Liberation shipping

[campsawyer]

Vince,

You and I have talked about this too. Maybe worth re-posting this on CSW on the APL site. It might get more more reaction from the powers that can implement change.

[Matt W]

I have a feeling that this represents a move towards making most of the series boxed game dependent rather than the previous reliance on ownership of many products in order to play those in a new supplement. Note that most of what is coming out now are stand alone games.

[vince hughes]

I have a feeling that this represents a move towards making most of the series boxed game dependent rather than the previous reliance on ownership of many products in order to play those in a new supplement. Note that most of what is coming out now are stand alone games.

But that is no reason not to use an already existing pallet. Mark my words, these boards will appear in some form of supplement when things are 'good' again

[campsawyer]

I have a feeling that this represents a move towards making most of the series boxed game dependent rather than the previous reliance on ownership of many products in order to play those in a new supplement. Note that most of what is coming out now are stand alone games.

Matt, can you elaborate on your first sentence as I believe there may be something missing. What represents the series boxed games dependent? The standardization of maps? Having the games as boxed games? Supplements based on other ownership?

[Matt W]

Making most of the series, "boxed games". As opposed to supplements depending on multiple boxed games. As time went on it became very important to have a robust library of PG boxed games, and supplements with counters, to be able to play the newest things coming out. The current emphasis on boxed games which can be played in their entirety without any other products is a relatively new phenomenon.

[rerathbun]

There also is a trend toward supplements that only require one or two boxed games, Like Winter Soldiers (BoB and ElsR) and Hammer & Sickle (RtB and ElsR). There are already plans to do a book supplement using Kursk: South Flank and Burning Tigers.

The real driver is sales, of course. Supplements sell better when they only require one or two (preferably popular) games.

[campsawyer]

But with any series, I believe there are some core items that need to consistent, map and counter art as well as core rules. Counter art has been the best, but now with the thick counters, just as with the thin, there are perception issues of consistency. I had outlined this in a post about Goldilocks counters on CSW. Samething with maps, we have many different styles that vary from the game to game that even playing between games make me think "what is terrain in this game and how is it shown differently". It seems each game is a new experiment with map art. Core rules is moving in the right direction, we will see when v4 comes out, but the fact that it needs to be updated and consistent is key for series growth, same needs to be applied to maps and counters.

[Hugmenot]

I was none too crazy with the Liberation counters until I played 2 scenarios. The counters do not slide and I have found them to be easier to handle than the die-cut counters. Maybe they could be a bit thinner but it's no biggie to me.

I will have no problem mixing counters of various thickness and may even like the extra fog of war it provides. I don't inspect stacks until they are spotted so I may not know at a glance how many units are in a stack.

I do agree the maps are a too dark. I like to put maps under Plexiglas but I have found the fields are a bit hard to recognize when I do that. I may try a thinner Plexiglas or, *gasp*, copy a page out of Matt's book and play with no Plexiglas. The elevation lines are great as there are no ambiguities as to what is a hill and what is not.

Many scenarios look to be great candidates for playing over Skype.

[vince hughes]

Since experiencing a play with plexi-glass I invested myself in the material about 3 years ago or so. Don't ask me why, but the maps and whole aesthetics of the game feel better with the plexi ! Never again will I willingly return to naked maps LOL Take Matt out the back and shoot him !

[Poor Yorek]

LOL Take Matt out the back and shoot him !

Heh; reminds me of one of my favorite Star Wars lines: "Take 'the professor' in back and plug him into the hyperdrive!"