Comments on: An interesting few weeks for the Mongoose http://www.tabletopgamingnews.com/2007/01/14/5353 Daily news, reviews and information for tabletop gamers of all interests. Tue, 06 Jan 2009 09:46:46 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.7 hourly 1 By: Paladin http://www.tabletopgamingnews.com/2007/01/14/5353/comment-page-1#comment-5059 Paladin Tue, 16 Jan 2007 20:00:03 +0000 http://www.tabletopgamingnews.com/?p=5353#comment-5059 Steeldragon: With regard to the bases, they were actually lowered due to fan demand and input from their forums. The beginnings of Wave 2 are showing up. The quality is a definite step up: http://www.mongoosepublishing.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=24602&start=0&postdays=0&postorder=asc&highlight= Steeldragon: With regard to the bases, they were actually lowered due to fan demand and input from their forums.

The beginnings of Wave 2 are showing up. The quality is a definite step up:
http://www.mongoosepublishing.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=24602&start=0&postdays=0&postorder=asc&highlight=

]]> By: Zac http://www.tabletopgamingnews.com/2007/01/14/5353/comment-page-1#comment-5051 Zac Tue, 16 Jan 2007 16:08:10 +0000 http://www.tabletopgamingnews.com/?p=5353#comment-5051 Lets try to make the language family friendly please. I don't want to have people get the site blocked by workplace filters due to profanity in the comments sections Thanks Lets try to make the language family friendly please. I don’t want to have people get the site blocked by workplace filters due to profanity in the comments sections

Thanks

]]> By: gavroche http://www.tabletopgamingnews.com/2007/01/14/5353/comment-page-1#comment-5046 gavroche Tue, 16 Jan 2007 07:54:19 +0000 http://www.tabletopgamingnews.com/?p=5353#comment-5046 Regardless of what happened here - and I don't think it's a case of the Evil Empire trying a bait & switch routine on the poor gamers - this will cost Mongoose. But this production screw up isn't their only or even biggest problem. That still is the quality of the design concepts and mastersculpts. Most of those are average at best, with some exceptions. Certainly if you compare them with what is produced by Rackham, Privateer or GW. Add to this the general lack of direction & creativity Tuco mentions & you can see them going nowhere fast. <em>Language edited by site admin</em> Regardless of what happened here - and I don’t think it’s a case of the Evil Empire trying a bait & switch routine on the poor gamers - this will cost Mongoose. But this production screw up isn’t their only or even biggest problem. That still is the quality of the design concepts and mastersculpts. Most of those are average at best, with some exceptions. Certainly if you compare them with what is produced by Rackham, Privateer or GW. Add to this the general lack of direction & creativity Tuco mentions & you can see them going nowhere fast.

Language edited by site admin

]]> By: tuco http://www.tabletopgamingnews.com/2007/01/14/5353/comment-page-1#comment-5014 tuco Mon, 15 Jan 2007 18:21:30 +0000 http://www.tabletopgamingnews.com/?p=5353#comment-5014 Well I roleplay as well as wargame and I've given Mongoose a lot of money so that I might boast a complete library of their Conan books. It is in my opinion the best version of the D20 rules I've played and the quality of the books is on a level equal to some of the largest RPG companies. That being said, I've never been terribly tempted by any of their minis games. That is for a couple of reasons. The first and foremost of which is that they are based mostly on existing properties which don't interest me. B5 and Starship Troopers aren't that interesting to me, sorry to say. The second reason is that my LGS doesn't carry any Mongoose minis or minis garmes. Sure I could seek them out online easily enough, but then I've got no one to play with in the area. Over the last year or so Mongoose has been releasing little bits here and there about Age of Conan, a Hyborian Age wargame supposedly in development which I would be all over like stink on a monkey, but apparently they have been too busy working on Battlefield and Rune Quest. It seems often that the most vocal amongst tabletop gamers view the companies who produce their beloved hobbies as evil mega-corporations out to screw their customer base to make more money. The reality is that for the most part even the larger companies have a payroll of less than a hundred people, many of whom could be working elsewhere for greater compensation, but remain in this business because they love the games. In addition to this, from what I understand prepainted minis often are not even produced on the same continent as the company selling the game, so quality control is always a problem. At this point, I'm willing to give Mongoose, as well as Matt Sprange, the benefit of the doubt. Sure someone dropped the ball, but I'm going with inadvertantly at this point rather than deliberately. Well I roleplay as well as wargame and I’ve given Mongoose a lot of money so that I might boast a complete library of their Conan books. It is in my opinion the best version of the D20 rules I’ve played and the quality of the books is on a level equal to some of the largest RPG companies.

