Friday, December 30, 2022

Another Month of Gaming Solicitations (January 2023)

We are in the post-holiday doldrums already, and that is no different when you're in adventure gaming retail or wholesale.  Twenty-five-plus years ago, the monthly solicitation packets were a scant few sheets of new products, which the distributor would augment with a book of their "fire sales" of old stagnant product, in order to generate cash flow and clear warehouse space for hopefully better selling product.

I'm sure the mass discounts are still around, probably smaller and more often.  The issue is most distributors' monthly solicitations are packaged in slick, color magazine formats, which tend to need a stock number of pages.  You can add more advertising and promotional articles, but in the end, people on both sides of the counter want to see product. 

The good folks at Alliance, producer to the Game Trade Magazine I reference each month have the advantage of being the sister company or offshoot from Diamond Comics.  While some slow months have seen added promotion for certain companies, the summer an increase in graphic novels promoted within the games section (there already is a graphic novel/anime section for GTM). 

I ramble on about this because, as a stock component of post-Christmas sales is "organization" (aka... Christmas tubs to pack everything away neatly... and New Years resolutions) and GTM has a good page and a half of comics supplies:  bags, boards, and boxes.  Heck, they even included Magazine and Treasury-sized bags, and they never get any love.  

And once my amusement about that waned, I found another new company covering stock trading card supplies: sleeves, top-loaders, 9-pocket pages... and even a few TCG sleeves.

Perhaps I'm the only person on the planet that was amused by that.  Maybe there will be a rush of gamers to grade and bag their classic modules.  With less new product, it is a good time for stores to restock those supplies that they sell/use throughout the year.

The games solicitations for Game Trade Magazine #275 can be found at your Friendly Local Game Store or online in pdf form here.

ViscountEric's Want List
Arc Dream Publishing
Delta Green RPG: The Conspiracy ............................................. $44.99
A 21st century update on the last days of 90's conspiracy-laden original campaign.  Not picking up from the FLGS, as the hard copy should arrive one day from the Kickstarter campaign.

ViscountEric's Money-Is-No-Object Want List
Diamond Comic Distributors
D&D - Minimates - Heroes Box Set .......................................... PI
Uni doesn't look block-ish enough, but this will have to do.
Free League Publishing
Twilight: 2000 RPG: Urban Operations Expansion ................ $39.99

Glyd
Magic Missile Dice (11) ............................... $17.99
I have some comments about Glyd in the Retail portion, but I might impulse buy a set of Magic Missile Dice (I also can longer spell missile... I keep omitting the second i.)  Now, they're nothing like a Power d4 from Hard 8 Enterprises, but Glyd focused on utility, rather than optimization.

Paizo Publishing
Starfinder RPG: Flip-Mat - Amusement Park .......................  $16.99
This was very close to a must-have item.  In my old-age I've just to find a use for it first... THEN it shall be mine!

The Imaginary Store List (The Pegleg Gnome)
25th Century Games
Donut Shop ........................................ $39.99
Resist! ................................................ $24.99

Arcane Wonders
Critters at War: Flies, Lies, and Supplies ........................ $17.99

Bitewing Games
Trailblazers ...................................... $50.00
Trailblazers Travel Edition .............. $25.00

Catalyst Game Labs
Battletech: A Time of War ..................................... $49.99
Battletech: Miniature Force Pack - Wolf's Dragoons Assault Star ............ $29.99
Centurion ........................................ $39.99
Shadowrun RPG: Null Value ................................. $49.99

Crowd Games
Evolution: New World ............................................ $40.00
Evolution: Butterfly Effect Expansion .................... $25.00

Cubicle 7
Warhammer Age of Sigmar RPG - Champions of Destruction ............. $39.99
Warhammer Fantasy RPG: Up in Arms ............................................... $39.99
Warhammer Fantasy RPG: Winds of Magic ........................................ $49.99
Warhammer 40K Wrath and Glory RPG - Gamemaster Screen .......... $29.99
Doctor Who RPG 2nd Edition Starter Set ............................................. $39.99
Doctor Who RPG - Gamemaster's Screen ............................................. $14.99

Firelock Games
War Stories: A WW2 RPG ............................ PI
War Stories: Campaign Book - Rendezvous With Destiny ........ PI
War Stories: Dice Set  ........................................................ PI
War Stories: Game Master Screen ..................................... PI
War Stories: Weapons Card Deck ...................................... PI
Regular readers know I'm hesitant to mention items that don't include a price (PI = "Please Inquire" with your FLGS), but I'm intrigued how well Firelock could do with purist WW2 RPG.

