I enjoy going over the monthly pre-orders every month on my blog. As much as I started the Apathy series to confirm that there's barely anything coming out that I would buy, it fills a big void that I've had since leaving gaming retail almost fifteen years ago. While I would love to have the financial independence to have a store of my own, right now I'll leave it to the guys at Emerald Vale Games to try and figure it out.
Recently EVG moved from Alliance over ACD for their orders. ACD seems like a company that tries a lot harder and a lot better than Alliance. Not only do they have online updates on their inventory at 8am, noon, and 4pm, for their three warehouses, such data is actually available at the consumer level! There's only a four hour window to try to claim, "Sorry, out of stock," and everyone has the opportunity to check up and confirm that.
Try as I might to change to ACD's pre-order system, I just can't. Despite some chronic lateness with certain companies' solicitations, Alliance's Game Trade Magazine is the most comprehensive and easy to use of all the listings. While I've heard fleeting stories of stores using GTM as the sales tool they're designed for, giving the customer something more than the spreadsheet or plain pdf the other distributor provides is timeconsuming and foolhardy at best. It's better to sell the customer the products using GTM, and then go use your distributor(s) of choice when ordering.
My Want List
Rock Paper Scissors Lizard Spock Dice Game (Koplow 18384) ................................................$3.00
From The Big Bang Theory, my non-gamer wife will be getting a set as well.
My Money is No Object List
Maybe the D&D books at the bottom of the post (aaaah... Spoilers!)
The Imaginary Store List
Adventureland Games
ELEVENSES: THE CARD GAME OF MORNING TEA .......................................................$15.00
Ares Games
Ten new Wings of Glory planes, ranging between $14.90 and $19.90 MSRP
Battlefront Miniatures
BRIDGE AT REMAGE BFM FW230.....................................................................................$30.00
Battlefront has a nice listing for their new products. Dust Tactics and the new FoW Great War suffer from the lack of pictures. Every infantryman, truck, and tracked vehichle from regular FoW gets a picture. Doesn't bode well for them. One the good side, the British Mk IV tanks in 15mm are about half the price of a 25mm one. Sounds about right.
Bezier Games
CASTLES OF MAD KING LUDWIG ..................................................................................$59.99
Catalyst Game Labs
SHADOWRUN RPG: FIRE & FROST PAPERBACK .........................................................$14.95
Cryptozoic Entertainment
DC COMICS: DECK-BUILDING GAME - FOREVER EVIL ............................................ $40.00
NHL POWER PLAY TEAMBUILDING CARD GAME ..................................................... $40.00
Cubicle 7
DOCTOR WHO RPG: THE EIGHTH DOCTOR SOURCEBOOK HARDCOVER............. $34.95
THE ONE RING RPG: RUINS OF THE NORTH ............................................................... $34.95
ROCKET AGE RPG: LURE OF VENUS............................................................................. $29.95
Diamond Comics
First off, they're soliciting for Game of Thrones pint glasses and ceramic mugs, and if these happen to arrive after your post-GenCon "haul o' cash," I can't see anything wrong with stocking these through the holidays.
Secondly, My Little Pony plushes? If the price is right, and your store customers have young children or are young children, I say why not?
The next part makes me giggle with nostaligia.
DUNGEONS & DRAGONS: CLASSICS VOLUME 1-4 TPBs
DUNGEONS & DRAGONS: FORGOTTEN REALMS VOLUME 1-4 TPBs
There are a number of other series that I don't remember through the years, but collected versions of the two DC series will skew the nostalgia of how not-so-good they actually were.
THE COMPLETE ELFQUEST VOLUME 1
Fantasy Flight Games
STAR WARS RPG: EDGE OF THE EMPIRE FAR HORIZONS SOURCEBOOK .............. $29.95
TALISMAN: THE WOODLANDS EXPANSION .................................................................$39.95
FASA
1879: MINIATURES COREBOOK........................................................................................ $29.95
1879: BRITISH FORCEBOOK ............................................................................................. $19.95
This new version of some of the old guys at FASA had Kickstarter campaign for 1879 awhile back that failed so spectacularly that they pulled it. Here's hoping they catch their niche in the 18mm Colonial Steampunk Sci-Fi market.
Gale Force 9
D&D TYRANNY OF THE DRAGONS - SANDESYL AND PHARBLEXX ....................... $25.00
Games Workshop
O/A WARHAMMER 40K: RULEBOOK 7TH EDITION HARDBACKS IN SLIPCASE ..... $85.00
Everything after the fact again with GW. The 40k Rulebook and Wood Elves and solicited. For $85, you get a slipcase with three books: Book 1 - A Galaxy of War, Book 2 - Dark Millennium, and Book 3 - The Rules, which according to my math, should mean a $30-35 rule book should be made available, but it won't. GW has always been expensive, but that sort of outlay for new players seems prohibited, even with the old $50 for a single video game comparison. Of course they don't care about the long-time players who have shelled out $50+ for each edition since 2nd over the last twenty years. Those guys already have most of their models and GW will only do their best to squeeze them for the rulebook and the two new "must have" units for their armies.
