again, when they came out with White Banner, they made Shang Ji a core fireteam and every single one of them a wild card. They were already a core and wild card in IA which came out about a year before. They also allowed the new troop called Jujak, any number to be a part of that team. When you make a product that important to a force, it would be wise to follow up with the sale of it as soon as you can because there's excitement for it. If you wait for over a year, the energy has died down for that product. Now the product must rely on other factors. And yes CB is not GW and Marines-all-the-time-40K. For the most part I'm much happier with the Infinity release of a few models every month. And CB is one of the few companies that will re-sculpt figures. My only complaint would be for them to not come out with new troops profiles with no intention of coming out with a figure for them. Edit: Another example is the Tian Gou. In White Banner, Zhanshi are AVA4 and yet are a core fireteam. The only way to make them a full 5-man core is to add in a Wildcard. Currently there is only 1 Shang Ji that is out and can be used to get that team to a core. That SJ is the one tied to an expensive box set with figures you may not want. But if they had come out with a single Tian Gou blister, the problem would have been solved. If not for proxies, White Banner would be unplayable in tournaments.
In Infinity, I would think that that logic would apply to sectorials. For example, they created the WinterFor and White Banner sectorials, and immediately released Kaldstrom so that players could buy into those sectorials during that hype phase. I'm skeptical that the same phenomenon would apply to individual models. I mean, once a player has bought into White Banner, they're gonna proxy Shang Jis for as long as it takes, then snatch up the models as soon as they get released, whether it's right away or a year later. Like, you don't buy a specific model because of hype, you buy it because you want it for the lists you run in the sectorial you play. Whereas, I can totally see that buying into a sectorial in the first place would be influenced by hype. Unless players were like "I'd like to start playing White Banner, but I'm not going to do it now because there's no Shang Ji in Kaldstrom." And then by the time the Shang Ji model comes out, the hype phase is over and they've lost interest and don't start White Banner at all. Which is possible, but seems pretty unlikely to me. Especially since the models that were in Kaldstrom were such nice sculpts, it's hard to imagine anyone deciding not to buy in just because none of them was a Shang Ji.
yeh, dude. i went through the store and started counting the boxes Haqq got in the same time frame and stopped myself. i think we're at the point where we can't convince folks that a starter box, new sectorial, manga with character model releases, resculpts, and new unit releases are going to please them in terms of attention the faction/sectorial gets. it's human nature to focus on the piece that's missing rather than all the additional areas that have been filled in.
Only to pic that up again: Wildcat Spitfire is not on last chance, Wildcat HRL is not to see in CJC (but when you search for it, it pops up) and Moran also not on last chance. I hope that this will not mean something bad ...
We did see new Wildcat concept artwork, so they might be coming with the Beyond box, or a SWC box is further out so they're keeping the old Spitfire & HRL. I wouldn't worry about the Moran, his identity is almost completely defined by the repeater and Crazykoalas so there's almost no chance of seeing one in a Code One product.
The TAGs in the new TAG game seem to be smaller than we're used to, S6 tops? I'm not sold on the designs at all. First one is the one from the earlier YJ dossier, the red is Nomad (a Corregidor ship was shown, which looked like a PanO rifle xD)
The TT look pretty cool. Must nice getting figures only a few months after being created. They could be some nice bounty hunters for me. At first I didn't know what to make of the Cyberghost club but now I realize it's a PARA ccw and it has a bit of a Aztec feeling to it with the lines. VG is about as I expected. So far I'm no on board with TAG Raid.
