In my earlier article I discussed a revision of the current BattleTech Introductory Box Set, which you can read here. As a follow up, I want to discuss the potential of a BattleTech entry into the tabletop miniatures game market. Spearheaded by the Alpha Strike game rules set, this future box set would be BattleTech’s first dedicated foray into miniature gaming. And to forestall the inevitable objections of first-time readers, as I mentioned in my earlier article, despite the presence of miniatures in BattleTech, the traditional game—as offered through Total Warfare and follow up rulebooks—is not a miniatures game, but a tabletop board game. Tabletop Total Warfare-BattleTech can and is played using any proxy item available (i.e. bottle cap, paper stand-ins, etc.). Miniatures were and continue to be a premium add-on to an otherwise hex-based board game. The Alpha Strike game rules set is BattleTech’s move from a hex-based board game to a full-fledged tabletop miniatures game.
Prior to building the Alpha Strike box set, it would be helpful to review some of the competition’s introductory box sets. Listed below are some of the top contenders in the tabletop miniature game market with their introductory products. Listed costs are the MSRP for each item.
- Fantasy Flight’s Dust
- Dust Tactics: $99.95
- Dust Tactics Revised Core: $79.95
- Miniature Sets: $19.95 – $44.95
- Dust Warfare Rulebook: $39.95
- Campaign Book: $19.95
- Dream Pod 9’s Heavy Gear Blitz
- Blitz Rulebook: $14.99
- Taskforce: $146.96
- Games Workshop’s Warhammer 40K & Fantasy
- Dark Vengeance 40K Starter Box: $110
- Privateer Press’s Warmachine
- All-in-one Army Box: $134.99*
- Two Player Battle Box: $99.99
- Warmachine Prime MkII (Softcover): $29.99
- Battlegroups: $49.99
A quick review reveals a couple of interesting price point comparisons. First, three of the four miniature lines offer turnkey introductory box sets designed for immediate play between two or more players. Only the Heavy Gear Blitz miniature line and the newly-introduced Dust Warfare line are designed for single player purchase. An interesting caveat concerning Dust Warfare: the rule set is a sub-game rule set to Tactics. Much like Alpha Strike can be considered a game rules set to “standard” BattleTech, new customers can use Dust Warfare, but it’s really for current Dust Tactics players who want to expand their armies and play a different style of Dust.
Second, I calculated the introductory cost of paints, primer, glue and brushes at about $50. Paint and other hobby supplies can run from the very expensive—such as Citadel Paints and brushes—to the very cheap. Players can spend hundreds of additional dollars on these supplies, but rather than try to calculate an exact amount, I opted for the low-end of a wide cost range to keep the discussion simple. However, it’s important to note that the ancillary cost of hobby supplies is an important cost that game publishers should bear in mind when pricing their products.
Both “flavors” of Warhammer offer two-player boxes priced at $110. For that sum a customer receives two small armies, a condensed rulebook, dice, and templates. Everything they’ll need to get started with the game. If a customer splits the cost with a friend, they’ve spent $55 so far, which isn’t too bad considering the start-up contents. Alternatively, if a player is not interested in either of these box sets, costs do rise considerably. Let’s say the new player decides to buy into an army that isn’t offered at a discounted price. This is hard to gauge because what you buy can vary, but let’s assume a player decides to purchase four things: the full rulebook, an army book, the battalion/battleforce, and a lord/hero. Purchased together, the player is looking at spending anywhere between $300-$350. If they decide to add paint, the cost could rise to over $400 for a starter army. During 2010-2011 the average Warhammer/40K player could spend over $1,000 building a 1500-2000-point army.
Heavy Gear Blitz is very much Dream Pod 9’s take on Games Workshop’s army building-style miniatures game. However, unlike GW’s two-player introductory box set offering, Heavy Gear Blitz saddles new players with the unenviable task of purchasing the miniatures and rulebook separately. Their closest equivalent to a box set is the individual taskforce boxes. Costing a hefty $146.96, the boxes compare favorably to the price-heavy battleforces offered by GW, but easily represent the higher end of retail miniature product offerings.
Alternatively, Warmachine will come in a little cheaper by virtue that it offers more things bundled, requires fewer models and doesn’t charge new players $85 for a rulebook. Like GW, Privateer’s two-player battlebox is also priced at $100 and offers players the same things that a Warhammer starter set does. If a new player wants to start with an army not bundled in this set, they’re still only looking at $50 for a battlegroup—despite a reduction in models. Throw in the full rulebook and paint and this route will cost roughly $130.
Dust Tactics is very much in the same vein as Warmachine, with a two-player box set for under $100 and expansion sets with an MSRP between $30-$45. The addition of the Dust Warfare rules expansion is a relatively simple way to make double use of the existing miniatures and to encourage new purchases from existing players. The low-cost campaign books also become an ongoing point of purchase for players with extensive army formations who may not be looking to grow their armies, but rather use them in different ways. In addition to pushing the story narrative through the campaign books, they serve as a valuable way to help player retention.
