HeroClix

 If anyone is interested in playing HeroClix, we have someone who has moved into the area interested in playing and have prize support available for games.

Three Great Things About WizKids

For those of you not familiar with them, and most people reading this column are, WizKids is the premier collectable miniatures and dice game company (though I could argue not the first as anyone who dealt with Games Workshop during the 1990s could attest, with the company’s tendency to include multiple poses of the same figure in a sleeve of them and customers trying to get that one particular figure with a Multi-melta or Assault Cannon for their army. A figure holding a Bolter just wouldn’t work.), at one time after the release of DiceMasters producing more dice than any other company in the world.

Anyhow, three things that WizKids does that I really like:

1.        Organized Play website—WizKids has really ramped up their OP program over the past couple of years and has made massive improvements to the website the company uses to track tournament results. The company has even embraced the “gamification” trend of the past few years, awarding badges to players and tournament organizers for “unlocking” achievements in OP. Behavioral research indicates that this actually works in terms of encouraging more people to participate in events in the hope of adding more badges to their collection, much as the Scouts have done for decades

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2.       Summer Campaigns—For the last few years, WizKids has run a massively supported summer Organized Play campaign complete with big cool prizes and limited edition boosters to draw customers into stores. In order to get access to these limited boosters, the customer has to come to the store and play in the event. A few retailers have violated the spirit and letter of the program and WizKids, from what I understand, has been pretty diligent in tracking the violators down and reprimanding or even sanctioning them from participating in further programs.

3.       Release Day Tape—The announcement of this was the thing I referenced earlier that made me happy. As I have noted in other columns, violation of street date, especially with high volume collectible items, is a bane of the retail end of the industry. Putting a notice on the packing tape of each box that the item has a release date and to go to the WizKids website to check it before putting the product inside out for sale will certainly help by giving people one less reason to claim they were unaware of the release date.

Gift Suggestion WWE HeroClix

WWE HeroClix—(NECA-WizKids) There is a lot of merchandise out there for the WWE fan but very little in the gaming field The 1990s WWF and the more recent Know Your Role RPGs come to mind) but very little in the hobby game industry until the release of the WWE HeroClix set. The first wave of figures includes 20 (by my count) wrestlers, from various eras of WWE history (primarily current but a few figures from its 1990’s heyday), most of which are available as single non-random figures, at $7.99 making them perfect as a stocking stuffer for any wrestling fan.  In addition, there is the Mixed Match Challenge Starter Set ($39.99) featuring  AJ Styles, Sasha Banks, Charlotte Flair and Finn Balor along with a scale WWE Ring, while the Rock ‘n Sock set ($24.99) features The Rock, Mankind, Stone Cold Steve Austin, Triple H, Rick Flair and Shawn Michaels.

HeroClix Avengers Infinity Boosters

Just got in a restock of the HeroClix Avengers Infinity boosters. These sold out in one day when we got them originally so stop by soon if you want to pick some up. We will host the postponed release tournament on June 10th at 3 p.m. $20 entry

Shipping Company Bankruptcy Affects HeroClix

For those of you wondering how the supply chain works and how it affects you, here is a perfect example. WizKids makes HeroClix in China and ships the completed product to the US. Assuming everything works properly, said shipping takes from 2 to 6 weeks. The Hanjin bankruptcy has kept things from currently working properly, meaning that part of the shipment of the second Teenage Mutant Turtles Heros In a Half Shell set from completely arriving on time. WizKids has enough product on hand to fulfill pre-orders but any reorders will get delayed indefinitely, as in, until the bankruptcy works itself through the system.

Another Distributor Exclusive Ends

In case you missed the announcement earlier this week, Z-Man Games announced that, on March 15, it would end the exclusive distribution deal it has had in place for several years with Alliance Game Distribution, broadening its distribution channel to include not only Alliance but also Southern Hobby, ACD, GTS and Peachtree Distribution. Z-Man Games is probably best known for itsPandemic line of co-operative board games but the company also produces theCarcassonne, Agricola, Stone Age, Tragedy Looper as well as Camel Up and Dark Stories.

Z-man Games is part of the F2Z Entertainment publishing house, which also publishes the Plaid Hat, Pretzel and Filosofia lines of games and the success of Plaid Hat Games and Pretzel Games in using multiple distributors is what likely encouraged the company to end the exclusive arrangement with Alliance and move to a less exclusive arrangement with the other four distributors, which still leaves out smaller and regional distributors such as Aladdin’s and Mad Al.

