[OT] Mini Pictures

> From: Nick and Laurel Caldwell [mailto:clcaldwell@kreative.net]

Nicholas,

I did not mean to imply they were the best investment or anything like that.
Please understand the point I was attempting to make. GW is a business first
and as such they "work" at not only selling their lines, but at "working"
their customer base.

I was attempting to point out that many miniature manufacturers are run like a
hobby not a business. They do not "react" to the market. They do not plan for
future growth, they just hope for it. The fact is the "cottage industry"
mentality is what will drive this hobby further into obscurity.

I have seen many companies just rest on their "milk cows" and fail to keep
their products vital and fresh. Look at Battletech for an example. Good game,
nice miniatures, loyal fan base, and stagnant growth. The game has entered a
down turn because of a failure to market and push for growth. What was the
last major change or major release for Battletech? The clans? And how long ago
was that?

GW does understand the need for marketing. They understand they need both
customer loyalty and customer based proselytizing. It is the
excitement that GW builds within the 12-16 year old market that is
driving most of their sales. GW is looking to grow and thus they understand
that you need to kill off products that are not selling and revamp the ones
that might. We as older players may not like the "new editions" but the fact
remains that a tree that is pruned grows better.

Our hobby will continue to flounder as long as companies continue to do
business as if it were the early 70s.

Battletech also suffered from an in-game arms race. If you did not have
mechs with the lastest technology, you were MUCH less effective.

One of the nice things about FT, so far, is that new systems are fairly
balanced with older systems. Thus the ship you had 2 years ago can still
compete with newer ships. And, thus far, you can still keep the weapons ranges
in your head (6, 12, or 9mu range bands [if you use the proposed balancing
option for Sa'Vasku).

> On Mon, 12 Feb 2001, Casquilho, Daniel wrote:

<snip>
> I have seen many companies just rest on their "milk cows" and fail to
I don't know about you, but the release of the Clans was the reason I STOPPED
playing Battletech. The munchiness of their weapons was just too much for me.
I have since gotten back into it, but I try and refrain from playing anything
but the original mechs and vehicles.

> GW does understand the need for marketing. They understand they need

I just don't play the new stuff. I have the original Space Hulk and
expansions. Never bothered dropping another hundred bucks on more stuff that
was merely repackaged. Same with Epic. Of course, it didn't help that my $300
worth of figs disappeared when the guy I loaned them to dropped off of the
face of the planet. But that's another story.

On Tue, 13 Feb 2001 13:45:57 +0000 Tony Francis <tony.francis@kuju.com>
writes: <snip>
> At the moment we have a policy of showing pictures of (mostly)

Superior policy, Tony. Thanks for the concern for the customer. Something
given much lip coverage but still a less then common thought process.