Several people have told me that it's not FFG's fault, it's Asmodee that's the big bad wolf. I'm sure that's correct to some extent but I find it hard to believe that FFG as a firm has absolutely no influence on anything beyond game design and playtesting. I'd also like to note that things were just as bad when FFG was an independent company. FFG or Asmodee. I don't know. I don't care. bad is bad. That's my point.
I was really looking forward to playing with the Clone Wars factions. So I preordered from my usual supplier. Two of each starter, 3 of each squad pack. A couple of card packs. Then I patiently waited, knowing that FFG never makes its own Armada deadlines. Like never ever in a million years.
Unsurprisingly, there was no wave 9 in Scandinavia before the holidays. I didn't even blink. Nor did I complain (much). Just a little bit of lamentation but overall a good feeling. With the pandemic and everything, a few more weeks (or months) wouldn't matter. Soon we will reveal ourselves to the Jedi, soon we will have revenge.
We're now writing February. My supplier has finally gotten wave 9 from Enigma (the Scandinavian distributor). Good times! Well, not really. You see, he got only SOME of the products he ordered. Squad packs are in particularly short supply. I've heard similar stories from other places so it's not a unique occurrence.
Wave 9 (and 10) is the biggest, most important release for Armada since the Core and Wave 2. Not only are you late, FFG. You can't even be bothered to make enough product to meet demands. Wave 9 has barely reached my part of the world and already it's out of stock in most places. The image up top is from a major UK online retailer. Awaiting reprint. Bawhahaha. We all know that's going to take a long time. Never enough production capacity to begin with and with wave 10 supposedly coming soon...a Norwegian online retailer is estimating restock of Republic Squadrons in September. It's a guesstimate but still telling.
TL;DR. I put in my preorder. Stuff got delayed. I watched as online retailers ran out of product. Then my own supplier was short-handed. I'm sitting here with a SINGLE REPUBLIC SQUADS pack I got from my brother in Edinburgh. 😆😆😆😆😆😆
Well, thanks a bunch, FFG. I don't know what your problem is. Do you hate your customers and don't want their money? Or are you simply too incompetent to run a business? Small wonder your miniatures lines were handed to AMG. Whatever happens, it can't get any worse. Even if Armada was terminated it would be less of a disappointment than this.
I'll just go back to playing CC and RitR campaigns with my friends...
Mate. Asmodee handles distro. Have done ever since the merger/buyout. Just talk to any Crisis Protocol players and they will tell you that it's just the same with AMG.
ReplyDeleteI dunno. FFG was capable of the same delays and distribution problems before Asmodee. Maybe both are to blame. But I'm stuck with a single Republic Squads pack. That's next level disappointing for a long time fan of the game. But it is what it is. I can play with Clone Wars some other time.
DeleteI fear Mike is right. From all the restructuring Asmodee does, it sounds like FFG and AMG have become more something like design studios and logistics are done centrally. That would also business wise make a lot of sense.
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