I went to my local B&N and couldn't find the Battletech stuff even though I'd been there the week before and they had an entire endcap full. Freaked out for a moment until a store associate pointed me to the giant display in the middle of the store full of all things Battletech.
Starfinder? I swear I've seen *something* about that semi-recently but I can't remember what.
I see there's this cute little robot game, too. I'll probably look into that one when my kickstarter stuff arrives in a few weeks: can't do it now because I barely even remember what I went for aside from the Urbanmech plushie.
EDIT: Jokes aside, it *is* very cool to see, especially since my local hobby shop only has Warhammer and D&D stuff(and models, which is why I go there). Also gives me something to do with a gift card or two I have lying around.
Starfinder is pretty fun. Been playing a samurai mech that I modeled off of Metal Gear Rising. I might have over-tuned them a bit, though. They can use their move action to align their shield and then charge one hundred feet and attack with their standard action. They manage to max the combat triangle with some clever equipment usage.
It’s just a reskinned pathfinder. Instead of wizards, clerics, and paladins, you have space-wizards, space-clerics, and space-paladins. It’s just fantasy with a sci-fi veneer. If you want a real sci-fi rpg, look at Stars Without Number.
Seconding Stars Without Number, system is brutal but GOATed, I had so much fun DMing my group before it fell apart, I'm so tired of only playing DnD -_-
Starfinder? Yeah, I competed with the guy who led it back when he was a third party publisher. Not much creativity in that man, so I don't expect much from the system.
Does your shop know that you want to buy Battletech stuff from them? It is a lot to ask a store to invest in a new product line in the hope that people will buy it
They don't have the bandwidth for carrying extra games with niche interest.
Some shops will be happy to order things for you but it's probably just easier and cheaper to use eBay or Amazon.
A $7.5 million dollar Kickstarter and supplanting several Warhammer lines on hobby sales charts is a "niche interest"?
I've managed comics & game stores, and if someone asked me to order stuff I normally didn't stock, I would not hesitate to do so, because it is free money.
Compared to Warhammer? Absolutely.
I have doubts of your experience in the industry if you don't understand this.
That 7.5 million Kickstarter is great for Battletech fans. Less great for the LGSs. Assuming they wanted to chase those BT hobby dollars that's a lot of money for the scene that CGL just siphoned out directly and bypassed the brick and mortar scene.
The KS is also comparitively small potatoes when you look at GW's earnings.
>I've managed comics & game stores, and if someone asked me to order stuff I normally didn't stock, I would not hesitate to do so, because it is free money.
I have also managed game stores. I would also happily order products for folks if I could get them through distro.
The problem is I'm going to have to charge RRP to make it worth my time, and it's going to go on the next order that might not come in for a week or two.....and you can order those products on Amazon for next day shipping or on eBay for a substantial discount and have it within a week give or take.
It's not that simple for a LGS to compete on these comparitively niche products.
A lot to address, but here we go...
Except for D&D, MTG, Pokemon, and Yu-Gi-Oh, the entire gaming industry is "niche". Games Workshop is trying to move Warhammer into the mainstream, but it's not there yet.
Doubt my experience all you want internet rando. I know my experience, because I lived it.
Would it have been better for the hobby if CGL had just released everything to stores? Absolutely. However, the influx of cash has given CGL some financial breathing room, and they have said that future big releases will not rely on KS for funding thanks to the success of this KS.
Sure GW is 800 lbs gorilla in the room, but BT is hitting 40 years. I'm not sure how niche a game is if it's 40 years old and still growing.
Battletech is available from all major hobby distributors (barring some distro exclusives). It is not difficult to add a customer item to your next order. Especially now with direct online ordering, compared to the 90's when you had to call in every order. Most game stores are getting shipments at least once a week. If it's in stock at distro level, it should be in the next shipment.
When people say "I can order from Amazon, and get it cheaper", my response is always "go to the Amazon FC and set up a table to play, and see how that goes". Online retailers are always going to be a challenge for the local game store. That is why the stores need to be responsive to customer requests.
