End of an era

By Julia, in Fury of Dracula

And now it's official, this game is dead ( link )

What do you mean dead? I can no longer play it?

How good is FoD? Should I panic buy it now?

I like the look of it, but I don't see how the gameplay warrants a 3hr game?

Buy it, it's fantastic! (Fangtastic?) I play two-player and it's always a well-balanced contest. Never feels like three hours either.

Just be prepared for the Dracula player to do a bad "I vant to suck your blood" accent for all of those three hours. (Well, maybe that's just me...)

Edit: Just to add, the one drawback to the game is that there are quite a few rules that aren't clear. I'd recommend getting it, and then getting in here while you can to ask questions!

Edited by Giant Weasel

What do you mean dead? I can no longer play it?

People will not be able to purchase it after February 2017 because it goes out of production. Clearly, if you have the game, good for you; if you don't, better hurry up if interested

The rights go back to Games Workshop in Feb. And they haven't exactly been keen on board games recently. Going off their previous releases, if this comes out again, it'll be as a super-limited edition that's available for a day only and costs three times as much! That's what happened with Space Hulk anyway...

What do you mean dead? I can no longer play it?

People will not be able to purchase it after February 2017 because it goes out of production. Clearly, if you have the game, good for you; if you don't, better hurry up if interested

Have it, love it. I just object to calling it dead :) To me a game is dead if no one plays it anymore.

Strongly suggest picking it up before it disappears for another decade or so.

What do you mean dead? I can no longer play it?

People will not be able to purchase it after February 2017 because it goes out of production. Clearly, if you have the game, good for you; if you don't, better hurry up if interested

Have it, love it. I just object to calling it dead :) To me a game is dead if no one plays it anymore.

Wouldn't it be kind of 'undead' then? Following the theme of the game. :lol:

What do you mean dead? I can no longer play it?

People will not be able to purchase it after February 2017 because it goes out of production. Clearly, if you have the game, good for you; if you don't, better hurry up if interested

Have it, love it. I just object to calling it dead :) To me a game is dead if no one plays it anymore.

Wouldn't it be kind of 'undead' then? Following the theme of the game. :lol:

Only if it fed on other games to survive :P

What do you mean dead? I can no longer play it?

People will not be able to purchase it after February 2017 because it goes out of production. Clearly, if you have the game, good for you; if you don't, better hurry up if interested

Have it, love it. I just object to calling it dead :) To me a game is dead if no one plays it anymore.

Aye I got that, and in general I agree with you :) But still, it's dead because we won't have rules support from the company, replacements for missing components, and so on (plus, I was lazy and simply copy & pasted the same post over the different GW-games boards)

it's dead because we won't have rules support from the company, replacements for missing components, and so on (plus, I was lazy and simply copy & pasted the same post over the different GW-games boards)

I guess the "undead" term is quite fitting.

The rights go back to Games Workshop in Feb. And they haven't exactly been keen on board games recently. Going off their previous releases, if this comes out again, it'll be as a super-limited edition that's available for a day only and costs three times as much! That's what happened with Space Hulk anyway...

Well, to be fair, GW has been super keen on board games of late. It's released at least five in the past twelve months or so. The problem is that it all of the board games have been Warhammer -related, so I suspect FoD is going to disappear into obscurity again unless it gets a heavy Vampire Counts reskin.

The rights go back to Games Workshop in Feb. And they haven't exactly been keen on board games recently. Going off their previous releases, if this comes out again, it'll be as a super-limited edition that's available for a day only and costs three times as much! That's what happened with Space Hulk anyway...

Well, to be fair, GW has been super keen on board games of late. It's released at least five in the past twelve months or so. The problem is that it all of the board games have been Warhammer -related, so I suspect FoD is going to disappear into obscurity again unless it gets a heavy Vampire Counts reskin.

That probably has more than a little bit to do with the fact that GW had given over all of their other classic game franchises to FFG for production/distribution. (Yes, I know FFG did some WH games as well.) FFG's success in remarketing those games may well have played a role in convincing GW to revitalize their own interest in board games - other than Space Hulk, which has been popping back up consistently every ten years or so regardless.

And no, I would not rule out the possibility of a $100 mini-heavy "limited edition" of FoD 4th edition in the not too distant future, as a result of this unfortunate news.

In fact, knowing GW as I do, I also wouldn't rule out some sort of law suit to make FLGSes and online retailers remove any unsold stock of FoD 3rd after Feb of next year, so I wouldn't even necessarily rely on unsold copies floating around for the next couple of years, either.

If you want it, buy it before the end of the year, just to be safe.

Edited by Steve-O

...

In fact, knowing GW as I do, I also wouldn't rule out some sort of law suit to make FLGSes and online retailers remove any unsold stock of FoD 3rd after Feb of next year, so I wouldn't even necessarily rely on unsold copies floating around for the next couple of years, either.

If you want it, buy it before the end of the year, just to be safe.

What? Is that even legally possible?

