Since the game is printed (presumably, as it's on sale at Gencon), when will it be available in the shops?

The previous games took a month or two to make it to stores.

I don't get why there needs to be a gap between gencon and actual release. Why not just print the thing in time for gencon and release at the same time?

If it's printed over seas then they may have had the Gen Con copies air shipped (Expensive) while the bulk is sent via boat (Cheap) thus the delay. Plus the gen con copies will cause more hype for when the big release happens.

Control said:

I think that's what they would liek to think, but I suspect it simply isn't true. The people that are going to buy the game already know about it and their only concern is how soon can they buy it. Anyone else isn't itnerested. If there are some few that are undecided then they probably aren't going to be at gencon waiting in line and competing with those that are for copies thereof.

So really, just get the thing printed earlier so it can come out at this time. A month's difference really isn't an issue (assuming a september release and not another FFG farce).

One of my minions is returning from GenCon today with my copy of this game. I should have it sometime tomorrow!

signoftheserpent said:

"Just get the thing printed earlier".

Were it that easy...

It's not like clicking Print on your PC... the files get sent to the company doing the printing, who'll print out the many thousands of copies ordered somewhere down the line, after they've gotten through the orders made in the weeks and months before. The printed books are then loaded onto a boat and shipped extremely slowly (because big cargo ships like that can't travel very fast) across the world back to FFG, where they can then be sent out to distributors. Sometimes the process of printing gets delayed. Sometimes the shipping gets delayed. Things happen that FFG and other games producers have no control over.

That all takes a lot of time - months, essentially, even if everything goes perfectly... and Black Crusade is, in my experience, going a fair bit faster through the process than other books I've worked on.

At which point, "get the thing printed earlier" requires that you actually start work on the entire project earlier so it can be sent to the printers sooner and finished sooner.

Games companies are practically expected to put out new products early at major events like GenCon anyway - I wouldn't be surprised if a lot of people considered "getting new stuff before everyone else" to be a significant reason to go to such events - so paying extra to have a small number (comparatively) of new product flown in quickly to guarantee that it arrives in time for a major event makes sense given how much product is sold at those events.

I'd like Black Crusade to be out already as well - but the logistics of publication are not a matter easily dismissed.

Very true this has happened every year and it always takes a month or 2 to get the game shipped granted Amazon have a date of the end of august here in the UK we all know how reliable Amazon are.

We all wish it could be released at the same time but it always happens this way core rule book 1 month or so after gen con collectors edition about 2-3 months after gen con.

Maybe if they did an early pdf release but this then opens them up to pirated copies so its a case of damned if you don't lost profits if you do

All these discussions could have easily been avoided if FFG published a specific release date, like 1st Sept 2011 ( even at appx time frame say of a week time) instead of these hilarious "Arriving soon" , ..."at the printer", "on the boat".... "on the coffee machine down the hall".... etc etc.

I do sympathise with all the lads complaining about the GenCon availability of the Phb. I am currently located in Europe and it sucks not being able to get a copy when everyone else back in the US can. I do understand though the limited number of copies available for the GenCon and the "promotional" move to have copies available there.

Wont bother talking about Amazon. Those that werent born yesterday will know better than to take for granted the dates published there. If on the official web site of FFG there is no date mentioned, then whatever you see out there is pure speculation ( or deep dark desire!!!).

Laterz

Grims

Grimslock Shourafein said:

They used to do dates, but people used to get very bent out of shape over dates slipping so they decided (rather sensibly) I think to use the current system instead which has generally lead to much less moaning.

Grimslock Shourafein said:

Don't worry, not everyone back in the US was able to get one either. I couldn't get the 3 days off work to make the 1150km journey and I don't think I'm the only person who had that problem. I always seem to have that problem, but one day, I'll actually make it to that damned convention... one day...

Okay, for those new to how this goes with the Gencon/General release of a new 40K core rulebook:

Gencon gets early printings shipped over just for the con. General release gets the rest of the printings shipped by the slow boat from China.

The way this has worked in the past is 1-2 months after Gencon, the core rulebook hits stores. Going off memory here, I believe that Deathwatch finally hit in late September and Rogue Trader hit in mid-October. I could be misremembering and off by a week or two.

Those of you saving a few bucks by ordering from Amazon, expect to get your books 2 - 4 weeks after those of us who buy from a FLGS do. I don't know why, but that's the usual time range. I'm sorry.