That being said, I’ve never been terribly tempted by any of their minis games. That is for a couple of reasons. The first and foremost of which is that they are based mostly on existing properties which don’t interest me. B5 and Starship Troopers aren’t that interesting to me, sorry to say. The second reason is that my LGS doesn’t carry any Mongoose minis or minis garmes. Sure I could seek them out online easily enough, but then I’ve got no one to play with in the area. Over the last year or so Mongoose has been releasing little bits here and there about Age of Conan, a Hyborian Age wargame supposedly in development which I would be all over like stink on a monkey, but apparently they have been too busy working on Battlefield and Rune Quest.

It seems often that the most vocal amongst tabletop gamers view the companies who produce their beloved hobbies as evil mega-corporations out to screw their customer base to make more money. The reality is that for the most part even the larger companies have a payroll of less than a hundred people, many of whom could be working elsewhere for greater compensation, but remain in this business because they love the games. In addition to this, from what I understand prepainted minis often are not even produced on the same continent as the company selling the game, so quality control is always a problem. At this point, I’m willing to give Mongoose, as well as Matt Sprange, the benefit of the doubt. Sure someone dropped the ball, but I’m going with inadvertantly at this point rather than deliberately.

]]> By: Zac http://www.tabletopgamingnews.com/2007/01/14/5353/comment-page-1#comment-5011 Zac Mon, 15 Jan 2007 15:40:32 +0000 http://www.tabletopgamingnews.com/?p=5353#comment-5011 <em>Matt said on their forum when asked how they came up with the list</em> It might be interesting to see their sales by category as well. If you did BF Evo and CTA as categories and then compared them to each of the RPG categories to gauge the sales. Matt said on their forum when asked how they came up with the list

It might be interesting to see their sales by category as well. If you did BF Evo and CTA as categories and then compared them to each of the RPG categories to gauge the sales.

]]> By: steeldragon http://www.tabletopgamingnews.com/2007/01/14/5353/comment-page-1#comment-5009 steeldragon Mon, 15 Jan 2007 12:41:49 +0000 http://www.tabletopgamingnews.com/?p=5353#comment-5009 It's my idea or they changed the bases too??? Maybe something happened with the scale too... Hope everything goes good for Mongoose... but their miniatures products haven't been able to hook me up. I was all overexcited about the B5 28mm miniatures and they were not as nice as I hoped, I thought I could fall on the small scale with the tank thing for B5 and nothing happened with the game... Starship Troopers presents two or three highlights (to me) and nothing more, with the added difficculty of pulling out of somewhere more armies to make the game more appealing... Hope Mongoose finnally gets better minis... it seems they have their act together producing games, but minis... there is a long way to go. Andres It’s my idea or they changed the bases too???

Maybe something happened with the scale too…

Hope everything goes good for Mongoose… but their miniatures products haven’t been able to hook me up. I was all overexcited about the B5 28mm miniatures and they were not as nice as I hoped, I thought I could fall on the small scale with the tank thing for B5 and nothing happened with the game… Starship Troopers presents two or three highlights (to me) and nothing more, with the added difficculty of pulling out of somewhere more armies to make the game more appealing…

Hope Mongoose finnally gets better minis… it seems they have their act together producing games, but minis… there is a long way to go.