Konami
YU-GI-OH! TCG: BATTLE PACK 3 - MONSTER LEAGUE BOOSTER
YU-GI-OH! TCG: DUELIST ALLIANCE BOOSTER
As I've noticed in the new FLGS, YU-GI-OH! creates the same mindless sales in adults as Magic does.
Mantic
Everything list was "Offered Again" but I will comment on the special characters. After seeing some ridiculous prices for individual "special" figures, twenty bucks for a mounted character and ten bucks for a walking one feel like a steal for the customer, rather than highway robbery for the company.
Mayfair
Villany Board Game .................................................................................................................. $45.00
Ninja Division
Relic Knights was a wildly successful Kickstarter that was infamous for it's massive delays. I won't say anymore on the solicitations in this month's GTM other than (a) they're overpriced and (b) I'm definitely NOT in their demographic.
Osprey Publishing
Lion Rampant - Medieval Wargaming Rules ................................................................................ $17.95
This whole line of rules seems to be doing okay across the blogosphere. People are at least trying out each rules set as it comes out.
SOLDIERS’ SONGS AND SLANG OF THE GREAT WAR.................................................... $12.95
WHERE THE IRON CROSSES GROW: THE CRIMEA 1941-44 ........................................... $25.95
Overworld Games
Good Cop Bad Cop .................................................................................................................. $14.99
Paizo Publishing
PATHFINDER ADVENTURE CARD GAME: SKULL & SHACKLES RAIDERS OF THE FEVER SEA ADVENTURE DECK ..................................................................................................... $19.99
PATHFINDER ADVENTURE PATH: IRON GODS PART 2 - LORDS OF RUST ............... $22.99
PATHFINDER CAMPAIGN SETTING: UNDEAD UNLEASHED ........................................ $19.99
PATHFINDER CARDS: MUMMY’S MASK FACE CARDS ................................................ $10.99
PATHFINDER FLIP-MAT: TECH DUNGEON ..................................................................... $13.99
PATHFINDER LEGENDS: RISE OF THE RUNELORDS - FORTRESS OF THE STONE GIANTS (AUDIO CD) .......................................................................................................................... $15.99
PATHFINDER PLAYER COMPANION: CHAMPIONS OF CORRUPTION ..................... $12.99
PATHFINDER MODULE: PLUNDER & PERIL .................................................................... $24.99
Pokemon Company International
POKÉMON TCG: KALOS POWER TIN (ASSORTED)
POKÉMON TCG: KROOKODILE EX BOX
Ravensburger
Sanssouci ................................................................................................................................. $39.99
Steve Jackson Games
Knightmare Chess, 3rd Edition .................................................................................................. $29.95
I remember when the 1st Edition came out... at half the price. I know, I know, uphill both ways, get off my lawn.
Mars Attacks: The Dice Game ................................................................................................. $19.95
Munchkin: Halloween Pack ....................................................................................................... $ 4.95
Munchkin Legends 3: Myth Prints .............................................................................................. $10.95
USAopoly
Bang! Halo
Bang! Walking Dead
Doctor Who Dalek Yahtzee
Legend of Zelda Monopoly
and finally, where the bulk of your store's funds are going every month from August through December
Wizards of the Coast
DUNGEONS & DRAGONS NEXT RPG: PLAYER’S HANDBOOK (August) .................... $49.95
DUNGEONS & DRAGONS NEXT RPG: MONSTER MANUAL (September) ................... $49.95
DUNGEONS & DRAGONS NEXT RPG: DUNGEON MASTERS GUIDE (November)...... $49.95
Why the gap with no October book? Is the DMG that far behind? Rumor and inuendo start NOW!
D&D: TYRANNY OF DRAGONS - HOARD OF THE DRAGON QUEEN (August)........... $29.95
D&D: TYRANNY OF DRAGONS - THE RISE OF TIAMAT (October) .............................. $29.95
Thirty bucks? Yikes!
MAGIC THE GATHERING CCG: DUEL DECKS SPEED VS. CUNNING DISPLAY (6)
Wizkids
DC HEROCLIX: WAR OF LIGHT ALTERNATE COLOR LANTERN
MARVEL DICE MASTERS: THE UNCANNY X-MEN DICE BUILDING GAME
YU-GI-OH! HEROCLIX:SERIES 2 24-COUNT GRAVITY FEED
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