Now, that said, this is the first time that the corebook was already listed as "On the Boat" on the Upcoming page during Gencon, as far as I recall. That may mean we get Black Crusade earlier than Deathwatch. I wouldn't hold my breath on that, however - too much chance of brain damage due to lack of oxygen. Just watch the Upcoming page, and it'll hit stores somewhere around 1-2 weeks after it hits "Shipping to Stores".

The thing to remember is that just because some lucky con-goers already have Black Crusade, don't expect to have it yourself anytime soon. Try not to get too impatient or worked up about it - I did that with Rogue Trader, and it's more anguish than it's worth.

For anyone in the UK, might i suggest order your copies through Gameslore. My RP club has bulk pre-ordered through them, and whilst their expected release date of the 11th (today) is optimistic at best, they are usually one of the first places in the UK to get FFG products in.

Also, the main UK supplier of FFG products is a company named Esdevium - i have before now just called them up and asked when shipments are due

Kasatka said:

Leisure Games is also usually one of the first shops to get new books in.

Also, FYI, Esdevium is the main UK supplier of pretty much every "mainstream" RPG and board game - they're the single largest supplier in the UK for all sorts of nerd-related gear

Chalk me up as one of the ones who considers getting New Stuff Early to be one of the perks and big reasons I go to Gen Con. Yes, I've been on the other end a lot (I remember an Exalted 1e book that had some copies at Gen Con and didn't make it into stores until November! And I was a tremendous Exalted fan in that edition, seeing all the people talk about it suuuucked), but frankly, look at it this way:

How many of you would pay roughly $500 (And that's not counting any missed work!) to have the ability to THEN pay Cover Price for new products a month or two early?

Because that's what Gen Con is for me, frankly. Yes, there's a lot of other things going on (And I highly recommend it), but trade conventions like this are all about early releases (My mother does things like Rubber Stamping and such, and even those conventions often have new product months in advance of street date). It's why people go. Plus, having those products there actually does create hype. Don't underestimate the power of showing up at the local Gaming Store and showing people it, people who otherwise might not have often get sold on it and place orders. And Board Games are even better for this, my LGS owner specifically asked me to be on the look out for good games at the con that he might be able to sell. And there's new board games that are a few months out yet too. So yeah, the early release stuff? Very valid marketing. Sure there's a lot of people who are guaranteed buys already. Many of us were at the Con waiting in line no doubt. And many more of the sorts who will no matter what might be hobbyists who will buy books and never demonstrate or show to anyone. Cons and Early Releases are about creating the hype for everyone on the fence or who might not know (Which is a HUGE segment of the hobby. 95 percent of gamers probably never even look at a website for games they play. Which is part of my problem with online erratta, most never know about it unless the GM is proactive and cares... same thing here, by buying early and showing off at Store, many people finally learn of a game they never heard of and some of them actually order it)

I have asked what the delay was over in the past I found out that a lot of companys, when they make a order for books to be printed, get a test run of books prior to the general printing to see what the batch will look like when put through the mighty machines. These batches are usually 200-500 books, depending on the printer and the order size, and they are usually expressed back to the company that placed the order to see if they are comfortable with the quality prior to a general printing. These are the copies that are sold prior to general release, they are identical to general release copies but come early due to them being test copies of the book.

Not sure how true that is for major publishers, but I know the development cycle for a lot fo game companies looking for a release at GenCon is to get the books sent to the printers in Spring, presumably so they can make sure that the print version will have the bugs (mostly) ironed out so the test batch can be sold during August if they can not manage a full release.

So we still (afaict) don't know the release date?

From what I recall, in the past, products are shown as "on the boat" from 5-7 weeks on the Upcoming page. Since Black Crusade was listed as on the boat on 7/14/11, I'd suspect that it will be at the docks within the next 2-3 weeks, then shipped to stores, giving us "September" as a pretty good release corridor.

nightspearD said:

This - especially since it fits with what happened with the previous books.

MILLANDSON said:

And, based on previous experience, when could we estimate the Collector's Edition will be available to order?

Alpha Chaos 13 said:

Usually sometime in September.

Well I got a pre order in with Amazon and they said it would be available around the 23th of august. But this week they send a mail that it won't be for this month. They hope to get it in the week of 10 to 15th of september.

Thanks to ItsUncertainWho & Barad the Dwarf!

Barad The Dwarf said:

That's Amazon though - they never give accurate release dates for FFG products.

Well I hope they don't delay it to much more. But at least this weekend we got a group together to try out Broken Chains, so that will keep us busy.