will have to see if my paltry bid will get me a V deck?????
They could just use Drivethru cards or some other outlet and license a print and play. I would buy several decks. Or maybe a box set of one of each deck. I would buy 10.
I would like to see Ares make a Modeler's Airplane Pack... just the unpainted model. Assembled or unassembled... primed or unprimed. Basically - just like Shapeways. Package 2 or 3 of them together and price it to make some profit. Include a maneuver deck, stand, pegs and a generic plane card. Lowers the Ares initial investment and serves an untapped market. It's the Amazon Basics sales model... identify what is selling and offer your own version to usurp that revenue stream.
I spend thousands on acquiring ARES models from the secondary market, one for my collection and the rest just for repainting purposes. On any given day I can see thousands of ARES planes for sale on eBay. There are even hundreds listed on Amazon. If they weren't selling, they would slowly dry up to a small volume of listings.
Still seeing Fokker D.VII's going for $50 to $150 in the US. Looks like a revenue stream to me and definitely feels like one to my wallet.
Random musings of a capitalist.
The secondary market is nuts! They really need to do a reprint of some of the planes. But, I think there has been a lot of that talk recently.
Well according to Roberto at Ares defects we've recently seen are almost impossible to avoid, no matters the level of QC they try to implement because the factory workers are not expert modelers and are the models are tiny with a much higher part number...
So you can probably forget high(er) quality models !
https://www.wingsofwar.org/forums/sh...l=1#post539214
Sapiens qui vigilat... "He is wise who watches"
Sure. This may be acceptable for the standard 15$ product line. I'm thinking more of a luxury collector line produced by trained staff in Europe. Something like https://www.bbrmodelstore.com/Englis...BBR-BUILT.aspx (sorry for off-topicness)
One one note, with the not so great quality plane I do not using it and i do not worry about damage from using it. If I had a collectors pieces I would never use it in fear of damaging it. It would sit on the crowded shelf with my other pricey pretties.
Oh, come on #careandloveforeverymodel
Hm, isn't this is just a lame excuse? The quality of earlier planes were much better... or is today the norm and those earlier ones were positive outliers? They pretty much cost the same for us buyers, or am I wrong?
I know nothing about manufacturing of small models. What I see lately from Ares is the disparity in quality between current Wings of Glory models and previous Wings of War/Glory and Battlestar Galactica models. It is very different, and not for the better.
The only thing I can say, from what I understand, is profit margins are driving this. I would suspect that the niche aspect of Wings of War/Glory is the limiting factor. The people who play the game are very passionate, but such a small market group. Games based on science fiction seem to be much more popular, and the quantity of models produced for those games is much higher, therefore at a lower run cost. This allows for higher quality and better production values.
There are lots of things Ares could do with this game, it only takes money. Unfortunately, Ares isn't able to tap into the secondary market to generate that cash where it is needed, at the production end.
To my knowledge, Ares hasn't been able to separate the production of individual planes, and therefore are can only produce sets of four. Not knowing in advance what would sell, they bundled planes that aren't selling equally well. I still don't get why, in a game, Fokker D.VIIs and Sopwith Snipes don't sell equally well. They are reasonably matched planes, and period in opponents. What do I know?
So, we have a lot of issues plaguing our game and the company that produces it. I suspect none of us is happy. Until history becomes the new passion with gamers, we may be "between a rock and a person we want to hit with it."
Mike
"Flying is learning to throw yourself at the ground and miss" Douglas Adams
"Wings of Glory won't skin your elbows and knees while practicing." OldGuy59
My personal belief is the historical usage;
Snipes only saw combat in the last 48 days of WW1, and the first couple of weeks of that may have been on-the-job training. Only 4 Squadrons used it, 2 of those being Australian.
The Fokker D.VII ended the War being present in around 60% of Jastas, quite a few of which were pretty much exclusively equipped with it. It saw around 5.5 months of service; this makes it essential, whereas the Snipe is a scarce novelty in comparison.
I laugh in the face of danger - then I hide until it goes away!
Have to wonder if they could break up those original 4-plane molds.
D.VII vs SE.5a would be a 'keeper' for sure.
Or go the 'squadron pack' route and not pair them at all.
The real 'klunkers' seem to always be the two-seaters.
By the time they get around to reprinting the balloons, everyone will have gone to alternate sources.
They have enough history to know what sells, but don't seem to utilize it.
