Another Month of Gaming Solicitations (Oct '22)

 Issue #272 of Game Trade Magazine can be found in pdf here, or at your FLGS.

ViscountEric's Want List

Nothing

ViscountEric's Money-Is-No-Object Want List
Nothing

The Imaginary Store List (The Pegleg Gnome)

Alderac Entertainment Group

Smash Up: 10th Anniversary Set ......................................  $49.99

Catalyst Game Labs

Battletech - Battle Force - Counters Pack ....................... $19.99

Shadowrun - 16 Month Calendar .................................... $19.99

Shadowrun - Art Portfolio ............................................... $49.99

Shadowrun - Hack and Slash .......................................... $49.99

Compass Games

Brothers at War ................................................. $99.00

American Tank Ace .......................................... $69.00

Schnell Boats - Scourge of the English Channel ............ $69.00

Compound Fun

Hive Mind - 2nd Edition ................................ $15.00

Crowd Games

City of the Great Machine .............................. $65.00

City of the Great Machine - The Escalation Expansion ..... $35.00

City of the Great Machine - Stand In Heroes Expansion .... $25.00

Dire Wolf Digital

Dune - Imperium: Immortality Expansion .......................... $30.00

Free League Publishing

Alien RPG: Heart of Darkness Expansion .......................... $34.99

Into the Odd RPG Remastered ............................................ $39.99

The One Ring RPG: Ruins of the Lost Realm .................... $39.99

Gale Force Nine 

Enola Holmes: Finder of Lost Souls ................................... $40.00

Games Workshop

Warhammer 40K: Space Marine Heroes 2022 - Blood Angels 

Gamey 

Mean Robo ............................... $18.99

Rayracers .................................. $22.99

Genius Games 

Ecosystem Coral Reef ................ $14.99

Goodman Games

5th Edition Fantasy #23: The Sunless Garden .................... $9.99

Goodman Games 2022 Yearbook ........................................ $19.99

Mutant Crawl Classics RPG - Peter Mullen Cover ............. $59.99

Hit Point Press

I guess I needed a rant in this month's edition.  I've mentioned Hit Point Press in these gaming solicitations before.  Usually I'm referencing some stand-alone 5e product, or a slowly developed 5e setting with a book or two being solicited at a time.  I've tried to avoid anything referencing a spell deck, a treasure deck, a monster, or any accessory like that.   A few mainstream varieties seem to be successful,  I've seen too many of these accessories hit the clearance section of store and online, even while the core game is still selling. 

I've avoid Hit Point Press' Deck of Many series for that very reason. They've continued to solicit new ones, month over month, so they much have a successful business model and fan base, but as the owner of a small to mid-sized imaginary store, I have trouble justifying a pre-order... unless my customers pre-order particular decks.  And if I were an owner of a large imaginary store, I'd have trouble justifying multiple copies of these items at $29.99 MSRP a pop, when that money could go to other stock I'm certain will turnover... and faster at that.  

Their other source of my rant is the relatively recent concept of the complete game merchandising campaign.  Successful Kickstarters can suffer this, as stretch goals are reached and their is a host of product available cheaply to the pledges, and those items ultimately become available at wholesale/retail. 

Heckna! is a dark carnival campaign for 5e that was a successful Kickstarter back in 2020.  Checking the comments on the Kickstarter, the pdfs have been delivered and the physical copies are inching closer to reality (red flag for retail, especially when 6,500 folks already pledged towards this.  How much more or a market is there for a cool but niche product?)  The stretch goals the built up during the campaign, but in a solicitation, everything is dumped all at once.  The $100 box set, the GM Screen, reference cards, tickets, tart cards, even popcorn colored dice and a separate popcorn container dice bag.  And let's not talk about the custom minis, which are reasonably priced for resin(?) but are too unique for other uses.  And while the campaign seems to be reusable, it's a 5e campaign for levels 1-10, kind of limited when compared to the "real" 5e campaign books from WotC, and all the third party support they offer.  

As I continue to scroll through their product, I do see Humblewood items (the campaign I've listed in dribs and drabs) solicit similar items to Heckna.  I probably wouldn't pre-order those particular items either, but I wasn't overwhelmed with the sheer volume of product. 

Kobold Press

Zobeck - Clockwork City  Collector's Edition (5e) ............ $49.99

Konami Digital Enterainment

Yu-Gi-Oh! TCG: Dark World Structure Decks

Yu-Gi-Oh! TCG: Sala of Blue-Eyes White Dragon Structure Decks

Yu-Gi-Oh! TCG: Speed Duel GX  - Duelists of Shadows Box (2023) ............. $29.99

Looney Labs 

Fluxx: More Actions Expansion Deck .............. $5.00

Fluxx: More Rules Expansion Deck ................. $5.00

Fluxx: More Surprises Expansion Deck ........... $5.00

Monster Fight Club

Two words:  Witcher Minis.  Not obscenely priced, but if Game of Thrones (aka Song of Fire and Ice) minis met a lukewarm reaction, what's yet another $20 blister of three figures going to fare?

NG Tradings

Select 5 .............................................. $13.49

Paizo Publishing 

Pathfinder RPG: AP - Blood Lords Part 6 - Ghost King's Rage  ................... $26.99

Pathfinder RPG: Flip Mat - Swamp Ruins

Pathfinder RPG: Lost Omens Pathfinder Society Guide HC ......................... $59.99

Starfinder RPG: AP - Drift Hackers 1 - A Light in the Dark .......................... $24.99

Palladium Books

Beyond the Supernatural RPG Sourcebook - Creature Feature ...................... $22.99

Palladium Fantasy RPG Bonus Edition HC .................................................... $55.00

Splicers RPG Special Edition HC ................................................................... $45.00

Rifts Antarctica .............................................. $22.99

Rifts Titan Robotics Sourcebook ................... $22.99

That's a LOT of Palladium solicitations.  Is it 1995 all over again?  And even with all the mocking... they .. will ... sell.

Rio Grande Games

Race for the Galaxy: Expansion and Brinkmanship Arc 1 ............... $39.95

Sinister Fish Games

Honk! ........................... $29.99

Trick or Treat Studios

Halloween Party ............................ $9.95

A ten dollar holiday-themed game?  Sign me up.... for November release?  Good to see the holiday game curse doesn't just affect Christmas. 

Wizards of the Coast

Magic the Gathering 2022 Land Station

Magic the Gathering Jumpstart 2022 Draft Boosters

Magic the Gathering : The Brothers 

Everything is listed as "War" versions of regular products.  Bundles, Gift Bundles, Collector Boosters, Draft Booster, Jumpstart Booster, Set Boosters, and Commander Decks.

Wizkids

D&D NOLZUR’S MARVELOUS UNPAINTED MINIATURES: ADULT GOLD DRAGON

D&D ICONS OF THE REALMS MAGIC ARMOR TOKENS..... $49.99

D&D ICONS OF THE REALMS TOMB OF ANNIHILATION BOX 1 ... $49.99

D&D ICONS OF THE REALMS TOMB OF ANNIHILATION BOX 1 ... $49.99

Marvel Dice Masters - Secret Wars Origins Packs ................ $6.99