Forum and Newsletter

[14th Brooklyn]

First of all let me stress, that I do not want to stirr up trouble or anything, but there are a few things I have noticed in recent weeks if not month.

New topics are few and far between, replys are even rarer. Those replys that are there, are more of the kind with less substance, move off-topic or very fanboy´ish or in other words are not that constructive. There are some good comments, but IMHO they are the minority.

Personally I have the feeling that the forum has detiriorated in recnet months and for me it hardly makes an interesting read anymore.

Staff forum comment are as veiled as they ever were. But while in the past they were always followed up by newsletter info, they hardly are now. If they are indeed followed up by the newsletter, it is always way later then indicated.

Which would bring me to the last point... the newsletter itself. It seems to get less substancial with ever new line aquired or released. Back when it was just Ancients we would have releases and pre-views on a weekly basis. With the additions of Bolt Action and ECW previews have one down a lot (actually I can only remember two in recent month). New releases have gone down (which I blame no one for, since the old pace was extreme) and they decend upon us like a bolt out of the blue.

On the other hand there is lots of info regarding shows being attended and what has been added to the store. Both info that you usually get from the hosting club or by visiting the store. I for one would be craving for a newsletter that would really give us pre-views again or tell us what will go up in the store in days to come (as oposed what is up already)!

Cheers,

Burkhard

[Clone of Undave]

I think part of the lack of newslettery stuff is going to be down to Black Powder. I got the impression that Paul et al have been working their not insubstantial backsides off getting it ready to the exclusion of pretty much all else. I'm willing to bet that once it's out of the way there will be more and regular new releases and correspondingly better news letters.

As for the forums, these things tend to go in fits and starts. I've been a regular on CMoN for several years and I've noticed distinct periods when almost nobody has posted anything for ages. They're in a bit of a slump at the moment, maybe the two are connected. The site will pick up given time. Maybe people just don't have anything they want to talk about right now.

[Phil]

I don't have anything much I can talk about now - following a period of playing games with the stuff I'd painted, I was expecting stuff which never seemed to arrive, and so had nothing to talk about. Now that it has arrived, I can't talk about it until Paul sez so...

But, when not working on the things I can't talk about, I'm cleaning up another few units of (metal) auxilia, and working on a British/Celtic conversion - I'll post more on those when I've got to the stage of having something to show.

I'm also starting to think about hacking some of the plastic Celts about to make some 'line-breaker' models - i.e. blokes leaping at the opposition's line, shield out, sword back ready to hack with.

But that doesn't explain why no-one else is saying much either!

Phil

[Varus]

I'm starting my examinations tomorrow, so I'm having to juggle very carefully between painting and revising, and unfortunatly have not as much time for the forums as I would like. Rest assured though, that midway through June I'll be posting much more regurarly, and I dare say I'll finally start posting pictures as well!
So a sorry from me for not contributing that much. Perhaps on the issue of articles, we could perhaps as a community develop some? That said, I'm sure it's Black Powder that's consuming WG's time.

[Paul @ Warlord Games]

Hi Burkhard,

No offence taken but I've got to say I find this thread curious. In recent newsletters we've covered previews, new releases, events, conversions, special offers, painting, etc.

I'm interested in what you expect us to cover?

In terms of timing we are often at the mercy of sculptors and whilst we'd love to show models off or release them as we plan they don't always make it into casting on time. This is somewhat out of our control sadly. This might explain why you sometimes see few releases followed by loads as we endeavour to bring you new releases just as soon as we can rather than hold them for later.

Staff forum commenting is always going to be somewhat veiled as we don't want to overpromise and under deliver. Also we often change things at the last minute when we have a better idea than the original. Occasionally you guys here will mention something which makes us alter our plans for the better. Classic example is the dead cows thread today - we've added those to our list and will be looking to get those sculpted soon. Of course that will have knock on effects to other sculpting - much as we'd like to we can't make everything ;)

We're committed to continuing to releases for our Roman and Celt ranges but I'm sure you'll agree the bulk of the range is now complete and we're into filling in the gaps and adding some fun stuff (more on that in this week's newsletter!). That said we also have the plastic Auxiliaries and our new Daciand range both of which which aren't far away - expect to see more on those in the newsletter in the next 2-3 weeks.

