GMT moves into mounted boards

GMT put some mounted boards on their P500, after their foray into it w/Successors.

14 bucks on P500, 20 retail.

I don't know how I feel. HIS is like one of my favorite games but I don't feel that I need a mounted board for it necessarily. My POG paper map does have a little hole on it though. It's tempting, but...

I know a lot of BGGers feel that shitty paper maps keeps them from GMT productions. I wonder what the reaction will be from AT and euro gamers? Personally, I don't think it will be huge and they are just pointing to something to help them justify the fact they don't like wargames, despite their "I PLAY ALL GAMES!" mantras.

Paper boards are OK, but old style AH mounted boards are real classy. Let's hope the GMT boards do not warp...

This won't shut them up. If they're not wargamers, it won't impact either way. They're still going to complain about counters being "paper thin" and whatever else they can think of. I don't think it's a bad experiment for GMT to try, but I don't think they're going to sell well enough to justify even a single print run. I could be wrong, but I just don't think it's realistic to think people will buy them. That said, I'm contemplating it for both PoG and HIS, but I'll have to see what the final product looks like.

Anyone have the Successors map? How does that look?

I agree Count. I'm curious to see what happens though, hell, if it brings more people to wargaming than it probably is a good thing. I just don't see it.

they are waiting for 750 orders? i can't see there being enough interest.

if people are so petty that they won't play a great game because the map is made of paper, then those saps shouldn't be war gaming in the first place.

I'd buy Deluxe versions of some of the GMT maps, but not mounted versions.

Plexiglass for life.

It's so much easier to pick up and move stuff on plexiglass, plus you're generally only at risk of damaging the counters from spills, though I tend to keep drinks away from playing areas anyway.

I even clamp the plexiglass down to my table with 2 to 4 clamps...heh.

It's a waste of GMT's time.

GMT is going in the completely wrong direction on this. What they should be doing instead of printing mounted maps, is printing unmounted counters. This would make their games even cheaper and lighter, reducing shipping and production costs. Any gamers that still want mounted counters can just glue the paper ones to cardboard.

Sure, some people will complain, but you know what? Fuck them. If you're unwilling to play a wargame just because it looks like a cheap piece of crap, then you're just a flaming homosexual who should go play Lost Cities or something.

Any plans for a Twilight Struggle mounted map? I'd pre-order that baby.

It's an intriguing project. A couple weeks ago I acquired an unpunched copy of PATHS OF GLORY and put the paper map under the lexan in my cheapo poster frame. Works fine that way.

I think I agree with the idea that the people who have consistently (read: every single related thread) ripped GMT for their production quality are just going to shift their complaints to something else. Or if they don't, they are probably the kind of cheap screws who aren't going to put up the cash anyway--maybe now they'll have a beef about the price, or the shipping cost.

Racking up enough orders on a mounted board for an extremely niche, obscure title like HERE I STAND (which I love) seems like a tall order--PATHS OF GLORY maybe slightly less so. I think they would see much better response for TWILIGHT STRUGGLE given how many more copies it sold.

hacksword wrote:

GMT is going in the completely wrong direction on this. What they should be doing instead of printing mounted maps, is printing unmounted counters. This would make their games even cheaper and lighter, reducing shipping and production costs. Any gamers that still want mounted counters can just glue the paper ones to cardboard.

Sure, some people will complain, but you know what? Fuck them. If you're unwilling to play a wargame just because it looks like a cheap piece of crap, then you're just a flaming homosexual who should go play Lost Cities or something.

Point taken.

However, do you believe people will buy the mounted maps?

But seriously, if you're unwilling to play a game because of how it looks then I suggest jumping on an exploding white phosphorous grenade. Now if the looks, and design, are such that it makes the game unplayable then that is another story. I don't feel paper maps and counters render a game unplayable.

Is Conflict of Heroes a step in the right direction in terms of wargame components? I don't know that we'll ever get away from counters since they're the easiest way to display lots of information.

The mounted maps are rather nice. But I dunno man I don't have a problem with cardstock maps at least.

This is a sensible decision, but I hope GMT will continue to publish their games with paper maps.

I thought the Europe Engulfed map was a good compromise. It's very light cardboard which also lays flat when no plexiglass is at hand.

This isn't aimed at getting BGG whiners to buy wargames [and, after price, it's probably a tie between "card quality" and paper maps for which topic they cite most often as their reason for not buying GMT games]; it's aimed at the folks like me who buy the deluxe maps [e.g., Wilderness War, Barbarossa to Berlin, etc.] for every game they own when they're available. I don't have a problem with the paper maps at all, but I just prefer the more durable cardstock or hardboard maps.

What I find interesting is that they've found a way to price them at exactly the same pricepoint as their "deluxe" cardstock maps. That's a nice step up for the same $.

As for the BGG crowd, they'll just cite the inability to close the box flush as their new reason for not buying the new maps [and, honestly, with all the cards sleeved plus the players guide and expansion decks, I don't think I could actually fit the mounted PoG map into the box--but I'm gonna try.]

I will say that I think doing this for twilight struggle might be a good idea.

I'd definitely buy one for my favourite GMT games as a mounted map is clearly superior, but I just don't really see the drawback for a paper map if the game is any good.

Refusing to play a game due to its looks and refusing to pay $60 for a game that looks like something I could have printed on my own paper are two entirely different ballparks.