Ask Jean Bey: the answers part 3
Jean Bey sent along part 3 of the answers to the the questions posted here at TGN. This final set of questions deals with Rackham as a company and some technical aspects of running the company and developing their games.
I’d like to thank Jean for taking the time to answer the questions that we sent to him (and it was a significant number :-) and also thank those who took the time to send in their questions.
About Rackham
What effect the change from a private to a public firm has made in the way that Rackham creates their games and figures?
Objectively, none at all. It is up to us to be reliable. I owe results to our partners and the share holders who trusted us when they invested in Rackham and who renewed their trust during this difficult period of transition. I also owe it to our customers who have been supporting us by purchasing our games and miniatures.
More rigor, more professionalism, constant renewal of ideas and success of course. That is what Rackham owes to its partners no matter if they are players, collectors, painters, shareholders or financier. Beyond these elements that are the driving force for all of us at Rackham, being a public company hasn’t changed anything fundamental. We have always fiercely wanted to create the best games and the most emblematic pieces on the market.
You know I fell into the miniatures cooking pot when I was a kid, I know most of brands, sculptors and people building the world of miniatures everyday. When I created Rackham ten years ago, people said I was mad and didn’t give me two months. The path of a company is made of successes, attempts, mishaps, failures and achievements. Being able to question yourself is the best way to learn from your mistakes in order to do better next time. It is easy to point out the flaws for he who does not try. Ten years ago, there were hardly any miniature companies, today there are a dozen new ones every month.
There are those that wish to try to open the market create games that are more accessible, allowing the market to develop, grow and exist. Not opening the market would mean the opposite, condemning to end up with train models… I wanted Rackham to enter the stock market so that miniatures would no longer be considered as just toys made by a handful of loonies and therefore not worth the interest. I wanted Rackham to show that it was possible to combine economical reality and passion. And today, I still believe that our choices were the right ones even though I know better than anyone else that such a huge financial investment over such a short period of time was a very bold move.
Does going public alter the perception of the company towards the hobbyist/Player?
Many people believe it did, because they imagine a public company means you can no longer like what you do or that you will lose the respect you have for your customers. You enter the stock market, so it means the shareholders demands will take away the company’s soul. That is awfully simplistic.
What shareholders want is the company to perpetuate so that it develops normally and remains profitable. It is only normal when for someone who puts money into something to want it to succeed and expect to gain from it since they were the ones taking the financial gamble. Going public allowed us to give miniatures visibility that benefited the market in general. It gave us the means to improve our products and advertise our work.
At some point the Aberration Prime was said to be an experiment with plastic to explore what was achievable with this material (unpainted hard plastic I believe). What did you learn from that experience?
We use slightly soft plastic for the Aberration. But we use all sort of plastics depending on the model. The same way with metal, we learned that will power, enthusiasm combined to R&D time and money allowed us to obtain quality, modularity and results from plastics that were up to standards with our best metal production.
Rackham metals represented a level of detail that set it apart from other manufacturers. Do you feel that the new plastics produced by Rackham will live up to that legacy? Do you feel that the fans of your metal line will be pleased by these new miniatures?
I don’t think it is the level of detail that really distinguishes us from other manufacturers. I would rather say it is our will to make each cast unique so that when you look at it from all angles there is always something new and exclusive that distinguishes us from the other companies. In addition, we work a lot on junctions to make our pieces true 3D sculptures that do not try to hide certain areas because of alleged casting or anatomical constraints.
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Each new plastic release is a step closer to the quality of the metal miniatures we made. However, it is not the point. What we are looking to obtain is a quality sculpture for a reasonable price. We are working at it and we will get there faster than it took us to achieve constant quality with metal pieces.
How is your association with Fantasy Flight Games working?
This association allowed us to guarantee the regularity of our releases in the U.S., store follow up and a better understanding of the stores needs. The association was built based on a shared will to work as partners and to respect these engagements. The next step in our association is to provide the players with a tournament program and games around which the AT-43 and Confrontation community will meet to participate in events that will have a follow up.
Will the option ever exist to buy the new AT-43 or Confrontation miniatures individually? Unpainted?
There is no plan to produce individual pieces for the moment. However some pieces will be available as part of the Legends range, for AT-43 as well as for Confrontation. The reverse will be also true, as some piece that already exist in PPP will find their way into the Legends range.
Do Rackham and FFG have any plans to create a new tournament and gaming programs to help expand your games?
Yes, in the near future an international game and events program will be created.
Are the CORDs relevant to Rackham’s new direction?
Be it Confrontation or AT-43, the community has a role to play, but this support through the various Confederations of the Red Dragon for instance requires communication capacities and proximity we do not have. It is difficult for us to uphold a privileged and constant connection with communities so distant from one another. They have different requests, their own vision and gaming culture. However, this dos not prevent us from being privileged partners with the CORDs that wish to. For instance, the UKCORD and the Italian CORD for which we are arranging an AT-43 miniature with its exclusive painting destined to their members. It seems to us (FFG and Rackham) that it would be more relevant to set up an English gaming and tournament program that would include the US, the UK and Australia – and have the same for Europe – in order to facilitate the organization of international tournaments and meetings, operations that would cover the whole program rather than what has been done in the past with all the difference between the confederations. Then the Sentinels, and those who want to give a hand, will be able to help with the program.
