This may be the most ridiculously clever piece of marketing fluff ever aimed at wargamers. Those Warlord chaps are brilliant. It's not a new idea, to be sure. I've seen people do similar things with dollar store lights and cotton balls to represent burning tanks, but this is marketing brilliance, because there are hordes of us afflicted with the "Ooooh, shiny" syndrome who will drool from the mouth while reaching for their wallets.
Or, it may go down in wargaming history as the silliest, most peculiar product offering since FOW came out with those little dust cloud thingies to put down behind moving tanks in desert war games. Perhaps time will tell. Thoughts?
Reverend, I have been weak. Damnably, damnably weak.
ReplyDeleteI should probably clarify - I haven't invested. But I've been sorely tempted.
ReplyDeleteMy son, I share your temptation. Man is made of frail stuff indeed. I saw these and thought how fine they would look with my ACW figures.
DeleteI did not dare to express my opinion in public, but it comforts me to see that I'm not alone in my thinking about this stuff. Nothing against Warlord (I own some stuff) but I fear they're on their way to become the new Games Workshop
ReplyDeleteWell considering much of the staff are ex-GW it's to be expected isn't it?
ReplyDeleteNo one is putting a gun to anyone's head saying you must buy these and their games do not require the use of these. So it's a nice bit of OOH SHINEY for those with money who want to splash out and make their table look more dramatic.
After all, we could just use paper cut outs for houses and oblongs of green paper for woods and any kind of token to represent our troops and tanks, yet we spend good money getting the best detailed models we can and cry when accurately sculpted troops for our particular niche interest aren't available.
If I had the money I'd get them for the cool factor. But I don't, so temptation is averted.
Benito, James: I suppose my tone here was a bit snarky, and in fact I am record elsewhere as saying that the GW business model is not evil. I admire companies like GW, Battlefront, and now Warlord that are trying to grow beyond the cottage industry level. I think the hobby needs big as well as small players, and we are all free, as James notes, to spend our money as we please. As a former marketing guy, I suppose I was shaking my head in bemusement and admiration at Warlord for coming up with this idea. Time will tell if it makes money, but sometimes you have to admire audacity in putting a product out there. I can't see myself buying it, but I admire it.
DeleteBut it's not April the 1st.................
ReplyDeleteResist this tomfoolery
Interesting responses. Personally, I won't be using them for wargames (any time soon), but I can see how these devices would enhance a diorama or static display.
ReplyDeleteThe thing is, I do use smoke in my H&M games to denote units that fired, and that is because smoke affects shooting under my rule sets. To have flashing lights beneath them wouldn't look too bad at all. So for those who those whose resistance to temptation falls short of Conrad Kinch's iron-bar example - Conrad should know that such resolve is the more laudable when it is hard - I will say: 'Good on yez!'
All that remains to be done is the attachment of a sound effects circuit synchronised with the flashing lights... :0)
I too have been known to pilfer my wife's cosmetic cotton balls for H&M games.
ReplyDeleteConrad Kinch is well known as a man of ironshod willpower. He is practically the Shaolin monk of our hobby.
I, for one, absolutely LOVE this sort of stuff. Anything to add more dynamism to the tabletop is cool with me. I really enjoy pimping my tabletop with smoke clouds, explosions, vignettes, etc. (And, for the record, I really like the desert dust plumes from FoW...) Ah, for the spectacle of it all!
ReplyDeleteWarlord defitely adds something to the hobby IMO, but this? I'm not sure yet. Could be nice in a building but three sets of volley fire?...I like pimping the table as well but I'll have to see this in person as it does look a bit silly to me in the video.
ReplyDelete