New Product: ASL Starter Pack #1

[kdalton]

Hmmm, personally I don't get it. What is so difficult here?

Well, here's the economics of the sitution, Les. You have to have the cash flow to spend it. Ask Ken Lay at Enron. The reprints are costly, and those costs have to be paid up front. We don't see a return on them until far down the line.

Have the MMP people never heard of investors?
Do they really think so little of this game, they can't get a SMALL bit of investment to cover the cost of printing BEFORE putting it on sale?

We don't think little of ASL at all; we're a niche market small business retailer trying to survive a global economic downturn and strong market pressures. Investment capital is not plentiful right now; having just switched to a start-up private firm from government work recently, I have a passing familiarity with the situation. Besides, are we going to go out and find a new investor for every reprint? Don't you think, if we're not making it without outside capital, the fourth or fifth investor is going to be just a wee bit wary?

As far as I am concerned, selling the starter and then printing the manual and BV tells me only one thing. Either I know a great deal more about business than do the owners of MMP, or they just reeeeeally don't care how efficiently the game is marketed, and reeeeally don't wish to be a genuine business.

Or you do not have full knowledge of the dynamics of the situation. I am glad you are concerned; frankly, when gamers become apathetic, that's when I get worried.

If MMP doesn't do that which is required to be taken seriously, then maybe it is time we all decided to just play old ASL, and turf them and turf their product from our lives.

That's always the consumer's choice, and we don't take them for granted.

We have contacted retailers repeatedly by email and order inserts, contacted customers directly through the internet, order inserts, and through postcards, and we still have only 367 preorders for the rulebook after almost a year.

Last year we increased our discounts to retailers to encourage ordering, and I personally have contacted every retailer prospect sent to me with information about our products via phone, email, and snail mail.

If you have a suggestion, besides "MMP better stop screwing around," I am open to it.

The rulebook is a straight reprint, so all we have to do is call the printer and have them schedule the run. If the Starter Pack engenders the interest we hope it will, then we should have no problem rolling the rulebook, and right after that, BV, off through a combination of increased preorders and profit from the starter pack, as Brian said Consim.

We are also featuring the Starter Pack and ASL at the Gama Convention in Las Vegas in March. It's THE big gaming industry convention.

 

[kdalton]

The starter packs are demos; everything you need to play the simple scenarios are included. If you want to play more ASL, you still need the other products.

This is a lead-in product for the rulebook and BV. The rules booklet breaks down phase by phase and gives you the basics. A copy of the CRT and any tables needed for the scenarios are included.

We're publishing this at a modest price point to draw new ASL'ers in and to get over sticker shock and rulebook size shock.

Keith

 

[Priest]

Well I for one wish you luck Keith, I just hope that this works.

 

[kdalton]

Thanks, Priest. Sorry if I sounded frustrated in my first reply to this topic. We're just as frustrated as you are about the situation, and we're trying to break through regarding the rulebook. Thanks for all your patience with us and thanks for being our customers.

I don't have a second edition either, so I have a personal investment in getting a new supply in stock. :cheeky:

 

[Aries]

Hey Keith just so it doesn't get lost in the message, I DO appreciate your being here and your efforts to keeping us informed eh

I am an aries and I have a big mouth hehe

Keep that in mind when reading anything I post hehe.

If the game doesn't fly as it currently exists, then clearly we wargamers will have to invent solutions to offer the company.

I am more than willing to sit here with my thinking cap on and try to offer those solutions.

Last thing I want to be is ONLY a loud mouth

I think the starter packs are a good idea. Keep the company pushing ahead with this one.

I am also strongly in favour of map sheets over map boards. They are expensive as you clearly know, and we wargamers do NOT require a mounted board.
Considering I have decades of wargaming with some games that never had them in the first place, that much is proven fact.

Mounted boards are just mounted boards. All they do is weigh me down carrying the game around. I would actually not mind storing the whole lot in just one box eh.

 

[kdalton]

Sarge,

Sorry you took the brunt of my quasi-vent. :nuts:

As for mounted mapboards, it will be interesting to see the reaction to the cardstock-mounted ones in the starter packs. I am not suggesting we are moving in any particular direction for the line as a whole, but I will be interested in how well they are received.

Keith

 

[Aries]

You were venting Keith I didn't notice hehe. You need to try harder if you want to look meaner hehe.

Card stock is fine with me, count me as one vote in favour if you will.

Some times all you get with a deluxe approach, is a deluxe price tag.

 

[Priest]

Thanks, Priest. Sorry if I sounded frustrated in my first reply to this topic.

No problem, it must be frustrating for you to come to these forums and have to read some of the negative comments posted here. Again luck on this venture.

 

[Priest]

Cardstock is fine with me too, count me in.

 

[CPRad]

The starter packs are demos; everything you need to play the simple scenarios are included. If you want to play more ASL, you still need the other products.

This is a lead-in product for the rulebook and BV. The rules booklet breaks down phase by phase and gives you the basics. A copy of the CRT and any tables needed for the scenarios are included.

We're publishing this at a modest price point to draw new ASL'ers in and to get over sticker shock and rulebook size shock.

Keith

Well I went overboard buying every module I could lay my hands on. I'm committed (my wife thinks I SHOULD be) to the ASL line and will buy the new starter module. The 8 day teaching instruc. is great so are many other downloads form various sites. I still find the ASLRB very intimidating so bring the starter mod on.

Also I do appreciate Les, Priest and the other comments on this topic/site as they do bring points of views that should be considered.

Thanks

Larry

 

[kdalton]

CPRad, thanks for jumping into ASL with both feet. I did the same thing in the early nineties and in short order purchased everything up through Hollow Legions before taking a three-year hiatus due to y wife's pregancy and the birth of my son.

When I came back to the game in 2000 (son born in January 1999), AH was gone, and I thought there would be no more ASL. Then I found MMP's site, and decided to offer my PR services to help ASl survive and prosper.

MMP appreciates customer feedback and constuctive criticism -- it's one of the ways we gauge demand for a product. It's one of the advantages we have over AH -- we get pretty direct opinions. :cheeky:

 

[CPRad]

CPRad, thanks for jumping into ASL with both feet. I did the same thing in the early nineties and in short order purchased everything up through Hollow Legions before taking a three-year hiatus due to y wife's pregancy and the birth of my son.

When I came back to the game in 2000 (son born in January 1999),

Hey anytime Keith;

I'm really an old boy (SL games), more recently fan of the TCS/OCS series but having dicovered ASL earlier this year decided to take the plunge. Not regretting the move any. I was lucky to have acquired a new copy of both ASLRB & BV from a hobby shop. Currently I'm a sub'er with homerGames.

I think I'll switch ASL sub stuff directly to MMP ... anyway I hope MMP/ASL live longer than I'm able to play and that goes for this excellent site and all its members.

Keith I hope your more successful at getting you little one interested in ASL.

I f I don't return to answer on WHQ before Dec 25th I'd like to wish everyone a Merry Christmas!!

Thanks

Larry