is there a marketing strategy for wings of glory WW!?

[okko]

Newish to the game and like many others struggle to get some of the models and accessories (even the rules without paying stupid prices a couple of months ago ) and some of the obvious types of planes . This is not a criticism but a genuine naive question - is it part of some greater plan or just "how it is" ? . I understand having a rare collectable market but as someone new to the game it seems impossible to get early war planes / famous makes in alternative paint jobs as they are out of print , balloons etc.
By the way if anyone has any collections they are selling I would be interested! .

[Flying Helmut]

It's "how it is" I'm afraid.

Ares is a small fish in a big pond, and has several successful games in print at the moment; I think there's only so much that a handful of people can cope with at any one time.

Personally, I think they do pretty well, all things considered, but even I would like to see releases reprinted much closer together time-wise than happens at the moment.
I have managed to acquire at least one each of all the minis produced, but cannot get "extra" DH2s for instance.

I have recently sold 4 balloons, because I managed to get them early on in my Wings career - I still look out for them, if only to supply them to others.
One sold at Warfare at Reading on the Bring'n'Buy for £10!!!!!! Before I got to it

I have a number of 'spare' planes - if there are any in particular you are after, let me know.

[Oberst Hajj]

Tim has it right. Ares is too small to keep everything in print at the same time. On the other side of that coin, I don't know of a store that would be able to stock every single mini at the same time either. If I recall correctly, there are 139 different minis for WGF alone. Their current plan is to release a new Series followed by a reprint of an old Series, with the goal being roughly one Series released every year.

The reprint schedule is a problem though. Right now several of the different minis from Series 6 are sold out. If they stick to the one year alternating schedule, it will be roughly the year 2023 before we see Series 6 reprinted again. To make matters worse, if every mini from a Series is not sold out, it will not get reprinted.

At some pint I think they might stop producing entirely new Series as there is a point of diminishing returns once you get into the more obscure aircraft from the Great War. At that point we might start seeing reprints much more often.

As a point of further detail, I sold the last of my Fokker E.III/A.III - Immelmann minis in 2013. Hautzmayer in 2014 and Buddecke in 2016. I still have several Morane-Saulnier Type N in stock even now. This greatly dispersed rate of sale for both aircraft types and even paint jobs make it had to reprint and stock things in a timely manner.

[okko]

Cheers for the insight - all makes sense .

[milcoll73]

their strategy seems to be more of a meandering reaction than anything else. though i will say, of late there have been quite a variety of new products if a bit sparsely spaced. i dont think holding to such a spaced out reprint schedule where reprinting of the more iconic aircraft is tied to sales of some of the more obscure or less desirable is wise. since the flgs open its doors in 2013 ive had to frustratingly watch newcomers interest in the game wane and die for lack of new material. its all the more frustrating since i love the game so much.

i realize ares is a small company but i truly dont understand, with the interest in this particular game, why more effort isnt devoted to it. how many other of their products line has such a large, devoted, and well organized (thank you oberst for the drome!) following that their out of print products command such prices on the secondary market?

[Bobby D]

I have managed to acquire at least one each of all the minis produced, but cannot get "extra" DH2s for instance.

Although I'm fairly new to the game compared to most, I've managed to acquire a pretty large roster of miniatures in a short time. The only models that still elude me are a couple of the Pfalz and Immelman eindecker.But the DH-2's have been scarcer than hens teeth and thus have become my "Holy Grail". These do not even show up on Evilbay and even if they did I'm afraid of what the asking price might be. Probably the most profitable reprint Ares could make IMO.

[Oberst Hajj]

their strategy seems to be more of a meandering reaction than anything else. though i will say, of late there have been quite a variety of new products if a bit sparsely spaced. i dont think holding to such a spaced out reprint schedule where reprinting of the more iconic aircraft is tied to sales of some of the more obscure or less desirable is wise. since the flgs open its doors in 2013 ive had to frustratingly watch newcomers interest in the game wane and die for lack of new material. its all the more frustrating since i love the game so much.

i realize ares is a small company but i truly dont understand, with the interest in this particular game, why more effort isnt devoted to it. how many other of their products line has such a large, devoted, and well organized (thank you oberst for the drome!) following that their out of print products command such prices on the secondary market?

I believe their Lord of the Rings line out sells Wings by quite a bit and most likely has a higher profit margin. The one we can either not wrap our heads around or simply forget, those of us on the 'Drome represent a minuscule fraction of the gamers out there. Even within the world wide players of Wings, we are a very small group. We can't get planes fast enough, but the average casual Wings player is probably just fine with a new release roughly once a year. I'm sure they have grown some over the last couple of years, but the last number of employees (full and part time) that I recall hearing about was around 10 or 11. So, saying Ares is a small company is an understatement.

I do agree that they should keep more of the iconic planes in stock however.

Although I'm fairly new to the game compared to most, I've managed to acquire a pretty large roster of miniatures in a short time. The only models that still elude me are a couple of the Pfalz and Immelman eindecker.But the DH-2's have been scarcer than hens teeth and thus have become my "Holy Grail". These do not even show up on Evilbay and even if they did I'm afraid of what the asking price might be. Probably the most profitable reprint Ares could make IMO.

The DH.2 was released in 2012 and did not sale out (at the AA store) until 2015. So it's not as if they were flying off the shelves. My thought on these is that since they were not super popular, people did not buy tons of extra ones which has lead to very few on the secondary market... there are just not extras to sell.