As part of the acquisition of Bolt Action we had a few unfinished masters which we're going to be releasing over the next few weeks - that's not an indication of us putting more commitment to the Bolt Ation range though - we'll continue to bring stuff out for Ancients, WW2 and Pike & Shotte as well as working on new (don't ask!) ranges.

We're all for you guys giving us honest feedback and thank you for this thread. We're under the impression the newsletters are pretty good - certainly thats the feedback we're getting but we'd be the first to admit everything can be improved.

Cheers,

Paul

[14th Brooklyn]

Hi Paul,

glad you take this in stride!

As to the timing… well this topic was something that had been building inside me for some weeks and was more fueled by the forum then the newsletter.

Regarding the newsletter. You are right that there were more new releases in there in the last 2 to 3 then before. And that is appreciated.

What I am missing though are head´s-ups. The Vandeleur Humber is about the only one I can remember in recent weeks and as strange as it sounds… that was too advanced. In the past we would get to see greens or 3-ups weeks in advance which was something you could look forward to. Now it is a week in advance at most (or in case of the ECW artillery the green shots came up when they were in the store) or something completed like Phils perfect execution of the Humber). I know many people are like me and “want” to drool over a green shot for a couple of weeks… maybe it is a bit like children on X-Mas.

The show anouncements are OK, but I usually know which companies will be at a given show before it comes up in the newsletter and I know most people are like that. Plus (naturally) most of the shows are UK based, meaning that part is not interesting to those here on the mainland or even worse to those in the US. Same goes for the offers which have been UK based in recent month. So I often found that roughly 50% of the newsletter is not of interest only due to geographical reasons. Now if you are not interested in all the ranges (for me it is only Ancients and WWII) that percentage can even be higher.

Regarding staff comments. I can understand that these are veiled, but at times this can hurt. I know there are a number of topics out there that are weeks or month old with comments like “but you will see in the next newsletter” or “we will have something to show of in two to three weeks time”, but where we have not. This creates an expectation for the newsletter, which you open, hoping to see the promised news, but get dissapointed since it does not.

And at times it makes no sense (at least to me). For example… the question I know always come up with a mention of the Dacian is “will they be new sculpts or based on the Celtic sprues like the Britons”. I now this is important to many people since the later option is not appealing to most and I can not mention that this would be a big trade secret, since the information that you are doing Dacians is more important to your competitors, then how you are doing it. And this was only answered yesterday (so months after first asked) by a forum guest (I guess the painter).

The fact that you are listening to the customers on this forum is great! The dead cows you mentioned are a great example! But I guess at times it would be nice to also get more talked to.

Re. the Ancients ranges: Yes I would agree that between what is out, what has been anounced and what has been hinted the (E)IR and Celts are quite complete. Eventually it would be interesting to know how comperhensive the Dacians will be, if there will be other oponents (like Germans which have only been hinted at) and if the range will expand into other era´s as well.

And do not worry about any apearant emphasis on any range. I guess everyone will agree that there was an emphasis on ECW around Salute (which is only logical with the new range being released), but that ever since the new releases have been quite evenly split.

Cheers,

Burkhard

P.S.: You asked what I would like to see covered by the newsletter… well to sum all my ramblings up…

• More long term pre-views / Greens / 3-ups
• Specials that are not just UK based
• Painting and conversions that actually actually tab directly into a forum topic (with pictures!), so people can talk about them
• (Thing being in their promised ETA newsletters)

[14th Brooklyn]

To follow things up... really loved the last newsletter. It was great with it´s greens (Dromedari and [although of no use to me] ECW Master Gunner.

Would have been great if Paul had remembered to take some shots of the Celtic Archers greens!

Cheers,

Burkhard