Topic: Federation Commander Thread

[Lepton]

Wow... some of you kid (who haven't been kids in decades!) need to lighten up.

Hello.
I own a game store.
I sell Federation Commander:Klingon Border

Yep.. You can call it SFB lite if you wish.

What I have a little difficulty with is some of the attitudes some folk have with product pricing.  Consider this before you gripe about prices.  My rretail storefront runs me 3k a month not counting the cost of product of which over 70% sit on the shelves in excess of 3 months before moving out the door.  Utilities, services, permits, licences all cost more.  There are more laws and ordinaces I have to deal with on a regular basis then I even want to think about.  GAMES ARE CHEAP!  Thats right CHEAP.

If game prices had kept up with inflation, that little $12 poly bagged original Starfleet Battles to day would sell for about $24-30.  Fed commander SHOULD if game prices stayed at the rate of inflation from the mid 80's run around $60 to$80 a copy.

Fortunatly for all you gamer lads an lassies out there, game companies, distirbutors, and store owners have found ways to keep the costs down. But finding out how to do that has not been easy or painfull.  We compete with Television, Concerts, Pro Sports, Computers and the Internet for your pocket money.  70%of all gaming stores that were open 10 years ago are now closed forever.  They're closed because they went broke.  Board gaming has always been a nich market.  Computer gaming very nearly did this industry in.  I cant just sell war games and plastic models in my store any more.  I seel everything from Aggrevation to Zendo.
Collectable minitures and cards.  I tooka hell of a risk and opened a game store 2 1/2 years ago and its still very rough going.  I carry SFB, F&E, and Fed Commander.  I haven't sold so much as a single copy since I put them on the shelves. 

Frankly.  a bunch of us may love it, but it doesn't sell.  If the copies on my shelves sell, I'll replace them.  But the hey day of conflict (read:War) gaming is over and has been for a decade.  Avalon Hill is gone.  SPI is gone, Yaquinto is gone and the list of the dead goes on and on, and on.  I have to carry kiddie games for the 4 to 8 year old set to keep the doors open.  My biggest selling game is Carcassone, and Settlers of Catan.  I sell one actual boardgame a month... maybe.  How ADB stays in business I'll never know.  But I am very certain its by cutting every possible emenity out and running an absolutly bare bones operation.  Be damd thankfull thier products are as cheap as they are.   The licence and rights payments they recieved from the Starfleet Command computer game series is likely the ONLY reason they're still operating.  Federeration commander should be selling at $50 a copy.
instead you gamers are getting it at the phenominaly low MSRP of 29.95.  The game doesn't even pay the rent on its shelf space for me.  But, I carry it anyway.  Out of love of the game.  Someday some old dude with a pot belly, 3 screaming kids in tow, and prematurly grey hair is going to walk in the door, see it, and get a glassy look in his eyes as his memories rush back to him.  He'll take that box down off the shelf.  I'll ring it up, and he'll count out the pennies in exact change to get it.  He'll skip lunch for the rest of the week at work to get that game.  He may never actually play it, but he'll buy it.

QUit you bitching and SUPPORT YOUR LOCAL GAME STORE!  If you dont, there wont be a local game store.  Welcome to the 21st century.

Terrance L. Roff
Owner: It's Your Move Games and Hobbies
           4920 Telegraph Ave SUite-B
           Oakland CA 94609
           Phone:1-510-547-4386
           http://www.itsyourmovegames.com

P.S.  To those who might be offended, my apologies.  I just get a bit tired of hearing "Oh it's so expensive.  Why does it cost so much?"  The reality is boxed board games are one of the best bang for the buck deals out there today.  You pay $30-50 for a brand nex X-box game and in 3 months its played out and you want more.  The "average" console gamer spend $200-$400 per year on game titles not counting the price of the game system.  Board games are CHEAP!..... and.........they last a hell of a lot longer!
     

I don't know what you are smoking but MSRP of Federation Commander is 60 bucks not 30 bucks.  I payed 40 bucks for SFC:OP and I am still playing it years and years later.  I payed 50 bucks for Pacfic Fighters, a PC WWII flight combat sim and I am still playing it over a year later and will continue to play it.  I don't know what X-Box games you are buying but I think something like Half-Life 2, Halo 2, etc, etc have much longer playing time than 3 months.  Board games are in fact expensive when you consider what you get with a vid game as compared to a board game.  You're camparing what is probably a multi-billion dollar industry that spends millions of dollars on game development to a box with some paper boards and paper chits.  Wake up!

[RazalYllib]

Wow...SvC dropped on by...and FC lookith a bit interesting, far more interesting..ISC FnE Camp...mmm it might be time to upgrade to the newest full FnE set, mine is woefully out of date (though I have two sets of counters from the basic to play with and belive it or not, it times past, they ALL were in play...)