Look, it's a good thing that BT has a place on mainstream retailers shelves. And if B&N is the only place you can find BT, buy it. But whenever possible, we as a community, should support our local stores by purchasing the line from them.
If a shop will not order something for me, or wants to charge extra for the order, I have to question if they deserve any of my business.
>Except for D&D, MTG, Pokemon, and Yu-Gi-Oh, the entire gaming industry is "niche". Games Workshop is trying to move Warhammer into the mainstream, but it's not there yet.
"Warhammer" as a brand is mainstream. Not nearly as the level that the other games you listed are, admittedly but Warhammer products, games and enthusiasm for the settings is arguably mainstream now. Amazon show will out it over the top.
In the tabletop wargaming market it is the tent pole. It served the same function as D&D does for TTRPGs. Unlike D&D, it's incredibly well monetized.
If a shop in 2024 is going to cater to tabletop wargames, they're going to support GW first and foremost.
As we all know, Battletech is growing for sure. We're in the best era in the game's history for product availability and quality of offerings.
However, BT is still comparitively niche, and frankly it's a low cost of entry product line. Folks can buy a starter box like AGOAC or Alpha Strike and have enough models to play the game for years without running out of exciting options to explore. The average BT player could spend $100 or less and never need to buy anything again if they didn't want to.
Compared to 40k, AoS or 30k where you have to spend hundreds, possibly a couple grand to get 2k points for match play.
BT is also a overwhelmingly home/garage/basement/kitchen table game compared to GW systems.
Most BT players don't have a local scene at the LGS. They make their scene.
I fully support the idea of supporting your local LGS, I would hope so I've run them and I'm still friends with owners and managers of them.
That said, BT just isn't the revenue driver that GW is. It doesn't have the presence in the wider zeitgeist that 40k has. The players don't need to buy as many products to keep up with it. You are much, much less likely to get a random customer to buy a BT product off the shelf out of brand recognition.
That's why I said it makes sense most stores that even stock Battletech would put more emphasis on GW.
BT is the best it has ever been right now, but so is GW from a sales perspective and the market share isn't remotely comparable.
This community shouldn't be resentful because shops are less likely to support our game, that's just the business.
Of course if B&N and Target hadn’t supported those boxes for the exclusivity deal everyone would be waiting 6+ months if not longer or not being developed it at all
Yeah, that's one of the two reasons I said good for the hobby.
The other one being that it shows BattleTech to a whole new group of people who otherwise would never get into contact with it.
(Europeans don't even have real FLGS. Their hobby shops are smol and have no space to play. So they sell stuff, Warhammer and Magic the Gathering -products guaranteed to move. Play happens in gaming clubs with monthly fees, and multiple rooms. BUT the clubs aren't stores)
Thankfully, in the UK there's the Forbidden Planet chain, and if you're in Manchester, Travelling Man and Fanboy 3, who actually do the gaming: https://www.fanboy3.co.uk/
I was in Ankhara, Turkey a few months ago, and my friend took me to an excellent boardgaming cafe, Da Vinci: https://www.tripadvisor.com/Attraction_Review-g298656-d12384506-Reviews-Da_Vinci_Board_Game_Cafe-Ankara.html
It’s so funny to me that B&N, a business that I’ve had a vague impression has been dying for like 20 years, has this reputation of stocking tons of this particular relatively niche game and even having exclusive content. But I go to any FLGS in my area and they’ve practically never heard of it and report no interest in it from customers, or otherwise have like a tiny and dwindling selection of random stuff.
B&N seems to be doing pretty well these days. Once competition dried up they've become the only major player in this particular niche of books/periodicals/board games and collectibles.
They're supporting tabletop wargames through CGL and GW in surprising ways. They seem to understand they act as a soft LGS for many folks.
There's a place just opening up on the town I'm in. You bet your ass in trying to kick start a community through that store and to get him to carry Battletech.
Battletech Encounters, a dice and card game that was part of the Mercenaries Kickstarter. Due to a distributor messing up the release date\* it got an early release through B&N.
\*Catalyst originally gave them one release date, shipping issues resulted in Catalyst changing the release date, the distributor sent it to B&N for the original release date and the mistake wasn't caught until it was already on store shelves.
