Kickstarter Sales

According to this, gaming sales via Kickstarer are still healthy, up about 37% from 2016. However, we are seeing a few gaming companies pulling back. Stonemaier Games announced last year they were pulling projects off Kickstarter and Ninja Division announced at the GAMA Trade Show that they would not fund large projects through the platform anymore, though they might still use Kickstarter for smaller one.

Early Dominaria Sales

This week's Rolling for Initiative column looks at the change in WOTC policy on early sales of Dominaria booster boxes and the replacement for the From the Vault sets.

GAMA Trade Show

The GAMA Trade Show moved to Reno this year and people are pretty happy with the new location. This week's Rolling for Initiative column looks at a couple of hot topics at the show.

Forgebane Releases

For you Warhammer 40K fans, the new Forgebane game releases on March 24. For only $160, you get over $300 worth of Necrons and Adeptus Mechanicus

Warhammer 40,000: Forgebane (FB-xx)

• Fantastic-value set featuring 2 armies, rules and specific story.
• Includes brand-new miniatures: Necron Cryptek with Canoptek Cloakand Imperial Knight Armiger Warglaive, currently only available in this boxed set.
• All miniatures (27 in total) are multi-part plastic miniatures.
• The Forgebane book contains a selection of schemes for Necron Dynasties and Adeptus Mechanicus Forge Worlds.
• Includes all the rules you need to play with the contents of the set: core
  Warhammer 40,000 rules, datasheets, army abilities, weapons and wargear
  profiles and points.
• Potential Add On Sales: CitadeI 12mm Dice, Warhammer 40,000 Essentials Set, Codex: Adeptus Mechanicus

(FB-60) ENG
(FB-01) FRE

US $160/ CAN $190

They're Number 3

This week's Rolling for Initiative column looks at the suprising jump of the D&D Player's Handbook to #3 on Amazon's best seller list and revisits MAP

Dominaria Leak

In case you had not heard, some one in China leaked all of the release notes for the new Dominaria set. These were not supposed to get released for at least another month. However, making the best of a bad situation WOTC has posted an overview of what the notes cover as well as a translation of the notes themselves.

Some of the new concepts include Sagas:  "The Dominaria set introduces a new kind of enchantment: Sagas. Each Saga tells the story of a key event from the past as it unfolds during each of your turns."

Legendary creatures will become more common with 1 in each booster pack.

Also, this rule change will go into effect with the release of the set:  "Previously, you could redirect noncombat damage that a source you control would deal to an opponent, having that source instead deal that damage to one of their planeswalkers. With the release of the Dominaria set, this rule is being removed from the game. "

This should prove interesting when the set releases April 27

GAMA Trade Show

For those planning to attend the GAMA Trade Show, this week's Rolling for Initiative column looks at some things you should plan to do.

Palladium Robotech Kickstarter

Palladium announced February 27 that it would not produce the second wave of Robotech products that it funded through Kickstarter back in 2013. Apparently a big part of the problem was that the funds generated were used to produce extra Wave 1 figures for sale through distribution and distribution bought far fewer of them than Palladium had expected, thus leaving money tied up in excess inventory instead of the expected capital that would have produced Wave 2 of the figures.

In fact, we passed on buying any of the figures for sale in the store because of the success of the Kickstarter. We figures that, given the massive numbers of people who bought into the campaign, anyone who wanted the figures would get them through the Kickstarter. We had no desire to risk our capital stocking a product that Palladium had already sold to its most avid customers.

Below is the email Palladium sent out to those contacting the company about non-fulfillment of the Kickstarter:

We share your frustration and apologize for the unfortunate delay. Palladium Books has been working tirelessly to bring Robotech® fans a superior product. Progress is being made and we are moving toward manufacturing of the First Wave of releases.

Please understand, as a Kickstarter backer, you have not purchased or pre-ordered a product. You have “supported a project” in exchange for a promise of a reward. That reward had an original estimated delivery date which has passed, but that date was always an estimate, not a guaranteed deadline.

By Kickstarter’s terms of service, we are obligated to deliver on the rewards we have promised, and we will do that. We are currently working toward doing just that.

As such, we cannot offer you a refund at this time. If the time should ever come that Palladium Books cannot fulfill the terms of our Kickstarter project, we will of course offer refunds, as we would be required to do by Kickstarter.

In the meantime, please be patient. We appreciate your support of the project, and your pledge will help us to produce a fantastic product that we think everyone will enjoy.

With Appreciation,
The Palladium Books Team"