According to this blog post , someone talked to FFG at GenCon and were told that FFG is working on getting the heroes of the expansions available separately for Dust Warfare players, perhaps in hero boxes similar to the ones already released.

That would be welcome. Does this mean that they're finally going to start learning how to market this game? (GenCon was a masterpiece of botch.)

How so? What made Gencon a botch for them?

DoomOnYou72 said:

Two things, really. They only advertised the "Premium" prices for the models (for the prepainted version), which are about double the regular cost, making the game seem way more expensive than it actually is.

And, the Warfare terrain during the tournament was very lackluster, especially compared to some other other terrain tables there, limiting the attractiveness of the game.

For me personally, as an Allied player, I was just disappointed there was so little for my faction… but I'll survive. Last year's GenCon just seemed so much more exciting for Dust than this year's.

And on a separate front, their two big GenCon releases for the 40K RPG line failed to show up. Especially 'Only War,' their really big release.

Dont catch how FFG will separate DT and DW players?

This would be a huge step in the right direction. Put Angela, Markus and Manfred into a box for the Axis, plus Rosie, The Chef and Ozz 117 into an Allies box, call the packs "Campaign Heroes", and watch demand outstrip supply.

Um, I think we can already start seeing how they are going to do it on Dust-Models.com. There are 2 Bazooka Joe/Sigrid boxes on sale right now (maybe pre-order), one with an alt pose for Joe. However they are both Prepainted and $40 which has me worried this will be the only way to get them.

-jay

HuronBH said:

I have the alt set on the way. Me and a buddy are splitting. I'm an allied player and a completist, so had to have the alt sculpt.

Having the campaign heroes sold seperately is great news!

Any truth in this rumour?

Guess this is probably still just a rumour then

Until you see an FFG news article saying otherwise yes, just a rumor.

Thank you for confirming what I've been, rather guiltily, thinking. The marketing for this game seems rather…klunky. I was ashamed to admit it.

I think the word you're looking for is inept…although, to be fair, they're new to this, and chronically under-staffed, so I suppose it's only fair to be a bit patient with them.

Hmmm interview on Dust-War sounds like there is no plan for it at the moment

http://dust-war.com/2012/09/qa-zach-tewalthomas/

Well the stuff they can talk about is limited to the Hades block so it really dosen't mean much other then it woln't be in the hades block.

Now if we could only get FFG to market the Chinese Volunteers to us without having to buy the heli transport… I could really use a couple of volunteer units, but I do not want their choppers.

I'd like to see FFG market a lot of things. Dice, card sleeves for Dust. CARDS for Dust Warfare. Individual figure models. Walker parts. Figure heads and arms. Weapons sprues.

I have a shoebox full of various Allied walker turrets and weapons that I would love to purchase legs and hulls for. I really want to give FFG my money, but they don't offer the opportunity. I have a hard time understanding that. It seems like an untapped market to me.

MRex21 said:

i think just a little patience is in order. Both Tactics and Warfare are still in their infancy stage, and this is FFG's first trip into actual miniature wargaming. I think all will come in time.

blkdymnd said:

Aye Warfare is just what 6 months old.

Granted.

But Tactics has been in production since 2010. All the model parts, dice, and everything else are already there. They could have been doing this years ago. To not have unit cards for Warfare is a huge gaffe, in my opinion. Thankfully, several players have come out with nice, high quality versions of them to fill the void left by FFG. I don't know if they can even get back into that market. Why purchase when the same thing is available for free? FFG has been in the game long enough to figure out how to market a miniatures game. I'm not buying the 'this-is-their-first-time' thing. They have the extra parts to replaced damaged items. I'm don't see why those same parts can't be ordered 'a-la-carte' to complete partial units for the game.

How many players have box fulls of extra walker parts who could be playing those units if only the hulls and legs were available for purchase? That's a built in secondary market that's being untapped.

MRex21 said:

True about that secondary market but that will be entirely depended if FFG considers that to be a worthy investment, plenty of other companies do not provide this service and it works for them, yes it does indeed suck that after some time we are left with just so many spare bits that are mostly just gathering dust.

As for the seperate hero packs, yes it is odd that sofar they have still not reacted to that, it's a missed oppertunity, many other items are also a lost chance but that is their problems, the playerbase is creating it's own cheaper solutions and if FFG can't be arsed to respond quickly enough that is their problem.

MRex21 said:

I would bet that any replacement parts are coming out of retail product boxes in their warehouse, not a spare parts bin.

Individual part fulfillment is a nightmarish and expensive task. That type of operation is really not cost effective for most companies to consider doing. My guess is that a set of walker legs could not be produced and shipped for less than what they are already charging for the whole miniature.

Every player I know is perfectly happy swapping arms or turrets as needed to field the walker they want for that particular deployment. The option to swap load-outs is a great part of D:W. I don't have to spend 2-3 time the cost of the model to buy a base unit and an upgrade kit. I open the box and I have 2-4 variants ready to go for one low price. Dust-Studio and FFG need to be applauded for this approach.

ItsUncertainWho said:

So what is FFG doing with all of THEIR spare parts from all of the box sets they are cannibalizing to replace broken parts picked up by players? Seems to me they may have bucket loads of extra bits, legs, hulls, etc.

What do you do if you want to field three Pounders, or four Ludwigs? Buy more? And have even more parts for the bits-box? I don't believe it would be insurmountable for FFG to sell extra parts. Miniatures companies sell singles and parts. There's a huge aftermarket of companies that sell nothing but parts. If it was so hard, they wouldn't do it.

How hard is it to call up FFG and say, I need some walker legs…one of the thralls goes and grabs the walker legs…they get put into a box and shipped.? That's what they do with complete sets already.