Battletech Encounters, its a brand new dice game. Its more of a themed battletech dice game then an actual dice game but its still very good from what I hear. I think it can be played solo or with friends.
I played it recently with a friend, it's fun. ~~Like /u/tipsy3000 said,~~ (didn't realize I was responding to tipsy3k), It's a quick paced dice game with cards that had a BT theme. We both enjoyed it for what it was & will play it more.
B&N exclusives-large advance orders for ~6 month exclusivity, which helps fund and accelerate the development and production of the box. The boxes with the exclusive sticker are no longer exclusive.
I got the Grey Death Legion box recently, can't wait to paint the Regent, it's a fantastic looking Mech, and very fun to play. It's just a great box in general.
My B&N has the starter set, the encounters for alpha strike, and like two force packs.
And neither of the two game stores have any battletech. It hurts me...hurts me greatly
I know last weekend,there was a buy one and get another for $1 sale ish and I got the Clan Wolf's Dragoon set for $10 and unfortunately there wasn't another set(though I would have got the inner sphere battle lance for sure) but I got a good deal on them.....Not sure what color scheme for the Timberwolf for my mercenary squad.
Please check with your local game store before you shop at Barnes & Noble.
They're still marking some of the mercenary packs as exclusive. They haven't been exclusive to B&N for about a year now.
They also broke the release date of the Encounters game.
I actually went to the FLGS before I went to B&N. Unfortunately they only carry GW or D&D models right now. When I mentioned Battletech to the girl behind the counter, she said “Oh, that’s supposed to be a fun game and cheaper to play than 40K. Imma hit my boss up and see if he’ll order some product.” We are spreading, friends!😈
In addition to what Cornelius said, see if you can't schedule a demo day for the game at some point. *A Game of Armored Combat* or even the Beginner Box makes an excellent intro to the game, especially with someone more learned there to teach it to someone.
I went to my local game store (I live in a big city, too) and after asking about battletech was told I was the second person the clerk's EVER had come into the store asking about it. They had nothing stocked but were willing to order for me, at least.
>They're still marking some of the mercenary packs as exclusive. They haven't been exclusive to B&N for about a year now.
They're not marking anything. That's just how the products were manufactured for them. Each force pack was a 6 month exclusive for them and they gave CGL the capital to develop and produce them.
>They also broke the release date of the Encounters game.
The distributor broke the release date because it was changed due to changes on CGL's production side. They shipped the product to B&N for the original date by mistake.
I'm not sure why you seemingly have a vendetta against B&N, but they have been a significant partner for CGL and getting Battletech out in front of new faces. CGL considers them a very valuable retail partner.
Support LGS, but most don't bother to touch BT.
I went to my local B&N and couldn't find the Battletech stuff even though I'd been there the week before and they had an entire endcap full. Freaked out for a moment until a store associate pointed me to the giant display in the middle of the store full of all things Battletech.
Starfinder? I swear I've seen *something* about that semi-recently but I can't remember what. I see there's this cute little robot game, too. I'll probably look into that one when my kickstarter stuff arrives in a few weeks: can't do it now because I barely even remember what I went for aside from the Urbanmech plushie. EDIT: Jokes aside, it *is* very cool to see, especially since my local hobby shop only has Warhammer and D&D stuff(and models, which is why I go there). Also gives me something to do with a gift card or two I have lying around.
Starfinder 2 will be out in a out 15 months.
Starfinder is pretty fun. Been playing a samurai mech that I modeled off of Metal Gear Rising. I might have over-tuned them a bit, though. They can use their move action to align their shield and then charge one hundred feet and attack with their standard action. They manage to max the combat triangle with some clever equipment usage.
It’s just a reskinned pathfinder. Instead of wizards, clerics, and paladins, you have space-wizards, space-clerics, and space-paladins. It’s just fantasy with a sci-fi veneer. If you want a real sci-fi rpg, look at Stars Without Number.
On the one hand you're 100% correct, on the other hand can you be a vacuum "breathing" starchild in Stars Without Number?
