Reply To: Warlord drop Gates of Antares (moves production to Skytrex)

[jamescutts 6924xp 0]

Sad to see it go but good to see the game for now at least still lives on. I think this was somewhat inevitable really, I’ve never really seen much talk or gaming of Antares. It’s always been one of those games that I’d considered just never tried, and I think mantics alternative scifi offering appears better or more popular at least. I wish the game all the best under Tim and Rick.

I remember the open day last year Warlord saying Antares wasn’t going anywhere just not getting anything new, and that was in a way that made me think its time may be limited as they highlighted a renewed focus of bolt action and black powder.

I cant see Blood Red skies going anywhere, production-wise is relatively simple compared to a whole scifi lineup there’s relatively few miniatures and they have moved the renewed blood red skies minis to siocast making the process more affordable. If it has an issue it’s that the card stock is low quality and the minis are expensive but otherwise it fits in well with their “bolt action” expanded range.

I think Warlord are in for a rough few years, they have a focus on Bolt action as its their cash cow and to a lesser extent black powder so I think we’ll continue to see a decline in the other ranges and maybe even a few more go. Ive heard of smaller retailers being told more the the Bolt action range is direct order only so its having an impact on the smaller guys too.

I think price is going to be their biggest challenge, outside the increased material cost increases which are inevitable warlord products have had what 2 or 3 price increases in the last year or so. Part of this is due to their general operating costs and they said the extra expense of a bigger location etc, personally i think that’s just bad business planning  but nothing that can be changed. John Stallard used to say one of the big appeals of Bolt Action was to 40k players, who instead of paying say £40 for a 40k tank could get 3 shermans or panzers, that’s not really the case anymore as phaidknott points out warlord have got “expensive”. If you couple that increased cost with very strong competition for the likes of Victrix, Wargames Atlantic, Girpping Beast, the Perry’s I can see them losing sales to more cost-sensitive customers.

Anyway, not bashing on Warlord Games, I just think the hobby is entering a challenging time, I think the bigger players may struggle the most and so will the small guys but I’m hoping some smaller companies will also benefit and hoover up some of the largest customs.

Take Offensive Miniatures for an example, you can get a squad of 10 excellently sculpted metal WWII figures for £15 vs buying 10, sometime questionable sculpted metals from Warlord for £25.