Dumb question, but... any rumors on new WWII releases?

[Bobsalt]

As stated, it's probably a dumb question, but have there been any rumors of anything in the pipeline for WWII? I saw a post on the official FB group for WoG, and saw photos from a game at a con in Europe, and it showed the Italian SM79 being used (I'm guessing a prototype?), but that's about it. I was just on the Ares website and there is nothing listed in their News or Upcoming.

I may be wrong (I am married, after all), but I believe that last new planes for WWII released were the Do-17 and Ju-88's back in 2019. If correct, that's five years. I would say that five years with no new product is the very definition of a dead game.

I know the Battle of Britain set has been reprinted, but has there been any word on reprinting any of the other fighters commonly used in the war (F4F, P-40, P-51, A6M, etc.)?

I ran a couple of scenarios at Daycon a couple of weeks ago - a little demoralizing that every single plane I used between the two games is long out of print and unavailable except on eBay.

[Diamondback]

South Pacific still in development - I'm researching potential scenarios as we speak. No timelines yet that I know of, but we ARE still working on things.

[Baxter]

I am also waiting for the Italian SM79. It has been way too long. Do not worry about the pacific, just release the promised planes. I am thinking that most of us oldies (and therefore major customers) will be flying with the angels by the time they appear.

[malachi]

It will probably be faster to learn how to design our own full color shapeways 3D prints.

[Diamondback]

I am also waiting for the Italian SM79. It has been way too long. Do not worry about the pacific, just release the promised planes. I am thinking that most of us oldies (and therefore major customers) will be flying with the angels by the time they appear.

I think you misunderstand my position, Gary - I'm not an employee, just a consultant, and my SOLE portfolio is historical research, usually on the "closer to the horizon or over it" projects. There isn't a lot I can tell you, between NDA and a lot *I'm* not read in on, but I share what I *can* of what I *do* know.

[Baxter]

Yes sorry if I came on a bit strong. No offence to you intended. Diamondback.

[Dan-Sam]

Hi,
there was a mention about Prague, se let me tell what I know about your questions. Btw, the question is not dumb.

• There was a mission with SM.79 run by Andrea "Big" (Magnoan here) in Prague two years ago. It was created to test Andrea's (Angiolillo's) torpedo rules (fully developed now). All miniatures were home-made, Shapeways was the source, probably.
• Dornier 17 and Junkers Ju.88 were released during summer 2020 - I remember decaling them with "can not play them due to Covid" in my mind. So 4 yours, but still terribly long time ago. SM.79 and Blanheims should be the next released miniatures. Should be. Real prototypes were showed by Ares in 2018 in Essen (see this link)
• The last brand new fighters were released in 2016. I do not want to comment this fact, it is just...sad. BoB was released later and thanks for this set and Squadron Packs, but it is a reprint in fact.
• There are hints about releasing 4 new fighters (Lightning, Corsair, Aircobra and Hayabusa), you can see 4 years old preview of sculpts here.

So: we do not know anything, there are promises, but the only thing we can do is wait for miracle.

[Diamondback]

None taken, amigo. If I'd been offended, you'd know.

Daniel, those four fighters are all part of the South Pacific line - per Rob at Ares, and note different font indicating I'm speaking in company voice, The old "series" releases are over, the "themed campaign" starter-and-squadron-packs release model like Battle of Britain is the intended future for all WGS releases.

I tried to get them to alternate between "series" and "campaign" releases, but they have a very big problem with production bandwidth, which I suspect is partially because of their very low market-cap by industry standards. This would also explain the heavy focus on "paper products" like boardgames that can be quickly and cheaply pushed to market for high turnover and margin.

[Dan-Sam]

We are not at odds with our information, so not a big deal.

My opinion is literary every release would be good now.

[Diamondback]

Sparviero and Blenheim are still in development, but it sounds like a lot went sideways in moving manufacturing to Dust and I would bet that they burned a LOT of the company "rainy day fund" keeping people paid and able to feed themselves through Italy's long and brutal Covid shutdown and are still rebuilding working capital from that.

We all tend to forget that the company's run on a shoestring budget and a skeleton crew, they punch way above their weight class on the products they do get out the door but they're still basically a "five-man band" not much bigger than a few guys working out of a garage. As a recovering Business major, this is looking at them as a businessman not a gamer, I would say their main problem is they BADLY need more market capitalization but refuse to consider ANY source of it because they feel that outside investors whether shareholders, bondholders or venture-capital lenders would threaten their creative control. I even suggested something like a OneShare program where they could offer a 30-40% stake up to the market with limits of "only one share per holder and except for transfer by inheritance can only be resold back to Ares and let us longtime diehards become symbolic stakeholders, but... it went down like a kamikaze Zero. (Admittedly, I have zero understanding of Italian corporate law and its takes on "fiduciary duties"...)

[Spad VII]

Hi,
there was a mention about Prague, se let me tell what I know about your questions. Btw, the question is not dumb.

• There was a mission with SM.79 run by Andrea "Big" (Magnoan here) in Prague two years ago. It was created to test Andrea's (Angiolillo's) torpedo rules (fully developed now). All miniatures were home-made, Shapeways was the source, probably.
• Dornier 17 and Junkers Ju.88 were released during summer 2020 - I remember decaling them with "can not play them due to Covid" in my mind. So 4 yours, but still terribly long time ago. SM.79 and Blanheims should be the next released miniatures. Should be. Real prototypes were showed by Ares in 2018 in Essen (see this link)
• The last brand new fighters were released in 2016. I do not want to comment this fact, it is just...sad. BoB was released later and thanks for this set and Squadron Packs, but it is a reprint in fact.
• There are hints about releasing 4 new fighters (Lightning, Corsair, Aircobra and Hayabusa), you can see 4 years old preview of sculpts here.

So: we do not know anything, there are promises, but the only thing we can do is wait for miracle.

Yes , i find this question is relevant because we've been asking it since the famous prototypes were exhibited, I too am impatiently waiting for the SM 79 and the Blenhein and yes there was a time when this "small structure" called Ares Games released (between 2011 and 2016) 4 different aircraft models each year, it wasn't that long ago but times have indeed changed, thanks Daniel for this history and this information, we'll wait again !