Fireside Games
Castle Panic 2nd Edition: Engines of War Expansion ............... $19.95

Flying Carpet Games
Emergency Force ................................................... $35.00

Free League Publishing
The Lord of the Rings RPG: Core Rulebook (5e) ................ $57.99
The Lord of the Rings RPG: Loremaster's Screen (5e) ........ $29.99
The Lord of the Rings RPG: Shire Adventures (5e) ............. $39.99

Gamelyn Games
Dungeon Heroes: 2nd Edition ............................... $30.00

Goodman Games
DCC Dice:  Might Dice of Arms ..........................  $34.99
DCC Dice: Motes of Mercurial Magic .................  $34.99
DCC #103 - Bloom of the Blood Garden .............  $10.99
DCC Valentine's Day Module - Love Mutants of Castle Heartache ............... $ 9.99
Fifth Edition Fantasy #24 - The Prism of Redemption ................ $17.99
Monsters and Magic of Lankhmar (5e) ................ $11.99
Tales from the Magician's Skull #10 .................... $14.99

Grand Gamers Guild
Holiday Hijinks: Cupid Crisis .......................... $10.99
Holiday Hijinks: The Birthday Burglary .......... $10.49

Gyld
Class Notes ....................................................... $ 5.00 each
Valdani's Adventure Notebooks ........................ $ 5.00 each
Can't argue with little RPG notebooks for five bucks.  Great impulse buys at the counter.  Class Notes available in Fighter, Mage, and Rogue styles.  Valdani's are listed as Blue, Gold, and Green.
Encounter Pad .................................................. $ 9.00 
Initiative Cards: 10 Pack .................................. $ 9.00
Session Pad ...................................................... $ 9.00
Map Pads ......................................................... $14.95 each
Grass, Map, Stone, and Water

The notebooks let me take a deeper look at their dice catalog on the following page.  Base metal dice set hitting $42/set  make part of my brain twinge a bit more, but various fancy plastic sets of 14-20 dice apiece for $17.99 seems bearable.  

Horrible Guild
The Great Split ................................ $4.95

Iello
The Animals of Baker Street ................ $44.99

Inexorable Media 
Compendium of Creatures ................. $35.00
A system-neutral compendium of cryptids and creatures of North America.

Kobold Press
Campaign Builder: Cities and Towns Hardcover (5e) ............................... $49.99
Campaign Builder: Cities and Towns - Map Folio (5e) ............................. $49.99

Left Justified Studio
Broken and Beautfiul, Standard Edition ....................................... $15.99

Legendary Games
Asian Monsters (Pathfinder) ...................................... $25.99
The Dragon's Hoard #22 ............................................ $12.99
The Dragon's Hoard #23 ............................................ $12.99
Royal Tournaments (Pathfinder) ................................ $13.99

Looney Labs
Monster Fluxx ....................................... $20.00
Wonderland Fluxx ................................. $20.00

Lucky Duck Games
My Shelfie ............................................ $39.99
Nimalia ................................................. $39.99

Mayday Games
Escape from the Asylum ...................... $50.00

Modiphius 
Achtung! Cthulhu 2d20 - Forest of Fear .......... $48.00

Mongoose Publishing
Traveller RPG: Aliens of Charted Space Volume 3 ................... $59.99
Traveller RPG: High Guard Update 2022 ................................. $59.99
Traveller 2300AD - Tools for Frontier Living .......................... $49.99

Monte Cook Games
Path of the Planebreaker (5e) GM Screen ................................. $19.99

Nuts! Publishing
Saigon 75 ........................... $62.00
We are Coming, Nineveah! ............ $72.00

Osprey Games
Stargrave: Side Hustle Expansion ...................... $24.00

Paizo Publishing
Pathfinder RPG: Adventure - Abomination Vaults (5e Edition) ................. $59.99
Pathfinder RPG: AP - Gatewalkers Part 3 - Dreamers of the Nameless Spires ............ $26.99
Pathfinder RPG: Lost Omens - Firebrands ............................ $39.99
Pathfinder RPG: Flip-Mat Classics - Noble Estate ................ $16.99
Starfinder RPG: AP Drift Crisis Case Files ........................... $22.99
Starfinder RPG: Deck of Endless NPCs ................................ $24.99