[Magnum357]

Ya, I'm really suprised to see you Steve.  Nice to see you stop buy the Dynaverse boards.    I'm not really complaining about the price, FC looks to be more of what I wanted out of SFB years ago, but unfortunetly money is really tight for me so I will have to wait later to get it.  I didn't know that 1200 gaming stores have gone out of buisness, I bet things like the PS and X-box probably play a big factor in that.  Strange thing is I only have a PS1 and I still play more of my games on the PC then any Console games.  Heck, I still play Janes USNF 97 (a 10 year old game!) and Football Pro 98 (nearly 10) a lot more then any console game. 

If small gaming stores are in that bad of shape, I think in the future I may go to a local gaming store in my town and ask if they have FC.  I don't have the time or money now, but maybe in the future.  The real big draw for me about FC is that its simpler ease of play, and if you use FC with the "Campaign Designers Handbook" you could really have an awsome campaign system just with those two components.

[Nerroth]

It's appopriate that I picked up the rulebook for Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay recently, as it's time for some Necromancy!


Bwahahahaaa...


Seriously: I have now got Klingon Border, Klingon Attack and Booster Zero (Finally - my very own ISC ship diagram! Time to go pacify the octant...) and I'm glad to see that FC has been doing well - here in Ireland I've been able to show it to a few gamers (old-time SFBers and newbies) and this summer I'll be able to get stuck in with some more gaming!


If you want to give FC a try before picking up Klingon Border (or waiting for Romulan Border, if you're more a plasma-and-pointy-ears fan!) you could try the First Missions pdf, to give the game system a go. Also, there's a list of questions for SFBers answered in this pdf.


And check out the artwork for Klingon Attack, Romulan Border and Romulan Attack:






Gary

[Magnum357]

Yes, I highly recommand anybody that was a fan of SFB too try out the "First Missions" rules and test out the rules.  I'm starting too really like Federation Commander rules system, even more then SFB (which is a huge shock    ).  There are a few minor differences between the SFB system versus the FC system, but if you already have much of the rules for SFB, you can easily convert your SFB ships too FC equivelent.  Heck, all I did was buy the Federation Commander Rule book and convert my SFB stuff too work with FC.  Very easy too do and the advantage of using the FC system is that you have a much greater chance of actually getting the average person too play the game with you then using SFB. 

One question though, I already bought the FC: Klingon Boarder Rule book and am planning to buy FC: Romulan Boarder and FC: Tholian Boarder, but are there rule books for Klingon Attack and Romulan Attack aswell?

[Nerroth]

Klingon Attack comes with a small rulebook (mostly a scenario book, along with a basic description of the new ships)

It properly fleshes out the Kzinti fleet options - it should have been called Federation Commander: Rise of the Tigermen!


It has a couple more map sections, new ship diagrams and 1" and 1/2" counters.


However, like in KB you don't get all of the Diagrams you need, as the Fed, Klingon and Kzinti Fast Cruisers are in each of the three new booster packs...


Gary

[Magnum357]

Ok, but does "Klingon Attack" (and I guess Romulan Attack and Tholian Attack) have rule sections in there Rule books?  Can you just use the "Klingon Boarder" Rule Book to play the ships in "Klingon Attack"?  I ask because I don't have a lot of money right now and I'm just planning to purchase the Rule Books of Federation Commander. 

I know ADB would rather have me pay the full $60 bucks to play the game system, but like I said, money is tight with me right now and since I already have much of the SFB material, it just is a better solution for me too buy just the Rule Books of Federation Commander.

[Lepton]

If you'd like to do FC on the cheap. my recommendation would be if you have SFB materials, such as SSDs and counters, just buy the Klingon Border rulebook and perhaps one of the reference cards.  If you want to use potentially all of the SFB materials you have, you should also buy Booster Pack 0, which includes a set of working rules for all the standard set of SFB races including WYN and ISC.  Klingon Attack I believe does not have any new rules.  It's just more ships I think.  Romulan Border will have plasma rules, Rom Attack will have more rom ships.

[Magnum357]

Ok.  Ya, that is what I was thinking too.  I already have a ton of SFB material (Maps, Counters, SSD's, etc.) and it all seems to work well with the FC system.  Glad to hear that I only need Klingon Boarder, Romulan Boarder and Tholian Boarder Rule books to actually play the system, I already got the latest version of Klingon Boarder Rule book.  I think your right about getting the References Cards, there are a few slight Changes in a few of the weapons systems that are a little different then SFB, but they are very minor.  I was thinking about getting Booster 0 but I thought it was a Playtest module for people too try out before main Products go into production.  I might aswell just wait for Romulan Boarder and Tholian Boarder to come out.