By my calculations, this leaves about four publishers exclusive to one distributor or another. Alliance Game Distribution still maintains an exclusive relationship with WizKids Games, publisher of the HeroClix line of collectable superhero miniatures games; and Twilight Creations, best known as the publisher ofZombies! and its dozen or so expansions. ACD has an exclusive arrangement with Playroom, publisher of Geek Out and Killer Bunnies and the Quest for the Magic Carrot (if it ever gets back into print, copies are going for over $100 on eBay); andPersonally Incorrect, a card game similar to Cards Against Humanity, is distributed exclusively by Lion Rampant Imports.

In addition, Looney Labs reduced its number of distributors a couple of years ago to two, ACD and Alliance (see “Looney Labs Cuts Distributors”), and added a third, GTS, six months ago; while whoever publishes Kittens In A Blender had an exclusive arrangement with GTS, though I am not sure if that was a permanent arrangement or just for the first (and only) reprinting of the game.

So far, WizKids seems pretty happy with how Alliance has handled distribution of their lines and, especially with HeroClix's heavy reliance on distribution of Organized Play materials to drive participation in OP events and hence sales of HeroClix products, I see no reason to expect WizKids to end the exclusive relationship now and since, from what I understand, money is involved in the ACD/Playroom deal, it is doubtful that one will change any time soon.

However, I would not be particularly surprised to hear an announcement from Looney Labs that they will expand their distribution channels from ACD, Alliance, and GTS to encompass the other two distributors as well. It would give them greater access to retailers that do not have one of their current three distributors as one of their first choices and would make it much easier for stores to restock products like Fluxx and Just Desserts as they will not have to hold off putting in an order until time to place one with one of Looney Labs' current distributors.

The thing that concerns me most about the expansion of Z-Man to additional distributors is the company’s notorious out of stock problem. Though Pandemicand its expansions remained in stock through this holiday season, this has not been the case in past years and the need to bump up production to supply the needs of four additional distributors may prove problematic for the company. I am hoping we don’t see a return to the days of Z-Man’s popular games out of stock for weeks or months again.

Kudos to WizKids

WizKids, a couple of weeks ago, announced a change in HeroClix initial order policies that should benefit brick and mortar retailers and customers at large as it will make HeroClix more widely available.

The announced change limits initial orders, starting with the Superman/Wonder Woman set, of HeroClix bricks and gravity feed displays to 50 of each per account, subject to change on a case by case basis. What this means, from what I understand, is that, in general, that no store will be able to order, per location, more than 25 cases, 2 bricks per case, of a HeroClix release at the initial release. WizKids, I think, hopes by doing this to alleviate the chronic shortages that typically accompany the initial release of any new HeroClix set.

The problem comes from the long lead times required for each HeroClix set and the comparatively short pre-order window that retailers have for a new set. WizKids typically sets production runs for a new release a year before the set actually hits the street. Retailers, however, whether online only, brick and mortar or a hybrid operation, put their initial orders in 2-3 months ahead of the release date. WizKids, essentially, is flying blind on setting its production runs for a new set, having to put orders in with its manufacturers in southeast Asia 9 to 10 months before ever seeing an order from a retailer. WizKids could alleviate this problem by soliciting orders for new sets a year before the product line releases, but very few specialty game retailers are willing to commit to pre-ordering merchandise a year before it releases, a common problem with retailer Kickstarter offers as well. WizKids has been increasing production runs on new sets each time they put in an order for a new one, but the company’s increased quantities still has not met up with demand, meaning allocations and shortages when a new set releases.

By limiting quantities orderable on the initial release, WizKids expects to have more product available on the initial release and to be able to more widely spread the initial shipments of product  throughout the channel. Most stores within the hobby channel, especially those that offer Orgainzed Play, which as I pointed out last week has become a much more important component of the collectable gaming segment of the industry, do not order 50 bricks of a new HeroClix release at initial order, at least not per store for multi-store operations, it is the online operations, with nationwide sales reach but without an Organized Play component of their operation, that ordered massive quantities of a new release, often breaking open large numbers to satisfy single figure demands then selling the remaining boosters at deep discounts. By limiting the number of bricks and gravity feeds available to accounts on initial, WizKids should be able spread out the available initial shipment among all accounts wanting the product and thus making more of the set available initially to the local customer base, meaning local customers should have greater access to the new set of HeroClix in their LGs.

7 Questions for Publishers at the Alliance Open House

With the annual Alliance Open House coming up this weekend in beautiful Ft. Wayne, I came up with a list of questions I would like to ask a number of the attending publishers:

1.        WOTC--The focus on Magic and Dungeons & Dragons is great and I know that is where your bread is buttered, so to speak but what about your catalog of boardgame titles? TableTop gave a nice boost to sales of Betrayal at House on the Hill but are there any plans to promote other backlist titles such as RoboRally, Guillotine, Great Dalmuti, Risk 2144 or Diplomacy? All still sell slowly but I would sure like to see what they could do with the sort of promotional push Magic and D&D get.