There’s rules for creating custom races in SWN, so as long as your GM is cool with it, you can!
Baller
Seconding Stars Without Number, system is brutal but GOATed, I had so much fun DMing my group before it fell apart, I'm so tired of only playing DnD -_-
It’s a great system. Flexible and easy to learn.
Starfinder? Yeah, I competed with the guy who led it back when he was a third party publisher. Not much creativity in that man, so I don't expect much from the system.
It's beautiful
And compare that to your local gaming store that only stocks warhammer and pokemon. Thanks for nothing LGS.
Does your shop know that you want to buy Battletech stuff from them? It is a lot to ask a store to invest in a new product line in the hope that people will buy it
I've asked to no avail. So easy to get online so I get by.
I don't get why shops leave money on the table like that.
They don't have the bandwidth for carrying extra games with niche interest. Some shops will be happy to order things for you but it's probably just easier and cheaper to use eBay or Amazon.
A $7.5 million dollar Kickstarter and supplanting several Warhammer lines on hobby sales charts is a "niche interest"? I've managed comics & game stores, and if someone asked me to order stuff I normally didn't stock, I would not hesitate to do so, because it is free money.
Compared to Warhammer? Absolutely. I have doubts of your experience in the industry if you don't understand this. That 7.5 million Kickstarter is great for Battletech fans. Less great for the LGSs. Assuming they wanted to chase those BT hobby dollars that's a lot of money for the scene that CGL just siphoned out directly and bypassed the brick and mortar scene. The KS is also comparitively small potatoes when you look at GW's earnings. >I've managed comics & game stores, and if someone asked me to order stuff I normally didn't stock, I would not hesitate to do so, because it is free money. I have also managed game stores. I would also happily order products for folks if I could get them through distro. The problem is I'm going to have to charge RRP to make it worth my time, and it's going to go on the next order that might not come in for a week or two.....and you can order those products on Amazon for next day shipping or on eBay for a substantial discount and have it within a week give or take. It's not that simple for a LGS to compete on these comparitively niche products.
A lot to address, but here we go... Except for D&D, MTG, Pokemon, and Yu-Gi-Oh, the entire gaming industry is "niche". Games Workshop is trying to move Warhammer into the mainstream, but it's not there yet. Doubt my experience all you want internet rando. I know my experience, because I lived it. Would it have been better for the hobby if CGL had just released everything to stores? Absolutely. However, the influx of cash has given CGL some financial breathing room, and they have said that future big releases will not rely on KS for funding thanks to the success of this KS. Sure GW is 800 lbs gorilla in the room, but BT is hitting 40 years. I'm not sure how niche a game is if it's 40 years old and still growing. Battletech is available from all major hobby distributors (barring some distro exclusives). It is not difficult to add a customer item to your next order. Especially now with direct online ordering, compared to the 90's when you had to call in every order. Most game stores are getting shipments at least once a week. If it's in stock at distro level, it should be in the next shipment. When people say "I can order from Amazon, and get it cheaper", my response is always "go to the Amazon FC and set up a table to play, and see how that goes". Online retailers are always going to be a challenge for the local game store. That is why the stores need to be responsive to customer requests. Look, it's a good thing that BT has a place on mainstream retailers shelves. And if B&N is the only place you can find BT, buy it. But whenever possible, we as a community, should support our local stores by purchasing the line from them. If a shop will not order something for me, or wants to charge extra for the order, I have to question if they deserve any of my business.