[BellMW54]

Like Bobby D, I also am relatively new to the game and, finding myself shamelessly addicted, have accumulated a fairly respectable air force. However, I have not been able to host the scenarios I would prefer as many of the planes I would really like to use are currently unavailable. Early- and mid-war machines are generally few and far between ... there seems to be a focus on producing the more obscure, lesser fielded planes. I should think the mainline equipment (i.e., their late '15/early '16 foursome and late 1917 foursome ... particularly if additionally printed in promotional duel packs ... supplemented with Nieuports, Albatrosses, SE5as, Fokker d.viis, etc.) would be constant shelf items and the obscure more supplemental ... and rules & accessory packs should NEVER be out of print! But then, they really ARE a small operation ... and in all fairness, they DO seem to listen to their customers.

[Stumptonian]

I guess I am lucky I started buying in 2014 and was able to pick up quite a few aircraft at a local game store.
My mistake was only picking up one of each ....


I am gradually rectifying that ....

[Oberst Hajj]

Like Bobby D, I also am relatively new to the game and, finding myself shamelessly addicted, have accumulated a fairly respectable air force. However, I have not been able to host the scenarios I would prefer as many of the planes I would really like to use are currently unavailable. Early- and mid-war machines are generally few and far between ... there seems to be a focus on producing the more obscure, lesser fielded planes. I should think the mainline equipment (i.e., their late '15/early '16 foursome and late 1917 foursome ... particularly if additionally printed in promotional duel packs ... supplemented with Nieuports, Albatrosses, SE5as, Fokker d.viis, etc.) would be constant shelf items and the obscure more supplemental ... and rules & accessory packs should NEVER be out of print! But then, they really ARE a small operation ... and in all fairness, they DO seem to listen to their customers.

Go back a couple of years and everyone was complaining that we were not getting the more obscure and special aircraft. We are just like all gamers, never happy with what we have. lol

[milcoll73]

I believe their Lord of the Rings line out sells Wings by quite a bit and most likely has a higher profit margin. The one we can either not wrap our heads around or simply forget, those of us on the 'Drome represent a minuscule fraction of the gamers out there. Even within the world wide players of Wings, we are a very small group. We can't get planes fast enough, but the average casual Wings player is probably just fine with a new release roughly once a year. I'm sure they have grown some over the last couple of years, but the last number of employees (full and part time) that I recall hearing about was around 10 or 11. So, saying Ares is a small company is an understatement.

I do agree that they should keep more of the iconic planes in stock however.

i did not know that. the only place ive ever seen it is on their webpage and advertised in game trade magazine.

yes, i suppose we spoil ourselves with the rarefied environment weve created for ourselves into thinking we have more clout than we do lol. ah well at least we have fun. i guess by comparison to other online communities ive been a party to this feels larger.

i cant help but lament the loss of interest ive seen in the game from my own small perspective. ive tried everything i could think of to promote the game, at least in this area.

wow. now i had no idea they were that small. considering the number of people i see in their booth at origins i thought they must be a good bit bigger than that. i must say im fairly impressed by the impression they put forth.

[milcoll73]

Go back a couple of years and everyone was complaining that we were not getting the more obscure and special aircraft. We are just like all gamers, never happy with what we have. lol

very true lol!

[BeneathALeadMt]

I've just found Wings and seeing the problems with getting models have in the last month liquidated a portion of my other wargaming stockpile to buy into it and not be left with a couple of planes and nowhere to go.

This is one of the few times I think kickstarter could be beneficial to re-energise or create a player base.

[Oberst Hajj]

wow. now i had no idea they were that small. considering the number of people i see in their booth at origins i thought they must be a good big bigger than that. i must say im fairly impressed by the impression they put forth.

The Ares booth at Origins and GenCon are actually managed and ran by a small "convention booth company" and are not direct employees of Ares (although that might have changed for at least one of them).

[Baxter]

By my count there are about 60 planes in the Aerodrome shop here for sale. ��

[Ken at Sunrise]

Go back a couple of years and everyone was complaining that we were not getting the more obscure and special aircraft. We are just like all gamers, never happy with what we have. lol

That may be true. We are gamers after all. But it shouldn't be difficult for new players to get the most iconic or well known planes. That is what would, hopefully, grab their interest. I know, for me at least, it has been difficult getting just a few of my more favorite planes.

[BellMW54]

Go back a couple of years and everyone was complaining that we were not getting the more obscure and special aircraft. We are just like all gamers, never happy with what we have. lol

I understand where you're coming from, and I'm not saying ARES shouldn't develop new product ... I'm just saying that the more common aircraft of a few key stages in the air war should be always available, particularly for newcomers. Sure, I can think of a lot of other planes I'D like to see (which were quite common for quite a long time) that haven't made into Wings of Glory, but there shouldn't be such a disparity of, say Fokker Eindekkers, Albatross D.IIIs, Nieuport 17s or SE 5as ... to name just a few.

[Coog]

There are some of the older and hard to find models out there. I often find them in game shops where WOG is not quite as popular as in others. I needed some more 1916 era aircraft, mainly EIIIs, Halberstadts, and DH-2s, for a convention game I just ran this month. I checked earlier in the month at an out of the way game shop while in the Houston area and found them. A little on line research of area game shops or shops at locations where you will be travelling, along with a visit or phone call, can sometimes really pay off.