Premium Board Games Are The New Thing
Wargamer Fritz
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19.08.2022
premium board games will kill a lot of the hobby. KS projects will be less successful in general with more pressure from backers to actually deliver. Look at the cluster that is Darkest Dungeon the board game. Mythic is holding backers' games for ransom currently. There's no benefit to KS for the consumer. You'll be paying above the already bloated retail price for your minis fix, and still waiting two-ish years for it. What other industry has customers that are willing to put money up front to wait two years for gratification? Amish furniture? Even that has a quicker turnaround. Moving on. Minis, premium dice, acrylic or metal tokens, and premium storage are all artificial, and it's even worse when they're used to prop up a mediocre or poor game. I'm sorry. Horizon is not a good game. Dark Souls needed the fans to fix it. Godtear, though, was a win…basic, but a win.
I think these games will shrink with everything going on.
I think that board game fad will come to an end soon.
On one hand, I think premium game storage should become more standard. I like to sleeve all my cards and it's really annoying when the box isn't designed to store the game once it's unpacked, organized, and sleeved. On the other hand, I think premium standees can stand in for a lot of the miniatures I've seen. Even in wargaming, I think Standees are underrated.
I'm thinking that shifting to pre-painted minis will instantly ruin that market. Pre-painted has to be REALLY good to stand a chance. I remember that old game Confrontation by Rackham, that got financially difficult, they made a box of pre-painted minis, and they instantly died. X-wing lived a little longer, those were painted quite well, but in the end, no one (average wargamer i know) cares nothing for a game they didnt invest the time in to paint it themselves. Those will always feel like overpriced toys. A game or 2 might be played, then it's off to the box, never to be seen again.
You also can't really hype a pre-painted board game with unrealistically (for most of us) awesome painted minis, and not deliver those in the box. In some weird way, that big pile of shame is what excites people. The potential to paint them in awesome schemes and call it your own. The painting hobby behind the minis is the biggest seller I think. Someone just looking for a boardgame and not caring about minis, is gonna be turned away by the price. I bet all those kickstarter boxes are mostly sold to be added to someone's grey pile.
As a painter, I find the idea of pre-painted minis to be a huge minus ans why I would not but a game.
Really, a great topic to think about (nice n' crunchy when you get into it, a fine body if you will or won't, yet never precocious. ^^) yet i have SOLVED your mystery my man o' (kinda) war: A lot of players find the value in some of these crowd funded board games in the centerpiece, like that massive dragon from Descent's recent re-release. It's the same to some of them as having a Model or like a Chun-Li limited statue ($250) or something. It may sound like a ridiculous amount to spend on something you only use once or in Chunners case not at all, but to them it is the same as Art. It's fascinating to watch the trends in board games and their consumers especially in realization of the thought that Value is not a fixed amount. So much opportunity yet so many traps. Leave it to G.A.M.E.R.S to turn even the mere acquisition of their passion into a game. :3
Ugh…why does everything I like have to go Mainstream Corporate!?
I like the idea of organization and storage for expansions and addons, sleaves, etc. I am not sure something like that should come with a base game, but it should definitely be available.
Guess there's always Etsy.
Premium board games started being a thing 2 years ago