The One Ring
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SBG Sourcebooks going Direct Only soon
http://gbain.powweb.com/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=17916		 Page 1 of 3
Author:  lordgoober [ Thu Mar 25, 2010 5:32 am ]
Post subject:  SBG Sourcebooks going Direct Only soon
Ok. I had just heard about this via a thread on Adeptus Windy city a couple days ago via a complaint about an Indy store going to try to restock a SBG sourcebook he had run out of (Gondor in Flames if I remember the post right) and was informed that the sourcebooks were going Direct Only so he couldn't restock them. I just confirmed this when I was at the Chicago Bunker today that the SBG sourcebooks are going direct only. The reason I was given was a general lack of sales for the books.
Author:  scipio.au [ Thu Mar 25, 2010 9:17 am ]
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Thanks for the heads-up. I'll have to grab the books I want to get in a couple of weeks before I can only get them for GW's prices.
Author:  Finli O'Tengo [ Thu Mar 25, 2010 2:47 pm ]
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Not good news for prospects of future support for SBG. . . :o
Author:  scipio.au [ Thu Mar 25, 2010 9:06 pm ]
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They seem to be really pushing WOTR. Bigger armies, after all..

That's why I'm buying up all I'll ever need in SBG stuff over the last and next few months, after being out of the game for years. Grab it now, and not worry about whether GW stop selling/supporting it and if they lose the licance, I've still got all I need to play with friends.
Author:  King Elessar the Uniter [ Fri Mar 26, 2010 6:33 pm ]
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It's a shame this is going to happen but it's not surprising.
Author:  mitch_rohan [ Sat Mar 27, 2010 1:14 am ]
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depends on how people react they may only go in for a bit and then come back out, perhaps they aren't selling enough of them probably the main reason. guess that's better than discontinuing it all together, they may after all the wotr release re-release the sgb book with all the profiles only logical thing i can see.
Author:  CreatureFear [ Sat Mar 27, 2010 2:15 am ]
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I really don't mind - perhaps after this they'll put all the profiles in one giant book.
The only really useful books were the later ones (that had entire armies in them) the earlier books were really unfocused as far as the profiles, etc. were concerned and aren't really useful now...
Author:  Raukov [ Mon Mar 29, 2010 1:23 am ]
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I actually thought this had happened already
Author:  theskinnyhobbit [ Mon Mar 29, 2010 8:34 pm ]
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I think that it would be a huge mistake for them to make these books direct only. I can only hope that this signals a new edition of SBG.

Also, I don't know about any of you, but there have been lots of problems with people getting orders from GW USA. Some direct orders have taken months.
Author:  Little_Odo [ Mon Mar 29, 2010 9:33 pm ]
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I'd like to see a final, definitive, version of the rules with all the stuff from all of the source books and White Dwarf. However, I think the amount of stuff that could go into it would make it prohibitive size wise unless it was done in two parts - one for the rules and rules only, and another with all the stats laid out by army etc.

I'd also like to see a definitive version of Battle Companies or whatever it is called these days. I prefer the smaller scale skirmishes rather than War of the Ring sized battles. I find I can identify with each of my 'men' on the table when playing a skirmish game but find it difficult to get 'personal' with armies on representative bases. That said, each to their own and if War of the Ring is the way forward then so be it.
Author:  emperor_thompson [ Tue Mar 30, 2010 5:10 am ]
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Little_Odo wrote:
That said, each to their own and if War of the Ring is the way forward then so be it.


I have to agree with you there. If WotR is making GW more money, then it means that they will continue to create more models for the LotR range. It would be nice if they continued to support SBG, but we can always make house rules, so it isn't all bad.
Author:  imrail [ Tue Mar 30, 2010 11:40 am ]
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There are to many miniatures that do have official rules, but you need to have the WD for it.

I think that there is a new rulebook bound to come in May, with ALL the new profiles. * fingers crossed*
Author:  aelfwine [ Tue Mar 30, 2010 1:42 pm ]
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The new book in may is a supplement for War of the Ring called "Battlehosts"

There has been no word of any future SBG releases, corebooks or sourcebooks. New releases are given "official" SBG stats sporadically in White Dwarf.

I would love a new SBG corebook, perhaps with a subsidiary tome of stats (or just a big corebook - WOTR managed to cram a hell of a lot of stats into its pages, and the old SBG corebook has lots of wasted space)

Maybe release some Last Alliance era stuff at the same time.
Author:  whafrog [ Tue Mar 30, 2010 4:00 pm ]
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Here's a letter I sent a few weeks ago to Jervis Johnson about the future of SBG. Haven't had a reply, but didn't expect one. Anyway, I hope they do something like this, and if you agree I'd encourage you to write your own letter:

*********************
I’ve been playing Lord of the Rings Strategy Battle Game for a couple of years now, and only recently starting picking up the occasional White Dwarf magazine. I really enjoy your column, as an island of calm among all the madness :) I especially enjoyed your article about “the Face”. My son and I suffer from this, and just putting a name to it allows us to deal with it with more humour. So thanks for that.

Anyway, the phrase “picking up the occasional White Dwarf” brings me halfway to my point:

I love the Strategy Battle Game (SBG). I love the realistic model scale and the story-driven skirmish nature of the battles. I’ve never been attracted to the other games Games Workshop produces; partly it’s the non-realistic scale, and partly because of the formation-style of play. I will certainly play them if a friend hosts a game, but won’t be collecting my own armies.