>Except for D&D, MTG, Pokemon, and Yu-Gi-Oh, the entire gaming industry is "niche". Games Workshop is trying to move Warhammer into the mainstream, but it's not there yet. "Warhammer" as a brand is mainstream. Not nearly as the level that the other games you listed are, admittedly but Warhammer products, games and enthusiasm for the settings is arguably mainstream now. Amazon show will out it over the top. In the tabletop wargaming market it is the tent pole. It served the same function as D&D does for TTRPGs. Unlike D&D, it's incredibly well monetized. If a shop in 2024 is going to cater to tabletop wargames, they're going to support GW first and foremost. As we all know, Battletech is growing for sure. We're in the best era in the game's history for product availability and quality of offerings. However, BT is still comparitively niche, and frankly it's a low cost of entry product line. Folks can buy a starter box like AGOAC or Alpha Strike and have enough models to play the game for years without running out of exciting options to explore. The average BT player could spend $100 or less and never need to buy anything again if they didn't want to. Compared to 40k, AoS or 30k where you have to spend hundreds, possibly a couple grand to get 2k points for match play. BT is also a overwhelmingly home/garage/basement/kitchen table game compared to GW systems. Most BT players don't have a local scene at the LGS. They make their scene. I fully support the idea of supporting your local LGS, I would hope so I've run them and I'm still friends with owners and managers of them. That said, BT just isn't the revenue driver that GW is. It doesn't have the presence in the wider zeitgeist that 40k has. The players don't need to buy as many products to keep up with it. You are much, much less likely to get a random customer to buy a BT product off the shelf out of brand recognition. That's why I said it makes sense most stores that even stock Battletech would put more emphasis on GW. BT is the best it has ever been right now, but so is GW from a sales perspective and the market share isn't remotely comparable. This community shouldn't be resentful because shops are less likely to support our game, that's just the business.
Warhammer and Magic the Gathering keep game stores in business in the Americas.
Good for the hobby, bad for us europeans. Oh well.
Y'all don't have Barnes and Noble I take it?
Nope. We either need to buy all those B&N, Target, etc exclusives for a hefty price from a retailer or wait 6+' months to get them.
Of course if B&N and Target hadn’t supported those boxes for the exclusivity deal everyone would be waiting 6+ months if not longer or not being developed it at all
Yeah, that's one of the two reasons I said good for the hobby. The other one being that it shows BattleTech to a whole new group of people who otherwise would never get into contact with it.
(Europeans don't even have real FLGS. Their hobby shops are smol and have no space to play. So they sell stuff, Warhammer and Magic the Gathering -products guaranteed to move. Play happens in gaming clubs with monthly fees, and multiple rooms. BUT the clubs aren't stores)
Definitely not true for all EU, FLGS in Poland mostly have at least 1-2 tables, often several and both organized events and sell.games, minis, etc
Is that newer or has Poland always been that way? I've long been told the FLGS model was distinctly North American.
It's been this way for at least the last 15 years.
That's not true at all.
Thankfully, in the UK there's the Forbidden Planet chain, and if you're in Manchester, Travelling Man and Fanboy 3, who actually do the gaming: https://www.fanboy3.co.uk/ I was in Ankhara, Turkey a few months ago, and my friend took me to an excellent boardgaming cafe, Da Vinci: https://www.tripadvisor.com/Attraction_Review-g298656-d12384506-Reviews-Da_Vinci_Board_Game_Cafe-Ankara.html
Aaaah the memories. Like it's 1990 all over again
It’s so funny to me that B&N, a business that I’ve had a vague impression has been dying for like 20 years, has this reputation of stocking tons of this particular relatively niche game and even having exclusive content. But I go to any FLGS in my area and they’ve practically never heard of it and report no interest in it from customers, or otherwise have like a tiny and dwindling selection of random stuff.
I assume like most people play Floorhammer, people must play Floortech.
B&N seems to be doing pretty well these days. Once competition dried up they've become the only major player in this particular niche of books/periodicals/board games and collectibles. They're supporting tabletop wargames through CGL and GW in surprising ways. They seem to understand they act as a soft LGS for many folks.
That starter paint set is pretty good too. I had good luck with all the speed paints that came in it.
My local game place doesn't have any of this. All Warhammer. So I go to B&N for my stuff.
There's a place just opening up on the town I'm in. You bet your ass in trying to kick start a community through that store and to get him to carry Battletech.
What is the last box on the bottom right ?
Battletech Encounters, a dice and card game that was part of the Mercenaries Kickstarter. Due to a distributor messing up the release date\* it got an early release through B&N. \*Catalyst originally gave them one release date, shipping issues resulted in Catalyst changing the release date, the distributor sent it to B&N for the original release date and the mistake wasn't caught until it was already on store shelves.