2.       Fantasy Flight Games—Congratulations on getting the X-Wing Core Set included as part of Force Friday. I haven’t seen a copy of the game yet so could you tell me if there was anything included in it that sent purchasers to the LGS to buy additional ships for the game, those ships that Target doesn’t carry?

3.       And while we’re at it, Fantasy Flight Games, Days of Wonder, Z Man Games—You have track records of running out of your best selling titles during the holiday shopping season. Have you made any plans to build up inventory this year in order to avoid a repeat?

4.       WizKids—You have really started pushing Organized Play registration this year, so any plans to create OP software that we can download to the computer to make uploading results easier? It can be a bit of a pain to handle reporting when the internet is running slow. Also, you finally announce that stores with remaining boosters of War of Light could start selling them without violating our agreement with you. When will you post a date allowing us to sell off old Organized Play products from Star Trek Attack Wing and D&D Attack Wing? OP for both games has died off here and we have months old OP materials sitting in backstock that we would like to liquidate.

5.       Plaid Hat Games—Will Dead of Winter return to stock in time for the holiday selling season and will you have enough product to supply sales through the season? Do you have any plans for expansions and if so, when?

6.       Steve Jackson Games—Any more releases planned for Evil Stevie’s Toys? The ducks didn’t do that well but I can always sell more Cthulhu plushies. Do you have any research showing demand for the guest artist versions of Munchkin?  I can understand guest artists on new versions of Munchkin (Munchkin Kitchen, anyone?) but do you have anything indicating that Munchkin has a strong enough fan base that a player will want another copy of Space Munchkin that only differs due to the art?

7.       Green Ronin—Fantasy Age? Titansgrave? Will we get these while there is still a buzz from the first season of the web series? Any chance for us to get a limited edition signed by the Titansgrave group?

Pre-release and Release Burnout

I have noticed a definite downward trend in excitement over new releases of collectible games, with the notable exception of Magic. We had two people show up for the last Yu Gi Oh Sneak Peek and 4 for the one prior to that. The last Cardfight Vanguard pre-release scheduled drew exactly 0 players.

Today, new sets of Pokemon and HeroClix came out. We sold zero Pokemon and 2 boosters of the Nick Fury HeroClix set. I wonder how much of this is due to player burnout and how much is due to the frequency with with new sets of collectible games hit the market?

Selling Promotional Items

Every once in awhile we have someone ask us about buying promotional items or we see a store selling promotional items online. Just recently, we spotted someone selling Free RPG Day promotional items on eBay weeks ahead of the official day of the event.

First of all, if you are a customer and you received a promotional item, it is your's. You are free to sell it, keep it, give it away, jump up and down on it or whatever you choose to do. Once it leaves the retailer's possession, the agreement the store may have with the provider may end.

What the retailer can do with promotional items may or may not be restricted based on the agreement with the provider of the item.  For example, stores have an agreement with WOTC that we will not sell the promotional cards provided for Friday Night Magic. WOTC provides the cards to us to use as prizes during the event and in return, we agree not to sell them. In fact, that is why you will find stores that will not take FNM promos in trade until they are no longer Standard legal, so that there is no chance of WOTC finding them offering a FNM promo for sale.

A similar agreement exists between stores and Wizkids for their HeroClix OP items. Here' it is a bit more of a gray area, as unlike promos from WOTC, stores do have to pay for the OP promos from WizKids. Still, the agreement stores enter into is pretty straightforward, in return for being able to buy OP materials, stores agree not to sell them until given the OK  by Wizkids. When this happens, it is usually months after the end, as in the case of the Fear Itself OP campaign, which ran throughout 2013 but which stores could not sell any remaining boosters for until mid-2014.

Trading Card Games: The Perfect Gift

Speaking of the desire of the gift-giver to give the gift-givee something they don’t already have, this is when Yu Gi Oh, Pokemon, HeroClix, Magic, Cardfight Vanguard and any other collectable game is the perfect gift for those people who do not want to give someone  a duplicate product.  Fairly regularly, I have a customer come in, usually a parent or friend looking for a birthday or other present who doesn’t really know what to get them. That is when I put on my salesman’s hat and do a little prospecting to find out why they came in here to look for the present rather than one of those stores out at the mall.  

 Generally, if they come in here, they may have little to no interest in the game we sell but they have heard from the person they want to buy for that they can get the game here and what they want, much like the Christmas buyer, is to get them something they do not already have.  Collectable or trading games are made for this very situation but they generally require a bit of explanation, since the typical gift buying customer is not familiar with the concept of a collectable game. This is something that is very valuable for game stores to remember.