Pegasus Spiele
Monster Inn ........................... $16.49

Pink Tiger Games
Flatter Me ............................... $19.99

Pinnacle Entertainment Group
Holler RPG:  An Appalachian Apocalypse - Core Rules HC .............. $44.99
Holler RPG: Boxed Set ................................ $124.99
Holler RPG: Action Deck ............................. $ 19.99
Holler RPG: GM Screen & Adventure ......... $ 19.99
Holler RPG: Map Pack 1 - Textile Mill and Out of Bounds ............. $14.99
Holler RPG: Map Pack 2 - Mountain Road & Requisition Shed ..... $14.99
Deadlands RPG: Card Box ............................ $ 9.99
Deadlands Map Pack 5: Boomtown .............. $14.99
Deadlands Map Pack 6: Prospector's Camp .. $14.99
Deadlands Pawns Boxed Set 2 ...................... $29.99
Deadlands Quick Chase Deck ....................... $14.99
Deadlands Hell on the High Plains ............... $39.99
Deadlands High Plain Archetypes Set 4 ....... $ 9.99
Savage Rifts: Archetype Dossiers Box Set .... $19.99
Savage Rifts:  Atlantis and the Demon Sea .... $39.99
Savage Rifts: Map Pack 1: Ruined City ......... $14.99
Savage Rifts: Map Pack 2: Atlantis Pyramid... $14.99
Savage Rifts: Pawns Box Set 1 ....................... $39.99
Savage Rifts: Poster Map of Atlantis .............. $ 4.99

Q-Workshop
RPG Starter Kit .................................. $25.00
If you're a new player, or just happened to forget everything at home when it's game night at the store, the starter kit will fit your needs.  Dice, dice bag, character journal, level counter, and even a mechanical pencil.

Reaper Miniatures
A healthy addition of Bones minis, although I'm a bit confused.  I thought this was a continual expansion from the Reaper Bones V Kickstarter.  Once sufficient inventory is created, the Kickstarter figs are added to the catalog.   But they just happened to add a picture of Bergamot, Halfling Scout.  

I was confused and could feel the self-righteous rage bubbling up from inside me.  Not only was Bergamot previously available (I painted him up two years ago!) but he was originally in the harder Bones Black material!  

A little research before cursing the heavens, and I remember that Reaper is slowly transition to a third Bones material and technique and has been transitioning most of its line to the new material, with a new stock number.   Almost the entire rant averted... except for one item.   The original Bones Black figure retailed for $4.49.  I'm hoping the new material is equal to or better than Bones Black to justify another fifty cent increase.  Five bucks for a halfling scout in PVC still seems steep.  I can get metal halflings from across the pond for 20% less, and that includes outrageous UK shipping rates.

Restoration Games
Thunder Road Vendetta ...................... $60.00

Rio Grande Games
Crossing Oceans ................................. $59.95
Dominion: Plunder Expansion ........... $44.95
Fancy Feathers .................................... $69.95
Findorff ............................................... $69.95
Gulf, Mobile & Ohio: Franco-German Rails Expansion ......... $34.95
Texas & Pacific .................................. $34.95
Woodcraft ........................................... $69.95

Rowan Book and Decard
Orc Borg (Mork Borg Compatible) .... $20.00
Spire RPG: Quickstart ........................ $20.00
Spire RPG: Sin Sourcebook ............... $40.00
Spire RPG: Magister's Guide ............. $20.00
Spire RPG: The Conspiracy Kit ......... $20.00
Spire RPG: The Revolutionary's Guide .... $20.00

Steve Jackson Games
Car Wars: Core Set ............................ $149.95
Car Wars: Miniatures Set 3 ............... $ 59.95
Car Wars: Miniatures Set 4 ............... $ 59.95
Munchkin Sidequests 2 ..................... $ 10.95
One Roll Quest ................................. $ 19.95
Weather Dice .................................... $ 12.95

Surreal Entertainment
D&D 1983 Player's Manual Lunchbox and Thermos .......................... PI
November's lunchbox was the cartoon.  This is the red box cover on the lunchbox, and the blue expert box cover on the thermos.  Still disappointed there's no price.

Troll Lord Games
Castles & Crusades: Castle Keepers Guide 4th Printing ...................... $29.99

Warlord Games
Hail Caesar 2nd Edition Rulebook ...................... PI

Wizkids
Critical Role: The Mighty Nein Boxed Set ................. $69.99
D&D - Replicas - Pseudodragon Life-Sized Figure..... $65.00
So, nine moderately painted plastic figures of someone else's characters is more than an above average paint job on a pseudodragon figurine?  My economics of scale confound me in this day and age. 

D&D - Adult Topaz Dragon ................................ $99.99
D&D - Dragonlance Warrior Set ......................... $49.99
D&D - Honor Among Thieves Monsters Set ...... $39.99
D&D - Zuggtmoy, Demon Queen of Fungi ........ $49.99
Finally, a figure to run the alluded to big fight in the back of Temple of Elemental Evil!

D&D Idols of the Realms 2D - Beholder Hive ............ $14.99
D&D Idols of the Realms 2D - Snake Den .................. $14.99
D&D Idols of the Realms 2D - Reptile Den ................ $14.99
D&D Idols of the Realms 2D - Lich Tomb .................  $14.99
D&D Nolzur's Unpainted - Adult Blue Dragon ........... $89.99
Wizkids Designer Dressings: Devilish Devices ........... $49.99
Wizkids Designer Dressings: Hidden Hazards ............. $49.99

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