Flames of War and Non-Battlefront Minis

[Eumerin]

I know this came up in a topic recently, but it was a peripheral subject and I can't remember which thread it was in. And the information posted is now no longer valid.

Battlefront has allowed players to use miniatures from other companies at official Battlefront Flames of War events. Starting this year, that will no longer be the case. Going forward, only Battlefront miniatures will be allowed at official Battlefront Flames of War events. The stated reason is that the events cost a lot of money to run, so requiring players to use Battlefront minis is the only way that they can justify the expense of the events.

[Big Al]

That'll reduce an events income and popularity, then, won't it? Or is that obvious to everyone except Battlefront?

[Alan Charlesworth]

That has been rumoured for several months. I had not seen an official announcement, but presumably you have?

Not being a regular FOW player I am no expert, but isn't there only one 'official' tournament in the UK anyway, and that only happened for the first time last year? Most FOW comps are organised by Independant parties who can do as they like.

My local games store organises four tournaments a year and they have no intention of enforcing any such ruling. Will Battlefront be sending official inspectors to every event this year

GW enforce such a ban at Lenton but that is a very different scenario.

If this is true Battlefront will have scored a big own goal. People buy based on availablity, quality and price not dictat. But is it true? Can you provide a link to the announcement.

[Alan Charlesworth]

Well it is official. Here's the announcement:

http://www.flamesofwar.com/Default.aspx ... rt_id=3379

However, it's obvious from the list that the 'official' tournaments are a tiny fraction of the actual tournaments that happen each year. So I suspect the impact will be minimal, other than fewer people attending the 'official' tournaments.

I guess their next move will be to ban non-official tournaments from the rankings system? Will they then rely on spies and snitches to tell them who is breaking their rules or will we have uniformed inspectors?

All hail Battlefront!

Sieg! Heil!
Sieg! Heil!
Sieg! Heil!

[herzlos]

Don't people pay to enter these tournaments? So surely the cost of entries should cover the cost of running the tournament?

I always wonder how they'll police it, and what happens with heavily modified figures (or is modification not as likely in historics)?

[Invisible officer]

All hail Battlefront!

Sieg! Heil!
Sieg! Heil!
Sieg! Heil!

Hmm, S. H. for a New Zealand company's bad politics?

I prefer the Smiley: The Empire strikes back.

FoW stuff is often expensive compared to 15 mm stuff from other companies. In my local shop a Pz Iv is 9 €, from Plastic soldier a box of 5 is 22,50. 50%.
Hard to compete on the quality front with so many gamers searching for the cheapest option.

So the only way to safe the fast grown world wide FoW empire is ........ All is fair in love and war.

Well, many of my gaming friends tried to get me into FoW but I never bought a Battlefront miniature. I go for 28mm . Bolt action.

[Cubster]

Oh well, hardly surprising news, but slightly depressing nonetheless. With any luck plummeting numbers at their few official tournaments will inspire a rethink ... but perhaps that's not too likely.

Not that it'll affect me either way.

[Alan Charlesworth]

I don't have a dog in this fight. I sold half my 15mm WWII stuff recently. I haven't played FOW for well over a year having moved on to IABSM. And BA is looming with a transition to bigger figures.

I have no problem with a company being commercial and maximising its profits. But this looks like a bad commercial decision to me. Most FOW gamers aren't regular tournament players. So any revenue that Battlefront secures from insisting on their minis at official tournaments (and most tournaments are not official), will be more than offset by the bad will created. The legion of players who don't enter official tournaments will still buy what they want anyway.

The rumour about this decision has been circulating for months. Even the rumour has created a well of bad feeling against the company. When I heard it I thought it was so daft I was sure it was an unfounded rumour.

Still bad business decisions are common. Remember Rattners?

[Augustus_Gaius]

I always wonder how they'll police it, and what happens with heavily modified figures (or is modification not as likely in historics)?

Hmm, I'd say that the guidelines for what you can actually use in FOW are quite tight i.e. the army lists literally state every unit and arms you can equip it with, so I don't really see the need to mod. but i guess you could change a tank or something to a similar one (although i have no examples) and i can't see that breaking the rule. Also logistically I think (perhaps because i'm a very poor converter of miniatures) that it's immensely difficult to mod 15mm infantry as they are tiny

With regards to the policing, and i can only assume this, but perhaps they will make people sign a Terms and conditions saying something like "you agree to only use bf models" and they could kick people out who are found using other minis... although that's purely speculation (albeit the only logistical viable way i can see it being policed)

and as Alan mentioned allow GW models and their games to be played at war hammer world, so I wonder how they police that (if they need to) and whether or not BF will do so in the same way.

[Cubster]

I remember the tale of someone turning up to a GW tournament with a Tomb Kings (or was is Vampire Counts?) army only to be told they couldn't take part because his models weren't GW. In fact they were, just models from a couple of editions back, so none of the pre-pubescent staff knew what they were! No matter how much he argued, how much he suggested they just Google the damn things or look on the GW site (because some were still actually on sale in the vintage section), the staff wouldn't budge and he was turned away.

It's the sort of thing that boils blood within the brain.