Andres

]]> By: Col_Stone http://www.tabletopgamingnews.com/2007/01/14/5353/comment-page-1#comment-5006 Col_Stone Mon, 15 Jan 2007 10:56:23 +0000 http://www.tabletopgamingnews.com/?p=5353#comment-5006 Matt said on their forum when asked how they came up with the list * It is based on individual product codes and on unit sales only. For example, if we collated all CTA ship sales into one heading, they would be at the top and miles ahead of anything else. If we had included BF Evo (which have yet to officially go on sale), they would already be in the top ten with pre-orders. * I don't believe they're trying to pull a fast one on their customers either.. Matt said on their forum when asked how they came up with the list
*
It is based on individual product codes and on unit sales only. For example, if we collated all CTA ship sales into one heading, they would be at the top and miles ahead of anything else. If we had included BF Evo (which have yet to officially go on sale), they would already be in the top ten with pre-orders.
*
I don’t believe they’re trying to pull a fast one on their customers either..

]]> By: Grant http://www.tabletopgamingnews.com/2007/01/14/5353/comment-page-1#comment-4979 Grant Sun, 14 Jan 2007 19:54:31 +0000 http://www.tabletopgamingnews.com/?p=5353#comment-4979 When I saw the originals I did think the painting was almost too good to be true, I wouldn't be able to improve on it at all so I was curious how they could pull it off so well at that price point. That said, the quality of the shipping models appears to be much lower than I thought would be reasonable (I was expecting somewhere in between the two) and it appears Mongoose have been the victim in this. I admire the fact the company have tried to push in a new direction to see what is possible and what will sell and I hope Zac is right and they didn't bet the farm on this venture. When I saw the originals I did think the painting was almost too good to be true, I wouldn’t be able to improve on it at all so I was curious how they could pull it off so well at that price point.

That said, the quality of the shipping models appears to be much lower than I thought would be reasonable (I was expecting somewhere in between the two) and it appears Mongoose have been the victim in this.

I admire the fact the company have tried to push in a new direction to see what is possible and what will sell and I hope Zac is right and they didn’t bet the farm on this venture.

]]> By: Zac http://www.tabletopgamingnews.com/2007/01/14/5353/comment-page-1#comment-4978 Zac Sun, 14 Jan 2007 19:31:33 +0000 http://www.tabletopgamingnews.com/?p=5353#comment-4978 I think Matt may indeed be at the top of the company but it still doesn't make it easier to deal with :-) I think Matt may indeed be at the top of the company but it still doesn’t make it easier to deal with :-)

]]> By: evernevermore http://www.tabletopgamingnews.com/2007/01/14/5353/comment-page-1#comment-4977 evernevermore Sun, 14 Jan 2007 19:20:32 +0000 http://www.tabletopgamingnews.com/?p=5353#comment-4977 Ouch - I'd hate to be in that guys shoes as the people above him go "wtf!" and the fans below go "WTF!" Ouch - I’d hate to be in that guys shoes as the people above him go “wtf!” and the fans below go “WTF!”

]]> By: Zac http://www.tabletopgamingnews.com/2007/01/14/5353/comment-page-1#comment-4976 Zac Sun, 14 Jan 2007 18:46:48 +0000 http://www.tabletopgamingnews.com/?p=5353#comment-4976 I'd be quite surprised if the next round of minis had any price reductions at all. They need to pay for someone to go to China to check the process of the minis now I would expect. Its interesting to see how different this entire process has been for rackham. I’d be quite surprised if the next round of minis had any price reductions at all. They need to pay for someone to go to China to check the process of the minis now I would expect.

Its interesting to see how different this entire process has been for rackham.

]]> By: Stu http://www.tabletopgamingnews.com/2007/01/14/5353/comment-page-1#comment-4975 Stu Sun, 14 Jan 2007 18:15:23 +0000 http://www.tabletopgamingnews.com/?p=5353#comment-4975 I hate to think how much goodwill they've burned in this exercise and they'll price reductions on this line in the future I suspect (if they haven't already done so). I hate to think how much goodwill they’ve burned in this exercise and they’ll price reductions on this line in the future I suspect (if they haven’t already done so).

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