Based on this little comparison, the ideal Alpha Strike box set should retail between $80-$100, be two-player, and at the very least contain the core rulebook and associated game aides.
Building the Alpha Strike box set
Here are the retail costs for all of Alpha Strike’s current product offerings:
- Alpha Strike Core Rulebook: $39.99
- Alpha Strike Companion Rulebook: $39.99
- Alpha Strike Lance Packs: $19.99
- Alpha Strike Ad-hoc Unit Cards: $14.99
Ideally the Alpha Strike box set would follow a similar balance model as the aforementioned competitor box sets. This means 24-32 mixed BattleMech miniatures of comparable type and weight designed for two or more players. This would offer each player between 12 and 16 evenly-matched BattleMech miniatures for play.
Alpha Strike cards should be representative of all eras without being era specific. For example, if the box set includes an Atlas miniature, the box set should have the Alpha Strike Cards for the AS7-D and AS7-K. The first variant is suitable for the Star League and Succession Wars eras, while the second is available through the Clan Era, Civil War Era, Jihad Era, Republic and Dark Age Era. Providing only the basic AS7-D variant card is a step in the wrong direction and should be avoided at all cost. In addition, a mix of Alpha Strike cards for miniatures that are not available in the lance packs, as represented by the Alpha Strike Ad-hoc Unit Cards pack, is a great addition to the box set. If the cards represent ’Mechs from every era, box set players can become immediately familiar with the current era through the box set.
Since the wholesale cost of each Lance Pack is probably close to $7 (that includes packaging), the actual wholesale cost of the miniatures and card is probably closer to $5-$6. Softcover wholesale of the rulebooks probably hovers below $9 each, while print cost for the Ad-hoc card set should sit around $4. Toss in some branded game aides, like a tape measure and you’re looking at another $2-$4 worth of materials.
This means a box set with a single rulebook, four lance packs and the ad-hoc unit cards could wholesale around $30-$35. That would place it favorably with the wholesale cost of the current introductory box set I created here and price the MSRP of this Alpha Strike box set around the same $85 mark. If we include two more lance packs for a total of six the new box set would retail for about $100. Personally, I’d prefer if the Alpha Strike box retailed for $80-$85. It would be a competitive entry with lots of muscle.
If I sell an Alpha Strike box set with the core rulebook, 24 miniatures, 80 unit cards and a few useful non-era specific game aides, like a tape measure. I’m looking at a pretty good $85 seller. The inevitable follow up question is what to do with the box set? Selling a box set without follow-up products would be a major mistake. Not only are follow-up product sales crucial to customer retention, but they will also be crucial to grabbing new customers. Alpha Strike is entering a market where the competition is well staffed when it comes to secondary, or accessory, product offerings beyond the initial box set.
Here’s where that fast-failure product development strategy comes into play, but first some points to consider:
- BattleTech’s Eras
- Ironwind Metals & Game Aides
- Current Customers
We’ll take each one in turn before outlining some potential follow up product sales to the Alpha Strike box set.
BattleTech Eras
BattleTech has six primary eras and nine sub-eras. The new box set and the initial follow up product offerings should be as era inclusive as possible. Some of the reasoning behind this includes:
Cost savings: Era-inclusive accessory products cost less to produce, print and sell.
Customer Inclusive: Era-inclusive accessory products appeal to the width and breadth of the current customer base, while offering a sampling of all BattleTech eras to new customers. An era-specific accessory product excludes current customers and places new customers in a specific era. Customer retention is more difficult because you’ll have to “pull” these players to newer eras instead of starting them off with all of them.
BUILD A BETTER CUSTOMER AND PLAYER WITH YOUR ACCESSORY PRODUCTS
Post-Develop: An initial era-inclusive offering provides the greatest variety for future sub-product development. (e.g. “General” CCAF Army Book could see future sub-era CCAF Army Book offerings)
Ironwind Metals & Game Aides
Inevitably Alpha Strike will hit the dreaded license wall, at which point the production of Alpha Strike miniatures will leave the realm of “game aides” and run into conflict with Ironwind’s hold on miniature production. Two things can happen at this point: Either Alpha Strike will prove successful enough that Catalyst can somehow obtain a miniature “exemption” from Catalyst and Ironwind, or they’ll strike some sort of deal with Ironwind to produce more of their miniatures in plastic.
Because Catalyst will hit a production wall at some point in the near future it will be important that said wall doesn’t impact the conscription of new players or customer retention. One possible way to avoid the crushing blow of not being able to manufacture new miniature units is an expansion of the Alpha Strike game aide catalog. Taking a page from Dust Tactics, Alpha Strike should turn to BattleTech’s innumerable number of unit variants. In this fashion, the thousands of unit variants become advantageous to Catalyst and Alpha Strike. Instead of trying to product faction or era-specific miniatures, Catalyst could instead product faction-specific and era-specific variant cards in supplement packs. An expansion of the accessory book product line can coincide with card pack releases (or include them) as a strong way to provide new product without impacting current license arrangements or incur a major development cost.