There’s been an overwhelming amount of feedback, and due to the silence from Rackham, the popular opinion seems to have reached an Us vs. Them impasse. What will be done in the future to provide feedback to the company and what steps will Rackham take to ensure their fans know they are being heard?
For a time, we have lacked presence and we underestimated the power of nuisance of these rumors. We thought that the presence of our products in stores would be enough to re-establish the truth and explain why we changed to plastic. But we forgot it didn’t mean our choices were more clearly explained. However, no matter what we do, there will always be people against it and those in favor. Most of the time we are dealing with the same people who will stick to their own vision in mind no matter what you are going to say or do. Rackham has been going through some rough times but we have always supported our choices and we will keep doing it.
We are here to create games, to generate fun around our games, and nothing else. Some are asking how they can help us develop our universes and create miniatures that fuel their imagination. Well I would answer: have fun and get your hands on one of our books or a miniature that inspires you. By enjoying yourself, you contribute to giving us the means to keep surprising you. Go round to your local gaming store, buy Confrontation: the Age of the Rag’narok or AT-43, try the system and discover the true passion and our unfailing will to please you!
In several of your posts on the Rackham forums you’ve mentioned that Rackham still has the master molds for the metal minis and if demand exists you could always cast them again.
The question connects to the previous. It was a way to put a stop to the false rumors circulating over Internet that eventually came round and landed on our table presented as the truth! The problem is that it is the completely dramatized version that appears on the forums and blogs contributing to the “snowball effect”. Unfortunately, answering our own forums is not enough to re-establish our message. We never said we were stopping the production of metal pieces. We have the moulds; we own them. The quantities we produce today are smaller because the orders are smaller than before, but most of our catalogue is available. Your expectations change. We adapt to these new requests.
When you have more than 2000 different miniatures, it is normal that your whole catalogue isn’t available. It was already the case when we were doing only metal. We don’t produce large stocks anymore, but we still provide what is ordered. And if what you ordered is unavailable, there will be delays. The quantities are smaller, the delay longer, when we need to make a new mould it takes time. It is the only difference and these models can still be purchased.
What is the metric for this demand and how are you measuring it?
It is not a question of measuring to know if we are producing or not. Production organization has changed and we have different constraints. This metal range exists, it is appreciated by a number of players, therefore it ought to be available to those who want it.
When will the missing figures on the Rackham online store be filled and when will the “out of stock” figures be available again?
When we will have made new molds for certain pieces, or when they will go into production (if they are not limited edition pieces). We don’t have the same reactivity capacity as before. It is a choice we’ve made. But we will do what needs to be done to make the pieces available.
Since your new PP minis ranges are now made in China and people tend to be more and more concerned by environmental or social issues : is there a specific approach of this issues with your subcontractors? Do you have guarantees to offer to your customers that the new products are made in the respect of the environment and decent labour conditions?
We have chosen our partners, visited the factories, met the people in charge of the various stages in the process, built real professional relationships with them. Every month we go out there in order to validate and control if all the elements – such as the painting – respect the norms and correspond to the certificates and controls made by international organization in charge of sanitary and environmental questions. Each month production managers go there and sleep within the factory facilities, have lunch with the supervisors and those who assemble and paint our models. It seems hard to be anymore careful concerning the respect of regulations and of the people who make AT-43 and Confrontation.
One obvious thing in all the conversations and arguments we’ve seen is that existing fans feel left out of something that they enjoyed. Do you plan to re-attract these existing players or is it too late?
There was a lot of commotion and many have been crying wolf, but, along with the new players, some “old” ones have gradually returned to Confrontation with Confrontation: The Age of the Rag’Narok. It should not be forgotten that Confrontation is only four months old. Remember when AT43 was released 16 months ago, we met the exact same reactions. Today AT-43 sales are excellent in the US and the North American continent in general, and are constantly increasing in Europe. We have some work to do with our European partners, in Germany in particular. Confrontation shall follow the same road. Some time is required to build up the number of references and develop the gaming possibilities.
After reading the English version of the Karman army book recently I noticed that there was a definite number of typos, translation mistakes and artifacts. Are there any plans on tightening the quality control on English printed products?
We work with four revisers-correctors. All four are English, they know who they are. There is a difference in language between the US and the UK, that might explain certain mistakes or idioms used that are not exactly the same in both forms of English. We also work with an in-house translator who is well known to the players who visit our English forums as well as a reviser. If some among you have advanced mastery of English, no matter if you are American or English, and you wish to give us a hand, then you should not hesitate to let us know, we would be glad to have you help improve the writing of our books.
Would you, under current circumstances, allow people to directly refer to miniatures from your old metal range, for example say, someone incorporating rules for using a Mid-nor army in their self-published game ?
Why not, as long as we are sent an official written request. In any case, our copyrights need to be on the pictures and Rackham has to be mentioned in the credits indicating that these are pieces from the game Confrontation or AT-43 for instance.
I would like to thank: Zac for his precious help in preparing these questions, and all those of you who took part in this article series, both on our websites and on TGN. Thanks to Collin for his patience and to all of you for the passion you have for Rackham.