The gift buying visitor to a store is most familiar with “traditional” board game.  They know chess, checkers, Monopoly, Clue, Life, Sorry, etc.  Thanks to mention in the mass media as a favorite game among millennials, they likely know Cards Against Humanity and Settlers of Catan as well. However, the concept of a game that does not have fixed components is alien to anyone who has played any  traditional boardgame. 

This is when you have to explain the concept of the trading card (or miniature) game, how it differs from traditional games and why it makes a great gift since booster packs by their very nature differ one from another. The hardest thing, I have found, is to get the customer to understand that, although the packs all differ, every pack of Pokemon or Magic or DiceMasters works with every other pack. Once I make that clear, I can easily sell 5-10 packs with the assurance that getting so many packs will delight the recipient.  I always have to remember that the collectable concept, so familiar to game stores is still unfamiliar to hundreds of thousands of people.

Heroclix Delays Explanation

Here is an explanation from WizKids regarding why so many of their Heroclix releases in the past year got delayed.

Last year was a pretty amazing year for HeroClix, however, it did not come without a few bumps in the road.    Specifically, a number of last minute delays forced us to move release dates on short notice. There are many things that can (and will) derail a products release date.  Most are under our control; unfortunately, some are not.   During the last six months, we got hit with so many issues, it is remarkable that we were able to perform as we did.  It is a testament to the hard work of our distributors and the patience, creativity and tenacity of the retailers and customers that shop at FLGS.  We know how disruptive a release date change is to an OP program. We know that release date changes ruins schedules, planning and participation.  We appreciate the effort to work with us while we cope with changes outside of our control.

So why were the release dates impacted?

1:  Weather: As I’m sure you recall, last winter was one of the worst winters in recent history. The weather had a tremendous impact on our shipping & warehousing infrastructure. We had numerous logistics issues and closures caused by inclement weather.  Obviously, all this wreaks havoc on a release-date driven system.

2:  Customs:  In an attempt to curb counterfeit product, the U.S. Customs office increased their screening of containers filled with games and toys, especially those with licensed products.  Over the past six months, we’ve had an unusually high number of containers pulled for routine inspection.  Even if we pass through these inspections with no issues, the entire container may be detained for up to four weeks.   The issue here is that the last containers are usually coming in one to two weeks before release and, if they are detained, it usually creates an automatic delay.  The complexity comes from the fact that  you don’t know for how long the container is going to be held. You literally have to check on the items everyday.  So when a container is pulled for inspection, it could take one day or it could take 21 days. This makes announcing a delay very challenging.  Do you announce a delay on a container that might clear in one day, only to have to announce a false alarm?  Do you wait until you have better information and can estimate a release date?  We optfor the latter, as it allows a store to reset their event and communicate complete information and eliminates the ‘false alarm’ issue.  We have hundreds of containers delivering each year.  Announcing potential delays for every routine inspection is not feasible.

Hastings and WizKids

Given that NECA and Hastings are merging, as announced last month, and, given the extreme shortage of the new Marvel Dicemasters game, especially starters, I got curious as to the in-stock position of Dicemasters products at the Cape Girardeau Hastings so stopped in there this week.

Rather surprisingly, I found no indication that NECA/WizKids had any connection to Hastings at all. Rather than huge displays of Dicemasters, I could find none in the store. Moreso, it took a little hunting to actually find WizKids products in the store. One endcap and a row of about four gravity feed dispensers on a bottom shelf made up most of the WizKids presence and, furthermore, most of those figures were several months old. The store had covered most of the one endcap with gravity feed boosters from last year's Lone Ranger release and had no five figure boosters in stock at all.

In short, while Hastings may become a large retail outlet for WizKids products, that day is still in the future.

HeroClix Release Date Moved--Sigh

In mildly annoying news, and once again indicating communications problems between somebody and retailers, the release date for the Superman and the Legion of Super Heroes set for Heroclix got pushed back from February 12^th to February 26^th.  I did not learn this until I called my Alliance sales rep to see about adding some items to the shipment and found the date had changed.  A date shift like this should have gone out to every Alliance account ahead of time, especially since some of us do take pre-orders and run special events tied to new WizKids releases, even though the company doesn’t support them., meaning we had three days’ notice to contact players letting them know we had to push the booster tournament back two weeks.  A lot of contacting of people in a short period of time.

This is the 2nd time WizKids has missed a street date in the past 6 month.  It's not so bad with boardgames or RPGs, because players don't as avidly await those as they do collectible games.  Imagine the hue and cry if Konami, or even worse, WOTC misses a release date.