So I was a bit disappointed when War of the Ring seemed to take centre stage over SBG. Among online fans, there seems to be some doubt as to SBG’s long term viability for Games Workshop. It’s probably not the money maker it used to be, and even if the Hobbit movies can revive that for a while, looking out to 2015 or so and we might be where we are at today. I am glad there seems to be continuing support for SBG through White Dwarf, and that’s what prompted me to buy my first issue. I’ve enjoyed the new profiles and the new scenarios. Still, it seems a bit of a haphazard way of supporting the game, and not very easy on the player. For players, especially new ones, organizing a game might mean digging up or acquiring old White Dwarf issues to check the rules or find the scenarios, or having to wait a few months until they’re posted online. It’s more difficult for fans to be organized, and has the potential of putting off people new to the game.

Which brings me right to my point:

This letter presents a short republication strategy for the Lord of the Rings Strategy Battle Game. I believe this publication plan would provide increased interest, both short term and long term, in the SBG product; provide fans with an assurance of support, and an improved method of organizing their resources; and provide Games Workshop with increased and sustained sales of White Dwarf magazine. For the most part, very little new content would need to be developed at the outset, other than what might naturally be forthcoming. Instead, it would be a restructuring of existing content in a way that allows for improved long term support.

I have posted this idea online, and it was met with quite a bit of enthusiasm from fans, and several people suggested I mail it to you. So without further ado:

The SBG content would be reworked into two stand-alone publications, and ongoing support in White Dwarf.

Book 1: all the rules as they currently exist in the One Ring book. This book would also incorporate Legions of Middle Earth army configuration rules such as alliance guidelines, model, siege weapon and bow limits. It would also include generic scenarios from the main rule book and Legions of Middle Earth, expanded for different board configurations and army sizes.

Book 2: a binder consisting of five sections. (Note, this does not necessarily need to include an actual binder, it could simply be a "binder-ready pack" of hole-punched pages.)

1. Profiles: contains all current profiles (one or two per page) with nice regional/racial tabbed separators. Painting guides could also be included for models that currently have them.
2. Army Lists: army lists as in Legions of Middle Earth and the sourcebooks.
3. Scenarios: specific scenarios tailored for particular armies.
4. Campaigns and Journeys: collections of scenarios that tell the story of Middle Earth.
5. Building Middle Earth: a guide to building terrain for SBG.

Book 2 could either be one large publication containing most, if not all, the content from the main rules and sourcebooks, or be subdivided into a "core" set, with regional/racial binder packs sold separately.

By restructuring the SBG product in this way, new and updated content would be simple to support through the White Dwarf magazine. Either the content could be made available as PDFs a few months later (as is currently done), or perhaps removable or standalone pages could be included in the magazine for easy insertion into the binder. Examples of White Dwarf content could include:

• new profiles for new model releases (such as the upcoming Thrydan Wolfsbane)
• alternate and/or revised profiles for existing models (such as fixing the Rohan Outrider profile, or the various profiles for Aragorn)
• new or alternate painting guides for models
• new army lists to handle different times in Middle Earth, such as that covered in the Hobbit, the Second Age or even the First Age (pending licensing)
• new scenarios, journeys, and campaigns, either developed internally at Games Workshop, or even using high-quality fan-based content
• new terrain guides

Perhaps a yearly almanac of White Dwarf SBG content could be published separately.

One other idea for content I came across while fielding this idea among fans was regarding the Battle Games in Middle Earth (BGiME) magazine. By all accounts it was a great publication, but was not widely available in North America. There is a great deal of activity on eBay for this product, which suggests broad interest. I myself would like to get my hands on all the issues. I don't know who owns the content, but perhaps it could be purchased/licensed for republication in White Dwarf. Each White Dwarf could include a small section of a previous BGiME issue, which means reprinting that content alone, and made available over a much larger geographic area, would be enough to keep SBG loyalty and interest for several years.
Author:  aelfwine [ Tue Mar 30, 2010 4:19 pm ]
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I'd buy that.
Author:  imrail [ Tue Mar 30, 2010 5:47 pm ]
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whafrog wrote:
Here's a letter I sent a few weeks ago to Jervis Johnson about the future of SBG. Haven't had a reply, but didn't expect one. Anyway, I hope they do something like this, and if you agree I'd encourage you to write your own letter:



Yeah.. I'm not going to quote your whole letter ;)
But I doubt you'll get a reply.
I tried it a couple of times, not with the contents like your letter, but they rarely reply.
Author:  Anduril Blade of Kings [ Tue Mar 30, 2010 6:51 pm ]
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How does this not surprise me...

Never been a big SBG gamer, but I know enough that I had expected this for a few months. On one of my rare visits to a GW, I heard a couple of the redshirts explaining to a customer why exactly Fall of the Necromancer wasn't in stock. They said because of low sales on sourcebooks as a whole, and one of them (jokingly) said "At this rate they'll be Direct Only in a few months."

Seeing this now was no surprise, as no one else laughed. In fact, the manager said "Yeah, there's a possibility of that."

That was approx. 2 months ago. So now I wasn't the least bit surprised to see this.

At least they aren't going OOP. :)
Author:  CreatureFear [ Tue Mar 30, 2010 10:16 pm ]
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I'll send em' an e-mail, does anyone have the address?
Author:  imrail [ Wed Mar 31, 2010 5:15 am ]
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I think you have to email the customer service: orders@games-workshop.co.uk
Author:  etienne de beaugard [ Wed Mar 31, 2010 12:23 pm ]
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I'm sorry to hear the SBG sourcebooks are going direct only, though perhaps this is simply a prelude to the whole game going Specialist.

In many ways, going specialist might be a good things for the SBG. When Mordheim (my prior GW skirmish favorite) went specialist, it was a great boon to the game. A previously unsupported game got a burst of material made available for free as PDFs. The rules were given a quick brush-up, fixing a few minor problems without doing a new-edition-break-it-in-new-ways overhaul. Limited press run content was made available to all.

Unlike Mordheim, the SBG will continue to get model support through WotR.

SBG going Specialist might be quite nice.
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