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PaulMc
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BIG NEWS

Post by PaulMc » Thu Feb 12, 2009 2:52 pm

Hello gentlemen,

I wonder if anyone else has heard about this?

http://www.flamesofwar.com/hobby.aspx?art_id=1078

The continuing march of corporate gaming or a logical step in the hobby?
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Post by martin terroni » Thu Feb 12, 2009 3:27 pm

oh ho !! :shock: Will be plastered with fow adverts in no time at all, mind you it already has :roll: To be honest, a new owner may breath a bit of life into the magazine. Some of the articles have been a bit of a hit and miss of late ( my view only) :)
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Post by barr7430 » Thu Feb 12, 2009 3:28 pm

Well, I must confess to have been tipped the wink on this a little while ago :wink:

I have a reaonsably long standing relationship with WI and have committed to be part of their 'stable' of contributors on a far more regular basis than ever before.

Looking forward to it, Dan Faulconbridge who handles their UK end is a very professional chap :D
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Post by Adam Hayes » Thu Feb 12, 2009 6:28 pm

martin terroni wrote:oh ho !! :shock: Will be plastered with fow adverts in no time at all, mind you it already has :roll: To be honest, a new owner may breath a bit of life into the magazine. Some of the articles have been a bit of a hit and miss of late ( my view only) :)
M
I've missed something here :? Which magazine?
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Post by PaulMc » Thu Feb 12, 2009 6:46 pm

Hi Adam,

Just have a wee click on the link my friend. It's about Wargames Illustrated.
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Post by Adam Hayes » Thu Feb 12, 2009 8:14 pm

PaulMc wrote:Hi Adam,

Just have a wee click on the link my friend. It's about Wargames Illustrated.
Wasn't when I clicked it first, it was an article about GF9 being bought up :? :? :?

Saw the full info on TMP though. Is this going to be good news for magazine readers or will the content now favour WW2 do we think? (The two things are not necessarily incompatible I suppose.)
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Post by big-gazza » Thu Feb 12, 2009 8:45 pm

Hi,
should be interesting. Even as a FOW fan I'd hope it continues to cover other scales and periods as well. Can't see them filling a full mag every month on just FOW.

Guess we will have to wait and see.

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Post by martin terroni » Thu Feb 12, 2009 10:51 pm

Two words, "White Dwarf." Started with numerous topics, but we see the end product today. A very slick marketing mag, will w.i go this way, who knows :?: But you don't invest money into a magazine, if you are not going to use it for your own interests in some way or other. I would expect to see more ads, articles for fow products, just makes sense.

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Post by big-gazza » Thu Feb 12, 2009 11:13 pm

martin terroni wrote:Two words, "White Dwarf." Started with numerous topics, but we see the end product today. A very slick marketing mag, will w.i go this way, who knows :?: But you don't invest money into a magazine, if you are not going to use it for your own interests in some way or other. I would expect to see more ads, articles for fow products, just makes sense.

M
HI,
I can see there being more FOW but not all the mag.

White Dwarf struggles to fill a mag with 3 different game systems each with about 10 to 14 armys each. Just can't see BF filling the mag with there own stuff with the resources they have available.

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Post by PaulMc » Fri Feb 13, 2009 12:39 am

Barry, I suspected you might have had an idea about this. I have this image in my mind that if someone were to sneeze in the world of wargaming then you would have heard about it before they had a chance to reach for a hankie. :wink:

For what it's worth, I reckon BF products will receive a much larger share of the magazine in future. However I don't think they would be foolish enough to go down the same route as White Dwarf. The WI demographic is entirely different than the fantasy set and readers would more than likely switch allegiance to either Battlegames or WSS (or both) rather than buy an oversized catalogue in the mould of White Dwarf.
We should also remember that accusations of this type have already been aimed at WI and Duncan in the past with the Foundry ads. It proved very unpopular at the time and any hint of similar by BF would likely garner a likewise reaction.
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Post by Atheling » Fri Feb 13, 2009 8:12 am

Apparently, and I have it on a reasonably good source, Dan is going to take over the reigns from Duncan and the mag will be run along similar lines as before.

There will no doubt be a small influx of FoW adds/articles but my hope is that this will not start to monopolise the pages of the mag.

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Post by barr7430 » Fri Feb 13, 2009 8:28 am

The intention as far as I am aware is to retain the core readership by maintaining the current 'feel' of the mag with emphasis as always on the ILLUSTRATED part of the title.

Dan is working very hard to build a group of regular contributors who plan and finish work well in advance. I believe the BF will realise that despite where financial owenership actually 'lives' that the epicentre of world wargaming is actually the UK and to be more precise the greater Nottingham area. Strange but True.

It is unlikely that the core market for the publication... the UK will be neglected or alienated, that would be commercial suicide.

I suspect BF will run regular FoW features and take up advertising space fo new products. I also expect they with try and make crossover links between their products and other rule systems.

Let's face it, they are by far and away the most organised, professional, prolific, customer centric historical wargames manufacturer on the planet. Commercially astute, corporately structured, run clearly, by men and women who understand business... the vast majority of traders in our hobby are enthusiastic amateurs at best. Why would they screw up now over what is a relatively small scale investment??

I think it will be a success. The gloom and doom merchants will perceive it as the wargaming world's version of corporate armageddon a la McDonalds and Starbucks but... like it or not.. we all sup from that trough now and again even if we don't admit it :wink:

Give them a chance, let's see what happens :D
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Post by martin terroni » Fri Feb 13, 2009 10:47 am

Totally agree with your comments Barry, as I said previously. I don't think wi has been at its best of late anyway. So I for one think the change of ownership will probably good for wi. I just wonder though will they allow advertsing space to competition to their own product etc. :?: As the magazine will no longer been seen as having a neutral stance, whether this will be the case or not is another matter :!:

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Post by barr7430 » Fri Feb 13, 2009 7:47 pm

WHO is there competition Martin?

No disrespect to any of the following but Peter Pig, Old Glory or Irregular Miniatures would hardly be considered competition by BF I would assume.
I don't know what their T/O is but I would be prepared to bet it is multiples bigger than all of the above combined.
They probably turn over more than Foundry too. Their book sales will turn in huge margins I bet.
If they decided to do 28mm Napoleonics in plastic for example it would blow the market wide open. They would have the economies of scale and the marketing muscle behind them to pick and choose their sector of the market and dominate it.
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Post by martin terroni » Fri Feb 13, 2009 8:33 pm

True Barry, but regardless of economies, production etc. There is still a choice, which w.i has always offered, hence my fears regards domination from one company. Result is no consumer choice and increased costs :(

If BF forces the market pushes the others out=no competition, which will lead to the above

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