Current Customers
As previously mentioned, after the Alpha Strike box set, the initial post-box set accessory offerings should strive to be as era inclusive as possible to help facilitate new players into BattleTech’s numerous eras, but also to increase a product’s overall appeal to current or returning players. Most current and returning players will have familiarity—and sometimes intense loyalty—to the “traditional” Total Warfare-BattleTech. As a game publisher, Catalyst should strive to not alienate these players, and instead engineer Alpha Strike products to be as inclusive of non-rules related BattleTech material as possible. This means embracing ALL BattleTech eras equally with the initial accessory product offerings. Doing anything else runs the risk of creating even more dissatisfaction with the current customer/player base, which in turn can have a negative impact on new customer growth and customer retention.
So how does all of this impact those secondary post-box set accessory products? For starters I’d develop three types of immediate follow-up sellers: Game Aides, Army Guides and Campaign Books.
Game Aides
I’d create the aforementioned combination faction- and era-specific unit card packs. Card supplement packs are cheap to produce wholesale, have good branding and can cover new, returning and current customers. Take advantage of the variant catalog to provide 72 faction and era specific cards, plus 8 special unit cards. This would give each pack 12 cards per era (for a total of six different eras) to a specific faction. Initial offerings would cover the five Great Houses. Follow up packs could delve into smaller factions. This allows each player to expand their faction list and add some dynamic play without having to produce new miniatures. Among other benefits, this type of game aide may also tempt players to refrain from painting their miniatures with faction specific colors, as each unpainted miniature is now suitable for a number of different factions.
Army Guides
Army Guides (Combat Manuals could also be a cool name) are the Alpha Strike equivalent of Field Manuals, Codexes, etc. These would offer new, current and returning players era-inclusive information for an individual faction. Players would be able to recreate faction-specific units, add unique quirks or special rules across multiple eras to their games. Each guide would cover an assortment of units across multiple eras to be used as a quick and fast way to flavor a player’s Alpha Strike game. These Army Guides would form the basis for the following Campaign Books.
Campaign Books
Campaign Books are the Alpha Strike equivalent of the current Turning Point PDF-only series. These digital product offerings are Alpha Strike-specific scenario packs with additional game play quirks and special rules for playing historical Alpha Strike scenarios. The initial six offerings would see one product cover each of the six BattleTech eras. Follow up Campaign Books would continue the trend of tackling important playable moments and different factions in each era, as well as provide special Alpha Strike unit cards for personal print. Cut out scenery could also be provided for to represent special scenario-related items (i.e. an HPG for example).
This would make it easy for players to advance through Alpha Strike‘s accessory products using a basic three-tier structure. Players would only require a copy of the core rules and the companion to play Alpha Strike proper. Next, they would add Army Guides to “fluff” out the various factions through the six different BattleTech eras. Finally, they would purchase Campaign Books to play various era, faction, special rule and quirk-specific scenarios. It’s a streamlined system, but benefits from BattleTech’s extensive fictional universe. With this type of setup the accessory product expansion possibilities within these initial tiers will occupy Catalyst for years.
Catalyst needs to stop treating the Clan Invasion, the Succession Wars and veteran players as more important than the current Dark Age or a new customer. It’s bad for business.
Remember, the goal of tabletop miniature game offering is to retain current customers, draw returning customers and conscript new ones. Thirteen years ago WizKids unveiled the MechWarrior: Dark Age Clix Game and garnered upwards of a million new customers to the game. If Alpha Strike hopes to achieve even a fifth of that expansion without estranging its current player base or undermining the current and future storyline, the initial offering of Alpha Strike accessory products need to avoid the same pitfalls that have assailed BattleTech in the past: Namely, an over-emphasis on one era and customer type over the others.
Catalyst needs to stop treating the Clan Invasion, the Succession Wars and the veteran players as more important than the current Dark Age or new customers. It’s bad for business.
Take a real hard look at these successful miniature games: Dust Tactics, Warhammer, Heavy Gear Blitz and Warmachine all attach their miniature game lines to a stagnant or single game era. In other words, they’ve simplified the background in relation to the game’s rule set. Since all of these different game lines represent the primary product line for each company, none of the games suffer from era confusion or the possibility of estranging any of their player types over it. Because BattleTech is not a single game rules set and utilizes these multiple game rule sets in conjunction with the different eras, BattleTech is faced with the overly complicated situation of pandering to each era. I see addressing multiple eras as a one of BattleTech’s strengths if the eras are treated correctly with era-inclusive accessory products.
Alpha Strike has the right price point, game mechanics and potential flexibility to appeal to a wide variety of current and potential tabletop miniature players, and inclusive secondary products offer a reduced-risk format for Catalyst to retain and garner a greater share of the tabletop miniatures market.