What will you miss most about the annual FFG Holiday Sale?

It seems there's to be no annual FFG Holiday Sale this year, which feels sort of weird and sad. It's December 6, and there's been no sign of it, so I guess it's not happening.

After some soul-searching, I think what I'll miss most is adding a bunch of cheap crap that I don't REALLY want or need to my cart, calculating shipping, muttering "fuck THAT," emptying my cart, and then going on with my day. It was an annual tradition! It just doesn't feel like Christmas without it, you know?

I gotta think Asmodee is partially responsible, and not necessarily in a bad way . That sale was always about dumping shitty inventory, my guess is Asmodee has cleaned up that side of the business and made them run leaner .

I’ll miss speculating how soon their latest flop will be in the holiday sale.

I’ll miss picking up the entirety of the Runewars miniatures for $50.

I'll miss adding a few things to my cart, the realizing that shipping is more then the cost of the games and canceling the order.

I'll miss Michael speculating how their latest games flopped enough to be in the holiday sale.

The French venture capitalists that took over Asmodee and then FFG sold out to another group of French venture capitalists the following year. The current ownership has been terminating a lot of employees, and intends to replace some of them with younger employees with lower wages. They are also running some of the North America operations out of the smaller office in Montreal, for the sake of easier communication with the headquarters in Paris. Expect to see more aggressive budget cutting over the next couple of years, in hopes of flipping the company again for a multiple of their investment. Hopefully they won't make any cuts of creative staff at the studios.

ChristopherMD wrote: I'll miss Michael speculating how their latest games flopped enough to be in the holiday sale.

Ah, surely you must mean total dud titles such as Battlelore 2e, Runebound 3e, and Diskwars, none of which are worth anyone’s time.

Joking aside, I will miss stuff like what I mentioned above being deep discounted. Sure, there was the Midnight DVD and their Fortress America reprint (gosh, remember them thinking that old turd was worth regurgitating?), but there were also those moments of getting into a truly great game that never got the attention it deserved and everyone becoming overwhelmed with shame for not recognizing them earlier.

Josh Look wrote:

ChristopherMD wrote: I'll miss Michael speculating how their latest games flopped enough to be in the holiday sale.

Ah, surely you must mean total dud titles such as Battlelore 2e, Runebound 3e, and Diskwars, none of which are worth anyone’s time.

I never said he was right...and don't call me Shirley.

It seems like they’ve just replaced it completely with the MAPP amnesty.

I’ll miss Micromutants being available for $5. Again.

Josh Look wrote:

ChristopherMD wrote: I'll miss Michael speculating how their latest games flopped enough to be in the holiday sale.

their Fortress America reprint (gosh, remember them thinking that old turd was worth regurgitating?),.

FA wasn't a turd in its original edition . Reasonably balanced, though played best with four players, and a clever design in that it basically had a built in game clock - the invaders have to win early or attrition will eventually take its toll.

The FFG edition - THAT was a turd. They made some unnecessary changes to the "classic" rules that drastically swung the balance in favor of the invaders. I only glanced at their optional "new" rules version that looked to be some half cooked un playtested ideas. It strikes me as similar to the dual rules version of their MoV remake - does anyone play with the "new" rules set ? I suspect not.

Msample wrote: It strikes me as similar to the dual rules version of their MoV remake - does anyone play with the "new" rules set ? I suspect not.

Is that what that second book is on the bottom of the box underneath the planos?

Msample wrote: It strikes me as similar to the dual rules version of their MoV remake - does anyone play with the "new" rules set ? I suspect not.

I did, a couple times, before I sold my copy. It's decent in its own way. It has a lot more chrome than the original MoV, which is the very definition of PU&D, and if you're into more detail in that way, then it's cool. There's certainly nothing wrong with it, other than how it apparently makes the purists around here break out into hives whenever someone suggests that a "classic" game could possibly be changed. Most games are a long, long way from any definition of perfection. Even stuff like Dune.

Quit interrupting his sanctimony.