This is good and bad. The packaging is pretty good. The rules are pretty good. The existing metal models are supported, so that's smart. I really like their ingenious terrain idea, packaging various sets with terrain for the game. I wouldn't be surprised if there's some cross-over just to get some of those fantasy pieces.
The bad is the profit margin and the their new partner. We used to sell a lot of Confrontation when it was hotter (never really hot), and it was at a healthy 50% margin. AT-43 and the new Confrontation are at 40%, which is not an acceptable margin nowadays. Games Workshop bumped their discount up to 45% a couple years ago and Battlefront just jumped to a flat 45% last month. 40% doesn't rank shelf space.
That low margin means I have no incentive to push this game. Why should I sell you Confrontation when I make more money on every other game in the store? Maybe if I cover my ears and close my eyes, Confrontation will just go away (I'm trying that with Battlefield Evolution). At least BE has a healthy margin. If Rackham just wasn't so pretty, I'm sure they would be out of business by now.
Along the lines of you gotta be freakin kidding me:
Rackham and Fantasy Flight Games also announced that FFG will distribute Rackham products throughout the English-speaking world. In addition to distribution, FFG will oversee organized play.
If I had to list companies with key out-of-stock product, the two poster boys would be Rackham and FFG. As pointed out elsewhere, FFG is selling games direct on their website that are listed as out-of-stock at the manufacturer for the game trade. For example, Arkham Horror is out of print again and everyone wonders if they'll miss another Halloween.
I wonder if Rackham intends to do a distribution bypass by having FFG sell their items direct? This would solve their inability to deal with American distribution properly, although my guess is FFG will discover their excuses and lies soon enough.
The one small pinprick of hope is the organized play. FFG provides us the tiniest of organized play support for the Game of Thrones CCG, but it seems to be enough to make the player base happy. It's more than Rackham offers now, so it might invigorate the new game.