I don't see why they couldn't just do a run of one plane. A run of Fokker DVII and produce 8 different paint schemes or something. I would assume each plane has its own mold.
ive aired this idea before but ill repeat it here as i think it would be profitable for ares. in addition to the 2 duel packs we already have, id have a constant rotation with one of these 4 always in production with occasional paint scheme changes; "early war"-airco dh2 vs halberstadt dIII. the 2 we already have, and "late war" fokker DVII vs se5a. i think this would keep a constant stream of iconic and desirable aircraft for new players and, with the new paint schemes, for veteran players as well.
ive also changed my mind from ares position of not producing maneuver decks alone so as not to cut into possible profits from minis sales, to producing them freely. to be blunt, you cant cut into profits youre not making from non existent minis. the production schedule is so infrequent, however necessarily, and the demand for new aircraft so high, i dont see selling decks ever cutting into the demand for new minis whenever they appear. furthermore, it would be a cheaper alternative to keep a revenue stream going from modelers and mini repurposers that would give players clamoring for product spending money on ares products. it would seem to be a win-win scenario to me at this point.
The original sculpts were gang-molded one of each plane to the sprue; Ares talked about changing that in the retool so they could run individual planes as market demanded, but right now the Miniatures portfolio isn't seen as a high priority; the company appears to have been captured by One Hit Wonder boardgames.
That explains it. Bad decision on the mold. I have worked in manufacturing for a long time and we very rarely put different sculpts into one mold. We usually make a mold of multiples of the same sculpt. That way, you can produce only what is in demand and not get stuck with a bunch of stock. I guess the game and toy business is different in that aspect.
There is, in my opinion, a really good Starter Deal in eBay Germany:
https://www.ebay.de/itm/174498036972
The Rules Box + both Duel Sets + two extra Planes (rare ones) for 70 Euro...
This week I saw a Heinkel He.111 go to about £80 on eBay (France, I think). I participated in the bidding but this ending price was above my budget.
Anyone know how often these Heinkels show up on the secondary market?
Alfgard, that is a great deal!
Now I made an offer for 60,00 Euro...lets see...have a litte
guilty conscience..I think minimun 100 would be ok.
If I get them I would keep them for new players who claim an interest in the forum.
But that shows how low the interest in the game is in germany....I think if this would be "global" or "US" offer it would easyl reach the 100,00.
Lets see.
P.S. The Ares Upcoming Site anoucess the "rules set" and the "duel packs" reprints for February...perhaps it is a new starts...and if the selling is good whe se more.
We hope to see some new rule sets and dual packs in February. Lets see what happens!
I laugh in the face of danger - then I hide until it goes away!
Not guiltyThis week I saw a Heinkel He.111 go to about £80 on eBay (France, I think).
I'm learning to fly, but I ain't got wings
Coming down is the hardest thing
This nearly fits here. Seen a lot of "ships" stuff on Ebay for those interested
Tim, you didn't even cross my mind as an interested party. Nor me, but there wasn't a separate area to put it in but someone, somewhere on here, might be Anyway, back to the skies
For those still interested. Some Wings of War Fokker DVII have shown up on US Ebay again. Good luck!
https://www.ebay.com/itm/Wings-Of-Wa...gAAOSwFvVfsc0z
https://www.ebay.com/itm/Wings-Of-Wa...cAAOSw27xfsdP-
https://www.ebay.com/itm/Wings-Of-Wa...MAAOSwwCNfseN8
https://www.ebay.com/itm/Wings-Of-Wa...kAAOSwxF5fsHP6
https://www.ebay.com/itm/Wings-Of-Wa...MAAOSwWkRfsHdh
https://www.ebay.com/itm/Wings-Of-Wa...sAAOSwB8BfsHXB
Dan: thanks so much for posting these. 4 haven't been up 1 day and are all $65 or better.
Thank gawd for shapeways.
Brak Morn, you are welcome. Happy to share.
Here is an interesting one. Somebody is listing a shapeways painted Felixstowe. I may have to bid on this one.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/1-144-Paint...wAAOSwcbpfs48k
too rich for me plus postage
Yeah, the international postage is brutal right now.
you want to see the postage from France - ludicrous
Geez... don't get me started on the handling of postage right now. I have yet to get a box that wasn't crushed or trashed in some way in the past couple of months. I feel your pain!!!!
There is a reason UPS is often facetiously referred to as "United Package Smashers"
And of course, the USPS has its own set of references: the Post Awful, the Post Offal, or my own invention the Post Orifice.
Zen,
LOL!
That Felixstowe is very nice indeed, wouldnt want to have to repair it on arrival though...
Never Knowingly Undergunned !!
EEK! Yea, that is a good point!
I especially love it when my packaged has black marks on it like it either got ran over, or got stuck in a conveyor belt. Usually something fragile.
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