Dungeon Twister: Fire and Water

This isn't my Multiple Uses post, sorry. It's a few muddled observations:

In Germany, they are (so far) following the English order of release for Dungeon Twister.

That is:
Base Set
Paladins and Dragons
3/4 Player Expansion
Forces of Darkness
Mercenaries
Fire and Water

Now, I'm not positive about the German order of Mercenaries vs. Fire and Water, but I am sure about the US order to that point.

I just find it interesting that out of two "secondary" releases (meaning "Not in the original language of the game"), two of them have moved Fire and Water out of order.

Having played it a few times, I can very easily see why. It's a difficult, frustrating set. Once you grasp it, I'm told that it's amazing, but reaching that point has been (for me) very difficult. I enjoy the play, but something just hasn't clicked, yet.

I've seen play from people who have grasped it. It's wonderful and terrifying. I've also seen some amazing combinations of characters using some from this set.

It's an interesting set, with an average speed of 4.25 and an average strength of 1.625. That's 14.5% faster than the overall average and 30.7% weaker than the overall average.

But on their native maps, their speed is significantly reduced.

Were it not for their speed, I'd tag most of these characters as Specialists.

But I'll go over that in a few weeks, once I've had a chance to play the set through a few more times.

English Games of the 1500's

Google Analytics has informed me that my recent interview notes have caused a number of hits from people looking for games played during the 1500's in England.

Those of you who are looking for them, here are a couple of links which may help:
One
Two
Three
Four

Rather than looking for the 1500's specifically, it may help to search for Renaissance-Era Games. Medieval games wouldn't be a bad search, either - Nine Men's Morris is still played today.

The Sky Is Falling! The Sky Is Falling!

Okay, not really. But Mayfair Games recently announced that they are requiring a 20% cap on discounts for their games.

Retailers who sell below that line will suffer "sanctions" and may be cut off from their supply. It'll hurt online retailers more than brick-and-mortar

Tom of Boards and Bits broke the news here. There's some good discussion mixed in with the ranting.

Here are my scattered thoughts:

It's not new to gaming. Games Workshop has done this for a while. They even go after eBay sellers.

It's legal - there was a recent U.S. Supreme Court ruling on this that didn't change the law, it adjusted the interpretation of the law which put more more power in the hands of manufacturers.

This sort of price control has been going for a long while in other industries.

I currently work in car audio. Various manufacturers have "Authorized Retailers." If you buy product from a non-Authorized retailer, then you don't have warranty coverage. MTX Audio has a page all about it: MTX - Unauthorized Resellers.

In order to become an Authorized Retailer, you get to jump through all kinds of hoops and sign a number of contracts. One of these contracts concerns "MAP" - depending on who you talk to, MAP is "Manufacturer Authorized Pricing" or "Minimum Advertised Price."

This gives the car audio-buying public a choice: Buy a speaker without a warranty and hope it doesn't die, or more and get a warranty backed by the manufacturer.

And there are ways around it:

1) Buy Product X, and we'll throw in Product Y.
2) Here's a Coupon Code for X% off your entire order.
3) Free shipping for all orders over $X
4) Buy Product X, save $Y on Product Z

So why would Mayfair do this?

1) It supports the FLGS. Internet retail is hurting the FLGS. I've ranted about this before. This levels the playing field a bit.
2) They can. Mayfair is the US publisher for The Settlers of Catan, arguably the best-selling Eurogame of all time.
3) It won't hurt internet retailers as badly as people think it will, because it means higher profit margins on Mayfair items (and because of the numerous ways around it).

There was discussion a few months ago about game companies possibly doing something like this. A ICV2 interviewed a few industry insiders:
Jay Tummelson of Rio Grande Games
Joe Hauck of WizKids
Loren Greenwood of Wizards of the Coast

... and that's all I have time to say.

Formula Dé

Asmodée announced on their website that a new edition of Formula Dé was coming in 2008.

It led to this thread on BoardGameGeek. Three posts in, and people are already complaining.

Let me see if I understand this correctly:

Asmodée negotiates for months so that they can release Formula Dé - an OOP game for which there has been a great deal of demand. Their contract is for a single printing of the basic game.

To avoid giving the wrong impression or raising false hopes, they make sure the public knows that all they have the rights to do is this one final printing. No track reprints, just the game. One time.

It sells out in pre-order.

Meanwhile, they begin (or continue) negotiating with the designers of the game, hoping to be able to do more. Not just because there is a lot of demand for more, but because it's a great game.

When BoardGameNews quotes Christophe Arnoult, they're talking to the head of Asmodée US. He's not just a businessman, he's also a gamer. Yes, Asmodée is a business. Yes, they want to make money. At the same time, I know Christophe is excited at the chance to make this game available again just because he loves the game. I remember how excited he was at being able to put out the reprint earlier this year. He was also frustrated at not being able to reprint the tracks. Again - not because there is demand, but because they make a great game even better.

Am I biased? Yes. But Asmodée lives up to what I think is an ideal model in the gaming industry - a game company run by gamers, with gamers involved at every step along the way.

Getting annoyed or upset because they managed to pull off something more than they had originally anticipated is something I don't even have the words for.

New Moon: Enroute

I just received an e-mail confirmation that my copy of Werewolves: New Moon will be en route very soon.

As someone who enjoys Werewolves of Miller's Hollow (with a good moderator), I'm looking forward to the expansion. The expanded play options will, I think, make this an exceptionally good choice for our group.

Essen

For those of you who are paying attention, Essen Spiel (or Spiel Essen, depending on who you talk to) started yesterday. It is the world's largest game-focused convention.

It makes GenCon look tiny.

And the focus is board and card games.

Someday, I will have an opportunity to go.

In the meantime, there is continuing coverage on BoardGameNews, and the usual random splat of updates at BoardGameGeek.

Update Schedule

I've been pretty good about updating twice a week for a while, now.

Things are about to get bumpy.

I'm in process of changing jobs to one with a longer commute and less internet access at my desk.

This cuts dramatically into the time I have to write up blog entries.

Because of this, my update schedule may get a bit odd until I get settled into the new routine.

It's still a month or so off, but I figured I'd give fair warning.