Edited by Gridash

...

In fact, knowing GW as I do, I also wouldn't rule out some sort of law suit to make FLGSes and online retailers remove any unsold stock of FoD 3rd after Feb of next year, so I wouldn't even necessarily rely on unsold copies floating around for the next couple of years, either.

If you want it, buy it before the end of the year, just to be safe.

What? Is that even legally possible?

Legally possible. Yes. Likely no. It all depends on the licensure contracts between GW, FFG, distributers and retailers. If all contracts had the clause in it then yes. However more likely than that would be a buy-back clause, allowing GW and or FFG the authority to buy-back stock. Possibly at cost or at a set percentage above cost. Again, could be at a loss, but only if the clause was in all contracts. But even a buy-back clause is unlikely since no matter how its cut, GW will take a loss to do it, with no clear benefit except for a slight advertising loss for FFG. Bottom line, for GW to force retailors to turn over stock will hurt GW and not really anyone else.

Any idea of the significant (if any) differences between the 3rd Edition and 2nd Edition? I have the second edition and am not sure I've been missing anything with the third edition.

I could go on for months on the differences, but in the end, the suggestion is only one: keep 2nd edition, it's a lot better. Not perfect, but better

I could go on for months on the differences, but in the end, the suggestion is only one: keep 2nd edition, it's a lot better. Not perfect, but better

Thank you for that Julia. I've not played it for ages, mainly because the more frequently played games tend to the front of the "big cupboard of fun" while those less play slip towards the back. Not because they're any worse, it just depends on who is willing to play what really. I know it's not for this thread as such, but can you offer an opinion on Runebound V.2 vs V.3?

Sure I can. Beware, lovers of 2nd edition will say 2nd is better, lovers of 3rd will say 3rd is better, so, I'll try to cover the facts, not opinions on the matter

- 3rd edition adds a timer, so that you don't have games dragging for hours with the same actions (move + fight repeated over and over again)

- movement is always done with dice; in 3rd edition you have a starting pool of 3 dice (on average) that can be increased with items; you roll the dice and you have to match the terrain type with the results of your dice

- adventuring in 3rd edition is done by resolving cards from 3 different decks: combat, social and exploration. So, you can fight enemies, or explore different parts of the world, or have encounters with locals. These encounters, by means of trophies and other rewards, allow you to develop specific type of engines that represent the way your character levels up (thus, technically you can win the game with very few combats done)

- combat is resolved in 3rd edition with tokens (not with dice anymore then); tokens are cast and then resolved by spending symbols that could trigger damage, protect you, trigger special abilities and manipulate other tokens. In theory is lame, but most people who tried it concluded it was rather fun (but not everyone, some prefer dice to tokens)

- 3rd edition games last 1 hour / player, on average (don't have significant data on 2nd edition to compare)

If you want a detailed review of 3rd edition, you may check my review on BGG

Sure I can. Beware, lovers of 2nd edition will say 2nd is better, lovers of 3rd will say 3rd is better, so, I'll try to cover the facts, not opinions on the matter

- 3rd edition adds a timer, so that you don't have games dragging for hours with the same actions (move + fight repeated over and over again)

- movement is always done with dice; in 3rd edition you have a starting pool of 3 dice (on average) that can be increased with items; you roll the dice and you have to match the terrain type with the results of your dice

- adventuring in 3rd edition is done by resolving cards from 3 different decks: combat, social and exploration. So, you can fight enemies, or explore different parts of the world, or have encounters with locals. These encounters, by means of trophies and other rewards, allow you to develop specific type of engines that represent the way your character levels up (thus, technically you can win the game with very few combats done)

- combat is resolved in 3rd edition with tokens (not with dice anymore then); tokens are cast and then resolved by spending symbols that could trigger damage, protect you, trigger special abilities and manipulate other tokens. In theory is lame, but most people who tried it concluded it was rather fun (but not everyone, some prefer dice to tokens)

- 3rd edition games last 1 hour / player, on average (don't have significant data on 2nd edition to compare)

If you want a detailed review of 3rd edition, you may check my review on BGG

Thank you Julia. I don't recall having any complaints except one with Ver. 2 So although it's helpful to know there's some "substantial" differences in mechanics I'm not sure I need to upgrade. My only complaint with the 2nd Edition was that the dice had stickers on them rather than properly moulded. That sort of made it feel "cheapened". However that said I did buy every boxed expansion and have had many fun games with 4 people. I did slip over and read your review on BGG, and I did appreciate the detail. Only so much money and so many games, think I'll stick with 2nd Edition and explore some upcoming games. Thanks for the help though.

Aye, if you like 2nd edition, then you don't need 3rd. Happy I helped!

For anyone speculating on the legalities of when it can no longer be sold, it is pretty telling that there is not a single GW licensed game in the "At the Printer" or "Awaiting Reprint" state on the "Upcoming" page.

Wait - is this thread about Fury of Dracula or Runebound? :huh: