I spoke with my LGS yesterday when he was finally able to get Iden, Cassian, and more AATs. He said that with the move away from Alliance, Asmodee seems to be overwhelmed with the direct orders they are now receiving. He has had 3 reps assigned to him in the last two weeks.

The good news is that he said that the local interest in the game seems to be strong despite COVID and the delays. He hasn't lost any regular players yet.

I'm also not too concerned with delays killing the game at this point just because of the variety already available. For a few months, playing GAR and CIS seemed a little repetitive, but improved with the tanks. The upcoming releases will allow for several new archetypes that I'm looking forward to.

It seems that Legion's releases are back on track, but the problem for the foreseeable future is the risk of playing games against other people, which will contribute more to Legion (and all board games) "dying".

I agree that playing the GAR and CIS factions have been feeling repetitive the last few months. When the CW Special Forces units are released, I believe it's really going to shake things up. Finally, the CW factions will have all the same unit types as the GCW factions and it'll level the playing field.

Although, I sincerely hope that players use Special Forces for more than just Sniper Strike Teams and cheap activations. I think that the ARC Troopers' jetpacks and Commando Droids' deflector shields will make them more useful than Scout Troopers and Rebel Commandos, so the full units will actually be used. I'm also looking forward to using Cad Bane, because he has such unconventional Command cards.

1 hour ago, Reavern said:

Although, I sincerely hope that players use Special Forces for more than just Sniper Strike Teams and cheap activations. I think that the ARC Troopers' jetpacks and Commando Droids' deflector shields will make them more useful than Scout Troopers and Rebel Commandos, so the full units will actually be used.

I can tell you right now that they are. The full Commando Droid squad is kinda nuts. I've heard ARC squads are good as well, but I don't have experience with them.

28 minutes ago, thepopemobile100 said:

I can tell you right now that they are. The full Commando Droid squad is kinda nuts. I've heard ARC squads are good as well, but I don't have experience with them.

I agree. AI: Dodge, Imperious, Scale, Sharpshooter, Red Defense dice, Scout 3 , and the ability to equip Deflector Shields!? The Commando Droids should beat all other units to objectives and/or the best cover spots, and be able to hold them until Corps units arrive to reinforce them.

ARC Troopers have better offensive capabilities, but their keywords aren't as good, and they're slightly more expensive. I think it's going to come down to how good Echo and Fives are. Considering their points cost, they must be great.

9 hours ago, Darth Sanguis said:

It wont. Star Wars sells. It's not like there's an abundance of unsold units. They sell what they can get to the shelf, it's just a matter of getting their distribution in order.

Disagree, there is a recent tend of underproducing, whether it is a strategy by the parent company to help sell them idk

11 hours ago, Tirion said:

Disagree, there is a recent tend of underproducing, whether it is a strategy by the parent company to help sell them idk

This. Fomo keeps people buying them as much as anything else. I still have never had a chance to buy phase 2 clones even a single copy. You better believe I’m terrified that’s going to happen with ARCs.

Vital Assets also seems to be sold out everywhere too. I was able to scoop up Cassian and Iden yesterday before I miss them entirely (my primary faction pre clones was empire, I had enough Rebels to assemble some op force for home games, and then clones are competing as my “new” home).

12 hours ago, Tirion said:

Disagree, there is a recent tend of underproducing, whether it is a strategy by the parent company to help sell them idk

I guess I don't get which part you're disagreeing with?

FFG isn't going under, because they do sell out of the products they get to the shelves, which is arguably better than having an abundance of stock on the shelves that just doesn't sell (just look at the raider from X-wing 1.0, they had so many sitting in a warehouse they canceled the 2.0 version of it).

Whether they're under producing or not doesn't really change either of those statements.

20 hours ago, Reavern said:

It seems that Legion's releases are back on track, but the problem for the foreseeable future is the risk of playing games against other people, which will contribute more to Legion (and all board games) "dying"

I don’t think board games will die because of that factor. The only thing that really can hurt Legion is if they can’t keep up the production and distribution of stuff people want.

5 hours ago, Darth Sanguis said:

I guess I don't get which part you're disagreeing with?

FFG isn't going under, because they do sell out of the products they get to the shelves, which is arguably better than having an abundance of stock on the shelves that just doesn't sell (just look at the raider from X-wing 1.0, they had so many sitting in a warehouse they canceled the 2.0 version of it).

Whether they're under producing or not doesn't really change either of those statements.

I was disagreeing that distribution is a major factor in empty shelves. There are rarely reprints lately and when they do happen they are 6+ months out.

Obviously their distribution model sucks. I've been very vocal about that. But empty shelves the day of release is a production problem.

And the logical reasons for that are facepalm worthy.

16 minutes ago, Tirion said:

Obviously their distribution model sucks. I've been very vocal about that. But empty shelves the day of release is a production problem.

I'm not entirely convinced they're "under producing". At least in the sense that they're not making a significant amount less in the initial run than they were before CW. My FLGS has received just as many copies of every release since the CW box released as they did before. However, the interest in Legion has skyrocketed since the CW box released. We picked up like 3 players. The shelves clear out pretty much opening weekend now while the original runs of GCW era stuff are still fully stocked.

That indicates game health to me. If I had to make a guess, they under estimated the demand for CW era stuff and haven't adjusted their production quantities. (there could also be a much more limited capacity for their fabricators to run hard plastic, not all machines have the same capability. If, and that's a massive if , they are releasing significantly reduced quantities then it's likely a conscious decision to try to meet deadlines with the product they could manage rather than extend delays) Add in Covid, and a change in distribution, it's gonna look bad across the board.

Bottom line, there's no real way to know what or why without FFG numbers.

3 minutes ago, Darth Sanguis said:

I'm not entirely convinced they're "under producing". At least in the sense that they're not making a significant amount less in the initial run than they were before CW. My FLGS has received just as many copies of every release since the CW box released as they did before. However, the interest in Legion has skyrocketed since the CW box released. We picked up like 3 players. The shelves clear out pretty much opening weekend now while the original runs of GCW era stuff are still fully stocked.

That indicates game health to me. If I had to make a guess, they under estimated the demand for CW era stuff and haven't adjusted their production quantities. (there could also be a much more limited capacity for their fabricators to run hard plastic, not all machines have the same capability. If, and that's a massive if , they are releasing significantly reduced quantities then it's likely a conscious decision to try to meet deadlines with the product they could manage rather than extend delays) Add in Covid, and a change in distribution, it's gonna look bad across the board.

Bottom line, there's no real way to know what or why without FFG numbers.

I could get behind they under projected for CW, especially since we've only seen 3 releases for be cw counting the starter

2 minutes ago, Tirion said:

I could get behind they under projected for CW, especially since we've only seen 3 releases for be cw counting the starter

It would make a lot of sense. Like I said our local stores are still getting the same amount of boxes, but the interest has basically tripled.

20 hours ago, Darth Sanguis said:

I'm not entirely convinced they're "under producing". At least in the sense that they're not making a significant amount less in the initial run than they were before CW. My FLGS has received just as many copies of every release since the CW box released as they did before. However, the interest in Legion has skyrocketed since the CW box released. We picked up like 3 players. The shelves clear out pretty much opening weekend now while the original runs of GCW era stuff are still fully stocked.

That indicates game health to me. If I had to make a guess, they under estimated the demand for CW era stuff and haven't adjusted their production quantities. (there could also be a much more limited capacity for their fabricators to run hard plastic, not all machines have the same capability. If, and that's a massive if , they are releasing significantly reduced quantities then it's likely a conscious decision to try to meet deadlines with the product they could manage rather than extend delays) Add in Covid, and a change in distribution, it's gonna look bad across the board.

Bottom line, there's no real way to know what or why without FFG numbers.

There are numerous possible explanations for why Legion products aren't on store shelves -- although it's hardly limited to Legion; most Armada expansions are sold out too.

It could be that game stores under-estimate demand for Legion products so they sell out quickly. However, Legion products have been hot sellers from the beginning and demand has increased since Clone Wars Legion was released, so it seems unlikely that game stores wouldn't adjust and increase their stock of Legion products to meet the demand.

It could be the games supplier doesn't have sufficient stock to supply all the game stores it serves. I spoke to the manager of my LGS and he said that the supplier has been having great difficulty getting stock from Asmodee.

It could be that Asmodee has limited stock of Legion products ATM and is struggling to supply the suppliers worldwide. It's easy to blame the COVID-19 pandemic for the supply shortages, but that problem existed before March 2020. Most Legion and Armada products sold out after Black Friday and Christmas 2019 sales and they haven't been restocked since -- with a few exceptions.

I do believe the problem is that Asmodee is not producing enough products, but whether it's deliberate or not, I don't know. In an interview with an Asmodee suit back in March, he admitted that their philosophy is "Do less and make it count for more ." 🙄 One interpretation of that statement is Asmodee is producing less products to ensure they sell out rather than sit on the shelves. Consequently, Legion players can't get the products they want.

6 minutes ago, Reavern said:

There are numerous possible explanations for why Legion products aren't on store shelves -- although it's hardly limited to Legion; most Armada expansions are sold out too.

It could be that game stores under-estimate demand for Legion products so they sell out quickly. However, Legion products have been hot sellers from the beginning and demand has increased since Clone Wars Legion was released, so it seems unlikely that game stores wouldn't adjust and increase their stock of Legion products to meet the demand.

It could be the games supplier doesn't have sufficient stock to supply all the game stores it serves. I spoke to the manager of my LGS and he said that the supplier has been having great difficulty getting stock from Asmodee.

It could be that Asmodee has limited stock of Legion products ATM and is struggling to supply the suppliers worldwide. It's easy to blame the COVID-19 pandemic for the supply shortages, but that problem existed before March 2020. Most Legion and Armada products sold out after Black Friday and Christmas 2019 sales and they haven't been restocked since -- with a few exceptions.

I do believe the problem is that Asmodee is not producing enough products, but whether it's deliberate or not, I don't know. In an interview with an Asmodee suit back in March, he admitted that their philosophy is "Do less and make it count for more ." 🙄 One interpretation of that statement is Asmodee is producing less products to ensure they sell out rather than sit on the shelves. Consequently, Legion players can't get the products they want.

We also have to remember that COVID was disrupting production back in China as early as January.

First edition X-Wing had very similar shortages in my recollection. Stuff would come out, and a second printing wouldn't show up at the store for quite a few months (I think 6 months wasn't uncommon), but stock would fly off the shelves within the week. And there part of the problem was only certain units had certain cards, so you'd have people buying multiples of say A-wings to get a single card, but they played Empire.
If it is distributed by Asmodee, you HAVE to have a pre-order or you are going to have trouble getting the unit at the best of times.

52 minutes ago, Caimheul1313 said:

First edition X-Wing had very similar shortages in my recollection. Stuff would come out, and a second printing wouldn't show up at the store for quite a few months (I think 6 months wasn't uncommon), but stock would fly off the shelves within the week. And there part of the problem was only certain units had certain cards, so you'd have people buying multiples of say A-wings to get a single card, but they played Empire.
If it is distributed by Asmodee, you HAVE to have a pre-order or you are going to have trouble getting the unit at the best of times.

The issue is that lots of people want to support our FLGS and we do preorder with them, but then they get shorted and then people end up.ordering directly from FFG because they can get their products faster, hurting the FLGS bottom line. Not really a good model of business.

26 minutes ago, Bigbboyd said:

The issue is that lots of people want to support our FLGS and we do preorder with them, but then they get shorted and then people end up.ordering directly from FFG because they can get their products faster, hurting the FLGS bottom line. Not really a good model of business.

Yeah, I ordered my Vital Assets and AAT through my LGS. They only just got the AAT in. Its pretty tempting to go through Amazon instead...

But I know that the LGS business model is really hurting right now, so I wont cave!

9 minutes ago, KommanderKeldoth said:

Yeah, I ordered my Vital Assets and AAT through my LGS. They only just got the AAT in. Its pretty tempting to go through Amazon instead...

But I know that the LGS business model is really hurting right now, so I wont cave!

I've found the best way to combat this is to prepay at the FLGS if that's an option. Once you've paid for it, the temptation to order from somewhere else goes away pretty fast.

31 minutes ago, Mokoshkana said:

I've found the best way to combat this is to prepay at the FLGS if that's an option. Once you've paid for it, the temptation to order from somewhere else goes away pretty fast.

That's how my LGS has always done things. They seem to get a promise of a certain amount of products from their supplier and the post them as pre-orders on their web store. The first batch of Legion, X-Wing, and Armada pre-orders always sell out before the release date. After a month or two, another batch of pre-orders will become available. And when the products are finally released, all the pre-orders are fulfilled and there are usually some extras available for store shelves -- but they often sell out within a week.

When Cad Bane and the CW Special Forces expansions were announced back in March or whenever, I pre-ordered one of each immediately. Since then, I've ordered 2 more ARCs and Command Droids, and even decided to pre-order Padme, because I don't want to risk them being sold out by the time I realize it's worth having 3 ARCs and 3 Commando Droids units.

So pre-ordering and pre-paying is definitely the way to go if you want Legion products when they launch.

For the ones who have played a while, any guesses on when older stuff will be restocked again?

2 hours ago, Bigbboyd said:

The issue is that lots of people want to support our FLGS and we do preorder with them, but then they get shorted and then people end up.ordering directly from FFG because they can get their products faster, hurting the FLGS bottom line. Not really a good model of business.

Perfectly good model of business for FFG, since they make more money when you order directly from them than a third party retailer anyway. It hurts the FLGS a bit, yes, but people open those up frequently.

Generally speaking, the FLGS should know how many they need when placing the order, and if they are shorted on what they have asked for in the US, that was the fault of Alliance, the distributor, not necessarily Asmodee/FFG. That is in the process of changing from what I have heard from my local store. If they don't order enough, then that's on them obviously. Prepaying tends to bump you up a pre-order list since they have your money already. Some places may even offer a discount.

33 minutes ago, BothanJedi said:

For the ones who have played a while, any guesses on when older stuff will be restocked again?

It's been between 6 month and a year for some stuff, but who know with current times.

18 hours ago, Caimheul1313 said:

Perfectly good model of business for FFG, since they make more money when you order directly from them than a third party retailer anyway. It hurts the FLGS a bit, yes, but people open those up frequently.

Generally speaking, the FLGS should know how many they need when placing the order, and if they are shorted on what they have asked for in the US, that was the fault of Alliance, the distributor, not necessarily Asmodee/FFG. That is in the process of changing from what I have heard from my local store. If they don't order enough, then that's on them obviously. Prepaying tends to bump you up a pre-order list since they have your money already. Some places may even offer a discount.

It's been between 6 month and a year for some stuff, but who know with current times.

Well if FFG keeps short changing the FLGS, eventually the number of new players will cap out and game will stagnate and begin to lag. Most successful games support their FLGS because it generates new players. And Most good FLGS try, but like my local store, they get shorted on their pre orders most of the time lately.

10 minutes ago, Bigbboyd said:

Well if FFG keeps short changing the FLGS, eventually the number of new players will cap out and game will stagnate and begin to lag. Most successful games support their FLGS because it generates new players. And Most good FLGS try, but like my local store, they get shorted on their pre orders most of the time lately.

The Star Wars license will keep it selling, and keep new people joining. It isn't an original world no one has heard of competing with other original sci-fi settings. And these days, the FLGS isn't the only option for purchasing models (it is by far my preferred though in order to keep having a place to play). My local FLGS opened a snack bar to make money off tournaments and game nights, without charging for the tables, or having to hope the players buy product.

Again, the short changing is a result of the distributor, not FFG. Manufacturer sends stuff to distributor, distributor then handles getting it to the FLGS. Until recently the distributor in USA was Alliance as far as I know.

3 hours ago, Caimheul1313 said:

The Star Wars license will keep it selling, and keep new people joining. It isn't an original world no one has heard of competing with other original sci-fi settings. And these days, the FLGS isn't the only option for purchasing models (it is by far my preferred though in order to keep having a place to play). My local FLGS opened a snack bar to make money off tournaments and game nights, without charging for the tables, or having to hope the players buy product.

Again, the short changing is a result of the distributor, not FFG. Manufacturer sends stuff to distributor, distributor then handles getting it to the FLGS. Until recently the distributor in USA was Alliance as far as I know.

FFG might prefer if gamers bought their games directly from them so they can keep more of the projects, but @Bigbboyd is correct: FFG is reliant on game stores in order to grow their player base by hosting game nights, OP events, or simply stocking their products on their shelves for browsing customers to see. Any Star Wars fan who sees Legion products in a store is going to stop and take a look.

They're not going to see Legion products on the internet or Amazon unless they specifically search for them. Or perhaps they make related searches that trigger the algorithm that makes recommendations.

Regardless, if FFG (really Asmodee) can't keep Legion products on store shelves (or online retailers stocked), it will harm Legion's growth and longevity. I don't believe it's a problem with the distributors. It's a problem with the supply tracing back to its source. Asmodee isn't producing enough Legion products to meet the demand, and this isn't limited to Legion. Armada is suffering far worse than Legion; and even X-Wing is suffering from supply problems.

I noticed that in 2019, only certain Legion expansions were sold out and weren't being restocked, like Death Troopers and Royal Guards (perhaps some Rebels expansions too but I'm less interested in them). Whereas in early 2020, most Legion expansions were sold out after the holiday season, and most of them haven't been replenished. Asmodee should've anticipated the increased demand during the holidays and been able to over-stock stores, or at least restock them quickly. But that didn't happen. Factories in China weren't shut down until late January and February. If they had been producing Legion products in the months prior to the shutdown, they would've shipped and restocked stores before the shutdown happened.

These problems predated the COVID-19 pandemic, so that's not a valid excuse.

Speaking of Out of Stock items, I snagged some of the CW core sets gathering dust in a FLGS. I'm willing to part with them if anyone is interested. PM me for details.