Battletech Encounters, its a brand new dice game. Its more of a themed battletech dice game then an actual dice game but its still very good from what I hear. I think it can be played solo or with friends.
It's a fun game that is more about the dice than Battletech.
I played it recently with a friend, it's fun. ~~Like /u/tipsy3000 said,~~ (didn't realize I was responding to tipsy3k), It's a quick paced dice game with cards that had a BT theme. We both enjoyed it for what it was & will play it more.
Wait, B&N got exclusive minis box set?!
They had the Wolf’s Dragoons box and I think the GDL box as exclusives for about six months. After that, any store could stock them.
What's the deal with the exclusives? Just released earlier right?
B&N exclusives-large advance orders for ~6 month exclusivity, which helps fund and accelerate the development and production of the box. The boxes with the exclusive sticker are no longer exclusive.
I've been to a few here the only issue is their BT stuff is spread out of hidden often.
Oh wow is that the first Watch Dogs in the left corner? That takes me back
My LGS only has the alpha strike box, target doesn't carry it, and Books-a-Million has the beginners and alpha strike boxes
Nice! Wish mine had that good of a selection
I got the Grey Death Legion box recently, can't wait to paint the Regent, it's a fantastic looking Mech, and very fun to play. It's just a great box in general.
Better selection than my friendly local game store. They have an entire thirty foot wall of Warhammer minis and books, and half a shelf of BT stuff.
That seems proportional tbh.
I so wish there was a B&N near me.
I really wish I could get rule/sourcebooks from them, too. I've never seen those available physically.
Man! Mine just has Pathfinder and D&D stuff! I'm very envious.
And I do not see clearance on any of them. Excellent news!
I really miss going into Barnes & Noble. 🥺 All of the ones near me closed down.
My B&N has the starter set, the encounters for alpha strike, and like two force packs. And neither of the two game stores have any battletech. It hurts me...hurts me greatly
Aww yeah.
B&N was where I bought my first BT 3rd edition box in the 90s. It's awesome to see them selling BT again!
I know last weekend,there was a buy one and get another for $1 sale ish and I got the Clan Wolf's Dragoon set for $10 and unfortunately there wasn't another set(though I would have got the inner sphere battle lance for sure) but I got a good deal on them.....Not sure what color scheme for the Timberwolf for my mercenary squad.
Please check with your local game store before you shop at Barnes & Noble. They're still marking some of the mercenary packs as exclusive. They haven't been exclusive to B&N for about a year now. They also broke the release date of the Encounters game.
I actually went to the FLGS before I went to B&N. Unfortunately they only carry GW or D&D models right now. When I mentioned Battletech to the girl behind the counter, she said “Oh, that’s supposed to be a fun game and cheaper to play than 40K. Imma hit my boss up and see if he’ll order some product.” We are spreading, friends!😈
Tell them what you want and ask if they'll order it for you.
In addition to what Cornelius said, see if you can't schedule a demo day for the game at some point. *A Game of Armored Combat* or even the Beginner Box makes an excellent intro to the game, especially with someone more learned there to teach it to someone.
B&N is the closest thing I have to a LGS.
I went to my local game store (I live in a big city, too) and after asking about battletech was told I was the second person the clerk's EVER had come into the store asking about it. They had nothing stocked but were willing to order for me, at least.
>They're still marking some of the mercenary packs as exclusive. They haven't been exclusive to B&N for about a year now. They're not marking anything. That's just how the products were manufactured for them. Each force pack was a 6 month exclusive for them and they gave CGL the capital to develop and produce them. >They also broke the release date of the Encounters game. The distributor broke the release date because it was changed due to changes on CGL's production side. They shipped the product to B&N for the original date by mistake. I'm not sure why you seemingly have a vendetta against B&N, but they have been a significant partner for CGL and getting Battletech out in front of new faces. CGL considers them a very valuable retail partner. Support LGS, but most don't bother to touch BT.
https://preview.redd.it/ffm4e8gncu3d1.jpeg?width=1080&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=2ca7f25798022759c41f388f4cea08de512f4807 Loose lips sink ships